NMS Steam Pipe Project Under Budget

By Eliza Hallabeck

Since a leaking steam pipe was found at Newtown Middle School in January, the project of fixing it has been ongoing. At the Board of Education’s meeting on Tuesday, November 18, School Business Director Ronald Bienkowski announced the project is close to finished, and it will be in under budget.

“We’re about 97 percent complete,” said Mr Bienkowski.

“Based on the low bid budget, we were expecting to spend $635,000 approximately, which is about $214,000 under the budget of $850,000. It looks like the final expenses will come in about $551,000, almost $299,000 under the budget we were expecting,” Mr Bienkowski told the school board.

As reported previously in The Bee, on January 15, Gino Faiella, the school district’s superintendent of building and grounds, announced that he had found the leak in a steam pipe at Newtown Middle School. The underground pipe had been leaking since mid-November 2007, costing the district about a $100 a day in fuel. The broken pipe also made classrooms on the school’s ground floor uncomfortable.

The leak posed no threat to students. As Mr Faiella told The Bee at the time, he estimated that the pipe was about 20 years old, and he said it was easy to understand why it was leaking, given the condition of the pipe.

An immediate phone call was made by Mr Faiella to a mechanical contractor, and Mr Bienkowski said the district hired engineers to examine long-term solutions.

The Board of Education approved the bid for the middle school steam pipe project in July, and during the meeting Mr Bienkowski told the board that Titan Mechanical Contractors of Manchester had submitted the lowest bid package.

“They obviously have the manpower to hit it, and hit it hard,” said Mr Bienkowski during the July meeting.

The steam pipe is located at the back of the school near the school’s cafeteria, and construction to fix it has constrained students from using the outdoor space near the cafeteria during open school time.

“The firm that completed the project, Titan Mechanical, was simply an excellent firm,” Mr Bienkowski said.

Mr Bienkowski said during the board’s last meeting that Titan Mechanical was good with the students, talked to the students, and always answered any questions.

“I’m pleased to report this. We’ve gone through this rather difficult project from the beginning,” said Mr Bienkowski. “Last year at this time we were trying to locate where the leak was. We were spewing steam out into the atmosphere, and we had no idea what was going on. As we sit here today, before the main heating season begins, everything has been resolved. And we saved the town close to $300,000.”

The board clapped in response to Mr Bienkowski’s news.

“It’s great to have something that comes in under,” said Board Chair Elaine McClure.