ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / August 14, 1999

RESERVE- After a long debate and two meetings, the St. John ParishSchool Board has finally agreed to go with Ross Bus Sales and purchase five new school buses equipped with video cameras and VCRs for a total of $27,845,000.

At the regular school board meeting of Aug. 5, Director of BusinessOperations Felix Boughton said that after receiving bids from four companies he was recommending Ross Bus Sales because they met school board specifications and had the lowest bid.

However, Louis Schwartz of Louis Schwartz Inc., came to the podium andsaid his company actually had the lowest bid, and his buses exceed the school board specification. He demanded to know why his bid was rejected.Boughton informed Schwartz and the board that the buses Schwartz was offering did not meet the engine and transmission specifications that were in the bid. St. John buses have a wet sleeve engine, whereas,Schwartz’ buses were using dry sleeve engines.

“We need buses that will last 20 years,” said Boughton. ” Mr. Schwartz’ buswill not last that long. Our buses need to be cost-effective.”Boy Williams, the mechanic who maintains the St. John Parish fleet ofschool buses, was called up, and he said the engine that Schwartz was recommending wouldn’t do the parish any good because all the spare parts they have are for wet sleeve engines. It would be expensive to go out andbuy new spare parts. Also, he said, he believes wet sleeve engines arebetter.

Schwartz responded by saying wet sleeve engines needed extra maintenance and his engines wouldn’t need that. He said several of theparish school buses had broken down last year, and that wouldn’t happen with his buses.

After much discussion among board members, the issue was tabled.

A special meeting to deal with the bus issue was called for Aug. 12, andthere it was discovered that because of a miscount of votes, the bus issue had not been tabled and was still active.

Boughton reiterated his recommendation of the Ross Bus Sales bid.

Board member Dowie Gendron said he had telephoned around trying to find out the difference between the two engines. He discovered that bothengines are good, but the wet sleeve engine needs extra additives to make it run properly. The buses that had been broken down were replaced by thefactory, so there was no money lost.

Gendron said, “I’m still on the fence about this. I do know that what we doneed is better maintenance on our buses. Spending all this money justdoesn’t make sense.”However, the board voted to accept the recommendation 8-1. Gendronvoted against it, and Charles Watkins and Matthew Ory were absent.

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