2023-11-29 Maricopa County, AZ YouTube / Creighton School District transcript source: youtube Governing Board Advisory Council-11-28-2023 · passage 1
oh testing one two three okay um I don't know if there's an a oh wait sorry am I able to start oh okay cool all right uh so um bringing the meeting to order and uh the first agenda item is the uh uh well I called the order and welcome the uh second order of business is to appoint a chair and possible Vice chair for uh the uh position of the U committee chair nominations for chair and or vice chair um I guess we is we do them separately right so we can go and start with uh nominations for chair Adriana is looking away don't call on me don't call yeah like I said I'm happy to nominate myself if can I do that and I'd also be interested in being chair [Music] great any other nominations competition uh okay so um I guess we uh go and vote said yeah isn't typically like the first nominee a motion second oh sorry oh gotcha got it so I nominate myself if there's a second oh no no no you go that's what I was confused too he moved he moved uh to appoint himself as chair nomin well he need a second I would need a second someone else on the committe second then okay I second thank you okay then we go vote on the nomination oh okay well if I guess if that doesn't pass then that's a hold in a show right what happens is the curse nomination oh nin oh okay sorry you have a first and a second you vote if it passes it's done if it doesn't pass then you move on to the second nominator first if they get a second then you vote it's weird it's kind of semi Robert okay um so uh nomination and seconded now we go for a vote so we go for a vote to V vote for oh say yes yes me or me I vote for myself I guess that's kind of weird I'll abstain yeah okay so motion passes okay so now we do have to go to the vice chair vote because we now have a vacant Vice chair SCH Okay so nominations for a vice chair what what every you nominate who everyone nominate we'll go I'm happy to help but I also we first Alan you go first what would you like to [Music] say uh I'll no I'd like to nominate myself Vice chair okay is there a second I can second okay we have a second and uh uh so now we move to the vote and then we go and do the roll call yes yes I vote Yes yes yes okay motion passes so we have uh a chair and a vice chair okay so now we move on to the next item of business which is the approval of agenda um give you a second to kind of look through that and see if it is in align it looks kind of similar to what we've been doing up to this point anyway so when you are ready if I could get a uh motion to approve the agenda I motion that we approve the agenda as is okay second second all those in favor yes motion passes moving on to the next one which is call to the audience do we have any calls to the audience okay all right uh moving on to the next one which is the discussion on the policies that are listed there and finalized procedure in reviewing policies um if I remember correctly we were already at a place where we were ready to kind of dig in um and go over the policies unless somebody has a different idea of that yep so um I don't do we have a a I thought if I remember correctly I thought the procedure that Brian had set up was like a Google doc and that we kind of look through it is yeah so we have the we have the Google Doc that we went through and we highlighted in pink the things that we were open or able to kind of finesse and then there were a few things that were highlighted that we thought we might merge um I have a suggestion doesn't have to be this way but I did go through and these are my own personal edits um Adam was ill and so we did not I I didn't get any of his information um and so it would be just mine but can show you what my proposed edits were and my thinking and you guys could work off of that unless somebody else has already done the same thing and then I'm happy to defer are we we good with that okay so let me do she share that with us or do I yeah do I share it with every okay you can can share I don't know if it'll get out to our streaming viewers but hopefully they can see it and is this specifically jic or is it yeah I thought well I yes but I did know we were going to go over ji so I put thoughts for that but who knows how far we get so um it's helpful and then if I could share with the team um I had a task that I was unable to complete because I was going to check with the attorney in between leavings unfortunately our attorney left town early for Thanksgiving and so the holiday I wasur but um I have Ming to connect um sorry really quick I just realized I should check and make sure be okay um so from last I saw let me share it with you guys you can see it on your own screen I forgot your last name Brin there you go that would have been easy um and then you have one for us too yeah or do you want to just look off the screen well these are just my random edits but that you could see them kind of up close um it's a whatever the thing is right I don't even know the formatting for our email what is it again it's I think it's our first name or it's our first initial and your last so yeah it's K Gibson kg M sorry I just saw you have to if you're G to Ty you have to do the whole email address let me give it to hild oh I see okay so oh there we go thank you very long yeah at least it's not cther gibon um all right so I can talk you through some of it we have this first um per this first pink was um basically about the kids would have to um listen to all rules that anybody tells them to do um and we do it a little bit differently on our campus um and so I edit it with two things basically I kept the first part and I just said students are expected to comply with any rules and expectations established by the superintendent and the governing board we also expect students to comply to appropriate requests that was kind of the addin given by any member of The Faculty or staff relating to school activities this caveat is to explain the appropriate however all students deserve the right to advocate for their needs and protect themselves from harm consequently no child is expected to comply to a request if it entails one or more of the following circumstances this is just what we tell our kids so I I could be off but one if it would cause harm to their individual person if the request would cause harm to others or if the request does in direct violation of a known rule established for this school so that that's kind of what we tell them like they wanted you to give your name like they didn't ask you to do anything that was going to be unsafe so that's kind of the process that we've shared with kids so I thought that would kind of help because I do take a bit of friction with the idea of obey any given order because kids should know there are limitations to what could be asked of you so that be I guess my first let's talk what do you guys think I like that and then question for y'all are we gonna do you want a word Smith today or do you want a Content Smith it showing my sorry is it showing my picture when you like hover it didn't Hilda I shared it with you too could you I bet yeah it's not showing up for me no it only gives me a little K for you it's probably because I've never sent you something though because I feel like you get into their address book but I sent it to you hild it's Google well I'm in like the shared with me and all I have is the one from Brian maybe it's taking a minute sorry y'all go ahead I like it I think that that's well at Mackin I think that we like that's what we that's what we say even if it's not like written down like word for word or whatever yeah I think it makes the most sense because expected to obey all rules is like a very weird state me so I think that it edits it in a way that makes sense and I think it's like I think a student would approve this yeah I think if a student heard like obey all rules like what then this is like oh okay makes sense you everything is your writing is uh purple right yeah I I tried to keep it there I did some I started doing some weird stuff because it was my own notes at first so there's like some things I struck out because I tried to conclude it with something else but you'll see as we go but yeah all of that that he just highlighted is what I wrote in there so all the the light blue text is actually was that blue oh it's supposed to be purple well there because there's this magenta pink highlighted part yeah that magenta pink is what last time we were told we could work with that was part that we were right so without anything else having think that will eventually maybe impact some of the wording here I like what you have here um before we go further than that yeah um I had couple of thoughts related to the first paragraph um so um sorry Alan just before you start talking sure do you have any reason why we would need to like color code which member wrote what in here because I'll start typing in his notes but I just want to make sure like I'll give him orange if it needs to be his idea or can it just be like an idea from all of us in the edits do you know I think from okay yeah because ultimately we're making a group recommendation so I'm G to keep it this C go ahead so um so um starting from the not from your your paragraph the the opening paragraph So the opening sentence of the superintendent will establish regulations governing the conduct of students um I would put a per so my suggestion is put a period the at the end of that first line where says students and then start off the next sentence with the phrase such regulations will primarily focus on behaviors expected of students while in school traveling to so that it's about a positive expectation and not because we a lot of what we've got is they won't do this and they can't do this and they're not allowed to do this and they won't do this and and really kind of make that positive framing do you me to re I got as far as such regulations will primarily focus on behaviors expected of students while Ed while students okay while they well not the not the they take the they out so while and then the rest of the line goes in school traveling so the rest of that stuff okay I like that that makes sense because that is I think one of the like charges is to make this more positive to them and then my other thing is actually in the magenta magenta piece um and that the word obey is a really heavy strong-handed word in my opinion and I and I mean I thought maybe a word like follows or something like that that that still communicates that we expect them to do what we expect them to do but it's not this we're the domineering adults or District I I had put comply because I was like trying to be intense but do you guys want follow instead I'm okay with comply too I just really the word obey and it comes up in these in these policies a bunch yeah we should make like a little master glossery of like what we already intend to do like if we're going to say for every obey it this I'm gonna just put at the bosom bosom bottom so instead of obey we're thinking you pick comply or umf follow because I have no skin in that game I like how comply sounds but I think a student would probably like follow so I don't know if we're like I don't know which we would want to gear towards is there any legal ramifications between the two I don't think so and and when I think of the work I think that where probably why I didn't I didn't land with comply is because it still implies this is a top- down adult like as opposed to we're helping them to build this who they will become as adults where they are supposed to be following rules and following expectations and things like that but okay okay I'm gonna put I'm gonna put follow because if it is supposed to I know it's governing board but we want it to kind of match the kids and don't get too I mean Katie has great Insight but don't get too twisted up I'm being 100% certain that is correct because we will have the we will have an attorney yeah who specializes in school offer you all before we're done with this process we wouldn't leave you twisted um oh no I didn't even uh I didn't change anything with the next paragraph a student shall Define I just added um that they additionally students are expected to follow rules and regulations if there's evidence reasonable and or consistent attempts to provide the information about the rules and regulations prior to the violation which is a mouthful but what I'm trying to get at is if you scroll down to uh I oh my gosh I was like is that an L or an i it's been a long day if you scroll down to I there's the purple one we could change and it basically was like the alleged violator has reasonable opportunity to become aware of the rules and when Adam and I sat down and talked about it it was really hard for him to get that what I was saying was like if we told you the rule you got to follow it um and so I trying to take that out but add it in like if it was in our handbook or if we did the behavior presentation to your class that was enough for you to know that it was a rule you should have so that's what I was attempting to do here but as I read it to you it doesn't sound great so that's what the goal is here so I guess first thing does that make sense to put it there or do you guys think it should still be an i and then how do we say this for it to make sense for kids is the eye what you added no the eye was there so that that language was there to begin with and and and he got it once I was like okay alleged violator you reasonable opportunity gave him opportun what those would be but something I had written as an addition to I we're talking about I um was to add to that determination of a reasonable opportunity will take into account the developmental levels of the students including the impact of any disabilities okay okay do me a favor I can paste I can copy and paste I didn't but I wanted to read out loud if everybody cool that's something everybody is like okay that kind of makes sense to add there could you read it again please sure determination of a reasonable opportunity will take into account the developmental levels of the students including the impact of any disabilities and that's in place of I or addition to add to add to the end of I I appreciate it I'll copy and paste it in there so you can read it as a whole I appreciate it being added and I am ultimately indifferent but I wonder if it it just felt odd that it was like it felt like it was context for kids and yet it's being presented as like an aside to that do you know do you know what I mean like technically that is true for a through D if I told you it was a rule already you should follow it when it comes to conduct so that's why I feel like it needed to be pulled out to be more of an umbrella statement thank you ktie I have to admit as I read I it's difficult for me to follow which I actually I will say though I definitely want us to keep this because personal experience as an AP sometimes the only way that kids would be really like open to hearing like no you broke a rule is I would be like I'm just going to pull out the dress code like read it to yourself and you remember when I did this and you remember when your teacher told you this and so they do push back I didn't know I didn't you didn't tell me that and so I feel like it needs to be like well here is what here's where we could say we told you these things does that make sense so I definitely would like us to keep it but it was very confusing for Adam I well I believe that it's also like counterintuitive because in society we talk about ignorance of the law does not excuse you from being held accountable when you violate the law and this statement actually is saying ignorance of the rules and expectations does in some way mitigate um oh was that what it say I was thinking it was in alignment with that no that's not I don't okay I'm not reading it that way so Pro proof that an alleged violator has a reasonable opportunity to become aware of such rules and regulations shall be sufficient proof that the violation was done knowingly so if you don't you like if I walk into a town I've never been into and I violate a law I can be held accountable to that law this as in the school as a student you need to show where I would have had access to learn about this rule before you can hold me accountable to it oh I'm reading it different because it's if it says alleged violator has a reasonable opportunity to become aware I thought poor Adam go fix this with him but um like if I can show that you were aware of the rules that's enough proof that you knowingly broke the rule how I'm reading it that's correct but the but the law outside in the real world is okay I don't I've never even heard the law I don't even know such a law exist I see what you're saying I'm so sorry yeah yeah I think you're reading it correctly but that's why I felt it was important to then add this this other sentence that again is thoughtful too and I thoughtful too and it's aligned to our practices like we like if a plus there's special education issues related to all this but um as well so um just yeah so then that kind of it brings us to like a different question do we want this to match like said law and take it out which I I feel like maybe it should match things better or keep it because we know that kids these are things that kids ask and push back when well this is more protective than the real world so I would say keep it if we can keep it but reward it that's more easily understood I say I would recommend that okay is it am I interpreting this correctly like it says a reasonable opportunity to become aware does that mean like if I don't so confusing the way I see that is we gave this presentation to your class whether you were there or not is irrelevant the presentation to your class was there where we went over these rules so that's sufficient proof that the violation was done knowingly I say if you were there but you weren't paying attention yeah it's probably what it means like you were there but if you weren't paying attention and you're saying you didn't pay attention then that's not enough or like when I talk with kids about it which or I didn't hear yeah or like I'm like no my dude it's on the wall like you can't do it because it's this or it's like it was on the dress code form you got the first time that I didn't see it I'm like doesn't count man it was here and it was here so that's yeah is that am I is that the way I thought so yeah you can't I think that's just written that way because you can't like prove what's in someone's brain obviously so so is this saying that a kid could use that as an excuse and say I wasn't listening or I didn't see the opposite if they were in the room and this presentation was being given about the rules then that's a reasonable opportunity that they had to become aware of the rules and there's proof that that happened they were there on that date so they should have known but if the rule was never shared like let's say was a rule that was never rolled out for students to be aware of but then it was heavily enforced then that would be problematic because the students could say it's not in this handbook you gave me I sat through and paid attention to the presentation it wasn't there it's not on the wall anywhere how was I supposed to so maybe if I there's got to be a better way to say that additionally if there is evidence of reasonable and or consistent attempts to provide information about the rules or regulations prior to a violation students are expected to to follow them look at the bottom start with start with what I attempted it's mouthful and it's probably even still confusing there's got to be a better way to say that I feel like it's like like where you okay so I don't want us to confuse this so so they're trying the second sentence on I is giving you the level or the burden of proof for the word knowingly so knowingly committing a violation of District rules and then they're telling you this is what would be enough to prove that it was done knowingly so I'm not sure that this the thing you have down below communicates that in the same way or like communicates the same idea okay so do we want to go sentence let's skip knowingly committing a violation because I think this is where we're getting confused here so proof my int my my sentence then tries to Define give some parameters to reasonable opportunity okay so let's just start with this phrase proof that an alleged violator has a reasonable opportunity to become aware is there a way we could simplify that you could change okay so instead of having it like I forget which is your choice but you could basically just say like have a subsection or something that's like the def like our definition of knowingly rather than just having that weird sentence right there knowing def yeah oh okay I see you know what I mean instead of doing this a bunch of times so like in the actual criminal code knowingly This Is Not Great itself but maybe it'll give you some other better idea knowingly means with respect to conduct uh to conduct or to circumstance described by a statute defining an offense a person is aware or believes that the person's conduct is of the nature of that nature or that circumstance exists it does not require any knowledge of the unlawfulness of the act or Omission so it's a little so that's why I'm saying this knowingly definition in here is a little bit differently than like the law okay [Music] so knowingly committing so I think it's hard would we just put like an aster like knowingly Aster and then at the bottom it would be like knowingly is defined as provided a reasonable opportunity become aware yeah okay so it's right now it says proof that be sufficient proof it's like they being redundant so I mean sounds way too leg but I was going to be like upon a showing that the alleged Violator has reasonable opportunity knowing something something upon a showing that an alleged violator has a reasonable opportunity to come award such rules and regulations shall be sufficient Pro I don't know man you say something like proof that the violation was done knowing shall consist of ver verifying the reasonable opportunity to become aware of such rules occurred or that a student had the opportunity to come knowingly shall consist yeah I don't Ty that fast um okay so my only thing with what you were saying because as I was thinking about it is if we say shall consist I feel like it creates like a it would be a really additional step you have to show like it'd be like they were you'd have to remember show every time that they got that opportunity yeah so proof of violation was done knly put May consist May consist oh what maybe not consist but like May be established there we go by don't have any any of you English teachers providing oh it's still okay so now I have proof that the violation was done knowingly may be established by providing evidence of reasonable opportunity to become aware of the rules a violation was done knowingly may be established by providing evidence of okay now so the use the word may implies that there are other ways of doing it yeah or like so can well I just wanted to point out the wording there yeah I mean this I think the way it's worded now still allows for other ways to show that knowingly is proven well except the current wording uses the word shall which is an absolute well it's it's saying shall be sufficient that enough is sufficient to prove but that doesn't mean that there aren't other ways to still prove oh fair enough you know what I'm saying yep okay so then keep in mind KN doesn't apply knowing appes to violation yeah yeah okay and then so however this spe this specific violation is a violation of any rule or regulation which is everything very yeah which is why which is why I think it's important that we be thoughtful about this one yeah which is why I was wondering do we put it outside of the bulletin numbers because it pertains to every bullet and we have it keep in mind it's differentiated from J so when you look at J J is the one like described you're right okay so in J it's engaging in any conduct basically constituting a breach of any federal state or city law or dly adopted policy of got it most most of the infractions typically to policy or statute or statute by way of Bo policy okay that okay that makes sense so let's if we're good maybe we we roll back up to the top and then because we're gonna end up doing a second read anyways does this feel okay for what we were trying to get at Yes No Maybe So okay I think so so then sorry I I diverted us so now we're back at the now it's the combining of a b c and d and e was possible I felt like a should stay there because it was like it identified like interfering with teaching interfering with administrative or disciplinary functions which was separate and so then I combined B and C which is why C's crossed out and I just said threatening an educational institution by interference with or disruption of the school including but not limited to physical about I don't know why the about say abuse abuse thank you um or threat of harm to other individuals or property I think that's good and then we didn't have c in there um E and F I did feel like they were kind of different because one e seems like it's about trespassing and D was about like if it's the if it's the teacher's car and you break the window you're still in trouble so I I thought we should just keep those in there thoughts about combining or removing D or E I think that they probably they feel like they should be separate okay yeah I like combining B and C and then d and e being separate okay James you good okay yeah um I didn't even touch the legal Contraband because illegal Contraband I was like this is confusing to me so that is still open for discussion if we want to address the pink so there's already another subsection right that's going to deal with weapons the only other thing that would be like I'm like just so the only things I can think of here are drug paraphernalia or tobacco paraphernalia or I know what we obscene materials those are literally the only things I can think of so it would be obscene materials but now I'm wondering is this like we don't let kids bring um like confetti eggs and that's not illegal oh because it's not okay yeah yeah it has to be illegal for the kid to possess it right or for the um or for whoever to do this to possess distribute or sell these things anybody so obscene material is basically the only thing missing from what you're saying I think that yeah and drug paraphernalia but dep pend I mean OBC materials well I guess what I'm saying is there's probably things that a kid can't possess that an adult can possess there's obviously certain under the Constitutional definition things adult also can't possess but I was thinking like what are things that are illegal for kids to have yeah um well like we example so and that's all listed here so is it possible that this phrase was developed as a sort of a catchall in case new new things become that's true well the the other thing and I know you mentioned weapons already yeah things like explosive devices some might not be considered a we with fireworks might true I know that are obiously regulated now but there are some that are restrict no that's true maybe it's as simple as just removing illegal into saying other Contraband on District property yeah that's true um I think the only thing we have to think of then is like or even with the IL legal either way you just have to think of who is going to you know 20 years from now I'm not saying anyone's going to come here with bad intentions but like somebody who's going to apply this in like the weirdest most strict way ever we have to think of that person and hope that that's not going to happen even and we're the best way we can to avoid whatever that weird person might do right yeah so like having the a word like Contraband is weird because there's not like a definition for Contraband in the criminal code and so it's like what does that mean and I think that's super subjective so if we just took out a legal that'd be weird but also even with a legal Contraband it still I think feels weird just because the word Contraband isn't easily defined I would see that as like you know I don't know I'm not even sure actually now that I think about it I was thinking like something that's that is not illegal but not something that we want to see on campus and so could it it fidget Spinners to be Contraband well I have two thoughts could we comma in drug paraphernalia and obscene materials because those are both things that I think definitely should be here yeah and then oh I lost it instead of putting could we just put or other items that could impact the safety of others yeah I think so or the safety or uh what's the the part interfere with teaching or the process or functions or maybe that's too much yeah like go back to that thing as well that could yeah or impact or interfere or disrupt with the school the operations of the school yeah it might did did we talk about having like a glossery for this because an another thing to point out like even under the law and this is just for an education thing but like if you've ever been to like a store around here for example there is a drive-thru liquor store at the end of my street on 32nd Street in Yale you might have seen it many times across the street from Perry Park if you walk in there at the front where you buy whatever there is a display and there are what would appear to be meth pipes foils paper or plastic straws everything you would need for your drug using needs right why can they sell it like that because it's not being sold with drugs and the law says that those things on their own do not constitute drug paraphernalia because there is no drugs with them right and so I just want to put that out there that like if a kid has any one of those items but doesn't have drugs like technically under the law you can't say that it's drug parap Familia and and that's why you also often see signage that says forb only yeah yeah so I'm just putting that out there because I could see a kid getting a hold of any of those things especially because they're so readily available but then I would hate for them to be like punished in the same way I mean That's a classic felony in Arizona to possess strug parap so is that an argument to keep the word no I think it would just be an argument to make sure that people are aware what is drug paraphenalia what legally constitutes it you know is there a difference between a kid who has like glass pipe or a glass pipe with burnt residue in it those are two different things right yes um I just put for glass year terms do we hopefully we'll remember what I'm trying to say do we need to discuss how an item could be connected to drug paraphernalia so that way we could come especially you know like a younger kid who just has something they found or you know what I mean who knows my question I guess my question with as now that we're starting to create a glossery the question I guess my question is what are we add there are we defining it in a way that if the Law changes the definition do we then have to come back into I don't want to have to come back into policy to you could just you could say as defined in um CH in Chapter 13 of the Arizona statutes you could just put that because it's never the criminal code is never going to change numbers so there's that yeah definition yeah I think that's smart because one of the other challenges that we'll have is we will so in the past the Arizona School boards Association policy is what we've adopted and so the way that that policy would be updated if the law changed is they would send out a notification policy needs to change once we step into the territory of having a custom policy then it'll be incumbent upon us to keep track up the legal changes and make sure that they're adopted into policy and so by virtue of that and we have some mechanisms for doing that but what would make that cleanest and least likely to run sideways would be what this year if we're broader in our reference to Statue then it'll Ed against becoming yeah because even if you put 13341 like you might run astray if that gets like eliminated and then they create a new thing so you could just say in Chapter 13 title okay title 13 doesn't necessarily address the other items that interfere with the safety or operations so we'll have to figure out the word smithing on where where that language actually okay um we'll remember because I although title 13 does have a definition of what it means to disrupt or interfere with those things so um and then it's always held accountable to like what a reasonable person would interpret so if it were to be contested and end up in court then it would be decided in the courtroom and it's come out different over the years depending on different sets of circumstan okay uh for G hold on I'm confused what I oh we we just had conversation about how is commonly accepted standards and no redeeming value so I thought adding very clearly that it's hate speech and threats of violence so that's why I said I don't know if I meant add or replace but participating in conduct or speech that violates the community agreements including but not limited to hate speech and threats of violence I put Community agreements because and just sorry I don't mean to I guess I don't mean to interrupt before we get there I know it's weird because speech is so broad um but speech here would actually also refer to obscene materials and so um speech is anything written communicated spoken recorded literally anything uh published that speech so the reason why they're using that is that's because that's the Constitution law standard that's like the the prevailing rule of the land right now from the Supreme Court like basically if something has no redeeming social value then it it isn't protected speech and whatever that may be whether that be spoken published written so it could be hate speech it could be obscenity it could be you know incitement I hear what you're saying yeah where I'm not sure is at first I thought you meant Okay add redeem no redeeming social value but now I'm wondering if our previous conversation we didn't need to change this at all because it encompasses what you're sharing right now yeah that's that's true that's what I'm thinking because I wasn't even I didn't even I forgot that was in there okay participating because it wasn't something that I thought we could really change um or should change me I think that's why I put ad oh but I think you're you've taught me something so we can take this out so I want to just delete it everybody but I think like regular every day folks who haven't taken constitutional law probably have no idea that speech doesn't mean just talking yeah um can not be defined in that's what I thinking yeah just so people are aware and then you're saying how does that relate to the possession of stuff I mean like from the were you saying how it goes back to the last one we were on or I guess it just it it's I don't think it's that redundant okay I think it's fine I lost where we were at um especially because you you know these cases like this from the Supreme Court were decided when people had like leaflets or like little booklets of obscene materials they're handing out not like their phone at their fingertips or whatever or even t-shirt yeah or t-shirt or something like that yeah like T yeah yeah um okay so then I didn't touch the H identify themselves because I I've kind of felt like we were addressing it in I because um I'm sorry no I I don't know how we want to ident we basically said we needed to we needed to Define what identifying themselves meant but I didn't have a thought on that so the law requires that you give your name you don't need to be giving them Social Security number so I think that there's a way to like kind of just go with that like what the law requires what could we say uh let me see if we say also um refusing to identify can we say directory information oh let me start over what also is sometimes helpful is like well what grade are you in and who's your teacher so those are the three things that I think we most commonly try to figure out about a kid could we very specifically put provide their first last name yeah grade and teacher a lar here's my thing and this is where I think these two things could be split up and this is just the public defender talking now um I think that I'd be more willing to have more information shared with a district official than with a police officer because even giving that information could be incriminating this would then put our policy as yeah in in direct conflict with what the law actually requires yeah okay so we would need a it I think yeah because yeah you're not required to tell law enforcement those things okay so I'm just going to copy it um so let's first and you'd have to say also provide their correct first and last name because there is a misdemeanor for false identification okay so so start we'll start first let's start first with the police yeah um so so failure to comply with the lawful directions of there you go yeah directions of uh any law enforcement officers what does it say acting in performance of their duties um and so that would be so then this actually just comes out right then this would be H 2.0 failure to comply with the lawful directions of District officials acting and performs their duties and provide their correct first and last name school grade and or teacher to such of officials when I guess this we don't need when lawfully requested to do so because it's just like when it happens right just change it to when requested looking at the statute now and I had added because um we have an issue where kids won't identify themselves even if they're not getting in trouble so I had added refusal to identify themselves to appropriate staff and faculty whether or not an additional violation has occurred oh yeah because it's like that makes sense like hey man I just want to say hello you know and if you're a second grade teacher and I'm an eighth grade kid so I don't know if that just goes to the very bottom of this like like this now well I don't think we need that sentence because the the first sentence I'm part of it and I put the phrase and failing to in front of provide because that's how the wording was in the original one I mean the act of failing to provide that information request to do so is in of itself a violation based on based on how this is all being coming together so I don't know that we need that that second sentence or yeah that second sentence on H2 say that one more time sorry oh because it's failure to follow request um students shall not engage in improper Behavior including but not limited to the following was at the very beginning and then this would be failure to follow requests and and then when when we when it then the original read and fail the failure to identify themselves to such officials so I added in the phrasing and failing to provide their correct person like that's so I think that I think that that that it of itself is its own violation if they if they fail to provide that information when they're asked to do so I don't think we need that second sentence okay so so let me just clarify so he's saying in a situation where no one's in trouble but they're still asking them and they're refusing to Pride their name he's saying that in itself is a violation so they're already violating this yeah okay I'm with that I just wanna just want to make sure you gotta tell me your name all right um I we already covered caring or possessing a weapon on grounds I think I tried to address pink but I didn't do it very clearly so I just added I think we probably need to discuss pink all together but I went with well I'm sorry were you you at I'm sorry I'm on now K okay so well actually it's done I thought we just leave caring and possessing um and then I put any violation of these policies and regulations will be addressed through the district's Progressive discipline policies restoration of the Learning Community Andor Community relationships will be included in any disciplinary action relative to the committed infraction lastly dependent on the committed VI a and or harm cause the district office reserves the right to inform law enforcement in accordance with ar and governing board policy I guess I did I'm sorry I did just say like Let's ignore that pink and do this instead that's what I was intending I forgot so I really didn't address the first paragraph though I personally would like to come back to this after we look at ji okay okay yeah because some because I think that there's some things related to no there is that that there and I think we that maybe if we depending on what we come up with there it might inform what the wording should be here on that particular paragraph it might also play out in other ways but um okay well we really we really rocked it out today guys because I think we're done until we come back to that one um because the rest was all that we said we couldn't take out um I think there was just wanting to change a weapon to be more in line with the Statue right on I yeah I don't know I think carrying or possessing a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument school grounds Implement is that you said dangerous dangerous instrument instrument yeah okay so then um it technically is six o'clock do we go to 6:30 we don't have to no so in that cre I it after use the reserves it probably needs to be the Super okay because if you look through not that I'm trying to put things on myself but most policy doesn't use District or district office it uses superintendent you're right where is this at I'm sorry it was the last pink paragraph in addition to generals oh okay yeah and and when when policy uses superintendent or statute us a superintendent it technically means the superintendent design in that regard the superintendent serves as a replacement because the governing board technically has one employee to enact its policies super okay okay I changed it now uh I can't remember though do we go till 6:30 oh we're scheduled till 6:30 so but on the open like on our meeting that was posted on their agenda there isn't an end time right the agenda doesn't have an end time so we're not required to go to 6:30 I would like to propose that we keep going and just do the purple edits that you gave us because that was super helpful for me to go back and start if you guys are okay with with ji I did have one you covered a lot and awesome work that's amazing I I I like I like a lot of what is on here the only thing that I was hoping to kind of just add is very beginning um and I know Jay is Awesome with this but uh Allan kind of triggered this when he was talking about shall and May in that sentence about in establishing these regulations a superintendent May consult with student or staff I would propose shall very first paragraph right before the pink starts yeah right shall or will because it's it it it it's a it's a it's a it's a process right and it's something that should involve several voices and several uh people involved so shall or will whatever is appropriate that's great there's a okay in which case I would then change the or to and yeah I think so student and you know we don't want J just meeting with the students not talking to staff or vice versa you know that was the only comment I had and I I I like that same process only asking the kindergarteners their opinion you feel good about this right okay that's great thank you [Laughter] j i i was jumping ahead to do we want to just do like a we're all good to move on like indiv where next steps is ji yeah and going through that same process of the purple thing yeah that's cool with you guys I can that sounds awesome I and I I can't remember I I think Jay kind of referred to this are we are we able to I think you talked about this at the beginning are we able to edit this like in between meetings too or that's the piece I'm still because um when I reached out to Legal she was actually on vacation for got it got it so I've got a request so I'm sharing with you all the copy and paste I made of it um in viewer and then what I did was I just made a copy of it and I said like abadaka edits which maybe now I should change to Hilda I'm going to change the these proposed edits on jic I'm just going to title it instead like committee final committee draft one or something okay so okay so now everybody has this and then so now that we've gone over this are we able to kind of look at add it on our own as well J I see or yeah I just want to know if I'm allowed to save it and look at it and oh yeah I think yeah that's totally fine so what I just did yeah because we just went all over this and then it's not like you're going to be then conversing with more than one other person about this like as long as you're not talking with one more than one other person before the next meeting about it then you're good I made so I'm I'm gonna call it a Brian copy I made this copy that I just gave you guys a Brian copy so you all viewers on it and then maybe we can just gentle person agree see again how you typed my name just so I'm sorry no noit share so then if you want to do more edits anyone maybe if you can copy it your last name draft two and that way we'll kind of keep in track oh okay all right I see so you just it my last this is committee draft did you want to did you share it to yourself I have this one where's the J oh I see JS and I yeah say it again I'm sorry this is committee draft one now is now our fi our final of what we did today so if you wanted to make further edits to what we did today make a copy of that one got it thank you noiss yeah would I mean if it's possible it would be because I'm I you're the all the little edits and changes and stuff I'm kind of processing on the Fly just kind of looking at stuff and seeing and I'm nervous that I'm missing you know there's always some like wait what about that or what about this well and we didn't get to the like real word SM smithing yet so we'll probably end up having a second draft regardless if we keep everything right um com I mean to check my thinking with both of you Hilda and Jay um what I did with Adam was we just went over current policy and I like and then my plan had been I was gonna do like an aaka edit and then have him do a like otana or Valadez edit and so we would have two separate ones but he's gonna be telling me how he would like to change it is that if you guys are doing it and it's just you two and as long as you two then aren't going to talk to anybody else that's always going to be fine okay you can keep them together can keep it together as long as it's only the two of you okay sounds good you're just limited to two members so you don't get it okay cool oh it's one last document for us um all right take it away Katie what do we oh okay so here we are let's see sorry I was like looking at what this was okay yeah this is the weird intro the first page is the intro intro paragraph and then the second page was the like actual what I thought we were planning on changing stuff I don't know if you want to start with page two yeah okay cool you're saying start it all students are entitled even further down no right there yeah oh okay I like your avatar oh thank you such environment will enhance this is written very interestingly um you know I think as far as like this this part goes obviously there's nothing here that I don't think there's anything here that requires this to be written in a certain way but let me double double check I don't yeah I don't think so oops but let me double check by going back to hold on want into the statue really quick okay 1541 if you're reading ahead ignore the part that says monist is community agreements because initially this was my notes and that was what I was going to bring up um what our Middle School does okay that one talking about the community expectations and commitments that's well even that yeah that's all like that's monov Vista stuff but I I'm a I'm a gold star kid and I was like I was given an assignment better get it I didn't want to presume anything is is that a common thing all at all schools where they use those phrasings Community expectations and Community agreements I think it's pretty common I don't know if it's univ so I I know Josh uses them I know Lauren uses it Papo because we use their PBIS um buil more it built more I think everybody uses Community agreements but I think we use it not because it was disciplined but because it was introduced with Corwin when they did the equity stuff so when they told when we were trained or like given that information about how we should talk more about a community relationship agreements as opposed to expectations schools did both so our handbook is expectations I just didn't provide that and then we made our own Middle School Community agreements but I'm almost certain everybody uses it but it wasn't a requirement everybody kind of uses to yeah kind of hover around the stuff I mean well she's kind of look at that why isn't that a district standard and expectation is it just kind of an agreed upon thing or you know it I think it's just never been formally adopted and you know it's kind of as Adriana said it came out of our deep Equity work with with Corwin and the equity teams at the sites um it is now being exposed to parents for the first time Ian not for the first time but it's being intentionally exposed because the end of each of our yes events that we've had for students over the last couple of weeks um we've had a sadly under attended but we have had some parent participation in an evening intergenerational event where the families are invited in to come learn about your students are doing parents up at another District not only received the concept of community agreements but um they've actually kind of participated in work around them that's been facilitated for the families to understand the type of work that the students are doing so you nice I don't think you would find anybody on leadership team that would have any hard standardizing around and I think too um we were aware that if the aps started being like this is blanket how we did it we might be doing exactly that like not overlapping with the or we would be maybe too far off base of like the governing board policy so we we weren't like pushing for that but I can tell you that um like the discipline flow maps that all the schools use we all shared what we were doing and making sure that they were like commonalities like a really good example is well I don't know it's really good but one example is on our discipline flow map we had um disrespect on ours and uh Josh's school is doing or Amy's school is doing um conscious discipline and they talk about its inter relation it's like inter it's a relationship problems and so now our discipline flow map says interpersonal uh issues so it was kind of like a small way where we started slowly coming together and thinking about how we're doing it but the aps did kind of give each other like feedback on what their school was doing is that a goal to have so I I would say that part of part of the part of the work that the Behavior Support committee is doing is to provide some some some semblance of coordinated effort on some of these issues as well so we've got a lot of different things happening um to try to create more consistency and commonality across the district in terms of vocabulary and terminology and then also overall practices so because one of the things think you're right that is an example and I think ASB I think that becomes a problem okay is that it's based on one school's use of one particular program that we so it's only meaningful if everybody's using that particular program right that's where some of the some of the work I'm just curi and and some people okay so there's was I think that's a really good point because some people I I our PBIS team was going to look it over anyways and they were comfortable being like we're ready for this we're we're we're there but I maybe another school was like we're not ready to redefine this for our staff we're going to hold thank you so is so is that the is that the goal then to have a should that I my so I can only speak for myself but when I was part of the AP team it was there was like a I can speak for the other APS we are all working very closely together because we wanted to make it very consistent um for everybody and so we've been trying and with like with like the mentorship of Dr dupin he also was like we're going to keep bringing ourselves together because more united schools like that makes sense um so I believe that to be true from what I've seen and what we're doing um but I I I don't think that we had like a July 15 of 2025 everyone's doing the exact same thing like we didn't formalize it in that way so we've been working there hasn't been that's working towards philosophically I how do I put this me I have zero heartburn if you know the AP team wants to ratify and make things more official to some extent Dr dup and the AP myself and several others were kind of independently moving in this direction because we didn't necessarily have the ability to have direct conversation with the board now that we've had an opportunity to have those direct conversations and we see that there is support I don't think there's anything standing in from being more formal those what would be the argument against that like saying that's not a good idea I haven't come across I mean there could be one out there but I haven't come across against which part I guess uh so I I would sometimes I feel like there's a a push and pull between like the equivalent of a site based management as opposed to a more centralized um I wouldn't say District managed but at least unified approach and it's a difference in philosophy right yeah andan I've seen our district swing wide one way and swing wide another way it's a national swing right so but it doesn't always happen the same in every District kraton traditionally at least over the last 20 years has been more individual School Independence oriented than centralized um um I think but I think this is a slightly different animal than taking away like local site decision local but 's not expl I think in this particular case what's happening is a third thing which is um collabor collaborative consistency right so rather than the superintendent coming in and saying Thou shalt make this all the same I see what we're having is we've had sort of a coaching process around it would you know we're hearing board philosophy that they'd like to see consistency we're hearing staff concern that sometimes there's not consistency is there any reason to not have consistency and so what the team's been doing and the reason that they've been working on a matrix is to create the combination of stronger consistency with still leaving a measure of independent decision making for the individual circumstance leaving individual decision making power at the site but not like um a kid said something that was obscene and so at this site they're expelled and at this site they get a two-day suspension and at this site they do a restorative project right right so trying to come K Katie's done oh great oh no it's fine um so from what I can gather the ji policy and of itself even though it references those statutes there's nothing in the actual ji policy that's written in any of those statutes so um go cool so yeah so nothing there is I think required to be there I think it's just part of the general ability we have to create policy what I can also gather is that I'm assuming whoever wrote the manual for asba which is kind of what I'm this all came from is asba has some attorneys who were like let's like get a kid like a student's Bill of Rights and responsibilities in here and that comports with the law um and so there's the there's the ji policy and then this kind of what do they call these it's like a coraly I don't know what this is It's just called jir so R is regulation a regulation but it is saying that the superintendent shall develop and promate promulgate administrative procedures so explain exp to me the regulation difference from the policy I just don't understand that yeah so so there's and so there's several things so there's policy which is the letters right yeah then there's Das e which is exhibit which might be a form there's- R which is regulation which might be District practice so and and regulation does not technically require board approval it requires board board notification because that's what I was is this something under the superintendent's perview the regulation the regulation is typically under the superintendent perview okay so I mean it's it seems like the when I looked at Phoenix L and Osborne really quickly under their jir they have the exact same thing so it looks like it's whatever was adopted that asba wrote so again I think that everything here is up for up in the a for grabs as long as you're not getting more restrictive than what the rights are for students like actual rights are for students so we straying outside of yeah the concept of yeah what would be helpful to me and see what you guys think is if we just Define what category are we going to call a right and what in the category of responsibilities let me try that sentence again rights andun resp responsibilities there's going to be different things that fall in each category I'd like to know what you're all thinking those two categories entail so that way when I'm looking I can wrap my head around it so um and that that all falls actually falls under jir correct that rights and responsibilities that's under J the regulation yeah sorry no I was just I was just clarifying yeah um because I actually have a few thoughts on Ji thank you okay so going back to we just in special that we just go with the straight letter abbreviations we don't worry about all the other punctuation I'm just roll with my best guess okay um and really my thoughts on on ji really not extensive because overall I kind of like what the message was here although um there was some verbage I'm like um I'm a college graduate I have my Master's degre ree I do not know what some of these words mean so maybe we want to rethink maybe making it more reader friendly but um basically um and deportment of students yes ex yeah I'm just saying so wait are we looking at the same document I'm on ji are you on it says the board has the I don't have because she didn't give us editing rights to this for the conduct and deportment of students so in that sentence although I would eventually like to get around to changing the word deportment if nothing else but um what does that even mean this is my point um so my first thought was in that in that specific sentence um right to say the board has Authority and responsibility to establish reasonable expectations rules and regulations because again we're trying to make this right a little more a not that we're being soft on expectations but that's really what it is it's not all just rules and regulations um and then pretty much everywhere where the word equal starts showing up um either and Equitable or replacing equal with Equitable um because equal and Equitable are not the same word yeah and um and you know I think that if our if the Preamble policy for this section is about equal it kind of implies that everything else should be about treating kids equal and I don't think that that's who we have been as a district and so I think Equitable would be a better word so I like I put my question for expert is I recognize equal access to educational program students I don't know if that's specific leg CH not because I haven't yeah well I think but barring that I'll point out idea is all about Equitable access to education program not equal access so it's kind of a I mean yeah I'm not arguing with you I just no no know somewhere in State Statute I thought oh could be so would that also include and because I I look at the the title itself student rights and responsibilities shouldn't that also shouldn't that be student rights and expectations or is that something completely different okay hold on oh maybe yeah um because that's what I I read responsibility is is the expectations that we have okay so two things really quick tell me where you're at because I I'm on the first page of ji rights responsibilities so it would' be like rights responsibilities and expectations I would delete responsibilities and replace it with expectations rights and expectations you're thinking of okay this is what you're thinking of Jay yeah I maybe in a weird space you're in a weird space but it's probably from like if you took like remember they' like make you take like an education in the law class or um but that this was like there was a case before plusy B Ferguson that God you actually very was very old Isn't that before everybody was born yes I mean it's from 1849 [Music] so so it was like that case then py berson overturned that and then Brown B board overturned py back to this Charles Sumer was a dude who sued the district in Boston back in 1849 and he argued that that that separate colored schools in Massachusetts were unconstitutional back in 1849 okay so yeah so I'll go with an I do [Laughter] play just being timekeeper it is 623 p.m yes other than my my Equitable stuff um okay wait hold on because we didn't sorry oh so really quick um your so so what I'm going to put is at the bottom word change removal equal but changing it to equal and Equitable barring case issue like case off thank you statute and then um very explicitly related to the equitability thing in the last um in the last multi-line paragraph okay like how I have to describe that so when it starts with superintendent shell uh ensure the student rights under varying conditions are properly described and equitably administered okay um and then my only my thought to what you had mentioned James was um administered administering okay thank you sorry um was if it's expectations for like their rights it feels like we're going back to the like it's not so much like maybe talk aloud I feel like expectations is being like it's really like like a synonymous with like the rule we expect you to follow but I feel like this particular thing is more about like their rights and like the responsibilities we want to like encourage them to have so that would be my only thing what's responsibilities then because that the way you described it that was the way I intended it I I thought it was more of a contrast your rights and then also your responsibilities slash expectations as a member so it's weird because when you look down at the bottom but I could be wrong no I'm I'm not sure I think that these responsibilities it's more it's still like what you expect them to do but it it's a lot about like procedurally do we need to stop this conversation because we're not at a quorum in the room right now that's correct oh yeah oops sorry that's something I should have said uh here we go so I don't so I don't so let's maybe not answer that question let's first decide what are we when we're looking at this with the rights what do we all envision that being that it's basically what's protected for them and their abilities is it like um their due process I see it as legal like they're legal they legal rights legal rights um opportunities provided to them that we like where are you at now I'm trying to Define what's right and responsibilities so I'm literally at the topic sentence I'll change this color well and maybe more than legal rights when I was reading through this I got this sense of some of these are not just legal rights but things that we as a district are considering rights at that same legal like legally protected so um when I had said before was that as long as you're not getting more restrictive than what's already out there in the regular world you can get more protective is I guess what I should say so you can enumerate more rights than what students have at other districts depending on what you would like those to be in this District okay so I got it's like the legal rights just what you get um opportunities provided for like the student like what rights we want to like bestow on children and then what we we will protect Beyond legal rights that are given But ultimately it's got to be more rights not more restrictions yeah you can't restrict most of this from what I looked at is like we're not going to be able to delete most of this stuff yeah so we can only add to this and then the other thing is oh so my delete with the rights is it it goes beyond a K8 school do we want to like it talks about married students but legally they can't get married anyways I mean not at 12 at least I was about to say maybe um an eighth grader could legally get married here I don't know I don't even remember what the with parent permission that would grader can get legally married they're 13 it's 13 right no we we have 16 we will have 16year old eighth graders at some point yeah but I'm saying like you you the cut off is an age of 13 not this doesn't this just simply says married students and so and the legal age with parent permission is 16 in this state so technically we could have an eighth grader who is married we could have a 16-year-old with parent permission oh yeah oh yeah yeah um they get retained once and there and they could there's a potential for that drive to school doesn't happen we did have I mean it's the same thing as when you have like a 21 or 22 year old at your high school because they also got retained or they're in special ed or whatever and then uh we' got two minutes everybody really quick so responsibilities what are we defining that as if you're going to like add um like is it because these are like you've got the right these are like to me protect a school it's basically like to me these are the broad Community agreements so if you look at 15 um 15 wow you scroll up and see the first statute that's listed uh yes it's 15341 let me click it yeah and you go to it you'll see that if you if you see there it says there's a section that starts to say something about student responsibilities nope that's not maybe is it not that one maybe it's the next one 342 sorry no you're fine three oh 34 341 that was one I was on 8:41 sorry not 341 841 oh yeah there right there so responsibilities of pupils so like letter a section one and two like the way they put this in here for the statute is not how they have responsibilities list out like it's kind of weird because this is what's listed as the responsibility statute but it doesn't align with responsibilities in the regulation at all so just so you all know I don't I took a quick look and it doesn't look like any of the stuff from the responsibilities list is in this because this talks about expulsion and all that stuff and that's in a different policy right okay so I think you should be able to kind of just go wild in the responsibility section okay so broad Community not involvement agreement the exposion policy is right yes yeah so for example yeah do a sense of the time frame where this was actually originally written um one of the things that I do really propose or um is like our third bullet like bullet um members are able to express their feelings and beliefs freely without fear of judgment Prejudice from others no one has the right to negatively impact the emotional mental or physical well-being I guess the first sentence that is going to be considered a responsibility when it's Wordsmith that like but no that's a right right able to express their feelings is a right responsibility is to not negatively impact others correct yeah Bingo got it um before because we're at 6:30 the only other if you'll just make a note in your copy going back to um ji um in the third paragraph it uses the word obedience oh I saw that too obedience to properly constituted School Authority and since we're making some other changes in vocabulary we can talk about that next time I just want to make sure we don't lose that agreed okay peace don't take away my ability to PR yeah once we all figure out what once we all figure out what that is we'll yeah trust me I'm gonna go wild one second wild PR like it involves a wand do you [Laughter] wanna Harry Potter so before you adjourn do you want to does is everyone good with the future dates can I make a motion I think so okay I move I move we continue with the proposed meeting dates second second oh uh second yeah it's not even an action item talking about it yeah that's just a like a information item yeah did we only schedule through January 16 I thought weren't we going to schedule future dates in January oh yeah because of people's calendars I I I think by Janu by dece by December 14th I should at least know my January February calendar so maybe if everybody can make sure to bring their calendar at our next meeting and then we can do like the next two that's fine if you would mind remind me for the folks who aren't here yeah certainly and hopefully if we do gain some replacement members they'll be here then we can hopefully include them in that discussion [Music] yeah so uh the just to kind of recap a little bit the we went over uh these the U the jic policy right yes and then our next steps are to go and look at the ji and Jr policy ji and jir to look at what you want to add to that basically and then we're still waiting for confirmation from the attorney about like somebody being able to go in there and clean up all of that based on the conversation so if we get confirmation from the attorney between now and December 14th what we'll do is um we'll go ahead and send an email out yeah send an email out and make sure that there's an editable ver that's Avil would awesome so and if that happens I I would be happy to volunteer to do some clean up we said after this one oh so I can look through it it has a bunch of stuff yeah sure right I just want to make sure JK we said after the what we did today and um what we will do at the next meeting will be our like third one to look at student discipline that was the one we okay wait could you repeat that um so to next week we're GNA do the ji and jir and then um Katie's gonna start checking out the um JK student discipline so I believe that was our next most important one to get to that's third okay yeah perfect oops you do all right unless there's anything else for the good of the order you can somebody can make a motion to adjourn I move to adjourn the advisory committee meeting I second all those in favor I I I motion passes we are
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-11-29 Maricopa County, AZ YouTube / Gilbert Public Schools transcript source: youtube Gilbert Public Schools Board Meeting 11/28/2023 · passage 1
all right you guys ready good evening we'd like to welcome you to the regular board meeting tonight Tuesday November 28th 2023 and thank you to all those who are joining us here we're excited to have you as well as any who are joining us online or later watch it recorded we appreciate your attendance we will begin with a call to order and then be followed by a Moment of Silence after which Mr Chad Thompson will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance if you'll please stand and join join me in a moment of [Music] silence back [Music] today thank you I alance 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 [Music] all thanks chair thank you all I will now ask Miss Wilson for a roll call Mr Chad Thompson here Miss Rhonda page here Miss Sheila ug jetti here Miss Lori wood here miss Jill humph here Madame President all board members are present you have a quorum thank you very much that will take us to approval of agenda item 2.01 board members is there a motion I move that we approve the agenda as presented thank you Miss jetti is there a second second thank you Miss humph it's been moved and seconded that we approve the agenda as submitted all those in favor please vote by saying I I any oppose with nay thank you that passes 5 that will take us to our superintendent recognition Awards Dr McCord thank you madam president govering board members if you join me in front of the dis we'll present our recognitions good evening oh good good evening good evening thank you thank you thank you welcome uh to our board meeting tonight um we are going to recognize uh a few people some athletic teams teacher social workers groups of kids it's going to be great are you guys ready all right first person tonight that we would like to recognize is Mrs Jenny Nicholls Jenny please come on [Applause] up I'm good we we going to try to recognize Jenny at last month's meeting but she she had a sick teacher she teaches music and so she covered for her that night this is the type of person we're recognizing tonight Jenny has been awarded the Arizona string Teacher of the Year by the a string Association please give her a hand Jenny is taught Orchestra and general music for Gilbert public schools for 39 years Miss Nichols currently teaches orchestra at Gilbert Elementary and Ashlin Ranch elementary schools and is the district department chair for elementary strings Jenny has a passion for teaching teachers and regularly mentors pre-service teachers and teachers new to Gilbert Jenny's favorite students were her four children all were in her strings class in elementary school and do we have one under employment El Gilbert Elementary her daughter teaches for us now we're like the mafia folks you we don't ever let you out uh Jenny I I know you personally and I know everything that you do uh and you have a lot of passion for what you do and that's exactly what we appreciate and respect about you and wellers deserve reward congratulations Jenny I have to just so you guys know it is always picture time after your presentation so don't leave one more time can I have Coach Dave Montgomery or coach Monty as everybody likes to say from Highland High boys and girls cross country come up Mr montgomry Dave and I tend to meet each year right around this time in the same spot it's a good habit again it's a great habit um so Highland High School boys and girls cross country won the division one Championship this year and I'm going to let Coach talk do you have any girls with you and boys oh there look at oh wow come on up bring the hardware it is look at you guys I guess you also one best dressed right coach go ahead and say some words well well first I'd like to uh acknowledge today as my anniversary 36 years to my wonderful wife Sheree in the back there so she deals with the early mornings and the late nights and the weekend's gone and stuff so she's the best teammate and best person for me so anyway I want to kind of go through this real quick cuz I know we got lots to go here but uh these both these teams uh won last year and this year and no other uh cross country teams have done that in the history of Arizona across country so that's cool uh the girls three Pete they three Pete I don't know how do you beat that but the three and then the guys were back to back so that's kind of cool um so on the girls side I'm just going to have them raise their hand I'm just going to give you their place at State um we have Alder humpher sophomore 36th Place wave uh and then McLaren Cruz a freshman 33rd then Addy Frost one of our most improved she's a junior got a medal 21st Place Charlotte Greer always very strong all year Junior and 18th Kenley Jackson our only senior she just signed with MCC and she finished ninth and then Cameron Delany is sophomore finished fourth and then Stella Hall um just ran out of her brain and they all did but this one just went after it to win it uh she took runner up not by much uh By 10 meters she got beat by a girl from Basia but it was incredible gutty effort uh the girls record was 160 wins and two losses and the losses were at uh big meet desert Twilight where all the Colorado schools Arkansas California they all come down to race on the fast course and we took third that those are the only two schools that beat us were from Colorado and they're ranked in the nation so that was pretty impressive so anyway best girls team out of all the divisions and if you notice one senior on the boys side our number seven was Christian Leck our one of our our soccer multisport gu senior 46th Place raise your hand there Christian where are you and then uh we have a a a former basketball player he just loved the run on so much I we think he needs counseling but he loves uh he loves running and he did really well this year Junior Brady Moore 38th Place and then uh sophmore Sam Davis passed 20 guys the last 600 meters to finish 30th Sam raise your hand and then uh our hockey player you know he's our enforcer in case someone gets out of line out there but uh he's a senior in 26th Place and then Wildman Tim Wilford senior 18th Place and then our our blonds have more fun guy Lucas Witcher senior at 10th place and crew Golden Boy senior eighth place the number one Runner there we go the girls were solid all year you know and uh when the gun went off at State you know you don't ever predict that you can win but these girls were solid all year we kind of figured uh that they were going to be solid and obviously they came through and ran what they were supposed to to the Boys At 2 miles we were down by 12 points to Hamilton High School boo anyway so we were down and I'm looking at my phone looking at you know oh no man you know I'm kind of coming up with a speech okay well if you take second I got to go in there you know cuz you know they're going to be disappointed and anyway the last 600 meters these seven guys passed over 40 guys to to get us the win and they won by 11 points and the program had 75 Runners we we we show up at 5:00 a.m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-11-29 Johnson County, IN YouTube / Center Grove Schools transcript source: youtube Center Grove Schools Board Meeting - November 28, 2023 · passage 1
good evening tonight I'm calling to order the Tuesday November 28 2023 regular school board meeting for schor first order ofed of Al off I pledge aliance 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 job hang all right next up is adoption of the agenda do I have a motion Mr President I we adopt the agenda as presented thank you Mr Russell do I have a second thank you Mrs counts have Motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z next up is re recognition and presentations Dr AR you evening we have a CG Spotlight from Walnut Grove and I'd like to ask to come on up and take over would you like any certain order whatever you feel all right we'll start with Jack because he's super excited so we sent out a survey to all of the staff and asked them to nominate any student any support staff member Any teacher that they would like to recognize this evening for this uh Center Grove Spotlight and Jack's name came up multiple times Jack is a second grader at Walnut Grove Mrs Klein's classroom and he was nominated because several staff members said that he is always thoughtful patient polite and caring to others he embodies all the positive traits that come to mind when we think of wild cat way he's respectful helps others and goes out of his way to help our school and show his school pride so we have nominated Jack this evening as our Walnut grow wild cat Spotlight student would you like Jack to stay standing with us or can he go back with his family he can go back and then we'll we come be up okay thanks Jack congratulations all right for our support staff member the staff wanted to recognize Stacy Williams Stacy has CeCe has been in the district for nine years she is our special education instructional assistant and some of the wonderful things that were said about Stacy uh Stacy is a phenomenal educator that can continuously goes above and beyond she is willing to help her fellow co-workers offer advice help problem solve she plays an intrical part in our cares team and is always willing to jump in and help out our students she is a great source of inspiration for our team and I hope she knows how much she is valued she is making a difference and Walnut Grove is blessed to have her and for our teacher Spotlight the name that just kept resurfacing was Stephanie Dodson Stephanie is a second grade teacher this year she has taught for 15 years or has 15 years of experience um the things that were shared about Stephanie and the reason we should be recognizing her this evening is because she goes above and beyond to make every student feel loved she welcomes them each morning with a warm smile smile and a hug she genuinely cares about each and every student she goes above and beyond not only to teach her curriculum but she is also started a nature Club at Walnut Grove and she had so many applicants to the nature club that she willingly hosts the nature Club two evenings a week so that she can allow 50 students to participate and she not only wanted to do it one semester because there's so many things that happen in nature over over the school year she does this all year long I think we're on a little bit of a break now until February thank goodness because seeing them outside parading around all bundled up I feel a little bad for them sometimes because it's so cold but she does an amazing job for our students and and definitely shows them why um she is in this in this job she cares about them thank you we have you guys come up of get [Applause] thank you Mrs except this evening thank you Mr Alexander evening we have a report from teaching and learning on element and I'm ho yeah actually tonight um Marcy Shack she's our director of Elementary teaching and learning she's gonna come up to the podium because she's GNA Drive our presentation and she's going to I'm gonna do a little intro here and bookend Marcy um but I want her to to be able to share um the bulk of this work cuz this is what she does day in and day out it's her passion she's um our literacy Diva um our reading specialist in the district um and much of this work I would attribute um at least the start of it directly to her she's phenomenal so um tonight we want to talk about elementary Reading and specifically The Sciences of reading um at Center Grove we'll explore three different things why we're on this journey um what is the Sciences of reading and I put the S on the end of science you'll hear science of reading all the time it's the Sciences of reading here um that we're teaching and where does it exist in our curriculum um we're taking reading instruction to the next level in our district because we're not Reinventing the wheel or starting from scratch we're enhancing what we're already doing and the best practices but we're adding to and creating some more um explicit and systemic work that is across the district we're integrating um even more research into what we're already doing to make it better so it's really an enhancement and th to the next level um every time we present I I want do want to share that our goal for teaching and learning and this goes right into to our schools with school Improvement plans is to focus on supporting and enhancing an effective system um for learning to meet all of our students academic needs which then in turn moves us closer and closer to the all students of our vision um the success criteria we learn that big data that we use to decide if how we're doing is I learn I read sat and also graduation rate are big um things we're looking at um as well as a lot of small data along the way and just a reminder the system that's up there um it's impacted at that base by the culture how we do the work um but it's also about effective teaching and also about the curriculum to make sure that we're keeping that the same across the district um reading that we're going to talk about today is impact each one of those gears it's about how we do the work because the PLC process is so important to doing this work work and how it's done um it's about that effective teaching strategies and being even better teachers every day but it's also about making sure we can guarantee what we're doing so that it doesn't matter in what building and in what classroom you're sitting that some things we're just doing everywhere this is what we do um for students so planning learning leading all this work has really involved every level of Staff starting with Marcy as our director Amanda tremble because she works with our coaches and they're so embedded in this work um partner with Marcy on it um our principles and our assistant principles are vital in this work um and then that goes right down to the teachers and all of our support staff which you'll see we they're being trained and part of the the work too and with that I want to let Marcy take over the next slide sounds good all right now I'd like to talk to you a little bit about our why um our journey really started with some standardized quantitative data you can see here in this I I read um chart across the years from 2012 to present 2023 we've seen a gradual decrease in that data in 2012 we were at about 96% pass in 2013 we were we reached even 98% um and then this past spring we were at 90% so that was part of our our why in um really reigniting conversations around reading instruction and best practices additionally I learn data supported the work it's also part of our y you can see that um I learn data and English language arts here in this table um also tells the story while we performed above State average you can see there um I've listed the state average for each grades three four and five and then our Center Grove performance um it's still um not where we want to be at around 60% pass this past year in 2023 you can see grade three was at 62% pass grade four at 57 with a little decline there and grade five at 63% pass again this was just uh English language arts grades three four and five I also indicated here if they met in 2023 the school Improvement plan goal I know you review those usually around October I believe um and this past year was a 2% um increase was their goal so I did indicate districtwide which grade levels met those goals one thing I do want to share data too is one I feel really good while we didn't meet all three places the SI goal in two of those grade levels we did and I also like to see we keep getting closer and closer and actually surpassing in grade five where we were at fre pandemic in our performance and that's really kind of that getting back and then just keep moving forward um and I feel like we're getting closer and closer to that all the time which is a very attributed to Marc's but also what principes coaches and teachers are doing at the building level if I understand correctly the correct but they didn't gain is that what you're looking at yeah and if you look at the state average they followed about that Trend um a slight dip um so you know we can never really attribute one specific Factor but there's probably a lot that goes into that too us T 19 to3 is there a change coming was there a change in any of these years there has not been a change in the Years presented here that's why I have these years only but that will be a whole other board meeting to talk about the changes on the horizon correct and not next year um next year may be a pilot for our district with a change in I learn um but that's still to be determined and then the following year um the state is proposing a change to I learn words throughout the year and not just one test but that's a lot lot to unpack there okay another part of our y um has to do with some qualitative data and input um sorry I got ahead of myself here um the reading framework was uh became very parent that a framework was necessary to put together that system of learning that Dr Hoover talked to about at the beginning we knew we needed a framework for a Common Language uh a problem of practice we started to notice in plc's or professional learning communities was speaking different languages teachers were speaking different languages about reading instruction and the ways we were teaching reading um so teams of teachers came together um in a collaborative way to study research and to contribute to a comprehensive frame work that you see here on the screen this is a kindergarten and first grade framework and basically it breaks down times of um components of a quality high quality reading instruction block of time um so that we were all speaking the same language in our plc's so that brings me to The Sciences of reading as Dr Hoover alluded to to further enhance it it science of reading has become quite a buzz um um social media podcasts youve probably read some things in the newspaper um so about two or three years ago when that that swing was starting um to further enhance our reading framework uh we renewed the focus on the science of reading um to add depth and strength to our practices on that framework so the science of reading is not new it's been around for about 30 years um but current conversations are giving us a renewed look at how it translates into classroom practices so to Define it I want to start with what it is not because it's a pretty common misconception um when people start to talk about science of reading so it is not a specific program it's not one specific Magic Bullet program you can buy um it's not a lesson plan it's not just phonics a lot of times you'll hear that phonics focus and it's not a philosophy but what it is is a vast interdis disciplinary body of research from multiple fields from education from Neuroscience from Psychology from Linguistics um that speak to reading and writing and so um with our knowledge and our Research In The Sciences of reading we are taking those practices as Dr Hoover said to the next level and deepening our understanding we like to refer to it as brain aligned practices and Sciences of reading that plural because it is not one program or a fad but a body of research so that is why we add that Sciences it's a a term we've coined here in Center Grove it's not just one program it's a body of research so I could I could talk to you um and I know some people in the audience know this that we could talk for hours about this one slide because I'm pretty sure they probably have um but I'll just say I'll leave it at this that um teaching reading is complicated it is actually a bit of rocket science we are literally rewiring the brain when we are teaching kids how to read because it is a not a naturally learned um skill So reading has to be explicitly and systematically taught these two reading models for reading acquisition on how students learn how to read are two models that are commonly accepted in the field of the science of reading um that demonstrate this idea of the complicated nature of teaching reading I will point out the abbreviations on the left side because I don't have a key for those the W stands for word recognition times language comprehension so LC is language comprehension equals reading comprehension so both of those sides of that equation have to be present it is intentionally a multiplication um uh equation because without one of them if one of them is zero reading comprehension is also zero so because reading is complicated there is not just one resource that meets all those comprehensive needs in teaching it so I'm taking us back to this framework to show you where components of the Sciences of reading are in our instruction so there's the word reading um side of the equation that I just shared and there's language comprehension and then the resources that we use um Scholastic literacy will sound familiar to you as well as ufly and I want to talk a little bit more about ufly so ufly stands for University of Florida literacy Institute and is a new addition to our word study structure you saw on the framework it gives every student the opportunity to explicitly learn letters and sounds and how they work together so that they can become fluent readers and rewire that brain to learn how to read systematic means that ufly skills are logically sequenced and they build upon one another and explicit means it's very clear there's really no guesswork in in teaching those phonic skills so I'd like to show a two-minute video of you fly in action in a couple first grade classrooms we are going to do some pounding and sounding Mrs mcken oh I'm sorry and I got you go ahead going to do some pounding and sounding at first Mrs mckenny is going to pound and sound out the word and then I want you to blend the word together and tell me what word I just pounded and sounded are you ready what I like best about the uly curriculum is it is something we can do whole group it's a systematic and explicit way to teach phonic instruction go ahead build the word cap on your board cap what letter are we adding f f and what is this word four like I had have a present for you remember this isn't the number for my next word is like I'm first going to pound in sound oh I I heard three sounds what makes it so easy for teachers is that the scaffolding is already built in to the program so it's constantly reviewing um previously taught skills and everything is there for you it's either either in the manual and then on the website there are additional resources and the Google slides that we use to teach every day so it makes teacher prep extremely easy why are they irregular words with heart Parts who can remind me Emerson because they don't say the the regular sound they don't say their regular sounds are we ready to review some of them all right here we go what is this word good good what sound does o u l [Music] make Jordan did you have a question yes all that we just read it together how how a i e you're right they all had that I in that silent E teaching reading can be scary to some people but I feel like this huge phonics component everything a new teacher and even a veteran teacher cuz we need to review and learn Le and grow as well it's all there in this program for us we are we are going to do some we are going to do some pounding and we won't watch it again I'm sure Mrs mcky would appreciate that too this work really hard to get Consultants experts from University of Florida they came us 109 teachers it was phenomal and Dr Hoover we were the very first in Indiana to receive training from University of Florida so they've gone internationally they've traveled and we were the first ones on the map for Indiana also just received SCI comp Grant from State be able to continue to work rest second semester but sometimes in the science of reading conversation only phonics gets focused on in the science of reading where it's really a breadth and depth of a body of research for both reading and writing correct not the only part of the science of reading um interactive reader loud yes talk to me about it because I think I really like it I just need to hear it yes I think you really do I agree um we actually revised if you notice the top of this framework um the framework is dynamic we don't just leave it on a shelf to gather dust and pull it back out we review it every year I get feedback very frequently from teams like hey I think we need to look at this for next year we need to look at that and one of the feedback um pieces we received a lot last year was the interactive read aloud needed to be longer and so we expanded it to 20 minutes instead it was a 10-minute for interactive read aloud and 10 minutes for shared reading but it is basically a read aloud um but there is a lot of professional judgement behind it where teachers know where to stop and ask questions and it's where they're getting that language comprehension so students may be learning the magic e like like and five those words in their phonics but they're learning about um LS bra in their interactive read alouds you know that's where they're getting that rich com complex text with with a teacher and uh thank you for bringing the video the pictures of the kids were Priceless and uh for you Mr doctor 109 people participating well done well done thank you this is this was cool thank you thanks for sharing Marcy question how how does this we are going I'm sorry we just want to watch we love Mrs mckenny watch it again there we go so how does this look compared to what we have been doing is this additional change is it A Change Is it you know when we think about a reading program and all of that you know how does this look what how do we describe it to people we change something did we add to what we're doing great question it is a a supplement that was needed to complete that framework wheel um we had we have Rich resources in Scholastic but when we dug into those we realized there were gaps in the phonics piece so for that word study instruction we had a lot of momentum from teachers and interventionists about youly and needing something um very explicit and direct so so I think the biggest difference is that a teacher at Walnut Grove instructional coach at Walnut Grove can call a teacher at North Grove and say hey I'm on lesson 55 I added this word and this word you know the consistency and exactly um those PLC conversations have been made much more powerful so that's the biggest difference that we are speaking the same language about the skills and sharing resources um so not not um new but added to and one of the things without a system that's set up for you things teachers didn't always do things in the same order and so from grade to grade there would be gaps and overlaps like Mrs McKinny said all this stuff is out for you you really can focus on being a better instructor and not a planner because the plan is done for you don't change it this is the order you need to go in so no matter what classroom the child in next year they know what the child had the that student year before so we we found through the research Merc that Marcy has taught me um because I I taught English but not reading um at a high school level right um is that having a system and sticking with it is much more important than which one you pick but she did a phenomenal job of of Landing working with teachers and and our coaches to to select the system thank really like those two words sustainability and consistency U is very important and from building to building you know U that's with our moving around student body now that's going to be very important so we added this program this year right so did if it's a car going down the assembly line did we just put tires onto it or did we just put the body onto it where are we at with this that it will be a a running car are there asking is there more to add is there more to add are we there already or oh so as far is it buil this was you know got an engine as you saw this was one piece of of the reading framework in their 90 minute reading block and so that block and and and um enhancing reading and getting on the same page speaking the same language having that same structure across the district has been a multi-year process um to develop and then learn and Implement and be accountable for learning that so we're in year three or four Co hurt a little but we're but um that um we're towards the end of really saying this is all implemented and also having structures particularly with having our coaches being building experts um when we get new people they can on support them along the way as long as leaning into the PLC process to have that was my next question colleagues how do we bring on new staff yes to hit the ground running with this yeah there have been um so the maintenance piece of the ufly program it really is a a simple program to purchase but powerful in implementation it's just a manual and then everything is online with Google slides and because our teachers are amazing and go above and beyond like you heard this evening they've been saving you know extra files in Google Drive so I would say that part is built the the maintenance and sustaining um will be in the training in the purchasing of any additional manuals which Dr Hoover mentioned that science of reading Grant and I've built that in um with the additional training and the science of reading grant for the upcoming school year um and our coaches have done an amazing job putting together refresher and training for new teachers even um on canvas where they could watch modules great question thank you really just to talk a little bit about the concerns we have with legislators right now um talking about third grade retention and changing those laws so I don't know if you guys are following any of that and so I am concerned and would like all of our public to realiz to hear that and to voice your opinion to our legislators that that is a huge huge huge mistake to tie retention to a test score uh for our kids so um and this is around third grade reading hopefully that gets a lot more discussion a lot of input from yeah various stakeholder groups I agree I agree so the overarching thing and you're going to hear me say this pretty much every time is that that um the idea that what makes all of this work more powerful and being a better system is that we do it together and collaboration is slower but it's better in the end and we sometimes walk slow so we can run fast later and and this is a great example of of that work and it takes time and I I hope in a year we're sitting here saying gosh look at the bounce in in ela scores um but it does take time um but we're going to get there this is all the right and I learn but I I read will be consistent so we can still look at I read next year it's our most consistent measure but I learn we're not goingon to want to look at thank you and we're gonna we're gonna keep doing but this is s such a great foundational work um that we don't need to change when that test changes or it'll be very very small compared to how far we've come and getting everyone in the same moving Target sometimes thank you thank you for your time this evening hi my name is Keith poror I am a Community member and uh I am probably the only taxpayer that ever shows up at this [Laughter] meeting I remind you yes yes that's this I want to address the uh um the uh policies first and I'll hold my comments till the 1028 hearing please for the other one uh I think we should uh increase the public comments uh time limit to 10 minutes per person I just don't feel I'm not a professional speaker and I don't think too many people are uh here but uh I think we need more time to express our comments uh to the board so I would like to uh say that I would like to see the uh time limit move to 10 minutes per per individual thank you thank you Mr agenda do I have a motion Mr President I move that we approve the consent agenda I'll second it thank you Mr Daniels thank you Mr Russell we have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z thank you next up action items 8.1 approve the CER approved certified staff handbook Dr aranov thank you Mr Alexander this evening I'm recommending that the board approve the certified staff handbook and this evening uh Dr Nelson will provide you with some additional information yeah thank you well again tonight we bring you the recommendation to approve the 2324 student uh certified staff handbook um a lot of the changes that were made this year match current costs for health plans replacement of ID and strategics Badges and then updates language for professional development and then addressing the new Indiana code when it comes to conditions of employment um not many more changes we don't have many this year um a lot of them were just current language and current practices that need to be updated one thing is that conditions of employment with that new Indiana code um that we that we are required to report of any criminal history convictions a majority vote of school board members as a condition of employment this went into effect in July um and then also um there's a couple of things in here when it comes to um sick days for mental health we did update that um to cap that at one day and then also addressing long-term leave expectations that uh we addressed that language um last year and just updated it to the handbook for this year so not many changes just things to um update what our current practices reflect Dr Nelson all right do I have a motion Mr President I move that we approve the certified staff handbook as presented thank you Mr Russell thank you Mr Robinson we have a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z thank you thank you next up is I'm assuming yep me again with support staff so um again uh exact same thing just matching um current language that we have addressing um some updates in some Schoolboard policies and current language um that we have on an everyday basis that needed to be updated within there um one thing I do want to point out um is you know our support staff we see them as our teachers and they are a huge uh value and a huge part of our CG family and so this year we do have the experience incentive like we've had every year but we were able to update that um and to provide the more compensation um for St for support staff members that continue their employment in CG um we also with that um were able to uh hopefully um retain them um and I know I've been doing some State interviews and they are very appreci of that so thank you so much um for allowing us to do that everything else again matches board policy um and just some of the things that if they do lose a badge or a cic badge what that updated um cost would be for them to replace that so nothing major this year any questions on the support staff handbook changes just a side note haven't we had some support staff move into teaching positions we have mhm yes and we continue I don't have the numbers off the top of my head but we do have quite a few support staff members that are in transition to teaching programs or even getting their bachelor's in education right now um that we're hoping to retain and put them into our classrooms um in the next few years great well you ready any other comments or questions Deja Vu I move that we approve the support staff handbook as present I'll second that motion thank you Mr Russell Mr Daniels we have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z thank you guys could make the last meeting easy could you 8.3 approve the school calendar for the 2024 25 25 26 26 27 school year Dr aranov I'm recommending this evening that the board approved those calendars as presented I'm going to uh let Dr Taylor uh present to you some additional information thank you Dr arov we're bringing three three years of calendars for the board to consider for approval um the only one that is a real change is what was published as a draft for next school year for 2425 um you'll see this change includes um ending School prior to Memorial Day and Toom that it's adding additional days to the first semester um this calendar was then used to model for the following two years um and the breaks remain the same um in all three calendars so a full week in October a full week in November two weeks in in December typically sometimes running into January and then two weeks in march sometimes running into April um and those are the the four to five breaks that we have within the school year um also recognizing all holid days and um this is not reflective any waiver days that the corporation may receive in the future um we typically would bring that back after granted that flexibility so I think that's all to share yeah I covered all the topics any questions for Dr Taylor Just appreciation for you taking our concerns and and making it work all right do I have a motion thank you Mr Robinson do I have a second a second thank you Mrs counts we have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z thank you 8.4 approve employee stiens Dr aranov thank you thank you Mr Alexander this evening I'm recommending that the board approve employees stiens and Dr Taylor will provide you with some additional information thank you I apologize for just one moment and loged me out get to my script for you um this is uh stiens that will be awarded to all employee groups um that'll include certified teachers and then administrators and support in levels a and at least one in Level D on their um annual working hours all right teacher appreciation Grant provides a little over $30 per student to school districts throughout Indiana and this amount is given to each district to be paid to the teachers state law requires that the board policy for the distribution of the tag the teacher appreciation Grant um be exist and be reviewed annually the board did review this and approved it in August um that's Poli number 32201 and it outlines Center gr's distribution of the tag the grant total will be used to pay the stiens to teachers who receive a final Effectiveness rating of either effective or highly effective for the last school year as our policy and statutory requirements um or statutory laws required stiens will be differentiated by 25% between highly effective and effective rated teachers uh We've estimated the amounts this year we we have actually received the official amount but not the official dollarss yet um and we estimate that we'll be able to provide teachers with either a 1.4% stien with a floor of $750 if they're rated highly effective and a 1.12% stien to be no less than $600 if rated effective for the 2022 23 school year we're all also asking the board this evening to approve a stien for all eligible administrators and permanent support staff again including levels ABC and one or two and D who meet the evaluation requirement Level A and B employees will either receive a 1.4% stien if rated highly effective or a 1.12% stien if rated effective level C and D employees who we don't rate with Effectiveness um they will all receive a stien of 1.4% and any employee assigned to work less than a 4H hour day will receive a minimum of $250 those assigned to work more than four hours a day will receive a minimum of $350 and if an employee changed assignments the minimum would be based off their last assignment um again pending approval tonight and payment from the state we plan to pay the stien by the end of 2023 thank you Dr Taylor any questions or comments for Dr Taylor this is what we do every year right it is all add it's up just slightly from last year we got just a little bit more as we well the amount changes the actual percentages of language are similar to we last year and for uh the non-certified staff we take it out of cash balance yes that's correct um when do we anticipate receiving the money typically we will probably receive it next week typically it's the first week of December okay we are preparing to pay it somewhere in between a regularly scheduled payroll so we'll do it on an off day so we'll do it on that'll be before the 20th if the money comes in or after the 20th if we don't receive it in time but it will be before the 31st okay and the state has to give us some money prior to the end of the year correct to spend it within 15 days Days receiving it right I appreciate the brother all right thank you Dr Tay and thank your team for the extra effort they go through on this every year because of the 15-day requirement from the state all right any other comments or questions do I have a motion I move that we approve the employee stiens as presented I second we have a motion by Mr Daniels and a second by Mrs counts all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed motion passes 5 Z thank you Sor my computer shut down everybody's running into that all right next up 8.5 1028 determination hearing and resolutions for the guaranteed Energy savings project Dr AR thank you Mr Alexander this evening I'm recommending that the board approve the 1028 determination hearing and resolution for the guaranteed Energy savings project and the uh capital projects fund maintenance and miscellaneous and this evening I'll turn it over to you right yep um this evening's um hearing has been advertised as appropriate um I now open this public hearing I'm going to turn it over to Dr Taylor to present the project the financing of the project and the actions we are taking this evening thank you and I'm going to lean on Dr long as well this evening he's got some special guests Jo us as we just want to kind of lay lay out what this is this is something we talked about during the budget hearing where we have uh um asked to increase our debt tax rate in order to do an energy savings project and we're going to go into great detail on that project um this will actually start in 24 and will officially be paid starting in 25 at the same time this evening we're bringing what would be an annual thing that we do for districtwide we call them go projects or go projects as they're typically go bonds um we're wrapping that into this as a larger project it will save us on some of the financing it'll it'll just help out the board is giving approval or we're asking the board for this hearing this evening and a second hearing on December 5th both of which have been advertised um again none of this money would be spent until these hearings have taken place um we will still have a whole bidding process to to um pursue and accept and award um and then I think that's all the key points on this Dr Long's going to share on the energy I will come back on the go and then talk financing thank you uh at the last board meeting the board approved uh cmta as our qualified provider and we had a presentation during the work session the public work session uh we've asked them to come back again tonight to share some of that information for people that might have missed that a little bit or want want some more information so tonight uh we have from cmta John Gasser and Carson Stewart and I'm going to invite them up to kind of run through their presentation and and if the board has any questions or the the public they're here to answer every hard question you have I'll take the easy ones all righty thank you Dr Long all right we appreciate yall having us we want to be respectful of your all's time we know you all got a lot to cover so we'll get right into it so uh I'm John Gasser partner with cmta Engineers been with the firm about 10 years now um let Carson introduce himself yeah car excuse me Carson Stewart uh been with cmta for four years now I'll be serving as project manager of this project we can hop into it so um yeah really just here to update you all a lot of this will be repeat so I apologize we'll try to move quickly but uh cmta we're a national leader in designing and building uh high performance K through2 facilities um a lot of people may say that or make that claim we like to you know the proof is in the pudding and in in the data so um a couple pieces of data that help support that uh we designed the first Zero Energy School in the entire country that was richardsville Elementary in Bowling Green Kentucky uh since then we've designed 9 plus million square ft of Zero Energy uh educational facilities um picture there on the on the right a couple pictures but the one in the front is the Zero Energy Design guide that ashray ashray is like the governing body for our industry they put together and um asked us to help write the design guide um so we've quite literally helped write the book on how to design a zero educational facility um out of the six examples in that book three of them they asked for to be our project so um yeah National expert in in designing and building these facilities um so what is a guaranteed Energy savings contract an energy savings performance contract there's a lot of terms um they all mean the same thing and and really at the core they're a financing tool so um you know traditionally uh you you build a project either renovate a building or build a new building with capital dollars um an energy savings performance contract essentially allows you to uh free up utility dollars and maintenance dollars that you're spending today and use those to to fund a renovation um for the visual people in the room the the py graphs on the left and right there on the bottom kind of help you visualize it so if we can reduce maintenance and reduce utility costs we free up dollar to spend um to pay off the project and anything above and beyond uh what we guarantee uh that the project has to save um the district realizes in a in positive cash flow so any any dollar we save above and beyond the district retains and we're on the hook for the savings for 20 years so we have to write a check for the difference if we fall short so we've done done a lot to date um maybe our uh I don't know sixth or eighth time uh meeting with with Bill and the team um gone over a lot of good information with them hopefully we've we've brought some value so far but ultimately um I don't know when we got contacted back early in the year April April May April May as soon as we got kind of contacted and and had a kickoff meeting we walked the facilities over spring break so uh became experts on on your all facilities dissected your drawings um dissected all the utility bills for the last three plus years um came to to Bill and Jason and team with some different kind of options and scenarios um they kicked them back to us to say hey I like that but look at this look at that so so we went through a couple iterations um ultimately got to a point where um they were comfortable releasing an RFP back in uh August um and we responded to that and we're selected at the the last board meeting okay I'm gonna take over here so I just want to talk a little bit more about some Center Grove specific details so like John was saying um big part of our project is to look at the utility spending so the the P graph on the left there uh that is a snapshot of what Center grve is currently spending annually on utilities that's electric gas and water uh for all 15 your facilities you see they're list on the right uh so we try to reduce this amount as much as possible to free up that that savings for you guys the chart on the right is sorted by dollar per square foot just this is a way for us to kind of look at the buildings that are spending more than other buildings you've got your uh football outdoor Locker facility on top on top you know this is a unique facility that uh has some unique requirements for HC so that makes sense that it's spending a lot more money and then you know some of your larger uh square footage buildings are also up there as well um and then a building we're going to talk about later Maple Grove Elementary School is in the top three of that list yeah so kind of moral of the story is anything above a dollar a square foot we kind of look at as opportunity and kind of meet on that bone um we got plenty of that here okay this is this chart here is just another uh way we compare 's buildings on energy called energy usage intensity so that's just simply we take the electricity and the gas and we convert it to a common um energy unit BP tuus divide that by the square footage so that way we're comparing girl buildings apples apples um and this chart also is a good way to kind of see what kind of HBC system types are more efficient than others so you know geothermal hpac is well known it's it's you know data is out there that it's a very efficient hpac system type so it makes sense why uh your buildings that have been converted to geothermal or at the bottom botom of this list uh your buildings at the top would be the ones that boilers and Chillers um and then that Maple Grove Elementary School which we've already identified it's Problem Child um is second from the top from a eui perspective I've got in there on Gray uh the energy star k through2 national median they're just a a rating system that that has looked at buildings looks at data of buildings Across the Nation um on an eui standpoint and the national average is of 58 so you guys you know you do have a lot of facilities that are above that National medium yeah so an easy way to think of energy usage intensity eui is like miles per gallon for a car except in this case high is bad low is good um so allows us to kind of compare schools Apples to Apples and we threw the HVAC system type on there because it tells a story and that number one if you look at a py graph of where Energy's consumed in a in a school it's like 55 to 65% hbac you know 20 to 25% lighting so HVAC has a huge impact on energy usage per square foot so kind of tells a story there of geothermal being um you know just based off the data like we talked about EUR all's best performing schools okay um get a little more details on the project that we guys are we are proposing for you guys uh we've got 3.7 megaw of solar a geothermal HBC renovation I Grove Elementary School in controls Ral commissioning across your District uh for the solar 2.7 megaw of that is uh proposed for rooftop 1 Point Z megawatts of that is going to be a ground Mount system it's going to be a dualed system it's going to feed Maple Grove Elementary School and your transportation maintenance center since both those buildings are adjacent um you guys do have an existing uh solar array at walnart Grove Elementary School it just has some ground maintenance and wire maintenance issues that we've identified that we think are affecting its its production so we're going to get we're going to take care of those get it back up to the capacity it should be at um and then later on we'll talk about the HBC and controls yeah so just to put it into context this is a very like abbreviated list when we were having our meetings with Bill and Jason the team we were like looking at everything like no stone unturned looked at potential for trash compactors looked at utility rate change opportunities looked at Water savings measure we we we looked at everything threw everything on the table this is kind of what's stuck um if that makes sense and the Carson's um under selling the the Zero Energy schools a little bit so to give you some context there the state of Indiana currently has zero zero energy schools um it's got a It's like got two or three zero energy or zero energy ready buildings um that are very small so um this is an outstanding opportunity for this school district to to put two schools and kind of take them off the board from an energy perspective where they're going to be producing the same or more that they use it's a really big deal and those those aren't brand new schools either right so those are uh 20 plus year old schools and to to take them off the grid is is a very big deal and something that the district should be really proud of okay uh just to go a little more in detail on the solar so you know solar at one building one facility is not going to be Val the same as soar at another facility so any district school district we work with we perform what I'm calling the solar feasibility study there's a lot that goes into this there's four main categories that we look at to kind of initially get a start and have listed there so the first thing is roof condition and land space you know what is there space to put solar how old is the roof if we're going to put it on the roof we don't want to put solar somewhere where we're thinking about having to do maintenance on that roof in like two years when the solar is supposed to be there for 20 years um the next two there utility rate structure net metering those kind of go hand inand so you know solar is only as valuable as as much as you're paying for that energy from utility um so what you're off setting with solar it's got that's what it's that's the value of of that is what you're buying from the utility the net metering is is you're going to hear that called a couple different things depending upon the state and legislation essentially that's util way of saying this is what we're going to give you you know if if there's a chance where your building is not consuming as much as your solar is producing you know that that energy has to go somewhere so it's going to go back to the utility and we don't want you guys to give free energy to utility once you guys to get money for that so every utility has their own uh policy we're calling n metering that says this is how much money we're going to give you for that energy uh and then the last thing there green check marks across the board is electrical infrastructure you know it's just making sure you all your buildings are very up to date and we'll get into that a little later um that's not an issue we're just looking for anything that's kind of outdated that that might kind of confuse the interconnection yeah the the big picture story there's a lot on here and you know we we look at this every day so it's easy for us but more of the story is solar is like any technology um it's only as as good as how well it's been designed installed commissioned to work right and kind of monitored over over time so if you have somebody that tells you solar is good or solar is bad the truth is somewhere in the middle and and what this slide is kind of meant to show is we looked at it everywhere and there's some some schools that are slam dunk fits solar makes a lot of sense other schools it doesn't and whether that's based off the the utility you guys kept us on our toes here so you have three different electric utility providers that serve different schools in the district so that that makes a big difference and uh for a lot of what is that JC jcmc yeah jcmc is kind of like a non-starter for a lot of schools because of their net metering uh laws and regulations so yeah yeah so jcrc you know if you if you over produce there you're going to get just pennies on the dollar um is what they're offering and I do want to note all of these um agreements once when we go into solar with a utility you enter an interconnection agreement all of these agreements do last the lifespan of the solar up until the point you decide to decommission the system yeah I guess the the last thing to point out here not to be the dead horse but just because a school is in yellow and red doesn't necessarily mean solar can't work there solar can work on any building it's just what is the um payback of that solar so these are 20-year projects um so really anything that is a 20-year payback or better helps produce savings to fund the project so we highlighted the ones in green for for Jason and and Bill to kind of show you these are the ones that are going to help help fund other work in your projects it can be done on the yellow and red buildings it's just going to be more of a drag on that project as opposed to something that's going to produce savings and help fund other work [Music] so okay um so out of that feasibility chart these are the facilities um that we have selected to receive solar uh there's seven existing the wellness center is a new building that's being constructed uh that we're going to put Sol on because it is with within that utility uh territory that has that favorable um rate structure and that metering policy um but essentially you know I've got listed there the annual utility savings for the system sizes that we can fit our team of solar Engineers has been on the rooftops of all these buildings we've looked at the conditions uh We've made sure we're putting solar on roofs that are new um structural we're doing structural at all the buildings uh we have a structural engineer that that's reviewing existing and and we're going out there and and doing iners site surveys to make sure it with the drawings match which is there uh because because we're going to make sure it's safe um working with the utility companies and and we're also working with utility companies on the um for for the owner on their behalf uh working through because every utility company has their own interconnection process it could be a two we or it could be a two Monon uh ordeal that we have to go through and we're already ahead of that um getting getting that stuff underway uh I've got in the green box there is the ground Mount system like I spoke about um is kind of Illustrated there below that's kind of the size of the array filled that would be needed to supply um energy to Maple Grove Elementary School to make it zero energy and I don't know if we we really explain what Zero Energy means he so you know Zero Energy uh produces just as much or more than than it uses so essentially takes it Off the Grid in a sense um so yeah everything in green there is panels that would be serving Maple Grove everything in red would be serving the transportation center there's some uh economic value of making that one single ground Mount system as opposed to two separate so just set up nice to combine those and and serve the two different buildings okay so this slide's a little that's okay um so this this slide should have been shown up a little earlier but essentially uh they're inra Cent gr of Community Schools um shown out of 66 eui and this this is just to show you guys that yes you do have a lot of buildings that are above that like Energy Star National medium but we've dealt with other clients that have had average eui way higher um and lower and this just kind of shows the breakdown of you know how our projects go so Baseline eui shown in Orange this is the chart that we showed you guys earlier um and then we're going to guarantee it which is going to show you what what we think we can get it to after we do all of our energy conservation measures it's going to be in blue and then um we have to verify that we measure it with real data we look at utility bills um so this is that's the data there that's what's in green so we've we've always overd delivered on what we've promised um in our energy projects yeah because we have to write a check for the difference if we fall short so we wouldn't be a good business and a successful business and able to bring you all awesome projects if if we were falling short of guarantees so like to promise and and overd deliver and the good news is anything above and beyond what we guarantee that you save again is 100% retained by the district to to spend as you see so next okay um so John spoke earli you know we look at everything uh one of the things that we look at is your hpac system types and and equipment and the ages so we went through every single boiler mechanical room and all your facilities we've got name plate data looked at drawings to kind of create this we call a red yellow green chart um that is basically an assessment of the the health of girl's hbac systems so ashray stands for American Society of heating refrigerating and air conditioning Engineers uh they're kind of like the drill accepted uh for assembly that that creates these guidelines for what what a the lifespan of HPC equipment should be so we compare the ages of Eur old's HPC systems to their guidelines and come up with this chart so green is your your well outside that expect the end of life orange is you're getting within kind of five years of that and then red you've already exceeded this and and and you all are doing very well I'll put it um you all we a lot of times we show this to districts and it's like all red and yellow and no green and you guys do an outstanding job of maintaining your facilities keeping up with them this is just a snapshot of kind of the State of the Union in terms of your hbac infrastructure your at your school so kind of good job um and just back on that slide real quick um some of these items that are in orange and red I do believe there is a plan already that you guys are working on those which is why we didn't propose projects on those the one that was kind of the outlier you know you saw earlier in the energy models was made for Grove Elementary School um so that that one does have agent equipment agent equipment typically uh uses more energy so that's why by um as about talk here in a little bit a little bit the geothermal HBC renovation that we proposing for that school here it is um so we we showed that a Geo HPC system is one of the most efficient HPC systems out system types out there so we've gone through Maple Grove Elementary school it's a perfect candidate for us to do this uh ge equipment replacement proposing one for one uh equipment replacements for to a water source heat pump for your fan coil units your air handling your outside air systems uh and what's the benefit of this is we can use a lot of the existing systems that are there like the hydronic piping they Supply air duct work uh it makes this project you very very easy um straightforward easy and E economical you know we don't want to we don't want to rip out piping that's got 50 years of life if it's only been there for 20 years same with duct where um sets up very nicely to be converted to geothermal and unlike most properties um there's a lot open field next to mle elementary school so there's no issues with with sizing a Geo field to fit next to the school and if we do this HC system replacement to a Geo system the number there at the bottom 144,000 is our projected annual savings just from doing that system type conversion a huge part of our savings um is coming from controls so the district districtwide has a a building automation systems and all their facilities so essentially you know there's a computer that somebody can log into and says I want the cafeteria to be this temperature it's going to send that to the controller it's going to control the fill controller and it's going to make sure through a sensor temp stat out in the field that it's reaching that set point um this is a very powerful system that has a lot of capabilities um and we are we like kind of proud ourselves of being the expert in building automation systems we have several different energy saving sequences that we can Implement into the existing system that you guys have such as scheduling timal start stop sequences demand limiting um and just sequences that are just specific to the HPC system types that you have that that chart you see there on the bottom kind of shows in Gray the you know where EUR all's average euis are for the different system types and in green is what we can control it to by just doing controls only um as a energy con conservation measure yeah again you you all have the infrastructure in place you've spent good money on these Control Systems now it's time to tune them optimize them monitor them make sure that they're they're running like they need to be yeah and a part of this as well um real quick is you we're going to go through and do a complete audit of the controllers and sensors that do have in place and make sure that those are working and functioning um and get those replace if they need to be another thing we typically uh see a lot of red and orange on for other districts as the lighting opportunity so you guys is just another Testament to how great your facilities group is doing you know Green is good LED lights um have already been installed in the majority of your facilities and even what you see there uh the CG Elementary School gym and the middle school north I think is has already been taken care of since we did our initial auditor is being taken care of very soon um so kudos to you guys for already taken care of this yeah I can honestly say so I've been doing this 10 plus years you are the first district that I've seen that are actually already converted to LEDs and replacing those LEDs with more efficient LEDs so again just kind of speaks to the culture of Center Grove and and Daryl and his team on focus on sustainability and and Energy savings and being good stewards of of taxpayer dollars okay so this is this is a pro project eui chart so I showed you the one at the beginning that showed where you guys were operating that that's now what you see in Orange and then this is where we're going to guarantee you guys um we expected to be once we Implement all these uh ecms or energy conservation measures the the only thing that is a little inaccurate here that I need to change is we talked about zero energy earlier so many grow Elementary School you see we get it down to an eight uh that's just a little bit of gas that's left there U that we would we can Electrify the school and then with the the solar we're going to make that Zero Energy so that would be zero and then Sugar Grove you see there it's getting down to 24 same thing there there's some gas there we're going to add some more solar Electrify school we'll get that down to a zero as well so so your district eui will actually be a little lower than 43 and then uh so this chart here is just the summation of of everything that I've just talked about as far as project scope uh what our estimated costs are nothing's been bid yet this is just cost that that we do a lot of projects like this we have a whole Data Bank of of historical cost that we pull from and we we've talked to some local contractors and vendors to kind of come up with these numbers and then also through our models we've got the estimated Energy savings you see there on the right uh just multiply out by 20 years which is the life of of our contract um total cost for everything would be $17 million you're getting pretty close to paying for all that with Just Energy savings and then the icing on the cake which we haven't talked about up this point the inflation reduction act has some legis legislation in there that if a facility or or owner is installing geothermal systems or solar they can take advantage of a tax incentive through the ITC um just a lump sum paid out as much as 30% of the total project cost and and there's some ways you can get that even higher um so we've we've added that in there as well on the uh bottom line yeah so the legislation allows non-t taxpaying entities to take advantage of of tax credits that were previously um held for just you know private taxpaying entities [Music] so so this is essentially a 20-year cash flow model of what the savings would look like over 20 years so you've got a total project cost of roughly $17 million we're you know that's our best guess at this point um over the 20 years what do we show so over the 20 years total cost savings total Energy savings of 228 uh when you factor in the ITC the $5.9 million coming in year two um total cost Savings of of 28.7 million over the 20year period so at the end of the project um there's a couple other items that we give you guys that value we're we're going to do some owner training so we'll bring on manufacturer reps to train your facilities maintenance staff on on any new energy conservation measures that we provide for you guys uh whether it be the GE equipment or the solar um or or the controls uh provide the owner menu men manuals will'll provide warranty documentation and we're going to do all the commissioning as well and you'll receive those plans um commissioning is ongoing as well our office is full of 70 plus Engineers that are constantly monitoring the progress of all the projects that we do so we're not waiting on you guys to call us to say something is wrong with this system we're already going to be aware of it uh so we can we can quickly identify and correct any any any issues uh we're also going to provide operation and maintenance support we have full-time matri and control service technicians on staff um who can help with any warranty items and then I just wanted to highlight there again we talked about it several times zero energy um this is a big opportunity for Center Grove to be able to be the first school district in the state of Indiana to have two well have one but now possibly two zero energy uh elementary schools yeah and just to recap last thing here so we talked at the beginning how you know Energy savings performance Contracting it's really just a financing mechanism at the end of the day um over over you know today you guys have renovated and and built new buildings the traditional Capital way uh which has been been great um you've got outstanding facilities a lot of new infrastructure a lot of state-of-the-art infrastructure um but it may not necessarily be performing the way that it should be and that's where this project is different and that we're on the hook for the savings for 20 years so we can't just say hey we built it we designed it we we gave it to you and walk away we our partners for the next 20 years um we're going to be monitoring energy energy bills coming back hopefully once a year at least talking to the board talking to you all and showing you results of of how this project is performing okay thank you gentlemen thank you all right I'll just quickly share a few slides on the remaining parts of this project that we're we're talking about this evening um again this is something we've done since 2009 the the rest of this Bond issuance would go towards the reoccurring go projects we use that to supplement our maintenance and technology equipment which our operations fund hasn't been able to fund since 2009 and then I'm going to go in some required funding slides um obviously so this is a project we're talking about in 2023 we're going to do the majority work in 24 and we're going to start paying for it in 25 a lot of things can change most importantly our assessed value which we will not know until August of next year so a lot of these numbers are on the conservative and very high side we also don't know where interest will go in the next 12 months um we will jump in as quick as we can to get the lowest interest rate possible but if we see it's a favorable rating we'll wait until later um and so you can see all the perent details this is on the guaranteed Energy savings project the biggest number at the top is there's as as as the gentleman mentioned that's $17 million towards this project on the next slide same chart but it's an $8 million um in the rest of the project and that's for the reoccurring go projects um and again all those numbers are inflated and conservative just want to show where this uh what this does to our tax rate go to the next slide for me thank you U this is what we presented to with the budget in September and then approved in October um we did at the time talk about a 4 Cent increase to go to a dollar 06 um and we shared a lot of information about what that would mean for the average taxpayer that could still fluctuate as final numbers come in um but that's the most that would be right now it would only go down if we get more favorable tax cap reports and then finally how's that compared our neighboring schools in in Johnson County um you'll see our current rates and all current rates for 2023 we were at just over that dollar to and even by going up to that dollar six we'll still remain in fourth behind the three schools that have passed a a general fund referendum what's the timeline look like again this evening not asking for any action from the board this is a two-step process and all the action will take place next Tuesday Morning um on December 5th where we'll have a second meeting on this and approve the resolutions from there then the process that the county plays out um we would come back in January and February with bids um as as cmta and Dr Long work through that process we'd start work and we're hoping to be done next fall um it might bleed a little into 2025 but we want to start recouping these savings as soon as possible again first Bond payments would begin in 2025 um I think that's the last slide yep awesome so again not asking for any action tonight but this is a good time and appropriate time to turn over and finish the rest of the hearing Mr Alexander thank you Dr this is the appropriate time for members of the public to comment on the project that and the bonds that were presented this evening are there members of the public who would like to comment Mr por thank you for this uh opportunity uh I have met with Mr Taylor I think three times uh and we have went over this project uh I don't have these latest numbers with me but uh I was given uh some information uh when it was back uh 15,000 or 15 million do but I see this project uh we increased our taxes and I am not against the increasing our taxes for the educational system but I look at this project we are taking the we are doing this project and we're going to have some savings if this works in the operations fund but to pay for this we have moved the paying part of it to The Debt Service fund we've increased our debt and we will be paying for that now I look at this chart that they submitted to us and when you look down I I can't believe some of the figures that they presented uh to us that we will sa save money over the 20-year period with the cost of the gas going up with the cost of electricity going up and dealing with uh Johnson County RMC who buys electricity from another company If they raise the rates they're going to raise the rates and stuff if the water company right now America water has a big increase before the regulation board and stuff and if the taxpayers don't know it uh the only company electric company that is regulated by the uh regulation commission is Duke Energy uh Johnson County RMC and barkersville they can do whatever they want to as far as rates board okays it your rates are going to go up okay so I think uh uh the scope of reducing our cost is one thing but I think a better way to reducing the cost and let's just take this building we're in right here look at the water do we need to water the grass every day here our water bill right here at this building right here is $4 4,662 just for this building can't we water it on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Skip Saturdays and Sundays we can cut our cost from these things just put a warship in the showerheads at the football locker room and you're going to cut the cost thank you go uh I I think there's a lot of ways that we could spend $17 million and do a a more conservative approach to this I think we should look at some better Architects if they designed a building and a heating service that is not doing the job then we should look at some different Architects to do it and we got buildings on this program that that weren't even considered I did hear the gentleman say that they are looking at the uh Health Center that they're going to build but how about the batting cages you know the batting thing for the golf that building wasn't considered and the other the baseball facility that that facility wasn't considered and we have other buildings here too that take heat and and uh energy that weren't considered so I believe that uh they have a good program and I believe it will save us some money but it is a a a thing do we want to go deeper in debt so that down the road we don't have money to build a school you know and I think a lot of the money is going to be you some of this money is going to be used in two th in 25 and this year in 24 and next year in 25 to pay the teachers uh increase that we just gave them in salary because there there was not in the budget there was not a 4.6% increase I figured it out most overall it was only about a 3.6 or something like that on the average and stuff thank you thank you thank you very much I think I've expressed my comments uh I could go on I would like to meet with the school board members to uh discuss this and uh I'm I'm not opposed to the thing but I'm I just don't think it's the right direction thank you thank you Mr are there other members of the public like to comment about the bond hearing this even okay Mr Alexander if I might I just like to respond shortly just a real quick thing we did look at the hitting facility and we did look at the baseball facility but because of the provider of of energy for both of those it wasn't very it wasn't very attractive and it wouldn't have saved us any money so we did look at those we did also look at the wellness center that they talked about and we looked at the academic Pavilion uh that's being built right now so th we we considered all of the buildings we just eliminated some of them because they weren't weren't good options for us thank you Dr all right at this point I now close this public hearing are there members of the board who have comments or questions all right 86th ta anticip knowing this is Mr Alexander's favorite agenda item of the Year we're second favorite I always lose track U bringing this in this is thank you and the state of Indiana we receive our property tax payments twice a year in June and December um we have bills that we have to pay between those on the other 10 months and so we go to the Indiana Bond Bank this sun's been set up we've been using it again for as long as I can recall um this year's amount is 3.85 million um and you'll see some kind of details of what we were able to borrow last year and how much that cost us an interest this is just not a fun thing we have to do but it is something we have to do in order to make those bill payments prior to that um that those checks coming in uh Miss Howard if you go to the second page for me there's a chart just kind of shows our history of borrowing in this area um it would continue to increase if we legally could increase it um the Bond Bank um is the only thing that is one of the few mechanisms we have to control cash cash flow and available cash balance in our operations fund um due to the increasing impact of tax caps you'll see that number is now down to 3.8 for this year and which of which we could borrow and so it's something we'll continue to watch and monitor um part of the actions the board is considering With the Energy savings is to help eliminate some of that tax cap impact and would allow us to return to a higher bar um a higher rate of borrowing if necessary um the remainder of the shortfall will come out of cash balance in the operations fund until we receive those um deposits um there is action on this tonight and a resolution for the board to sign that Miss Howard's prepared dror question dror War app another annual event here you know just keep keep it rolling um each year the high school makes course proposals to add courses which may be available to students in future years the course requests are vetted through the department chair as well as the high school administrative team proposals this year include additional courses to support and expand our next level programs of study in business engineering and Technology in the fact departments uh I have created a chart summary there that summarizes the proposals by course department and grade levels to take those courses the descriptions um that are also included provide more details about each course this year the high school would like to add 17 descriptions for potential courses to the High School academic guide these courses match the course descriptions approved by the Indiana Department of Education for high school course offerings these requests include the following two in business one in engineering and Technology five in family and consumer science three Performing Arts in specifically in the theater one physical education one social studies course in early college and four World language courses um a decision on whether to offer any specific course is determined through the scheduling request process and based on the number of requests for those courses by students the Staffing the student need in the building and instructor availability if any textbooks or resources are needed in order to offer these courses next year those requests would be brought to the board for approval in the spring as typical and as a reminder during the implementation of those Next Level programs of study approval for additional courses may be requested in the spring or summer and both the high school and I really appreciate the flexibility you've given us in the last two or three years to do that I know we in the spring to add a construction course which is full this year so and that's one of the courses the engineering and Tech course is to offer that second level um on that description I actually if you scroll a little bit more I like to show not only what all the courses are there but the tables below starting there um anything that's highlighted the pathways are three courses of study in a concentrated area so anything highlighted in blue is new this year so you can see how s courses are finishing out that third year in the course of study so that means one more pathway is done ready to go for kids so that's really exciting that we were able to do that and and finish up the final POR in several of those Pathways um a couple we're still working on but it's it's great news that we have those so many great opportunities um beyond what we can even offer kids at C9 that we can do right here in our in our high school this a lot of hard work by Dr Henderson and our chard Department chairs um and our assistant principles to get this ready and bring to you so any questions do we ever lose any classes um there are some years certain courses aren't offered like there may be a year where there's only six requests to take um science fiction literature and then the next year all of a sudden you got 26 so some courses like that will go back and forth foreign language will vary a little bit and I'm really excited about the foring courses in there because it'll give some opportunity for our um Native Spanish speakers to actually get some credits for learning um and showing Proficiency in their native language but also at higher level so there's some really great things they doing to expand um support for um kind of a whole new group of students that we haven't served that way so excited about that than from very often thank you so all of you have heard a lot of this um in our work session in October we shared all of it with you um Tracy if you want to move to the next slide so the first question is is why do we want to make any changes so when Dr Gabriel retired I took over facility rental we're going to call it under community outreach okay we're gonna tuck that right under there so in looking at this um there were a couple of areas that I thought that we could improve on and we had not made any updates to the expenses that we charge that cover our expenses for labor custodial or security and some of those other things um so so these changes would update those um those expenses the current guard lines also don't differentiate between a nonprofit group and a for-profit company so we have companies all the time that come in there's there's dance companies there's um outside teams and things that want to rent our facilities they're charging for people to come in and kind of we're eating all of those costs so we saw an opportunity there to update that as well and to make sure that we're tracking all of this um it's probably long overdue to move this to an online platform this will allow us to track our Certificate of Insurance which is very important for these companies that come in and um this this new software that we've purchased will allow us to do that or take our applications online it organizes everything um into one central location it'll allow us to invoice it it will give our business office the opportunity to get in and see everything that's happening we can track it make spreadsheets graphs whatever um and it also will coordinate with our event link system which is currently being used in our high schools and our middle schools so all of those events will flow directly into it and so people aren't going to have to uh to go to two or three different places to see if something is is reserved which I think is the issue that we have right now as well in that invoicing piece of it it's also going to allow us to kind of itemize the requests which is really nice for our Auditorium and the natatorium which has lots of moving parts to it so this has been a year-long process probably longer than that um I've met with all the different groups in in the school corporation including the district business office our food service people because we do have some of those um that get rented sometimes custodial police maintenance of course our athletic directors our treasurers all of our principles and then some quality time with the nitorum and Auditorium managers and a lot of the people at the high school who um are were our main rentals are occurring is is primarily in all those great facilities that we have in the high school so the summary of the changes obviously the fees have been updated to reflect our actual costs um that's coming straight from those departments and we're going to add this class three which is that for profit group that I um mentioned earlier and I'll get more into that in just a second it's going to clarify the natatorium rental guidelines we have not made these updates um since uh I don't think we've made a huge change since we had Brad Smith come on board and now that he's here and uh has his head around everything going on over there he he made a a few changes that I think are really going to help out in the auditorium um we took out the removal we removed the rental of classrooms um with all of the technology and everything that we have in there right now teachers just don't like people going in their classrooms um we always have opportunity if there's a special situation that we could we could lift that requirement but for now we're not just going to put that out there for the public um we've also added outdoor spaces to our rentals I know Maple Grove their location gets um rented a lot of times and this just helps us to track that a little bit better we don't really have a way to do that now um as I mentioned it moves to the rental application to the online platform and then it just kind of cleans up the language throughout the document that's kind of been there for a while so class one is what we had a lot of conversation with for those of you who've been on the board for a while class one are those nonprofit organizations that serve our Center grow students so you're talking cgbl cgbbl all of those groups that that pretty much exist for our kids nothing changes for them so they don't pay a base rental fee um they do pay custodial during C certain times of the week but none of that is changing from it was before class two is what our current class two was before but we've pulled out those four profit groups so anyone else who is a nonprofit based in White River Township they would see the same kind of deal so they would have to pay those um custodial fees other labor fees that are just basically helping us keep the lights on and and offsetting just a tiny bit of those costs um but no real rent Ral fee for those class two people so if you go to the next slide class three this is our new classification so this would be any for-profit group that is based in White River Township and it would add a rental fee to those to those custodial and security fees so for the elementary and middle schools that's $100 and for the high school that's $250 per event or per hour depends on how they kind of break it down the nitorum and some other spaces are hourly so that money because of this new software system that we're going to be able to use we'll be able to go directly back to whatever space they're renting so for the most part that's going to be our athletic departments which we all know they need the funds right um so it'll be much easier to track all of this um I've worked a lot with Kathy and I appreciate her she's been helping us we're going to try to get this um so we can pay online through our through our software and I think that's going to be very helpful and that's it so let me know if you have any questions it's been a couple years aort thank you and probably some educ oh for sure got a lot of rules yeah we'll be training everyone for sure so we would we would plan to put this in place um January 1 but we would have a grace period to the start of next school year because we have a lot of things that are already in motion for this school year yeah thank thanks we're redoing the whole website [Laughter] so yes polies questions T have policy announ OPP really enjoy when I've been there great job grandparents was awesome and tell uh tell the young lady Mrs doson um very impressed that she'll do two evenings and not have to get rid of any of the students who doing that and that uh meant a lot but you guys are doing a great job so thank you and the Dr Taylor just straight out thank you for the calendars I mean I you put a lot of work into it and I really appreciate it I'm a non voting member on the barers Redevelopment commission they have a project that they had a groundbreaking on not this Tuesday but the Tuesday before Thanksgiving on barter Plaza uh the council and the Redevelopment commission are putting a a Plaza downtown an additional amenity that I think will be good for the whole Community for years to come Mr Robinson and I were able to attend and and shovel a little bit of dirt so it was it was good to see that uh that they're Forward Thinking and and trying to add amenities as a community grows so when will it be done you know I don't have that exact date and I should have brought it but they do have stuff scheduled for before the end of the year next year I'm hoping it'll be done for that if not they'll move it off site so they're hoping next year maybe you should have mooved a little more dirt thank thank you Mr Daniels um one of my additional board responsibilities is I'm the non voting advisory member on the Johnson County Redevelopment commission um their meeting was last Monday um I was I was excited to see um Johnson County and greenw are trying to enter into an interlocal agreement for some of the Redevelopment going on it's outside easta 65 but um hopefully that'll start to to pan out and maybe some better interlocal agreements on some of the other things happening on this side of 135 um in the future so um I think some progress being made there between the two entities working together which is always good to see two government entities working together uh Dr aranov you got any comments this evening sir I do thank you uh you know this evening especially being probably our last meeting before um the end of the year except for the 7:30 morning meeting so I take this time just first I just want to thank Marcy and Shannon for being here tonight and all the work that you guys do uh to support Nora and Nora of course your work as well so thank you so much the teaching and learning Department do a great job this year and and um I really appreciate the presentation and welcome back there Marcy great job um I also want to compliment uh Jason Dr Taylor and um and Kathy uh back there uh for all of your work on the budget this year and and um and your work on negotiations and of course the business department and getting us all our checks on time and hopefully you know the state gets us that money and we all can uh we can all have a happy and merry Christmas so um thank you guys I know how hard your office works and there's a lot more to it than just pressing a button on the computer so thank you so much for all that you do um I want to compliment Stacy tonight one um you know doing the facility thing fantastic I'm really starting to rack up a bunch of other ideas and things she can do now so um we'll be doing that um it's great to hear her voice up there on the microphone um but also too uh you know Stacy puts together these videos she puts us all on screen and and gives us things to say and if you ever watch it happening it's like watching sausage being made but somehow she makes it really look like we know what we're doing and and and I just can't thank her enough cuz I can tell you it's countless hours behind the editing so thank you Stacy for all of that effort um Christa thank you so much and and Human Resources Department's done a lot of work this year in uh you know in our teacher retention and um the work she's doing uh leading our Equity task force it's going very well so I just really want to compliment Kristen in all the work that you've been doing this year and then finally Bill Dr long I mean he's done you know cmta really kind of hit it everything that's happening in our district from a building project perspective from Energy savings to just you know buildings in general um you you lead that with with uh great uh effort a lot of uh Forward Thinking and working well with Jason on that and so I just want to thank you guys as well and then lastly I I want to Echo something that Amy said today and I've I've heard this now a couple times this week and I I I really want to point this out because we look at test scores kids today are smarter than they've ever been um and we sat today in the high school and listened to kids that I probably could have well I have I've been in college forever okay and those kids standing there today were phenomenal and knew more about what they were talking about than I did when I look at our test scores and I know the way the tests assess our kids our kids today and the things we're asking kindergarteners and first graders to do we didn't have to do folks we we didn't we weren't tested rated on or anything so it it's really impressive what we ask our kids to do and what they're doing and how much we're pushing them um and they are they are um they are struggling a little bit in how much and so I think sometimes we have that conversation about are we going to are we asked to go too much too soon so that's a conversation you know to keep in our heads when we especially look at our younger kids coming in but um you know what I just like like to point out is they do some fantastic things our kids um and you walk in the classrooms and and listen to what our teachers are doing um with with our students it's it's just fantastic so I just want to compliment our our students and our teachers for that as well this year so I that Project Lead the Way was similar to what I went through with iore in business school I'm not joking I mean the project itself and what they did that was really cool to watch yeah so I you know I just say that because a lot of times people say oh you know look at look at the test scores around the state or anywhere else and I'm just kids today are are pretty dog on smart and I think I said it when we came back from there I said I see them and I'm really excited about the future so and that's it sir thank you for those comments Dr aranov welc with that I will adjourn our regular meeting
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2023-11-29 Worcester County, MA YouTube / BBRSD Live transcript source: youtube School Committee Open Meeting 11/28/23 · passage 1
get every time you did it yeah it [Music] worked okay ready are we on y okay all right so I'd like to call this meeting of the Berlin Boon Regional school committee order uh just a reminder that this meeting is being recorded so your image and or voice may be broadcast uh let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance FL United States of America [Music] okay uh I don't think there are any public comments um does anyone have any Communications all right so we have two business items to discuss um I'm going to do this out of order I think why don't we talk about the calendar first so um in order to comply with a 45 day requirement for town meeting and to be able to allow for as much time as possible for any state changes um we are proposing to to change the school committee calendar as follows so the proposal is to cancel the February 13th meeting have our preliminary budget hearing on February 27th have our final budget hearing on March 12th which would be a public hearing and then change our March 26 as needed meeting to March 19th and that would be when we vote on the final budget okay so did anyone have any discussion on that deal point would be the whatever agenda of the 13th is being cancelled would go on the 27th and then 19th would be okay all right do anyone else have anything to say and this is based on recommendations from Mars yeah this is based on recommendations from Mars yep exactly exactly thank you for adding that yeah one thing you the public hear you don't have to take any votes You're Just Hear It votes come at the next meeting we don't have to do a vot we don't have to do any votes yeah but if we have any business that we need to do then we will probably because that is our regular meeting not the public hearing at the 27th at the prelimin it's a presentation public in fo open a public hearing within your school committee meeting then you close it then you continue on your school committee or no I think that's confusing the public hearing with the preliminary presentation noar before that before right yes the 27th is what I was suggesting the basically not canceling the 13th meeting moving the meeting for the 27 is that hope I'm not confusing you yeah so the the 12th is simply the budget here you come in ncy presents the budget that was preliminary presented on the 27th public can comment whatever they want and then we're not voting that day we're just okay done and then the vote is on the me and you could do any deliberation you might want to on the budget based on what they say to give some direction to your Administration if there is yeah so the only vote we would need need is just to make the modifications to the calendar we don't need to put on the calendar when we're doing our preliminary budget hearing or our final budget hearing that's something that we can do after the fact I believe right we can and we have to we just have to announce it seven days ahead of time correct right we're just so we're just changing the calendar all right so could I have a motion to move February 13th meeting to February 27th and change the March 26th meeting to March 19th all right Julie and M all right all in favor oppos okay motion passes six okay all right so the last order of business is um we received a letter from the town of Berlin uh should be on the drive um and it was regarding um their their their request for uh our budget and they asked a few questions um did everyone have a chance to read the letter yes okay and then I believe Nancy and Carol worked to draft a response um okay here we go make sure you go to the one that says revised November 27th revised November 27 ask you a question about the town letter go ahead so the um the first paragraph after their initial three BL points they talk about um the budget being so high because of the need to cover the gap of special education for me and at the end of the letter they make a comment about you know your budget was more than half or about half the total Town budget being changed the change your your additional school budget was more than half of the town's total increase which school budget is less than is about half Town budget anyway and I think the changes that they stated were actually less than half but are they complaining about the special education cost there do they still not does Mar still not understand that that was a state thing that came with that we had no control over it says this additional onetime funding was given to cover the Gap and special education funding until reimbursement arrived these are not added to the base of SCH Bud as they significantly completed resources available for Capital go ahead I don't see that paragraph I'm really in their letter it's not your letter their the third parag it's under bullets increase yeah yeah it starts fy4 I got it okay about halfway through so what what's your question I'm sorry my question is I guess I don't know it sounds like they're they're blaming us for the increase in special education funding and that we can't do that again this year I mean that's sort of out of our hands I mean if we we go with what they're saying here we'd end up having to cut however many teachers programs whatever it is do they mention the special ed actually in there yes yes they did the second sentence right the third sentence that so so my interpretation when I read that and I could be wrong was that they thought we had kind of like a balloon year for special education that that would be different this year and do not maybe take that that amount and assume that we would be given the same amount I don't I mean that's a budgeted amount that's outside of our control right and our needs are still very similar I would guess those students have probably not gone anywhere they still there's been a little movement see in the budget but yeah they very well could be new ones coming in you they're just going to have to be educated that's beyond our yes I we went over that last year with yeah of all of our control what happens so I think once most of F I think a lot I'm sorry car no I was just going to say I think that toward the end one once they understood that for the most part I don't know individual understood or agreed with the decision but I think finar recognized was see I thought so too until I read this letter I think it I think you know I was watching one of their finom meetings and I think of a lot of it stems from we reported our Revenue very early very early before anything came out and I don't think that they had a lot of confident in our figures because we released everything so early we did that trying to work with them trying to work with the town you know so I think we're gonna we learned a lot and we're going to do it differently this year so I I think a lot of that stems from that also is is the whole circuit breaker thing I think a lot of the finance committee members were confused by that c I was confused by that I don't know if you guys all right thank you and I think again we these meetings starting in December as they have those questions again there to address them hopefully they'll have more [Music] backg F that situation I will say like I watched a couple of the fincom meetings and it was nice to hear how they understood what we presented you know and I think that that's important that this year that we really pay attention to where they're coming from too and what they're saying and that will help us in our presentation to them too so they understand our okay yeah good point Mike um so Nancy drafted a response um and in summary pretty much just says what we're able to provide right now and what we're not able to provide right now based on requests um so Mike you had suggested a few edits yeah I think the revised one the revised are Incorporated in there the only thing I would say on the revised one the first three bullets and the last bullet I would add the word just which is it says appr general budget is scheduled for vote on um based on the way that first part of the paragraph is which is to address these concerns which is schedu that's all I the first three bullets you're referring to yeah it just that bullet flows a little better from the initial paragraph so where it says the release of revenues that one the third bullet the third bullet down the third bullet in that group that gr approval SCH year 25 General budget by the school committee you just add which is sched it's just missing word you gotta change that date preliminary vote would be Y and so uh 27th yeah the 27th okay so it would be February 27th so that last bullet just needs to be updated all right was there anything else did anyone see anything else in this letter needs to be updated should we mention like based on recommendations from the Massachusetts ass Regional Schools I mean not that we're just pulling this out of a half you know just like there was a reason why these dates I think the reason in the second paragraph kind ofays off Theon version I don't know if you're in the PDF or the word I yeah if you're in yeah okay so Jess is asking if we should mention that uh I yeah I think the more just makes it more Angry so we could add that sentence in so Nancy Carol maybe you want to add a sentence in either the first or second paragraph that mentions that maybe collaboration guidance yeah I don't think it's necessary but I think it hurts [Music] sure you want I mean so like maybe the third paragraph say to address these concerns it's a little adversarial is why I don't do it because we're basically saying thanks to your letter we talk to our advisor and go SC this what we're going to do I mean the whole letter is I mean I saying it's based on data and experience of other you don't want to do we're saying we talk to other experts in the ski about experience and saying that our advisers are yeah we're being advised we're not just doing it in vacuum that's why I say it's a fair point but when you put it in writing it's kind of that a little well because we were trying to address concerns so we're trying to learn more about the process through them and since the Regional Schools you know your point we often told that we're a young school committee and you know we do things differently and so we' sought education which I think is very we sought guidance can can we just so go to to address these concerns we have we have decided consultation with the m Association school yeah are you comfortable with that we want to make sure we mention you in here get time CH I mean quite frankly it's more public access to the information that you've ever provided so it's they should be like applauding you not necessarily us but it's your real effort to say we're really trying to work along and to make sure you have the best information you can as soon as you can and there are limitations as to what access you have to to stuff from the state car the only suggestion I would make on your sentence there instead of and in after or consultation yeah or and after to address these concerns SM process and after also give some substance to our letter it's not just us in a vacuum we learned and also gives them notice that this time around we know a lot more than we did the first time we're not just okay anything else all right so could I please have a motion to approve the joint response you'll you'll edit it to get the last line up on the [Music] Ag and um yeah the Letter's mine just and um you guys can send this out tomorrow because I know they had sent it to us like a couple weeks ago we had a we wanted to um make sure the committee had the opportunity to deliberate on it okay oh right was addressed to all exactly okay so uh could I please have a motion to approve the joint response letter from uh the school committee and superintendent to the town of Berlin with the three changes we just made this evening second all right all in favor I I all right motion passes unanimously only sign I think it said at the bottom on of the it's fine yeah I can stop by and sign it if you want do you think I should sign it no it is what is it is I it's fine we're going to see them in a couple weeks okay so um we have our upcoming meeting on Tuesday December 12th is there any um future agenda items that anyone wanted to mention tonight before we adjourn I think use of the gym in the buildings shared use space for youth groups did you want to elaborate on that briefly or does everyone um I can or we can wait till the meeting all right long y sure all right I got that all right Jess you have something just the conference you to oh yeah that's definitely going to be on the agenda yep meeting like just a a brief recap of your conference yeah some exting ideas especially in regards to kids ask oh really exciting collaboration project in other districts okay all right anything else okay all right can I have a motion to [Music] aour all right roll call vote Julie Mike as well that concludes our meeting thank you
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2023-11-29 Maricopa County, AZ YouTube / Gilbert Public Schools transcript source: youtube Gilbert Public Schools Board Meeting 11/28/2023 · passage 2
we run at 5:00 a.m. 6 days a week starting in June so these guys you know so proud of them and you know state championships are hard to get even though I've been coming back here but they're just hard to get uh it's very competitive in our state so appreciate yall thanks for uh having us and thank you Mr M thank you sir if there yes we'll get a picture if there are any parents of these students could you please stand up here tonight thank you thank you for letting us coach and teach your kids Tera Hall has she left already oh okay go yeah okay if you guys will go through shake hands and then come back and we're going to have to do a couple rows so boys probably on your knees Girls behind them and then the board all right go ahead [Applause] coach all right soeing so we're kneeling guys I know just go to your right it's okay all right gentlemen on your knee girls right behind oh this is photography after board members will fill in Jonathan how was that was that good Campo take note you're next one two a mean [Music] guy tag me ladies and gentlemen your boys and girls cross country championships from Highland High happy anniversary and I think coach Monty said for his anniversary he's taking everybody out for ice cream see how fast you can run now all right uh if I could have from Campo ver High School coach Brian Koger that uhoh obviously I didn't say it right say it kre Koger you know you've done it before don't laugh at me Cara krower and John Clayton not here okay how you doing guys good so your Campo ver coyotes this is historic the first ever 5A state champion in flag football congratulations if we could have those Champions come on up woo coach if you could talk a little bit about your team and then maybe have pass this down and have them introduce themselves that'd be great and talk about the big Championship win that actually makes it easy on me to let them talk cuz I as the players know and my parents know I don't normally talk in front of groups very much other than on the football field um but as somebody that's been coaching flag football for about 5 years now um to see the state finally recognize it as a sanction sport for the girlss um it's awesome and just for us to be the first Champions is really cherry on the top um the amount of work that these girls put in this year um from practicing on Saturday mornings film two days a week on top of practice um it just shows their dedication and um just proud of what what they did this year your name and what year you are Maddie Koger position Junior wide receiver and safety Kelsey Shelton Junior quarterback and safety uh Izzy Pap sophomore quarterback uh Sammy KO um senior I play tight end and linebacker M Robertson I'm a sophomore a linebacker and a running back um Katie mccan uh sophomore corner and wide receiver uh Brennan Reed I'm a junior and I play running back and lineman Addison I'm a sophomore and center and linebacker I'm Emmy castorf szer and I am a corner and ride receiver M I'm a senior uh T and linebacker Michaela White Horse dorak I am a freshman and I play free um strong safety um I'm Rihanna grani I'm a junior I play corner and wide receiver um I'm Bailey Morgan I'm a freshman and I play running back and defensive back I'm Maddie I'm a sophomore and I play running back in corner I'm Nivea Don I'm a senior I'm a center and I'm a linebacker Veronica Hutchings I'm a junior and I play wide receiver I'm Serena doosa I'm a sophomore and I play Rusher and wide receiver um I'm Sean holling said I'm a junior and I play [Applause] linebacker well coyotes we're extremely proud of you for everything you've accomplished like coach said this is the first year coming out of the gate and you guys showed them what Campo ver is all about what Gilbert Public Schools is all about we are so very proud of you and congratulations once again thank you one more time for these guys can you come through and shake hands with the board and then stay around for pictures well done guys well done coaches board members this like that well done [Applause] kampo if I could have have Mr Alvarado sis or athletic director assistant principal from mosqu high come up and the friends that he brought with them they're arguing with you already they're like no you're good so we love championships we love coming in first that's what competition's all about but not entirely it's also about the people playing the game and how they conduct themselves and the AIA hands out uh some awards and officials hand out awards for sportsmanship and that's real big especially in today's day and age if you haven't been to a high school athletic event uh they can get pretty chippy and out of control and um this award goes to the mosquite High girls flag football team they won the five a sports official sportsmanship award and that's huge so congratulations to you guys introduce yourself all right I'm Mr Alvarado uh I'm the athletic director um so basically at the end of games the officials get to go in and they rate our players our coaches and our fans so it it incorporates everybody in the stadium and how we interact with the officials and with the other team so um it was an entire group effort it was really cool it's a fun group of parents they're in the stands um learning football as the girls do and and doing the first down uh stuff and but always positive always cheering on the girls um I know in the playoffs it didn't and we lost in the quarterfinals and um we got our butts handed to us a little bit cute um but we would take their flag and hand it back to them help the girls up encourage and I had good luck in it was really cool just to see off check check oh they uh competed really well but uh how they handled defeat was even more impressive so I'm proud of our girls and our coaches and our families you want say anything yeah so um I'm one of the assistant coaches for the girls flag football team here and I will tell you oh sorry I'm I'm Chelsea Jordan I'm also a counsel at the school too so I see these girls on and off the field um and just watching them out there uh learning how to be good teammates to one another and how to support um their opponents even whenever you know we're handing out beatings but we're also taking some as well um yeah so just watching them evolve throughout the season and grow up was great so yeah it's definitely a great Sport and we're happy that it's finally sanctioned yes and if you're wondering the rest of my team is at our first soccer game of the season season that took about 10 girls maybe and then a handful at basketball so uh these are my spring athletes and dance dancing queen at the end will you have't introduced themselves which position just say your name I'm Hannah McKinley Corner uh Kayla Salsbury linebacker Alexis sling I play linebacker ladies and gentlemen Ms high thank you guys shake hands with the board congratulations thanks foring yes picture time I think everybody can stand we'll just squeeze in and around well [Applause] done and um just everybody knows Highland High girls flag football team could not be here tonight but they won the 6A officials sportsmanship award for their division so congratulations to [Applause] Highland GPS Community Native American her AG month will Angel oh I know t a Dy t i n Angel tattin yes come up and Candace Haro who are you this is Ashton in case anybody's wondering hello how are you I'm going to read some things if you guys don't mind everybody else that's with these two wonderful ladies please come on up angel and Candice provided valuable learning opportunities in recognition and celebration of Native American heritage month they started the month with a native hoop Dance by Sierra herox a Highland High student at Pioneer Elementary School Sierra there you are is that you well done they followed it by coordinating a rock your mocks event on November 15th at Pioneer they invited students and staff to represent their Heritage and share their culture with their schools by wearing Native American moccasins traditional dress and jewelry Sierra also performed the native hoop dance and spoke to all Pioneer Elementary students and staff about not giving up and staying motivated it was a great representation from our very own social worker workers Angel and Nico where's Nico there you are Nico everybody else got a shout out I got to give you one as well as Candice Sierra and her students would you like to say a few words you're like not really it's okay go ahead um yeah uh my name's angel tton I'm Navajo I'm from uh Northern Arizona and Candace Horax is my sister that's why we're able to partner in this we don't look the same um and of course Nico also is Navajo and he's a social worker here at Gilbert public schools and so we were able to come together and get our little ones involved in sharing our culture with our new schools that we're at cuz we're we're fairly new to the Gilbert Public Schools so um it was very exciting and fun to do yeah I'm Candace uh this is my fourth year in the Gilbert School District very blessed to have been hired by the Gilbert School District uh we we also performed at um Augusta Ranch and uh Highland Park and that was fun for the kids and we just love sharing who we are with the school district and we really enjoyed it I I don't really want to say anything I'm good one tell what what grade you're in where you go to school all that fun stuff um I'm Hunter horox I go to Highland and I'm a freshman uh y uh my name's Sierra horox and I'm a junior um my name's Sydney horox and I go to Highland Junior High School and I'm in seventh grade my my name is sage and I'm in fifth grade and I also go to Holland Park or Elementary Park School whatever it's ladies and gentlemen we appreciate you bringing your heritage to us and it is such a special occasion and I think making sure that we wear our heritage well like everybody is here uh makes it even that much more special so thank you for sharing that with us and our schools and we can't wait to see what else is coming from you guys one more time thank you please shake hands and then we'll get a picture if you'd like hi buddy hey buddy I have my my we have cousins that go to park [Music] pictures all right guys here we go can we spread those Hoops out yeah yeah yeah nice good go ahead I'll stay out of your [Music] way C [Applause] thank you guys ladies and gentlemen this is why we're here and this is what we're all about our kids our staff and our community one more time for all of our winners Madam president govering board members that concludes the recognitions for this evening thank Youk you [Music] can't you ready ready thank you again for those Awards and for all who attended that was really special we will now go to our superintendent's report Dr McCord thank you madam president govering board members before I start that I'd like to recognize a few people that are with us tonight uh we have three people from our Spire program this is a program that uh current GPS uh employees are part of that aspire to be administrators one day so we're getting psychological checks done on them it's going to be great no let me introduce some Julie Doyle from Greenfield Jr stand up that part of being administrator you got to be embarrassed uh Patricia Shores Highland high school and Marcus hire Highland High School thank you guys for being here this tonight good evening again to everyone Welcome to our meeting I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving like to thank unite for Education uh and the members of unite for education for their efforts in supporting our bond and override election uh we may not have secured a win for the bond and override but your hard work and dedication will was noticed and greatly appreciated congratulations to the Highland High School varsity football team for making it to the semi-final game with the Open Championship they were defeated by a very tough Liberty team but our Hawks played their hearts out thank you to the players coaches and families I know the time and dedication that goes into a successful program and what you accomplished this year was exceptional on December 14th in the morning right here in this very boardroom we are going to honor around 40 of our employees who have been with us for 25 years they will enjoy a breakfast and be presented with the plaque signifying their 25 years of dedication to education this is always one of my favorite events because we get the opportunity to honor our administrator support staff teachers and those who have dedicated their lives to our children thank you for making education a priority in your lives is it cold in here no well well it'll be Frozen at Highland High School on Thursday Friday and Saturday this week Highland High will present the first ever High School production of Disney's Frozen the Broadway musical in Arizona with performances on November 30th through December 2nd at 700 p.m.
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with a maea show on the 2nd at 2 p.m. the school earned this opportunity as part of a nationwide competition where one high school in every US state was chosen to to win exclusive rights to present the musical in 2023 a wide range of Performing Arts at Highland High will work together to create a night to remember for friends family and the Wier Highland High Community students from drama choir orchestra and stagecraft programs that the school are involved and are at the center of the entire production on stage behind the scenes in the orchestra and as director the students will be supported by a team of Highland High St Laura Hardy in her third year as the theater director at Highland will lead the production featuring over 50 students alongside music director Katie boram and choreographer Tia trepte I'm sure I just butchered their name Orchestra conductor Craig gromley and technical director Nathan crane 75 students auditioned and 33 made it into the cast there will be an orchestra of over 20 students and over 20 stage craft students designing on the crew this is the opportunity for students to Showcase their amazing talents in song Dance Design musicans as well as their sense of compassion towards our community through this beautiful story's message of love for each other and oneself while being extraordinarily fun it is also such a meaningful story about the healing power of love said director Laura Hardy ladies and gentlemen if you have time go see Frozen it'll be great this would that concludes my report for this evening thank you Dr mcord we will now go to our requests to speak to the govering board and we have one request if we could have the admonition read please request to speak to the governing board pursuant to AR ARS 38-43 1.02 the board may make an open call to the public during a public meeting subject to The Reason able time place and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on any issue within the jurisdiction of the public body at the conclusion of an open call to the public individual board members May respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board may ask staff to review a matter or may ask that a matter be put on a future agenda however members of the board shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during an open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action during an open call the board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against School Personnel or any person connected with the district as it may impact due process rights policies K Keb and Ked are provided by the board for disposition of legitimate complaints including those involving individuals forms requ required for the use of these policies can be obtained from the Gilbert Public Schools website thank you and we have Pam seili and if you'll correct my pronunciation please you'll have three minutes to speak and the time will time will come up thank you sure thanks very much all right um I just I wrote it partly to make sure I'd stay within the time okay why am I here it's to express my issue with the recent Val Vista Lakes act Elementary acted out marriage of two women in a spelling lesson where Q married to you this was shortly before Thanksgiving the direct message that this gives to Children there is that same-sex marriages are so fully accepted by all this is not a value that all fames support I'm shocked that they saw no need to mention to this list to parents in advance or afterwards how do children learn most and best well by example and who do they learn this from from trusted examp examples if teachers principes other staff are not trusted by students I would be surprised what really speaks volumes is this was actually also posted on official Valvista lak social media and then also shared on GPS social media many many parents I know because I've been hearing from them would have never approved this in advance if notified afterwards they would have had the opportunity to discuss this with their children I imagine many families did because they had that opportunity due to this being sent further through social media to um via other channels bottom line though I know GPS is losing enrollment and it's not just due to fewer children living in the district actions like these um have shocked and disappointed many many Gilbert Pan um parents and families at the very least I ask that the school makes a statement that this is against District policy and that the principal um teachers and other participants are censored and that this is documented it isn't an acceptable situation to so many of us who live in Gilbert and I do want to just share that I even though my kids went to Gilbert public schools and they have extended family that's still in the GPS it's not something that we're going to passively forget we do vote we do donate and we do support campaigns in many ways I know there's one person on the school board here who responded to my email and said they're nice people they go to church and I'm like that doesn't really say anything it's actually just like what do you think I am a fool that these children aren't being influenced by these types of behaviors in the classroom they are so on that note um thank you for letting me come and speak my thoughts on this and I know that all of you have the best interest of the kids at heart but sometimes it's important to think about the other you know the full spectrum of parents that are out there thank you thank you very much we appreciate that we appreciate that and that will now take us to our reports uh 6.01 we'll go to our monthly financial report for the month ended October 31st 2023 Dr McCord thank you Madame President governing board members I hand it over to our associate superintendent of Business Services Miss Bonnie Betts good evening governing board members president wood um Dr McCord uh this is a short presentation just to give you the status of our financials a as of October 31st of the current fiscal year so as usual District operating funds are going to be um information about the district operating funds will be shared as well as state grants Enterprise funds other District funds and Debt Service service just a reminder we choose the particular fund groupings based upon the changes that have occurred and we we highlight those within the grids so to begin uh again as always maintenance operations and unrestricted Capital are shown this just indicates that we continue to spend as expected we're through the first um over the first quarter now and remember that the year-to date expended encumbered is also includes encumbrances so includes the expected spend of all salary and benefits through the remainder of the fiscal year also note that there's an available balance of about $6.5 million this particular grid is still reflecting the adopted budget as you know we've had some significant changes uh the annual financial report has now been presented and we will be sharing with you the um a pending budget revision for the uh report shown in December are there any questions about any of that before I move forward okay great so the state grants again we shared this grid uh last month as well you can see the negative available balance um but we had described last month that the reason for that is that the budget needs to be revised we did receive uh late notification on the instructional Improvement that we received additional revenues late um prior to when we were able to adopt the um I mean after we adopted the budget and then the school safety program we were awarded additional resources in that school safety program so those will all be corrected when we do the revised budget which we are expecting to present to you in January um the next grouping is the Enterprise funds this uh new fund 521 is a is a new Community Education Grant that's going to be a Workforce Grant related to being able to U provide incentives and additional U Personnel to support our community schools programs in Gilbert and so we we were just awarded that amount um other District funds just sharing advanced placement summer Institute um the advanced placement summer Institute was begun we finished our second year I believe Jared this past summer and at this time they are now trying to procure all of their teachers for the summer already so there are some incumbrances going on right now uh reflected on the in that year-to dat expended encumbered column in addition an employee benefit trust you can see that we continue to show a very strong available balance um but uh keeping in mind that that October was the month in which we did do the premium holiday so revenues were a little bit less than expenditures all expected um but still in a very good uh positive financial position and then finally the bond Debt Service we normally don't share this with you but it was interesting that we have a year-to DAT expended encumber encumbrance amount of just under $30,000 as you know The Debt Service fund are generally paid in January and July so it's kind of odd to have an expenditure and an encumbrance at this time of year uh the the requirement for bonds is that we have what we call Arbitrage calculations we are not allowed to earn interest on bond proceeds that exceed the interest earned on those bonds when that does happen then we are obligated to pay a tax to the um Internal Revenue Service so the large the large portion about 23 $24,000 is that IRS payment that we were doe from prior that we were requ requ ired to pay from prior um Bond proceeds interest earnings please know that the interest earnings though definitely exceeded what we had to pay so it was still it's still it's always good to have a positive Arbitrage because that means we're earning enough interest on those dollars and all of those interest earnings go back to the taxpayer to decrease the the um tax burden on our taxpayers and then finally a small portion is associated with doing the Arbitrage calculations we do have a consultant that does our Arbitrage calculations for us when they are due u based upon IRS regulations and that's the end of my report today thank you Miss fets are there any questions board members Mr Thompson if you could go back I think it's slide 678 where we had those funds with the negative balance so after the the funds that the later funds are after this budget is amended to include the later incoming funds will both of those available balances then be positive or will we still have a negative balance in either of those both of them will be positive the last payment that we received for instructional Improvement as an example was um nearly $700,000 so both of them will result in a available balance that will be positive thank you anything further I I just wanted to share I appreciate the hard work and I just want to remind our community that we are doing current year budgeting there was a change in the statute a few years ago and so we are still working on assumptions about what our 100 day count will be and what our budget will be and so that way we do need to have a positive um we we need to be careful not to use all our funds so that if we are not accurate in our predictions that we have the funds to continue on to the end of the year thank you Miss humre Miss paig I just also wanted to make sure that we clarify that the bond not passing does not affect this next fiscal year with correct the the override um North Bond will impact this next fiscal year that's correct that's it thank you Miss SPS we appreciate that we will now move to 6.02 teaching and learning academic Spotlight Dr McCord thank you madam president govering board members I will turn this one over to our assistant superintendent of teaching learning uh Mr Jared Ryan I believe we have a spotlight on one of our Junior highs Mr Ryan yes sir Dr mcord Madam president governing board thank you so much for the opportunity um to Spotlight one of our programs we're so excited um to see and hear about the great work that they're doing on campus um if Mr Davis Miss Bernard and Miss Hubert would come and join us that would be great um briefly earlier Dr McCord mention this is why we're here when we talked about extracurriculars and between our extracurriculars and our academic um spotlights and the great things going on academically on campus we have so much to to share I remember earlier this year quick story um then I'll turn it over to Miss Taylor to do a formal introduction but earlier this year we had an opportunity to sit down and discuss this and what did we want the academic spotlights to really look like what do we want it to Encompass and I remember Miss Taylor's face just kind of beaming as she talked about the great work going on at our junior high schools and Junior Highs are challenging um two years of of having students on campus feels like every year you lose half of your leaders or or more as they move on to high school and and you're have new sixth graders coming on to join you that are learning the ropes at a junior high and and it's a challenge and to find out where students are academically and to really put attention to the detail and the strategy and working with students to prepare them for the next steps is is hugely challenging and and we're very proud of Desert Ridge Junior High School and the other Junior highs and they're here to share tonight I'll turn it over to Miss Taylor thank you uh Madame President governing board members Dr McCord it's my privilege to introduce Desert Ridge Junior High team as our academic Spotlight this month uh they have made tremendous gains in the last couple years with their student outcomes and it is because of their um focus on their goals and it's an honor to listen to them speak during our impact check for their continuous Improvement plan uh so tonight we are going to ask them to share what they provide on campus as far as student interventions and how they utilize The Advisory period at our junior high schools uh 4 days a week and at this time I'm going to turn it over to them we have our principal Mike Davis our dean of students Angie barard and our instructional coach at Desert Ridge Junior High toy Hubert [Music] all right thank you so much uh good evening board president wood board members of the board Dr McCord and members of cabinet uh my name is Mike Davis I'm very proud to be the principal of desert idge Junior High um very proud of the work that we put in uh every day we love our kids uh we know how important uh the work that we're doing every day is um and we do know that we have them for a very short amount of time the two years so uh we want to make the most of that opportunity so we thank you for this opportunity to share uh what we're doing at our school for student interventions I also want to mention how fortunate I am uh to work with the amazing Junior High principles um and the fact that they're so collaborative and willing to share what's working on their campuses um as you've already done you've introduced uh most of our team uh Mr loette couldn't be here tonight he has an illness um I have a slight illness I'm trying out for the oakd boys a backup singer with my deep voice tonight um but I'm very PR of the work that uh Angie Bernard Ard dean of students has done in the last two years at our school She's really BR a focus into our classrooms with teacher strategies and another person that our staff can go to so I really thank her for her hard work and toy Hubert who joined us uh also as an instructional coach and as you will soon see the addition of an uh instructional coach uh has changed my life dramatically um as the instructional leader of Desert Ridge Junior High many times I'm pulled away uh dealing with a multitude of situations and having toy on our campus uh is a constant highly qualified instructional coach that is there for my teachers at all times um there is no fear of evaluation just an amazing resource and relationships built with teachers um and she helps design professional development in the moment so we're just we're really excited about what she's been able to do um and that has helped us because we base everything off our student data and our teacher feedback and that's how we keep our CIP or our continuous learning plan uh alive so at this time I'm going to turn it over to miss Andrew Bernard to begin our intervention uh presentation you're GNA make me do it I want you to do it okay hi my name is Angie Barner this is my second year as Dina student at Desert Ridge Junior High and I'm just going to go over a couple different things that we do at Desert Ridge that have started start to become very successful um advisory time is 4 days a week and it's a 26 minute period uh we currently Place students in an advisory class with one of their teachers because it helps build relationships in [Music] community that's good yeah next slide um we uh spend the first part of the Year getting to know our students and one important way that we do that is through data so there's lot of different pieces of data that we use we look at State data aasa and aella we look at aasa mimic which is the district test that we take beginning middle and end of year we use fastbridge data which is another District test that we use that identifies the lowest skills for math and reading including Lexile levels and we take that beginning middle and end of year as well um and of course teacher observations um after we get to know the students and identify some of their needs we create PD that is relative to District initiatives but also what our school and our students need and one of the needs that we identified was math math was a need um filling some of the gaps that we noticed our students had and how are we going to do that so last year we created um math intervention advisory classes for the math teachers not everybody can teach math and so we said for these Math teachers we're going to give you a smaller class size and we're going to put these students in your class we did it with different Math teachers the first year because we were thinking seeing uh seeing it from a different perspective from a different teacher might make the connection might make the click so that's what we tried for the first part last year um the feedback we got from the teachers um as we were reflecting on our year last year you know what was successful and what could we improve upon and they said we'd really like our own math kids we already have a connection and with those kids we would then see them twice a day uh we don't have to spend time with routines and and that kind of thing so we made that change this year so any student that we identify for this math intervention advisory class is with their math teacher um over the summer we used sixth grade data bass bridge data because it it brings down the skills to the lowest we used sixth grade data and the seventh grade data to create our advisory classes and we were able to start on day one which was a very successful thing um that I think we're very proud of that we could start from day one we had already looked at the data and and found out what our kids need and place them in the in the situation that would be best for them the class sizes are smaller they're about 15 kids so they can have individualized um attention the teachers create either lessons from fastbridge that are provided or they can create their own they do a pre and a post test so we can check on growth we're meeting all the time to talk about you know what did you choose for uh the standard why did you choose it what was the growth how do we meet the needs of the kids who didn't make the growth that you want in those kind of conversations and then this year we decided as a school we were going to create an initiative and purchase a program called ISL and it's a math program a lot of elementary schools use it and it is a K12 program which is amazing because we can kids at 7th and eth who are down who need skills at fifth grade level can get them and we can enrich uh kids who could go up to the 12th grade level so we're meeting the needs of whatever the kids need based on our fastbridge data I EXL can meet that so we still have those math advisory classes with the the the smaller class sizes but then every other student on our campus um is onl during advisory they can do it at the end of a class if they have some free time and they can even do it at home which is amazing thank you so in addition to math we at looking at the data we determine that math was our Focus however that's not all the data told us the data also told us that we had some kids that struggled a little bit in reading and so we looked at um in addition to the things that we did with our math and our our advisory and our intervention we also looked at um doing some schoolwide reading initiatives and we started by looking inward we were already in Avid school and Avid is a a program that is is a college readiness program that already has a lot of great instructional strategies that can be used across all the contents and so we the the CIP team or the uh School Improvement team teamed up with our school our site Avid team and talked about what are some of those strategies that we can really utilize in every single classroom with every single student and came up with a couple that that we're really pushing and so the first one is marking the text um and writing in the margins which is just a metacognitive reading strategy where our kids are really thinking about reading and and how they're thinking as they're reading which boosts their comprehension in addition we also um looked at costess levels of questioning which is an inquiry um strategy that it helps our kids take that basic comprehension to that next level really thinking about what am I reading and thinking deeply about that and so that was another strategy that we kind of just meshed into things that we were kind of already doing but saying hey this is what we're going to do schoolwide with all of our teachers to help our kids with reading in addition we had to look then okay these are the programs we're going to do now how are we going to prepare our teachers what are we going to do and that's where the professional development piece came in um and so we started we started by looking at the data so we thought gosh that's a great place to start our teachers right help them learn how to analyze interpret that D that data from fastbridge and ASA and mimic and so we um created some professional development that helped our teachers really understand what that data was telling them and how to dig into that data then we decided to take that a step further so after we taught them how to look at the data we taught them how to use it okay because that's that's an important step it's one thing to know how to look at it it's a whole another thing to say okay this is how we're going to use it this is how we're going to impact our students and so we talked to them about grouping about providing interventions about scaffolding how to provide enrichment for our kiddos that are already there so we did some training with our teachers about how to do those kinds of things as well um we wrapped around all of that our teacher Clarity which is part of our GPS instructional framework because teacher Clarity is a great blanket for everything right as long as we are helping our teachers understand deeply like what they are teaching and what they're doing their content their standards and then imparting that knowledge to our students that kind of encompasses all of that so we wrap that into our professional development as well and then finally just how to use those tools Angie mentioned that we have ISL we're teaching them how how do we utilize ISL to the best of our abilities how do we utilize those Avid strategies how do you use them in your classroom whether you're teaching PE social studies you know um any of any of our classes another thing that we looked at is what kinds of structures and procedures could we provide for our teachers that would help them be successful and one of the things that we looked at was something called win Wednesday and w when Wednesday stands for what I need Wednesday so one thing that we heard a lot from teachers was okay great you gave me this data you showed me how to use it where when in the world am I going to have time to help my kids right I have a a 60-minute class with 30 kids how am I going to how am I going to do that and so we sat down as a CIP team and talked about how can we provide that for teachers and so what we did was um for win Wednesdays we built a schedule that gives teachers every other Wednesday that opportunity to pause what they're doing in their content take a look at their format of assessment data and and help their students meet their students where they're at and and meet the needs of each of our classes and so what they do is they look at that data they say okay this this Wednesday these kids need some remediation these kids need to be pushed these kids might just need a little bit more time to finish a test or or a little bit of some more skills work on some things and so they develop activities and lessons that meet the kids where they're at so it's kind of like giving our teachers permission to say whoa slow down it's okay we can stop right here you have time to retach or you have time to look at our students individual needs and so I think providing that structure really just helped our teachers go oh it's okay like it's fine just you know to take that little break and do what we need to do for our kids which has encouraged them to kind of build in their own win Thursdays and Friday is and it's been a really a great thing to see our teachers transform in that way the last thing that we um talked about for as far as structure and tools that we could give our our teachers is we talked about we already had student agendas so we said how can we make student agendas even more meaningful for our teachers and our students and so we added something called the Friday form and so that's just a a tool that helps our students be more cognizant of what where they're at as far as their own learning their grades what they know where they need to go and it also helps them plan a little bit and so every Friday during our advisory class we have our um advisory teachers stop and talk to our kids they have a form that's already in their planner so it's in their agenda so they're utilizing a tool that they were already utilizing but now we're just amping it up a little bit and they take they write down their grades they write down missing assignments they write down if they have tests next week they write down if they have a volleyball game next week so that they can look at that and go oh man I have a volleyball game on Tuesday and I have a test on Wednesday how can I plan this out and so it's just a tool a guide because we know how hard that is for Junior High kids right to do that planning piece and to really do that so um it's just a tool to help them in addition it helps our advisory teachers make connections to those kids because on Fridays when they fill out their Friday form the expectation is that you conference with your teacher and you go talk to them about the things that you wrote down so that they can help you make that plan and make that connection it's also a home connection because we also have a a piece on there with a student or sorry a parent signature where the kids can take that home they can talk to their parents about hey this is what we did this week this is what I'm missing these are what my grades are just to open up that conversation at home and then again if a parent wants to sign that and send that back then they then our teachers know too hey my kids are going home and talking to their parents about that so it just provided kind of that tool that helps them be successful in all areas not just math or reading but just as a student um as a organized person all those things as you can see I have a team that makes our school look incredible um I'm just I'm proud every day of what we're doing uh the relationships we build with kids it's not perfect tonight sounded fantastic and well rehearsed and it's outstanding but it's it's messy and it's it's it's every day it's digging in it's re-evaluating it's checking to see uh tight loose tight you know what what what is working for us what do we need to be a little more accountable for um and we're just really excited about that so our plan moving forward um I was an elementary principal for 10 years and I know the data that we kept and then all of a sudden they went to Junior High and it was poof so what we've been doing for the last couple of years is we've been tracking the the state data for all of our feeder schools from grade 3 through six we look at the averages We compare them to where we're at and this was the first year that we were able to actually as as they said start on day one with interventions our our plan for the future is working with the elementary principles also to make sure that as those kids are coming up if we need to expand on some advanced math classes um some stem classes and if there's more remediation that we can do it may become an elective class rather than just an advisory uh so we really do want to work ahead and see as many kids from the elementary level as we can before they get to us because we want to make sure we are using our full two years uh to do its best for for the students so um at this point we're going to turn it back over to you guys but thank you so much for your time thank you thank you very much for the presentation board members are there any questions or comments Mr Thompson did you have something yeah I've got um a comment and a couple questions so first of all junior high is so hard it's so hard because these kids and and we've we you and I discussed this before these kids are coming from six years of elementary school where they you know were they they're very involved in in their in their Elementary education and they're also looking forward to their high school education where they're going to be for four years and so I think a program like this is a great way for is a great way to help students Buy in to these two years that they're in junior high and and make it not just a a stopping point in between Elementary and high school and I especially like the fact that we're spending more time with kids on the academic side because it's going to let them know that you really care about their progress and about their academics and I think that's going to even even more so help the buyin my questions so thank you for what you guys do it's it's it's a a tough tough couple years tough tough age for kids and uh so thank you so my questions are more um logistically oriented in regard to the advisory and I don't know if you're if you're referring to advisory as is that what the classes are called you you'd mentioned I think it was um anyway The Advisory slide where there these 20 there four days a week There's 29 minute periods logistically how does that work are all of the kids in taking that 29 minute period class at the same time every day or is it or is it spread out throughout the day yeah throughout um as we came through the co years uh the school's aligned and we all have an advisory period at the same time during the day so it's built into the schedule so um we were able to to look at how many minutes we have for each of the the seven classes but one of them is is the advisory period so all six uh seventh and eighth grade students at the same time go to an advisory uh the Bell starts it and the bell finishes it um so there's that specific time and over the years we've worked on different things whether it was going to be uh reading makeup work uh you know math and we've gotten to the point now where we're starting to use more of the what students need so in the future the hope is that if students are where they're supposed to be um that maybe they can do some additional band or orchestra or another skill that they have um but right now we're at the point where you know two-thirds of our our students are getting a letter about their math scores from the state uh and we needed to put our foot down on that so that's what we did this year um and as we move forward we just keep those options open but that that 26 minutes is is valuable and we use as as much of it as we can okay so that 26 minutes so it sounds like most of the students are using that 26 minutes to either work on math or reading is that right and then other and then but others it for other students it could just be something like a study hall or or something am I understanding that right we we've tried to stay away from it just being an open study hall over the years we've tried you know a Monday and a Thursday is going to be focused on reading and uh Tuesday Friday is going to focus on math kind of thing so it's kind of evolved and the more that we've looked into the data now we've gotten to the part where for this first quarter we were trying to get to the point of is it worth the financial investment to bring inl we wanted to talk to other schools we wanted to uh we know that it was working in the junior high or in the elementaries um but we wanted to really make sure that that was the step we wanted to take so for the first quarter our our most math um intensive students were assigned into the advisories and they've been working hardcore math all year long the rest of the students were working on pretty much what they needed to be during that time and now as first quarter ended and we've started into the ISL uh we're training staff on Wednesday on what the expectations are so we can share that with the students and the families and it is something that if a student is falling behind or is is currently behind or wants to work ahead um they're going to have the ability to that outside of school hours but we also are going to have like a minimum requirement during the day for the students okay and you'd mentioned that some of these classes that these kids go to are smaller classes some some of the math classes only have 15 students so they can get more you know more personalized instruction where do the other kids go if everybody's going if all the kids are going to the these same 26 minute periods where where do the other where do the other 15 kids that would have been in that class I don't know if I'm explaining if I'm asking this right but where do the other kids from from the normal size class go during that time are there other classes that have you know 45 kids in them to make up for the 15 that are trying to get the more more individualized instruction right and that and that's something that we look at when we look at the size of the the intervention group we we look to see you know what are the sizes of those other classes going to look like so we we never want to overburden a classroom you know we have a setup for 35 students in every classroom with some additional seating on the sides if need be um so being that in that advisory period the hope is that the teacher is is getting throughout the week to be able to touch five to six maybe eight kids having conversations each of the day to get through the group so some of our math classes are you know 15 to 20 based on on the need of those students and then the other advisory classes could be anywhere from 29 to 35 kids uh which isn't out of the normal realm okay thank you very much be back are there other questions yes Mr Pig um thank you so much for coming and doing that presentation and nothing makes me happier than listening to principles and administrators come and do these spotlights that have such a focus on your population that you know exactly what to do for them so I greatly appreciate that and it was also a pleasure meeting you at your school there's a great spirit over at Desert rid Junior High um I'm also grateful to Gilbert public schools because they give you the autonomy to be able to go and focus on programs that suit the needs of your kids there the students there I just have one quick question um in these math classes and maybe this is to Mrs Bernard I think that was who presented um once if they do achieve their goals are they then moved out of the class and if they are is there kind of a rotation that goes on if they do achieve their math goals yeah it's a great question um last year when we started we started in January and we just to get the kids and the teachers into what what an intervention looked like we kept the groups the same just for just to learn how to do it what did it look like just get everybody used to it this year an intervention class is meant to be much more fluid and so we looked at right as we got to the end of the quarter 1 uh we talked to the teachers who do you think needs to come out and based on your observations in class who needs to be put in and that's what we did if we took out five we put five in to keep those class sizes smaller it does make the other advisory classes a little bit bigger but not unmanageable and in an intervention class you really need to have the smaller numbers to to make the Imp imp that you need does that answer your question it does thank you so much so do you track that data and add it into your other data you do track it okay yeah thank you so much I also want to say that I think this is a wonderful way to do it because of the kids getting you know lost in junior high at some sometimes because it takes you a while to get to know them I just have a question because I really believe in Avid um do you utilize this period of time for some Avid training with some of the other kiddos we have uh Avid classes and sections on our campus and we still have Avid teachers um what we have is we have three Avid teachers that do not have an advisory class and they are meeting every day about the aage Avid class that they have and the future of avid um we changed over quite a bit of our staff in the last 3 years um this was our first year of having big stability um so we went from having a a schoolwide AVID program to backing out of that I didn't want to boast about something that we weren't at the time uh so we stepped back and this summer just so you know our our staff we had 14 staff members that went uh out of state or in in state to trainings um on their own time so we were really appreciative of them buying into the Abit so if if a student needs some you know like some um organizational skills or something like that are they able to get that during the 26 minute period of time at I mean you know it's you can kind of put it into whatever you do yeah we we do have that ability um you know in the first quarter we were able to uh teachers have that autonomy to see which kids are struggling which ones are communicating with teachers which ones can't uh or weren't so they have the ability to do those kinds of things they they talk with our counselors and we meet with our our desert intervention team um and our Behavior Health Team to see which students are maybe needing some of those skills so um at that point our counselors work with the student and their families and then we find uh opportunities for that to happen on the campus um moving forward as we do get into more of what students need um you an elementary principle forever we know that even though students need math they almost always also need reading so it's like who's going to win out so right now that's kind of our priority is just figuring out you know is it an organizational thing for a student is it a read thing is it a math thing all right awesome I I just want to thank you all for the presentation and Mr Davis you were the one that taught me how important data is to seeing where students are so that we can make sure that they learn instead of you know taking a test and moving ahead and just leaving that Gap we're making sure that they learn those um Concepts and St and things that they need so that they when they move on they have a full understanding so I really appreciate that and I really am amazed at all you're doing at Desert Rich jior high and thank you so very much thank you well thank you again and thank you to each of you and to each of your staff members and your teachers and for the focus on our students and the opportunities that you're giv each student to learn and grow it's phenomenal we appreciate it thank you very much thank you and I I thank the district for the support that they give us so thank you all thank you [Applause] was there anything further with that okay thank you very much we will now move to our consent agenda board members I am looking for a motion for the approval of consent agenda items I move that we approve the consent agenda items as listed thank you Mr Thompson it's been moved is there second second thank you Miss hre it's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda items as listed all those in favor please vote by saying I I I any oppose with nay thank you that's pass 5 and are there any requests for future agenda items yes Mr Thompson so in light of um the events at Vista Lakes Elementary before the holiday I'd like to add um an agenda item where we review our protocols for communications with parents for some of these larger more organized events that take place at the schools um and also see if there's not a need to uh create some protocol for these larger events and activities um something along the lines of a checks and balances so that we can uh make sure that we're we're we're viewing these activities from all angles um before they take place in an effort to uh benefit both students and teachers okay I will discuss that with Dr mord that possibly is more of a policy regulation maybe we'll take it up at the policy meeting but I'll get back to you and we'll we'll we'll look at that thank you anything further thank you um that will take us to our board committee reports and I don't have anything to report I'm the city of Mesa liazon 9.02 town of Gilbert liazon Mrs pagee nothing to report tonight thank you thank you 9.03 Gilbert Education Foundation and audit committee Mrs humph uh just to report for the Gilbert Education Foundation we received SE 70 applications for our Innovation grants so um in the process of reading through those and selecting those um because we've had some you know we wish we could fund them all we just didn't raise $100,000 to do that so um we will be sorting through those and um in mid December the decision will be made um we also have our scholarships for staff and students are open and will remain open until those applications until March 4th and the V volunteer Varsity letter um application is also open and that's for students who have earned um 200 hours of community service and then on February 24th we'll have our 5K run walk and um that will be an exciting event so we have these coming up and really encourage uh those who are interested in the scholarships to go to the web website and apply and then we did have an audit committee meeting um and just everything's going really smoothly and we're doing very well with our Audits and coming back with really good um results thank you miss hre that will take us to 9.04 in Insurance trust representative Miss U jetti I don't have anything to report tonight thank you thank you 9.05 legislative representative Mr Thompson nothing tonight thank you thank you Dr McCord if you could take us through our meeting dates 10.01 thank you madam president governing board members on December 5th we have a board retreat and a board policy committee meeting and on December 12th we have a board business meeting that will be our last meeting of the first semester and 2023 thank you very much we appreciate that that will take us to our adjournment board members is there a motion I move that we adjourn thank you Miss paig it's been moved is there a second second thank you Miss eetti it's been moved and seconded that we adjourn all those in favor please vote by saying I I I any oppose with nay thank you
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-11-30 Somerset County, NJ YouTube / Board Meeting transcript source: youtube Board Meeting 11-29-23 · passage 1
all right you are live all right everybody thank for coming to our bound Board of Education meeting for this evening uh I will start off with a quick reading of Jersey's open public meetings law uh which was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting your interest is discussed and acted in accordance with the provisions of this act Board of Education policy Z 62 Board of Education of the brook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted office school and mail facts cour your new bound south bound Board of Education and any person who has requested individual notice and paid the require please stand and say Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Allegiance to the the United States of America the rep it stands one nation under God indivisible yes sir Mr here awesome hereo Lima this up miss m here Mr Min here M K here Mr and Mr Jan here president you have a quum pres this evening thank you Mr Gorski um just like comments for my president's comments this evening just welcome back everybody I know it's been a bit since we were at the table and I appreciate the flexibility meeting um and just a quick procedural update uh because we are celebrating our Middle School boys and girls soccer teams and their Championship Seasons currently in the cafeteria I may be doing a little bit of double duty so between m i we will make sure the meeting continues on uh at this point happy to see a packed house here so Dr I'll turn over to you well good evening everybody Welcome to our November meeting it is so great to see all the parents teachers students in the house to be recognized celebrate the wonderful things we have going on in the district so at this time I'm going to call and we'll start from the the back or front today we're going to start with Mr Smith with our students from the high school Swit it up a little [Applause] bit all right so those of you that do not know that Crusader citizen on the month award is in recognition of students demonstrating positive uh Crusader citizenship trait such as responsibility respect kindness Integrity cooperation tolerance perseverance our first recipient is Nixon [Applause] deir all right Nixon has four siblings um two sisters and two brothers his favorite subject in school is history and algebra uh what he likes to do um in terms of his hobbies are play football and spend time with his family and his career plans are to attend UTI to become a [Applause] mechanic okay our next recipient is Doris Amaya and estraza and estraza no okay uh Dar has four siblings um her favorite subject is science because it helps her to understand nature and um helps her to understand nature um she likes to do arts and crafts because you can turn something simple into a piece of art her future career plans is to become a pediatrician and own a [Applause] cafe all right our next recipient Kimberlin Bay Ramirez Kimberlin now Kimberlin has three siblings favorite subject in school is math especially geometry because it's fun and she likes to talk about angles and shapes um hobbies are playing sports basketball in particular she enjoys being active and doing some type of workouts she also loves meditating and doing yoga After High School um her plan is to work and make enough money to go to college graduate and see uh the career path wherever it may take her so [Applause] congratulations oh D is here okay good all right uh Daris Amaya is here so let's give it up for [Applause] D good and our last re Marcos has two siblings his favorite subject in school is US History hobbies are playing the drums running and spending time with his family and one of his dreams is to become a pilot so [Applause] congratulations got great smile next up we have CMS hello everybody so uh the first candidate receiving an award tonight is farita bnazi farita was recommended by her teacher Miss Endora uh far's uh siblings uh two siblings in the school district and favorite subject of course is math that's our math teacher uh and likes to read play video games and draw and career plans in the future for would like to become a lawyer when she grows up unfortunately she was unable to make it tonight so she'll be presented her award tomorrow in school but congratulations our second recipient is Dana Rodriguez soless who was nominated by another math teacher Miss Boyd Dana has two sisters and one brother in Ecuador and favorite subject is math of course and social studies uh her favorite H hobbies are dance guitar piano soccer drawing painting and reading and professional career plans are to be a dancer Andor a pediatrician now I'm looking I don't see Dana cuz I know she's P playing double duty as well oh there you are she was trying to get here from soccer awards next door so congratulations come on [Applause] up and I will say I was in your math class today and you are a standout in math congratulations thank [Applause] you conat round appuse [Applause] for okay our first student of the month is Gonzalo tarizona and he was recommended by miss cadle and miss heiders Gonzalo has two siblings Louisa yandra and he's working on he's doing a great job developing confidence and speaking up in class and you love to be the teacher's Helper and you're very good at it yes congratul I'm so proud of you our second student of the month is in fourth grade Roger Garcia aralo was nominated this he has a little brother Snider in second grade you love helping with your little brother you love lunch and recess and especially playing soccer soccer outside [Applause] [Music] congratulations it up our third student of the month at SMY is is Maria Ponte look at that smile asari is in Miss was recommended by Miss laosi as Mari was very helpful to the other students especially when they were making their floats for the Thanksgiving Day Parade um she has a little brother Jonathan in the fourth grade and she gets to see him sometimes in school yep and so that's kind of fun when you see him in the hallway and Miss leasi said she's very very proud of you especially as you're working on your math and your reading so I'm very proud of you good [Applause] job yeah Small's last student of the month is Lynette Sandoval in Miss Patel and Miss she's class and she also has there you are she also has Miss Belle and Miss lavala Lynette has two older sisters Amber and Briana and you enjoy helping your teachers to organize the classroom yes [Applause] one take you guys are on [Applause] thanks have another round of applause for small next laf our first grade student of the month is Dave Vasquez Hernandez from Miss Cella and Miss ca's class uh he has an older sister and two older brothers he loves math because he loves to learn new math problems uh he loves to play basketball and shoot the ball into the hoop and he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up because he wants to put out [Applause] fires stay look at that smile you want to take a picture by [Applause] David our second grade student of the month is Judah Jones Judah Jones is from Miss Valu and Miss Reese's class he has four siblings Alia Isaiah Noah and Elijah he likes math because you can learn to be smarter and you can learn new stuff that you never learned he likes to play his favorite game fortnite and he wants to be a McDonald's worker because his brother brings him food home and that means that when I'm done at with my job I get to bring McDonald's food home J to Jones [Applause] everybody next up for the anex Dr [Applause] s congratulations to kayen Mendes Kora currently in preschool his teacher Miss Mrs Kilgore Kenneth has I mean kayen has two siblings um Kaden loves to learn his letters he loves the pumpkin patch and dramatic CL and the Art Center Caden loves to play with his brothers soccer and Roblox Kaden wants to be a police officer when he grows up congratulations to kayen [Applause] [Music] Ken no one cheese one more [Music] cheese congratulations to Houston lunch currently in kindergarten teacher is Mrs DeLuca is uh um Houston here we [Applause] go Houston has two siblings two sisters his favorite subject is uh art Arts okay his favorite hobbies is playing outside um and when he grows up he wants to be a police off awesome congratulations to Houston [Applause] you dressed oh look at that smile what a great [Applause] smile congratul to all of our thundering round of [Applause] app and next up we will honor some of our teachers our educator of the month and our support staff the month at this time I would like M Pettis to come forward along with Dr Santa's sermon hello again the community school is proud to recognize Sandy Petes as a November teacher of the month for the Bound Brook School District s's a member of the special education department and whose concentration is primarily in English language arts and social studies Sandy is an anchor for students in the lld and er classrooms she creates a positive learning environment for her students and makes it a point point to recognize their accomplishments Sandy exhibits kindness and caring as she methodically reinforces positive behaviors supports a growth mindset and encourages students to reflect upon their academic progress social interactions and contributions to the school and the community sy's role requires that she works in a collaborative manner with a team of professionals including classroom AIDS subject Area Teachers occupational therapists District behaviorists social workers and building Administration s's contributions inside the classroom are equally matched by her efforts outside the classroom and in the community she makes it a priority to attend her students extracurricular and sporting events throughout the year including attending every away football game for her students on weekends throughout the fall as co-advisor for student council Sandy is instrumental in developing fun activities including school dances recent door decorating contests board game night in a variety of fundraisers on behalf of the Community Middle School I'd like to thank Sandy Petes for her dedication and service to our students and school [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Community everybody [Applause] next up I'd like to call M Romero to come to the uh forward to be recognized as our support staff of the [Applause] month all right all right since Miss Romero's return to the high school last spring as the attendance secretary her dedicated efforts in establishing an effective attendance process uh Have Been instrumental in fostering a culture of accountability and punctuality her involves reaching out to families to verify attendance ensuring a direct line of communication that reinforces the importance of regular School attendance following up with students upon their return Miss Romero takes a hand on approach to understand and address any attendance related challenges furthermore Miss Romero meticulous meticulously cross references period attendance with classroom teachers creating a comprehensive system that holds students accountable for their presence in each class recognizing the issue of chronic lateness she has implemented an additional measure by making early morning calls to certain students serving as a wakeup call to prompt timely arrival to school the impact of Miss Romero of Miss Romero's uh efforts are evident in the significant reduction of our treny rate notably we had a remarkable achievement recently as we recorded zero truancies in the entire week showcasing the tangible success of her strategies it is with great pleasure that we acknowledge Miss Romero as our staff member uh for the month of October highlighting her exceptional contributions in enhancing attendance practices and positively influencing the school Community her commitment to fostering a culture of punctuality and accountability has undoubtedly made a commendable impact at the high school Miss Romero on behalf of the high school Community thank you for all you do and congratulations on being named support staff member of the month an Accolade you most certainly [Applause] deserve and our teachers please our teach teacher hey our teachers please stay take a picture together okay and next up we have another outstanding educator she has been chosen for the New Jersey exemplary educator Award with Miss filiatro pronounce it right come on [Applause] be all right have a lot to say just bear with me try to get through this so um I received a letter just recently U regarding a nomination for Miss filiatro that I had submitted last year so the letter uh read Dear Mr Smith I wanted to thank you for nominating Janelle filiatro last spring for the 2023 New Jersey exemplary educator recognition program the goal of this program is to identify Educators who are valued by their school and community that have exhibited strong Knowledge and Skills an inspiring presence and a Clear Vision for Quality teaching and learning after a rigorous selection process Janelle filiatro has been chosen as a 2023 New Jersey exemplary educator please note that only 123 Educators in the entire state of New Jersey are receiving this honor for demonstrating exceptional teaching and Leadership abilities just to give you a perspective there's close to 117,000 teachers in [Applause] this in addition as an exemplary educator Miss filiatro has had a positive impact on students colleagues in the entire community so if you don't mind I'm just going to read a couple highlights from the nomination sure okay Miss filiatro specializes in special education instruction and oversees the education of our Scholars with a wide array of disabilities additionally she designs and delivers lessons geared towards the individual needs and capabilities of the scholars under her supervision for example example Miss filiatro has played an integral part in creating the star program which stands for students and teachers achieving results as as the teacher of the program she implements a functional approach to the core academic classes as well as social skills motor skills self-help vocational skills and community- based instruction the process the purpose of the program is to provide our young scholars with the opportunity to practice and master Independence self- advoc skills engage in social interaction access Community Resources acquire and maintain vocational placement and participate in Recreation and leisure activities essential essentially this initiative is intended for students enrolled in the functional life skills program that they will transfer these skills into their adult lives following High School graduation additionally Miss filiatro provides opportunities for Star program students to gain experiences outside of the classroom as well by attending structured learning experiences which are experimental supervised and in-depth learning experiences that are uh designed to offer students the opportunity to more fully explore career interest postgraduation moreover Miss fiao established the Brooke Cafe in which students in the program set up and run a small coffee business on Fridays at the high school through the cafe students have real life exposure to adult work where they practice communication skills and learn important job skills they also learn how to count money and keep inventory logs students in the program created a Google form to take orders and purchased a mobile coffee cart for their small business on Fridays the students take orders make the coffee and deliver it to staff members throughout the high school furthermore Miss batro was Paramount in implementing the personal Wellness with friends program which is a collaboration between the special education and physical education department to Bal Brook High School to promote inclusive education for all students this class is a physical education class where students with socialization and adaptive needs are paired with typical developing students to promote skill building while fostering recreational Wellness skills Miss batra's mannerisms and professional professionalism both in and out of the classroom are among the elite Miss fiao exemplifies qualities that are valued in an educator and a professional integrity genuine commitment hard work and a firm belief in lifelong learning it is for these reasons among countless others that Miss batro was dominated and selected as a recipient of the 2023 exemplary educator recognition congratulations Janelle we are so proud of your accomplishments and contributions to Bal Brook he [Applause] for take picture all theed come up we're take picture together [Applause] one conratulations [Applause] yes I just had to add something I'm a little jealous of the principles who get to read about them because I know how wonderful they are but in addition to being outstanding Educators sport staff they're great people every time you see them to have a smile on their face something positive to say and I know because of the classification they teach that things can be difficult sometimes they always have a smile on their face so that wonderful human beings I want to recognize black so let's have another round of [Music] applause okay this time I like all students to go up to the stage so we can take our picture with your parents students and [Music] parents do you want up down uh up Manel you got the table up yeah up up is better [Music] Tom us further Tom you tell us how far we can go good okay [Music] to the fr conratulations you can FR [Laughter] because right are we ready are we [Applause] ready can sprink congratulations again to all of our student Award winners and their families we outstanding accom okay we're going to take a short recess and let every anybody take their pictures I'm just unmuted okay we're going to get started again surprise it's me um Mr Ji will be back shortly we have committee reports of next which means I don't know okay we're gonna start with our student board member your report first go ahead okay I have a pretty short report today um I had the luxury of interviewing Miss Carone from small school um for the purpose of basically introducing her because she's new to this District so I'll basically read off what I derive from it so this Caron has held many titles in different countries including Costa Rica and Director of Education vice principal and principal of K she decided to work as the principal small because she loves the area and lives close to the school allowing her to have a more personal connection with her faculty and students an example of this would be uh one time um I don't remember the exact situation uh student basically um it just something like momentus so she went over to his house with I think his teacher and gave him like a present and like celebrated with it and stuff like that so I thought that was really nice of her um and she has done this through Awards shout outs and recognitions of both teachers and students she intend on making sure all students are building get what she needs get what they need through building positivity having sessions of mindfulness proper behavior and by placing your students in levels that meet and adjust for their needs like ESL and she also promotes programs like middle sorry Middle Earth which is currently at capacity and as you guys may know it promotes uh student involvement within the community and in the future she wishes to learn more about the district getting a doctor in administration being the best principle she can be to the students teachers and families which I mean was evident today because um uh when she was announcing like for the student of the months she was basically upbeat uh trying to cheer the students on and stuff like that uh in other news uh I think it was mentioned but uh the middle school boys and girls soccer teams won the finals to their playoffs [Applause] so and the other Community Middle School teams like their uh volleyball team are currently currently did really good season I um I don't know how many losses they had but I know 15 and one 15 and one and um through the this is other news but through the collaboration with the principles of other high schools in Somerset County uh professional developments around the county is is currently being developed all right uh we'll move to education Mr Dawson thank you Mr Paul uh the education committee met earlier this month we had a relatively brief agendas a few items we focused on The Benchmark data from our new assessment programs I ready and iel that data has been sent home to families earlier this month our after school program started yesterday and we run through early February they run on Tuesday and Thursday slightly different U student population between first and sixth grade and 7 eightth grade programs concentrating on providing students with what they need and from a professional development standpoint there's professional learning in the works that will help our staff members connect the assessment data to the learning standards that we are required to focus on from the state and trying to prioritize which standard will give us the best results when provided additional okay any questions for Education anyone is governance uh again another fairly short agenda first I think everybody has done this at this point but we needed everybody to um complete the self evaluation U Mr Januzzi had sent an email I think to the three members I don't want to throw into the bus but two members because he was one of them who um had not completed it so what's that no I would never I wouldn't say any names but he's not here so he doesn't know um I think everybody got it done at this point but if you are one of those people and you haven't got it done please do so because rich wants to get all the data compiled and back out to us as soon as possible uh as far as our board training goes we're going to start again in January with our yearly ethics training um it seems as though I talked to Glen about this it seems as though we are going to be able to keep our certified status for at least none of the year she she said that as long as less than onethird of the board turns over that we keep that but even uh better than that if you earn 10 more hours you become what's called Master Certified I believe it is and we are u m yeah Master board certification we already have two and a half hours towards that which we'll talk next will be our strategic planning that will earn us at least three more plus ethics plus um our yearly Retreat all those things basically if we do a few more trainings we can definitely earn Master certification as well so that's something that as a committee we said we would definitely like to shoot for because honestly we're going to be really close anyway so a few more additional trainings and we can make that happen which would be really great for another you know feather in our cap to display to show the community that we are you know seriously um committing ourselves to getting better and learning the job and improving every single month um the last thing that I actually just mentioned is strategic planning now anybody who's watching at home you are about to hear a lot about strategic planning we are going to be setting up uh meetings with all stakeholders and that includes us but that more importantly includes teachers administrators parents students anyone in the community who is does you don't even have to have a child in the in the schools anyone who's in the community we want you to come out we want you to be a part of the process we're going to hold meetings we think right now in January February and March we invite you to come to all three if you can only come to one that's fine come to as many as you can but we want to see as many people there as we can um we don't have dates yet we are going to set up a zoom meeting with Gwen to come up with a date in each month that does not conflict with any other B Brook School District activities so good luck with that no games no plays no nothing I don't know how we're going to do it we're GNA do it I think it might be a Sunday morning at 4 am.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-11-30 Pima County, AZ YouTube / Baboquivari Education transcript source: youtube Baboquivari Unified School District Special Board Meeting No… · passage 1
the growth for anybody else and and um asking everyone that it's not only 40% but it's every it 44% is the bottom line and more um not leaving any children behind in the non proficient can sorry one second I'm sorry I know I know I want to go hold on hold on hold on Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday I'm just looking at I mean I'm looking at last the last one that we were looking at which they went they took back so they're all say non-proficient so regardless the proficiency doesn't matter anyone non-proficient is going to move a minimum of 40% will move up and if they hit that 40% they get the highest points yes okay all right sorry yeah I'm like okay I'm because it just didn't look like there was any challenge but I see now that it's 40% and if you hit that 40% you get the highest points to get closer to your full pay okay okay thank you for letting me walk through that that's fine that's all I had thank you there's no other I don't have any questions but just like one St I think we asked for something more visual um I do get it I do understand but I think the last time yeah and maybe that's just something again to note that's sry again something just to probably note for the next time and the committee and then I mean I don't want to start stepping out the line in the sense that they they're they're they understood what they were tasked to do and what to bring this was the only one that was a little different than all of them so their plan was to do it then absolutely I would say give us some reference references especially visual references the way primary did or anyone else did to say collectively this is how we're going to do it I'll just just a okay that good yeah motion to approve a motion by Miss anamarie Stevens second my Miss uh syvia HRI hi letter B this evening discussion possible approval release agreement between barue Unified School District and the th a nation education department Sor Diaz president members of the board and members of the community um in the spirit of keeping um everyone safe and be able to collocate with the nation um uh the plan to um lease um a couple of offices has been uh Revisited to ensure that the rooms that we will be leasing they are within close proximity and they have um independent access to the school um as you can as notated on the map of q144 q47 and also the two offices on the right hand side of the map um it this plan also allows them to have access to Independent restrooms as well as independent independent parking lot providing both entities privacy and be able to conduct business may I just make a com comment and and I know we got a response from the attorney but to me we put a fence between accelerated and intermediate because of age and all of those safety issues but I don't know why this is any different than having individuals on campus that are not that are adults that are members that are around students anyway is that not why is that not still somewhat of a con I mean I don't want to say concerned and I know they're going to follow the policies that we've asked them to but I just it sounded like they weren't going to have to do anything more than that so follow what we asked them to do is that my understanding I completely understand and this is something that we can continue to have those conversations and look into it um we have the uh understanding of what is the expectation and the uses of the facilities um but the the safety of our students and our staff it's a priority and that's definitely something that we can continue to uh discuss okay right so so there's four four areas that yes the one on the right where it doesn't have a number there's actually two rooms located top no the one of the corner one that doesn't have a que there's there's two rooms there off to the right here the closest one the one on top is just saying the that color is what the color key so the K you see where the K is that will be their parking uh R will change the locks they'll have specific keys to them so they can only and get in and out of there along with operations where the K will be the entrance to where they'll be getting in out of the office so they should be secured this area and then leave from that area after I did have a question in regards to is it all programs that are going to be there or what programs will be there it is at the all Department of Education off right but there's several so all of their programs there's a lot of programs I can I can inir and and report back to the to cuz I think right now One Stop um what else is there kicked out they all got kicked out they all lost their building they have nowhere to go they have no building they so they're in different areas right now within the nation I know one stops at wreck yeah so maybe this is something that I can come back by the next video J go somewhere oh yeah J venito Garcia Library people go somewhere sorry one stop there not it's not in the contract that says who is going to be accommodating no we did not get in that specific the lease is they need a facility um we did not inquire as to how they planning to use what departments um they requested the facilities to conduct business but if in the spirit of transparency that's something that I'll be more than happy to reach out um and and and report back to our governing board and that's I only look at it in the spirit of we're going to be held liable for anything that happens on that campus regardless of who we let and what they're paying us because it's school grounds that's just my own concern no no no problem helping the nation at all but I just are there any other questions that you would like me to inquire and report back I just feel iffy but hey I I don't want to say no but that's yeah I I saw that okay okay anybody okay yeah so do so the other thing in regards to that because we you know anybody that works with our students have to have to be have to have a clearance say that again clearance cart clearance cart students instructional program let they be going to our cafeteria I don't know I guess we've never done it so maybe this is the maybe this is the test and maybe we don't do it ever again if it turns out to be not good I don't know how long do it take them to get a building and are we really willing to enter into a multi-year type of lease agreement is that what this is is only one year how long is it the Le year by year so I don't I mean to be hon honest I don't know I don't see them getting their building immediately at all construction never goes on schedule that's well I would think that they'd at least get some type of temporary bu because I hope so well as far as I know they've banked a lot on their arpa fund re rehab and demolish a lot of buildings and so they're just putting themselves everywhere they can until those are up but like he said and well delays are delays and if you're building something up I know they did try to come to the college we don't even have room for our just kidding we don't have room right everybody that's fine I mean okay I just I would just recommend that you give us updates if he does get approved like who's going to be there okay and you're going to deal Direct with the Director of Education on anything that's going on there if you have any issues if you have any concerns we have any concerns yeah um I as part of our the same way that I do check-ins with my departments um I'll be more than happy to set up up um checkins with our collocated partners um to ensure that we're both on the same page and we U meet each other's needs I appreciate that the other concern and I know I don't know I mean excuse me it's only the only concern comes from me is when when our students are there and we're in having instructional days and those types of things like if students aren't there we have space or room this is why I'm glad we talked about putting them in a location where they're we know where they're at and that's what they're doing and not carousing around the the campus it's an actual operating school so let's please treat it as such and be respectful I'm not saying that they won't be it just makes me feel a little concerned but because their parents too if they get what are they doing here what's that when did you guys approve that you know I mean it just for the sake of at least the discussion I want us to say we had that discussion and we feel confident and comfortable we're going to move forward even though I don't feel comfortable I feel like I don't want to not be hopeful either as long as our expectations are clear and and I believe that that needs to be continue to be um part of the conversation um even though there is there will be at least agreement there's also um the the work ethics from both departments that we need to review and the expectations um of what it means to respect the students privacy um and honor and respect the teachers uh practices as well as the school there's um also giving an outlet um when there's any concerns how to address it who to address it and the timel the timelines in which needs to be addressed on both ends oh okay I mean yeah I guess just wondering whether or not I mean just wondering because also we don't want students to be hanging out there I know that's sometimes they hang out in offices different areas but oh yeah especially if parents are around or family members the visitors are not allowed to cross lines they have to go around and check in as well that it's just because they're collocated there's not an open entry way but like I said we are an operating school and there's the gym there are we're not using the gym at all there's separate entrances that we will have to work with with our students M there's [Music] uh that's what I was yeah what about their visitors oh very true on the S instead of going the do we discuss those days that we're not there and that we're not going to be giving them Keys you're basically giving them ACC those to those areas at the times and days that they're in operate or they operating hours or whatever okay I mean we talked about that right you you discussed there's there's still so many procedures that happen behind the scenes to ensure that this happen including the safety um when there's an emergency on their end and how we have to conduct and who's going to be the lead in terms of emergencies lockdowns correct fire drills um as well as when there's a the need of fire department and who are they attending because they're using our line so there's a couple of um right now this is the lease agreement but there's now the procedures agreement okay okay yeah yeah yeah active shooter active shooter well I I I don't think it's discussion I I I feel like I mean I think you got your questions to I mean you got your questions that we need to ask about and I guess more or less just keeping us updated M absolutely to ensure that we are aware that there isn't that there are confined to and I can include these components part of my um superintendent report as part of weekly reports to keep the board updated as well okay good thank you so next steps you're are this is not a negotiation right you're you're waiting for us to approve the lease agreement and then you give it to them to say this is what the board go get it approved and they may see it and after this they may say we don't want to do business with you guys okay I I just don't want to ever make anyone feel especially those that are trying to defend us that we're questioning it I just I know it's all in there I just don't want to not go without having the discussion at this level to say well the board just approved it they didn't even talk about it we talked about it we we shared our questions and our concerns and are confident and comfortable it's just making sure that we're securing protecting ourselves our children our students foremost go ahead s oh I guess if um my understanding is that once we approve this then you be doing the negotiating and whether or not they're going to you're going to get questions answered before of correct well go ahead and approve second was motion by Miss Sylvia Hendrick second by Miss anamarie Stevens no I letter C's discussion and possible approval of agreement of agreement between barbecue Unified School District and the Arizona School of the deaf and blind Mr Diaz members of the board um our agreement um with the school um with the Arizona uh School of De and blind it's about to expire um we need to um Once Again Begin our conversation and to our agreement um they have been serving their students um depending on the need when we are not able to provide fape uh to them and they they are a they have been able in the past to support us um there it's a it's a continuation of services on for our students um under this agreement there is there any changes in the are there any changes in the agreement and how many students do we have currently I'm just going to ask said it in there in in the memo what did it there's no memo I just see the leas agreement oh this is way at the bottom can youo students four it was a memo I don't see I didn't see oh okay there it is okay sorry and I have the capacity for any more more if we need them absolutely yes but no no no significant changes sorry go ahead Dr P always um had services from asdb sorry we've always had services from asdb primarily because we don't have specialized staff who um do sign language and whatnot um and we have three kids right now that go that we transport and we could have more but this type of disability is like an it's a low incident disability you're not going to have um a significant number so that's why the numbers are so low and plus we have children here on the campus that the iterate staff from the cons cons orium come out and provide services so and again it's it's a loow incidence disability that you're not going to have high numbers anyway and I I do attend their IEPs their individual educational programs and um it's just terrific to hear the progress that the kids make especially the the little ones who who travel from Way West all the way into Tucson on a daily basis and their families support that and I think it's terrific So yeah thank you Dr peder um is there is there cost to or is it just an agreement it's an agreement which I think based Fe for service oh ADM oh okay it's Fe for service are students ASP what is the sorry go ahead I think they reive do we get they get I think they get the whole and yes we do pay for those Services I guess this would be a good enough time to to ask about maybe transportation is it and it's only the four students transported by our staff right correct on a bus correct on a bus um it is a it's not a bus um it's one of the small buses it's one of the small ones small bus a white one a White Fleet bus so well so it doesn't technically need a bus driver someone who can drive I'm just wondering about your how if it's if it's working all right I don't know how to ask the question I'm not exactly sure why they chose to do a bus because in years past when when we had our little twins going they were always transported in just like a a sedan yeah okay there's possibilities um we not only need to ensure that we have the correct bus but also reliable transportation and we're probably using the bus for Miles I would assume because we need miles for money correct and if we use a sedan it probably doesn't C cross calculate that way I would say that's that's what only I would think why we would change to a bus I will have to do some research on would you and maybe let us know I'm interested I mean I think I don't want to say I mean I'm fine with I I appreciate the service I really do because I know there Specialized Service that we can't really provide but I don't know that I've ever seen the agreement maybe I hav't maybe I just haven't we do we do it every year okay I mean we do it every every year yeah well I think because this this service is needed and it's been successful in the past I think I go ahead and make the motion to approve second motion by Miss syia Hendrick second by Miss anamar Stevens M hi just letter D is oh sorry motion carries letter D is discussion possible approval of winter break memo Amendment okay so before I last month I was not here and I had made a typo on the memo so it stated 15 days but it only should be 10 days so when I go back and adjust the policy I want to make sure I have it correct by the board and I actually um all 30 employees where it says that all those employees were inclusive of 10-month and 11mth but just to be on the safe side I added 11 month there also so those are the two changes to the actual document that to approved so now I'm asking the board to go ahead and approve the amendment as shown with the addition of showing the 11th month and the 10 holiday days for the winter break for the 30 employees should have just left it 15 just kidding next [Laughter] year so it's a agree if no other questions a motion to approve is there a second second second by Miss anarie Stevens mo i what's up number six is our cons I'm sorry motion is approved number six is our consent agenda is there a motion to approve motion by Miss syia Hendrick second by Miss Anar St m i okay motion carries that one yeah snuck it in on you uh Leno Miguel and Tylor Anton maintenance and Elementary dy8 what is that d8 um sorry motion toour so move Miss Sy Hendricks second second yes hi's thank you we are adjourned it is 5:46 pm.
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2023-11-30 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Special Town Meeting 2023 Wednesday, November 29, 2023 LIVE … · passage 1
three minute turn at the microphone during discussion of each article if you're responding to a question please do through do so through me there should be no direct discussion between parties at town meeting all debate is to be conducted in a respectful and courteous manner no comments of a personal nature are to be made Rude Behavior especially shouting bullying and personal attacks will not be tolerated anyone unwilling or unable to comply with this rule will be removed some announcements baby sitting is being provided this evening until 9:00 by the ashin recck department uh we should we should be done long before 9 o'clock I anything now I'll just yell thank you Preston we should be done long before 9:00 but if we're not children are welcome to join us in the auditorium at that point or any time this evening they just can't vote thanks to Kelly run and her team for making this service available the annual Holiday Stroll will take place this Saturday December 2nd from noon to 4: there will be pop-up boosts from local vendors downtown selling their products as well as the brick and mortar shops all over downtown the day caps off with the annual tree lighting at 4:00 Santa will be parading around town on Sunday the parade kicks off at 4:30 at the public safety building the annual manora lighting will take place on Sunday December 10th at 6 p.m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-11-30 Somerset County, NJ YouTube / Board Meeting transcript source: youtube Board Meeting 11-29-23 · passage 2
I'm not sure how we're going to make it happen but we're going to make it happen um but I uh down in Atlantic City I actually went to two different training sessions on how this works and they show videos and it is really fascinating how it works but everybody gets involved and pretty much gets to articulate what they would like to see in the school district so it's not just coming from the board and it's not just coming from the staff but everybody in the community has their say so if you're out there and you want to see something over the next five years change or improve in the district this is your chance to have your voice heard you will definitely get more I call them advertisements about that you will get um phone calls and emails and you'll see things around the school district so you will hear more about it but we are going to push we would love to see 100 people at each meeting so we will see if we can get that but board members we're hoping you can all attend most of them if not all of them but we will be in contact with those dates as soon as we talk to when which should be coming up really soon that's our hope and I think yes the last thing is that we were moving the board meetings in tonight so I think that's all I have any questions for me okay so next is human resources which is Miss M I was not there oh I'm sorry no that's okay a while ago um I was away for work okay is there anyone who was present I mean no I'm sure no one's prepared but oh en Rich of course all right then we will move right along unfortunately next is operations which is Mr zco and Mr Januzzi as well um if Mr Gorski if you have anything that you want to put out there for us you're welcome to speak this time sure I'm happy too on behalf of Mr Z we had three items that we talked about in the operations committee meeting first is an update on District Rod grants which stands for regular operating districts this is the state of New Jersey program where the state has offered to reimburse districts for the cost of Capital Improvements to facilities mainly um skin of the building roofs Windows boiler systems Mount Brook submitted 14 Rod grants and we were very pleased that the majority of our Rod grants were approved including $4.6 million of boiler Replacements at the high school smallie school lont school and Lafayette school and the state is going to reimburse the school district over 66% of those costs so over two-thirds of the cost of all the boiler upgrades in this District are going to be on State's n these are Big Ticket items that are usually part of next is the district has received confirmation of the audited excess Surplus calculation for the year end of June 30 2023 and the Board of Education was able to grow excess Surplus through the effective management of the budget by almost $1.9 million a million of that new money was transferred into capital reserve which is a reserve account on the balance sheet dedicated to improving the district facilities as well and everything that's in the long range facility plan and that also leaves an additional $785,000 of surplus carrying over which will recycle to revenue in the 2425 budget the intent of that is to reduce taxes to the community and the third item was an update on the security issue um deductible we have an insurance claim for a security ISS issue of having to deal with the computers in the district and uh the district received a favorable deductible of $25,000 where it could have been as much as $250,000 so and the final thing was Mr provided the committee with the bbea negotiations up and that concludes okay thank you anybody have any questions for Mr Mr J back all right I'll finish up committees uh next is Athletics and co-curricular casino yeah so my update is we actually didn't have a meeting uh so uh I think um just considering for the next meeting you probably want to get into um how our winter sports are developing uh take a look at um our spring Sports forecast and and take Mr Steel on um any obstacles our enrollment and really get a good look at that so more to come in our next meeting okay and Miss hi do you have you do okay go ahead Miss I do um at ESC one of the things that they were working on um were the district goals they had four District goals uh one was student enrollment in which they wanted to increase enrollment uh to they're um developing a cosmetology lab there which is really new to the program and they're uh getting everything together and the certified staff they're also um completing the plans for the shop right lab Cafe where U students are working and they will also be serving food it's it's very interesting if you can get a chance go on over and see it it's really it's very interesting to watch uh the other is marketing it's just expanding the websites um having in-house sessions so the districts can come and just observe what's going on at ESC um and really doing three email marketing campaigns just showing what the education and transportation services are in buildings and grounds it's really just maintenance and things so that they can you know power wash so they don't have to paint the whole place things like that which it costs a little money but saves a lot of money um there and their um fourth is transportation and as I've reported before they have sold most of the vehicles off they still do have some for special ed transportation and they're just looking at how they can expand the base there the other thing that really went on in during that meeting was um just looking at policy and Regulation and you know they have the same type of process we have which is the relationship with stress Ese and there were four new policies eight revised policies and six that were abolished and many of these are mandated policies so something that absolutely has to be looked at and attended to and that really is it the next meeting is December 6 so DEC we have a little bit more thank you great thanks s uh before we close our committees any other final comments questions all right and uh I believe we are back up to committee meetings for December will be on Monday is that correct yes so everybody just pencil that into your calendars if you have any conflicts please let Mr Gorski or Dr Freeman at this point we are up to uh item number five we are open to the public for agenda items only uh so in accordance with District policies z17 uh which governs public participation in board meetings members of the public can sign in at the podium or online by providing their name address and group affiliation if applicable um public participation is limited to 3 to 5 minutes in duration and no participant may speak only want on the same topic to speak on that topic have been heard any comments from how about online you know what I'm gonna ask agenda agenda on agenda thank you sir all right so we are on to item number 6.1 this is the approval of the minutes from August 2 first regular and executive motion motion separately Mr B is a great point so in looking through that I didn't scroll too far down so we have agenda items from the August meeting the November meeting I'm sorry August September and October get to November because that's so this is items 6.1 through 6.3 can I have a motion thank you miss m second second thank you Mr Dawson any discussion have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes yes yes with an exception of the wasn't thank you m SM yes yes Miss H uh yes with the exception of 6.3 as I was not in thank you so noted and Mr yes and Mr J yes with the exception of 6.1 thank you motion passes thank you we are now up to item 7.1 resolve that the superintendent recommends for approval of the resolutions as cut District Personnel resolutions this is 7.2 through 7.48 have a motion motion thank you Mr B second second thank you miss high any [Music] discussion um question 7.4 [Music] and yeah I know so um like 40 bullets in so long been there for a while what we did it was approved by the board we actually just changed the uh the the the person that they report to because it was assistant superintendent for construction weer have that position we sotic I'll just briefly Mr DeMarco's retirement as we get closer to the I imagine we'll celebrate with as a longtime District employee sad to see him go happy to see what's next retires from the district mes on any other comments or questions hearing none can we have a roll call please Mr B yes yes yes M Lima uh yes with an exstension under Asis so thank you Mr Minas yes M yes Mr bmer yes Mr yes motion passes thank so we are now come to item be resolve that the bound Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in District education resolutions this is 8.2 through 8.17 sir I have a motion motion thank you Mr Val second thank you Miss musk any discussion I really love that awesome what did you want to do pet therapy okay no problem thank you Dr I don't be surprised when the dog shows up next meeting I any other comments or questions sure go ahead I just um it's so nice to see the the class trips that arranged and there there's such a variety of them and out every school I think that's really important to the kids and I love seeing you really notice it a lot more now after the years of not having them you're really appreciate a lot more one is oh all right unless there are any other comments or questions Mr yes sir Mr B yes Mr Dawson yes Mr Z yes Miss Li yes with an exension on the double Asis thank miss m yes Minas yes Miss H yesmer yes Mr Januzzi yes motion passes thank you item 9.1 be it resolved that the B Board of Education approves the resolution says outline action resolutions this is 9.2 [Music] appr 46 9.46 thanks everybody can I have a motion motion thank you Mr B second second thank you Mr Minas any discussion I had a question about 946 an approv football field track replacement is there any set date for the replacement I believe the intent is to do it between Seasons so that it is prepared for the spring but Mr G can confirm big part which replacement this is the fencing at the fencing it's gonna be shortterm as soon as the vendor availability and the fence parts are ready it will be soon Within we and it's just a perimeter fence to replace the one that's um immediately surrounding the field right so just for clarity that still leaves us with the need to replace the fencing that runs around the actual perimeter of the property which we're plan to do some point in the future correct any other question questions or comments I know it's a rather long SE thank you for the donations great appreciate and um question 945 do you really all kidding that I think it's fantastic the amount of continuing education that actually does occur not only in our teaching staff but seeing the administration committed to the same Val I think fantastic so than I have I have a question on 944 sure so it's um bus emergency evacuation drills what students are covered is that just covering students that are bus or is that included the entire student get off a bus emergency the bus emergency evacuation drills are for All Buses all drivers so that they're prepared to evacuate students and event of an emergency so every driver um on every route will be trained so it's not including students understanding of what to do an emergency on a bus it's only for the drivers I believe that's part of it too the students are there to support the whole ini are you saying students at the in school I'm I'm asking if even if a student walks to school every day if they're happen to be on a school bus going to a sporting event and they understand how an emergency evacuation on a bus we're a non-bus district so I'm wondering do does the general population of students understand how to handle an emergency on a bus if they had to probably be referencing the student handbook um but um it's an interesting question that I'll I'll investigate further because these we're a walking District as you mentioned so it's predominantly special education and after school athletic co-curricular routs so those would be the students have participating because they're the ones on the routing schedule but if if a student who was not regularly transported was to be on a bus would they know um we'll report back it's an interesting question thank you Miss Gino any additional comments or [Music] questions all right hear none can we have a wall call please Mr B yes Mr Dawson yes mrena yes M Lio yes with an exension on the double asri thank you m m Mr mid house yes M yes yes J yes motion passes thank you we are now up to other matters to come before the board any new business from the members all right and at this point we are up to item number 12 open to the public for uh discussion this is for any item not just agenda items uh but the same stipulations apply if you're in the room please uh log your name into the sign in sheet along with your address and affiliation applicable if you're online that would be required to be filled in the form order for us to address your questions uh responses are expected to maintain the three to five minute limit and uh individuals are expected to be allowed to speak on all topics before we take questions so any questions online there are no questions online no questions online I think we have a question in the room now do in don't want me to take the pen though I hope your name's not long an inch and a half fast all right hi uh my name is Chris shner I am kind of representing the boundbrook High School drama club tonight uh since I have three to five minutes I do want to give some shoutouts before I offer an invitation uh first and foremost I want to shout out our students they have been working since September on putting together Willie Wonka Jr uh which will be on December 9th and 10th right here in this room uh like I said uh many afternoons many evenings the students have been working here memorizing lines learning choreography uh helping build the set paint the set you know we we do a lot of things on our own um so that's been very nice uh shout out to some middle school students who will be joining us for the performance as well we have three middle school students that are part of the cast and then we have upwards of 50 small Le students of fifth and sixth grade that will be part of the show as well many of them being Ooma loomas and many of them being squirrels being part of the show uh they also have some great uh advisers over there they have Miss Campbell Miss siiv Miss Sandler and forging one more oh miss laosi well they are doing their own it's really coming together nicely um and then the big shout out goes to the big director my boss my wife uh Mrs shaer who's the director of everything our basement is full of costumes our closets are full of costumes that have been sorted uh by sizes and arranged for every student figuring out all the costume changes as many of our students play multiple roles so it's a pretty big undertaking and it's it's something that we haven't done before having a fall musical so I wanted to make sure that it's on the record that everyone's getting a shout out for putting in you know extra work for a new project uh this uh this coming fall actually two weekends from now uh so like I said it's GNA be a great show I have Flyers that'll come up and uh pass down the road but it's going to be right here 9th and 10th at 2 pm so afternoon shows because we do expect a younger audience to be here uh I've been reaching out to Elementary School principles as well we hope to get them in here on Friday the 8th to see at least a little sampling of the show and get Flyers home to them and you know and get them excited about it because now we have a basically a track from grade five all the way up to grade 12 to kind of build these Bridges from building to building and getting them involved in the drama club because we've had the small Le students in here this will be the third year of having small Le students so continuing that progression as we as we go through so it's pretty exciting like I said I'll bring up the Flyers and pass them down but I hope everyone can attend welcome awesome thanks for hanging and uh for bringing that to everybody's attention looking forward to seeing you show welcome thank you at this point we are up to item number 13 which is move to go into executive session so resolve that b Board of Education enters executive session is allowed by njsa 1041 for the purposes of one four and Mr Mar seven yes Mr BN can I have a motion thank you m a second second thank you Miss High all in favor you are unmuted okay so welcome back from executive session we are now up to item 14.1 be resolved that the bound Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in approval of HIV cases under high school this is 14.2 and motion thank Mr Dawson second can we have a roll call please Mr B yes yes misso yes Miss Lima yes Miss thank you Mr minhas yes m h yes Mr colmer yes Mr janzi yes motion passes thank you item 15.1 be it resolve that the bound Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in approval of HIV cases under middle and elementary schools is is 15.2 and 15.3 can I have a motion motion bigger with 15.1 wasn't there going to be a removal of so we do we have to open move and then do that in the discussion is that how that works I was going to make a motion to remove them once we are open for discussion should I do that those okay you want to do go ahead do it all exud okay everything except for there you go okay so let's try this so we are moving items 15.2 and 15.3 with 15.2 we are excluding item number 21249 and item 25 1563 very good now can I have a motion motion thank you Mr F second Miss b roll call please Mr corsky Mr B yes Mr Dawson yeso yesma thank you Miss mus yes Mr minus yes Miss H yes Mr Palmer yes Mr Ji yes Mo passes thank you and thank you for the help on the procedures we are now up to item 16.1 and I will entertain a motion to adjourn thank you Miss Lima second second thank you Miss High all in favor have a good evening
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2023-11-30 Pima County, AZ YouTube / Baboquivari Education transcript source: youtube Baboquivari Unified School District Special Board Meeting No… · passage 2
thank you make those dates for the winter break um I'll try and get them done before I leave uh congratulations on your lifetime achievement and spectacular day I'll and it's Beau
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2023-11-30 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Special Town Meeting 2023 Wednesday, November 29, 2023 LIVE … · passage 2
in Montenegro Square moderator's motions the moderator's Motions are listed in your handbook on page four they are the same standard motions we approve each town meeting so I'll address ask to address them as a group do I have a motion to approve modare motions 1 two 3 and four as printed in the handbook uh all in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously on to our business for the night article one free cash transfer sponsored by the town manager and finance director to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash an amount of funds to be placed in the stabilization fund OPB trust fund special education special purpose stabilization account capital account and or general fund or pass any Vote or take any action relative there too the finance committee recommends the town transfer 1,743 $680 from free cash to the following accounts sum of $25,000 to the general stabilization fund sum of 5,551 15,590 40 to the opep trust fund sum of $200,000 to the sped stabilization fund the sum of $ 71,3 64 to account 01544 d524 for the purposes of supporting activities outlined within the op settlement program and the sum of $931,000 60 to the capital County Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator can everybody hear me hope they can now anyway thank you for being here thanks for coming U hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving holiday but um article one is indeed our free cash transfer it's something that uh we do every year in the fall and essentially what we do is we appropriate the balance in our accounts from the previous fiscal year um and what the select board Finance Comm Comm and the school committee as well as the town manager and superintendent agreed to back in 2013 was a set of financial policies which would address long-term liabilities as well as one-time expenses um and that includes moving money into our general stabilization fund which keeps our that's considered our rainy day fund um that keeps the balance at 10% of our expenses um our opep trust fund which handles long-term health insurance liabilities for retirees uh a sped stabilization fund which is which was established I should say to handle out a district special education costs and then Capital expenses um in a total of almost a million dollars it's how we fund partially our Capital plan and then this year is a little bit different uh we have opioid settlement funds uh the reason this is in here this year is that we received settlement money from a couple of major lawsuits related to the manufacturer of U opioids and and typically this goes into a special account but the Massachusetts Department of Revenue would not allow cities and towns to put that in a special account right now so it closed out to free cash thank you to allow discussion I'll entertain a motion that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $25,000 the general stab St General stabilization fund sum of $515,500 40 to the over trust fund sum of $200,000 to the sped stabilization fund Su excuse me sum of 71,3 6440 to account 5245 and the sum of 9316832866 Rockwood I'm just want to know why the total at the bottom of the uh chart is different from the total in the motion and which number is correct because there was a 40 cent error in the table the motion is correct okay and you get the bonus prize for noticing Janet Platt 11 Rodman Road um I'm just wondering about the capital funds how um it's nearly a million do and we don't have a capital funding committee anymore and I'm wondering what it's going to and how do we plan for that for the Future Okay um how we plan for for the future is probably best left to a meeting other than town meeting uh but what it's for there is no specific appropriation I'm sure the town manager will be happy to give you a general idea that's up on the screen but we V vote in appropriation not specific amounts I are you okay with that do you have's I'm more than happy to have uh Michael speak to it a bit just a general idea of the of the idea behind it okay any further discussion see none this will require a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article two property tax exemption sponsored by the board of assessors select board and town manager to see if the town will vote to adjust the exemption amount and eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under Mass General Law chapter 59 Section 5 Clause 41 C and a half to be effective for exemptions granted for any school year beginning July 1 2023 or pass any voter take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town adjust the exemption amount in eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under Mass General Law chapter 59 Cheon 5 cost 41 C and a half to 12% to be effective for exemptions granted for any fiscal year beginning July 1 2023 Mr bani thank you Mr moderator can everybody hear me I'll use my outside voice if I have to um this is a standard uh line item that we have just about every uh fall uh with respect to this and U specific issue and it's to help those who uh are having difficulties with uh paying their taxes uh especially seniors and and those that meet the qualifications um on online there's a online qualification list of things that they have to uh meet before they can uh apply for this for this for this exemption and this year it's 12% uh last year that figure was about $854 uh taken out their tax bill this year roughly I believe uh Mike you can correct me if I'm wrong roughly about $950 roughly per a say 97 97 okay so I know it's not I'd like to see it be more but for right now that's the best we can do and uh that's that's basically it thank you thank you Mr moderator to allow discussion I'll enter hand a motion to the town vote to adjust the exemption amount and eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under master General Law chapter 59 Section 5 Clause 41 C and a half to 12% to be effective for exemption granted for the fiscal year beginning July 1 20123 do I have a motion discussion SE move to a vote this requires a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article three senior tax workof program sponsored by the town manager and Senior Center Director to see if the town will affirm its acceptance of General Law chapter 59 section 5K to allow for the select board to establish a senior tax workof program and further the town adjust the exemption and one allow an approved representative for person's physically unable to provide such services to the town and two allow the maximum reduction of real property tax to be based on 125 volunteer hours in a given tax year rather than $1,500 the finance committee recommends the town so vote Miss Greaves thank you Mr moderator get there anyway um so this is a program that we've had before but the state has made some recommendations for changes that we would like to accept the one is that instead of the person who is getting the tax right off has to do the work that someone can do it for them pretty much as it says right there and then the other one is that instead of an amount it's the number of hours and we do support this because as we you know for some people they can't do the the work physically but they do need to um benefit from the credit thank you thank you m Greaves to allow discussion I'll andh hand a motion that the town affirms acceptance acceptance of General Law chapter 59 section 5K for the select board to adjust establish a senior workof program and further the town adjust the exemption and one allow and approved representative for persons physically unable to provide such services to the town and two allowing the maximum reduction of real property tax to be based on 125 volunteer service hours in a given tax year rather than $1,500 do I have such a motion discussion Ryan turff 21 Rossy lean I just quick question that I probably missed um what's the monetary value of one service hour Mr Herbert so typically it's been $15 an hour but this also gives us the ability to make adjustments to that if necessary and I believe the you know as Miss GRE had mentioned we this is kind of a revision of a current program and I think last year that amount to toal 22 2,250 okay thanks thank you Mr Sony thank you you didn't mark the Sony Road as m i I did watch the pre- timeing inform it's the second question I had on that night if a person is working not working and has um Social Security disability with fixed incomes what does this due to this article was it due to what Mark to the article it s the motion oh the article sorry Mr Herbert yeah I would actually defer to our assistant Town manager for this miss ball I don't know you hear me um so we looked into this after the town me the town manager's forum and I don't there is no eligibility requirements like the exemption has and so if somebody is able to work off their hours they're eligible that includes volunteer here and um the fixed income doesn't get affected it go it goes directly towards your property taxes unless they're issuing a 1099 or a W2 there would be no social security impact Mark it's not it does not yeah it goes directly against your property tax okay thank you you're welcome any further discussion see none this will require a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article four accept donation of land zero Fountain Street sponsored by the town manager to see if the town will vote to accept as a gift take or otherwise acquire a parcel of land identified on the assessor map 010 and lot 0045 including approximately 10,890 square feet more or less with an address of zero Fountain Street rear and to authorize the select board to take any other action or execute any documents necessary to effectuate the conveyance of same to the town or take any action relative there too the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so this is a small piece of property in basically the middle of a subdivision off of Fountain Street um that's being generously donated to the town by the Bell family um again it's uh it's a very small piece of property it's unbuildable um and currently it's forested open space where it will and if it does come to the town if the town meeting so votes it will remain as open space um and our conservation agent and our assistant conservation agent have identified this parcel as having a high ecological value for the town um and has benefits in terms of carbon sequestration so um that's why we had asked town meeting to support it thank you Mr Herbert to allow discussion I'll ENT hand a motion that the town accept as a gift take or otherwise acquire a parcel of land identified on the assessor map 010 and lot 0045 including approximately 10,890 sare ft more or less with an address of zero Fountain Street rear and to authorize the select board to take any other action or execute any documents necessary to effectuate the conveyance of same to the town to have motion discussion relating to land acquisition this will require two-thirds majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously Article Five accept easement 107 High Street sponsored by the select board in DPW to see if the town will vote to accept as a gift purchase or otherwise acquired and easement as shown in a plan entitled easement exhibit plan 107 High Street Ashland Mass prepared by gcg Associates Inc and dated 92823 and indicated as 15ot access easement a copy of which is on file in the office of town clerk and further the town shall appropriate funds sufficient to acquire same or take any action relative there too the finance committee recommends the town so vote M Bennett thank you Mr moderator uh this is a u easement up on High Street um if you're familiar with the old yesty year Farm up there um that woman Mrs uh Crawford many years ago donated a piece of property out in back of her home it's about 3.28 acres and uh with the stipulation that the town mow it twice a year the town does not have access to that land to to mow um without having had to disrupt some very old stone wall um so that some neighboring home owners have offered um or negotiated with the town for an easement so that we can access the property for mowing twice a year um so we would uh like to support this so we can continue to have this as free space you can actually see it if you drive up High Street and look to your right uh not too far after whittimore you can see the the open space back there and and uh looks like a nice field thank you thank you Miss Bennett to allow discussion on ENT hand a motion that the town accept as a gift purchase or otherwise acquire an easement as shown on the plan entitled easan exhibit plan 107 High Street Ashlin Mass prepared by gcg Associates Inc in data 98 2023 and indicated as 15 foot access easement a copy of which is on file on the office of the Town Clerk and if the easement is not provided as a gift that the town appropriate or transfer $2,000 from account One account 01422 d524 in order to pay the cost the same please note the account reference was not in your handbook it was added later it was unintentionally omitted do I have S a motion discussion thanks all uh I'm here to speak against the proposed your name and address sure Ben cre 111 High Street thank you here to speak against the proposed easement for 107 High Street I'm an autter at 111 High Street in the town manager Forum this week Mr Herbert alleged the need for this easement was because a new property owner had expressed opposition to the town using his property to fulfill its obligation to mow the field located off of High Street believe he's referring to me and I want to be clear that I have never expressed any opposition or anything but cooperation in allowing the town to access the field via my property in fact when the DPW cleared some dogwood trees from my neighbor's property in preparation for taking this easement last year I asked why they were doing so and was told it because the select board had expressed concern in the town accessing this accessing this field via private property and that a future homeowner might possibly deny them access do not feel either argument is valid and given High Street status as a Scenic Road I'm against this easement and the removal of the scenic stone wall it would entail as this town changes and modernizes I believe it is important to respect and preserve artifacts of our Agricultural and Industrial Heritage and maintain the rural field that attracted so many of us to buy homes and build lives here this unnecessary undertaking undermines those cultural touchstones and therefore I'm opposed to it thank you thank you Mr Herbert did you have a okay um Amy Sayad 106 High Street um I have um two questions the first one being that is presented um in the um the I apologize what's that called the uh the plan um Claudia you very specifically mentioned to this was being done to not disturb stone walls and I believe there is a stone wall exactly right there Mr Herbert this is an existing driveway um so you're talking I'm looking at right there so this is not to the left this is is her the current owner's driveway correct okay all right so I apologize for that um so then I guess my second question is that what's going to be if if the town is taking that easement what type of um ensuring that people are not going through in that road to get to that parcel of land understand that atement just means that you can walk across doesn't mean you're going to develop it it just means you can have have access but but understand that this is a Scenic Road it's a very that that curve that's right there is a very tight curve there's a lot of accidents and um the ground outside of I'm directly across the street from that entrance is extremely soggy and any car that parks there sinks into the mud okay and again I'm not here to dispute any of what you're saying I'm just explain an easement doesn't mean anything's built it just means the town has legal access to transgress that that area to get from one place to another I I know but it's being presented tonight as being that oh this is great we can now access this this parcel of land without any hindrance because there now is a direct access and I'm questioning the what is going to happen to ensure that people are not going onto that parcel at all hours of the day because right now there is no access so now suddenly there will be access that's my question Mr thank you so just to be clear I mean obviously there's a a bit of confusion here but I believe this is is an existing driveway it is it's a private home though so now you're saying the town is going to have that access we will have access for mowing purposes only okay a year yeah okay so then we we're already doing that a I I do I understand that but it was just presented as being that this is open space and that you're saying okay this is great now the town can access it and so can private citizens no it access for the town of Ashland okay that's just not how it was presented so again I there's been a lot of just disc like the way that this has been presented has been just very confusing and quite frankly against I'm sure if if Mavis was still alive today she'd be thrown the fact that we're having so much discussion over her request to mow this La twice a year so thank you very much hi ma' um Katie cre I live at 111 High Street um I just wanted to share with you my concerns about the communication around this easement being put in I came out one day to find DPW putting stakes in the grass and cutting down a blooming tree saying they were going to take down the stone wall and put in a gate and make an access that way and that was the last that we heard of it and so to find out now it's actually not that the tree was cut down for no reason it's going to be through the neighbor's driveway that's new information to all of us and also as my husband said I think we're being misrepresented um we did not tell anyone that they could not come through our yard in fact unannounced a tractor showed up four-year-old twin boys when they see a tractor they're all that excited they think it's like time to go see the tractor and we said we just need to be informed a heads up just let us know and that was not well received so I think that's why we all have some concerns also with the location of where this easement is when they're coming in and out we just recently had an accident of someone coming across our lawn right there it's a very bad Corner very poor visibility so just wanted to share my concerns here about that Mr say Mr monor Mr manager Katie I'm starting to understand a little bit where some of the confusion is so yes about a year ago DPW looked at creating a new e rather than the existing one that that that existed uh that would go through a stone wall and and you would have to clear brush and everything um they decided not to do that and go with the existing driveway access that is uh that's currently being used we just needed to get an easement specifically an easement for it and so I was not referring to to the creit family when I was talking about people who didn't want us to use it anymore so okay so this this house is actually 107 High Street yeah okay ises that does that clear things up a little bit yeah I mean it's new news you know because when they came through and they cut the tree down it was like we're doing this and now to cut down a tree for absolutely no reason when they're not even going there and they cut this created this little animosity and a lot of people very confused why it was happening that this tree was cut recently no when they put the stakes in a year ago and then we never heard anything about it so all right little and I do want to I'm sure I apologize on behalf of the town for for the lack of communication which doesn't sounds like it could have been handled better um in in a couple of instances I do just want to note for folks in the audience that the reason you get an whether this situation or another the reason you you acquire an easement when you're already doing something is to preserve the legal right to do it in the future when there are are different property owners or or different neighbors so that's it's a standard practice and has nothing to do and I believe in this case as well with the current folks there it's just a matter of preserving the town's legal right to go m al on twice a year that without an easement has to rely on the individuals who may be there now in 10 years and 20 years and 100 years and oppos ton I'm here looking for your support and requesting additional Lial licenses you probably are wondering why we are requesting additional liquor license if we still have licenses available the answer is simple the process is long it could take up to two years for us to receive those licenses these additional licenses could be used for restaurants hotels clubs taverns Continuing Care retirement facilities or General on premise this slide shows the location of all currently issued liquor licenses the green shows locations where we have both a retail and a restaurant establishment an example would be Mexico City or Las Cabos the blue is retail stores only and the red is restaurants so why are we asking for 16 more licenses if we still have licenses we recognize that having licenses readily available is a tool that can help us attract businesses but understand that we need to issue them in a responsible manner attracting businesses and U is and benefiting from the meals tax is good for Ashlin so how did we arrive at 16 we looked at the potential needs and the current projects these include the development of downtown 10 to 60 Main Street Pleasant Street the MBTA train station 9 to 49 hom RAV the tech center located at 200 hom RAV 100 Chestnut Street and the Redevelopment of Route 126 currently we are awaiting the application for 200 hom RAV and the brewery application for the downtown fire station in closing supporting the home rule petition is an investment in the community this helps us shape our community and attract new businesses communities like Hudson malor and NAC have revitalized their communities following the same process adding additional licenses will play a key role in revitalizing and redeveloping Ashland we will be adding dining options that will dry draw people from other communities and we will benefit from the additional meals tax it generates let's hope that Ashlin becomes the destination that other communities strive to be thank you m Roby to allow discussion I'll entertain a motion the town authorized select board to file a home R petition to increase the number of alcohol license for on premises consumption for the town of Ash by 16 additional license for alcohol and further upon submittal the select board is hereby authorized to approve amendments to said petitions petition which are within the scope of this article do I have a motion uh discussion uh Miss Kinsman wanted to make a statement on behalf of the select board thank you Mr moderator um our community has invested a lot in our infrastructure specifically in our downtown in Route 126 the select board looked at the potential private investment in businesses that could come into Ashland as a result of this over the next 5 to 10 years we are already seeing that commercial investment beginning Ashland is a desirable Community the select board felt strongly that it was important to our Town's economic development that if a restaurant wanted to come into ashin that we should have the ability to offer a liquor license if they wanted rather than risk losing them to another town if there were no more licenses to give especially since we hear from residents how important it is to attract new businesses to Ashland as the town's licensing Authority the select board takes its role in determining liquor licenses very seriously each applicant must come before the board for a hearing and follow a strict process before a liquor license can potentially be given because of the lengthy time and legislative process around a home R petition it will not be possible to come back to town meeting to request more at a later time so although there may never be a need to actually issue 16 additional liquor licenses the select board supports this warrant article and asks town meeting to vote in favor of the home rule petition thank you Mr dony okay thank you m Sony again against it for for the reasons why we could do better business attraction than just liquid licenses against it because it does not show what true ashang can be 16 Li license it have to come back in a couple years to make sure it's there it's not the right way of doing things in my mind economically it does not help it only targets one product why is this a thing to do now when there's no business to be in town for it's the blind leing the Blind and hoping the blind don't get drunk before they can see again thank you Mr chff hey Ryan turn Cliff you're gonna get the better half of us in a second here so I'll just get my two bits in so is it gonna be dueling turnp no no we're not we're on the same side okay wouldn't everyone like to see that though yeah so so look my comment here is um if we have open an available liquor licenses this is premature and it's the the board of the select board's um responsibility to issue these licenses appropriately and fairly and competitively um I I would argue that you can have a competitive process for these licenses and find the best uh business to bring into Ashen that deserves and needs a liquor license for that business to exist um recent news in Framingham last year huge battle over a single Lial license that became available because of business turnover and that's going to happen in Ash 2 I would love for every business that opens that needs a liquor license to be successful the reality is they're not so have you really accounted for business turnover in the request for these liquor licenses and do we really need what it would be at least 46 she's going to have the right number of liquor licenses um in this town um so I guess that's my piece uh if if they are issued I would just urge Extreme Caution and judicious um uh use of those licenses to those businesses thank you Miss turncliff I'm Amy turncliff 21 Rosy Lane and I absolutely understand the intent and the good intent of this article um but it I think a conversation would be remiss without the public health perspective um and so it's my understanding I just want to make sure I have the numbers right it's my understanding we have 20 licenses 16 have been issued four are available our total liquor licenses with the additional 16 would be about 50 I think stop it right there are those numbers correct Mr Herbert before we get on any further let's validate that so yeah I have the latest numbers I have are four being available uh for all alcohol and to ym all and then 50 total which would be on premise and off Prem with the 41 oh excuse me I'm sorry incorrect um that is correct okay so I think that puts us from the abcc map and I'm not sure this map is up to date but I think that would put us into the category um listed by the abcc that would be um with with towns like NAC Milford Franklin that all have populations of about 30,000 I know that the intent of the mass law is one per 10,000 population and if we get the additional 16 we're looking about one per 450 um residents and so I just think it's important that we have from a public health perspective a conversation about the public health ramifications of expanding alcohol access and uh availability and potentially signage for young people um and would ask that there be a public health impact assessment of what you know increasing those essentially doubling those licenses would would lead to thank you thank you Mr Crow uh prestent Crow 41 Rockwood um I personally don't drink so you know my initial reaction is well this doesn't impact me um but then on the other hand I can very quickly name s restaurants in Ashland that I like to go to that all have a liquor license and my understanding of the restaurant business is that without the liquor license most of those restaurants wouldn't be making it and wouldn't be around anymore so even though I'm not consuming alcohol myself uh having a good variety of restaurants is to my benefit and to the town's benefit and if we want to have more restaurants in town um besides you know fast food places um they need liquor licenses or they won't make it or you know they'll choose to go some other town so I'm in favor of this thank you ma'am yep um Amy say 106 High Street um I just have questions you can pull that microphone down to to the the little girl level um so no to the not giant level um so my quick question is around um Town resources I have to imagine that adding 16 liquor licenses would be an increase into town resources such as Board of Health for inspection services and also um civil from a perspective of we're going to have that many more drivers that have just been drinking and then are now driving I just curious about what thoughts have been given into the consequences and the additional resources that are town would need to support such a large increase in legal licenses thank you Mr Herbert so I would say probably the majority of the resource intensive part of this would actually be on the administrative end and Susan since uh you are the administrative end on on with your licenses you feel confident that you can handle this I do and I feel that we're not going to get 16 all at once we're going to get one here two there until they're all dispensed so I don't think that we're asking to operate I mean to run hearings for 16 licenses all at once any further discussion C none we'll move to a vote this will require a simple majority all those in favor of article six please raise your cards thank you and opposed article six passes article 7 CPA funding to construct a dog park sponsored by the community preservation committee see if the town will vote to appropriate up to $215,000 to enable the creation of the Ashland dog park on Town property along Memorial Drive or pass any Vote or take any action relative any action thereon the community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town so vote subject to the presentation presentation of a maintenance plan acceptable to the town and to report on Revenue generating opportunities to pay for said maintenance Miss Terell we have a little SL presentation you could see it but we can't there we go okay hi my name is Cara Terrell three hildale Place Ashland and I'm the president of the Ashland dog park committee next slide so with over 1,800 plus registered dogs ashlin's culture embodies the need for a designated open space and recreation community dog park the designation of an area for dogs to roam off leash legally will further preserve the currently used areas Town Forest Ashland State Park Warren Woods and Warren center from dog use time and time again the voters in this community have told us they want an Ashland dog park next Slide the Ashland dog park committee a board of six members has been working on the project of developing an active Recreation dog park for over eight years next slide we became a 501c3 so we could act as a nonprofit in fundraise we're expected to complete the dog park project by Spring of sorry to start the project by Spring of 20 no we're going to complete it by Spring of 2025 fingers crossed so we can be so we can be sure we don't lose our grant funding the committee is now in receipt sorry slide the committee is now in receipt of a design created by a design architect who has worked closely with Stanton Grant at past dog parks our next step to be eligible eligible for construction Grant is to find a designer to create a final design obtain permits from the conservation committee agree upon a finalized maintenance plan for ongoing maintenance then we will go out to bid the grant says we need to be ready for constructed construction by Spring of 2025 to still be eligible for the construction Grant through strand standon Grant where we are getting most of the funding next and this is the design that we have currently and this is on Memorial Drive um take a right at the Dunkin Donuts okay next that's it there is no next that was it thank you okay thank you to all discussion I'll enter h a motion that the town appropriate up to $215,000 to enable the creation of the Ashland dog park on Town property long Memorial Drive that will include parking storage facilities fencing and offleash exerise space for dogs and that to meet this appropriation the sum of up to $215,000 be transferred from the open space account from the community preservation fund balance and with unexpended funds as of June 30th 2027 being returned to their funding source do I have such a motion discussion sir uh Aaron lad 153 Pleasant Street chair of the CPC committee we enthusiastically support this application we've seen it in many other towns across the Commonwealth of dog parks working with the Stanton Grant as part of the funding mechanism uh the land in place is a great location um the design has been tweaked to make sure that we have everything funded for the future uh it fits into our open space and Recreation plans uh I hope they apply for a liquor license so they can do some fun events all joking aside sorry I need a little humor at town meeting but I get the Applause so that's all good um I hope you support this and I will as well for the future thanks is there any further discussion okay this will require a simple majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passed but not unanimously thank you now the article you've all been waiting for no just kidding it is the last one article 8 extend CPA funds for the Riverwalk project sponsored by the community preservation committee see of the town will vote to extend the time by which funds need to be spent on the Riverwalk Trail enhancement project which was authorized under article 11 at the 2017 annual town meeting to complete the design and construction of the subury river trail Riverwalk until December 31st 2026 at which time any unexpended funds will be returned to their funding sources or take any action relative there to the finance the community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr lad yeah so um a in school asking for an extension um but the project is tweaked a little bit you seen work continue on the Riverwalk project um even today as you speak mil work at milpond Park um is getting constructed there we've completed the bridge we've completed the boardwalk this continuation of extension is to hopefully make connections towards the Caville Road part of the trail so we can make a loop uh connecting with the project so a little bit more time to do engineering work studies related to the other side of the river and hopefully we can get that done in the next three years otherwise I'll ask for another extension thank you to allow discussion I'll end hand a motion the town extend the time by which funds need to be spent on the Riverwalk Trail enhancement project which was authorized under article 11 of the 2017 annual town meeting to complete the design and construction of the Sudbury River Trail Riverwalk until December 31st 2026 at which time any unexpanded funds will be returned to their funding source do I have such a motion discussion is there any discussion SC none we'll move to a vote this requires a simple majority all those in favor of article 8 please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passed unanimously being no further business I'll entertain a motion to dissolve all in favor opposed happy holidays everyone e
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-01 Sedgwick County, KS YouTube / USD264 YouTube transcript source: youtube Clearwater Clarity: Volume 5, December 2023 · passage 1
welcome USD 264 constituents stakeholders parents family staff and anyone who happens to be watching this video uh really appreciative of this opportunity each month to come together and just share out uh some of the things we're doing at Clearwater and just give you an update to some of our strategic plan goals I can't believe it's already December uh so we're enjoying the first snow uh just finishing that stuff getting melted off and having the week after Thanksgiving uh having a full week off there as the first time that's happened and we hope um that that week went well for you and you're able to spend some time with family and friends and as we close up this first semester we wanted to just take an opportunity to really kind of look at um the next step and what we're going to really focus on within our strategic plan again we're always going to just start out with making sure that we understand the why so uh sharing out information as to why we are uh doing some of the things within our strategic plan what is it that we're actually going to do and then how are we going to achieve uh some of those goals so this month we're really going to be focusing on strategic plan goal number four which is consistent and relevant communication uh part of that is making sure that we are uh giving the information to uh the community and to our stakeholders in a way that is the most effective for you um communication is two-way and so we want to be able to push information out to you and make sure that you're able to get information to us so what we're going to really do is present a survey that will go out on December 1st um if you are a parent of a student in USD 264 and have accurate information in Power School uh via email addresses is you'll be receiving a bright Arrow email uh with a link um to a communication survey that we're going to ask uh people to take it'll be open from December 1st through December 15th so these U last two weeks of school before Christmas break uh also we will be posting that uh link to the uh survey within this um presentation as as well as have social media uh pieces out there for community members to be able to fill this information out so what we're really trying to do is receive a data from you guys as stakeholders parents and staff as to the best way that we can communicate and making sure that we're honing in on what it is that our community needs one of the ways that we do communicate and a heavy amount of communication comes through our social media channels so uh we have District uh social media presence on Instagram on Twitter Twitter or X and as well as Facebook I would say that most of our uh post and most of our platforms that we use the most are Facebook and Instagram so make sure if you have those social media platforms uh you go find Clearwater USD 264 and follow Andor like those pages um to keep up with the most up-to-date information one of the things that we are really trying to focus on is making sure that we're telling our story about the great things that are going on at USD 264 through our social media platforms and some of the things we've implemented this year is the Friday photo dump and so uh we have teachers are submitting each week um pictures of great things that are happening in their classrooms from all the different buildings and they're able to uh source that information themselves and send it to a email address where we collect this information in the district office and then on Fridays we just put together the photos and and put them out there for everybody to see the things that happened uh during that also in coordination each month as we're taking those videos and others taken throughout the district and creating a through their eyes video so you can see what it's like uh to attend school and the different activities that happened for USD 264 students every other week then we are providing a data dump which means we are putting out information around our academic data uh and or IPS data that will help show the growth that USD 264 is making and then we have weekly interactive questions where you guys can interact about uh maybe who is your favorite teacher growing up what was your favorite activity to do at Halloween or uh things along the those lines so we're really trying to gauge that interest and provide a deeper interaction on our social media platforms the second thing that we've done this year and we started this internally back in August and we're going to start continuing to use it now with our external stakeholders is our levels of communication we are inundated every day with communication uh from various sources of text uh emails social media um from family members from the school from kids and all of that so what we want to be able to do is make sure that the information you get is relevant and consistent to what your needs are as per a strategic plan so we devis these four different levels that we use so we're going to start using if you see level one through level four then you'll kind of understand um M basically the urgency Andor what we're asking as a district so level one is it is not urgent uh it is just information only so we're just passing the information out and hopefully the information is finding you uh well ahead of time if there's any type of date along with it level two is it's not urgent but a response is needed so if a teacher is sending some information home to a parent or we're asking for some information uh it's not urgent but we would like a response probably within two to three business days um making sure that we have that opportunity level three means the information is urgent but it's information only uh this may happen in a situation where we have information that we need to get out to parents or community members quickly such as a snow day um or something along those lines and level four of course is a urgent and a response needed and uh these are going to be used very in very infrequently and making sure that they're only used when needed something a level four may need to be used is when we maybe have a situation where we' had a gas leak in a building or we have a water rupture in a building and we need you to come pick up your students at school or we're going to dismiss school uh because of certain events and so hopefully as we get better using these uh levels externally with our stakeholders in in the community and parents um you'll get a feel for as information comes in you'll be able to look at the heading and see is it level one through level four and understand the severity or urgency of that communication and last here are the forms of communication that we send out so we'll have information posted on school website uh we will use our social media to present information and to be able to give a story of what it's like for students at usd2 264 we'll also send out information through our bright Arrow communication system through emails Andor text we'll also use our local newspaper of the time Sentinal news and then each building has their own social media pages that you would be able to follow and get information again our goal for this year is to be the one we want to make sure every student has someone at school that they can go to in times of need and of our last student perception data uh that we were given back in October we have about 95% of our students feel safe at school and about 98% of them feel like they have an adult that they can trust so that is really helping us meet our goal of being the one this year here's a link a QR code that you can scan um to go to the uh survey it'll be open from December 1st to December 15th it is a Google form survey it will not be collecting any data other than what you um put in into it for us we'll take that data in January of 2024 and analyze it and then we're going to start in the spring adjusting uh our forms of communication to meet the needs of what that data shows and then we're going to resurvey and send this out in May again uh to see the areas of growth or how we will continue to increase that also uh we will be putting out our Clearwater Clarity pdf version of this presentation on December 1st as well and that will also have a uh URL link that you could type into a um web browser to be able to access the survey if you're not able to scan the QR code again if there's any time that you want to be able to reach out or come in and visit with me here's my contact information and set up a time uh to sit down and visit our doors are always open we hope you found this uh video to help uh increase our consistent relevant communication and helping our strategic plan uh goal number four thank you and have a great day
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-01 Washtenaw County, MI YouTube / CTN Ann Arbor transcript source: youtube Ann Arbor Environmental Commission 11/30/23 · passage 1
want to thank everyone for being here I'm going to call us to order this is the November 30th 2023 meeting of the environmental Commission of the city of Van Arbor um and this meeting is held in accordance with executive orders set in place in 2020 by the governor to affect social distancing and mitigate the spread of covid-19 we intend to conduct the meeting similarly to an inperson meeting and I ask you to be patient if there are technical difficulties um public comment is welcome and will be via telephone only to speak at public comment call 78899 and enter meeting ID 96961 1644 I'll say that one again ID 1644 this information is available on the published agenda in the Public Notices section of the city website and on the broadcast meet um of this meeeting on CTN Channel 16 uh Channel 16 AT&T channel 99 and online on at the a2gov.org watch CN Channel and with that um I will ask um Joe and I want to introduce everyone to Joe Lang who is here from the office of sustainability and Innovations he is sitting in for Sean Reynolds who is not available for tonight's meeting so um Joe if you would read the land Heritage statement you bet yeah good to meet you all and yeah apologies and thanks for bearing with me if at any point I do not have a full sense of what's going on so thank youall um I acknowledge that the land the city of an arbor occupies is the ancestral traditional and contemporary lands of the Ana shab including Odawa oji and bod wad me and W and do peoples I further acknowledge that our city stands like almost all property in the United States on lands of obtained generally in unconscious ways from indigenous peoples The Taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 knowing where we live work study and recreate does not change the past but a thorough understanding of this ongoing consequences of this past can Empower us in our work to create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals thanks thank you toob and U now would you please call the role of the commission yep um yeah bear with me here too um council member Amman Amman here Ann Arbor thank you sorry um Vice chairperson Brown um president in an aror um council member Cowart here um commissioner ctis here an arbor commissioner Dale do not see at the moment right I'd heard from council member dish they will not be present today um commissioner Graham I'm here uh commissioner Gruber here and an arbor commissioner Marson here and an arbor commissioner mki here in an arbor chairperson Mitchell here in an arbor commissioner Ned Rich here and Ann Arbor and commissioner weing here and an arbor right chair you got a quorum all right good thanks everyone for being here um I would like to um initiate the approval of the agenda with one change and that is to take a few minutes um following public commentary to introduce um one of our soon to be uh colleagues Aon Donnelly um and I'll leave the details of that for um that period of time so with with um the approval of the group I would like to insert that one item introduction of eron Donnelly um following public commentary may I have uh the a motion to approve the agenda as amended or if there are any other amendments move I got it okay move from um commissioner mki second Vice chair Brown thank you um and next up is approval of the minutes from our October 26th meeting we need of the agenda we just had a motion okay let's vote to approve the agenda Thanks Jen I'll learn these rules sometime uh would everyone please uh vote on the agenda as amended looks like 100% I'm going to assume Chris Graham is saying yes um and uh the next item is approval of the minutes I would like to um have a motion on approval of the minutes from October 26th w i so move and moved and seconded by commissioner Curtis moved by Brown seconded Curtis um can we vote to approve the minutes everyone raise your hand okay any okay because I wasn't in attendance okay thank you um please indicate an exstension from commissioner mki and someone else right I abstain as well I was commissioner grber all right and um I think commissioner wayhang is that are you in that category as well yeah I've same thank you um okay let's move on on we've got our minutes and let's move on to public commentary um this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes please call 888 78899 and enter meeting ID 922 1644 City staff will ask select callers that have raised their hand one by one by calling out the last three digits of your phone number in order to electronically raise your hand please please press star n on your phone you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak then you press star six to unmute your phone when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sound so that we may hear you clearly please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments thank you um all right um Joe do you see any callers interested in speaking yep got a couple um first up is caller ending in 217 hello my name is siia hos and I live at East quad on the University of Michigan campus I'm an under undergraduate student um I am originally from Austin Texas and was living there during the ice storm in 2021 that left thousands without power the blackout that lasted for days caused people to lose their livelihoods their food their health and for some people their lives all this was due to the fact that the Texas grid is lar largely privately owned and therefore grossly unregulated if we continue to R rely on DTE for our energy the citizens of an arbor are also vulnerable to the same dangers that we faced in Austin in addition as a young person who is deeply worried about climate and the consequences of climate change I understand that municipalization our power is the best investment in renewable energy for the city of ant Arbor municipalization is the only viable option for actually powering all an arbor homes and businesses with renewable energy instead of fossil fuels CCA is illegal and while ceu is useful but uh it can't power all of an arbor um therefore I strongly urge you all to approve a phase to study um so that we can continue uh moving towards municipalization thank you thank you um caller ending in 179 um hello hello uh my name is Vincent Matthew I'm also a resident of esquad at the University of Michigan living in an arbor I was also calling in to voice my support for Public Power and the U municipalization of the electric grid in an arbor I think as a university student I've personally talked with other people living in Arbor who aren't uh living at the University of Michigan and a lot of those people are struggling with CTE right now because they know it's ineffectiveness and they have resorted them resorted a lot of them um to using power Banks because they know that they can't trust the system built in in Arbor at the moments and other than that and other than the people living in an arbor I also strongly Advocate listen to the voices of students in of an arbor who were largely affected during the beginning of the year of power out outages uh specifically in a lot of these students they're coming in as freshman and they're trying to learn their way through the school life and at that moment they were um uh they were LED through a power outage and they did not have access to much of their electronics and this was very frustrating for them and I think this this uh moment in this event could have easily been avoided if our electric was not privatized so I would like to urge the the council to look into public power as a better safer and more effective option thank you thank you and then um we have caller ending in 245 hello can you hear me yep yes uh my name is Kathleen Murphy I live in the ward five of an arbor and I'm calling to uh support the uh resolution to request the anab city council to pursue a phase two study for the municipalization of the power grid and all other means available to ease the burden of the currently available source of electricity unavailable unreliable source electricity by DTE um I very strongly support the municipalization effort and I think there therefore it is particularly important that we go ahead with this phase two study so that could has really the possibility of being put into practice and I think that this study is therefore very important and I commend the environmental commission for uh taking this on as a a possibility and I hope that it will um uh pass the must of the commission to uh go ahead with this and pass this on to city council so um thank you very much you have a very important role to play here and I hope you can do it positively thank you goodbye thank you um no further callers all right thank you Joe and thank you everyone who called in um our next agenda item is um an introduction uh and to kick us off um I'll recognize Brian steglitz who's here as our um Public Services administrator who will be um further introducing um a new staffer who will be working with us on the environmental commission ran thank you for being here tonight thank you for hosting us and um thank you chair Mitchell for allowing us the opportunity to to introduce our new environmental services manager Erin Donnelly um I'm going to let her do the honors and have her talk for a couple minutes maybe about where she comes from in her background but um she's been on the job for maybe three days now so she's quite new but she's picking up things quickly and she's really excited to be here and to be working for the city and have an opportunity to connect with this commission so with that I will turn it over to Erin yeah thanks Brian um yeah I think day four officially on the job uh about a month ago I moved out from Colorado from in the Denver area where I've been working as an environmental consultant for the past nine years doing a broad range of Water Resources um work but the you know the bulk of my expertise is in kind of Environmental Compliance um specifically discharge pering and general issues with water quality standards um and then I was also working on you know things related to watershed management and ecosystem Health um and then the occasional water supply uh project or big kind of water infrastructure projects um prior to that I was working for a small municipality on ms4 storm water compliance um I was there for about two years um and then way before that um I was an intern with the state of Colorado in there um as an environmental permit writer so kind of the organization equivalent to to Eagle here um so yeah uh I'm in a new role and the role itself is also new the environmental services manager so I'll be kind of working to frame out what that position may look like um I'll be you know refining and overseeing kind of an integrated Environmental Compliance program here at the city um and working to kind of plan and Implement um different environmental goals with the city and yeah excited to work with you all on on those issues as well so thanks for having me thank you so much I'm really glad that you're here um and I actually would like to just take a few minutes for the members of the commission to introduce themselves to you um I'm Rita Mitchell I'm chair of the commission um my background is um in quite a few years ago in public health um and I have become more of an active environmental um outdoors type person on a volunteer level um and here I am I'm chairing this commission um and I'm really happy that you're here thank you for joining in um next up I'm just going to call out uh Steve Brown who is our vice chair of the commission yeah hi Erin welcome to an arbor um my name is Steven Brown I'm a some my retired pharmaceutical chemist and I've been doing a lot of work with volunteering with various environmental organizations mostly on toxics you know given my background and um I know something about toxicity and you know toxicology and chemistry um okay I'm gonna ask Chris Brown Graham Chris Graham to introduce himself now Ken welcome to an arbor it's hard to leave Colorado I suspect especially if you're a skier we have little tiny mountains up North but uh uh there's still lots of fun uh I'm a landscape architect by training but a landscape contractor and Gardener by profession doing that in my own business for more than 40 years and have been involved almost that long in um natural features and natural areas of Affairs not only in an arbor but in the state of Michigan thank you Chris um John callow would you go next please hi Erin I'm John um and my second term on the environmental commission um and also working with the circular economy working group one of the subgroups we have on the commission great and marzan hi Erin welcome uh my name is Ann and I um I'm on the parks advisory commission so I'm the liaison for that commission to the environmental commission and look forward to working with you hello um Brooks Curtis sure hi an my name's Brooks um I used to work for General Motors but I'm retired now so I do a lot of volunteering work for the city n and also the county nap that usually keeps me busy um John mki Aon I am a retired engineer I worked for Bosch the German company uh I'm a member and former chair of the anra energy commission and I'm leaon to the environmental commission from the energy commission I'm involved in a lot of climate environmental energy related uh e work as well as in the affordable housing area glad to have you here we won't let you go uh Bridget grber hi Erin I'm Bridget I work for the gram sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan so I do environmental and sustainability education and I'm a mom and I'm excited to be part of this commission next is Daisy waying hi Aaron um I hold the youth commissioner position and I'm really involved with uh youth advocacy and climate CH and Arbor and as well as involved with the school district's sustainable efforts and SAR edric hi Erin um yeah I'm Sarah nedrich um so I currently am working for the state of Michigan Eagle um I my specialty is water um so I'm I'm an environmental toxicologist by training um and um you know I have background in Wetland ecology and also work for the state in the remediation Redevelopment division um so yeah if you have any state questions feel free to send them my way um very very excited that you were hired on so thank you I'm sure I will have questions yeah and so um Dharma Amman hi there I'm a council member liaison for the environmental commission um one of two council member dish couldn't be here tonight um congratulations on your position I think you landed in a great place happy to meet Youk you and sorry to say we're missing as as some Council council member acman said uh we're missing council member dish and commissioner Ana Dale who works in the university and sustainability issues so um you'll have a chance to meet her another time um I just want to say that I really appreciate working with this group of people this is a really um content oriented and and motivated group and um I think you'll enjoy um being exposed to us um is there anything else that either you or Brian would like to discuss at this point not for me I'm here to listen today yeah okay all right well you're very welcome to stay please do um and um I think we'll just move on with the agenda then and that is moving into our new business section um we have a a quick item I think which is approval of our proposed commission meeting calendar for 2024 and the um meeting schedule for us is traditionally the fourth Thursday of each month with the exception of our final um year which is this meeting represents uh a combined November December meeting and next year it'll be on December 5th instead of the end of November so it's just however the calendar flows we get um 11 meetings in our year um does anyone have any questions concerns or issues with the calendar as proposed may I ask for a motion to approve the calendar got it from Chris Graham second from Bridget Gruber thank you and um now um a vote on the proposed calendar everybody raise your hand if you agree okay we got it um thank you um our next item is a presentation um by our um co-chair Steve Brown who has um studied puss and worked in the state um dealing with that particular threat to our public health so Steve I'm just going to let you take it away and thank you for putting this together Steve you're muted there I found my icon finally so um yeah thank you for um indulging me um I thought I would I've been you know spending a fair amount of my time dealing with uh uh or informing myself and working through various National organizations that uh emerging threats to Public Health and the two that I'd like to emphasize which I think are the greatest ones going forward long term are posos as a particular class those that stands for per floro per floro or poly floro alal substances um these are persistent organic chemicals that are um the Legacy ones that were originally produced before 2015 are bioaccumulative um all pthos are persistent some of them may not be bioaccumulative but they are persistent meaning that that's why they're called Forever chemicals because there are no natural processes that will break them down into other substances that are relatively B on and then the other topic is micro and nanoplastics um everything we throw out every plastic that shows up in the environment eventually gets down to the size of a of a living cell and they get ingested by zooplankton they get um ingested by people um they've been shown in human placenta they've been shown across the placental barrier and um enter fetal tissue so um so they are a a threat that is growing and both of these um uh mention that both of these substances are sub are subject to increasing attention over the last U five years in particular um both internationally and nationally so um and at local levels State levels and local levels so posos again these are a class of chemicals called uh the posos just stands for Po and poly floro alal substances um out of some you can scrape the pup cam data database um which has some 66 million compounds and chemical compounds that are registered or known to exist and of those about 10% or follow the most definitions of posos compounds so that means that there are six million P compounds um that are floating around out there potentially however out of those six million something like the estimates are something like 300 to 400 of them have been produced in large quantities or little last 80 years these chemicals were um invented basically in 1938 and like played a Ru during World War II and they started to go into consumer products in um 1948 so um I'm going to going forward here I'm going to just quickly go through these slides because I'd leave to leave um some time for Q&A but um anyway the def there's different class definitions of P5 um and they U the current EPA definition is at least two adjacent carbon atoms where one carbon is fully fluorinated and the other is at least partially fluorinated until further notice they say their their definitions coming under constant revision under criticism from U various mostly from various manufacturers chemical manufacturers and so you can compare this definition to the European chemical agency ECA I forther reach Authority um some time ago the European Union passed a a legislation called The Reach Authority that's just the acronym and um it made the European chemicals agency the ECA responsible for um eventually eliminating posos except for non-essential uses um based on what is know has been known for years about their toxicity and their threats to both public and ecological Health um so as such um they're regulated in Europe as part of U part of what are called persistent organic chemicals because these are organic chemicals that are persistent and um they the toxicity of most of them is unknown because these are because manufacturers have been allowed to make um millions of metric tons of these compounds Without Really subjecting them to meaningful toxicology data toxicology studies and so uh as I mentioned before their shared properties are um many of them are bioaccumulative meaning that they can concentrate in living tissues up to factors of several thousand um when um when those compounds exist in the environment in the air of the water they are all persistent because there's no natural process to break a carbon Florine Bond and many of them that have been studied are also toxic um in terms of the regulation there's a problem because most um most toxicities are measured in what's called acute exposures which means that if you give an organism a certain dose on when do they show symptoms of toxicity and um but because these compounds bioaccumulate and they're persistent as well and they will have additive effects in that um um most of these um posos chemicals the individual concentration of each um doesn't mean as much as the total concentration of all of this class because they interact in similar ways with living tissues and um and so their toxicities are additive not um not um not negligible in terms of um their individual chronic uh acute toxicities also there's very little data because on chronic exposures meaning a long-term lower dose of so these kind of exposures um are too are generally just too expensive uh to be performed and so people are reluctant to do these um even in um you know except for drugs for example as Pharmaceuticals um when they're when they begin human testing they U um you need to have a small population exposed in a phase three trial clinical phase three trial to see if there are any chronic exposures and um you're only allowed to dose people once they're marketed you're only allowed to dose people up to the up to the doses and the timeses that were studied in the phase three clinical studies and these cost hundreds of millions of dollars in many cases so um so that's kind of the general picture uh they've been manufactured since 1938 and introduced widely into basic consumer goods some some things that you all might remember or SC guard which was heavily marketed in the' 60s you know you could buy spray cans and spray the stuff on any fabric that you didn't want to have stained like um uh the Ecology Center a few years ago took swatches of most of the marketed car seats infant car seats and most of them had heavy doses of posos because everybody knows you know how quick uh infant car seats get uh contaminated with food and milk and things like that so um so one of the problems here is that um um because consumer acceptance wasn't what Dupont and 3M wanted scotchguard uh they approached the carpet companies drapery manufacturers Furniture companies and clothing manufacturers and um convinced them to just have all their many much of their materials coated before they actually entered the market so they were iner during a manufacturing process which is in fact C uh quite a alarming contamination of the Kusa River in Georgia where it turns out most of the carbon Manufacturing in the United States happens just west of Atlanta but we've all been exposed through this in in indoor air and through uh you know through just transfer from hand to mouth transfer over the years um the other is Teflon you know and then a major contaminant is affff this is a a Class B firefighting foam um which has caused a lot of contamination in airports and where there are fire training areas um um the only uh many airports around the world have already outlawed the use of posos in firefighting with aircraft fires um I the dod Department of Defense um will not do that probably especially the Navy so uh when you get down to it the only real essential use for posos in the these firefighting Foams should be tank farm fires and uh military aircraft especially um you know on naval ships so but also you know like most salesmen do um they've put it in many Cosmetics especially a lip gloss and eyeliner um Cosmetics that might traditionally run you know if people are tearing or eating or something like that or drinking so um and then gortex of course um we all are familiar with gortex most of us do a lot of outdoor activities that is posos um it turns out that uh probably out of most consumer products um um clothing Outdoor Clothing probably constitutes something like 40% of the um of the total use of posos in consumer products posos has even been included in toilet paper especially the cheaper Brands um it's in lubricants um car wash the environmental working group fered car washes um a lot of the products that are used in car washes if you got Deluxe treatment um contain posos so um there um so that's another means of entering um you know the the sewers and the Wastewater streams and many cleaning products contain pasos especially for lolans and things like that and wood floors um an investigation in New Hampshire revealed that a maor source of pollution posos pollution to their Wastewater was coming from schools and it turned out that the schools were using peos for uh buffing and polishing other lolan floors so last year I contacted the public schools here in an arbor and um uh some people at the University of Michigan Health Center to just make them aware of this because as you know there's still no truth and labeling act uh there's no truth and labeling about what's in cleaning products and these are sold directly to Consumers so they're a major source of contamination that could um easily be gotten rid of because none of these things none p is not necessary to get performance on any of these um any of these um applications so now um just to switch to micro and nanoplastics I'm going to abbreviate this as M&P so micro is just uh defined as any PL IC particle less than 5 mm or half a cm and Nano these eventually break down to particles that are term nanoplastics and these are less than one micron in size which is about the size of a living cell um it turns out um several academic studies over the last 10 years actually revealed that maybe half of them come from tire wear tires are made are plastic and um and actually the uh the Ecology Center here here did an investigation of um microplastics coming into the Heron River um of which there are substantial numbers and it turns out they're coming from every stream entering the heran river and that's since been and they were surprised at this and it's since turned out that yeah um most of these particles of course are so light that they're Airborne they're Airborne they get deposited on the ground and then eventually they get into surface waters so um and then of course there's the Disposable single use Plastics that are degraded in the environment there's some 300 million metric tons annually um that um um that are produced from Plastics um and the source of courses is 430 million metric tons of plastics produced annually worldwide um I already mention clothing and fabrics that about um 60% of um of um of these Plastics come from clothing and fabrics because of course many uh um much the worldwide about 60% of all clothing and fabrics are Plastics now not natural fibers then of course there's nurdles um you've seen this reports of this on occasion like I think at Great Lakes now um nurdles are used as manufacturing materials and these Escape container shipping containers and show up washing up on the beach beaches they're small PL pure plastic particles that are about um about half a centimeter across that are used in manufacturing other Plastics and then of course some uh micro beads were manufactured in the 60s and they were included in COs in personal care products as exfoliating agents these are Plastics um um the Obama Administration banned them in 2015 um after um after public awareness Ness um increased um you know during the uh during the 90s and the early 2000s so what is their fate uh they're ingested and and inhaled at roughly equal amounts because as I mentioned they're they're small enough that they're airborne and and being inhaled um therefore they they quite often interfere with respiratory functions and there are currently about 450 peer-reviewed Publications if you look at PBM you can see about 4 50 peer review Publications per year over the last two years so there's um finally been enough funding for academic research so that um more and more information is coming out um every week so and uh just as an illustration there's around it's estimated there's a study one study I've put the citation in here it's from E biom medicine um 2023 volume 97 page 104 828 and they measured around at an average around 400 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day is absorbed in preschoolers you know through their um through their um bottles through their feeding and through um and through inhalation of microplastics that are actually coming out of the plastic bottles um that are used for Beverages and um and also in the um in the carpets in these facilities so in terms of Regulation it's been slow and ineffectual there's um enormous resistance for manufacturers and who also uh um on the legislative side and of course there's been regulatory capture on the U on the executive side the United n Nations has um declares posos as a class of persistent organic pollutants that are regulated through the Stockholm convention which was passed many years ago um and M&P microplastics are regulated through the un uh environmental uh uh policy um office and um you can see a study they published a study called from pollution to solution in 2021 that has quite a lot of detail so there are ongoing discussions now within that un group um and they're supposed to propose a treaty an international treaty by 2024 to regulate Plastics um this originally came of course out of um awareness of contamination in the ocean but um it's since you know been revealed that even our children are contaminated with these particles so the European Union of course is leading regulation through their reach authorization which um was initiated some years ago and um is being implemented through the chemical agency so you can look up those websites and see more details um but Congress has never been has never authorized EPA and the FDA to fully protect human health and I think these two these two um chemical substances I think illustrate this fact um because both of them have been in manufactured for decades everybody's been exposed to them and the current system that works uh uh tsca is a toxic substances Control Act that was originally passed in 1976 and um it was mildly amended um in 2015 or 2018 um so but the states can do a lot they're authorized to do a lot of their own regulation through the Clean Water Act and then with waste Waters it's especially through the national pollution discharge elimination something the npdes on permits that every for example the an arbor wastewater treatment plant um is is um required uh to file a permit for for um whatever discharges the wastewater treatment plant and AR releases to the river so you can see the safer State's website for details of State legislation on pasos and MPS and uh this is a very good aggregated information site that you can look at safer States is a NGO um that uh Cates all this information so um um the underlining there means that there's an embedded link there so if you have the PDF file you can click on that directly but you can just do an online search if you like and local governments will have increasing responsibilities to address P pollution because EPA for example recently um announced that they are going to begin regulating P discharges from municipally owned wastewater treatment plants so we'll see how how that progresses over the next few years so I think the in in this form Forum I think I just wanted to point out the potential pasos liabilities for Anor um EPA is broaden testing of P um with through their uncont unregulated contaminant monitoring rule number five that's ucmr 5 which is currently in progress sampling was done last year um and um there's a the previous sampling was done of posos was done in ucmr3 which only tested for pfos and pfoa the like y p um this because of the broad um the revelation of such broad contaminations including to Ann Arbor's drinking water um dcmr 5 um added many other common species of posos into their testing program so these data sets are starting to come out um they can be seen online they can be downloaded into spreadsheets um and they're going to begin to and they're in the process is under the Biden Administration uh the EPA is issuing new rules and regulations to limit exposures to pasos which has been a a real Dynamic change from the past so in terms of drinking water you know we saw the Michigan empart program the Michigan posos Action response team which it was a multi um is a multi- agency task group set up by Governor Snider in 2018 um to test for posos exposures in drinking Waters um mostly larger Municipal uh programs that served over 5,000 um households um there are smaller of course um drinking water systems that really have not yet been tested under this ages um and and you can all recall that the city installed new gak filtration to trap the P A couple of years ago so that's been done um so we're no longer exposed to pfos and Arbor uh a question in my mind was how long has this been going on and it's probably been going on uh for decades so I had my own blood tested you can buy a kit online it used to cost $400 now costs um $700 but you can through uins you can have your own blood there's a finger stick test you can do it home and send it send it to your offense and they will test your your blood for PS so my blood comes out somewhere um I'd say in the upper in the third quartile upper third quartile of the average uh of blood that's been tested over the United over random sample in the United States so everybody in the city was exposed to posos for decades and it's in our blood um it's causing a marginal morbidi probably um but the Health Care System here in an arbor is not is not really aware of this um at least the doctors I've talked to um you know haven't um haven't ex haven't haven't expressed any awareness of the fact that this contamination has been going on in this population um in terms of Wastewater and storm water um so the EPA has requested pasos analyses as part of renewed npdes permits um this announcement came on December 6 2022 so um how to respond to this um treatment um removal strategies are expensive and pretty ineffective um so reducing P inputs to the sewer system is the optimal strategy and how can we do that um the first thing we can do is pre-treat Legacy landfill lee8 which is already going into the sanitary sewer and thus through our wastewater treatment plant um I'm not aware if our landfill Le has been tested for Pat but um it's likely to be a major contributor um a major input to our wastewater treatment plant um you can investigate potential Point sources like car washes um um facilities in our Republic schools Etc and um what we can do is reduce General consumer products containing posos um um another another waste product that the city um releases into the environment of the biosolids these are the solids that are left over from the wastewater treatment plant where the wastewaters are discharged to the river but the biosolids traditionally have been applied to agricultural lands as a soil amendment however these These are extensively contaminated with beos um um eiga a number of um a couple of years ago set limits for the amount of pasas um they set guidelines for how much uh biosolid should be tested for posos but using just a limited set of these chemicals for testing and that they and they set rules for how much posos you were allowed to have um to spread on agricultural lands but um if you remember Brian steglitz told us um a couple of months ago uh or last year I mean that um that the city's decided to stop applying its biosolids onto agricultural lands and direct them to landfills which I think was a was a very uh good proactive um decision so I'm just going to mention grostic Farm as an example this is a farm near Heartland uh it was a beef beef Farm um a family-owned beef Farm um whose lands pastur pasture lands were spread uh with Wastewater biosolids coming from the Wixom City wastewater treatment plant which as you recall was a pass through for the triar contamination that went on down river to contaminate our drinking water so his farm was shut down because um the beef his beef was um had high levels of posos in it so um so again there's a link there you could look at a Vice news report that came out on on this that's available online for free and um there are other examples but um I have through a couple of organizations I've been lobing the state legis CER about what to do about this and so far they've um Turned a cold shoulder the only response uh we got we're basically self- serving um but um we're hoping that um this new legislature will take this on and we're also working on trying to get um some some funding available for farmers who can no longer um grow food on their lands trying to help make them whole to try to get those funds in the farm bill that's being negotiated early next year so um I'll just leave it at that and uh if there's any questions um I'm happy to answer them any [Music] criticisms I John got a couple of questions yeah um I just want to say Steve no questions about your presentation but definitely a question on the status of our whole system right um yes I I am having trouble seeing people oh John had his hand up okay John mki thank you a couple of questions um first of all I'm wondering if uh polluter pay uh or extended producer responsibility legislation would cover any of this in the case in the first case in terms of spills secondly just in the case of things entering um the environment is is would would this extend to posos as well as to micro and nanoplastics I'm not sure about that because it's um the PO pay legislation is um addressed mostly to Legacy sites and one of the problems here is that the EPA I I believe still has not um officially designated any posos as a hazardous substance okay so that would that would not that apparently would not would not be the case the other question the other question that I had is um I'm wondering if you could make some recommendations on what we might be able to do individually to um minimize our exposure um as well as potentially minimize our contribution to the problems I mean I'm thinking um by more natural fiber um clothing if you've got um synthetics um I've heard that if you use the gentle cycle and wash on cold because it's a lot less aggressive you reduce the amount of microplastics or Nan Plastics introduced into the washing by up to 70% um I know that some Brands like Patagonia are eliminating fos um obviously things like um synthetic carpeting what what kind of things should need to be done systemically as well as what can we do individually yeah that's a big question and there are a lot of sources of information so um I could provide a data sheet I think I should provide a data sheet to to people to distribute as they wish but yeah Outdoor Clothing um it's a good idea not to buy um non-natural fibers of course you know we all have dust uh from natural sources that are also entering our lungs and things like that but um these plastic particles are something different because they also uh attract other toxic substances like they have plasticizers in them that are known endocrine disruptors and um they they seem to when they're in water of course they they they are able to absorb quite a lot of toxins that are in the water they would prefer to bind to plastic rather than bind rather than float in the water so that's one thing you can do another thing is um be careful when you buy something that says uh uh repels grease and repels water anything that says repels grease or water um you know be really careful of that and um or claims to and whenever you buy something you need to this needs to go up the supply chain because there is no truth and labeling and you ask the manufacturer of a consumer product and they have no idea whether there was posos added into their products but um if you can just get the message to go up the supply chain you know that's that's I think the only thing we can do by now right now and of course um the more people that complain about it to their elected representative um the the more the power of the money the bribery the naked bribery that goes on um and in legislatures and in Congress um the more um the more you reduce the impact of those bribes in decision making Eve I see that Brian stegas has his hand up yeah Brian um yes if I may I just wanted to comment on the poll pay legislation um so this is something that we have been tracking um there are many versions of this floating around in the Michigan legislature right now um whether they all get resolved and what happens I guess remains to be seen we are we have been advocating we have a lobbyist um in Lancing who is advocating on behalf of the poter pay legislation we believe that there's it's possible that it could include um things like posos so I wouldn't say that's mutually exclusive right now from what some of the versions are that are floating around so we um we're going to continue to watch and Advocate um our city administrator's office is pretty heavily involved in this also so um just wanted to keep we'll keep you updated as we learn more and how that develops um but it is something we're paying attention to and then just one final comment on sort of the regulatory Arena um posos U microplastics both pretty Dynamic issues in the water space um there's lots of things happening there's C different states are taking different approaches EPA is getting to be you know is proposing legislation um and we will be we're compliant with the federal um standards that have been proposed by EPA on posos and drinking water so we're pretty well positioned to deal with what's coming down the road um but it's also something that we're keeping an eye on um know microplastics California is probably taking the lead on that more than any other state so we're watching what's happening around the country and um learning from what other states are doing and making sure that we're keeping Pace we've always chosen as a utility to try to um achieve what the most stringent standards are anywhere in the country even if they're not in Michigan and we continue to follow that and meet those meet those standards um one other resource for you if you're not aware is we put out a monthly water quality newsletter where we provide current information on these types of issues when we're facing them um so it's something that you could use and share um if you want to know what's going on top of in the water space yeah yeah thank you Brian yeah I'm really proud that we have such a proactive culture here in the city um but I also would like to ask you Brian um what sources of information you think are uh would do you think the sources of information I pointed out are are appropriate and what what can do you think the commission can do to help educate our popul our our residents um I guess I have to give that some more thought so um I can give some more thought to that and get back to you all I think one of the challenges with posos specifically and even microplastics is that there's a lot of misinformation as well as information so making sure that we're getting it from reliable sources we put links on our website um to you know things that we think are valid um you know with posos we're looking at EPA and you know some obviously established resources so the and M part is Michigan is probably one of the most if not the most Progressive state in terms of dealing with P I think we're only state in the country um where all Municipal Water Systems have been tested so I think that's really positive and they have a lot of resources so those are the places that we look but you know I know some of the areas where you've looked are some of the publ research and obviously that is pretty Dynamic and there's things coming out all the time so we're we may not be as up to speed on some of that but once it sort of hits the mass um with the Regulatory Agencies and those places where um and and I guess I'll add one other source is the water Research Foundation um it's a pretty much a vetted Source it's it's peer reviewed research um we participate we are a member subscriber of that organization so that's probably one of the places where we go first when we're looking for information on some of these topical water issues um I see commissioner NRI has your hand raised thanks yeah um so I guess Steve I just kind of wanted to throw in like some knowledge I have from working at the state um so we do get a lot of inquiries about microplastics at the Water Resources Division um so we've been looking at potentially hiring someone like a specialist um to work specifically on microplastics as part of like emerging contaminant group um so that's one thing the state has been talking about um we've talked about monitoring as well in surface waters of the state I'm going to guess given like budgetary issues and other things we have going on it might not be like you know two years until we actually get that project up and running um but there is definitely you know a lot of internal discussions going on in that um how to address microplastics um we've also talked about looking at developing an aquatic life standard similar to what they've done in California um so those are all things that we're thinking about talking about um of course microplastics are super complex um they're not you know single contaminant exposures like how our laws are drafted to address so um it gets a little dicey and um it's requiring a lot of like coordination and upper level management input which slows things down so yeah well thanks um no I appreciate that eagle is paying attention to this um but you know there really is no alternative to just eliminating all non-essential uses of plastic I mean we'll never get rid of it um it's such a great cheap manufacturing material but you know it's in our car you know you know it's the molding on our cars it's there's a lot of basic things that are plastic but at least if we can get it rid of the Disposable stuff you know that's a big that's a big one I've also been in touch um so there is a Michigan microplastics Coalition um that I believe they're through like they're partnering with Sierra Club and one other activist group I don't know if you've come across them Steve um but I think the leader is Art H um if you have any interest to getting in touch with him I have his contact and he's just really knowledgeable and has like a little fact sheet he's been taking to the legislature and stuff so yeah it's there's a whole ecosystem of NOS you know and groups that are working on this problem now yeah thank thank you are there any other questions or comments nice topic of introduction for you Erin right I hope um yeah absolutely we'll move forward so um with that I I appreciate your presentation Steve thanks it's really an important issue that we all need to think about and um uh look forward to more updates as time goes on um I would like to move us now into um looking at our next item which is um a new business item that I'm introducing tonight um it's a little bit um what do I want to say a little bit outside the range of of the environmental commission but it's where the environmental commission and energy overlap um the issue is one of looking at where we get our electricity in the future um with the con uh coordinating with the A2 Zer program and the goal of having 100% um renewable energy as the source for our electricity in the future ideally by 2030 that's a really um challenging goal that we have ahead of us um and I will just um uh let you all know that I have been a volunteer and involved with a group called an arbor for Public Power um and that's an interest of mine and but it's also I think it's um what I want to say it's something that is a coordinating kind of thing with with the whole effort um to move us forward quickly to address climate change um and that's just something that's affecting all of us and and the the the topics that we're all interested in um so um I don't know if Joe if you could possibly pop up the the resolution as drafted I'm presenting it tonight for discussion and question not for a vote but I would very much like your um comments um the intent of this is really to um support moving forward quickly um to making a transition with respect to the source of our electricity and an arbor itself um I don't anticipate us to be producers of electricity other than um solar and geothermal types of things but we do have an influence on our surrounding areas so um the goal is really to reduce the use of fossil fuel powered um electricity production um and I see this as within the scope of our responsibility because we are charged to address our the clean air water and land and our Public Health um so that's what what um brings this forward the um office of sustainability has um issued and received a report called a phase one feasibility study that addressed looking at the sustainable energy utility I may have to ask Joe for some help on on describing that as needed but but this is for a kind of a complimentary side of that program uh which is to say that that first study indicated that it is possible and feasible to um have a municipally managed electric company that would be managed by the city and as separated from DTE as our electric producer and that would provide us with the opportunity to gain control of the um sourcing of the electricity um its management its maintenance uh and ways that I believe in the future would be more reliable um and cleaner so um the phase one has completed and so this resolution um asks for a phase 2 um assessment of electricity uh production that would address the the real detailed issue of of how much it would cost the assessment of the equipment that would have to be purchased um the management process Etc it's more detailed that would allow people in the community to help make a decision so um I'm hoping that you all had a chance to look this over I prefer not to read it out loud if we but if we need to I we'll do that um I'm hoping that you have questions comments I see no hands okay PA five T brown your question oh Steve you're muted sorry disolve Clause I would consider amending it because the uh just because uh the reason for this is not to ease the burden of the currently unreliable source of electricity um because that unreliability the unreliability unreliability aspect of this is based on the distribution system that DT owns not the electricity system okay um what would you suggest happy to accept suggestions and we're just this is first pass let just say to attain carbon neutrality um um let's see how would you say that um just to obtain to better meet the a20 carbon neutrality goals or to consider um or consider this option I agree consider this option for attaining the 820 goals okay good I think that's a friendly amendment I like it agree second that thank you Chris um council member acman oh no I don't see you oh you're muted hi sorry I lowered my hand but I didn't unmute sorry I was trying to hold off to let other people speak but it seemed like people weren't rushing to raise their hands so um here I here I am thanks for putting this together um and I certainly um think it's within the realm of this Commission to uh put forth such a resolution and understand why uh you all would be interested in doing so I guess what I would say is that I think and I know that we're not voting on this tonight but if I were to make a suggestion it would be to probably hold off until the Staff uh is has been able to review the whole thing and come back with the report just because I know that personally as a council member I am waiting to get that just because the report was so Technical and so detailed and I did reach out to Dr stultz a couple weeks ago um now to ask her you know approximately what the timeline would be because I had a constituent reach out and you know they're working really hard to fit the review of the materials into everything else that they're doing I think as we all know they're doing some really ambitious things um she said there's a lot of content to review and they just got some of the final models two to three weeks ago um so anyway I just you know she need they to understand the results calibrate them for Ann Arbor gather the data that they need to come forth with a recommendation and so I would just suggest and she's saying that's probably going to be January or early February or it could be longer I guess I would just suggest that anything that this commission would put forward would probably be better time to happen then so that's that's I think that's reasonable yeah thank you thanks for doing that extra check in any other comments John mki uh I have a couple comments uh y i support what council member Amman said I think it makes sense to wait for the final report we have the draft report um the energy commission and lots of other people independent of the energy commission provided input um as council member Amman um mentioned um a couple of things that I think could potentially impact the the final report one is uh legislation and granted the 2030 or the a20 plan has a target of carbon neutrality by 2030 um um but um there's new legislation that was just signed by the governor that establishes new report renewable portfolio standards um I think it's 60% by 2030 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2040 and that would have um an impact on I think some of the assumptions and costs that are in the draft report um secondly um one of the things that I submitted as comment and hopefully will be in the final report is that um because the report really focuses on 2030 and doesn't really look after that um there is the need for offsets in the a20 plan um and the cost of those offsets um could be substantial certainly in 2030 but what the report doesn't consider is what the cost is after 2030 and if um in if the some of the actions in the plan do not deliver the results um to the degree desired or assumed in the plan then the cost of those assets uh those offsets in the case of for example a sustainable um energy utility the cost of those would would be a lot higher so there's a number of different things that I think are really important and that would um hopefully come out in the final draft of of the report um the one caveat that I would uh provide maybe in contrast to what I just said and what's been proposed by both me and and councilman Amman is that um what we might consider is a resolve Clause that asks the city to um start work on an RFP so that we know the what the cost would be for the study I don't know if we have a reliable estimate for what a phase two um cost is I know that there's some estimates that have been thrown out there um but you know typically what we do in a lot of the these things and this is true of a lot of organizations is we do everything sequentially and by doing things sequentially things take a lot longer and if we had um work on an RFP um if we if there was General belief that a phase two is is is going to be something that we should seriously consider then we should know what that what that cost would be and then if indeed the report Bears out the need for a phase two uh then would know what the cost is and we would know we'd be able to weigh the Ben the cost and benefits um vers versus what's in the report so that might be something that this group might consider and that Council that might also consider together with OSI yeah I think that's good thank you the reason we have group input um any other comments or suggestions so are you going to wait till meeting in January to confirm the resolution or are you going to edit the resolve clause and do it tonight we could edit the resolve clause and just hold it um and then decide boy I don't know well what do y'all think we could get the language ready uh Jen mki uh I if I understood correctly the earlier exchange was to um eliminate this phrase um to ease the burden of currently unreliable source of electricity and change it to you know basically uh accelerating uh the activities to achieve a20 targets um but I think as recommended or as implied by one of the comments um public comments is that there are costs that aren't captured by um that due to unreliable source of electricity and I think what some people are arguing is that if the city had its own mun Municipal utility that the reliability of that REI of that utility would be higher than DTE there's a lot of uh objective data out there that shows that DTE is is not a very reliable utility and so um I'm not so sure that we really want to cut this uh resolved clause or at least the reference to unreliable sources of electricity I think we definitely want to mention um achieving a20 gos so that was what I just wanted to throw out there um if we're going to try to Wordsmith this tonight okay um I see council member amman's hand I wanted to speak to um the suggestion that we um I think the suggestion that I heard was to potentially ask for something else which would be something sooner than the staff um recommendations based on the report which was to like in tandem do an estimate of what the phase two is and I I mean I get the impression that we have a decent enough estimate I guess I'm a little reluctant given what I just shared with you all about just how much work I has to spin up a number of new programs and then to like evaluate this I mean I appreciate the idea of doing things in tandem but to me it feels like adding something on when it's already um you know it's challenging to fit this in so I guess I'd rather them focus on the evaluation of the phase one uh draft report that they have than piling on additional things right right I can see um doing that at at this point um but once they have their assessment it seems like it would be reasonable to um move forward with considering a a at least drafting an RFP um for phase two um so I'm going to suggest that um we hold on wordsmithing live during this meeting um and I would be very happy if there are any volunteers who would like to uh talk with me about this and and come up with an alternative we could circulate um I see Chris Graham's hand I'm not sure I'm the right person to be volunteering but uh um this particular calendar year we had storms through an arbor that were extraordinary I'm fully supportive of working on different sources of electricity one way or another if that's what we're doing with a municipal utility but unless we bury our utility lines which is extraordinarily expensive we're not going to change the reliability that most people are talking about which was down power lines in a huge percentage of the city's area and lots of other areas in southeast Michigan so I I I just caution that there are a lot of people very emotional about being out of power for days and days had nothing to do with where the power plants were working it had to do with down power lines and for us to assume the responsibility for those in the city of Van Arbor will be uh it'll be a major hit to our tax requirements I think we don't know that yes um Chris is is my feeling on it but well been I've been cleaning up after storm for more than 40 years um the only one I remember in most of that 40 years apart from the ones this year happened in 1980 we had a der Rachel come through town and it really tore the place up since then there have been nothing like we had multiple ones of this year in terms of number of power lines down it wasn't a failure of power sources it was it it was increasing and probably with we have to figure out how to deal with that but increasingly strong storms and taking down the aerial power lines and so we have to be careful what we ask for here thank you sure yep thank you uh Steve um yeah I'm supportive of this goal but um for example I mean one example I know of is Boulder Colorado and just a quick you know internet search will tell you that um it was estimated to cost anywhere from 350 million to $800 million to acquire DTS assets within the city which is just a distribution system which I don't think anybody wants so um I would in in exploring what the options are I would put that off the table and think about um and broaden the search so that you would consider um um other ways of building a distribution system um instead of just um in here instead of just trying to pay for DTS infrastructure if that's possible I mean I would just I would just want to broaden the search so whatever we pay for um you know doesn't just give you one option sure I want to just make one comment and then I'll get with you um council member Amman um is that the city of Lancing has its own Municipal Power Company and 10 years ago they had a severe um power outage with down lines due to ice and storm um and after that it was like it was over a week um that the power was out for substantial amount of the city um they did a significant study of the um aftermath and came up with something like a hundred s recommendations of actions to be taken to improve the service and it has improved significantly since then I can't tell tell you the details of the um of what they did but that report is available and it's an example of of a municipal um Power Company taking control and managing its services I do believe that one of the people who was uh managing at that time is no longer in that position that's one thing um but they also did some maintenance that was different and probably significant management of trees um and and I don't know what else but I'm just saying that it's a in terms of it being a local control kind of thing that's an example of something that turned out better now and we've um looked at Lancing and even though we're often in different storm cells of intensity um they're nearby and tends to not go out as much and or as long as here so um councilman rman I mean I think the point is well taken that you know if this goes forward to a phase to study if it advances to the steps that are needed to Mize you know the cost is going to be substantial because not only are we going to have to pay for the existing grid but once we have that grid it is not going to be made better without significant investment so that's two huge costs we don't know how huge um but we know they're huge so that point is well taken and I think that's part of the reason why we need the staff evaluation um I did want to say though speaking to commissioner Brown's point about the distribution Network and what I understood you to be suggesting is like thinking about potential other means to get there and I think that's part of what we are doing so a clear um uh part of the recommendations in phase one was around establishing the sustainable energy utility which is essentially uh micro grids that sit within the DTE grid and connect houses together um so I feel like that that's one example of um of what you're talking about a scale what's that that's a way to go yeah right y yep I think broadening the the reach is is a good thing so what I think I will do is I appreciate this discussion um and I'd like to just um move offline and um do some work on this and I'll circulate it for additional comment and um we appreciate that additional comment as well thank you um I would like to move us along to our last item for the evening and um well just about left um which is our our look over and we kind of had an initial review of um our legislative um recommendations um that we had talked about last year and this was um our opportunity to move forward some some issues to our um State lobbying resources to um forward some um actions that we feel would be useful to us in the city um and at this point Joe could you pop up the at least the first document that we started with and I know there's some other suggestions we'll figure out how to deal with those thank you um so this is a list from our multiple work groups um and it's still labeled draft and I guess the what I would like to know from the group is um if this represents fairly well the kinds of things that we would like to ask our um legislative teams to address um if we want to add anything delete edit and um all right um commissioner Brown yeah I would like to um modify the solid waste Parts I would propose changing that first of all I would change number one um we I don't think at this time given all the um toxic concerns of um of putting organic waste on agricultural lands that um um we in fact like for the time being perhaps a landfill is the most appropriate and end point for organic waste especially you know uh Municipal biosolids I don't know about compost um I mean the city's measured its compost and it contains it's past contaminated as well but um I would say I would just say something like amend part 115 to prevent organic waste disposal in landfills um whenever you know see and this is the problem because um many many toxic products that could be present in these wastes are not identified for decades so I would try to amend it in some way um um to say that um to prevent organic waste disposal on landfills um when they when they're um tested and approved by some reliable agency I don't know otherwise I would just strike it for now and um and just maybe replace that with um amending part 115 to require testing of um of uh waste disposal before U uh before it's um done before it's has any endpoint other than landfills I mean you know there's been a fair amount of discussion about this that actually like maybe spreading them on um on like um you know reclaimed mining land or something like that and it might be appropriate but um but I'm just reluctant to leave that in there because city is in fact currently putting its fire solids into landfills M and I think that's an appropriate response right now right okay I understand um I guess the question is is that one that we want to um eliminate for this round of something that we would send to the state that would be the easiest thing to do um you know because for now for now yeah okay um okay and now for number two um restrict the sale of all packaging there have been bills introduced in the state legislature there are states that have done this so we could specify the bills I think um I think maybe uh Jeff Hern is already submitted it but they haven't had time to uh you know to get it through committee um this year but maybe next year so um this would be coordinating with our state senator or we're just mentioning whatever Bill we're talking about right okay and then um is that go ahead yeah I don't have it on the top of my head he's been doing it for 10 years um so then um number three these contaminations prevent that's not a recommendation that's just an exp explanation of number two and um but I would replace it with um um with encoura encouraging a producer um Extended producer responsibility act because you know during the last Trash Talk tour and um you know talking to various people um in the community that are closer to this topic than I am um that they all agreed that the best the best way to uh um the best U legislation that could be used um is extend producer responsibility laws like the state of Maine and the state of Oregon have already implemented them and this would help us um give us much more power to control um you know the uh just the release of um potentially toxic substances into the environment including you know the recycling of [Music] plastics okay other yeah um I see um commissioner calart yeah I wanted to put a plugin again for the um what will Garcia from the city forwarded after our last meeting about banning the sale of toxic Mercury Lighting in order to accelerate LEDs I think that fits well in there and it's something that's you know kind of spreading across the country with five states having it and four more kind of encouraging it so I'd like to see us add that in is that um is that something that we know there is legislation or we're just suggesting it as a topic well we're working on topics we want to policies we want to promote right y I don't know that this is anything that's been proposed yet in Michigan right okay sounds very good johi thank you i' like to support uh Steve's proposal well also um John's as well um related to Extended producer responsibility we talked earlier about polluter pay and corporate responsibility Brian made some comments to that um about that so I don't know if that's already on the legislative agenda it's not on this list um and maybe it's not on this list because it's on the existing list if if both of those are not on the existing list then I think both of those should um be on the list and um I had sent this before the meeting to Rita as well as to Joe um while looking up some materials um for this um I looked at Michigan clean water action website um and they have a long list fairly long list of um leg legislative policy uh priorities and um I look through the list and it includes um those topics as well as others and also references when um bills that are already have been introduced either in the house or the Senate and I I don't know that we need to go through all those but I would encourage Council to look at at those that doesn't mean they all rise to the level that needs to go on the city's list but there's a lot of good ideas there um and they all certainly tie to the kinds of things that we're interested in um in terms of water quality but they also affect some of the other topics that are um on our you know list in terms of the other categories so um like I said for the sake of time it probably doesn't make sense to look at it but somebody should take a look at those lists and and try to harmonize that and decide what what really Rises to the level of uh the legislative priorities for the city that's all okay um if anyone is particularly interested and would like to join me in looking these over and getting them um uh more effectively uh edited so that we can present them I will appreciate that um I will say that I've had a little bit of um uh connection with um our state representative Carrie Ryans on um nanoids and she is currently um working on a bill to um ban the use on public land and these are neonicotinoids are the toxic chemical that um affects insects usually but it also can affect birds and has a significant um when used on seed in particular um can have uh dust that spreads into the atmosphere and surrounding areas it's it's really toxic and bad chemical so that's that's kind of in order and I would like to support her action on that um okay I thought I saw your hand up there Steve you have a suggestion well yeah I I just volunteer to help you with this I mean objected here in the solid waste field so I'm sorry I didn't get to that earlier but um that's okay anyway the another thing that's caused a lot of sugarin in the e in the environmental Community is that when these part 115 bills were passed there were some lame duck amendments that were added to Define um pyrolysis as a um you know as a as a recycling as recycling um the problem here is that the definition of pyrolysis can mean almost anything you want to make it mean like chemical recycling they call it chemical recycling or pyrolysis it's basically incineration and it's these these terms are used to try to avoid um any regulation by the Clean Air Act through the Clean Air Act so they were put in in the last minute and um and rather than kill the whole package which you know took years and years to negotiate um the legislature just passed them so but they are um they are a u what do you call call it you know they are they are a bad they're a bad last minute Lan duck Amendment uh that needs to be addressed going forward so um I would suggest adding that to the list as well okay so um so we'll talk about that um the question is I guess what where we are right now is uh at a point where I um had hoped that we'd have a list that we would literally forward from here and I don't think we're at that point um and I will um check with Joe and Sean on um what the next steps will be with in terms of the um legislative process and uh if anyone else happens to know it um please let me know uh I think we should move on and I'll appreciate working with you Steve on this um okay we are now at the point in the agenda for um reports from our work groups and committees and I'm gonna start off with all right asking for any comments or or updates on the circular economy sure I can do that or get started if other folks have things to add please do so but uh we are Mee meeting once a month as uh the circular economy working group plus several folks from City staff um in October we met with representatives from Madison Wisconsin I mentioned that at the last meeting and this month we talked with uh two reps from the city of Austin and kind of gathered information about the orgin they've had in place for about 10 years now uh we're continuing to gather all that information kind of put things together um we've got we're another meeting in December before the holiday break so that work is kind of continuing on with Gathering and then we'll move into synthesizing that information and seeing if we are ready to move forward with an ordinance or what other steps might need to take place first um the other thing I just wanted to let folks know that there's going to be an upcoming social media campaign around the circular economy map uh the city's going to be promoting that still one of the most visited websites for the city in terms of mapping um so uh we're even going to try to amp that up a bit so will Garcia was showing some of the uh materials that they put together for that so beond the look out for that and help promote that resource thanks that's great um all right I'm uh two hands up uh commiss Brown oh yeah thanks John um I just recently started participating in this group again but I was just wondering has there been any talk of updating the schw you know the Strategic plan for solid waste um do you know if there's any um any uh any do you know when that's going to be updated I know the previous one was like 2017 so it's like been five years I don't know how yeah but I would suggest that we contact City staff on that uh Joe I don't know if there's somebody you can put us in touch with from that or we can check I can check with Jenny the next time I talk with her Jenny and Sarah if I can comment this that was my my topic as well Steve and I exchanged emails before the meeting um the the current shrimp um as so Solid Waste Resource Management plan runs ran from or running from 2019 to 2023 so it runs out at the end of this year year um the previous plan ran from 2013 to 2017 and I looked at the process for the last shrimp um and if you look from the beginning where um we had a consultant that um helped us develop the plan so there was an RFP there was a contract that was led there was an advisory committee that was um named met several times um just happened to meet at the DDA Steve and I and some others were a part of that and then to get to the draft report and the finalized report that took two years so we're at the end of 2023 and um that means that there would be potentially as much as a two-year Gap if we follow the timetable for the last one to update um and issue a new one so hopefully um we can get an update on what the status of the shrimp is and what the process will be to updating that thanks that's what I wanted to talk talk about thanks um do we have a person who's going to do the followup on that okay thank you John Cowart great um I'm going to move next to um the biodiversity work group with Chris Graham um we've developed a proposal that's nearly done I hope um to the fellows of the Graham sustainability Institute to help us design a city of anber less grass initiative we need Erin to sign on I hope it can be irin um Brian uh not a lot of time for our city representative and not any money from the city it's paid for by The Institute to um engage the fellows beginning probably in January through the end of the um school year um to help us do this um they would develop element elements of a potential program that would encourage Property Owners to reduce the area of non-native non-recreational grass across the city we call it turf grass Thea education Outreach incentives perhaps some regulation um grass would be replaced by trees shrubs or herbaceous plantings with preference for native plants in whole or in Parts Fells would look at other communities efforts in this area and uh where most other places primarily done for water conservation goals in our case it would be done at least as much for biodiversity goals and energy goals a20 goals so um I'm I was hoping this would be on agenda so you could see actually see the document tonight um I'll try to ask Joe or Sean when he's back to get it forwarded to you please comment promptly um there in the final stages of reviews of these proposals um over the next few weeks and hopefully we can go ahead the committee will be meeting Monday I'm not sure what's on the agenda have to figure that out Brooks have you got anything I haven't thought about it yet so okay um I saw commissioner buber had her hand up I would I would just want to maybe talk more internally biodiversity group before we pass this on to City staff yep I'm sure we need to we have to have the city person before we get to proceed at all with the application we won't make make it be a surprise for you Erin promise okay yeah I'll check in with Brian on that for sure okay um all right the next is the water quality working group yeah um I have two things first of all just a reminder that um you know the city is under a consent decree with eagle about um pollution nutrient pollution to the Heron River it's one of five communities that have been cited for that um it looks like that's being managed through the Heron river water chck Council you know and Rita and I and I think Sarah have been invited to the middle Heron Partners meeting that's quarterly held quarterly to um um by the posted by the um Heron River Watershed Council and they're coming up with a plan uh which will be publicly available sometime in the near future so I'm hoping we can review it and um maybe talk to our city council members about it at some point in the near future the first quarter of 2024 and then the uh uh second thing is that and their next quarterly meeting is December 21st so um and then the other thing is that um you know I for we've had residents complaining about petroleum Motors in West Park for years and commissioner Mitchell recently walked by there and saw some lurking under the ice and took some pictures and so she and I are investigating with the city staff we contacted CI to Rita did so I don't know Rita do you want to um CH chime in here um well I haven't heard back but I know that Joe helped get um the staff in touch um I also reached out to the um County water resources commissioner's office um they were also going to send someone down I'll just say it wasn't only the visual presentation um I've heard from for years from people about a smell of petroleum in in the great area near the pond of of West Park the Western tip of it um and it was pretty powerful um and so that was what motivated me to uh move forward with with um taking some action this is an ms4 drain um eron so maybe your experience will help us um uh address some of this in communication with the um um Water Resources Division of the county um but it's it's still an open issue so yeah we should talk yeah and then the only other thing is that eigo has finally started a remediation of the Armen um cleaner facility um there which is um which is significant perk and contaminated contaminated um there's a groundwater plume of perk going towards the Heron River so they're finally starting some kind of remediation so we'll see um how that's progressing right there was just a news article about that today um all right uh commissioner or council member dish is not here she would report on the Planning Commission so I'm going to bypass that next is energy Commission yes um so the main topic we we also did a review of our bylaws and our calendar but the main topic I think of interest to this group and more broadly for residents is that we got an update on the city's uh home energy advisor program um it was referred to in the a20 plan as energy conier uh Julie Roth provided an import a report and I encourage people to look at it because this is something that really all citizens hopefully would be able to utilize uh pilot has been done um that was used to inform um the RFP and two bids have been um received Unfortunately they came in above budget and so right now the scope and the scale of the program is being re-evaluated get together with the biders um and so right now um there wasn't a timetable given but it sounded like there's an attempt by OSI to to do that as quickly as possible um there's some significant goals related um to this in the 820 plan like uh serving 2500 residents by 2025 um and um hopefully those are not jeopardized but um the plan is really good the materials that have been developed the road map there's uh a a value stream map that's been developed that sort of walks um both the the advisers as well as um residents through a a decarbonization process that are all really good um hopefully this is something that will come to um fruition rather quickly so if you're interested in that topic uh go to legistar and and look up that report that's it thank you um next is Park advisory commission commissioner Maran hi we just met last last week um Leslie science and nature center Susan westof did a presentation for us they they're developing a nature playscape on their property on the parks property there and they are doing fundraising for that and um so encourage you all to check that out um West Park um at West Park the park department has completed the phase one um of gathering of an outreach program to gather feedback um on that Park due to the um the Band Shell that's there that is currently not usable due to deteriorating uh the deterioration of the foundation of that building um they're going to be processing they had over a thousand responses to their survey so they're going to be processing that information and getting back to the community um in 2024 with ideas um the parks manager reported that the Gallup the bridge work at in Gallup Park has started so if you're over there you'll see that um there's a new bridge being built to replace the existing one that goes over the the car bridge that goes over the river um nap the natural areas preservation is engaged in strategic planning at at the moment I know I saw Rita and uh Stephen at uh one of the meetings uh one of their community outreach meetings but if you're interested in getting involved in that um I would go check out the nap website and see when their meetings are being held um and then they also reported to us that the m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-01 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Planning Board Meeting Thursday, November 30, 2023 · passage 1
um welcome everyone to the planning board meeting of Thursday November 30th um a note a note that the meeting is being uh broadcast and recorded um calling the meeting to order at at 7:19 and the first item on our agenda is the clerk's report Kate we have received three public correspondents since the last plany board meeting are the are the microphones working it seems quiet to me Paul are the mics working let's see yeah that sounds just sounds better okay all right thanks Kate um next on the agenda uh is time for public comment Peter if anyone has public comment can you manage that sure sure currently uh currently at this time there's no public comment uh in the room or on the zoom platform all right being very efficient this evening Moving On We're on item four public hearings the first one on the agenda is 400 Cedar Street this is a special permit application for T-Mobile um cell phone tower um Peter can you give us an update on that sure so uh this past Monday uh I had a um a conference call with the applicant and our um consultant Greg Aldridge and we reviewed the structural engineering letter that was submitted we went through the Five Points uh there was no issues uh and the applicant structal engineer was going to go back make changes to the plan and then resubmit those just for final check and then we'll receive a letter from Greg Aldridge um you know the applicant in talking with myself and Greg thought it would be a little bit uh tight on timing to present a full plan and a full document um a full package I would say to this planning board tonight uh so therefore they requested a continuance to December 14th I fully expect on December 14th they're going to come back in with a fully um signed off um plan um from Greg Aldridge a sectual review and then at that point we'll have a decision to to look at and to vote on so basically everything there seems to be re resolved between the applicant and um Greg eldrich who's reviewing it it's just a matter of making sure that everything is documented in the drawings and um and then I think you had started or maybe had seen one first version of a of an approval document yes you have you have seen a a draft and so that has been the approval document has been put together at this point so do we anticipate any changes in that draft from these discussions no at this point there'll be I have no changes except any updates to any material that I receive into our final letter from Greg alridge that will be added into the documents of record okay then I would just ask maybe we can just resend it out um to the planning board so that we can all review it before the 14th um so that we have any whatever conditions or anything else we want to put in there making the assumption that everything else is going to come through all the t's cross all the eyes dotted and and that maybe we'd be able to maybe we'll be able to wrap that up um I do want to say did there was a letter that came into a consultant and it had Kate's name on it I think did everyone get that did I thought it came to the planning board so it came to the planning board I believe and it was addressed to Kate so I did have a conversation with the consultant and sorry for digging through my um slew of that I apologize I have it it was underneath everything yes so there was a letter and it was submitted by ebi Consulting and it was subject to invitation for comments on the cell tower now I ended up having I I I called the the applicant at Adam brilley the attorney who's who's been working with us and I kind of just said hey what is this you know cuz I've seen him before and I think I've seen them for a different other cell towers and this comes from uh uh it's called a a nipy report Nea and it's from the section 6 uh 106 of the national the National Historical preservation act and so with this uh any any project that has to be submitted through the FCC for licensing they have to do a Nifty report and so this is just a process that all telecommunication Towers have to do and this is almost a just a procedure a procedural application in a letter that they have to send to us it was addressed to Kate because she's the clerk um however uh it is just an element of their process in licensing through the FCC it was mentioned to me from Adam that during relocation and this is considered a relocation project because they're moving moving the the antennas from the top of the tank to the side of the tank this is the element that has to be looked at and submitted to the FCC for for for for review um and so it's not always done when you're just taking an antenna down and putting a new antenna up using the same brackets same locations but with a relocation this is triggered and it's looked at and it's going to be submitted to the FCC and it's just quick question so what is the objective of that is that is is to verify that is not on the roof of a historical building or what is the objective so a couple things uh and I'm just going to read from I Googled section 106 nipy report right and it and it was and it's linked to a law that was passed in 1970s and it's a fedal and it's a requires federal agencies to access whether the major federal action has potential to significant effects of human environment uh prior to making a decision and it says the agencies evaluate environmental in related to social and economic effects of their proposed actions and so I don't know how this affects actual cell towers you know there's been towers and antenas on this water tank for a number of years you know the the there's already been a 20-year lease that has expired so I know for at least last 20 years leading up to today from 2003 onwards we're going to have antennas on that Tower so I think from my standpoint well I've collected with a conversation with Adam brilley this is procedural element that they have to do that that that the applicant has to do with um the FCC and telecommunication tows other than that I don't know what else the government is looking at regarding this and procedure and is that because the tank is old like and so it triggers a historic because they don't know maybe it's a I think that's one of the elements yes it is a historic tank and and it's a licensing it's a change in licensing especially with the relocation that's what I've been able to collect so I've seen these before I haven't really questioned them too much um the applicants kind of you know when I started looking at it I I think it's really just kind of a check the box type of procedure that they have to do with the FCC licensing I don't remember seeing one before when because we've dealt with other things on this tank right and I don't remember seeing one before so I assume it must be the move we did have one there was another um oil uh I mean water tower I forget the address but I went by and looked at and took pictures cuz I we did get one of those and one of those same kind of letters I don't remember that one it was like early on though I don't yeah it was like kind of that whole investigation about historic and does this belong here okay I don't know if anyone did anything with with it but we did get one did everyone get that letter I don't remember who it went to I I I thought it went to the planning board but it was just today I think it was yesterday I have a paper copy right here anybody wants to look at it you pass it down any other questions I mean obviously they're not even really on our agenda tonight I just wanted to mention that because I came in our it came to the planning board do you have any questions no okay I make a motion to continue the 400 Cedar Street special permit applicant T-Mobile Northeast LLC to December 14 2023 planning board meeting I'll second that and before we take a vote this this has already the deadline on this has already been moved to December something 15th or the day I think I thought we moved it to the day after our meeting I believe yes so that's something we want to I guess with any continuance that date gets automatically push that de it's going to get automatically pushed out and I've had a very good working relationship with the attorney so okay I I don't for seee any issues all right and we'll go ahead with a roll call vote Anna tuski I Marcel I Katherine Jersey KY and Trisha Kendall ey so that is continued um I do have a comment so it wasn't about the continuance but we one point when it was like the 15th we a little bit put oursel in the bind about like signatures and like if there are changes to that decision so I think we definitely want to ask for an extension to the app do we have to take a vote for that that or anything um I mean I'm a big advocate of not making it the 15th if we're having a meeting on the 14th I think we made it the 15th last time oh I understand but now that it's moved to the 14th oh I don't think we want to put ourselves in a bind to say I have to button it up get the entire decision correct and get all the signatures by the 15th what date would you propose I mean I I think we need a a few days right and and uh I assume there's going to I'm not sure we're going to get the decision like the timing with new drawings and the dates change and all ready to sign that evening I guess is what I think that's just looking at dates um entirely possible can we see about moving it a week later to the 21st do have some time for if like Peter needs to make changes edits and then we need to sign I mean I agree I would rather have it that evening but I don't like to no I see what you're saying so um can you just check into that Peter I'll email Adam tomorrow it's not a big deal so that we just have time like said if we need to make make just to make sure it's buttoned up I guess MH okay right all right then next on our list is uh 9 to 49 Homer AV um Peter do you want to see who's on for today and yeah so tonight give us an update sure so obviously we've haven't seen this project in the last two meetings however uh kind of a lots happened a little bit behind the scenes First of and foremost in your packets uh you're going to see a gcg review letter um furthermore sharing with your next or neighbor will be a full uh 18 um 11 by8 printout of The Proposal um that was submitted by the application team and furthermore you will see a memorandum uh submitted by the attorney Mr Terry Terry uh Morris uh which is a response to the uh DCR report number three uh with planning board comments uh put in by uh Trisha in Marcelo with that said tonight on the meeting I do see the application team of Terry Morris Rick alvo Ron Bor and I apologize um if if I'm missing a a team member um however uh that's what I can State I think um you know that the the letter from GC G uh was the was a big thing that we were looking for and obviously leading after the the our last meeting where we kind of discussed this element we were talking about the colors and the color pets and we asked for a warm and a cool tone um and that's what we kind of have here tonight uh in front of us I think we are looking to confirm the color selection um from the applicant um but but at that point that is the full update I can give and and I would like to turn it over to the applicant uh thank you madam chair for the record my name is Terry moris I'm an attorney representing the petitioner here this evening and as uh Peter matak has explained the two members of my team Ron book our project architect and Rick Salvo our project engineer on screen with me if I might with your permission um share the screen I think it I could we could use the uh DRC uh memo number three uh for which I prepared a response to the most recent markup done by you madam chair and uh Mr Arona uh as a template for proceeding uh to deal with the issues in some sort of order I think that's useful because um many many of the answers that would be uh supplied that I supplied in the narrative will actually be Illustrated when Mr bour presents his most recent set of plans so if I could share this mean that would be appreciated Peter do you want to can he share his screen dis okay let's see here we go uh this is the um this is the memo in question design Review Committee report number three uh um we responded only to those markups that as I said were done by the chair the first such item appears on on the second page actually and it is uh 1 A3 um uh massing and scale um we have we did we have expanded the plazas at the building recesses to provide flexibility for the use of the undefined tenants and the community uh as we had explained previously the site Furniture can be more easily relocated as needed without reconfiguring the permanent landscape in the future um then the next item that had a comment in green was uh was the item 1-b do1 and that is uh uh request that we present two materials which we will be doing once I turn the screen over to um to our architect Mr bour will present those materials um item one 3 B1 which is uh as shown on the screen now um the issue there was uh a a making the uh Central white poter and black Aluma storefronts to be copied on all the storefront Brays with the brick material Accent on um on the rear ground floor we have accomplished that uh as we'll be see seen again when Mr bour presents the plans the next comment was under C item C sustainability and that was item c 1 C2 uh uh there was an obvious comment we must meet or exceed the current stretch energy code which of course that will be done uh when we file a building permit application there was a notation here that the fire department requested no EV GES be in the underground or covered parking and the planning board was to review possible solar panel locations we are prepared to present that as well I will provide you additional information however um you will you will find that the situation there was a question about the number of uh spaces that would be serviced service spaces that would be serviced by EV stations we have located the stations in three different places so that they um would allow for the installation of 11 charging stations that would C be capable of servicing 22 of the 24 surface spaces uh the next item was under uh d uh 2d3 historic herit Heritage and historic details item 2d3 and we scroll down to that bring that up and that is 2d3 I got ahead of I so here we are um there was a question about an interpretive historic mural ass signage that would tie the park to the history of the train station our response to that is that we are prepared to engage the historical Commission on just how an interpretive historic mural or signage on the existing stucco wall of the commercial building at 15 Homer could tie the pocket park to the history of the train station and we will be exploring that when we uh go before the historic commission uh for the removal of the uh two buildings of the buildings on the site um the next items have to deal with Landscaping uh and under Landscaping item F involved uh item F1 F3 FG let's see uh there was a recommendation that we provide an environment impact study uh and that that be conducted on the site our response to that was to submit a document that was actually a risk management review document um which I can also bring up on the screen um I'm going to switch the share now share screen rest minute Rie document memo be with me uh PL board well apparently you don't have that read readily available so I'll come back to the report but what I will point out in that document that was submitted to um the document that was submitted was a a risk assessment analysis it was the telling feature of this document was that it was required by the NM bank which is the is the lender uh financing the uh this project um the report that was um commissioned by the bank uh examined although it does not meet the standard of a typical phase one study nonetheless they did look at critical factors uh on the site the the report um uh states that the Ed environmental screens did not identify any regulatory listings for the site however there was a number of regulatory listings that were identified at off-site properties situated in close proximity to the site these included several buding Andor nearby auto repair shops and a gasoline station at 15 Alden 29 Alden and 61 Homer the report goes on to say that none of those are expected to impact the site based on the nature of the listings found the response actions completed at these properties and or the anticipated groundwater flow Direction the report goes on to talk about the buildings that were actually constructed on the site between the 1800s and 1960 and the uses that were to which those buildings were put in every case they were either residential or commercial retail uh purposes including a three-car storage garage uh the report states that the buildings are were are heated by were heated or are heated by either natural gas or fuel oil that was stored above ground there were no known underground storage tanks or USS on the site past or present um uh finally the the author says that there's there's no uh indication of any high-risk businesses ever being located on the site in the past for example uh such as a dry cleaner or of any fill being brought to the site that could be of a contaminated nature um and then it also noted uh you uh looking at the 1937 sandboard Atlas try to get some greater history of the site that the site was improved with SE at that time was improved with several buildings that were used as residential dwellings and Commercial storefronts again uses that in no way indicated the potential for uh hazardous conditions so as a result of the um uh assessment and research undertaken the conclusion was based on the P the information presented the environmental risk post to the bank who was a lender as I said of the project in its role as a secured lender is is low and the recommendation there was no recommendation of further assessment of the site at this time so that was the documentation that as you said uh was presented to the bank before they basically engaged as being the lender for this project and that is what was available to us and we've shared that with the board um back to the uh DRC uh report number three um the next item um was that an item 1g1 um uh peras at the rear seem out of place and too small benches located at the sidewalk should be may maybe be under the pergas the space is not quite usable our response to this was that the relocated site exit includes the ability to provide adequate outdoor seating due to the higher volume of traffic in lie of a lawn we are proposing a larger landscape bed with shrub massings which will which will be shown on the uh landscape plan when presented uh later on next item ig2 question the materials of pavers at the pocket park um uh our response was that those Pavers at the parket park will be the same as the other hardscapes along Homer within the building recess uh the next item was item I one it I 1 G4 and that comment was um talking about The Hardscape uh materials uh being used and we have commented that the site Hardscape to use material we will use materials that are consistent with the Main Street renovation project brick pavers will act as an edge and transition uh material similar to the downtown an additional material of gray ashless stone we feel is appropriate to sensitively sensitively relate to the historic train station and the gry ashler pattern may be used as the primary field material within the plaza areas and building recesses that brings us down to the landscape first comment was at item5 that comment was uh hard and soft Landscaping to reviewed by the DRC um we note that we will show that we have added two additional trees along the west property line which are to match the trees on the south property line going to item 2 H1 uh that was a question about the critical root zones um uh for the for the plantings our comment is that we would be critical root zones will be added to the erosion control drawing and also tree protection in both the landscape and civil drawing sets as well um this item we expect to be included as a condition in any order uh uh prepared by or presented to the planning board for final written decision uh item 2h2 uh talks about the the pocket box uh the idea was to create a consistent streetcape the we have agreed to add a tree at all of the inset Plaza entrances centered and increase the permeability of the pavers or grading surrounding these landlock trees for optimal growth uh item 381 again dealing with the pocket par uh it's we've agreed to add uh as part of our effort there to make everything is consistent add in another particular species of tree of batula so that all of the plaza Parks across the front of the building are present a a unified uh uh unified U presentation similar peral Paving is to be used to accommodate the landlock trees uh uh at for the front of the building and lastly uh the last comment is under uh item L and that is pedest which is identified as pedestrian access and bicycle accessibility item 1.2 uh maybe I have it I might have l1.2 bicycle racks public bike racks have been moved to the edge of the sidewalk with easy access from the right of way and they are they will be shown to be screened with planter boxes from the functional area of the plaza spaces uh this concludes our uh response to the to the uh DRC report number three and now I think it's probably useful if I turn the microphone over to or the screen screen over to our project architect so he may further illustrate um the some of the conditions that I've already outlined in this presentation thank you just a just a couple questions and maybe just the things that aren't on the list um before we do that and also if there's any planning board questions I noticed that in item that that the list goes from D to F and that e is missing and E had to do with um signage um on the site and the the design Review Committee notes Here um and I I don't think we got to talking about this last time that they were looking to I I think they were saying that the sign and maybe we can talk about this in the image the sign the signage location as indicated is acceptable but we were also they had also talked about fonts and colors of signage to be deferred and reviewed prior to occupancy so I want to make sure as Deepa knows in in the past we've kind of tried to stop deferring um because it comes back that you have to deal with it later on the other hand I'm not sure I'm not sure maybe we'd be ready to confirm signage and it also sounds like it says signage guideline study is underway and so I assume that means the design Review Committee is maybe during this quieter period is starting to really study um signage which they had always intended to do and so I just wanted to throw that out there for the board how we want to address that when when we get to that place so it's not necessarily a question for the team right now unless you have thoughts on that the other thing I wanted to note that was under item I think under L for some reason um was that there was a comment about the pergola at the pocket park next to the existing building and that pergola has been removed is that right to allow more room for Green Space there's not a correct r that correct Ron Ron um across from the train station no the pergola has not been removed it was it was really a cover for the seating on the other end of the site where the um where the where the um the roadway leads to bden street that has been removed okay so that's something we can trying to see where I'm trying to see where I read that now so I was just going to comment on your point about signage and whether we want to take that under our purview it seems related to the condition that's um offered by the applicant on the signage or mural on the stco wall on the of the commercial building and the suggestion that that being something that's a component of historical Commission opining on that assuming that we agree that that's the proper entity maybe the signage up front should be similarly situated into the same category all together so that there's some consistency between the input that we receive from the historic commission if we agree that that's the right entity about one area and the other together they seem interrelated to me yeah I guess uh my my question is whether we yeah do we do we take that on or do we if if we decide not to take it on I think there's some I believe it's appropriate for us to take it on if we as a board are prepared in other words why wouldn't we if we're talking about color warm cold why wouldn't we also talk about sign right and how that fits into the building um but what I'm saying what I'm suggesting is if we feel like delegating the task it seems like extremely related and would be well paired with the mural task any other comments I'm I don't not sure how to handle it at this point or I I see it a little differently I I think if if there is one item that is worth deferring to some other studies this one I I I remember talking to the design Review Committee at one time in one of our meetings about it and they express the interest in um um creating some standard for the downtown just like they did with historical signs that they that were installed around and uh I remember somebody in the design Review Committee was I think a graphic designer was interested uh hanstein I yeah and uh and we said then and I still believe it's the case that that that that is a a well worth Endeavor and and I wish that had been like completed by now before we see other projects in in in in downtown I think that this could be easily resolved by putting a condition that that um um forces the the applicant to use whatever standard has been reached at when they uh before uh the the occupancy pyramid because we don't we don't have the the standard created mhm nobody unless they are working on it have been working on it so we probably need to find out and and that standard should they if if they are doing that I think they should do it in concert with the historical commission and that's where that these two groups can definitely come up with a font and materials or whatever is appropriate and then we apply to every project that so that Anna's comment gets integrated into that because it's really about signage around Ashland not just signage for this project and that yeah that in that way is is not just the historical commission but the the design Review Committee with the historical commission coming with a standard for what is appropriate within the historical district which typically in every town it's it's it makes sense that there's a different character materiality and and so the only the only challenge is there has not been as far as I know a definitive definition of the historic area in Ashland yet formally right so that may take some time it may be part of the comprehensive plan etc etc so I feel like we need to at least give design review some guidance hey design review whatever you're doing we like it keep doing it please prioritize downtown prioritize this building relative to downtown come up with something that applies to this building that may be useful to downtown that can be lead or integrated into the historic district um but I feel like we need to give them some push and focus so that we don't lose sight of the fact that we need an immediate answer now that applies to this project I think what you just said makes total sense to me the direction should be I mean from from it should be deductive the downtown should be primary because applies it should that there should be a logic to it that gets applied to everything but this project will be the first one to implement it so we have the urgency and I agree with Anna maybe we need a a direct request the ciew committee and historical commission can you please help us develop this standard maybe um Peter maybe we can draft up a really simple memo to the design Review Committee as we've kind of done before on other things just about this project about it relating to signage and and kind of putting that they've already indicated that they assumed it would be coming back to them but the you know what to look the thing we talked about what to look at about certain urgency you know with it to to make sure it make sure it happens I think from what I'm reading here is the only thing that's in question is the font style because the lighting has been approved as is as shown in the rendering so it's the literally the font and the color it's probably I mean the scope of that signage in this particular project is probably metal kind of a thing I don't know if whatever that material is it's not it's it's not it doesn't feel like it's a huge lift it feels like it's a it's a matter of just choosing a font style for those because they have the location indicated they have the lighting approved it's just literally the font that we're talking about as signage element in this project so does that sound like um does that sound like a a good idea to kind of create the memo and we can send it out to the planning board just I assume it'll be very very simple memo but just so they have something in writing about um that this is kind of you know in their court and we're looking forward to seeing what they what they come up with so okay um unless there's other comments I'll turn it back to so are we taking comments on the design review report number three and the applicant response is that what we're on still cuz I do have a comment but I can wait if yes we're still on the design review comments but we were now going to look at it in context with the colors and images but if you have something yeah so the um the 1 F3 uh I think that was um 1 F3 about the impact study so I I feel like that um first of all it says review with gcg and I recall that we had Loosely talked and that there are some concerns about um a underground parking garage they get built all over the world right this isn't something new it's new to Ashlin but it's not the simplest of construction either so my interpretation of that was and I we have a Civil Division at my company I talked to him and there there are some concerns of like settlement of adjacent structures dealing with the water table and construction like there's some pretty particular things and done wrong it actually could have issues with adjacent structures so I my take of that was about that kind of environmental impact but along so two comments related that says planning Board review with gcg and there's a couple other in here that says planning Board review with gcg and I'm not sure if that did happen yet or how how that's in the works yeah I think mostly what we to clarify most of what we were doing right now is going through the design review component of of these things things having to do really I think more design but you're right there's a whole bunch of things that say rever you know go to gcg but in the gcg report I have a whole bunch of circles on mine of unresolved issues issues right so I think it folds back into those and yeah we'll have to kind of cross check you know kind of those some of some of those issues um so I think we're focusing a little bit on design right now but I agree with you there's there's a lot of things with the parking garage and Heights and stuff that don't seem to be resolved so so I think we and also I think if I'm correct me if I'm wrong none of the stuff we received this evening sort of we sent a memo I think it got sent to the applicant about our sort of list of open issues and I didn't see I think we didn't get kind of a response about that like most of those are still open from the current stuff that was presented for tonight right the um I have those open issues somewhere in my pile here oh thanks I checked off mine though yours aren't checked off so there there are some in here and I'll find it in my pile um and we can go through that as well when we finish looking at the slides but I think some of them are that we some of them we have gotten responses back from like the fire chief and from some different things and other ones we haven't right yeah okay I just I we have we have another document which I think was produced by um Peter match's office to the board uh dated November 1st we can bring that up on the screen if you want to use that as a template you we can um I I want I was merely commenting I believe one of what was presented about the environmental impact was per quite likely not what was intended but it had gcg and my only other comment is anything in here that said talk to gcg to please make sure it doesn't get missed that's I'm I'm good otherwise yeah yeah I I I agree um yeah and I think um Mr Morris I think that that the November 1st is the date on that memorandum that is just the list of our of our ongoing issues so um and maybe that's something gcg uh if if they haven't commented specifically about it or reviewed it specifically in their review yeah yeah I um I made a note here on my that that's a question that can go back to them is that all is this already accommodated in what you're looking at or is this something you hadn't considered I assume it's always been in their minds because they're they seem to be pretty thorough but but it's good to it would be good to know it explicitly so so you're saying gcg has already already seen the Environmental Studies as presented by the bank's environmental study okay so and Kate is saying that there may be some questions beyond that the design Review Committee was thinking about it in a little different way and that's maybe what we want to ask gcg because that environmental impact study can can mean a lot of different I could Define that a lot of different ways right so um okay so little delay but we're I think we're back to um the the presentation if you wanted to continue on Ron yes Ron do you want to present the architectural drawings so what I'd like to do is to start with um instead of running through the entire presentation with all the renderings just make note that all the renderings have been updated to reflect these materials um this sheet in your booklet is actually slightly different and I I I apologize I picked it up yesterday that it hadn't been updated to show this material which is what the rest of the model shows um so I'm going to I'll I'll send this out to uh Peter so that you can have a for record an accurate set but essentially what what this is is these are the uh colors that were noted in the materials and texture uh B uh 1B do1 and I've noted um you know what they are um so essentially it's consistent with the rest of the model so that said um I'd like to go to the issue we had or the or the comments on the entry plazas and as um as Terry noted um we've updated the model in the plans to show that additional tree so that there's some consistency in the entrances uh we've taken we've added bike racks to the uh fronts so they're directly accessed from the sidewalk and then you can access into the plazas from there um where we have tables that could be interchangeable with the uh location on the right as well depending on who the tenants are so there's a little bit of flex space there and the brick material that's shown at the sidewalks uh is consistent with the material being used in the downtown so that becomes our sort of our linkage to the downtown um work that's being done and on the plan you can see that we've added the uh planter boxes as Terry mentioned flanking the the bike racks um as well as uh recess the benches into the landscape a little more and that that was primarily uh the comments that were made uh regarding that that section of work and there's two a couple of other issues one was if you look at the lower left image um that was brick at one time in an earlier version and it was suggested that that would be more appropriate to have the similar storefront as the uh as the other Bays uh so we've updated that as well as updating the model as I mentioned for the um for the landscape so that was the uh the scope uh from our last discussion uh now I'd like to just backtrack somewhat to discuss a few of the items that were uh that were discussed um regarding the the train station and the parket park so um this is this has been around for a while we've talked about it and and explained our materiality and then the the um the idea of a mural along this wall this face of the wall uh came up and as I was thinking about it um the the pergola that's here really makes this a three-dimensional mural because essentially you'll have a historic look similar to the train station with the backdrop of whatever historic um uh mural wants to be put there so it kind of gives you a unique perspective on that mural where you're actually inserting it into what could be a very similar typology to what's what's the train station is across the street so um I know that there's a discussion about removing it but I'd like I'd like you to consider that because I think it's um it could become a unique feature to this site I do like the idea of the mural I think it's um it's in a good location and I think that it will be very telling to um you know the relationship to the train station but I think we can add another element to that as well so as far as the Landscaping uh we Revis the Landscaping from the comments that were made uh during our last design review meeting and unfortunately Julian can't be here um but you know the um the the plant types and the um and the species and everything are consistent with what was what was uh what that discussion was about so um I I really this this is my discipline so it's very difficult for me to talk about you know what exactly these plants are and you know what they like and things like that so I apologize for that but it is consistent with the discussion that we had uh with the landscape people and then I'd like to just go back and a really quick overview of because the color scheme does uh you know create a different look to the building um so we do have the you know the lighter recesses um we have the the the colors for the uh shingle and and uh roofing material which is a Driftwood um the the shakes are the gray slate and there's a gray to the uh to the siding as well uh the brick as I mentioned will be similar to what is happening in the downtown area you can see consistency here Ron can you just repeat those colors real quick yeah I'm just I I thought I was looking at the um at the materials that were written down so if we look at the cool and the warm we're looking to compare the cool and the warm so I have another slide that I have to uh share from a different screen that has the the um uh the other color palette on it so I'm just going to unshare this and share that other slide this one this one no night night green that's the roof that's roof samples yeah the night gray is The Dark One right so this was um this was the other color palette which were more of the cream colors I don't if you wanta and this is the pallet that we're looking at now in the model and I think we agreed that this this pallet was more appropriate quick uh Ron can you repeat what you just said said I mean the the you're showing us the different option which one you as the designer which one would would you prefer to go with I would prefer to go with the uh what we what we're showing in the current package so that's page four just so we're on the same so you're talk yeah you can see my screen right so we're so that's page four of your five page document that's correct right and is that considered the cool or the warm this is the cool that's the co the cool and so page five is the warm page five is the warm I I think you know what we were hoping for and I appreciate the two schemes but what we were hoping for and I I think requested was that the colors are put together like on a they're put together for us not for us to be have to sort through the different colors you know that typically you know old school they're attached to a board they have a sample of the roof color not just in a little booklet but a a few shingles that are are laid next to those colors um and so that you can and the brick like you know we have the brick samples behind us but they don't seem to match the more orangey brick that's shown here I I think the brick was intended to match the red of the new sidewalks right I I believe so it would be an understand of what that brick was in the sidewalk and if if really if we have a red that's similar to the red in in the sidewalk so and that you're really looking at at it then and it's it's kind of it's It's kind of old school but I'm sure you've seen the seen color boards like that material boards that you that you just then can look at it all at all together instead of having to assemble it in your head so we may be able to get to some kind of Direction here but I still would want to see those color samples all in one place and like a you know before making a a final decision it's very hard to take a few square inches and put it with colors usually Driftwood is kind of a little warm and would be pairing it with a cool it might be fine but that that's my comment on that it's just it's not making our job easy to have all these materials in these little pieces I I'm just going to add I Think It's tricky because obviously it we understand I you know I was thinking about this like when the applicant is remote speaker speak up please sorry this is Anna speaking you know one of the challenges for me is I'm seeing kind of samples here and we're kind of guessing like you know the planning board is sort of like o is it this picture you know does it is it that one maybe having the Apple can be in the room with us to actually look at this together with the architect so that we can actually not use our imagination I think that would be really helpful I I just don't think we're speaking the same language because you guys are virtual we're in person we've got some samples but not what we expected and I I'm having a hard time imagining it and trusting it like am I actually imagining what it is or the color that happens to be in the printer that the printer created because I've I've printed things before in color for my daughter's school projects and they don't turn out the way they're supposed to so I I just want to make sure that I'm not trusting a printer yeah and and that's and that's a fair point I mean that's why that's why I'm talking about um that this is very old school right which and if you're not in the design Fields is what we used to call a color board or materials board where these samples and you might have a few samples of trim you might have you know samples of whatever you're going to use would actually be attached to a physical board and that would be one palette right so that you could look at the board and you could see all the colors next to to each other you wouldn't be looking at a little square of the roofing in a thing you would get a roofing sample from the company and you would put those on the board and so you get a really good picture of how those colors work together and overlap with each other um all of us have seen it right and and it just makes that job of you don't have to imagine the colors and this is before the day of the color printer right that was way too expensive so um but but it's still the best way because they are the actual colors they're the actual materials that are going on the building um so and that's what I do think it it's still incomplete for this for that level of decision and just to be clear like I'm looking at what the warm is on our table and looking at what the warm is behind us and unless I'm color blind they seem very different I think that's part of the confusion because if I look at what's printed here in front of me what's on this screen and then what's on that screen it's the same thing but they all look vastly different to me and none of them versus what's on the table like what's on the table actually does not seem as warm is what's behind me on the screen if we're talking about warmth in the same way yeah I think that's true there's kind of an orangey EX on the screen which I really don't like but that worm on the table isn't too bad yeah it's toned down so I'm just like o I kind of like that but if that's what it's going to look like no way so do you know what I mean like so I don't I'm having a hard time not to be like I don't want to be I want to be flexible but I feel like we need to get into the same room with the architect and actually understand what is this actually going to look like like can we trust what's on the table but you guys are not even here to look at what's on the table do you know what I mean sure okay so we go all school we we we we provide uh two color boards one warm and one cool and because I I mean in my mind I and I I understand what you're saying about the image on your wall because your projection system is different than a computer screen it's you know it's it's the color it's just it'll come out different um but I think the the value of the models and being able to put the materials on um versus you know simply looking at a color board U definitely has its as benefits as well if the colors are accurate and these colors that I put on here I you know they're they're the formula right they're the RGB colors from the paint samples the paint chips from Benjamin Moore whoever so um I guess it's it's maybe it's a combination of the two but um if we if we need to do color you know we need to do the panel boards and come in with them then that's what we'll do um I mean I think it's either that or and again I'm not sure I mean we want to do this or it's doing a mockup at the site where it's built in place and then the decision is made at that time where all the materials are mocked up um that's a common way of doing it too so that you can see them on the site at the location at the time before any actual materials are decid or any actual colors for those materials are decided but it has to be the material because even if you're using the exact paint sample um our monitor here can be skewed toward the Reds are skewed toward the blues right it's yeah it's you know it's just part of the technology I mean I have to say the warm appeals to me the warm that's on the table but looking at printed material or the two screens I like the cooler much better so like I'm confused um and I do think it's beneficial to look at the warm and the cool standing there so I can see the benefit of that as well and I think what we're seeing here I think thanks to Trisha she tried to put something together with the because we probably didn't have all the names here but a lot of materials are missing in that like obviously your pavers and that brick has a strong definition even on that elevation so I think we should it doesn't even have to be a board as long as the two palettes are properly put together so that we can look at all the materials because there's so much going on in this 15 ft distance this lot of materials happening different textures happening so I think it has to be at least put together as one complete palette versus the other versus seeing bits and pieces of the two samples because like you said that actual brick sample P sample is so different than what you are showing as rendering there that is really dark versus what you have on your rendering so I don't know if you have seen those samples but I it's it's a good idea to put the two pettes together and then your suggestion of doing it on site is great but I think we should narrow it down yeah because we've had challenges with having something go up when we are not ready for it so I think we should have something narrow down it's great to look at it during daylight versus looking at it this warm light I think that's also playing a lot of role in what we seeing here so if it means we are at the site with two cool palette and warm palet and look at it there for 10 minutes and disperse that might be a way to go yeah I think you're right it doesn't have to be nailed to a board those get very heavy but uh but it has to be easily and it'll help to move things around especially the roof colors are pretty strong so so does anyone have any any comments about color knowing that we are you leaning one way or another any comments any other information to give the applicant while they put these things together no I I I was just going to go where where Deepa went and and I think the problem of making these type of evaluations um at night under this light is the wrong way to go about it I I think having a board would be helpful or a tray I mean we we do it on trays as well uh but bringing it out to the sun is very important because you're never going to get the right color under this light so I think it has to be brought during daylight left here on some sort of board and tray for for us to swing by and maybe have an a quick review with the presence of one of the of the architect or somebody on the team and see it outside yeah and and um you know as far as the roofing color you know you can get the you know the pallets that they're all one roof color it has a handle you can take it with you you know and you can get several of those one in Driftwood which I think is a bit warm but there could be other samples as well that that you can really look at them with these colors instead of the you just can't tell with those with the small samples you know yeah and what's catching my attention is I don't know if the intention of that glass is really to be that blue that you're seeing here or is it low iron glass I'm not sure what that is so having that sample also will help I don't think you are intending to have blue glass there because some of the rendering is showing as if they have a color tint to it so I I think you should get all all the samples in that elevation because there's too much going on the only other question about color and it's only it's related to color but not to the samples um but I wanted to make a note of it when I was looking through the through the other elevations and maybe this just hasn't been updated yet but we keep looking at this front elevation but then you look at the back elevations and are they still all all one color like is that the I I I think on the ones I saw like the the black elevations Once you turn the corner everything was just beige and um we're going to want to see all the elevations I'm not sure we're looking for I mean I think I think Hardy plank is the same color no or it's the same price no matter what color you buy I believe and so I I think it's important to understand if this is just pretty on the front and gets neglected on the back maybe it just hasn't been updated or where the transition is if as intentional or it could be simplified on the back you know maybe it's not as you know maybe it's not as complex the pet but it seems it seemed to be such a it seemed to be a dramatic difference when I was looking at it Madam chair yes um I know the comment was made in passing but uh there was a suggestion that this project could be handled in the way many uh projects are handled and that is at that point in time when the building is up but before the the materials are chosen that you actually have uh models on site with the brick with the clab and you have them on site you make that decision at the time of construction rather than going through at this time I mean at least you're guaranteed that whatever CH colors you choose at that point in the process will be exactly what you want um I think there's a there are a number of issues which you have identified Madam shair as saying with the gcg report and other things that I think perhaps we could spend more time doing that than going round and around about colors when we know the colors can be handled at some later point in the process yeah I understand it's just that um and that's why Deepa said that maybe we need something um we need something to put in there and then can look at it again later because we did have a recent example uh when Deepa and I were on the board maybe Marcelo maybe was I don't you weren't there um where where we waited and the wrong colors were put up so um and it was supposed to be verified by the planning board first the wrong colors were put up and it just turned into a a mess um and so we would rather not be in that position again and thus I think we're probably favoring making a decision that we're pretty sure of at this point or that we could be pretty sure of at this point rather than um kicking it down the road where things do happen and have so so I I don't think necessarily we need to do that for the for the 14th in two weeks if it if if that's not on your agenda to get that together um but uh but I think it be before the end I think we do need to see that [Music] um is there anything else on the is there anything else on the renderings that you wanted to review tonight I think there are a few other things we can go to relative to our the status of our checklist oh Marcel ju just a question um both the attorney and the architect describe some of the changes that were done to the landscape or you know being responsive to what we asked um is everybody um comfortable with with those changes I want to make sure that um the changes the changes were made in response to to to comment um and if we if we all are accepting those changes then we can just move on to just the materials and at least we narrow down the list for next um I think that's a good point so I I'll just comment I I'm pretty sure our new sidewalk has a brick band and I think what they were showing and I don't know what we can ask was all concrete and the brick was like more toward the entrance so it's not it's maybe speaking to it but it's not replicating and I I I think we were originally asking I I believe it was even in the gcg report like really hone that down is it going to match or not in fact you were the first one to bring that up yeah but I I think that the there's different conditions depending on the width of the sidewalk up here there's conditions where it's wider and there some planted area so they put brick there too right Peter but there's other areas where the is narrow enough that it's just concrete so if you walk around town you'll notice the banding is not the brick is consistent the width of the banding is not because of different features so looking on our side the town hall side of Main Street we have the planter boxes right and so there the the banding is much wider than than on the other side of the street now if we walk on the other side of the street which I'm going to call the cell side of the street which is near the memorial the the Fallen uh soldiers Memorial so I believe that brick banding is only about 3 to four bricks deep right and so it's much skinnier um on that side and on that side you already have trees and and and so there's really no planter boxes on the southern side of the street when you get around to Pizza mine which is the body and property here that That Sidewalk is so skinny between the curb and the building there's no brick banding at all and so as as you cross the street I'm going to say from the post office across Main Street there's the dentist zeny Dental zeny Dental there is a bump out that has some brick banding with a tree in it with a tree planting box and and it's I'm going to say it it's uh it has brick in that element but then as it as that sidewalk Narrows down and takes that turn the the there's no brick and so moving down the sideway here there's no more brick on that curve from the curb and between the curb and the building so so that means that the brick is going to reappear on this property that when it gets a little wider to the right of the concrete before you enter the pallet of those patios correct right so but would it would be on the building side and Notre and not not as a trim as along the street yeah which may be appropriate for the width of the sidewalk the sidewalk is the sidewalk and the patio is the patio right one's town and one's um privately owned so um I I guess I would just to say that that would be you know given that should be you know if there's if there it should just be taken a second look at and make sure that that's that's the appropriate solution and it very well may be that that is the appropriate solution for this area where this thing turns the corner and then continues off into whatever neighborhood that that maybe that is the appropriate solution but to have images of that corner as it's finished and you know to kind of prove that point I guess would be my suggestion yeah the brick Bing I and I'll double check tomorrow um um but the the Brick banding is really limited to Main Street and it have go may go down front uh Front Street a little bit towards the library but even in front of the library there's no brick band I I there's limited brick banding and and I think it's more around the tree boxes and the bump outs for for the for the for the crossbox yeah maybe so we can just get some images and yeah I you know then not a problem I can get some images and just circulate around to the plany board that's a pretty easy solution the continuity of how it is because right now this feels like more Patchwork of brick in this because we're trying to force that yeah connection so I don't know if it is powerful enough um and really helping us connect I don't know if you'd walk down from Main Street and turn around the corner whether you'll say hey I saw that brick ban there because there's a start stop start stop in this scenario so if you're forcing an element it doesn't work so maybe to just take photographs of certain patterns MH and how it starts and stops or is it a continuous band if there's some logic in how that was created to copy it into this so I I appreci I mean that's sort of I don't know enough about design I told J the adult who wears gr animals right but I I do notice those things and I appreciate the comments and that was early on so I think that in my opinion is not settled um especially when experts weigh in but I do believe in my opinion all the other things about adding a tree moving a bikes I I believe those are settled so I would support yeah I agree with that and and I will just add that maybe there I think what Deepa was referring to that that you you go from a concrete to kind of a patch of brick and then to the other material I mean there's an opportunity there especially with what has been done on on these changes where you could create like a frame of of those patios that is brick that really kind of holds the the the the character of the downtown and then inside that frame of break then you can put the new material which is part of the project so that's another way because right now is it just like a a wide band in the front and stops looks like yeah but that's another way to do it so so I guess I would agree with Kate I think everything else I like all the changes I I'm allet with all those uh and maybe this can be be giving one more look May sorry maybe it would be good to have a diagram of um the site with with no vegetation just the paving pattern would that you know so we can just see how it but yeah I I agree that I mean I went through the design review list and besides the few items I mentioned about the signage I get the pergola is still in the drawing so I'm not sure where that design review comment you know came from um that I I think all those have been checked off and and taken care of and and um listened took the design Review Committee suggestions into consideration and applied them to the project so I I think we all appreciate that could I could I ask you a question sure so this discussion about the sidewalks I'm look confused so is the sidewalk that's being part of this not our you know part of the of the street work is that brick or is that has it ended and become concrete at that point that that's our question and we we think it's concrete it's right so is there so if you have I mean Peter if there are drawings that show the layout of that I'd be more than happy to update the model to show that accurately okay if it if there is Brick patterning in there and maybe that maybe maybe this project affects how that brick patterning is set up I'm happy to take I'm happy to take pictures and obviously Ron I'm happy to just you know come out here if you want to come out and have a cup of coffee we can walk around and you can see the brick patterns and and how it kind of everything is now turning down um down Homer because right now the downtown is complete minus the removal of the the telephone pulse which is really an eversource which is really on eversource to make the the under ground connections and then the over then the above ground wires will come down and so but from a Hardscape perspective you know you can come out here and you can see the final product I was out I was out a few weeks ago and I did see it but my my question is um the construction documents for the street do they show brick paving patterns on the sidewalks or is that something you guys work out separately I think the construction documents do show Paving patterns I cannot confirm that that is what had was was developed and I think there was more brick to tell you the truth um there's more brick that was first proposed within those construction drawings then is actually installed um number one the island that runs in the center of town that was supposed to be stamp con stamped asphalt that was taken out and then the bricks were laid in because of the appearance uh the appearance of as first proposed was really not acceptable to the town and so that was something that was was done on the Fly and I believe was was it was du was done with great success because it looks much better than it did uh two designers nod their head uh but yeah so so I can provide you with that those construction jars yeah because so if the if the existing limit of scope ends at the pizza place for example what was scheduled for for this side of of Homer Street well well nothing because the project ended oh the project then okay so this is a clean slate yes we don't have to worry about somebody putting a sidewalk in and then working with that we can actually create okay so so so the so the comment Marcel made about I think I think what you were getting at was to to draw the brick out onto the sidewalk so it's it become sort of a a welcome mat to the to the plaza yeah no I I I guess the comments were that uh the the the way it's laid out right now it it's almost just like a horizontal band and you you walk from a from a concrete um sidewalk onto like a a brick uh strip and then onto another material so it's kind of a weird like one two three transition whereas in the T the brick and the concrete are you really talk to each other nicely and and it's different on different parts of the street what what what can be done here to introduce the new material that you are proposing which is that that P would be what we were saying is potentially surrounding it and creating a frame for that entire Zone on the brick so that is a more natural transition that would be one way to do it maybe there's other ways to do it so I like Trisha's suggestion that once um um I think once you review you know the drawings or or or come and look at at the at the final product yourself uh we we we could look and you have a little part plan that shows the paos and we can just use that and just show maybe after you see it maybe you yourself would have uh an idea of of what you think um enhances Your Design better sure enough yep I agree I think the other thing we can unless there's more questions with that but the other thing we could go through um tonight briefly I don't think it'll take long is is our um kind of our our November 1 memorandum kind of checklist just to kind of get a sense of where those things are so the first item on that list was the environmental impact study we already talked about that um the next item was trails and the questions there was really to gcg um you know does their review take the trail into account is there any other safety measures that we should put in place now for a possible future Trail um in that area um the traffic impact study I don't think we have um any additional information on that uh Peter did you find out anything about the apartment egress requirements about those units I talked to I talked to our building commission and um he was going to he would as they apply for building permits he would have to require a um a distance measurement to make sure they met code and I believe I talked to Terry and Ron about this um but that was going to be looked at okay part that was being looked at and Ron I don't know if you have any update into or Terry but there was an emergency egress distance requirement that was going to have to be analyzed uh with the entrance and exit for those three units off of the um I'm going to say Roof Garden right yeah know I did look I did look in the ICC code and we can erress onto a roof it's a fire rated assembly and it takes you directly to um to a right away so I can cite the reference okay but I'm confident that that that's not an issue okay did you do a distance measurement yeah okay all right so that could that that may be requested later but it's on everyone's radar okay yeah in a sense that's a little bit you know out of the realm of the planning board it was just brought up and it it's a it's a code thing so it's better better to brought be brought up now than you know than later I agree um next was emergency vehicle parking space um I believe we at least got feedback from the fire department that said they had no problem sharing the space with the deliveries as long as it didn't become a permanent parking space for someone um we can post we can post uh a sign indicating temporary parking certain limit yeah I assume it'll be cross-hatched or or something like that I don't think we've heard back from police yet um I don't think there was anything from the police department but there was a letter from the fire department yeah I can concur that we haven't received a letter but vocally I've I've talked to the Chief and and there was no concerns okay um maybe we can just get that in an email or something thanks um the sewer grinder pump um so you had talked to Greg Al about that two emails you have two two emails from engineering I think Madam chair yes I have them in front of me but I'm asking Peter about uh his conversation so this is a this an interesting one I think number one would comes across to me is that that right now that that this is it's not part of the Town sewer regulations number one so there's no regulations in in the town of Ashen that call for an apartment multi-use building to install a grinder pump for the for the action of grinding and or the event of grinding wipes diapers um whatever is flushed down a toilet now it was brought up by our water and sewer department because from time to time and and you know things do get flushed down toilets and they get put through our pump stations our pump stations have grinder pumps in them and so um so really that's what it comes down to our our pump stations have grind your pumps in them people throw some very strange things down toilets right and so um but we do not have any regulations that call for any multif family unit developments over X number of units to install a grinder pump to chop up any foreign objects um before they enter into a public sewer now the the sewer and the water department are going to look at regulations to update their own regulations to to to call out for some of these to to hopefully tie this Loop however at this point we don't have anything now it's a novel it's a novel idea I've heard from a few folks but I've also heard from from our consultant that he's never heard of this being installed in a gravity sewer and so I'm kind of I'm conflicted because is there an issue do people throw crazy things down toilets yes however we don't have any regulations and for us to to create a condition we kind of we do need regulations and or evidence that something negative could impact so we I mean I I want to find out I think that was the question can we because I I mean my read of our our jurisdiction is infrastructure about projects right so to me it's critical this is infrastructure about a project that affecting and and the engineering report said so this is a difference than a single family home because you're having m multiple things going end up going through one connection right so this is a different condition and so I don't I mean I think we do have to go are we allowed to just because we don't have a regulation that may be the answer then we're not allowed to and we know but I don't I don't personally want to assume because there's no regulation that we wouldn't be allowed to consider this I think so what happens if if if now it's there's housing there right there's four Apartments sending things to the sewer and it's going to be 29 right that's that's a potential impact to the community that may potentially be in like have a mitigation for the project for it so we it's under our jurisdiction to consider it if we are allowed to consider it and that may be the simple answer there's no regulation and we can't do it but it may not be Marcel yeah I I I I totally understand what what kti is saying uh but but my comment to these last time or or the time before is that I I feel that the request cannot be arbitrary and if if the if the authority of that governs the sewer doesn't have that regulation there's probably a reason or maybe they they will reconsider that okay but as as it stands right now it doesn't exist so I I I I I personally don't like even we even if we have the authority which is really a good question I I I feel uncomfortable just come pulling out of the air ideas that are not regulation to to to to put on Project just because we can just because we can doesn't mean that we must and I and I don't like the the uh procedurally a board like ours throwing like requ requirements that have not been proven by by science or engineering or the authorities that regulate that system so I I I don't believe uh that that's the site as a whole yeah the load of the sewer has been calculated has been engineered and has to be because there's codes for that and and the building inspector and the authorities would have to approve it so I just feel a little uncomfortable trying to it's it's it's I see the Val the the validity of maybe this system but maybe it's not need I mean there's billions of buildings that don't have have it and the sewers still work so I just I feel uncomfortable just because we can we can do something that seems arbitrary to me still anybody else on that topic I mean without seeing legal counsel opinion I'm not sure we lack jurisdiction if there is a expert technical finding which I believe there is that one would be advisable and you have a multif family building that is putting extra pressure above and beyond the norm onto our infrastructure which is a public infrastructure I do believe our bylaws allow us to create conditions for a special permit project which is this one relative to infrastructure so I for one would like a legal opinion actually from legal counsel to say that we cannot have this condition before I say I'm uncomfortable anybody else I kind of Si what Marcelo said if agreed if we may have the power but if the team the experts have an ask for it have not seen foreseen a requirement in town knowing that there are so many multif family projects coming up I I personally don't agree that this is a requirement that we should suggest to the design team I think Amanda did you I I mean I was going to Echo Anna sentiment that I think the threshold question is can we have Town Council up to see whether or not it's even something that we can consider and then you know if we have and then sort of address the the merits basically is my thought yeah I mean I think it's a good question in general for Town Council like where where do the limits of our Authority where where do we step into gray area because we have been doing that once in a while as you know um so that would be that would be good to understand on a question like this um um but I also think that you know 501 Pond 100 Chestnut they both went through technical reviews too and this issue never came up on those much larger projects and so it does seem a little strange to plug it in on 29 units to me um that that yeah it seems a a little odd but for question one you know the first question is can we even do it I guess I mean we may have missed it in the other projects yeah and I think if if everybody gets smarter or learned something or they went to a conference and this is not coming from this sport this came from the technical review and then there was an independent we asked for the engineer said there is an issue and he literally says put the cost where they belong with the project that I think we I think going backwards of something that was wasn't done is not not an applicable kind of bar for this I understand hold on a minute I understand but I think it's more about like um to me it seems like uh that they're wondering amongst themselves like hey should this be a regulation not yes we're going to push for this to be a regulation and we've already done the homework and we know that this is true it seems like something they're putting out there as hm we need to look into this and that's the kind of gray area I'm not sure about being a test case for so you well what I was going to say is infrastructure cost so you know I think that our town planner is sharing that we already have this mechanism technically within our system right so my question would be can we get confirmation that the the the multifam use here is not going to have any impact on that infrastructure that whatever infrastructure we already have can handle it and it's not going to be financially cumbersome or somehow damage our infrastructure so if we have the mechanism I guess our own grinding systems that are going to take care of this and there's not going to be any impact then I would not have any concern but I'm not hearing that so that's the other kind of way to handle it obviously legal counsel opinion is always helpful and educational and I think we should get it in general so that we know where our line is for all projects um but I'm also very curious if it even makes a difference like even if we I want to talk but I don't know how to raise my hands yes so I think we just need a we need some more information in two different directions about this and then and then we can we can go from there so I'm sorry uh I see two hands raised or maybe one the first the first hand raised was Terry Morris Terry Morris we like to stay something please I I would I now I know you don't I know that I'm not unbiased because I represent the petitioner but I have had experience not only as an attorney but also on both on as a permitting in the permitting process Municipal and state permitting process so I'm somewhat familiar with the administrative what administrative law requirements are I think the bottom line is your professionals the people in your engineering department have the the the situation has not risen to the level where it they feel that you need to adopt they need to adopt they the professionals need to adopt a regulation to deal with this and until they do I don't believe it's appropriate for you to apply this this condition because as Mela said it could be deemed to be arbitrary and capricious yeah I I appreciate your comment but again as as I've said before the planning board's going to rely on our own experts and our own legal expertise um and so we'll we'll go to those sources and then and then we'll come back I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just saying we're going to lean in the direction of our own of our own people and then we'll come back for a discussion on this or or to make a point on it uh Mr zamuro do you want to make a comment Charlie's hands raised but yes Mr zudo would you like to make a comment please Charlie are you there okay all right so we we'll get back to that it's not being decided today um next on the list is Conservation Commission I don't believe um that that that isn't in process yet I don't think right hello Mr oh he's there Charlie would you like to say a few words can I hear you hello yep we can hear you we can hear you right yeah have te technical difficulties can you hear me Terry I can hear you so everyone else can too Charlie hello you all there yeah we're here speak oh okay so I built several buildings and I've never had a city or municipality ever asked me to put a rind of pump in for a storage system we built 65 units and some of we never had to do it um I've built we're probably close to 100 units of framing now they never asked marro has never asked I could go on and on about all the cities of the big apartment buildings we've done that are much larger than this and they'd never asked uh thank you yep I I I appreciate that it's just that you know the question has come up and so we're asking you know we're not asking you to do it we're asking that we're going to be investigating it a little further and we're not going to come up with an answer today you know so so is this just for us or for every project it's just it's just a question it's a question that came up like should this be a regular part of what we require in Ashland you know it just happened that it was mentioned during the technical review and so we're following up on it that's all there nothing to do who mentions it just for my information who mentions it the water and sewer department and they asked for it or they just asked it's I I think it's a it's it's a it's an idea now it's okay and that's what it is and I think this B I think we are trying to thoroughly flush out the idea to see if it can be no pun intended uh I didn't even mean to do that um if it could be into or should be applied across not just this project but any future project yes let's not let's not panic about it now let's just we just want more information we want more information as a board we're trying to just understand this point let's through it in future all right but Conservation Commission process has not been that's not started yet okay color schemes obviously we're working on those design Review Committee report I think that's basic I think that's basically done except for the things that are about gcg but that's not the design Review Committee part that's the planning board part those are right concert mineus a signage yes yep minus signage so most of those items are are being taken care of conservation the plantings I think I believe also most of those were addressed on the um in the design Review Committee they were swapping out some plants for others they were swapping out um I don't native species maybe for others there were there were little swaps and there was something in there I think they suggested um the applicant suggested that'd be put in as a condition that everything has to be off the suggested plantings list you know from the um from the town the conservation agent um and and things like that so I think all of those they were fine making those those changes I I think that I mean I I would agree with that assessment but I think the last from the conservation agent was a little bit open or confusion maybe so I what you said I agree and it's if it's all taken care of on condition then we're fine I can go pull those things out again I was reading through them before the meeting um but yeah it seemed they seem to be taken care of to me but we can we can double check that um sewer capacity I think we have confirmed that the water and from the water our water and sewer consultant that everything is thing saying your hand was still off that everything is good I I think it is in writing but um we'll have to we pull up that document that was yeah I don't have I don't have that one in front of me but we can get have that in writing um the waterf flow test I think that was also complete right that's Ty that's typically uh I have confirmed that there's no question that this section of town uh actually the downtown has the highest water pressure in the downtown and there's no evidence that this wouldn't have enough water flow to it but that's something that is typically conditioned Within an approval process all right the swept path analysis was looked at by the fire department um and in a letter he said thought one part of it might be a little tight but he was okay with it was basically the gist of it um and the technical review um oh in relationship also to fire he also said that the fire sprinkler connection that's not on this list but it was mentioned before he said he liked the location where it was being shown on the corner of Homer and Alden because there was a fire hydren across the street um and then finally the technical review um that we're looking for a response for the all departmental comments but I think a lot of them are already integrated into this list can we double check that to make sure I believe so but I'll double check yeah I think we already integrated them so all right any further questions that we will be continuing to re to revisit this list but we're we're you know chopping off pieces of it I think just so we don't forget we may I think we are expecting this to be complete but we may have to add the gcg final review to so CU I I think it's a good process we established we probably should start at the beginning doing this we open things um next time but just add it to this list I think yeah I think that can be obviously at the top of the list CU I think you and I both commented that going through the gcg list there are lots of resolved resolved resolved but there are lot also a lot of things that are not resolved and some of those things are B are planning board waivers and maybe next time we will as a board focus on those things that gcg is saying planning board to approve planning board waiver needed or conditions that's right so maybe next that would be a great thing to focus on next time any was this this project having solar panels we it does have solar panels and I think Ron mentioned that they had a layout had a layout sharing it's in here oh it's in the packet somewhere if you can see my screen uh um you can see an image looking down on the roof cell spacing yep cell spacing thank you not visible from the street do you want to do that now sure and and Terry I just want to make a note I know I see Rick on the call Rick do you want to jump in and provide any comment or or color on on where things stand from environmental standpoint I know you did receive um the gcg letter um in and and I know Terry noted in a call that you were looking to um set up a call with gcg to go over outstanding issues um but do you want to add anything to this conversation uh no I I I do want to do that I mean I think the major of a lot of the gcg issues have been addressed I think we're down to a couple of just fine technical issues um and I think that you know with a phone call um or a zoom meeting or something or even in person I'd be happy with um I think we can um address the rest of the remaining comments um and be able to get the clean letter that we're looking for out of gcg okay so in your in your in your opinion the gcg letter that was dated I believe November first there was no red flags into a hurdles you believe we can overcome no it's just you know there's multiple ways we can address it I just want to talk to them to figure out the best way to address comments there was nothing that was insurmountable in that in that report okay all right I'm happy to work with you and obviously it's it's good to see you on the call thanks all right does anyone have any further comments before we try to wrap this up and continue all right so I I think what we will be looking at for next time that we discuss this is that we will look be looking at the gcg items at minimum we'll be looking at the gcg G items that they pass back to the planning board and go through that list um we'll look at the colors if if we have what we need I'm getting a little tired of keeping going back to Colors without the information that we need um so we would then be continuing this to we only have the 14th before for yeah so looking at the meeting schedule our next meeting and our only one our only meeting excuse me in December is on the 14th then we're going to jump into 2024 uh still scary saying that but that we're going to meet on the 11th and the 25th at this point and so I think we're looking for a continuance um and and and at this point where we stand probably Beyond you know we're looking for a continuance uh into the new year uh and Terry please weigh in on on your opinion and obviously we need to talk about extending the date of the decision to be filed with the town clerk so I think we're happy to to extend the cond the the public hearing to December TW to December 14th if if I if I obviously reading the room but I think the the decision date needs to be moved out to at a minimum of January 25th no I think the decision date needs to be moved back to a minimum of March 1st because March 1st yes because as soon as even when we get through all the gcg stuff all the color stuff all these other things we're still going to be having to go through conditions and go through an approval document if we have if we vote to approve and that takes quite a while that's not going to happen in a couple meetings and so I'm a little I for one am a little tired of just kicking this two weeks two weeks two weeks or a month I want to give us I I want to say March 1 I don't want to deal with this issue again I want to to be slightly realistic that we can that we can reach that point so I'm looking for I'm looking for somewhere around March first and then we'll see if we get it done by that time any comments on that from the board and I know that might be frustrating but there have been a lot of delays a lot of postponing and delays here that have not been in our court not in the planning board's court and this is just a date that we have to keep kicking down the road and it's it's it's starting to annoy me Terry is is this acceptable to you uh representing the applicant I have to discuss a matter with my client you and I can confer with it um before the next meeting we will certainly yeah we need to we need to discuss it we're certainly inclined to do it but probably best if I don't say anything more this evening that's fine where's the date currently at the next date's December 15th no I mean where's the date the deadline date at December 15th okay yeah so so the that's where it stands right now the decision if it wasn't a if it wasn't if it wasn't agreed upon by the applicant December 15 we would have to file a decision on December 15th and obviously Terry you and I can work together but in the meantime the planning board will have to take action to make sure that we're protected um and and and we'll go from there but obviously two weeks gives me myself plenty of time and uh to to do what I need to do uh to protect the town and the planning board uh if that that extension is not granted well I think we could we could extend it to like you said the first meeting in January at this point but but I I want a discussion to happen about a more realistic date you know because when we when we continually meet and we don't get the things that we need to meet about um that's just not in the planning boards we're not we're not slowing down this process right and um I'm just getting tired of dealing with this date every other every other meeting so one of the key things that we reason I that I I'm reluctant to commit to a specific date at this point is a lot of time was spent discussing this issue of uh colors and I have to confer with the team to see to see what whether we're in a position to give you what you want in two weeks uh which will obviously impact how far into the new year this goes so so Terry I think what was offered by the chair if I can say this uh and please step in if I'm wrong is that uh if we could continue this out to the first meeting in January which would be the January 11th so that would be January 12th that would relieve myself of writing a decision uh you know in preparation for the meeting on the 14th to vote on which probably wouldn't be in the favor of you the applicant so in my mind if we can continue this out to at a minimum of January 12th that would at least open up the conversation and the lines of communication to talk about a realistic date which would move into March as as suggested by the chair well we could certainly agree to continues to January 12 without any further discussion that's not an issue okay so let's continue to January 12th okay let's let's continue the decision date to January 12th we'll was that what it yeah the the hearings on the 11th okay and then we'll we'll continue the public hearing until until December 14th and obviously you and I can work together to concur that you will be able to provide information obviously regarding the colors and then I'll work with Rick to to set up a meeting with gcg to kind of tie down the the kind of the loose the continue to continue to tie down some of these Loose Ends uh but I think that that's a positive that's a positive suggestion you know there it the chair is right there's been a lot of delays but the frustrating thing for us is we're gcg is a moving Target we we you know that's one of the thing reasons why we can't commit to you know have trouble committing to a specific time we have no guarantee that if Rick meets with you know with them there won't be something else but I don't need I don't want to delay this any further we'll agree to January 12th or whatever it is and I fully expect that we'd probably have to before then extend it out somewhat further but uh we appreciate the time you spent on this spending on this tonight and Madam chair I want to make clear we we're very appreciative of the time you spent throughout the many months that we've been here we're almost there and we we will keep our heads down and keep keep running towards the goal line can we get a clarification are we going to try to do a site visit for the colors or not did we agree that we want some kind of panel that we ourselves will carry out into the sunlight or are we actually going to try to do something in person with the applicant can that be clarified I think given that sunlight is before 4:30 that's that's probably not going to happen but I think but I think we could have I think we could get the colors and we could bring them out we could have a um you know a either alone or together you know yeah I I I think if they are provided as we have requested on a board or on on a on an assembly um then we can organize with Peter a ways to come see it on the outside or or or whoever can go to the side but we need to have it in an assembly uh Al together clearly organized and that that'll do it if I have the boards I'm here in town hall obviously I'm happy to meet anybody you know in you know in the morning I'm in you know myself Ando Alvaro are happy to beet anybody you know from what I'm suggesting is can we ask the applicant to give that to us sooner than later so maybe we can try to do it by the 15th of December if that's doable on the application team I'm I'm sure they would and I'm speaking for now for you Terry in the application team but if that's doable I think it' be great to to receive something yeah so why don't I work with Peter to kind of make a a more description descriptive definitive what we want as far as these samples so that it's ex extremely clear and um see if we can get those in advance so that we do have an opportunity to take them outside and you know and all of us have very busy schedules but on our own schedule get to see them in the little daylight that we have and then we could have a more valid discussion on the 14th so okay so looking to continue this until the 14th um and the date decision date would be going out to January 15th 2024 2024 yeah all right is there a motion to continue guess I'll I'll make a motion to continue uh 949 Homer Avenue hearing to um January oh December December 14th and a second second that roll call vote andit I Marcel hona i k Jers I and Trisha Kendall I so that is continued to the 14th last meeting in 2023 so Margie thank you thank you guys thank you everyone and Terry and uh Rick I'll follow up with you later in the week sounds great cor thank you thank you all all right so next item on our agenda is the discussion with um sustainability committee Margie um on the materials that were um sent to us on the new tree by law yes so I am G to does anybody have to take a break no Okay jump into it all right so Mar I'm going to kind of just go through through this memo and I think you received this so and I'm I apologize chuck had to Chuck had to leave so first off did everyone get to see the memo that was proposed everyone read the memo does anybody have any questions so just to kind of make sure I read it correctly what's behind the memo is the is the most recent draft so what's behind the memo is the most recent draft of the bylaw that was provided by Margie now this bylaw the bones of everything here was developed back in 2019 2020 in an effort from a sustainability committee and at the time our assistant Town planner and our sustainability manager that draft was um reviewed by Lisa me um and then right at the same time Co hit and so that's what kind of put the breaks onto the development of this bylaw obviously now a few years later we're picking it back up and I think Margie's made a couple changes to it uh however my memo was put together just to provide some light some color some history some context to tree bylaws in general so so it was put together as more of a comparison document while the the bylaw was something for the planning board to read to look through and and to to analyze um so can we relative to your memo would it make sense for example um like your memo talks about protected tree right the draft of the bylaw defines um protected tree sorry I got to find that one protected tree as six 6 in so do we understand your bylaw as being I mean I'm just trying to understand like the your memo relative to the draft how should we kind of look at the two so they kind of across okay they kind Cross of each other they kind of cross reference each other because number one our bylaw is is outlined within through this memo but it's also I'm trying to also compare what other communities are doing okay and and throughout the bylaw we create we we take three different our communities and I do want to make a note publicly Samantha Riley our sustainability committee uh sustainability um manager was the one that really put this my memo together with myself okay and so I want to give her credit first and foremost um for putting this together but with this said I'm also I'm cross referencing the memo and the tree bylaw and I'm also putting a comparison in to say this is what we're proposing we're proposing 6 Ines right right and six inches is what Arlington and Welsley did Welsley is 8 in oh your M said Arlington and Welsley Define a significant tree of six I'm sorry you're correct so is it Arlington and Welsley at six Su eight and Somerville Somerville is at eight so if we choose six and larger we're doing something consistent with Arlington and Welsley correct oh yeah I'm just trying to understand how to read this and I'm just trying to say these are the differences between 6 8 this is a 10-in tree this is a 12in tree gotcha and then I can I can also tell you just for clarification if you look behind you at the seal on the outer ring the blue that's a 56 in Tree in diameter right so that's a big tree yep so the yellow inner or the yellow the next step in a 48 in tree and then the inner seal which is just the Clock Town Hall in in the river that's a 35 and2 inch diameter tree so I'm just trying to add to say like okay this is what all other towns are doing but at the end of the day this is what we're proposing as a major tree six Ines we're proposing we're choosing a very aggressive definition of a protected tree I I I would I would land there agressive was a good just so that we're all on the same page so it seems like one way to read your memo is to kind of go through it and see where we as a planning board might have some consensus like where would we be comfortable presenting something to town meeting Yes again we don't necessarily have to all love it but we have to be comfortable to give it to town meetings so that the public can actually take a peek at it y so so on on the point of um the tree diameter at breast height though I mean I I feel like we have to hear from the sustainability because the whole part of this is over a sustainability issue and the a 6-in tree processing carbon versus an 8 in tree versus how long it takes to grow to that size I think are relevant that I'm thinking sustainability knows more than we do I did some kind of quick internet research and got that it's actually I mean you can say 6 in is sort of an aggressive definition but it's not it takes a long time to get it treat in oh yeah no no I I understand I mean within this construct I don't mean aggressive relative to the world I mean aggressive relative to what's in front to the bylaw and the whole memo is broken up into different points of interest I call them right number one applicability how do how were we the town the bylaw the planning board going to to enforce quote unquote a tree bylaw and also what do other towns do so I try to outline that right understood I think for me just big picture what I would love to see is a tree bylaw that we can get to town meeting and even if it doesn't have everything I love in it I want it to pass right and so I would love six but probably eight or 10 is more likely to pass I'm just kind of throwing out there a thought right and so I would for one would be happy to start somewhere see how it goes in Ashland and make it more quote unquote aggressive over time because right now we don't have any tree law whatsoever so I'm just going to throw that out there that maybe it's not so much about comparing it town to town for me it's more about trying to find some kind of compromis position as quickly as possible so we can deliver this to our people and see how it goes that's my philosophical position on this whole thing okay because if we're going to start not arguing but trying to find the perfect answer to every single problem we're not going to have a tree bylaw in my opinion because lots of people are going to disagree whether six is too aggressive or not aggressive enough so I'm just going to throw that out there because I think that will help us actually get to a tree B that we can get to town meeting pass see how it goes and maybe five years from now take a more aggressive stance what process do we want to go through and tonight to get to a better understanding of where the I mean Peter has his memo but he's distributed we've probably all read it do we want to start there do we want to look at the actual bylaw sorry I keep turning my microphone off do we want to look at the actual bylaw and say you know and and kind of go through that what do we how do we want to apprach I feel I feel like Peter's memo might be a good way to start if Peter can outline hey what are the five things we need to kind of decide to give direction I think seems like size is one of them so size is one of them right big topic right I I think applicability is the big thing that we need to kind of flush out I think number one and I'm just going to go through the proposal right number one we're going to say okay if you're if you're applying for site plan approval right what are the triggers for site plan approval number you know it's it's any parking spot you know creating a creation of a parking lot greater than six six six parking spaces we have our own triggers in our in our bylaw right so I think but I think also a second element that we have to talk about is what projects are we going to catch what projects are we going to have to enforce this upon right so site plan approval is going to be mostly commercial developments mixtures developments um bigger developments of that nature that scale right but but it also applies to subdivisions as it say if we choose that so if we choose that I'm going to get there right okay number one site plan alteration I mean site alteration special permits that if someone's changing their grade greater than 500 I think it's uh greater than 500 square ft or with 500 square ft of material look looking across the board all tree bylaws typically have any change of grade has that element in there then we go into subdivisions now subdivisions and I look at Margie because I kind of we went around this for a long time now within this subdivision we are saying this will apply to any new sub any new subdivisions this will apply and this will apply to the roadway that's cut in right that's what we're asking that's what we're saying right now but but but if the subdivision say is for say 10 lots for residential for houses and there there's a residential section of it that that that wants to um be applicable only to the setback zones so in the subdivision would that also apply or are we trying to so so that's a whole different thing so where everyone landed was that the tree bylaw will apply to the subdivision and it will sub it will apply to the subdivision to the roadway the culdesac right and so a developer will have to pay to cut down Andor Implement and plant a replacement trees for any trees cut down within that right away now a subdivision therefore creates New Lots right that's the whole point of a subdiv ision so any also and this is the kind of that second step within the subdivisions and that any new Lots created this bylaw would apply to so any new residential lots created via anr Andor subdivision residential this bylaw is going to be created now what we also did is we stole not stole but we borrowed Arlington's plan right so what Arlington does and a couple other communities especially well Wellsley doeses is too is that they almost take a what in Ashen would be a 30,000 ft lot right and then you minus then you look at the setbacks right the setbacks then creates what's known as the build buildable envelope right now any trees cut down in the buildable envelope are not are not that that that are are allowed right and that applies to someone that bought a lot on that subdivision and they can come say I'm going to build my house over here they have the right to they that zone to they have the right to cut down any tree within the build within the buildable envelope where they will put their house this bylaw is going to enforce the any trees cut down within the setbacks so right now within the residential a subdivision 30,000 foot lot which is kind of across the board is that we have a setback of 40 feet from the front property line 15 from the sides and and I believe 30 from the rear right and so that's going to create your building envelope and so therefore um I believe it was a dendam c that was that was sent out um but also right here a sample tree plan mhm and so that was kind of the compromise we landed at because and I will say I was was a fierce defender of this cuz I really was was skeptical about this right but I do want to make note and I think it's the biggest thing that we have to talk about is not the biggest thing that we need to talk about but we need to make it clear that this tree bylaw is not going to be applicable to any lot that was created pre today adoption of this zoning bylaw so if if Mar solo I'm going to use you an example thank you because Trish is sitting next to me uh but this bylaw if you want to cut down a tree in your setback in your front setback we can't we're not going to be able to apply this bylaw to you this is only going to be applied to any newly created residential lot from here on out if accepted at Town media retroactive just for setbacks so essentially when you say subdivision subdivision approval we're talking about just the setbox areas just the setback are the road and the road the RO so I think that's really important to make it super clear in the in the draft the draft should openly say relative to subdivisions this only applies because I know legal Le can be really complicated correct I think we need to be blatant and clear that this only applies to setbacks and roadways period relative to subdivisions correct and obviously the grand father Clause needs to be completely clean 100% yeah it's got to be and you got to allow for we have to allow for exceptions for the development of a driveway right in elements of that nature which are resp which are common right but that was kind of the that was the that was the easiest way at least for me as a town planner to buy into applying the tree bylaw in action to a residential development because to a to a subdivision you mean to a subdiv y to also but to residential land because here's the other thing right there was conversation you say and this is what other towns do right if you're in Welsley or Arlington this applies to all residential homes so now it doesn't matter if your lot was created in 1950 if you're going to cut down a tree in a setback this bylaw is going to apply to you right which is what we're doing no we are not doing that we're going to go grandfather it we're going to be saying this applies to any newly created lot from this date here on out for subdivisions for subdivisions well there's only two ways to create a buildable lot subdivision and an anr I understand but but so I have a question so I I I think I I I understand now the process and it seems reasonable to me I think as a Point of Departure so what happens if um if if somebody plants a subdivision for commercial purposes uh and and their whole intent was to avoid clear cutting and and things like that so how that would not apply to a commercial development or or if it's let's say it's a subdivision to put some warehouses mhm then what happens well you're still going to have to build a roadway no the roadway I get it but the lots of each one of those commercial entities most likely those commercial entities are going to have to file a s plan review M and then it would apply to them and then this and then it would apply then this would apply through that trigger so okay so this is what I was going to ask it maybe I'm kind of like oversimplifying it but the majority at least for me the majority of projects I'm concerned about are the projects we've had which are site plan approval where we are clear cutting that's and so that seems to be the Crux of our concern in Ashlin not so much the subdivisions maybe because I haven't seen that many subdivisions in my very limited time here on this board but I'm under the impression that whatever land we have left seems to be less vulnerable I think we're kind of past the faford era where we're subdividing land and we're kind of creating these new creative chunks I feel like we're in a new phase in Ashland where site approval is is where the clear cutting is happening I could be wrong but that's my perception no I think you're right and I do just want to make a note to this because as reviewing all these bylaws right Arlington Welsley this right and I and I try to outline this this is my memo right what they are protecting against is the tear down the 1950 home getting torn that's on a that's on a 10,000 foot lot that has mature cheese on it right that someone's coming in tearing down the tearing down the camp in alley Cape right and chopping down every tree on the site they're putting in a 4 and a half thousand square foot house and and and they're they're having to they take down every tree because they have to put the foundation in they have to work around the site and then they back fill with a couple with a couple trees here and there right and so that's what's kind of going on I kind of see and when you go through the triggers of the other bylaws especially in in in the other towns that it's the expansion of a footprint it's a it's a it's a raise and a redevelop of a residential lot it's a it's a it's a addition greater than 20 250,000 Square fet which is nothing right Andor it's a 250 excuse me 250 feet that's that's what I'm I guess what I'm saying is I think we're past that I Ashland has already been so what we're protecting against which I agree with you is a site plan approval is something different than what a couple of the other towns that already have adopted tree bylaws are protecting it against so I feel like we had to take kind of a hybrid approach to say okay how do you get commercial right well commercial is kind of kind of is defendable through Cy plan approval right now how do you look at any future residential well then you're going to have to create this date and say from here on out it's going from this I mean I'm comfortable with that because I think Ashland has already been clear-cut where it's too late to use the subdivision Provisions in the not grandfathered fashion like I think it I think we're past that point I think we're now no longer there I think thanks to faford and other developers were past that point and so we've clear-cut enough that to me the Crux of the issue is in sight plan review I'm just sharing my comfort level so I'm okay with this less aggressive grandfather version of the subdivision piece because I think it's more likely to work for Ashland does anybody off any you know I'm a uh being someone who regretfully has worked on at least one of those take Downs put up something much larger um you know I think those I think we could put something in that protects against extreme cases of that when like the 250 is that that's nothing that's no square footage that shouldn't Beed anywhere that's what I'm saying but um but the tearing down of a whole house and putting up something much larger I think I mean I don't think we have to focus on that right now but I wouldn't be opposed to having that kind of dramatic change in there now in that case you're really only affecting probably a few trees you know because you're only you're probably putting that house right back down where it was to begin with right um and so but there probably there could be a few mature trees around there it's not you're it's not like you're taking out 20 trees in the middle of your lot you know so you you suggest that you would do that by percentage saying if if the footprint of that Cape or whatever is, 1500 square ft if you go what Beyond like 50% more or would would you have to come to a formula that way I think I mean I think they did yeah U you know you know but I think I'm not sure we have to get into it in this round yeah but I think Anna had mentioned it before as it is happening in these other communities I mean yeah you know uh yeah and and it has to be proportional because it's not the same an addition of 250 square ft on a little Cape than on a large you know ranch or Co right so just there's four trigger points in in Welsley right demolition of a structure with a footprint okay excuse me demolition of a structure with a footprint of 250 ft or greater now that's a demolition of a structure right 250 ft of a structure that's removing a shed yeah that's that's nothing that's no space construction okay it's constructing a struct okay constructing construction constructing a structure on a vacant lot which is a home constructing a retaining wall uh with a height of four feet or greater so that's kind of getting into okay site alteration constructing a structure or an addition that increases the total existing footprint lot coverage by greater than 50% or more so I think what they're covering in what town is that that's Welsley I think what they're covering is that when you when you take out one of these little houses and then you find something bigger it's not just the house it's the landscaping and the pool and the pool house and the separate garage and so your whole that whole site starts to be affected depending on the thing in the land that's where I think the retaining wall comes into there and because it's not just oh I'm taking down my little ranch and I'm putting 150% Ranch you know back it's like that's not the problem because there aren't trees planted right next to your house anyway they no one you cut them down a long time ago so they don't fall in your house right so um that's not the issue it's that when you do one of these houses the project extends into the landscape MH so makes sense I don't think it's pervasive Ash at all right now I guess that's what I'm saying not to be overly practical but again I just want to tree bylaw to address what we've seen the most which is clearing with site plan review so I'm I'm happy to talk about other things but I don't want those other things to slow us down no I agree and I agree with that so so that's one element that I think we can we kind of discuss right and obviously that kind of rules through the next element in the memo talks about a protection plan oh hold on Peter but but Anna mentioned the first part was size correct and we didn't come to uh Anna suggests that we be a little less aggressive potentially that to to to and uh I mean how do we how do we feel about it um because I understand what Anna is saying I'm actually I'm I'm tending to agree with that approach but I don't know if it's a good one so how how do we but yeah I I mean I I'm going to go back to I think the sustainability committee has worked at this for three or four years so I it and atast we should at least kind of have a discussion I mean I think we were trying to partner with them so we shouldn't yeah um people that have had a lot I know a lot of those people in trishas they they have boatloads of research so we should at least talk to them makes sense what this memo is just is kind of highlighting point just the points of interest that we need to discussed as we talked about a bylaw is we have researched other bylaws right the other big element I think we need to really kind of get in well the tree plan I is is is is is kind of I think we've seen a couple really good examples of what a tree plan is and I think we need to just borrow it and and include it within our bylaw yeah you know and and then looking like this is this is not this is not uncommon on a site survey like site surveys do this all the time Mark the the type of tree and the diameter of the tree or whatever want to Mark so the another element um is is very common is tree removal so any trees that were removed prior to the application of a site plan submitt it's almost date it predates it back right so they're saying okay well if you knew you were going to come in for uh if Marcelo if you owned uh if you owned a building a develop you know a lot of land and you were and you knew in the next 12 months you're going to submit a plan to the planning board and you were going to um indoor if you were going to submit a if you're going to submit a plan but you went ahead and had a bunch of trees removed on the site and then 6 months later a plan shows up at the planning board for site plan review the planning board in town says Whoa timeout you just cut down these trees six months ago those are still those trees need to apply to what you just submitted so that what all these bylaws kind of do is to say they kind of give themselves a 12mon window to go back in time to say okay in the last 12 months did you cut any trees down on your property in an in the effort to kind of short circuit the tree bylaw does that make sense in our current draft does it have yes does it have that so that's kind of a no-brainer I think we it kind of has it I just want to put lay it out there yeah but that one seems like easy to get agreement and move on say keep it the next one is mitigation right and this is where money comes into play and so this is where I think it's going to be a very discussion with the sustainability committee but in the bylaw in this memo it lays out what is proposed by the sustainability and I think Margie can speak to that when appropriate and how it's calculated and then we kind of compare what other towns do and the replacement value of it I think that is that's kind of a big element and that leads into the next topic is obviously kind of replacement trees what we see um and where would the replacement be if you don't mind explaining so the replacement trees where would they go so they would number one they could go they go on the site and number two whatever trees that would not fit in or cannot be replaced on the site the developer would be paying a mitigation cost to a refund that would be to the town of Ashlin so it's not really one or the other it's more like mitigation and you can also put some on the property and you still have to pay as you yeah as you okay as you develop a site you're gonna replant and you're G to landscape right so it's almost you're saying okay what's here what's existing and what's proposed right and it's a mathematical equation to say and then you're saying well what how many inches at breast diameter height were existing on the land how many are going back in the planting plan and at what caliber and then what's the what's the difference and the difference is going to be uh a fairly I would say cumbersome meth mathematical equation that's going to pencil out into a a a mitigation fee that would have to be paid by to the town can you explain sorry go ahead there is a ratio too kind of a replacement ratio is it 1 inch to one inch and we see that across I think in Somerville and in Arlington and then Wellsley you have 1 in to 0.5 so for every inch you take down you're replacing with a half an inch caliper tree so if you take take down an 8 in tree you're responsible for replacing 4 in and that 4 in could be split via one tree I mean that that those four wrenches are most likely going to be split via two trees little of a tricky part in this and and maybe it comes into play in that ratio is that you know when you have like you know the area behind my house is wooded right and the be many trees to take out in there if you wanted to build in there um but in a way none of those trees can really develop to their potential like if there were fewer trees down there they would have bigger better canopies but they're all squish right so none of them it's not like going to Cushing Park where all these trees really develop their full canopy because they're spaced out so in a way there's also kind of this balance factor of fewer trees can actually have better healthier trees with bigger canopies than packing the trees in there like in the like in the natural woods behind my house right and so I I can understand maybe why sometimes the ratio isn't one to one because fewer trees spread out actually have bigger canopies I think that's just you know they're not overlapping each other 100% so now can I ask a math question am I reading your memo right that 10 inch Tree in Somerville is 4,500 bucks and in Welsley it's 1500 yes okay so that is interesting I'm guessing I'm just thinking policy wise Somerville is more urban so trees probably mean more I'm guessing that there must have been some logic to that MH because there's fewer trees left yeah I cannot confirm right I'm just kind of I'm just kind of brainstorming what that actually me yeah yeah I'm just trying to understand like what is a tree Worth right like at some level we have to decide that and so we are not as rural as wellsly therefore not as flexible we've let go of a lot of our trees already so we may be closer to the urban policy of like holy we have a tree we better save it but maybe we're not as not as concerned as somville because we're not exactly in the city so we may be somewhere in the middle between wellesley's perspective of a a tree versus Somerville world like oh my God this is going to cost you some money but it may also be the kind of developer that's coming in right who can afford more or less maybe so I don't really know what they're thinking do you know what they're thinking I don't know what they're thinking number one I wish I did uh number two I think it's a I think you got to really it's I'm just trying to understand how to read the comparison right when I read when I read the comparison right yeah Somerville is urban it's the most highly densed community in the country right I think they always use that fact right Somerville is a tight community so yeah a 6in tree is a big tree in Somerville right like a tree and so yeah and and also and in Welsley yeah and and it's it's less right and I think from a other from a different standpoint right you have to say are we trying to punish somebody if they want to take down a tree and or do something to their lot and or develop on their land right so you're saying okay are we trying to punish these people uh are we trying to make but on the other hand I've also worked for I also do know that and I've worked for a tree company before in arborist when I was out of school cutting down a tree cost a lot of money right and so if you were going to cut down a tree right it can cost thousands of dollars right and then you try to tack on another ele another invoice right to the town of Ashland or to the town of you know example wellsy for this to say okay you're going to pay 30 you know $3,000 to cut down a a specimen tree and also you're going to pay the town another $3,000 so now the removal of that tree is not just going to cost you is going to cost you $6,000 right and so from a policy standpoint which this bylaw is it's a policy we have to say you know I think it's kind of you have to weave you have to really kind of thread the needle to say what type of town are we yes we value trees but also do we want to punish somebody if they're going to change something on their property and also how much is a tree and I think that's what Margie is trying to ele kind of tried to point out in this is trees are expensive and trees are expensive number one right and tree work is expensive removing trees is expensive and so it's a huge huge price act that you're asking that you're putting on this and we don't want to just I'm not I don't think towns are in the business to make money oh yeah no and I certainly don't disagree with you and I I don't ever look at this as a any kind of punishment I think it's about our values as a community and if we have a value of protecting the trees we have left I would argue that actually adds to our value and potentially makes us more profitable to come into to develop in theory if anything are rewarding developers because they can then come to a beautiful place where renting an apartment becomes even more pricey and they can charge more because you live in a beautiful Green Space I think there's a reason Wellsley apartments are expensive because people want to live in green spaces is a pro and a con because I don't know if it's a punishment but it can become one it can become one because we talk about affordability i t to agree with with Peter I I I I what what I like about all the work that has been done is that it it is setting up an objective and I think being consistent with the objective is more important and than than anything else so in a replacement condition um what is the objective the objective is to have more trees rather than less trees if there's a replacement where a person can cut a tree and then plant another two like the example you you you you gave I I I think then the objective would be fulfilled adding fines and things and and and additional regulations is overbearing and I think it's it's very easy to put on a piece of paper and and the impact is that it it it it just may not pass right I mean I think make the replacement easy you know make the replacement attractive and easy so that you're motivating the value of our community which is I think we're valuing trees more than collecting fines at the same time some people may simply find it easier to write a check and not worry about figuring out the perfect tree to plant and so I can see that that can be efficient that's a hypothetical maybe somebody would do yeah maybe not that's difficult to pinpoint right uh uh and by the way just before I forget under applicability there's four bullet points but I want to go back back to one that I think is missing the town of Ashland needs to be also part of that on public work and is not there and I've said it before I think the town has to set examp Follow by example by showing that the town plan review cover that for the town project site plan review it's like the school project would be site plan review how about a road um maintenance that has some trees or something so it happen sometimes with talked about on the road that is public they want take it out and what I've seen across the board is tree bylaws do not take into account what's with the scenic road all the tree bis that I've seen leaves the scenic road which is Section I believe 87 um whatever the the state statute is section 15 they it totally leaves it alone oh we can't touch it it's law can't override state law correct so they kind of that's not going to be impacted at all agree with you Marcel that yes we should have we should we should obviously is we cut down trees on Scenic roads that are that are have seen better days right we should replace those trees and I think a tree a tree fund could be used to help do that right but I think just as the that that this this the scenic Road statue and the shade tree statue of Mass General law is is it they're never cross-contaminated with a with a community but I think you're talking about other roads that are not Scenic like Scenic talking what whatever whatever the state uh I'm not interested in that I'm saying that any work for whatever reason even if it doesn't have to be highlighted here is if the town in town property cuts a okay has to cut a tree it has to be part has to be the the the applicability and and and the remedy MH should also apply so you're talking about adding that protection like the protection we have in Scenic routs where we take a tree down we replant it you're thinking of expanding it to all other roads in public property I mean you you talk about values I mean what better value to show the values if the town actually has to pay to do that too so it's not Cavaliers oh yeah we're going to CH that but the is not you're thinking of doing that even if it's not a uh site plan approval just like any reason anytime well the by law is to get better trees in Ashland I mean that's part of Ashland yeah I mean that's I agree with you but I think that's more from a policy standpoint like that's a policy standpoint what that's what this is isn't this by law policy so essentially you're proposing you're proposing so you're proposing a paragraph that would basically say you know part of the purpose is to lead and any Town property that has a tree of the size this would apply to it regardless of whether it's a special permit or not I I we don't even have to phrase it that that specifically it just added to the applicability one bullet that says public property public property or property of the town of as except whatever covers by the state I think as long as all the exceptions still apply like safety you know whatever the exceptions are but that's in it already that seems reasonable to me there are exceptions that were kind of boilerplate tree safety X Y and Z M I'm just curious as to like and I have no I no idea what the number would be but and I don't maybe it'd be possible to go back and do an analysis on it like what if this had to be done for the school or the public safety building right I mean those are projects that I would deem I think the community would deem that we essential for Ashland right um and what would what would that dollar value be I mean granted they especially in the case of the school they replaced they planted a lot of trees right they're still planting trees I think U maybe in the public safety building there was a little less opportunity for that I'm not sure um but what would have been that bill what would the bill have been you know and the same bill that would have been for a commercial or or or it's true but a commercial property is making profit for and a public it is not right it's not it's not so I think they are different but let's think a little bit about the the mo it's not just about the money it's also about Behavior right so what happens is when when you have a when you like this idea of punishment I don't think it's about punishment I think it's about changing Behavior because when you have a BW that says for every tree you got to pay x amount or you got to replace it guess what I'm going to do as a developer I want to avoid both right an ideal scenario it's a behavioral change which says oh I'm going to create a footprint that's not going to take anything down because I don't want to pay for and I don't want to replace trees so it's hard to say what would it have cost because in theory it would have cost nothing if the footprint would have been completely different so any project when you have a quote unquote a fine it's not a punishment if you can completely avoid it which is what happens behaviorally I I think that's true but um I I think it's also I very idealistic to to think that projects really work that way that you can finagle this building around or these types of building buildings around that many trees there's so many other complicated factors and it it's easy when you're just looking at one thing all I'm thinking about is trees but that's not really that's not really how those the project is so much more complex than that you know so um P TR would would it the the the bylaw and the memo are are saying like you can cut a tree if it's going to fall on your house that's an emergency okay it should be covered you logical um you could say I think following your train of thought the town needs a police station because it's an emergency you need to have a good police station and we have to build it here okay I I can buy an exception for that maybe if because it's Public Safety or or what have you those are one of they don't come all the time whereas the rest of the space may maybe more malleable to Ching trees no no I agree and I'm not trying to give any Municipal project of a free pass not not at all what I'm trying to do I'm just saying that I'm saying that there is a different and I think we should plant a tree if we chop one down I think that's a great idea sometimes again it's a little trickier than that because where do you put it you can't put it right by the road again what anyway but um but but I'm saying there is a difference between a municipal project and and a private project though I think those those are two different categories I'm not saying that both shouldn't be responsible and look at trees carefully and be sustainable obviously but they are different I I I totally agree and and and I'm not like dismissing it uh I I just have a a certain aversion to Reg ation that just these governmental entities throw it into the public oh but we are accept I kind of I kind of agree with that I do think there's an there's an there's a benefit to this being hey developers we're not punishing you we are putting forward a value that is actually something that is consistent with what we're doing both public and private I think that actually makes this stronger if we can figure out a way to do it I also hear Trisha's point which is that if you have a large public project this could be burdensome potentially for a large public project and so maybe the trick to making it apply to both public space and private space is to make the public space contained like a of a certain size right so public projects of what we would consider to potentially not be burdensome for a public project and there's got to be some definition of that that we can think about based on what might be reasonable right so there should be compromis there I think there's just there should be some kind of and this could be a true AC maybe it's already in here um but it could be true across the board of a kind of um application of a of a waiver in in a sense like if the if one of the public projects had gone through and proven their case that we looked at these five different sites but this is the best one because of these other important reasons or or um um you know whatever it is it could be a private project too that said look I tried to do this and there's nothing you know there's I'm trying to do the best that I can but this is just a difficult situation that there's a compromise there's a compromise in there somewhere there's a way that it can be analyzed instead of nope this is what the bylaw says pay up man I I love the way you said it because the if if the law applies to to to the municipality equally so does the waiver fair so I I I I think that is probably a good Avenue to say you know the town is not exempt the town needs to be just this might explain why most bylaws don't do both because once you start opening it up for public flexibility you have to open it up for private flexibility isn't is an a side plan review or or special pyramid flexibility included there it's judgment I I personally think sticking to my my level of comfort is site plan approval to me covers public projects and so I for one think that's sufficient because it already does it I think the second you start carving out extra public space you you're going to have to have exceptions which opens up a whole category of exceptions for private space you're going to open up a can of warms but I think that's what Marcelo was saying that they're the same and so if there's a waiver that anyone public or private can make a case that says hey you know um my situation is I'm a I'm a developer right and I'm going to come in here I want to put this but my situation I have a lot of trees but my Situation's a little different let me explain it what's going on here like these trees are two feet apart from each other and so I have all these trees but the trees can't even grow they have no canopy right there has to be there has to be a means to explain a situation that's not just black and white on paper because almost nothing's that simple right right I mean I mean that's true but I don't think I don't think we're going to get to language a waver that's going to be adequate to protect I mean when developers don't see black and white they think it doesn't apply I work for a construction company right we respect black and white and when it's not it's like you I probably don't have to do that right and they're not I mean it's it's going to be very very very difficult to write a waiver that's going to be meaningful to actually get a tree by not like write it in the bylaw it's saying that you have to come in front of this a board that will decide your fate for you there no but if there's no parameters for that I mean that that feels like that's a throwaway thing I'm just saying so we seem we seem to be interested in comparisons to other communities do other communities do some kind of special waiver where you can come on come in and sort of argue with the bylaw see it's a great question and I Canna say no but in defense not in defense but is is there to further conversation I look at the other bylaws especially in and I'm going to say Welsley and Arlington's because I think those are the closest commun to us is that their bylaw was adopted to defend against the teardown right and when I read their bylaws nothing to me screams commercial development subdivision development right so I think we're kind of forging our own Road here without cutting down any trees um I think we're trying to forge our own road to kind of make this hybrid blend right to make it Ashland right and I think that's going I think it's very I think it's going to be difficult but I think at the end of the day we'll probably get a byla that fits our community a little bit better than just saying hey let's just steal one from another community and and try to and try to make it us you know what I mean I mean try to try to kind of you know just make it fitting into the bylaws because at the end of the day if we do that it's not going to get us to our goal which is really against the commercial you know the the commercial development right and so that's that's my answer I would say in a nutshell thinking about how to P like how to get a tree bylaw through and pass town meeting I think the things that the community is going to care about are is exactly that it's not the tear down we're not yeah we don't have the same objectives right this community is very concerned about you know large developments a ton of construction you clearing large parcels and so I think like a clean very clear as clean as possible as straightforward as possible bylaw is how we get this through town meeting where we say to people like this this is the purpose we are not saying that if your house was built in 1961 and you want to clear trees for an addition that you need to this this does not apply to you this this applies to you know a far fraud situation where you know there's going to be a gigantic development in C well except site plan approval covers public projects that have a site plan approval so I think we have to figure out if for public projects we're going to create some sort of special exception I for one I'm strongly against it I don't think any kind of special exception is necessary I think that the spaces we have that are public where there's trees I think there's enough Community value interest in trying to protect them that it's worth the quote unquote burden um I personally think it that's worthwhile for town meeting discussion I'm comfortable handing that over to the people of Ashland and if the people of Ashland say hey no we don't want public properties to be impacted then we're going to have a problem passing this but I'm I I believe that that should be not my decision or the planning board's decision but the town meeting decision no I agree when when I'm saying I think think we need the a very clean straightforward simple proposal I I would say I lean against sort of the waivers or the exceptions for that reason um yeah my my thought is that if we say to people here's this great you know public policy that we want to deter sort of these very very large developments and these this clear cutting of what's left in our community but here's this waiver I think that's not going to go over quite as well I think it's not a way where it's a special permit right and I think that's the way you it's it's not a qual waiver it's a subdivision waiver but it would be a special permit which is a higher burden and I think within that you could break out if you did decide to go that route you could break out elements of of what what you could limit the possibilities you know and so I think you can kind of Flesh that out and yeah you know I know you guys haven't asked my opinion so I'm not going to give it on this one but if you do I will please please tell us what you think I agree with Marcelo and Trisha that a public project or a project of a scale is look if something's coming in it's a big development right the town is going to reap ta you know New Growth taxes right I wouldn't want to stag I wouldn't want to sty me a development right because of a a development that's going to be well planned that's going to replace a number of trees and it's going to give the community new growth and in new growth opportunities for a number of years right by short siding myself and saying you know what I can't you know I'm not going to work and I'm not going to do business I'm not going to I'm not going to work with you right and I'm not going to work with you and your financing package right to allow you to move forward with a development of a of a large scale construction that has a very wellth thought out Landscaping plan with implementation of trees throughout out to kind of say hey this I'm not you know I'm going I'm going to apply this to to 100% I I appreciate the the political kind of or policy view but I you know as a town resident I disagree I think that ultimately there's more to development than tax revenue and development reflects Community Values um development reflects the purpose of this bio the way it's drafted it's very much consistent with net with Net Zero with our our values in Ashland to move us towards a more sustainable future and if we continue to kind of prioritize tax tax funding over those issues we're going to have bigger problems there is an expense and a financial cost to not caring about sustainability or trying to weigh tax money over that so there there's got to be a different way to approach this and it's not one versus the other yeah I'm not I'm not worried about anything about like that today I think we can go through and create a a bylaw like you said that is simple and straightforward I'm just saying that um whenever you start to look at things in a vacuum and I chair the sustainability committee right like I I get the things that we're looking for there but you can never look at any of those things in a vacuum it just it's not it's not real it doesn't work that way so no matter how you want to go charging in to save the world with this particular thing you I look at my house right I'd love to put solar panels up in my house but I got to cut down some of those damn trees first right because it sh they shade my roof right so there's which one's better which one's more important which one's better for the Earth which one's better for the environment no one can give you that answer right so even that very simple example it's just more complicated than that so it's okay right to to kind of put for something very straightforward but I'll I'll always assume that there's going to be something coming up that someday not around the corner that's going to question the um validity of that and the approach that was taken this you kind is in the money the solution is in the money you've got to make it financially viable so that it changes Behavior rather than quote unquote punishes right and so there is a compromise there where as long as our mitigation costs and replacement is flexible we can find a medium that our community where we are valuing both we're we're valuing the value of moving towards net zero and at the same time we're not being overly burdensome on reasonable development right so there is there is a way and the way is right here I think we we're going to want to be more like Welsley and make make this more affordable for developers I think we're we're going to want to be really flexible so that replacing trees is easy marchie did you want to I assumed you would come to the mic if you wanted to speak I didn't think I was allow to speak oh you're definitely allowed to speak anyone's always allowed to speak I have so many points pass hours ago oh well come up to the mics I don't think I can piece it all together but come up and say the things that you are most Forefront in your mind the top whatever you want to do the top of I'm sorry that you didn't think that you could speak um you're going to have to speak to come up to the mic though just to and I just want to make sure everyone knows that this memo was to just provide color background to at least get the conversation rolling great how it has so great work sorry I I have a question I'm a little confused when you're talking about these public buildings that are on large properties I don't know what the setbacks are in a case like that and we're only covering the setbacks right we not saying anything about cutting trees in the middle is just for subdivision the site plan approval would be approval site so it would cover the entire site yeah okay I didn't realize that yeah I to think about that I'm reading this site plan approval means the whole CH Am I Wrong Peter no I agree I concur I concur so uh and I would like it to be that way unless you're saying that's a bad idea no I just didn't I wasn't aware so I had I haven't given any thought I figured site planine approval means we'll pick one recent one this one that we had today their entire site right now must have a bunch of trees the whole thing all of it would be covered that's my reading of it I would concur and it would be the the entire site you know I think I think that's the whole idea that's the only way to prevent CLE otherwise you're only preventing it around a little section so if the purpose is clearcut prevention there's no other way to do it other than kind approval that applies to the entire okay I'm going to throw out something that has not been discussed at all that's just like I'm just throwing out something weird what would you think about having a clause that says um that clear cutting is prohibited and then you have to Define clear cutting so you have to pick a percentage of a heavily would a lot that would be you know that you would find acceptable there actually are a couple bylaws that do that I mean I kind of I like that a lot because I think it makes it very fair and simple and it makes it not so personal like oh this size not this size this kind of project not this kind of project it makes it a lot more consistent with the greater purpose which is clear cutting so I personally like that approach but I haven't seen that draft I didn't think it would go over well so it's just been floating in my mind and not down in words I think it's great it simplifies it I think it makes it very fair because it's like our purpose is to avoid clear cutting we don't really care what kind of project it is here's a percentage that we like unless you want to start defining percentages for subdivisions or this that so are you were you saying that like okay here's my lot it's covered with trees the percentage is 25% I'm allowed to cut 25% to put my my building or my house or anything after that I'm gonna have to go through this is that what you're saying I'm just trying to understand no no well I haven't thought it out completely I mean I I wouldn't let go of um what we have because I think for example in a residential Lena subdivision I think it's really important that the setback areas remain wooded because people like to have privacy between their homes yeah I'm just trying to understand what it what it is you can you repeat that again what you you said then what the about the percentage well I was thinking that there would be a separate Clause that would say a certain percentage of a heavily wooded area must be retained and it might be 25% might be 35% sorry I was thinking the opposite 25% could be cleared and that it could go either way depending on what you decide as appropriate so essentially we would look at Ashland we would pick areas we have left and we would say we would Define what clear cutting means a certain percentage means clear cutting that's what we're trying to prevent and so if your lot has this many if your lot is this much full it's almost like a little table if your lot is this much full we want to protect this piece so that we retain and we prevent clear cutting it's almost like a mathematical formula we've got 100 trees we want to protect so clear cutting means cutting 80% of them so if your project Cuts 80% you can't do that essentially I think we're getting to the point where given the time that we need to wrap up you know for the evening so what what comes next with this um it' be interesting to at least understand one if you've come across one of these bylaws that it's a percentage now that we're kind of getting into the weeds with uh this method to understand the percentage method if that's um you know just if if there's an example you have or is there recording from this discussion okay I'd like to watch the recording and get all my notes down and share them with you okay yeah there are I mean I was going to suggest these points in this memo are are really helpful and and if we as a planning board can kind of come up to some sort of consensus as to where we are in each point I think that would be beneficial so that if you end up working with this draft you at least have some closure on a few issues I think hearing your thoughts tonight was super helpful to me to to understand more of you know what what your positions are yeah so I think very helpful and I mean that it does affect us but it's really the community we're just trying to get the best that we think can pass right but I also um I'm going to say this again about timeline right this is spring 24 I I think everyone Loosely agreed to that that that's what we want um and so we really you're talking no later than march to have something by the time of the public hearing process about that to be prepared so I agree so we do need to talk about work plan and dates and like expectations to get there well what format could I respond if you know if I put together can I can I propose like something for the planning board like to me I don't know why we can't just kind of try to reach some consensus on this stuff like I for one would be happy with 10 i' love love six but I think 10 will pass or eight either eight or 10 as far as size should pass a town meeting I can I ask you why you think that that people at town meeting would be so concerned about the size of the because I think to the point of expense to the developers I think that in ashin will have a lot of weight I think Ashland cares about trees but also wants to try to be friendly to some development so I think it's a I think the size thing is going to relate to how burdensome this is for Developers so although I would love six I think ashin is probably going to land somewhere between 8 and 10 that's my perspective I don't think we need to reach consensus on that kind of detail tonight I don't think we it's just getting too late I think I think you can write a bylaw that has 6 8 10 and we'll Circle the right one when we decide what it is right if if that's the method we're we're going to use so I'm not sure we can I think it's too late that we're getting to any point of consensus it sounds like you're like I got a lot of information to digest here yeah but how should I present my responses to you I think you should I mean I think you should modify the bylaw according to I mean working with Peter or whatever to keep modifying the bylaw according to what you think you are hearing from the planning board and what and what you believe right that's I think it's all about modifying the bylaw and modify there were things that you raised that that there are answers to that you don't know I mean I I I don't think it's that complex to say that there seems to be I heard consensus somewhat that we want to Value the trees but also find a way to be flexible with developers and there seem to be nodding when I mentioned the idea of keeping the replacement cost low like wesle or below and making it super easy to replace and plant trees to kind of be very flexible with the definition of what replace placement of tree is okay I have to say one thing so this thing about punishment it's it's a deterrent so developers take down trees that they don't need to take down because it's easier so that monetary value is a deterrent for them to leave the trees don't need to go so again unless the planning board as a whole thinks that we should go forward and still try to reach some kind of consensus on things I personally think I'm going to leave it to okay Margie and yeah Peter I'll P I can work yeah to take the comments here and take it the next step the next step forward which may not be perfectly in consensus yet but we'll get there so be possible for you to make a list of the issues that you think really need to be discussed and share that with me based on what you've read yeah I think so I mean maybe we can summarize something and actually pass it around to the board to get responses back to Peter um I keep playing with this thing um on on to make sure everything's included on that list that we thought was important so we'll come to we'll we'll do our thing to get information to Peter and he'll get it to you okay so all right okay thank you and please please make sure you let us know you want to speak next time I'll try to be more aware I okay get tired this time of night and don't do so good okay so thank you Margie we will make progress all right so where are we uh reports on planning board topics please tell me Peter that you have nothing for item six yeah I have nothing for item six thank you not to influence anybody reports from board members and town panel our comprehensive plan we have something on that I think that uh there is a PowerPoint presentation that was presented by the consultant at the steering committee meeting which passed around which summarizes public engagement plan it's printed out and everyone's binded that's it's on the open page yeah if you open up the binder it's on your left it's on your um that's the right hand side the most current update as you recall there was a joint meeting with select board where we had a a discussion about um the role of the planning board members myself and Kate relative to um the project management team following that meeting I did reach out to the project management team and requested a meeting um I did not get a response although Trisha responded and that correspondence is somewhere in here um so all I will say is I think that we're at a Crossroads in a way where I believe my interpretation and Kate's interpretation of The Next Step may be very different from Trisha's um and probably from uh the select board members who are on the project management team um I kind of took the last conversation to mean that we're going to get together and try to kind of have an adult conversation and work through it that's not happening um I think at this point I just have to kind of think about whether um what the Right Way Forward is because there seems to be such a disconnect between the different views that I'm I'm having a hard time seeing what a potential compromise would look like I I think you know and um obviously we just have the planning board here not the select board so they can't comment on it but I thought the conclusion at the end of that meeting was that and I certainly don't want to get into a lengthy conversation here but that we voted to maintain the current document which says that the steering committee is driving the effort that the steering committee is is talking to the consultant and the steering committee is guiding the project management team so I think that was what was decided on and voted that that structure still seemed that still seemed valid to the majority of the of the voters at that meeting Marcelo and Deepa you were there is was was that what was your what was your what did what did we agree on that night yeah I I think that's what we all heard but after reading Anna's email that you forwarded I wasn't I personally could not understand what was the intent of that meeting looking to progress the comprehensive plan as a project team or were you planning to set up a meeting to again discuss what we discussed so I was under the impression that we simply agreed the prior document stood I did not sense that we actually decided what the interpretation of that document was and I was under the impression that we would continue to have that conversation to figure things out that's how I heard it um so there seems to be some disconnect there I didn't think we voted for an interpretation I thought we voted to keep the document as is that's what I was reading the document word for word that's why I think it's a little confusing I I I totally agree I I I personally I I can't believe we're still talking about this that's just my view I think during that meeting there was an acknowledgement of a procedural set of mistakes that we going to not be repeated in the future and we ended the meeting saying that the document gives the steering committee clearly declarative the lead on the process and then the project management team will work with them under that leadership in whatever for the purposes of the comprehensive plan I to be honest I I I don't know I I don't have a difficulty reading that document and seeing a problem I think where the Gap is theing committee and consult who the leader is at this point Who's leading this whole thing and I think that's where I don't think the steering committee understood that project management is their support system and need something project management is right there to help them Sol it in between the meetings that we're talking about I personally meeting with a little concern that the project management team should have been there to have a help check on the steering committee because of some things that we heard there about how somebody is has a loud voice and some people are fening them it just defeats the whole purpose of having 28 people in a stering committee if people are be Qui and and I personally think the consultant reached out to make sure that this whole division of labor is helping her reach her Target otherwise this is going to be another fiveyear project if we derail that consultant without be the right support system so it feels like there is that challenge because I think the project management team is wearing two hats and they coming to the table the whole idea of the project management team for me is you com to the table with expertise but that time you're not a planning board member or a select board member but you're coming to the table with expertise and what the town needs to get this comprehensive plan to the Finish thing but I think there seems to be struggle of power going on the manag team not yes I mean there's only been one meeting of the steering committee since the meeting on the 15th and that was exact the next day the next evening right so of course of course these problems aren't cannot be sorted out in in that kind of time frame so and then of course we had the holiday so I'm still hopeful that I think we just need a little bit more time for these things to to hopefully iron out but but that is sticking with the document that was voted on and I think that was clear but having said that this is the second email generated from last three months trying to set up a meeting and not having a response from 50% of that project management feels a little bit stressed back at this point right it is I I think the problem we talked about communication so communication should be the thing I I think that uh the problem is that uh the initiation of the meeting if there if there is one it according to the document should be coming from the steering committee if they need a meeting to happen with is how I would read that document I I think we can move on but I just want to say I the um request that Anna sent I left the meeting thinking that was exactly what was supposed to happen people said work I think it was Deepa said the consultant should be so I was pretty taken aback when there was like I so I I don't know we are we are a not great place about it for sure what was that discuss the next the next um the no the the you read the email that and it was very simple I honestly thought that's exactly what we were directed to do after the meeting I I think the bottom line like you know I think arguing about the document is sort of we're past that point what what I will say is you know two things jump out at me from what I'm hearing one is the word power struggle I think is a really powerful important comment that resonates with me is something I'm reflecting upon and I have to say I'm not sure I'm the right person person at this point to continue in that role because of that term um and so I'm contemplating kind of how to react to it because I I was taken aback by the lack of response and that has a lot of significance to the health of the project and I certainly would not want to be um how do I phrase it the right way in the way of the success of the project and so at some point I think myself and I can't speak for Kate has to reflect upon what's the sign ific of this after that meeting and how to properly react to it so as an update I wanted you guys to be in the know of what's in my mind what's in my mind is I'm trying to figure out how to move forward so that I can be a productive planning board member I can support the comprehensive plan which has been key to me running for this position on the planning board that was one of my key reasons that I wanted to be in the planning board to make sure that happened and I'm trying to figure out you know how to be part of that project in a way that's consistent with what I recall voting for more than a year ago um and I do disagree with Trisha's interpretation of that past document I think there's a very strong sentence in there about data and the role of the project management team and I think whatever disagreements there are could have been resolved by a response to this to this email so it's about trust the trust has to happen both ways there has to be some Trust of Kate and Anna and there has to be some Trust of of the steering committee and there has to be some Trust of town staff and of the consultant and we all need to kind of be adults and I thought this was an adult thing to do um so if if there's a disconnect as a result of that maybe I'm not the right person to be in that current role that's kind of kind of where my brain is at and I'm sharing that no I think I I when I read this was like I would have expected that you would have gotten a response that that's what we talked about last time it is all about communication and the lack of communication and if you say that you did not get a response to this email which feels like we talked about it we talked about and I'm also curious about these recipients of this email so is that how the project management team has been communicating yes the project management team is that email right there the comp PMG project management team yep it's the entire project management team and the chairs and then Rob um and Trisha and obviously my suggestion was hey let's all the adults this is my my understanding of what the meeting was about yeah and I think and I don't think you should take this personally because I think it's not XYZ the problem it's all the members having the same issue so I think you're wanting to scale back is a different story but I think it's just not you right I think I I think that what's more important is less personality and more the fact that this town needs a comprehensive plan process us um and and we need to move Beyond these what I would call Petty disagreements if we're not able to be adults and actually communicate openly then there's a serious level of distrust it does feel personal because you wonder who's being distrusted right um but I think we need to move past it which is why at this point I no longer want to consider whether it's personal or not I want to put the comprehens of plan first and figure out how to move past this because I don't think anybody wants to spend two years in this kind of dynamic I think it's really about when we talk about empowering that's really about empowering the two co-chairs who are the head of the steering committee and they are the ones that should be leading this effort and I'm not sure yet given that they are so new that they fully understand that they are the leaders of this movement they are communicating with the consultant they are guiding the project management team and that power was given to them by the steering committee as a whole so I think maybe it has been confusing for them to have this project management team and then they're the chairs of the steering committee well who is talking to the consultant right it is that kind of line of communication so I think when I got this email it was very much like we just talked about this last night this is not what was supposed to happen this is not in the authority of the I know you two obviously had it ex completely the opposite view of what I came off with that this is not the role of the project management team to call a meeting and then invite the consultant and the chairs to it that's opposite of what should be happening and so that's where I was with this so to me it was it was a very surprising email to receive when I would have been waiting for that to come out of the chairs to you you know to direct that but I'm not sure like but I'm not sure they're empowered yet to understand that that is their role I think that's what I thought the kind of agenda of this meeting was that she was asking right I think people needed to understand their roles and that's why Anna's email very clearly invites all those members to the table let's talk about it which I feel should have been the natural Next Step because I don't think the steering committee co-chairs feel like they have the power and we had a long discussion that and I don't think that would have like okay I'm the leader of this 40 people I'm getting out from there I don't think in concluded that the two coaches definitely did not think the discussion was project management that night because they had their own list of steering committee challenges which I think it's really important to get a health check um but again I'm just surprised I'm sorry Anna you're going through this do do you think did you think that me would have been an opportunity to empower the two chairs and to set the line of communication in I think she's invited the the co-chairs and the consultant which is the right thing to do and then talk with the project management right to clear the whole thing to make sure that who's setting the agenda this is what we have from this document that we approved way back I don't know if the consultant knows this kind of that I'm not sure either a good that's a great point but but I I I I think all all of it is right yeah and and as I said before I I I'm I think I don't want to start assuming what why people didn't answer or not because I don't know I'm not in their heads I I think we came out of that meeting but there was a lot of discussion and different people with different viewpoints which is normal a a a a very harsh kind of bump on the road that originated all this the goal I thought in the meeting was to go over that maybe just maybe it was just a matter of timing we come out of this meeting late I don't remember the time but it was late there was a he discussion some people wanted to get rid of the project management we ended up voting to keep in the document as it was the next meeting was exactly the following day so to me in terms of timing if there is if there is this concern because the first thing I want is that Kate and Anna are successful on helping this process because we all believe is important but maybe if if at that meeting just one day after during the discussion I don't know if it's the way it goes there it was not on the agenda so could it you mean on the staring committee yeah I'm saying I think we were within the public uh public meeting law there was no way that could have been added then it could have been added for the next one I'm just saying that to me the the the process that that would deescalate this discussion would have been okay we agreed we voted for keeping things the way they are please let's put in the agenda as soon as possible to discuss the these leadership of theing committee whatever but before the opportunity for that to happen this email was sent as seemed to me that maybe it was taken as as protracting and and and and going back into the discussion that we had the night before maybe I I don't think the email is there's anything wrong with it and I wish they had been answered to say um let's put it on the agenda for the next meeting right I think it's better and and I and I totally empathize on how Anna is feel in because it it it touches you personally by default but I think in the with the with the idea of moving this forward and making this successful that step still not unattainable we still can that conversation still can happen it just yeah the the email was not responded okay if we get past that for a second and say okay how can we make that happen I would say let's get this conversation on the streaming committee and empowering their leaders I totally agree as soon as possible it's it's a tough beginning but I don't think we need to take take a lot more than what the facts are even though they they they are difficult at times to to to to get I I I don't think this is like an end of the road I think it's this this whole thing is the beginning of that road and and I wish that that maybe the leaders in the steering committee take it that way so that moving forward Anna and Kate are always Consulting when appropriate and and everybody has the right to put things on the agenda which was one of the other concerns um if that's not happening for whatever reason but the only the only stage where that is going to be successful is there I I think maybe the email was not the stage that the other people were hoping even though was well intentioned and that's that I think that makes sense I think that explanation makes a lot of sense 15 days is a lot of time do not respond about first week of December meeting which I think I understand I mean you said it on 16 we probably Hade whatever was but it's a lot of time I would have felt offended if I was in their place because this is the second one to have not put their the agenda I I think this is though I mean and we're just going to get to meeting minutes in but I think this is the it's indicative of the culture of the project management group from the beginning right and the whole group group I'm not talking you know um and so um yeah so it's not like those that's going to change between that Wednesday night meeting and a Thursday morning email so I think we should uh I think we should wrap that up here I think um yeah we're getting late um I don't have any other updates that need to be made before the meeting minutes do you have anything else that needs to be Chase Bank do you need to mention that or no it's on the agenda I think I sent it out I think I sent a link to all the the the uh material something we cannot discuss tonight but obviously Chase Bank is submitted to take over the space of mazy's restaurant I'm sorry Chase Bank to take over Mazy Mazy is closing Mazy would be closing okay okay sad but true it's Mazi so there's a a application pending now for it's been submitted we're going to open on December 14th for site plan review uh a change of use trigger by change of use um and we'll be reviewing the site plan uh for that application but all things were all all application materials online and just kind of give you heads up on what's going on out there so other than that I think I can skip all other updates all right anyone else have any updates that need to take place tonight did you have one Amanda from the I was going to say um we the regional collaborative met this morning and um it was it was a really great meeting I think I don't want to take a ton of time tonight but um the substance of the meeting was on um MBTA communities and it was um all the towns went sort of through where they stand and the approach that they're taking Lots um going forward at Springtown meeting so I think we'll have some data points um also lots of good information about resources that the collaborative has um to assist and it's everything from like assessing you know options for locations and um you know looking at your existing zoning to um preparing for town meeting I mean it's really like Soup To Nuts the assistance that they say that they can provide and they they've indicated they're working with a number of communities um so I think there's a lot of great resources available they're going to circulate a deck and I can certainly send that across to everybody um from what they presented today great thank you all right meeting minutes from October 12 I think the changes I have are pretty simple yeah what tab was that on I had it under I still had it un tab one don't know my full name more alphabets I have Circle yeah um line 33 uh Greaves is missing an S well CU I do have an edit but it would be helpful oh I had need to b a right on it it's um okay so the clerk report um I I don't remember saying that I know I I occasionally bungle it a little bit but I tell you but I literally went and listened to it so the second sentence of that should just be struck because the only thing I said was there were four public correspondents I'm not sure how that got in there but sometimes I think think they start from old yeah but I did listen to it so oh and then I think in the very last what was it last page line um it's a small thing that but line 125 and maybe it was the way it was said but um Mr zuk repointed that the two co-chairs were appointed but that should be elected I assume and then [Music] um on under 100 Chestnut Street it talks about M the mural applications which should be under Starbucks M um and that's that's all I [Applause] have does anyone else have any changes I'll make the motion I'll make a motion to accept or approve the October 12th 2023 minutes with the changes proposed I'll second roll Anna tki iel I Katherine Jersey guy uh Trisha Kendall um so if there's that's approved is there a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn at 10:45 p.m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-01 Washtenaw County, MI YouTube / CTN Ann Arbor transcript source: youtube Ann Arbor Environmental Commission 11/30/23 · passage 2
fencing project is currently paused um so I'm sure we'll hear more about that sometime in the future but no fence will go up this winter as far as I know um and then finally we sent two resolutions to city council to move forward the construction project for the B2B Trail um through through the Barton nature area so that that work um should start um I think sometime in the winter that's all I have sounds great um looking forward to that uh all right next up I have Transportation Commission uh council member a yep uh I wasn't able to attend the last meeting but I watched it after the fact um we had a presentation from the DDA on their downtown circulation study and curbside management study and these are two things to basically look at how we accommodate the different modes of Transit that we need to and that we want to in the future with our transportation plan so thinking about things like parking allocation and making sure there's um prioritized spots for people with disability um and making sure that we can accommodate um you know bus prioritized Lanes you know we're trying to balance a lot of different uh modes of transportation to meet our goals essentially both for a20 and the transportation plan so both of those efforts um get at that um and they're still in progress but we got a little report out on it that's it than um we're still I think I'm gon to ask you if you don't mind to talk about Council as well yes so I think of key importance to this group is to know that um council member Cornell and I and council member a been working on a resolution related to um Banning gas powerered leaf blowers um that came for a first reading at the last meeting and it was postponed so it will be on the agenda for Monday for a first reading because it's an ordinance so we'll have two readings for the public hearing at the second reading um and we are taking kind of a progressive approach to this because we don't want people to throw out perfectly good working equipment um so we're giving people some time so it starts by limiting the hours and the seasonality of it um so not being able to use them you know it starts with the summer ban from June 1st to September 30th um specify the hours in which leaf blowers can be used and sorry the Summer band is just for the gas powered you could use electric during this time and then beginning January 1st 2028 um the use of gas powered leaf blowers would be prohibited um at all times in the city so we think this is giving people enough uh Runway and uh look forward to the discussion it does not like some communities in its current form exempt golf courses or large commercial properties or the city though it has some exemptions for emergency uh type of things um but we were pretty deliberate in uh that approach so that's it see two questions um Mr Cowart yeah just a question Darman about the if there's going to be a public hearing I didn't see it listed that way in the agenda but there will that's because the one coming this next because it got got postponed it's basically a re a first reading again so have the public hearing and the next one will have the public hearing yeah thank you no problem and uh commissioner grah I'm very proud to say that I've changed my machines from two stroke gas once to Electric for my property I still think there's a problem which may be solved over the next several years about commercial equipment being good enough uh I'm I have my fingers crossed because I think the council is quite right to get to this I would include hedge bruners spin trimmers small chainsaws um if things progress as I hope they will by 2028 those things can be banned as well um they're all burning gas that's mixed with oil they are very polluting machines and to some degree noisy that's not to say the electric stuff is quiet um it's not actually uh so if People's motivation is primarily noise then this will help a little but won't solve the problem but pollution is serious from these machines it's true thanks for that comment that's um encouraging because I know you work with that equipment um all right I will speak up with the chair's report which is really short um we already talked about um observation of um Petroleum in West Park um I want to just call out to our attention because we're the environmental commission that the um Conference of the parties the cop 28 started today and um we should all watch for that what's what's going to come out of it um and I hope that it will guide our actions so that we will guide it perhaps in some ways here um to reduce our use of fossil fuels um uh I want to also point out and say congratulations to um commissioner Gruber who was given the rain Garden leadership award um last month for her work with establishing rain Gardens in the city at ever White Community School um and um in her own home yard and uh just has been a leader in in that so congrats um the we talked about the compost audit and the result of that will um I think what I haven't done is U to send that that report that we received around to the commission or or was it did everybody else did everybody receive the commission the report of the compost audit useful see how how it happened okay I recommend doing it going out and and actually doing the audit um Steve did it twice I've done it once it's interesting um and uh that is um it for the most part except I want to say thank you very much to Joe Lang for stepping in kind of cold uh and appreciate your support for this meeting and um welcome Ain um I hope to have many conversations with you and look forward to um joining with us on on this commission um all right that is oh okay I would like to um let you all know if you just say that I'm open at any time for uh call for agenda items this is a time to post one if or mention one if you would like that for our next meeting um and if not please contact me in between now in our next meeting which will be January 25th we have a big break because we're at that kind of end meeting of the season of the year um all right I hear no additional agenda items right now so let's move to our second public comment uh of the evening this is an opportunity for persons to speak up for for up to three minutes please call 888 78899 and enter meeting ID 922 9696 1644 as you can see listed on the screen I'm going to read it anyway um City staff will call um will select callers that have raised their hand one by one um by calling out the last three digits of your phone number in order to electronically raise your hand please press star n on your phone you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak plus press star six to unmute your phone when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sound so that we may hear you clearly and please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments um and Joe do you see anyone with a hand raised I do not no callers are in the attendees list either okay well um in that case I don't think we even need to wait so um with that I would like to uh call for adjournment do I have a motion to adjourn council member Amman and seconded by msky and shall we vote to adjourn yes all right goodbye good night have a good holiday everyone thank you
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-01 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Planning Board Meeting Thursday, November 30, 2023 · passage 2
and a second second that roll call vote Anna tki I Marcel I Katherine Jersey I Amanda I and Trisha Kendall I so we are adjourned how many are there three John what's that done
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2023-12-04 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Looking for the perfect Christmas tree? · passage 1
[Music] I [Music] oh [Music] H oh welcome to Around the Clock we are at the Ashlin Lions Christ tree sale and we are here speaking with Doc um introduce your full name Julian doctor from the as allance club and Julian first how long have you been a lion uh 17 years and how long have you been in Ashland uh since 1970 wow so almost 43 years wow but some of you may think that Julian doctor is familiar if you had kids that went through the Ashland Elementary Schools how long were you there what years did you work I was at the middle school for 10 years I that's where I started Mendes middle and then I went to the high school after that for 10 years and then Elementary level celing for 16 years so 36 years total wow but now we're here to talk about Christmas trees so we're on the lot the new location where's the new location for the Ashlin Lions Christmas trees it's right here on front street where the farmers's market is usually is yeah and what kind of trees are for sale we have uh two t types of trees we have bossoms and frasers and what's the difference in the um frasers are have a little stronger needle and they hold the branches a little bit longer the bossoms have a nice fragrance and a softer Branch should we go take a look at each kind and show them sure oh this is a nice this is a nice fur this a Frasier this is a Frasier tree you can see the needles are are a little strong longer and they they stay on a little bit longer um but the frasers don't have as much of a fragrance as the blossoms so when you stick your nose in there people like some not quite the same scent yeah people like the blossoms a little bit better for the the scent but they prefer the frasers for the stronger branches and and needles let's go check out a Balsam right in back of us here this is a bossom you see the little bit softer needle and it has more of a fragrance than the frasers to we have all different sizes we range from 6 ft up to you see the Long Tall ones over there 12 ft High some of the tall ones and short ones we have some short ones on the front so any size tree you would want is available here for now so when did you start selling we started the day after Thanksgiving uh we fortunate we have the uh High School football players to help us unload the the trees off the truck they come from main our way up by the Canadian border and uh they're they're heavy coming off the truck so the football players help us do that they they take the trees off the the truck and bring them here to the lot and we also have the Boy Scouts that help um when they uh put them on the on the Sands they're all wrapped up with twine so we have to cut them open and spray out the branches and the boy scouts out with that so we're fortunate to have the football players and the scouts helping us out hi my name is Armen Enos and how long have you been a lion I've been a lion for about approximately seven years and why do you come and help sell Christmas trees uh was one of the uh first events that I uh volunteered to do as a lion and uh I love this time of year of Christmas spreading good cheer and uh I love and uh seeing the smiles on family's faces as they come and pick up their Christmas trees great one of the few Lots here on the uh this area and um everybody needs a tree wants a tree and you know bringing that Joy to the children and the families is great and then um you know I'm a little bit younger and we're always looking for younger alliance members so I here to help out as much as I can and lift the heavy trees and if anybody wants to join let us know so you had the football players here 8:00 in the morning how many of them were still celebrating from from the game the day before they were all here they're they're amazing young men they're really uh helpful and as they say um you know most of us are older and uh the trees get heavier every year so it really helps to uh to take them off the the truck the truck is stacked you know about 10 ft high with trees so they're really helpful to take them down and and bring them out here for us yeah so we do live coverage of the game and this year Ashland it was at home and they won 35 to zero so congratulations to our football team what a great way to end the season uh what else is there available here that we can go take a look at we have some wreaths we have different size wreaths let's go take a look okay we have two different sizes uh the smaller one's 18 in and we have the larger ones that are 22 in and uh where do the bows come from the um women Lions um make the bows the uh female members of our club have a bow making party and they make the bows for our wreaths and uh you can buy them with a bow or you can buy a plane or you can even buy the poe separately so buy the bow separately so yeah I always see those I always see those announcements and I can never make them oh I tried making one and in I couldn't do it so I come to the lot I pick a tree um is there someone around to help me pick the tree move the tree yeah we we have U members here that help you to carry it and we we give you a fresh cut on the bottom the fresh cut allows the water to be drawn up into the tree and um we offer U bailing which is like putting netting on the tree and then once it's bailed you also help put it on the car right so people don't have to worry on the car or into a pickup truck you tie them down the top of the cars we haven't lost one yet so uh they are tied down pretty well what's the furthest someone has come to get a Christmas tree here that you know of um I think farest I think uh shrewbury someone came from Shrewsbury once to buy a tree I know there's a on Saturday afternoon there was a couple here visiting their family from B they they live in Boston family still lives here I don't know if they came back on Sunday to get their tree but from so Boston as well which is a cool thing he might have come out Sunday I wasn't here Sunday but we we had a a first uh there was a young couple that is living in the apartments uh above uh the uh the um new building across from the town hall oh yeah and they have an apartment above there and they came and they picked out a tree and we said do you want us to tie it in your your car you said I'm carrying it so they carried it down to the apartments down across from the town hall so it's great that this is a Cas yeah Cash and Carry yeah so oh at 128 main you mean the new building oh nice oh that's fun that's funny what is the most interesting story or interesting interaction you've ever had while selling Christmas trees cuz you've been doing this a while um well one time there was a young not an older couple that came and uh I think the woman looked at every tree on the lot she had her husband pick it off the rack and twirl it and put it back and they walked around must have been there 2 hours and uh she finally settled on the first tree that she saw that's that's usually the case someone sees the tree and they go around looking for another one and they go back to the first one so firste what's the quickest you've ever seen someone pick a tree um that was a young couple across from the town hall the apartment ACR the town you saw one and that was a one and he carried it off yeah good what's the price range of trees and how how are the prices related to the size of the tree um I see Prices range from I think uh the price is $60 60 up to 80 roughly for the these size trees and the larger ones are more expensive they're um like 82 100 okay great well thank you doc Julian for taking a few minutes to speak with us the Lions when they sell their Christmas trees it all goes back to charity either things here in Ashland or to IR research so if you need a tree come on down to the Ashlin Lions Christmas tree lot
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-04 Middlesex County, MA YouTube / WACA-TV Ashland transcript source: youtube Frank and Mary -- Tax Planning and Giving · passage 1
hi I'm art Brant and the presentation you're about to see is the one that I pre-recorded for showing in Ashland in December uh this is all about December so it's all about giving and the fact that there's no limit to the amount that you can give there's this myth that there is you can give any amount any time and now because of the new changes to the estate tax law this year there's actually an added incentive that you can give if you give assets away before you die you can give your way uh below the estate tax threshold thereby avoiding the stay tax I also talk about tax deferred funds most seniors uh always want to take their required minimum distribution only uh that's probably a mistake for most seniors most seniors if you've got a significant accumulated funds you want to be taking those out every year um so that in the in the in the longer run if you need to qualify for Mass Health later on you don't find yourself having to take out a huge amount as a lump sum in order to qualify for Mass Health so uh watch the seminar if you got any questions please give me a call 5085 8601 1470 happy holidays hi I'm art bir run and welcome to the 12th and last episode of a series that I started uh in January it's now December uh on El which I in on Elder Law 101 I tried very hard through this series and I think I interesting I've gotten comments from folks who said they they've actually been following it all the way through that the point of this series was to really um help you as a senior or as the relative of a senior understand all of the issues that a senior might confront really during their whole lifetime so I started off by taking my friends Frank and Mary uh and their kids Peter Paul and Mary Jr and I always tell people you know if you're old enough to get the joke you're old enough to be my client I took them kind of through their lives from the first presentation when they were under 60 and they had problems that were very different from from when they get older through issues in their 60s as they were heading to a reti retirement and then into their 70s when they were starting to you know think about maybe moving from their home or slowing down um we talked a lot we talked in back in April about income taxes because it was tax season uh then we talked about life uh for Frank and Mary in their 80s uh how those issues how they dealt with those issues I talked about how you can always qualify for Mass Health which is the one of the first questions that people talk to me about when they walk in the door any client of mine my median client age of 74 any client of mine who was talking to me wants to know about those issues I talked a lot about um in one seminar about the last year of your life which you might be living right now and it could be that that it that death comes upon you suddenly or gradually but the point is there are a set of issues when you're in during that time especially if you kind of know ahead ahead of time that things are coming because you're getting Frailty there are a set of things that you really need think to think of doing to do uh I talked specifically about postmortem what happens after you're dead what are all the things that your children or your spouse or whoever need to do to deal with issues that you might have left behind and how can you plan better so as to um reduce the stress and the time involved in all of that I talk specifically about trusts the three basic kinds which people are always I'm always talking to folks about the revocable trust the irrevocable trust and the so-called testamentary trust that's part of your will I had a specific presentation about what to do about in your estate planning um regarding the kids and the grandkids um I talked about Medicare which is an essential part of life as a senior is constantly reexamining your Medicare package uh and then finally today is the season so we're talking about uh issues that you would be facing typically at the end of the year um and and a lot of times this is just about giving but I I want to be talking specifically about some um uh income tax and related estate tax planning as it relates to giving so once again I always talk about my friends Peter or Frank and Mary and the kids Peter Paul and Mary Jr their their goals are very simple they want to stay in their house until they die they want to be buried in the backyard they want to leave everything to the kids but there are a couple of other things that they want they want to not pay taxes or pay as little as possible and they don't want to get clobbered by nursing home care which for seniors becomes the biggest issue uh and really comes to outweigh tax considerations avoiding probate the big potential catastrophe that can happen to a senior um is is what happens if you need nursing home care so I'm going to talk about about things in relation to that especially so uh in my um my case for today we're talking about Frank and Mary who own their house it's currently worth about $400,000 now once again I do a lot of work on the islands where this number is somewhere between a million and $2 million but all of the concepts are the same say the house is worth of $400,000 say they've got joint Savings of $300,000 for today's purposes I'm assuming that Mary is the one with the Big R Ira uh typically for my clients it's Frank but it just makes it easier for me to explain today to assume that Mary has a very large Ira the total assets a million3 u Frank their income not counting their required minimum distribution um uh is about $40,000 a year uh so you should know that on that $40,000 a year the top marginal tax rate for their money is 12% uh and the tax is about 2% or excuse me the tax is about $2,000 a year if that's Frank and Mary's situation so um first question before you can understand uh how Frank Mary may want to think about their Assets in relation to nursing home issues you need to understand what would happen if today Mary just fell down the stairs or or and was now in or had a stroke and was now in a nursing home and was going to need to stay there for the rest of her life what would happen in that case to a person with these kinds of assets um well amazingly enough because Frank is alive in that situation Mary could actually qualif ify for Mass Health which is the Massachusetts name for the Medicaid Program um that it would be really important to Mary since um once she'd been in that nursing home um for more than a 100 days uh her Medicare would no longer pay for the nursing home care so if she had that stroke uh and it sounded like she was just going to be there for for a long long time um she'd be very concerned that that after that 100 days she'd be paying privately at a rate which is around $116,000 a month now on the private pay side obviously this varies by nursing home but the point is that as as I've talked about before in that situation Mary could actually qualify for Mass Health almost immediately how could she do that um well first she could do it by transferring all of her assets to to Frank but wait you say isn't there a look back period no as I've so often repeated there is no look back period regarding transfers between spouses I'm always talking to clients uh who are couples who are telling me that they're sure that the only way they can protect their assets of one of them needs a nursing home is to give them away and wait five years um with a very few exceptions that is not the case that is not the case because at the last minute in as in this situation if Mary needs nursing home care Mary could transfer her interest in her home she could transfer everything else to Frank and the day after she did that there by reducing her assets below uh $2,000 um in certain situations she could qualify for Mass Health the only caveat on that is that in order for her to qualify for Mass Health she needs to show that she has less than $2,000 and Frank needs to show that he has less than a particular amount of assets not counting the house Frank can have the house no matter what the value and once again I emphasize this um because so often that's where people's big value is especially on the island especially on Anka and Martha's Vineyard so um Frank can have the house no matter what the value Franco can have an additional 148,000 $148,600 in other cash or cash equivalent assets so in this case after all assets had been transferred to Frank I would tell Frank well if you want mared to qualify for Mass Health you need to keep say $100,000 and use the rest of the money to buy in a new U it and as long as that annuity calls for equal monthly payments over a term that was shorter than Frank's Actuarial life expectancy at that time uh then the purchase of that annuity in any amount would would convert those assets into a non-countable income stream Frank can have unlimited income so if by doing that he's reduced his assets below the magic number $148,600 the next day um Mary can qualify for Mass Health and one she's on Mass health her income from pension and social security would go to the nursing home she wouldn't have any other income because all of her other money all of her other assets would have been transferred to Frank um and at that point her pension her her income from pension and social security would go to the nursing home um um all all the rest would be paid by Mass health so there is this wonderful strategy for dealing with all of this stuff right except in Mary's case she's got this issue because she's got $600,000 in an IRA and so her big question is well how do you know or or Frank's big question because at this point Mary's in the nursing home um um Frank's big question is wow how do I balance the fact that I'm going to get a benefit here if Mary is is on Mass health because our nursing home cost is going to go way down but this is going to be a big tax hit specifically um if remember in the earlier slide we indicated Frank and Mary's income is $440,000 if all of a sudden her her $600,000 has to go to him their income for that year jumps to $640,000 the at the top marginal um federal income tax rate which is which on that money the the top rate would be 35% uh on that piece of the money their total tax would be about $161,000 so she'd really be so Frank would really be needing to weigh what is my benefit of qualifying Mary versus the fact that I'm taking this huge tax hit so it may end up being that Frank ends up deciding at that point that it's actually worth if if he doesn't think Mary's going to be living very long that it's worth paying her care privately just in order to avoid this big tax hit an alternative strategy though this gets and this gets down to what the the the gifting strategy we want to talk about would be for Frank for Mary to to C in um those tax deferred funds over a period of time thereby reducing the tax rate if for example in 2023 when the top tax rate on income of 40 of 89,4 is only 12% right if Mary could say take the income that she's going to be getting for 2023 $40,000 and instead of taking the her required minimum distribution regarding her um IRA funds which would be really minimal she pulls out $49,400 thereby getting her total income to $89,400 then her tax would only end up being or the additional tax that would end up being paid on that additional $449,450 is only $66,000 um and and and over the uh the and and if these and if she took these payments now this was assuming the tax rat stay the same stay constant over 12 years so this isn't an exactly the right number but if you assume that if Mary took out her $600,000 over 12 years the total amount of extra tax that she would be paying over that 12 years would only be $72,000 compare that to the $161,000 that she would have to be paying if she took it out all at once so the message for folks for for the all of the Frank and Marys out there if you're thinking about your your about the end of the year tax planning you may want to talk to your ad to your financial advisor or to your accountant about whether there is an amount of money that you could take out in addition to your required minimum distribution in addition to the rmd which wouldn't push your total income into a really high tax bracket and would over time get all that money out of tax deferred status so you've paid the tax and now you can do whatever you want with it I always talk to clients about you know when you're a senior the goal of so much of your planning is flexibility and the best thing you can do to give yourself that flexibility is to is to get rid of this this Spectre that if you need to take a lot of money out of tax deferred funds you're going to end up with this really big tax hit now what could Mar do with those funds well she could just pull them out and and just put them into her savings together with the other savings that Frank and Mary had because remember at the last minute if she were in the nursing home she could always just shift those savings to Frank and in this case that shift is going to be taxfree she could also put the money into a Roth IRA right um shift it just convert the funds into a Roth IRA from then on in the the the the income on that Ira is going to be tax-free even when she T even if she takes it out ahead of time so she could do that or she and Frank could decide that they want to give some of that money away to the kids or to whoever right and if they did that five years in a day after they had made those gifts to the kids to Peter Paul and Mary Jr those gifts would be no longer countable or lean if Mass health later said that Mary uh was trying to if or if Mary was trying to qualify for Mass Health now let me give you the other example the related example say Frank's dead and they haven't done any of this Advanced planning and so now Mary has all of the assets she has 900,000 but but say she has been pulling that money out over time so now she has the she's she's paid the taxes and say she now has $900,000 in savings and she has the house it's worth a million three right and say and say that Mary was trying to figure out how to qualify for Mass Health well she'd have a real problem with that point because that $900,000 would all have to get spent down before she could qualify at that point the house would be safe uh except Mass health would put a lean on the house but the point is she'd be on private pay at $116,000 a month for a long time so T what is the standard asset protection strategy in that case if I talk to Mary and she's single and Frank has already died and now I'm typically talking to her and one of the kids and they're like oh my God what can we do to protect these assets I tell I would tell her at that point the only way to protect the assets is to give them away and wait five years give them away that's the classic fiveyear look back period typically if there were multiple children she'd give those assets away to one of the children as the trustee of an irrevocable trust the trust would be would specify that while Mary is alive the trustee could always make early distributions not to Mary but to one of the kids so that if Mary needed the money um Mary would need to trust and this is why say that's why they call him trust you have to trust the trustee Mary would have to trust that in that case Peter would pull out the money give it to himself or to one of the other kids and they would turn around and give the money back to their mother so you'd set up that irrevocable trust and then Mary would gift she wanted if she wanted to she could gift her $900,000 into that trust and the money would be safe 5 years and a day after she had done that but remember in this this situation in the case I'm giving you Frank has just died now Mary's in to talk to me she's probably older and she's say and she and she's saying to herself but wait a minute I'm older now I may need nursing home care wait you know next year I may need it really soon I may not have five years and that's the point the point is to keep Mary from ever having to be in that situation just like keeping Frank and Mary from having been in that situation by giving things away right so the question then is um and by the way that's consistent with what Franken Mary's estate plan was which is after the two of them die they want to leave everything to Peter Paul and Mary Jr right so the question that they may want to ask themselves is so why not give away some of those assets now we either Frank and Mary together or after Frank has died why doesn't Mary just give away some of those assets now especially if she's if she has already paid the in income tax on all of the income and therefore by giving them away she's not going to get penalized right or maybe she wants to Simply start pulling money out from her Ira every year um in a larger amount than she otherwise would have and simply giving that money away to Peter Paul Mary Jr right so why not give it away now um well tip this standard answer that everybody will tell me is oh well my God you know because there's a there's some kind of a gift tax right I can't give away more than a particular amount which it which for 2023 was $117,000 a year for 2024 it's actually $188,000 a year but and and and because if I do something bad is going to happen well actually nothing bad happens um let me talk to you a little bit about that there is there is there is no Massachusetts gift tax therefore and I'm going to talk about this a little bit later on because this really has affects your tax planning now that the Massachusetts state tax has just changed there is no Massachusetts gift tax so um Mary could literally give away all of her money the day before she died um and not pay any estate tax U and the receipt of a gift is not income right and so you give this money to your kids they're not going to pay anything in tax so the question is but what about that $177,000 which everybody in their head says yes this this amount that I can that I have to Beyond which I can't give money away that relates to the Federal gift and estate tax system as I mentioned in Massachusetts you can literally give away things the day before you die thereby reduce the estate tax at the federal level some thought about that and said when they were creating this the the estate many years ago well we don't want that to happen and so what they did was they created a combined Federal and gift ta federal estate and gift tax system and the system is that if you die leaving more than a given amount of money and and for for for uh 2023 that amount was $ 12, 920,000 right you pay an estate tax in the meantime while you're alive if you make a gift to anybody not a gift to an to a nonprofit organization to a 501c3 or to a church but a gift to anybody else then regarding that gift you're going to pay a gift tax unless you qualify for one of the two exclusions the one that everybody knows about and the one that nobody knows about the one that everybody knows about is that there's an amount which which used to be $10,000 but but because of the gift tax bills in as an inflation provision is was now up to 177,000 in this year and by the way it's going to go to 18,000 in 2024 if you give below a particular amount to a particular person then then you don't have to pay any gift tax and everybody knows that in addition to that though you have a lifetime exclusion equal to the estate tax exclusion which is now $1,920 th000 so unless you are planning during your lifetime on giving away more than $1,920 th000 effectively there is no gift tax there is no gift tax right now by the way you will you will the place that this often comes up is at the end of the year when your your accountant is is sending you or your Tax Repair is sending you a thing that says oh give us all your information for for the for 2023 and include if you made any gifts which in 2023 were more than $177,000 and the and if you tell the accountant that you did that the accountant's going to say oh my my goodness in that case you have to file a federal gift tax return which is technically true but ask the accountant in that case well what if I don't what if I don't the answer is nothing happens if you don't and the reason for that is because the only penalty for failure to file the gift tax return is interest on the gift tax that you otherwise would have owed and in this case you don't owe a gift tax and therefore there's no penalty and so there's really no specially good reason to file the gift tax return so let me talk about that a little bit as it relates to estate tax uh avoidance this is now a really big deal um the Massachusetts legislature as many of you know recently CH changed the Massachusetts state tax they it was changed in several ways the it's kind of like I said earlier the the one that everybody knows about and then there's this one that kind of no one's really paid attention to one that everybody knows about is that the threshold subject to taxation jumped from a million dollar to $2 million the other one of the other big changes though is it used to be that if you were over that $1 million threshold um but you had made gifts during your lifetime in excess of those the limits that I had just talked about that a you needed to file an estate tax return and B you were going to owe some end up owing some estate tax right that's no longer the case so say that you're Frank and Mary and your total assets are $2,200,000 say there's the house 600,000 Mary's IRA and Joint Savings of a million um and say um well if Frank dies he can leave all the assets to Mary because there is no um there is no because any assets given to a surviving spous are always subtracted from um the estate tax but say Mary was single and Mary gave away some of those assets right Mary could just literally gift her away down below $2 million give away sufficient assets so what he had left was worth less than $2 million and not pay any estate tax your which leads me to um the ideal plan for Frank and Mary they each have Wills with so-called asset protection trust so Frank said Frank's will says when I he say when I die any assets that were going to go to Mary are instead going to go in trust for my um for my spouse uh if you structure things that way then any assets when the that when the first spouses to die um any assets owned by that first spouse to die are automatically protected if the surviving spouse needs to qualify for Mass he we talked about that right but in addition to that if Frank owns the house at the time of his death even though they own it joint rely right now if they Frank owned the house at the time of his death the tax basis of that house would jump all the way to the the date Frank's date of death value right in this case to $600,000 even though they had paid much less for it think about that though if you're on Martha's Vineyard in net where you PID a couple hundred, for your house and now it's worth between a million5 and two million you get the house to the into the name of the first spouse to die before that first spouse dies and as long as the assets are not going directly back to that spouse but rather into a testamentary trust with a third party trustee for the benefit of that spouse you can do that transfer the day before that spouse dies and at the moment of that spouse's death the tax basis jumps all the way to a million all the way to the to the the current value of the property right so remember if if Frank and if one of if if if either Frank or Mary needed a nursing home um then in the meantime one if one needs a nursing home we shift everything to the other the other spouse and the and and the spouse qualifies for Mass Health um but then once again we specify each person's will that when one spouse dies um the the house everything including the house goes into trust for the benefit of the surviving spouse which means the tax bases have jumped all the way to the date to the date of death value of the first spouse to Die the surviving spouse can then sell the house with that stepped up basis pay zero in capital gain stack and giv away the proceeds or could just give away the house right in either case if by doing this the surviving spouse has reduced the surviving spouse's assets to less than $2 million there will be no estate tax when the surviving spouse dies so with that in mind uh I hope this information was useful to you I hope that all the information that I've given through those 12 seminars was useful to you if there are any things that I haven't covered in those 12 seminars please give me a call or email me you can just um you can email me at at um ABR Maro con.com um and I'll try to cover that issue that we haven't covered in something called a burgon briefs I've done a number of short burgon briefs dealing with very specific issues ultimately though um the best thing you can do if you're think if you you're a senior and you're thinking about any estate planning issue is watch these seminars I've really tried through these 12 seminars to capture all to at least raise all of the flags that would cause you to say I really need to talk to a lawyer about this right and if and if that flag does go up go talk to a lawyer because most elder law attorneys won't charge you for that advice and the advice is is ultimately probably the most valuable thing that you can get so I hope you enjoy this presentation uh happy holidays uh and I hope and I and and if you if you can watch all these presentations I think they'll give you a good sense of elder law thank you very much
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2023-12-05 Pima County, AZ YouTube / Ajo Unified School District transcript source: youtube 2023 December Study Session Meeting · passage 1
uh here Mr gri Miss Rodriguez here Dr soltero yes sir Dr sholz Miss Valen we are all president and accounted for okay may I have a motion to adopt the agenda I so move I'll second I'll second it and I wanted to make a change to it as well before we vote okay I wanted to move item H to the bottom of the business mainly because we have other teachers and folks that are going to be presenting and we don't they don't need to stay for that much long yeah Mo H down to L so folks can who are presenting can leave if they choose to yeah okay that's fine so now we to vote with that amendment to change uh I doesn't matter I change my motion to add that okay um so Mr K I miss Olsen I Mr Hopkins I Mr Rodriguez I Mr Guth um approved 5 to zero okay can you stand and join me wow to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice okay next we have public comments but it appears that we have no public comments so we will go on to informational items the approval of certified after school tutors Mr President members of the board the following certified teachers have submitted interest in after school tutoring Monday Tuesday and Thursday after schoolo espa miss donetta maningo and miss GLA espu there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only anybody have any questions or coming very well on to the next one which is the classified employe of teachers Aid Amanda AA Mr President members of the board Amanda Aila has been interviewed in background checks completed for the position of par professional amended first day of employment will be January 8th 2024 there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only any questions or discussion on no we move on to the next one which is the approval of increased Paro hours with headstar Mr president members of the board the special education director and the Head Start Administration are requesting additional contract dates for one-on-one AIDS Candace B and Kelly braa headart will be holding classes on the 15th of January and extending their school year out until the 6th of June this will add an additional nine days to each of their work agreements there is no board action necessary at this time and you have there under administrative content a side note for your information okay are there any questions Buck very well next item in classified resignation of pro Melissa uh funus I'm gonna destroy the last name so Miss Melissa we'll just call her Miss Melissa okay I believe it's Mr President Melissa bom b b that was my next guess fa professional teachers Aid has submitted her resignation with the AO Unified School District her last day of work will be December 8 2023 there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only okay any questions on that nope okay next item then is the extra pay volunteer positions Mr President members of the board the individual below is asking to be considered as a volunteer coach for the corresponding positions Mr Lonnie guthy the third volunteer boys basketball there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only okay any questions on that and the next item is approval of the fiscal year 24 budget revision Mr President members of the board in accordance with Arizona revised statutes ARs -95 and 15- 910 by December 15th the board May revise the school district annual expenditure budget after notice has been given and a public meeting has been held attached is the district annual budget expenditure budget revision there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only next item is the approval of the 2024 board meeting calendar Mr President members of the board the board is expected to adopt a board meeting calendar at the beginning of each fiscal year addition of board meetings may be scheduled with a 24-hour notice scheduled meeting dates may be changed within a 24-hour notice below are the proposed study and regular session meetings for 2024 yearly calendar is attached with affected holidays marked in red and meetings marked in blue you have the dates right there below listed there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only so I actually have a question about this I thought that we had to have our Board of meetings the second week of the month and in January we're going into the third week yes there are there is a um the reason for that is we're coming back on January 8th and then on Monday January 15th is the MLK holiday so that's where we made we had to make that adjustment that's the only month I believe um where we have it on on Tuesday and Wednesday yes well no I'm saying why are we not having on the 8th and the 10th well um that's when they come back from school well we still have it on the first day of school and we come back to school so that would be up for your guys discussion oh I don't care out the way I just didn't know why so I noticed here too that there's another uh in February feary and the days are consecutive as well no it's the fifth and the seventh mine says fifth and sixth on the calendar on the calar different okay we can fix that okay there we go so do you want to add anything Angelina so to be Frank if you look at the first week of January Dr and I and whoever the administration would have to put the board book together that first week and we're supposed to be off so I will be working an extra week yeah which doesn't bother me but it's going to be I say Enjoy your time off exactly so that's why I'm not mad at it I mean there were just going to be a board meeting on my anniversary so I'm not mad about it so I just get an EXT week so well can the 10 I don't mind so now we can't have cake what you're saying this is about is Trish's concern not one that's no I don't really care I just it was just yeah yeah but I'm wondering though if your concern is not also backed up by policy does our official policy say it has to be the second didn't we have a discussion about changing that policy at one time we did we did never never okay we can do that for Wednesday I mean we could have a board meeting on Thursday Friday we can we can totally do it what we had the 16 17 that doesn't bother me let's not let's not no 16 17 I didn't know if it was in policy I'm fine keeping it with those dates I just want to make sure it's not violating policy yeah which we might be able to if it is we'll be able to fix that Wednesday okay sounds good okay any further discussion on that one happy pre-anniversary M okay then since we're since we're uh we changed the order of things the next item is the report on attendance and absences okay Mr President members of the board for the request of the board I believe uh Mr kersner missam will present an attendance absence report there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only I will now uh turn the floor over to our instructional coachg grants coordinator professional development coordinator's a lot of I didn't know here um good evening um members of the board my administrators and my pres it's always an honor to be here to present to you something that's very important for for schools talking about attendance um a state noted in Pages 17 and 18 which gives us a very detailed information about student attendance regular attendance is crucial for educational success that regular attendance is crucial for academic success and gaining a solid educational background and it is for this reason that the school is promoting regular attendance because we have let just there our vision for everyone who graduate college Andor ready who want our kids to be here regularly because when we go when they go to college attendance is must for a number of them or a lot of them when they go to work attendance it's a must it's very important and that is why we continue to pursue this it's very important for all of us and missing school has consequences I'd like to uh focus our attention now to high school because in high school they can lose a credit uh if they incur 10 absences at least 10 absences it will mean f absence and that's what will be reflected uh in the transcript right un excuse that excused absences both come towards F absence but School approved activities and discipline suspensions do not come toward the total absences in the school office we track absences but I think this year we've added this here if you just give that um the Robo Robo calls or Robo messages or the insta messages that you receive if your child is absent you get a message instantly so that's an addition this year but always been in the school office we track absences um at the end of first quarter we run not I Mr Casey run a report we send a letter home letting our parents know warning them that you know their child has excessive absences and also gives an opportunity to come to intercession um during the fall break and then in November we run not no it's not me Mr Casey run another report and then I call everyone that's affected one onone to go to the office talk to me we discuss the importance of attendance and then you know ways for them to make up hours so basically um Mid mid November at the end until the end of November I've met with at least a third of our high school students um in March we run another report a s so you said that you had to meet with a high school students that have excessive absences so far this year yes and so we talked about different ways and how they can make up um hours and I'll I'll go into the details next again in the in March we do another sir Casey runs another report we do a followup I do meetings with them again and they're invited for the spring intercession right and at the end of the year they're invited for summer school so we have different opportunities for them to make up hours now making up hours students who are below Benchmark which this started this year students who are below Benchmark for Math and or reading are asked to attend lunch and or after school tutorials intercession fall spring intercession and summer school and if there are a benchmark and passing all classes they can do community service see so for lunch tutorial is 30 minutes daily after school tutorials as Monday Tuesday Thursday it can include Friday depending on the teacher for the high school right intercession is four hours per day for four days through the fall and spring grak and summer school is 6 hours per day for eight days days and if at Benchmark and passing their classes they can make up our through community service in the past the following Rec considered Community Service uh Tu and Youth Development hours K this way Els fundraisers Health faires covid-19 food distribution helping teachers and staff before school during lunch and after school and last year again was a very special case um why because we turned off F absence tracking um because of the different covid-19 protocols for 2020 to 2022 we turn it back on after first quarter of last year that time several students incured excessive absences already so teachers had to come up with different ideas different projects to help kids get back on track an example for that is they read a book and they write a report and once they submit to the teacher it's equivalent to five hours the teacher signs that off so every child that has absence has actually a makeup paper sheet that they fill out and PE with them and go with them have the the the their teachers time that's all for this report if you have any questions so we have our community clean up this Saturday so how many hours would that be if if children how many hours is that would they get for that two schedule for two and a half yeah okay so it's it's basically one one one for one okay okay stud no that's it's it's good getting extra people there that's good yeah it's Inc for sorry go ahead no no I just said it's good incenter for everybody then so if I am a student and I am passing my classes but I have excessive absences I can make those absences up by doing some kind of volunteer work or or writing a book report um is that what I understood saying in the past yes but this year we have so we have this additional condition they have to be at Benchmark for both math and reading then we will consider um what you call that consider the community service and if they're not then they they then we ask them to attend tutorials and intercession and so and what if they don't if they don't if they do not go into those then it's a fail at the end of the year after schol then will become F absence in their transcript then it but what if they are willing to do the community service but they're not willing to go to intercession so they meet the benchmarks or just missing hours they have the opportunity for certain things okay there any other questions thank you okay next up on the agenda is a report on uity Mr President members of the board further request of Mr Guthrie Mr Casey will present a report on Ingenuity there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only Mr Casey Mr President honorable members of the board administrators Andes it's a short only one p the co and we used adity as a remote learning tool students in grade 6 to 12 were all involving inity courses and teachers worked with them remotely during 2021 2020 2021 and the next year we use with as a backup plan and provide support in case students need to be quarantined and support students to recover credits and so on last year we had 25 licenses only for like recovering credits and those like going back to the numbers we had before Co this year we brought it down to just 20 concurrent licenses so we can only have 20 students working on a genuity at a time out of those 20 licenses we use nine for students who are fully online working remotely from their homes um those are for special situations or like a family's request that and we screen them make sure that those students have a better outcome if they work online remotely and they have proven track record to show that like they have they are responsible enough to work remotely and make good progress on campus we allows students to work on Edgenuity courses now it is called Imagine Learning because a new company acquired Ed genuity and we use that for credit recovery if they attempted a course and failed the first time or in some cases they have a lot of absences and if it's an absence where they don't want to make up others but they want to retake it um and they want to do it remotely then you use that for credit recovery some cases some courses like uh US history and world history geography we don't offer that every year like one course is offered alternative years like so if a student comes to us with an credit requirement and you're not offering it on campus this year then those students can take it so that those students are on they can graduate on time then we also use it for a student who wants to um come from another District another state and they want to work continue working on a certain course and it is not offered in person then if it is available on genuity WE allow them to continue that course onity and in some occasional cases where a student is confident that they have mastered all the standards but they don't have a passing grade maybe due to if absence or um the student already has the necessary knowledge and feels like they're ready the district policy allow the students to test out of the course and in that case we use a genuity course as like a day offer a test for the entire course and we use it for customer option so that's pretty much I have for the report if you have any questions I so I'm going to ask maybe incorrect but over the years I have had experiences with kids that used Ingenuity one kid got in in school suspension for vandalizing the gym he went into Ingenuity as a midyear sophomore and came out at the end of the semester as a junior going into a senior year he had done three semesters worth of work and one semester in Ingenuity so the the things that I'm hearing from teachers and other people is that Ingenuity isn't educating the kids it's just putting them through a a way to get their credits and you know fast as they can and that it's pretty simple simple process I don't I don't know I've never done one of the classes I can't tell you but I have seen kids that you know I remember join in last year was it or two years ago when all the kids were having trouble in junior high and they miss because of Co and everything and then they went into high school and they had to do their Junior High stuff and their high school stuff freshman year one of those kids got on Ingenuity and he told me that he finished a semester worth of work in one week now I like I said this is all anecdotal I've never actually seen it I may be way out there in space but a teacher teacher's husband approached me on this and said could you ask about this Ingenuity is it really educating the kids or is it just giving them a way to graduate from high school so I'm asking you are the kids getting educated because I trust you are the kids getting an education Ingenuity or they just going through the hoops and getting you know because my granddaughter's going to be a freshman next year why couldn't she just go into Ingenuity from what I see going to Ingenuity and she could graduate at the end of a freshman year right she would have to go through the the next three years so are they getting educated it what what what's going on so in juniority courses the full course on average somewhere between 40 to 50 hours of material they had to cover and this includes video completing assignments reading materials and answering quizzes so initially it starts with an activity or like introduction then there is a video explaining the lesson and then there is an assignment to complete after that then there is a quiz to follow that's how the pattern of most lessons are each of those like a based on the allocated time if they finish everything without pausing the video without taking notes it is going to take about somewhere between 40 to 50 hours adding the extra time needed to take notes and like a pause for rewinding reviewing and doing any additional practice or looking at additional materials that is going to match our semester hour long of like we have 90 days in a semester and including release and other activities and everything it is more or less comparable to a regular student taking a regular course now if a student is taking a course that they have already taken in class they have already mastered some of the topics then it is not fair for that student to be sitting down having to watch all those materials if that student already is able to demonstrate master in those areas it is not worth the time for them to have to go through that process to get that credit so the credit recovery allows a student to take a test first to show how much they already know and then um if they show Mastery on current standards those are eliminated from the entire course so their course could come down to five or 10 hours and I feel that is fair if when we have a test out option if the student is already like Prof ient in that course student could request a test out option for any course and sit for sit down for a test and like show 80% of the Mastery on that then the student will get credit that is our district policy and as a result the credit recovery program some students earn credits much faster and that is only when the students have already taken the course we have put in some safeguards to make sure that like a students who are not um knowing the work and cheating those kind of things to avoid those um we have like the pre- test for credit recovery Miss Garcia who is administering overseeing this program um she's requiring students to take that on campus with with her present like in her room she's monitoring to make sure that they're not cheating looking up answers on now any course that is offered on campus during that year we don't allow we don't allow offer that uh or give the opportunity for students to take their online so only if it is not available not offered during that year then only the students are allowed to take on so it is kind of compensating and supplementing what we cannot offer so we are not using it now in the past I agree there were cases we know is some students um used the credit recovery option and they were able to go through the course much faster and we have put in some safeguards to make sure that it is everyone is treated fairly and equally um they're not getting any advantage of taking Ingenuity courses and another thing to add students who are on remote learning on uity when they take the state assessment they're doing fairly well so with that I can say genuity with full Fidelity feel like Integrity if they go through the course if they take the course they are really learning I will say also that I think it's also what the child puts the effort that they put into it also because I I do have one of my one of my kids does some of the Edgenuity and we had a full-on conversation just the other day about what she learned in her history class on it so yeah the school board our number one responsibility fo than that our number one responsibility is to make sure the kids when high school can function out there in the world and I wouldn't want kids going through Ingenuity and then getting out of high school and not have the tools to be able to just get a job and be able to you know take you up business if we were using Ingenuity as as just a way to push kids through then I would be very concerned about that but you're assuring me and I trust you right I trust you you're assuring me these kids are being educated that's why I put the number of licenses so we are bringing it down and we are using it only to assist those students who are successful in an online environment and to supplement other needs that are not available otherwise on C thank you so much thank you there no more questions the next item is a report on dibles mowr quarterly benchmark assessments Mr President members of the board um further request of Miss Rodriguez Miss uh it's is a board go um Miss Angela mayia and Miss Aluna lria will present reports on dibles move on when reading quarterly assessments for grades K to three and four to six there is no board action necessary at this time this is a study session item only and it correlates to governing board goal one the governing board will receive beginning middle and end of the year student data with a focus on reading scores demonstrating growth on the DBL reading benchmarks and quarterly benchmarks we will Implement instructional strategies resources and professional development such as Beyond textbooks professional learning communities formative assessments reteaching data data analysis and endclass training to support reading growth first up I Believe Miss Aran Kon is going to present our first presenter Miss Merc Adam kin who is our first presenter I believe very for the primary so um good evening um Mr President members of the board Administration and my colleagues who are all here to support us for today's report so I'll be presenting to you the prime uh the primary PLC report on move on and read when uh on divil assessment so first um let me get to you what is um you see there move on when reading so what is that the div is basically um based off that or for that so move on when reading is a required um policy of state that is designed to provide students in Kinder to third grade with effective readings uh reading instructions or strategy so what is mclass debl so the MBL is the screener that our school used to identify the students who may need extra help and the progress of the students are being monitored throughout the school year and then when do we assess the kids we have the beginning of the year which we're done already and then we got the middle of the year and then the end of the year so um so far this this is our data um the data that we have for this school year 2023 to 2024 is in front of you so here um we can see um the strengths and the areas of focus for each um level from K to three so kindergarten first grade second grade and third grade um something in common that we're looking at for the areas of focus for Kinder and first grade are um letter names and then for second grade and third grade um we have something in common to um to improve on um basic comprehension in um oral reading fluency or their fluency in Reading when they comprehend the the text that they are reading yeah sorry and then um this is the B level percentage so here you can see for each um level um grade level for Kinder first second and third we can see how many percentage are in the well below below and Benchmark and above Benchmark so of course we're concerned with those that are on the well below and below below um ratings so what do we do and how do we address our data so aside from the tier one that we have that's the whole group instruction that we're having and we're teaching the standards from Beyond textbook um so for those kids who are um failing for this tier one or the Beyond textbook standard we're doing a ring and retesting during special special time and for second grade they do it during um the intervention time which I'll be talking about as well in the latter part of this one so here comes um tier two which we do the small group instruction so for reading specifically we're doing the um guided reading through fly leaf and to level down in the individual skills of each student because we all know that they they they learn in different phes so we want to put them in smaller groups so that they can um we can address more to their individual needs and then for those kids that you saw on the by level percentage that are in the red and Below uh the below and well below group we are doing um tier three Intervention which be on the next slide okay so here we've dedicated an uh time specific time for this one in the afternoon from um Mondays Tuesdays and Thursdays and Fridays we do an intervention program for kids that are well below and Below at 2:15 to 310 so that's four days and then we do progress monitoring every two weeks for them so that we really know that they are growing and we're giving them what they actually need to to be able to go move on when reading so I think that's all if I go too fast thank you so if you have any questions or clarifications so you have any breakdown of how many of these kids are English mners oh I did I actually looked in to um for this um well below and Below kids so for Kinder um I think 18% of those kids are um uh English learners for first grade there's 42% of them because majority of the a lot of First new first grader are uh El students that just came this year and then for second grade you got 11% ex 42% of the entire great or for this well below and Below yeah so 11% of those um below and well below kids for second grade are um e Learners and for third grade there's 38% of them that are what was itd grade sorry what was it for third grade um 38% yeah you have any work at all um no I do not have that [Music] we I don't not have the report for that uh for the break for that one thank you I trying to recruit high school kids to go and um from the JM program did tutor the some of the the younger age kids there's always stuff in the announcements that if you're you're interested in being a mentor or you know this or that so I think it is in the works they are trying to um did we see a lot of like um movement or shifts in these bands from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year um we actually don't have yet the middle of the year um report this is just the beginning of the year got it okay yeah so I I think we're going to have that probably January January already okay mid yeah and then April for the end of the year April to May for the end of the year and then see so on the previous slide I it's number four um that's just a breakdown of the strings that we're seeing and then the areas of focus are the ones that you're focusing on in small group instruction um um yeah uh not for small group but but for the um P three intervention and then we're doing a different um we're doing a different program in small group for the guided reading we're doing the fly leaf what is that what is fly LEF um so it's it's a Depot books that we purchased just um this school year so that that's from the funding for the mement reading so um there're they have the students are being grouped according to their levels and then we go down to their level so this this fly Lea actually has um foundational skills and then close reading so that both um addresses the pmic awareness that they're that they need and then actually for third grade and second grade the comprehension as well because that's what I was wondering too Does it include like intensive pic awareness drills and you know sound isolation sound manipulation Does it include all of that yeah yeah it's in the intervention as well for the M intervention that we're following here three so this one is for everyone and then for those that are well below and Below we're doing it the inter the Intensive Intervention Program I think like for a lot of these kids like that are going to be in your well below it's that phic awareness instruction and drills that they need intensively to then be able to decode because they're not going to be able to uh decode and blend any of these words unless they have those foundational um pic awareness skills so I think that I you know that's going to be top priority for some of these little ones here y so that's what we're we're actually doing so even for my third graders we have um the uh we we're doing the level down skills for them especially those who are still really having a hard time so as the other levels they're doing that thank you any other question I think right now would be when I went to schol at all home a 100 years ago me and Moses um you know we had we had like maybe one kid two kid and kids in the class that didn't speak English you guys are working with multilingual kids from many different sources right and so I think right now is more challenging time to be a teacher and absolutely right and and teach these kids I mean you have so many different yeah I don't know how put other than that you guys are doing a good job thank you you we appreciate it thank you thank you Mr President members of the board next we have I Believe Miss lria for fourth to sixth grade data ofes even um I'm going to present a report for the the oper Elementary partly bench partly Benchmark assessment ands so we have the topics a benchmark assessment results for reading and math we teach and enrich Devol results beginning of the year and the strengths and areas to so here in math benchmark assessment these here are the results for a math management assessment for fourth grade got the total number of students theage is 8 72% of it is r and enrich for 28% for fourth grade fifth grade 68% we Reit and en reach for 32% way um there are 33 33 students so 56% of the students is we teach and 42% are inrich so we the Upper Elementary make sure that we identify their strengths and their area to focus so So based on the data we've got this um result the strings and the are to Fus for math for math fourth to sixth and six yeah that's the strength and it's fine and then next slide please and for the reading benchmark assessment for fifth to six uh here are this here are the results for fourth to six so fourth grade uh 64% and for in reach 36% fifth grade there are 25 students to 68% needs R and for in 32% for sixth grade 72% and 28% for INRI again uh the fifth uh the fifth to sixth upper elementary teachers we are identifying their strength and the area to focus so especially that we're having our Benchmark every quarter so we make sure that those area to focus were really addressed that's the Str and area to focus and then here is what we uh do in our which we embeded the schedule every 2:15 to 300 p.m.
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