Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Parks & Recreation Department

TO:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager
	Ernie Shaw, Interim Director Parks & Recreation
FROM:	Mark Hecker, Assistant Director, Parks and Recreation
DATE:	March 17, 2016
RE:	Indoor Aquatic Center – HVAC Unit Replacement

Project Description

Over the past two to three years, seasonal maintenance inspections of the three large HVAC units at the Indoor Aquatic Center have identified advanced deterioration of the internal components on these units due to the corrosive nature of the chlorinated air in the facility. As maintenance costs continued to rise on these 17 year old units, staff determined that we may need to begin the process of a scheduled replacement before the units completely fail, causing a shutdown of the facility. In January of 2016, staff contracted with Hoss & Brown Engineers for a complete systems analysis and design recommendation. The attached memo from H&B details their recommendations and estimated costs.

The engineers estimate to replace all three of the main units was approximately one million dollars. Of the three, it was determined that the unit in the leisure pool was most in need of replacement. With this in mind, staff entered a 2017 CIP funding request for $330,000 to replace the leisure pool HVAC unit and a 2018 CIP funding request for $660,000 to replace the two units on the lap pool side of the facility.

However, the spring maintenance and service inspection of the leisure pool HVAC unit identified significant issues on the heating side of the unit that will need to be addressed before next fall. Estimates to repair this unit are between $60,000-$70,000. These repairs will replace only components that are currently failing, and will not assure long-term reliability of the system. The repairs will require the unit to be removed from the roof so that heat exchangers, return air blowers, exhaust fan motors, drain lines and rusted deck pans can be replaced (see attached photos).

Staff Recommendation

Staff recommends moving the leisure pool HVAC replacement project up to 2016 and funding a $330,000 project instead of spending $60,000-$70,000 on a 17 year old HVAC unit. This unit in its current condition will not be able to fully heat the facility in the fall / winter months. It is also recommended that we bid this project so that it can be substantially completed during the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the facility in August. This will allow duct work modification to take place inside the facility while the pools are drained. This timing will also minimize service disruption to the pool patrons.

Project Funding Recommendation  

The $330,000 project could be funded using the money that is allotted annually in the Sales Tax Reserve Fund for the maintenance and repair of Parks & Recreation infrastructure and facilities. If we fund this larger project in 2016, we would defer the following seven Parks & Recreation infrastructure projects that were planned in 2016 using Sales Tax Reserve as the funding source.  

Indoor Aquatic Center	Bleacher modifications on mezzanine
Indoor Aquatic Center	Replace play features in leisure pool
Community Building	Replace sections of tile floor in basement
Community Building	Exterior tuck-pointing and concrete repairs ( Historic Restoration)
Community Building	Replace windows in office and meeting room
South Park	Replace 30 year old playground ( ADA compliance)
South Park	Install poured-in-place play surface under playground (ADA compliance)

Action Request

Authorize staff to develop specification and bid the replacement of the HVAC unit for the leisure pool at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center. Funding for the project will come from the 2016 Sales Tax Reserve Fund.