MILL HALL — The Keystone Central School District Board of Directors found itself debating various purchases during its voting session this week.

The first involved the purchase of an electric marquee sign at Liberty Curtin Elementary School. The board previously talked about the proposed purchase during its work session on March 6.

At the time, two bids were up for consideration — $23,565 from Stewart Signs and $19,990 from Signs Plus — with the administration recommending the lower bid.

Board Member Jeff Johnston — who chairs the district’s Facilities Committee — told the board the cost would only be for the electrical part of the sign. He said the contractor handling the masonry work for the new Liberty Curtin building agreed to donate supplies and labor to construct the brick work.

At the work session, Board Member Chris Scaff said he would share information for a sign company the Sugar Valley Fire Company purchased for about $6,000.

At Thursday’s voting session, Scaff asked if there was further research done about the possibility to use the same company for a lower cost.

Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon said Property Services Director Sam Hoy was looking into the possibility.

“He didn’t find anything, to my knowledge, that would suggest we need to change direction on this,” Redmon said. “The numbers we’re looking at, comparing the size of the sign and looking for double sided… turned out to be the same.”

Prior to a vote to purchase a sign through Signs Plus, various members offered their own thoughts on the potential purchase.

Board Member Elisabeth Lynch said she would be voting against the purchase. Lynch cited two reasons for her vote.

“This is another situation where it wasn’t put out to bid and someone just got on the phone and made phone calls,” she said. Lynch acknowledged the procedure used was legal, but noted a public bid would allow businesses — such as the one suggested by Scaff — to put themselves in for consideration.

Lynch also noted the cost, while the district faces financial uncertainties.

“We’re looking at potentially not getting more funding from the state. We’re looking at the farm program to help feed our kids, which might go away… and we’re spending $20,000 on a flashy sign,” she said. “I can’t justify that right now. A couple of letters on a board done well is fine with me, just like Central Mountain High School or Mill Hall Elementary.”

Scaff asked if other schools would be considered for new signs like this one.

Board President Roger Elling said the sign is up for consideration because the district is looking to have Liberty Curtin “up to modernization.”

A brief moment of intensity broke out while Board Member Dr. Bill Baldino looked to offer his thoughts.

“I fail to see why we need a fancy sign for a school with 150 kids. I think we could do something much more modest,” Baldino said.

In the midst of Baldino’s comments, Scaff interjected, “149 kids who probably can’t read it anyway.”

Scaff’s commentary brought immediate rebuttal from Elling, Johnston and Board Member Tracy Smith.

“That is demeaning the district,” Elling said.

Scaff replied that he was not demeaning the district. “I’m saying what you’re doing is ridiculous,” he said of the sign purchase.

Before more arguments could continue, Elling pushed the meeting along to a vote.

Through a motion by Board Vice President Butch Knauff and seconded by Johnston, the sign purchase through Signs Plus was approved in a 5-4 vote. Board members Polly Donahay, Elling, Johnston, Knauff and Smith voted in favor and Baldino, Tom Cannon, Lynch and Scaff voted against.

HAND DRIERS

While the sign for Liberty Curtin Elementary passed, the board voted down the purchase of electric hand dryers at Mill Hall Elementary School in a 4-5 vote.

After a motion for approval was made by Knauff and seconded by Johnston, Scaff brought up concerns about whether or not hand driers would be a sanitary choice.

The initial choice to switch from paper towels to hand driers came after three years of consideration — when Mill Hall Borough notified the district paper towels were found in its sewer line which can create blockages.

Scaff said he researched the topic, looking at the Center for Disease Control, National Library of Medicine and John Ross Medical Director at Harvard Health.

All three sources noted that paper towels were a more sanitary option compared to hand driers.

John Ross Medical specifically did a test using petri dishes.

“They did a test… (exposing dishes) to hot air from a hand dryer for thirty seconds,” he said. “On average they grew 18 to 60 colonies of bacteria. But there was one brand of air dryer that drew 254 colonies of bacteria.”

Scaff said he felt that, due to the district needing to deal with sickness and health safety, they should consider not using the dryers.

Lynch was in agreement with Scaff. She said she’d previously suggested utilizing a different system, one that was similar to Commonwealth University-Lock Haven.

“Other schools use a round paper that is perforated. The child pulls it down, you can hear it rotating and making noise and a piece automatically breaks off,” she said. “For someone to get a bunch of paper towels they would have to pull and pull and pull and somebody would hear that.”

It was later noted by Redmon the school already used round paper towel rolls and not stacked ones that could be easily grabbed.

Both Knauff and Johnston expressed confusion regarding Lynch’s stance, who they said previously wanted the hand dryers.

“You’ve been advocating for the air dryers for years and now you’re saying no,” Knauff questioned.

“I’m with you, Butch. We’ve heard about the paper towels in the sewer for at least three years and now we want to try and address it (but) now we’re doing a complete about-face,” Johnston said. “I’m baffled. It’s hard to keep up with it.”

Cannon, in response, noted the board committed to cut back on its spending, noting the purchase of the dryers is another expense for the district.

“We made a commitment to curb our spending and all I’ve heard tonight is spend, spend, spend. We’re going to buy dryers, signs. Where’s the commitment to the community to curb our spending,” he said.

Scaff said he wasn’t bringing up the health concerns because he was completely against the dryers.

“All I did was bring up a health issue that could make things worse,” he said.

Ultimately the motion to purchase the hand dryers was voted down with Donohay, Elling, Johnston and Smith voting yes and Knauff, Lynch, Scaff, Baldino and Cannon voting no.