EASD Engineering Contract Still in Limbo

The Easton Area School Board decided 5-4 to table the decision to accept the bid to retain D'Huy Engineering as the district's engineers at their regular meeting Thursday evening.

That will allow the district's new chief operating officer to review the bids, as well as allow newly appointed board member Frank Castrovinci to familiarize himself to the issue.

Castrovinci, , said before the business was conducted that he would be abstaining on all matters of consequence, as he'd not had time to research or investigate any of the matters on the table in any real detail.

Members that voted to go ahead with the vote were board president Kerry Myers, vice president Tim Reilly, Millie Mandarino, and Pat Vulcano, who participated in the vote by phone from home, as he is recuperating from a recent hospital stay.

This is the second time the matter has come before the board in as many months.

At last month's meeting, , with two members not present. A clear majority of members or five of the full board of nine is needed for the matter to pass.

Several members of the public spoke against the district's continuing to retain the firm, saying it is inappropriate since district administrator Tim Case's son works for the company. It was not immediately clear whether he was involved in any district projects.

They added that another firm's bid included the services of a grant writer for free, and claimed D'Huy did substandard work during the renovations.

District II school board candidate , who wasn't present at the meeting, wrote the board an email stating concern for the move.

His opponent, similarly voiced concerns for awarding the company the bid, saying he'd heard all three people that reviewed the engineering contract bids had ties to D'Huy, and that he feels someone who is entirely uninvolved with the firm should review the offer.

But not all were critical of D'Huy.

“It comes down to specifications, and the attention (from the district) the project is given,” said resident Bob Fagan. “Anyone can write grants. The question is, how much money, if any are you going to get?”

D'Huy Engineering principal and chief engineer, M. Arif Fazil told the board it was rare for him to speak out, but that he wanted to answer some of the accusations made by those opposing the bid award.

He said the firm was first retained in 2002, to fix problems with the then-new high school athletic fields. Later, when the district retained the firm to place 10 temporary classrooms, he proposed an addition to the school for the same amount as the trailers would have cost.

He said problems with the March School project came from a change in state standards for handicapped ramps in the middle of the project.

“In the end, it was addressed by me personally, and we fixed it at no cost to the district,” Fazil said. “We take very seriously the trust that is put in us...by the school district.”

He added that the bidding process for the district engineering contract was quite rigorous and lengthy.

The matter is expected to be revisited at the board's next regular meeting, which has been moved up to Thursday, Aug. 18, following a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. to appoint a new board member to fill the vacancy left by school director .