GETAWAY — The public hearing on the rehiring of Collins Career Center Superintendent Steve Dodgion came and went without any comment.

Only members of the board and the center’s treasurer showed up for the hearing that lasted less than five minutes.

Dodgion plans to retired on July 31 and wants to be rehired for the same job.

That means Dodgion would collect his retirement along with the salary from the new contract.

The board advertised for the superintendent’s post in January with applications taken until Feb. 27. Interviews began then.

There were three who applied for the post, including Dodgion.

The reason the board settled on the current superintendent was his experience, a vital criterion for the upcoming renovation project the center wants to start, members have stated.

In November, the board plans to put on the ballot a renewal of its current five-year permanent improvement levy that expires this year.

That brings in roughly $300,000 a year, treasurer Richard Sketel said.

That revenue will be added to funding from the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission for an $18 million renovation of the high school classrooms, a project that should take three years.

It has to be a renovation because the OSFC does not provide funding for new buildings for joint vocational schools, Sketel said.

“That is one of the big reasons (for asking Dodgion to stay),” Tom Curry, board president said. “He knows better than anyone what we really want to do.”

The Thursday hearing was to fulfill a state requirement to get public input on the rehiring matter.

Dodgion, 60, started his career as an educator with the Rock Hill School District, joining the Collins Center in the early 1990s. In 2000, he took over as superintendent.

During the board’s April meeting a motion concerning the new contract, including salary, was made.

Curry said a three-year contract was offered and that Dodgion verbally accepted.

Curry declined to state what Dodgion’s new salary would be until the minutes of that meeting are approved during the board’s upcoming meeting.

That meeting will be held on May 26.