The field of potential contractors for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at Lehighton School District's middle and high schools could be widening again.

After more than a year working with Trane Comprehensive Solutions on an energy savings project, the board voted last week to seek other vendors who could supply the same services.On Monday, the board passed a 5-0 motion that essentially allows it to put the project out to bid, moving away from an energy savings, or ESCO, contract.Gloria Bowman, Wayne Wentz, Andrew Yenser, Larry Stern and Stephen Holland voted for the measure, while William Hill, Rocky Ahner, Lori Nothstein and Hal Resh abstained.Going with a traditional HVAC project would mean the district would need to pay for any additional change orders. That work would be guaranteed under an energy savings contract."Up until now, there has been no competitive aspect to this at all," Stern said. "Last week, we opened it up to other ESCO providers and now we can bid out individual HVAC contractors. That will give us the information we need to make a decision."Trane told the district that installation of a water-source heat pump system at both buildings would cost $11.5 million and monthly energy payments would actually increase by $46,000 a year for 20 years.Switching to a four-pipe, chiller boiler system, however, would cost $7.9 million to install, but annual energy payments would decrease by $73,000 for 20 years."If we put it out to bid, we would bid the traditional water source heat pump system," Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. "That is the type of system we currently have at the high school."Ahner said he wasn't sure if that was the best design for the district since it's heavy on the use of electricity, which is the most expensive utility in the borough."We hired Trane as the expert and now it's just like we aren't even listening to them," he said.Cleaver said four additional ESCO vendors have been in contact with the district about providing estimates for an energy savings project."They're all aware of our timeline."Lehighton received bids for the general construction, plumbing and electrical parts of the building renovation projects on July 29.It has 60 days from that date to accept or reject the bids."If we put the HVAC project out to bid and they all come back at $11.5 million, then we know we've got to change something," Stern said.