Local News
County votes to fix sheriff's A/C
Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today
Published: January 24, 2013
SEBRING Highlands County commissioners balked before finally contracting with Tampa Bay Trane to replace a constantly failing air conditioning component at Highlands County sheriff's office.Published: January 24, 2013
"I think it would have been smart to get a second opinion," Commissioner Ron Handley said, and then repeated that three times during a conversation with commissioners and County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete. Handley also suggested Gavarrete should contact local Trane dealers instead of the Tampa franchise.
"Are we sure this is the best possible deal?" Chairman Jack Richie asked. Richie and Commissioner Don Elwell voted against the contract, so the motion carried 3-2.
Gavarrete recommended the $3,300, 10-year maintenance agreement when compressors failed three times after being installed April 29, 2011. The compressor was under warranty, Trane said, but the labor was not.
The chiller still worked, Gavarrete said, but the unit has been operating without a compressor since October.
Gavarrete explained to commissioners the compressors may have failed because "there were no inspection or maintenance tickets or unit logs since the unit startup."
"I didn't even know they were discussing it," Sheriff Susan Benton said Wednesday. "They've been pointing fingers for two years over this: the architects, the engineers, the poor schlubs who installed it; it never has worked right."
Commissioners agreed.
"That knucklehead group that put it in – that has been a problem from the start, so I hope they won't be associated with it," Commissioner Greg Harris said.
"This is embarrassing," Richie said. "We have to solve this problem so it doesn't continue any longer."
"We're fortunate we're in the winter here," Richie said. "We have to be careful not to jeopardize the operation over there."
Commissioners voted 5-0 to extend the deadline to designate the Sebring- Avon Park Urbanized Area in a Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
At stake, said Special Projects Manager Chris Benson, are the federal grant dollars that go to cities and counties.
The City of Sebring preferred to join with Avon Park; the commissioners seemed to favor allying with five southern counties: Hardee, DeSoto, Okeechobee, Glades and Hendry.
Several of Highlands County's most conservative citizens spoke against the alliance, seeing it as a United Nations conspiracy to erase Avon Park, Sebring and Lake Placid from the map. One, John Drennan, thought the striping for bicycle paths is also an Agenda 21 plot.
gpinnell@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5828