By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A Maysville business owner is calling for a state audit of the Maysville School District.
Paul Hamby claims a number of questions have been circulating in the community and says answers have been hard to find.
“It could be that it’s just (the) appearance of things not being right or maybe there are things that shouldn’t be happening, but the only way to know is to have an audit from an independent third party,” Hamby tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Hamby further claims district officials have not been cooperative when he has asked for information.
“And really this kind of came to a head a few months ago when I tried to find minutes of the school board meetings and in September I tried to find when the next school board meeting was. None of that information was readily available,” Hamby says. “I left a message at the superintendent’s office and the call was never returned.”
Maysville School Superintendent Chris Heslinga says there isn’t any evidence that Hamby reached out to his office.
“As far as the allegation Paul saying that he called the school, we have no record (of it),” Heslinga says in an interview with KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “We don’t screen our calls. We do not have caller ID. And so, we don’t have any record that Paul has called here or anything like that. So, again, those are allegations.”
Heslinga adds all school board minutes are posted on the district website as well as posted in the high school cafeteria. Heslinga does say if the district has to undergo a state audit, he will embrace the process.
“Every community member has the right to call for one,” Heslinga replies when asked about Hamby’s push for a state audit. “It is unusual since our school district and all other school districts in the state of Missouri (have) an outside firm that does their audit.”
Heslinga says Clevenger and Associates of Chillicothe conducts the audits of the school district.
Hamby questions the decision to build a new concession stand at a cost of approximately $300,000, stating it could have been completed for half that cost. Hamby says he has been told the Maysville School District is saving a substantial amount of money, likely to finance a new building to replace the aging Junior High-High School Building.
“One of the questions is: is it better to build a new building or is it better to repair the old building? But if the old building is being neglected and not taken care of properly then that gives a perception that the only choice is to build a new building,” according to Hamby
Maysville school officials have been conducting tours of the school buildings and Superintendent Chris Heslinga says the community will decide whether to upgrade or build new.
“But when you have a building that’s 90-years-old, we need to decide what is best 20, 30, 40 years down the road,” Heslinga says “So that’s kind of where we’re at.”
A citizen can request a state audit if they gather the required number of signatures. Hamby estimates he will need a bit more than 300 signatures from registered voters in the district to make the request to the Missouri State Auditor.
If the state conducts an audit, the district would be required to pay its cost, estimated to be between $40,000 and $60,000.