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Paving projects approved for Peters Township schools

By Harry Funk 3 min read
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Major paving projects are coming to two Peters Township elementary schools.

The school board at its March 20 meeting voted to award a $740,175 contract to T.A. Robinson Asphalt Paving of Bridgeville for work at Pleasant Valley and McMurray schools.

William Merrell, chairman of the board’s building and grounds committee, said that bids came in substantially lower than projected.

“It allows us to do all the aspects of paving throughout those two area, which we wouldn’t probably have been able to do if those estimates were correct,” he explained.

In conjunction with the project, the board voted to hire M.B. Kohne Consulting LLC as owner’s representative, at a $65 hourly rate not to exceed a total of $20,800. The firm’s principal, veteran project manager Maureen Kohne, worked with the district on the 2015-16 renovation of McMurray Elementary.

The board also awarded a contract for a maximum of $9,000 to Triad Engineering Inc. of South Fayette Township for geotechnical inspection services at the sites.

“Part of the reason that we’re doing this paving project in the first place is that the previous iteration of this was irregular in its installation, and so I believe that this is critical – ongoing monitoring, testing of the installation – to make sure that the performance is up to code,” board member Rebecca Bowman said.

In other business at the March 20 meeting:

• The board voted unanimously to appoint Brad Rau as district business manager and school board secretary, effective April 17. Rau replaces Vince Belczyk, who resigned in February to take an equivalent position with California Area School District. Board member Lisa Anderson will serve as secretary until Rau, currently the business manager for Allegheny Valley School District, comes aboard.

• Merrell called attention to a continuing situation involving payments to Pennsylvania American Water Co. with regard to billing at Pleasant Valley.

“We found that it was because a meter was broken, so they could not automatically read it,” he said, noting that the breakage occurred during lawn maintenance.

“That estimated bill is probably three or four times what it should be. I’d like to pull that off,” Merrell said with regard to paying the bill, “until we, in fact, get that corrected, because if we’ve been paying that for four or five months, that means we probably don’t owe anything on PV’s water bill for the rest of the year.”

Solicitor Jocelyn Kramer, though, recommended that the payment be made “under protest.”

“I just wouldn’t want it to get tied up before the next time the board can vote,” she said.

• Next month’s regular school board meeting has been rescheduled for April 18. The board generally meets the third Monday of each month, but because of spring break, students and staff members are off April 17.

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