The Two Bridges Regional Jail Authority met in a special session Aug. 18 to consider an exception to its finance policy to grant an emergency contract to the Thayer Corporation to replace the jail’s heating and cooling rooftop system.

The system has been a problem almost since the jail opened, participants said. The company that produced it went out of business shortly after the air exchangers were installed. Since then, it has been difficult to get parts for the aging system, and the contractor who has been servicing the system told Administrator Mark Westrum recently that parts are now unavailable.

The finance policy states that purchases over $10,000 must go out to bid and three bids must be considered, but because this is an emergency, requiring the system to be replaced by Oct. 15 in order to be ready for the winter heating season, the Authority’s attorney said that the Authority could set aside the policy in this case. Westrum said that any new company would have to re-engineer the system, whereas Thayer Corporation is very familiar with the system and could order the parts right away. He said it would take about six weeks to complete the work, so haste was necessary to meet the target date.

Not everyone was in favor of setting the rules aside. David Sinclair, an alternate from Sagadahoc County, said it would be better to have an abbreviated request for bid process. “We could give vendors, say, a week to submit bids, and no one is going to be able to match what Thayer can do,” he said. “I’d prefer that to suspending the rules.”

Charles Crosby, Sagadahoc County Commissioner, who was also serving as an alternate at the meeting, reminded the Authority that the contract was quite large. “This is public money,” he said. “There is a political reality involved.”

Others were not as concerned. Mary Trescot said, “This qualifies as an emergency, as far as I’m concerned.”

After discussion, the Authority agreed to set aside the policy, and to award the $580,000 contract to Thayer. The Authority also agreed to finance the equipment through a loan from The First, which offered a 1.95 percent interest rate, the lowest of three options.

According to Thayer Corporation, the new system should return an efficiency savings of about $105,000 per year, about 15 percent annually. That is close to what the cost of the new equipment will cost every year. The total cost, including interest, is $609,612 over five years. If the Jail Authority realizes the expected energy savings, it would recoup $525,000 over the same period, leaving a difference of $84,612. The Jail Authority would have a net savings in year six, according to Westrum.

In addition, Thayer Corporation agreed to lower its fees charged for maintenance by about $5,000 per year.

Because the jail’s energy efficiency was ranked at only five percent, the jail did not qualify for assistance from Efficiency Maine, Westrum said.

Westrum updated the Authority on two contracts with Oxford and Kennebec counties to accept inmates. The Oxford County agreement is a one-year contract for $600,000 for up to 25 inmates. If more than 25 beds are needed, Oxford will pay for the additional inmates at a prorated scale. The Oxford agreement begins Sept. 1. The agreement with Kennebec County is for 10 inmates over a 10-month, two-week period, and will bring in $204,000. Kennebec County is adding units at its jail, so the short-term contract will relieve some of its overcrowding issues until the new units are ready. Kennebec inmates are already in TBRJ.

Westrum said that he had believed the Oxford County contract was ready to go, but got a call on Aug. 17 inviting him to come up and discuss the contract that day with the county commissioners. “Cumberland County had somehow obtained Two Bridges’ contract,” he said. “They offered to match what Two Bridges was offering, and then offered to take all the inmates Oxford had for $600,000.”

However, Westrum said the Oxford County commissioners had heard conflicting stories from Cumberland County before, and chose to go with Two Bridges.

“I see it as a win-win,” Westrum said. “We can hire the positions we’ve just unfrozen, we’ll have money in the budget that we can use to pay down the loan for the new system, and we won’t be as strapped going forward.”