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Record of Proceedings

North Salem Town Board Approves $169,485 Heat Pump Bid at March 3, 2026 Special Meeting

Town Board & Boards — Tuesday, March 3, 2026

BodyNorth Salem, New York

SessionTown Board & Boards

DateTuesday, March 3, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 10:50

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:10

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and all the so uh thank you everybody for coming today.

0:25

We uh as you know we had several people bidding on the HVAC stuff, the uh heat pumps, and this is for three owlens for annex for the um the Lancey Hall, and that's

Speaker 2

0:40

we we we

Speaker 1

0:41

so what we have is we have money uh grants for the the uh geothermal heat pumps and genetic talked to them, they said yeah, send us the contract, and we'll well right now we still don't have them for the regular heat pumps,

Unassigned speaker

0:52

but

Speaker 1

0:53

we're somewhat confident anyway.

0:55

They're they're gonna move the money over for us.

0:57

It's not moved over yet.

Unassigned speaker

0:59

So

Speaker 1

0:59

what we're doing is we're spending in this 169,485 dollars.

1:04

We had five bids.

1:05

We have one for 169, one for 192, one for 195, one for 265, one for 920,000.

1:13

He's like throwing dart against the wall,

Speaker 2

1:15

I guess.

1:15

I

Speaker 1

1:15

don't know.

1:15

Yeah, I don't think he did too much work.

1:18

Um three were good.

1:21

The 1901 sixty-nine, the one ninety-two, and the two sixty-five.

1:25

The other one ninety-five was not good, he was missing things, and the 920 stuff said about 920.

1:33

Um, I called up the references, uh, they were good.

1:36

I still have one more guy I'm trying to get in touch with.

1:38

Uh, we're playing telephone tag, but I expected he wouldn't, they wouldn't give me the reference, but wasn't good.

1:43

Um I did have um I did have uh Larry Nisman from Phoenix um whatever Phoenix, what is it called?

1:56

Phoenix Audiovisual Phoenix, what?

Speaker 2

2:00

Oh, yeah,

Speaker 1

2:01

I did have Larry Nisman from Phoenix Air Conditioning, whatever it's called, I forget Phoenix Inc.

Speaker 2

2:07

Phoenix Mechanical.

Speaker 1

2:10

Thank you.

2:10

Okay, I wasn't sure.

2:11

Um I started looking at them, and the codes were so cryptic after a while that I I gave up and I said, could you please come in and take a look at these?

2:19

And he said you charge me like 75 bucks for an hour or so, which is well worth it because he went through all of them.

2:24

He was there for two hours or three hours, something like that.

2:27

And he said the 192 is the best written bid.

Unassigned speaker

2:33

He

Speaker 1

2:33

said these ones are good.

2:35

The 192, they sent their diamond certificate for Mitsubishi.

2:39

This is Bosch and Mitsubishi in it.

2:41

Bosch

Speaker 3

2:42

outside and Mitsubishi inside.

Speaker 1

2:43

No, no, the split units are Mitsubishi.

2:46

The the Lancey Hall ones, they're not split units.

Speaker 3

2:49

Okay.

Speaker 1

2:49

They're they're Bosch.

2:50

Okay.

2:51

And uh they're both very good Bosch and very good Mitsubishi.

2:56

I was told from a uh from a heating point of view, the Mitsubishi's hyperheat, which is what all of these are, are actually better units.

3:06

Um they'll just heat down to a slightly lower temperature.

3:11

So uh I did talk to the owner of the business, and I asked him about he gave me his certification forms for Mitsubishi because Larry told me, you know, the diamond heat guys are probably diamond elite, are better than the uh the guys without the diamond elite.

3:26

So I called up and I said, and I did not have that in the uh

Unassigned speaker

3:31

in

Speaker 1

3:31

the bid, you know.

3:33

I just said these are the ones or equivalent.

3:35

So I called them up and I said, if you do Dakon or something else, you know, that's what you think is better.

3:39

They said, no, we're switching over to Mitsubishi because Dakon has bought some companies, retail companies, and they're they're selling cheaper stuff right now.

3:47

He said Mitsubishi is by far the better units, that's the ones we're installing.

Speaker 3

3:52

Dakin owns a mana now, right?

Speaker 1

3:54

They bought a couple of other companies and they're selling things with a bunch of different names on them.

3:58

So he said Mitsubishi is pretty much focused on on heat pumps.

4:01

Okay.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████████95%

Procedural██5%

Summary of Proceedings

North Salem Town Board Special Meeting - March 3, 2026

The North Salem Town Board met in person and via Zoom on March 3, 2026, at 6:30 PM for a special meeting. The sole agenda item was a resolution to award a contract for purchase and installation of eight high-efficiency heat pumps in three town buildings. After reviewing five bids and an independent technical assessment, the board awarded the contract to HVAC Specialist, Inc. at a price not to exceed $169,485.

Discussion: Award of Heat Pump Bid

The board reviewed bids of $169,485, $192,000, $195,000, $265,000, and $920,000. A board member said the $195,000 bid was incomplete and described the $920,000 bid as unserious, while three bids were considered credible.
The board member reported checking references; the references were favorable, though one reference was still not reached. The low bidder was slow to respond in part because the signatory, Cliff, was on his honeymoon in Hawaii; after a certified letter was sent, the company provided the requested information.
The board obtained independent review from Larry Nisman of Phoenix Mechanical for roughly $75 an hour. Over two to three hours, Nisman called the $192,000 bid the best-written bid but said the bids were good. The board member noted Mitsubishi HyperHeat units are considered strong units that heat to lower outdoor temperatures.
The selected bidder's owner said his company is switching to Mitsubishi because Daikin acquired retail companies and is selling less expensive products, and that Mitsubishi is more focused on heat pumps. The bidder has Mitsubishi certification and is in the process of obtaining elite certification.
Project scope discussed: two new units at Lancey Hall to replace old AC units; two small Mitsubishi units in the basement vault for temperature and humidity control; replacement and relocation of two heat pumps from under the roof edge to improve performance and avoid ice; and an additional mini-split for hallways. The work totals eight heat pumps across three town buildings.
Funding: the town has grant funding for geothermal heat pumps; the grant administrator said funds can be moved to the regular heat pump work, but that transfer had not yet been completed.
A board member said that if funding becomes available, a change order might add replacement of two additional units at Lobdell at an estimated cost of roughly $40,000.

Key Outcomes

The board passed a motion authorizing the award of the bid to HVAC Specialist, Inc. for the purchase and installation of eight high-efficiency heat pumps for three town buildings, as written, with the price not to exceed $169,485. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote with no stated opposition.
The board then voted to adjourn; the meeting ended.

Meeting Transcript

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and all the so uh thank you everybody for coming today. We uh as you know we had several people bidding on the HVAC stuff, the uh heat pumps, and this is for three owlens for annex for the um the Lancey Hall, and that's we we we so what we have is we have money uh grants for the the uh geothermal heat pumps and genetic talked to them, they said yeah, send us the contract, and we'll well right now we still don't have them for the regular heat pumps, but we're somewhat confident anyway. They're they're gonna move the money over for us. It's not moved over yet. So what we're doing is we're spending in this 169,485 dollars. We had five bids. We have one for 169, one for 192, one for 195, one for 265, one for 920,000. He's like throwing dart against the wall, I guess. I don't know. Yeah, I don't think he did too much work. Um three were good. The 1901 sixty-nine, the one ninety-two, and the two sixty-five. The other one ninety-five was not good, he was missing things, and the 920 stuff said about 920. Um, I called up the references, uh, they were good. I still have one more guy I'm trying to get in touch with. Uh, we're playing telephone tag, but I expected he wouldn't, they wouldn't give me the reference, but wasn't good. Um I did have um I did have uh Larry Nisman from Phoenix um whatever Phoenix, what is it called? Phoenix Audiovisual Phoenix, what? Oh, yeah, I did have Larry Nisman from Phoenix Air Conditioning, whatever it's called, I forget Phoenix Inc. Phoenix Mechanical. Thank you. Okay, I wasn't sure. Um I started looking at them, and the codes were so cryptic after a while that I I gave up and I said, could you please come in and take a look at these? And he said you charge me like 75 bucks for an hour or so, which is well worth it because he went through all of them. He was there for two hours or three hours, something like that. And he said the 192 is the best written bid. He said these ones are good. The 192, they sent their diamond certificate for Mitsubishi. This is Bosch and Mitsubishi in it. Bosch outside and Mitsubishi inside. No, no, the split units are Mitsubishi. The the Lancey Hall ones, they're not split units. Okay. They're they're Bosch. Okay. And uh they're both very good Bosch and very good Mitsubishi. I was told from a uh from a heating point of view, the Mitsubishi's hyperheat, which is what all of these are, are actually better units. Um they'll just heat down to a slightly lower temperature. So uh I did talk to the owner of the business, and I asked him about he gave me his certification forms for Mitsubishi because Larry told me, you know, the diamond heat guys are probably diamond elite, are better than the uh the guys without the diamond elite. So I called up and I said, and I did not have that in the uh

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