Coming from a small town and moving to the city is a major transition.
- Not only did I have to get used to having people living so close to me, I had to acclimate to using an HVAC system all the time so that I would have fresh air in my home.
I took a job for the local government as the clerk at the courthouse. This meant that I not only took payments for traffic tickets, permits, and parking fees, I also had to pay the bills. I was given clearance to sign the checks and each time a bill came in, I paid it out of the appropriate line item on the budget. When I looked at the budget overall, I noticed that the amount set aside for utilities was very high. After the first bill came in, I knew why. They were paying almost a thousand dollars a month just to heat and cool the courthouse. I know that it is an older building but I thought this was outrageous. The taxpayers in the town would be furious if they knew the amount that it was costing. I asked the building superintendent if there was a problem with the HVAC system. He just said that it was old and had a hard time keeping the place at a constant temperature. I called my friend at the HVAC company and asked if they could send someone to do an energy assessment on the building. After that was done, they had several recommendations to help save money. The number one suggestion was to add several zones to the system so that we could save money on heating areas that were vacant most of the time. After working where I do for the past several months, I think there are many ways that we can cut costs and save the taxpayers money. Fixing the HVAC system was just the beginning of my suggestions.