Town hires another school consultant – Collierville Independent

The Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen has agreed to hire Mike Simpson as a consultant for the town’s municipal school district. Board members voted unanimously Monday night to pay Simpson $200 an hour to assist former Shelby County Schools superintendent John Aitken plan for the future school district. Aitken was hired this summer at $200 an hour to provide advice and assistance regarding the district’s facilities and operational requirements. He has been charged with “developing and carrying out the procedures required to receive certification from the state as a municipal school and to assist in carrying out the actions required to open the schools in August 2014.” Both men will be paid with revenue from the town’s recent half-cent sales tax increase. Simpson, who recently retired as chief of Shelby County School’s operations division, will work under the general supervision of Town Administrator James Lewellen. “He has experience in many aspects of Shelby County Schools operations,” Lewellen said of Simpson, “especially facilities planning, transportation, maintenance and operations.” Simpson’s contract is through June 2014 and will not exceed $50,000. n In other news: Board members voted to spend $199,895 on a new street sweeper. The town’s current sweeper is 12 years old. The town’s Public Service Department currently sweeps all the major thoroughfares twice a month and subdivision streets twice a month. Bill Kilp, director of Public Services, said the new sweeper will allow the department to sweep more frequently.