District staff recommends five‑year custodial contract to Citywide Building Maintenance; board questions retention, scope

Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 administrators told the committee of the whole on March 10 that they recommend awarding a five‑year custodial contract to Citywide Building Maintenance after a public bidding process.

Administration said seven contractors submitted sealed bids that were opened publicly on Feb. 27. “We ended up having 7 contractors submit sealed bids, and they were publicly opened on February 27 at 10AM,” Mr. Shepherd said. He told the committee the year‑one base bids ranged from $722,440 to more than $1 million, and five‑year totals ranged from about $3.7 million to $5.3 million.

The recommendation to select Citywide follows vetting of bids and references for the three lowest bidders. “After review of all the 7 bids and contacting references…administration has concluded the bid submitted by Citywide Building Maintenance appears to be complete and responsive,” Mr. Shepherd said. He added the district verified minimum wage assumptions in the bid and reviewed each bidder’s proposed profit and overhead.

Why it matters: administration told board members the contracting approach produces savings compared with maintaining custodial services fully in‑house once salary, benefits, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund contributions, Social Security and workers’ compensation are counted. Administration estimated the district would add “probably an additional 2 to 2,500,000 dollars” per year to operations and maintenance costs were those employees kept wholly in‑house; Citywide’s five‑year price was described as “a little over 3,500,000” in total.

Board members pressed staff on details they said matter to families and employees. Catherine Potter, policy chair, asked whether the contractor’s price includes work at the planned transportation center; Shepherd said the contractors were aware a transportation center was forthcoming but, because land had not yet been delivered, bidders provided only estimates for that facility. Potter said, “I think just seeing the layout of the transportation center…would be important for us so there’s no surprises.” She requested a written estimate integrating the transportation center into the scope.

Board members also asked whether Citywide intends to retain existing custodial employees. Shepherd said the firm’s transition plan typically includes interviews of existing staff and that Citywide “will interview all the existing employees with our recommendations of, like, who is a a good fit,” but that the vendor retains final hiring decisions. Board members pressed for assurances about employees’ pay and benefits; staff said Citywide’s bid includes insurance and vacation and that administration checked minimum wage levels in the bid.

Members asked about responsiveness and past performance. Shepherd said the district checked references for Citywide — including Woodland School District and North Palos School District — and that those districts recommended Citywide. He said administration also checked for recent contractual disputes and performed additional research beyond the submitted documents.

Administration’s next steps: staff recommended the board receive the bid tabulation and place a contract approval item on the regular board meeting agenda next week, when a Citywide representative is expected to attend. No formal contract award was taken at the committee meeting; the item was framed as an administration recommendation for board action at the next regular meeting.

Board context and concerns: members repeatedly said they value custodial staff familiarity with buildings and requested explicit language or assurances about retention, benefits and transition planning when the contract returns to the board. Several members asked staff to confirm how many incumbent workers would be retained and to provide the district’s estimate of any incremental cost tied specifically to adding the transportation center to the scope.

Looking ahead: Citywide will appear at the board meeting next week for questions. Administration will attempt to post bid details to the board documents repository and said it will provide the board the contractor’s transition plan and the transportation‑center estimate before the award vote.