Oakhill heating options considered

Photo

Oakhill Renaissance Place

By Peter H. Milliken

Oakhill heating options considered

Panel members await a thorough comparison of heating system costs.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Building Commission will meet again at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the county commissioners’ office to consider the installation of a new heating system at Oakhill Renaissance Place.

Commission members decided they need more time to evaluate three options studied by J.M. Verostko Inc. of Youngstown, mechanical engineering consultants.

Those options are retaining Youngstown Thermal’s steam heat, installing new steam boilers at Oakhill or installing a new $2.6 million heating system featuring multiple, small, natural gas-fired boilers throughout the building.

The system featuring multiple natural-gas boilers, which would be programmed to come on at set times each morning, is the one recommended by Verostko and Raymond Jaminet, the county’s architect.

Verostko’s recently completed study concluded the payback on the county’s investment in that system would be realized in operating-cost savings in a mere 2.7 years.

A study done for the county about three years ago by CJL Engineering of Youngstown, however, recommended that the building should remain with steam heat from Youngstown Thermal.

The county bought Oakhill in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2006 for use as a county office complex and moved its Department of Job and Family Services to Oakhill the following year. Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

“It’s a system that I know real well,” Jaminet said of the one he advocates, which would be segmented for various zones of the building.

Jaminet told the commission his firm has had it installed in 15 schools it has designed over the past eight years.

“It’s also a greener system. We’re burning a clean fuel. We’re not losing any water in the condensate return,’’ Jaminet said.

The energy-efficient, easy-to-maintain system he advocates is the one preferred by the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which oversees school construction projects, Jaminet said.

On Tuesday, commission members asked experts from Verostko and CJL to compare their findings, determine where they agree or disagree, and provide a basis upon which commission members can make valid comparisons of all costs.

These include the costs of equipment purchase and installation, debt payments, heating fuel, electricity and maintenance, said David Comstock, building commission chairman.

“We’re like two ships passing each other here,” Comstock said of the two expert reports.

When all costs are considered, Youngstown Thermal steam is “a much better value to the county taxpayers,” said Jeff Bees, president and chief executive officer of Thermal Ventures II, parent of Youngstown Thermal. Bees attended Tuesday’s commission meeting to advocate his company’s position.

“You can’t simply look at natural gas compared to steam. Steam is a finished product. The steam has gone through all of the capital investment and equipment that Youngstown Thermal has. It has the benefit of all the labor, all the maintenance,” Bees said.

milliken@vindy.com