With several heat alerts being issued last summer, the library was concerned that all three air conditioning units on the roof are past their life expectancy and one of the three is malfunctioning. Back in July, the Nanuet Library Board met and discussed the failing air conditioning unit with Honeywell representatives, which is the company the library uses for its current units. Last Wednesday, they held a special meeting with Steve Spangler of Savin Engineers, P. C. to go over their proposal.

The unit is faltering due to the hot weather and last summer, a temporary solution being used is a continuous spray of water on the problematic unit to cool it. However, last August, water from the sprinkler caused water to seep through the roof and into the children's room, damaging a section of new books on one of the shelves. The project's cost is about $120,600, with $29,000 as the fee for Savin and the vote passed 3-2. Check back with Nanuet Patch later today for more details on the cost and the vote.

The board meets tonight at 7 p.m. The Proposal "We are in the process of doing major work around here and are looking to figure out how to stage and finance all of these projects," said Board President Ellen Kimmel. "The largest unit is the one that needs replacing."

"The whole proposal is to replace all three at the same time," said Spangler. He added that although there may be some cost savings of switching from electric units, which is the type of unit currently being used, "the savings are not huge for a building of this size. You would save money if you change from electric heat, but the payback is not great. I suggest you replace three units as they are. You have a nice set of boilers that seem to be functioning fine. Ripping it out and putting in a new system (is not worth it)."

The issue with the faltering unit is a specific coil, however, the board decided in an earlier meeting that it would not be wise to replace a coil in a unit that's already past its life expectancy. Also, the board decided that although two are still functioning, replacing all three would be best because not only are all three past their prime, the cost of bringing in labor and a crane a second or third time to replace the other two in the future is not financially feasible.

The air conditioning unit in the adult reference area is the original from the late 60s. The scope of services for the work: