School board OKs energy upgrade work

The Board of Education has voted to accept a $3.15 million proposal from Honeywell to make energy performance upgrades in the district’s five buildings.

The board authorized the work in a 4-0 vote on Wednesday. Trustees Susan Gage, Damion Ferraro, Elena Maskell and Katie Emerson-Hoss were absent, and Trustee Krista Barringer abstained.

Whether a 4-0 vote of a nine-member board is sufficient for a motion to pass is a matter of some disagreement. Board member James Mooney said that, according to the school district attorney’s interpretation of state law, the approval was valid because a majority of the board was present. But the state Committee on Open Government cites a section of New York’s General Construction Law that says a majority of the “total membership ... would be needed to approve a motion or otherwise take action.” That would suggest five “yes” votes were needed.

Honeywell’s was the lowest of three proposals received by the board.

The others were a $2.1 million proposal from Trane and $2.11 million from Danforth.

The state Department of Education must sign off on the work before Honeywell can start the project, school board President Robert Thomann said.

The plan calls for Honeywell to:

• Upgrade lighting with LED fixtures, for $967,664.

• Upgrades environmental controls, for $850,572.

• Upgrade the boilers at Riccardi Elementary School, Morse Elementary School and Saugerties Middle School, for $833,125.

• Make building envelope improvements, for $101,381.

• Upgrade electrical outlet load-management systems, for $92,278.

• Manage desktop computer power, for $43,882.

Also included will be destratification fans ($144,619), piping and valve insulation ($96,994) and ventilation control systems ($19,129).