ES School Board sets millage election for Feb. 10, 2010

EUREKA SPRINGS -- At a special called meeting of the Eureka Springs School Board Monday, the board voted to set the proposed mileage increase at 1.98 to fund a $10.6 million high school construction project. The date of the election was set for Feb. 9, 2010.

Earlier in the meeting a January date was considered, but the board decided on the February date after hearing opinions from the audience that January is a bad time because of weather and people still being concerned about how much they spent at Christmas.

The board also heard from Ken Brown, Ph.D., a retired school superintendent from Colorado who is current president of the Holiday Island Homeowner's Association, that January is too soon for the election.

"January is way too early," said Brown, who led a successful bond issue campaign at his school in Colorado and offered to be part of a speaker's bureau promoting the new high school. "You have to get out the yes vote. The no votes will come out. You have to go door-to-door with a bulleted fact sheet."