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C.D. Houston takes oath as newest school board member
C.D. Houston was officially sworn in as the newest member of the Mountain Home school board last week.
The meeting room for the district's board of trustees was filled to capacity with well-wishers as school board secretary Sharon Whitman administered the oath of office to the newly elected Houston, and re-elected long-time incumbent Luise House.
Houston replaces Jo Gridley, who had decided to retire from her position after 17 years.
"I've enjoyed every minute of those 17 years," Gridley said. "I'm sure C.D. will do a good job. And now, I'm 'outa' here."
With that, she accepted the hugs and handshakes of the board members and administrators with which she has worked, and stepped down to let Houston take her seat.
Houston's position on the board remains somewhat precarious, however.
During the May 19 election, Houston defeated William Murray (who was on hand to observe the swearing in last Tuesday), by a slim three-vote margin. The night of the election, Murray called Houston to congratulate him on the win.
But within hours after the initial tally of the votes, district election officials discovered that three people had inadvertently been allowed to vote in the Houston-Murray contest who did not live in the proper trustee zone for which that election was being held. Since those three votes equalled the margin of victory, the entire election was called into question (House's election had no problem as she was unopposed). There was no remedy in state law for how to deal with an election involving invalid votes that equaled or exceeded the margin of victory.
Murray, himself, declined to challenge the election, nor did any voter come forward to file a challenge as allowed by state law.
But the members of the school board, unsure of how to deal with the situation even as they declared Houston to be the winner of the election, each filed a challenge as individuals, asking the courts to determine how to deal with the problem.
School board chairman Jim Alexander (who was re-elected to that post Tuesday), explained at the time that the board simply wanted to make sure it had done the right thing, so no cloud would hang over the election.
The board did not ask the court for any specific remedy. Theoretically, Fourth District Judge Mike Wetherell, who will hear the case, could affirm Houston's election, could throw out the election and order a new contest between Houston and Murray, could declare a tie (which would be resolved by a coin flip), or find some other solution.
A pre-trial conference on the matter will be held next week, Aug. 3, with formal arguments scheduled to be heard before Judge Wetherell on Aug. 19.
In other action at last week's meeting the school board approved a number of appointments and reappointments for specific administrative duties, and heard a report from district comptroller Cliff Ogborn concerning the district's financial health.
As of the end of June, the district was $1.5 million in the red, although some anticipated funding had not yet been received. But, those funds probably won't make up all of the deficit.
"I think this is the largest (end of year) deficit we've ever had," Alexander said. "Some of it was not under our control," such as enrollment declines that caused less state funding to be received, "but some of it was," he said.
"We didn't react in time" to some of the changing economic conditions last year, he said, adding, "we'll need more discipline" in coming years.
"Things are going to get tough," he said. "This time next year, we'll have trouble making payroll," unless some tough measures are taken to control and reduce expenditures in the coming year.