At the September meeting, Union County School Board voted to extend Dr. Jimmy Carter's contract for four more years. School board attorney Mary Ann Stackhouse explained that his current contract would not have expired until 2020 since the same contract had been extended in 2013 to 2017, in 2017 to 2020, and with no changes, the current contract would be extended four more years to 2024. Brad Griffey from the Second District authored the motion. Casey Moore could not attend due to work responsibilities.
Carolyn Murr, Union County Education president, thanked the Board for her recognition at the last board meeting. She commented that the Maynardville Elementary copier was not working much of time and noted that larger schools had two copiers, but now her school had only one that was not reliable. Murr also expressed a concern for mowing that was occurring with children present and during instruction time. Dr. Carter agreed that mowing with children present was a safety concern and would be addressed with the mower. Finally, the UCEA President questioned the decision to continue to cut off the air conditioning at 3:30 during these extremely hot temperatures. She said that janitors as well as teachers who work after hours were having to work in very hot conditions. Dr. carter also agreed to look at the issue and afford some relief by overriding the setting when temperatures were this hot.
Discussion had occurred during the workshop regarding the condition of copy machines. Lenny Holt addressed the board to explain that the original contractor had lost the franchise and Image Solutions was performing maintenance and service. Holt requested that the service contract be renewed for another year at an increased cost. Finance Director Ann Dyer explained that the service contract would be a $9000 increase that resulted in a total cost of $40,000 and would automatically renew each year. Brad Griffey (2nd) stated that the principal at Luttrell Elementary School was not happy with the current service. Dr.Carter responded that the copy machines are wearing out and “will have to bid a new contract to purchase machines in the future.”
On the bidding note, the board approved a new position of purchasing agent for central finance during the Budget Amendments and Transfers. The school system would pay approximately 70 percent of the salary cost since the cost would be shared by other departments that have items to be bid. Dyer also stated that the number of bid items had increased by some 189% with several bids currently in progress. The remainder of the budget amendments dealt with adding grants and moving funds to better reflect actual spending. The board placed a mower under surplus that was no longer needed to mow sports fields.
Marty Gibbs, First District board member, noted a concern from the baseball coach that the farmers market was interfering with summer baseball tournaments and other fundraisers during the spring and summer. Carter said that the misunderstanding occurred due to the parking lot where market sets up being owned by the board of education, while the park is owned by county. Carter plans to discuss the issue at a meeting with the market board this fall.
In other action, the board approved a program, Upslope, to deal consistently with employee concerns and approve appointments to the Sick Leave Bank Committee. Sarah Maness and Carolyn Murr will represent UCEA on the committee. The board also raised the assistant cheerleader coaching supplement to be half of the head cheerleader coaching supplement. The board updated several board policies on second reading.
Stackhouse reported that she had agreed to postpone the hearing regarding dismissal of the suit brought by the Union County Historical Society. She explained that the society's lawyer injured his knee on his farm and had to have surgery. The hearing has been moved to November 12, 2019.
Mayor Jason Bailey sought permission to erect a sign recognizing Roy Acuff on the property of the Union County Museum. The sign is part of a state project called Tennessee Musical Pathways and recognizes musicians who fundamentally impacted music in Tennessee and the nation.
The next Union County BOE Meeting was held on October 3, with the workshop at 6:30. The meeting was changed because the regular meeting date falls during Fall Break from October 7 to October 11.