After weeks of school board and committee meetings, the Iberia Parish School Board decided to award the janitorial bid for Belle Place Elementary School to Wilson’s Janitorial Service at Wednesday’s meeting.

The decision came after much debate and concern about the fairness of the process regarding which of two janitorial companies would receive the bid after Leonard Brown with Brown’s Janitorial Services said that he was told by a Iberia Parish School District official that he would be receiving the award if he did adequate contract work for the school more than a year ago.

After hearing those concerns last month, the school board voted to allow both companies to go through a request for proposals process where each business would be considered in a fair way.

Maintenance Director Harry Lopez said a committee reviewed both RFPs on June 10 where Wilson’s and Brown’s were both graded on a 100 point scale. Wilson’s Janitorial received a 90 point grade while Brown’s Janitorlal received an 89 point grade.

However, Lopez added that there were two areas where Brown’s Janitorial did not meet the required criteria during the RFP process. To ensure fairness, Lopez said the committee still allowed Brown’s Janitorial to participate with the assurance that those areas would be resolved if the business was awarded the contract.

“The price he did submit was higher to begin with, if he was awarded it the price would be even higher,” legal counsel Wayne Landry said.

Some board members were still unsatisfied, with board members like Raymond “Shoe-Do” Lewis saying that something had gone “awfully wrong” in the process to award the contract.

“If I had to be sitting on the jury with the factors I know, I would not be siding with the Iberia Parish School District when he was promised something with their word,” Lewis said. “A handshake used to mean something and I like to think it still means something, I’m going with that handshake and I’m going to sleep tonight.”

Lewis called out both Lopez and Superintendnet Carey Laviolette for letting an employee make that promise to Brown’s Janitorial.

“I’m going to get something personally clear with you tonight,” Lewis said. “I do not answer to Carey Laviolette, you were hired before I got here. But I do have a stake in the decision moving forward. I want transparency. I don’t like business like this here going on. I’m going to vote my conscience.”

Board member Arthur Alexander also said he didn’t feel comfortable with the decision to award Wilson’s the contract for similar reasons.

“You don’t tell a man one thing and come back and do something different,” Alexander said. “I can’t support that.”

However, legal counsel Wayne Landry said the board had voted under the RFP process to make a fair decision about which business should be awarded the contract.

“The board made the decision to do the RFP process, and if we’re not going to follow the rfp process then what are we doing,” Landry said. “If the board doesn’t want to follow that process I have to ask what we are doing now and where does Mr. Wilson stand.”

Lewis responded by saying that the district employee who allegedly made the promise to Brown had allegedly not been allowed to attend the board meeting.

“I am going to sleep tonight because the second in charge has never come before and explained this,” Lewis said. “It didn’t need to get to all of this, he wasn’t allowed to come here. “That’s why I feel like despite the RFP, I’m entitled to that decision. I’m going to make a decision based on what was promised.”

The board voted 11-2 in favor of awarding the contract to Wilson’s Janitorial Service.