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Property manager warns Richland County campus faces aging boilers, leaking laterals and billing gaps
Summary
At the December Richland County Public Works meeting, property management reported two 40-year-old boilers that recently failed, leaking interior service valves that complicate winter shutdowns, and gas accounts for five campus buildings still listed under the prior owner’s name, which prevents utility shutoffs until accounts are transferred.
The Richland County property manager told the Public Works standing committee in December that two boilers at county campus buildings recently shut down and required on-site repairs, underscoring broader maintenance and utility-account problems that staff say will affect winter operations.
Randy, identified in the meeting as the property management presenter, said both boilers are roughly 40 years old and passed their most recent state inspection, but one required a repaired gas line and the other needed a reset after a shutdown. He said county staff temporarily restored heat but warned the age of the equipment means replacement should be planned: “we put it in CIP ... for 300,000,” he said, referring to a previous estimate for new boilers and air handling work.
The manager also reported electrical failures at the HHS building—ballasts and fixtures failing and breakers tripping—and that vendors are preparing bids for new fixtures. Separately, efforts to shut water service to the library and classroom buildings revealed leaking curb and interior valves; because water remains in service lines, pipes could freeze if heat is turned off. Staff described short-term mitigation using small localized heaters placed at pipe chases or water closets to prevent frozen pipes until demolition or formal excavation and capping can occur.
Property management said We Energies told staff the gas accounts for five buildings are still registered in the prior owner’s name (described in the meeting as “plat bills”), and the utility will not shut curb stops or cut service until the county transfers the accounts into its name. Randy said county clerk Candace has the meter numbers and will email the utility to request the account transfers and a formal order to shut meters when appropriate.
County staff emphasized that, while the boilers currently pass inspection and continue to operate, the county had previously estimated roughly $300,000 for replacement and has left the project in the capital-improvement plan pending the campus space-needs analysis. Short-term fixes will reduce immediate risk, staff said, but will not remove the long-term need to excavate and cap laterals or replace aging boilers.
The committee did not take formal action on the capital project at the meeting; staff were tasked with following up on utility-account transfers and securing written repair estimates for the electrical and heating issues.
