Vol.121 No. 1 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 January 17 - 23, 2010 The DALLAS Po 50¢ Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts | www.mydallaspost.com Board retains Galicki Contract of Dallas School District superintendent extended five years. By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com Members of the Dallas School Board have approved the retention of Frank Galicki, voting 6-1 on Jan. 4 to retain the district superintendent for another five years. Board presi- Bruce LB oeringer and vice president Russ Bigus voted yes, along with board mem- 3 bers Richard Galicki Coslett, Gary Mathers, Char- les Preece and Catherine We- ga. Board member Maureen Matiska voted no. Board member Dennis Gochoel was absent due to military deploy- ment and board member Ka- ren Kyle was absent due to ill- ness. Kyle said in an e-mail that Galicki’s current five-year con- tract as superintendent ex- pires on June 30 of this year. The board is required to notify Galicki within 150 days before his contract expires as to whether or not his position will be opened to other candi- dates. According to The Times Leader archives, Galicki was formerly the principal of Dal- las High School. He was inter- im district superintendent and assistant superintendent from Dec. 1, 2004 to May 2005 when he was hired as superin- tendent. The five-year contract called for a starting salary of $91,000 with a $3,000 raise ch year. Galicki is being paid 03,000 from the 2009-10 year budget which runs from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. All details of Galicki’s new contract will be negotiated separately, Kyle said. Although Kyle was not at the meeting, she wrote a letter that was read aloud by board secretary Nancy Merithew prior to the board voting on the resolution to retain Gal- icki. In the letter, Kyle asked the board to table the vote un- til a new superintendent’s con- tract is drafted by the solicitor and agreed upon by Galicki. Kyle wrote that it is impor- tant for Galicki to agree to the new contract before his reten- tion is approved because changes are expected for the new contract. One example of those changes is a zero per- cent salary increase for the 2010-2011 school year, which has been proposed for admin- istrative and professional staff, including the superin- tendent Kyle also wrote that the con- tract should require that an- nual renewal is based upon continued adequate yearly progress in all of the district schools toward 100 percent proficiency in 2014. Additionally, Kyle ex- ressed that the contract should include language that gives the board the right to terminate the superintendent for misconduct, citing “the re- cent indictment of a public school official.” 680981512007 9 AS, SS, Interior structural work is being completed on the new "state-of-the-art" In- terMountain Medical Clinic in Shavertown. The former location of Autoworks and Back Mountain Lumber and Coal in Shaver- town has been sold to a group of physicians from InterMountain Medical Group. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Looking over final blueprints for the renovation of the new InterMountain Medical Clinic at 176 N. Main St., Shavertown are, from left, Sharon Gadomski, operations man- ager; Mark Stephens, president and CEO; Dr. Pat Kilduff and Dr. Al Boonin. New medical clinic is coming to Route 309 By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Dallas Post Correspondent In a building where Back Mountain residents used to buy hammers and nails and, more re- cently, luxury cars, they will soon be able to get their annual physical exams and blood pres- sure checked. BPPNK Realty, a group of five area Back Mountain physicians, including Drs. Alan Boonin, Mark Puffenberger, Krishnakant Patel, Gary Nothstein and Pat Kilduff, has purchased the for- mer Back Mountain Lumber and Coal Co. building in Shavertown. The building was last occupied by Autoworks. The doctors are working on transforming the building into a contemporary, well-designed and environmentally-friendly lo- cation for their medical practic- es. The doctors are part of the In- terMountain Medical Group whose main location is in King- ston. The office, now located in the Twin Stacks Center in Dallas, is expected to move to its new location the first week of May. Boonin moved his practice from an old Victorian house on Main Street in Dallas between Sue Hand’s Imagery and the Dal- "| am very happy with the price and think it's the perfect use for it. It's a win-win and will be a great addition to the area.” Jeff Dickson Most recent owner of Route 309 property las Borough building to the Twin Stacks location in 2000. He joined with the other physicians to form the Dallas office of Inter- Mountain Medical Group and they have leased the facility there for the last 10 years. So what can patients expect at the new location? “It will be professional and aes- thetic and have a fieldstone and stucco exterior,” Kilduff proudly explained. “It will be beautifully landscaped and have solar panels on the roof.” The under 10,000 sq. foot facil- ity will also house AccuClinical Lab, a blood draw site and WellSpring, a physical therapy practice, and may bring new em- ployment to Shavertown, said Mark Stephens, president and CEO of InterMountain Medical Group. Stephens also hopes to add, on a part-time basis, other cardiol- ogists and pulmonary specialists from the group. Additionally, all records at the new clinic will be electronic, following the new fed- eral guidelines, he said. The interior of the building is designed for ease of navigation through the clinic and the pa- tients’ privacy is assured by soundproof walls. The project is contracted through Mountain See CLINIC, Page 10 Tunkhannock family is By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com A Tunkhannock couple is us- ing part of its natural gas drilling lease profits to give back to the community. Buster and Linda Coolbaugh leased almost 16 acres of proper- ty at $5,750 per acre for five years to Chesapeake Energy. They received $1,000 an acre in October and a lump sum pay- ment in December of last year. The Coolbaughs donated to several area charities, including the Meadows Nursing Center Auxiliary, the Dietrich Theater, Kunkle Fire and Ambulance, Tri- ton Hose Company, Bowman’s Creek Free Methodist Church, the American Red Cross and the Northeast Region Conservation District. Their total donation to the charities was nearly $4,200. The couple plans to write the donations off as charitable de- their 2009 federal i come taxes. “It is actually going to be an ongoing thing with us,” Linda Coolbaugh said. “Once we do our taxes in January now and we know where we stand in the new year, we have money to work with. We are going to invest it in these organizations throughout the year. It’s not just a one time thing.” Marilyn Gregorski, volunteer coordinator for the Meadows Nursing Center, said the auxilia- ry benefits the residents in vari- ous ways, including funding a fall fair, a trip to the circus and shopping outings. “It’s a totally different life; it gets them out in the communi- ty,” Gregorski said of the out- ings. “They love The Dollar Store. The Dollar Store is a fa- vorite.” Linda Coolbaugh said she and her husband decided to lease their property to Chesapeake be- cause they felt they had no paying gas choice since all of the land sur- rounding theirs has been leased. Once the company drills a hole, it can go underground for up to a mile, thus potentially taking nat- ural gas from under the property of people who have not signed a lease. The Coolbaughs held out for eight years and eventually fig- ured they should sign a lease so they could collect royalties if any natural gas is found below their land. The rate of pay per acre has since risen significantly, starting at $30 per acre years ago. In addition, the Coolbaughs will also collect 22 percent in royalties from any natural gas taken from their property. “I'm glad that we are able to lease but it’s still leery,” Linda Coolbaugh said. “I actually hope they don’t come on it (the land). I don’t know. I'm up in the air about it.” oo ROFITS Pageio . LL drilling profits forward CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Pete, Linda and Buster Coolbaugh recently made a donation to the Meadows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dallas for the purchase of a specialized chair.
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