Local News – Monday, May 23rd, 2022

The Salem R-80 Board of Education held their regular meeting Thursday evening at the District Administrative Offices. After a closed session dealing with a student discipline issue, Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed discussed legislative issues with the board that she expects the governor to sign. These include the new minimum teacher’s salary and how it will affect the budget. She will go over the issues in more detail once the governor signs them into law. After the school principals gave their reports, the board approved the meal prices at the high school for the 2022-2023 year as students in Elementary, Upper Elementary and Middle School will receive free lunches. They also approved the lease of $12,600 for the Dent County Developmental Preschool that is reimbursed by the state and approved the annual contribution of $10,000 to Healthy Dent County. Dr. Reed said the school district could go back five years to make donations to Fund 4 from Fund 1 for any of the years the district did not opt to at the time. She said from the 2018-19 school year, they could allocate $282,332 from Fund 1 to Fund 4 and from the year 2019-2020, the school could transfer $531,203. This money will be used to pay for the HVAC and roofing projects currently contracted through Energy Solutions Professionals for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The board approved the transfer, then approved a request for the Vo-Ag Department to take an out-of-state trip in the fall of 2022. The board approved the gym wall pad bid from State Farm Insurance for the stage end of the gym for $6,500 and accepted the full wall pad bid from Progressive Ozark Bank for $7,800. Superintendent Reed said she tried to get in touch with Corky Stack to get an idea how much it would cost to develop detailed plans for the construction trades building but did not hear back from him before the meeting. City of Salem Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge explained to the board that time is running out on the Workforce Training Program awarded to the school and the City of Salem. This program featured $438,000 of Youth Opportunity Tax Credits through the school that taxpayers can purchase and get a 50% tax credit off their state income tax, and a CDBG grant through the city of $500,000 that can be used once the monies raised from the sale of the tax credits is spent on the building project. The sale of the tax credits has only raised about $57,000 and those sales come to an end September 30th. Burbridge explained that if the school would fall short, they can get a 10-year loan from Community Foundation of the Ozarks for about $400,000 at 3.25% which would mean the school would be responsible for a $3,909 per month payment. Reed then went through the Fund 4 balances as well as expected revenues and expenses. Her assessment, based on a number of estimates, shows there are not enough funds for the repairs, the Construction Trades Building, the Tin Gym Project and the expected bond issue for a new elementary school. She said there are a number of financing options that ESP can look into, plus they can look into local financing as well. The board was not comfortable committing to any financing without seeing how the projects can be paid for, what needs to be financed and how it would affect future school expansion. The board approved a resolution to have ESP solicit bids for financing rates and amounts from local banks. They also tabled making any decisions on any type of financing until after a budget workshop is held where all options can be discussed, analyzed and calculated where paybacks can be accurately determined. The budget workshop will be held on June 2nd at 6:00 and the board approved moving the June regular meeting moved back to June 23rd at 6:00. The board accepted the resignations of Middle School Special Ed instructor Rich Beckett; and middle school physical education instructor, golf coach and assistant football coach Kyle Anderson. The board also approved a leave of absence for Middle School Principal Rich Parks to re-enter the military on October 1st for a one or two-year tour. The board then went into closed session where they employed Jennifer Fleener and Rebecca Hayes as 5th grade teachers, Jerry Adkins as the 9th grade boys’ basketball coach, and Jared Patterson as the varsity boys basketball coach. The board also approved the band stipend and extended days for Gannon Craig as well as extended days for Dalton Sanders in Vo-Ag. The board meeting was then adjourned.

The City of Salem’s Utilities Committee will hold a meeting tonight at 7:15 at the Salem Community Center@the Armory. The committee will get updated on year-to-date projects, go over financials and planned projects, and go over expenses for the next year. The committee will review utility rates which will include basic rates, service availability fees and upcoming auto-adjustment for electric rates pending no board action. The committee will review sample bills with different layouts and get updated on the Exceleron Prepay Project. The meeting is open to the public.

An accident happened on Highway 49 about a mile south of Viburnum in Iron County Saturday evening at 7:20. According to the highway patrol report, 50-year-old Shawn Barton of Salem was driving a 2004 Dodge 1500 southbound when he ran off the right side of the road and he struck a road sign and two trees. Barton suffered minor injuries and taken by ambulance to the Salem Memorial District Hospital. He was not wearing a seat restraint. The Dodge was totaled and was removed from the scene by Blackies Auto.