Decision To Award Bus Contract Considered Economics, Concern For Community

By Larissa Lytwyn

When the Board of Education awarded a four-year contract to MLM Transportation, consisting of three owner/operators, July 1, many townspeople felt as if they had found an oasis of optimism within a budget whose three-time failure had reduced its allocations, causing many controversial cuts.

It was announced only a month ago that Art Bennett, owner/operator of eight buses, was retiring. Mr Bennett had decided to keep the announcement in confidence to guarantee the fulfillment of his service until the end of the school year. Soon after the announcement, however, the town elicited an open bid for both private and commercial companies to complete a Request For Proposal, or RFP, on Mr Bennett’s contract. Owner/operators were informed of the news shortly before the invitation for proposals was released.

At a subsequent owner/operator meeting responding to the concern that a commercial company’s entrance into the community might threaten the traditional owner/operator system in Newtown, independent proprietors Michelle Voight and Maria Adams proposed to form a company that could make a competitive proposal — in three weeks. They also volunteered longtime driver and recent owner/operator LeReine Frampton, who was not at the meeting.

“There was not very much time at all,” said Ms Voight. The RFP, she continued, was dauntingly thick, profuse in detail and complex financial jargon. “LeReine’s daughter, Sarah [also a driver], was great in helping us get all the research done,” said Ms Voight.

The owner/operators agreed that without the immense support of their families and peers, the task would not have been accomplished. To place the bid, the women had to pay a more than $100,000 bond, an expense they covered with the assistance of family members. Throughout the July 1 meeting, MLM management listened to the considerable amount of public support voiced on behalf on the owner/operator system. While several voiced their concern about a commercial company’s potential threat to the owner/operators’ existence, the board emphasized that even if a commercial company was contracted, all of the current drivers and owner/operators would remain employed.

MLM Transportation also distributed multicolored documents detailing their contract’s costs, positive references from school administrators, an excerpt from competing company First Student’s proposal, and a comparison of First Student and MLM services, from MLM’s perspective. The independent company emphasized the fact that their buses would be maintained exclusively in Newtown, as well as offering salaries more than a dollar above First Student’s offer.

More than three hours after the meeting began, the board began its discussion of the bus contract. Financial Director Ronald Bienkowski circulated copies of a detailed financial analysis of the five proposals received from MLM Transportation, Laidlaw, First Student, Dattco, and four independent owner/operators.

First Student, though the most cost-effective choice, did not make an out-of-district bid. The town relies considerably on nonlocal busing. “Right now we have 13 separate [out-of-district] locations,” said Mr Bienkowski. This figure, he continued, will increase in the fall. In a memorandum issued with his financial breakdown of the RFPs, Mr Bienkowski stated that the transportation department has been providing “miscellaneous midday and various special education transportation” as well as services for internal programs such as PROBE, NAP, the Back Door Café, and tutoring programs that “also require a flexible approach.”

Mr Bienkowski recommended that while the owner/operator system is a wonderful one, it did not mean that two systems could not coexist. He suggested awarding a contract for the smaller buses, such as the 35-passenger buses Mr Bennett had, so that the transportation department could be more flexible to accommodate situations such as transporting a student with a broken leg. The finance director emphasized that his analysis was strictly a financial one, and not a judgment of the owner/operator system.

He introduced James Castelli, regional vice president of First Student, to discuss its proposed contract. The nationwide company provides services to Middlebury and Southbury. Representatives from both towns, Mr Bienkowski said, were very satisfied with First Student’s level of service. Mr Castelli said that he would maintain the same drivers for the routes driven by Mr Bennett, as well as provide brand-new vehicles.

“First Student is committed to being cost-effective,” he said. “The reason that we did not include an out-of-district bid in our proposal is because it would not have been the best choice, economically, for Newtown.” A combination of owner/operators and local drivers employed by First Student, he continued, would have provided the town with the most economically viable choice. All together, First Student’s service, over a four-year period, would have been $3,642,066. “We were offering a rate that was $125,000 less than MLM,” said Mr Castelli. “The board is actually spending $25,000 more than what is allocated in next year’s budget.”

In a vote held a little before midnight, the board awarded the contract, 4 to 1, to MLM Transportation. The independent company will be using a combination of Mr Bennett’s buses and brand-new vehicles that will total a ten-vehicle fleet. The cost, over a four-year period, is $4,408,383.