Explanation

(This amendment requests funding to begin improvements and upgrades to the East Campus Steam Plant. The original East Campus Steam Plant was purchased from the City of Harrisonburg in 2017 and housed two trash-burning boilers and a steam turbine; it now houses two 35,000 pph boilers, three steam-turbine driven chillers, one electric chiller, and two cooling towers. All of the equipment was poorly maintained while in the city’s care. The existing boiler equipment and the #2 chiller is rundown and a serious risk for catastrophic failure which would cause the university to shutter buildings. It is critical to remove and replace the existing 35,000 pph boilers, #2 chiller immediately and associated equipment. Total project cost for this phase of work is $6,579,237 and includes $4,605,466 in VCBA bonds and $1,973,771 in auxiliary nongeneral funds. Future phases of this project will include the new boilers relocating to the future boiler building and an additional 80,000 pph boiler to increase current boiler capacity from 180,000 pph to 250,000 pph to cover existing and proposed future loads.)