Commentary

Working Together Will Insure Best Possible Outcome

Last week questions were raised about the accuracy of the school’s fuel oil consumption in relation to the CCS proposed bond projects. Our intent is always to be as transparent as possible and post corroborated documents to the website. To that end, a five-year summary based on fuel oil delivery, pricing and total costs incurred by Charlotte Central School was compiled and posted to the Bond Vote website sites.google.com/site/ccsbondvote/. Additionally, a five-year heating-degree-days report based on NOAA - Western VT data for the same period was posted.  
The information contained in Article 1 - Renovation Needs, that appeared in the last issue, is consistent with a documented report in the 2007 Feasibility Study - Mechanical Section 4.4, page 4.
GWR Engineering noted, “Fuel use data was provided for the past 5 years. The yearly average for winter operation from 2002 to 2005 was 28,150 gallons per year.  This equates to a usage of .32 gallons/sf/yr. Fuel use last winter dipped down to only 17,554 (.2 gallons/sf/yr) but it was a warm winter and the use of many of the unit ventilator issues (turning them off) may be impacting fuel use (as well as air quality!) Therefore, that year was not used in the average calculation and should not be used in future projections.”
No one can predict the volatility in the commodities market nor the severity of a winter, although we do know that CCS paid as much as $3.88/gallon in May ‘08 and took receipt of as much as 30,000 gallons in FY07 and our current contract is based on a fluctuating price plus a firm differential of $0.15 based on Journal of Commerce Oil Price Daily.
Additionally, the age and efficiency of our current boilers was also questioned. From the same section of the 2007 Feasibility Study, provided by GWR Engineering, “Two 1996 oil fired, cast iron, sectional boilers......appear to be in very good condition and properly maintained. Equipment such as this generally has a 40-60 year expected service life if properly maintained ...The rated gross output of each boiler is 2,232 MBH with a combustion efficiency of 82% ... There is room for expanded loads with the boilers as is.”
We appreciate our community members’ expertise and experiences, and working together will insure the best possible outcomes for CCS, our students and the taxpayers of Charlotte. I encourage you to visit the website sites.google.com/site/ccsbondvote/ developed to provide accurate information that includes full transparency to documents from engineers and architects in addition to a FAQ section. You may also access via the school’s website ccsvt.us and click on Bond Vote on the left tabs. Questions may be addressed to schoolboard@ccsvt.us
Community members are invited to join us on Wednesday, October 28, at 6:30 p.m. when we will repeat the forum that was held on September 28.

Patrice Machavern
Chair, Charlotte School Board