Public involvement meeting set for widening U.S. Hwy. 49

MARMADUKE — The Arkansas Department of Transportation will conduct a public involvement meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, in Marmaduke to discuss the proposed widening of U.S. 49 from Marmaduke to south of Halliday.

The meeting will be held at the Marmaduke Community Center, 307 W. Mill St. Meeting materials are currently available online and written comments may be made online at bit.ly/3XnYvi0. Comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Oct. 3.

A Spanish translation of the website is available.

The comment form may also be printed and mailed to: ARDOT Environmental Division, 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock 72209.

Those without internet access, should contact Matt Strawn by phone at 501-569-2638 or email at matt.strawn@ardot.gov to ask questions.

Anyone needing project information or special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act is encouraged to call Strawn or write to him at P.O. Box 2261, Little Rock, AR 72203-2261; fax him at 501-569- 2009, or email environmentalpimeetings@ ardot.gov. Hearing or speech impaired, please contact the Arkansas Relay System at (Voice/TTY 711).

Free language assistance for limited English proficient individuals is available upon request. This notice is also available from the ADA/ 504/Title VI Coordinator in large print, on audiotape and in Braille.

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LITTLE ROCK — The lawmakers on a key legislative

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committee want to know more about the results of an audit and are asking Osceola School Board members to appear at a committee meeting next month to answer questions.

The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee’s Standing Committee on Educational Institutions met Thursday to discuss a July 2024 audit for the Osceola School District.

The committee has referred the audit to the 2nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s office and the Arkansas Attorney General’s office for their review.

Committee members voted to defer discussing the report until their Oct.

10 meeting, to allow board members to discuss the audit.

The 33-page audit, posted on the committee’s website, alleges issues with contracts as well as financial problems with the district.

“On September 11, 2023, the Board failed to adopt a motion to hire the Superintendent’s spouse as a Novice Teacher Mentoring Specialist. Subsequently, on Sept. 26, 2023, the District executed a contract, totaling $112,000, with a company owned by the Superintendent’s spouse for services for the Novice Teacher Mentoring Specialist position,” the audit noted.

“This contract, which was not approved by the Board, was for eight months, commencing on Oct. 9, 2023 and concluding on May 31, 2024.”

The superintendent, Dr.

Toriano Green, resigned March 14.

“On June 12, 2023, and again on July 20, 2023, the Board failed to adopt a motion to hire a family member of the Assistant Superintendent as an English as a Secondary or Other Languages (ESOL) and Dyslexia Specialist.

Subsequently, on Aug. 25, 2023, the District executed a contract with a company owned by the previously mentioned family member for services pertaining to ESOL and dyslexia. This contract, which was not approved by the board, stipulated the District would pay the company $2,600 per day for dates worked from July 11 to August 12, 2023; $201,220 for the remainder of the 2023-24 fiscal year; and $220,383 per year for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years,” the audit noted.

Officials said in the audit that other information was uncovered.

“During audit procedures, we also noted that the District paid $6,656 for services to the same company owned by the Assistant Superintendent’s family member during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, without seeking approval from the Board and commissioner of the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, as required by Ark. Code Ann. 6-24106,” the audit noted.

“Failure to obtain Board approval for contracts raises concerns relating to conflicts of interest with Ark. Code Ann. 6-24-106 (c) (3) (A), which states in part, “an administrator’s family member seeking to contract with the public educational entity employing the administrator, shall first present the request, with all relevant facts and circumstances justifying approval to the board currently employing the administrator at an open meeting.”

Lawmakers also noted in the audit that Green had resigned and that the district notified the two companies that their contracts would be terminated, effective May 31, 2024.

During the meeting Thursday, committee members said the district has hired a new superintendent and a new district treasurer to deal with the issue.

Lawmakers said they also checked payroll records for the district and found several things.

“We could not verify that the district’s stipend/extra duties schedule was approved by the board.

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was not always indicated on the employees’ contract or addendum to their contract,” lawmakers said in the audit.

Officials said they also discovered issues with a retention bonus program as well as credit cards.

“On Nov. 3, 2022, the Board approved a retention bonus to licensed personnel of $2,500.

During our testing of employees’ compensation, we identified five licensed personnel were paid a retention bonus of $5,000. Upon further examination, it was noted that 92 licensed employees were paid a total of $230,000 in excess of the approved amount,” lawmakers said in the audit.

“The District did not have adequate internal control procedures relating to the use of credit cards. Our examination of five credit card payments for the year revealed 21 transactions totaling $6,954 did not have adequate supporting documentation. 46 transactions totaling $43,267 did not indicate any form of approval/ authorization and 40 transactions were made for lodging that were in excess of the IRS per diem rate, which is the district’s established written policy. The total of the excess related to these transactions was $10,399.”

Lawmakers also looked at district bank statements.

“During our examination of the March 2023 bank statement, we noted four payments totaling $85,240 were made electronically without Board approval or an approved resolution in noncompliance with ADE Commissioner’s Memo COM-12-036 and Ark. Code Ann. 6-13-701 (e) (1). Upon review, many bills were paid via auto-draft and were not recorded in the general ledger until year-end closing (period 13),” according to the audit.

“The district’s bank accounts were unreconciled by $90,593 as of June 30, 2023. ALA Staff identified $41,867 of the unreconciled variance, leaving an unexplained variance of $48,726. Additionally, reconciliations with the Superintendent’s approval were not available from October 2022 through June 2023.”