School Administrative District 28 submitted the following press release concerning a ballot item that will appear on the Camden and Rockport warrant Nov. 7.:

Voters in Camden and Rockport have a referendum on this fall’s ballot to approve the school district securing a bond of up to $1.9 million to replace Camden Rockport Elementary School’s failed geothermal system.

Approving this referendum will result in virtually no future impact to taxpayers since the first payment of the bond was already built into the budget approved by voters. This referendum allows the district to move forward on the most cost-effective and reliable solution to this critical infrastructure need and ensure a functioning HVAC system for educators and students at Camden Rockport Elementary School.  

The Problem

When Camden Rockport Elementary School was designed, and then completed in 2009, a major component was a forward-thinking open loop geothermal system for heating and cooling.

The system included three supply wells and five return wells. The system functioned as expected for a few years before numerous costly problems began to arise. The most critical issue is that those five return wells will not accept the return water at a normal rate. It is an issue we have been dealing with for the past decade, and we have been limping along.

A few years ago, we installed a propane boiler as an emergency measure to help heat the building through the winter. But that was a band-aid, not a solution.

The geothermal system is only running at 25 percent capacity due to the inability of the return wells to accept water. The problem has to do with changes in the aquifer which we cannot control, and experts don’t fully understand since it is so far underground. 

In addition to that, the cost to maintain the system has been very high in terms of both time and money.

The water the school gets is very salty and shortens the life of the three supply well pumps. We have replaced them all once and only two are currently running.

The system also includes eight heat pumps that provide cooling and heating. Five of them are for radiant floor heat and three are for the air handlers. Only three of those eight are currently fully operational.

In addition to salty water, the water frequently carries excess debris. That debris gets caught in the supply line and clogs the coils in the heat pumps, requiring our maintenance staff to constantly flush the heat pumps. Thank goodness we have a licensed electrician and an HVAC professional on staff who have done yeoman’s work to troubleshoot and help keep the systems running at all. That has allowed us to limp along while we determined a long-term solution.

A fully operational HVAC system at CRES is critical to properly heat the facility in the winter and keep it cool enough in the warmer seasons. It is impossible to learn effectively in a building that doesn’t have a functioning HVAC system.

The Most Cost-Effective and Reliable Solution

Fixing the current system is not an option because of the aquifer problem. Even if it were a viable option, the frequency and cost of repairs would make it extremely expensive and unreliable. Therefore, the district has been working with multiple engineers over the past two years to analyze the problems and design a variety of potential solutions. District staff and the board have reviewed numerous analyses and have done due diligence by having multiple outside engineers help the district review the reports we received. 

After thoroughly evaluating numerous options, the district and board have determined that the best path forward is to cap the geothermal wells and install three additional propane boilers and an air-cooled chiller. This is the lowest cost option, is a straightforward solution using a reliable technology, and enables us to reuse most of the existing infrastructure from the geothermal system that is housed within the school. 

Other options considered included converting to a closed loop geothermal system and installing air to water heat pumps. The alternatives were more costly in both the short and long term. Going with all heat pumps also would have required us to install all new infrastructure within the school. A closed loop geothermal system was a much higher risk (and cost) option. Similar systems that have been installed in Maine have had limited success, are dependent on a very limited pool of available service professionals in New England, and would be a complex and expensive system to maintain.

Minimal Future Tax Impact

Knowing that we were faced with solving this problem, the district included $150,000 toward the first bond payment in this year’s budget.

If this measure is approved, the district could consider a term between 15 and 20 years depending on interest rates and the engineer’s determination on the useful life of the system.

Since drafting the referendum question, the district received more accurate cost information from the engineers. The cost is expected to be $1.4 million, instead of the $1.9 million listed on the referendum question.

At current rates, a loan term anywhere between 15 to 20 years would have an annual payment of no more than $150,000.  Since the loan payment is already built into the current budget, there will be no tax impact with the approval of this referendum.

Therefore, the referendum is really a question of whether to allow the school district to secure the loan. Again, with the payments already built into this year’s approved budget, there would be no further cost to taxpayers. The district must install a new heating and cooling system to keep the elementary school building operational. Adding three propane boilers and an air-cooled chiller is the least costly, most reliable and responsible solution available to solve this critical infrastructure need. 

Maria Libby is superintendent of School Administrative District 28 (Camden-Rockport K-8)