Fairfield Union Local board elects officers, approves 2025 schedule and appointments

The Fairfield Union Local School District board held its organizational meeting and on routine votes elected officers for 2025, confirmed committee assignments and liaisons, approved the 2025 board meeting calendar, and authorized routine financial and legal arrangements.

The meeting was called to order by the chair, who led the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence before asking Treasurer Nicole Roberts to call roll. The board then considered election of officers for 2025. A committee member nominated Kevin Cameron for board president; the nomination was seconded and, according to the meeting record, the motion passed. Todd Hoffman was nominated and confirmed as vice president after no other nominations were offered.

The board reviewed committee appointments proposed for 2025. The slate presented included Tina Johns and Kevin Cameron for curriculum and instruction; Tammy Conrad Zangmeister and Tina Johns for construction/legislative matters; Tammy Conrad Zangmeister and Jeff Smeltzer for personnel and negotiations; and Kevin Cameron and Todd Hoffman for grounds. Board members were given an opportunity to review the assignments before the board confirmed them.

The board also approved the 2025 meeting schedule. A district staff member flagged a potential conflict with a December 15 meeting date at Bremen Elementary due to school concert schedules and the Rushville tree-lighting ceremony and said the district may ask to move that meeting to December 8; the schedule was approved as presented with that tentative note.

On appointments and authorizations, the board moved to appoint the board president as the legislative liaison to the High School Board Association (consistent with past practice) and named Todd Hoffman the district's student achievement liaison to the association for 2025. The board also appointed Tina Johns and Jeff Smeltzer as the district's audit and fraud liaisons for 2025.

The board approved Bricker and Grady as legal counsel for 2025, noting a correction from the agenda's earlier reference to 'Bricker and Eckler'. The board also authorized continuing to use the county prosecuting attorney for legal services as needed.

Treasurer Nicole Roberts explained the tax-budget filing process for fiscal year 2026: the district files a tentative tax budget with the county so the county can appropriate funds on the district's behalf. The board approved the tax-budget filing for fiscal 2026, and approved standing authorizations for calendar year 2025; there were no substantive changes reported from the prior year in those documents.

A board member announced that evaluations for the superintendent and treasurer will be sent to members in June with a goal of finalizing them that month. With no further business, the board moved, seconded and voted to adjourn the organizational meeting.

Who said what: direct attributions in the meeting record are rendered using the meeting's speaker list. The meeting transcript records officers and votes as motions carried or passed; when the record did not include a roll-call tally for an individual motion the article states the outcome as recorded rather than inventing a specific vote count.