The school system's five-year school bus contract requires City Council approval.
WESTFIELD – A decision on the length of a new school bus contract the School Department will seek this year is expected at a School Finance Committee meeting Tuesday.
Last month the School Committee delayed the decision on whether to seek a three- or five-year pact for student transportation to allow more time for review.
Finance chairman Kevin J. Sullivan said he expects a recommendation during the meeting.
The Finance Committee will also consider a request from Operations and Maintenance Director Frank B. Maher Jr. to restore nearly $80,000 to the School Department’s regular school maintenance accounts.
That was the amount Maher spent during the summer on emergency capital improvements at two schools. Funding will restore the maintenance budget to its $488,000 approved in the current $52 million total school budget.
A computer system at North Middle School, which controls heat at that building, needed repair prior to the start of the current school year and a domestic water problem at Westfield Vocational-Technical High School was repaired at about the same time, Maher said.
School Finance Officer John E. Kane has recommended a five-year bus contract, saying he believes the longer term will bring a financial benefit to the School Department.
A five-year pact will require approval by the City Council. A three-year agreement can be approved solely by the School Committee.
School Committee member Mary Ann Cleland has voiced support for a five-year agreement.
Sullivan said the review was prompted because “there are pros and cons to each type of contract.”
Last month members Mary Beth Ogulewicz Sacco and Laura K. Maloney said they needed more time to review the information before deciding on a contract term.
The School Department currently spends about $1.5 million for its regular school transportation pact that expires at the end of the current school year.
Last year, the School Committee sought to exercise two option years of a three-year contract with Lecrenski Brothers Transportation of Westfield. But that action was questioned by the state Inspector General’s office and determined not valid by the city’s Law Department since the City Council had never approved the original contract terms.
Lecrenski has served as the district’s school bus provider since 1993.