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burden well it seems like this comes around lot faster every year but we had some excellent patrons pen and voice of democracy winners and essays this year they were real close so as I called out your name will you please come down I have a certificate for you as well as a medal so for a third place and even though I say they're third place second place in first place they're all winners they were excellent each one of them will be entered into our district essay contest from there they go to the state winners from there those to the national so third place pay trip in Leslie Austin [Applause] so we're achieving a certificate and a bronze medal [Applause] second place goes to Michael a Grayson [Applause] first place and I'd like to be a nerve dinner meeting tonight because this is gonna be a good one probably first place goes to Clayton Austin [Applause] right after the program if I can get all the winners to come back down here where we can get a picture so we can Center your essays into the district so please come back down just since the program is over flush the democracy third place those Tristan D shields see we see vivica wrong heaven [Applause] a chip [Applause] second place receiving a certificate a silver medal and also a check is M Allah Custer [Applause] and our big one last year she placed third place in it sa contest this year she placed first year Chloe Robertson [Applause] she will now read her essay [Applause] hi thank you I'd like to thank our local VFW for giving me this opportunity it's 7:00 in the evening in a small town called Frankfort Indiana I sit with my grandfather Phillip Stoops and the rest of my family as we wait in anticipation for our annual Thanksgiving dinner to commence my sister as usual is pawning through the stash of our family's centuries old photos and Diaries admiring relatives so distant I can hardly recall their names she pulls out an unfamiliar map from a well web the box unfolding it with great Greek look she says proudly inspecting her new discovery I found a map of seal my grandpa laughs and taking the map from her curious hands scanning it over with heavy eyes sole he corrects her I was stationed in South Korea after the war I knew my grandfather was a veteran my mother had shown me photos of him in uniform and he'd always emphasized the importance of America's military history to me and my sister he had given us books upon books chronicling the history of the world wars showing us planes and boats and weapons I seldom had names for my grandfather has always been a true patriot of the United States and his stories of military service the sacrifices he and thousands of other men and women have made for this country can inspire faith for the future and even the most pessimistic citizens what makes America great my grandfather would say is its history that is a history of triumphs of failures a history of resistance of mistakes and bravery America in itself cannot be viewed as only one thing as either perfect or flawed the United States is a product of all his achievements and disasters each experienced opening a new era for improvement the US has presided over incredible successes everything from defeating the tyranny of a deplorable King to maintaining military power that rivals those and biblical tales we have withstood a dozen Wars traveled to the moon introduced revolutionary ideas to our government and parietal freedom for nearly five hundred forty five million citizens across two centuries but success is not the result of perfect circumstances much of America's freedom is the product of years even decades worth of struggles to achieve true equality as promised for all citizens in the Constitution the United States has had to destroy the institution of slavery repeal laws infringing on the rights of minorities in combat prejudice held in the hearts of many Americans we have arguably abused our advanced technology killing 225,000 people in a span of four days during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we have overstepped our boundaries involving ourselves in international matters only to worsen political strife how then one might wonder can my grandfather embody such pride in this country when he is well aware of its terrible mistakes how can a nation born from violence slavery and injustice ever redeem itself to the title of great it is because for each of these tragedies America has proven its resilience throughout the history of the United States we have forged alliances among ourselves in our opponent's learning from our mistakes to ensure that they do not occur again America is not only a melting pot cultures languages and people it is a melting pot of experiences that have shaped the way the world views this nation to be great America must not be perfect as no nation is capable of being so but rather it should embrace its imperfections and use them to catapult the country into a future of prosperity where mistakes are openly embraced as opportunities for improvement my grandpa like so many others has pride in his country not only for its greatness but for its failures what makes America great its history a history with successes and downfalls that have molded the country into the incredible world power it is today when my grandfather looks back on that old map of Seoul he sees his contribution to America's legacy he reminds us that an individual's experiences can be mightier than any war stronger than any tyrant and more significant than any amount of injustice the history of a nation is a combination of every citizens experience and there is no better indicator to America's greatness in the past it has overcome thank you [Applause] [Music] is crazy [Applause] good morning I'm Matthew stark I'm principal here at Bryan County High School the next section of our program is to honor those high school students would either made a full commitment or are considering a commitment to the United States military service first who is taking the oath already I would ask heat root to Sam and be recognized [Applause] keith has made a commitment to the United States Army we have two students in our seaman sea cadet program Tobey Smith and Brian Smith if you would also step out to be recognized [Applause] and finally Aaron harden Matthew minna-san Perkins and Haley hash if you would stand who are considering military service at this time [Applause] as Senator Cook has said is it is fitting that you stand behind them as of our recent grads or our soon-to-be grads as they choose to do military service to continue this long tradition of Brown County thank you again and thank you to our veterans just a few months ago on August the 15th 2019 our nation suffered a great loss losing active members of our military is always devastating however August 15th was a day that our community will not soon forget Kelly Bruner is our principal of Holmesburg elementary school she and I would like to ask family of Staff Sergeant Andrew Michael st.
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John to come to the front so we can take a moment to honor and celebrate the life and service of this American Hero [Applause] staff sergeant Andrew st. John and his beautiful wife who's with us today and their children Max and Audrey Ashton withers taka veikkaus we're both elementary students at Holmesburg elementary school Staff Sergeant st. John ultimately graduated from Martinsville High School in 2009 when he made the selfless decision to enlist in the United States Army where he's a member of the Charlie Company 1st 325 82nd Airborne Infantry Division and later transitioned into the Army National Guard where he served for the last 10 years during his service he served in the Haiti humanitarian effort the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war most recently he served as the observed controller trainer training fellow service members in an operation named wolf his life was tragically lost on August 15th during a military training accident in Fort Hood Texas we would like to present his beautiful wife Ashton with a plaque that will also forever be hung in the halls of Helm's burg elementary school we hope that this small token of our sincere sympathy and celebration of the hero who was your husband will afford you with the knowledge that your home loves you honors you and is always here for you friends will you help me in honoring this great American Hero [Applause] sure hi I'm Ashton I graduated here actually I grew up here my whole life but just FYI yeah this is a hard spot to be in but I'll tell you going forward life is short guys life is short so hug everybody love everybody use kind words right max kind words and and just just continue to love others okay because you don't never know what went at their time is or whatever so just if you can take that from this that would be great [Applause] like to transition a little bit here one of our own mr.
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Jerry Bell would like to take a few moments to talk about the Indy Honor Flight mr. Bell would you come forward please [Applause] I like this moment just to thank everybody from Brown County all the students and everyone that had anything to do with the Honor Flight I was on the Honor Flight October 26th and when we left DC and headed back they give us a large envelope and said it was our mail call we started opening those envelopes and it was all letters have appreciation from all the students in Brown County and all over Indiana we had letters from the elementary the middle school and high school and from the elderly from around the county but I want to just take this time to thank brent County's got some excellent kids and that reflects back on the teachers of Brown County and they doing a great job on raising our kids and I just want to thank old Olivia and it was a great honor flight and I just put you all in our hearts thank you [Applause] next up we have one of our favorite parts of our program our Brown County High School Wind Ensemble will play and the choirs from Brown County junior high school and Brown County High School will sing the pride of America veterans when you hear the song that represents your military branch we invite you to stand as we celebrate your branch of service [Music] you [Music] the United States Army [Music] the United States Marine Corps [Music] the United States Navy [Music] the United States Coast Guard [Music] the United States Air Force [Applause] I just like to take a moment to thank our outstanding musicians who are assisting with our program today we sincerely appreciate our Brown County high school bands led by their director mr.
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Matthew Finley as well as our Bronco new junior high school choir led by mr. Daniel wing and our high school choir led by Miss Christy Billings will you join me in thanking these talented students in their director mrs. Emily Llywelyn is one of our educators in the social studies department at Brown County High School Ms Llewellyn was selected as one of only 18 educators from across America selected to participate in memorializing the fallen a teacher professional development program from the National History Day organization throughout the memorializing the Fallen program mrs. Llewellyn participated in discussions and researched a service member who never returned home mrs. welland serous membrane rafin of Brown County Indiana Griffin was a member of the 16th Infantry Regiment first division of the United States Army we have asked Ms Llewellyn to share a little bit more about her experience and she will also tell us about the way in which she gave great honor to another boy from Brown County private ray Griffin would you join me in welcoming mrs.
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Emily Llewellyn [Applause] good morning as dr. hammock stated my name is Emily Llewellyn and I'm a teacher here at Brown County High School this past summer I had the opportunity of a lifetime which is what I'm here to share with you all as many of you know National History Day is a fantastic program for history students to practice their historical research skills with the potential to compete on the national stage in Washington DC every summer but National History Day also provides countless opportunities for teachers last December I was lucky enough to be selected as one of 18 teachers from across the United States to participate in one of their programs in collaboration with the World War one Centennial Commission and the pride scre military Library and Museum this program called memorializing the Fallen was focused on studying World War one and its impact here in America as well as in Europe World War one is often seen as simply being a stepping stone to world war two this program strove to highlight the importance of this war and the soldiers who fought in it beginning in January I became a student again reading books and articles about World War one as well as completing online discussions with other teachers and participating in webinars with a professor from George Mason University and a curator from the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery we learned about the humanity of the war about the tragedy inflicted on people both far and wide and about the cataclysmic impact this war had on the world all of this culminated and the trip to France and Belgium in June where we walked in the footsteps of the men and women of World War one perhaps the greatest learning experience of all was getting to see the place where this war was fought on our ten-day trip we went to countless sights seeing the battlefields of Verdun the Somme and Bella wood we walked in the trenches that are still there today experiencing what it might have been like for the men fighting we saw the physical impact this war had on the landscape to this day there are still crater holes from artillery shells that exploded over 100 years ago to a passerby they look like rolling hills that have always been there but imagine the intensity of the war to have significantly altered the earth to the point that 100 years later we can still see the impact we saw remnants of the war scattered everywhere like pieces of exploded shells littered across the ground ground from time and exposure to chemical warfare and signs warning of the live ordnance that still exists in the countryside we visited multiple museums including the underground caves that were used by the Germans where our French tour guide exclaimed his gratitude for American soldiers in World War one because he firmly believed without them he wouldn't have been standing there in 2019 and lastly we visited over 15 different cemeteries some of these were British and French where flowering bushes blooms next to the graves of the Fallen and personalized messages from the soldier's family where engraved on their headstones one cemetery was German where the headstones were crooked the weeds took over the graves and there were four men buried under one cross or star of david' the majority however were American cemeteries with meticulous landscapes neatly ordered rows of white marble headstones and beautiful architecture devoted to remembering the Fallen in their final resting place the main purpose of this program was for us to memorialize the Fallen we were told to select a soldier from our state to research and to then deliver a eulogy for at their graveside in France I selected private private ray Griffin from Brown County private Griffin was like many before and after him just a boy from Brown County who chose to fight and inevitably die for his country born in 1895 Griffin was the son of a farmer and lived near yellow wood lake with his parents and six siblings he attended the Jackson Creek one-room schoolhouse where he excelled the most in his scientific temperance and physiology courses Griffin was 16 years old in the eighth grade and did not continue on to high school instead he found found a career as a barber Griffin enlisted in the army one month after America declared war on Germany in 1917 he was a part of the Army's newly created first division serving in company I of the third battalion and the 16th Infantry Regiment his was the first American division to step foot in war-torn France in June of 1917 after six months of additional training in the French countryside Griffin left for the front before his death he experienced combat number of times gaining useful experience in trench warfare as well as frontal assaults unfortunately the experience he gained made no difference when on July 1919 at 1918 during the Battle of Swiss on he was killed after his death like other mothers of the Fallen Griffin's mother was invited to visit his grave in France as a gold star mother but she had to decline because of her poor health she stated god only knows how much I want to go but can she declined again in 1933 as griffons father was blind and in poor health she died in 1942 never having visited her son's final resting place to my knowledge I am the first person who intentionally visited Griffin's grave Griffin's memory never left his mother however while overseas Griffin made a pact with his friend Walter Howard that if one of them failed to return home the other would become a surrogate son to the mother of the Fallen Howard remained true to this pact traveling to visit Griffin's mother twice a year from his home in Oklahoma and later from West Lafayette Indiana he even sent her flowers on Mother's Day making sure that while Griffin could not be there he would never be forgotten Griffin was awarded the citation star for his service this medal was created as a way to honor the bravery of the soldiers in World War one many soldiers were dissatisfied with the medal however as it was only about five eighths of an inch big and so is pretty small and it seemed insignificant to them given all they had been through the army then changed the medal to the Silver Star which includes a citation star in its center as such any soldier who received the citation star could convert theirs to a Silver Star Griffin never had the chance to do this nor did his family instead over 100 years later I with great assistance from Stephen clay the president of the 16th Infantry Association worked on converting his medal for him it was a challenge to learn about private Griffin since he was never married and he had no children there was no family left who knew his story instead I had to pull it every possible thread and there were not that many I researched on ancestry I went to the Brown County History Center and scoured the archives I got files from the National Archives I reached out to the 16th and Tree Association and the First Division Museum in Illinois I read countless books and articles also I could simply learn about this man and the days leading to his untimely death in the end I learned so much about Griffin that I felt like I knew him personally which made my eulogy of him so much more special I would like to share my eulogy with you now so you can get to know a little bit more about Ray Griffin in the quiet sleepy countryside of southern Indiana lies the picturesque community of Brown County full of rolling hills and tiny villages that seem to be removed from the rest of the world this serene landscape however does not protect people from the tragedies in life and war when the United States entered World War one in 1917 Brown County sent 301 men to fight of those 12 perished private ray Griffin was one of those men for an errand ray Griffin On February 24th 1895 Griffin was the fifth oldest child of Sarah Park and Adam Griffin as a young boy Griffin attended the one-room schoolhouse in their community alongside his younger siblings Merle and freedom Griffin was 16 in the 8th grade and chose not to continue his education into high school instead he found work as a barber Griffin enlisted in the Army on May 9th 1917 he may have done this because of his family's military history his great-great-grandfather served during the Revolutionary War and his uncle volunteered to fight and separate injuries in the Civil War he may have done this out of a sense of patriotism and duty or simply to avoid the draft regardless of his reasons he enlisted in the Army 16th Infantry Regiment and was assigned to company I of the 3rd battalion shortly afterwards the 16th Infantry Regiment became part of the newly created First Division On June 14th 1917 Griffin set sail on the USS Havana arriving in France two weeks later there he began his intense training the next six months Griffin learned everything from rifle instruction to personal hygiene he and other soldiers spent time mastering the operation of machine guns grenades and Stokes mortars while also conducting road marches with full packs in October Griffin became ill and had to spend three weeks in the hospital shortly after he returned to camp the 16th Infantry Regiment packed up and marched through harsh winter conditions to the front for their first experience in combat Griffin experienced combat a number of times before his death most notably during the spring of 1918 incanting day where his regiment after successfully driving the Germans out of the village and off the high ground held the frontline for 72 days 72 days in the trenches without the opportunity to bathe delouse or change clothes while the Germans continued to test the American defenses with artillery and gas attacks I can only imagine the strength Griffin and his fellow soldiers must have possessed to endure such difficult conditions after his experience in the trenches Griffin and the rest of his division moved on to fight in the Battle of soir songs in July 1980 the soldiers resolved to win was observed by the regimental chaplain who wrote dazed with weariness from their long hike they pushed their way over barbed wire entanglements passed plunging artillery horses and rumbling tanks which blocked their passage through veritable seas of mud on and ever on through the night those weary bodies would straighten the men would hitch their packs a little higher grab their rifles a little tighter and plunge ahead nothing but death would or could stop them this fierce determination led them into success in the battle tragically Griffin would not see that victory as stood a Zinn to the battle and artillery shell exploded and shattered his skull he was buried on the field of Honor by his fellow soldiers one of them sergeant sergeant Walter Howard wrote that Griffin was a gallant soldier who was highly esteemed by his com ray because of your noble actions during the battle where you lost your life you're posthumously awarded the citation Star for gallantry in action and especially meritorious service this medal is the precursor to the Silver Star the third highest personal decoration for valor in combat family members of veterans can convert citation stars to Silver Stars unfortunately you really have no family left to do this your parents and siblings have all passed and you were never married and had no children well you and I are not actually related you could become my family so I decided to do when I went what no one else can and convert your medal so today I am proud to present you with your Silver Star thank you for your service and for your sacrifice you will never be forgotten [Music] [Applause] thank you all very much thank you this process was incredibly rewarding it's one thing to learn about history from books but it's quite another to actually witness at firsthand and the experience of researching Griffin's life and traveling to his grave is one that I will never forget he truly is part of my family now and National History Day has opened many many doors for me by providing me with valuable experiences and opportunities and one of them is actually happening later this week I was contacted by National History Day about a month ago and offered a spot on another trip like my one this summer except with a focus on World War two I mean this trip is a little different however as I get to share it with a student and so on Wednesday of this week's like two days from today Chloe Robinson a four-time state champion of National History Day and I are on our way to the Netherlands and so we will be spending thank you we'll be there for about five days our soldier this time is private private Claude Doty of Johnson County because we had to focus on the Netherlands American Cemetery and there are no brown Kony soldiers that are buried there Chloe and I have been researching private duties life extensively over the past four weeks and she will be delivering a eulogy for him this upcoming Saturday at his grave and we will return on Sunday we're both incredibly excited and we really appreciate the support of Brown County and all of our veterans and your service so thank you very much [Applause] pretty special lady hmm so every year we are honored to be joined by a veteran who has served our country and is willing to share with us some of his or her testimony today we will be hearing from our keynote speaker the executive officer and weapons program manager of NSWC Crane Lieutenant Commander Michael D lemons Braun County has developed a very special relationship with the NSWC crane base as we have realized through our work with the original opportunity initiatives that a career in defense of our nation is possible and with thanks to the new interstate only 60 minutes from downtown Nashville to the West Gate of crane Lieutenant Commander Michael D lemons enlisted in the US Navy on July 31st 1996 from Jonesboro Arkansas he attended basic training at the recruit training center in Great Lakes Illinois he served on two destroyers the USS Elliott DD 967 and the USS Carney DDG 64 during his enlisted years to which he was promoted to chief petty officer his duty as chief fire-control Minh was maintenance and operation of the ship's gunnery stations including all 50 caliber 7.62 machine guns and the main 5-inch gun in November 2008 he was selected to the limited duty officer program where he received his commission as an ensign as the naval officer his first ship tour was USS John C Stennis CPN 74 stationed out of Bremerton Washington during his career as an officer he realized his dream and became the weapons officer for Special Boat team 22 directly supporting Special Forces teams including Army Special Forces Marines and the u.s.
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Navy SEALs in his 22 years of service he has completed eight deployments six to the Middle East one in South America and one in the Mediterranean his personal awards includes six Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals for Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals and the Global War on Terror expeditionary met he currently serves as the executive officer and deputy division manager for small arms division at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in crane he's married to the former Miss Holly Ariza and has three children as an aside I understand that lieutenant commander lemons is quite the deer hunter and even cut a hunting trip short so he could join us here today so on behalf of the deer that surely was yours today lieutenant commander lemons we are honored to have you with us today would you please join me in welcoming lieutenant commander lemon wow thank you thank you for letting me be here today my wife thanks you for cutting my deer hunting short I'm gonna ask for your attention for the next ten minutes I don't write things down I don't have a speech I speak directly from the heart so I ask that you give me your next ten minutes you'd rather spend it with me than in class I'm sure I'm gonna start by thanking my fellow veterans I know it feels odd sitting there I'm sure it still does I retire next year and we don't most of us don't feel like we did anything special we just did our job yet high schools around the country today are gathering you in the center and then recognizing your service I'm gonna literally throw this and recognizing your service and it's awesome that you feel humble doing it I love you I love that served with you for the folks out here you you might not I'm very loud by the way you might not understand it's very hard for us to tell each other that we love each other because that's not how veterans speak to each other you know how a veteran tells another veteran that they love them they make fun of them they find their weakness and you pick at it till no end if you could have been in the back room from 8:30 to 9:30 it was one hour of dad all against each other but that's how we spread our love for each other and that's that's how we know we fit in together so again I can said I'm very loud I'm gonna tell you a personal story of mine and it can get loud as I get eccentric so for some of you some of your pacemakers here hold on to those okay for some of my brothers here see I got to make fun of them so they know that I love them we've got everywhere from from from the Gulf War with me to World War two we have some World War two vets is that correct that's correct World War two World War two okay so we've got a couple of World War two vets if you get the chance today you need to shake these men's hand the opportunity is being lost his brothers in arms slowly disappear every year so it's the rare opportunity to get to thank them for their service but I thank all of you for your service but I'm gonna talk now that I've thanked you I'm gonna talk to you all about my favorite veteran group and then at the end I'm going to tie it into this school so do we have a history teacher in the crowd where's where all right so don't hold me a cat I don't like people standing behind me either so but look just don't hold me accountable because this is a story that was told to me and it was it it felt near and dear to my heart and it raises my spirits I tell it twice a week as I swear a new people into government service because it's important that I think you need to hear it so what I need you to do is go back in time with me I need you you're all high school students here some elementary or junior high school school here I need you to go back in time and use that imagination because right now you still have that wonderful imagination and I want you to go to a place with me okay I remember being in high school going through history class and I remember learning about World War two and I remember learning about the Civil War and everything else in here and of course I was I'm older but everything else in the history books seemed to just be a couple pages and I'm sure that's not true but it just felt that way but I remember the story of the war of 1812 and I slightly remembered just bits and pieces it wasn't until I was more senior in the Navy that I learned the importance of that war and how it had a haunted effect on us and what it means for this red white and blue flag hanging behind me right now so let's go to the war of 1812 and talk about some of my favorite veterans so it's the war of 1812 was basically our second Revolutionary War we all know the Revolutionary War right we celebrated July 4th 1776 we declared our independence and we got into a war with Britain the great mother country of the world and it was a war that we it was gonna be impossible to win so when they came to fight us they had to come from Britain to the United States or to America and they were gonna fight us and they brought the bare necessities we're just thirteen colonies it's an easy kill we'll go in well thump them we'll go visit some islands and we'll go back well that didn't work out very well for them you see and we warned and we declared our independence and we became our own country and we started to grow well the war of 1812 Britain was mad they wanted this piece of land they wanted this country so this time they came in full force and it came with a vengeance and to tell you the truth that they were winning they were winning this war they were marching from the north to the south they were burning our Capitol or White House our buildings our government they were destroying our country they were on their way from the from the oceans with their ships bombing our country they were winning this war we needed a turning point we needed something to drive us this is the story of my favorite veterans because our last stronghold was Baltimore Fort McHenry and it was it someone's brilliant idea as the war had progressed that the British had a lot of our prisoners out to sea they had a lot of American soldiers out to sea and we needed them back with some very smart people and they were they were kept in prisons at sea and we had a lot of Brisbane British officers as prisoners and our Shore commands on on land in America and someone came up with a bright idea hey maybe we should do a swap maybe we should talk to the British and make a swap because we need our men back I'm sure they need theirs so they sent a man by the name of Francis Scott Key does that ring a bell he was an Attorney General at the time and he was gonna go negotiate a fair trade so he goes out and I hope you're still there with me and your imagination that he goes out and he doesn't have 60 Evinrude on the back of this thing he's paddling and he makes it out to this ship and he comes aboard the ship and he's talking to the Admiral with the big hat Admiral we should make a plan we should be able to work out a deal where both civilized people I mean by men you need yours let's make a trade and after hours of deliberation and discussion they agree let's trade so they sent men ashore and they worked out the trade and picture this go down below decks with me with my favorite veterans in the world and that's what this story's about it goes down below decks where the prison is where the print where the American prisoners are and he's excited to give him good news and when he walks down he sees him imagine that his emotions when he sees just utter misery and despair men on their knees handcuffed together in iron shackles ceiling is not tall enough to stand these men knew that they were going to die but he was excited to give him good news because he was going to tell him I know just ten minutes ago you thought you were gonna die we've worked out a negotiation for your freedom you're gonna get to see your wife again you're going to get to hold your kids again you get to stand in front of your mother and give her a hug again and their spirits raised just a little and he was excited to give him that news and he goes back about decks and he tells the Admiral Admiral I've talked to my men and they're ready to go and the Admiral said well you see we're still good to go we have one problem you see he said what's that he said well after tonight technically it's all it's all a wash anyway your men are gonna be free I don't I don't understand what do you mean they're gonna be free he said well you see those you see in the distance there all those dots on the on the horizon that's the British Royal Navy they're on their way in you see your men we're gonna get to go home tonight one of two ways one of two things are gonna happen to get an end result you see the end result is any point this is where the song comes into play you've all heard the national anthem but do you understand what the words mean he said do you see over that rampart right there you see that red white and blue flag that you guys seem to love so much you see all that has to happen is that flag just needs to touch the ground it's just got to tell you the last remaining fort your last stronghold when that flag touches the ground the war's over all your men can go home no one has to die now there's two ways that that could happen you can send word ashore and tell them to bring the flag down no bloodshed will raise the British flag and go back to normal and no one has to die or remember those dots I just showed you on the horizon do you notice how they're getting bigger it's the British Royal Navy and they're on their way in and they're gonna knock that flag down and everything in sight around it your choice now put yourself in Francis Scott Key's position he had just gone down below decks he'd just talked to those prisoners and he told him you're gonna get to go home and now he's got to go tell them well you only get to go home when the flag touches the ground any normal person I want you to put yourself in that position any normal person in their right mind would say just bring it down we're we're Americans we'll fight next week well we'll regroup and we'll fight next month but I already have a taste I want to go hug my mother I want to go hold my wife bring the flag down any normal person in the right mind let's say that that would be what comes out of your mouth well Americans are not normal people and your American veterans are not normal people so these [Applause] so he was shocked and amazed when he went down below decks and told him that and when he came back up the Admiral the British Admiral with the smirk on his face it's like how'd that go and the only thing that those veterans wanted to hear was that the flag was never gonna touch the ground so what did America decide to do we're not bringing the flag down bring your Navy so sunset happens and we're all waiting for this song to be developed you could ask the question it's the flag still there sunset flags still there it's getting dark the flags still there those little dots are now full-size ships the flags still there begins to rain it's completely dark boom boom boom all night they're going to knock that flag down we're going to destroy the fort this will be our country again as the British naval cry boom ladies and gentlemen your song is being written at this moment you see when I picture the words of the star-spangled banner' I think it goes to on in your heads and most of our heads you hear the words the Rockets red glare and you picture a rocket going by you can see the American flag waving in the air right is that what you picture that's what I always pictured it was never expressed to me what the bombs bursting in air meant and its bombs bursting in air that's what told the prisoners down below decks that the flag was still there so imagine this craziness has to go on and someone's head when you know they're bombing your country and the only words that are the only you want to hear its boom boom because every time a bomb goes off that means what the flags still there so every time a bomb would go off the grin on the prisoners face would just get a little bit bigger and that American smirk would just get a little bit bigger say and bring it that flag will never fall and the Admiral looked at Francis Scott Key and said I don't understand it I hear your men down below decks they can't even see what's going on in there cheering he said Admiral what you don't understand is the American veteran the American warfighter would rather live on his feet and die on his knees and they will not give up and when that Sun rose the next morning all the ramparts stood a 32 by 40 foot flag that still sits in America today listen to the words of that song the next time you get a chance history teacher I challenge you to write that song down and show them the punctuation at the end of it it's a question mark the entire song is a is a conversation from your veterans to Francis Scott Key they only had one question it's the flag still there does the flag still wave over the land of the free in the home of the brave and do two men who fought in that battle that flag is still there and then they carried it on and do to the men and women sitting in front of you today the flag is still there how do I tie that into this high school I can tell you because show of hands from my youth in the crowd who have ever heard the words you're lazy you have no work ethic teachers adults I want you to look around and see that hey keep your hands up I'm sorry I don't mean to yell you that you have no work ethic you are the destruction of our country you could put your hands down how many of you you have heard those words and I see I have a 17 year old kid I might have said some of those to him but he is lazy you've heard those words I am here to tell you and I will take on anyone's challenge they couldn't be more wrong I can tell you that my dad stood at about me and then it started getting me to ask questions I asked my grandfather he told me my dad was the laziest piece of you they wouldn't believe and I'm like are you kidding me so I asked my great-grandfather my great-grandmother she told me that about my grandfather so it actually turns out that every generation thinks that the next generation is just gonna ruin everything I'm here to tell you there's no better generation than the one I'm looking at right now [Applause] and if you feel like you owe anything to paterns it's for you to succeed you carve your own path because these men and women out here fought for you to be able to do it that's really the only thing we asked was that you absorb your freedom and you use your freedom I am gonna be old and a nursing on one day and I want Wi-Fi so I need the smart people here to figure it out so I need you to make sure I live to a ripe old age you are absolute future I do what I do because of you I have kids of my own and I hope that you can carry on the legacy I'm retiring in Indiana next year I've never been in I've lived all over the world and I've never been to a state that's more patriotic and we're welcoming and I'm excited to retire here I'm a spy excited to spend the rest of my life here and surrounded by Indiana's and everything that you do for your veterans I want to thank you for allowing me to be here today deer hunting or not I was gonna be here if the school asked me to speak I will always be there for the opportunity to speak to the youth Thank You veterans thank you all of the teachers that are here say god Bless America and God bless the Brown County Eagles thank you [Applause] next up I would like to introduce our two sponsors of our very special Brown County High School history Club mrs.
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Alicia Adams and mrs. Emily Llewellyn and together they will update us on some activities of their club and they also have a very special presentation to share please welcome mrs. Adams and mrs. Llewellyn well good morning my name is Alicia Adams and this is a mrs.
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Llewellyn again each year we have the great privilege to stand here and speak on behalf of history club one of the most rewarding activities the club sponsors is the genes for vets campaign or brown county employees and community members donate money to the Nashville VFW for the last three years the street club has raised over three thousand dollars for local veterans aiding in memorial expansions and scholarships at the end of this ceremony we hope you also will participate by donating to club members that will be located in a gym lobby one hundred percent of the funds that you donate stay right here in Brown County supporting our veterans our students love our partnership with our local veterans this year one of our one of brown county's veterans received incredible recognition on the state level we'd like to bring the commander of the Brown County auto guard and member of the chaplain Corps Dave pate to tell you more about this extraordinary award good morning today is a special day not only we here to honor all of our veterans for their service to our beloved country but on behalf of the Brown County veterans coalition we're here to share with you that one of our own has been inducted into the Indiana military Hall of Fame the ceremony took place this past Friday November 8 2000 19 at the garrison house located on the grounds of Fort Benjamin Harrison on a northeast side of Indianapolis this distinguished shrine stated objective is to publicly emphasize the honor brought to our nation and the state by the sacrifice of Indiana military veterans and their families only 99 servicemen and women have been honored in this drawing honored for their professionalism bravery courage unselfishness sense of duty and commitment to others here are the names of the few the inductees Hoosier heroes who inspired others to be better leaders and better people Colonel Donald W Monroe among his many accomplishments he received six Sagamore of the well base Awards feature Charles B ho remember the now famous tuktuki airmen Colonel H where cook fired a pilot twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross our nation's second highest award for valor Brigadier General Benjamin Harrison our 23rd President of the United States Jean Norbeck a wasp women's Air Force Service Pilots testing bt 13 bombers she was the only civilian woman in world war ii to receive a full military funeral Navy Reserves seaman third class earnest Ernie Pyle journalist war correspondent in addition to numerous news reporting and civic support Awards he was awarded the Purple Heart for his support to our nation last Major General Roy embargo aside from his significant military accomplishments he played a role in acquiring the Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy for at-risk youth one of the 2019 inductees an army captain having served his country in Vietnam where he was a helicopter pilot has distinguished himself as an exceptional meritorious service by receiving the following medals and citation for service braun starred air medals basic through 13 with oak leaf clusters vietnam campaign medal with sixty device Vietnam Service Medal - army accommodation medals and a Good Conduct Medal he attended Hanover College and finished his coursework at Eastern Kentucky University and - his active military service he continued to serve the National Guard's and in his community as a police officer probation officer as well as making a living on the road as a professional driver for numerous bus tours this inductee is a strong advocate for veterans serving on bett tibet coordinator a member of the be a hospital veterans mental health advisory council he also served commander at the Vietnam vets in arc County Disabled American Veterans chapter - a member of the American Huey 369 American Legion Post 13 and veterans of the foreign post war 6195 and has been a long member the brown county Honor Garden this past summer the Brown County Veterans Home meeting room was named in his honor the County Commissioners made a proclamation declaring July 3rd 2019 a day to which to honor him he is a loving husband loyal friend to our veterans into so many others it is my honor and privilege to introduce the 2019 Indiana military Hall of Fame captain Henry Hank Marshall captain Marshall please stand so we can honor one of our very own here [Applause] Thank You Hank doesn't want to be called or recognized as a hero he just wants parents to be happy with their service to our nation he hasn't continued to inspire us with his love for others his commitment to our mission and even with his health issues that would have stopped most of us Hank just keep smiling and encouraging others I'll leave you with these words from Paul in Philippians 4:8 9 finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever globally well it's a good repute there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise dwelling these things the things you have learned and seen in me practice these things and a God peace will be with you thank you [Applause] thank you Dave for your kind words Brown County history club would like to present Hank with this commemorative gift to honor his service to our nation Thank You Hank [Applause] [Music] if tomorrow all the things were gone you worked for all your life and you had to start again with just her children and your wife you think your lucky stars to be living here today because the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that over Hey and I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today as a No and God bless the USA [Music] from the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee across the plains of Texas from sea to shining sea from Detroit down to Houston in New York to LA Brothers pride in every American Heart and it's time we stand to sad and I forget and I'm proud to be an American I'm free and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today cause there ain't no doubt I love god bless are you [Applause] veterans we hope that we communicated to you today how grateful we are for your service and how much we love you a quotation was shared with me by one of you who asked me to consider using it in my closing remarks today and I'm honored and happy to do that the quotation is from President John F Kennedy he said a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors the men it remembers and while we remember with deep respect those who knew the brutality and heart of war we are similarly reminded by you of ideals our nation holds precious like honor valor and service above self we are so grateful to the men and women joining us today those who have passed and any other veterans who served our nation so that we can experience the freedom that we are blessed to know today I am thankful for Larry C banks I am thankful for each of you thank you so much for joining us today it is our great hope that this program will bless you all a fraction of the way in which you have blessed us thank you so much [Applause] and at this time I would like to invite our Boy Scouts up to help us formally retire the colors veterans when the music begins our students will greet you and will dismiss you by rows to the auxilary gym we will have our picture taken first and then we would like to invite you all to stay for lunch we are almost dismissed students you are phenomenal thank you so much for your attention today enjoy the rest of the day [Applause] [Music]
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good morning big Hollow today is November 13th 2019 this is the 59th day of school this is whe news I'm Ashlyn and I am drunk stay for lunch there will be mini pancakes sausage patty cucumbers hash browns orange juice and milk tomorrow for breakfast there will be pancakes and some steaks bananas sunset juice and milk we have some friends celebrating birthdays miss Glover miss Lancaster's celebrating birthdays this weekend Dennis G and Kota beef please go to the office to pick out your birthday card yesterday's for in fact question was in what board game when a player visit the gumdrop mountains on their way to candy castle the answer is candy the winner is Abigail Abigail three Hoadley come to the office to pick up your birthday book Oh to pick up your prize today's fun fact question is who did though Grampa ha whimper dog tribe share Thanksgiving with remember to write your answer neatly and include your name and glass and now you will observe a brief period of silence to reflect on the anticipated activities of the day please stand for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Seattle will now lead us in the new in the star pledge I pledge allegiance to be a big Hollow Star I pledge for the video videos to learn whether I met school or travel time whether at school or travel far I pledge to be safe in every way I pledge to be safe in every way to take responsibility during work and play to take responsibility during work and play I will be respectful in all I do I will be respectful and all I do NBA start the whole way through and be a star the whole way through we may one one's name remember a warm smile is the universal language of kindness bye thanks for watching bye
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who called the Design Review Board meeting to order this is iron November 13th meeting and Jeff you take the roll call please yeah member burns member Cooper present member Mitchell here member Kinley their member perkins here member singleton member Buckwalter yeah member guitar ski yeah and I'd like to start out by welcoming John guitar ski he's new to the design review board from the Public Arts Commission and we're glad to have each other welcome so our purpose in the design review board is to engender good design and in the community where a group of Landscape Architects architects developer a planner a general contractor who have been around town for a while and and we try to offer advice and create a dialogue with applicants as they come in we review projects that are in the D 1 D 2 D da zone that are not in one of the historic districts and we are an advisory committee and weekends are required to come here first when were the first stop but we do not take a vote in and we do not have jurisdiction over the project it's more a dialogue than than a dictate so seeing all of that we should approve the agenda first does anyone have any comments anything that you like to change someone like to move the bill so I second fetch F all in favor say aye thank you and approval of the minutes from September 11th 2019 they're attached in your packet anybody have any Corrections or comments someone like to move approval please Bill's on roll all Cory's going to do this Cory and bill Kenley supports any more discussion okay all in favor say aye I don't opposed all right thank you there's a public commentary period now and this is a little confusing this is public commentary for items that are not on our agenda the item on our agenda will we'll have a second public commentary period after the presentation was done so if anyone would like to speak to us about an items not on the agenda now's the time I'm looking in the audience okay thank you regular business okay then this is 405 South Main that this is half of the block that fronts on Main Street to the west in William to the north Packard to the south in the alley between fourth and main to the east it's it's that entire block we saw this project about a year ago and it's a little unusual in that it is now I have been told into the planning process and as I just said were usually earlier in the game but we've been asked to take a look at at this there there are some revisions to the design team and to the design so we are happy to do that if you folks could walk us through it but good afternoon my name is Luke Bonner with a Bonner advisory group we've been working with landmark properties for about a year now just on this project I'm going to just talk about the process that we've been through look who is with you just real quick I was gonna I'm gonna talk about the process that we've been through over the last year Josh Sachs is with Majewski architects and then Travis maze this is Bonner advisory group as well okay so what you have before you is is really a result of a process that has gone on over the last year that really started with coming to the design review board with a massing model more than anything else to sort of get the first impression of this the massing in the scale that we were proposing as part of this project it was actually our intent all along to come back two other times after that so we did come around probably in late spring with a lot of changes that happen from our first meeting and then now today wanted to also bring this forward for you to take a look at again as I say going through this this process over the last year and I would say that the process that the city has in place I think for projects like this we say our opinion has been a really good one I know that normally you know going through the development process there's a requirement called the citizen participation ordinance where you have to have one official public meeting of neighbors and residents within the affected area including the three designer be board meetings today being the third in those meetings we had about a dozen meetings actually so we never really wanted to rely just on one meeting we've had several informal meetings and then we've also had you know a couple of meetings with one-on-one with residents to talk do some very important items for them and so as the process has gone on both comments provided by the design review board early on by Geoff Khan and teaming planning in by residents there were about four areas that were extremely important to everybody as part of this process and josh is gonna talk about more of the technical details on that but the the Packard in main corner that Street wall there was a lot of emphasis on activating that and if you recall the very first rendering that we brought in that was pretty much a blank wall so there have been a lot of changes and rightfully so on the Packard main corner the other interest was along the Main Street Street wall making sure that there was a lot of texture and variation and activity with that third was the setback from a pedestrian safety standpoint at the corner of Wayman Main and then also heading east on main to make sure that that was a safe enough setback and would match the setback that would be on Main Street and then last but not least in one of the more important issues in terms of dialogue of working with the adjacent property owners themselves is what exactly happens with the alley so there are access issues that were very important to alley property owners because they're all multi tenant rental properties the parking for those properties is in the alley so we wanted to make sure we could address those issues for you know really for ever the alley has not had any eyes on it and so there's been a set of behaviors that have occurred in the alley both after-hours I'll say but also during the day with deliveries and staging of trucks in the alley that's preventing some good traffic flow so that was an issue that's been brought up and then also just making sure that there's good maneuverability and spacing that allows traffic coming in and out both ways to access the property of the adjacent owners but also this property as well when we had all of those discussions over the course of you know probably really about five or six months there was a pause internally with landmark and the development team to make sure that we were taking everything into count and incorporating all of those comments into this so as a result we did a pivot on the architect so we brought in Majewski associates choo choo july fish you know it's all time is bleeding together now and so cold out I'm losing my mind but it really was I think the flexibility and capability of my a ski from experience here in town but just you know I'll say is the talent on the team to be able to take all of those things and put it into a product I think that everybody's would hopefully be very very happy with which is I I think where we are today there are a couple of residents in the audience today that have come to the majority of the meetings so they've seen this iterative iterative process along the way and today is kind of our for designing review board purposes it's sort of like our best and final you know take a look and you know kind of let us know how you think everything is gone and answer any additional questions that you may have and with then I want to invite Josh up so you can talk a little more technically about those changes that I refer to including materials and design and that sort of thing I all thanks for your time so I'll just start kind of from a zoning and kind of programmatic perspective the project is very similar to how was previously presented in terms of you know it's a ten story building mixed to use predominantly multifamily the first floor is active with retail on the William and the main street corner there's some residential uses I looked down Main Street about halfway down the block and then as they approached Packard we try to kind of activate that corner our lobby of leasing centers on that corner and then we amenitized along Packard streets so we have kind of our fitness area and spa area there as well so trying to maintain an active street front and then you know levels two through ten our multi-family the second floor we have you know exterior deck so about half way down me and you can see where the break is in the in the facade and that's kind of where our outdoor deck space is obviously from a zoning perspective we're allowed 120 feet maximum height within 150 feet of William Street and then and then the project reduces on the scale to five storeys and sixty feet maximum height from an architectural standpoint it was really you know important to kind of create you know it's a three fronted site we have three street fronts and two prominent corners so trying to create those two power corner elements and trying to accentuate those and kind of you know maximize our bang for the buck kind of on the corner with you know maximizing glass and kind of making our big bold moves there and then kind of just keeping true to you know masonry and the materiality that you see in the area so trying to maximize the amount of brick we have on the on the facade obviously it's a you know it's a 400 foot long street it's a Lanka sod so trying to break that up with some metal elements so on the corner you know in the corner of William and main we have a curtain wall element that's kind of surrounded by a metal panel frame and as you move down the block kind of we kind of alternated and trying to create some rhythm and some breakup the mass of the facade as we move down between masonry and metal panel introducing some balcony elements to kind of give it a residential character and also help you know break up that facade as well obviously maintaining the street wall the two-story street wall was important as well and kind of filled using darker materials at the base kind of helps ground the building and using lighter materials up high you know kind of help reduce the mass of the perceived heaviness of the project you know we've been working with the neighborhood groups and the colors on the facade have changed a little bit during the process and in general the neighbors appreciated kind of a lighter material palette from some of our first initial schemes they were concerned the buildings appear too dark and kind of gravitating more towards earth tones on the project so originally we were a lot a lot cooler palette this is a little bit of a warmer palette and maybe I'll just walk around the four sides so the other corner down a Packer we kind of carried that same corner element with a very glassy element on the corner that's at the base is the entry to our lobby ob Singh office and then as you move east down Packard that's where our fitness center is so trying to you know even though there's not a retail element kind of trying to keep that language along the base was important and trying to activate at that corner and keep it kind of lively down there along the alley we have we kind of have a split-level garage on the back side of the project so there's two entrances one entrance takes you down a half story and one entrance takes you up a half story as well so if you see in the plans there's on the south side you're going down to the half story down on the north side you're going up and then we have some open green space along the alley to meet our requirements we're also engaged our neighborhood group you got hooked up with some artists in the neighborhood and we're gonna try to work with them to create a art piece in that corner so we're definitely open to ideas and open to working with a neighborhood to kind of come up with solutions that work for the area this is the the facade looking down William looking West Thank You Josh that's helpful so remit as you work your way around the building the material palette stays pretty consistent we want well the project to be cohesive and certainly the downtown requires you know a really nice material palette and they emphasize the use of brick and high-quality materials and we want that to continue around the backside of the project as well you know along the street a lot of storefront awnings to kind of help the pedestrian experience and yeah and once again just just trying to break up the length of the facade you know certainly the element in the middle where we kind of break the the building and kind of sneak around the project helps reduce perceived mass of the project which i think is you know beneficial to the project as a whole and I mean really that's that's kind of the crux of the project and certainly welcome to any questions you guys have we're the entry points judge the pedestrian or the vehicle a pedestrian pedestrian so the a lot like it this one doesn't have the plans so a long name there's the entrance of the tower there's essentially two lobbies to the building so there's the primary lobbies in the corner of Packard and that's kind of where your leasing office is there's a secondary lobby two-thirds of the way up Main Street at the base of the building that's kind of more just a ingress and egress access the high-rise but it's really not than me and lobby on the building and then all the entries to the retailer scale from the street from I've got one other clarification cushion those those dark and shadowed areas we see adjacent to the window zone is that a different color brick or finish material or are those vertical unit vents louvers right the textured panels the kind of alternate uh-huh yeah those are alternating color brick yeah okay and we thought those elements were kind of important to give the building a little texture and movement otherwise it could have would have been so stoic and kind of plain so we think that helps accentuate the building so we have you indicated egress into the rental housing the swamp or Street and back certain people I think require is the alley to a runway I believe that alley is to a we are we came to an agreement we're providing an additional two feet of alley with south of our ramp entry cuz I'm right now the Elliott Wave is 16 so the property owners to the east you don't have driveways but it's the paved surface that is on the east side of the alley is where all of the parking spaces are so I don't believe I don't use any driveways that actually come off the allergist be surface on the other side of the alley into to Josh's point on the south side we actually expand in the alley with another two feet so when you're coming on that south end there's an easy two way traffic opportunity and as you go north on the alley it slims down a little bit but there's still enough room for two so it is technically a two-way alley it's like two two lane or two so it's two way because the alley width is the alley width that's 16 feet so it's it's not going to be striped but it's definitely a two-way one way out maybe you could say that into the mic so they can hear so the alleyway itself will be resurfaced and improved and in terms of long term maintenance I think that's something that well I don't typically know how that goes with the city if there's an agreement where the developer ends up taking care of the alley because you're using it anyway he's going to snowplow it and everything else so it'll probably be part of your development agreement that comes out of the planning process so them okay other comments yeah question could you sort of go through the general changes to the site plan from the previous and we saw one the one I noticed for sure is that the elevation on Packard I think there had been discussion about stair stepping that facade and this is a straight facade I can't remember now what our logic was and in suggesting that are talking it through but that's one that's pretty obvious what are the others look to me like maybe the ramps are different yeah I mean unfortunately I'm not a hundred percent familiar with with a previous the middle we kind of took a fresh approach to the project certainly yes I know there was something it was more rectilinear on the corner and it was stepping we kind of felt like I don't even know if that kind of totally meant the intent of the street wall experience and we kind of feel like the way we kind of set it up where we're you know we have a two story experience that's parallel it's a Packard is a stronger Street well lets us orient our facade more towards more towards Packer than it did previously I know there was a lot of blank facades there previously I think programmatically I mean but the person pieces are pretty similar in their locations I think I don't believe the lobby used to be on the corner of Packard it was it was so we relocated it there to kind of you know just create more of an experience there and kind of open it up the the parking doesn't function in the same way I believe they had a full story basement previously that went underneath the full site we we found a way so we could just only orient that you know along the eastern portion of the site so we don't need a full basement where you don't utilizing there's like four and a half feet of great change along the property so utilizing that and not having to build out a full basement was kind of a big move for us as well I think that one of the issues was that that we talked about the last time was there's rental units right at grade and that's something of an issue in terms of Louise privacy in that can and the plans I realize are not fully developed you're suggesting that some of the retail units might be pushed back behind the side ways so there's maybe a space between I think it's just the way that the shadows are showing and that was that it's it's kind of a play with the materials I mean right now that the residential does but up to the street so it's like the plan it is like the plan correct yes and that's something we did discuss with the owner and they they did feel comfortable with from that perspective it you know across the street there is residential you know I believe there's townhomes across the street I know they may be elevated somewhat but as you go down man it's not it's not a retail heavy experience so they did feel comfortable with the amount of pedestrian traffic in that area putting putting residential along with streamers remember there was a lot of discussion about pick up and drop off with taxis yes so we actually did along the alley we kind of created these uber zones or these rideshare zone spaces and also a loading space so our goal is to keep to not have anyone drive down Main Street and park there so Amazon deliveries and ride shares can go along the alley and a lot of dedicated spaces for them it's not it's not in this presentation it's in it's on the plans it should be noted on the plans at that yeah are you talking about the compact car spaces that are indicated this is right chair to move on there's two rideshare spaces kind of closest to the fitness area so right around the corner from the lobby so just past the entry to the garage correct yes SP 0-1 chose that you know built the actual loading zone for trucks and so forth that just this once short stretch I could say short it's probably about 50 feet long yeah so I mean the project is permit it's fully furnished by the owner so there's not a lot of loading and unloading required from from you know tenants who occupied the building so we don't anticipate utilizing them a lot so our intent is that any UPS or FedEx trucks could park there and deliver off of that off of that space so the best that we can be gonna be a rollup they're got a lot to be a lot of people parking in that driveway and to the retail whatever the retail is if they get deliveries it has to be out that same spot oh isn't it I remember in the first meeting first presentation the owners who lived along 4th commented that the alley down by Bill seafood it's so busy semis back up in the alley and then people pull up into this alley and wait for that ality to clear so they sit sitting this a highway wait for people that move through the alley did north and then they move across and go into that reality and that's policing issues we talked about that quite a bit you know a lot of it is the behavioral issue of no eyes on the alley today so there is a lot of staging out there for deliveries in fact when we've done some of our walking tours of the site there have been delivery trucks right in the alley not moving so one of the benefits of the improvement of the alley overall is that as a developer owner manager of the property there's some certainty they want to deliver to residents that that alley is going to be open so there's going to be more policing as you mentioned there's ons 24-hour on-site security plus a camera system so there's eyes on the alley there will be policing of staging to make sure that that's not happening and that's gonna long-term there has to be a relationship with the city and on their behalf surrounding properties or s-tronic businesses so that they know they have to sort of change that up this isn't a staging area and then the other issue is related to the parking so adding the two ride shares allow them to add that other drop-off delivery area as well so the idea is to for the neighboring property owners take as much of the staging out of the alley as possible to prevent any backups or someone having to sit there are no access issues so whereas today there is anybody doing that now obviously they have residents they want to make sure they have access which is the neighboring property ownership that will come to other comments or questions well I'll fill the void I've got a list let's see so the the dark shadows that were seen adjacent to all the windows are all just a different tone of brick yeah that's great thank you and then I noticed the cornice heights in the 12 story element of the brick masses are slightly higher than the setback metal and it works really well yeah there isn't that image on that cornice line but it it didn't look like you employed the same same technique on William or in the recessed area that you see along main and did you consider that it it what one of our thing is that downtown is typically 22 foot wide light sometimes you get 44 and sometimes you get 66 but within each of those Lots storefronts are bouncing all around at the cornice line and and you've gone to great lengths here to divide this up into different vertical masses and what you did at that court cornice line where the 12 story illness really seems more effective than yelling you're saying these brick Matt you're saying yeah there's just a little bit of an offset see the light brick is taller dirt up in the recess darker metal but when you go over to William I don't think at least in the earlier trying uh so that's back so I'm a maybe I'm looking at an earlier drawing I'm not seeing this correctly did you employ that everywhere is it okay alright good good thanks and the the dark metal is set back of the brick slightly how big is that reveals at a foot or is it four inches you're saying this is my vertical element yeah it's it's more inches than I thought I would say okay yeah it is it full-size prickers it yes it is in the tower and is it being thin red here brick ten brick yeah okay just because of you know just the sheer weight and so we it's hard to return on a 90 degree corner you can do it so so that revealed between the brick and the metals isn't gonna be too pronounced yes more of a material image than a plain change correct I mean we do hope they get a little shadow line there between the two and you know as we've developed it will work on that detail and try to you know make it as pronounced as it can be okay we the last time it came around when we sought a year ago the main entry was right in the middle of Main Street and and we commented that that we thought the entry should be more pronounced so for just tell me if I understand this correctly everything south of the tower the entry point is down at Packard and then the tower element entry point is up towards the corner of William and main so I mean the problem is the primary experiential entry point is that is on the corner of Packard but from a convenience perspective from them for people living in the tower portion it'll be you know one third of the way down down Main Street is there an active lobby behind that doors and is it a feature what that corner is real important corner speaking of William and main what's happening on the corner boy that's I mean that's a retail corner okay so we'll be able to view but there's an entry point to to the tower right so the entry point to the towers if you can see man isn't this little way down there got it okay so everything everything north of theirs so they do that's all retail Chris okay thank you no what's it about I think I heard you say that's the site yeah they could right now to open space yeah so it actually came out of it came out of her neighborhood meeting last week oh and I know we've been in contact we sent drawings to the representative and we're kind of waiting for some feedback on what they want to propose so is it potentially just grass and it's an odd little area for just grass or what are your plans no I mean it will be landscaped it won't it won't just be gas I mean there's no you know I think until we work through with that individual and with the neighbors what what is wanted you know it's not currently designed but they intend us to be something you know substantial more than just open space yeah well it does have potential like statue with surrounded by shrubs or something sure sure yeah I mean I don't know if it there's actually more as you move west down Packard's toward mean there's some additional space in front of the building so I'm not sure exactly where that art is intended to be or where it's desired to be but it will be in that area and it will be the will be you know lamp additional landscaping within that area as well John thank you uh Luke and Josh and I only offer a suggestion relative to the comments on me on the artwork and it's probably bad that I start out apologizing and then offering advice but I think it's important I'm new to this project I'm new to this board I've been here seven days just senior your your work just for a few of those days and I'm reminded of a friend of mine who often said that good ideas our diamond doesn't go to any bar near any art school in America and you know there are a hundred good ideas that it's really timing budget team and those sorts of things so I offer these suggestions in that light I have two ideas that I would like to to suggest and it takes off of what my fellow board member mentioned regarding that that strip of land and where you are already planning to put some sort of artwork that I agree that it could be a sculpture garden so a contemplative place if there was not just artwork but some way to sort of utilize the inspiration or what yes from public art also I would like to recommend you consider a rotating sculpture garden there is a lot of support for something like that meaning that the artwork in that place wouldn't just be fixed it frankly would save some money for the developer because what it does is that it leverages the demographic of Ann Arbor that every artist drools over highly educated high disposable income audience that you could attract some mid-career and senior artists not just regionally but nationally to lend a piece for that if you look at the University of Michigan's Museum of Art those large pieces there are donated by the artist so artists want their pieces shown I would encourage you to have local artists exhibit that could happen if you curated a rotating sculpture garden so I consider the artwork to mate possibly be rotating there there are a number of organizations here penny stamps school of art has a gallery on Liberty and I'm sure that they would be approachable to be able to curate it and the Art Center and the our lives are two organizations that would have contact with artists around and again there is considerable support on council and in the creative community because there are very few places in Ann Arbor that we can put art and wouldn't it be nice if we could rotate our in and out of those place it might be a cost savings for you to some extent you're going to have to probably pay for the curation you might be able to get penny stamps to kind of do it but I would encourage you to consider that and consider some sort of seating so that it's not just something that you see in a car that you walk by although a pedestrian experience is very important but to be a contemplative place so that you have grad students there to be able to set and be inspired by this art good art does that and I think it fits with what my fellow board member has said and along that line I'd like to reference the design guidelines regarding that I've been encouraged to do so so under a three open space the guideline speaks of open spaces to include public and private courtyards patios terraces alleys and gardens and they should have an urban quality and character that live on the street and enhance the pedestrian experience a three point two also talks about an urban open space and a high level of existing or potential pedestrian activity I think that that Packer will get a lot more activity and your situating you know one of the the main entrances there too so you're going to get a lot of that and our guidelines recommend that when you have open spaces near there you can siddur that a three-point for recommends that you consider that area the courtyard serving is a focal point the kind of discussions that we've had here suggest that and a three point six specifically mentions public art so what you're already thinking about dovetails exactly into the guidelines I'm adding just a couple of variations to it one rotate it so you get a lot of different artists in there and you could have one large piece of art or several small pieces of art but if people don't like it they can just wait a few months because you know you'll rotate it through the second that idea that I would like to sort of present and while I'm on this topic that why don't I go into that and that's really activating the ally space and I'd like to share some of these photos with you and if to pass along and I'll reference those sure they're there both for you and I apologize dick but staff saw these and said oh mine you know you should really it much better than my Haggard description of what could John has a whole book of ideas that you'll send you that's great public art idea book and we'll share a link with you so these are the trompe l'oeil murals and the modern sort of 3d pictures are not what your grandmother's 3d pictures are like so I want to reference in particular I'm not good at other than drawing so this is what would what do you call this sort of piece of paper here a rendering rendering rendering view from the southeast so and I apologize for my non-technical sort of terms but you even mentioned Josh of trying to activate that particular wall these two large walls here I'm suggesting you think about a trompe l'oeil mural I have some examples where it's paint but it gives the illusion that you're pulling back the skin of the building like a curtain to expose a more classical design so it's kind of a take-off on oh this looks like a modern building to you but underneath of this modern building is this incredibly classical design it would definitely draw attention to it and some unique designs it could be could could take what I hear you say is needing activation and it's the reason you have the different colors there well just push it over the action and and and and really go trompe-l'oeil with it in addition the alley itself so these suggestions are saying you know you really want to signature building and I've read this in the narrative that one of them back of this building is as spectacular as the front and you can do it with trompe l'oeil murals and so all along that back parking that you create a streetscape and you know and I would encourage you to think about a historical streetscape we have some sort of representatives of the Historical Commission here tonight or this afternoon and that you could and there are examples if this particular image right here you see there are balconies that's all painted and you see below it looks like there's a porch and it looks like people are saying that's not that's that's all painted on there and if you could do the same with that in terms of creating a straight scape from the back of the building and I also would encourage you if you flip over these are what I call Instagram kind of features and a really big thing now that people want to take selfies so if you allow them you create something where they could put themself into sort of this mural and take a photo and put it on Instagram or Facebook or wherever and there is that Maynard and and William that on the tower Plaza that my wife teaches at the U and she is in the English department goes to graduation I pick her up and there are hordes during graduation week there's these butterfly wings and there are lines of people waiting to get their picture taken with these wings and their cap and down so if you could create some interesting kind of trompe l'oeil features on the back of that a streetscape historical if you can but if not just bring out some action activity and draw people there to do something sort of be inspired in the sculpture garden tease a little bit of the the modern design with a trompe l'oeil sort of curtain pulled away and a literal streetscape on that alley so again you know ideas are a dime a dozen and I come late to the game I apologize to my fellow board members you know and to you if I've if you've already thought of this and and it doesn't work that's absolutely fine that's all I have chairman in any guesswork I'm a chef do you have anything yeah yeah all right my biggest concern is that it's almost like this presentation today to us is as though we only care about the exterior of this building I care a lot about the entire piece of architecture and we're seeing the floor plan unless I missed something in a submission it's the first time I've seen these four plans there's no site plan there's no articulation about landscaping the site or what's left of it so I'm basically just digesting this for the first time right now and I'm not sure I'm ready to make any comments about it yeah I am I only come in there was a fair amount of discussion last time about making sure that the view coming up the hill on Main Street and others going north on main when you come to that intersection there's something maybe I'm stretching to say exciting happening in that corner but something that makes it distinctive and that's where this Lobby is and there's nothing particularly distinctive has a little shelter or peace there but if you given any thought to making that a little bit more of a standout you have only two corners to work with and this is the one that's going to probably get more views from people coming up from the south than almost any other place in downtown Ann Arbor I'd encourage you to do something there yeah I mean certainly we you know attempted to make as I mentioned there's kind of like two signature corners on the project you know we attempted to kind of make that its own distinct element I think you know we could make it a little bit louder if that's kind of what you're looking for obviously there's some limitations there's height limitations and whatnot that don't allow us to maybe pop that element as high as we'd want it to be so we're kind of you know restricted there but you know certainly we were conscious of those previous comments and at least as a starting point you know orienting some of the building functions toward that towards that corner is kind of the approach that we took and I do think it opens up that corner a lot more than than previously in previous iteration I agree with that so I mean we're certainly open to to further explore in that corner and what we could do to make it stand out you know as a distinctive element I share what what Jeff said we haven't we saw the elevations I think was always saw before us today so we haven't had a chance to study the site plan or landscaping and so forth at the second floor level looking at the elevation and that at that corner when you get to the apartment level are those set back it looks like I can't see that in them maybe they don't even mean in pepper give me those of you who are looking at now yeah I'm looking at the same view but the the darker colored brick the two-story part looks like there's a balcony behind that that's at the third storey you're asking yes yeah it's set back a third story it's what it's that back five feet at the third story so that balcony all the way around there then so it's a balcony yeah it goes all the way around the building then it's not balcony but it's setback its rooftop that's something I can see that so that's a continual continuous balcony it looks at Midland I'm looking at SPO three it looks like a continuous balcony all the way around it it's not a balcony used but it is a setback so just setback but needs a setback but it's not intended for you can't step out with correct actually all of us even the corner element does the upper terrace then half way down Main Street become activated opening oh yes Stan I mean it's amenity deck so there's a you know a large heated hot tub or pool and a lot of there's trellis elements and fire pits and you know we do have some development on that area that's kind of happening within the past few weeks from from the landscape architects that we could provide that information as well I'm going back to that same corner is that that's set back part of the requirement the setback yeah this setback from the city has got to step it back feet so they're a two to three story screen wall with a five foot step back I think I general concern and as I'm guessing all these my general concern is I think it's really nice that you've broken it up quite a bit I think it's more articulated in terms of mass and those before the ends a now it's in the recess for the pool deck and things like that I think but really the society is just so flat you're gonna have thin brick and like you said inches between that and the panels the windows I get a feeling are going to be very flush and then the treatment of the windows with the shaded or the darker brick to try to expand their their appearance I I think is not gonna be terribly successful what I think the best example I've seen of that is maybe the varsity where what they did was they recessed the window at least the thickness of a brick and created a bigger recess and then put a window smaller window within the recess and they used a darker brick and they employed like header courses and soldier courses to kind of highlight that you know I don't see any of that the brick just goes from one color to another color and doesn't appear to occur in any line or recess I think throughout the building you know that's kind of an issue another important elevation I think is the view from the northeast across the beer Depot parking lot that's a pretty blank beside that we will end up sitting there retail doesn't turn the corner at all even the first floor our spaces that are going to be retail maybe put more ins and outs and I think the lobby area I think the lobby area where you have the standard name it shows them plan that that's very shallow recess or angle but it's a blank space on on Main Street with two hot metal doors in it so those some of the issues that that I'm concerned about I'd like to see some more detail on the facade and more depth wherever you can get it um how many occupants will the building house I mean there's 218 units you know many of them are multi it's correct I believe 420 bedrooms I I have to agree with Gary that it's really flat I'm the renderings were but I was hopeful when I saw the renderings that there was more depth and more reveal between these masses but you're just not gonna be able to accomplish it with thin brick and metal panels and I think the message you need to take the landmark is they need to develop more budget to this building it needs more detail it needs more richness the building right across the street yeah it sets a good example Ashley muses is really rich in detailing it extends Main Street to the south a lot more appropriately than this is going to thing I think it's it's very flat I'm will disappointed to hear the choice of materials and it appears you took every opportunity to save money I agree with all the comments about the flatness I'm you probably were faced with a budget requirement but that doesn't change the fact that it is yeah I can't remember where it is in the guidelines when the guidelines were being developed there was some discussion about one building in particular and how flat it was that's the corner it's above the bw3 corner of State and and Washington that is a very very flat facade and it is it is not I'm the non architect here I'll just say it's not appealing they're probably better terms and use them it's you probably why this board exists and very small windows small windows it was it was flush with the thin brick and my recollection is that there were statements made in the in the guidelines as to having some kind of dimensional setback all the terms of Gary and Dick were using I echo that there needs to be some kind of richness here and that's I think going back to landmark with that message I think would be very important yes yeah I do but please from a circulation standpoint on the site I think you mentioned that the alley is two-way as it's being used but it's a 16-foot alley I don't know why the city hasn't turned that into a one-way space I don't see how one car can lay by the wall another one passes in 16 feet so I guess my concern is that from a functional standpoint it seems like that space should be used mostly as northbound access so when people are coming in to park sorry I'm not making eye contact but I'm looking at your drawing here as they're coming in to park there they're going to be coming in from Packard it's not gonna be really at least I don't think it should be encouraged that they come down the alley from William Street so I'm wondering if that whole thing should begin to be treated as though the alley is going to ultimately function as a one-way going north piece so the parking spaces should orient on an angle so that when people back out they're encouraged to go north instead of trying to you know do a few special case to go south when you come out of the parking structure at the northern access point that people are encouraged to turn and go up to William Street instead of trying to make it down to Packard it's the alley north of Williams one way or two right now the Rambler down is from assumes you're coming from the south that's the ramp down right yes and you will be crossing lanes if my concern that certainly would indicate that north right we're engaging we better I was more concerned with the ramp up and coming up and making a turn if there's two way traffic look look at the the turning radius gotta have a mighty tight turning radius get onto the into that lane well it's just coming up and making a turn you can certainly cross that but that I would think it's gonna be a challenge somehow other than that that with yes so I know there's been a lot of discussion I mean with the neighborhood about the alley he's been a big plenty of discussion and maintaining it is the for the ability for traffic to go both ways was extremely important Jeff thanks dick just a few comments one was we a staff appreciated the number of improvements that my f skis team brought to the table one was a critical issue of creating a wider sidewalk on William we wanted an extra eight feet they provided that that's huge to us we felt that their treatment along Packard was a big improvement being more flush utilizing land more efficiently instead of the saw cut or the stair step approached last time is sort of an afterthought last time to us we thought that the improvements along South Main Street word were great at the first floor level there used to be caves what we saw as being little caves stuck along that that section so we thought that the elevations here showed an improvement we appreciate maintaining the retail along William we liked at our feature along the William main corner and we appreciated the symmetry of the balcony treatment so we thought that in a number of ways with regard to the massing the building improved substantially we had a few suggestions one we were disappointed with the window sizes we recognize that there are cost implications and all and we had hoped for a larger window treatment we we didn't love the window shattering shadowing that's been being proposed but we do recognize that that it looks like an attempt to minimize the additional costs and then lastly we were staff was hoping for richer colors of the brick we think that brick color doesn't have to be that much more expensive and it could be a way to add real beauty to the to the to the building itself one staff member thought the color palette looked like Ashley Terrace some of our younger staff members thought that it sort of looked maybe more of a senior housing type of a product softer safer tones instead of tones that were more vivid and that's that's my summary I had a few things I forgot to view were looking at right now when you look at the tower element on the south wall is it changing materials when you get 20 feet back from brick to to a metal panel you see what I mean up at the very top you can see that gray of the tower no the one the tower up on William and main oh yeah yes it does it does change materials here you know and that's kind of the rhythm of the project how you know we kind of wrapped corners and then accentuated with material change so we don't have a you know extensive facade of just a single material all right and could you just go to the view that looks at the corner of Main and William yeah that one that the second story element and I know you must have struggled with this and you're trying to maintain the the two-story street wall that is in the ordinance but maybe at the corner there there could be an exception we always one of our guidelines talks about celebrating the corners and doing something different that might have been a spy since the language above that two-story element changes so dramatically and and you have a taller store from below that might be a place to do something different I don't know if you consider that or if you just felt like by ordinance you had to continue that two-story street wall all the way around the corner maybe you don't maybe there's a better solution at the corner yeah I mean we're definitely conscious of that while we were designing it I mean the solution was to you know even though there's a setback to kind of keep that material and kind of keep that read on the corner so even though it's a different plane it kind of reads that it's kind of coming to the ground okay other comments everybody's all set okay all right thank you very much thank there she Koenig's let's see we have communications to the design you think we do have a submit all for connect smart oh we we have a symbol for the December 11th Dr be meeting for 304 East Huron which is the only and renews buildings which includes a very modest renovation okay good any other communications okay so now it's public commentary time about this project that we just reviewed so anyone who would like to speak well I want to thank my SK architect said look Bonner for having so many meetings and I think I went to all of the public meetings so I have been watching this project from the get-go it's been I don't know a year and a half or something and I've been very outspoken I usually a.m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
staying on schedule since we won't need to vote immediately let's um go ahead and we'll call the meeting to order and hopefully we'll get another remember too soon um so councilmember Eaton commissioner McCoy Commissioner Hatcher Schreiber here thank you okay so we have the agenda in front of us I don't believe we can officially improve it but are there any requests for changes quick comment off roll call Commissioner clay V is excused so to speak tonight he had surgery and can't make it he's supposed to be watching on closed-circuit TV tonight so mark we wish you the best and quick recovery and looking forward to having you back yeah thanks we did have several other folks who let us know that they wouldn't be able to make it due to the weather conditions school cancellations and all the loops that that throw it in people's plans I think Commissioner Holcomb I exchanged emails with him earlier today and I think he's planning on being yeah great okay um so nothing for the agenda the minutes those were sent out are there any changes or feedback on the minutes okay good well at this time we open it up for public input and ice we do have a member of the public here with us today if you'd like to provide input to us you're welcome to speak for a few minutes on an energy topic and just please come to the microphone if so um I don't really have an official input I would just like to introduce myself I am the deputy government relations coordinator with central student government and arresting Michigan and so I'm going to start coming to a lot of like City local county meetings and I have business cards if you like them but I'm excited to hear you all speak today um and thank you thank you what's your name Oh Kyla McCallum there yeah great thanks so much for coming glad to see you here okay moving on then to the Energy Report news from the Energy Office and from commissioners Josh did you want to talk about sure yeah start off with a fire station install I wanted to thank everyone who came out as a commissioner mirskiy Marc Lieb you who isn't here right now and the special thanks to Chuck hook'em Arlene Colvin Garcia we had a great turnout we had about 50 volunteers ended up coming out for the install so yeah I'm happy to say that it's now all up there on the fire station and we're looking for our next project outside of that we also have some rather large news as far as a carbon-neutral Town Hall that's coming up tomorrow and so that's something where we're going to be bringing together some experts community experts in different areas some community members organizations kind of partner organizations to talk a little bit about and kind of introduce the idea of carbon neutrality after the resolution passed so that is that's all the news I got thank you bit more about the son of the format and goal goals event sure yeah of course so I think for the carbon neutral Town Hall it's really an introduction to this idea of again Ann Arbor going carbon neutral I think we're trying to make sure that we're bringing together as many community assets as we can as kind of think partners I think tomorrow is really the the first push for that I was talking to chair Alinsky a little bit earlier as far as the process I do think that they'll definitely be a point in which you know we're currently I think forming ideas and kind of figuring out what's out there as far as what's possible but there will definitely be a point in which we'll be coming back to the Commission's as well as City Council or kind of a review and input on those decisions yeah thank you and I think I know several of us on the Commission as it gets stood up and gets more formalized would like to just understand how how we will be interacting with the advisory groups right the technical advisory groups you know just to make sure that where possible we are leveraging each other rather than stepping on toes and certainly at a minimum make sure we're not marching in opposite directions without at least having a conversation and making sure that that's really what we want to be doing so I think you know my personal perspective is the more the merrier we certainly could use all the help that we can on this extremely ambitious goal so we just want to make sure that it's kind of as seamless as possible yeah and I should also stress that it's really the first of many meetings I think it's just kind of the introduction but we'll make sure to keep the energy commission the rest of everything is going to thank you I have a question whether we do it now or later but just with the passing of their climate emergency by the council and their carbon neutrality target kind of how that you know how we want to work that into what we're doing with I think the climate neutrality summit was set up before that I mean not necessarily directly related but obviously now more related figure out how we get all those things to work together and I think we'll get more clarity I think it should be maybe recorded in the minutes that we request the Energy Commission requests in the next meeting some type of formal clarification of what is the structure how the Energy Commission is or is not going to be involved or is going maybe that's not the way proper way of saying it but how are we going to combine forces or how are we going to divide responsibilities so that we work efficiently and effectively I guess agree getting sort of a briefing and strategy session with with it's with you or endure Missy for next time would be great enough next time to work session that we're yeah so if it's a work session I think that's even time to do it okay other news I can share one thing there was a question from at least one Commissioner a number of months back about what DTE is doing around natural gas sustainability and so I just wanted to share a very brief update on that DTE has joined it's a voluntary group it's called the natural gas supply collaborative and you can google them and they have a pretty thorough webpage that explains who their membership is and what they're attempting to do and how right now there's 13 participating utilities it's a lot of large utilities names you would have heard of Con Ed PG&E natural National Grid Xcel Northwest natural some of those players on DTE and it is focused on supply chain sustainability in the natural gas industry so they are they are a voluntary group and their approach is working with the producers and transporters of natural gas on voluntary initiatives what they're starting with is a request for voluntary reporting they have a scorecard essentially of 14 indicators around social and environmental performance in the areas of emissions water chemical usage and kind of community and workforce impacts and that is the that is kind of the first push I think there's a lot more that will be coming from this group and and I will certainly share if there are updates and maybe you know in the future we can bring someone in to speak about it when there's been a few more months of progress here could you repeat the name of the group again the natural gas supply collaborative Thanks you're welcome okay anything else Sun energy news all right I suggest the revision to the agenda yes we expect at least one or two more people to come then we would have a quorum then we can actually do something on it so what if we want to jump to committee updates and did that and then move back to the two other issues that both require a quorum for action does that make sense to everything so it's the proper way to do that is the table those two items okay you action items until perfect do we need to vote to table we can't vote to table that we just say we're gonna table it I think you probably should move to table okay well then I will move to table the two items and move to second all in favor okay all opposed just have to ask okay so we will move on to the committee updates and let's go to the lighting ordinance one so this continuing to drag on but also move on planning department headed by Bret Leonard has assigned Joel Thayer to work with the lighting ordinance working group we met with her approximately a week ago reviewed the ordinance and a lot of questions that she had she also was interested in other communities and what their experience was with their ordinances what the content was and also what their experience was in introducing them so we provided her contacts around the country Pennsylvania Minnesota and Arizona and so she's going to be working on that in the past we've been sort of just interfacing on sort of a ad-hoc basis with the Planning Commission and planning we'd met with Brett before and also with the Planning Commission but now we have someone assigned I think I'd mentioned that at least from our perspective the ordinance draft is essentially in final form and this is now just tweaking that draft with the input of planning and then having it go to legal for a final review before it gets voted on and then passed on to Council so step by step we're getting there if if nothing else this shows how these and some of these are how slowly some of these things move and how they need to move more quickly if we're serious about achieving climate neutrality in the next ten and a half years thank you Energy Audit disclosure ordinance yeah I can help date on that too and the next one as well the the audit disclosure ordinance is also in draft form as I think we reported last time Josh and Missy had a meeting with an IRA Board of Realtors and two representatives of the board the current and the incoming board presidents attended our last meeting we reviewed the the ordinance the thinking behind the ordinance with them they expressed some concerns and suggested some alternatives we agreed that they and we would do some more research they were going to be attending a conference out I believe it was on the west coast where they were going to have an opportunity to talk to people from other communities that have implemented similar ordinances we were going to try to get some more information from a contact that we had a PhD from the University of Michigan who since moved on to the University of Alabama I probably mentioned her before and our meeting is next Tuesday and the EB readiness that's also essentially in more or less final draft form we made some tweaks to the ordinance based on primarily written communication between members of the working group there were some perceived inconsistencies between the requirements in the parking table in terms of percentages of different levels of EB readiness for primary uses and accessory uses we've addressed those and then there were a couple of other things that were recognized in the ordinance that needed to be clarified so we've drafted new language to do that and I believe that group meets two weeks from today so hopefully that'll be in a position where we can then bring that to this Commission and then okay the meeting about in after the passing of the climate emergency resolution you know we still want to continue forward with what we've done so far as basically the baseline but maybe moving forward when you die and this baseline is not gonna come anywhere near achieving the targets of the car carbon neutrality by 2030 so it's kind of next step after this would be trying to target or tie this towards those targets thank you and I think we're gonna also have to rethink you know what is what are the implications of the climate emergency resolution of the target of 2030 in terms of broader let's say mobility energy infrastructure you know gas stations and fast charging and everything else all these things have to be looked at in a in their engine and their interdependencies in a very broad fashion transportation subcommittee in January 2020 right okay thanks I'm outreach to schools normally Commissioner Colvin Garcia provides that I believe she's watching this evening environmental Commission sorry John back to you so maybe real quickly obviously everybody probably knows that the bond passed the school bond passed and I think that's one thing that we'll be looking to hear from Carlene and from Ann Arbor Public Schools is how are they going to move forward with specific plans on how to spend that and what would be the energy and sustainability more broadly implications of that spending environmental Commission to keep things brief we basically considered three things the first was the carbon neutrality resolution and I don't think it's necessary to go into that because council addressed that and passed that last Monday secondly there was a presentation by food gatherers about what they're doing in terms of solid waste diversion obviously that being food so that doesn't go to landfill and in landfill it's when it decomposes generates greenhouse gases and by the way by diverting things also from landfill the city is saving on landfill fees and there was a resolution that was presented and passed encouraging staff are not asking staff to evaluate whether or not food gatherers should be compensated for the kind of that it's doing in terms of essentially compensating them financially for the diversion that they're doing so that should be studies it should needs to be obviously looked at in terms of what that would mean in terms of a precedent to other kinds of organizations but the request was to ask staff to to look at that the other thing that I would mention relative to food gathers that's of interest to this group is they have a hundred and sixty kilowatt solar system that they just installed on their roof the interconnection is still waiting right now I was out there about a week ago myself and met with the executive director and a number of issues and saw this system and it's it's really great so they're doing some good things and the third thing was a resolution was passed asking council to direct staff to provide support to the natural features working group to look at developing and ordinance that would protect landmark or some people call them heritage trees and that was also passed those are the three major things that we're done thank you okay staying on our agenda item for committee updates then we went a little bit out of order but we have a solar access ordinance subcommittee and we will speak on that now sounds good thank you sorry I'm late so there's been a fair amount of work going on behind the scenes on this topic and I sent out thanks Josh for sending it to the Commission today this morning sorry I didn't get it out any earlier um John as normal gave me very prompt comments so I thought I would catch his comments as I walked a little bit through this document the introduction just kind of talks about the history of what we've been trying to accomplish Medicus reference to a resolution that the City Council passed outside the back of your distribution that you received wherein it gave direction for us to pursue this or excess concept from a committee point of view to see what things we could do and what other entities have done statewide citywide so that's what introduction does some key definitions on the solar access John you had made a comment in terms of property ownership and you're right there should be nonprofit government non-government organization or NGOs included because anyone could own property where this might apply so that's been adopted kind of walking through it we have what we could term to be a solar easement we're in a piece of property has attached to it potentially an easement that describes what might be constituted in terms of limitations if an adjacent property owner decided to build something large or voluminous that might encumber their particular solar system so we talked a little bit about that SCS is simply the hardware of the solar system and talk with it about an ordinance so we then move into alternatives and we really found three alternatives for this group to consider the first one was do-nothing citing some of the ideas that we have already a challenging corroding process in the city we also looked at a solar access to the burning process which has been done effectively in a few other cities in this country and now we moved into solar or easements which are more restrictive more definitive perhaps less flexible process wherein we put in easement language in an ordinance and a future developer or builder owner who wants to build something might have to go through a whole series of check boxes to see if he could or could not build that particular provements so that has also been enacted it works in a few other cities predominantly that one in California so we ought to talk much more about California tonight but John you have made mentioned a few different suggestions in that easement where and we talked a little about I revised the first sentence to read existing PV owners and new owners identified through filing for PV specific building permits can secure solar access easements that either prevent new adjacent construction or landscaping from impacting their investment or offer a reasonable alternative solution such as through compensation so it kind of covers different ways that could be addressed the last sentence I addressed in terms of doing nothing through access through permitting so this is a more restrictive approach but again it's been done in other cities the last part of page 2 we do a little bit of compare and contrast of the different alternatives in terms of different features then we got into decision making so mostly this has been Josh doing heavy lifting with the Planning Group this has also been presented I think graphically to the legal group they're still working on this to figure out what we're gonna do in the middle part of page three I talked a little bit about what I think one of our conclusion was being following what we call alternative B I have provided an update since what you received this morning were and I basically went into the existing building permit form that existed the city it's a very simple approach I can't really show it very easily but basically in the form it's a checklist format where the owner or their design professional goes through and actually makes application to build something there's a series of different requirements whether they've been done or not like soil bearing pressure whether the barrier-free design rules have been applied whether the plans have been sealed and submitted for various aspects of architectural electrical fire suppression others item 18 in that is I have attached documentation for the energy core requirements so it actually dives into a little bit of energy efficiency it would be very simple in this building permit application to add a block 19 relative to have submitted a shading analysis if it's applicable and if it does impact neighboring properties that the neighboring property owner has been contacted and that there's a document that's submitted with the building permit fairly simple if there's a dispute about that we would expect the two property owners to try to settle that amicably and then we suggested that perhaps the Planning Commission could weigh in if there is a mediation needed to weigh in on something that's reasonable as far as a amicable settlement all this is obviously suggested at this structure we have not done anything with the City Council obviously I think Josh the next step is waiting for planning and legal to come back to us as to whether this is even going to make sense to move forward basically I wanted to present this as saying I think the subcommittee's gone too it's reaching bound here we're supposed to disband in 2019 so I think we're leaning toward that I hope that there is direction given to us to offer something up to City Council one question for this group is we're not going to have a formal meeting in December so there would probably be a resolution that would go to City Council resolution what we plan to do with this so that would be the next step if we're not meeting as a commission how do I suppose January probably bring a resolution in January yeah or alternatively we we don't necessarily have to pass a resolution here for me to bring it to council so unless there's strong feeling that needs to be reviewed before it goes to council if it comes out of planning and legal informed I can take forward okay so I would be interested in what others think you know yep which would one of the things that you guys are really good at is is kind of flexed by thinking to work so that you know our lawyers can't know everything about this subject matter although they they tend to the the legal constraints that that go with anything like this so you might find value in waiting until January mm-hmm I'm not sure that one month was gonna make that big a difference yeah I guess my suggestion to is we're putting everybody under the microscope here as far as read it today and give us feedback so I would expect this body to be able to read this over the next month month and a half and if there are recommendations in parallel to legal we come together maybe before the end of the year I appreciate that offer and maybe through correspondence we'll figure out what to do next and if it does need to be voted on by this body certainly January's probably horrible would you like just oh we are hoping to have response from legal by then so that might work out really nicely has plan been involved in the process up until now they have and have did they receive this white paper or draft and any feedback that you can mention to us if you go out on Google Docs you'll find all these documents an older version of the white papers actually there along with all the references and supporting documents there's correspondence out there in my conversation of city of Boulder so you'll see that there's that informations available we reviewed that with Matt who works for mr.
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good morning bacala today is November in 2090 it is the 16th day of school this is wvh news I'm crystal and I'm Ashlyn today for lunch today will be corn done sweet potato front inside parents are go tomorrow for breakfast there okey is cinnamon fun straight cheese fresh grapes apple juice and milk we have some friends over brain birthday jr.
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because this is such an important corner in Ann Arbor and it's going to be there for decades and decades and decades if not more than a hundred years so I have a lot to say about this there has been an evolution in the color palette the last time I saw the renderings for this building it was like son of dark Darth Vader and I told Jon Majewski that I said this looks like a Darth Vader building this is an improvement but I agreed with all of you who have said that the color palette should be warmer that was my position as well I think that the warmth of that is possible with brick brings a real ambiance to the downtown that we want to encourage and we have it already in our historic buildings and in ashley muse and in the other buildings that are further down on Main Street so I'd still like to see that change I want to say that when Majewski architects did the hub on huron they used a lot of wood and it's a wonderful accent something that I find ominous and oppressive about this building is the use of black metal if they could change that to wood it would go a long way in improving the building another thing I don't like about metal is that it conducts temperature on the South facade of the building there along Packard I really feel sorry for those people who would have that black their balconies and windows trying to cool their apartments in the summer or keep them in the winter because it's going to absorb temperatures it it's not a good material for a big building when we're looking at sustainability and climate change and trying to make buildings more efficient in terms of heating and cooling it just isn't another thing that could really help this building a lot and this isn't under necessarily the purview of design review but it needs a green roof or solar panels or something to assist the Ann Arbor community in addressing climate change because we're really committed to it I really I'm glad that you mentioned Ashley news deck it's I think it's a very handsome building it's one of my favorites and in terms of course my favorites are all the 19th century buildings but it's one of my favorites in terms of 20th century 21st century buildings I agree with John that even before you mentioned the arc John I had written down in my notes and there are lots of opportunities from public art on this building there's a certain inevitable monotony that architects are committed to in designing buildings these days they beg for art which is why people become self-appointed artists and buildings with graffiti I really think it's human nature cry now for some kind of artistic expression I think that the entrance to the alleyway the one that's on William is going to be a prime place for graffiti unless something is done there along that alleyway I also filled that with the corner treatment all that greatness about the corners or it turns the corner that another opportunity for art that's a huge expanse of blah just blah so I get I guess that's that's about it there's one thing I I just I mentioned to Jon Majewski and that is there's another building in an hour but with the name the standard it's a restaurant and it's between em Harbor and Dexter and I question the use of the name again for this building I know lawsuits even come out that sort of thing too because of the inevitable confusion so I think the architects and developers for allowing the community to have so much input and I still think that this building has a way to go by the way I do like the facade on Packard much better than the zigzag that was originally there I think I think the architecture has come a long way but it still could go a long way to be much much better thank you anyone else especially concerned with the alley I'm very familiar with the life of the alley and with the beer depot and the senior housing that are at either ends there's vagrants and I understand that there's going to be increased security however it's going to be an issue there's going to be the vagrants continuing to be there people coming from the beer Depot senior housing isn't that much of an issue but it's still it there's a lot of traffic between there I was wondering about the trucks that go into the beer Depot realistically they do have to have a place to park they're going to they can't just be pushed out so that's going to be blocking for a period of time I think they maybe have a 20 minute period of time I'm not sure what the what the legal requirements are there but they'll be blocking that period and I don't see that there's any way that they can be out of the way UPS for the retail is going to be I had a retail space on Main Street and I know that UPS is constantly coming and going for for those spaces so where are they going to park and I was wondering about the entrance to the retail is there there must be doors that go into those retail spaces is that correct yes I can't see where they're where they are could you point out where the doors are to the retail space okay okay and then I'd also second the art all the art suggestions I think that would be great to bring more light and interest there I think that's it so that the alleyway is definitely I think something that really has to be thought about you can't come up to the mic if you would Kris thinks do not kid yourself you will have a big move-in and move-out period and you need to prepare for it everywhere in Ann Arbor at the end of August beginning of September streets are closed off and there will be if you have students living in in this building and you probably will I don't care how well furnished it is they've got a lot of stuff and they bring it with them and there is just to give you an example I share driveway without the house next door which is a rental it has three apartments and our driveway driveway this past August was filled with eight cars for the entire day with students moving all their stuff in it's a fully furnished house so they bring a lot of stuff I don't care where it is so you need to prepare for that and the planning of the program of this building you'll have a big move-in and move-out thanks any other comment okay I think we're adjourned thank you very much you
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Leonard and Matt was going to take it forward he had some action items to talk to us some other cities to get his flavor of what that looks like that's about all I've heard so far have you heard much else Jeff yeah so he reviewed it and then that's all going to legal as we speak so right now it's really in legals realm and they want to kind of as councilmember Eaton was saying they want to kind of see the boundaries as to you know what what is legally possible and get a better scope for it I would be interested to hear the feedback from legal before deciding how we as a commission take action on it I also have another question if we're sort of open for discussion on this now I I believe in this paper it says or we've talked previously about preserving existing and future access and I wondered if you had had discussions about your recommendation on how to approach that and what you know what boundaries you'd set on to me the future access thing opens that can of worms that I can just imagine what that might look like so how did you guys think about that a little bit bigger leap to take at this juncture to protect somebody else's rights I mean it would be impossible to presume with someone like you on our property so there's really no way now on the eastman front you can secure an easement in some states to preserve your space on your roof for that solar access so there is an easement process looking forward but I would suggest that that's not the suggestion we're taking on which is alternative B which is an existing landowner that's made an investment in a solar a so just to protect what he invested but I was thinking about the private property rights of the individual living next door or that's fine if you have an existing homeowner and an existing neighbor but what kind of real estate disclosures or other things would have to be necessary if the neighbor sells their property and the new person purchasing the home decides that they want to add a second story to that home and it's perfectly legal for them to set a second story and maybe it interferes or maybe they plant a tree and it interferes I mean there's any number of things that could be ya know be language in the ordinance that suggests how this process would work okay and they would point them to the building permit process so that if you were you know looking ahead to build something in the future you'd have to at least go through this and say this is a this is a potential risk that we can't do that when they're buying the property I know you know this whole case really came up in spades recently for the solar problems had popped up which is that huge apartment complex on Huron were that one particular gentleman who owned property and his trees I think have since died that property rights access issue is it's pretty important now again I don't know that we can protect the vegetation we're trying to keep this very concise to solar and particularly the people that have invested and putting solar on the roofs around their yard that they don't get a neighbor that suddenly illuminates their investment so that's the primary purpose of this charge and I can absolutely appreciate that but then you're also potentially infringing on another person's right you don't want your neighbor to put on a second story so you put up a few panels and you're set right I mean obviously there would have to be a lot of so yeah I'll be interesting to hear what legal has to say because this absolutely people we should try to protect they should have a mechanism in which to try to protect their investments but it's very difficult to balance that against private primary owner rates in and adjacent parcel so I really interesting to hear what - trees - all different kinds of things so if it's very interesting I view this to be kind of a baby step as opposed to a leap I figured a leap would not work so a baby step might have some fighting chance yeah just comment will be similar I mean those things that wouldn't require a new a new building permit application I mean I'd be interested in I'm sure you've done the research on this and what other communities have done so tree is a great example right so some of the plants a giant tree that shades the solar you'll need a there's no building permit required for those types of things and so I guess what you're proposing is pretty limited in scope I'd be curious what a broader scope would look like well you know one in the Ann Arbor again city of Ann Arbor who's that 200 year old oak tree that's a massive tree from where it was - somebody get some other place that could have been blocking somebody's solar PV array no how would that have been dealt with you know I don't know how that works in the university probably wouldn't have got a building permit to do it they would just go ahead and put it in so I'm not sure we can cover every possibility but and vegetation gets even more difficult - to police because it grows right so I believe me I've got solar systems right now where we have tree growth and as soon as the tree growth hits one of the panels in a big array it starts degrading the whole system so you really have to be mindful of the vegetation but I don't know that we can police next our neighbors vegetation it's really different I don't work in any tree protection ordinance as well natural features committee and I mean the Tremont net back here solar array this year you know that they grow and so over a period of time you know probably less than it takes to recoup your investment in a solar panel a tree could include the the Sun and so these are some balancing issues that were facing I'd also be interested in knowing whether other cities have looked into developing like protections for looking at even how its impacted like development for affordable housing and multi-family housing units because in this same vein is like you could use it as an excuse to prevent your neighbor from just developing a second floor you could use it as an excuse to prevent an affordable housing or multi-family housing yeah that's taller as opposed to John's comments with zoning maybe that index that but you could use it as a way for like wealthier homeowners to prevent more affordable multi-family homes from being built in their neighbor that's not different so I'd be interested in knowing if other cities have even looked at that or if they're like ways that there can be protections implemented in the policy that if if there's affordable housing involved in it maybe you know this doesn't apply I think that kind of gets into zoning you know that's more of a zoning issue and if you if you build your house here and across yo le is affordable housing would this be zoned differently and would that look different in terms of your building permit application and could you do something here to harm that particular zoned property I have seen some of that were these easements that I mentioned then an opportunity or alternative C are written in a way where each particular zoning district of a city gets treated differently and that gets really complicated I can sure that example that I do know that like an across the street from me there were two homes that are now being turned into multi-story condos but whether or not they're affordable is a completely different story in downtown Ann Arbor but they went from there property that changed owners they went from being you know one or two story homes and I think they're gonna be potentially three story condos that would if I don't know if this is particularly that case but if there was a house next door that you know the the unit would know it's the sort of change I see a property could change yeah I don't know that I would view this to be protection area in a sense of building something on my house just to prevent something bigger from growing next drawer because we're not necessarily be preventing that new construction we're just saying hey look if somebody's gonna build that larger installation he needs to be somehow aggressive compensated maybe the panels on your roof get put on top of their roof there's all kinds of solutions that can be done but it's not preventing so I think we're all reminded about that as long as there can be agreements that's the fairness side of it I deal with the reasonableness clause all the time in my life over access easements I know some of my colleagues do the same here so it's all a balancing act so can we put in a formal request for next month's agenda to have either legal here to specifically share their perspective or to have you represent and we bring up a presentation or something yeah you guys together cover it or legal or whatever yeah okay we'll make it an agenda item for December then John did a good job of going through and finding things there might be other little avenues I'd love to see some feedback in terms of your thoughts on the zoning aspect and what all means let me know trying to make something that works thank you you've put a lot of work into this we know it's been great work so thank you okay well that concludes our committee updates then and we had voted to table a couple of our items until we had a quorum so we will now return to the original agenda and the IDA the first item we skipped over was our bylaws this is you should have a copy in front of you of the resolution on our bylaws we had this at our last meeting and didn't have a quorum to vote on it but a few months ago we we talked about the changes to the bylaws the city is updating all of the bylaws and so our recommendations at the time were to make really three changes to the bylaws one was to request that the City Council changed the purpose objectives and duties for the Energy Commission as they were written in the 70s they were kind of reflective of the challenges of the 70s around energy supply and energy efficiency so we updated them to reflect the challenges around largely climate and emissions now so that's this middle section we also wanted to update it to add to incremental Commissioner members to be filled by youth commissioners with the criteria for those commissioners defined in the resolution that we passed a couple of months ago about that and then third that we changed the City Council members who are currently non-voting members to make them voting members of the Commission so I guess we need to move to introduce this and then we can open a discussion second what do we want to discuss or and this for just for discussion okay yes discussion yes yes you know it is defined it was clearly defined in our resolution in the first resolution we passed about the youth members and I don't have that in front of me so I don't want him to speak I want to say it was like through 25 18 to 25 I think yep and we had to find their terms so if this passes with that council house then there essentially be two open slots for youth commissioners by the way environmental Commission passed a similar resolution in terms of adding amuse commissioners so what would what we would do would be consistent if approved by council with what the environmental Commission would be doing as well believe they would go through the same process as any Commissioner so they would submit an application those get reviewed by by the chair and and the City office and then the mayor puts them forth for City Council but because we're doing this we really need to reach out to we're gonna put you behind the two I mean it's always the challenge when we're filling empty seats and on boards and commissions especially when there's a particular type of person we're looking for yes and I believe Commissioner Calvin Garcia has we've talked about that with her in the past she's had some ideas around through her work with the schools getting connections to you know the Civic instructors high school government teachers and so forth for the high school and and then certainly lots of connections that we have to the university here as well yeah I think in the Office of Sustainability innovations has now made some contacts through interns and through other means with several student groups the firehouse project was mentioned and the students for clean energy were involved in that climate action movement there's a couple of handful of student related groups sunrise etc so we would certainly want to be reaching out to them environmental Commission would want to be doing the same thing there's also groups that are you know there may be climate related students that are interested in working on the environmental Commission as well so there's can be some real reach to a number of different college as well as high school I think we allow down to 16 if I recall correctly didn't we didn't and there there had to be some kind of maybe a parental um I think that was what we agreed parental agreement or release or something wasn't do that yeah I think so yeah [Music] but for the youth they were theywere I want to say it was one year um we didn't think it was reasonable to ask somebody to make a longer commitment than that at that stage of life but they could they could extend and then any youth member who isn't yet voting age would require seven votes in Council for confirmation but I think we did that also for students that live strictly outside the city this the city limits so somebody could live in a Township that'd be very very active and apply and I think councilmember Eaton I think there was also a one additional vote or something like that that was required for those kinds of cases as well okay so we're ready to vote on this no no further discussion all right all in favor aye all opposed okay it passes then moving along to the policy agenda so council member Eaton brought this up at our last committee meeting Commission meeting that the city is preparing its policy agenda for the coming year and asked us to provide input to that so he emailed around a copy of the 2020 policy agenda as it's currently drafted and we have a proposal of resolution to consider for proposed additions to that and everyone should have that in front of them as well a resolution advising City Council on energy topics for its 2020 policy agenda and and I should clarify because a couple people emailed questions about this the intent of this resolution was as a dish to the existing policy agenda draft that councilmember Eaton sent around and not as supplanting it and you know not eliminating the other ones that were on there that we did not provide commentary on what yeah so I can read it I have a copy here I won't read the whole thing but just those that are related to the energy so so in the interests of protecting the environment as responsible stewards of natural resources the council directs the following some of them are not energy related there's solid waste management water quality another one on water to more on water then there's one that says pursue remedies that incent the installation of sustainable and renewable energy resources including but not limited to residential and community solar and wind systems and specifically advocate for the reintroduction and adoption of House bill 51:43 and House bill 56 80 from the 99th legislative session and that is really it from an energy perspective actually there was one that fell in another category in the interest of building and maintaining a sustainable infrastructure the council directs the following and that it was building code related let me see if I can find this one and somewhere in here if somebody else finds it before me please please I didn't turn page four there was one summer that talked about building codes to me I'm sorry I'm not finding it right now but um here I'll pass you this copy and you can I have a second copy in case anybody else would like to see it I'll just pass it down this way folks want to peruse through that but I will read I guess the resolution so I guess I'll read the draft oh we need to move to discuss this introduce it and discuss it iMovie read introduce this resolution for discussion consideration by the Commission okay all in favor aye okay so resolution advising City Council on energy topics for its 2020 policy agenda says whereas by the purpose and Duty is set out in its bylaws the Ann Arbor Energy Commission is charged with proposing evaluating recommending and responding to policies and practices related to energy and climate whereas the Ann Arbor City Council is preparing its policy agenda for fiscal year 2020 be it resolved the Ann Arbor Energy Commission recommends that the City Council incorporate the following into its policy agenda in the priority order as laid out here because achievement of those higher priority items will make the others more likely to follow naturally support for a national carbon tax consistent with resolution we don't have the number in here but we passed a resolution on this passed by the Energy Commission in some time in 2018 support for federal green New Deal legislation support for a state of Michigan carbon neutrality target support for changes to the state building and energy codes that lead to more energy efficient and sustainable structures and/or which give local jurisdictions authority to implement building codes with stricter energy efficiency and sustainability criteria than those at the state level be it resolved that the Ann Arbor Energy Commission recommends that the City Council consider prioritizing or ranking its policy agenda items to reflect the varying degree of potential impact achievable with the different measures open it up for feedback conversation question so I agree that the impact of the federal level ones would be higher but I just I'm wondering like this way that our policy committee has it more on the state level we have more Suites the way at the state level that we might have more opportunity to impact those or do we actually have our policy so we actually employ a lobbyist to works in the state legislature with the state legislature and we don't on the federal level on the other hand we have excellent representation through our two senators and our local House member and communicating these ideas to them is as effective but you're right what Ian Arbor says to the US Congress is just one small voice ready so maybe would it make more sense to prioritize the state level stuff if we feel like if I tell you that once it's in the policy agenda every opportunity we get to express an opinion on the subject we will now take advantage of so the order of yours is less important I kind of think although you're right it you've set out the priorities in right before or because some of the lower priorities are just made easier by the accomplishing any higher priorities you get what you chuck I don't think we need to last be it resolved I think everything that's embodied didn't that paragraphs already in the previous be it resolved am i reading this wrong because we're basically recommending and the first one that you incorporate the following in the agenda and that's kind of what the second one does yeah well based on councilmember Eaton's feedback you know the prioritization pieces may not matter we could take that even out of here when John and I were discussing this some of the policy items outside of the ones we were recommending here but the broader ones some are big and some are very small and that was where our thinking was that even among those there it might be helpful to prioritize but if it's not if that's not helpful then we're I certainly don't feel any strong strong resolve is necessary I want to reassure you that we have councilmember Smith Haner and myself on the policy agenda committee so we may actually initiate a whole new section just and try to be appropriate bullet points under that item and it's a very active committee so they may in fact edit your your suggestions but they'll welcome just like the green new deal is not even legislature know I think it's been retracted yeah yeah I would say too like the the green New Deal legislation since it's not actually legislation anymore right I don't think it ever was right I don't and so and so how can we support a thing that actually isn't a thing and then or is there something else that we could support at the state level to the other commissioners point earlier there may be attributes or pieces that were in the green new deal that I just don't understand why you would support the green new deal as it was written at some point and then economically speaking there's a lot of pieces in that green new deal from my my limited understanding that are just not economically viable or feasible so why would we support that if I can just make some general comments so after council Murray Eaton sent out the Kerr agenda I sent a bunch of specifics in an email and copied everyone encouraged every one else to add to the list when Shoshanna and I met we looked at that as my list as well as what was on the current agenda and one of the inputs that councilmember Eaton mentioned to us was make these broad statements don't make don't say support legislation to support HR one two three four because one two three four potentially doesn't get passed and it becomes five six seven eight in the next session but basically is the same kind of legislation so what we did is we took a lot of what I had put tried to make it more general I think that also applies to the Green nil deal the green new deal is as you say it's not specifically legislation but it's something that at least I mean one of the things that we wanted to do is go through each one of these today and say thumbs-up thumbs-down because we may agree or disagree individually as well as collectively on what belongs in there so that's why the green New Deal is in there it's in there as a concept just as support for additional renewable energy or whatever the statement is in the current bullet point for the agenda it doesn't or if you look at the the current agenda it doesn't give a whole lot of specifics it outlines broad concepts that was the rationale behind I'd like to point out that I've heard a rumor that there will be something along the lines of the green new deal being introduced very soon with some with considerable support there's some kind of climate meeting in Spain in the next couple months there will be some legislators from the United States there who will announce it and all of the many sponsors and I think that you know this is in anticipation that they're gonna try yeah I guess I'd my recommendation would be removing the green new deal so do you think you know I actually personally support it but it's more of a concept and in the resolution right now and I think we should you know we do better having specific policy pieces but but I think the thing to add in there and John I believe this was in your initial email but the but the I don't see it in here which is the elements of the bipartisan state bills called powering Michigan forward I know we're talking about not doing specific bills but as I remember them it was basically removing the cap on net metering is actually restoring net metering and those are actually policy proposals that you know they don't they don't stand a great chance in the current far-right legislature of the state but those are things that I think over time could be moved and I'd like to see our profit working on those on behalf of the city of Ann Arbor that was in my email and in the back-and-forth that Jean and I had we felt that that fit under the very very broad category that's in the current agenda I mean I would defer to councilmember Eaton's advice on whether we want to do that so I what I had written is support for state legislation which caps which raises the cap on renewable energy participating in net metering / distribution generation increases the capacity of solar category to generator interconnection from 150 kilowatts to 550 50 kilowatts makes micro goods available blah blah blah I mean just goes on and mentions a bunch of specifics so and the existing let wording which I passed out sorry so I can't read it but that said support for increasing renewable energy right so which legislation or via which tactics again that bullet pursue remedies that incent the installation of sustainable and renewable energy resources including but not limited to residential and community solar and wind systems dot-dot-dot so we thought that that covered lobbyists at general direction but I would not be offended if somebody moved and seconded adding the language that John just read so it's more particularized you know so that we really have a goal because you want both the general language so that the committee doesn't have to meet every time a bill was introduced but you also want some particular eyes language so that we can actually kind of try to make it happen you know try to get our legislators to bring something of this re which I mentioned useffin and Jeff Jeff have already done so yeah I would I guess moved to adopt the language that John has in his email which he you just read cuz I agree I think that's good guidance it's not actually referencing specific bills we know that's in the powering Michigan forward but you know those are things that I think will translate through multiple sessions and gives much more specific guidance than in 0.5 of the current agenda I got a question for console mode remember even you said do you have like specific kind of focus areas of the policy agenda would it be helpful if we in our resolution recommended creating a climate focus area or something when we get your memo or your resolution somebody at the committee meeting will say well gee this is probably something that deserves separate attention and do that what's the timing on that typically we try to pound it out so that we pass it sometime between November and January that was one of the reasons why we wanted to try to get this on today's agenda it seems to me that this last year he was delayed because it might systems we added the whole West area about employee and labor issues so it took a while for us to pound out particular language so we didn't adapt an agenda in November it it took a little longer so you have a motion on the table you need a second I second the motion about including the specifics in my email it's point three I can read it again as a friendly amendment I guess that would be your how about while we're at it the other two I don't know if you consider them friendly amendments but removing the federal green New Deal one and the removing the final via resolve Clause ones is that it I mean that's fine with me those that would second it or or or so I'd consider this friendly innocence no we can add that a year from now it's not gonna be acted on that quickly any home and then we'll have greater specificity and we'll know about with the financial implications are outside of rights that you know could we amend it to be something that still addresses federal supporting federal legislation but not have it be specific because their comment the one that you motion to recommend was state-level right so if we took out the federal green new dealing with legislation it would remove any mention about federal legislation except for the national carbon tax so so my yeah my email included support for federal carbon fee and dividend legislation we had a presentation on that a year or so ago roughly from the CCL and that that actually there is legislation that has been bipartisan legislation that has been implemented so maybe we could just say federal climate action legislation is that what you're thinking yeah something that could at least encompass if something else comes up but our like if this comes up quicker than we think and it happens in the 2020 fiscal year have anything on the table to talk so something brought me federal climate legislation is too broad it doesn't say you know energy really it I would actually recommend that your net strike those to perhaps the new group green new deal the express slightly different way so maybe something support for federal legislation of the kind expressed in the green new deal you know so so you're not saying that particular item but things of that kind I don't think we should shy away from asking for things just because we have a horrible federal government you know I think that this is it's an imperative that we insist that our federal government would be responsive to our needs so if if legislators are going to announce that they're pursuing these things we should speak up in support of them Hoppus in a couple weeks within the next couple months I forget the date and so you know we should express our support for things even though that the chances of it being adapted in this legislature are kind of slim because um you have to keep pounding away so so maybe check see if I captured it cuz I could go with that if it said something like support for a federal policy consistent with the green new deal yes I mean is that that makes sense to me because actually my main thing was that there isn't federal green New Deal legislation that's much the content of it so and we have to rewrite this and vote on it tonight because why you want to send it along to us you're not gonna have another meeting until January right so if we make enough suggestions that doesn't mean that's the only thing that the policy agenda committee will add to its agenda under this topic that certainly gets us talking about it at there at the meeting when we try to formulate this this document for next year and I kind of like the fourth bullet better than all the other ones because we can actually make a difference with the fourth bullet whereas I don't think we have a fighting chance to make much difference for the other three as far as the city goes the city's voice on number four to find a solution to her I think it's the still Edie Ross attacked we could find a solution to that that would be immense well in one option I believe that you laid out last month is we don't have to vote on a resolution and try and find the exact language and bullets that all of us here or a majority of us here would vote on right we have this conversation and you hear the input and can choose to go have the conversation with your fellow policy agenda committee members based on what you've heard here but if we do want formal input from a timing perspective we've got to get to a minimum passable resolution tonight so I don't get a vote but I hope that you will take a vote yeah I would like to take a vote yeah me too I think you stole did you vote on the amendment no I think we're into the amendments so I would hope that you withdraw the the amendment that strikes the first two bullet points in vote on whether or not to includes John's language in addition to these four bolt points and then he could vote on the entire resolution so that I have guidance when I go to that committee do we have to vote on each line by line so yeah I'd be happy to read it so the first is support for federal green New Deal legislation I think we more or less adopt at that point but the recommendation is to change that to support for federal legislation consistent with the green New Deal the second point was support for federal carbon fee and dividend legislation and I have a note to that saying specific legislation toward this end was introduced in the US House on January 24 2019 is the energy innovation and carbon and dividend act of 2019 I don't think we need to mention that but for everyone's information there is legislation specifically being considered by the house the third point was support for state legislation which raises the cap on renewable energy participating in net metering slash distributed generation increases the capacity of solar category to generation interconnection from 150 kilowatts to 550 kilowatts and frankly there we can just say from 500 the current 500 150 kilowatts and not give a specific figure I mean I don't know I don't even remember where I wore I got that figure from I think I got it from someone from here yep makes micro grids available more broadly and then per and parenthetically not just critical sites restores monthly net metering of import-export and I think I must have let left off a word there and then implements a fair tariff or solar so monthly restores monthly monthly netting i--sorry restores monthly netting of import/export I guess that would be import/export Yeah right exactly right so oh it says this is more specific language in line with energy fridge of freedom legislation introduced every year since 2014 yeah so those are the three points the fourth point but in my email is the fourth point in the draft resolution in front of us just simplified someone I will say I'm less than comfortable with the detail on the net metering and category two and all of those components I think partly because I don't know that that's the gap that needs to be closed right now if you look at well first of all in that metering doesn't exist right now for any new installations okay for DTE where we in in the service territory for Ann Arbor I think right now at least last I heard something like point one five percent of the maximum capacity was actually in use so the gap to getting more solar installed is not that the cap is too low right there's not people knocking down the doors who are being told they can't put in solar because of the cap so my concern with this is just you you kind of send the policy committee working on some issues that I'm not sure are actually the right ones to drive solar adoption and so that's where I prefer kind of the broader language to say to incentive as it was written to say to incentivize additional renewables through whatever means that is it may not be lifting a cap which I think that if you write something in the policy where the we do support incentives to install additional renewable energy that or sustainable energy solutions because you can't focus just on one particular technology being solar because you're also talking about micro grids you know we've got solar plus batteries there's other types of systems there's geothermal systems there's heat pump systems there's all these other things so if you only focus on solar we may be limiting ourselves if we think of renewable and sustainable energy technologies and we support policies that incent those so that you are displacing fossil assets or displacing carbon emitting sources then I just think that's more broad and then we can get into the specifics and it allows us a little bit more flexibility when we're writing and supporting well if I can play catch ball so support for state legislation which raises the cap on renewable energy participating in net metering / distribution generation but the cap doesn't prohibit people from installing sustainable solutions or solar or any other renewables it just we're asking that the cap be raised right which raises the cap so there's no there's no specific figure in there I don't know that there's anybody that there's any reason to be I mean somebody might argue that utility scale institution as installations are cheaper but if somebody wants to put in something more than what's allowed today I don't know what's wrong with that another one increases the capacity of solar category to generation interconnect we could just strike out the figures but increases the capacity makes microgrids available more broadly yeah absolutely a category twos are actually defined in the interconnection rules by the Michigan Public Service Commission that's not a I mean you can add but when they rewrite the rules which they're doing next year we would have to go and say that a category two generating system would have to be up to 550 and you'd eliminate the category three level because there's category 1 category 2 is category 3 4 & 5 based on the way that the MPs C has written the interconnection standards and the interconnection rules which doesn't actually I mean it's part of because net metering refers to those but you would have to it's more about rewriting the distributed generation rules because the interconnection rules come first and impact those so I mean I'm gonna actually abstain from this vote apparently cuz i just i don't agree with being that specific about what metering there's so many things happening state policy wise it's hard to put a finger on what's gonna shake out I think if he just took generally and and have our lobbyists think about what is out there and think about what makes sense from a city point of view that would be useful rather than be really specific others comments so it does seem from this conversation that sir is utility to console person Eaton's Smith and sorry the third person painter to have this guidance from us and so I don't know if I should move that we vote on this with the two amendments one to the item around the green UDL changing that to support for federal policy like the green new deal and I think there was another one that when we were discussing at the start of this conversation that there seem to be general agreement for in changing striking the final be resolved oh yes thank you so I don't know if people are ready to vote but it seems to me there could be utility in putting this to a vote with those two amendments so that there's general guidance without the detail that seems like it could become problematic down the road and doesn't have a lot of utility perhaps would people be open to moving that proposal yeah so I think what Bridget was proposing is not introducing any new bullet around the net metering solar renewable energy piece and voting on it with just the two amendments to what we have in front of us one around changing the language around the federal green new deal and the other mixing the last there was one that he read from his email around carbon fee and dividend legislation which really at least in my perspective rolls up into the national carbon tax it's just another way you know it's a subset of a carbon tax yeah yeah and we specifically at that time shied away from naming a specific legislation and you can see that you know some of these things have changed over times in terms of their their details and their specific nomenclatures and things like that so yeah it's essentially covered so I think what what Bridget is proposing John I guess you have to say whether you accept as friendly amendments the way we have in front of us with a change to the second bullet which currently reads support for federal green you deal legislation to change that to say I heard you say support for federal register with the green new deal correct and striking the last be it resolved yes and otherwise it is as we have it in front of us and put forth for a vote so the question that I have for other commissioners even agreed with everything there the question is do we want to do anything in terms of energy fret freedom legislation and maybe maybe that is what we could have is support for state legislation consistent with and with well yeah energy freedom legislation introduced every year since 2014 and just leave it generally at that those not what's already in their house bill 5143 and 5689 something different no I think I think those were the what no I think those were the ones that were eliminating the property taxes on residential solar installations I'm almost sure that those were that's what those were and that's now passed and is due or hasn't been signed by the governor it was it's gonna be signed it's gonna be signed Thursday at the Michigan energy innovation okay so yeah and I'm almost positive that's what that was yeah I'm just looking it up that's that's right sure so we so if somebody wants movie that we add a point even something just simply that says rather than all the details something that says support for state legislation consistent with the energy freedom package introduced in the Michigan House every year since 2014 or in previously introduced in the Michigan House or something like that and then we don't get into the details of the same kilowatt resource categories or anything else which I agree it's probably not necessary read is in that energy freedom package and some of it I think at least says we've had conversations here before my perspective is some it's problematic either not working on the right things or or actually potentially moving us in the wrong direction some of it is absolutely the right thing right so I don't want anybody to think I don't support you know broadly it's certainly the end goals of it but I do think some of the pieces within that legislation or not are not the right way to move it forward so so to my perspective on that is we're not endorsing individual sections of it or not we're just saying that we support broad energy freedom legislation state federal states scuse me energy freedom legislation and I'm sure that your concerns will be addressed during this legislative process in dealing with that that's my sense and the question is do we as a group and we may have a few dissenters and we may have broad you know I don't know we'll see do we does someone want to others feel that we should have something addressing the energy freedom legislation I mean for me there are some important aspects of that making microgrids more broadly available that's really important to me raising some of the caps I think those are important community solar is really important as far as I'm concerned they may not be important to others but that's why I proposed these back in my email on the 22nd how do others feel I think it makes sense dads like that I'd love to see something in here would suggest that the City Council policy folks talk to us about some of these specific because be true like the lay it out because I don't think our lobbyists really understands them all and general I support we got it we do have a Office of Sustainability and when energy issues come up I'm pretty sure that's staff no communicates the assistant to the administrator also it's a lot of effort into the lobbying activities that we do and so I'm pretty sure he communicates frequently with the Office of Sustainability and so if we give them a gist of what what we're after this is getting painful the only other I guess the only other idea I had is just adding federal and state to like the first three bullet points I mean they're basically just broad things that could be at the federal level or we could have state legislation similar to the green New Deal which might be similar to some other things that are in the energy freedom or just general so I would move to formulate the the resolution so that it is as written striking the last point modifying the second point support for federal legislation consistent with the green New Deal and adding a point support for state of Michigan legislation consistent with energy freedom packages introduced in past sessions is there anybody that seconds that so can we take a vote on on that or do we have further discussion okay all in favor aye all opposed to nays and it passes thank you thank you okay that gets so we covered our two items there in the middle of the agenda we covered our committee updates earlier and that brings us to the next item on our agenda which is another opportunity for public input if a public would like to make input once again you're welcome to provide any additional commentary so on the topic of the youth commissioners I am with the central student government like I said previously so if you would appreciate having central student government released any information for students to apply to the youth commissioners a spot I would be happy to work with my director of communications on that thank you that sounds wonderful okay you said you brought cards right yes good we'll take some after right okay great thank you very much thank you okay then moving on to items for the next agenda the one that I captured so our next our next meeting unless something emergent comes up that we absolutely need to change at the next meeting would be a work session so no voting and the one item I captured was that we would have legal provide feedback on the new solar access carbon neutrality yep I was wondering if we could also get an updated metric on solar installations in Ann Arbor in the past we had tracked the number permits as well as the total to be installed based on those permits we don't know for sure that they actually installed that exact amount but I think we used the data from the permits to estimate how much was actually being installed yeah so fee and we could do that if it's January maybe too early because we'll probably want to look at it I think we were looking at it on an annual year basis or calendar you're not a fiscal year basis so maybe if we add that for the February meeting sure no the same Venus solar is there a week that you guys have measured energy efficiency upgrades and energy efficiency installations I don't know if you can really do that as much through building permits it's hard to do I mean there's some homeowners that weatherize their homes and you can't capture that a little difficult it all depends on what kind of upgrade it is so for certain types of upgrades you need to pull permits um things like that but yeah I mean we've explored the option I guess it all just depends on what we're looking for in particular okay because I was just trying to think like if we're thinking broadly about sustainability and how to incent and how to look at it like how are we tracking all of those different components to get us to Net Zero and sustainable yeah the best way that we've been able to do that is mostly again anything that kind of a furnace usually have to pull a permit so you get a rough idea as to you know when the last permit was pulled there's a few other databases that we could possibly look into as well that's public information but the permitting is probably the best way so it is something where if we want to identify certain processes where you have to pull a permit we could probably get rough figures from that site okay curious and then on the agenda item we also talked about discussing a formal structure and how the roles and responsibilities are going to be defined with the Energy Commission now that the climate emergency our agenda for a working meeting I'd like to possibly think about something for either the working session or the next meeting considering the resolution that we just considered I would like to understand frankly what aspects of the energy freedom package in both of your perspectives is not in the interest of the city of Ann Arbor residents so that would be I think enlightening for me you know for example I know this development Verdean at County farm one of the proposals there or one of the things that they would like to do is be able to have a micro grid for that development my understanding is that's not possible right now because of restrictions and limitations is that correct I know Matt broke offices talk to you yes but maybe that's that's not a good specific example but I would like to know broadly the outline of that package is known it's been introduced more all times and if we're talking about the perspective of the residents of Ann Arbor what elements of that are not in our interest and that might then guide the policy agenda for the city so it passed but I think it's important that we know if we're advocating for this legislation that our lobbyists say well these are the things that we really favor maybe there are some elements that were neutral - or maybe there's certain elements that we think are ill-advised so maybe if we can get that I don't know if that's available for the working session or for our next meeting I think it would be appropriate that we that we hear from that and as we go through our committee updates in December let's just make sure how we're gonna add or change or remove you know as always we can do that and then we'll see where each of the loose ends from these existing committee as Josh can you send out a copy of the plan for developing the carbon neutrality plan there's something like I don't know a six step plan that Missy put together with multiple meetings and deliverables each month and then what's to be provided in April I think that's important pre information for our working session will obviously get a lot more after the meeting tomorrow but maybe you can send that out as advanced information yeah a lot of the kind of because I think we're scheduling events after the initial event and I think a lot of the specific dates will be decided tomorrow but maybe if you take a more kind of a framework kind of thing but I think there's there's you know a meeting in November a meeting and Earth's me in December in January whatever that the specific dates aren't mentioned but there's specific dates there's specific um areas that are going to be worked on I think one is energy one is mobility transportation another one is consumption and solid waste is and then there's an equity portion - there's I guess there's four main tax which is technical advisory committees all right one of them being energy that covers natural gas and electricity the other one being mobility as you mentioned yeah there's one that's adaptation so that's review the outcome yep and that's the equity part that the adaptation is addressing equity yeah and the last one is resource again a reduction so dealing with waste management yeah so that's that's yeah yeah we get definitely yeah thanks anything else okay with that we will officially adjourned thank you thanks for everyone framing the snow to make it out tonight especially you
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Brown and when yeah he's going to the office to pick out their birthday book yes James comeback question was who did the wampum dog tribe share this giving dinner one the answer is pilgrims the winner is Brooklyn two acts of this I wanted the OP did you pick up your prize Gen X times that question is what is eight divider right you remember top right your hands are neatly and include your name in class now we will observe a brief period of silence to reflect on the unsubmitted activities of the day please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for alleged to be a bh star school or traveled far I pledge to be safe in every way take responsibility very more than play I will be respectful and all I do and be a star all the day through have a happy Monday remember life is tougher so are you thanks for watching live stop I tell you please stop it
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foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] we're not ready yet keep chatting [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] this is our uh what about our 15th event here at Greensburg High School my 25th overall um I've hosted 207 speakers Coast to Coast eight different countries and our first guest this morning is the one that I've been waiting to introduce since I first started this thing so needless to say um uh you are in for a special treat okay now before I introduce her let me just tell you uh a couple particularly for the freshmen if you're new to the world of Chautauqua as a courtesy to Our Guest and these guests come from far and wide and they don't charge us so we want to make sure we treat them in that great pirate Pride that we're known for which means right now make sure everybody put all of your cell phones away no music no talking no sleeping and for the good students no homework and no reading okay now let me introduce you to Carrie Kennedy president of Robert F Kennedy human rights [Applause] for more than 30 years Miss Kennedy has devoted herself to the pursuit of equal justice the promotion and protection of basic rights and the preservation of the rule of law she has worked on a range of issues including children's rights child labor disappearances indigenous land rights judicial Independence freedom of expression ethnic violence impunity and the environment she has concentrated specifically on women's rights exposing injustices and educating audiences about women's issues particularly honor killings sexual slavery domestic violence workplace discrimination sexual assault abuse of prisoners and more she has led hundreds of Human Rights delegations she has written multi best-selling books she has won numerous Awards a couple of my favorites which includes president Lech valessa of Poland the special high honor for aiding the solidarity movement and that kind of led into my first introduction of Carrie Kennedy she also is the recipient of the humanitarian award from the Congress of Nobel Peace Prize laureates now very quickly what I will tell you is this 51 years ago the last major presidential candidate to visit Greensburg Indiana was her dad Robert Francis Kennedy he was on he thought Greensburg Indiana population 11 000 was worthy enough of his time and energy and everyone who was there that day will never forget that unique experience Robert F Kennedy is my favorite politician and I never had the honor to meet him 51 years later we have the great privilege to have his daughter on the stage who is carried on his incredible Legacy he won the Indiana primary the night he won the California primary he was sadly assassinated She carries on that Legacy through his human rights organization I first got to be introduced to what she does when I was fortunate enough to host a group of students to the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit nine years ago in Chicago because of her my students were exposed to people like the Dalai Lama President Carter Mikhail Gorbachev so many of these amazing people that she has made possible for people all over the world please give a nice round of applause for Miss Carey Kennedy [Applause] oh great thank you well I'm thank you so much Mr Pratt and thank you all for coming this morning I know you didn't have much of a choice but I'm still grateful um so I just thought I'd talk to you a little bit about my work in human rights does that sound good and how I became involved and um sort of some of the issues that we're facing today both in this country and around the world is that all right okay good so um I uh I as you heard from Mr Pratt I grew up in um in a family in Washington DC that was involved in politics but I you know people ask me why I became interested in human rights well I have seven brothers and three sisters and that makes you appreciate human rights at a very young age and um so I uh uh Mr Pat mentioned talked about my dad a little bit Bobby Kennedy who's ever heard of Bobby Kennedy okay good so so you have an idea about him um when people ask sort of what's the most important thing to remember about Bobby Kennedy let me ask you that because a bunch of you said you knew you knew something about him what do you think is important about him excuse me okay he was killed but but a lot of people are killed a lot of people die so it's not his death that is the reason you remember him it's his life so what did he do in his life that made his death so dramatic any ideas thoughts do I see a hand yeah okay he cared about everyone for who they were that's exactly right he had a sense of compassion um anyone else well you know when I'm going to start there because I think you really put your finger on what was most important about Bobby Kennedy it was his moral imagination it was his ability to understand issues from the other person's perspective so I'll give you an example of that do has anyone here heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis okay and you know what happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis the we found out that the Russians who were our big enemy had put nuclear weapons into Cuba and that those nuclear weapons could at the push of a button hit Miami and hit and maybe hit Washington and hit a lot of other American cities and so um at that time my uncle John Kennedy you've heard of President Kennedy right yeah okay so president he was president in the white house and he was trying to figure out what to do my father was attorney general so they were brothers my dad was attorney general and they worked very very closely together and the Pentagon and the military industrial complex was saying to President Kennedy to my uncle jack you should go to war you should drop a bomb you should drop a nuclear bomb on Cuba and wipe them out that's the only way to keep our country safe and my uncle didn't want to go to war he didn't want to kill innocent people in Cuba and he didn't want innocent people to be killed here and he was also afraid that if we sent bombs there they would send the nuclear arms here so he um uh so he was in touch with with Khrushchev who was the premier of Russia of the Soviet Union and Khrushchev was giving all these speeches about going to war and but my father understood that Khrushchev even though he was giving those speeches he just like Uncle Jack had this the Pentagon and the U.S um military industrial complex pushing Jack to war also Khrushchev had his own military-industrial complex pushing him to war but that's not really what Khrushchev wanted so through back channels they opened up a line of communication and they understood that both of those leaders wanted peace and that is what saved us from nuclear war and so that is that's because of this moral imagination understanding what the other person wants and the what the other person needs and I'll tell you one more story about that my dad which happened here in Indiana Daddy was campaigning for president places like like this one and he flew into Indianapolis and when he was getting onto the plane he was told that Martin Luther King had been shot and when he arrived in Indianapolis he was told that Martin Luther King had died now at that time he was going to speak at a rally in the largest African-American neighborhood in Indianapolis and he got a call from the mayor of Indianapolis Richard Luger and Richard Luger said to him you who is white you cannot go to that part of this city it's too dangerous and if you go there I will not allow my police to go with you because I don't want my police to get hurt and my father said well Mr Mayor it might be too dangerous for you but I could go there tonight with my pregnant wife and my 10 children and spend the night on the street and nothing would happen to us because we've spent so much time in that neighborhood and with uh with with people who are struggling across this country and he went to that rally and there were about 3 000 people there in the park in Indianapolis and people in the front this is before cell phones so people in the front of the park hadn't heard the news they had been there for hours waiting for him but people in the back of the park had heard the news and they came with bicycle chains and Molotov cocktails and the end uh table legs and they were ready to Ryan and my father got up there in front of this crowd and he said I have some very bad news for you Martin Luther King has been killed and you can hear there's video there's film of it and you can hear that Rippling through the crowd and he said um he talked about its own brother who had also been killed shot and killed and he said I understand how that feels and I understand for those of you who are anchored um by the outrage of this act and turn towards hatred I I can tell you I can understand that feeling and then he um quoted the ancient Greeks and he said well we should strive to do is tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world and he urged people to go home and say a pray a prayer for the king family and a prayer for our country and that night 125 cities across the United States started to burn imagine that 125 cities in our country riots everywhere but Indianapolis remained peaceful and um Dover dealer where was under martial law for the next nine months so when people have you heard that the United States is so divided today and it's never been like this and it's so difficult right at this moment who's heard that you heard that yeah so it was a lot worse then a lot worse and um he the next day uh all the sort of the white fathers of cities across this country and they were all men and they were all white said there's nothing we owe to the black community now because they've burned down our cities and so we can abandon them and go off on with our lives and my father wanted to address that issue so he gave this speech in um in where was it Maybe Cleveland he gave the speech at the Cleveland City Club and I think we have a video of that can we can we turn that on it's called the Mindless Menace of violence as different colors but when you teach a man hate and to fear his brother when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but his enemies to be met not with cooperation but with Conquest to be subjugated and to be mastered this much is clear violence breeds violence repression reads retaliation and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our souls we must admit the vanity of our false distinctions and learn to find our own advancement search for the advancement of all [Music] yeah so um one time he uh he wrote me a letter and I was about three or four years old at the time and it was he wrote me a letter and he said dear Carrie today is a uh a historic day not just because you came to visit my office but because um two African-Americans were allowed to register at the University of Alabama over the objections of the governor Governor Wallace do you remember that story when Governor Wallace was standing in the schoolhouse door who knows that story about Governor Wallace yeah okay at that time African Americans were not allowed to go to public universities do you guys know that yeah is your hand so some of you yeah so um uh because of the the leadership of my dad and some and many many very brave civil rights activists um these two people were able to register and he said in this letter to me um I hope these events passed by the time you get your pretty little head to college love and kisses Daddy and so it was maybe uh about 16 or 17 years later that I got to college 16 years later I guess um and a lot happened in those intervening years so um about six weeks after he made that speech my father was also killed he was running per President as as you heard earlier um I had a really extraordinarily wonderful childhood but these events were crushing and so confusing to me and difficult that they made even that extraordinarily loving beautiful childhood full of Chaos so first was the death of my uncle then the death of Martin Luther King and then the death of my father that's when I was eight years old and then when I was about uh in fifth grade one of my best friends came to me whose family was at our house every weekend and told me that her um her father was beating up her mother and I didn't know what to do with that I never heard of that I didn't know if it was a secret I didn't know if I should tell my mom I didn't know how to think about this man who I loved who was at our house playing football with us every weekend I didn't know how to protect the mother and I didn't know what to say to this child who was my friend and then a few years later when I was in high school two of my best friends were raped and again I didn't know how to take care of them I didn't know how to tell a grown them we didn't tell any grown-ups it was Beyond imagination how painful that was for for two of my best best best closest friends and to have it all cloaked in secrecy and no chance of confronting those those not and then um one of my best friends was gay and he was so this is 1977.
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[Music] all right good evening everyone this is Wednesday November 13th I call this regular meeting on the Brookfield Board of Finance to order you would rise and join me for the pledge as we know at this table and who's ever at home and those of you in the audience thank you for coming we had an election a couple days ago and we do welcome at this meeting Brianna ruko who fills in a two-year spot so welcome and then next meeting we will be saying welcome back to mark Mulaney who got elected on a four-year spot and tonight we will be saying bye to Ricky a little later so that's that for the first part Breanna as a new member there is nothing that precludes you from being included in any of the business that we go over tonight any of the votes that we do you're a full participating member as of when you got sworn in so anything even approval of minutes unless you want to there's no abstention needed okay now we move on to public comment do we have any members of the public here tonight that would like to give comment please join us at the podium three minutes per and state your name and address please Betsie McIlvain 1 to 7 Longmeadow hill i am here as chairman of the library board you will notice on your agenda that we made a special request to the Board of Selectmen for a special appropriation it was denied at last night's meeting so you will not be discussing it I just wanted to give you a little heads-up on why we thought it was important why we thought it should have come to you even though we know you won't be doing anything about it you will recall that in the 2018-2019 fiscal year you the Board of Selectmen in the town approved a part-time position for the library one of three that we said we were requesting over a period of three well we wanted them all in one year it looked like they were going to come one each year for three years we did not hire the that was approved we did not hire that person it was a fairly hard year for the library with finances and so we didn't get around to hiring anybody and when we put the budget proposal together for the current fiscal year we actually succeeded in leaving that position out of our budget request it was a problem that we attribute to half the director half the board not paying much attention to the budget salaries that year and that's the sole reason it was gone and we came in defending a budget which we thought was total and I do still remember mr.
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our Republic for which it stands one nation Oh what's key is here you're here [Music] great student at Westside middle school Academy named one of the top 300 masters in 2019 Broadcom master's program of society from science it's a pleasure to be here this evening representing my segments woman I made one of our star students that were brown Ella conducted a research project last year as part of our school exploration program and it's been you know we have continued to have the number one research program for performance that the state of science grants state of Connecticut five years running and that's type of home school all public in private schools I was the top finisher of seventh grade student and as such for her project where she grew biofilms in our lab and that's the strength of them so it was a pretty cool process and her application her win at the state level got her an invitation to with the Broadcom masters which is part of Washington DC's science Society for science in the public's program Bronco masters is the premier middle school research competition and she was selected as one of 307 National semi-finalists which is pretty awesome accomplishment and me doing research again this year a little bit about it [Music] and it's pretty cool stuff we don't do any volcanoes at Westside bills do not like to know that's with plans so we're doing really a cutting-edge stuff I was and I have been working with Professor over at Western Canadian State University fill in that partnership faster than that we're really excited for the work she's going to be doing so hopefully maybe she makes the National semi-finalists again this year and we're really lucky we'll be a top 30 in the national finals [Applause] this is the [Applause] Oh but just look at me congratulations andrew Lee Moran sixth grade teacher at Rogers Park middle goal over the student residential whether that's a nice in mathematics and science teaching oh sure yeah absolutely okay there you go music so I can't believe we and the city of dam break the record of Education through chairman testa and our superintendent dr.
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he was one of the first Americans who died of HIV AIDS and he was never out of the closet and he didn't come out of a closet because sexual minorities were so repressed in our country and so all of these crazy things were happening in my life and um I didn't know what to do with them and then I spent a summer working at Amnesty International do you guys know about amnesty raise your hand you know about the Amnesty International so NSD is an amazing organization which I really highly recommend that gets students involved in human rights and I spent that summer documenting abuses committed by U.S immigration officials against refugees from El Salvador and somebody handed me this incredible document called the universal Declaration of Human Rights and in that document are 27 articles that say all of us every human being has certain rights and and governments and people are not allowed to violate them and every crazy thing that had ever happened in my childhood could be found in one of those 27 articles and I understood that there was a way of holding governments responsible and getting them to hold violate or it's responsible for these horrible atrocities that were going on and that changed my life and that's why I became involved in human rights now a few years later I am I I would be like going to uh yeah I went to law school and then I started working on human rights and I would be you know going to a cocktail party or something and somebody would say what do you do and I would say I'm a human rights lawyer and they'd say oh that's so nice and then they'd walk across the room because nobody wanted to hear about it so tough I mean torture and death and destruction and all of these things violence against women so but for me that was my experience of it at all my experience was working with the bravest most courageous people on earth and so I wanted to tell their stories so that other people would be inspired by them so like one of them is about one of the people I I spent two and a half years traveling around the world interviewing the bravest people on Earth people who pays imprisonment and torture and death for basic rights most of us take for granted so there are people like Elie Wiesel do you know Elie Wiesel he was he was a survivor of the Holocaust and he said my dream for the future is that your children won't have my past and there were people like Archbishop tutu who is the great anti-apartheid leader in South Africa partner with Nelson Mandela and he said we don't have a God who says ah gotcha we have a God who lifts us up and dusts us off and tells us to try it again and to me those are sort of the bookends of human rights on the one hand trying to stop the atrocities and on the other hand having this faith in the capacity of the human Spirit to Triumph even under the worst of circumstances and one of the people I'd met well well writing what became a book is was a woman called digno Ochoa digna Ochoa was a a woman an indigenous person and a a nun and a lawyer and she was one of the leading human rights defenders in Mexico and I said to her how did you get involved in this work and she said that she came from a very small town near Veracruz Mexico and she said you know my father was a union organizer and we only had one Factory in our entire town and he was working in that factory and every so often he would organize the workers and they would go out on strike and then the owner of the factory instead of dealing with the workers would call in the police and the police would come and arrest all the union organizers and beat them up and throw them in jail and he said you know she said we never had a lawyer we could go to there was no lawyer in our town we couldn't afford one even if there was one so I want to be a lawyer for people like us and I said okay well tell me a typical case what's a typical human rights case for you and she said well a few weeks ago a woman called and said that or her husband had been disappeared so he had been picked up by the Federal Judicial police and kidnapped by them and they refused to tell her whether they he was alive or dead or if she had if they had him were holding him at all and I said so what'd you do she said well we did some research and we heard that he was being held at a military Hospital not far away from Mexico City so what'd you do I went to the military hospital but they wouldn't let me in but next well I just stood outside until there was a ship change and I walked past the guards and she said I walked up to the second floor and I looked around and there was one room with a nurse standing outside the door so I walked up to that room and the nurse said you can't go in there I can't even go in there the disappearicito is in there the Disappeared guy is in there so she said I knew where my client was and I but I also knew that inside the room was not only my client but two of the the uh the guards who had beaten him up so badly had to be hospitalized what'd you do she said I opened the door and with all the authority I could muster I said you get out of here right now this is my client and I'm his lawyer and I got five minutes alone and they left and so she she took those five minutes she explained who she was and she asked uh and he signed her up as a lawyer now she could go get oh habeas corpus decree from a judge to release him and she said she was walking back down the hall and around the corner came the two guards who had been obviously reprimanded for leaving their post and she said they approached me in a furious way and I said what'd you do she said I assume the attack position height and they said you're going to attack us and I said take it any way you please and they were so confused to see this woman and an indigenous person you know uh dignus stood in in in three inch heels she was about four foot six so um and and there's none assuming the attack position again they left and she said she was able to pull herself together and and run down to her car and um and and go back to her office and I said to her what is it at that moment when you were walking into the room or confronting those guards that gives you the courage to do what you did and you know I don't know what I expected her to say something about love or Jesus or faith but what she said really surprised me she said I'm just so angry I'm so angry when I think about what they've done to my family to my community to our country and I muster up all of that outrage and it gave me this just incredible sense of calm with which I can confront anyone and I think you know what digna is saying to us is we have to be angry at Injustice we have to be angry when we hear about the Border policy in this in the United States we have to be angry when we see these impeachment hearings we have to be angry about the way people are treated in our mass incarceration system we've got to be angry at Injustice but anger can be a source of Destruction so we don't want to use it to lash out aimlessly we want to Muster that anger and that outrage that every single one of us feels when we see Injustice or when we feel it ourselves and use it to create positive change and that's what human rights is all about it's creating positive change out of difficult circumstances and that's really what I've spent my life doing working with people in this country and around the world who are the bravest people and trying seeking that kind of positive change so um I'd love to ask you a few questions is that okay are you guys still awake everybody wave okay with to him except for you you guys veteran not perfect but getting there um okay so I talked about a few human rights Defenders who um can you tell me the names of Human Rights Defenders that that you admire anybody anyone one human rights Defender okay Hillary Clinton all right good anyone else anyone else human rights Defender oh come on you guys okay I'm gonna start calling on you randomly somebody doesn't wave their hand okay okay Lima from from Liberia did she come here oh isn't she great yeah she is so fantastic okay who else great human rights lawyer okay the grown-ups are winning come on you guys I want to hear we have one right here okay does Barack Obama count as an answer Barack Obama fantastic really wonderful okay who else Kennedy we have another one right here yeah Donald Trump Donald Trump Trump's got 20 20.
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Rooney saying if I were you I would have hired that person the 1st of July smart move we did hire the person in April of this current year we also had approved in this current budget one additional part-time employee which we have also hired so we are short the amount of salary twenty six thousand two hundred dollars plus social security of about two thousand dollars and which the Board of Selectmen did not approve so you will not be worrying about tonight unfortunately asked us to see if we could manage our budget to cover that and if need be come back sometime after the first of the year and redo the request it's disappointing to the board Marsh has been good enough although I said I don't think the board is ever going to do this again but actually Marsha has some some very concrete plans on how we how we could actually have have avoided it and will in the future so I'm again sorry we are not here asking for the help but I thank you thank you are there any other members of the public here tonight I would like to give comment okay so you can hearing none we'll move on to the next item of business we received no communication or correspondence this month the next item is the approval of the October 9th regular meeting minutes I'd make a motion to approve them as presented in your folder I second okay any discussion on the minutes as they were distributed and are in our packet tonight did you want a chance to look them over or alright hearing no discussion all those in favor of approving the minutes as distributed and presented tonight the same indicate by saying aye aye motion carries 6-0 she's a full member she doesn't have to moving over that in previous for these times alright now we move on to the next order of business to report of the first electron sir yeah we've hired we went out to RFP for bond council and financial advisor to found hadn't done that in many many years our current policy is to do this every four to five years so we've done it with a lot of services and we this summer late summer we started with bond counsel and financial advisor we got a number of proposals is back we hired a new bond counsel and a new financial advisor both of them extremely well thought of particularly the financial advisor I called seven different First Selectman and they all used one word excellent I've never gotten that kind of response bond counsel also got very very good comments so we use them to do our rolling over our bands they did an excellent job we got an interest rate of 1.2 9% which is a very good interest rate and what I'd like to do since you guys have met them I'd like to invite them to come make a presentation probably financial advisor bond counsel does illegal but I'd like to if you'd like them to come in December January to make a presentation to introduce themselves to you give you an overview of how they see the markets and things like that I think it would be a good idea and what I can arrange that I'll arrange that through whoever is the chairman of the board of finance was everyone planning on being the December meeting okay so we'll try for a December okay I'll try for a December good we're also our financial advisor suggested that we refund and refinance our current borrowing and we're gonna plan on doing that and they said with a current interest rates that we have we could save between 175 and 200 thousand dollars of that we're not going to change life over the life of the debt that's the net present value on that present value but we are not going to we're not going to extend the tenner we're gonna keep them exactly the same we're gonna pay them off we'll just pay less money pay more from the same time periods just save one hundred seventy five to two hundred thousand what's there for you gonna be on that I'm sorry what's their feet going to be on that somewhere between I would say 20 and 25 in the savings says after their feet and their present value okay thank you FEMA we got noticed that FEMA has approved and forwarded the claim for debris to the state so that set and that was our single largest item 1 million two hundred thousand dollars our total claim claim payable from FEMA is 1 million five hundred ten thousand dollars we're still waiting just one item and it's the final item it's management expenses we estimate that's going to be approved at somewhere between 94 and 96 thousand dollars so we think we will end up when we're fully accounted for we'll have approximately a hundred twenty-five thousand all in revenue over expenses so that's that's good that's changed we did have I noticed that Marcia had said at our last meeting we had an outstanding purchase order for the FEMA that we closed out and that's where we got the difference you know but having said that it doesn't account for wear and tear on trucks all the comp time we had to give people you know the things that we did that are not actually chargeable our voluntary firemen the wear and tear on their trucks so I think we came out at least even or a little better than even given all the expenses that are not in our budget IT security and just we're upgrading our security we've been doing it over the last few months we're moving next month to multi-factor authentication so if you want to reset your password you were going to have to get an email or a text and get a code and go back in and Reese I nin with all of the things we've seen with the hacking going on we continue to build up our security for our IT systems we went out to bid for fuel last week and we're going to save about $13,000 over last year our bids came in about 13,000 when does that start when is the new price and I think it starts January 1st is that right I'm not sure I'm not sure on capital budgets as you know we're having each of our departments put together in their capital budgets so that the boards can look at them in December they will have them to Marsha and I the Friday before Thanksgiving we're going to review them go over them we're going to discuss them at the for select meeting on December 2nd and we will get we'll get the initial package to you guys as is right with no first Electra no Board of Selectmen cuts so we can just have those conversations and then what I was thinking you guys might want to do is that for large capital items or things you're not sure about have those departments come in in December in January so we're not cramming them all in in February up to you you can do what you want but I think if we spread that out a little bit more a little more thought a little more time goes into it and then prioritize the projects and then as we go through the operating budget then we make those decisions at the end of the budgeting season they're also updating the 10 year capital plan they're adding a year to it so that should be good we even ever revised that entire presentation the 10 year capital plan there's a lot of stuff in there it's all going to be taking a revised or how I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it so if there are changes significant changes you can see what that was last year and what is this year I'm not exactly sure how that is gonna we're trying to develop it in my head there's big dancing you make that good again we've got a new the doctor it's gonna be smaller the cheek I remembered about putting together the welcome to Haven for Brianna and I forgot how long presentation is for the capital plan so each of the capital projects is that all the same questions the the were on six pages last year on one page this year yeah favorite paper same information we're just yes small hug not same information and so we hope to have that for you in December early early December so you guys can start looking at and that's our report we'll move on to the report of the finance director all right that we on revenue I gave you revenue I talked a few things about it that property taxes property taxes is our biggest revenue supplemental taxes we estimated at six hundred thousand what we don't know what the prop the supplemental taxes are going to be but mid-december we'll know because that's four cars that were purchased during the year and the way that's calculated is the Assessor gets a listing from the state in early December of what cars were added so so that's still a big if on property taxes prior year taxes that Roberta the tax collector was a little worried about that we budgeted for twenty five and she's collected two hundred and eight thousand so far and I just asked her about any big tax sales and there is a potential tax sale that she'll have in the spring that she says that well but it won't be revenue maybe until next year because there's six months that you have to hold that that and they have the the the owner has the option of buying it back but either way we got our money so I don't know look up the leaked legalities of that but I would think it's revenue that if we're going to get it from somebody and then this is the most boring graph you've ever seen and we want it to be boring that tax collections are a big fraud risk that because there's not a lot of segregation of duties tax collector collects the money sends out the bills has custody as record-keeping and authorization and so that we're doing a few things on that one is monitoring it to make sure that it stays the most boring graph you've ever seen that and it's what this is representing is the percent collected in July we collect about fifty percent in August it goes up to about fifty five percent not much happens in November and December people trying to get tax deductions it goes up a little bit and then the second payment comes in so we want it we want it to be borings but it we should be watching it because it is part of our internal consider internal controls the the other part of our internal controls is posting and balancing on a timely basis and for the first time in october we had to go downstairs and say hey we don't have the 31st yet could we get that because we're trying to finish this off so so that is great that's our new payroll clerk that also is doing revenue and and she is right on this very very quickly so there are no surprises improper all the internal controls that you're planning on putting in place for cash management segregation and duties and everything those are in and working we still have more that we want to put in that and one of that's here is it'll she's developing a list for refunds that those will go to the selectmen smeeting for them to approve it every month but so we're working on that the last one and we've talked to her about it and just if we balanced everything out on the grand rate book balance report the only place there may be an issue is an ending balances and so we've talked about alternating who sends out the tax bills because to be honest I've worked on six or seven not I don't think there's any issues here but I've worked on six or seven tax collector embezzlements and they always do it the same way that and there'll be one taxpayer that's paid that doesn't show it well they send out bills every month but let's say you're the tax collector and I'm the assistant if I and I've stolen some money in denim and covering it with other payments I'm not gonna send that taxpayer a bill but you don't know that so you're going to send them a bill so if we alternate the bills every month it's just a cheap and easy way but so we don't have all of them we've got a lot of revenue streams and we're still working through revenue streams for controls but we have a lot more access to a lot more things than we did a year ago intergovernmental revenues that I think I misspoke last month and said town aid road money came in I did but it did not it's waiting for the Connecticut bonding is what's delaying it that a big fight in Hartford but there's no changes that an amount from what we've thought in the past that there's veterans and disability we did get the final numbers from the state that these were estimates and I think one is two hundred I was higher than we thought I want is two hundred dollars lower than we thought but they've been audited at the state and so we're just waiting for a check now that there's other revenues on the report we're still we've changed munis reprogrammed it so that they're in similar categories is on the budget that and fire marshal that's been a change because we've got two fire marshal revenue accounts now and we have one cash register button so we might be doing that through finance and making those changes but there's nothing I think we're in good shape on all the revenues we'll talk about some more revenues when we get to the to the next slide any questions for me on revenues or on the expenditures any risk in the licenses and permits you see so licenses and permits so far and I haven't had a chance to go through and see where we stand against each of the the big ones that we had talked about so we haven't had a conversation on that but what we've done is been reconciling with them on that so I have quantitative answers but not qualitative answers a lot of these are pretty close to where we want them but some are but we do expect a good jump in Fire Marshal inspection fees in the spring because of some of the massive building that's going on and that's going to start so that'll keep and the exciting one is on page two investment income we budgeted 120 for the year and we're at 209 for the year what are you investing a lot of has to do with the fact that Marsha worked to restructure and I mean the jump here but to restructure the bank accounts at Union Savings Bank so we really weren't efficiently earning interest on all of our eligible balances so Marshall works very hard to restructure and we are now so far so we're a few things on that that we want to take a look at we've got good can look the three of us had talked about when we did this bonding is we've always just bonded short-term debt in November for the year but we may have been a fun balance now to loan it to ourselves that and what if we were to take a year off on short-term debt and pay for it out of our own - that we would have less interest income but we would you know save seventy eighty thousand dollars of interest for that year that but that's a that decision is not just all on itself one we have to make sure we have the cash flow but - we have to consider that in with the cash flow for the new school that because we could maybe use the this cash flow and push that one off it wouldn't be as visible that we're saving money but so we the OPM I think has come to the first meeting now and we're waiting for a separate meeting with finance so we can talk cash flows and figure that out do you expect this pace to continue for the rest of the fiscal year the bank had estimated did given us an estimate that if if our balances were the same as they were last year which I don't see why we weren't wouldn't because we have a balanced budget that we would be on target for five hundred and sixty thousand dollars of revenue interesting come favorable variance yeah and part of that is we've increased our general fund balance significantly over the last four years by about five million dollars just in the unassigned general fund balance and that brings up our total balances so that was a big part of it we are opening a new bank account with newtown savings just right now we've got all our eggs in one basket all our money in one bank that what if there was an issue that cybersecurity issues are our biggest concern and right now our return that we're getting on the overnight is 2% and it won't be much more at Newtown Savings Bank the difference is that we'll have we'll just have one account we'll have but it'll be a separate bank it will they adjust their savings every Tuesday and there's no fees every Tuesday to equal the state treasurer's investment fund the stiff fund which usually has pretty good rates but they'll divide this up with $250,000 certificates of deposit so it'll be a hundred percent FDIC insured and [Music] so right now that's it's all the same rates for both one both banks and and our overnight is insured as well because as you know no individual County have more than $250,000 we FDIC insurance so there's a program from a company called promontory that allows Newtown to distribute out funds to other banks overnight and make those deposits of two hundred and fifty thousand so if we had a million dollars with them they would actually move to 750 out the three different banks and then bring him back in so we're 100% guaranteed that the funds are FDIC insured we consciously yeah under budget obviously for that investment income you know just in case but not this much well could you have predicted nobody so so as we move forward to the budgeting season can we have a break be good did John Marshall to get a breakdown of the source of this so can we predict it for next year and what should we still be conservative but assume it if factoring well we did double the budget from last year and we were a little scared doing that but in and be honest that when we started making the big interest started in like January so we something to keep an eye so I think that that is good stuff and I know we asked this about pretty much every month but in the pensions where is it negative because the Board of Ed paid us their portion of the pension okay it was intimate it's gonna taste correct we want to pay it in this month every by December 31st we want to pay our part portion and so that yes that and so just going through these that the wages that the elected officials are all at three point seven seven percent because they don't having a point for accrual the other ones are three point five three percent is 8 out of 26 point four pay periods that the ones that are a little bit higher than that are because of perfect attendance bonuses that the library we've talked to Yvonne about two things one is in munis what the Board of Education does is position control they have two hundred I don't how many teachers in one line item and the way they keep track of that as position control that it's kind of like little slots in munis and instead of saying teacher by teacher we should they look at slot by slot that you know kindergarten teacher one can dragon teacher two three four five and so we're going to and a lot of our departments you know we've got one for selectmen we've got two people in the in the non-union finance department but what we'll do is we'll do position control in the library so that we know how many slots when you add a slot we can say okay we have we approve it we put it right in munis and full-time is not that as tricky as the part-time because oh my god trying to figure out who's who over there that well this one is two hours to the circulation desk and this one is four hours at the reference desk and then they start flipping around and and so that'll be very helpful for that and the second thing Yvonne and I are going to meet with respect to their part-time people that just to make sure that we keep them on track and we know how many hours that she's got and that might just mean in their time she that that we make some adjustments so that she can see it she can manage it a little easier than the way it's managed now as the time clock system that you implemented earlier been helping a weight departments but though we have gone out a bit for that we had ordered it on munis immunise was so expensive that we went out to bid and we've had one set of interviews we have an an interview on Thursday and interview on Friday we're trying to also fit in right now the police on their scheduling it's outside of munis or outside of anything we have access to so we're trying to even if we don't buy it now the police came to the first interview so that they could ask about scheduling because they've got a lot of unusual needs and and right now they're using two different computer systems in a manual paper system all pieced together and you know I think if Peter left who knows who could figure that out again but so we're trying to pull that in as well so we have not started that we had thought we would institute that January first but as we go through this my guess and and I don't think anyone's publicly you know in the committee has said we're not going to hit January 1st but up at March 1st might be a more realistic any other questions on revenue or I'm gonna ask a stupid question probably you have the answer what is the column state estimate town estimate so the state estimates that the state tells us how much they're going to give us and those are the numbers that are in green that so we budgeted for 870 the state's telling us that giving us a million 5o so the budget was the what the state told us they were going to give us at that time so we budgeted on April 4th or something and we used the state budget as of April 4th they didn't pass their budget until the end of June I agree so what I'm trying to get is we're getting 180,000 extra dollars that is right but that's not factored into the education shortfalls is it I mean we give that money directly to education so why isn't that factored into the shortfalls of the education that we're reading on these we would still have to do an additional appropriation to give it to them but it's the money that was due to education we can't keep that money can we as a town we can't say we budgeted 800,000 education the state gave us 1.2 we keep 400,000 in the jet that money has to go to Education Department if the board events budget was only a hundred and seventy thousand dollars then that we would say we can't keep that money because we're not spending that but we spend 40 million dollars so and this is just part of funding it that I get that but what I'm saying is where does that money go at the end of the day we get that 1 million fifty two thousand dollars into our account that money has to go to the board event correct now I'm asking I'm not yelling I'm asking how we do that funding is up to the town but my opinion is I agree with you 100 percent any overage in the ECF should go to the schools that's what I'm worried about the state mandating that we lower the amount we gave the schools of our money and increase it to a million Chastain doesn't he - yes the state doesn't mandate that no state mandates that if they had a flat budget and we said with the MBR they meant mandate it so if they had a flat budget and there was a zero percent increase and we had this increase we would have to increase them because we got an increase in education cost-sharing but but so then understanding so I understand I apologize we give this we give the Board of Ed forty three million dollars whatever the number is that's a number to town gives them so this revenue is town revenue so as long as we give them their forty three million that's our money towns money yes and and if everything comes in right on budget we're gonna have more fun balance 100 and read that 180 thousand dollars more fun balance and we had anticipated because of that but you have to think that this was meant for education so if there is an issue or concern where the Board of Ed is asking for more money this is a place we could get it without touching the town's general fund I think you guys are saying the same thing yeah thank you any other questions on revenue or expenditures and then you had that one last night that so right now that we're meeting with the department's next month that to just go through where they stand we've got some budget adjustment forms that have come in just internally where they want to move it from one line to the other that but we don't have anything significant that we that is a surprise or that we don't think we could handle on our own any other professional service rfqs RFPs out there yeah we're going to be issuing one for counter attorney we have we haven't yet though we haven't yet correct with respect to the capital projects that we sold the notes that if you want the official statement there's a link there which of course I don't give you this so you don't have the link I'll email it to you that that we earned a premium of fifty thousand five seventy-five and it's going to go into the general fund it was that we don't believe normally budget for premiums it's going to go into the general fund because the cost of issuance if you remember last year we changed things around and we divided it up so if it's notes if it's one year or or the annual costs of debt that it's in the general fund and if we're doing bonds over multiple years we put it in the bond fund so the $50,000 premium will go into the general fund to cover the cost of issuance that which is in the general fund budget that we also the Board of Selectmen also closed I just it's a housekeeping move and recommended by the new bond council that we had a lot of old debt that was out there authorized but unissued that a lot of it was two thousand here 1,000 here because we were issuing in five thousand dollar increments and we weren't approving and $5,000 increments there's an old WPC a thing for a project that I hadn't even heard of Delmar so all that's been closed out so the only authorized but unissued debt that we have other than the and project fit for foreigners phase 3 phase 4 and this these notes we just issued phase one of four corners we just wanted to close at all at the same time and there's some issue with an island that needs addressing from phase one the crosswalk at crafts center has caused about fifteen accidents since it was put in including $5,000 damage to one of our police cars that's a surprise to hope you know the state really wanted us to put that island in and it has caused more trouble and more problems for people so we're gonna be taking it out we still have about a hundred thousand dollars left in the Phase one budget and we estimated somewhere twenty twenty-five thousand in the state today agreed to let us take the island ever right so we're gonna go out to bid for them are they providing any funds to take you think that goes under the ground by a little bit we would love them say back granite no kidding aside the island was put in for a safety reason cuz yeah people could cross halfway across the street we press the button and cross the other half anecdotally you're talking to people in the craft Center and our police and everyone else no one presses those buttons to turn the lights on no one have you ever seen them on there they are they're broken right now because something hurt them I've never seen it we're still going to keep the rff please the blinkers I'm just going to take that and we hope it will be safe audit update that the auditing I have my department now doing timesheets and including myself so we know where our time is going and and analyze when it's best to ask for another person if we ask for another person that and the I know that the bonding has taken sixty of my hours that just getting that official statement out but now that we're going back to the audit and capital budgets are the priority the open report has been received we've given actuaries everything we needed for the town pension and the firefighter pension so we're waiting for the reports to come back long term debt I've had the intern do that in capital the long-term debt I did a little the bonds are all said it's the compensated absences I had the intern work on a schedule for me and I haven't reviewed it yet capital assets the same thing capital assets what we're doing is trying to line up all our capital assets so that what the Assessor has is what the insurance company has is what we have and we've got land and buildings done we've got vehicles done we don't have equipment done and what we might do is say you know nobody really cares about our capital assets we don't take mortgages out on them I'd rather not if we're make changes to it on the financial statements it's going to be a prior period adjustment I'd rather wait till equipment is done so we don't have to capital to prior period adjustments year over year but but at least we'll have good schedules the FEMA receivable is waiting Connecticut as Steve said and Dan had asked me for a schedule that gave the matrix that totaled it up year by year over year and total costs so this is it at the bottom that the expenditures we only picked up revenue to meet the expenditures so that that there's no net revenue in year eighteen or year nineteen any net revenue that comes in will come in in the current year that we're in that the total that we'll get from FEMA is 1 million five hundred four thousand there in that is only one estimate left that the best estimate now that we have is ninety four thousand the costs against that are 1 million 376 if you remember there were two additional appropriations two hundred thousand and 1.5 million to total 1.7 but we didn't have to spend the full 1.7 we only spent 1 million 376 that's it looks like a net revenue but it's only because not everything was posted to that FEMA line as expenditure some did not require an outflow of cash like the use of equipment and some we were able to get some salary reimbursements and we didn't reallocate the salaries from where they are in the budget to a FEMA the few so we're in this maybe I'm wrong - we didn't we collect insurance money this is after the insurance money that we collected so there is more cost though then this is there is more costs yes yes but this is what we were talking about I think we wanted to see the whole picture we want to see all the costs the insurance revenues versus everything because we still because I thought insurance was another nine hundred thousand dollars yeah so that's 10 order to keep track of exactly the storm the insurance the costs or see it I appreciate what you did or not but this is just FEMA cost against FEMA revenue basically but we have insurance costs of nine hundred thousand eight eighty okay and if Cola is nice enough to put our code in the copy machine maybe no we're good I'm good if you've got out of five I just want to see the big picture that's all there any updates that need to be made to the spreadsheet you had I made one update from last month I made three notations one update that we thought last month we thought that this final category was a hundred thousand and our best estimate now is ninety four thousand so it went down by six and there are two approvals that we've received and I just wrote in read approved and it was approved for the exact amount that we had estimated so I just wrote that on so you send that out then and anticipation for the December meeting the financials are not going to be concluded on before December 9th are they usually have draft financials they're not gonna be concluded transmitted crap there so we could get a final and review it at the next meeting yep before I get too baked into our financial performance for the year yeah I just think it's nice that one document so when we go back look at it at some point someone has a question it's all together the insurance costs instead of having to look at four different plate not four I'm exactly but two different places right this is what the storm cost this was our reimbursement channels we got 1.5 million back from FEMA we got nine hunts and this is what we expended it on and then it says one document done so we started out with an original amount that we we had pulled together before FEMA started making their cuts and so that's that first column it says original amounts of the different costs and then they started making reductions that because some of these employees were budgeted they cut them so they cut 431,000 because we would have had to pay for that time anyway that it wasn't overtime but they don't care that there was an opportunity cost that we couldn't do road work because we were cleaning up trees but they don't care that we had put in there for the volunteer time and they give a dollar amount for a volunteer time and used that but then they said no because you're firefighters make a stipend to $1,500 a year we're going to take that $1,500 a year divided by 2080 hours and we'll give you 78 cents an hour for them instead of the 40 dollars or whatever the original amount was so that was a haircut that they took off mutually I have to say that I guess that number because that's why it's an orange that because we never got it all pulled together because we would have had to have this 78 or so 72 company show us every single fireman when they were here I what work they did by our five-minute and these other companies just wanted to help us it would take them a couple hundred hours for somebody to sit down and put that all together if they add the data so we just didn't get that if more fire companies go on to crisis track which we've gone onto then they're firemen on their phones Here I am to see you dressed I went quick note this is what I did fire bubbly motor vehicle accident etc and if another disaster comes up we hopefully if they do that we could use crisis track also we are changing our policies because if we do this in our written policies that if we ever have another disaster all employees will go on an hourly basis that we can make claim against FEMA for any hours over their normal 35 or 40 hours a week and we will also put into the policy we don't know if they'll accept it that our volunteer firemen if they go in a disaster we pick a number we're going to pay them $20 an hour right if it's payable by female so they're not hundred percent reimbursable Kevin told me what that was but I forgot so Kevin if you're watching could you text me and reminds me what that was that so on the bottom of the sheet oh and green which is hard to read it says we got a million dollars back from insurance 991 297 I was different than the 880 we're talking about that's what I said I like to see these things just tie back because we've talked to 880 this is nine ninety one here on this sheet so did we get 90 91 back 91 91 and and last month you had the sheet that shows everything that was reimbursed that that came back but I can give you that but that's not but the reason that it's in green down there is because the rest of this was coming from the FEMA reports I was tying it right out to their reports and they didn't care about about a half million dollars of it that they only had 400 on their FEMA reports by the total we got was and then you reduce down this line just so I'm following you reduced two million dollars worth of current FEMA amount expenses by only four 24,000 on this line and the next line on your insurance reduction and you only reduced it by thirteen thousand on the upper line so each one of these is a FEMA has a FEMA has a report so the category a debris removal they have a report so we were tying that column current FEMA amount that's the amount that we've gave them that was approved by them and then in their report they said insurance reductions so they took it all so that we got because we got reimbursed by insurance for that line item or partial long line correct and so they took off on each of these six or so different categories they took off for 24 but they there was still more that we got reimbursed for from FEMA that they just don't have from insurances FEMA just didn't care about and put on their report at all okay so then we take out the insurance reimbursement we get to the net cost and then we divide it between the town share and the federal share thank you so just I know we know this but I need reminder the direct costs fiscal year 18 and 19 were recognized as expenses in those years are they correct that so it in 18 we recognize 698 and we picked up a receivable a six nine hundred where we're going to call it better and and we hope to collect that within a month or so right and in 19 we had 677 of expenses so it picked up revenue for 677 and we think that we're going to and we booked it as a receivable at June 30th of 19 and we only want we don't want to book a receivable for what seems to be again that our profit or and so the rest we were leaving until year 2020 that for anything else that and that we think that our best guess now is it's going to be about a hundred and twenty eight thousand that'll go to revenue for this year so from a revenue website standpoint we between FEMA UCS and interest word up over $800,000 revenue to the correct we should get a summary of that dope in December we should see the shortfall revenue and the because we threw over and we're gonna get refinance money as well you didn't throw any I know is 175 over to life but it's still money we're gonna cheat we should have a scorecard at the six months saying we're eight hundred thousand last year right we should know in December what we're ahead right now in the revenue side what because we've got like Dan said three hundred thousand dollars of revenue we expect to get above budget three hundred on the investment two hundred 200 on the EECS five hundred you know it's adding up to an hour but then there was a shortfall on the prior year taxes right of a couple hundred thousand projected so we need to know that the highs and the lows not the ones that are within a few percentage points but the ones right in the net thing are we have five hundred thousand net that we're planning on being at the end of the year and then we can decide like that 128 from FEMA you say we didn't pay for wear and tear on the vehicles is that going to a capital type of fun that we're funding ahead for capital money so the last year I gave you a few times a projection of here's what we budgeted and here's the big outliers and so I'll update that for next week yeah yeah because there's big numbers yeah it's not not to be held but it's nice to know the scorecard because you know taking up revenue and then we have a cushion that connecting if we don't pay attention to it it can start to be further away with special appropriation here and falls over on there then we don't want that data and it also be nice to know for the budgeting process that starts January right any other questions for me on FEMA specific first anything else for our finance director thank you thank you this time inviting Colette's term Turner the Board of Education up to the table to go through the October 2009 teen financial report memo and the financials um just to review on the financials first the Finance Committee of the Board of Ed meets the second Monday of every month we review the financials then and then I send them to with a board chair who you all who distributes them and usually that works well because there are some issues that are brought up in this this financial report I just wanted to make you aware that the board event has not officially discussed these financials yet we do that on the third meeting or the third Wednesday of every month so while I'm going to explain what's going on here or just answer any questions people may have I'm not going to be able to give you specific answers that the board has discussed and acted on yet because while we did make sure that they saw these financials they haven't been discussed Thanks so financials look a little bit different than last month over this period of time we have documented six new out play students I can't go into really specifics about it because with that amount you're you're talking about student identification I can review the amount of ways that students are out placed which I don't know Breanna feeling some of you that but generally students are out placed if they move into the district with a IEP that that demonstrates an outplacement that we need to really honor at that point whether they're identified in district and they are identified as meeting an outplacement service or whether the parents unilaterally out place them in which case if the board needs to demonstrate that or the district needs to demonstrate that they're best served in service if that doesn't work there is a settlement and a mediation and so then they can be out placed through either the unilateral placement or the settlement through the mediation so those are the ways that that can happen how many total students are our plays now before this there were 31 before yes so now we have 37 so that brought us with the shortfall of approximately 400,000 some of that is going to be identified with us freeze we instituted a hard spending freeze as of yesterday morning because due to our Finance Committee meeting Monday afternoon then we're also identifying and exploring other possible ways to address the other 200,000 in addition to that though something that we needed to look at and we need we wanted to make sure the Board of Finance knew as well going down the line we do have another additional seven students that are currently undergoing evaluation worst case scenario then there would be seven other outplay students it's hard to predict how many of those would lead our placement so that does what's the average outplacement cost per student it depends it goes anywhere from including tuition and transportation it can go anywhere from sixty thousand hundred thirty thousand depending on the students needs and she is the change of who's at the top of the special ed Department have anything to do with the direction that that's going no no the determination of where the outplay students go is directly related to the students needs it could be anything from requiring you know some some learning difficulties to being on the spectrum to psychological needs and all of those directly determined how much the a placement costs and I know a couple years ago when this type of thing happened again there was a discussion about hitting a threshold number of students with a special need with a specific need at the time I think it was more social-emotional than students for being out of place for have we hit that threshold yet to start working on bringing some of those certain we have been working since our discussion last time to bring those services in-house what is the general time frame for getting a program established that will meet the needs I'm sure that the needs are diverse it's being addressed already at the high school he worked at the high school trickle down with the middle school there are some students that are just definitely just not appropriate to to use those use what we can provide in-house so you generally find that the parents are receptive to having the kids stay in house versus having to out place them or is it really just whatever the room provides exactly it's depending on the students needs 100% talking about costs you renegotiated fuel oil at townhall and does that have the potential to impact or debentures battle everything we do have the split our 13 is total between the schools and we did together and I feel like we're in this situation year after year with often the same type of thing I know that we've discussed also a couple years ago is discussed about how we're approaching what the state average was we're probably under identified identifying ratings earlier and we were kind of a around the state average is that average stepping up now or the average statewide is generally creeping up as well and you'll find if you look at all the districts we are not the only district in this in this situation at all but we are at we're at a 14% identification rate the state averages 14 point one percent I also think when we look at this you know on the town side if we knew something like this was going to happen maybe we put a contingency in the budget but the minute you put into the board of beds budget if they don't need it then you hit an MBR and you can't take it away the next year so that's a concern for us too I just a movie keep reaching a point seems earlier and earlier in the school year where their budget freezes and you know we need to provide the services that these students need but at the same time I don't want to see I don't want us to be taking away from the needs of the schools of the staff students that aren't using those services and I mean we keep having these budget freezes and I don't know how many years we put off textbooks or equipment or furniture or whatever and we get we're kicking the can down the road and nobody wants to spend more money but I think you know as we get more clarity on what's going on with this and what the Board of Ed but I don't want it to be the I know that there needs to be a budget freeze to reevaluate but I don't want to see that lead to a cut in services for the other 83% of students or any students what's on the numbers you're given us we're looking at a 45 percent increase of special ed students this year how to placed out not total special education students right okay I'm sorry yeah but that's still that's that's 45 percent increase from what we budgeted and we know that that's a really high expense you're talking but huge this sorry this all ties back to the capital plan and meeting these numbers that we say we meet you know I keep harping about sticking to that model sticking to that model but when you creep up now and you're gonna add maybe $800,000 to their operating budget the school that we just approved the police department all these things a new library we gotta be cautious of spending all this money and I keep harping everybody was like a clan you know blah blah blah but I'm saying these are the things that if we don't stick to our guns where we can stick to our guns you can't manage this if we go beyond our needs on the model on a regular budget basis we didn't we pulled it back last year right to meet the model and we had these costs that we have to pay I mean obviously that's why you know that model is so important the stick it's just like when are we gonna do this school when is the school what like you know you're talking about capital where does that fit in the ten year plan do we have all the approvals is the wetlands approval done it's all of these things in place where we know we're gonna be able to build this school in four years or is it gonna be five years or whatever art do we have the timeline for like the new school I know I'm going to capital on that but it ties into how do we pay for this extra money so we got all the approvals like with wetlands and everything to move forward so what is the timeline for the school years so we'll be able to meet that on that property 2022 no it has not to do a special it has to do with budgeting process and the money that we got to spend anticipate bringing in so many new special yes I agree Steve I just I'm on board with you I'm not arguing with you I'm saying there's a point where the money runs out and the money we put forth in that model was pushing our taxpayers to one point one year eight percent increase just on the model alone now we start whatever the highest was number in the model now we're starting to add in four hundred thousand dollars a special net cost which aborted that can't be held accountable for I can't hold the board event accountable for four hundred thousand dollars worth of special at out placements right so if they have seven more that's eight hundred thousand dollars that puts them over the model number by three percent next year just coming out of the gate which is now that we're compounding all of our payments are tax increases that's why we start talking about capital projects we have to lay in the operating cost you know when we start realizing the revenue from the new buildings in four corners and all that kind of stuff I mean that will help we haven't really seen a lot of that yet and hopefully it will help offset rightful Brookfield village hasn't give us a penny think it was forty five thousand dollars a year and they won't give us more money out until next year because we had an agreement that was signed six years ago seven years ago that said they get no increase for the first three years therefore they built one speak so they'll start paying next year be careful that that money is already counted for the model by yeah but other assumption so it's not like we can speak and spend that money twice it's a really counted for this right so but what's not accounted for is a nice additional five hundred thousand dollars an interest income for instance on my great apartment might so so so that's why I want to understand which one of these rip increased revenue components might also be permanent - perhaps offset the permanent in me not disagreeing but that's part of the whole process of his model it is getting it right I mean models often are adjusted actual as realities come through so I think I mean okay we'll be back to it we can even look at it as early as next month or in January when there's actually six months gone and we have hard numbers for six months and your assumptions and what not in January on the screen and then its hold to the numbers where we can't hold it at numbers because these are gonna come alright I have a couple questions on the sheet if you don't mind Medicaid reimbursement difficulty in obtaining parental consent why is there a difficulty in that process what happens is when we had estimated initially $100,000 right which is an estimate I get that yeah that was with the with the consultant that we use that the service that we actually used that doesn't mm-hmm we have to obtain that consent from every single parent because we don't know which ones qualify for Medicaid so we get the consent from every single one it goes over to the company they bill those parents whose students call it was children qualify for Medicaid right we don't know that in order to do that we have to get every single parent to sign a consent and even if we tell them and generally we find a lot of the times those that are new to the district don't have a problem it's a new paper even if we say it doesn't matter whether you do or don't qualify for Medicaid we don't want to know this is not anything other than giving this company permission to bill we have parents who are reluctant and suspicious to do it any little bit will help the education of the parents isn't the problem that's just their willingness to follow through it we it has not been for lack of trying and we are actually it is clearly defined how much we can approach them and tell them by law and we do what we can to the extent that we can and we try to approach it other ways and try to do rationale we're doing the best we can to get them okay and that this is just a relatively new asking for reimbursement in the last few years we've been a couple years so as we as we have different parents that come in we hopefully will expect that number to rise so then last month you identify two things that you're monitoring closely identified outplacement tuition which is the 404 in long-term substitutes which is not on this current sheet and you had a burn rate of about 50,000 last month so you're not gonna last your $300,000 if you're going to burn fifty thousand a month coming out of the gate it's the first month long term subs because they often the rationale the reason you have long term themselves or teachers right but you had said 50 burn 42 six seven nine this month it's the first real month of school right that so three hundred thousand is not gonna stand up I don't think in the process it's Aspen it's it's it's too early to predict at this point but yes it does it does necessitate monitoring I think last year we missed it by what 300 3000 was that the number last year's been here - last year substitutes was at three hundred and three thousand dollar overrun from budget no I'm just saying the line item now I'm not talking the offsets I'm talking a line item so it trends in a direction of we're gonna overspend that budget the training strollers are and then I'm the offsets I have one quick question to transportation there's an offset of 21,000 and it was a 1% prepayment discount have we been missing that or is that a new thing because if we if we know there's a 1% premium discount prepayment discount why aren't we looking at that when we do in the budget process of transportation is building $1,000,000 or whatever the number is why aren't we looking at the 1% discount as part of the budget process if we pay this big bill 1% pay prepayment we saved the 1% we should reduce that line item by the 1 percent and maybe utilize that money somewhere else because that to me is like a known like if if there's a prepayment percentage off that's a known we have to pay it all up front twelve months ahead of time right I'd rather pay a month but they did it it's the city as a savings is what I'm trying to say so it's it's it's located here as I say I agree with what you're saying it should be looked at but this is an identified scene in the bank then maybe that's a discussion that we already prepay this it was just just a thing we're talking about doing we did already preached that so then that discussion see now you lead me to say why didn't we have that discussion as well before we prepaid something so you opened up another door where you're saying I was not aware that there was a 1% discount in transportation so but this is what I'm saying we should be talking about these things because you're right if there's a better savings to to not pre the board event should be discussing so we give them a set amount of money and they their budget that they're working and we supplement the budget we went through this earlier right so this is we give them a specific amount every year right but it just seems to me that this is a known if we if we're doing these kind of moves we should all be involved so point taken but I mean I don't think we're telling the so the fight the finance office says that both finance offices are talking about this because we just working together we got we didn't get rid of but we inactivated 8,000 vendors and so we have 2,000 vendors left and we are talking about cos munis will calculate the the percent discount and right now that we did on this one we do it on some of on our side to get a discount by paying on time which we pay and what we've been talking about is where does that go do we show that discount is revenue do we get the departments that pay it but what the finance officers even though it hasn't come here have been talking about right but now we're like I say what we talked about - it's like getting a payday loan to pay off when you're so far and whole to get a payday loan you're not getting out of the hole so is this a payday loan move or is this a calculated move to save this money that's what I'm trying to say when we're talking we sit here at the budget time we're talking about $5,000 risers we're cutting things out of the budget that we sort of need $21,000 can cover some of this so are we making educated pre payments or are we just trying to because we got a shortfall not by the Board of Ed Zoo are we trying to get a payday loan to offset the cost point I think that in a budget development yeah let us know Marcia what the decision is on how you take or how those discounts are should be taken and we'll keep that in mind any other questions comments concerns on the Board of Education I have a new big the Medicaid reimbursement just how does that people it only goes for the special education students because that is where we get the Medicaid reimbursement from a qualified services Goergen physical therapy outpatient therapy those related those related services so it is a packet and then when it's discussed probably at a PPT of planning placement team meeting with okay and is there any other way to get it out other than a packet via its a list it's discussed on in person actually gotcha so there's still resistance regardless understand thank you yes there are everyone's exploring ways to try to increase the rate of people approving that and signing it understood completely Thank You Marcia is there any other items Spence items where discounts our potential discounts could be taken things like oil heating oil things like that where we can identify you know look pretty much have a running list of here are some areas where discounts are acceptable or common and here's ones where we plan on taking them where we don't maybe have just kind of a running list because maybe during budget season that's useful to kind of run down that list and say hey where are we taking advantage of these and does it make sense to we're seeing a lot of vendors who offer like a 2/10 net 30 right I don't asked I mean especially for like heating oil I mean some of those guys you pay him up from yeah we have a contract for heating yeah it's up just a contract things like Ong that that they do take the discount that it's a construction thing that the truck looks like D&G but that we do take the discount and the the tricky part on our end is Public Works takes a discount and they include the discounted price in their budget so if we were going to try to quantify this and throw it into a revenue we have to tell them that raise their budget and so I know that they have one Staples has one but that's what exactly what we're talking about it looked better budget purposes when you're trying to sell the budget to say you know here here's what we have as our expenses but here are some discounts that we're taking at least you can highlight those areas I mean he directed and that's why the offset is nice but sometimes to actually see it how it plays out maybe it plays better to the mind that okay they're actually doing some due diligence here I'm taking this discount and that's why we want to show it in munis that right now so like the Ong one was today that it might be at ten thousand dollar bill but what and and the discount makes it you know nine thousand nine hundred that what's been done in the past is the nine thousand nine hundred goes into munis so there is no calculate calculation of the discount that the net is already being put in and that's what we're talking about is do we put the ten thousand and and and even if we only with even if we don't show it as revenue then we at least can give you the answer that right now we can't give you the answer that my point is by showing it by revenue at least you're giving the public the peace of mind that there's no nothing kind of no reserve being baked into the budget accusing anybody of doing that but at least it'll give us a piece of that peace of mind yeah whether it's white revenue that it would be nice to or even just a brick or hey by the way in these items you know these are items where discounts are taken and this is the discounts it's baked into the budget whether they can see it directly in there or not just to kind of have that list or just even present future boards to say hey by the way here's where we're taking advantage of discounts here's the net of those discounts and then that way the next year we can go you guys go back to that list and say alright we took these discounts are we taking the same ones are we adding or reducing why yep and and that's exactly what we're what we're talking about is trying to get that quantified and as part of this vendor cleanup process okay cool I do have another question for you : and what do you think the timeline is on the additional possible 7 students identity to be identified or not know what the cost would be by the end of the year by the end of this calendar year so we most of them would be by the end of the study either evaluations are ongoing or planned by the end of the year I agree with Eileen I'd like to figure out a way to bridge some of that gap so so so what's once we have once we have a decent number I think the board should work together to try to bridge that gap together because it's French it is we shouldn't suffer in schools but we still can't let it get out of control you know the numbers right and still we got to control the costs on the back side of this too we can't just be like oh now let's it's got to be a mutual we'll be numbers and this will be something that the new board will be discussing next week and so that is why I'm only speaking in generalities right now because I don't have those decisions to Steve's point though once we put this in I know it doesn't come out so we add we give them six hundred thousand this year no hear me out give them six hundred thousand and that means their budget next year is six hundred thousand dollars a head starting point starting point you can't come backwards you can't go backwards so this is a special appropriation or say it's still part of their budget so that means once they have that money they're starting six hundred thousand dollars off so when they come to us they can only come to us for $100,000 so increase their budget but that's another thing we had a look at so now you're looking at 10% increase I just say these numbers stagger once we've every decision we make compounds the next decision down the road that's all Colet thank you very much don't go anywhere don't go anywhere you doing this has been an honor and a privilege to have you at these meetings obviously before you were the chairperson of the board we weren't doing this kind of thing and the relationship between the boards has grown significantly I think everyone could find a way to agree with that and you know there's there's a good relationship now I think between the boards so thank you awesome job thank you it's been my pleasure to be here and I am too and very grateful for the collaboration and communication especially as demonstrated just at this conversation yet so it's greatly appreciated thank you thank you thank you mr.
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