Board reappoints three to panel for financial advice

By Harold Gwin | July 30, 2009 at 12:04a.m.

The committee was created to provide an independent look at district finances.

YOUNGSTOWN — Stressing the need for continuity in the review of its finances, the city school board has reappointed the three community members of its Financial Advisory Committee.

Anthony Catale, board president, said the one-year terms of Greg Slemons, Scott Roush and Lena Hopkins are set to expire Saturday.

He asked the school board Tuesday to consider suspending the rules of the board policy enacted to create the special committee to allow the three to remain active through August to give the board’s personnel committee time to secure nominations for new appointments.

Catale said he would favor keeping Slemons, Hopkins and Roush on the committee.

Board member Richard Atkinson, pointing out that the board has been pleased with the committee’s work, suggested the three simply be appointed for another term, and the board followed his suggestion.

Slemons and Roush, both certified public accountants, and Hopkins, a retired city school teacher and assistant principal, make up half of the committee. School board members Michael Murphy, Lock P. Beachum Sr. and Atkinson, chairmen of the business, finance and personnel committees, respectively, make up the other half.

The advisory committee, which presented its initial report to the board and community last October, has just begun meeting again on 2008 data, Catale said.

William Johnson, district treasurer, said the committee has the opportunity to meet with state auditors now working on the 2008 audit to get a better understanding of district spending.

The board voted to create the special panel in September 2006 after the district realized it was running a budget deficit. The state placed Youngstown under fiscal-emergency status in November 2006, turning control of its finances over to a state oversight commission.

The advisory committee wasn’t actually activated until August 2008 after Shelley Murray, board president at the time, pressed board members for the names of prospective community members.

The goal was to create an independent financial review body to examine district finances and show the public that the district is doing all it can to control spending. The committee also is expected to provide suggestions in that regard.

The district has cut spending by $32 million the past three years, primarily by eliminating more than 500 jobs.

Slemons, the committee chairman, said in the October report to the board and community that the panel was pleased to see what the district has been able to do over the last three years.

gwin@vindy.com