Thursday, October 16, 2008

Norton boiler installation completed? (hWg 43)

Councilman and PBC liaison, Matt Altieri, sent the following email to the Council on Wed Oct 15:

Hello Fellow Council Members

As a follow up to my liaison report I have some word on Norton Boiler. All three boilers are up and running and providing heat for the school. At least one boiler has been operational since Sept. 26. Due to a minor wiring problem there was a delay in getting all boilers on line-they were all put on line on Oct. 6th There is one more subcommittee meeting of the PBC that will go over certifications and reports and that will take place on Oct 17th. There were no problems reported with the boilers since they were put on line-as far as I know.

Best regards
Matt Altieri


But if you look at the history of hotWatergate, you'll see a "substantial completion" date and a "final completion" date. So I've already asked staff about that.

Furthermore, Councilman Altieri's description of a "minor wiring problem" is a red flag to me. How does one define "minor?" Considering this project has faced allegations of corruption... I want to understand this project well. (Hopefully we can get some new Council leadership next year and finally get to the bottom of this... as this Council has been derelict in its duties and taken a pass on truly understanding what happened. It's really disgraceful in my opinion that we never learned why The Corruption Memo was withheld for ten days... or what happened to The Disappearing Memo.)

As a reminder though, I don't view this mess as a result of any unilateral action by the Council's PBC liaison. Rather, it's an incomprehensible mess because of the refusal of this Council to ask real questions and get the truth, the whole truth and nothing, but the truth about what happened.

Tim White

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A minor wiring problem which causes a system to, shall we say, fail and remain in the OFF mode doesn’t sound too minor. If it were truly minor the boiler would have been operating - - maybe a battery back-up on a thermostat system would be in alarm etc. but the system would have been operating. Most electro-mechanical systems are designed with safety in mind so if when you hook it up you don’t do it correctly it won’t start. Trained, qualified, and state licensed tradespersons are not supposed to have such problems if they are doing everything the customer is paying for in the first place. Attention to detail is absolutely mandatory in the installation and operation of such systems and when that is the case the installed equipment starts up and runs the very first time, every time.

Next time, part of the bid evaluation effort should focus on the bidders need to perform additional out-of-scope work in order to bring a system on line at the initial start up.

Anonymous said...

Some work should go to local businesses and that I can agree with if the bid is within a close percent of the lowest bid( whatever the TC adopts) but this left a little doubt as to why the local bid was awarded. More honesty please.

Anonymous said...

I hear G. Bowman is delivering oil again with one of the trucks that was leased to F & S Oil. Hope he has sense enough to cover up the "F & S" on the side of the truck.

Anonymous said...

I actually received a mass mailing letter from them telling me of their wonderful oil delivery/heating system service business. They wanted me as a new customer. They had all sorts of eager, wonderful employees at their plumbing business ready to serve my oil heating needs. As one of those who suffered through F&S I sure won’t be signing up for anything associated with anyone who has been associated with F&S or Village or W-B any time soon. Wonder if Ned Bowman has anything to do with the new Bowman oil business in town located where Village Oil used to operate?

Anonymous said...

I heard at west main grill they are a standout company who specializes in full service and commercial heating and plumbing. I see there trucks all over the state. I am going to call for a heating oil price. i had fs oil and figure they can't screw me any worse than them. At least they are local.