South Putnam considers purchasing propane buses at monthly session

Friday, October 28, 2016

The South Putnam School Board considered the purchase of two new propane school buses during its October meeting.

“I have been looking at grants for propane school buses,” Anita Ferrand, grant writer for the school corporation said. “And the grant I’m interested in is funded by the Office of Energy Development. They’re going to grant $150,000 to Indiana schools this year. It’s capped at $10,000 per vehicle.”

Ferrand went on to say that, to qualify, the school would be required to purchase at least two propane buses, guarantee their access to propane fueling infrastructure and promote the new buses in newsletters, on websites or through Clean Cities Coalition events.

“The trick to this is that the application is due Oct. 19 ... and grantees must provide invoices for buses ordered by May 1, 2017,” Ferrand said.

That deadline left the corporation just nine days to complete and submit the application, which had to include cost estimates for the new propane buses as well as for diesel- or gas-powered buses. There was also a scheduling issue.

“It’d be close,” Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt said. “We usually get (buses) in the summer, and most years they’re here by the start of school. And we pay for them when they’re delivered, but that’s typically the last two weeks of July. We won’t have our six-month draw until about June 30.”

Ultimately, the board decided to attempt the short deadline with some reservations from Anthony Heavin.

“I’m certainly not opposed to getting free money into our school system,” Heavin said. “But sometimes free money comes at a cost that’s actually more expensive than our original and I don’t know if it would be or not. I’m not versed into LP transportation.”

Vice President Steve Cash recommended contacting Avon School Corporation, which recently added propane buses to its fleet.

Superintendent Bernhardt later reported that the application had been submitted on time, but that the corporation wouldn’t know whether it received the funds until next month.

In other developments:

-- Additional appropriations: The board approved additional appropriations in the rainy day fund in the amount of $300,000.

“We, as you know, have been making some purchases in technology and lighting and so forth through our rainy day fund this year,” Superintendent Bernhardt said, “and so we’ve had some expenditures. And in order to be legal at the end of the year when you close out your books on the calendar year, you have to have appropriations that give you the authority to spend that. We have the money in the rainy day; we’re not asking for any additional money. This is just the legal step that you take to legally spend the money. ”

-- ADM: Superintendent Bernhardt reported that average daily membership, at a total of 1,140 students, was up by two compared to the same time last year.

-- Budget: The board approved the adoption of the 2017 budget, CPF and school bus replacement plan, related resolutions and CPF notice of adoption. All documents can be viewed on the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) website.

-- Claims: The board approved claims totaling $478,279.89, a decrease of $76,640.88 and of $160,285.32 from the March-October average.

-- Personnel: The board approved the following personnel report:

-- Resignations: Paice Neimeyer (M/HS food service), Jill Newton (MS girls’ basketball coach), Pat Pistelli (MS wrestling coach) and Samantha Ricks (JV girls’ basketball coach, MS track coach).

-- New hires: Jamie Bassore (M/HS special education instructional aide), Tina James (food service), Jill Newton (JV girls’ basketball coach), Sawyer Arnold (MS boys’ basketball coach), Brice Hill (MS girls’ basketball coach) and Joe Waters (MS wrestling coach)

-- Students of the Month: The October Students of the Month were Chloe Hauk (fourth grade, Central Elementary); Conner Arnold (fourth grade, Fillmore Elementary); Xavier Langley (eighth grade) and Lois Cheatham (senior).

The next South Putnam School Board meeting will be Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Central Elementary Music Room.

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