This Post Title was just a cheap way of letting me upload another bucolic image onto my blog. I took the picture yesterday as Claudia and I were tromping around Jay Cooke State Park. I took photos of some interesting insects too.
I spent the morning setting up ladders and buying materials to paint the eves and windows of my house this summer. I could have continued through the afternoon but passing up a chance to stroll the northwoods when given a chance on a lovely day outweighed my guilt for house neglect. I have all summer and I’m not going to be running for the legislature.
In fact, I was so into summer I forgot all about yesterday’s school board meeting until Art Johnston called me as I was driving back to Duluth from Carlton.
Today’s Trib story covered the latest issue of import – replacing our rubber tire mulch. The resistance by administration loyalists melted away at our last Monday’s meeting so voting to change the stuff was already settled and last night’s vote was a mere formality. Still, for the past week we have been receiving eloquent email appeals from a raft of new concerned parents unhappy that their children come home from school looking like chimney sweeps. I’ve been meaning to post some of them but I haven’t even taken the time to reply to them as I’ve poured my energy into reading history. I’ll just say that the $400,000 cost of mulch replacement is the cheapest way we can demonstrate to discouraged parents that their fears for their children’s health, whether justified by science or not, mean something to this school board.
The other issue of great import was our similarly preordained approval of our ISD 709 budget. This led to some testy interactions between the school board in a meeting that lasted much longer than any of us expected. Early on in our discussion I explained that, for a host of reasons that I won’t outline now because I’m eager to start today’s painting, I would not join the majority in approving it. Sure enough it passed on a 4 – 3 vote.
I started the meeting by learning from a long time Board watcher that a proposal we would be considering last night to proceed with some debt refinancing might lead us to spend three million more for the Red Plan rather than save us 3% on the cost of $85 million in bond repayments. I had a moment to ask our Bond Rep about this and he was momentarily flummoxed leading me to suspect the proposal was a fraud. Before I had the chance to ask him more I heard Chair Harala call the meeting to order and had to swiftly excuse myself to hurry to join the roll call. Needless to say as I waited for the discussion of the overall Budget to proceed I was in a gloomy mood about the Bond repayments. It took two hours before we got to either discussion and they preceded the vote on the mulch replacement. Ah the poor parents in the audience awaiting salvation. What a long dreary night it was for them. The half dozen who stuck the meeting out gave us hearty applause when we finally ended what had been, for some of them, a two year lobbying effort.
I pumped Steven Pumper our bond advisor for assurance that the bond repayment would lead to a 3% savings and not a $3 million cost and after a long circuitous answer he gave the Board that assurance. It passed unanimously.
As for the overall budget discussion. That grew lengthy and led to Member Sandstad moving that we vote immediately (moving the previous question) rather than let some of us who had had our mike lights on for several minutes partake in the discussion. Her motion was ruled to pass after a 4-3 vote…….until Art Johnston pointed out that to suppress discussion it takes a two-thirds vote. Chair Harala needed a few minutes to consult Robert’s Rules to confirm that aspect of Parliamentary Procedure. A short time later after a tired Chair Harala called on me she muttered under her breath, “Here we go again.” Unfortunately for her she had her microphone on and I took umbrage to her expression of weariness. I’ll have to watch that portion of our meeting when it turns up on youtube to see just how ugly we got.
I fixed myself a ham sandwich when I got home at ten after the meeting. At least I had a pretty picture of our state flower to post this morning to remember the friendlier elements of a long yesterday.
