New Haven Independent

All his requests for renewal of a wide range of outsourced facilities service contracts, to the tune of more than $800,000, met with modest questioning (only one BOE committee member, Michael Nast, was present), and then preliminary approval.

At Monday night’s meeting nine contracts were renewed with on-call companies to replace, maintain, or repair, respectively windows, drains, electrical systems, security cameras, HVAC equipment, mechanical air systems, loose masonry, or fine tune public address systems.

Why are so-many on-call companies needed? “If a sewer drain breaks, or a window shatters,” said Will Clark, the BOE’s chief operating officer, “we need someone right away.”

The way it works is that a company, such as Pasquariello Electric Corp., gets paid for each call. The budgeted amount contracted for, in the case of this Fair Haven company on Peck Street, is $150,000 for fiscal year 2008-2009’s electrical repair services. Another contract with the same company is for $50,000 to be on call, specifically to repair PA systems.

If the total amount budgeted in each category is not spent, then that money is reallocated for some other general operating purpose, across budget lines. If all the PA systems in all the schools suddenly are fried, Aramark, on behalf of Pasquariello, would likely come back before Michael Nast and the other members of the BOE finance committee and ask to amend the contract adding what’s needed.

Or, as Nast, often amiably remarked to the many presenters offering amendments to contracts before him, “Will I be seeing you again?”

“What’s remarkable,” said Will Clark, “is that in 10 years, the amount of money allocated for these kinds of repairs has not grown, in total, by even a dollar. This, at the same time that the number of school buildings — the square footage and and additional systems to be maintained — has grown by 33 percent.”

Clark called it a juggling act, trying to figure out what might be taken from Peter — for example, the East Shore Glass Company in the Annex, which is responsible for window replacement — to pay Paul, so to speak, that is, Honeywell, Inc, of Rocky Hill, if the HVAC systems, which they manage, require more attention than was foreseen.

Andrew Butler termed it not a juggling act but an art.

“Gone are the days,” Clark said, “when you could take a wrench to something or kick it and it works again. These days you take out your laptop and plug it into the controlling electronic system.”

All Aramark’s and the BOE’s outsourced service contracts have an automatic option to renew for a second year. The renewal is at the same cost and terms as the first year. Sometimes, said Butler, a preferred or proven contractor can’t renew because their labor costs have increased and the BOE payment contractually cannot go up.

The contract renewals, which were approved by the committee, must go to the full Board of Education for an official vote, likely later this month. In most instances, full BOE approval is pro forma.