Having 500 or 600 angry people locked up behind bars without an ideal number of guards to watch them is bad enough – but no one wants to make matters worse by depriving those inmates of hot water.
That’s something Guilford County government is trying to address. On Wednesday, March 15, the county announced that it’s sending out an “Invitation for Bids,” for the jail in downtown Greensboro.
The Guilford County Purchasing Department handles these types of matters, in this case “Water Heater Replacement at the Guilford County Detention Center.” The job description reads: “The intent of this Invitation for Bid[s] is the demolition of all gas-fired water heaters, vent fans and vending, expansion tank, thermostatic mixing valves, associates’ piping, and supply fan, as well as the removal of existing stored water heaters; the installation of new gas-fired water heaters, vent piping, storage tanks, expansion tank, and electronic missing valves; integration of the new water heaters and electronic mixing valves with the existing building automation system. Electrical work for this project will include power wiring or the new plumbing equipment and the new DDC control system.”
There’s an added wrinkle as well and the county has notified the potential bidders of that detail: The Guilford County Detention Center in downtown Greensboro will remain full of inmates and staff while the somewhat complex job takes place.
The county is offering bidders a non-mandatory virtual meeting and a non-mandatory site walkthrough later this month.
The bids have to be received at the BB&T Building, 201 W. Market St., Suite 304, Greensboro, North Carolina 27401, by 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.
If your company is interested in replacing the water heating system for a jail full of inmates, the bidding documents, drawing, and specifications are available for viewing on Guilford County’s Vendor Self Service automated bidding system at https://guilfordcountync.munisselfservice.com
All documents and questions concerning the bid should be emailed to the office of the Engineer, R.C. Pritchard Engineering Services at 212 Kirk Road, Greensboro, North Carolina 27455 to the attention of Craig Pritchard, rcpritchardpe@gmail.com with a copy also going to Kevin Bates, pbates@guilfordcountync.gov and DG_Purchasing@guilfordcountync.gov.
A bid deposit isn’t required for this project.
Did anyone see this coming? Seems like it would be known that it was getting ready to go bad. I am sure they do regular maintenance, Does the Commissioners not plan for something like this? They should have an Emergency plan to make major repairs quickly. Folks get out and vote in your local Republicans to take care of problems like this. Just like in Washington the Dems. wont help Ukraine, wont fix our gas problem, supply chain problem. We will be in the crapper until Republicans take back over.
Republicans have excelled at hot air for decades. Didn’t know they branched out to Dihydrogen oxide.
Not enough Detention Officers, cold showers and a Department run by a Sheriff who was fired from his 2 previous Law Enforcement jobs. Good job Guilford County. April 28th starts early voting for the Primary. People get out and make changes for the better.
Save that money. According to Google: Cold showers are any showers with a water temperature below 70°F. They may have health benefits. Water therapy (also called hydrotherapy) has been used for centuries to take advantage of our body’s tendency to adapt to harsher conditions. As a result, our bodies become more resistant to stress.
Is THIS the building they’re going to tear down??? Maybe I’m confused.
No, its the new jail that opened up in 2012. 10 years old water heaters. That’s about the life expectancy. Somebody asleep at the wheel. They should have known it was close and a procedure should be in place to fix it right away. Commissioners to busy with giving Grants to non-profits that don’t do anything.
No, this is the $117 million Casa De BJ that just opened a few years ago. A true engineering marvel that needs constant repair and refurbishing the county doesn’t want to hear about or pay for. It stands to reason that the bigger the project, the bigger the headaches and this is no exception. I’m sure if the architects & engineer’s plans had been followed to the letter and tolerances kept tight there would be fewer issues, but anything of this magnitude is bound to have its share of issues. No fault of anyone but the commissioners who agreed to the contract & the contractors who did the work. That’s what happens with construction manager at risk jobs with big incentives for finishing on time or early and “saving money.” It sounded like a great thing at the time, but now we all know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Either you pay now, or pay later. The County unwittingly chose the latter. The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sting of high price is forgotten.
If they were not being arrested, would they have to worry about a cold shower?
They are arrested a cold showers probably better than they had before.
Leeches, bleeding and shock treatments used to be used as well. Feel free to use them in your search for mental health
FINALLY…..an RT item that might actually be useful to local businesses. I might come out of retirement to propose a solar thermal Transfer system with tankless gas backup if they have enough outside space for the collectors.