CCS board waits on fuel bid approval

    Due to the volatility of fuel prices right now, the Chase County Schools board of education decided to wait a month to make a decision on fuel supplies for the coming year.
    Bids for fuel are often approved in November to begin Dec. 1, ahead of the winter season.
    Supt. Adam Lambert said the board had acquired both diesel and E-10 super unleaded bids from FV Coop.
    The Harness Clear #1 diesel price was bid at $4.41 for 13,500 gallons, while unleaded was bid at $3.40 for 2,500 gallons.
    However, those prices were as of 12:07 p.m. on Nov. 7.
    The coop bid sheet added, “The cost of fuel changes every hour so the above prices are subject to change depending on when the contract is locked in.”
    Supt. Lambert said the board will bring the fuel bid discussion back next month and make a decision then to lock in a price or go with retail prices.
    “The prices are so volatile now and the coop’s prices change every hour,” he said.
    In other business, Supt. Lambert provided a powerpoint reviewing CCS’s academic progress, touching on the recent fall testing of grades 3-8 students. Also reviewed were the high school’s ACT scores and testing in grades K-2.
    Lambert said he and curriculum coordinator April Lambert will be providing updated test score information in the coming weeks, possibly at the December board meeting.
    During the discussion on the month’s financials, two bills for occupational therapy and speech therapy services were questioned by board member Jeff Olsen.
    Olsen motioned to remove the bills from Rural Rehabilitation Services, LLC for $2,247.35 and another from Occupational Therapy Services, LLC for $5,260.92 from the list to be paid this month.
    In an interview Tuesday, Olsen said he made the motion because school policy states any service that is not subject to the bid procedure but requires specialized services shall be approved by the board.
    CCS board policy 3140 reads, “Contractual services which by their nature are not adapted to award by competitive bidding, such as contracts for the services of individuals possessing a high degree of professional skill, where the ability or fitness of the individual plays an important part, are not subject to bid but are subject to approval by the Board of Education in conformity with established policy.”
    Olsen said contracts for those two companies providing occupational and speech therapy did not come before the board.
    His amendment motion failed 7-1. He also voted against approving the entire month’s bills totaling $721,025.08 since the two from Rural Rehabilitation Services and Occupational Therapy Services were included. He was the lone dissenter in a 7-1 vote.
    Olsen said he plans to request a change in the wording of the Nov. 8 meeting minutes regarding his amendment motion because it reads like he didn’t want to pay the bills.
    “It wasn’t that, it was because we didn’t follow policy,” he said.
    Voting for paying the month’s bills in total, and against the amendment removing the two bills Olsen pointed out, were Cindy Arterburn, Linsey Foote, Karl Meeske, Willy O’Neil, Dan Reeves, Carrie Terryberry and Steve Wallin. Josh Fries use absent.
    Five board members and Supt. Lambert are in Omaha Wednesday to Friday this week for the State School Board Convention. Board members attending are Wallin, Meeske, Terryberry, Foote and O’Neil.