School board discusses bid approval process

When the Evangeline Parish School Board convened for their regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday night, the approval of low bids prompted board member Scott Limoges to ask if there is anyway for the board to know if the company with the lowest bid is right for the job.
After reviewing the bids to replace the roof at Evangeline Central School with Duro-Last, Limoges said, “Has Ace done work for us before? I’m only asking in case a low bid is from someone who we have had problems with before.”
Chief Financial Officer Amy Lafleur informed the board that if there is ever a problem with company then documentation will have been filed, which the board could then use to justify them not approving the lowest bid for a project.
Limoges then said, “When y’all come to us with the bids, we put our trust in you that everything is good, and I just want us to be cautious because the board members will be the ones that will get a call from somebody if something isn’t right.”
When the discussion on this matter ended, the board approved Ace Roofing’s low bid of $15,358.00 for Evangeline Central’s new roof, and Ace Roofing’s low bid of $56,735.00 to replace Chataignier Elementary’s roof as well.
The board was then addressed by Lafleur, who informed them that a public hearing would need to be held on September 7, 2016 to adopt the 2016 millage rates for the 2016 tax year, even though the board had already previously done this.
Lafleur said, “We were not notified that this was a year of reassessment, and you can’t adopt a millage until the reassessment is done.”
The public hearing will be help at the board’s first meeting in September, and then the millage can be adopted during the regular meeting.
Other items approved at the meeting were:
•Payment to Tyler Technologies in the amount of $33,502.55 for annual renewal of accounting software using general fund.
•Ratification of payment to Lafayette Music in the amount of $5,431.10 for VPHS band using VPHS school fund.
•Ratification of payment to Balfour Yearbooks in the amount of $8,310.48 for Basile High yearbooks using BHS school fund.
•Approval of Student Accident Insurance renewal from ISU Lemoine Insurance Angency for $42,357.58
•Payment to AP Exams in the amount of $7,604.00 for MHS and PPHS for ap exams during the 2015-2016 year.