Gilmer School Supt. Rick Albritton told the school board Monday night that the district is negotiating with the firm that sold it the artificial turf at Buckeye Stadium because the imitation grass portion of the field is starting to “deteriorate” with the warranty still in effect.

Albritton said the firm which sold the school the turf has brought suit against the manufacturer of the artificial grass.

With GISD in the seventh year of an 8-year warranty on the turf, the firm has verbally offered to replace it for free with no warrranty, or to “upgrade to their new product” for $175,000 with an 8-year warranty, Albritton said.

The superintendent said the field will “get uglier and uglier” as the green portion erodes. After board President Todd Tefteller said “we need something in writing” from the seller, Albritton said the school was negotiating to correct the matter before the warranty expires.

In other business Monday night, the board cast 900 votes for Peter J. Sullivan and 590 for Conrad Coppedge for the Upshur County Appraisal District Board of Directors, enough to ensure Sullivan’s reelection.

The county’s taxing entities elect the appraisal district’s board of directors, which is separate from the Appraisal Review Board that considers protests of property valuations.

Each entity’s number of votes is based on its percentage of the total levy in Upshur County (excluding the Emergency Services District and Kilgore College, which don’t vote for the board.)

Entities must submit their votes by Dec. 15, said Upshur County Chief Appraiser Sarah Curtis. Sullivan only needed 834 of the Gilmer ISD votes to ensure his reelection.

Also Monday, the Gilmer board chose to allow the Pittsburg ISD Board of Trustees to be its proxy on voting in the Camp County Appraisal District’s election on its directors. Albritton said the Gilmer ISD includes “a very, very small amount of land” in Camp County.

The Gilmer board also approved the $69,000 purchase of a “virtual desktop solution” from Exceptional Technology Solutions of Tyler. The district’s technology director, Rusty Ivey, termed it “one big supercomputer” which will mean that “hardware purchases in the future will be a lot less expensive.”

Trustees also accepted a bid of $4,335 on two portions of land which were confiscated for delinquent taxes on Center Road.

The board also approved a policy update and presented awards to several persons for their exceptional work for the district.

Several school employees received orange-and-black Gilmer Buckeye jackets after being chosen for the “Extra Mile Club.” Albrittion said they were chosen based on comments from a parent, student or faculty member for going beyond what they normally do.

Some school administrators also received “Gold Performance Awards” for student performance on the state-required Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.

As reported in Wednesday’s Mirror, the board also heard an evaluation of its building facilities from a representative of the Texas Association of School Boards, and accepted a bid to raze two buildings at the old elementary campus­—the south wing built around 1959, and the onetime library.