Legislature OKs funds for jail oil burners

KINGSTON, N.Y. » Calling the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center “the gift that keeps on giving,” Ulster County lawmakers approved in a 17- 4 vote spending $54,000 for engineering and design work necessary to replace the failing oil burners at the county Law Enforcement Center with natural gas burners.

The spending is the next step in what will ultimately be a multimilliondollar project to replace the prematurely failing heating system at the jail.

The bonds approved by lawmakers Tuesday will enable the county to conduct the engineering and design work needed to replace the failing boilers.

Since 2018, the county has spent more than $600,000 on energy efficiency projects related to the heating system at the jail, including last year when the Legislature approved issuing $242,000 in bonds to bring the natural gas line from state Route 32 into the building, which houses the county jail and sheriff’s office and entered into a $220,000 contract with Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. to install the lines.

At the time, Deputy County Executive Marc Rider said bringing the gas line into the facility could help stretch the life of the boilers while the county explores alternative fuel options for the 227,000-square-foot complex at 380 Boulevard.

In an interview Wednesday, Rider said that “flex tech” study was conducted, but the county determined that converting the facility’s heating system to geothermal would be cost-prohibitive.

He said that through constant maintenance the county is able to keep the oil boilers functioning, but inefficiently.

“The boilers are in a state that they will not last much longer and this will help improve the efficiency,” he said Wednesday.

Rider said the county will likely look to replace the boilers in 2022.

While most lawmakers agreed to the spending request, all decried the fact that the county continues to pay for a facility that was arguably the most bungled construction project in the county’s history, coming in nearly $40 million over budget, more than three years behind schedule and was fraught with problems almost immediately upon opening in 2007.

“This is the gift that keeps on giving that we don’t want,” said Majority Leader Jonathan Heppner, D-Woodstock. “We