Tangipahoa board approves property purchase, accepts low bid for Hammond High track and reviews financial reports

In a series of administrative and procurement actions May 19, the Tangipahoa Parish School System board voted to authorize the superintendent to execute documents to purchase property on School Section Road and to select a title company for closing after receiving an appraisal higher than the contract price.

Mr. McNeely reported that the district had executed a purchase agreement for $170,000 and received an appraisal from Murphy valuing the parcel at $180,000; administration asked for authority to finalize the purchase. Mr. Dominguez moved to accept the recommendation and Mr. West Morland seconded; a roll-call vote recorded unanimous approval.

The board also accepted the administration’s recommendation to award the Hammond High School track restoration contract to Geo Services Surfaces, the low bidder at $648,000, pending required court approval. Coleman Partners recommended the low bid after bids opened May 13. Mr. Duncan moved to adopt the recommendation and Miss Dominguez seconded; the motion passed on a unanimous roll call.

On finance items, Mr. McNeely presented sales-tax updates through April 30: the two-cent sales tax was up 8.63% in April (roughly $525,000) and projected to be up about 9.52% for the year (near $6 million over the prior year). He cautioned that a spreadsheet label error had displayed a mistakenly high audited figure ($121 million) that should read about $85–90 million; the district will issue corrected budget materials and begin the revised-budget process at its June 2 finance meeting.

Administration also presented a new check-register format and noted a display issue in which a column aggregated check numbers instead of subtotals; the presenter said the error will be corrected for the next report.

Other routine items approved by unanimous vote included changing a job title (custodian coordinator to custodian foreman) to align with the salary schedule and reissuing a revised, narrower RFP for superintendent-search services to reduce costs; the RFP results could return for board approval as soon as June 2.

All motions recorded during the meeting were adopted by recorded roll-call votes with no recorded opposition.