Farmington

Opinions differ regarding school bus purchases

By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

FARMINGTON — The purchase of eight new school buses generated an interesting discussion about priorities at the Feb. 7 Farmington Public Schools Board of Education meeting.

The school district’s Transportation Department uses a 12-year school bus replacement cycle. After a bus serves for 12 years, the district either disposes of it or keeps it as a spare.

The recommendation, which ultimately passed 4-2, sought five 75-passenger buses at approximately $531,000, two 21-passenger special-education buses able to accommodate wheelchairs for approximately $197,000, and a 12-passenger special-education bus also able to accommodate wheelchairs for almost $68,000 — a total of not quite $800,000. The pricing came through the Michigan School Business Officials’ School Bus Bid Program.

The buses also required Espar Heaters to start them in cold-weather at a cost of $2,100 each.

The eight 75-passenger buses being replaced were bought in 2000. The district planned to keep one with 96,000 miles and one with 136,000 miles as spares. The other buses had mileage ranging from almost 130,000 to almost 147,000.

The school board’s newest members, George Gurrola and Murray Kahn, voted against the purchase and had expressed concerns at the prior school board meeting. Gurrola thought it was a good use of district funds, but maybe not the best use.

“Most certainly a good use of our capital project funds, but there were two things that stood out in my mind from the last meeting. One, this is not a safety issue. The buses won’t necessarily be in an unsafe condition if we don’t buy new ones. And two, Mr. (Bill) Tousley said he could do without,” said Gurrola, referring to the district’s transportation supervisor. “I’m not opposed to hearing a different proposal or getting a clarification, but I don’t support this motion.”

“I think we have to be smarter with our money and not just say, well, we have a 12-year program, so we replace buses,” said Kahn. “We need to look into it a little bit more.”

Kahn noted that he didn’t have a problem with buying the special-education buses, as the district seems to need the capacity they would provide, but the information he saw regarding the other buses didn’t convince him.

“I think we looked at the logs of repairs and all, and I actually asked somebody that knew about repairs, and none of them were all that critical. A lot of it was normal wear and tear, and (I) didn’t really see anything on there where the buses were actually breaking down on the side of the road. Maybe one of them.

“So my feeling is you could put it off maybe another year or two and be a little more selective about the buses,” Kahn said.

He said the district could perhaps spend the money on other needs.

Treasurer Frank Reid said he believed the bus replacement was a safety issue and the 12-year replacement cycle was based on experience.

“You’re transporting pupils on busy streets, and where you have unexpected breakdowns, to me, that’s very much a safety issue. And I think there does become a tipping point in the age of these buses that would indicate that beyond that tipping point they’re much more prone to the kinds of emergency, out-of-service conditions that I think becomes a safety issue for our students,” said Reid.

Secretary Priscilla Brouillette said she reviewed the information and came to the conclusion that the purchases were necessary.

“We have in the past had to delay purchases sometimes because of financial constraints, and we always kind of hold our breaths and worry that there will be a problem,” said Brouillette.

“I think the last thing in the world, as board members, we want is buses at the side of the road (and) parents not knowing where their kids are because the bus is delayed,” Brouillette said.

“I came to the conclusion that yes, it’s time to replace these buses, put them in the pool of spare parts, spare buses, and use them in the rotation, but don’t rely on them consistently to get our students safely to school,” said Brouillette.

Vice President Karen Bolsen was not at the meeting.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1053.