Mayor, Board of Ed Consider Merging Maintenance In Light of School Overheating, Flooding

The HVAC firm  at the Joseph Melillo Middle School handed in its report card Monday. It itemized all that was done to correct the problem, which was being combated by opening windows and running air-conditioners. After looking at the report, local officials said the myriad problems found there -- as well as the ongoing  -- are due to lack of care, and are entertaining merging the school and town maintenance operations.

"We have been aware of the maintenance problems at the Board of Education for the last few years," said Mayor April Capone Almon. "We've also been instructed that the Board of Education is separate from the town and they have their own maintenance department and they'll call us if they need us. They never call us."

She said combining the operations could be considered during the upcoming budget season.

School Board Chair Nick Palladino said he's open to the idea.

"My concern was that somehow the maintenance didn't get followed through as it should have," said Palladino. "I'm all for doing all we can to get the job done efficiently and cost-effectively. We have to understand this is taxpayer money. We want to do away with duplication of service."

A message left for school Buildings & Grounds Director Joe Travaglino was not returned.

Ed Pascale, service manager for the George Ellis Company, the HVAC firm, said roughly 25 classrooms were inspected on one of the middle school's four wings.

His report card said 12 "bad" thermostats and three malfunctioning valves had to be replaced; dirty coils and baseboard radiation needed vacuuming; and air leaks were found, which caused the valves to stay open.

Pascale said new thermostats would be installed on Martin Luther King Day, when school is out.

In addition, he said, all 25 rooms had plugged filters that had to be pulled. "They were doing more harm than good," said Pascale. One classroom has no thermostat and all thermostats are now set at 70 degrees. (On the initial inspection Dec. 23, Pascale found another culprit of the overheating dilemma: The boiler room and the controls put on override, causing the boilers to constantly run.)

Capone Almon said whether or not the maintenance operations merge, a maintenance plan needs to be put in place -- as she said was done when she first won the mayor's seat in 2007.

"As far as the filters, there's not even an excuse for that," said Capone Almon of the middle school report. "I had filters, when I came to the town of East Haven three years ago, that hadn't been changed in five years."

Pascale said it would be difficult to guess how long it's been since maintenance was performed on the middle school heating system since mechanical parts, such as radiators, can fail at any time. Or, he said, the system could have been checked recently but the problems ignored.

While there's no way to estimate the cost of the wasted oil that overheated the school, Pascale said by fixing the heat, "we know we're saving a lot. That's for sure."

The original estimate from Ellis was about $10,000 -- $5,000 for labor, perhaps another 5 grand for parts. But according to the report: "Due to unforeseen field conditions ... we have run a little over our budget estimate." Final bill to be submitted.

The wing that Ellis inspected was chosen at random, so it makes sense that the same problems exist in the other three wings, said Ralph Mauro, deputy director of town affairs who oversees Public Service.  He said it's up to the school board to decide whether to do the rest of the school.

Mauro said Board of Ed permission wasn't needed for the first wing because the repairs were considered an emergency and it was a good time to make them since school was out for the holidays. The decision was made jointly by school and town officials.

Next up: the leaky high school gym

Ray Pompano, chair of the Board of Ed's Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee, said snow getting into the high school gym vents and then melting and dripping on the hardwood floor is nothing new. But he thought it was taken care of last year when the water-ruined portion of the floor was replaced.

But it happened again after the recent snowstorm, as .

"This has been an ongoing issue," said Pompano. "We were told it was resolved last year. Obviously, we were given false information. We wouldn't have spent money on a new floor if we had known."

He said he plans to put the maintenance problems on the agenda at the next Buildings & Grounds meeting, either Thursday or next Tuesday.

Palladino said combining the school and town maintenance functions would save money, especially if there were just one director and one central location. The mayor suggested the Public Service garage behind the police station on North High Street.

Palladino said the saved money could go toward creating the all-day kindergarten that's been talked about. He guesstimated that it would cost $400,000 to get it  going the first year, as portable classrooms would have to be purchased. And then less money the following years.

Capone Almon said she feels the merger idea is a real possibility. She said she has a good working relationship with the school board, which "understands" the severity of the maintenance deficiencies.

"They were just as enraged" as she was upon finding out about the conditions at the two schools, she said.

Meanwhile, the mayor said school Buildings & Grounds "continually asks for more money but they continue to waste the resources."

Palladino said he asked Travaglino for his maintenance records and hasn't yet received them.

But, the board chair said, "Our main concern is the education for the children. Obviously, buildings have to be maintained and we need to feed students.

"But I'm here not to play politics. I'm not here to point fingers. Let's go forward," he said.