Weakley County Financial Management Discusses Waiver Request from Trane

The HVAC project at Weakley County Schools, specifically Dresden Elementary and Westview High School, aimed at upgrading the HVAC systems in County School buildings, hit a snag last month when the supplier, Trane, failed to meet USDA grant requirements that at least 55% of the parts be American made. Despite initial assurances, Trane did not provide the necessary documentation to prove compliance.

To avoid delays, the State Comptroller’s Office agreed to either force Trane to obtain the required certification or to switch the financing method. The new plan ensures the county won’t spend more than it would have with the USDA grant.

County officials, including the bond counsel, the Comptroller’s Office, and County Attorney Allison Whitledge, worked together to finalize the process.

Trane agreed to reimburse the county or adjust fees if there were extra expenses beyond what would have been paid under the USDA grant.

At the County Financial Management meeting held Thursday, June 11, Weakley County Director of Finance, John Ligget stated that the waiver request had been filed and everyone signed off on it.

“So the USDA, their team that reviews these waivers has given them an initial look and had some additional information they were wanting. The initial response from that team was probably that that waiver was not going to be successful on the basis that it was filed. It was filed for availability of parts and components in the U.S.,” Liggett explained.

“The team indicated that they have reviewed a similar request recently and that that request was denied because they were able to find parts and components that would make it down,” Liggett said.

“The better way to request that waiver is for public interest. Just the fact that, you know, we've got children that are going to be without heat and air once school starts back if they don't get this waiver request approved,” Liggett stressed.

Ligget stated that contact should be made early next week to go through the process and discuss things to see what other information was needed.

While the County waits on the response regarding the waiver, Director of Schools Jeff Cupples said that work on the schools HVAC is still moving forward but has experienced approximately 8,000 man-hours lost and the delays were significant enough for the project to not be completed before the 2024/25 school year starts.

“When school starts back on August 7th, what they're doing with that system is, right now the chiller system is offline because it went down during testing,. So once they get closer to August 1st, wherever they are in the rooms, they'll re-weld that chiller system, and Trane has taken on the responsibility of getting that system repaired and back up to try to get it going long enough until they can complete the project at that campus,” Cupples stated.

“In the meantime, the greater concern, you know, the boiler system is in bad shape in Westview as well, and so as this thing goes on and the season changes in the winter, the bigger concern is not so much air as it is just heat,” Cupples said.