There won’t be any decision on new school buses for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District until later this month. School board directors voted Monday night to table a decision on whether to attempt going forward with the goal of buying five electric buses or to shift gears and buy four new diesel buses. There will now be a special 10 a.m. Zoom meeting on March 28.
As previously reported, the decision to buy the electric buses stalled because of a freeze on federal grants. The district had been awarded a $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Administration last May, which would have given the district $200,000 for each of the five buses, but the federal budget freeze put that purchase in jeopardy.
The district was also awarded a $312,000 grant from the state to further help reduce the costs, but that falls by the way without the federal money.
Without the EPA grant, the board would need to go with diesel buses because they’re available. The electric buses would need to be ordered soon so they’d be available for the beginning of the next school year. There’s also the added cost of $199,200 to upgrade the infrastructure at the bus garage for all the equipment needed for charging the electric vehicles.
The cost for five diesel buses would be $728,000, or $145,604 for each one.
School board directors discussed what to do for 40 minutes before the vote, which passed by a 7-2 margin. There was also a motion to allow the administration to make a decision on its own on March 28, after waiting to see if the grants would come through, but that was overridden by the vote to table.
That discussion began with the motion from Director Rashi Akki for conditional approval of moving forward with the garage upgrades, but also conditional approval for buying the diesel buses and rescinding the purchase for the EVs.
Akki’s motion also called to “give the administration purview to select the most effective cost option based on the current status of the EPA rebate on or before March 31.”
She added later that the district can get out of the contract with the manufacturer of the electric buses if the district lets the company know it can’t get the grant money by the end of the month.
After Director Elise Andreson seconded Akki’s motion, Director Brian Schartz said he wanted to “cut off the discussion,” by tabling the motion.
“A yes vote to table,” he said, “will defer board action until we have more complete information on these matters. If approved, a special meeting of the board would be required on March 28.”
Superintendent John Sanville said such a meeting is possible and that the single agenda would be to either move ahead with the costs to upgrade the charging facilities at the garage if the EPA grants come through, or to buy the diesel buses.
Part of the discussion included a suggestion that maybe the district should only buy two diesels, but Facilities Director James Whitesel said that would mess up the normal bus replacement process and keep some buses in service beyond their useful schedule.
Director Jeff Hellrung, one of the two no votes to table (the other being Erin Talbert), said it wouldn’t be good governance to have a special meeting as motioned. He said he was confident that the administration would make a proper decision.
Schartz said he, too, trusted the administration but felt that it’s the board’s responsibility to make the call.
“Given the magnitude of the capital purchase, I, as a board member, want to retain the responsibility for making the final decision on what path we choose,” he said.
The Zoom meeting on March 28 will be open to the public.
Other business
Decisions on other facility projects included the board voting in favor of spending $30,000 for wastewater treatment plant improvements at Hillendale Elementary School, $58,344 for kitchen tile and grout restoration at Unionville High School, and to approve the construction bids in the combined amount of $276,000 for indoor full-day kindergarten improvements at Hillendale and at Chadds Ford Elementary. Also approved was a cost proposal of $16,134 for exterior door access controls for doors at the high school, Chadds Ford, Pocopson, and Unionville elementary schools.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
Comments