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School committee adds cost‑benefit requirement to Mill Pond chiller design article
Summary
The committee agreed to add language requiring a cost‑benefit analysis of replacement options to the Mill Pond chiller design report; the design appropriation request remains approximately $60,000.
School Committee members agreed to add a requirement that the Mill Pond chiller design report include a cost‑benefit analysis of replacement options before the project proceeds to construction bidding.
The article as drafted requests roughly $60,000 from free cash to fund design for the Mill Pond chiller replacement. Committee members asked whether the district would consider a heat-pump alternative or other low‑carbon technologies in lieu of an in‑kind chiller replacement; administrators said the design phase will evaluate alternatives and provide the technical basis for the project's design.
"So we'll certainly do our homework and look into that in the process. If you're comfortable with that, I would make that amendment," Superintendent Allison Lisonbee said. A committee member indicated support for including the language; administrators said the design report will supply the information needed for a later construction decision and for eventual bidding under state procurement rules.
No final construction appropriation was approved at the meeting; the committee's addition is a direction to include the comparative analysis in the design documents so voters and officials have documented options before any larger appropriation request.
