As 2014 is quickly coming to an end, several agencies are holding final year meetings and/or combination Christmas dinners to close out another calendar year.

Within the past several days a trio of special call meetings have taken place, with most being brief and few actions being recorded as the year winds down.

The following is a synopsis of the sessions held involving public agencies since early last week.

* The Recreation Park Board held its annual Christmas dinner meeting last Monday evening, December 8 with a majority of members present.

In recent years, the park board has had some problems in obtaining enough members to constitute an official quorum to conduct and vote on business matters.

At last week’s session, the board rectified that issue by appointing a “business committee” that will be able to officially vote on matters without having to have a full majority at a regular monthly meeting. That committee will consist of Board Chairman Vince Ostertag, Treasurer Gina Poore and members Leland Hicks, Paula Little and Gary Guffey.

The board also approved the treasurer’s report from the month of December and heard an update on buildings and grounds from Park Director Bobby Reneau, as well as discussing some ongoing projects that will hopefully take place at the park beginning as early as next calendar year.

The next regular meeting of the Recreation Park Board is scheduled for the last Thursday in February at 6 p.m. at the park and is open to the public.

* Clinton County Fiscal Court held a very short special meeting last Thursday morning, December 11 with four of six members present.

The only items of business voted on was to approve the treasurer’s report and some necessary fund transfers for receipts and expenditures. No other items of business were on the agenda.

On Tuesday, the Clinton County News received notification that an additional special meeting was being called for the fiscal court to be held Wednesday morning.

Among the items on the business agenda for that meeting was to deal with issues relating to the bonding of newly elected Clinton County Sheriff Jim Guffey.

The court will hold another call meeting to wrap up the year this coming Friday at 5 p.m. at the Clinton County Community Center, to coincide with the annual county employee Christmas dinner that will follow the meeting.

* Clinton County Board of Education held a special meeting last Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. for a work session that included a few topics that were to be voted on at another call meeting held Monday night of this week. (Details of that meeting can be found on page 1.)

Most of the 50-minute session, which saw all members present, dealt with finances, with information and presentations given by Finance Director Mike Reeves.

Reeves basically reviewed where the school district is to this point in its working budget for the fiscal year, indicating that although there were some shortfalls in a few areas, the district remained financially sound, having a total $1.5 million fund balance. He also noted he was pleased about the amount of property tax receipts turned in to this point at $1.1 million

The board also discussed individual school activity funds, with Reeves saying the use of those funds are limited in scope. However, the Kentucky Department of Education is allowing school districts to use what is known as Fund 21 that allows an individual school to issue a check once a month to the district, making those funds non-restricted, and allowing the central office to purchase whatever an individual school may be in most need of, such as computers, etc.

The Fund 21 program is voluntary for the schools to use at their own discretion.

Superintendent Charlotte Bernard also told the board about budget changes for schools already being considered by the legislature, noting most revenues are in tact and expenses were very good with the exception of a couple of areas. Also, the local school district is saving money on utility costs, being ranked 19th out of 173 school districts for money spent on utilities per square foot district-wide.

Following a power point presentation by Reeves pertaining to some parts of the working budget funding, Board Member Junior Cecil questioned the status of collections for lunches purchased by students that remain unpaid. It was noted that although the district is still trying to collect some of that unpaid money, no legal action has been taken against anyone and now that all students in the district are under a new federal food program and are getting free meals, it would make it harder to collect that back owed money.

It was noted, however, that the Food Service program, with the new program in effect this school year, is about $12,000 ahead of revenue from a year ago.

Finally on the issue of finances, Reeves told the board how much of the school district’s revenues were actually being spent on instruction, adding, “we’re serving the kids…and whenever there’s a bump in the road, we’ll work through it and move on.”

After discussing the proposed changes in the regular meeting schedule, board members briefly discussed a recent proposal by the Lake Cumberland District Health Department to make all schools and school facilities “tobacco free.”

Supt. Bernard said a survey on that issue would begin being taken for parents, students and others but most board members agreed going as far as making all school property, including outside of buildings tobacco free, would be a difficult task and inferred no action on that aspect would likely be taken anytime soon.

Board Member Kevin Marcum did suggest that, especially during sporting events and other gatherings, that a designated area away from where most student traffic is located, be a designated area for smokers or others who use tobacco products as an alternative to banning it altogether.