HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93011_0328Godfrey Williams, Vice Chairman for the Board of Commissioners
Doug Madison, Member, Board of Commissioners
Marvin Norman, Member, Board of Commissioners
Sara Haire Tice, Member, Board of Commissioners
Joel Mashburn, Iredell County Manager
Susan Blumenstein, Iredell County Finance Director
Jean C. Moore, Clerk to the Board
Call to Order: Mr. Johnson called his board to order.
G.S. 115C431 (a) Stipulations: Tyndall questioned Attorneys Majestic and
Yarborough on the following:
1. Have all of the requirements of the General Statutes been met? Majestic and
Yarborough replied yes.
2. Could it be stipulated for the record that a meeting was held within seven days as
required by the General Statutes? Majestic and Yarborough replied yes.
OpeninE Remarks by Tyndall: Mr. Tyndall requested that both parties "keep an open
mind and be flexible." Tyndall announced that the attorneys and their clients had agreed to
reconvene the meeting to June 30, 2004 at 9:00 a.m., and at that time, a more factual examination
of the dispute would occur. He said that if the situation could not be resolved that morning, the
following individuals would participate in a closed mediation proceeding:
1. The chair of each board or the chair's designee.
2. The superintendent of the local school administrative unit and the county manager or
either's designee.
3. The finance officer of each board.
4. The attorney for each board.
Opening Statement by Dr. David Cash, Chairman of the Iredell-Statesville Board of
Education: Dr. Cash read the following statement:
The Board of Education has initiated this mediation process to obtain the
funds necessary to provide a quality education to every student in the Iredell-
Statesville Schools. We have determined that the County's appropriation for
current expense and capital outlay funds for the upcoming fiscal year is not
sufficient, and we believe that the resources exist to fund the schools' needs. We
are not here today to debate the long-range facilities needs of the school system.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss that issue with the Commissioners at
another time. The issue for today is the county appropriation for the upcoming
year.
In his budget message to the Commissioners this year, the County
Manager described the school system's budget as "conservative and modest. "
We agree. Our budget is lean and focused on improving student achievement.
Here are some highlights of our efforts to be efficient and effective in our use of
public funds:
• We have adopted f ve strategic priorities to ensure that every student in
the district is afforded a high quality education. They are: 1) high student
performance, 2) safe, orderly and caring schools, 3) quality teachers,
administration and staff, 4) strong family, community and business support
and S) effective and efficient operations.
-We have used a zero -based budgeting process and required every
department to show how requested funds are necessary to support our
strategic priorities.
-We have implemented cost conservation in our energy management
program.