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Panel awards Oakhill roof contract
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Oakhill Renaissance Place
A new energy-saving heating system is being considered for Oakhill.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Building Commission has awarded a $379,000 roof replacement contract for Oakhill Renaissance Place to the A.W. Farrell Co.
The company will replace about 28,000 square feet of roof this spring, including the tower penthouse roof, which has experienced significant leaks and is over major electrical equipment and elevator shafts. The new roof will be subject to a 15-year warranty. The company has offices in Erie, Pa., and Solon, Ohio.
The roofing contract is well below the architect’s estimate of $485,000, said Atty. David Comstock, commission chairman.
Oakhill is a complex of county offices and other offices in the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, 345 Oak Hill Ave. The county bought the former hospital in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in July 2006.
On Wednesday, the commission also authorized Tracie A. Kaglic, Oakhill project manager, to proceed with interior demolition drawings for the southeast corner of the tower section, portions of the first floor east wing, the southeast and north wings of the third floor and all of the fifth floor.
The commission will meet again at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the county commissioners’ office to consider the installation of a new heating system at Oakhill to replace the current Youngstown Thermal service.
At that meeting, the commission will discuss a report on this subject by J.M. Verostko Inc. of Youngstown, mechanical engineering consultants.
The new, energy-efficient, $1.5 million to $2 million heating system would feature multiple, small, easy-to-maintain natural-gas-fired boilers throughout the building, which would be programmed to come on at set times each morning, said Architect Raymond Jaminet.
The payback on the county’s investment in the new system would be realized in operating cost savings in a mere 2.7 years, the Verostko report said.
The county pays $624,975 a year for Youngstown Thermal to heat Oakhill with steam. The natural-gas cost for the new system would be about $319,000 annually, Verostko said.
Because the new system would be segmented for various zones of the building, a buildingwide heating failure should not occur, Jaminet said.
Jaminet said he wants the occupied portions of Oakhill to be served by the new heating system by next winter.
If a county department or tenant at Oakhill were planning to work on a Saturday, the new system could be programmed to heat at room temperature only the area of the building to be occupied that day, said Pete Triveri, county facilities director. “It’s more efficient that way,” Triveri said. “The way it is now, you have to heat the whole building,” he noted.
milliken@vindy.com