The West Windsor-Plainsboro school board meeting on May 1 took less than 15 minutes to conclude as the board looked to wrap up three consecutive weeks of meetings by approving a few projects and contracts.
Contingent upon attorney review and the final approval from the state community affairs department, the roofing replacement of Wicoff Elementary School will be awarded to D.A. Nolt Inc. of Berlin, NJ, for $373,200. The base bid for the project was $343,000 and out of seven other bids for the project Nolt offered the second lowest price to ABCD Construction’s bid of $356,599.
The school district agenda for May 1 listed an additional six companies that had placed bids on the project, but Roof Management of Neptune, NJ, was listed as non-responsive. At the board meeting there was a surprise as two representatives from Roof Management attended the Tuesday, May 1, meeting to protest their bid status with the school board.
“This is based on examination of all the documents with our attorney and also with the state comptroller’s office, and we made the decision that we were not non-responsive and our bid should be considered as presented,” said Andrew Clark, owner of Roof Management.
Board President Hemant Marathe said the vote on awarding a bid would continue nonetheless, but he responded to their question during public comments, saying that a letter had been sent to the company and a hearing had been scheduled for Thursday, May 10, to decide the bid’s status. He added that he had no authority to comment on the legal process.
Repairing and refinishing of hardwood floors in school district buildings will be awarded to Hardwood Floors Unlimited of Edison, which submitted an overall contract bid of $44,955. The bid award is subject to legal approval.
Turf management for district facilities was awarded to Trugreen Limited Partnership, which was the sole bidder, for the lump sum of $50,000.
Also at the board’s May 1 meeting:
– Three special services grants were approved by the school board.
– The bus contract for High School South’s trip to the Science Olympiad in Orlando, Florida (WW-P News, April 13) was approved. A-1 Limousine will receive $8,927 for one bus to and from Orlando to transport the students’ science equipment.
– West Windsor-Plainsboro amended a bus contract with Irvin Raphael to reflect the cost of increasing the “UMDNJ” route to provide transportation for one special education student from East Windsor this school year. As part of a jointure agreement with East Windsor, the district picked up the student along the bus route of a WW-P student. The revenue received from the jointure was $3,843.87.
The route cost $195.88 per day for 146 days, reflecting an adjustment of $30.23 per day and an additional mileage increase for 34 days. There was an adjusted route cost of $226.11 per diem. The total adjusted route cost of $36,286.22 will now be paid by the East Windsor school district.
– A total of 15 people, comprised of school board members and district administrators, will attend the Garden State Coalition of Schools annual meeting on Wednesday, May 30, in Monroe Township at a cost of $55 per person plus mileage.
– Two Community Education instructional assistants attended a workshop in Princeton on May 1 entitled “Making Sense out of Autism” at a cost not to exceed $180 per person.
– The board approved the disposal of a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado dump truck.
