City assists schools with purchase of new boiler

Mayor Joseph Polisena was “very excited” at Friday’s special meeting of the Town Council. The reason? Johnston High School will finally be getting a new boiler.

“The new boiler is coming. We knew there was a need for a new boiler,” he said, addressing the council. “I encourage you all to go to the school and look at what’s there now; it’s frightening. It’s a real mess, a disaster waiting to happen.”

Currently, there are two boilers at the high school and both need to be replaced. The project will involve removing the boilers, demolishing old pumps and valves, and removing all asbestos as well as a 10,000-gallon oil tank (the school will be switching from oil to gas, which is projected to save 30 percent on oil costs) before installing two new boilers for heat, and three for hot water.

Superintendent Dr. Bernard Di Lullo, who was in attendance along with members of the Johnston School Committee, said the replacement project is “extremely necessary.”

“One of the boilers is completely dead and the other one is on its last leg,” he said. “We would be spending money on repairs just to get through the winter.”

Polisena said the town has been working diligently to find funds to pay for the replacement project, which is something the schools can’t afford, but many of the initial bids were too high.

“The bids were much too high and we were disappointed,” he said. “We started looking around and the second time we went out to bid, we pulled out the demolition work and asbestos removal. Some bids were outrageous, but some were within striking distance.”

Polisena said the demolition and asbestos removal would be handled separately by Johnston business AA Wrecking, at a cost of $105,000. Delta Mechanical, the low bidder at $504,000 for the boiler replacement, will handle the bulk of the work.

Town Planner Pamela Sherrill said Delta Mechanical has a proven track record of success, as it has worked on projects for the Intermodal Building at T.F. Green Airport, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, the Newport Naval Base, and has past experience working with schools, such as Woonsocket Middle School and one of the schools in North Providence, where it installed two similar boilers that work well after two years.

“We feel very comfortable moving forward with them,” Polisena said.

Polisena said it was through the hard work of Sherrill, who collaborated on the project with consultant Roger Harris of Gaskell Associates, that the town was able to secure $150,000 in grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as $45,000 through a National Grid Incentive for a total of $195,000 in grants to make the project possible. Polisena said the town would provide $472,000 to cover the remainder of the $667,000 project.

“This is great for the town and great for the school,” Polisena said. “It’s our only high school and we love it. I want to make sure the students are comfortable.”

In order for the town to receive the grant funding, the project must be completed by June 1. The project is estimated to last eight weeks and is planned to wrap up in February so the new boiler can be tested over winter break.

“It’s important that we get this done because we’re working against time,” Polisena said.

School Committee Chairwoman Janice Mele said the committee appreciates what the town is doing, but asked what would happen if the project exceeded the $150,000 grant amount because the schools don’t have the money to make up the difference.

Polisena said he would work with the council to find any needed additional money.

“We will make sure the project will make it over the finish line,” he said.

Councilman Ernest Pitochelli said replacing the boilers would be a tricky process and wanted to make sure the school wouldn’t be without heat and hot water while the replacement work is conducted.

Sherrill assured him that would not be the case. She said the boilers will be removed one at a time to ensure that heat and hot water are available at all times throughout the process.

“This is a great deal for the town,” she said. “We feel confident this is going to work.”

Following council approval of the resolution, the School Committee briefly convened in the same room to approve the same resolution.

“I want to thank the council, the mayor’s office and Pam in taking part in the hard work to get this done,” said Robert LaFazia, the District 1 School Committee member.

In other council news, the council voted to approve a resolution requesting that the Rhode Island General Assembly enact legislation for statewide pension reform.

Polisena said after meeting with State Treasurer Gina Raimondo two weeks ago to talk about pension reform, there are no provisions for local municipal pensions in the currently proposed reform.

“They call it the ‘carrot and stick,’ but I call it the ‘onion and stick’ because it will make us cry,” Polisena said. “If it [pension reform] passes in the current form, we will have to come up with $5 million a year for the next 10 years. This will be devastating for the taxpayers and I will fight it tooth and nail. It will be cheaper to go to court and fight it than to pay if this passes.”

Polisena said he’s been talking with local representatives and senators about removing the portion concerning municipal pensions and allowing cities and towns to address it on their own.

“There are areas that need to be fixed, but we should have the latitude and the ability to address it the best way we can,” said Council Vice President Stephanie Manzi.