NEVC work 'still waiting' on Overland Park firm

An Overland Park company has faltered on its commitment to install new lighting and insulation in Northeast Vernon County Schools before the schoolyear starts Sept. 1.

NEVC Superintendent Charles Naas told school board members Thursday that Energy Solutions Professionals had still not sent crews to do the work in Walker and Schell City despite having signed a contract to do so.

"The lighting can be done in a weekend, but ESP can't get the insulation people down here," Naas said. "We're still waiting on people to do these projects."

ESP executive Tim O'Kane told the Daily Mail Friday that the NEVC board was tardy in agreeing to the audit contract, thereby delaying the process of getting bids from Kansas City area financial institutions for the $200,000 project.

The R-1 District and company agreed to finance the work through a deal for the district to give the firm the difference between what it typically pays for energy and if the lesser amounts aren't enough to pay the 15-year note, the difference will be made up by ESP.

Promising Friday that the work will begin by Sept. 30 at the latest, O'Kane said, "It's a matter of getting the contract pulled together and the financing in place.

"We're going out for bids right now. Certainly, we wanted to have this done by the time school started. It is still going to happen. It's a matter of timing, which does happen from time to time."

Asked if the board members' reduction of the scale of the project by taking on re-roofing the junior high-high school at Walker themselves gave ESP less incentive to proceed, O'Kane said, "No, we emphasize collaboration when we do the process.

"They realized they have $80,000 for the roof, so it didn't make sense to finance it."

In a related matter Thursday night, the board heard Shay Roofing official Chuck McKenna of Columbia propose partially replacing the 6,873-square-foot roof and stopping all the leaks for a much smaller expenditure.

Attending with Walker roofer Brandon Garwood, McKenna detailed extensive work his company has done for Clinton schools and other Missouri districts. "I can put a crew here next week if you want," he said.

"We've got an 82-year-old building we need to last another 20 to 30 years" so why make a less long-lasting choice now, asked board member Roger Dade.

"For the cost," McKenna replied.

"We'll take care of that," said Dade.

In other business, the panel chaired by Robert Fox voted unanimously to keep the district's property tax rate the same, $4.22 per $100 in valuation, for 2011-'12.

It heard Schell City Elementary School Principal Kendall Ogburn report the enrollment of 20 pre-school students and OK'd his recommendation to hire pre-school aide Shannon Koger of El Dorado Springs and special education aide Mary Blocker of Schell City.

Walker Principal Chris Hudson reported the enrollments of 10 new junior and senior boys and 11 vocational-technical students, 10 boys and a girl.

Naas said NEVC students had passed three of the four federal Adequate Yearly Progress tests. "We're above average because most area districts only passed one or two," he said.

"The only ones who passed all four in language arts and math were Hume and Ballard."