photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Board of Education President David Croft, left, and Superintendent Kim Miller review informations during this week’s board meeting.

WHEELING — Ohio County Schools is looking to cut costs, and the effort has them closely reviewing the renewal of an expensive maintenance agreement for heating, ventilation and air conditioning units within school facilities.

The contract presented by Siemens would cost the school district $636,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. That amount would increase to $670,000 if the contract is picked up for a second year.

Ohio County Schools has less money to spend in the coming year. Board members recently approved a $83,856,402 budget for fiscal year 2025-26 that was about $5.5 million less than that for 2024-25.

This is because assessed property values in Ohio County have decreased for 2025-2026, and the school district is expected to receive $8.788 million less in excess tax revenue next year.

Board members are considering a few options that could mean not approving the entire contract. The first would separate equipment controls within the system by Siemens from the overall contract.

The control system refers to the network of devices and technologies that manage, regulate and optimize the operation of HVAC equipment within a building, explained board president David Croft.

The software that manages the Ohio County Schools control system is proprietary software owned by Siemens. But the control portion of the contract can be separated out from the rest of the contract for around $222,000 for this next fiscal year, he added.

David Crumm, Ohio County Schools director of operations, informed board members Siemens employees are highly trained in maintaining many types and brands of equipment.

He added it would be difficult to find, hire and pay people a comparable wage for the same work.

“Whoever it is who is going to work on this stuff is going to have to be trained and certified,” Crumm said.

He noted Siemens has always turned out when called on the off hours – even during the strong winter freeze on Christmas Day 2023.

“I know Siemens has done good work for us, and I do appreciate it,” board member Molly Aderholt said. “I know (Crumm) has been very happy with the service they have provided. This contract may be a great contract for us, and we may need everything that is in it. But as a board member, we don’t know that because we haven’t been able to competitively bid it.

“As we’re looking at a contract in excess of $600,000 – and our current financial situation being down from last year’s budget – we are looking to be good stewards of the county’s money.”

She noted the board would like to find money to pay teachers more, and maybe make an investment in changing the start times for students.

“I just don’t have the confidence in this contract without seeing it competitively bid,” Aderholt said.

Board member Bernie Albertini said he wants Siemens to log the number of work hours they put into Ohio County Schools buildings.

“If they can give us the number of man hours spent in Ohio County last year… it would be a simple calculation to determine if we should move forward with the contract or try to hire outside,” he said.

Albertini has explained that when he was the administrator of a hospital in Tuscon, Arizona, he was able to negotiate an HVAC contract that separated out the controls. The hospital called in local trades when needed, and it saved the facility money.

Board member Andy Garber said Albertini’s request “was a good one,” but he isn’t certain Ohio County Schools is in the position to take care of its own HVAC systems.

“I think it would be difficult – unless we had another organization or company give us a bid on it – for us to restructure it and assume responsibility for taking care of our own HVAC units in 18 places (school facilities),” he said. “That ‘s a difficult thing to ask. I don’t know how much service personnel can be paid in order to facilitate a team.

“It’s not like they’re just changing filters. There’s a lot of engineering that goes into this and a whole lot of technical understanding that goes into maintaining and taking care of the HVAC unit in 18 buildings. I would just be interested in seeing if the possibility is even there. We had a hard time finding bus drivers. We have a hard time finding plumbers. How can we find HVAC people with the expertise to run our entire systems?”

Board member Anne Hercules is a former school service employee. She noted she often had to call Siemens out in the early hours of the morning when there was a heating or air conditioning problem in a school.

“I would say Siemens is right on,” Hercules said. “It is hard to find the service personnel, and also find someone who is qualified.

“With Siemens… when I have called them myself personally when I worked at West Liberty Elementary and we had no heat. I would call them at 5 a.m., and they were right there. It would take them about an hour to get here.”

She added she also realizes $636,000 is a lot of money.

“I just feel what they give us … you get what you pay for,” Hercules continued. “And if you go cheap, you’re going to get cheap. I realize this is a lot of money, but they keep our children warm and cool in the summer. They’re here to work on things. I feel Siemens has worked well for Ohio County Schools.”

Croft said if the board members can find a way to save money for the school district, “they should try.”

“We need more information…,” he told board members. “Is it foolish to try and save money because we are just going to dig ourselves a hole? We don’t know. But if we started with the man hours … how many hours they’ve worked here in the last year … it’s a launching point.”