Court Renovations Stalled Over HVAC System

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

by Kylie Smith
February 17, 2010

After years of division among city leaders, moratoriums brought by citizens and finally a court case mandating suitable accommodations for the municipal court, the process has once again been stalled – this time by city council over a decision about the appropriate HVAC system for the building.

Through two committee meetings of the whole little overall progress has been made by Marietta City Council in deciding whether to proceed with the already-approved HVAC system for the future municipal court building.

In last week’s meeting, it was decided that council would temporarily cease any decisions to move forward until city engineer Joe Tucker and Morrison Inc. representative David Haas could collaborate and further question KORDA directly about the validity of their energy study data, especially related to heating costs.

The decision to halt the process came after Tucker and project architect Ryan Ware addressed council concerning the accuracy of the study that they had approved over a month ago.

Tucker began by discussing the different phases that had lead to the rooftop system recommendation. After an executive study performed last July, Tucker had requested the project architects, M+A Architects, to begin their design incorporating a recommended Mitsubishi VRV system. After reviewing initial costs the architects informed Tucker that a rooftop unit would work better within the budget. After a side-by-side comparison between the original VRV system versus the rooftop unit, it was discovered that while the VRV unit would be more energy efficient and have lower maintenance costs, only the roof top system fit within budget constraints and gave the best payback return. In December, a third study was performed comparing the rooftop unit to four other HVAC systems, and confirming it to be the best long-term solution.

After concerns were raised by Haas in December, Tucker explained how he spent an additional six weeks plugging in calculations, reducing costs and coordinating between Ryan Ware, KORDA, and Haas in order to resolve any conflicting information.

“I went over and beyond to make sure that we’re getting the best information and a good report with good recommendations to move forward.” Tucker said.

Ware emphasized the need to publicly address the questions that have been raised about the energy study. Ware reiterated that in the beginning phases, more efficient systems were discussed yet ultimately rejected because of the higher initial costs and lower payback as compared to the rooftop unit.

“You can spend the extra money on initial costs but the payback is too long and it’s not a good investment. It’s sort of a gamble whether or not you’re going to see the return, and this is taxpayers money we‘re talking about.” Ware said.

Ware said his company stands behind KORDA’s recommendation.

“Developers consistently use this system for two reasons - low initial first costs and it’s an efficient system from a standpoint that they can make a return on their investment.” Ware said.

Haas remained incredulous with KORDA’s answers to more than twenty questions he submitted to the firm earlier this month. He repeatedly emphasized his disbelief with their calculations on peak heating load and their preference of using electric to heat versus a hot water reheat (boiler) system that he favors. While the boiler system may cost up to $100,000 more initially, Haas believes it would save money in the future.

“The numbers just don’t reconcile and if the budget could be squeezed a little bit more, I believe hot water reheat would be the way to go.” said Haas.

He also asked Ware to request KORDA review the same numbers he has questioned before, as well as to look again at the advantage boiler heat has against their recommended electric heat.

“We’ve looked into water reheat and it goes back to initial costs. We’ve run the numbers to find it’s not a good return on an investment. I can have them answer Mr. Haas’s questions. But again, peak load is peak load whether it’s this system or the other system, there are more efficient systems, but again that’s a peak, there’s an average and over the average daily temperatures, the rooftop unit with a VAV electric reheat is still showing you it’s the best return on your investment with operating costs and initial costs.” Ware said.

Council members Mike McCauley, Kathy Shively and Tom Vukovic expressed their disappointment with the hindrance being applied to the project.

“We already authorized this in January. There seems to be no way for reconciliation here. I want to know how far this is going to go.” Vukovic said.

McCauley firmly stated his desire to move on with the council’s initial decision.

“I want to proceed. I had questions for KORDA. All my questions have been answered and I have no problems with the system presented,” McCauley said.

Councilman Jon Grimm asserted his apprehension with proceeding.

“I believe there is a reasonable concern here and I appreciate the time taken into this inquiry. I was hoping that people would see the error, but if you don’t and we proceed, I will maintain that we are doing a disservice to the taxpayers of the future,” Grimm said.

Shively also expressed her opinion of the six-week stall created by the continuing discussion.

“I equate the delay to dollars lost. I equate the building sitting there, unusable, to dollars lost. I equate the current court system’s inefficiencies to dollars lost. So are we going to continue letting that money go down the drain?” Shively asked.

Councilman Andy Thompson acknowledged the “great work” being done by Ware and stated that in no way did he doubt KORDA’s “honesty and integrity”, but that he is simply trying to understand the discrepancy in calculations between Haas and KORDA.

“This is important and we do want to get this right.” Thompson said.

Council, in conjunction with Judge Janet Dyar-Welch, agreed to allow an adequate window of time requested by Tucker to submit an additional question not yet answered by KORDA, involving assumed measures of thermal resistance for the OBES building’s walls, floors, and roof. Ware also assured the group that he would convey any further questions to KORDA and present the answers to City Council “as soon as possible.”

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