Community News
Positions chosen and taken at BOE meeting.
By Dave Whitaker
Jan 16, 2019, 18:20

As it was the first of 2019, Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting was partially about setting things for the calendar year. Kim Wright was selected as board chair, Mike Sasser Vice Chair as well as Legislative Liaison. According to the minutes, the chair positions are for calendar years 2019 and 2020, the liaison position is for 2019.

Meeting dates for the coming year were voted on. (Note, the list will run separately in the near future.) The March meeting was moved from the 19th to 12th in order to avoid conflict with Cochran’s 150th anniversary celebration. The firm of Harben, Hartley, and Hawkins, LLP was chosen as the board and school district attorney for 2019.

In other business: During his monthly report, Superintendent Steve Smith went over SPLOST collections and payments for utilities.

He said collections for December were down approximately $7,000 compared to December 2017 and were down $8,000 from November 2018. For FY19, half the year had elapsed, and 50.25 percent of the budget had been expended. He also said bids for the HVAC projects at both Bleckley Elementary and BCHS should be distributed by the next meeting.

Speaking of SPLOST, a draft of a brochure was presented that will be used to explain the upcoming ESPLOST referendum. Voting will be on March 19, early voting February 25 through March 15. To view the brochure, go to simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4014&AID=1008596&MID=75039

One of the construction projects for the ESPLOST is construction of a new primary school. As the Construction Management has been selected, the board authorized Smith, Wright, Sasser, and Director of Operations & Federal Programs Dr. Trey Belflower to negotiate final fees with JCI Contractors.

In response to a recent Georgia Senate panel calling for a school calendar that would see school start closer to Labor Day and end around June 1, the board passed a resolution asking legislators to support local control of school and district calendars. The resolution will be sent to district representatives in the Georgia Legislature as well as state legislative leaders.

To view the resolution, go to simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4014&AID=1007554&MID=75039


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