Schuylkill seeks coal for new flex boilers

Schuylkill County officials are searching for coal to burn in new flex boilers at the courthouse and prison.

“We’re going to have new coal boilers ... they should be more effective,” Bill Liptok, director of public works, said.

The new boilers can burn gas or coal — a first in Schuylkill County.

“We’ve never had gas, so we don’t know how it will be in the winter,” Liptok said.

Liptok asked the county commissioners at their meeting Wednesday to allow him to advertise for coal bids. The commissioners will vote on it next week.

He acknowledged county officials have had a hard time finding coal vendors over the past several years.

Last year, Liptok said the county used 488 tons of coal in the courthouse and prison combined. He said the coal was provided by Frackville coal dealer Roy Manbeck at $145 per ton.

A contract, Liptok said, will allow county officials to buy “as little as we need, up to 1,000 tons.”

Fewer tons could be used this year thanks to the new boilers, a key part of the county’s $2.6 million energy deal with PPL, approved by the commissioners last September. A savings of about $1 million over 15 years is anticipated.

The idea, Liptok said, will be to use gas heat during mild months and coal heat during the frigid days of winter.

Boiler replacement work has begun, and Liptok said work on underground gas lines will be done over the summer.

“We want all of this in place for the upcoming heating season,” he said.

Liptok added that the county also will seek natural gas providers through the bidding process.

$3 million gain

After the meeting, commissioners Chairwoman Mantura M. Gallagher said the county retirement fund reached $76.6 million in May, its third consecutive month of increases.

The fund, which pays out to more than 400 retired county workers each month, had fallen to $67 million earlier this year due to the economic recession. It had seen highs of more than $90 million last year.

The fund gained just under $3 million in May, rising from $73.9 million at the end of April.
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