CLEARFIELD – Despite the bids being extremely high, the Clearfield County Commissioners will move forward with a boiler replacement project at the courthouse.
The commissioners opened the boiler replacement bids last week. All three bids received for the project were more than $200,000 and more than the amount budgeted by the commissioners.
Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen, chair, explained that the commissioners received base bids for two, different options for completing the boiler replacement project.
She said the commissioners could either have a temporary boiler installed this fall and a permanent one in the spring, or they could hold off and complete the boiler replacement in the spring.
Robinson-McMillen said the commissioners had conferred with their engineer. Because the courthouse is so large, she explained the boiler alone costs $100,000 without piping and labor.
Although the engineer felt the bids were a little high, she said they were in line and two were relatively close. “It’s been a long time since the boiler was replaced, and it is what it is,” she said.
Renick Brothers of Slippery Rock was the lowest bidder. Commissioner Mark B. McCracken then motioned for the acceptance of the spring base bid of $227,776, a deduction of $4,000 from the price and to add $8,778 for a water softener.
Commissioner John A. Sobel said he would second the motion despite being disappointed with the bids coming in so high. “We have a 30-year-old boiler and need to heat the courthouse,” he said.
“Like Commissioner Robinson-McMillen said earlier, ‘it is what it is.’” Sobel said the high cost of the boiler replacement will make it difficult to address other legitimate requests from other county departments at budget time.
The commissioners unanimously approved the bid for the boiler replacement project.