Red Wing School Board briefs

District gets clean audit

The Red Wing School District’s finances for 2011-12 got a stamp of approval during its annual fiscal audit.

“There were no compliance issues,” Douglas Blanshan of CliftonLarsenAllen told the Board during his summary of the report Monday evening. “There were no significant deficiencies related to the major programs.”

The board looked over a PowerPoint presentation showing the states of the district’s various funds as of June 30, 2012. That included the general fund, which showed a balance of just more than $7 million, or about $1.2 million more than last year’s audit showed.

Board chairman Mitch Boldt was quick to point out that the fund balance doesn’t mean the district has that much money. Instead, Finance Director Brad Johnson said the district must recognize in its fund balance money that the state owes the district, but hasn’t paid back yet.

“We are not sitting on $7 million. In fact we’re cash-starved,” Boldt said. “Hopefully the state will recognize that in the future” and pay schools back.

The board voted 7-0 to accept the audit report.

Board begins looking at space and maintenance solutions

The School Board began discussing ways to deal with the district’s list of deferred maintenance needs after a referendum question asking for funds failed in the Nov. 6 election.

“We’re going to take a look at what we have to do now,” Finance Director Brad Johnson said. “We want to keep our buildings functioning and try to be as creative as we can in trying to find funding.”

Johnson added that Facilities Director Kevin Johnson is doing another analysis of maintenance needs throughout the district. High on the list is the high school’s roof, which has been in place for more than 17 years and was only guaranteed for 10.

“We can’t just sit back now,” Board member Paul Kramp said. “We need to address it sooner or later.”

Board members also agreed that they need to have plans and funds set up in case a facility needs emergency repairs and that public and staff input is important moving forward.

Personnel changes

The board approved the following personnel changes:

New hire: Mark Hendrickson, part-time custodian at Colvill Family Center, effective Nov. 5.

@Brief/Summary hed:Meeting watch

@brief/summary text: Monday’s meeting lasted about one hour. All board members were present.

— Compiled by Sarah Gorvin, staff writer