By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The city of Yachats will likely soon be facing a bill of about $45,000 to replace and upgrade failing heating systems in its popular Commons building.
The Commons is a former elementary school and city’s largest and most-used building. It houses everything from city offices, to a preschool and children’s program, to a large multipurpose room for gatherings and activities.
The city replaced the Commons’ roof in 2018. But since last fall it doesn’t have much heat.
Most of the building’s rooms are individually heated, with compressor units outside powering one or two ductless heating units inside a room. There are 13 heating units or “heads” inside powered by 12 compressor units outside.
They were installed eight years ago, said city facilities manager Heather Hoen. Now most are failing.
One of two heating units in the multipurpose room is out, she said. Units for rooms 7 and 8 – former classrooms off the hallway adjacent to the multipurpose room — failed in October. There is no heat in Room 3.
The condenser for room 4, which is used for a pre-school program failed early last year and was replaced, Hoen said. The heating unit for the Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program in the Commons basement is limping along after minor repairs, she said.
“They were all installed at the same time and so now they’re all failing at the same time,” she said. The units were designed for homes, she said, and their warranties expired after five years.
When needed for classes or other activities, Hoen has moved space heaters into rooms to keep people comfortable.
One of the decisions is whether to again go with 13 individual residentially-designed condensers, or install one larger commercial condenser to power all the heads. Airrow Heating of Newport has given the city a preliminary estimate of $45,000 to design and install a commercial system.
Its estimate jumps to $60,000 if the city wants a system that could also cool by exchanging air between rooms. Hoen said the Commons rarely needs to be cooled and when it does, it is simpler and cheaper to just open a window.
“I don’t see the need for it,” she said, but adding that ultimately City Manager Shannon Beaucaire and the City Council will make that decision.
Hoen has been keeping the Parks and Commons Commission up to date with her findings and on Thursday, the commission voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council that it go ahead with the commercial system that provides just heat. Commissioner Scott Gordon agreed with Hoen that the city would never recover the additional cost of adding the cooling component.
Just before its vote, Mayor John Moore urged the commission to move ahead with a decision so the council could get going as well, saying that the city is holding meetings and activities in rooms where people are wearing heavy coats or have groups surrounded by space heaters.
Hoen said the city has $50,000 in the Commons’ maintenance budget. It can use all or most of that to replace the heating system, or the City Council can decide to dip into its capital improvement funds to pay for all or part of the replacement.
Once the city decides on which type of system it can afford, Hoen will seek more bids in order to meet procurement guidelines for local governments or ask for a waiver because two other companies have already told her they don’t install commercial systems.
Hoen hopes to get a design and decision soon and the new system installed in February, depending on the contractor’s schedule.
“It hasn’t been horribly cold so far this winter,” Hoen said. “But we’re just limping along and I hope to have a good solution soon.”