Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Four Ironwood students were recognized at Monday's board of education meeting as the district's students of the month for the month of January. The students, from left, are Ava Synkelma, Faith Neill, Jaden Fus and Acen Ruotsala. The character trait for January was self-discipline.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood - The Ironwood Area Schools school board voted Monday to pay its portion of the latest legal bill related to the effort to get the tax money owed from former Ironwood Township treasurer Jyl Olson-DeRosso's embezzlement case.
The district paid $23,063 to the Detroit-based law firm Clark Hill. The firm charged a total of $48,430 for its legal services during the period of Sept. 30 through Dec. 31, 2019.
"We are spending money on this lawsuit that I would rather not have to spend, so I'm hopeful this works out in our favor," Superintendent Travis Powell said, adding the amount was large enough that board approval was required to pay the bill.
In November, the board approved paying $15,860 of the $33,020 the law firm was charging for work done through the end of September.
Powell told the board the district is one of three municipal organizations that retained the law firm in an effort to recover the outstanding tax money owed to the district that Olson-DeRosso embezzled, and the legal costs are being split proportionate to the amount owed to each entity.
"The restitution that is owed was spread over the three parties listed there - the Ironwood Area Schools, Gogebic County and (the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District) - and we had the highest percentage ... so that means we get to pay the most," Powell said. "It's all prorated, when we settle then we will receive the money at the same percentage rate as well."
The district is one of five plaintiffs seeking over $1.4 million in damages from Ironwood Township's insurance companies, with court documents also listing the township and Gogebic County Treasurer Lisa Hewitt as plaintiffs.
There is a motion hearing in the case scheduled for Friday in Gogebic County Circuit Court.
In other action:
-The board accepted the monthly personnel report, which included Gordon Erickson stepping down as the district's athletic director as of June 4.
-Although no action was needed, the board reviewed the appointments for the following board committees: school improvement committee, education foundation committee, personnel committee, curriculum committee, policy committee, building and grounds committee, reinstatement/exit committee, communications committee, finance committee and negotiations committee.
