School board election issues impact Bronaugh, Walker districts

Bronaugh R-7 Superintendent Patricia Phillips took the floor to inform the board during a special meeting Tuesday night that a special election would have to be held to break the tie for the board position race between incumbent Rick Piper and challenger David Reedy. Miss Phillips told the board that the election would likely be held in mid-May, according to County Clerk Tammi Beach who is waiting for a judges ruling on an election case from Walker. Phillips also asked the board, per the county clerk's instructions, if they would be willing to have just one polling place for the election. The board agreed on the Bronaugh City Hall as that location.

Vernon County Clerk Tammi Beach said there has been a petition filed in regards to the election issue in Walker. There is to be a hearing in that case on May 5. "Hopefully that special election will be held after that hearing on May 5th," said Beach.

The election would be held to resolve both the Walker and Bronaugh election issues.

Beach did propose limiting the number of polling places for that special election thinking it "would save some money."

She was still not sure about it because she did not want to inconvenience voters or make it difficult for them to cast their votes.

The first item on the agenda for the R-7 board was the election of new officers.

There were three positions open on the board. John Houk was nominated and seconded as president, and the vote was unanimous in favor. Warren Langford was nominated and seconded as vice-president, and the vote was unanimous in favor. Chris Baker was nominated and seconded as treasurer, the vote was unanimous in favor.

Board Secretary Patty Clinton informed the board that the bank needed documentation of the new officers and that new officers needed to fill out signature cards for the bank and choose alternate signatories in the case of an emergency. Houk and Baker are to be the primary signatories and Langford and Andy Brannan will be the secondary. The board also decided to remove some names from the account that no longer needed access.

Bronaugh R-7 principal Jacob Sherwood informed the board that their insurance company was balking on paying for damage to the gym floor.

The insurance company is claiming that damage to the floor has been caused by the cleaning machine the district uses to clean the gym floor. The company currently has some testing equipment in the gym to gather more information. The issue will be revisited.

Upcoming training for the maintenance staff also was discussed.