Hales retained as CCSD Legal Counsel

Sharla Hales was retained as the Churchill County School District’s Legal Services Thursday night by trustees during their regularly scheduled July meeting.

Hales, a Minden attorney who has served as the district’s Legal Counsel since 2007, was approved by a 4-3 vote at the end of a 37-minute discussion. Trustees also considered bids from two other legal teams: Martin Crowley of Fallon and Jeff Blanck of Reno, and Scott Jamieson and Charles Woodman of Reno.

All three candidates were interviewed on June 13 by trustees, who voted to delay a decision at that time.

“It has been a great opportunity and privilege to represent you,” Hales said at the end of her interview that night. “I am committed to education. I have grown to love Fallon. I grew up in a community like Fallon. I am a big fan of this community and a fan of all of you.

“I want to leave you with this thought. The best moments for me in my work with the district are when you all are listing to a student or hearing about a student or talking about students and I see joy, pride and satisfaction in your faces. That is why I like to support you in your work and I thank you for that opportunity.”

Trustees met in closed session for one hour to consider the proposals. Later, the open-session discussion gave trustees an opportunity to ask additional questions of the candidates.

Trustee Clay Hendrix made the motion to extend a contract offer to Hales at a flat-rate monthly fee of $6,500.

“I’ve had a chance to work with Sharla Hales for going on three years, and I’ve expressed this before, there’s nothing but extreme reasonableness in what she is charging the Churchill County School District for the work she does,” Hendrix said in making his motion. “Sharla has definitely shown she has the ability to deal directly with board members and give her expressed understanding of where the school board or any school board member stands in any conflict.”

The motion was approved with trustees Nona McFarlane, Ron Evans and Steve Nunn opposing.

Trustee Carmen Schank added one final comment at the end of the discussion.

“I’d just like to thank those who have applied for the job,” she said. “I was extremely impressed with all three. I think any of them could have served well.”

Trustees also discussed or took action on the following items:

• Approved a revision of priorities trustees previously set the use of additional funding from the legislature over and above funding designated in the budget, including the hiring of a first-grade teacher/moving counselor, middle school secretary, I.C. Facilitator and library software.

• Approved a contract with ABC Fire in the amount of $29,190 to retrofit the existing fire suppression at Lahontan Elementary School. The contract will be paid for out of Bond Funds.

• Paul Eskeldson, construction manager for Parsons Technology, presented an update for work on the Summer 2013 Bond Program projects. Trustees were informed that while $11,250,000 in funds were budgeted for the projects, the total amount spent has been $8,536,971.25. The balance of $2,710.662.17 in unused funds will be available for future work on district facilities, he noted.

• Approved changes to Policy 2120 regarding the superintendent.

• Approved a contract with CC Communications to furnish and install a campus-wide system that will replace the existing intercom and telephone systems.

• Discussed preliminary costs for building a new gym at Churchill County High School.