Operations Committee Sends More Than $500,000 in Bids to School Board

Springtime also means it is time for the Centennial Operations Committee to start sending bids to the full school board for approval. A package of proposals totaling more than $500,000 included purchases of furniture, service contracts and work trucks and was approved by the committee during its monthly meeting Wednesday night at the Centennial Administration building.

All of the approved requests have been included in the 2011-2012 budget as planned capital expenses. The items sent forward include:

• Approximately $218,000 for furniture that will be installed in the new Davis Elementary building. The number is lower than originally budgeted, according to Assistant Superintendant William Gretton, because they scoured the Longstreth and Stackpole building and located some items that are in respectabel condition, including 800 chairs and 600-700 desks.
• A three-year contract with Waste Management for district-wide garbage disposal services totaling $218,900, or approximately $70,000 per year.
• $23,064 to the Limbach Company to resurface the drain pans at the bottom of cooling towers at Klinger Middle School.
• $4,461 for Water Management Systems to provide water softener equipment for school boiler systems. The bid does not include installation, which will be performed by district employees.
• $39,000 for a used bucket truck that will allow district workers to perform tasks such as cleaning William Tennent's exterior windows and the removal of snow from the roofs of the school buses.
• $45,799 was approved for a new utility truck, but on the contingency that transportation director Wayne Robinson would provide more information about the possibility of requesting a vehicle donation.

A $25,000 bid for a used box truck was rejected because the propsal did not meet specifications. School board director Mark Miller asked that when the committee resubmits the bid request, the members also explore the option to rent a box truck on an as-needed basis.