Two weeks before the rescheduled opening of bids for its middle and high school renovations, Lehighton Area School District's board of directors found out Wednesday night it might have to rethink its heating, ventilation and air conditioning plans.

John Linn, a representative for Trane Comprehensive Solutions, reported at a board workshop session that estimates for installation of a water-source heat pump system were coming in significantly higher than expected for the energy savings, or ESCO, project."For installation alone at both schools, we're getting numbers from subcontractors that are $500,000 to $600,000 over the estimated budget," Linn told the board. "What they are telling us is that this is a complex project that involved a lot of twists and turns in the duct work. It's a lot of added labor and cost."In the middle school, for example, crews would have to thread 6-inch pipe through I-Beams to get down the hallway."We could eliminate some insulation or get rid of some duct work and knock about $400,000 off the cost, but we're still not comfortable with these estimates," Linn said.Instead, Trane recommended the district look at installing a traditional chiller boiler system, which would also maximize energy savings.With no air conditioning currently in the middle school, Lehighton pays around $158,000 per year for energy in the building.Trane created a baseline of what it would be paying if it had air conditioning under its current system and it came to $250,000.With the water-source heat pump system, the district would only save $25,000."That still seems like a very high number over there to pay for energy," Linn said. "A water-source heat pump system shifts the load onto the electrical side."Being located in Lehighton Borough, which runs its own municipal utility, also hurts the district, Linn said."You would be paying $1.93 per square foot for energy, whereas if you were able to shop on the open market, it would be $1.25 per square foot," he said.Switching to a chiller boiler system would give Lehighton air conditioning in the middle school and bring them more in line with what they are paying now.On Wednesday, the board members authorized Trane to show them what the total cost would be to still go with a water-source heat pump system, but also come up with hard numbers for a chiller boiler system in time for its Aug. 17 workshop meeting.The district still plans to go ahead with the bid opening for the general construction, plumbing and electrical parts of the project at 1 p.m. July 29."You can always accept the low bids and issue a change order if things need to be altered due to a redesign of the HVAC system, or you can reject all the bids and rebid it after you make a decision on the HVAC," Karl Kauffman, project manager of Quandel Construction Group, told the board."Because you would be simplifying the system, it might actually make for easier jobs for the electrical contractor, but if you accept the bid, that is the cost you'll pay. They're not going to give you a price cut for labor costs."The middle school project includes a roof replacement, mechanical system overhaul, a secured building entrance, and exterior window and door replacement, among other improvements.Alternates for the project include double-tier lockers, new auditorium seats, a student dining patio, replacement casework in the science laboratories, and new rigging, lighting and sound equipment in the auditorium.Work at the high school includes a mechanical system overhaul, exterior facade improvements, a secure entrance, plumbing electrical upgrades and lighting upgrades.Alternates include an auditorium acoustical treatment, a metal roof replacement, snow guard replacement for the roof, selective flooring replacement, and a wrestling and weight room in the auxiliary gym.Estimates Lehighton submitted to the state were a base cost of $10.92 million for the middle school and $9.4 million for the high school.If all alternates were selected, the estimates jump to $11.8 million at the middle school and $11.55 million at the high school.Kaufmann said at least eight general construction, 10 plumbing and seven electrical contractors have requested bid specification documents and toured the sites.