AUBURN — The Auburn School Committee voted 4-2 Wednesday night to eliminate its transportation department positions, including 23 bus drivers, three bus aides and a mechanic.

Before the vote was taken, Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin reminded committee members that they voted last month to privatize bus drivers, which is expected to save Auburn taxpayers about $300,000 a year.

One big reason is that they will no longer have to pay for health care, which Auburn has provided to its mostly part-time drivers.

So far, all but two school bus drivers have applied to Northeast Charter, the company that will provide bus service.

“I’m feeling very confident that our current employees will be part of Northeast’s fleet of drivers, and continue to provide excellent service” to Auburn students, Grondin said.

Committee members Tracey Levesque and Bonnie Hayes voted against eliminating positions, not because they were opposed to privatizing but because they were unhappy that the contract between the School Department and Northeast Charter had not yet been signed.

“So let me get this straight,” Hayes said. “The contract is not ready to go yet, yet we hope it’s going to be ready at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We are letting our bus drivers go on Friday? I’m sorry. I’m not willing to let our bus drivers go until the contract is signed.”

Hayes expressed frustration, saying the process began in April, “and here we are at the 11th hour” and lawyers for both sides had not agreed on the contract. She suggested the committee not vote until the contract was signed.

Committee Chairman Tom Kendall urged members to vote even though the contract was not a done deal. The wording of the motion, Kendall said, was that no bus driver or other transportation position would be eliminated from the School Department until the contract was signed.

Lawyers for both sides were expected to have the contract signed Thursday morning, Kendall said, at which point the bus drivers and other transportation workers would no longer work for the Auburn School Department.

The reason the contract had not yet been agreed upon, Kendall said, was that one of the lawyers had personal issues. Hayes said she was sympathetic, but that someone else in the legal firm should have stepped in and taken over the work.

“I don’t disagree,” Kendall said.

Meanwhile, sitting in the audience were a handful of bus drivers who, as of Friday, likely will no longer be Auburn School Department employees.

Debbie Theriault, the representative for the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, the bus drivers’ union, said drivers hired by Northeast would not be offered health insurance unless they worked 40 hours, and most work fewer.

“They took away everything,” Theriault said. “No holidays, no health insurance, nothing. We’re not happy.”

Some do have access to health care, but others, herself included, do not and are too young for Medicare. Theriault said she is 54, and other drivers are younger.

Grondin said 15 of the 23 bus drivers have been asked by Northeast if they are interested in jobs, but there’s no guarantee that all 23 drivers, three bus aides and the mechanic would be hired. The company could hire others who didn’t work for the Auburn School Department.

Ron Freve, a union official, asked if Northeast would be charged rent for the garage where the buses would be stored and if they would have free fuel.

Kendall said Northeast will lease the buses, use the garage and the Auburn School Department would buy the gas.

That’s a good deal for Northeast, Freve said. Kendall said the agreement is a good deal for both sides.

Grondin later said Northeast would lease the buses for three years so that if the School Department isn’t happy with the arrangement, “we will still have our buses.” The cost of the gas will be made up for in the contract, Grondin said.

After the vote, Theriault and Freve said they would take the issue to arbitration.

“We’re not done,” Theriault said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com