The Liberty County School System’s last remaining buses without air conditioning are about to get a fix of cool air.

Though three firms attended the pre-bid meeting, only W.W. Williams Associates submitted a bid to put in new air conditioning on buses that did not have them. Their bid of nearly $284,000, approved by board members, will be paid for an already-established account for the work and through the school system’s CARES Act proceeds.

“Once we finish these 14, every bus we have available will have air conditioning,” school system chief operating officer Arnold Jackson said.

Re-bidding became necessary when the original contractor declared bankruptcy, according to school system officials. Pro Air was awarded the contract in December 2021 to retrofit 61 buses with air conditioning systems, at a cost of $581,850, with an expected completion date of August 2022.

Air conditioning was installed on all but 14 buses when Pro Air filed for bankruptcy.

An account was set up to pay for the air conditioning retrofitting, and there is a little more than $231,400 in that account. That money will be applied to the cost for the remaining 14 buses.