Commissioners look at high PACE Building utility bills

The Gonzales Master Gardeners PACE Building has been generating more than just excitement about spring planting. Unfortunately, it has also been growing some large utility bills, County Judge Pat Davis said last week.

Davis and county maintenance employee Brian Kloesel updated commissioners about the PACE (Plantatarium A Center for Exploration) building at 623 N. Fair St., which houses not only the Master Gardeners but now the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office after they had to move out of the Gonzales County Annex Building due to concerns about that building’s structural integrity.

The PACE Building is owned by Gonzales Independent School District, but leased to the county with the understanding that the county would be responsible for maintenance and upkeep on the property as well as paying any utility costs.

Davis said one recent utility bill for the PACE Building was a whopping $800 for the month, which was a cause for concern especially with the anticipated heat wave the county always gets in the summer months.

“We went over there and checked out the AC unit and made sure it was all working properly,” Kloesel said. “From what we've gathered, this AC unit has electric heat. During the winter, we run pretty much dead short, which is pulling about 70 amps. Not to mention, they run space heaters, too, so our electric bill over there was going to go sky high. Remember, it was cold.”

Options to remedy the problem include bringing in another AC unit from the annex building and having it set up as a heating and cooling zone for the AgriLife Extension side of the building as well as sealing windows and fixing doors where there are signs of rot and gaps in them.

“We can bring in one from the annex that is no longer being used from an area that is shut off and we can set it up,” Kloesel said. “When we do leave the building, we take it out with us, so it's not like we’re out the money permanently. We're just using a resource we had; it would just take some time to set it up and rearrange things. Because you’d be zoning it out instead of running the whole building on one big unit, you’ll be able to control their area more.”

Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski asked about the possibility of setting up a partition or blocking off the sliding doors that lead to the Master Gardeners’ portion of the building. However, Kloesel said at night or evenings, the Master Gardeners will open those sliding doors and “with that open there’s a tremendous amount of space that is being air conditioned.”

Kloesel also said that having the units switched off at night would mean having to “play catch up” the following day when the AgriLife Extension office reopens in order to get the building to a satisfactory temperature.

The cost of moving the AC unit from the annex to the PACE Building is about $1,200 to $1,500, Kloesel said. Commissioners approved the expenditure and authorized Kloesel to fix any doors and check for any lost airflow due to leaks or gaps that can be sealed.