Trinity attempts to rescind bus contract
Members of Trinity Area School Board Thursday attempted to nullify the bus contract it recently approved with First Student Inc., but the motion failed by a 5-0 vote.
Board member Shawn Mulac made a motion to rescind the April 1 vote to award First Student an $8.86 million contract.
The motion required six votes to pass.
Directors Mulac (who voted for First Student on April 1), Penny Caleffe, Henry Clemens, Jennifer Morgan and Tamara Salvatori voted in favor of rescinding the contract, while board members Scott Day, Sandra Clutter, Colleen Interval and Jenene Hupp, who voted in favor of First Student at the April 1 meeting, did not attend.
The meeting was adjourned after the vote because Salvatori, acting president since Day did not attend, had another engagement.
The school board will reconvene Monday, and the bus contract will be on the agenda.
The board had selected First Student over current longtime carriers GG&C and Schweinebraten, the apparent low bidder.
The bus transportation contract has been a contentious issue since the board voted to solicit bids in the fall.
Currently, President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca is determining whether Clutter and Hupp, bus drivers who voted for First Student at the April 1 meting, violated the terms of a court settlement in which they agreed to refrain from discussing or voting on Trinity transportation issues at a time when the board considered bids for awarding a new transportation contract.
Recently, Schweinebraten filed a request in court in a bid to formally join GG&C’s case against the school district, its board and individual directors Clutter and Clemens. Clemens abstained from voting on the transportation contract April 1.