Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Voters Approve Millage Hike

Prescott Superintendent Ron Wright and members of the Prescott School Board had to hold their collective breaths waiting for the election returns.

The board had met in regular session Tuesday, Sept. 21, and had to wait for a phone call to learn the outcome of the millage vote.

When the call came, the board, along with a few faculty members and former board members, were in the foyer at a farewell gathering for outgoing panelists Willie Marks and Jim Franks.

Wright was held in suspense for several moments by the caller, before being told the millage passed overwhelmingly.

The final count showed 560 voting for the issue and 249 casting their ballots in opposition.

There were 413 who went to the polls to vote for it, with 112 voting early and 35 favoring it by absentee ballot.

On the negative side, 200 went to the polls, while 17 voted absentee and 32 voted early.

Cheers of victory and joy followed as Wright made the announcement to those on hand.

The Prescott School Board will seat two new members at its October meeting, as Patricia Blake beat Marisa Tidwell 84-24 for one position. Jeff Haynes had no opponent, but still received 205 votes.

In the Nevada District, two new members will be seated as well this October as Mack Bridges and James Tomlin were elected.

Bridges received 22 votes, while Tomlin got seven from his district.

Glenda Fulton and Michael Hight, both unopposed, retained their seats on the Emmet School Board as well.

No other districts were seeking millage increases, though both Nevada and Emmet had their millages passed.

In discussing the outcome of the Prescott millage vote, Wright voiced his appreciation for those who worked tirelessly on the committee, manning phones and contacting voters to tell them about the issues at hand.

He said it was more of a community effort than a school effort as area residents worked the phones to get the millage passed.

"It was victory for Prescott and not just the district," he said. "I appreciate all the people who went to the polls and voted for it."

Wright has already visited with an architect about plans for the new gym, but said the first priority will be to renovate all three schools before work begins on the gym.

Everything, he said, remains contingent on the sale of the bonds. This is being handled by the firm of Rainey and Beardsley. When this firm feels the market it right, it will try to sell the bonds for the best possible price and the lowest possible interest.

In the meantime, work will begin on lowering the ceilings at Prescott Elementary School.

Once the bonds have been sold, Wright said, the first jobs to be done will be getting new roofs on both Prescott Middle School and Prescott High School. "Job one is to take care of our three schools."

The architect has already built a model of a gymnasium for the district to examine. Wright plans to exhibit this model to the public and get input on what the people think and any suggestions to improve it.

In addition, other recently built gyms will be visited to see what was done, what the district likes and how things were done. The idea, Wright said, it to avoid making mistakes others made in building their gyms.

"I'm glad to have this passed," he said of the millage, "it shows we're all still on the same page. We will make as wide use as possible with this money. We want to work with everybody and get along."