Duplin boards to meet Thursday
By Staff Reports
Published in News on January 14, 2009 1:46 PM
A joint meeting will be held Thursday at 7:30 a.m. at the Rose Hill Restaurant between the Duplin County Board of Commissioners and the Duplin County Board of Education to restore the lines of communication that broke down last year over school funding.
The relationship fell apart when the school board sued the county to recoup approximately $7 million in funding it felt it was owed.
Eventually, a Duplin jury voted to require the county to pay the schools an additional $4.8 million, though currently that decision is under appeal.
And so it's unclear to County Manager Mike Aldridge what the boards will discuss.
Perhaps the budget?
"I don't know. That's up in the air. There has been no agenda firmly identified," he said. "I had wanted a facilitator and a more structured agenda. But the board didn't like that idea. In reality, it might be more of a goodwill gesture and to set a tone for future discussions."