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School board approves one‑year chiller maintenance agreement to free funds for equipment replacement
Summary
Facilities staff told the board a shift from a large multi‑year contract to a one‑year agreement will let the division pay for emergency rooftop unit replacements and focus on issuing a streamlined RFP next year.
The Orange County School Board approved a one‑year preventive maintenance agreement with Trane to cover the district’s most expensive chillers, a move facilities staff said will free money to replace failing equipment.
Marshall Rudder, facilities staff, told the board the district had previously been in an expansive five‑year agreement with Honeywell that consumed funds while the district lacked in‑house technical capacity. He recommended a $31,000 first‑year agreement to cover chillers and require oil sampling to detect metal‑to‑metal wear.
‘‘If I have all of our money tied up in a maintenance contract with a company that can’t maintain or buy parts to that old piece of equipment, I need that money to replace that piece of equipment,’’ Rudder said, explaining the operational rationale for the shorter contract. Staff said the proposed three‑year pricing was shown in the packet but the district is not contractually bound and may exit after year one.
Board members asked how many boilers and chillers remain in the buildings; Rudder listed counts for several schools and said recent refurbishment work had been done on screw chillers at a middle school. Rudder and administration said the plan is to issue a request for proposals next year to seek a more streamlined, competitively bid HVAC contract.
The board approved the one‑year agreement by voice vote. When vote totals were reported the clerk recorded four yes votes and no no votes.
Staff next steps include executing the one‑year agreement, proceeding with scheduled preventive maintenance and preparing an RFP next year to solicit bids for longer‑term HVAC services.
