Installation of New Finley Electric Service Completed
A project to install new electric service at J. Taylor Finley Middle School has been completed. The service was connected to the LIPA power grid during the winter recess.
The work involved trenching a new line under an athletic field used by the field hockey and girls' lacrosse teams and installation of a new transformer. The project cost $84,000.
District officials opted to fund the work through this year's school budget, transferring monies from one account code to another, rather than waiting until next year and requesting that voters approve tapping the capital reserve fund for the project.
In the run-up to the project Assistant Superintendent David H. Grackin described the condition of the five decade old Finley electric service as "fairly tenuous." The building experienced a major electrical service interruption last spring. "Because of an interruption in LIPA service, several motors in one of the boiler rooms went on fire and created a smoke condition in the building," Mr. Grackin said. "Students were evacuated to the high school and classes resumed at Finley the next day. During the follow-up to this particular incident, LIPA and district contract electricians noted that the electrical service needed to be replaced."
The district bid the project on October 17 and 13 firms responded. The Huntington School Board awarded the project to MMJ Electrical, Inc. as the lowest responsible bidder.
"MMJ did a fine job installing the new service," Mr. Grackin said. "LIPA made the connection in a timely fashion to their grid. The building is now totally on the new service. The project went smoothly."