Palmerton moves ahead with window replacement

The debate over operable versus inoperable windows for an upcoming Palmerton Area High School project has been settled.

District officials announced this week that the 152 windows being replaced as part of an energy savings project will not open. The news comes two weeks after the board debated the pros and cons of both options at a workshop session.

A recommendation for the inoperable windows came from both Palmerton’s facilities director and its engineer of record.

“One of the main things that played a role here is that this is an energy savings project and if we would have classrooms where teachers are opening windows, that could violate our agreement because it would impact the net savings,” interim Superintendent Dr. Al Lonoconus said.

The McClure Company, which is overseeing the project, is guaranteeing the district a certain amount of money in energy savings, a dollar figure that will be provided at a future meeting. If that dollar amount is not met, McClure is responsible for the difference.

Going with inoperable windows will also result in a cost savings for the district at an estimated $1,000 per window.

“Saving $152,000 is a no-brainier to me,” Director Earl Paules said. “I get it. We’re old school. We still like to hang our clothes out on the line to dry. But this is a lot of money we’re talking about that can be used for our students in other ways.”

In terms of safety, Lonoconus said the windows will likely be too small for anyone to fit through anyway should they be trying to escape a classroom, but it also keeps unwanted people from coming in from the outside.

At the workshop, board member Audrey Larvey expressed concern for the students should the HVAC system fail and there was no opportunity to open a window. Joe Faenza, facilities director, said the high school has two chillers, both of which could carry the building should one fail.

“We also have the ability, should the chiller fail, to program the outside air vents to 100 percent, when they are 10 percent normally,” he said. “That would allow us to create air flow from the outside.”

Two weeks ago, the district tabbed Hershocks Inc. as the contractor for the high school window and door replacement, but had to backtrack on the move Tuesday night.

‘We hit our first hiccup with the project,” Alyssa Wingenfield, account executive with the McClure Company, told the board and meeting attendees. “Hershocks requested to withdraw its bid following a site visit last week. I contacted our other bidder, Penn Builders Inc., and I’m confident they have the full scope of work and they want to get started right away.”

Palmerton approved a notice to proceed Tuesday that allows McClure’s team and Penn Builder’s team to begin work on engineering.

Penn Builders also completed a window replacement at the district’s junior high school several years ago. That was not an energy savings project and did include operable windows.

Wingenfield said earlier this month the project timeline calls for a final project cost and energy savings review and potentially a board action to approve the project in March.