Table of Contents
The Municipal Building’s heating system is at high because its nearly 20-year-old boiler system is failing, according to city officials and HVAC professionals who studied the matter.
The City of Kenosha’s Municipal Building’s heating system is at high risk of failure because its nearly 20-year-old boiler system is breaking down. The Public Works Committee declared the matter an emergency Monday night so repairs or replacements could quickly begin.
The City of Kenosha’s Municipal Building, which houses most city departments, is in dire need of a new boiler system, according to city officials. An emergency replacement has been approved.
The Municipal Building, 625 52nd St., houses most of the City of Kenosha’s departments and business offices that are normally open to the public during business hours and during city meetings.
If heat goes out because the boiler system fails the building would close and many operations conducted inside would be paused or negatively impacted in other ways, according to city administrator John Morrisey.
The Municipal Building is serviced by two steam boilers that provide the three-story structure heat in the winter months. The two basement boilers were inspected in advance of the winter season and were determined to be “dangerous and inoperable.”
People are also reading…
“Although the city has engaged in regular maintenance and repair of the Municipal Building boilers, the boilers are failing, have reached the end of their useful life, and have created an emergency situation,” according to a resolution on the matter that came before the city’s Public Works Committee Monday evening.
The resolution continued: “The boilers in their present condition are in need of immediate repair or replacement because their use presents an emergent threat of damage to the Kenosha Municipal Building from potential fire and would endanger those working in or conducting city business in the Municipal Building.”
According to Brian Cater, director of the Public Works Department, Boiler No. 1 sprung a leak and was shut down. Boiler No. 2 “is on it’s last leg,” he said.
He asked for a State of Emergency to be declared to allow “us to speed the pace of replacing/ fixing the existing boilers in response to the inherent safety concerns.” The unanimously committee approved his request.
The city had contacted three HVAC companies for repairs or replacement of the boilers instead of opting for a public bid because that process would “require a delay in resolving the emergency conditions presented by the Municipal Building boilers.”
The Public Works Department chose Misurelli Sorensen for the job, which offered the lowest estimate of the three companies contacted. If repairs are required, the amount approved is $69,500 for each boiler and would take one to three weeks to complete. If replacement is required, the amount approved is $78,000 for each boiler and would take at least six weeks to complete.
The State of Emergency will be over when the boilers are fixed or replaced.
The Municipal Building was built in 1947 as a school for vocational and adult education, and was repurposed as a municipal office building in 1967. The failing boilers were installed in 2004.
“We’re running on luck,” Ald. Dominic Ruffalo said. “If the other (boiler) goes down, if this emergency doesn’t pass tonight, then what are we going to do? There’s no heat in the building. What about our employees, what about the citizens that want to come here. Pretty soon it’s tax time. Where the hell are people going to go pay their taxes. We have to do this. … The building’s old, the equipment’s old.”
