Millinocket company wins boiler contract

EAST MILLINOCKET – The town is poised to pay a Millinocket boiler manufacturer as much as $45,000 to replace a heating system in the town office, adjoining library and American Legion space, officials said Thursday.

A special town meeting will be held at 4 p.m. on Dec. 11 in the town office to seek residents’ permission to allocate the money from the town’s undesignated fund balance, which was at about $1 million as of Thursday, town Treasurer Beverly MacLeod said.

“We might not have to spend all of that money [$45,000], but we will have it if we do,” town Administrative Assistant Shirley Tapley said Thursday.

Paul Moscone Heating of Millinocket will get $27,697.50 for a new boiler to replace the 24-year-old Cleaver-Brooks oil burner that heats the areas and has a malfunctioning soot exhaust, Tapley said. The company was the lowest bidder when bids were opened on Dec. 1.

The rest of the money, Tapley said, will go toward paying Moscone for:

. Removing the Cleaver-Brooks and another furnace that burns coal from the basement of the building.

. Installing a new steel chimney liner and repairing the chimney in association with that work to ensure that the new boiler runs efficiently.

. Repairing a wall that would be cut through to remove the boiler, if necessary.

“We might not need to take it out through the wall,” Tapley said.

If residents approve the allocation, the work will be done as soon as possible afterward, Tapley said.

The Cleaver-Brooks burner has been working recently but has failed repeatedly before. If the burner fails before the installation of a new system, the town likely would buy space heaters or consider another stopgap measure to keep the office open, said Mark Scally, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

The town burned 5,432 gallons of heating oil from Oct. 1, 2007, to May 2008, Tapley and Scally said, and spends about $16,000 on heating oil for the building annually.