By Sarah Opdahl

On Tuesday, September 10, New Fairfield’s Permanent Building Committee (PBC) heard an update on the continuing efforts to right the propane issues at the new high school. Colliers International’s Mr. Mark Schweitzer said, “the plan in place is to set up the kitchens with a temporary feed,” given that the lack of mercaptan smell is impacting the school’s entire system.

Mitchell Oil, the original vendors on the project, had submitted a proposal for a second temporary system at the time of this meeting, but school and design officials asked for revisions, as the proposed plan only included the kitchens, not the culinary classrooms. The temporary runs will likely shift from the pattern they ran last winter/spring due to fear of damage to the ceiling grid. “The better route that we found was to bring it up the side of the building and across the roof and punch it down into the kitchen, which would allow whoever puts the temporary line in to do it during the day, while school is in session,” Schweitzer said. PBC members clarified that the roof contractor will handle all roofing aspects of the set up, so as to not breach warranty requirements.

Once the temporary set up is in place, an analysis will be completed to determine whether the low pressure in the system in the school may be causing a negative pressure at the outlets during the initial opening of the valves. There is a plan to possibly keep it at a higher pressure inside the building and then step it down at the appliances and science labs. There is also a plan to purge the lines and clean them out. In addition, there are pipe shavings at a metallurgist. A report is forthcoming on their findings.

In other high school issues, the discolored hot water continues to be a problem. PBC member Mr. Mike Del Monaco asked if anyone had completed an inspection of the water heater, to which he learned from O&G’s Mr. Joe Vetro, “we ran a camera in there…the unit is not causing any kind of coloration of the water, and we took some water samples and [are] having that tested by the water company that services that school.” Del Monaco asked if the heat exchanger was visually inspected, “because even though it is stainless steel, if the welds are not properly passivated, they will rust..I am assuming there is no sign of any rust on the welds.” Vetro responded by asking to give the answer to this question offline from the meeting.

An excessive noise issue with the science classroom fume hoods was thought to be complete, following adding a manual on/off procedure, however, problems persist with alarms going off when in use. As of now, the system is remaining off. Vetro said, “the issue we are having is with the actual sensor itself on the fume hood. It is looking for that pressure to be there and not finding it. It has been sending out an alarm.” Del Monaco pointed out that he predicted this problem all along, which was acknowledged.

The elementary playground continues to be a topic of interest for the PBC, with the manufacturer now questioning the undergrading of the playground surface. All involved plan to discuss the issue with Langan Engineering, who were responsible for the playground designs.

The Consolidated demolition is on hold but about to begin. Fencing will be erected in the next one to two weeks and the full site will soon follow. The abatement contractor will be the first to begin work at the former school.

Regarding the ongoing discussions and designs for a crosswalk on Gillotti Road at the high/middle school campus’s main exit, it was noted that Town Engineer Mr. Tony Iadarola is considering the design.

The next regular Permanent Building Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22, 7:30 p.m.