NILES — More than a decade’s worth of investigation on heating and cooling best practices ended Monday evening at a Niles City Council meeting, but not without some mild heat during the public comment period.

The council unanimously approved a $79,670 low bid from Water Furnace-Michiana, of Berrien Springs, to install new heating, ventilation and air conditioning units at the Fort St. Joseph Museum and Chapin Mansion during its meeting at the Niles Fire Department Complex, 1345 E. Main St.

The systems will replace a 30-year-old steam boiler system that public works director Joe Ray said was nearing the end of its life. The boiler also caused fluctuations in local temperatures within the mansion, which had the potential to harm the 1882 structure, he said.

Consternation from Niles resident Freda Zeiter came not from the HVAC system’s better energy efficiency but its cost and its ability to blend in with the historic building.

Zeiter pointed out that the difference between the low bid at the council’s table was much smaller than the high bid, $454,000.

“In my experience, when this occurs, there is either a mistake or a misunderstanding, or there’s going to be a slew of change orders to bring the price up,” she told the council. “I just don’t see $79,000 as a realistic price for two separate, new systems in two buildings, particularly for museum quality.”

Mayor Nick Shelton directed her concerns to Ray, who was in attendance. He said the high bid, from B C Mechanical, of Niles, was for the installation of a system that would place remote head units and outdoor condensing coils in each area of the two buildings.

Ray said the city had to rely on fundraising efforts to accept the low bid, putting the second bid, almost six times more costly, out of the question.

Ray also noted that the higher bid would have been more intrusive to the building’s aesthetic, bringing modern equipment into most rooms that are relics of the turn of the 20th century.

All of the equipment of the low bid’s systems would be either in the basement or the attic.

“I think it’s important that we’re going to get a regulated, climate controlled [place],” he said.  “If we’re going to preserve this building, we’re relying on a pretty archaic mechanism, currently, with steam.”

City officials talked in detail to Water Furnace-Michiana, so they knew where the equipment would go and what it would look like, he said.

Currently, the steam boiler kicks on twice a day, making the mansion and museum hot and humid in the morning and evening, and chilly in the afternoon.

“Anything that we do is going to be night and day from the system we have now,” Ray said.

Christina Arseneau, Niles History Center director, said HVAC installation should start this season.

Along with HVAC installation contract approval, Niles City Council also unanimously approved an insurance renewal and $13,397 for 35 communication pagers and 35 amplified chargers from Tele-Rad Inc. in Benton Harbor.