EMPORIUM — Cameron County School Board members voted unanimously to approve a provision that would allow the district to withdraw from the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit Nine Health Care Consortium if negotiations deteriorate further.
On Thursday, Business Manager Carl Mitchell said at this point he does not believe the district will leave the consortium, as a deal seems to be forthcoming. Mitchell has been part of a task force looking at other options for health care for the district, and a back-up proposal is in place in case it is needed.
However, both Mitchell and Superintendent Dr. Keith Wolfe believe the consortium is working toward a resolution that will be acceptable to the majority of the districts involved. One district is more likely to withdraw, but Mitchell said that will not have too great of an effect on the process, and may actually benefit the remaining districts because it has a larger number of claims.
Mitchell said the main issue surrounding the policies is the funding method, and the task force is working out a way for the districts with lower claims to be rewarded with lowered premiums without punishing the districts that have historically higher claim amounts.
In other news, district officials recently received word that both financial audits had been completed, and administrators plan to meet with audit firm representatives next week.
Mitchell said the district did not have to withdraw as much funding from reserves as was initially feared. The district only used $165,000 from the fund balance, despite transferring $328,000 to the cafeteria fund in order to wipe out accumulated deficiencies. This year, the cafeteria lost $51,000, but the district transferred enough money to cover those losses. Mitchell reported that in revenues versus expenditures, the district had a surplus of $162,810.
Information on upcoming bridge repairs was also discussed. Administrators were unavailable for a recent Pennsylvania Department of Transportation meeting concerning two bridges between Emporium and St. Marys that are on the rapid repair list and should be under construction next year, but Mitchell did contact the supervising company, Plenary Walsh Keystone Partnership, for details.
The bridges, located on Route 120 in Truman and just outside of St. Marys near the Metco plant, will be repaired one lane at a time. The road should not be completely closed “unless unforeseen circumstances arise during construction,” though there will likely be delays, especially during peak traffic hours. A specific timeline and start date for the work has not yet been released.
Meanwhile, the board rejected a bid placed on a property at 236 West Fifth St. in Emporium Borough currently held in the county repository.
A bid of $1,650.27 was entered by Michael Bliss on the condemned structure, which has been vacant for at least a decade. The Cameron County Commissioners also rejected the bid during their meeting on Thursday.
Both the commissioners and school board cited the fact that no specifics were given for rehabilitation of the structure and the timeline of 18 months was too long due to health and safety issues associated with the property.
In other news, Gina Smith was hired as the high school receptionist at a salary to be determined by contract.
Brian Lovett resigned from his position as assistant basketball coach, and Karin Schatz resigned her position of head volleyball coach. Both resignations were accepted with regret by the board.
Willard Barefoot was added to the bus driver list, with all required clearances already received. Meanwhile, Brandon Hostler was added to the substitute custodial list, and Linda Stewart was added to the substitute teacher’s aide list.
The next school board meeting will be a reorganizational meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 8.
