Gateway school board has turned down a proposal to have a company look at ways the district could save on energy costs.
The board voted 5-4 on Oct. 18 to reject a proposed energy services contract with ABM Building Solutions of Pittsburgh.
School board member Chad Stubenbort, who voted in favor of the contract, said the proposal was to “simply move forward to give the district options and a timetable of what is needed to be replaced now and what some of our assets’ life span is.”
“If the board moved forward with any improvements, i.e. putting a new roof on, fixing an HVAC unit, switching to LED lights, there would be no cost,” he said.
Board member Mary Beth Cirucci, who also supported the contract, said there were “huge concerns” with the district’s aging schools, such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems as well as plumbing.
“The HVAC system at Ramsey [Elementary School] is nearing the end of its usable life,” she said.
She said the district could not “sit around for another five years” because “we’re going to have problems that can’t be fixed.”
But board member Stephanie Byrne, who voted against the contract, said she didn’t see why the district would spend money for a company to come in “when we already have a custodial staff and we already have an electrician on staff.”
Also voting to reject the contract were Valerie Warning, Scott Williams, Steve O’Donnell and George Lapcevich. In addition to Mr. Stubenbort and Ms. Cirucci, Neal Nola and John Ritter voted in favor of the contract.
Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: November 4, 2016, 4:00 a.m.