The Hartselle Board of Education voted to give 5.42 acres behind the central office to allow the City of Hartselle to build a retention pond to ease flooding in downtown Hartselle.

Mayor Don Hall thanked board members for working with the city to alleviate the flooding problem.

“The next step is to get approval from FEMA so we can start on construction,” Hall said.

In June, Hall and Department of Development director Jeff Johnson asked the board for an additional 1.3 acres, which could alleviate 20 percent of the downtown flooding. The original plan only reduced flooding by 10 percent.

The current project will cost about $325,000. Hall said he hoped that construction could begin before the winter rainy season, but that will depend on when the city receives approval from FEMA.

In other business, the board:

• remained with Guarantee Trust Life for student accident insurance for the 2014-2015 school year.

• retained Lean Frog, Huntsville to provide strategic planning services.

• approved a board policy outlining the duties of a sex offender notifying school officials of his or her presence on school property.
• paid $1,500 to Shane Alexander for basketball, $1,000 for wrestling, $2,000 to Jeff Hanners for baseball, $2,850 to Jesse Perrin for baseball and $2,500 to Chris Wimberley for baseball. Payments will come out of the basketball, baseball and wrestling funds.

• transferred F.E. Burleson speech teacher Codi Barthel Daniels from five-days-a-week employee to three-days-per-week employee.

• hired Renee Goree as a custodian and Shane Dotson as a maintenance employee pending a background check.

• approved George Stephenson, Daren Raley, Justin Jones and Nick Beach as volunteer football coaches.

• approved Clifton Ord as a volunteer baseball coach.

• approved Rochelle Miller and Micah Milligan as volunteer cross country coaches.

• approved Danny Timm, Dennis Smith and Joey Schutt as volunteer wrestling coaches.

• approved Ashton Crawford and Jennifer Williams as volunteer girls soccer coaches.

• approved Katelyn Hill as a volunteer volleyball coach.