School district ‘loans to itself’

Published 11:41 am Wednesday, October 21, 2009

In his first official act as the Baker School District’s new chief

financial officer and business manager, Doug Dalton told the school

board he needed a loan.

Not for himself, but to meet district payroll in the next two months.

Dalton and retiring business manager Ed Hayhurst asked the board to approve transferring $500,000 from the district’s capital projects, special revenue funds and trust and agency funds to the general fund until mid-November, when property tax payments begin to roll in.

“This resolution is strictly the authority to borrow,” Hayhurst said. “(The money) will automatically go back in (after tax money arrives).”

The district would be about $400,000 short of meeting its payroll without the transfer.

Superintendent Don Ulrey said the shortfall would have been much worse had the district not closed school five days early last spring to build its reserves for this year.

“This is the first time in 18 years we’ve had to borrow from ourselves,” Ulrey said. “If people don’t think this is a serious situation – it is.”

Ulrey said Hayhurst is working to help smooth Dalton’s transition into his new role with the district. Hayhurst expects to ease into retirement in the next month or so.

“He and Ed are a good partnership,” Ulrey said. “I’m sure it was not something (Dalton) wanted to do, to borrow from ourselves this month, but it’s something we had to do.”

Ulrey introduced Dalton to the board with a brief overview of his resume:

The new business manager recently returned to his family’s Baker County ranch after 18 years in the Boise area. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor of business administration degree from Boise State University.

Dalton, 40, was formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer for IDACOMM Inc., a Boise-based telecommunications company. He also served as chief financial officer at IdaCorp Energy and before that was employed by Idaho Power Co.

He and his wife, Heidi, have two daughters, ages 3 and 1.

His annual salary is set at $78,956.

Hayhurst, who relinquished his seat at the board table to Dalton and sat in the audience Tuesday night, was honored with accolades from the board and superintendent and presented with a plaque, a certificate and a box of fudge for his years of service.

“The district is in good hands,” Hayhurst said in introducing Dalton. “Doug is very conservative, just like me.”

Also, a reception in Hayhurst’s honor is planned for Oct. 28 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the district office.

In other business:

andbull; Hayhurst said Douglas McConnaughey of Nampa, Idaho, has expressed interest in buying the Central Building, which was closed last year as a cost-saving measure. Baker Middle School students are continuing to use the wood shop there, but all other classes have been moved to the Helen M. Stack Building this year.

Before any negotiations for sale of the building can begin, the district first would have to declare the building as surplus property and then advertise for public bids, Hayhurst said.

Ulrey estimated the annual cost of maintenance and heating the mostly unoccupied building at $10,000 to $12,000.

“If you have a viable offer for the building, you should possibly consider it,” he told the board.

Hayhurst said McConnaughey’s initial proposal would be to renovate the school building for use as apartments while preserving its exterior historic character, much like the work done at the St. Elizabeth Towers, which formerly housed a hospital and nursing home.

Hayhurst urged McConnaughey to meet with Bruce Poe, a Boise architect who was hired by the district two years ago to analyze the middle school buildings and compare the cost of remodeling with the cost of building a new school.

Ulrey emphasized that the district was not planning to sell the building.

“We did not solicit a buyer for the property,” he said. “We were not looking for the sale of any property. This buyer and his wife came to us.”

andbull; Learned that Shelley DeVore, who had worked as a substitute cook, has been added to the central kitchen staff at Baker High School.

andbull; Accepted the resignation of Judy Trohkimoinen, South Baker Music teacher, effective Nov. 13. Trohkimoinen has accepted a job as a representative of the teachers association in Wyoming, Ulrey said. The district is developing a plan to handle the vacancy, he told the board.

In other personnel action, the board hired Brandon Young as the BHS head wrestling coach; Samantha Sullivan, BHS assistant girls basketball coach; and Dave Johnson, assistant wrestling coach. Dale Curtis resigned as assistant boys basketball coach and Gary Shermer resigned as BHS assistant baseball coach.

andbull; Agreed to schedule a meeting between Dan Van Thiel, the district’s legal adviser, directors Ginger Savage and Lynne Burroughs, and Baker Education Association representatives to continue discussions about a grievance filed by district teachers.

The teachers are seeking payment for the five days cut from their contract in June to save the district money. All district employees were off work, without pay, for five days between June 2-8.

The issue was discussed in executive (closed to the public) session prior to the regular board meeting. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the issue would next go to arbitration.