Every meeting of the CCSD has an agenda and a packet of information for the board related to that agenda. State law (commonly called the “Brown Act”) requires the district to publish the agenda at least 72 hours before the meeting. A recent change requires that the Board Packet be available to the public at the same time the Board of Directors receives it. Frequently, the agenda a Board Packet come out at the same time, though the packet is sometimes available only the evening before the meeting.
The CCSD has been good about posting the agenda and packet on their website (except in September this year). An agenda should be posted at the Vets Hall before noon on Monday during the week of the meeting, if they meet Thursday. The packet is delivered to the directors and should be available at the district office for inspection during regular office hours.
Each month, an expenditure report of about a dozen pages is part of the packet. The Board approves the expenditures, usually as part of the consent agenda. Although this report sheds some light on where the money goes and what the district is working on, it isn’t the easiest of things to wrap your head around and definitely won’t really show any kind of patterns in spending. It also doesn’t include a balance sheet. It is only the outgoing funds that are shown. After browsing through these reports over the last year and a half and listening to what others have noticed, I started to put the data into a format that made more sense to me. I wanted to understand more clearly where the money was being spent. It’s been a challenge for this English teacher, but a fun one. Below are the sheets for fiscal year 2007-2008. They include only some expenditures – the ones that interested me for some reason or other. I invite you to look through the numbers and totals for projects like the Pine Knolls replacement tanks, and the desalination plant and payments made to particular service providers live Innovative Solutions and RBF Consulting. If you find an error or have a comment, I welcome your comment here or in an email to amanda at Aboutcambria dot com.

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