Bethlehem area school board members filled the vacant region 2 seat left open by Director Shannon Patrick at their Dec. 9 meeting.

The seat was left vacant after Patrick was elected to two seats, the region 2 and an at-large seat; she chose to fill the at-large seat. Five candidates applied for the seat, but one pulled out at the last minute Dec. 2. At that meeting the remaining four candidates were interviewed.

The candidates under consideration were Russell D'Entrone, Randolph Toman, Craig Neiman and Jason Fetterman.

A first vote to select a candidate resulted in a tie between two contenders.

Craig Neiman won a second vote. Neiman had highlighted his financial experience working as treasurer on the board at Central Moravian Church. He said this allows him to understand complex budgets, and he is further committed to the district because he has children attending Asa Packer ES. He lives in Bethlehem because he loves the diversity of the district and wanted his daughters to experience that.

In other news Gorman and Associates has concluded its audit of the 2012-13 fiscal year, which results in an ending surplus of $4.7 million. At the June 24, 2013 meeting the board approved designating a portion of any operating surplus as a commitment of fund balance for that fiscal year, which ended only days later.

Upon the conclusion of the audit, but prior to finalization of financial statements as a follow through action, the administration recommended approving the designation of $2 million for transfer to the capital reserve. $1 million was also assigned for self insurance fund reserves.

The board voted to approve the fund balance commitment of $2 million to the capital reserve fund for future capital improvements. It also authorized the transfer from the general fund to the capital reserve fund and $1 million to the self insurance fund in accordance with the June 30 audited financial statements.

The audit report may be reviewed by Mr. Gorman at the January Finance Committee meeting.