A local bus contractor in La Ronge says he is in the process of taking legal action against the Northern Lights School Division.
Larry Lowenberg is the owner of Allinone Conveyance Ltd.
On Sept. 17, NLSD abruptly cancelled a five-year contract with Allinone to provide busing to Pre-Cam and Gordon Denny elementary schools and Churchill Community High School.
Lowenberg says he still hasn’t been given an official reason why the contract was cancelled.
“We made a few errors as one would expect to happen during a first start up phase of a new business,” he says. “And those little errors didn’t result in any injuries or accidents of any kind.”
Late last week, NLSD hired the previous contractor, Northwinds Bus Lines Ltd., to provide busing for the reminder of the school year.
NLSD Education Director Jason Young says he cannot comment on whether the new contract is at the same or a greater cost than what Allinone had agreed to provide busing services for.
“In fact, I wouldn’t want to comment on that right now,” he says. “Is there a cost associated with providing this service? There is. Do we always try to look for ways in which that cost can be done at an amount that’s reasonable? Certainly.”
The contract awarded to Northwinds was not tendered.
In a previous interview with MBC, Allinone operations manager Katherine Lowenberg says the company was awarded the five-year busing contract this summer when it put in a bid roughly 30 per cent lower than what Northwinds was asking.
Larry Lowenberg says although Allinone is a new company, he is experienced in busing and has provided the service to La Ronge schools in the past.
He says he has been in contact with Regina lawyer Tony Merchant.