Residents urge clearer oversight of bond spending as board reviews audit findings

Multiple parents, taxpayers and educators used the meeting’s public-comment period to urge the Putnam County School Board to tighten oversight of bond projects and improve transparency after the release of an Auditor General operational audit.

Tim Hotaling told the board he could not find the bond committee documents he expected to review and cited audit language saying staff verified invoice math but did not always document checks to ensure payments matched contract terms; he asked whether the district is properly handling surety/completion bonds and questioned several high construction line items including copying, porta-potty and final-cleaning costs.

"I just wanna know what y'all are gonna do because there was some very legitimate questions that were raised," Hotaling said, calling for greater checks and balances and suggesting the district consider an inspector-general-style position similar to one used by the county.

Elaine Jackson, speaking as a parent and taxpayer, said the district lacks ‘‘meaningful independent oversight’’ and urged immediate action so taxpayers and parents can be confident the bond money is being spent responsibly.

Diane Kelly, who described herself as a former senior leader at a large company, told the board that after reviewing the audit and management responses she saw what she believes are systemic controllership issues across procurement, IT, vehicles and HR and urged automation, stronger management experience in key hires and periodic internal assessments to reduce the financial risk to taxpayers.

Educator Courtney Johnson raised several operational concerns tied to construction: she asked what social-emotional curriculum will support the new primary school, requested copies of the environmental and transportation studies, asked how the district will guarantee the primary school is completed in one year and questioned how combining schools will affect staffing and special-education placements.

Yvette Reyes asked whether specific expense reports — including a referenced $6,200 in travel/mileage for a person identified as Thomas — are public records; district staff asked Reyes to resubmit her public-records request so staff could locate and respond to it.

Several speakers said the district should make more complete pre-bid and bond materials publicly available. Board members and staff acknowledged those concerns and said they will provide additional documentation and an implementation plan responding to the audit; the board also requested monthly updates on corrective actions.