HSD sets policy for photocopying purchases

By J.W. Schnarr
Vauxhall Advance
jwschnarr@tabertimes.com

Photocopying machines at schools in the Horizon School Division are all going to look like copies of one another as a decision has been made to standardize purchasing of the machines.

During their regular meeting on Feb. 24, the HSD board of trustees was updated on the decision to go with a single vendor for purchasing photocopying equipment in an effort to save money.

School superintendent Wilco Tymensen said there was an opportunity available for the school board to save money by purchasing with a single vendor.
“Up until now, schools have been buying their copiers on their own,’ said Tymensen. “The majority of them have been from one vendor, but there are five different vendors.”

John Rakai, associate superintendent of finance and operations, said a decision hadn’t been made by the day of the board meeting.

“We had presentations by the two shortlisted members,” he said. “Unfortunately, the final information did not come through until this morning. We’re not in a position to make a recommendation on the jurisdiction photocopier fleet program.”

During discussion, trustee Bruce Francis asked if it would be possible to simply move ahead and allow the board to pass a motion stating they would accept whatever administration chose to do with this issue.

“Would you be comfortable if we authorized you to make that decision?” said trustee Terry Michaelis.

Tymensen said the board was free to make such a motion, and this would authorize administration to go ahead and make their best decision without having to wait to come back to the board for another decision.
He noted there were several schools awaiting a final decision with regards to a vendor.

“We’ve got some schools that are very keen and eager to have a new photocopier purchased,” he said. “Some of them have been waiting for this process to go through and they are limping along. They didn’t want to go out and buy one from a certain vendor if that vendor wasn’t going to be the right candidate, because they’d have to get rid of it and have to buy a new one within three months.”

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