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Trustee demands breakdown of environmental contractor charges after contracts triple; exchange prompts recess and special meeting
Summary
Trustees pressed staff for a consolidated accounting of charges to an on‑call environmental consultant after amendments increased the prior year's contract ceiling from $15,000 to roughly $44,000; the discussion became heated, the board recessed, and remaining pulled items were scheduled for a special meeting.
A lengthy exchange over an on‑call environmental consulting contract for asbestos/lead/mold testing (Encorp/Environmental Network) consumed the latter part of the meeting. Trustees said the vendor's authorization had been increased repeatedly to cover work already done and asked why the district repeatedly needed separate stand‑alone contracts instead of using an existing on‑call agreement.
"The original ICA here was 15,000... Amendment 2 today increases to 44,000," one trustee said, adding that those increases were sought to "cover services already performed." Trustees asked for a consolidated report of all charges to different budget strings (Measure G, Child Development, maintenance and operations, capital projects) for the same vendor and requested the opportunity to inspect the work at sites such as Ramona Preschool before approving further increases. District staff explained many incidents arose at multiple sites when maintenance work uncovered suspect materials and that contingency work needed timely remediations; staff offered to provide a larger annualized ceiling moving forward and to compile a cross‑budget summary.
The exchange grew heated with repeated interruptions; the chair called for a brief recess, and after reconvening the board voted to adjourn and to resume the remaining pulled items at a special meeting. Trustees asked staff to provide a combined cost report for the vendor across all budget strings and to document what specific incidents triggered each increase before the board considers additional amendments.
