Marblehead wants to lower cost of Abbot Library heating repair project

MARBLEHEAD-Town officials are taking a second look at the heating system needs at the Abbot Public Library to see if they can lower the cost of the repair project.One firm responded to the town?s request for bids for heating, ventilation and air conditioning repairs at the library. Town Meeting approved $281,000 for a series of library repairs last May and the library trustees budgeted $85,000 for the HVAC portion of the project. Ambient Controls bid the work at $143,400.Trustees Chairman Philip Sweeney said the work covers replacement of three furnaces and a compressor and the cost was based on an engineer?s estimates.Town Planner Rebecca Curran, who oversees bidding, said she will probably send the project back to the engineer to see how the work can be brought within the trustees? original estimate.?We?re trying to see if we can get the most bang for our buck,” Whitten said.Curran said bids to replace a furnace at the Tree Department garage came in at $41,000 – higher than budgeted – and after and engineer rewrote the specifications the low bid was $29,460.Town officials aren?t the only ones concerned about furnace bids this year. The School Department is placing an article before Town Meeting to raise money for the replacement of the Marblehead Village School?s heating system and School Committee Chairman Amy Drinker said the Village School Building Oversight Committee “is doing very careful work right now.”The BOC is working with Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, the architectural firm that did the 2004 facilities report, and was also the architectural firm for the high school and middle school projects, to make sure that the line item costs are correct, Drinker said.?(The firm?s) specific understanding of the building and system needs is important,” she said.