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Item No: 71 <br />Meeting Date: August 26, 2013 <br />MOD � 7gtSVVfE_W <br />Type of Business: Council Business <br />lJjVjAdministrator Review: <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Nick DeBar, Public Works Director <br />Item Title/Subject: Resolution 8145, Authorizing HVAC Improvements for the Event <br />Center at the Community Center <br />Background: <br />The Community Center was constructed in three phases between 1997 and 1998. Construction for <br />the center utilized portions of the existing Bel -Rae Ballroom building that occupied the site prior to <br />construction. Unfortunately, there were a number of construction and design issues that occurred <br />during and after construction of the facility for these and other reasons. Since completion, there <br />have been many issues related to the HVAC system at the Community Center that have required <br />many staff hours and expenses to diagnose and repair, with some that seem to reoccur for <br />unknown reasons. In addition to spent time and costs to address these issues, there is an <br />"inconvenience" cost with those that work, visit, or rent the facility spaces. <br />At the time of construction, recommendations to revise HVAC equipment and systems were not <br />considered by the City Council in response to a blown project budget and cost over -runs. Staff <br />remembers being told by mechanical contractors on the job that the installed HVAC system "will <br />never work right' for the space requirements. No building space has shown this to be true more <br />than Zone 4 which encompasses the Event Center and adjacent hallways. This zone is served by a <br />15 -year old, 70 -ton, McQuay roof top unit (RTU) that is sized for full occupancy (400 persons) but <br />has limited features for appropriate climate control. These inadequacies prevent the ability to keep <br />humidity levels down and controlling comfort levels. In short, the RTU short cycles and <br />compressors do not run long enough to dry out the indoor air before reaching the temperature set <br />points. This results in the space being "cold and clammy" during cooling seasons and providing <br />conditions ripe for mold and mildew to grow. This has resulted in expenses with mold removal in <br />carpets and other surfaces on several occasions, including replacing the entire carpet on one <br />occasion. In 2012, the HVAC ductwork was also cleaned and decontaminated and ceiling tiles <br />replaced for a combined costs exceeding $50,000. <br />Public Works has spent countless hours meeting with a number of mechanical engineering firms <br />and mechanical contractors the past few years to address the HVAC deficiencies at the Community <br />Center — with special attention to the Event Center indoor air quality. RTU#4 and associated <br />controls have been inspected, tweaked, monitored, and adjusted to get things to work right. This <br />work has determined that the equipment is working correctly and operating per manufacturer <br />recommendations — which mean that the existing equipment will never work to provide a <br />comfortable indoor air environment. <br />Discussion: <br />Public Works staff has been working with Trane US, Inc. on issues related to the HVAC deficiencies <br />at the Event Center. Trane provided a proposal to upgrade the HVAC equipment to address <br />ventilation, comfort, and humidity issues in the Event Center (Zone 4). The scope of work is as <br />follows: <br />1. Replace the existing 70 -ton Rooftop unit with a Trane 50 ton roof top unit. The new unit was <br />sized based upon space usage and updated energy codes. All calculations were verified by <br />a third party engineering firm. <br />2. Genesis Air Cleaning will be incorporated into the ventilation system to provide active air <br />cleaning measures that will provide better air quality to the space and to take advantage of <br />