JACKSON TWP — The decision on which architecture firm to partner with for the design of the new Evans City Elementary and Middle School has been delayed for another month.

A consensus could not be reached at the Jan. 23 school board meeting because one board member was absent and another needed more time to make an informed decision.

The board has been discussing the best firm for the job to build a new Evans City School since August, when it heard presentations from four firms — CannonDesign, Crabtree Rohrbaugh & Associates, Architectural Innovations and Stantec.

Jeff Widdowson, who joined the board in December, said he was not comfortable making a decision at the meeting and wanted time to get more information, do research and possibly meet with Superintendent Tracy Vitale.

Tim Hester was not at the meeting and had not previously made his preference known.

The board also discussed the architects at the Jan. 8 school board meeting where Jim Nickel, school board president; Eric DiTullio, school board vice president; and the Rev. Reid Moon made it known they preferred CannonDesign for the job.

At the Jan. 23 meeting, Leslie Bredl and Kathy Whittle expressed their support for Crabtree Rohrbaugh for the firm's experience in building K to 12 facilities.

Nickel took a straw poll to see if the board had come to a consensus on any of the choices.

Susan Harrison, Kathy Whittle and Leslie Bredl voted for Crabtree Rohrbaugh. Nickel, DiTullio, Moon and Fred Peterson voted for CannonDesign.

With the vote at 4 to 3, DiTullio made a motion to table the vote until the next voting meeting, which passed in a 7 to 1 vote. Peterson dissented.

At the beginning of the discussion, he urged the board to move forward with a decision given the state of the school and the time that already had been spent.

“I think we've more than duly accomplished our responsibility of a diligent review in this process,” Peterson said. “I think it's time to move this forward.”

Nickel said the item to direct the administration to commence negotiations with one architecture firm for the design of the Evans City K to 6 School will likely be on February's board agenda.

The architect chosen will explore various options for the school that was built in 1939. This could include remodeling the school or building a new facility in Evans City or at a site on Ehrman Road.