The Cassopolis Board of Education voted 6-0 not to renew the contract of finance director Tricia Gaideski Monday night at a special meeting at the Squires Education Center.

Tricia Gaideski

A special meeting was needed to decide the fate of Gaideski’s future with the school district after board member George Calvert asked that the decision be put off until more could be learned about a private accounting firm the district was looking at its regular April 22 meeting.

The board unanimously voted to postpone the vote until Monday night. Calvert was absent from the meeting.

The accounting firm the district has a proposal from is Accounting Consultants, P.C., a Dowagiac business founded by Rebecca Moore CPA.

The firm has been working with the County of Cass since 2003, the Cass County Medical Care Facility since 2008 and the City of Dowagiac since 2010.

According to the proposal, the services would be provided from July of this year through June 2014.

Accounting Consultants said that while the needs of the district would vary throughout the year, it estimated that at the low end (15 hours a week) it would cost the district $46,800 per year, while at the high end (20 hours a week) it would cost the district $62,400 per year.

“If all things hold true, we could save between $40,000 and $50,000,” Cassopolis Superintendent Tracy Hertsel said. “There are a lot of moving parts in that, but we are hoping that will be realized.”

Hertsel added that the board should take up the proposal in the near future, possibly at the next scheduled school board meeting.