MANSFIELD — Richland County Dayspring Assisted Living & Care Facility will have a warm winter this year.
County commissioners on Thursday awarded a $240,880 contract to Standard Plumbing & Heating — based in Canton with an office in Mansfield — to replace two aging boilers with three new ones.
Standard submitted the lowest of four bids submitted for the work at the 99-year-old facility at 3220 Olivesburg Road. Those bids were opened May 30.
Those bids were reviewed by H. Lewis Hinkle of HLH Engineering Consultants of Wooster, who received a $18,100 contract in December from commissioners to oversee the project.
Hinkle and Dayspring Executive Director Michelle Swank met with commissioners on Thursday to discuss the work to replace boilers installed in 1984.
Hinkle said bids came in “slightly over my estimate,” but within the allowable amount under state law.
“Standard is a very fine contractor,” Hinkle said.
Cavalry Mechanical from Lorain County had the second-lowest bid at $251,485. The other two bids were submitted by CW Mechanical & Plumbing from Norwalk ($274,130) and Shakley Mechanical Inc. from Mansfield ($294,493).
Hinkle said the three new, smaller boilers work more efficiently than the two units they replace when connected to the existing system.
“The tenants will really have no awareness that anything is different,” Hinkle said, adding that two of the new boilers can be used to heat Dayspring while the third operates as a backup.
“So if you lose a boiler, you still have two to carry the entire building,” he said.
Hinkle said the work must be complete by mid September under the terms of the contract.
The engineer will conduct site observation during the installation process of the new boilers.
Swank said the new boilers have sparked interest among the men and women who call Dayspring home.
“Residents ask me every day where we are on the boiler project,” Swank said. “They are excited about it.”
Dayspring will use a $110,000 federal Community Development Block Grant received in 2023 to help fund the work, according to Swank. The rest will come from Dayspring’s budget using money that has already been set aside for the project, she said.
She said May 30 that the current boilers are nearing “end of life” and the new ones need to be in place before winter.
“I can’t go (through) winter at Dayspring without heat for my elderly and disabled residents,” she said.
Swank said she currently has 55 residents at Dayspring, which has the capacity for 63.
Dayspring gets no money from the county’s general fund.
Instead, the facility relies heavily on a voter-approved property tax levy that provides more than 70 percent of its annual revenue.
Richland County voters in May 2023 approved the renewal of a five-year, 0.8-mill property tax, which generated more than $1.71 million in 2022 for the 226-acre Dayspring facility.
