School board recognized, turf tank approved
Published 6:00 pm Monday, January 27, 2025
- Kris Harrell | Schneider Electric presents the results of the past four years of construction at the meeting and projects Butler County schools will see a 16% decrease in energy and operational expenses.
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By Kris Harrell
The Butler County Board of Education held a meeting Jan 16 where they recognized board members and approved McKenzie and Georgiana schools for a new piece of equipment.
Schools recently celebrated School Board Recognition Month and honored the school board members. The school system honored board members Micheal Nimmer (District 1), William Champion (District 2), Brandon Sellers (District 3), Jamey Thompson (District 4) and Eric Gomillion (District 5) for their dedication and leadership in supporting the district’s students, educators and community.
Chief School Financial Officer Brandi Mosley presented the financial report for September 2024, explaining the revenue and expenditures of the county schools for that month and showcasing graphs illustrating the data.
In a presentation shown during the meeting, Mosley reported that the ending general fund balance was $8,689,774.16, or 3.3 months of operating balance.
“In the state of Alabama, public school law says you have to maintain a one month’s operating balance; so everyone is very cautious of watching our finances, making sure we have enough in reserve to pay our bills, pay our staff and so forth,” Superintendent Joe Eiland said. “To have three– to three-and-a-half months reserve is very good. We have had a size nearly six [months] at one point, but things have increased in cost [and] the [faculty] deserved raises over the years. [This] impacts us because we have our contributing parts to those, so that hits our bottom line every year.
“Sales taxes have gone up, local revenue has come up, the state has [freed up] some extra dollars so it’s helping us maintain that positive balance, we’re in good shape.”
There was also a presentation with representatives from Schneider Electric, an electric company in Homewood. The business submitted a proposal to the board of education four years ago to redo the HVAC system at Greenville High School and weatherize and provide new lighting to the butler county schools.
A representative from Schneider Electric presented their results at the meeting and reported that Butler County schools will see a 16% decrease in energy and operational expenses.
Schneider Electric will continue to work with Butler County Schools for the next 15 years.
“It was perfect timing, because at that particular time unfortunately COVID hit us so there was tons of money that came into the school system for such things as purifying air, lighting and so forth,” Eiland said. “So, it was a great opportunity to take advantage of that, which we did.”
Additionally, Berry Bess, head football coach of Georgiana, and Brian Bradford, Athletic Director and head football coach of McKenzie, were approved for $17,000 to purchase a one-year subscription with Turf Tank. The Turf Tank will be shared between the two schools.
A turf tank is a robotic field painter that uses GPS technology to mark different types of sports fields.
“The Turf Tank gives us the opportunity to share a project,” Bess said. “That’s a big project for sure, and it’ll save us time, energy, and money as far as spending money on paint and the amount of paint that we use throughout the season.
Having the tank nearby, Bess explained, cuts down on field-preparation time, affording coaches and staff more time to spend with their families.
“Our kids do a lot as well, they help us out sometimes, so it just gives us the opportunity to use Thursday evening to go enjoy [our] family, [our] friends for a little while because it’s a shorter practice, so I think that benefits us as well, and hopefully it makes us more rejuvenated on Friday.”