meetings last week

Two separate public meetings were held last week, with the Clinton County Board of Education holding a regular session and Clinton County Fiscal Court conducting a brief call session.

* School board: The Board of Education held a regular monthly meeting/work session last Thursday evening, January 8 at the Central Office with all members present.

The board held a lengthy closed session for a hearing that was listed on the agenda, “which may lead to the discipline or expulsion of a student.” However, upon returning to open session and pursuant to legal counsel’s advice, no action regarding the hearing was announced.

During the long session, which began at 4:30 p.m. and ended approximately two and a half-hours later, Superintendent Charlotte Bernard conducted a board work session, discussing the topics of board training, non-resident contracts and trips.

After the agenda was approved, the meeting was adjourned.

The next regular meeting of the school board is scheduled for Monday, January 19 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office board room and is open to the general public.

* Fiscal court: Clinton Fiscal Court held its second special meeting of the week to start off the 2015 calendar year on Friday morning with all court members present.

The only item of business on the call meeting agenda was to approve a “statement of amount to be advanced each month for the sheriff’s office in 2015.”

According to court members, Department of Local Government (DLG) officials have verified this as a standard annual procedure for sheriffs to acquire enough funding to operate their offices until revenues begin coming in. The “advancement” of a loan, magistrates say, have been ongoing for several years.

Judge/Executive Richard Armstrong said the state allowed up to $40,000 to be borrowed under a secured loan for the sheriff’s office to operate, in the sheriff’s own name, and stipulates the money has to be paid back by the end of the year.

A motion was made by Third District Magistrate Terry Buster to allow the sheriff to obtain the advancement loan from the state and the statement of amount to be advanced for 2015. The document had to be approved by the fiscal court and signed by both the sheriff and judge/executive.

The total budget estimate for the sheriff’s office in 2015 is $276,834.32.

A slight majority of that amount, $140,000, is estimated in commission on taxes collected.

With no other items of business on the agenda, the under five-minute meeting was adjourned.

The first regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court for the new year is scheduled for this Thursday, January 15 at 5 p.m. at the courthouse and is open to the general public.