Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                   TAG: 9406300107
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                 LENGTH: Medium

CLEANING CONTRACT TOO COSTLY, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER SAYS

County school officials hired ServiceMaster three years ago following complaints that buildings were not being kept clean or properly maintained.

The administrative staff had negotiated a new three-year contract with ServiceMaster scheduled for approval Tuesday night. But board member Lewis Pratt questioned the $15,553 per month being paid to the national corporation, wondering if the job could not be done more cheaply in-house.

Superintendent Bill Asbury said that, before Pratt's term on the board started, the cleaning had been done by the school system and the results had been unsatisfactory. The people hired to handle cleaning chores at the various schools lacked professional training, had no expertise in handling what could be dangerous chemicals used in cleaning, and did not have a countywide plan to get to the most serious jobs first,.

ServiceMaster also tracks the school system's energy consumption and job orders, provides its own equipment which would be expensive to purchase, and provides other cleaning-related services. Walt Shannon, the school system's financial director, said ServiceMaster does make a profit on the cleaning supplies it provides but, being a large organization, buys them in bulk at reduced costs.

School Board Chairman Ron Chaffin said he, too, shared some of Pratt's concerns. ServiceMaster had been serving New River Community College, where Chaffin works, and its contract there was not renewed.

Pratt said it seemed ungrateful to consider dismissing ServiceMaster after it had come in and cleaned up a major problem for the school system, but he was concerned about costs.

The board ended up not accepting the three-year contract but extended the existing contract for one year since there was no time to make other arrangements before the beginning of the next fiscal year. The staff will provide the board with an analysis of ServiceMaster's costs compared to the cost of the school system employing its own cleaning crew.

The board did accept a contract with Honeywell Energy Management to come up with ways of saving on energy costs and using the money to invest in more energy-efficient facilities. The project will take 10 years.