GREENFIELD — After weeks of being without hot water, a new boiler has been installed at the Hancock County community corrections building.
Pat Powers, executive director of community corrections, said the boiler was installed Friday, two weeks after it initially broke. Initially, Powers said he tried to have the issue fixed in house, but realized the problem was rather extensive. So he called in a couple plumbers for an assessment and it was determined the entire boiler needed to be replaced.
“Replacing something like that is a pretty big undertaking,” Powers said. “It’s not like replacing a hot-water heater.”
And because the replacement would have to be paid for out of the county budget, Powers had to get bids for a brand-new boiler, which delayed the process.
“The lowest bid wound up being $19,000,” Powers said. “We’re going to have to get an appropriation for that amount because my budget just doesn’t have it.”
Powers said he will be contacting the Hancock County Council to work on the appropriation for the boiler.
While the hot water was out, the community corrections staff tried to make accommodations for the prisoners if they could, Power said. Some of the men who live in Greenfield were allowed to stop at their house for a shower, while others were allowed to use the showers at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop at the Mt. Comfort exit.
That hasn’t covered everyone, however, and some of the men in work release have not been thrilled about dealing with cold water for a long period of time. One of the men, Chris Durm, said he hadn’t been able to take advantage of any of the alternative options since his house is a half hour outside of Greenfield and he works in the city.
“A lot of us work in fast food or factories and we come back covered in grease and oil and you can’t get that off without hot water,” Durm said via email. “A lot of people have been just washing their hair in the sinks.”
Durm, and others, are also disputing Powers’ statement that the water has only been out of commission for two weeks. Durm said he thought it had been at least three weeks, saying his birthday was on May 16 and he said he was certain the hot water had gone out prior to that.
Jordan Turley, another inmate in the work release program who contacted the Daily Reporter about the lack of hot water, confirmed on Monday the hot water was working.
