The Belle Vernon Area School Board voted 5-3 Monday to ask a contracted architect for reimbursement after a lengthy discussion. Director Ed Naylor made the motion that the board ask N. John Cunzolo Associates, with whom it signed a contract in March 2001, to refund about $245,000 to the district for work not requested. The architect is required to refund the money if it goes unspent by March. The district does not anticipate using the money on any projects. “We are not giving up a credit, we are getting the money back, cash, in our bank account,” Director Harve Anderson III said. In September, the board voted to give back more than $9 million of borrowed money to reduce interest payments. The bond defeasement eliminated money that was to be used for a three-phase renovation project. The architect was part of that project. After the defeasement was approved, several options that directors considered – including building a new elementary school and adding a science and technology wing at the high school – were nixed. The decision to give back the money was influenced by budget woes in the district, which had to raise taxes an average of 17 percent this year. President Aaron Bialon and directors Joseph Stringhill and Dale Patterson voted against the motion, saying they wished the money could be used to advance projects at the school. Director Dr. L. Douglas Pepper was absent. Bialon expressed disappointment that only a few months ago, the board listened to district educators and administrators explain the need for changes to make Belle Vernon Area an “A-1” district. “It’s a shame that it has to come to this. It’s been a political football. The bottom line is” that the students suffer, he said. Stringhill said progress on the project halted after the construction of Weir Stadium, part of phase one. “It seemed like once they got their football field, boom! Everything stopped,” he said. Stringhill said he voted for the field because he thought it was the beginning of myriad changes. He wanted to see more improvements in the district. In other business, directors voted to rescind two votes after they were just taken and table a third after they argued whether or not a project should be put out for bid. The administration received three proposals for three different jobs related to electrical work for road lighting on Crest Avenue. The jobs would cost the district $9,999, a dollar under what would be required to advertise for bids. Directors had voted for the Miller Corp. Electrical Contractor to install poles and install underground wiring and were about to vote for installation of a conduit. But Anderson noted that by the wording on the agenda, the district would have to provide the conduit and dig up the trench on the third job. He asked maintenance director Joseph Muccino if the district would have to pay someone to do the digging. Muccino said the district would pay about $350 for the conduit and would have to hire someone to dig the trench. Friedline said since Miller Corp. is not doing the excavating, the vote would be legal. However, directors voted 7-1, with Bialon dissenting, to rescind their earlier votes and table the project’s advancement until their agenda meeting Dec. 9. The board will meet for a reorganization meeting at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4.

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