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$2.8M pact for Oakhill work awarded
Photo
Oakhill Renaissance Place
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Building Commission awarded a $2,883,000 contract to Prout Boiler, Heating and Welding Inc. of Youngstown to replace chillers and an air-handling unit at Oakhill Renaissance Place.
The two chillers serve all the former hospital complex, and the air handler to be replaced serves the tower wing that was built in 1972. Oakhill, 345 Oak Hill Ave., is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, which the county bought in 2006.
Large units designed to serve the round-the-clock operational needs of a hospital will be replaced with smaller, energy-efficient units more suitable for serving a county office complex that is normally open only during regular business hours, said Joseph Verostko, the county’s mechanical-engineering consultant.
Verostko estimated Thursday that energy savings of about $225,000 annually will allow the county to achieve a 12.8-year payback on its investment in the new equipment.
The new installations should take about nine months to complete and have a 30- to 40-year life expectancy, Verostko added.
Tracie Kaglic, Oakhill renovation-project manager with Olsavsky-Jaminet Architects, said she hopes most of the work can be done during the winter when the air- conditioning system is not in use.
Kaglic told the commission that county facilities-department employees are working to prepare first-floor quarters at Oakhill for the county board of elections, which will move there later this year from the South Side Annex on Market Street.
Pete Triveri, county-facilities director, said he does not yet know how many of the six laid-off facilities workers will be recalled for this effort or when they might be recalled.
Kaglic recommended re-advertising for bids for operation of Oakhill’s cafeteria early next year after all county workers move there from the annex, which the county intends to close.
After that happens, the estimated 400 workers now at Oakhill will grow to about 450, plus additional visitors to the building, making operation of the cafeteria more financially feasible, she said.
When the auto title department moves to Oakhill, the visitor count will increase greatly, Kaglic added. Besides the title office and board of elections, the county’s recycling division and adult day-care center and the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force also will be moving from the annex to Oakhill.
AVI Foodsystems Inc. of Warren was the only company that submitted a bid to operate the cafeteria when bids were sought in March.