Saugus reviews school utility plan

SAUGUS – A plan that could save the school department $60,000 in utility costs for the high school is under scrutiny as officials try to determine if it’s too good to be true.”That’s a staggering number,” said School Maintenance Committee member Michael Procopio. “We can’t not try it.”When it meets on July 24, the School Committee will take up discussion on whether to sign a contract that committee Chairman Wendy Reed said is guaranteed to save the high school $60,000 in the first year.”It’s a huge promise,” she said during a recent building maintenance subcommittee meeting. “I can’t see how they are going to do it.”One of the problems with the high school is that it is very inefficient to heat, Reed said. And fixing those inefficiencies is a very expensive prospect, Procopio added. The windows are uninsulated, and the building is largely concrete block, he said.Head Custodian Rich Fioravanti said he believes the company will focus more on the mechanics. Based on an initial walk through, company officials said they could save the school $20,000 simply by adding insulation and tweaking the boilers, Reed said. Curriculum Coordinator Laurie Gallivan, who also sits on the subcommittee, said rooms that run very hot and others that run very cold within the same building has long been a problem for the district in pretty much every school. She said rooms on the south side of the Waybright School are always too warm while other classrooms remain chilly.Reed said she is skeptical of the plan, but Town Manager Scott Crabtree is eager to look into it. Crabtree could not be reached for comment.Procopio asked what the consequences were for the company not meeting its obligation, and Reed said it would make up the difference if the town doesn’t realize the entire $60,000 in savings. The approximate cost to implement the plan is roughly the same, so the town would effectively break even on the first year, Procopio pointed out.”Even if it’s a worst-case scenario, it’s a wash, so we might as well do it,” he said.If the contract is accepted, Reed said the guaranteed savings would be written into the deal. She also said the school department would likely pay up front, funding it through the utility budget and any savings would go directly back to that line item.If the plan is approved, ultimately plans will be implemented in the town’s other schools as well, the high school is just first, Reed said.”We’ll have a copy of the contract before anything starts and the School Committee will take it up on the 24th,” she said.