The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a pair of contracts for electrical equipment needed for the widely anticipated renovation project at the Playhouse on Elm Street.
Shuttered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 100-year-old brick movie theater is undergoing major interior work for a reopening later this year.
The selectmen during their Feb. 19 meeting voted unanimously in favor of an approximately $24,000 contract with a Danbury-based company for switchgear equipment, and a $325,000 contract with an Avon-based company for equipment such as air handlers and condensers.
Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works, said Building Codes and Energy Codes have “changed quite a bit” recently.
“They just changed in October so we’ve got a couple of extra things added to it that we have to do by Code now,” Oestmann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The building was nowhere near Code-compliant prior to us going in and renovating this. And that was fine because it was Code-compliant at the time we did it. But once you go and do the work you have to bring things up to Code.”
Specifically, Oestmann said, the federal government has forbidden refrigerants used in the past and “if your air conditioning unit breaks down, you’ve got to pay for the new” approved chemicals and “change the whole system.”
“We’re victims of that in a lot of our other buildings,” Oestmann said. “And we’re just trying to get as much as we can out of the older stuff before we make a big expense like this. Because of this, we have to do the complete HVAC system over at the Playhouse. And meet the new fresh air requirements, which is under scrutiny big time now, obviously with the COVID pandemic. At the end of the day, we have to make sure we are achieving these six changes an hour that’s required by Code. So we’re doing everything by the book. We’re not gonna cut no corners on this one.”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in the contracts, with F&M Electric Supply ($23,700) and Eastern Mechanical Services ($324,994).
The contracts both included 20% contingencies, raising a concern for Corbet. Outside of things like freight costs, it’s unusual to have such a high contingency fee for equipment where the price has been agreed to in advance.
Oestmann said that problems with the supply chain mean delivery of equipment could be derailed for several months, which would cause major problems for the overall project, so he needs flexibility.
Moynihan said during the meeting that the town is “trying to hit that target for October” with the Playhouse. (It’s a local election year.)
“All they [Public Works] are doing is authorizing an amount, because given this project as being so fluid—and by the way we have a partner here who wants to make sure, because they’re sharing in the cost,” Moynihan said. “Ultimately, if this goes over budget—and we are on budget—but he [Oestmann] needs the flexibility to be able to order equipment and make changes as he described.”
Corbet said, “I get it. Don’t agree, but I get it.”
Oestmann said that the company is supplying the air conditioning equipment “with no markup.”
“They are just acting as a passthrough for us,” he said. “The reason being is that we want Eastern Mechanical Services to take ownership of that equipment until it’s assigned over to us as the final owner. This puts all the liabilities on them for warranties or what have you. It’s a little tricker if we bought it than to assign it to them. Then I have to get lawyers involved to change agreements and what have you. So this is pretty much standard procedure in the business world when we do direct purchasing like this. We want to get this going.”
The selectmen approved the switchgear purchase with less discussion. The large breakers also are coming to the town with no markup, Oestmann said.
“F&M [Electric Supply] has been fabulous over the years with the town of New Canaan,” he said.
The selectmen asked whether the switchgear is large, given that there’s a freighting cost associated with the item (yes it’s about six-by-three-by-two-feet), whether F&M is covering the delivery charge (it’s an all-in cost, and the shipping cost could be from the manufacturer) and whether the Playhouse has an emergency generator (no).
“Unfortunately, a lot of the components of switchgear are not manufactured in the States,” Oestmann said. “Some comes from Mexico, some from China, Taiwan.”