DODGE, Neb. — It lasted just 20 minutes, but the first Dodge school board meeting since Aug. 15 made up for lost time.
The board met Tuesday evening to swear in three new members, elect officers, set a date for a recall election of a fellow board member and talk about setting up a meeting with Scribner-Snyder that could have merger implications.
New members John Ortmeier, Paul Pieper and Gene Uher took the oath of office, replacing recalled board members Brian Doernemann, Dan Wisnieski and Tim Meyer, who lost their seats in a special election Sept. 6.
The board had not legally been able to meet since the trio's recall because there was not a quorum. The only remaining members were Galen Uhing and Kevin Ortmeier.
The biggest announcement of the evening came when Pieper requested a meeting with representatives from Scribner-Snyder school district be put on the agenda for the Dodge and unified district school board meetings Jan. 10 in Howells.
Snyder is about six miles east of Dodge.
On Dec. 12, the Scriber-Snyder school board approved holding a bond issue election for a new high school. The cost of the bond issue will be announced at the Jan. 9 Scribner-Snyder board meeting, but preliminary indications put the cost at about $7.6 million.
A 10 percent contingency could raise that to between $8 million and $8.3 million. Without a gym, the cost would drop to $7 million.
Last year, Scribner-Snyder residents thwarted a proposed merger with the West Point Public Schools, so the board has turned its attention to building a new high school.
"We've had some contact with them. There is some interest in putting the school in Snyder if they can get us to go along," Pieper said. "I think you got a chance to put together a large (Class) C, possibly a C-1 district together with $800 million valuation, and I think everyone here's in agreement that bigger is better when it comes to schools, and I think we have to pursue that."
The issue will be on Dodge's January meeting agenda, and Dodge Superintendent Randy Marrymee said he would consult with Richard Coufal, president of the Dodge-Howells unified board, about that agenda.
After Tuesday's Dodge school board meeting, new board President John Ortmeier said there have been no formal discussions about merging, but he said the Dodge board would be willing to talk. Ortmeier said he could not speak for the Howells board.
In addition to Ortmeier being elected board president, Uhing was chosen as vice president and Kevin Ortmeier as secretary-treasurer as of Jan. 1.
Allen Rolf is the current secretary-treasurer, serving until Jan. 1, but is the subject of a recall petition. The board established Jan. 31 or Feb. 7 as potential dates for Rolf's recall election, subject to approval by Dodge County Election Commissioner Fred Mytty, who requested 30 to 45 days to prepare.
The recall elections are based on the previous board's decision to unify this year and merge next year with the Howells school district.
The unified district has been handling the financial obligations of the Dodge board and is composed of board members from Howells and Dodge. Until Tuesday, Rolf was the lone Dodge representative.
The Dodge school board tabled naming members to the unified board but did vote unanimously to immediately remove Rolf from the unified board.
Rolf did not attend the meeting.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
