MEXICO — A job search will begin Thursday morning for a culinary arts instructor for the Region 9 School of Applied Technology, a board member said after following Wednesday night’s approval of the vocational school’s 2015-16 secondary education budget of $2.24 million.

Sally Arsenault, a member of the Personnel Committee, told fellow directors, “Now that the budget has passed, we’re going to be posting a new job for a culinary arts instructor. We’re going to post that immediately and close that posting as of the 21st and we hope to be interviewing (applicants) in early June so we can move that process along.”

Director Bruce Ross asked if the committee had a job description for the new position.

Arsenault said they will get samples and create one.

“It’s like our instructor job description, only it will have culinary arts added to it,” school Director Brenda Gammon said.

When asked by school board member Betty Barrett if any students had already signed up for the course, Gammon answered affirmatively. “They have been signing up for all programs,” she said.

Student Services Coordinator Cheryl Ellis asked Arsenault if she knew where she would post the new job advertisement “because I’ve had several phone calls.”

Arsenault said they will post it in-house on Thursday morning, and on a website, in the Sun Journal this weekend and in the Rumford Falls Times next Wednesday.

In other business, board member and Facilities Committee member Paul Handlen updated the board on recent renovation work in the main office.

“We had a tile issue in the office area, and as the tiles came up there was an odor issue as well,” Handlen said. “Brenda did the right thing. She shut the office down. We had professional air quality people come in here to make sure nobody here was in danger and the air quality results came back and it was fine.

“But the fact was, there was moisture coming up from the old garage floor,” he said. “So it was in an abysmal condition. So we had the tiles ripped up and the building to be used for culinary arts was in rough shape so we decided to do that, too.”

Last week, Handlen said the Facilities Committee met with a floor specialist and decided to have the flooring sealed and “new, very industrial strength” carpeting squares installed.

“We’re also going to re-dig outside the foundation like we did last year to eliminate any further moisture coming into that old cement area,” he said. The cement slab from the former garage was in poor condition, but, he emphasized, the air quality testing revealed nothing was wrong.

“But it was a moisture thing and it had to be taken care of,” Handlen said.

Gammon said it’s been a month since the work and no mold was found. “But we’re trying to let it dry out, which will be close to a month.”

New carpeting squares will also be placed in the culinary arts room.

“The culinary arts room will not be used for any cooking,” Handlen said. “It’s only a classroom setting. You might as well kill two birds with one stone, because that room had the same kinds of issues, too.”

Ross said he wanted to squelch any rumors about mold in the room and Handlen reiterated Gammon’s comment, saying, “We had the air quality tested and there was no mold at all found.”

Gammon said she has the air quality testing report if any community member wants to review it with her. “We’re within all guidelines,” she said.

The board was also supposed to OK sending two students from the commercial driving license course with instructor Eddy Naples for an overnight to Bangor on May 15 and 16 for the Truck Driving Rodeo.

However, Gammon said she had since learned that Naples was driving up alone on May 15. She said the students, Michelle Hale and Robert McPherson of Mountain Valley High School in Rumford, who compete on May 16, would be going with their parents. Hale recently was named Region 9’s top student.

After some discussion, it was learned that the teens planned to drive to the competition May 16, so the board voted 7-0 to approve sending the students to represent Region 9 on May 16 for the Truck Driving Rodeo in Bangor, with no overnight.

tkarkos@sunmediagroup.net