It’s been a relatively mild summer, with one major heat advisory roughly two weeks ago. And while many of us turn on the air conditioner once the temperature reaches 80 degrees, the Marshall Area EMS and Marshall Fire Department building, 119 Industrial Drive, has been without the comfort of air conditioning for most of the summer.
EMS director Scott Allain said when Cardinal Heating and Air Conditioning came to do its quarterly inspection of the building’s unit in the spring, it was discovered the air conditioner compressor was burned out.
Allain went before the EMS commission in May with a single bid, but protocol for a project of this magnitude requires three bids. Two more bids were received in time for the June meeting and the commission approved the $38,975 bid for the entire air conditioning system from Cardinal.
“That’s over half the budget for the public safety building, so it had to go to special assessment,” Allain said, which is done for projects outside of the normal operating budget.