County School Board Given Travel Records

Stan Mantooth appeared slightly strained as he lugged in a box full of photocopies and plopped it in front of one of county board of education trustees.

Mantooth, an administrator for the county superintendent’s office, repeated the process four more times, until each of the five school board members had their own box.

At a cost of $1,419 for labor and photocopying costs, each board member received a copy of all the travel expenses and receipts for every county employee during the 1995-96 school year at Monday’s board meeting.

Trustee Marty Bates has also asked for copies of two more years worth of travel expenses. And requests such as these may become more frequent.

Under a new board policy being considered and introduced by Bates, any board member could request information--as costly as it may be--without majority board approval. Currently, board policy requires that all expenses outside of the routine, such as mailing of board packets, require board consent, Weis said.

Bates did not deny that there would be costs involved but he said the information a board requests is necessary in order to make the best decisions.

“There is an expense involved,” Bates said. “I don’t think there is not an expense involved to perform the job this board should be performing.”

But trustees Janet Lindgren and Al Rosen are blasting the proposal, saying it would be costly to the county and time-consuming for staff.

“If you want something, come down and check on it,” said Rosen, adding that all the public information is available at the county superintendent’s office. Lindgren and Rosen maintain that Bates is out on a “witch hunt” to find something wrong with the superintendent’s office.

Bates tried to get the proposal voted on during Monday’s meeting, but backed down after Lindgren argued that the meeting had been brought up for discussion rather than action. The matter will be voted on during the Aug. 25 board meeting.