The vice president of Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors apologized Tuesday night for comments he made toward one of his colleagues two weeks earlier.

“I said something to Brandon (Mazepa) that was uncalled for,” Earl Paules said. “I immediately reached out to him at 8:30 in the morning to apologize. I’m doing it now as well because I said it in public and I’m apologizing for it in public.”

During a board workshop discussion on Feb. 7 regarding the design of a weight room and wrestling room renovation, Paules suggested Mazepa, a sitting board member, shouldn’t have equal say in how the project was completed.

“We have a board member who still lives at home and doesn’t pay property taxes and is telling me how I need to spend my money,” Paules said at the Feb. 7 session.

Mazepa immediately countered the allegation, saying he does pay taxes.

On Tuesday, Paules attributed his earlier comments to “not being used to dealing with people.”

“This world is different from what I’m used to,” Paules said. “I own my own business and I drive my race car. When I want my race car to go left, it goes left. When I want it to go right, it goes right. Everything I do, I usually control myself. It was wrong and I’m apologizing for it.”

One of Paules’ main objections to the renovation project is one of the designs that includes a unisex bathroom with a single shower, toilet and sink. While the bathroom is required by code since Palmerton is planning to construct separate boys and girls locker rooms with three individual showers in each, according to Alloy5 Architecture, Paules said the bathroom costs too much.

Architects have pegged the cost of the bathroom at $30,000 out of the $375,000 total project estimate.

“What I won’t apologize for,” Paules said Tuesday, “is trying to save this school district money.”

According to district officials, renovations to the facility, which hasn’t seen a major update in more than 20 years, have been driven by the need for a better building layout and more equitable locker room space as the popularity of girls’ wrestling continues to explode in Pennsylvania.

Currently wrestlers have to cross the weight room, which is used by various Palmerton athletic teams, to get from the wrestling room to the shower area and vice versa.

Though Palmerton’s board met Tuesday, little action took place in regards to the renovation project.

Building and grounds director Joe Faenza said several board members and administrators, along with Palmerton’s varsity wrestling coach Justin Peterson, met at the wrestling/weight room facility on Feb. 14 for a 90-minute meeting.

“At the end of it, it was decided to ask Randy Galiotto from Alloy5 to come back out to look at a different design option for the south side of the building,” Faenza said. “He will have a layout ready to review for our March 7 workshop.”