Committee reviews three bids to replace sheriff’s office HVAC; Johnson Controls proposes $7.1M turnkey chiller plan

Ashland County’s Finance and Economic Development Committee spent the bulk of its meeting reviewing three proposals to replace and upgrade aging heating, ventilation and air‑conditioning systems at the county building that houses the sheriff’s office.

Johnson Controls representative Ben Malone presented a multi‑part feasibility study and budget that included installing a new chilled‑water system, replacing or upsizing boilers, adding a chilled coil to the kitchen makeup‑air unit, and an option to replace the building controls. Malone described the proposal as “budget pricing” and said the firm had included a roughly 10 percent contingency for project risk. “This is turnkey budgeting — engineering, project management, contingency,” Malone said.

The committee heard that the building’s HVAC equipment is about 25 years old, beyond typical service life for commercial air‑conditioning equipment, and that recent refrigerant supply and regulatory changes have increased risk and maintenance costs for the existing DX (direct expansion) systems. Malone said the Johnson Controls estimate for the chiller and makeup‑air work (FIM‑1 in his report) was approximately $7.11–7.19 million in budget pricing, with other full‑replacement scenarios and controls upgrades priced separately.

Why it matters: Committee members said the choice will affect near‑term budgeting, capital borrowing, and long‑term maintenance costs. Several members characterized the chiller/makeup‑air replacement (FIM‑1) as the highest priority because of aging equipment, leaking drain pans in air handlers and industrywide refrigerant changes that increase long‑term operating risk.

Key details

- Scope differences: Malone outlined clear differences among the bids. Johnson Controls proposed removing one problematic air handler and installing a roof‑mounted chiller and new chilled‑water pumps and piping; another bidder (Jamar) reportedly proposed retaining some existing units and converting coils to chilled water, which Malone said left questions about access, scope completeness and equipment sizing.

- Boilers: Johnson Controls recommended upsizing the remaining boiler to roughly 2.5 million BTU to provide full capacity with a single boiler on very cold days, or as an alternative replacing both boilers with new 2.5 million BTU units (option described as FIM‑2b). Malone said the existing boilers appear at or past their useful life by ASHRAE guidance but that one of the two could reasonably be kept as a parts source and backup for about 10 years.

- Controls and monitoring: Malone described two control options — a partial controls upgrade to add a BACnet‑capable network controller for new equipment (FIM‑3) or a full controls replacement (FIM‑4). He noted the building’s current control network uses older N2 technology; BACnet would allow web‑based remote monitoring while retaining on‑site control if Internet access is lost.

- Exclusions and unknowns: Malone said asbestos abatement and large structural roof reinforcement work were not included in the budget estimates; structural analysis would be done in engineering. He also said utility coordination and transformer verification are part of engineering, and that factory startup/warranty would be included if Johnson Controls is selected.

Committee direction and next steps

Committee members did not vote to select a vendor. Instead, Sheriff Williams, Chief Deputy staff and committee members agreed to assemble an apples‑to‑apples comparison of the three proposals (Johnson Controls, Jamar, and KBK) that will list inclusions, exclusions, tax assumptions, and ancillary items such as equipment warranties and controls scope. The committee directed the sheriff’s office and county staff to return to the finance committee with a consolidated comparison and answers to outstanding questions before any recommendation goes to the full county board.

Quotes and attribution

“This is budget pricing based on the information we have to date,” Ben Malone said, describing the Johnson Controls feasibility study and contingency approach. “We would start by demolishing three existing air‑cooled condensing units and associated piping … provide and install one new air‑cooled chiller of capacity to meet the cooling requirements for the three air handling units.”

County staff member Chris Hoffman, who spoke later about vehicle leasing, also attended and described operational impacts of deferred maintenance across county facilities during discussion of overall capital needs: “This is the first time we’ve ever dealt with leasing, so this is kinda brand new to me too.” (This comment was given in the later vehicle lease discussion but was part of the same committee conversation about capital management.)

Ending

Committee members said they favored addressing the chiller/makeup‑air upgrades as a priority but signaled openness to phased approaches that could reduce immediate borrowing. A final procurement recommendation will depend on the comparative scope document the sheriff’s office and staff prepare for the committee’s next meeting.