001purpose of this special session is to interview prospective candidates for the vacant Clinton City Board of Trustees seats. Um so uh we've got five uh five prospective candidates uh that have expressed their interest and replied to the posting that was made. Uh so we welcome you all uh this evening. Thank you all for coming. Um yeah, this is I think this is the first time we've uh we've done this in this fashion. This is a this has been a process that is not very clear. uh anybody who's tried to read Indiana code and uh understand how you're supposed to handle this uh would probably agree, but um the the process for how this is going forward this evening is kind of laid out by the Indiana Public Access C uh counselor. Um so many many
002boards in the past didn't do it in this fashion, but this is now kind of the the way things are done now uh when you select board candidates. Uh so we're happy to do that. It's kind of a we got technology so everybody's able to watch at home with us and uh um we're excited to jump right in. So I'm going to turn over to Dr. Williams. He's going to go through kind of the protocol for this evening and then uh we'll start uh with some interview questions after that. So Dr. Williams, >> thank you guys. As Mr. said for coming out tonight. Uh just uh background on the position. This is Clinton City limits and this will be for the remainder of Dr. Hawkins term which will be uh 2028. It's a three and
003a half year term he just came on in January. So uh as we were saying before we started here candidates are lined up in the order in which they applied to the posting. So, candidate number one on your right all the way to candidate number five on the board's left. That would be Brandon on the right, Nick on your left there. So, uh the board uh and Mrs. Officer and I will have a series of questions. Um will be I believe seven eight questions here. Um and we will start for example the first question will go one through five. When we do the second question, we'll start at number two and go all the way and number one to the end and we'll go three, four, five and so forth down the road. Okay, you'll
004have 90 seconds and there's five of you and we have multiple multiple questions here. Um, and so you'll have 90 seconds. The first one or two won't take very long. It's just basics. Um, and then Mrs. Shannon here will raise your hand. We'll raise her hand and you have 10 seconds remaining. Okay? So, you know you're about All right. So, with that being said, I would like for uh each of you um after I let the board know who we have here from right to left to go ahead and introduce yourself and say something quick. Um and then we'll jump into our questions. So, candidate one is Brandon Kelshshire. Candidate two is Brian Lemons. Candidate three is Jeff Yeffner. Candidate four is Shay Addison. And candidate five is Nick Hall. So Brandon, start. >> Yep.
005My name is Brandon Kelchimemer. I've got two kids here at Southland. One just started fifth grade. The other one's a sophomore. Got a niece and a nephew. One's in kindergarten. And then my nephews also just started fifth grade at South. Um I've got a background in technology like Jason. Um got about 15 years in IT and cyber security. and um last few years I specialize in vulnerability assessments mainly healthcare and financial stuff. So it's a little bit about me. >> I'm Brian Lemons. Um I have two boys. One's a senior, one is a freshman. I have a nephew who is also in middle school. Um I am retired from the military, also retired from the state of Indiana. Um I have multiple backgrounds specializing in mental health adversity adversity background. um handle board uh as
006a supervisor in the military supervisor also in the department corrections um and I also am still actively involved in the community um at the little league um uh child ball association stuff like that. So I'm still doing what I can with um all these Jeff. >> Hi everybody. I'm Jeff Gner. I'm very fortunate. I've been married for over 27 years and my wife Missy. Uh we have two children. They're older. So uh our oldest is 25. She and our son. We both went to the South grade school, middle school, and high school. Feel like you know the school corporation here provided them a good foundation. who've gone on to different things in life, uh, attending college and whatnot afterwards. Um, professionally, um, I'm pretty much a manager. Um, I've got, uh, almost 25 years of
007retail experience. Uh, so dealing with the public a lot, handling issues, budgets, etc. So, pretty comfortable talking in front of everyone and kind of hearing them out. Um, so work for Toys R Us. That's my retail background from almost 25 years there. And unfortunately, they kind of went to the side there 2018. Had a brief stint at Lowe's as an assistant store manager about a year and a half. But, uh, kind of led me to my current role. I worked for Fredo LA PepsiCo. Um, was a district sales leader. So, I kind of oversaw routes, managed people, kind of typical managerial stuff. And now I'm was fortunate I was able to promote beginning of 24. I'm what I call zone business manager. So oversee a couple fronts. Uh hiring retention, one of our big ones.
008Um safety, so any type of auto liability workers comp. And then the last kind of DOT component just make sure all of our team members that drive all have the required documents and that they're straight legally. That's a little bit about Thank you, Jeff. Shay. >> Hi, I'm Shay Allison and I have a daughter at the high school. I have two boys at the middle school and I have three little girls at Van Dine. So, I'm at every school and except Central and um I am the youth services librarian at the library in Newport. Um and I do all of the children's programming, all of the teens programming. um every age I do programs for. Um I do summer reading. Um and then in the community I do story times in our preschools. Um I
009have done reading neighbors at Beta Dine and I just involved with all of the kid things. >> Nick, >> my name's Nick. Uh you speak of Codes. I don't think I've ever had any. Just joking. I'm sheriff at the sheriff's office. I've been for 10 years. Um, every kid in the school corporation is mine pretty much. Uh, just I am a the lead SRO, lead resource officer for the county. I oversee all the the resource officers in all the buildings including North Vermillion. I do all the scheduling for the resource officers. Uh, the high school, this building is my building. Um, between uh Mike Strader and I, we split the duties on the safety of the kids here in this building. Um, I'm a proud homeowner of Bermain County and the city of Clinton for
01019 years. Prior to law enforcement, I worked eight years full-time for the city of Clinton Fire Department. Public safety is my job. That's what I've always wanted to do. Um the first when I was first approached about this kind of a so here I am. Um I have a lot I can bring to the table. I have a lot of safety stuff I can bring to the table and uh I have a pretty broad law law side on the school law I can bring. So here we are. >> Ready to get started? Yeah. >> All right. So, uh I'll read the question and then we'll we'll start uh with Brandon. But, uh for this position, you must reside within the limits of the city uh Clinton City District. Also, regular meetings are held monthly. Special
011sessions are held as needed and executive sessions are also held as needed. All part of a board member's responsibilities. Do you foresee any circumstances or availability issues that would hinder your ability to be a productive member of the school corporation or disqualify you in this position? >> Um, I do travel for work, but I set my own schedule. So, um, I'm usually gone for a few days uh, every month. Right now, um, working as part of Project Balden down in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Um, but again, I set my own schedule when I go, so no, I don't see foresee any issues. Fortunately for me, I'm retired. I retired young, so I have a very open schedule. I'm readily available at any time as needed for me. So, I'm always ready to go. >> Yeah, no issues
012here. I actually, unfortunately, I get to work from home, so I'm close to the school, five nights away. issues. >> My children have a lot of activities, but I have a really good support system that helps me with them. So, I don't think it'll be an issue. >> I'm proud to say I'm high enough on the totem pool. I get up at 6:00 or 5:00. So, no, no problems here. We'll move on to Mr. Sis. >> All right. Um, why are you interested in filling your bank position on property corporations board of trustes? >> Brian, I'm interested in is I want to be able to do what's best and right for the school corporation and the kids u uh whatever that needs to be. um I've always been active with the children. Um and trying
013to show up to anything that I can um sportsswise, anything like that. I try to help out work stand I need that need to do. Um help out with uh the staff members when they need to uh or when they need me. Um, like I said, I've always, um, helped out the community as well. And I think that, um, this is my next step to, um, doing what I can to help my community, the school corporation, um, the kids, and all of you, um, you know, to do whatever I can to this that I can do to help. That's That's what I want to do. That's always been my goal and I want to continue that path. >> Yeah. Likewise, echo a lot of what stated. Um, you know, as I mentioned earlier, my children
014are grown now. Um, I did do some of those activities as well. you know, from football practices, helped Brooke and I were both coaches. Our boys are the same age. Uh did that up until fifth grade. Uh was active, you know, coaching my daughter and my son both in softball and little league. U then there was a time where, you know, I was mostly focused on my career, right? and uh didn't really have that commitment or the time nor I felt like I'd be 100% committed to being involved in something extracurricular. So in regards to the school board, I think it's a good opportunity for me to kind of get back in my community because I did some of that, but I feel like there's a void there and a gap where I really haven't
015been as active I feel like. So um you know I feel like I can listen to what the, you know, the community wants and be able not only to take that information and and collaborate with others to make the best decisions that willffect uh the most do the best thing as far as an impact on on the children of this community. I just feel like it's a great way to kind of fill that >> way. Um, I also want would like to give back to the community. Um, prior to my kids starting public school, I was a homeschool mom for many, many years. And when my kids started public school, um, Van Dy in the middle school and high school were also very welcoming to my kids and helped us to transition to public school
016just so wonderfully. We had some some bumps along the way. I talked to Mr. idle line a couple times and um we got everything figured out and I would just like to be able to contribute that way and be able to help it be a welcoming environment to everyone and to um just help out however I can. >> Well, first of all, believe it or not, I'm pretty outspoken. Uh I'm not one to hold my feelings back or if I have an opinion, I'm going to share it. If I have a concern, I'm going to share it. Um, there's not a building in the corporation I haven't been in. I get along very well with the staff. I work with the staff daily, at least two to three times weekly. Um, and I feel that
017is kind of an important spot for a board to have somebody can inter intertwine with the staff, especially the teachers to get their feelings on what's going on. Uh, and if we're able to do that and bring it back to the board when they're not able to come sit and talk to us, that's a voice that can come and have a second voice that can come in when they're not able to be here. Um, that's something I wanted when it was brought to me. I I thought about it and I'm like, "Yes." Uh, I have and I bring no personal agenda to the board. It's uh it's all just because I want to help 100%. >> Yeah. Um so I believe that uh first off I bring a unique background. Um technology is changing at
018a rapid pace and our kids are confronted with that on a daily basis. So from a technology standpoint I think I can bring a different um view to the board. I also have, as I said, and echo some of the same statements as the other candidates here. Um, but I have I have two, you know, two of my own kids in the school and then two of my ne niece and nephew in the school. And, uh, being involved with like Brian, Jason, and the little league have been involved with that. recently stepped down this past spring um to focus on some more um family time and why not and uh give some of it back to my daughter. She does a lot of sports here and my son's just the opposite. So, he doesn't do
019any sports, but he's more Optimus Club and robotics. So, I'm trying to I think this is a good way I can help him and um I can just help the community overall. Thank you. Thank you. What do you view as the roles and responsibilities of the school board member? >> Yeah. Um I feel like I mentioned it earlier. We want to hear the issues and the concerns of the community. um get their feedback and then you know collaborate with uh team members to make the most uh well-informed decision that you can make that serves the best purpose for that group. U you know a lot of the decisions that boards make they have to stand behind them right? So you have to have certain principles that you have in mind and what you want for
020the school. So, I feel like um you know, just being able to I'm kind of coming out of loss here. Um being able to implement a plan, stand behind it, and be held accountable for it. So, whatever decision is made, that's the decision you're dealing with. Um I think um listening to the community to the parents and students and um teachers and trying to collaborate and um find the best solution for things sometimes difficult things and Um yes, I think just working together to find the solutions for our community. Uh first and foremost, I think it's making sure the curriculum is set forth for the state of Indiana and followed uh by the board of education and then setting our curriculum high enough for our students to achieve and make sure we have the resources
021set forth for our students to achieve. And we provide the classroom and the uh environment that we need to set forth for those students to have that goal and to achieve that goal. uh to provide the best for our kids that we can do as a board and put the input in that we need as a for our a group to make the kids feel comfortable and safe in this environment to make us succeed. >> Yeah. Um, I like what he said, using the resources available that the community has, um, that the school has, coming together as a maybe it's not always a united front, but being able to sit down together and work out a resolution. I mean, we heard here tonight that there were some citizen concerns. So, you have to listen, be
022able to listen to that and then come together as a team and figure out a good resolution to that. So, um, yeah, that's all pretty straightforward. I feel like, you know, having the main concern of the students, the students remain concerned. um making sure that their their safety uh the well-being, safety, they're you know, making sure their curriculum there. Then, you know, obviously that everybody's saying um uh making sure that their morale, finding ways to make sure their morale is positive. You can't do the rest without making sure morale is positive. Um and so finding ways to do those things, you know, budgets, things like this, ways not to cut things, uh where can we not pull from here, where can we not make from here, there, whatever it is, you know, it's it's a
023hard decision. Um so by doing these things you guys come up with all these resolutions, policies, procedures um within the school corporation and you're fighting with you know Indiana code and things like this. It's hard. So, uh, going from there, coming down here, making your, you know, you're reading through black and white, um, trying to make your own resolutions so that you get the best from the the children. Um, that's hard. So, I understand that, um, your guys aren't all going to be together, but still trying to fight a united front. Um, so trying to stay together is the best. Okay, Shay, we're going to start with you. If a community member, parent, or staff member approaches you with questions or concerns, what is your responsibility as member? I think uh hearing them out first
024off um because uh sometimes I think people just definitely want to be acknowledged and have their concerns brought to light especially if they feel like maybe they're not getting anywhere or nobody's listening to them. So listening to their concerns and um then researching that and seeing how I can help um and talking to other people about it and then um bringing it to the group as a whole. Nick, >> I think first and foremost, I think I would write it down in front of them to make sure they know that I'm listening. Uh secondly, I would make sure they know that I would email it out to the rest of the board members so that they're not forgotten and that they know that we are listening and uh just make sure that I would not
025make any promises or anything to them. just tell them that we would take it to the board and we as a group would hear it and invite them to the next meeting to address it. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, um listen, acknowledge um bring it back to the board. Um there's always two sides to everything. I mean, you can you can listen and listen and you can you can't pro make promises, but as you come back as together as a team and you research the facts, there's there's always more to it. So, You don't want to take everything that everyone says with all. >> So I think you know Dick's almost spot on. Obviously no promises. Um you can always listen. Um write things down, things like that. Um obviously you don't want to
026try to um push yourself into giving them an answer. Be care you got to be careful with that because you know people are very good with words and try to get you into an answer. So you know you have to try to limit your conversation with them without not pushing them away. Um but you know writing things down uh listening to what they're saying making sure that they're that you care about them is a big is a big deal. Um uh knowing most of you guys um been around most of you guys um I get to see uh people walk up to you guys and try to push themselves on you to see how you guys react to things. Um, you know, and it's sometimes it's great to see it and sometimes I know it's
027hard for you guys to see uh deal with it. Um, because it, you know, a lot of it is crazy stuff, but some of it is valid points. Um, so, uh, trying to take in what's valid and what's not valid. And I think that's good way. >> So, going last obviously, you have great answers here. I would echo a lot of those sentiments. Um I think some of the key points that everyone's kind of brought up is listening voices want to be heard. Um it doesn't mean that decisions are made at that point, but you definitely want to hear those individual members of the community out. The second part I would encourage that individual event to attend that next meeting and then they can kind of see that process that all is involved and trying
028to educate them on here's an idea uh if it's you know feasible then the members of the board something that is possible for our students running of the school kind of gives them a little bit encouragement to bring forth anxiety sometimes because you know voices aren't always heard and even when they are heard they don't think that they're heard. So if they attend that meeting which I would highly encourage I get them the opportunity to know that hey at least my opinion. >> Okay on this one we'll start with you Nick. Um can you share with us some of your thoughts um your thoughts change or visions that you might have for our corporation in the next year, the next 5 years or the next 10 years? >> I would like to see our enrollment
029start increasing instead of decreasing again. I don't know how to go about that, but I think as a goal, as a group, we can figure something out. Um my goal is to get number one numbers of kids back in the building instead of online. Uh they don't get the education they need online and homeschooled that they do with in in the building education. Uh we see it firsthand on in our job. Um there's no social interaction. Uh it's a proven factor that the kids need social interaction in education to become a highly functioning role in society. Um uh so you know my future I'm not going anywhere. I'm in it for the long haul at the sheriff's office. Uh my future is still going to be here. I plan on sticking around for the next
030whenever. Um, so my goal for the community is to help I plan on helping the school corporation unless I get thrown out >> as long as I can go. Um, so I hope to build help you guys help build the team up. >> Thanks, Nick. Brandon. >> Yeah. >> Okay. To repeat. >> I'm good. So um I like the social interaction because uh postcoid we all transitioned to e-learning for example like I transitioned personally to remote work and um it was hard on me like after a couple years because you get that um almost like cabin fever. You're sitting in your house everyone's gone. It's just you and a monitor and the person on the other side. So having that so social interaction events for the kids and I like what um Justin's doing with
031the athletic department and he's pushing more, you know, sports and and more community events for people. Um also I like the idea of more hands-on learning. Like u not everyone learns the same. Not everyone's a standardized test taker. Like we got people that I mean they could go ace that AP test, no problem. the same per next person. They might do well in class, horrible on the test. So, um, personally, I I other I great hands-on learning, more like apprenticeship style learning where you actually go in, see how someone runs a company. um uh Hux Huxford for example does a a program with the youth in ter in BO County and uh he works gets the kids into these local businesses where they can actually see what it's like to be an entrepreneur and build
032from the ground up. So um go ahead and I'll leave it at that. >> Thank you >> Brian. Um again morale um students uh need morale. Um year one somehow tried to do things to get the students morale back up to where they start um enjoying going back to the sports events and stuff and enjoying um doing events with the school corporation, things like that. um you get kids excited to come back to school, they start getting excited to learn. Maybe they can um you know get them back in um involved in community um and get the community involved back with the school somehow. um however that may be um um you know Brandon touched on a little bit um you know with the hands-on learning um your students i.e that are becoming teachers and
033we get them in there um the ones that are going to be majoring in that. Get them in there seeing if this is something they want to do. Get them in there trying to help out with um with teacher beside and trying to teach some classes and see if that's something that they want to uh major in after they've done it a little bit things like that. Um that is an idea. So there's some ideas Thanks Frank Jeff. >> Yeah, I think having a school corporation that has different activities, different types of individuals, uh you have different uh children that enjoy different things, different types of activities. So having kind of that that team at the school level that is there to promote those different activities to make them feel welcome uh to know that
034when I go to school I'm going to have fun today because that's typically the way you know you learn best actually enjoying what you're doing to work or going to school. Uh, you know, I think back when years ago when I was a, you know, fifth grader and you're going for the middle school, when you're an eighth grader going for the high school, uh, you have that little bit of eager anticipation, a little bit of caution. And I think making those individuals feel welcome when they initially go into a new building really important. I think just continue to build off what programs are doing well. Thanks, Jeff. And then Shay. >> Um, I think kind of like as Nick said, I I will be here for a long time because I also have a preschooler.
035I'm a toddler, so I will have more children at South Vermillion eventually. So, I'm just going to be around for a really long time. Um, and I'm glad for that. And, um, I think, um, promoting like the students, u mental health and checking in on that and, um, maybe programs we can do to just be making sure that everybody is doing good and um you know um I know that there's a lot of there's a lot of things that come up especially as they get older with peer pressure and vaping and all the different different things. So maybe just um initiatives to make sure that we're keeping everybody, you know, um active with sports and theater and music and things to keep them away from things they shouldn't be doing. And um getting the community
036involved I think is good as well. Um and I like that he mentioned too um that there are all kinds of learners there. I have children that learn in so many different ways and I think just making that we are helping all of the children learn in the best way, the way that's best for them. >> Thank you, >> Bruce, thank you. If the following scenario applies to you, please answer how you would handle this situation. A relatively or a close friend comes to you demanding that a staff member be fired. What steps would you take to handle that situation? >> Brandon. >> Yeah. So, um I would listen listen to the again, there's always two sides to the story. I'm not just going to push someone away. I'm going to listen to them. Um
037and then take down the facts, bring it back to the board. I think that's uh just and really you just want to make sure that that person understands that you're sympathetic because again there's always side. >> Thank you >> Brian. Um again listen uh take down the facts u bring it to the board u then there's after that there's policies procedures um u what took place uh you know and then what do you guys have put in place for set incident it goes from I think it's as simple as that. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Yeah, I would echo again what Brian said. The thing that stood out is policy and procedure. So, you would want to make sure um once that information is given to you by that said person that uh we follow
038whatever that procedure looks like. That means getting the information for immediately calling a emergency meeting that's not planned for to get the group together to uh figure out what the next steps are because uh anyone can make an accusation maybe true maybe false so I think it's the board's uh duty and responsibility to get the most information get the facts make the best informed decision go forward >> thank Shay. >> Um I would also second, third, fourth. Um listening to the person maybe. Um depending on the situation, sometimes emotions can run really high and maybe just trying to help them to calm and think about it a little more rationally depending on what the situation is. Um and then just trying to get all of the facts and then um again going to whatever policies
039are in place for that. Um and again not promising anything to like we all mentioned earlier um and just trying to get that settled in the best way possible. >> Thank you Nick. >> Well first of all it's happened or we wouldn't be in this situation. So there's there is a handbook in place that the corporation has adopted. We run into this in our job. Okay. Have I stopped family members? Thankfully my family doesn't live down here so I have to put up with that. Okay. The other officer we get put into that all the time. Um we have to treat it as a situation as if it were no other person. Okay. We have to put our families aside. uh take it as a serious threat or serious situation. Listen, hear it out. Take
040it to the building administrator. Let them handle their internal before we even come to the board with it. Let them find out if there's even a problem before we bring it up to the the board itself. But there's an internal investigation that's got to happen before we even come to the board. And I think we let the internal h happen before we even think about handling as a board. That's why we have steps in the handbook that's already been adopted by the board. >> Thank you. >> All right. Me and Brian first here. You disagree with the decision that was voted on by the majority of the board. How do you handle the situation? Whether others who ask me about it members etc. If I disagree with something agrees on then that's what it is.
041Just because I disagree with something doesn't mean it has to go any further. I just disagree. That's all it is. >> Yeah. I think whenever you get any group together, you're never going to see it eye on everything. I think the key would be discretion. Uh what uh you know was discussed during board meetings stays there. U if it goes against what your thoughts are, uh you have a united front again mentioned that earlier. It's very important that regardless of what the decision is made that uh when that meeting is done, everyone's on the same page. >> Um I think in a lot of situations you can agree to disagree with someone. You can still get along with someone and be on a board with someone even if you don't necessarily agree with you're not
042going to agree with everything 100% of the time. And I think just um presenting a united front and trying to find what's best as a whole, even if it might not be what we thought it might be. >> I think it goes back to what I said earlier. I don't have a personal agenda. I'm here to do what's best for the students and best for the community. And if we all, if you guys agree it's best for the community, I have to go with it. So, it's nothing to be upset about. I mean, whatever. I mean, there's nothing to get upset about. If somebody disagrees with you and the majority disagrees with you, then move on. >> Yeah. Um, we live in a time where everyone disagrees about something. So, I mean, um, handle it
043like adults. Um, not going to see eye to eye about everything, but majority rules and they got the votes, then that's it. So, we're here as a collective. You know, we should all have some difference of opinion. That's why we come to the best decision. >> Jeff, um, please provide any other information or details that you believe we should consider for your appointment. >> Yeah, I feel like my work experience just being in front of the public for those many years at Toys R Us and retail uh to uh give me different situations on how to handle not the greatest situations all the time. So, um you know, and then just being a a parent that my children went to school here again, I feel like it gave them a great foundation. Um, I feel
044like not only with the school, but obviously as parents, my my wife, Mr. and I, we're able to obviously give our own values to our children and ensure that, you know, they, you know, grow up to be the best adults, I guess, so to speak. I feel like as a school board, that's really what I would bring to the table. We make good decisions. Uh we listen to uh the public, the community, hear their thoughts and their concerns and make uh well informed decisions that serve our our school corporation best. Well, um I'm a mom, so I obviously care about my kids and my kids friends and all of their peers, but also within my job, um I am a librarian, but I also do a lot of planning. I have to do a lot
045of forward thinking for the library, like what are we going to be doing next summer and then different programs. So, I have a lot of planning experience and I do a little bit of everything there. So I do budgeting, I do social media, I do um all programs, I just do a little bit of everything. So I think that is a beneficial thing that I can bring forward as well. >> Safety, security of these kids in these buildings. That's my utmost responsibility and and my most important goal. Number one, working in the school, working in the school with these kids day in and day out. I know the weaknesses of the corporation. I know the weaknesses of each building. There's always stuff that we can strengthen. There's always stuff that we can make better. And
046each day that we come and see something different, we collaborate. Rhonda and I have a very good working relationship that we work weekly on new challenges of things that we can improve as a team and I think uh as a board we can sit down and help a lot of things get corrected. Just I think it would be a good chance to sit down and share a lot of thoughts from a lot of different angles. Um, first I'm a father, um, an uncle. Um, I do, like I said, have a unique background and with tech vulnerability. Um, I've spoke to Jason a couple times just with stuff in the news. Um, I think I can bring an unique aspect um, that hasn't been brought before in that sense. Um, new local business owner. Um, so
047I'm going to be here hopefully for a while. Um um and what we're doing as a local business is kind of unique. We're actually looking at capturing stranded energy that is otherwise untapped and converting that into financial resources. Um also sit on the IT advisory board for county which brings a unique aspect of computer systems and whatnot. But my first and foremost is the author and community member. Thank you. So I go back to my background in the military in the state, years of mental health background, years of adversity, background, diversity. Um what do we have here? All that. Um and um another thing that I have is a lot of the kids here know me and speak to me. um they're very open with me. Um and that's a good thing. You know, they
048can tell you what they feel that they won't necessarily tell everybody else. Um and you know, or they will come and talk to me and and think that I can get things done where I can come and say, "Hey, I can um you know, bring it bring it to the board, see what happens." No promises, obviously. things like that. Um that um those are good situations to have. Also, um you know, their families, things like that. Um that's another good situation to be in. Um having all their, you know, their parents and stuff that are able to talk to me and things like that. Um it's a really good thing to be able to have uh the communication is is key and I can bring that. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, >> thank you
049guys. >> Yeah, >> go ahead. >> I'll wrap it up. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, that concludes our prepared uh questions. Thank Thank you very much. The community this board's fortunate community is fortunate that we we have uh the four five very qualified individuals. uh you done a you done a great job of making a hard hard uh decision for this board, I'm sure. Uh so uh just the way this this works is here back to the Indiana codes. Uh whenever the whenever that those codes were drafted, I think it goes back to the 60s. U unfortunate for this very unfortunate vacancy, it sets forth a very aggressive timetable, 30 days. Uh if board doesn't act, goes to the circuit court judge. Uh and uh I know Judge Reed doesn't want to he doesn't
050want to select our next uh board member. So unfortunately um we do have to move fairly quickly. So there reason we set this up tonight right on the cusp of taking the applications. Um so I think our plan is to uh do we get that advertised this afternoon? So, we have advertised another special session for the board this Wednesday night. 6 o'clock or 6 time we 6:30. >> 6:30. >> Yes. >> 6:30. At 6:30 with the only agenda item being uh entertaining uh recommendation to fill this position. So, that's currently the direction we're heading and we got to kind of keep that timetable because it's getting tight with time. So, thank you all. Thank you all for coming and uh great great job. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> You have any questions or anything? >>
051No, I just want to thank you guys for the time. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you. >> This is a special session, so I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion to second to adjurnn. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I.