SAD 11 decides against hiring outside maintenance firm

Kennebec Journal, February 24, 2008

(excerpt) Faced with the need to trim 5 percent from the district's maintenance and plant-operations budget, the subcommittee formed in hopes of finding some of those savings. Ellis sat on the task force with plant-operations director Jon Stonier, Superintendent Paul Knowles and Board members Eric Jermyn, Dick Rogers and Ginger Shaw.

"We are looking at everything to try to save where we can," said Rogers, the School Board chairman.

In the end, one company, Benchmark Cleaning Services of Portland, responded to the subcommittee's request for bids, estimating it could clean and maintain the SAD 11 schools for $639,000 per year in labor costs. SAD 11 originally budgeted more than $785,000 in custodians' personnel costs for the current school year.