##VIDEO ID:VgiIc-2Irbw## for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay 3.0 is the approval of our agenda I'll make point for appr second that you discussion um just a point of order on our agenda for tonight um we have a truth and Taxation meeting at 6 PM uh so the chair May Jump Ahead in the agenda if we're ahead of six o'clock and we're running early um he may jump down to um item 8. five uh if uh we have extra time in there before six o'clock so just so people know if we adjust the agenda that's why thank you all those in favor I those opposed motion carries 4.0 our acknowledgements and recognitions um we've got a couple of those tonight which is always fun um so first of all well we are bidding a do to of our board members tonight um so first of all Lexi serba our student School Board rep this is her final meeting she's been with us for the entire calendar year of 2024 she came on the board in January um and Lexi I gotta tell you you've just been like so consistent always here providing great input um it's just been really nice to have you on the board thank you for all the extra work that you've done you know in your busy days to be here so congratulations thank you maybe Lexi wants to share with us some next steps because it's not a normal track right like you're you're taking a fun little hius here yeah I um graduate at the end of the semester so I'll be done January 17th and then my plan is to do a gap year program through Pacific discovery which is like about culture and conservation and so we start in Hawaii and then go to Fiji and then go to New Zealand and so I'll be doing that from February 6 to um April 16th so I'll be back in time for prom and to graduate of course but yeah that's my plan fun they have a middle-aged track and then do you have a plan old lady track after after graduation and all that officially do you have a plan for next step after that yeah on um I'm planning to go to University of Montana in Missoula so I just went on a visit like last month you did you have a beautiful yeah some kind ofy in this that's where you went yep oh my gosh yep I'm a Grizz and so is Claire yeah and I I toured there and I like toured like bunch of other schools all over the west and that was the first one I went to and I was like I don't even know that I need to see the rest of them like I just loved it Oh that's oh that's on going I'm planning on majoring in biology and right now I'm thinking the pre Med track but we'll see so oh that's amazing you're going to love being in Missoula that's a great choice excited I love it so we got you a little something from the board as a a little something to remember this experience by you can take it with you put that up in your dorm room yes thank you your door I love this work actually every graduate has to have that book yeah of course that's right so much thank you fun to be here thanks for doing such a great job thank you I really love doing it I'm gonna miss it do you guys know of anyone who has applied or is applying it not yet we got to put the screws to some Juniors yeah I'm I'm trying don't worry I only have heard of two people who are like maybe interested and I encourage them to try and do it um but J is really hard which of course now so yeah yeah hopefully we'll get get somebody here in the next few weeks y so and also who has been with us for the last four years can't believe it's already been four years yeah it's weird um Stephanie radoff um Stephanie thank you so much for being a part of the board it's been great to have you thank you seriously so best of luck on your future endeavors they take you that exciting F advis but um we got you a little something from the board as well guys momento of your service so I hope you stay engaged with what we're doing here and sure I will yeah good quite a few more years actually so yeah yeah a little One MH awesome well thank you so much absolutely for any board member that serves it's awesome totally okay 5.0 our recognition of visitors and Community comments so um Welcome to our visitors you know we're saying goodbye hello and welcome to you um thanks for being with us here in the room tonight and welcome any visitors who are joining us live on Zoom or future Zoom recordings um and we don't have any public comments tonight but the community comments is an opportunity for the public to address the school the school board on an item included in the agenda in accordance with the guidelines printed at the end of the agenda for future reference all right 6.0 are our reports uh 6.1 is the principal's report and Mr balang hello hello good evening to everybody so for my report tonight um I start every report object just talking about s Mountain Elementary and our Junior Vikings values and we continue to recognize our uh students for representing the values of being respectful being responsible and being their best uh this month we are focusing on the theme of generosity so each uh day we challenged the kids to uh Act of generosity um to the people around them and today's challenge for example was is to smile at everybody you walk by with a nice big genuine smile just be generous with your smile um and also we are looking at rewarding our satto elementary students on Friday next week before break with a community uh movie event in the ACA if we can have uh more positive expect or uh behavior and response to expectations specifically on the playground the last this year and last year we've been tracking uh Behavior expectations and that type of stuff through our PBIS program so we can look at uh the data from November and December last year and see oh how many times do we have to correct behavior on the playground versus this year and we're challenging the kids if we can have a better kind of report um specifically on the playground and we're going to celebrate and recognize that with a movie on Friday in the afternoon and we're keeping it a surprise and we're going to check to see if they reach that goal on Wednesday next week um so that's kind of a a fun event that we're we're doing with our elementary kiddos um in the middle and high school our winter activities are in full swing the snow has been great we actually have ski races happening already which I don't think happened at all until like January February last year it's been really fun to see our girls varsity basketball team and boys varsity basketball team and their double header um events so if people haven't been able to come out and watch we had a great night on Tuesday uh the girls game was super exciting um they didn't pull out but it was just a ton of fun um and so we've got another double header tomorrow night and then our middle school students next week on Friday are going to have one of their exploratory days where they'll be going out in the community Friday afternoon um curling uh playing basketball truffle making uh Winter survival they're all electing into different events that they can do on Friday afternoon next week yes um before break and then um just for the community we had midterms last week so grades were finalized by teachers today um so they can look for those updates in Infinite Campus and then just a heads up obviously people know this is coming but students last day school before break is Friday next week and then turning on Thursday January 2nd after winter break so that's what I got you got to announce a basketball game yes I did live on the radio yeah radio I was listening to that game and I was like is that Josh it was it is it will be tomorrow night as well okay so nice yeah you've got a great what do they say you got a great face for radio you my mom always told me had a great face for radio that's not what they said that's not what you suppos to say you got a great voice for you're [Laughter] natural anything else roast Josh here yeah I know that's right all right well good luck rounding out before break yeah thank you yeah they're doing we're doing well yeah good thank you thanks okay 6.2 is a superintendent report yeah thank you Mr chair I'll be brief um I just want anyone watching in the public to acknowledge that we've made a couple of weather announcements already regarding a two-hour late start and a day closed uh we live in Cook County that's part of the routine um something people may not know is the the need for us to have a 2-hour delay might be more frequent than other districts because we don't have enough bus drivers and the people that back up our bus drivers are the people that plow so um our two-hour delay that we had recently it was literally to try to get parking lots open and ready to go as we try to get buses out the door um and it's a scramble in the morning when we're so short so get your CDL and your bus license so you can sub uh when we're short and uh we can probably start on time a few more times during the year so can I just as a so if I hear you correctly you're saying that maybe other institutions shouldn't use Cook County Schools necessarily as a gauge of how bad the weather is it's more about these labor conditions on occasion the closure was was purely I mean yeah absolutely and thenn and ice and snow and ice I will file that information and take that back but yeah just note that you know when if if we're getting a storm and we feel like we can go we got to get some things open ahead of time we may have to delay for an hour or two to try to get um some things uh done because the plow guys got to get in a bus and run one of our routes so if say an institution in a small town had bus drivers probably less need for a two-hour delay correct also good to know felt like I was in court there for a minute that's nothing about you or C County Schools and could I just maybe make other one other little quick comment on that topic just for the benefit of everybody the a couple years ago we the board made the decision to extend the school year by a few days with kind of the express intention of being able to have a snow day on occasion and not have to do like an e-learning day or something along those lines or a makeup day or miss out on a PD day or something so um so we were able to do that and and that's not going to cost us down the road I'm assuming in terms of like having to make it up right corre to have that snow we have four days built in so we've used one uh in the current school year so you're absolutely right uh the board made that decision a couple of years ago to make that change what is our policy say if we do you know instead of calling school do a two-hour delay until we know for sure yep we did one of those last year I where we delayed and then I ultimately made the decision at about 6:00 a.m. that we had to close we weren't going to make it um so this one like this last storm say oh we're going to get 14 inches while we got five or six so I was like in my mind I was like why don't we have school yeah well there were parts of the district that had a foot so it was part of that is the hard part of Cook County is calculating all of that right right right um so the other thought is the closing of it how come we do it so early and not yep uh courtesy uh helping people with daycare and and questions like that I felt like our last closing was kind of kind of a no-brainer um but there was one last year where we 2hour delayed and then didn't make that decision until 6 o' the next morning because it felt like we might be able to go we always want to go if we can yeah um because we feed kids and you know we educate them so we we want to go if we can we also don't want to put kids in a dangerous situation traveling on our buses and you know as Josh knows our buses are two wheel drive and they go up really icy steep hills and um those dicey situ sitations can be just that dicey and we want to make sure we're being safe so it's a real it's a real art and balance I appreciate the County's help in making those decisions we do use the highway department quite a bit um to help us with those decisions because they're spread out all over the county but we're short bus drivers so we need more bus drivers uh so we can fill all those seats uh just for the board to know on Tuesday of next week we will be holding a bond rating call with Moody's uh Michael Hart is here you'll hear from him in just a little bit but that call is related to the referendum and Bond rating we uh get as we go out to sell bonds so I expect favorable results on that due to the board's really good prudent work to keep ourselves in a good fiscal situation and uh we'll be doing that on Tuesday uh and then last but not least um hopefully you've paid attention to the fact that the legislature published the the November budget forecast uh for this coming legislative session that sets the the kind of the green light for the governor to put together uh his proposed budget and then the house and the Senate to put together their proposed uh Caps or or budget uh limits and then in February there'll be the next forecast and that's when the sausage grinder really starts and they start saying this is out this is out this is when the negotiating all starts so game on the starter's gun has gone off and the legislative cycle starts in just a few weeks that's all I got thank you any any other questions okay I just have one more piggy back that one more time do you do you um I guess check with the other schools in Co County too when it comes to calling so everybody's on the same page no we don't we GES and us we just are because we're the same and then oski has their own bus and um Birch Grove I think they don't even bus I think all the parents drive them in right they use Arrowhead Transit do they okay so no we don't really consult on that our consultation is with the county and what's the plow situation what their schedule um pretty much direct and that's unique every other District I've worked in I've collaborated with my neighbors but our neighbors are so far away it doesn't matter so Jay and I communicated a couple times a couple years ago but for the most part not so much all right uh 6.3 is our student board report and we we've got Lexi serah here with us hello last one last one um so like Balan with students have been busy with midterms and winter sports and clubs and many people who I've talked to are looking forward to the holidays and break and enjoying the snow boys and girls basketball has officially started and they played both of them played their first four games of this season they had a home game on the 10th against Carlton Renshaw and the boys came out with a win by 20 um the girls sadly lost by three but we're still excited to see how both of their Seasons play out the Alpine ski team has its first race tomorrow in Giants Ridge and they're very excited about actually having snow this year none of those races being postponed Nordic ski team had um their Camp over the weekend at Lodge and so they had like a great time bonding having H cocoa sitting by the fire just getting ready for the season ahead they also had their first race yesterday and had some great times to start the season their junior high team is looking pretty promising and they're also very excited about having snow last week unified club's Cool Cats bowling team traveled to duth to bowl and play AR arcade games um they' had been looking um forward to that for a while so they're really happy to get out there and then I just wanted to finish off my last report by saying thank you guys so much it's been really fun to be here and to see how all this works so thank you sexy yeah thank you y I hope this is the beginning to a long career of public service for you I'm sure it will be you're do a lot of stuff thanks again okay well go back to work all right thanks Lexi Lu chowder and stuff so thank you guys bye bye see you okay 7.0 is our consent agenda um anything that needs to be pulled for further discussion um let me know otherwise we just need a motion I'll make a motion oh seconded okay all those in favor I I those oppos consent agenda is approved all right how are we doing our time here 52 52 great great okay 8.0 our discussion and action items 8.1 is to accept the November 2024 expenditure revenue report got that in our packet and we've got uh Miss Teresa oberg in the house and I would just say that in interest of time I have no comment unless anyone has questions on this particular report I got more to talk about later okay any questions from anyone no okay and we just need a motion I'll make a motion I'll see any further discussion all those in favor I I I those opposed motion carries okay 8.2 is to approve the res resolution authorizing the sale of school building bonds um and we have PM in the house tonight with a presentation here yeah I will uh project the presentation and Michael Hart is here Michael welcome for our board members you've probably seen Michael in the past on the little Zoom screen at different times so thank you Michael for making the big drive up to Grand marray and U being willing to be here this is a big deal so we're thankful that you're um able to take time to be here Michael uh is the person that FR and I call all things management of cash flow management of investments in this case um helping us with the bond referendum process all of the runs that you saw about how much things would cost taxpayers and stuff that all came from Michael and his team at PMA through the course of this process so um as I said on the 17th we have a call with Moody's for our bond rating call um but then we need to step through a process to sell the actual bonds and in the financing process Michael's here as our expert to walk us through all things about the how that works so thank you Michael very good I'm happy to be here excited for you and your success with the election here in November on question one and my goal here tonight is to to kind of show you the path forward in terms of the steps that will be taking some of them you'll be involved in and some of them will be behind the scenes with Administration and then ultimately the action that we'll be asking of you tonight is to authorize us proceeding forward with executing the financing and and proceeding forward the sale of the BX so um on the second slide that's kind of just what we talked about review timeline Bond structure and the board action so the next one is our timeline that we have outlined on so you passed a referendum on November 1 or 5th you you went through the canvasing tonight we're asking you to provide a resolution to to authorize proceeding forward we have the rating call next week um we'll be working hard and already in process of preparing Bond documents so there's some some legal documents and other documents that go out to the bond market to represent the school district and ultimately solicit bids from buyers of the purchasers of the bonds this calendar as you have it in front of of you um our goal is to be done with that process by the end of the first week of January of the preparation to submit that out to the market and actually receive the bids back uh during the week of January 13 we have that set for January 14th on this calendar um but that's a day we'll be monitoring and and can move as as that gets closer that is the date that the interest rates are actually locked so the numbers I'm going to show you here in a moment are are still preliminary they're favorable compared to to what you saw this summer and through the referendum process but they are preliminary will come back to the board for a ratifying resolution so you're kind of final stamp of approval at your January 23rd board meeting and the funds would be received by the school district on February 11th is what this plan would would contemplate so the next slide shows a a comparison of I provided a a detailed set of information for you that was part of the review and comment document that you submitted summer and it also guided Us in terms of the tax numbers that I uh we shared with you and the tax calculator that we prepared for you online so this is a comparison between what was there and and what we're preliminarily estimating today we do expect the interest rate will be a little bit lower um than what was then so you can see the total amount to the bonds you have authorized is $24 m175 th000 one of the things that will be learned on the date of the sales what we call Bond premium this has to do with the way that the bonds are Bid uh from the the bidder of those bonds and it's additional funds that are provided in addition to the 24.75 million part of that is how we we recognize the lower interest cost the total principle and interest on this is about estimate is about $500,000 less over the 20-year time frame the cost of issuance are estimating to be slightly less and then you can see your deposit to the construction fund this see these are the funds that you have net of the financing cost to put into your construction work um we had 24, 175 in the original plan we do expect to be able to generate some additional funds although how much that is will be dependent upon the bid that is received through that Bond premium number um so and we're still being a little bit conservative on these preliminary estimates at this time uh based upon these preliminary numbers so I'm just going to pause and give questions about that and um our expectations here um the additional deposit to construction is just from that premium correct and there could be potentially more through the investment of the bond funds is that that is correct yeah so that that number could go up maybe you call it something else but the actual amount available could go up a little bit more too in the future yeah so it could go up it it could change in two ways one Bond premium could be more or less than what's shown here but this would be so like the 24,48 3 that would be the that would be the actual amount of money that is wired to the district on February 11th and is received in your account and then through the construction timeline which it looks like you're going to hear more about the next steps on that in your meeting here tonight those funds will be invested and you will be earning interest on those um and that'll be a significant dollar amount that you'll be able to earn to part of the process that we go through I have a slide at the end on this but I think makes sense just talk about it now is we'll work with your partners at IC to try to have as clear understanding as we can of how you expect to spend the money through the con to through the project so some of it you'll spend quickly some of it will be spent you know I expect two years from now and um we'll help you make investments to maximize that interest earnings through the period of time so that there there is always cash available to to pay for that and we help you monitor through that process between when the the funds are received in February in those first few weeks we'll be going through a process of helping you invest those dollars collectively with your Administration we'll be able to provide your Administration a pretty good estimate on interest earrings within a month to six weeks of of when you received the funds so that as you're doing the planning process this winter and spring you have good information about that so you can you can allocate funds as you see fit and one other quick question just in terms of the timeline and locking in the rate um the interest rates are coming down like you mentioned is there are you guys kind of strategizing that a little bit in terms of like forecasting the rates out here and in terms of the timing on on on some of this or is that it just happens to be based yeah I mean most of what this is interest rates have not changed a lot this year but when we provide you your preliminary estimates we're pretty conservative in there because we we want to make sure we can do what we told your community that we can do um and so most of that difference is related to that frankly in terms of time frame of when we sell the bonds um we we are not we can't tell you what the market is going to do and we're not going to pretend to tell you that what I can tell you is that oftentimes the month of January is a very good time to sell bonds for Minnesota school districts because there's Market you know there's economic Market forces but one thing that's true every single year is school districts City counties in Minnesota pay their bond holders back on February 1st and so what that amounts to is that taxpayers there's there are literally billions of dollars going from school districts counties and cities all across the state into the hands of investors and those investors want to give that money back to school districts counties and cities by reinvesting in the month of February and so we're trying to take advantage of that sort of supply and demand Dynamic by having a sale in January that closes in February because the money goes to investors on February 1 and um so to to the extent oftentimes this middle of January is one of the best times year to sell bonds okay great right so the next slide just gives you you've seen a chart like this if you had looked at the prior documents but shows you your current bonds um in in the blue and the green colors there and then how these new bonds will look compared to that with the the red payment in here one thing you'll notice is it's a it's a 20-year Bond payment structure so your payments combined together with your current debt Will Be steady for the next 20 years the payments on the new bonds get larger after your some of your old Bond issues pay off after in 2037 those old bonds pay off and so your the new ones are will get larger designed to wrap around that the next slide is a reminder of the tax impact so we had tax impacts for question one two and three this is the tax impact for question one that was presented and our expectation currently is that it will be matching that tax impact or slightly lower than that based upon the current interest rats there's a couple of other key features that I think it's important for the board to understand about the bond issue first one of the key features is called a call date it's a or a Redemption provision and this is one thing that's a little bit different with the school district Bond than like a home mortgage is that once you sell the bonds you are locked into those interest rates for a period of time usually that period of time is seven to 10 years from the date that you issue the bonds we're recommending that that call feature be February 1st of 2033 which means those interest rates are fixed until that time at that time you could refinance um the bonds if interest rates were lower or prepay them if you had other funds that's that's fairly unusual for school districts uh to do but you're locked into it um that way another important thing and a part of your resolution tonight is that the bonds will be uh rated with by Moody and we'll also be applying for the State Credit enhancement program it's a program where the state of Minnesota tells the bond holders we will pay the bond Bond holders off if for any reason the school district can't it's never been used by a school district of Minnesota but it's really important because uh now Bond holders have the taxing power of the entire State and so they'll offer you a lower interest rate for that so we're we're going to help you be a part of that process and the the last point is kind of in the weeds of IRS regulation but there are rules um about what we call Arbitrage rebate and this has to do with there are limitations in terms of how much interest you can earn on the the funds as you hold them and we're going to help you monitor that through the process it's possible that at the end of the project you have to file a tax return and write a check to the IRS if you do that if we're in that position though it means that we have maximized every dollar that we can in terms of Interest orance so I wouldn't look at that as a bad thing that's a problem for three four five years from now but it's something that we're going to be monitoring for you on a monthly basis throughout the project one other quick question there on that call date um is so we can potentially refinance or locked in till that point but what if the interest rates have gone up or something are we exposed to those or do we continue the same one if we that's completely at the school district's option the the rates will be fixed unless you wanted to go out to the market to reduce that okay so this next slide is showing you a a summary of the resolution the action that you have here in the packet for the board's consideration it's approving proceeding with the bond sales subject to certain param approving submission to the State Credit enhancement program it's also improving the reimbursement for any project expenses so if you have any expenses between now and February that you need to pay you're allowed to pay yourself back for those things the parameters of the bond sale this is providing authority to the superintendent and an officer of the board so two two people to sell the bonds to to to execute the bond sale as long as the interest rate does not exceed 5 a half% and the amount does not exceed 24, $175,000 this provision allows us to pick the day to sell the bonds and and so we spend a little bit of time thinking about things like what economic news is going to be known or you know um is there something else happening in the world that we want to avoid a particular day and so those two individuals the board is providing authority to actually sell execute the contract to sell the bonds and then the board ratifies at your next meeting which is expected to be your January regular meeting in the last slide I I've reviewed this through our you know uh our process will help you match expenditures do the Investments monitor those Investments provide you regular updates on the expected interest ranks and comply with IRS regulations the reason you have IRS regulations to comply with is that the interest rates are tax exempt interest rates so when the bond holder receives your interest payment they do not pay tax when they receive that which means they will offer you a lower interest rate it's a benefit to you as a school district by get providing a benefit to the the investor just as a point of curiosity who are the investors that are T like that are typically buying these types of bonds yeah that's a good question um what did you say they said Outfitters that's his business yeah um you know it it's they're owned by individuals insurance companies mutual funds um usually that tax exemption I just described means that school district bonds are more valuable for people who pay a higher tax rate so it's mostly owned by wealthy individuals who pay a high tax rate because they're they're shielding from taxes or corporations um that are you know have the same same goal they're also seen as very secure Investments because the tax space is very stable here plus we have that State Credit enhancement program on it so you're able to borrow at a much lower interest rate than your average business would be in the current market environment sure like an economics lesson right here all right cool there's your smiley face great and then do are do we need to take action now or do we look at this other piece first uh in your packet is more the the narrative behind this the pre-sale Finance plan that was included in the email that you gave us Michael y we don't need to walk through that that's kind of the nuts and bolts yeah it's more it that's more for the Cur it's a deeper layer of the same I provided you the key details here in the presentation earlier y okay so when those funds come in and before we do any construction draws what do you think the kind of Interest could we pull from those if we're not doing work till June why um I hesitate to be to be too specific it it could be a six it will certainly be a six fig number and it could be it could be a seven figure number depending upon how long the project takes I mean you're you're in today's world you would be earning more than 4% interest rate on $20 million you know if you hold those funds for more than you know 4% times 20 million is $800,000 if you hold it for a year um so that's why how I'm kind of giving you that now interest rates have been going down uh over the last few months especially on investment rates and actually we expect the Federal Reserve to take action to make those rates go down again next week the market does expect that so it's certainly not guaranteed funds and that's why we kind of work through a process after the closing to to select Investments to actually fix some of those interest rates which will shield you from interest rates going down further so we'd be buying things like Bank CDs and and US Treasury very very safe Investments but to lock in that interest level so that you have good information about the project it'll be a significant number unlike that Charter School person that went out and hedge fund $3 million yes we don't jail body here wants scre we don't do that and and then as far as like pma's fee structure how does that work is that is that is this paid for like your guys's fees in that 24 Million number or is that through some other mechanism yeah it's a part of that $123,000 of cost of issuance that I show you it's it is actually detailed out in the that other document that's in there um our fee based it's a calculation based upon the size of the borrowing this estimates it at $61,000 the other parts of it are the rating agency charge the fee and you have bond attorneys hired through this process that provide legal opinions and um and then there's some other much smaller miscellaneous costs that are built into that okay and those are pretty much fixed at this point those aren't going to necessarily change based on how much interest we earn or something like that you guys don't have like an advisory fee or something you're skimming off that no so what I just quoted you is our fee to help you sell the buns in terms of the the Investments there are um to add a full transparency the the when we sell you a bank CD or US Treasury we do have a fee um that should pay at the offset the way that that typically works is that if we were to sell you a US Treasury and we were able to the US Treasury was selling in the Market at 4.15% for example you we would buy it at 4.15% and sell it to you at 4% the difference between that is how we how we make money on the Investments now the funds are held in the minust fund which is a fund that is administered and uh we don't own the fund to school districts there's over 210 school districts in the state that own and there's a board similar to you that um ultimately manages that fund and may have hired PMA to help you to help administer and Market that fund and so this is a long way of saying the funds that are liquid in the money market fund like many of your operating funds are now currently we make money on that too because we're hired to administer that fund and so there's no uh in terms of selling you Investments we make similar amount of money either way so it's really about which puts us in the position where we're doing trying to do the best thing for you in terms of what is the best way to hold the money how much should be liquid versus fixed so that you can you can maximize the interest earnings and protect yourself from lowering rates as well sure thank you absolutely any other questions no I think we just need a motion to adopt this resolution I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution the sale of school building authorized second Stakes are high I don't know any any further [Laughter] discussion discussion no all in favor I I those oppos resolution is adopted all right Michael thank you again for making the drive up here we appreciate you and love our partnership so thank very happy to be here yeah thank you so much all right okay so 8.3 is our truth in taxation slotted time spot but we've got a a shair 15 yeah 17 minutes so maybe we should move on and in interest of time we've got enough time to start on 8.5 which is our discussion with IC on next steps yeah and then we'll see how this goes and we might have to break this up into two parts does that sound okay absolutely okay okay so we are going ahead to 8.5 right now all right let me see yeah so the 8.5 is just talking about next steps and we we you just authorized the sale of the the money right the sale of the bonds we know that in February the money flows in the door uh so begins uh the the process for implementing implementing the project approved by the voters which was all question number one 24175 million so um Lori is here from IC to walk us through like okay what do we do next like how do we how do we pull together again the project oversight committee what does stakeholder group involvement look like what does that whole design phase look like kind of one of the next things over the next six months that we should be looking at and then what's the board's role or how do we what does the board do um as it pertains to all of that so thanks for being here Lori yes absolutely do we have slides for this you emailed this to me didn't you you did see all right share screen window how about this one there there we go if I can't see there we go okay well thank you for having me here tonight um loron with IC uh so what we're looking at um can go to the first slide or the next one here Chris um so this is just a snapshot of of the agreement that you had with IC back when you decided that you wanted to you know you knew you had some facility needs and and you hired ICS to help you walk you through that process that phase one that's where we did that assessment and data Gathering and then came up with a plan for the district um to then decide to bring to voters so that one was completed um back in June of 24 and then after that we uh went into phase two and that's where we did the the referendum communication so we helped you as a district uh come up with uh language marketing material basically a campaign to help inform your community and and get the information out about the referendum um now we are to phase three which it looks like I'm missing a it's actually looks like phase two but it is phase three so I apologize for that uh Dan you didn't point out my misprint earlier maybe you saw that earlier two 2.0 2.0 yes I'm gonna correct it on my PowerPoint so I don't do that again um so that this is what we call is our implementation now we have funding approved and once funding is approved then we can move into actually implementing the project and moving into a design what this requires so this was part of our original agreement but ultimately we know when we we put that agreement together we didn't know the scope will work or when the funding would be approved so oops so what we do when it comes to phase three is that's where we enter into what we call AIA a contracts or the Project Specific um uh design so that phase three we're going to go through the the design of the project and then all the way through construction so weird all of a sudden I can't sh that's another option being disconnected we just lost the whole me yeah it it disconnected right at the beginning as well but it came back on weird that is weird you're disconnected so I all of a sudden it's it's never done that before all right sure thinking broke it yeah well yeah it was adding in that other Dash mark to make it a three instead of a two can't do it too let me try it this way okay now that worked okay GMA okay so this phase three is like I said that's going to be our design and construction of the project and bring to bring you to the completion of the construction so if you go to the next slide um IC is with phase three we have a delivery model that we're recommending which we call program management and what this is is this is a single Source accountability that the District would have one contract with IC and IC would manage all the professional fees within their contract that way it's not the district having to navigate and and work through the different um Professional Services ICS does all of that um and with that you can see here we do you guys know John and Cat from dsgw they would be your architect um they would continue to be the architect uh we have cmta doing our mechan mechanical electrical and civil and then we have L Northland Consulting Engineers out of Delo for the structural they are part of our team and would be part of these AIA contracts that you're looking to to approve the resolution to to agree to tonight um along with under that contract we also have the construction management and that's overseeing the construction itself uh day-to-day um construction and overseeing your contractors so once bids are out and we break ground we have somebody here at the district that is overseeing all the construction and making sure we're on time we're we're answering questions for contractors and and we're within the budget uh they'll also be going through and and over or uh conducting our construction meetings along with our project oversight committee um contractually so that is a contract that the district has with IC contractually your contractors uh with the funding it is public dollars so we have to do low bid and with that uh we as uh you have to have those contracts would be contractual to the owner so IC would manage the contractors but the actual contract would go directly to you as a district from the contractor um and that is something that we can't control that that is legally how we have to set this up due to the funding source so when we buy stuff we're buying brick and mortar we're buying materials that's in that General construction Mechanical Contractors we would be paying them for the stuff and or procuring through other pipelines yeah typically so they're going to invoice you for the the things that they have um ordered and we're going to make sure they don't just order them we're going to make sure it's on site before you actually uh pay them so we help review those invoices to to make sure that to give you confidence that yeah that work is being done and it's here on site uh we don't want to run into an issue where they ordered it but we don't see it and then maybe they or you know it never does shot that that will get us in trouble so we're here to manage that for you but ultimately the school district would cut the check to the contractor once we say yeah that's right got um we do also have a retainage that we keep from that and that's from all the invoices so at the end of the project we have some leverage if work isn't being done we have dollars that the that they have invoiced but haven't been paid yet and we can say once all these items are completed including what we you know are the onm manuals the operation and maintenance manuals there's as built drawings all the documents that we're requiring them to hand to the district we make sure that's in hand before we release the retainage and that retainage just keeps them from or it just helps them make sure that gets set in on time because it has you know that does happen where all sudden they disappear um so that retainage is a little is a way for us to help make sure that the project gets completed on time um and then if there were Chris anything through a service Co-op or any you know a Furniture um if it's Innovative Furniture office supply or something that you're purchasing directly to I mean that that would be coming out of that construction budget um that you guys would cut a check for directly we can help manage it but you would cut you would pay most contractors they're not going to submit like one draw with one receipt on it they're gonna do you have a number of say you want to collect 10 bills before they send it in or do they just do every single one we'll set up uh an agreement where they Pro they would bill us monthly or or build a district monthly so we don't want them you guys to be bombarded by um yeah every time they get an expense that you get a that you get a bill we'll we'll set up in they will have a separate AIA contractor contract that goes from them to the district and within that we'll talk about the Billy and we we help um that language craft that language yeah but you're right we don't want to have a bunch of individual expenses yet do we no than you all right and I got to add you to this list too I apologize um so this is our project team and missing some names on here but we'll we'll get that we'll add them in on the owner side yeah I'm missing some names we're missing some names yeah okay text up we'll fix that I'm confident about our our our design team and so this is just kind of outlining who we plan to have on the team from all the different Professional Services um this isn't allinclusive this is going to be more of our main designers and and Engineers um but we know that dsgw they have other people working on their team these are just going to be their main point of contact UM and Cat probably would be our main person um she'll be the one giving updates on on the design and and you can see cmta all you know we have three mechanical engineers that are specific to the project a couple electrical and one Syle um again they have technicians and other people on their team to help them through the process these are our main points of contact and then we have the Northland Consulting Engineers we will update you as a district and who uh who would be on what we call the project oversight committee yeah last time when we were meeting that included our activities director Marley our two community ed coordinators so that's Lacy and Jens because they have a lot of knowledge about how the gyms and the locker rooms and all that stuff are are used Josh Blan principal on there um Teresa olberg and we didn't have Cindy and Terry but they would be in a user group as we get into the nitty-gritty on the office area and the nurse's office and that kind of stuff so um yeah we'll tighten that up and get that updated yes you can just kind of see who we have as a and we are adding um Lil rard she's a high school special ed teacher because she's got a a lot of knowledge about a lot of those special ed spaces that we talked about um and kind of the intricacies of that so she's asked to be added to that group I'll go through the design process and then I'll touch a little bit on the different um approval process between the the full scoreb the project oversight committee and then the and and Chris as a superintendent so why don't we do the design we got five minutes so why don't we do the design process and then take a pause yeah okay so here is what to expect in the design process we're in the predesign as soon as we get contracts approved and signed we have um our internal group will be setting up backgrounds getting some getting the existing conditions um documented understanding the scope of work and and getting ready for what we call is a kickoff meeting and we will we're scheduled right now uh January 9th to have a kickoff meeting with the district to to Really introduce the entire design team and and kick off the whole design process once we get into design there's three levels in that design process we have schematic design which is still pretty conceptual but making sure that um we understand the scope of work and and what's entailed in the project we have design development that's when we get a lot of the that's a lot of the details in what kind of mechanical systems are we tying into what are we you know what kind of construction are we doing pre-cast are we doing block they're getting more of those details and that's material wise but they're also meeting with a lot of user grou so they're going to want to understand you know what kind of so we do have a new special ed space conceptually we do what does that mean so what do we really need in there to make this space work for them and that's where we'll have what we call user groups to understand that gather a bunch of information just so you know just in transparency it doesn't mean they get everything they want we still have a budget right so we'll take that information try to accommodate as much as we can um and the project oversight committee will help navigate that to make sure that um scope and budget are still in alignment and and then expectations are met finally we have what you call construction documents this to me is where we're we're dotting the eyes and crossing our tees and it's a lot to do with a specification um any any when you go out for a bid we have two documents one is your your drawings your plan set and is a specification book the specifications are all the details so we make sure that the contractors everyone's bidding the same information uh or understand it tells all the the um what is expected of the construction itself that's going to talk about materials um Brands you know things that they can and cannot bid um so that's what that construction document would be and that's where we sign off on that um or that's where we sign off and complete the drawings and then look to go into our our construction and construction is where we consider the bidding so we'll go out to contractors and look for low we with this funding you have low biders so we go out we have multiple different Scopes that we are asking contractors to bid on uh once bids are received and within budget then we'll continue um in a recommendation to to accept the bids and then continue into Construction and that's where our design team too once we get into the kickoff meeting we talk about phasing you guys have a definitely have some areas that you know we're going to have two solid Summers of construction but you have areas too can we get all that work done over a summer well we start looking at your front entrance and that office area and then renovating your your um Commons that's a lot of work and so the design team will have to come up with how do we f the construction and and make sure that we can optimize when kids are out of the building um so that's during the construction and then looking to wrap up construction the fall of 27 would be the intention any questions on the on the designed phase no and then we'll uh start with that next slide uh as soon as we done with truth and Taxation um you think of a question we'll come back to it here in just a little bit but um sorry to make you pause Lori that's all right we'll play yes thank you Lori yes um okay so we are going to jog back up the agenda 8.3 which is our truth and Taxation presentation here scheduled for 6: PM um and that's 559 so perfect timing got ter over to give the presentation hello hello Michael are you staying here just for the fun yeah I mean I mean this is your bread and butter he's gonna ask me he was gonna I did drive n I'm gonna drive nine hours I might as well listen to Lori talk about your project you're ding back you're not well tomorrow yeah this is the hottest thing going on tonight in might as well stay pack room I we packed the room all right well welcome public all those that are maybe you know viewing this later than uh December 12 at 6m um I'm Teresa oberg I a business manager at Cook County schools and I'm here to present truth and Taxation um about Levy and our budget um the first slide is a slide that the school board has seen numerous times it's the levy cycle um it kind of plays the course over three act within three years but twoyear process um the levy that's certified in 2024 is paid in 2025 for the school district to use in fiscal year 26 which you know enters PRS so the next slide is kind of the timeline in more detail the school district timeline is um in the summer we collect information I input things to mde so that they can shoot up preliminary numbers um that we certify in September um and then if there are referendums like we had this year uh on November that can affect what the levy what happens to the levy um and then between November 25th and December 30th we do what we are doing right now have a truth and Taxation meeting um and then property taxes are collected in 2025 um so then as far as taxpayers timeline um in April so in the spring um taxpayers receive their valuation from the county the notice in the mail uh they have an opportunity to challenge what their valuation is in late spring early well uh late spring early summer so you usually it's in June time sometime and then um November 10th mid November the county delivers the property tax notices that have our preliminary numbers on it so it shows what we certified in September and then in um November now all taxing um taxing authorities have their meeting just like this so they have meth the county and then in March the tax statements go out for payable taxes in 2025 um so we can flip to the next page for the next screen is a sample um a tax statement that went out um and shows so this is a great example because on it it shows the proposed taxes those are not the actual numbers that will be actually taxed to this particular property owner um it has the language on the bottom that says that your school district was scheduled to hold a referendum at the November general election if the r referendum was approved then these numbers may be different essentially so that will be the case for all taxpayers in Cook County this year because our certified Levy or excuse me our preliminary Levy was much less than our certifi Levy that we're going to stif buy to so that's just an example um property taxes are collected on two Bas tax bases referendum market value and net tax capacity um referendum market value excludes um seasonal wreck so cabins and then the egg land so whatever is left after the house garage and one acre and then net tax Capac capacity is the value of all property and then you multiply it by a class rate so then um based on that you would determine your piece of the pie extense the next screen kind of shows an example of four properties of the same value so residential property commercial value seasonal Ron and egg property all 400,000 and what their tax will market value is so the residential property has a homestead credit applied so their taxable market value is less um and then what their ta net tax capacity so what part of their value is taxed for the net tax capacity and then what the referendum market value so when you're calculating what tax you owee you take that value so for instance the $3,893 over the whole County's value of net Tex capacity so you get your percentage um of what you would owe of that pi and those pies are made up are there's two pies in our Levy referendum market value pi and the net tax capacity Pi um have any questions on that I'll Che on that a little bit you can figure out your own I go on that but you know that's just me um the next slide is uh provided by PMA thank you Michael Hart um they break out so we're looking at this home value of 400,000 and they break it out as to what is net tax capacity and what is referend to market value um the top three are based on net tax capacity so the um items that are taxed on all properties in Cook County not just not just those residentials so it includes the seasonal wreck and the Eggland um and then the bottom two are the referend amerk of value so those that have that Homestead and the Bas basically people who live here I mean for the general speaking um and that is where you would find our um operating referendum and um whereas the big darker bluish gray color would be our um new Bond referendum um can I ask a quick question absolutely yeah how will um like the new apartment complex that's being built like how how does that end up being classified is it each individual unit like Could That Be homesteaded by some I guess they don't own them so it'll be like it'll be part of commercial commercial just renting them yeah they're just renting them and so it's a commercial Venture so it's just all commercial right so the renter themselves don't pay the tax on it but they do by way of rent but it's it's a commercial rate Apartments have a their own classification so this is there's like 35 different classifications State and so we're showing you the most important ones here but they would have their own classification that calculates the that tax Capac but it would be one tax statement for that parcel yeah gotta um is that does that do Apartments contribute to the referendum Market yes because they're commercial right because they're commercial they're commercial tax yeah okay thanks so it'll just so that piie that amount that we are asking for in that um it is just divided up by that more so it would reduce right it's adding to the tax Spas sure so it'll reduce the impact to everyone else because there's more value within that tax space no um okay so yet another slide from PMA this one is showing the same information showing that $400,000 value um compared over time with inflation so it's kind of comparing that same house per se um over time and as you notice we had kind of like a general downward Trend but then we add our um Bond referendum so that's where that increase is coming but if you go to the next slide um if it's an interesting comparison to our neighbors and what we this was actual numbers for La for 2024 so you don't see the um Bond referendum in there yet but even if we add the bond referendum in there it's you know was what $500 is so it still keeps us on that low end as compared to our neighbors as far as what we're paying taxes on a $400,000 home what was the number we could check6 526 so 526 puts us right here between m you Superior I mean I don't know what they're all those districts are or counties are experiencing too maybe they've also increased decreased whatever but still comparatively um we're not taxing our more than our neighbors yeah um the next slide shows the total the yep the total tax levy so it's showing just the two buckets the two parts of the pie the net tax capacity and the referend of market value and then what it makes up in total so our Levy will be 3, 38997 for 20 pay 2025 and so looking at it from a couple different angles um you can also look at it voter approv versus other so V approved um and this is how it is shown on our tax statements it's broken out um voter voter and non voter and then the next one shows just the different um categories so the First Column is the operating referendum so the $800 per pupil that we have um the voter approved operating referendum um the second column is additional kind of General P per pupil it's calculated per pupil um but that one is board approved um then the next one is ltfm uh safe schools unemployment insurance those type of things and then our debt services so the first the first Debt Service one is the building bonds and the second one is some um abatement bonds that we did for the parking LS and for our total and then for those that love looking at numbers this is all the same information but just in the number format and it's showing um the exact amounts the highlights here um early childhood education because there was an increase in net tax capacity it generated additional funds so that's a UR ra for us in that sense um and because now our enrollment is stabilizing and we're getting better at projecting that because for a while there when we were coming back from Co we were probably over projecting so then there there are always these adjustments these negative um changes to our Levy so that's um leveling off so we're seeing a a little bit of an increase there and then most of the change to the levy this year is due to the building the school building bonds um so that's where the large increases from and then as we talk about the levy we have to also talk about the bud and this slide is kind of misleading in way um because we're talking about our payable 25 Levy but we're comparing it to our current budget so it's really it skews it a little bit so if we were to um add in revenues that would be similar to the um School building bonds it would probably be about a 30% payable for ly compared to the rest of the revenue but we'll see what that shakes out when we're actually putting that into our revenues so it's kind of a little bit skewed so hope we just move on from that one um so our current budget as we appr that the board approved um is appears to be a slight deficit spending but that is primarily due to three buses that we'll be purchasing and um but otherwise I think the budget is pretty on track and and I I don't see us going um going a skew from it too greatly um there might be some adjustments as we um start spending money initially when the sale of bonds happen there's an an initial payment that wouldn't be in our budget so there might be a budget revision just because it might be so significant that um it' be better to revise so that might come at a later time and then if we were to look at our Revenue by Source um the levy is included in the local source so things like our school trust lands um tent revenues delinquent taxes all the taxes is part of that local Revenue um other local sources include donations athletic fees lunch purchases um and then our federal sources of income our title funds our federal special ed funds impact Aid and the lunch program and then of course our state funds are gened formula and whatnot that's our largest source of funding is from the state um and then our the the largest portion of our expenses are um our staff so our people about 70% of the budget is going towards staff and then equally purchased service is another we could probably lump that in with staff because it's things that we have to provide for our our students a lot of special ed services like through Northland that we don't have maybe people in the building for or they come here and they aren't on our staff um and then the if we pop down supplies and materials and the capital expenditures are three buses that we'll be purchasing here soon so but this is a very similar very common High chart that we see each year so two-thirds in other words is Staff huh yep yep and that's common yeah no I mean that's the way it [Music] is um well I mean if you think about the industry right we're educating and that's our that's our tool as people we're not manufacturing no um so I guess at the end of this meeting is the um board recommendation to certify the levy and the dollar amount that is presented on the screen which is also I believe your motions but we don't have to do that exactly now because I have to offer enough opportunity for questions us and comments everybody calling in on the bat phone yeah do we got anyone and if you are watching online after December 12th if you have questions feel free to to call us at the school and the district office I'd be happy to answer questions great any questions from board members want to thank Teresa for her hard work on this uh and also thank Michael and the help that you provide in in kind of explaining the ramifications of the bond referendum many many many months ago so we knew full well what walking into so uh thank you no surprises it's good fantastic thank you um so um let's see so our 8.4 is to approve the final pay 25 Levy and the recommendation is to approve the amount presented here um of 3,389 496 78 correct round up no it's good a not here that's not here make a motion I'll second it okay further discussion those in favor I I opposed motion carries than you mberg you can go print your document yeah if I can get it to doesn't like it I will go print see if I can get to go you can yeah I who has to sign it the clerk or no yeah okay cool all right Miss Lori come on back up here let's find your other slides okay so we just did 8 3 was the presentation and 8.4 was the approval of the final Levy so we are going back to 8.5 of our discussion um with Lori from ICS on the next steps for the building project one second here please work all right okay okay as we step into this I want to um shed light on something that I didn't when I as I teed it up because we're going to be walking now into I see kind of like how is the board involved and some of that conversation um the approval tonight if you look in the weeds of your agenda what what actually the resolution does is it authorizes me to step into negotiating and agreeing to these agreements that are also linked in your board agenda so it's all in the board agenda it's all transpar parent um but so you understand what happened with those agreements um first of all I got a proposal from IC for the two agreements for both the construction managing management and the architecture agreements which are both in your packet um then we uh walked through it in detail then uh I went ahead and reached out to Kennedy and Graven a legal attorney uh to pour through it on our behalf um I tend to like to use Kennedy engraven a law firm that I worked with over my career um and the attorney there Peter Martin had recently done a project with IC so it they were able to grab what they negotiated with Goodridge was it I think um and provide that as kind of a template um so we got that and then I gave it to Peter Peter walked through it got back to me a four-page document of recommendations and suggestions and things to talk to Lori about then I met with Lori and uh the president Andy right remember all these names um then we poured through then all of the suggested changes from Peter Martin and embedded them in there and then Lori kick back the drafts that you see in your packet tonight so that's kind of the product after all of that vetting uh and then um I didn't want to sign anything that wasn't transparent to the board and to the public and so we put it in our board packet tonight for the whole world to see It'll be um archived there and then we did invite Reena and Dan because of the flexibility in their work schedules we not work schedules um to come in here at 3:30 today and kind of walk through it with um Lori um so that we had another chance for some other people to be involved and Dan and Reena both asked great questions Reena with her experience with these contracts with County and others has been helpful so um we did all that due diligence to get to this place where we're ready to say all right we're ready to sign these agreements and Lor's walking through kind of at a really high level of what's in those agreements in a really legally in the weeds level so this is way easier to read than those 30 page documents by far 58 58 page documents gonna say um so thank you Lor for summarizing it it's a lot easier to read on a flowchart than it is in those agreements much appreciated so that when we left off with the design process how long do you think that design section there schematic design free design how long do you think that'll take so I'm anticipating that that will go till the summer of 25 so this coming summer this coming summer the design will be finalized and we will be looking at and exploring when we go out for bid uh because there is some strategy behind that to make sure we're capturing contractors um getting the best bids uh from contractors we don't want to do it in July because they're so busy nobody's looking at how long my they're not looking at documents to bid they're trying to get through a summer take advantage of Summer construction so I'm anticipating design will go till the end of summer of 25 we would end up um going out for bid probably in the fall of 25 October November December oh yes correct yeah it used to be the case where um similar to what Michael Hart was saying about um uh sale of bond would be January's your sweet spot um that used to be what we would consider The Sweet Spot of bidding uh Co put a big wrench in that so we are now seeing that it's it's a it's better to go earlier and and guarantee if we want to break ground in the spring of 26 um earlier gives them a better chance of uh getting their materials and and mobilizing uh and contractors are used to that now so they're they're looking for bids or they're looking for projects to bid earlier they're looking to fill their next summer earlier versus it used to be they were looking in January so um and the bidding phase is usually a four to six week process that we that we have bids out available that are being advertised one thing too just to note during that bid phase ICS is actively reaching out to contractors and it'll be part of the p conversation also is if there's local contractors we want to be contacting them and making sure they're aware of the project making sure they're bidding it we try to get a we can see who's looked at it through a program called procore but we want to make sure they show up on bid day and the more bids we could get per scope the better um the more competitive is and the better you chance that we have to get to get everything filled and a project that we can be awarded um so that that's kind of what you can see in the next 12 12 months do those bids come back to the board for approval or do that depend on the next slide uh that would come back to the if the next slide is an example of a a matri approval Matrix but yes to it comes back to the board a board recommendation on to approve the contracts is that that's a level of approval we're looking for all right and so this is like I said this is an example and this is something um the project manager that we have on from IC is Damen Williams um this will be something reviewed at one of the early POC meetings and what this is is just giving you an idea of we have the full School Board we have the project oversight committee and then we have the superintendent what is their responsibility and what's our approval process and this is not what Cook County is doing 100% um but this is what you can kind of expect as we're saying okay we can't have everything always come back to the board because it would it it'd be so time consuming or it would require you to have a lot of special board meetings so there's a reason to have different layers of approval to make sure that the process can can be streamlined and and efficient um but at the board level you guys would approve this Matrix saying we all agree this is how we're going to go through this construction project um so this here where we're looking at like minor schedule modifications the POC would be yeah give us the green light that we can have those minor ones major we're going to have a major schedule change in the schedule um let's look at probably we that would be something we'd say the board typically would want to be part of that conversation and that approval again these are examples so it could change budget review um the POC is going to see that at each one of their meetings and then the school board's going to probably see it at those three key design phase um that's schematic design Development and Construction so you guys will both see that there's there's no real approval process but you guys would see that and review it um that 3 point or 3A that's at um bid review and approval so that's that contractor typically we see the full board design changes if they're minor the POC that's something that we want you're going to meet more often so we want you guys to be able to say yeah it's a minor change go ahead and incorporate that anything major again that would want to come back to the full School Board um change orders this is more so once we get into construction um so we get into construction and something comes up uh you do have what we call a contingency fund and that contingency fund is set aside dollars that we have set aside to to address things unknowns perhaps or something you might want to adding because it makes sense at the time typically what we'd see on a project like this is if that change order is around 30,000 or less we would give Chris or the superintendent authority to say yes or no this keeps our project moving forward and and not uh hang up if something comes up during the design during the construction day we have small periods of time without kids in the building we don't want every change order to have to go back to the PC or the or the school board if it's around that if it's between 30 or $50,000 then we'd be looking at the pooc to to say yeah go ahead you know we have some school board members on that along with other Administration let's let them have the authority anything over $50,000 that that change would come back to the school School Board this is a typical on the size of project that we have seen in the past um that's all talking about um change orders when you're within budget okay that's saying that you still have contingency and you have funds to work with if perhaps you don't have funds then we have um we have a lower threshold and different um we yeah we we come back to the Schoolboard if we're saying we have no funds available we need to come back to the school board you know so that's can we do this are we willing to pull from maybe other funding buckets of of money that we can add to it so um and then construction agreements um General conditions there's just the superintendent anything under 15,000 um you know let's say we need to do a survey if it's under 15,000 um Chris gives the go ahead yep let's go do it soil borings we have things that we're going to have to agree to yep do that if it's a than the school board would would have that approval so that is typically what you would see um and let you can change any of this okay so if you guys say we would rather we don't want to mess around it until Chris can make decisions up to 50,000 we can do that we've seen that if you're like we're uncomfortable we want it down at 20 or 15 we can do that too it's really your comfort level but then you understanding what that might do in our timeline and so you expect to be um looking at this in January to February yes okay correct at that board maybe potentially at that January 23rd board meeting or it could be at the next one but should oh sorry sleep any questions about this but if you wanted to you could do Chris and the board members that are on that PC we could switch anything to the PLC correct yep you you mean just just Chris and those two yeah nothing authority to him and those like if it's summertime and the teachers are easy um interesting then your insight's there I mean I feel like kind of like an executive committee sort of thing right yeah we could do that too makes sense a way makes sense you know more people would probably streamline yeah think like instead of just the superintendent you think or having like another B like another call maybe instead of the PC which has a lot of Staff members on it yeah which just different level of accountability I think sure fa that's just a thought and and it might depend on what the change is to you know like sometimes the P might the experience in that group you know might help make that decision but also may not be necessary might just kind of bog it down great suggest interesting to think because I feel like I'd be more comfortable with moving some of those to you no offense if you guys were on with that discussion it doesn't necessitate a full P right and and just keep in mind too when we say approval that does not mean Chris is in a bubble and doesn't talk to anyone about this um we we would highly suggest like this is being talked about this is exposed you can make some phone calls but we don't have to have an organized meeting to necessarily make that approval um I always think it's good to I mean it's transparent and and we have enough meetings that most things if it was of any significance aren't it's not coming out of the balloon right and and more people are involved right so that's just wor is oh you proved this and and then reena's like oh that would have been nice to know yeah well and I feel like it's kind of siloed like you know if we go ahead with this you know having like a sub committee whatever you want to call it with you guys and then however it looks is there a way that it could still get communicated to us without a you know just an email without a full board meeting because that's where I kind of blew my stack a couple times in the uh formulation process and maybe that would alleviate some of that you keep in the know yeah exactly I mean I still reserve the right to blow my stack but it's been known to you know we're about to turn the corner on a new year you [Laughter] know that was funny right there but sort of like the memo kind of thing that we like our board notes kind of thing sort of like like a project that is kind of keeping those Salient sort of things are happening sort of at the front front of the board yeah we we for sure um for sure once we get into construction on Fridays there's a weekly update a weekly construction update that would be emailed to Chris and Chris can distribute that in your board update if you do that Fridays do um and then during the design we can look at that too I I don't want to commit that they do that every Friday um during design but I know they give updates um that that can be distributed out so you're right Eric it's not this isn't intended to leave anybody out of any communication it's just the actual approval piece of it it helps helps move it along well I appreciate as meetings as possible so yes we will continue to update the entire board and everyone um so they know what is happening and we also even if um there isn't any approval we typically you know our project manager it's very common for them to attend a board meeting and give update on where we're at so next steps this is just kind of looking at what you can expect so we did have an internal kickoff meeting yesterday with with our design team just because I know they're anxious to get going um and we're hoping we can kind of Hit the Road running on Monday once we have if tomorrow if we if the resolution gets approved tonight then we can move through and and get this kicked off on Monday um tonight we are looking at approving the resolution to approve um the contracts and then starting the design um on December 16th that kickoff meeting I have early January we're looking at January 9th as a a owner kickoff meeting with the PC uh user group meetings in January and February will be pretty heavy I'm not saying they would end in February but that's probably when the majority will happen our design phase we talked about that a little bit um with our bid phase and then construction really looking at that spring at 26 to to break ground um there is a lot of conversation on how we're going to phase this so this is a this is um a little tentative and I Rely a lot on our Architects engineers and construction manager and project manager to help us lay this out in these early phas phases on on what is that going to look like on the on the construction side so tentatively this is what you can expect it might change slightly what I can be confident about is our goal is Fallout 27 all constructions done so that that's something I'm I'm pretty firm on as far as that's some where we might have to delay School a couple weeks or we we already that's great question Eric is Chris and I were talking a little bit I know you guys is it April that you approve your calendar no later than no later then um so we might want to be strategic in that first meeting with with um the PC on or we keep that on our agenda like how do we want to be strategic on school out and school start that summer that we're trying to get that um The Commons area renovated extra week or two I mean that would be that would be big if and if we still think we can do it so yeah but that'd be summer 26 right or 27 that's I I don't want to commit to what PH what projects are going to be done um when um you know your gym your gym weight room and locker rooms those are pretty Standalone you can you could even have schools could be going on and that can be happening right we can isolate that enter into your building and and moving from this end of the building to the other locker rooms yeah those are things that we're gonna we we still are my design team is we talked about it yesterday we need to come up with a game plan and it's just not set yet so the the the long quick answer to your question Eric is is we will need to account for it in the calendars we just don't know how yet so 2728 could be a long like knocking on the fourth of July basically in the June of 20 if you start a little later the summer of 27 could summer yeah because it's going to be done in7 all 27 so but you but he's saiding you might not start later that summer borrowing time for yeah and then or get out early back get out get out early the spring before or both or both to buy two weeks of construction I mean those are things we'll have to rely on our experts to help us with but we have a lot of we have a lot of capability to do that it just means we got to sacrifice the time in the middle of the year when we're no snow days and use those right you know and winter break and spring break and fall break and all the things right you can trim y um I have a question because we're done with this after this right it's personnel and that's it pretty much so board notes talked about question two or three is that done or what that is a conversation that I want to open up as soon as we're done with this so let's finish this up and then let's go to next tonight tonight oh okay thank you for that intro any questions on next steps or anything on on the what to expect going for so just um just clarify what what we're being asked to approve tonight is uh contracts with IC okay the the language actually authorizes Chris to sign contracts neg and sign contracts um and the negotiation piece they're in there so you guys can see what those contracts are um and the beginning of that resolution just outlines what the contracts are for it's for that question number one to construct um do the design services and construction management okay and basically the contracts that we we looked through and we talked through earlier today I mean they've basically been negotiated right I mean at this point the Ved through legal that's all they're not really going to change based on what we've already we've looked at it's just basically we're authorizing Chris to sign it is at this point they're kind of done and they're in your packet for full transparency so everyone can see what I'm signing and they're um there are these I just have a physical copy there are these a AIA contracts which is like a standard form of these types of Professional Services like all the industry uses this contract right that's single or double there's two contracts in there oh it's single okay I was going to say that's double page but there's two contracts but and Reena and I have both read them and discussed them at length the how do you feel about them um well good I had a couple of questions because one the kind of the big thing and she sort of touched on this on that flowchart um in terms of like who manages who and who has contracts directly with who like we basically have a con the way that's set up is we have a contract with ICS or all of the Professional Services like all the architect work all the engineering all those things which usually constitute about like 15% of a project on the other 85% is actual building but there's all the like engineering and all the drawing and all the management and all those like professional components um and so we the way that these are outlined are agreeing to hire them and basically pay them all of that money and then they hire and manage the actual architect like so dsgw is GNA report to IC we're gonna pay IC and they're going to pay dsgw so we only have to deal with that yep for that part of it for that part of it piece yeah obviously we're going to interact with them but just in terms of like the actual contract which is what you're looking through so we're not going to have like 10 different contracts with all these different entities that we have to kind of like juggle um and so that was kind of my main question because we end up paying IC a lot of money but it's actually all the money that's being paid for all the Professional Services you know which is like industry standard like 15% of the project and that amount is already set right that would not that's fixed at about 3.6 million by five it doesn't change if your bids come in differently would it change then right so yeah so then the the rest of that pool of money that we get we will pay out to all the people on the right hand side of that flowchart to the actual contract Contra buying stuff or whatever but they but their Construction manager will still be over providing oversight we just pay the bills directly on that side the other side we just give them a little some money and they worry about that so if it if the costs overrun or whatever there it's a fix actually so it the the nice thing about this in comparison with like the last Bond project that we did here is it just it cleans up the the process so much more like we had all these problems with the construction last time and not going right and whatever and it was it was a mess getting that finished and dealing with it um and this because we didn't have an arrangement like this we were dealing with the architect and the builders and it's kind of everybody um and it and it was a mess and the superintendent that's not like what they do and the board is involved and like a was kind of in the weeds frankly in that project um so was inefficient and whatever so in this kind of an arrangement it just makes it everything be a lot more efficient and um effic more efficient for our staffs time Etc so and I think you end up paying about the same amount anyways you know so well because everybody's time is valuable right I mean y also answer to your question um this documents very standard right um I don't know if you've seen them before but I just got done reviewing them for the transfer station same really kind of same thing they really standard in terms of responsibilities and roles and Licensing and all that just a lot of yeah I was good with that well I thank you to you both for putting in the time and kind of review with Lori I I did it and I did my job and I did it with due diligence with our legal but it's always good to just have another set of eyes on it so I'm thaned for that is that kind of standard then when the school takes care of that other portion those low bid that is legally you have to Y that we don't have a choice unless we were to potentially different funding mechanisms um there is something that there there's one way kind of around that but not with taxpayer dollars the way that the voters approved it so we have to legally do that and we legally have to take low bidder um so that's something too that that we won't have a choice on um very very minute option if if there that you maybe could get around it but I just you really with taxpayer dollars you just really can't we won't recommend that's the need for really good specs yeah right really good spe and then also on the front end right um really hi also um getting the bidder the contractors that we know are good to the table that's really important too we can't always control that they'll be low bidder but making sure that they are bidding on it is is critical because you guys are going to do a project okay maybe once every seven 10 20 years right I see c s we do projects multiple projects per year so contractors that we work well with and that that they know that we have good specs and drawings um they they don't they want to work well with us because we work together on many many projects so it it is something where we we know how different contractors work and we can get them to the table because they they like working on our projects and they know how we manage a project your location is going to have some limitations I'm not in a kitchen but but that's built into when we developed the budget too is we we understood that so that's in there part of that that uh budget estimate so you mentioned this earlier when you were talking about the kind of holding back some of the like when we're being invoiced we hold back some of that um was that how does that end up working so and are you were referring to like on the construction cost side of that on that column because we're getting invoice for you know $ thousand dollar call it are you and since we're paying them directly and that's not part of like the fee that is being passed through you guys um are you advising us on how much less we pay them or how does that end up getting managed you know what I mean there is a standard retainage fee so every Pro every invoice would be a standard amount that you would withhold from that payment um and we will guide you through that but yeah that it doesn't change it it's not like this contractor we're gonna withhold $500 today percentage based 20% yeah something like that okay it's based on that like payment application yes so it's it's all standard yeah it's like a spreadsheet that it calculates it and okay you sign off on it there's and we even do that on other things like some of our boiler project stuff you know we held back on last payments that's standard proced standard procedure building procedes good question and with like the low bid how do you vet so that you do not get say contractors that we probably really don't want or have a good reputation I mean there's no way around that there's not a way around it but once we receive low bits we vet out the contractors to make sure they included everything um make sure that they can meet the schedule make sure that you know they understand the the the um well the expectations I guess and you know you might you might have someone who really bombed it and they're like for sure they forgot something well we give them an opportunity and if they said they have everything on the drawing it's on them if they um forgot something and are and and accept it they might pull their bid out if they if they realize they may have forgotten something so we did this recently and this will drag your memory but when we did the bids for the boilers we had I think four or five bids um and one was starkly lower than the others we I want to say like $200,000 difference and Ari is who we were working with at the time and we said well we have to go with low bid but you better do due diligence and make sure they understand what the heck's in this bid and so they took 2 for 48 hours and they all had phone calls with them and they vetted the vetting right like did you understand the bid do you have everything on there are you sure you have the capacity to do this and they did so we went with them and they did a good job but it was weird it was a it was a huge difference and we we got the benefit of that uh this time around it worked um but that's the vetting right like are you sure you got it all in there well in that vetting process I mean so in that kind of example you're sort of putting pressure back on them right to potentially withdraw their bid but is there like a formal way for us to like disqualify a bit as like not meeting the requirements know there's a very very small um loophole that you could do that and you could like let's say they have some legal ramifications from the past and they've had been written up for other things you could maybe justify not accepting their bid or if they have any sort of um um yeah like kind of like their bid bond that they haven't paid other projects or they you know have financial troubles you you could potentially um but then but yeah typically we you know it doesn't work that way sure so that that's very small small percentage that that would even apply or work um but we do require you know you'll have to have a bid Bond you have to acknowledge that they've seen all the addendums um so they have to have certain components of their bid to to make sure they qualify and they have to turn their bid in on time and stamped approval so there's lots of things that we're checking the boxes to make sure that they are good contractors and and are able to do the project sounds like the boiler thing is kind of an outlier like in 2024 this stuff just doesn't happen because everything's so expensive and you know I mean I mean some people though they're like you know I don't want to do that project I'm too busy but if I get it for this great I'll do it I think we had some of those bids you know yeah where they put a big number out there maybe not see that too but we know how hard it is to work in Cook County so we're gonna slap that price on it you know or or you can see the opposite you know maybe this contractor has submitted four bids and continued never didn't receive any of them and now they don't have work for the next summer they might low ball it just to guarantee their their employees have work to do sure sure I mean there it goes both ways Market yeah it's the market yeah so the resolution is in your packet uh you can see exactly what you're voting on uh and uh it's in our prints of things to sign tonight so we'll just get signed tonight if it's approved by the board otherwise we'll continue on with questions and discussions welcome C sorry guys embarassing did I even come but this is what haven't had so yeah we're on 8.6 I see that I'm not able to open the resolution which is weird to me are you getting like a drive a can't reach this page is it I was getting those from my computer too and then I logged on to my district one and they were working oh weird so I don't yeah I normally do it for my computer and don't I'm not used to having problems with it yeah was kind of yeah it's a big long resolution authorizing me to sign a contract well I um I'll make a motion that we um approve this resolution I'll second further discussion all those in favor all I those opposed motion is the resolution is adopted okay thank you m would you mind if we go down to the question two question before we go to Personnel yeah that would be fine since we're here and Lor's kind of and it's on it's on point yeah um so is there a different agenda than the one it's been kind I'm not seeing that no it's not on the agenda this is this is just like a continuation of the conversation we just had so we're talking about implementation of construction of question one um and in some sidebar conversations I've had with people since November 5th 6th whenever the election was um there's been a lot of question to me about well it's question to dead or is there an opportunity to ask the question again and I've apparently gotten that question from 10 or 15 people staff to parents of athletes to you know people um and so I thought it relevant enough to do a little thinking about it and then back at the board and say it's really a board decision of whether you want to start noodling around should we take a second run if so when and if so should we think of some other funding like ideas so um I happen to be going to the m conference about two two weeks ago three weeks ago and I know IC is always there and so I threw the question at Jeff schilz who Lori and he came up with like 10 random ideas that we might think about for like seed money for something if we were to go out again because I asked him to be create like what if we just want to have this a different way everything from I RB asking them for some funding at to the legislature to the Minnesota Vikings to um getting the free bleachers from duth talked about before to some kind of capital investment so he put together all these schematics and I said okay some of these are worth talking about and some of them probably aren't um but I don't even want to go down that road if the board doesn't want to go down that road I don't want to waste my time investing in something that's not going to happen um what I will say I I will recommend to the board is if if there's a desire to go back to voters there are four dates in the year when we can do it legally I believe they are April um help me Lor five five February which we're pass February April May August and November right February May April August November and when I was looking at those dates and I was thinking about the leg work to vet things and all of that and looking at having to figure out how an election would happen because we would have to either run it or ask the county to run it for us and pay the county to do it which is about a $1 15ish th000 price tag um I think November of next fall would be the right recommendation um it would be an off year there's no other elections going on in Cook County so there's no City County federal state elections it would be this would be the only thing on the ballot um I talked to Brady Powers right Powers uh and we kind of vetted through with the help of msba that in Cook County it would likely be a 100% mailin ballot situation um and I looked at the voting data and the two precincts that would could be inperson voting were the two gr Ray districts that voted all in favor of question two um unlike the outskirts so it it would make sense to go 100% voting on mailing so as I got to that point then I thought well I'm going to stop now and I'm gonna ask the board like should we be vetting ideas and brainstorming options like thinking about ways to go at this or is this like debt and the voters have spoken and we put it aside if it's dead and we want to go after it two three years from now we lose the economy of the scale of all the contractors and everyone being here if it was approved as soon as November of next year we could take advantage of IC and the contractors and everyone being here and the efficiencies of scale that that that offers so it's kind of one of those it's either dead and it's dead for a while a long while or if we're going to take a second run at it we got about 12 months to knock it out thoughts um worth investigating further don't waste your time linol I would look at your other Roes other than a vote personally I agree I mean the voter spoke I mean and it was a good their I think though is it possible that because it was a good turnout it was detrimental to us right because I think what Chris is expressing and I could be wrong so please correct me if I'm wrong but the people that are going to turn out a non-presidential election an off year are the people who have really strong feelings and are there more really strong yeses or really strong NOS I think that's I think I think it's an I think that go either way yeah so I think it's possible that another round could go I I know I just it would be interesting it might not be as obvious as like all we look at the numbers of how many people voted in Cook County for how many actually voted for the referendum because I we have the yeah we have the like how many voted and didn't even fill out our stuff you know what I mean uh well we have a yes no and but it doesn't account for how many VES right I didn't fill it out would be a no vote right yeah no no no not this one no you had to actually vote I did vote no so we have a yes and a no that's the number we have I just wonder how that correlates to like if you added those two numbers up the yes and the no compared to like presid presidential election or something is there a Gap total G we could look at some of those well so you know kind of to car's Point um doing this Bond referendum during a presidential election the advice was always that's risky don't do it and it was with like they the consultant looked at the demographics and voting history of Cook County was like well you guys have a reasonable shot of getting this thing passed um based on historical information but otherwise it would not be the recommendation to do it right it's actually pretty close-ish you know and so there's something to to be said about that like just on the question of it does it have a chance of passing or not like if if that's the only question we're asking about whether we should do it or not that's not what I'm saying I think does it have a chance of passing if we do it next November when it's not a presidential election yeah I think we probably have a you know following the advice of the people that study this they say it would be a good idea s should we do it you know since the voters have have spoken yeah isn't a good turnout what will you strive for and then should we just let it lie turnout spoke well here's here's what I'm thinking well one the need still exists right that that's not going away we still don't have a track still have we don't still don't have a bus shop don't have a bus shop all those things have bus drivers all those things still exist but maybe I don't think we can they get a decent bathroom get more of them maybe we didn't talk you know maybe we didn't talk to the voters in the right way about it or maybe we need to have another feedback loop and maybe there's some adjust the project that would make it more palatable to the voters again you know maybe there's something that that's a lot of stuff to do when we got all this stuff going well I know but here's the other thing though if there are some other funding sources I mean I I think we should keep the conversation going I'm just going to state that first but if there are some other funding sources let's say it RB says hey you know it was how however much was it 6 million 9 million we we'll throw three million at it now we could maybe say hey we've got money coming in from something some other source so we can get this thing for less money and now and now bond for that difference I mean I think you know that I I think I think we should keep our options open at this point I just say I'm there with you I think at least keeping my options open but because I mean there may be another way to configure this that it's not the same question that that uh but we want the same stuff yes but there may be other funding that doesn't have to come from the voter referendum do you think that the voters rejected the number or the stuff because I kind of think they rejected the number they rejected the number I think it's a little bit of both I think some people rejected the stuff really yeah I think it was looking at that number and looking at what their taxes were yeah I think it's solidly was a lot of sports stuff in there and I think people that ask me questions ask questions about priorities and number one said something about our priorities to some main streamlined academics also a lack of asking for like the science and we already did that right so we asked for a lot of sports stuff and I definitely heard people respond to that a little bit we're asking for a lot of most of the questions I got people who had a bad experience going to school here in the past it's a variety of things see I got the opposite I got why what do we need the admin for we need this four stuff oh funny although I'm starting to distrust Reena and I we choose the same darn shoes so I can't even can't even take this discussion seriously when we show that's fun clicks with the vote putting that out you said a brown 15,000 but then if you got to do a mail how how much does that add a mailing out and a mailing back I'm giving you just total ballpark numbers oh it's it's 10 to $30,000 depending on how big your district is how many things you have to station um I think I in my conversation with Brady he said that the 2015 referendum the county ran for the district and it was 100% mailin um so we could look back at that um and he threw napkin math of 15 grand at me for that um so I think realistically that's a ballpark number and that comes out of our general fund it's it's you know we gota we got to run it um I would be I would strongly advise having the county run it and not asking Kay and me and Teresa to all a sudden figure out how to run a general election because well we might end up spending more than $15,000 an hour they've got it mechanized and they know how to do it so like just do it well on the other part of that that too is if we W you know just sort of understanding that these kind of needs continue to exist and it's an issue that we're gonna have to continue to Grapple with and and try to solve probably um if we do it a lot further out in the future it's going to cost more what are these needs you speak of well we don't have a track I don't see that as a need you don't think so I don't think so I mean and I say this as a parent of a a proud parent of a track student it's six weeks out of the year and I think that's what some of the ERS responded to well I think but I think that part of the messaging that was not maybe as good as it could have been was it all it it's we have a track program and no track but we also in implementing this facility it's going to open up use for lots of other things so maybe just six weeks of the track program but it's a Community Asset we don't have a track in Cook County period is it also something that we could Revitalize the field we have and add the track and downsize 4 million to 1.5 well that's and and maybe and that's why I was wondering like maybe there's a modification to the project maybe we don't just go and ask for the same thing again but maybe there's you know what's the issue here like how do we how do we modify this to make it palatable because yeah as it was it wasn't it wasn't a yes but can we make it a yes if it was this or if it was that if it was less the plan I'm sure it was removing everything out there you're removing bleach recept really and my eyes are could be sufficient for now yeah you know they're not dilapitated or falling down or there's things that just needs a facelift it doesn't need a whole new we don't need a turf field we don't need certain things but well and now well the the tur field though did allow for girls softball which we we we're not having that happen either right now I mean it's just a matter of time till the city takes down the park where those kids play and no they will never take that they were trying to I think never is a strong word but something consider we could get that property if we wanted it I mean the other thing is on kind of the planning front is W Park no the Ballfield over here that's a different but the girls are practicing at the wreck Park and they have yeah but but last year they were playing more here than they ever have they started because but we kind of have IC at our disposal right now too which in terms of like supporting some exploring some of this you know we're sort of within the bubble of them being able to help us with that right now you know as this pushes out that that we won't you know we would have to like repay for that if we were going to kind of do that too so there's just some things about the fact that we're sort of have all of this going on you get you can benefit from that economy of scale and make it not as expensive if we were to do it again in the future so and I don't think it has to be this or like do we go with the exact this and right do we look at additional funding sources do we modify what we're asking for and how do we repackage it in a way that's the most beneficial because it would be if we found another funding source that would cover a a decent chunk right and we can say well no we we believe this is a really big need we have have a funding source we've modified to kind of the essentials and let's get these things for our students I think multiple Pathways kind of say something different to our community that's not no we it's not that we didn't hear you well I think I think it does say we still think this is important and so we're willing to relook at the way we've done this to see if there's a way that is more economical for the community or you know that still means same basic goals and needs so I I think it's I think it should still be on the table um who knows where that's going but I don't think we're done with the discussion yet that's my opinion and I'm also not ready to say like sign us up just like we were for November you know like let's let's talk about so um some strategy if that's the case then the Board needs to know that just like in order to be ready for November this last time around we had to vote by June for what that question was so that gives us a the clock starts ticking now so we would have the next four or five months to be having some conversations about how to reframe things how to six months total yep um the spring Primary in 26 is too long to kind of utilize these guys right okay yeah and and the idea of next November is there's nothing else on the bout so so you're not bringing people out for and that's a strategy that many districts very very specifically go after think one that's different here is when when we do the mail out ballots everybody gets one if you're doing it in a different District where people have to come to the precinct and you make your you combine your pulling places to the district office well you no but you but but only people that really care about the is they're all going to go they're all going to get a about right but I to me the mail the mail ballot is almost a liability agreed but we can't change the three pres I get that but but in those districts where people go where it's not an election generally you're correct yeah you're correct so I it's a bigger lover yeah it is my PRI voted for district or question two and three yeah there's the one yeah they did I did my job you did job we're trying here ER so the timeline is the next six months to have it finalized and what would be the next what would be like the first like or vote I mean we're talking here but like we're obviously not taking action well I'm hearing it's worth asking questions I'm hearing it's not dead um but maybe it's scaled back and maybe there's other so I don't know I I I think I got to think back to our last one we agreed to engage IC you know a year and a half ahead of time and well we don't necessarily need to do that now cuz ICS is already engaged so it might be as soon as it might be as soon as start throwing together some work sessions to talk about how to reframe things and scale things back while I'm vetting things with it RB and Grant house child and the Vikings and anybody else who can throw money at us um like they're having a good year they should be they are and that we we almost have their local our mascs that there's a former player that oh what's his name H CJ Ham's from duth yes he's a denfield kid but he's got a connection to the shore anyway there's a guy I have to ask my dad that comes up every year for a dog s digging deep now at least to build a connection right sometimes that you have stronger social capita than you realize sometimes well and to Jeff's credit he likes to get creative right and uh so are there ways that maybe you're asking the public for 4 million or 5 million rather than 9 million well maybe you can find if there's any traction any real traction with some of the stuff you know that could be I mean you some of the stuff you probably quickly realize if there's you know for sure and I'm happy to accept that I am sometimes wrong but I got a really good vibe I know sucks sometimes I'm wrong but I got a really good vibe from the V like the the vocal people people that there wasn't like some major vote no or some really negative push and what I suspect is more likely people got there and they were like I wasn't really thinking about this that much but I don't want my taxes to go up no you know and it was already a big ask it was a big ask and it was a big ballot there was a lot of stuff there I don't know I thought it was pretty easy to fill okay have trouble either but there are plenty of people that I watched them going and vat and they were not taking time to fill out the whole ballot that's funny thank you appreciate it yeah and thank you so what's the next step on this we got a we're gonna talk about it more I think talk about more Crystal oh I would love to vote on it tonight be done you might Eric doesn't want to waste his breath on it anymore exactly we're not lose graciously We're not gonna we're not going to even talk about it anymore tonight so okay we're going to move on to 9.0 which is our Personnel 9.1 is our new hires designations leave of absence slate packet I got you know where those come from um okay in the pack we've got it here in the packet two coaches hired one resigned and a pair of professional hire rehired actually great to see John back who joh John Boy worked with my daughter a ton in the past and I had really good experience professional yeah so he was in my D's of course she wasn't G I don't know all these things work sure it was a really wonderful second by I do have a question but I don't know if I'm allowed to ask it you can we'll second it first and then we'll have a discussion but then it's approved no no we have to vote to approve it oh okay I'm not going to Second it you're not gonna second the new hire resignation go ahead okay discussion now is now we discuss it's okay well I don't know what I'm to ask in so in Robert's Rules actually we're not even supposed to discuss things until we have a motion in a second that all right the time now was the time is this resignation voluntary it was submitted by the coach okay so they're okay with resigning I mean because there was controversy and now this person resigned so that's what I'm gonna ask fair question yeah but not at a public board table we can have a conversation on this is interesting and I um maybe not quantifying find like a a right or wrong but we used to whenever someone resigned have access to see their letter of resignation and it felt very transparent and that's this has been a long time right this been probably since about the time that Chris especially something where that we used to we used to be able to see these things and so when I saw it I felt better about I've done my due diligence and you know I saw it and there's no you know for all for all of them you never know what someone's story is and it's nice to see their story and we we no longer see them and we were given good reasons why because then you could say then you could vote yay or nay more well so there's good reasons why those don't appear in the packet I know that like some boards have like a policy or a practice or something where I mean the superintendent has seen it and like maybe the board chair sees it or something like a member of the board like sees all of those letters as well some that's just an example no that's not our practice that hasn't been our practice I've just heard about that being a practice from msba as as this question I've heard asked just in terms of and I've understood the valid reasons and the not sort of micromanaging and privacy of not having something dramat like something directly in the board packet on the other hand at its core voting about things that we know little about and it's not I mean this is just a a general it's not about new hires and resignation so much but I hate as a board member voting blind feeling like I'm expected to votee by blindly about anything that makes me extremely uncomfortable I would strongly recommend that the board ask these questions directly with our Teamworks consultant when we have a retreat in February or end of January uh because this could right at the core of governance and the dangers of sliding out of governance with a lack of education and knowledge about what's hippoc you know private and what's data privacy and what erodes public trust and even to ask at a board table well was there controversy around that that by itself starts to beg questions in the minds of people watching and um per medical leave of absence well shouldn't even say it's medical right like that's actually not appropriate to say we we just approve a leave of absence in a public board document so there's a lot of a good reason and to be as a board member sometimes protected from and being able to say you know what I'm not in those weeds because that's not my job and I don't want to be in those weeds um to to keep you out of that so I when our consultant is here at the end of January let's let's ask that question don't you think it's a double-edged sword though because if there was a controversy and we all liable you know what I mean so right and so let's let's ask that question and what's the Sy our question should be what's the system like what's the check and balance and process to make sure the superintendent is holding people accountable to doing their job right like that's that's the governance level question Chris how do we know that U due diligence was done in in in resulting in this resignation right um then that's a great conversation to have offline and I can walk you through exactly what went on in that scenario and uh how it played out well and then there's like there's just things that and then there's the the sort of formality of board approval which is just part of our J job of a lot of things you know things that we do that we designate all the work to it's not that we don't have access to this information right you know I do like so sometimes there has been situations so in my now I'm starting my third term next month and I've been two terms almost with Dan and one time in these you know eight years that I've been on the board I remember we had a legal issue and it was something that was icky and we were kind of in like I kind of wanted to know but not you know like you like I don't want to if if there's I love saying great things about our students and celebrating our school and when when that icky thing happens and this is not something like I said but we're talking once in eight years right we're talking once in eight years years this is not something that I want to publicly say is prevalent at Cook County Schools or anything but I remember talking to Dan about it and I was like I kind of feel like it's my due diligence to read this legal information but I'm really uncomfortable with it and having a conversation with Dan and him saying you know what I felt the same way and I looked at it and you know ultimately I feel confident that I double checked that everything we did seemed in good order and we had done our due diligence and having that conversation with him I remember at the time and feeling really you know it was one of those gut-wrenching moments you're like oh this a big horrible task to be in charge of um and it felt really good and Dan and I sometimes disagree on things throughout the years and whatnot but I really trust his integrity and I trusted that conversation and I never read it after that I just trusted him so maybe something like Dan is saying where there's like a there's a point person like as we look at our processes and talk about it more thoroughly maybe February at a workshop maybe there's a point person where it's like well they don't all get put in the packet they're not public but just to feel like we're doing our due diligence and there's someone who you know like we have a Treasurer and all the financial work gets done and I've been scouring through things and like every question I've asked Teresa she's like oh it just got put here you know it's nothing but we still do our due diligence and that's important the finances are a huge important part and so our sort of liability and involvement when there's when things don't go super smooth at different times throughout the years maybe it'd be nice to to consider a route like that like maybe we don't all get it but and if it is legal then and as Personnel then the Board needs to go into a Clos session where you get private information but that's a disciplinary action right or an investigation you know something you know wonky that we need to just clear the air on I mean you can do that as a board um if something doesn't smell right um so if it were just our practice that like oh so and so is the person every letter of resignation goes to Eric and every you know like this is your this is your extra set of eyes and if you have concerns speak I'm not it doesn't I'm just saying just in general we had a practice where it felt like well we're being asked to to go over something that we maybe all shouldn't have eyes on but we didn't if we didn't see it we don't feel great about having done our job maybe we would feel better knowing well at least one of us did that portion it's just a thought it's completely in the Weeds on what the topic is right now it's a good conversation for our workshop for sure and it come this topic kind of had takes on different forms different types of topics but and I I think it's really important for us to remind ourselves too that it's not a dereliction of our duty if we're not in the Weeds on every issue like part of our job is to like employ the right people that are professionals to handle these things and that's and that's okay you know that's that's not a dereliction of our duty it's us doing a good job by letting other people do the jobs that we're asking them to do you know what I mean sometimes it's like finding that line and and we should totally have this you ever have those conversations where you're listening to someone and they're like well does the board know this and you think well no I don't and in this case is you kind of quantify in your head you maybe don't throw us under the bus and be like we've got no clue but you're like let me think about this how do I feel and do I feel like we know sufficiently is this something we should know about right and I feel like that would be I'm not saying that I should be the person who should look through through every you know like o I want to know but it would make me feel like well no we have a person who looks at all of these things and double checks and everything's really transparent and we have access to it which I know that we have access if we request any of this like you have access to say I would like to look at that and you're supposed to be able to see it there nobody should tell you no right but then you feel weird like really ask about all of them if I'm asking about this one am I implying something there's so much we don't have access to every little thing it's not really our our lane always to see everything legal right right so but we should this is a good discussion let's maybe put a pin in it for now and take it you know pick it up in a few February it's good for all of us to be on the same page because then we all know how it all works and we can respond to those inquiries this is how we handle this you know and then we feel good I'm to also going to have a new board member and sorry we're also going to have a new board member so February is good time to just it's actually the January 30th January 30th is the workshop or the the one Retreat ret ret ret which we still would have a I mean the new board members that's why we did it in solidly on board at that point and then then we can discuss the process so I will say this Pro this issue and I don't have strong feel I don't know anything about it but there was a blurb I think in the board notes maybe maybe or I heard something MH and now there's a resignation so I'm just going to say I'm not 100% comfortable voting on this and I'm not going to I allowed to do that you can abstain can I'm gonna abstain yep and I would invite you to call me anytime before a board meeting when you see that I'm not saying I'm mad about this yeah but I can I can share a lot more with you okay Co than I can in the public board meeting and maybe that was bad we not doing my homework well that's what we're supposed to do is do our homework but sometimes it feels I do think there's almost like a political like if I'm doing my homework does it feel like I'm doing my homework or does it feel like I'm pushing in somewhere I should like what's appro I've been doing this for a long time I'm in theory the most seasoned board member and I just so yeah we with thank you and thank you for your last meeting let's vote on this and then we'll pick this conversation back up so we've got a uh Motion in a second so all those in favor I I those opposed motion carries one exension one ob one exstension and we just need a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to I'll second that one okay just got here I'm fresh we're to 726 pe oh your final that's your final sign off yeah that's like final report B