School board transparency questioned

CLINTONVILLE – Two board members questioned the transparency of the Clintonville Board of Education on its decision to choose a legal firm to represent it without conducting interviews as the board had originally voted to do.
Clintonville School Board member Ben Huber told the board during the Public Comments portion of the Oct. 27 board meeting that he believed the board made an “error” when it approved contracting with von Briesen & Roper, s.c. for district legal services at its Oct. 13 meeting without conducting any interviews.
He added that the error could be easily corrected.
When the motion was made at the Oct. 13 meeting to hire von Briesen & Roper, Huber said it violated a motion that was approved at the Sept. 22 board meeting in which a majority of the board approved to interview the law firms of Renning, Lewis & Lacy, s.c.; von Briesen & Roper, s.c.; and Attolles Law, s.c.
To correct the error, Huber said one of the four board members who voted in favor of hiring Von Briesen & Roper would need to make a motion to reconsider the motion.

Board President Glen Drew Lundt, Board Treasurer Jason Moder, Board Clerk Klint Barkow, and board member Christopher Hoffmann were the four board members who voted in favor of hiring von Briesen & Roper at the Oct. 13 meeting. They were also the four board members who voted in favor of interviewing the previously stated legal firms at the Sept. 22 meeting.
None of those board members moved to correct the alleged error during the Oct. 27 meeting.

Discussion
Huber said the reason it is important to correct the alleged error is because open communication with the public is important.
“It was openly communicated to board members and the community that we would be interviewing attorneys,” Huber said. “And then the next board meeting, the very next board meeting we voted without any information, without any interview process for an attorney.”

He added, “That is not transparent. Not transparent to the public. It isn’t transparent to the people on the board. I was unprepared to make that vote because I knew at the previous meeting we had just said we were going to interview the attorneys and go through that process.”
Lundt interrupted Huber and said he had asked the board members if they were prepared to vote for an attorney at the Oct. 13 meeting.
“As a board member, I would have appreciated you bringing that to me,” Lundt said.
Huber responded, “As a board member, I would have appreciated us going through the process that was agreed to at the previous board meeting.”
Huber added that transparency and open communication are important, and stated that any of the four board members that voted in favor of hiring von Briesen & Roper could make a motion at any time during the current meeting to reconsider that motion.
Moder started to make a motion, but Lundt questioned “adding something to the agenda” before Moder finished his motion.
Huber said it would not be an addition to the agenda, adding that it could be done according to Robert’s Rules of Order.
“I just want to make sure we’re doing it right, and I don’t have the answer,” Lundt said. “…If we’re trying to correct something, I don’t want to make another mistake on top of it.”
Moder then made a motion to reconsider, and Huber seconded it.
When Lundt asked Moder to clarify his motion, Moder said it was to reconsider the motion to interview legal firms.
Huber claimed that motion could not be reconsidered because it wasn’t made at the most recent regular board meeting.
Hoffmann asked Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn if the activities of the previous week would “nullify the outcome of the said meeting.”
“I signed the necessary documents to move forward,” Kuhn said. “I have been working with both law firms as been directed by the board, so wrapping up any current stuff, and anything new we’ve been working with von Briesen.”
“So, maybe a technicality, but as a board, we did all discuss that previously we had agreed to do the interviews, and I specifically asked each person if you were OK changing that process in the essence of time,” Lundt said.
Huber asked Lundt when he asked the board members about changing the process.
Lundt said during the meeting.
“And if I remember right, you voted yes for all of it,” Lundt said.
Huber said there was not a vote to move forward without interviewing the three legal firms. He reiterated that the motion from the Sept. 22 meeting required the board to interview the three selected legal firms.
“There was an interview process that should have been followed,” Huber said. “And that’s the error.”
Lundt told Huber it was unfair of him to bring this matter up during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.
“I’m talking about being a good board member,” Lundt said. “Springing this on me now, is not OK.”
Huber told Lundt that he sprang a vote on the board, when it thought interviews would be conducted.
“The board makes motions, the board approves those motions, those motions have weight and carry,” Huber said. “You can’t just ignore them.”
“I’m OK looking into this more, correcting whatever error may have been done if everyone’s OK with that,” Lundt said.
Huber told the board the motion to reconsider would have to be done at the current meeting.
Strauman’s comments
Board Vice President Kris Strauman also spoke during the Public Comments portion of the Oct. 27 meeting about the board’s process to hire von Briesen & Roper as the district’s legal firm. Strauman said she moved to the Clintonville School District 28 years ago, and since that time she has either worked for the Clintonville Board of Education or been a member of the board.
“I worked with many different boards,” Strauman said. “For 25 of those 28 years those boards made decisions with ethics, morals, followed the policies, didn’t have any hidden agendas, and didn’t offer any favors. I’m kind of disappointed in the turn of events that’s happened now.”
While sharing the definition of transparency, Strauman asked, “If a past school board motion is not followed, what happens to the trust and credibility of the board?”