PARIS — Selectmen gave interim Town Manager Sawin Millett the green light Monday night to get the original oil boiler at the Mildred M. Fox School certified and licensed while town staff continue to monitor the unit for any issues.

The newer pellet boiler went completely down at the school at 10 E. Main St. on Jan. 3 and Oxford Hills Christian Academy Administrator Steve Holbrook had to cancel school the following two days because there was no heat in the building. Since Jan. 6, students have attended school at the South Paris Baptist Church.

“They’re there for … all of this week,” Millett said, adding Holbrook told him they could hold school in the church for the following week as well. “It has given us a little bit of a reprieve. … They want to get back into the building.”

Millett previously said the pipes didn’t freeze because of space heaters. After three days with low heat, the building’s original 1965 American Standard oil boiler was fired up. On Monday, a photocell was installed to “serve as a stopwatch for any sort of leakage,” or other possible issues with the unit, he added.

Board Chairman Mike Risica wanted to know how much has been spent on the project thus far.

“We spent a little over $3,000 to keep the building warm,” Millett said. “Think of the consequences if we had done nothing.”

When the original boiler was taken out of service three years ago, SAD 17 Superintendent Rick Colpitts previously said the district tried to save taxpayers money by not upgrading the boiler and instead rented a pellet boiler and purchased the fuel to run it.

The town reacquired the Fox School in July from the district and took over the fuel contract. In November, the town was informed the company no longer wanted to provide pellets for that boiler and offered to purchase it. Selectmen unanimously rejected the offer.

In an email to Millett, James Reid Heating Inc. of Hebron noted issues with the original oil boiler, including providing ventilation for the abandoned oil tank in the basement, protecting the underground oil lines, and installing a modern remote breaker panel. He estimated it would cost roughly $30,000 to replace the boiler with a comparable Burnham Steam Boiler.

“Our heating guy said he can accomplish that in the cost he has already estimated,” Millett said about bringing the oil lines up to code.

He said he wanted to get the original boiler approved by the town’s insurance and certified for full-time use.

“Before I say to Steve Holbrook, ‘Hey bring your kids back,’ I want to make sure we have a licensed product,” Millett said.

To fix the pellet boiler, Steven Healy of Turner, who maintains it, gave an estimate of between $1,600 and $1,700 for parts and labor, according to an email to Millett. The interim town manager previously said corrosion on the boiler caused the grate system malfunction, which brings in and removes pellets from the unit. There’s between seven and nine tons of usable pellet fuel left, which equates to 17 days of continuous operation, Healy wrote. 

Millett said he’d like to fix the pellet boiler and use it as a backup heating system, but wouldn’t do so until getting a solid estimate and approval from selectmen.

“I would like to spend the least amount of money on this building as we possibly can and get it sold as fast as we can,” Risica said.

At the same meeting in November, selectmen unanimously voted to put the Fox School on the market. Holbrook previously said the academy is looking for a new home.

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