Board’s plan fails to get approval

By Harold Gwin

Some school board members said they might seek to issue the request despite the objection.

YOUNGSTOWN — The state fiscal- oversight commission controlling city school district spending is at odds with a school-board plan to seek proposals for student- transportation consulting services the district hopes will save money.

The five-member Financial Planning and Supervision Commission voted unanimously Thursday to “disapprove” a request for proposals authorized by the school board last week, saying that the request is too broad and needs to be more specific on details while narrowing the scope of services being sought.

The vote left some school board members questioning the commission’s authority to prevent the issuing of the request.

Anthony Catale, board president, said his reading of Ohio law shows the commission clearly has control over expenditures the district makes and contracts it seeks to enter, but the request for proposals is neither of those.

It’s simply a request for services the district hopes would reduce the $5 million it is now spending annually for student transportation, he said.

Catale said he will consult with other board numbers but is looking at options to put the proposal out as originally drafted. He pointed out that the school board has issued other requests for proposals without prior commission approval, citing the recent beverage vendor contract (which the commission approved Thursday) as one example.

The transportation proposal deals with the installation of digital video recording/global positioning system units on 60 buses to help track routing, computer software for tracking that routing, computer software for vehicle maintenance, computer software for transportation employee payroll and general consulting services.

Commission member Paul Marshall said he wants to see more analysis of potential cost savings, and Roger Nehls, commission chairman, said the proposal lacks specificity regarding what contractors are being asked to do. He also questioned the cost value of the DVR cameras in light of the district’s attempts to recover from deficit spending.

The proposal doesn’t say who will install the equipment or who would own it, he said.

Nehls proposed a “compromise,” directing the district to narrow its proposal to purchasing computer software for bus routing and maintenance and employee payroll.

That falls in line with a state performance audit recommendation for operational improvements in the transportation department, he said.

The district has announced that route reductions put in place for this school year will save $180,000 in transportation costs, and that money can be used to buy the software, Nehls said.

Catale said the goal of the original request for proposals is to find ways to reduce costs, not spend money saved from route reductions.

One vendor has already told the district informally that it can cut transportation costs by $500,000 a year.

It’s that type of cost reduction the district is seeking, Catale said.

gwin@vindy.com