During the July 10 meeting of the Webster Parish School Board, one major decision was made, another was tabled until next month, and several other proposals were approved.
Perhaps the biggest decision of the evening was to decline ELA Group’s request for $974,728.69. ELA Group is the company that has been building the multipurpose building at Minden High School. The project was originally projected to be completed by November 2022, but the building is still not finished. ELA Group cited unexpected excessive groundwater issues as the cause of the delay, and stated that prices for materials and subcontractor services have gone up significantly during that time, with subcontractors and vendors now refusing to proceed without the price increases. ELA Group has already received approximately $600,000 beyond their original bid in change orders for the project. The board unanimously voted to decline to give ELA Group more money, which means that ELA Group will need to cover the additional costs.
Probably the most anticipated item on the agenda, step increases for employees whose salaries had been frozen, was tabled until next month. While three board members — Jana Watson, Jonathan Guthrie, and Ronnie Rhymes — wanted to vote on the raises tonight, they were outvoted by the rest of the board. Finance Director Crevonne Odom had requested that the board wait until August to vote on the measure since she would, by that time, have completed the budget and would have concrete numbers for them to discuss.
“Why I’m asking for [this delay] is so that I can finish closing out this 22-23 [budget], and we’ll see where we are as far as how much of a hit our fund balances are going to take,” said Odom. “I’m also getting some information because our property insurance is going to increase because of the situation in the state of Louisiana. Everybody’s insurance is going up. Ours is projected to go up twice as much, so that would take us from paying $300,000 to $600,000 a year. So I’m trying to get some finite, concrete numbers on that because everything that I presented in the finance committee were worst-case scenario projections because I don’t have the concrete numbers. And I would feel better if I could give you more concrete numbers in August.”
If the measure passes next month, this delay will have no effect on these employees getting their raises in a timely manner because the raises would not appear on paychecks until October.
Items that were approved included advertising for bids for alterations to J.E. Harper Pathways to Excellence in order to add a barber school addition, authorization to have Yeager, Watson & Associates provide design and construction services for constructing a food service freezer at the school board offices, and approving a change in record keeping procedures in order to meet the requirements for a grant.
The next school board meeting will be held on August 7 at the school board offices. The public is welcome to attend.