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LOCK HAVEN -- Are you a local contractor? If so, Keystone Central School District School Board is probably looking for you.
One of the major topics of the roughly two-hour special voting meeting Thursday night was occupied by discussions of the various work projects that Keystone Central has been fielding -- and their lack of bids.
Board member Chris Scaff repeatedly questioned why various work projects, such as a wall repair at Bucktail High School, have only received one bid.
"I'm not saying no to the project," Scaff said, "but I want more bids."
The wall repair, which passed 8-0 -- board member Polly Donahay was not in attendance -- was just the first of these items, throughout which Scaff and fellow board member Dr. Bill Baldino consistently extolled the virtues of receiving multiple bids, as well as awarding those bids to local contractors.
Departing facilities manager Rob Pacella and Superintendent Frank Redmon both assured the board that they were following procedure -- calls for bids are posted on Keystone Central's website, advertised in The Express and The Record, posted online in several contractor job boards and so forth.
Baldino first suggested soliciting local contractors with jobs, to which Pacella expressed unease, as if any local contractor were missed and not called, it could be seen as the district having favoritism.
Baldino then revised his idea slightly, instead calling for the creation of a database of local contractors to call, citing his sister's experience in civil service. This idea seemed to gain more traction, but was not acted upon during the meeting beyond Redmon agreeing that he would look at the procedures.
Another topic of discussion at the meeting involved paying for cleaning up an unexpected spill of old oil from a tank which was discovered some time ago at the Liberty-Curtin Elementary site as part of the construction of the new building.
Specifically, there was uncertainty about where the money to pay for this clean up was to come from, with Scaff seeking to deduct it from Liberty-Curtin's budget, as opposed to the general fund.
Joni MacIntyre, Keystone Central's business manager, was on hand and stated that monies in the general fund had been "committed" for use for the Liberty-Curtin project.
"If nothing happens, we don't have to spend that money," she said.
She also clarified that this fell under site preparation, which the general fund was being used for.
Board member Jeff Johnston stated, "We didn't want to have to take out an additional bond, so we built in committed money… 200 and some thousand dollars for those types of things."
This discussion spurred some brief confusion over why the board had to complete two change orders previously, but that this could be paid for out of the general fund.
Redmon said, "[The difference is] it's not a change to the project, it's an unexpected thing that happened."
The renewal of an Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth agreement between the board and Nittany Learning Services was also up for approval, with the recommendation of the administration.
However, after a lengthy and scathing public comment by Jennifer Walker earlier in the meeting, several board members spearheaded a motion to table this renewal.
Board president Butch Knauff asked Redmon if there were time constraints on this agreement, to which Redmon replied that he was unsure, but wanted something in place by the new school year.
Scaff said he thought they might be more willing to move forward by the next work session, after looking into it more; however, Lynch mentioned that "the previous administration told us we can't have in-house services," and that upon looking into it, "it appears State College and Penns Valley school districts do it in-house."
Lynch proposed having a guest presenter from Pennsylvania Dept. of Education attend a meeting to discuss the district's options, after which the board voted unanimously to table the motion for this meeting.
In other news, the school board members heard a brief update on the solar panel contract with McClure Company.
Johnston noted that they looked at all three of the sites where they were proposing some different locations for the actual solar fields.
"They gave us two or three really good options for each school, and we honed in on one for each school," he said, adding that a more finalized plan would be coming towards the end of July or early August, after McClure evaluated some more options.
Board member Elisabeth Lynch also added that rooftops generally last longer with solar panels on them.
Separately, Lynch said that she wants to see the district put out a new job description for their solicitor and "see who else we can attract."
She was quick to assure that it was nothing against their current solicitor, David Lindsay, but that she "just wants to see who might apply."
Cannon joined her in voting against renewing Lindsay as solicitor, but it passed 6-2.
The board also authorized Redmon to fill vacancies for teachers, custodians and workers over the summer, 7-1, with Scaff voting against.
Finally, at the close of the meeting, board member Roger Elling paused before the motion to adjourn to take a moment to thank retiring board secretary Patti Stevenson for her time and hard work -- a sentiment which was echoed by the rest of the board -- and, laughing, said that he "looks forward to seeing her at the Moose Lodge."