By JOYANNA LOVE/Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County Board of Education has started its search for a new chief school financial officer.

The board approved a job description and salary for the position during a called meeting Monday. The vote was 6 to 1 in favor. Board member Curtis Smith was absent. Board member Pam Price voted against.

Applications will be accepted once the job is posted by the school system, which is expected to be Tuesday.

In drafting a job description, the board used a Boaz City Schools CSFO description as a model.

Qualifications for the position are outlined by the state. The board tweaked the wording of the performance responsibilities and job goal to make it fit Chilton County.

Chilton County Schools needs to fill the position as soon as possible.

“If by Jan. 1 there is not a CSFO in this office, we will likely be assigned one by the state,” Superintendent of Schools Tommy Glasscock said.

Since state law requires that the position be posted for 14 days, Glasscock doubted the school board could make a decision in time.

Board member Joe Mims said he did not think this would happen because the school system had nearly completed the end of year financial reports and had more than the required amount of funds in reserve.

Salary for the position was a topic of discussion Monday. Glasscock suggested a range of $75,000 to $85,000. The person resigning from the position made $78,000. Board members were provided a list of CSFO salaries in school systems across the state. Glasscock noted that each of the numbers would be four percent more because of recent state funding. Price said there were several school systems that paid there CSFO less than Chilton County Schools had paid theirs.

“Looking at comparable school systems, we are not going to make much interest with $78,000,” board member Joe Mims said.

After much discussion, the salary to advertise was set at $78,000.

How the chief financial officer would be evaluated was also discussed. The suggested draft stated, “will be evaluated by a board review in accordance with the board policy on evaluation of non-certified personnel or AASB (Alabama Association of School Boards) evaluation yearly or as needed.”

Price asked if the board had “an updated evaluation form.”  Board members Jim Shannon and Mims said the audit was essentially an evaluation of the chief financial officer. Price said there were aspects of the job that would not be reviewed by an audit, and she was in favor of annual performance reviews for the position.

Board members were uncertain whether AASB had an evaluation form.

Board member Keith Moore said using the “board policy on evaluation of non-certified personnel” was “too broad” for the CSFO.

“We have a lot of non-certified personnel. We are not going to use that same policy for are CSFO,” Moore said.

Shannon said he wanted “as needed” included in case the board needed to evaluate the chief financial officer before a year was up.

The wording was changed to “will be evaluated by a board review annually or as needed.”

The board will receive copies of the resumes received and will conduct interviews. Dates for interviews were not established during the meeting.

The board’s next meeting will be Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. at 1705 Lay Dam Road.