By Esteban Fernandez, Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Although weather might have broken above freezing after the weekend’s snowstorms, for the roughly 700 students at East Fairmont Middle School nothing much has changed.
Class is still held in a building with a broken heating system, with staff forced to use electric heaters and hallway fans doing their best to keep the temperature barely above 60 degrees.
Meanwhile, at the Marion County Courthouse, Hranec Mechanical Corp. and the Marion County Board of Education tussled over the process which awarded the contract to fix the school’s heating system to Emcor, a mechanical and electrical construction company.
Hranec’s goal was to have the court order the Marion County Board of Education to change its selection for the East Fairmont Middle School’s HVAC contract to Hranec. Attorney Edmund J. Rollo represented Hranec, the plaintiff. Kenneth Webb and Peter Markham from the Charleston-based law firm Bowles Rice represented the Board of Education. Two attorneys from Emcor were also present to represent the company.
The case revolved around two key points. The creation and application of a qualitative matrix used to judge contractor submissions and a lawsuit Hranec was a part of against the Jackson County School Board.
