At Wellfleet’s recent town meeting, a voter asked why we had to spend $350,000 to upgrade the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a fire station that’s only 15 years old. The question was reasonable, but as the moderator, I was not able to respond in that moment. As the former fire chief who led construction of the fire station, however, I’d like voters to know what happened. Some decisions made during the design and construction of the station, against the recommendations of the fire dept. and building committee, have proved costly.
The design contract was awarded without following state law that required that a project manager be hired and without putting the contract out to bid. Some of us objected, but we were overruled by the administrator and select board.
We wanted a simple energy-efficient radiant heating system, but we were told that a ducted air-conditioning system would still be required and that we couldn’t afford two systems for the offices and bunk rooms. The apparatus bays do have a radiant heating system that has been trouble-free from day one.
The HVAC system that we got was complex and highly computerized. Its operation was a mystery to department staff. The engineers themselves and the service technicians who tried to repair it had trouble explaining how it worked.
Near the end of construction, we were advised to test all of the building’s systems. Although we’d completed the building on time, with over $200,000 left in contingency funds, town officials were not willing to spend $12,000 for the tests. This was truly penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Another recommendation was to establish maintenance contracts for the major components and systems. Again, this wasn’t done. The failure to budget for preventive maintenance guaranteed unnecessary future costs.
We moved into the new building in March 2009. By June, it was obvious there were major issues with the HVAC system. The air conditioning needed manual restarting almost daily. The architects and engineers blamed voltage fluctuations without any evidence. Faulty components needed replacement. During that first summer, the building was so overcooled that condensation formed on most interior surfaces. The technicians changed some control settings, but the system never operated properly for any length of time.
During the first winter, heat in the bunk rooms was very uneven, but staff couldn’t manually control the system. The following summer, we again had to restart the AC manually almost daily. Throughout that second summer, there were repeated problems.
Finally, in September 2010, the town demanded that the general contractor make the system perform as specified. But multiple problems with the system have never been fully resolved.
Most of the people responsible for those unwise decisions are long gone. The purpose of reviewing this history is so voters might better understand why we must spend now to correct problems that might have been avoided had better choices been made.
I’m still angry that the fire dept. and fire station building committee were so often overruled when we suggested simpler design ideas and maintenance practices that might have prevented the current expense. It’s frustrating to see how often Wellfleet has tried to save money by doing something as cheaply as possible only to have it cost much more in the long run. One can only hope that we learn from our mistakes.
Wellfleet Moderator Daniel Silverman was the town’s fire chief from 2006 to 2013.
