School board members take back salary bump

Talk about it

Members of the Alexandria School District 206 Board are at it again – by once more putting a freeze on their salary.

Last year, after having a 17-year moratorium on any type of an increase, board members received a small bump in their pay. And they also voted to give themselves an annual increase of 3 percent, which was set to begin this year.

But the seven-member board will not be receiving a raise.

At Monday night’s reorganizational meeting, vice chair Dave Anderson made a motion to “skip the escalation,” and the rest of the board agreed, voting 6-0 in favor of the motion. (One board member was absent.)

“With the economy the way it is,” said Anderson, “I think this is the right thing to do. We are here because of our hearts, not the money.”

The 2008 salary was $3,000 and the board chair receives $500.

Those amounts will remain the same in 2009.

In addition to the salaries, the board set training and in-service allotments for 2009 at $2,300 per board member, which was not changed from the previous year.

On a side note, board members do not receive any per diems for attending meetings – regular board meetings or committee meetings.

The board also approved the January 2009 through June 2010 school board meeting calendar. All regular meetings take place the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the district’s conference room.

Because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the next regular board meeting will take place Monday, January 26 at 7 p.m. The meeting location also changed and will be held in the media center at Jefferson High School.

Committee appointments

Officers were also elected at the reorganizational meeting, including Dean Anderson, board chair; Dave Anderson, vice chair; and Judy Florell, clerk/treasurer.

Board members were also reassigned to a variety of boards, councils and committees. They include the following:

•Alan Zeithamer – Runestone Area Education District, Lakes Area Recreation, Interactive Television Committee representative, the Negotiation and Personnel Committee and the Budget and Facilities Committee.

•Pam Carlson – Chamber Joint Planning Commission, Student Connections and Budget and Facilities Committee.

•Judy Florell – Minnesota State High School League, Curriculum Advisory Council, Chamber Joint Planning Commission, Student Connections, Budget and Finance Advisory Council and Curriculum and Policy Committee.

•Jim Hafdal – Negotiation and Personnel Committee.

•Dean Anderson – representative assembly designee to Lakes Country Service Cooperative, Curriculum Advisory Council, Curriculum and Police Committee and Budget and Facilities Committee.

•Dave Anderson – Negotiation and Personnel Committee, legislative liaison for Minnesota School Board Association and Special Education Advisory Committee.

•Jean Robley – Lakes Area Recreation, Curriculum Advisory Council, Student Connections and Curriculum and Policy Committee.

Designations

During the meeting, the board members also designated 10 area financial institutions as depositories for school funds for calendar year 2009-10.

The institutions are U.S. Bank of Alexandria, Bremer Bank of Alexandria, Wells Fargo Bank of Alexandria, Viking Savings Association of Alexandria, First State Bank of Alexandria-Carlos-Miltona, Neighborhood National Bank and American National Bank.

Funds will also be placed with the Minnesota School District Asset Fund Plus, AIM Investments and MBIA Investments.

The board also took the following actions:

•Redesignated the Echo Press as the official newspaper for the district’s legal publications and postings.

•Approved Swenson Lervick Syverson Anderson Trosvig Jacobson, P.A.; Kennedy and Graven; and Dorsey, Whitney Law Firm to serve as the legal counsel for the district for the upcoming year.

•Approved LarsonAllen as the financial auditing firm for the district.

•Approved Ringdahl Architects, Widseth Smith Nolting and Associates, JLG Architects and DLR Group as the district’s on-call architects.

Tags: alexandria, school, board, organizational, meeting