Council Rock facilities committee reviews multiple construction and service contracts, recommends vendor awards and rebids

The Council Rock School District Court of School Directors Facilities Committee met May 7, 2026, and reviewed a slate of construction and service contract recommendations including surveys and investigations tied to the Chancellor Center renovation and geotechnical work for Holland Middle and Newtown Elementary.

Jessica Bindo, the district’s supervisor of facilities, presented the Chancellor Center scope as “a proposal to complete [a] subsurface utility engineering survey for existing utilities, including test holes, to locate the depth of the utilities” and an exterior underground cistern investigation. Staff cited vendor Barry Isett for the utility work and gave cost figures in the presentation; the transcript records a $12,000 figure for the utility survey and an $8,500 figure for the cistern investigation, while a later remark referenced $10,500 for the utility survey. Committee members asked whether these services are part of the overall budget and were told the services are specialized items layered on top of architectural fees and intended to inform final construction drawings.

The committee also reviewed geotechnical and testing work for two school projects. Staff recommended David Blackmore & Associates for a geotechnical exploration at Holland Middle School — including five test borings, three auger probes and four infiltration test pits — and reported a quoted fee of $12,527 for that study. For Newtown Elementary, which staff said lacks prior site data, staff recommended a larger geotechnical program (more auger probes and infiltration testing), a geotechnical cost quoted in the presentation of $18,462.50, and construction-testing services during construction with hourly rates capped at $65,000.

On procurement, staff reported five bids for district-wide waste removal and recycling services and recommended awarding a contract to Waste Management. Staff presented a five-year total of $908,236.88 for the contract structure (a three-year term with the district’s option to extend for two additional years) and noted Waste Management is the district’s incumbent vendor.

The facilities presentation also covered fuel and propane supply bids. Staff recommended awarding the number-2 fuel oil and unleaded gasoline contract to Riggings after receiving two bids, explained that per-gallon differential fees (for delivery and handling) are added to supplier prices (for example, a 55¢ delivery add-on for fuel oil and a 35¢ add-on for gasoline were used as illustrative figures), and identified storage locations (fuel oil at the sale house and gasoline at Richborough Middle School). For propane, staff recommended Wilson Propane at a fixed price noted in the meeting as $1.439 per gallon and said the district typically purchases about 36,800 gallons annually; staff said the fixed-price approach was chosen after several years of volatility.

Smaller maintenance procurements brought additional recommendations: an HVAC air-filter contract recommended to FSI Industries for $36,186.83 (staff said the figure reflects an inventory tally and scheduled deliveries three times per year), and a recommendation to award painting of the Council Rock High School North gym to Jamestown Painting for $22,520. Staff explained the painting contractor was hired because district crews lack the equipment and uninterrupted time window to complete that particular gym safely during the short summer access period.

The committee was also advised to reject the bids for the baseball scoreboard procurement after the district’s advertisement failed to run in the newspaper on April 8; staff said the project will be rebid and is expected to return to the June Facilities Committee meeting for action. Regarding schedule for the Chancellor Center renovation, staff said construction is advancing into design development and that mid-fall relocation to Richborough is expected when contractor work begins.

A public commenter who identified herself as Miss Hills opened the public-comment portion of the meeting and praised district teachers, saying, “I truly give thanks to all the CRs teachers,” a brief remark the committee acknowledged before proceeding with the agenda.

No formal roll-call vote on the specific contract awards was recorded in the transcript; the meeting record captures staff recommendations, committee questions and planned next steps (rebids, June presentation, and follow-up if any contract caps are exceeded). Several committee members pressed staff for follow-up details such as year-over-year propane pricing, monitoring of supplier invoices for fuel, and the potential need to return to the committee if construction-testing costs exceed the not-to-exceed cap.

Next steps noted at the end of the meeting included rebidding the baseball scoreboard ahead of the June Facilities Committee meeting, a June design-development presentation for the Chancellor Center, and staff follow-up on price comparisons and schedule details for several of the recommended contracts.