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$114,000 overcharge
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Schools to be reimbursed for electric costs By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com
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Your responses show you what you are passionate about. Bryan Golden See page 10
Building a machine
Fifth grade students at Genoa Elementary School build Rube Goldberg machines during their library time. These and other S.T.E.A.M. Challenge and MakerSpace activities will be on display May 10 at the school’s “Specials Showcase,” an after school event that highlights the school’s Art, Music, Technology, PE, and Library programs. Pictured at left are Emily Diebert, Hailey Deverna, and Hanna Davis. Top right, Maggie Tolliver, Jaymie Laske, Arianna Uribes, and Molly Coleman. Bottom right, Derek Mahr, Jacob Knitz, and Bailey Everhardt. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Levy committee
Pledge to voters will be honored By Kelly J. Kaczala and Melissa A. Burden The Oregon Schools Community Levy Committee and the district’s administration are “firmly committed” to honoring their pledge that revenue from a 3.95mill operating levy passed by voters last November will “exclusively” go toward preserving Career Technical programs and extra-curricular activities, according to a post on the committee’s Facebook page last week. The committee was formed early last year to promote passage of the levy on the November 3 ballot. The Oregon Schools Community Levy Committee Facebook comments, made by someone who later identified herself as Joy Andrews, were posted after an article appeared in the April 18 edition of The Press in which Superintendent Hal Gregory and School Board President Carol Molnar appeared to
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...but we promised that if the levy passed, these programs would not be in jeopardy for the foreseeable future.
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The Woodmore school board received some good financial news Tuesday from the mayor and administrator of the Village of Woodville. The village and a consultant erred, Mayor Rich Harman told the board, in the setting of an electric meter at the new PreK-8 school building, resulting in an overcharge of about $114,000 to the school district since it opened a little more than a year ago. The mayor and Keith Kruse, village administrator, said the district would be reimbursed for the overcharge plus interest. “It’s a unique situation,” the mayor said after the board meeting. “It’s a new school and that metering source is totally different from what we use in town. No other industry or business in town is as big as Woodmore. They’re the largest user in town and there was no history to compare it to since the school has only been open for a year or so. “For everyone in town we take a look at their meters every month and if we see something unusual we’ll alert the resident or business. With the school we had nothing to compare. Every month it was about the same. Our advisor, based in Findlay, gave us our rates to go by and he made what is called a dummy test at the beginning and everyone thought the meter was set the right way. It wasn’t and we had to do two or three steps to calculate the exact usage.” Harman said Linda Bringman, Woodmore superintendent, had contacted the village, questioning why the bills were so high for an energy-efficient building. After another look at the meter readings, village officials agreed they were suspect. The mayor opened his presentation to the school board on a humorous note by saying he and Kruse had held a fundraiser for the district and raised $115,000. A check will be given to the district this week after the administration determines what it would have received in interest from its bank on the overcharge amount. The mayor estimated the school dis-
be backing away from a pledge they made to voters last October that the $1.9 million annual revenue from the levy, if passed, would exclusively go toward Career Tech and extra-curricular programs. “In light of recent questions from our
community, the levy campaign leaders want to let you know that we have met with Oregon City Schools administration, and all of us are firmly committed to honoring our pledge to voters about levy funds,” stated Andrews. The words “firmly committed” are capitalized and highlighted in bold. “The community trusted us and we will honor that trust,” stated Andrews. “The levy funds allow our district to maintain extra-curricular programming and local control of Career Tech. The levy funds were not enough to cover 100 percent of the cost of these programs, but we promised that if the levy passed, these programs would not be in jeopardy for the foreseeable future. We remain firmly committed to that pledge…If you or someone you know has questions about levy funds, or the promises that were made, please direct them here and we will do our very best to answer those questions with facts. This levy was a Continued on page 4
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