NORTHAMPTON — The city is dipping into its stabilization funds to the tune of $350,000 to replace a boiler at Leeds Elementary School, a task which must be completed within the next two months.

The boiler is one of two located at the school, and has already been repaired several times over the past few years, with replacement parts no longer manufactured. The stabilization funds approved by the City Council on Thursday will pay to replace it with two new modulating condensing boilers, which are better at controlling heat temperatures and subsequently have greater energy efficiency, city officials said.

Ben Weil, director of the Climate Action and Project Administration department, said that the city had already come into possession of the boilers following the acquisition of the former site of the Hampshire County Register of Deeds at 33 King St. from the state.

“We looked into the cost for rigging and extracting it from the place and moving it to the [school] and found that that was significantly less expensive than purchasing new boilers,” Weil said. “I was able to calculate the heat load for Leeds Elementary, and it almost perfectly matches those boilers, which is just pure happenstance.”

Although the use of the stabilization funds was unanimously approved by the council, Ward 3’s Quaverly Rothenberg said she was concerned about appropriating such an amount from stabilization funds.

“The speed and the rapidity with which we make large expenditures concerns me,” Rothenberg said. “The large rushed appropriations in general are not something I’m comfortable with and not something I want to continue all the time.”

In response, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said that emergency situations like the replacement of the boiler cannot be foreseen in advance.

“The point of having these stabilization funds is that there are things outside of our control that need to be dealt with and that’s why we have these reserve funds,” Sciarra said. “We are extremely cautious and the people who work for the city do a remarkable job in trying to anticipate issues that may happen.”

New stop signs

The city also passed an ordinance during Thursday’s meeting to install several new stop signs along Elm Street and West Street, placed at several intersecting roads near Smith College such as Green Street and Henshaw Avenue.

The move to install the stop signs comes after a spate of accidents that occurred in the area in recent years, including two incidents that happened within several days of each other in December of 2023. In one incident, a 20-year-old Smith College student was struck at the intersection of Wes and Green streets, suffering a serious head injury. Three days later, a 22-year-old female was also struck on the crosswalk between Elm Street and Henshaw Avenue.

A study conducted by the city showed that had been 37 total crashes in the area over the past three years, which includes single-, two-vehicle and pedestrian crashes. The report also noted that more than 300 pedestrians cross West and Elm streets during peak hours.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.