Disappointed by meeting
Those who attended the budget hearing of the CMSD Trustees board Thursday night had to be disappointed by the conduct of board.
First the board announced guidelines to be used for the hearing. First would be the presentation of the budget followed by response to WRITTEN questions, then board members would have time to give their input to the process.
The board did not follow policy since the policy states printed information on the topic would be made available to the public ahead of time. It was not at the sign-in table for people to pick up and have for reference.
As the meeting progressed, the restriction on speaking was relaxed some but still stifled some who wished to speak. This relaxation only happened because the President Verdell requested the writer of the question to come to the podium to verify the writer and to have their image recorded. To her credit, they were given some leeway in speaking.
After the written questions were exhausted, the Trustees were given the chance to ask questions and it was during this time the meeting degraded to who did what in the past.
Trustee Jason Spears came ready to question the values on the spreadsheet including a taxing request to the City Council dated back in 2012 or 2013 that included a special allotment to cover debt servicing.
He also wondered how the Board of Trustees had added expenditures from the fund balance that are reoccurring expenditures, but did not identify exactly what they were so the public could judge the use of the reserve funds.
After that the meeting degraded into personal bickering back and forth on who did what when, even on things never approved by past or present board.
There are many concerns in this community that deserve a good public airing. This is not the way to do it.
Berry Hinds
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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