Construction Project Continues at Mineral County School District
As Superintendent of Mineral County School District, I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to the citizens of Mineral County for voting in favor of the school bond issue on the 2016 November ballot. As promised during the campaign, we have committed every dollar of our school bond allotment toward the installation of a geothermal, ground source heating/cooling system throughout our school district.
Gone will be our obsolete diesel burning boilers that have been used the heat our High School, Jr. High, and District Office for the past 70 years. As well, gone will be the costly traditional propane heaters and A/C systems that have heated and cooled Hawthorne and Schurz Elementary Schools for the past 20 years. Our District will save nearly $100,000 per year on fuel expenses, boiler inspections, and repairs, and condenser replacements for aging A/C units.
We are currently undergoing a four-month construction project, managed by Sierra Eco System, which is working 24-hours a day and 7 days a week to install our new, and nearly 100% green energy system before the cold weather is upon us in November. Sierra Eco Systems are scheduled to drill 185 holes at a depth of 250-300 feet each before the deadline of October 31. Their goal is to drill in the late evenings and early hours of the morning on the west side of our school buildings when the sound will be deflected away from residential homes and into the west desert. There may be some noise throughout the nights, but we are striving to minimize that noise as much as possible.
I would appreciate the patience from our community while this project nears completion. Most of the drilling in October will occur at Schurz Elementary where the school is already well separated from any residential area and the noise should not be an issue for our Schurz residents. After completion, our students will benefit from safe and efficient green energy in MCSD for many generations to come.
Walt P. Hackford
Superintendent
Mineral County School District
