Officers were re-elected Monday night when the Talawanda Board of Education held its organizational meeting for 2013. Mark Butterfield was again elected president and Mike Crowder vice president.

Following the meeting, Butterfield outlined his agenda 2013, but said he has no priority order for them. He wants to accomplish all of them this year, however.

First, he mentioned closing out the new high school, getting all of the final details completed and said one step toward that was taken at the Monday meeting when the board approved settlement agreements with three contractors resulting from the year’s delay in getting into the new building.

“Second is the liquidation of the prior high school to turn it into more of an asset than a liability,” he said. “I hope we can accomplish that by the end of the year.”

Discussion of what to do with the former high school building was put on hold as the opening of the new school neared but he said he wants to settle that issue this year.

The district’s financial situation also figures into Butterfield’s goals for the coming year, part of which is to get the district’s finances set up to extend the time before an operational levy is required.

“I want to push that out past 2016 or 2017,” he said, adding that he wants to take a close look at per-pupil costs this year in order to accomplish that.

Tied to that goal is his hope to look at maintaining the district’s Excellent rating without additional expenditures. He said looking at other districts, some have sacrificed excellence for savings and others spent more money to achieve the Excellent rating.

“My goal is to achieve both,” he said.

His fourth goal is to take a hard look at school safety, in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. school shootings.

“We need to be able to provide a safe environment for our schools,” he said. “I want to be able to insure we do everything we can to be as safe as we can be.”

Superintendent Kelly Spivey also mentioned that effort in her report during the meeting, saying that there will be a study of security issues in an attempt to see what more can be done.

“School violence is something you cannot be too prepared for,” she said.

Pointing to a work session planned for January 22 looking at the possibility of building a new Kramer Elementary, Butterfield said that is also on his 2013 agenda.

One of the topics of that meeting will be financing options.

“(The fifth goal) is the opportunity to build a Kramer without going to the taxpayers,” Butterfield said, adding that has been a hope since he joined the board of education. He said they will look outside the box in trying to finance a new building.

“It is the board’s responsibility to look into it,” he said.

During the business portion of the meeting, the board gave unanimous approval to a settlement agreement following contractor mediation resulting from delays which caused the new high school to be opened a year later than originally planned.

Butterfield read a statement following that action in which he stated delays caused by some contractors also delayed work by other contractors so that some are still working there on weekends and breaks completing punch-list items.

“The delays that occurred were not caused by the Board of Education or the taxpayers in the Talawanda School District,” the statement said. “However, the courts have historically forced the owners, which are the taxpayers, to pay for credible delay costs to contractors, even if these contractors have contributed to some of the delays. Very rarely have contractors been allowed to seek delay costs from other contractors who were most responsible for the delays.”

The statement continued to say the board has advice from legal counsel and construction experts that legal and expert fees in continuing litigation could cost the district millions of dollars that could not be covered by the project contingency fund.

“The final agreements approved today do not represent payment for the full amounts that were sought by the contractors for delay costs,” Butterfield read. “Rather, the agreements reflect shared responsibility for construction delays among the parties that are part of the agreements. The payments approved tonight represent the Board of Education’s best efforts to limit the potential financial impact to the taxpayers of the district.”

The statement also noted that the additional costs did come from the contingency fund and do not represent additional district expense beyond the project budget.

It was also noted that more money may be recouped as discussions continue with other contractors on the project and because of that, the board would make no further comment on the situation.