Tie vote on BOE appointment—again

It was a tie vote on both nominations for the Daleville Board of Education at a second consecutive meeting that again resulted in no appointment being made.

At the Daleville City Council meeting May 5 the council again could not agree on which of two candidates for the five-year term on the school board should be appointed.

At issue is whether to reappoint longtime school board member Ricky McLin or appoint Sandra Henry, an administrator in higher education for more two decades.

Councilmembers Jo Reese and Allen Souders and Mayor Jayme Stayton voted in favor of McLin.

Councilmembers Scott Moore, Bobby Hardrick and Katheryne Horace voted in favor of Henry.

After the two tie votes, Daleville City Attorney Henry Steagall suggested that the issue be tabled. “The law says that in a regular meeting in the month of April you should make your decision and the person should take office at the first meeting in June but that just came and went,” Steagall said.

The announcement of the upcoming appointment to the DBOE was announced at the April 7 city council meeting, with appointment expected to be made at the April 21 meeting.

The April 21 city council meeting was postponed until April 30 due to concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The final conclusion is if you don’t have the votes and you can’t do it, how do you comply with that (law)?” Steagall said. “So, I don’t see that as a problem that April has passed and you have not done that.”

“Do we have the power to legally extend that (appointment) for three months or do we just make a motion to delay action?” asked Horace.

“I think at the next (city council) meeting you could have a motion to table the matter until September and I don’t see that that would be illegal,” Steagall said. “We have done it before—maybe not exactly like that—but I don’t think that would be improper or illegal just to table the matter especially since you’ve had two votes on it now and you’ve got a stalemate.”

“So the board member currently in place will remain until this issue is resolved, correct?” asked Hardrick. “By September or October, there may be a new (city) administration. Will the issue come back up at that time?”

“That’s why I brought up the idea of tabling this matter,” Steagall replied. “I want to point out that we have had a situation in the past where we delayed an appointment to allow a person to stay on to continue and finish a project.

“This is a possibility just to table this for a period of time, finish some projects and then bring it back up at a later date and maybe it will work itself out,” he added.

“So we should we go back and vote to table it now?” Hardrick asked.

“No, it’s already been voted,” said Reese.

Reese made the motion to reappoint McLin at both the April 30 and May 5 council meetings. After Souders seconded the motion, as he had also done April 30, Reese asked for discussion.

“I have spoken with some people who have watched the school board in session and I have looked into some of the concerns that I have heard that Mr. McLin was kind of oppressive, ruling it and not giving people an opportunity to speak up,” Reese said. “That has been totally, totally found untrue.

“In fact, I’ve been made aware that the school board is acting as a unit, that they are making progress helping Daleville to proceed forward,” she said. “At this time, particularly with the COVID-19 (pandemic) we are undergoing, it is critical that we have cohesiveness rather than adding new people.”

Souders noted that McLin requested to remain on the board. “Board members go through training and I think that if somebody wants to remain on the board and he’s done a good job, I don’t want to get rid of that experience or training,” Souders said. “I understand that (McLin) has been on there a long time but to me that is not a problem.”

Moore said that McLin told him a year ago that he “more than likely” would not seek another board term.

“I object to what (McLin) may or may not have said,” interjected Reese.

“This is not a court of law,” Moore replied.

“I know that it is not a court of law but Mr. McLin is not here to refute what he said or didn’t say,” Reese replied.

Calling Henry’s resume “impeccable,” Moore said, “The whole time I have been on the council I’ve never seen a resume more qualified for this kind of position.

“I told (Henry) when she did not get the appointment last year that if she were to put her name in the hat again that I would support her, so I have basically promised my support to her and I feel that it is hard for someone to say ‘no’ to this resume,” Moore said.

“That was last year and since that time Mr. McLin has not made known to any of us that he did not wish…in fact to the contrary, he sent in a letter saying, ‘I definitely want to remain on the board,’” Reese said.

“I appreciate all he’s done. He’s been on there a long time and done wonderful work but I have pledged my support to someone else,” Moore said. “I can’t imagine the wealth of knowledge and the contacts that Ms. Henry could bring to the table for our schools.”

“I agree with what you just said and I agree that it’s an impressive resume and I think she would be a fantastic school board member at some point going forward,” said Souders. “I just have always felt that (McLin) cares a lot about the school and the kids in the school and he’s been able to show that in different ways.”

“Isn’t she fairly new to the community?” Reese asked about Henry.

“She grew up here,” Moore replied. “She was in Enterprise for a few years.”

“Ok, so she hasn’t been here in this community for a while,” Reese said.

“In the past it appears to have been that if someone has served well on whatever board, if they wanted to remain on it they were allowed to remain,” Reese said. “(McLin) has done many wonderful things and he’s in a position to continue to help our students, our school and our community.”

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Ricky McLin but when you say that some of the things were found untrue, I’m a witness that some of these things are true,” Horace said to Reese. “I refuse to say what they were but there are people who know some of those things, who are aware of some of these things that have happened.”

“Some of the things that have been presented before the council (about McLin) are not untruths,” Horace reiterated. “He may have rethought those things but they did happen. Some of those things are true, Jo.

“I do want to close by saying (McLin) has done some wonderful things for the school system, he has done some wonderful things for the students but there are some things that happened that just kind of got by,” she added. “You can tell this is very passionate for us. This is a tough decision.”

In other business, the council tabled a request from the Daleville Area Chamber of Commerce to use the Daleville Cultural and Convention Center for the 2020 Farmers Market each Thursday from June 11 through July 31, contingent upon the state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. Holding the market in a climate controlled environment might attract more vendors, explained Chamber Executive Director Michelle Powell.

“The Farmers Market has always been held on the corner of Daleville Avenue and Highway 134,” said Stayton. “It’s a visible location.”

Stayton said that if the facility was to be used as a farmers market, the city custodian would not be responsible for cleanup after the market and that if a paying customer wished to rent the building, the rental would take precedence over the market.

The council asked Powell to coordinate with the mayor’s administrative assistant on the request and bring the issue back to them for consideration.

In unrelated business, the council approved Reese’s recommendation to suspend all rent from Daleville Recreation Center tenants from March 1 through the end of August due the closures mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next meeting of the Daleville City Council is Tuesday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. in the Daleville City Hall.

The meeting is open to the public.