The Tamaqua Area School Board’s finance committee authorized many purchases at its workshop committee meeting Tuesday night.

The district used its state allocated ESSER II (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds to pay for employee salaries, which gave the district flexibility to pursue other purchases.

The emergency relief money, which was allocated to school districts across the state throughout the pandemic, can only be used for specific items, and for a limited time only.

The finance committee approved the purchase of bleachers from C.M. Elchenlaub Co. (at a cost not to exceed $78,000), middle school phones from Dauphin Data Com (cost not to exceed $33,000), a middle school curtain from Center Stage Lighting and Rigging Inc. (cost not to exceed $28,000), auditorium lights from Center Stage Lighting and Rigging Inc. (cost not to exceed $202,000) and a middle school gym floor from Chambers Flooring LLC., at a cost not to exceed $30,000.

“We saved a significant amount of money on the phone system and are able to spend a little more on the lighting,” added Ray Kinder, superintendent.

The board also addressed a storage issue, as the finance committee approved the purchase of a wrestling mat hoist, using Costars pricing from C.M. Elchenlaub Co. at a cost of $26,000 - if it’s still the best solution after Kinder meets with wrestling coach Jim McCabe.

“We have a significant (storage) issue in and around our gymnasium/auditorium/band and music area,” Kinder said.

“We’re looking at being able to purchase one of these devices, which would hold three of the main mats, and would keep them on the wall of our gymnasium. We would be looking at moving the other mats out of the gymnasium.”

Kinder said in reality, not all of the nine total huge wrestling mats are used frequently, and compared it to the batting cage device, which gets dropped from the gymnasium ceiling, preserving space, but still allows the baseball program to access it anytime.

The board is using budgeted funds for the purchases, since the ESSER funds covered district salaries.