Since Chuck Dilbone became the district's director of business operations two years ago, a newly created position, district officials estimate thousands of dollars have been saved.
For the combined cost of copy machines, trash hauling, general maintenance and utilities alone, the number is about $166,093 between the 2008 and 2009 fiscal school years, according to district figures.
The savings come at a good time because, due to the downturn in the economy, whereby the district's earned interest on investments declined by $400,000 from fiscal year 2008 to FY 2009, district Treasurer Peg Betts said. And the district is getting 3 percent less in state school dollars this year and in 2011.
About three years ago, his last year as GHS principal, School Superintendent Scot Prebles approached Dilbone because he thought he would be a good fit for the director of business operations job.
At first, even Dilbone, 57, was leery.
"My first reaction was we don't really need it," Dilbone said. "Then about a month later we talked again."
Obviously he took the job. And the first thing he did was create a budget.
"We never had a true working budget in the maintenance and facilities area," Dilbone said. "We had a budget of money they gave us, but how was that spent and was there a budget ahead of time? No."
He said he has been able to achieve this success by paying closer attention to bids for new purchases and reviewing existing service contracts.
"Basically, before we didn't have anybody watching the shop," he said.
"Before, we weren't going out and getting bids or watching our contracts or being diligent about things," he said. "We probably were not saving as much money or doing the things we should have been doing contract-wise."
Besides bids, Dilbone now tracks the status of the work, all of which has generated savings.
For the copy machines and trash hauling, the savings are a result of seeking competitive bids. The utilities savings result from institution of an energy-savings initiative Dilbone began when he was still the Granville High School principal.
For the copiers, Dilbone wanted to upgrade what each school building had.
"We wanted to stay with the same number of copiers, maybe add one copier at the intermediate building, so we went out to the four major suppliers and we ended up at $262,000 for a five-year contract," Dilbone said. "We are currently paying $575,000 on our last contract, so we're saving $312,000 with one more copier and faster machines. That's a huge savings."
And that was from the same contractor, Dilbone said.
In the last year of a trash hauling contract, the district paid $35,011.36, according to district figures. Following a competitive bidding process, the same provider brought the cost down to $15,418 in the first year of a new three-year proposal, but a new contractor -- Big "O", got the job with $11,487 per year for all three years of a new agreement.
"In fiscal year 2007, the year before I took over, we (spent) $530,000 for general operations and maintenance," he said, "and now we dropped to $285,000 and we are doing more with less."
"We're now being more efficient and getting more things done with less money," he added.
Electricity, natural gas and water for all of the district's buildings cost $317,850 for the first six months of the 2008-2009 school year. Last year it was $306,117 for the same period, and it's now down to $249,803 -- due in part to an energy-savings initiative made possible with a $2 million low-interest loan through the state.
Part of the overall savings, Dilbone acknowledged, is because of the economy, when contractors began to go out of their way to make their bids competitive.
When parking lots needed to be repaved last year, Dilbone got an estimate for $204,000 to do a base paving. The bid came in at $125,000.
"We can take advantage of the economy right now, but we're very organized in the way we're doing it," he said, "getting people bidding on it and putting together a good proposal. We did all the extra things we wanted to do (with paving) because (of) what we thought it was going to cost, and then what we ended up doing. So our whole area is all new pavement."
More examples: Dilbone is replacing carpeting with Forbo, a rubberized floor made from recycled material. They estimated it would cost $52,000 for the high-school library, and the bid came in at $34,500.
In addition, maintenance spending will be less with this type of flooring because the floors won't have to be stripped of wax each year, with new wax put down. Dilbone expects to spend about $40,000 a year, replacing floors in approximately ten rooms, to replace all carpeted surfaces.
Dilbone is also reviewing at all the district's contracts. Other areas under scrutiny include insurance, phones, postage and FAX machines.
"Whether it's a big item like a new copying machine or which company provides the best price on paperclips, Chuck Dilbone seems to enjoy aggressively going after the best deal," said Scott Emery, the director of educational operations for the school district.
"The other thing, too, is the biggest concern from parents on my surveys every year... food quality," Emery continued. "And another concern, though not as big, was our recycling efforts. And every year we talk about those items and sometimes we'd even make some minor progress in those areas. But it really wasn't until Chuck Dilbone took over his current position that I think we finally made some progress in those areas."
Dilbone, said he knows the school business inside and out. Besides being a government teacher at Zanesville High School and principal at Granville High School, he's driven trucks and buses and was even a school custodian many years ago -- all good training, he said, for his current position.
"I know all this stuff," he said. "So it's been fun and gratifying, and a challenge."
All in all, Superintendent Scot Prebles said he's extremely pleased with what Dilbone is doing. His efforts more than justifies the $99,919 salary Dilbone receives, he said.
"There is some concern out there, are we really getting from this position what we thought we would, and I can say the answer is yes," Prebles said. "What this position is doing is evaluating all of the things we do on the operational side and constantly look for more efficient, more cost-effective ways of doing it. So it's money well spent."
And what do district officials plan to do all with extra money? Mostly, wait and see.
"I don't want to save $30 and spend $40," Prebles said. "We're really trying to be frugal. It's important we are saving dollars where we can so that if we do need to make some decisions about staffing that is directly related to student needs, we can do that. So we're going to hold back and see what the best thing to do is."
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