The INDEPENDENT, February 7, 2008
Page 13
Banks School Board hears presentations, makes policy changes
The Banks School District
Board of Directors heard two
presentations during their work
session prior to the board
meeting on January 14.
The first was from Ryan Birr,
co-chair of the facilities plan-
ning committee. Birr presented
a letter to the board and ex-
plained why the committee was
as yet unable to make their final
report, as scheduled. According
to Birr there is no doubt that
something must be done for the
district’s buildings and that a
bond is the most likely way to
proceed but, until the commit-
tee gets the final reports, they
can’t put a dollar amount on the
bond to be sought.
He asked if the board could
approve going out for a bond
and have the dollar amount
come in after the final report.
Birr was anxious for approval
so the facilities committee can
move forward with the forma-
tion of a steering committee
that will be a PAC (political ac-
tion committee) and see the
district through the process of a
bond election. The goal would
be to have a bond measure on
the November 2008 election
because a double majority is
not needed in that election.
Birr explained that two things
prevented the committee from
meeting its original timetable.
The first was that the work per-
formed by the committee
proved to be more involved
than was first thought. He said
they have undertaken a com-
plete analysis of the buildings
as they currently are, as well as
what needs may be in the near
future. The second reason is
that the committee is still await-
ing results from several agen-
cies, including a population
study from Portland State Uni-
versity. When all the informa-
tion is gathered, Birr said, the fi-
nal item the committee will
need is a report from an archi-
tect who will compile all of the
information and associate the
costs with district needs.
The board did not vote to put
a bond on the ballot at this time,
but may schedule a special
meeting to do so when all infor-
mation is available.
The second presentation,
from Jim Smith, was about the
way that sports are budgeted at
the high school. This presenta-
tion was in response to board
discussion that followed a re-
quest from Steven Kiss to add
soccer as a sponsored, but
non-funded, sport at the high
school varsity level.
Smith presented a break-
down of income and costs
across the different sports and
added that it is impossible to
fund all the sports exactly
equally because some are in-
herently more expensive. Smith
emphasized that requirements
for coaches were the same
whether a sport is funded by
the school or not. He feels that
the purpose of the athletics de-
partment is to provide a way for
students to be involved, and
this soccer proposal will allow a
way for students to participate
and compete. Board consen-
sus was to allow soccer as an
unfunded sport and consider
the matter again during the
budgeting process. Kiss said
he was tickled the board was
even considering providing any
financial support of the pro-
gram. During the regular board
meeting, the directors voted
unanimously to add soccer to
the sports schedule for next
school year.
The board had the first read-
ing for two policy changes. One
changes the bidding require-
ments for the district. Previous-
ly, purchases between $500
and $25,000 required three
competitive written quotes and
anything over $25,000 had to
be formally bid. The new policy
change the bidding limit to
$150,000.
A second policy proposes
changing reimbursement of
travel expenses for district em-
ployees from set amounts to
being tied to the U.S. General
Services Administration Per
Diem Rates. This would allow
updating without any action by
the board. These policies will
have a second reading and be
voted on at the next meeting.
The board also approved an
Please see page 14
Banks robbery suspect indicted
On Monday, January 7, at
12:12 p.m. Washington County
Sheriff’s Deputies responded to
a robbery call at the Sunset
Auto Parts Store in Banks.
A white mail suspect wear-
ing a blue bandana entered the
store holding a knife and de-
manded the money in the reg-
ister. The clerk complied and
was not injured. The suspect
left with an undisclosed amount
of cash. A Washington County
K9 team was brought in, but
the suspect was not located.
Through a series of leads,
Washington County Sheriff’s
Detectives identified a suspect.
On January 24, Jake Wayne
Brown, 18, was indicted and
charged with Robbery I, Rob-
bery II and Unlawful Use of a
Weapon. Mr. Brown was al-
ready in the Washington Coun-
ty Jail on unrelated charges.
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Right to left; Michaela and Kiana Shurts helped serve at the
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