The Petal Board of Aldermen will soon choose a new member to serve on the Petal School District Board of Trustees to take over for board member Chuck Harrell, who is set to soon retire from the position after 16 years of service to the district.
Mayor Tony Ducker said the chosen candidate will take over as soon as possible for Harrell, whose term expires next month. That person will serve a five-year term on the board.
“Each time we’ve done this in the past, it seems like we are always looking for people with different credentials,” Ducker said. “Obviously, we want to have a diverse background … and with all the construction projects (in the district, it would help to have) someone from that background.
“Every time, we’ve had two or three people, who you’ve felt like any of those would be good. So it’s always one of the toughest picks we have to make. For every one we pick, there’s probably several (others) that would have been good.”
The deadline to apply for the position is noon on February 9. Interested candidates can submit resumes at Petal City Hall, 119 West Avenue in Petal.
Candidates must live within the city limits of Petal.
“We will go ahead and start doing some of the interviews before then, for folks that have turned in (resumes),” Ducker said. “We have so far got a few folks that have shown some interest.
“We basically get resumes from people and go from there, so I’ll get in contact with them and say ‘hey, are you available at (a certain time)’ and set up some interviews.”
Harrell is expected to serve two more school board meetings, scheduled for February 13 and March 12.
“With what’s going on, we’re having a short window with all the projects the school has going on,” Ducker said. “So I think it’s imperative that we get somebody there as soon as possible so they can get up to speed on everything.
“So hopefully, best case scenario, we would have somebody in place next week for their meetings.”
The current five members of the Petal School District Board of Trustees are chairman Jerry Defatta, vice chairman Harrell, secretary Jana Causey, Brian Robertson and Lacey Bolling. Of the five-member board, three are chosen by the Petal Board of Aldermen and the other two – who are required to live outside city limits but in the school district – are chosen in elections.
“We do check up on things like if they’re paid up on their water bill – just things of that nature,” Ducker said. “We want to make sure they’re citizens of good standing.”
