St. Marys board OKs stadium fund drive

ST. MARYS - The drive for a new football stadium picked up a few yards on Wednesday as school board members approved starting a fundraising campaign.

Board members voted 3-2 to allow Clover Development Strategies to proceed with the campaign to raise capital funds for a new stadium complex near the Memorial High School. Board members Bob Valentine and Travis Kuenning voted against the decision.

Valentine said the feasibility study that Clover Development Strategies was contracted to do for the district had never been approved by board members. All board members voted, however, in December for Clover Development Strategies to conduct the study.

He reiterated a previous statement, saying Clover Development Strategies owner Clover Apelian does not have her company listed as a business in Florida as of 2014.

City law director Kraig Noble looked into the matter after Valentine first voiced his concern at a May 12 special meeting. He gave his opinion to school district officials in a letter, stating Apelian had done nothing illegal by accepting and performing the job.

Valentine responded to Noble's letter on Wednesday.

"I believe he was way out of line with what he stated and totally incorrect in his assessments," he said.

Heated words and viewpoints were exchanged between Valentine and fellow board member Brian Little during the meeting.

Kuenning said he felt the public should have more of a say in whether or not to keep Skip Baughman Stadium on West South Street or to build a stadium at the site of the turf field east of the high school.

"Without the public's opinion, I don't know how we think we can get the next levies passed. We've seen in the past what a board that doesn't care what the public thinks can do," he said.

Apelian interviewed 48 people earlier this year about where to locate a football stadium, he said, noting more residents should have been interviewed to make the findings more accurate.

Kuenning reminded school board members that education is the board's first responsibility.

"If we're going to pass this contract, we need to look at the actual contract, and we need to offer each board member an opportunity to ask questions or give concerns about the contract itself," Valentine said.

Little said Wednesday's vote would not lead to immediately starting construction. He also cited a previous school board that had voted the same way a few years ago but did not follow through with construction.

In other action, high school principal Bill Ruane presented the possibility of starting Project Search for special-needs high school seniors.

The program began at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 1996 and is designed to help special-needs students become prepared for the workforce after graduation, he said.

Project Search allows the students to have internships with three jobs for three months each during their senior year. They would be out of the classroom all day during the internship, he said.

School officials have been working for about two years to launch the program and hope to have it in place by the start of the 2017-2018 school year. School board members granted Ruane and other officials permission to continue setting up the program.

Ruane hopes once it's in place, it will draw open-enrollment special-needs students to the district. The nearest Project Search programs are in Lima and Bellefontaine, he said.

School board members also approved the five-year financial forecast.

Total revenue for the school district is projected to decrease from $20.6 million this year to $20.1 million in 2020. Property tax allocations decrease each year, according to the forecast.

Expenditures are projected to increase from $19.8 million this year to $22.2 million in 2020.

Treasurer Tom Sommer said the forecast predicts the new state biennual budget will be the same next year as it was in 2015. State funding makes up about 65 percent of the district's budget. Sommer said predicting that funding can be difficult as changes are made with the election of new officials.

Also on Wednesday, board members,

• approved Sommer's retirement effective July 31. He had been named the new treasurer for Celina City Schools earlier this month.

• approved the 2016-2017 student fees for the four district schools.

• approved the 2016-2017 elementary and middle schools student handbooks.

• approved the Ohio DECA overnight field trip to the Ohio Summer Leadership Retreat in Carrollton on July 15-18.

• approved reappointing Bob Valentine to the Tri Star Advisory Board for a two-year term Aug. 1, 2016-July 31, 2018.

• approved adding the computer technician position to the classified salary schedule and the interpreter position to the miscellaneous salary schedule.

• approved the continuation of services with West Central Ohio Assistive Technology for 2017.

• approved the continuation of services with Northwest Ohio Area Computer Services for 2017.

• approved a $750 stipend to Jerry Kohnen for the Fanuc Robot Training and certification for students for Tri Star Career Compact.