ALPENA -Alpena Public Schools Board of Education elected officers at its meeting Monday night, along with approving several other organizational items.

Board officers stayed the same, with Diane Shields as president, Joe Stenz as vice president, and Mike Barnett as treasurer. The board also voted to keep board secretary Barbara Stelzer in her position.

The finance committee put in a recommendation to the board to appoint Straley, Lamp & Kraenzlein, P.C. to represent the district as certified auditors for the next fiscal year, and to keep Thrun Law Firm, P.C. as the board’s legal firm.

“This has been our law firm and auditor for a number of years,” Shields said. “We do this on an annual basis.”

The board also authorized the investment of school funds, using any institution that is acceptable by school policy and state laws.

“Generally we use the Michigan School District Liquid Asset Fund or local institutions,” Assistant Superintendent Diane Block said.

Depositories were designated for funds including six local institutions along with the Michigan Liquid Asset Fund. Electronic transactions were approved, along with an annual renewal of Schools of Choice 105 and 105(c).

“This is one of the state’s best practices, Schools of Choice,” superintendent Brent Holcomb said. “The 105(c) allows students from around the area to come to our educational service district. We don’t get that many students that utilize it, but we do get state aid on it by doing it as a best practice.”

In other business, the district will be having a garage sale Aug. 1, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Sunset School to sell unwanted items of all different categories. The sale will help to clear storage space for the district, and teachers have already gone through the items to choose what could be saved and used for classrooms and instruction. Everyone is encouraged to attend and browse through the large variety of items.

Nicole Grulke can be reached via email at ngrulke@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687. Follow Nicole on Twitter @ng_alpenanews.