At a scheduled 5 pm meeting this afternoon, the Johnston School Committee is expected to award a contract for natural gas service to Direct Energy, a local subsidiary of Britain-based Centrica.

The expected vote follows the installation of new gas-fired boilers and water heaters at Johnston High School last spring.

Johnston Town Councilors provided $500,000 in town funds toward the replacement of the boilers, the first major update to the system since the high school opened in 1963, and local officials secured another $200,000 in grant money to cover the costs for the project.

School committee members are also expected to vote on the purchase of a pickup truck with a snow plow from the Northern Rhode Island Collaborative.

The agenda for this afternoon's meeting, scheduled to be held at Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School, is attached to this article.