Bean Resigns Franklin County Commission Seat
Thursday, July 20, 2017
by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer
Stanley Bean, who was appointed Director of Schools in June, resigned from his position as county commissioner in the July meeting.
Bean had been on the commission for 11 years.
“I want to say how happy and proud and honored I am to be director of schools. I hope I can do as well as others who have gone before me in past years. One thing I would like to see at some point is for the school committee and the long-range planning committee to work together. On Aug. 4, we have 5,300 students coming in,” Bean said. “The number one thing is we have to make sure our students are safe.”
David Eldridge, seat A in the seventh district, asked Bean if he was able to say anything about the consolidation of the middle schools. Bean said the issue had not been brought up in any school board meetings he had attended.
“They were going to kind of wait to get my feet wet and get through budget proceedings,” said Bean. “I’ll honor their requests going forward, but I do want to talk with all the school board members about what I think we should do. They will have the final say so, but we’re all going to have to do it together.”
At the meeting, Sewanee resident John Wendling spoke to the commission about a building material called insulated concrete forms, which he used to build his own house because of the material’s high efficiency in regulating energy. According to Wendling, who has both a bachelors and a master’s degree in physics and learned of the material via a Department of Energy-sponsored seminar, said the material could help save municipal buildings thousands of dollars per year.
Logix, one of the leading ICF companies in North America, describes the material as “a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors and roofs.”
Wendling said the appeal of the material to residents would be potential lower property taxes in the long run.
The commission also moved to recommend that the certified tax rate from the state be denied and that the tax rate for the county remain at 2.67 percent. The decision to stay with the current tax rate came after much discussion in the July finance meeting of how lowering the tax rate to the proposed 2.36 percent would affect the county.
Recommendations by Mayor Richard Stewart for the following positions were approved:
Appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals, Monty Hawkins,3-year term;
Appointment to Consolidated Communications, Gerald Smith, 3-year term;
Appointment to the Solid Waste Management Committee, Dave van Buskirk and Charlie Brown;
Appointment to the Regional Planning Commission, Jeremy Price, 4-year term.
Gene Snead nominated Mark Vanzant as Constable for District 1. Vanzant’s nomination was approved.