MUCH More from an OLD Chair
Please remember, these ideas/thoughts are mine and mine alone… I cannot and do not speak for the board. Now that’s behind us… let’s talk bond…school bond.
Now is the time where I know the importance of being as clear as possible about all things ‘bond’. I know there are reams of things to read and to keep track of – I know I try but have to have help sometimes remembering the exact source of what I ‘think’ I know. As the Bond moves into full swing and things are happening, I thought it might help to put some of the events into focus. One of the things, I hope to clarify is the land purchase between Elmira Elementary and Elmira High School and how and why it was done.
In the 2013 Proposed Capital Improvement Plan, done on October 21st of that year, a group of twenty-four, twelve community and twelve district people, finalized the Strategic Plan for the Bond monies. Phase I included ten items from replacing Elmira Elementary [#1] to acquiring strategic properties adjacent to Elmira ES and Veneta ES for future expansion and flexibility.[#10] At that time, the committee recommended “land banking” any properties [purchasing property anticipating possible expansion] that became available “within the constraints of the available budget.” [p. 6 of that report] The purchase was done with the understanding that the money taken from the Maintenance Reserve Fund would be replaced with bond money. In addition, monies from the sale of property could be used as they sold.
Another example of good fiscal management is the district being reimbursed for a small group who are intimately involved with monitoring while managing the bond. Five percent of their salaries [two hours divided by a forty hour work week] is only a small portion of the time spent on their duties such as bookkeeping, filling out legal forms required by the state, adjusting allocations and monitoring to name a few tasks. This group is making quality control decisions as well. NO NEW salaries are being paid.
Kudos to Elmira’s Oregon Battle of the Books. My thanks to everyone who has contacted me with comments and concerns. Please keep those comments coming to tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us . I leave you with this thought “Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.” William Defoe