CLAFLIN — A potential violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act by the Central Plains USD 112 board of education was reported to the public Monday, during the board’s meeting at Central Plains Junior-Senior High School in Claflin.

John Sherman, board attorney, said the potential violation occurred during the board’s Sept. 9 meeting.

“I think it was probably an inadvertent act,” he said.“The reasons to go into executive session include the acquisition of real estate, but not the sale of real estate. The board went into executive session for the sale of real estate, to discuss that.”

Sherman said the board has self-reported the potential violation to the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

“We got a letter back from them asking for further information, and I’ll furnish that,” he said.“It has been the position of the board to be open and consistent with the Open Meetings Act, and we thought it was best to self report, let them investigate and see where that goes.”

Sherman said it is easy to get confused on the difference between the acquisition of real estate and the sale of real estate.

“This is not the first time it has ever happened, not with you, but around the state,” he added.

In other business:

• Tim Weber, president of the Bushton City Council, raised concerns about local school children being dropped off by the bus in the street.

He requested, on behalf of the council, that children be picked up and dropped off in the parking lot of the former Central Plains Middle School building in Bushton.

“We’ve got plenty of room for them to park,” he said. “It keeps our streets clear, and eliminates dropping people off on the street.”

He said the concerns raised by parents and other citizens of the community are valid and immediate action should be taken. He also suggested the board coordinate with the Rice County Sheriff ’s Office to provide coverage for the pickup and drop off times.

Greg Clark, district superintendent, said he would talk to the bus drivers and make the situation right.

Weber then discussed the letters of intent the council has received from the school board regarding the possible sale of the former school building in Bushton.

“Is there any additional information regarding Article Three?” he asked.

Weber said Article Three in the letters state the district will work with Wilson State Bank to obtain partial release of its lien on the HVAC, lighting and other fixtures and furnishing installed in the middle school building pursuant to a lease agreement dated Oct. 30, 2017, which creates a lien in favor of Wilson State Bank.

Michelle Brokes, board president, said that was something Weber needed to discuss with Sherman.

“It doesn’t really tell me anything on this,” Weber told Sherman.“You want some kind of a formal sales agreement to be closed on or before Dec. 31.”

Weber said the council has one meeting left before the end of the year.

“This is not something a city council can just decide,” he said. “We would have to have several meetings — town hall meetings, informational meetings, two at the minimum, three at the most. But I need a lot more information than just this.”

Sherman said the purpose of the letters was to see whether the City of Bushton has interest in the middle school building at all.

“The city has no comment right now,” Weber said. “Because we just really don’t know anything of what you guys are going to do.”

• Dave Werth asked the board about the dollar figures it would take to transfer the HVAC, lighting, ect., out of the Bushton building to another district school or to do whatever the board decides to do.

Werth said he talked to a friend in Wichita who is a contractor, and learned the HVAC unit is a sensitive system that once opened, removes any warranty left on the unit.

“You do it — you bet you can do it,” he said. “But we’re going spend $400,000 and I’ll bet you chase another $100,000 or $200,000 in the next 10 years keeping it going.”

He noted that cost will go on top of the $100,000 the district pays on the note every year out of the general fund.

“I’m kind of curious what the board was thinking of where the money was going to come from to move this?” Werth said.

Werth said the district has been unified for a number of years and he wondered when it was really going to become Central Plains.

“I think that is one of the main questions people have really wanted to know,” he said.

• No action was taken after a 15-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel.

• Donations of meat from Nathan Pasek, Patty Hipp and Allan Brokes were approved.

• The resignation of Beck Cory as a cook at Central Plains Elementary School in Holyrood was approved as was the hiring of Adele Rose Duvall as a CPES cook.

• A resolution selling the baseball field in Claflin to the City of Claflin for $1 was approved.

Clark said it was originally thought that when the district sold the elementary school to the city 10 years ago, the baseball field was part of that sale. Since then, the city has mowed the field, and made improvements. He said the city found it did not have insurance coverage on the ball field. That is when the city discovered it did not own the ball field, USD 112 does.

“They want the field, they use it,” Clark said. “We do not.”

• After some discussion of options for the school building in Bushton, the board decided to have officials from DCS discuss the details of moving the HVAC, boiler and lighting from the building to another school in the district, as well as solid assurance of the condition of the equipment into the future at the December board meeting.

“We shut down a school to make it another year so that we don’t get in more trouble and pull more out of contingency,” board member Jerry Bieberle said.“We were in financial trouble and now we’re going to spend $150,000 to make this work?”

Bieberle said it’s a classic example of the board rushing to close the building without looking at the long-term effects.

Bieberle said while he didn’t know what the answer was, but judging from past experience, if the HVAC unit is moved to another building, one mishap could cost the district a lot of money.

“I don’t care what these contractors say, the contractor that came in years ago and told us they could change all those boxes and make our units run so much more efficient and save us money and all of this,” he said.“They stood in front of the board and said this will work. When it was all said and done, they created a disaster. So I don’t take their word that they can move this and make it work like it should.”

Bieberle asked what kind of guarantee would the contractor moving the equipment give the board. Board members Brad Schiermeyer and Tony Zink agreed.

“I would be a little more comfortable with something like that too,” Zink said.

"I think it was probably
an inadvertent act."
John Sherman
Central Plains attorney