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Eaton School Board Meeting
Eaton School Board Meeting Articles 1-5 Article 1 Moderator Ralph Wilkewitz Article 2 Clerk Article 3 School Board (3 yr) Jane Gray Article 4 Treasurer: Judith Wilson Article 5 Auditor Robert Bridgham School Moderator, Ralph Wilkewitz, requested if there was a motion to dispense with the reading of the warrants, so moved by Randy Cooper and seconded by Bob Bridgham. No discussion, vote passed in affirmative. The Moderator instructed those who were elected to office to take the oath of the office they were elected to at the next school board meeting (April 6, 2009 @ 5:00pm) School Moderator, Ralph Wilkewitz, requested that any Complimentary Resolutions be put forth now, not at the end of the meeting. There were none. The Moderator indicated that the minutes of the prior annual meeting, 2008 were in the Town Report. Article 6: The Moderator asked for a motion on this article. Randall Cooper moved and Judy Goss seconded. Discussion: Jane Gray stated that this was adding to the capital reserve fund for a bus. Currently there is $74,448.00, this $5000 will put us where we need to be at the end of next year. Most likely a new bus will be decided on next year, as the current bus is 9 years old. Joan Kojola asked if it was $5000 last year; Jane indicated that it was $7500. The Moderator asked if there were any more questions, comments or discussion. Ralph read the article again and instructed the voters to vote by saying Yea. The vote on Article 6 was passed unanimously. The Moderator asked if there was motion the reconsider the question or restrict the reconsideration of the question. John Hartman stated that given the replacement cost of the bus, John had concerns on the size of the bus that would be purchased. He felt that there was no need to purchase a large bus given the population of the children in Eaton. Jane Gray indicated that next year a recommendation would come before the annual meeting regarding the purchase of a bus; this year we are only requesting to add money to the current Trust. There will be research done to determine the cost and size of a bus. John wanted to know why we were appropriating $5000, if a smaller bus wouldn’t cost as much. Jane indicated that there would be then more money remaining in the trust and we would have to raise less money in the future. Randy Cooper had a point of order; stating that the article had already been voted on and this discussion should have taken place before the vote. The Moderator responded by moving on to the next Article. Article 7: The Moderator asked for a motion on this article. Jane Gray moved and Pat Philbrick seconded. Discussion: Carol Mayhofer asked how much was for the bond payment. Jane Gray indicated that the information was on page 70 and she reviewed it. The Moderator asked if there were any more questions, comments or discussion. Ralph read the article again and instructed the voters to vote by saying Yea. The vote on Article 7 was passed unanimously. The Moderator asked if there was motion to reconsider the question or restrict the reconsideration of the question. There was none. Article 8: The Moderator asked for a motion on this article. Robert Bridgham moved and Judy Goss seconded. Discussion: Jane Gray stated that there were significant increases in the budget this year, special education being one of the areas that increased. We have a special education capital reserve fund to help offset what is an increase for everyone on their taxes. We felt that it is an appropriate time to use this fund. Originally the intent of the fund was to get it up to $60,000 and keep it there until we needed to use it. We have a current balance of $88,973 in the account now. Even using the $15,000 the account is still above what we originally intended to keep in it and we don’t need to add more money to it. The $15,000 will reduce what we have to pay on the amount voted on in Article 7. The moderator asked if there were any more questions, comments or discussion. Ralph read the article again and instructed the voters to vote by saying Yea. The vote on Article 8 was passed unanimously. The Moderator asked if there was motion to reconsider the question or restrict the reconsideration of the question. There was none. The Moderator asked for a motion on this article. Jane Gray moved and Pat Philbrick seconded. Discussion: Jane Gray stated that it is similar to Article 8, but a different Trust Fund. We created a tuition trust fund the final year before the new tuition contracts began using surplus funds for this purpose. The moderator asked if there were any more questions, comments or discussion. Ralph read the article again and instructed the voters to vote by saying Yea. The vote on Article 9 was passed unanimously. The Moderator asked if there was motion to reconsider the question or restrict the reconsideration of the question. There was none. Article 10: The Moderator asked for a motion on this article. Jane Gray moved and Judy Goss seconded. Discussion: Jane Gray stated that in the past we had been able to put how the school board voted but because of state regulations we needed to have a vote on it. Randy Copper asked if the board would like that. Jane Gray responded in the affirmative. The moderate asked if there were any more questions, comments or discussion. Ralph read the article again and instructed the voters to vote by saying Yea. The vote on Article 10 was passed unanimously. The Moderator asked if there was motion to reconsider the question or restrict the reconsideration of the question. There was none. Article 11: Carol Mayhofer stated that she understood that Eaton District was picking up Conway school children and she felt that because the Conway Recreation Department has been very nasty to this town in the way it insists on charging for the after school programs based on the equalized value. The selectman met with the Conway Recreation Dept. to attempt to make the charge more reasonable given the amount of students coming from Eaton and they wouldn’t bend. She felt that the School District should not do anything to help out Conway. Jane Gray stated that it was not the town of Conway we were dealing with on this issue but the Conway School District. We have made an arrangement with the Conway School District that has not increased our expenses. We have agreed to pick up a specific number of Conway Elementary Students at the end of Stark Road and The Moderator asked if there were any more comments or business to discuss. Chris Kennedy asked if the School District had any discussion with the other districts about consolidating SAU 9 and 13. Jane Gray indicated that the discussions had started at the SAU 9 board about a year ago and a letter was sent to the SAU13 board to open up discussions regarding a consolidation. The SAU 13 board sent back a letter saying they were not interested in a conversation. Jane believed that Tamworth and Madison have articles on their warrants currently. At this point in time it is up to SAU 13 to do a study on it. The Moderator asked if there were any more comments or business to discuss. Holly Fortin had a question regarding the census; she wanted to know if the board could comment on the numbers in the future. Jane Gray commented that our student numbers are going to continue to be small. Our biggest population is at the high school currently and will continue to be so for the next few years. After that our numbers will be very low and the birth rate is very low as well. The Moderator asked if there were any more comments or business to discuss. Randy Copper moved to adjourn the meeting, Jane Gray seconded. Meeting was adjourned at 5:28 Respectfully Submitted, Marla Browning Eaton School Board Clerk
Minutes
March 10, 2009
School Moderator, Ralph Wilkewitz, called the annual meeting of the Eaton School District to order at 5:00pm, with 21 people in attendance.
The moderator opened the meeting with a pledge to the flag and a reading of the moderator’s by-laws.
