Tucker County BOE adopts 2016-2017 goals – votes to replace engine in bus

By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – Members of the Tucker County Board of Education approved their 2016-2017 Board Goals during Monday’s meeting. Those goals are listed in today’s paper.
One of the agenda items was the approval of a new motor for one of the busses. Jonathan Hicks relayed information about the need for the new motor.
“Mark Burns, Bus 14-A, unfortunately the engine malfunctioned and needs replaced,” Hicks said. “All three bids are in your packet. The lowest bid is $17,000 and change. Dr. Eddie Campbell, Dave Lambert and I have looked at this to make sure we considered all options as opposed to replacing this engine. The bus has about seven years left in service so we thought not replacing the engine is not a good option.”
Hicks said with seven years left before the bus could be replaced, changing the engine is the best options.
Board member Janet Preston asked what happened to the engine.
“It is only about 16 months out of warranty,” Hicks said. “There is some concern that with that manufacturer there is some concern with the engine but it was no fault of ours.”
Hicks said the bus lost two cylinders and it still runs but it will not pull hills. “It won’t work for what we need it for,” he said. “It is an unfortunate situation. We feel we need the bus.”
Preston asked where the money to replace the engine would come from.
“We will just have to take it from the transportation budget,” Dave Lambert said. “We are going to have to, as we do every single year, look for places to cut. As of today, the transportation expenditures will be higher than projected.”
Also during Monday’s meeting BOE members voted to upgrade the Tucker County Schools phone system.
The next meeting of the Tucker BOE is slated for 4:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Tucker County BOE Office.