Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School Election Sept. 15; Voters To Decide Millage

Election time is nearing for all school elections.

In Gurdon, there are two positions coming open on the school board. Those positions are currently held by Tommy Overbee and Charles Ledbetter, the board president.

Anyone in these districts wanting to run for the positions must have their petitions properly filled out and turned in by Friday, July 31.

Candidates must have the signatures of at least 25 registered voters from their districts on the petition for it to be valid. It is suggested candidates get more than 25 names.

The ballot for the Sept. 15 election will also include a request for a millage increase.

The Gurdon School Board, in the June 23 meeting, voted to ask for a 3 mill increase, with the revenue generated to be used to construct a new football field for the Go-Devils and a physical education facility for Cabe Middle School students.

According to Gurdon Superintendent Bobby Smithson, this amount should cover the costs of building both facilities.

He told the board, in June, the district has been doing dirt work for the stadium, using dirt from the CMS parking lot project to fill in low areas.

Additionally, he said, road crews with Clark County's Road Department have been helping move the dirt as well.

Financing for the stadium without a millage increase, he said, had been worked out until the district lost 40 students. At about $4,000 per student, this means a loss of around $160,000 per year to the district.

The idea, he told the board, had been to use post-dated warrant bonds in the amount of $250,000, and $100,000 from the operating budget until the project was paid off.

But, he said, the loss of students makes this plan more difficult.

Members of the panel agreed with the idea of a millage increase, with all saying those they had spoken with want a new stadium on the new campus.

Smithson informed the board the district could attempt to build the stadium with help from a grant from the Horace C. Cabe Foundation in the amount of $150,000, but a PE building for middle school would be years down the road. The foundation board, he added, won't meet to decide until October.

This would mean the students of CMS and GHS would have to continue sharing the high school gymnasium for PE classes.

As it is, Smithson said, Gurdon Middle School Principal Jeff Alexander has been asked to schedule PE activities outside whenever possible. During inclement weather, PE students are to study health.

Smithson told the board he believed the project could be done with a two mill increase, but refused to make a recommendation, allowing, instead, the board to decide. Two mill, he said, would generate about $70,000 per year.

David Williams put forth the idea of asking for a three mill hike so both projects could be done without the district having to worry much about the financing.

Prospective plans, Smithson said, are to build the stadium and a new field house. The field house can be constructed in such a way as to also be used as a PE facility for CMS students.

The decision for a new stadium, field house and PE building for middle school students now rests in the hands of the voters of Gurdon.