ADAMS TWP – The Mars Area School District school board voted unanimously to reappoint the district's solicitor Tuesday, but failed to pass a pay raise proposed by the firm.

School board member Megan Lenz started the discussion around the vote to give Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham a $5 increase in its hourly rate by saying the board has difficult financial decisions to make in the near future. The new pay rate proposed for the firm’s services was $195 per hour.

“If we had to make a decision as to where raises should be given, and where any extra dollars could be squeezed out, it should be going towards those positions that affect the education of our children,” Lenz said.

The board agreed to split the motion to appoint and give the firm the requested pay raise into two separate votes. The vote for the pay raise was 4-3 in favor with two abstentions. Board member Lee Ann Riner said she abstained from the vote because she wants to see an itemized list of expenses that accounted for the law firm’s increased pay rate.

The district's solicitor, Michael Hnath, said the board needs at least five yes votes to pass a motion when all nine members are present. Hnath also said most school districts are on an annual renewal system with their legal representation, and the $195 per hour rate is consistent with all of the firm’s clients.

Other school board members commented that they approve of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham's representation, but the pay raise is too much for them to support. They cited proposed upcoming building projects as reasons they would like to be mindful of “every nickel.”

“I do also appreciate all of the hard decisions that we will be making, and every nickel needs to be very carefully considered,” said school board vice president Sallie Wick, who abstained. “It’s nothing against the firm.”

Board member Jennifer DiCuccio, who voted against the pay raise, said when casting her vote she took into consideration potential school expansion projects and their costs that the district is expecting to take on in coming years.

“It’s just strictly I know what’s coming,” DiCuccio said. ”Also I feel like Mike does more than probably most solicitors do.“

School board president John Kennedy said district administrators will have to work out the contract with the solicitor since the pay raise vote failed, but the reappointment passed.