Montrose board narrows list of bidders

PAT FARNELLI, Correspondent
Published: March 10, 2010

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The Montrose Area School Board narrowed the field of contractors bidding for the construction of a new district administration building from 13 that received bids to three, Superintendent Michael Ognosky announced Monday night.

Ognosky said the board’s building and grounds committee feels "very comfortable" with the three in terms of their projected cost, liability requirements, bond requirements, and compatibility with the specifications for the proposed project.
"By 4 p.m. today (Monday), a notification was sent out to the three companies that made the cut, and we will put their responses together at the building and grounds meeting Wednesday night, to do a comparison and look for hidden costs."
The contractors submitting bids all seemed to agree that a full basement was the only way to go.
Board member Douglas Wilcox hesitated about the bidding process and said, "Until the finance committee meets, I don't feel comfortable acting on this."
Ognosky said, however, that the funding “won't have anything to do with the new budget we are working on."
In other business, a motion was made and approved to authorize PNC Capital Markets LLC to serve as Underwriter, and King, Spry, Herman, Freund, & Faul, LLC to serve as Bond Council, to proceed with refunding the district's Series 2001A, 2001B, and 2006 General Obligation Bond Issues.
According to Ognosky, the net present value savings is at 3.97 percent, and a decision to refund will save the district $116,000.
The board approved a resolution urging legislative action on school pension reform, noting that a projected increase of 8.22 percent would cost the school district upwards of $6 million.
The board also approved a contract as submitted with the intermediate unit for special education programs and services for 2010-2011 at an estimated cost of $287,637.45.
Two coaches have submitted resignations that were accepted by the board with regret: Jennifer Mooney, junior high assistant track coach, and John Blacheck, as junior high head girl's basketball coach.
Also, a one season leave of absence was granted to two coaches, for 2010: Mary Gesford, assistant varsity softball coach, and Katy Rosencrans, head junior high softball coach.
Three coaches were hired for the spring 2010 sports season: Melanie Lasher as head varsity softball coach at a cost of $3,190; Courtney Wells as head junior high softball coach at a cost of $2,150; and Melvin Ely as assistant varsity softball coach, at a cost of $2,150.
This leaves the district one coach short for the upcoming season: the assistant junior high softball coach position is still a vacant.
The resignation of Mary Zuber as learning support instructional aide at LathropStreetElementary School was accepted by the board with regret.
Three others submitted resignations: George Smith, third grade teacher at Lathrop Street; Jean Allen, high school librarian; and Carol Palmisano, sixth grade teacher at Choconut Valley.
Ognosky was authorized by the school board to write a letter of intent to the Susquehanna County Library Association to extend the 5-year deadline to construct a new public library building for an additional five years due to budgetary constraints.
  Technology coordinator Craig Owens reported that the Susquehanna County 911 system has shared its address data for the school district with the technology staff, and that access to the most up-to-date mapping is available.
He said he is "extremely pleased" with the new sound system in the Junior-Senior High School, and that a sound system upgrade has been quoted at $15,000 total for the two elementary sound systems.
Owens noted that a graduate, Lisa Santo, will be starting an internship with the school beginning this summer, as part of her college field experience for computer-based education.
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