For the second time in 12 months, the 5-year-old police and fire station has had a major failure in its heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
Fire Chief Mike Howard, who is in charge of the building's maintenance and repair, told selectmen this week that a compressor in one of the building's rooftop units suffered a "catastrophic failure" last month, resulting in some air conditioning problems on the police side of the building.
But Howard said beyond the air conditioning issues, the problem was exacerbated when officials had a hard time finding replacement parts for the unit.
"It took 10 full days to get the parts and get it back in service," said Howard.
Howard now wants to have a meeting with town officials to talk about the issue and what to do if compressors in the other rooftop units begin to fail.
"We are very concerned about what we're going to do moving forward," said Howard.
Howard said the many of the units are 6 years old and are no longer under warranty. He said the compressor unit cost roughly $40,000, not including the labor costs to fix it.
Selectwoman Helen Donohue said she's concerned that two of the units have failed within a year and that it might point to a durability or quality issue.
"It seems odd to me that they wouldn't last longer than that," said Donohue.
Howard said he doesn't have an answer to that question, but agreed it could be a real problem, especially as replacement parts get harder to find.
"We need a long-range plan to be able to get parts in a timely manner," said Howard.
Howard said he hopes to report back to selectmen with a recommendation by the end of August.
Other repairs to the station are progressing well, Howard said. The $16 million Nahatan Street station opened in summer 2003, but had problems that spurred the town to fire, and then sue, the general contractor. The contractor claimed the town wrongfully terminated the contract and owed the company for unpaid bills. In 2006, the American Arbitration Association ruled Norwood owed the construction company $772,000, largely from unpaid bills and increased costs due to change orders.
Howard, the Permanent Building Construction Committee and the Board of Selectmen have been working to fix issues at the station, including the heating and ventilation system, problems with the plumbing and leaking windows.
Last month, Howard said a cracked furnace boiler was replaced. The boiler was under warranty, but the town had to pay the cost of labor.
"I think the vast majority of our warranties have expired," said Howard.
Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or bfalla@cnc.com.
