After more than a year of effort and multiple town meetings, the Bremen town office will be getting a new boiler.
At a special town meeting on Aug. 4, a handful of residents approved spending up to $45,000 from the town’s capital improvement fund to replace the building’s old heating system with a new propane boiler, electronic controls and electronic heating zone valves and a separated water heater to eliminate summer boiler use.
At a recent meeting of the Bremen Board of Selectmen, the town opened four bids on the project ranging from $30,906.80 to $43,738. Selectmen will go over the bids with the engineer hired to work on the project before selecting a bid.
The total cost of the project will also include additional costs for engineering and other planning work, as well as $4174 to buy and install a new propane tank, selectmen said.
The struggles to gain voter approval for a new boiler last year arose from a perceived lack of due diligence on the part of the selectmen, residents said. This year, the town hired an engineer to oversee the project and brought in representatives from Efficiency Maine to conduct a study of the building.
Two of the three current Bremen selectmen – Tom Kostenbader and Hank Nevins – voted against the new boiler at a special town meeting last summer.
“Last year, we were here without our ducks in a row,” said Wendy Pieh, Chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen. “We’re going to end up spending more, but we’re going to do a better job.”
Nine residents, including one non-voting resident, attended the meeting, which lasted 19 minutes.
At the meeting, residents also approved taking up to $10,000 from the capital improvement fund to correct water problems in the basement of the town office; up to $31,000 from property revaluation fund for a revaluation of property values; $4490.59 from the capital improvement fund to insulate the attic of the town office; and authorizing the town to sell the fire department’s old rescue truck and appropriate the funds to the fire truck reserve fund.
In total, voters approved spending up to $59,490.59 from the capital improvement fund. Recent financial reports show a balance of just over $60,000 in that account, selectmen said.
