The largest change came when the board voted to award Facilico company out of Ayden, North Carolina with a contract to clean the schools in the Cedartown section of Polk County as well as the school board main office.
The board previously held two separate contracts for the Cedartown area schools with SRP covering Youngs Grove Elementary and Sullins Enterprises cleaning the others. Sullins still has the contract for the Rockmart area schools.
The school board voted to terminate their contract with SRP early during the meeting Tuesday night citing dissatisfaction with the level of service they received, according to Director of Facilities Tom Reilly. Sullins Enterprises contract had simply run out and a new open bid call had to be made, Relly said in an interview.
Reilly said that Facilico will act as a management coordinator and will need to hire a local boss and crew to clean the schools.
“Sullins had the contract for five or six years,” Reilly said, “We’ve been really happy with them but all of our contracts are for a period of time and when they expire we have to put out an open bid.”
Reilly explained that cleaning bids are hard to gauge because of the because of the slightly different levels of service and equipment costs estimated as well as a certain level of disruption that is caused when an old crew has to move their equipment out and a new one has to set up.
We try and give a slight advantage in worth to local businesses and local workers in bids, but Sullins’ bid was almost 20 percent hire than Facilicio’s, Reilly said. Sullins wanted to renew their contract at the same price as their old one and our lawyer told us we could not do it without a reduction.
Facilicio said the workers Facilicio hires to clean the schools will most likely be from in and around Polk County, and could hire some of the same people that worked for Sullins under the previous contract.
During the meeting members of the board asked Reilly if he felt Facilicio would be able to manage the cleaning of the schools and main office adequately.
Reilly said he felt the company could manage and keep the people they hire up to standard, stating they are already doing so with schools in Tennessee.
The current cleaning contract ends on June 30. Facilico will take over in the fall.
Other decisions made during the board meeting included votes to not hire new counselors to fill vacant positions at the elementary school level, to hire a new public safety official for Cedartown High and to hire a new middle school match instruction coach and an elementary school gifted teacher.
“It bothers me that we’re moving around money and funding other positions but not fighting for counselors,” board member Jane Holbrooks said.
Superintendent Marvin Williams stated while not hiring new councilors was not an ideal situation, it was the best option he could think of with their current level of funding.
“I’m glad at everyone’s enthusiasm about councilors,” board member Andy Fairel said. “But we have to think about the budget.
Board member Tara O’Neal noted that there were very limited places where they could save money. The local funds—around 12 percent of what they had was the only place they could make cuts.
Money for the safety official, and gifted teacher is expected to come from a Title IIA grant.
The board also voted to table textbook adoptions for Health and PE and for facility upgrade projects including: electrical upgrades and new carpet at Cherokee Elementary; new gym bleachers and improvements to the girls softball field at Cedartown High; outside lights at Eastside Elementary; new lunchroom tables, carpet and outlets at Northside Elementary; resurfacing the football field at Rockmart High and outside lights for Van Wert Elementary.
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