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so as the olympians are coming out now 2 50 to go here to be underway olympians to look for a two-game winning streak zach i don't think they had one until they don't think they had a winning streak last year i think they only only won four games i don't think they all came after quite a bit of time but we'll take a look at the indiana pacers as they're taking on the knicks tonight zach it looks like it's all tied up at 44 with 2 54 to go here isn't quite a bit of players out tonight for the pacers uh yeah they're going to be missing one of their their leading scorer from last year tj warren he's going to be having foot surgery i believe in the next coming week to repair a i believe that they said it was a bone and the foot he's been having some plantar fasciitis issues with so hopefully they can get corrected because he's going to be a big piece going forward and they really need him back they're going to that's their weakest position probably is wing they're really not that deep there so losing their starter and leading scorer is not a good recipe for success and coming speaking a little bit ahead of ourselves sunday night sunday i should say with quite a bit of teams looking to get their playoff birth here but for our home team the colts they're looking forward a big win and they need some teams to lose zach can you take us through some of the scenarios that need to be in place for us to make it into the playoffs well first off the biggest thing is they need to win if they don't win none of those scenarios matter but they need uh they need either they need three one of three teams to lose they need the dolphins to lose the browns to lose or the um what was the last team i forget was it the ravens yeah baltimore and also the titans so if the colts win the titans lose they take the they take the fourth seed in the afc they win the division but that probably not going to happen they play the texans i think the best chance for the colts is to win and have buffalo beat miami because miami is going to be playing buffalo which they said buffalo is not going to be resting their starters so that's probably the best chance the colts have is to win and the bills to beat to the dolphins which means we'd get the seventh seed and we'd head to buffalo for wild card rican so there we have it good job there zach sign you up for nfl or something like that thank you there we have 30 seconds to go here before the first half i mean excuse me the second half is underway olympian basketball here as they will be going left to right here and greensburg going right to left daniel murphy takes the ball out looking like to get it into silva here 10 point ball game let's see if the olympians can get something going here early as reekers passes it to daniel murphy silva has it on the right wing in the corner to reakers as they hands it off to pierce at the top two murphy tyler burger gets inside pivots and fight for the basketball it looks like greensburg will get it sparks with the steal there and greensburg looking to go up 12.

be a big shot here they can get it to fall as sparks passes it in the corner and we're gonna have a travel violation committed by greensburg say if we scored on that last possession get them to travel and score again you think of those things but one thing happens for a reason so we'll see here as boyer has it passes it to murphy across court to boyer he takes the jump shot and looks short and off the leg of a pirate great basketball play there by daniel murphy to knock it off the greensburg pirate player 6 56 to go here and they get it down low to reekers out to boyer 4-3 and good tyler boyer 4 3 olympians have been pretty close to a couple five second calls here tonight but have not had one yet they're pressing that line so they got to be able to get the ball out a little bit quicker that's colin tries to back down reekers but off the mark and silva to boyer who's had the hot hand and misses that one and a great save there by greensburg a missed opportunity there and greensburg hits number 34 dakota walters 4-2 pretty big swing olympians had a chance to cut the lead down and boyer forgot where he was a little bit off balance missed it and greensburg got some easy transition points layups become very difficult when you're off balance or forget where you're at on the floor everybody thinks of them as easy shots but sometimes the easy ones could be the hard ones in this as pierce has it to the low block spins inside pump fakes tries to draw the foul but short gets the rebound and there he has it draws the foul and puts him out the line for two probably should have been a foul on the first one got his own rebound re-gathered himself pumped fake got two greensburg defenders in the air and they toppled all over them easy foul call there no question jacob pierce is looking at his six and seven point here as that one is long for jacob pierce and the second one is good so six points tonight so far for jacob pierce i think four free throws shot so far in the game two by boyer and two by pierce and both went one for two 5 30 remaining here in the third quarter as sparks shot is long had two orange defenders in his face there and a kick violation picking violation great execution on the blockout from silva but hit down on bad pass on the other end but luckily olympians get benefited with a kickball that may have been a little bit of a questionable call but we'll take it so silva takes the ball out here needs to get it in here soon and finally get it into daniel murphy and we're gonna have a timeout taken by the olympians with 5 25 remaining here both teams kind of came out a little sloppy i think here in this the second half yeah that's that's accurate both both teams did come out a little sloppy but we'll see who's going to be able to correct it earlier in order to where to either push the lead or bring the lead down bring the league down cook city asking the referees right now where the ball is going to be taken out at that's always important depends what play you're going to draw up coming out it's always like in football what hash is going to be on coming out of a timeout so here we go after the timeout taken by coach shooting the olympians let's see what the home team can do with this out of bounds play here this was almost a five second call that's what made coach shitty take the time out in the first place as silva gets it in into pierce and daniel murphy back to pierce let's see if the olympians is a big possession here every possession here in the second half is going to be huge trying to get back into this lead spins to his right great move there but just short and a long rebound by number 34 dakota walters and the pirates are looking to grow this lead once again as colin picks up his dribble lane sparks who's been hot with 20 first half points for the pirates it's quite a bit of points in just one half there zach yep for sure but like i said both teams have scored a lot of points here so far this season as a three-point shot is made by number [Music] kai dyer his first points of the night and a big three-point shot there in a turnover by daniel murphy silva and murphy have not had the best two nights here this evening mental things i think's been what's and all the games besides wednesday night mental things and the little turnovers and stuff like that it's always cost us 4 20 here in the third quarter elaine starks fades away bank shot that's such a pretty shot there very impressive he sniffed out the potential charge then drive did a little baby fall away and hit the bank as dana murphy draws the foul driving the baseline 407 to go here dakota walters picks up his third and we're gonna have 24.

addison barnes pettit and for the pirates seems like they've been running that same advance play quite a bit here tonight that's pierce with the big three and that's off the mark and rebounded by addison barnes sometimes out of bounds players just to get the ball in bounds you don't really care about scoring out of it with 3 45 to go here the olympians are looking to cut into this lead here at home against a very well team greensburg pirate basketball team and colin coomber gets inside great move there but off the mark rebounded by boyer up to daniel murphy and we're going to take a charge taken by number 14 kai dyer correct call from the referee as murphy picks up his first i don't think lane sparks this came out at all here in this ball game so far and he doesn't even look gas he looks like he has a bunch left in the tank and to the corner is dyer back to sparks and great hands there by silva that really needs to be a steal seeing any other college or nba that would be a good because the shot clock would go down but here in high school in indiana as long as you get the ball back you're fine you don't have to worry about little things like that and tipped around stolen by boyer ahead to murphy just needs the easy two and draws the foul daniel murphy is at the line for two i did not see the play at the other end i was looking at some action going on the other end off the steel but the rim was the rim was shaking the olympians were calling for a calling for a uh excuse me goaltending because the rim was shaking somebody must have hit the hit the rim while the ball was still up but i again i did not see what happened so i can't comment on it and two misses there by daniel murphy none of the refs can see it there oh a hard break there by the refs there i don't think i think i don't think any of the referees had a really good angle on it referee next near us when the play was played was happened he wasn't able to see it he was behind all of them and the others were free i think his angle of where he was the ball was in between both players so i don't think he was even both of them weren't even able to see it let's see if the olympians could get a stop here zeno murphy makes two free throws that could have been big there and a strong layup there by colin coomer and gives him two points here in the second half as julius daly has it gives it in to boyer crosses over to his left back to daley he takes a long three and short and a crossover and a rebound by number braden stanley as dyer has it back to colin as sparks has it gives it into dyer off the cut and a strong take there by kai dyer he has five points and they're all coming here in the second half as silva hesitates nice move there left-handed layup is good for ben silva give him five points on tonight and a great crossover miss and great defense there by the olympians up court to jacob pierce great pass and a great shot there assist from ben silva jacob pierce with two good forward lead pass with a little bit of backs and curse was able to run up to it and get an easy layup a big stop here in a big bucket would be the right mindset here if you're an olympian fan as we can inch closer to this lead going into the fourth quarter with 55 seconds to go here so underneath the minute see if greensburg will hold it for the last shot and sparks misses that one what's 45 seconds to go here rebounded by julius daly i'd really like the olympians to get aggressive here every single time they've held the ball before the quarter they've come up empty-handed or had a turnover i'd really just like to see let them play the game and let the game come naturally to them instead of just holding it coach shitty look like they want them to hold it and a almost turn over and it will be over the back like i just said play they just need to play they need to stop worrying about holding on for the last shot every single time they've tried to they just ended it and nothing they haven't really gotten any points at all or had opportunities for the other team to get points so let's see see boy is going to make lane sparks go to his right as he is left-handed 10 seconds to go here looks like the player is going to face guard him and make somebody else take the last shot here and boyer loses him lane sparks for three and good to end the quarter big shot there in the quarter and we'll take a look at our columbus east cheerleaders greensburg pirates lead big here going into the fourth dance [Music] foreign so we are a few seconds from starting the fourth quarter we're gonna need something big here to come back with eight minutes here as a coach what do you tell your player if you're down or winning here in this situation well if i'm east i gotta pick up the pace a little bit they're down by 16 at start of the fourth quarter here which means they got eight minutes to get this lead down to tire take the lead so they definitely got to pick up the pace a little bit if i'm greensburg i discontinue the way they're playing it's been working so far no need to change it this is something i i really would have liked to see early on i think chris bergman was very athletic and put him on a very good blow basketball player early on as he picks up the foul there but picks up the foul and the and one shot was off the mark rebounded by bergman as reekers passes it to bergman we need something here fast picks up his dribble [Music] see what the olympians can do we need something fast here with 720 on the clock as reekers gets inside to julius daly he takes the three and off the mark nice strong rebound by colin coomer and he's pushing the ball off the court to number 32 stanley and that's off the mark gets his rebound and draws the foul and puts him at the line for two with 702 remaining here in the fourth quarter julius staley picks up his first team's third stanley is at the line 4-2 and nothing but net on that one keeps growing this lead here see if the second one can fall and he gets it stanley with six points on tonight with seven minutes to go here bergman passes it to daley and almost a steal there but jacob pierce gets it out to reekers 4-3 shot is up and good will reekers with eight points here disaster turned into fortune for east as sparks has it who's been red hot with 25 points here tonight and great pass here and a great reverse layup there by dyer gives him seven on the night [Music] excuse me nine points for dyer bergman gives it two daily with six minutes to go excuse me six ten jacob pierce hesitates gives it two reakers two boyer he spins to his left draws i thought he was going to get the foul call there but gets that one to go there could be a foul or a travel and it wasn't either of them so i think the referees just want to play right there tyler with 15 points tonight as sparks seems like every team we played either has that one good person that either puts up 20 25 points and it's just enough to do it jacoby for silver creek then we had some good shooters for bedford who couldn't miss it like olympians just can't really match up that well as as what they'd like to because they just don't have enough size usually it's usually a problem because they have to pick and choose whether or not who's going to beat them because they just don't have the size stanley picks up an easy two points there as he muscles his way through as crace gives it two boy boyer crosses to his right in the corner pierce 4-3 looks short and it is stanley with the rebound 5 20 to go here we mentioned greensburg can put up quite a bit of points here they put up 61 so far as dire 2 coomer he spins to walters behind the back and stolen by boyer he's going down his left passes it to bergman and a turnover there once again by the olympians just missed opportunities like that here tonight have really killed the olympians that's not their only problem but that's one of the biggest i'd love to see the turnover ratio here tonight with the 4 40 to go as we're gonna have daniel murphy check in as dyer takes the ball out gives it in 2 34 [Applause] dakota walters and puts him at the line for two and the shot is no good short and rebounded by murphy up to a head to boyer and he's going to take it strong and a charged call tyler picks up the foul gives the olympians tick six team fouls and see if greensburg can keep this scoring going and sparks great pass down low shot is good 34 walters strong take and gets it daniel murphy strong take there and draws the fountain puts him out the line for two stanley picks up his second team's fourth 408 remaining here in the orange pit as it is good murphy converts gives him nine points tonight four minutes to go here as reekers picks up sparks as coomer has it with bergman guarding him at the top of the key hesitates crosses over gets his hand and chris bergman dives on it great hustle play there and up to reekers 4-2 great defense there by chris bergman great job by chris gets the tip ball on the crossover and dies on the ground like he's looking for a fumble he is a three sport athlete track football and basketball very uncommon to see that these days as the three-point shot is off the mark rebounded by silva and nobody stopping him he gets the easy two points gives silva seven points tonight and a timeout taken by greensburg 311 to go here in the fourth quarter 65-49 is our score in favor of greensburg we will take a look at our cheerleaders here let's see if music will be played doesn't look like it so we will keep our mics on here for this one here we go oh so zach some people that watching this might be thinking why take a timeout when winning what do you think the timeout was for there for greensburg just to kind of you know the olympians are up by or excuse me the pirates are by 16 but 311 have in the fourth quarter here olympians had a little momentum it's kind of just like a momentum breaker really was that for that timeout they just kind of kind of re-establish the offensive identity refocus get a little bit of water into rehydrate and close this game out strong so 3 10 to go here in the fourth quarter trapped there good idea coming out of out of the timeout from the olympians a little little little trap as christ takes a takes a spill as the boyer picks coomer up christ being very physical [Music] one thing i gotta say if you're a ref you really gotta be able to be ready to hear coach city in your ear all night he doesn't let things go not only coach shitty but the entire basically entire fan base here for any games any referee any place you are you got to be a very uh strong-minded person to be a referee that's for sure that's 32 stanley is at the line for the 101 converts that one and we'll give him a second shot and converts and give him 10.

he's in double figures tonight as murphy passes it to bergman and a strong take floater off the mark and a strong rebound by coomer up the court two sparks and he slams it home lane sparks for two [Applause] tyler boyer 4-3 see if the olympians can finish this game on a positive note here with two minutes to go almost gets that one there great hustle by daniel murphy two minutes on the clock there and grace takes that one pauline coomer chris getting a little chippy with the green pirates i like it though oh he just got a tactical but then gets chippy there let's see what the refs say so krase bergman so puts lane sparks at the line there for the technical foul and misses it [Applause] let's see if he can get the second one to fall and does not the smartest thing there if you're an olympian fan or olympian basketball player two free throws and the ball and it looks like that's gonna be all she wrote for the starters here tonight as we're gonna have a fresh five in for bartholomew lloyd number 22 is jt coleman 35 is pete horton and 32 is western romine christ does not really get to see much action on a daily or a nightly basis but i thought he got some good energy some good defensive plays great hustle just got to clean up a little bit on the with the technical obviously i have to agree might be something that coach city might take a look at here throughout the rest of the season a great pass there down low to number 32 stanley and put them at the line for two this game has been very physical from the get-go especially here in the fourth quarter as time winds down and things get a little bit more heated c converts that one for greensburg that's all she wrote for the starters a well rounded team effort there for greensburg and they're starting i should say i shouldn't say starters but the first seven players on their lineup there stanley converts two there as the jv team did pick up a big win over greensburg 69-42 so good job to the jv players [Applause] picks up two that points here some varsity action there always fun for the younger guys to get in and get some action there under a minute to go here in the orange pit greensburg just electing to run the clock out here that's probably wise and stolen there by jt coleman let's see if the olympians can get one more shot up coleman to bartholomew back to coleman baseline jump shot is off the mark and blocked and that's going to be all she wrote here folks so greensburg becomes five and one and the olympians snaps the one game winning streak going one and five here on the season but if you're an olympian fan or columbus north fan you're definitely looking forward to tuesday's match-up but most importantly a very well and deserved win for greensburg what was your take on this greensburg pirates team well the scoreboard may not show but i thought it was a pretty good game all around olympian just had a couple rough patches particularly in the third quarter they just came out a little flat and greens were able to take control of that and they were just able to consistently put the ball in the basket more for the pirates dakota walters with six lane sparks with a solid 27 points colin kumar with 17 stanley with 12.

barnes with two kay dyer with seven and those are your points for the visitors greensburg pirates and for the olympians what was your take on their performance for this evening well like i said olympians just they just had a couple couple just rough patches they just didn't really have a really offensive identity and they just kind of fell flat they were just a little bit out match here tonight as well greensburg is third in the state for 3a for a reason and the points scored tonight for the olympians daniel murphy with nine civil with seven reekers with ten pierce with eight and tyler boyer led the way with 18 so tuesday night's matchup we hope to see you guys all supporting on your favorite basketball team the columbus east olympians and for some of you north fans i might be watching good luck to you guys as well we will see you guys at columbus north tuesday night for the crosstown showdown that's all we have here from zach nate and i you guys have a good rest of your evening enjoy the

hello everyone thank you for coming tonight um welcome to winter sports night my name is victoria stewart i'm the athletic director here at amherst regional high school um tonight was just an opportunity for you guys to meet the coaches um see the head coaches of the varsity programs and also ask a few questions before the audience asks any questions i would like the staff and coaches to introduce themselves starting with ross and then we will go through the sports in alphabetical order ross good evening everyone my name is ross beck i'm the athletic trainer here at amherst this is my fifth year at amherst for eighth year as a trainer i have an extended video that i think victoria shared with everybody that explains concussions and injuries a little more and if you're interested watch that and any other medical questions feel free to reach out thanks ross and we're going to start with alpine uh good evening everybody my name is coach kulas i will be working with the alpine team this year this is my first year at amherst but one of many working in the alpine field so i look forward to meeting each and every one of you and having a great season this year boys basketball hi everyone my name is basil uh this is my first year coach here in amherst um played here not too long ago but uh looking forward to getting back into it i've coached five plus years before and before now and uh looking to get back into it with the boys uh with tryouts coming up next monday girls basketball hi my name is ralph luce um the girls varsity coach is my second year um and i just can't wait to get back in the gym to be perfectly honest with you so looking forward to getting started ice hockey good evening everybody my name is mike russo i'm the head coach of the hockey team um this will be my sixth or seventh year i'm not quite sure um but looking forward like all the other coaches get back into our respective facilities and to drop the puck and let's get at it thank you okay we have nordic yeah hey everyone my name is carl signoni i'm the head coach of the nordic ski team i've been coaching at uh different levels for cross-country skiing or nordic skiing for many many many years and i'm really i'm looking forward to getting out in the snow soon already thank you last but not least we have the swim coaches hi everyone i'm giselle hennessey i uh was swimming with amherst also not too long ago but i've been assisting coach the past two years this is my first year as a co-co-head coach at psalm in here but yeah we're also looking forward to this season thanks for attending all right um hi i'm solomon i've been an assistant coach for three years and this is going to be my first year as a co-head coach with giselle thank you guys all right and before we open up the floor for any questions i just wanted to give you guys a few updates and some information that you guys may or may not have at this point start date that's a big question that i get a lot the start date is a week from today exciting a little bit later than normal but it's happening uh january 11th we will have tryouts or first day of practice whatever the coaches call it um that's happening on monday a little bit more information can be found on our website so i just want to share the screen with you um so you know where to access all this information so i think right here you can see my screen so you just go to arps.org and you'd click on our high school our schools oops i just clicked on the family button look at that all right so you click on our schools you go to the high school once you go to the high school you go to athletics you go to athletics and then you see all this information this frequently asked questions page it has a lot of questions that you may be looking for it has our fabulous videos that all of our coaches put together thank you for our coaches for putting all that stuff together and coming here tonight the coaches have been working extremely hard trying to make sure that they can create a safe and um a safe and fun environment for our student athletes so i really appreciate all their support on their end um all their stuff they've done before the season started you can register right here it's highlighted and then the link for tonight's meeting but pretty much everything here my email address whenever you guys have any questions coaches email addresses can be found in the coaches directory right here as well and that is all i have to share from the website tonight um other big information pieces is that everyone needs to have their physical on file in order to play um and to participate in any tryouts and games that we may have if you do not have a physical on file with our nurse it needs to be sent to our nurse robert supernote it needs to be sent to her and then you guys will be eligible to play everyone needs to be registered and they need to have physical on file i would also suggest bringing more than one mask everyone is supposed to be wearing a mask this season no gators are allowed at any point in time i i would say from the fall people definitely needed to switch their masks more often than not being indoors i assume you know you may get a little bit more sweatier make sure you change your mask other than that i'm gonna leave you guys some more room to ask any questions we are delayed so sorry if you guys have any questions just post them in the comment section and ask away and i will make sure to answer them or bring up the coach to answer any ques sport specific questions you may have all right i don't see any questions at this point and no one has left this meeting from what i can see really so um other information that you guys may want to know there's no sharing any jerseys as well um and there's no sharing any water bottles water fountains are also only used to fill up water bottles at any point in time they're not used to drink out of them so make sure you bring a bottle oh recommendations for fall athletes i do have a few um i think someone has worn one if any coaches have any ones in mind uh please feel free to step in and just comment that you have one i would say the adidas one's pretty good um it's it fits well to the face and it's kind of loose it's like a dry fit so it actually dries out not loose but it dries a little bit better so the whole material so i would use the either the adidas one or the reebok one i like a lot of people use the medical mask but i see those fall a little bit easier than others okay how many games are there for hockey um at this point i i believe that we are still waiting for the official schedule to come out but i think we're shooting somewhere between 8 and 12 and 12 is going to be a high number so i'd probably say something like 10.

probably like 10 games um where they're going to be i believe again this is all still being worked out i believe there's going to be a bubble at the olympia in west springfield um and as the scheduler of the pviac hockey uh teams go we're just gonna learn as as the days go by so i hope that's helpful thank you coach and we're gonna move on to the next question where do students meet for boys basketball tryouts um are we gonna have people meet in the front before i mean yeah i want to coordinate that want to coordinate that with the boys because there's going to probably be two separate tryouts uh depending on the registration amount if there's over 25 they're gonna need to have you know split it up between freshman sophomore junior and senior um and we'll send communication out before next monday so everyone knows when when and where uh you need to be for next week's tryout thank you and we are going to move um to this one do you know anything about buses for alpine skiing i'll take this one coach sam if you don't mind this is a question that i want to answer for a few teams so buses in general parents guardians and even students who can drive can drive themselves and transport themselves to games um as well as your parents can transport you or you can go um with someone else as well i just need to know ahead of time there are 23 people allowed on the bus at a time so that will um determine how many buses we will need for an event otherwise buses the bus schedule the coaches will let you know when the buses will leave for games it will also be posted on the mia website all right i am going to bring up my swim coaches so how will the virtual swimmies work uh as we know right now we are going to um have our swimmers compete we're going to put them in the pool have them do their events as normal except that the other team won't be there um we're looking into live streaming or somehow recording um the meat at our pool and then the idea is we share our results with the other team within each of us will compete within 24 hours of each other and then those results will get compared and scoring will be done so i think that's what we're looking at right now um to add to that the biggest difference you're going to notice is going to be that the meats are going to be kind of asynchronous they're going to progress pretty much the same way as they used to you know we're going to swim through the meats the excuse me the events and the meat boy girl boy girl all the way through in the normal order there just won't be the other team with us we're going to record our results and they're going to be verified by the official present and then we'll have to communicate with the the other coach the our meet up excuse me we're going to communicate with the opposing coaches electronically somehow so we're thinking about communicating in real time via google sheets or something but there's also going to be this there may be the situation in which the other team does not have the meet the same day that we have them and in that case we will still proceed with having our schedule meet but we'll hold on to our results and maybe use those at a later date coaches i'm going to keep you on but i will provide everyone with an update about the pool um as far as the pool goes we are still waiting on more information tomorrow we are bringing an outside contractor in to look um at how to resolve the issues that we have with the two filters that are broken they do need to be replaced and as of right now the coaches can give you a little bit of an update on what they're thinking about um for practices yeah so right now we have a couple of options as to what spaces we can use for working out together um there is a pool that we're looking into renting to get kids in the water um but we're looking into how feasible that will be as the the pools in voucher town so we just uh we we're gonna we're sending out an email soon we will get feedback from parents and see what people want to do otherwise we're definitely gonna do some dry lands in open spaces like the cafeteria and might even do some weightlifting in the weight room to just to get kids very lightweight lifting as well just to get kids kind of stronger um getting used to working out before they we get them back in the water so we'll definitely still be meeting times are still up in the air but we we will know by the end of the week and we'll be communicating that as soon as possible thank you coaches all right what's the next one we got here how many team basketball teams will there be is that the next one yep there you go uh there's going to be two teams who are both boys and girls right ralph looks to be what's gonna happen yes so varsity and a jv for both correct we're limited by numbers we get out in the gym so like like basil said with the tryouts that's going to kind of be up in the air how those things are handled you know i haven't even said how we're doing it yet until registrations are done um but yeah i think we're looking at a jv and varsity for both teams i know a lot of times basketball girls and boys say we combine jv and varsity practices and this year it's not looking like we're going to be able to do that or carry over any jv or have any swing players between jv and varsity it's not recommended so probably thank you coaches next one's for nordic so carl i'm going to bring you up on the screen oh how will nordic friday waxing work um i think this year with the um protocols for the pandemic we're going to be um asking the skiers to either just wax themselves or um we're going to be practicing in pods we're going to divide up the team into small groups if there is a way to wax together within your group we'll try to figure that out but it may result in people um the skiers particularly learning how to um to wax their skis um on their own at home um i'm kind of new to this so i'm not sure if we have a space at the school that would be big enough to do social distancing and waxing at the same time but um we'll probably do it outdoors like we were talking about before that's right yeah i mean i've done that for years and years myself just you know at a race set up my work wax bench bench at the back of my car and we can certainly do that as well and to make sure everyone gets waxed properly thanks that's a good question so the next question we have um okay so i will answer this question yes we are planning to have live stream um for every uh athletic event for home athletic event a lot of away teams they do not um where no one's allowing spectators for awake fans we're not allowing spectators at all but we will be streaming events live thank you for that question are we going to be skiing on the mountain i think this one's for alpine hello so we will have the opportunity to be skiing on the mountain we are looking fingers crossed that hopefully having one practice day on the mountain a week um coupled with one competition day so we're looking at tuesday and thursdays right now we're working on solidifying the schedule and as soon as i get that all set it will be communicated out to you all thank you um i will answer this question the answer the quick one is no there will be no playoffs this year um that's just how it is this year normally every other year i'm pretty sure you are new here but we do normally have playoffs all right so this i can answer this right now i mean it's not recommended um however they student athletes definitely can go there ross i don't know if you want to add to it i think it's free up until the 21st of which i believe is when the um students come back i believe so also it it wasn't anything we suggested they recommended in the fall for athletes um you know i'm not gonna discourage it if somebody wants to go do it but it's not anything we're gonna require or suggest thank you ross um this one's from our basketball player so ralph i'm going to add you here i will uh defer to you because i actually don't know it's a good question is that okay i assume it is i know skiing's in there till five that was something we were going to talk about i think actually yep so whenever the other teams that use this actually as their practice facility you guys will be able to use it um your coach will just need to supervise you somewhere last year thanks delaney for that question and for watching yes sir so yes we will need parents for timing oh no not not for timing just for scoring the summer's will time the swimmers will be timing for us got it so yeah we'll need parents for some things but not as many as as in normal normal years um and this is similar to all sports all sports are going to need some parent volunteers more often than not so just please be sure to um you know look at your emails and i realized i was muted when i was talking so just got a couple texts about that are there any more questions that anyone has at this time yes we do need volunteer scorekeepers we're going to need volunteers we're going to use them and they're all going to have to wear masks and follow the guidelines as well how will players communicate with coaches uh yeah i'm not sure if this is a girl or boys basketball question but either way um email texts phone call i'll be giving my cell phone number out to whomever makes the team uh so yeah we'll have open lines of communication on that front and with the girls program we use a program called remind which is a safe text messaging service it's uh it's all recorded and we'll use that to i use it to announce practices practice game times um all that stuff so we use that on a daily basis uh to remind people where and where they need to be and coaches other coaches would you like to say how you'll communicate with players too um as far as hockey's concerned um we're in pretty close proximity with the players as as we all are as coaches but uh with hockey there's one kind of a i guess it's a team kind of rule there will be no discussion of player issues at the rink um like uh coach basil said i'll give you my my email number my cell phone number um any type of player coach parent issue will be discussed away from uh the playing surface thank you um as far as swimming goes we've currently got a google group going through which our emails coaches emails will certainly come through and um i believe our our emails are attached to that too uh we'll also be sending out a document with our expectations and uh and such that we'll have our emails on there as well um so that's our main form of communication would be email and we'll make those readily available alpine is also using remind a lot of parents in here already that i see have already joined it i will be sending an email out to everybody that is registered after this though with the information in case they haven't registered yet okay thank you um busting two away games i think i went over this a little bit in the beginning but in case you missed it away games parents are allowed to transport their children um children are a lot of transport themselves if they can drive um they can carpool i just need to know beforehand just so i know how many buses we need to get um as far as the coaches presentations they have been emailed out to you but they are on the athletic webpage so if you go to the frequently asked questions page and where it says um what sports are we offering this winter you will see the videos a link to the videos where you can see all the videos um another question great question so in order to suspend practices in sports i am in touch um daily with our board of health um also with our superintendent uh dr morris and we have discussions um whether we need to cancel sports we even had the dis this discussion uh in the fall right we went red um mainly because of umass's numbers rising so umass comes back and if we go red we were still allowed to practice so it's definitely depends on the circumstances as well the mia really hasn't set any decisions or gives us any guidance we really go with our board of health um i think that's pretty much it for questions if there's no more questions at this point um i'll wait a couple more seconds like i said it lags so um i thought there was no questions in the beginning but then they all came at once so i'll leave a couple more minutes for questions otherwise i guess i can just talk i don't know if you intentionally skipped it but it looks like there's a question in there and twice sorry which one was it could coach presentations be emailed and registered families so that we can open the links oh yeah i thought i answered that but um so you can just go to the um suzanne you can go to the athletic webpage and go to the frequently asked questions and see under the questions what sports do we offer you'll see it right there the links to all those meetings oh someone had trouble opening the nordic one okay i will go back and look at the what it's saved under not a question but a nice comment so thank you mary nice comment from a nice lady another nice comment all right oh another one all right so i guess all these nice comments means we're coming to an end i really appreciate it my emails on the athletic webpage like i said feel free to send me an email i am more than happy to help answer the question or find someone that can answer the question for you happy new year and i can't wait to see everyone on january 11th if you have any questions feel free please do not hesitate to ask a good night bye thank you coaches i'm not sure vic victoria i'm not sure my phone's going to pick up that uh remind me thing let me ever see anything like that oh no but we are still alive but you know what it's all right humor it's all right he likes some humor oh yeah yeah oh yes you watch this oh yeah that's why pharaoh is the assistant he's gonna get all that stuff oh my gosh most of my players and parents know that

our executive session so i'll call us to order briefly announced on our agenda was the need for an executive session uh pursuant to ars 38-431.0 a and 3. the governing board may convene an executive session for discussion of for discussion or consultation for legal advice with the governing board's attorney regarding arizona open meeting law requirement in consultation with our attorney today and with the superintendent uh there is a need to postpone that executive session for a later date to be announced and i am open to entertain a motion for that before we move to the special organizational meeting at six o'clock dr santa cruz i move that we table this discussion for future discus for future second thank you mr carr thank you miss eugetti we have a motion and a second oh any discussion seeing that there is no discussion then we will vote uh all those in favor of tabling you said tabling right yes mr crown tabling the executive session has announced on our agenda please signify by saying aye aye those opposed the same motion carries we are postponing executive session and we are in recess until 6 00 pm when we convene our board organizational meeting do we really get recess uh yes but you can't hug anybody there are there ropes yes thank you where are they they're with uh dr mccord and he's not here so you'll have to find him here i am oh there he is mrs eugenie would like a jump rope i just want recess oh we've got those so we're about 20 minutes away from the start of the organizational meeting i want to thank you for wearing the appropriate face coverings while you're in the room please make sure that your mouth and nose are properly covered and that you're wearing the mask appropriately thank you foreign shhh let's go oh anything good evening this is monday january 4th and this is a special organizational meeting brief board meeting and a business meeting immediately during the process we are at item two we have postponed the executive session that is listed on your agenda and that will appear at a later date item two item two point zero one is called order two point zero two is a roll call miss wilson would you please call row miss laurie wood here mr reed carr here dr charles santa cruz here miss sheila eugetti here miss jill humphries here mr president all board members are present you have a quorum thank you mrs wilson we're at item three dr santa cruz yes mr dr mccord didn't mean to ignore me there yes i know you and i spoke earlier and you have uh some information to present so please go ahead correct uh first i'd wanna i want to let everyone know i am not in attendance in the meeting because today i tested positive for covet 19.

good evening everyone uh call this meeting to order this is Board of Ed special Board of Ed business meeting January 5th 20121 Carol can I have a roll call for quorin please if you are talking Carol we can't hear you okay you're on AB ask again Carol uh call for Corum yeah we can't hear actually you know what I'll do that for Carol I can hear her through the wall but there must issue with your speaker situation so it does say you're unmuted but we can't hear you so Mr grippo here Mr martelly here miss Howen here miss ham here miss herrian here Mr paragini here Mr White uh Mr chairman you have a quorum thank you everyone uh ask that we stand for a pledge of allegiance Jeff if or Vincent if you want to put the flag up on the screen that'd be awesome you got it Jeff yep okay I pledge of Allegiance the flag nation under God Nation liberty and justice for all and justice for all little clunky oh we need that thank you uh well Happy New Year everyone uh for those of you watching if there are any if there's any watching this is a uh special meeting of the Board of Education we have pretty much one item on the agenda related to Personnel so hopefully this will not be a lengthy meeting there is a policy committee meeting at 6:30 so we'll do our best not to run over uh before we get to I number three do we have any audience uh Jeff we do not surpris there moving on number three before to stand committee starting with Personnel uh we have a discussion approval of the rise contract between chure Board of Education and chure administrative Personnel I guess Jeff will have you kick it off yeah I could do a quick overview um is you recall we met back in November um and unanimously adopted a negotiated agreement with the treasure administrative Personnel the uh agreement subsequently went to the Town Council uh upon review and I think in consideration of um contracts their negotiations they in the context of the town and uh they ultimately rejected that contract um I met with vin um and their negotiations the administrative negotiations team uh we talked about the fact that you know arbitration would be the next step and unfortunately you know with everything else that everybody is juggling right now um you know they made the decision and I give them a lot of credit to say you know what we'll we'll look at revising terms if that will support this process um and so they did propose uh we work together with to to create ultimately new terms um so the uh previous um situation was that the the wages um were reduced to in year 1 1.75 Allin year 2 2.50 year three 2.65 um the insurance was increased in terms of the HSA co-share to uh 12 13 and 15% in each uh year of the contract uh and that goes up from 11% uh that it currently is um additionally they had an annuity increase of $1,000 uh that would be $1,000 in the first year of the contract that same a th000 in the second same th000 in the third and that's been reduced to 500 in year 1 750 in year 2 th000 in year three so um you know we again uh respect the job they're doing and I know the council does as well but um cognizant of the the big picture um we we think that this agreement uh is even more favorable uh to the town and therefore I would recommend that you support it uh unless there's general questions on just the history of this uh I'm willing to entertain a motion in case we want to get into deeper discussion about the particulars of the contract that being said uh fate do you have a motion to make yeah I move that the cheser Board of Education approves the collective bargaining agreement with the treasure administrative Personnel for the period of July 1 2021 through July July 30 2024 with revisions per the superintendent memorandum to the board of ed dated uh January 5th 2021 thank you Faith as Z second Katherine seconds discussion Ann head in up first and then 10 go ahead an hi everyone um I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the administrators for going back and renegotiating this contract um I thought that the contract that we had prior to it being um dismissed by the Town Council was fair it was negotiated in good faith and it helped us the Board of Ed to um keep our budget balanced knowing that we needed over the years the coming years to um get these administrative salaries up to where they need to be um so I just want to let the administrators know the whole group know that how much that I appreciate that you were willing to back instead of going to arbitration um that you were willing to go back and uh take a second look at what you could do and um I just I'll leave it at that I appreciate the effort that you put into this after being denied all of us being denied our first um um contract that we that we had all agreed on so thank you I appreciate all that effort and I appreciate all that you do thank you an uh Tim you're up next thanks Tony so yeah I I I agree I appreciate what uh an said I appreciate what the administrators are are doing you know everybody's got a difficult time right now now including School administrators uh Jeff you have there's three main pieces to this the uh healthc care the what is it an annual annuity six it jumps up to six grand as well as the salary basically um so you had said I believe you had said before that on balance within the dur they are our administrators paid at the very bottom of it and does that in both the salary and the annuity where they're basically by and large paid at the bottom not the healthcare benefits that's a different thing but just talking about those two pieces yeah I think generically speaking the salary plus annuity is at the bottom of the dir okay the insurance is the best in the dir okay okay all right thank you and I'm planning to support this so thank you Jack thank you uh Katherine and Adam thank you Mr chair um I just want to uh add my thanks as well um to the administrators uh we are really lucky in Chesire that we have such a strong team of uh School administrators and um their willingness to go back to the table and try to work through you know these issues and really come up with a fairly meaningful uh change uh to the original agreement that we had negotiated um speaks a lot to their integrity and their character and and uh we're just very lucky and and so um I know that we as a board have uh uniformly been supportive of our principles and administrative staff um and I just want to you know say again thank you and I will uh happily support this motion thanks thank you thanks Katherine uh Adam you're up next thank you uh I'll begin by echoing all of the uh great comments that came before me and um the uh the question I have and maybe I missed it the first time um that where there's the annuity portion up top and then there is something about an administrators receive an additional $1,000 to their 403b um and so so what what's the difference between the two is an annuity is just that a a cash uh almost like a bonus in the first no an annuity is a payment it's it is the 403b so um in the annuity we make a contribution um to the if you know whatever the the retirement uh savings account of their choice we offer a variety of uh annuity programs for all of our employees and they can apply this toward that annuity account so that uh right now in their contract it's a $5,000 annuity um the previous contract that we negotiated moved that to 6,000 in year one year two and year three the revised contract takes it back to 5500 in Year One 5750 in year 2 6,000 in year three um so basically you know it reduces our um cost by 30% over the life of the contract right so that so there's no difference between the two between that thatting okay so that was just annuity and a 403b I'm sorry we use them kind of interchangeably okay so was that an artifact left over that thousand that's not part of that's just different yeah I'm not um sure where you're referencing but in in the memorandum in the benefit there's a line toward the end that says they receive an additional $1,000 annuity it seems like it's in addition to yeah that would be an error and I apologize if that's the case yeah so the that that that settlement that the administrators agreed to was the part at the top correct and I apologize I see exactly what you're talking about now and yeah that's that's not accurate okay thank you I'm sorry Andrew Andrew you're up um faith I skip you yeah I think Faith had her hand up first sorry I I I read the Sigh from your lips I'm going on mute Faith it's you Faith you're up then Andrew yeah mute Faith unmute oh I got it I got it sorry um Andre is gonna say youth before Beauty so you go I'm fine I'm still looking at something so all are you sure all right well I mean I was e I'm fine okay I was gonna Echo what everybody else said and you know um I think this is a good faith compromise um avoiding the ugly process of arbitration um and we have from my experience and from folks who have been here and folks that I've dealt with in the administrative level across the district we have top tier administrators in our district um who if you look at some spreadsheets are at some of the lower end of the dur B pay scale um so I think it also speaks the willingness for them to negotiate and come to the table with a compromise I think it speaks to that sometimes it's not just about the money but liking where you work and believing in the that we have a great School District here and so I'm glad that they stayed and were able to negotiate and I think this is great for everybody so thanks Andrew anyone else um I just want to confirm so Jeff that $1,000 payment is should be stricken or that's still there it should it should say 500 in the first year 750 in the second year and a th in the third year yeah I apologize we both missed that when we prepared the update I got it okay thanks and um so and Jeff to confirm you're saying that at least the insurance package is one of the best in the durs in terms of what uh our administrators pay as a co-share okay it is very low compared to what most der be pay I then what would you say the average is probably like 18 19% yeah I would say it's creeping towards 20% if you look at the averages okay and so they'll be at 15 at the at the culmination of this contract okay all right and and just in terms of real dollars however I mean it's not a huge um depending on what um what plan you take you're not talking about you know that's not a a $10,000 impact the five to 10% the the 15 to 19% that's not going to cost like us $10,000 more an administrator anything like that it's it's pretty small not worried about it I I mean want to see them be top somewhere um and and so and how about the cost share the the deductibles how do we Fair versus others it's pretty much standard uh 24 okay because that you know having just gone through like a $10,000 deductive last year you I realized just how high that can be um but anyway I just um I I Echo what everybody's been saying I am um certainly grateful to the administrators for going back to the table on this one um they didn't have to and they did and as Andrew says uh it's a testament to the fact that they like their jobs and I also appreciate the negotiators who went back and um in good faith and you all worked it out in a difficult situation so I I too support this that's all great thank you I think it's Sone yeah I I'll Echo want to said uh yeah again when the the first iteration uh the conts negotiated I thought even back then the administrators and the whole team were you know fair and collaborative you know like any negotiation so back and forth but this year for me it seemed it was you know certainly more open um and folks the table trying to work it out and the board unanimously approved the the first uh as an indicated the first go of this contract because we thought it was fair then uh I certainly think it's fair now and you know I just want to uh iterate that you know when uh we compare our salaries for administrators I know we're not we're quite near near the bottom combined other districts but but we still have leaders that want to come work in chesher and I think we recently had an administrator to come on board that you know comparably took a pay cut in some ways to be here so we do want to remain competitive um you know with our conversation attract great leaders I I Echo what everyone said we have um as far as I'm concerned outstanding administrators principles uh especially during time of covid I know everyone's had to step up and den some they hand a lot of things and we certainly appreciate what they do and so I certainly support this contract and I do want to thank our administrators group for you know being patient working with us and I Echo the fact that if this passes uh with the town it does saves US money from arbitration or the things which could be best best used you know for administrators and students supporting operating budgets so that being said I will certainly support this and I want to thank Jeff and Vin and Marlene the entire team for for helping get this done for us so that being said uh the motion is that we move that the chesher board education approves the collective bargain agreement with the chure administrative Personnel for the period of July 1st 2021 through June 30th 2024 with revisions per the superintendent memor memorandum to the Board of Education dated January 5th 2021 uh if all is in favor either raise your hand or say I it is unanimous awesome thank you team thank you and this will now go on to the town and um Jee you have any idea when the Town Council may take this up um I believe it's going to be I was just looking I think it's the 12th oh great so fairly excellent again thank you thanks everyone we do not have anything else on the agenda uh you know fortunately I don't have my meeting uh upcoming meetings but I do know next Thursday I believe the superintendent's budget presentation I think that is I'm sorry the 14th yes yes so uh I'm sorry I don't have that in front of us but it will be it will be a virtual meeting uh we'll set the agenda out there but we're all anxious looking forward to the superintendent's budget proposal next week so hope you can tune in and join us for that that being said uh seen as we have no old business and no new business would someone like to adjourn make a mo to adjourn the meeting I move cther 10 seconds in fact he's Frozen in perpetuity with his hand up all those in favor I I meeting is adjourned thank you everyone and uh policy committee meeting is up next if anybody's watching you're soon welcome tune into that one for the policy committee other than that thought to everyone soon have a

i had had some symptoms of the past few days and decided to go get tested so uh i am calling in for the meeting so i wanted to make sure everybody knew that secondly as we moved to this pandemic and this will be our process moving forward for our board meetings in terms of mass please be aware during board meetings and while on gps property you're required to wear a mask additionally your mask will cover your mouth and your nose at all times if you've chosen to address the governing board during the call to the public this evening or any evening coming up you're required to wear your mask while speaking if you don't have a mask you can find one at the table in the hallway as well as hand sanitizer if for some reason individuals choose not to comply with our math requirements you'll be asked to leave the premises and you can be the remainder of the meeting online we thank you for your assistance to help with the health and safety of our students staff and community thank you dr santa cruz thank you dr mccord and take care of yourself and get well thank you sir item three we are at the organizational portion of this meeting and it is the nomination of officers for the governing board item 3.01 what i will do is read for or request nominations three times and receive those nominations at the end of those three requests we will vote on those who have been nominated for the various offices and those offices include board president and board clerk so as we look over the business and the responsibilities the board president is obviously representing the board in public activities and also presiding over the meetings and assisting with the assisting and identifying items for the agenda at each board meeting and making sure that all board members are duly informed through the appropriate processes that are in place through the superintendent so with that we will be accepting nominations for president once president is elected then i will move from this chair and the new president will proceed with the rest of the nominations dr santa cruz miss you jetty i i would like to make a motion that we continue to have you as our board president during these very trying times you have been a rock and have helped us get through a lot of issues and i don't think right now trying to make that change would be a good thing for us so i'm going to ask that we nominate you to be the board president for the next year thank you ms eugetti before i accept i think there needs to be a second and then we'll call for additional nominations if there are any i will second thank you mrs humphries there is a nomination and a second is there an additional nomination for board president making a third request for a nomination for board president anybody out there want to do it hearing no additional nominations then we will vote you have one nomination before you and i'm not sure if happy is the right word but i am certainly willing to serve for another year if that is the desire of this board there are equally capable candidates on this dais but i understand the rationale and accept responsibility all those in favor of the nomination as presented by miss eugetti and seconded by miss humphries please signify by saying aye aye those oppose the same motion carries and it appears that you are stuck with me for one more year dr santa cruz if i can just add hopefully we have a normal year this year that you can preside over we are going to work hard at trying to get there the next nomination is for board clerk the board clerk obviously is responsible for activities in uh place of the president should president not be available and for signing of appropriate documents as necessary through business services and superintendent and presiding over meetings in the absence of the president as my understanding at this point i will again call for nominations i will do that three times and then we will vote is there i would like to to just say that i would like to continue with what we have and we have a very good clerk with mrs wood so i think we should continue with the that what we've done for the last year so mr jetty has nominated miss wood to retain her position as board clerk is there a second i'll second thank you mr carr i will request nomination a second time is there another nomination for bird board clerk i will request a third time is there a nomination for board clerk seeing that there are none we will vote all those in favor of miss wood continuing as board clerk for the next year please signify by saying i those pose the same thank you miss wood we're in the soup together all five of us the next item of business is meeting times and during this past year our meeting times have been 6 00 pm for regular board meetings 5 p.m if we have a need for executive sessions sometimes earlier but typically 5 o'clock and our policy meetings have been at 11 30.

is there a request to change those or is there a motion to change those or to remain as we are dr santa cruz i felt this have worked very well so i will uh make the motion that we keep the times the same as have been this past year thank you mr carr is there a second second there is a motion and a second any discussion regarding our business times and board meeting times seeing no discussion then we will vote and meeting times will remain as they have been six o'clock 11 30 and 5 for executive sessions 11 30 for policy meetings o'clock for regular business meetings and work study sessions all those in favor please signify by saying aye hi hi all those opposed the same motion carries we're at item 4.02 is a review and approval of rules of order and we have been using robert's rules as our foundational document and we have utilized an asba hybrid format for our own purposes to streamline our business it has in my opinion worked well for us uh that is rules of order policy b-e-d-d is there any request to change that or a motion to continue and a second please i move that we continue with policy bedd thank you miss humphries is there a second bye second thank you mr carr so it has been moved and seconded that we continue with policy bedd our rules of order for operating our meanings all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed the same motion carries next is 4.03 is board appointments to various committees and just as a review we have a policy committee which is a committee of the whole enrollment management committee which is a committee of the whole legislative representative which has been occupied by me during this past year town of gilbert liaison and city of mesa liaisons gilbert liaison is mr carr mesa liaison is ms wood gilbert education foundation has been miss humphreys insurance trust representative has just been miss eugenie and the audit committee has been mr carr is there a desire to change or is there a sweeping motion to continue committees as listed i am open for a motion i think someone can amend it but i would just move that we continue with the assignments as as have been in in discussion if someone wants to propose a change we can substitute that motion but we'll start the discussion okay we have a motion is there a second second second to continue committees as listed and as they have been anyone interested in discussing whether or not any changes or shifts and adjustments should be made i'm perfectly happy to continue a second year with my assignment so i do think we should change once a while but i think we did change last year and it seems like putting one year our second year kind of helps us get continuity and understand the role that we have on that committee and how to support those people thank you miss humphries i concur with your assessment and i am willing to continue in my role as legislative representative as well other board members your preferences or comments seeing that there are none i am accepting that there is a concurrence and that we will continue with committee assignments as listed and as they have been so all those in favor of committee assignments being retained as they are please signify by saying aye aye aye those oppose the same motion carries we are at item five which is the adjournment of this special organizational meeting is their emotion i move to adjourn thank you miss humphries is there a second second thank you mr jetty there is no need for discussion all those in favor of adjourning this organizational meeting please signify by saying i i those opposed the same motion carries we are adjourned from our special organizational meeting we will now move to our brief board business meeting and we will once again for the record do a roll call miss wilson dr charles santa cruz here miss larry wood here mr reed carr here michela eugetti here ms jill humphries here mr president all board members are present you have a quorum thank you miss wilson we'll now move to item 7 which is a request to speak to the governing board and we have this evening 70 people who have requested to speak to the governing board we will move through that once we have played the recorded message please the board may make an open call to the public during a public meeting subject to reasonable time place and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on an issue within the jurisdiction of the public body at the conclusion of the open call to the public individual board members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board may ask the staff to review a matter or may ask a matter be to be put on a future agenda however members of the board shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during the open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action during the open call the board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against school personnel or any person connected with the district as it may impact due process rights policy k e k e b and k e d are provided by the board for disposition of legitimate complaints including those involving individuals forms required for use of these policies can be obtained from the gilbert public schools website thank you we have 71 one additional speaker made request there just after i announced the number uh just as a my uh item of information all of us have reviewed and or read all of the emails or many of the emails that have come to us and so we have a very good understanding of where people lie relative to the issues all we would ask is that appropriate decorum prevail we understand this is a passion-laden item and we will listen intently and act appropriately and judiciously when it is our time so i will call in groups of three as we work through the 71 request to speak first up is ms bonnie hickman mr nevin cauley jocelyn crozier thank you board members let me start by saying that as an educator from for 26 years in the district i respect our board and our leadership and i will abide by whatever decisions happens tonight i just want our community to be able to work together and to heal together on august 11th the board made a decision quote um it that they would reopen schools when it was deemed safe according to health benchmarks set forth by the adhs and mcd ph based upon that parents and teachers decided which model was going to be the best for them and their families either in person online or flex we also have to follow maricopa guidance about face coverings and it's on our website so we probably should be listening to their guidance as well some people might think it's silly that teachers are concerned about getting sick but new year's eve hundreds of kids in the gilbert area ended up at a new year's eve party we want to start back to school tomorrow but it's an incubation period we're only supposed to have half of our kids but like in my class seven of my kids are are on-site kids and because there's no subs they're in my room also so it's not half our rooms are about 30 feet by 30 feet which is from that wall about to this the camera up there and out to the area where this thing is and we've got you know anywhere from 23 to 30 people depending on how many are there in that space there's no more cares act to cover the employees for the minimum of 10 days that we would be out if we got sick but there's no hospital beds anyway it sounds like but i do want to thank you for putting 9.02 on the agenda because i know at least you know that we're concerned about it um hopefully we're going to start getting the vaccine soon i've prepared my classroom and myself as best i can i have a top-notch air purifier in my room i have a schedule the kids wash their hands every hour and i have three weeks of sub plans ready um you know my son has grown my will is up today and i know where i'm going after this world so i'm not worried i'm not afraid but i do want to be prepared so i would just ask that at a bare minimum we maybe have hybrid for two weeks just to deal with the incubation period until we know what's going on i know it's going to be difficult to have in-person schooling though if we end up with too many teachers in the hospital or actually not surviving covet so thank you for listening good evening board um so i wanted to start off experiencing what miss hickman said there was a vote at the beginning of the school year and many people made decisions based on that vote i was actually given i was going to teach online virtually when the board voted that we would follow benchmarks i felt and many people felt that that was a healthy safe way to go and so i decided okay i could be in our class with those benchmarks you know i have to take care of my family but if we're following benchmarks then i can do that okay so with that said uh we need to continue to do that the benchmarks right now say that we should go virtually governor ducey said that we should keep schools open safely and he said on many occasions that safely is basically guided by the state department the state health department so the state health department benchmarks and the county benchmarks that we've been following all say that we should be virtual right now that's been the same for three weeks running um we need to follow those guidelines schools are based on guidelines that we need to follow if a student has lice we have guidelines to take care of that so there's not a spread of that right uh if a student has said that they're feeling suicidal we have guidelines to take care of that if there's an active shooter we have guidelines to take care of that so that the students the staff in the community are safe covet is the same thing we have guidelines to follow so that the students the staff in our communities are safe so i implore you i know that i'm a parent many parents are really you know they have a lot to deal with and i totally understand that this creates a hardship but we need to keep people healthy we need to keep them safe we need to follow the benchmarks and those guidelines to do that i really appreciate your time and your service thank you very much after ms crozier will do phil sherwin jennifer eberhaus and chris bollinger jocelyn thank you hey um i don't know if anybody else feels a little deja vu tonight but i'll tell you i didn't realize how many times i was going to get to wear my cute green shirt when i ordered it back in july but um i'm here first of all to thank you dr santa cruz and reid and lori for your words and thoughts at the december 15th meeting you guys talked about how you read the emails from parents dr santa cruz talked about how he spoke to many teachers about the lacking of education in our hybrid and our virtual classrooms and we all appreciate your willingness to stand up for our kids that day we cannot thank you enough or tell you how much as parents we appreciate someone helping our children now we are all here tonight because of the rumorings we've heard about a teacher's association that thinks they may speak for the majority and i'm just here to tell you that they do not they do not speak for the parents in our community and they most certainly do not represent the needs of the children in our community they do not have our students best interests in mind i appreciated governor ducey's remarks this week as he was put in a very similar situation to what you're in tonight when he was asked by kathy hoffman to mandate a school closing his office issued the following statement governor ducey will not be considering this request or issuing this kind of mandate this is a local decision the online option is already available the governor has repeatedly made his preference clear kids have already lost out on a lot of learning and he wants schools open we're asking you please follow our governor please open the schools do your job and represent the community i know it's hard when there's a lot of noise i know that there's an association that has a lot of voices but our children only have your voice and we voted you here to represent our kids we voted you because they need you and i want you to know that if you vote for our kids you will not stand alone we are here to help if these teachers walk out we will walk in we will sub we will volunteer we will do whatever it takes to keep our kids in school we appreciate all you've done we appreciate the concern you have for our kids but please do not forget their best interests they need to be in school they need this more than anything and there are options for online if teachers feel they need to move that way if students feel they need to move that way they should but for the rest of us we're begging please keep our schools open thank you [Applause] thank you good evening board my name is phil sharon first time speaker long time viewer uh thank you for allowing me opportunity to speak here um i'm going to be as concise as possible i don't know any of you so you wouldn't know that i'm not concise but you'll find here shortly so some things i wanted to share real quick here um i want to first of all thank you for your support leading up to this unfortunate pandemic we've almost all obviously been forced to make very difficult decisions um micheli obviously voicing to say hey why don't we continue some things that have been working and some points that i want to mention tonight are you know we've got many options for can for children to continue to be educated one of those options is in-person education and my biggest ask that i'm going to start with is that we don't take away that option there are many here tonight that are currently educators for online global academy that are continuing to push for in-person education to be ended district has completed surveys in the past we've seen 89 percent of teachers and staff if i'm correct or incorrect please let me know um that are ready to go back and we're willing to so my ask is please don't take away the option for my family for my daughter in second grade for my future son that's going to be our sorry my current son that's going to be a future student at greenfield elementary you know i have many things to say about this but i'm not here to try and dispel your understanding of covid however i do want to make sure that i'm very pointed to say please be metacognitive and think about your thinking on the decisions that you're making with our students we are in our local community here there are dashboards yes that are available at the same time there are not dashboards that are reporting suicides happening in mesa public schools there are not dashboards that are going to tell you about the impact that are happening in people's homes about what it looks like to try and educate a kindergartner second grader a 10th grader you've heard many stories about that last time but i want to just remind you of those things uh last vote there was a mention from dr santa cruz about being focused on education and that is my ask do not take away our option for in-person education to cite some things that i think would be willing i'm sorry would be worth your time to consider if you haven't already a study completed by the cdc and um sorry a study completed by the cdc uh students that tested positive provide for covid were more likely to have attended in-person classes than those who tested negative but they were more likely to have attended family gatherings play dates parties and funerals with that researchers have continued and also concluded studies about how schools contribute to the spreading of the virus in the community long story short it was concluded in michigan in washington if you want to look it up but at the end of it they found that when community infection rates were low reopening schools did not seem to worsen the situation even if reinfect infection rates were high it still not did not impact reopening schools schools continue to remain open the last point that i'm going to mention here there was a study completed time jennifer eberhaus chris bullinger and brian maurer good evening i spoke to you at our last meeting i wore the coats you'd remember um i'm speaking to you tonight to tell you how much i appreciate last meeting's boat it was important mr carr you did a wonderful job making that motion and i felt that you did a wonderful job in your compromise to to find a way to keep our schools open because that is really what we're here for tonight we have to find a way to keep our schools open there's no option open schools is essential this is not a parent versus teacher agenda okay i can speak for myself but i know i'm not alone in saying that teachers are essential and we love our teachers and we love our open schools we don't want to see anyone get hurt but we need to talk about excellence in education because that is what we have at gilbert public schools we have an excellence that we have to maintain online school is not providing excellent education for every student it's not if it was do you think we would all be here it's not so let's find a way to get what we need to have the teachers come back to the school in a safe manner we need to find that compromise or maybe we don't but we need schools open end of story i appreciate the vote i know that these are extremely unprecedented times and it is very difficult to be a leader in this community it's always been difficult but now extremely so because there's no right answer here we throw around this word safe what does safe mean anymore is there any safe in the world left if i feel this do we not think the students also do there's no safety at home for a lot of these students especially the ones completely underserved that you have a duty to provide excellent education for it is so vital that we keep our schools open for those underserved and underprivileged students that we do have in gilbert please stay true to your last vote be a leader in this community that i know that is very difficult to be we love our teachers we don't want to lose our veteran teachers let's find a way to keep them safe but back to their classrooms where we need them to be please hold true stay fast in your decision children are going to be safe teachers are going to find a way to be safe we have to find the compromise we have to make sure that we are getting our schools open thank you [Applause] we have chris bollinger brian maurer and steve w so if chris isn't here uh brian maurer i appreciate the opportunity to come first time here i've got four children three of which go to gilbert public schools by day i'm a chief financial officer in the biotech industry and also serve on a couple of biotech board of director roles including the arizona bioscience industry association which represents uh roughly 600 biotech and medical device companies here in the state i am in favor of in-person schooling i'm in favor of having our teachers uh teach our kids in person because i think the value of education the value of future leaders happens in person not virtually am i i have a hard enough time keeping the kids off of video games um and virtual education tends to push them that way so keeping kids in school is certainly important keeping kids in school safely is important keeping teachers safe is important my wife teaches in a different district she is in person all the time started today so it's safe for other districts to be in person it can be safe for our kids to be in person the option for in person or the option virtually for those who are at risk or vulnerable i think should be allowed for both of us one of the things in my industry that has come across my desk is what's called the great barrington declaration i don't know if any of you have heard of it but it's a list of epidemiologists and others who have put together a paper and have produced that and have about 50 cosigners but the the three authors one's a professor of medicine at harvard university one's a professor of medicine at oxford university and one a professor at stanford university uh their whole focus on this paper which i can leave a copy for if you'd like is being a focused protection for those vulnerable and one of the key objectives for them being focused on those who are vulnerable is to get people back to a normal life including keeping students in school in person school keeping them out is what they call a grave injustice not only to those who are vulnerable but to the kids themselves yeah we all know lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings as well as the mental health issues that uh come from what we have are lockdowns and things that are out in society but for keeping it short those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching and that was signed by 712 000 concerned citizens 13 000 medical health scientists [Applause] we have steve w jennifer c and sandy t my name is steve walker i am a parent of three kids two of which have graduated from desert ridge high school and one that i have we have made the decision to unenroll her from gilbert public schools and enrolled her in ala and she has had a fantastic experience there it makes me sad i grew up in this district myself i went to many of the gilbert schools and i'm disappointed in you i'm disappointed in the board i'm disappointed that i have to be here again having this conversation over and over again is a bad version of groundhog day i want to thank the many good teachers who are willing to work and teach in person your responsibility as a board is to ensure a quality education to the children within our community and to do the will of the people the people the parents students and good devoted teachers have loudly and repeatedly spoken that our children need and deserve a quality in-person school experience uninterrupted for those good teachers that are afraid of covid and don't want to teach in person due to the risks of their job the district should repurpose those teachers if there is an open position and if not they should let them go those teachers that don't want to teach in person the ones that want to call a sick out and act like a union and claim that they're not they need to quit they need to go get a different job change careers i want to thank our health care professionals who choose to show up to work i want to thank the good doctors and nurses and police officers the firefighters the members of the military i want to thank costco workers and grocery store clerks who interact closely with thousands of people each day i want to thank prison guards meat packing plant workers and nursing home workers and last but not least i want to thank the good teachers who are willing and ready to show up and teach in person the board sets policy according to the will of the people and shane's job is to manage through that decision [Applause] yeah jennifer c and sandy t hi my name is jennifer cave i'm a parent of two kids here in gilbert public schools lived in gilbert for over 20 years my oldest needed to start kindergarten we looked at all options we looked at private we looked at charter and we looked at public and we chose public my kids are academic they're gifted and accelerated so at one point we looked again at public and at private and at charter and again we chose gilbert public schools it's been 13 years i've got a senior very concerned about that because it's not easy these kids are going through a lot this pandemic has been most trying for all of our lives and i'm sure for each and every one of us here my children have struggled if you have children i'm sure you know what i'm talking about if you're simply human i think you'll know what i'm talking about so to have structures is needed i'm here today to stand up for my children and for all of the children here at gilbert public schools because no one else is we are we're here i haven't seen that i've seen it on the december 15th meeting though i can say that they need to have a voice these children need to be in school if there's a reason to keep a child home keep them home choice is key here if the teachers are at high risk take care of that but we've been doing this now for 11 months that's on you and them this virus isn't going anywhere i think most of us here seem to be pretty educated i think we all know that we're going to have to live through this we're going to have to make a plan and that plan needs to be structured it's been apparent with everything everybody said it's not being passed in school that's obvious yes they're out partying i can't handle that i can't i cannot manage that i am not the police so we need to come together we need to have a plan to move forward on december 15 the same board walked away from a board meeting with a plan one week a hybrid then back to full in person i didn't love that because i don't believe in hybrid but you know what i had a plan as most humans children work better in structure so with that plan i could at least manage my children's expectations and help them move forward but then suddenly i hear about a sick out and the possibility that we're going back on that that's not okay in my personal opinion that is unethical and a blatant disrespect for employees students parents and fellow staff members if that sick out happens i see that they're pulling back on that that's not okay [Applause] if you don't show up for work you shouldn't have your job unless you are sick when obviously i mean that's just common sense by the way board members and superintendent you're the leaders here this plan is in your hands as leaders what you do matters it matters to my children it hurts my children if you don't do the right thing it's been hurting them i hope you understand we're here because we have to be we want you to do what's right for who you're supposed to be here to represent the students [Applause] sandy t and we have holly t and natalie w hello uh my name's sadie just so you know i'm sorry it's okay it's okay no worries um so this is my first time here um i've never i've come to the rallies but i've never come inside um mostly because i didn't think i would have to um i feel like based on what my my other people have said that we've been going through this for a little bit too long now we have had to our voice to voice our opinions over and over and over again we are the majority opinion it is what should be listened to um i think my biggest problem that i'm struggling with is that it's inconsistent things are super inconsistent right now every tuesday night i feel myself as a mother of five kids having a little bit of a panic because i don't know what's gonna happen at this board meeting i don't know if my kids the next week are gonna be out of school and i'm gonna have to look my sixth grader my second grader and my kindergartner in the eye and say i'm sorry baby you can't go to school next week you have to stay home even though you are fine your school is fine most of you and your friends and your teachers at your school are fine that is my struggle is to look my kids in the eye and tell them that over and over again we need some consistency we need the plans to follow through the plan that you guys came up with on december 15th i honestly didn't mind one week of hybrid it was just another week that i was like i can do it i can do this because i'm looking forward to the next week where you will let my kids be in school full time my kids want to be in school full time so badly i want to just tell you a little bit of my personal experience having a sixth grader a second grader and a kindergartner all at home along with my four-year-old and two-year-old who get mostly no attention because all of my attention is on my school kids i have to sit with them because two of them one can barely read the other one cannot my sixth grader she's fantastic you will hear from her in a minute but still needs help because i'm not a teacher i'm not built for this i expect these teachers to show up just like the grocery store workers just like the health care workers i expect them to show up we are all doing our best i expect them to do their best as well um just my last last few things please keep our kids in school we've said it over and over and over again please i beg you as a mom i don't have any medical background but please keep our kids in school you have holly t natalie w and looks like caitlyn g hi my name is holly taylor and i just wanted to come up here and say that this has been really really hard on me and my mom because i i will be staying up till like seven o'clock at night just doing my homework because there'll be like problems with their computer or the internet will come out cut out and it's just really hard on us and because of all the glitches on our computers and and all that it's just really hard and in school it's been so much easier to get work done and to communicate with my teacher so much better and to ask her questions and being and i just want to say that we need to be in school thank you for your time [Applause] hi thank you for staying up late another night i'm amazed that you are willing to do it and i'm glad you are and hear us out i'm a gilbert parent and i beg you to please take care of my children get them back in the classroom we desperately want structure i loved what she said a couple people ago about a plan i need that plan my kids need that plan as a parent i have done my best to present this as an opportunity for my kids to see that they can adapt to changes as i guide and watch over them i am seeing their hope decrease they're being challenged constantly here's an example my high school student son qualified for the state cross country meet he's been working for years for this two days before his the meet my healthy son was contact traced and was unable to participate his spirit was broken my heart was broken to see him navigate this there was no one at the school office that was able to offer any support other than this is how it is thankfully his coach gave him advice and encouraged him to let this challenge make him better not break him athletic programs and the coaches have been a lifesaver for my kids mental health i share this experience to show an example of what our kids are going through as challenges will continue to come up you can provide consistency for a large group my kids want to be in school they want structure with many things being challenged and interrupted please give my children some hope please represent my children please give them options that work for them there already exists virtual options and i'm glad for that please stick to your vote you showed bravery last meeting you showed me it does not have to be a 5-0 vote that we can be represented in the vote please continue being brave please stick to your vote [Applause] hello this is my first time here um i hate public speaking but i feel like i have to be here tonight because i am fed up and can't do this anymore i'm tired of my five-year-old not getting the education he deserves virtual learning does not work it never has worked and it never will work let's stop pretending that it does work and let's get back to full-time in-person learning i have noticed a huge difference in my son's education along with his attitude from september through december but now that he has not been to school every day since december 4th i have noticed he's gone two steps backwards and this is not okay my husband and i have been going to work outside the home since this pandemic started teachers should be held to the same standard they are essential workers delivery drivers grocery store workers and first responders have to go to work and show up every day no matter what my family has made sacrifices and has done everything possible so we can stay healthy and keep our family healthy every family i know has done the same thing by closing schools you are punishing the kids and the parents that have been doing everything that has been asked give everyone the choice and stop taking our rights away and for the people here trying to take my rights away i have never once tried to take away your right to virtual education i want my child in person i'm tired of the inconsistency in my child suffering from it thank you [Applause] the next three are cara dodd martha romero and carrie glover hi gps board and dr mcgorr dr mccord my name is cara dodd and i am speaking on behalf of the gilbert education association gea and the educators in the gilbert school district are committed to the safety responsibility and successful operation of the district the purpose of this letter is to continue our collaboration dialogue with the governing board and district administration to resolve concerns the gea has not promoted a sick out due to the fluid situation brought on by the pandemic and various views of members and non-members we do acknowledge and support the concerns of these members and teachers and believe constructive discourse is the best action to work together for all stakeholders we encourage the gps school board to consider the following recommendations virtual returning from winter break move to hybrid when two of the three metrics are in green accommodations for the specialized populations spice skills cope and special education to attend school during this distant learning platform use the arizona state maricopa county guidelines and dashboard to guide district decisions about returning to some in-school instruction and then use the gps dashboard to guide decisions when moving individual schools from in-person hybrid or virtual updating the gps dashboard daily review verbiage of the policy for employees regarding covid testing and staying home until results are back partnership with health agencies to provide employee covid19 testing as you are making these decisions please take into consideration the following open the sick bank enrollment for current school year considering elementary and secondary schools separately when deciding on delivery models creating a coveted committee comprised of all district stakeholders it is our hope that you might consider our request as we value the relationship we have in the school board and district staff we thank you for all your hard work and dedication as we continue to work together and find our path through this pandemic thank you [Applause] good evening i am here tonight speaking as an individual to ask you to follow the maricopa county guidelines and metrics which are backed up by science and data over the gps dashboard the gps dashboard does not show an accurate count of positive cases as each site which is very deceiving i know for a fact that a teacher at my school site was exposed and contacted covid from another teacher at school but was never counted on the dashboard the gps dashboard should be updated daily and include all positive cases no matter when the results come in i urge you to keep your promise of ensuring students and staff safety by following the same metrics you used to open schools at the beginning of the year arizona superintendent of public instruction kathy hoffman publicly asked governor ducey to order arizona schools into a two-week period of distance learning due to the covet 19 case numbers positivity rates and covet related hospital visits reaching heightened levels he refused which puts this very difficult decision in your hands this has not been an easy year for anyone students parents teachers staff and our healthcare workers as a teacher i have risen to the very difficult challenge to teach my students in any mode you have asked for virtual learning was very difficult for my kindergarten students but we made it work i was happy when we moved to hybrid because i was able to safely social distance my students while teaching half of them in person there have been a lot of negative comments about teachers who want virtual or hybrid model to stay safe which has been very disheartening let me tell you in person instruction is way easier on a teacher a plan as educators we do what we need to do to teach our curriculum and keep our students safe even if it means double planning for in-person students students learning from home or finding ways to engage our students for virtual learning virtual learning may not be an ideal learning environment or my preference however it is the safest model to use right now especially after community members have disregarded safety and mitigation strategies by having large gatherings for christmas and new year's if you are not willing to put the entire district in virtual learning i urge you to consider hybrid for elementary and virtual for secondary for the next two weeks and then revisit the maricopa county metrics to decide how to further proceed thank you for your time it is my hope that you look at the big picture and do what is [Applause] right after after carrie will have kathy stiger katrina jonas and dr allison wilcock good evening members of the board i've been a gilbert teacher for 27 years and i'm a parent i have a graduate of gilbert gilbert classical academy and i have a junior at desert ridge high school so i'm speaking to you with both of my hats i hear a lot of parents referencing the board decision on december 15th but let's remember that there was a board decision that happened before we went back to school and that's where i'd like to start on september 7th when gilbert public schools teachers and i returned to our classrooms for in-person instruction we did so with the understanding that the board and the district would follow the recommendations of the arizona department of health services we trusted that these recommendations would be followed to keep students and state staff safe and contain the spread of this virus within our community however today all three of our metrics are read according to the adshs and they recommend remote instruction yet tomorrow i am scheduled to return to my classroom for in-person instruction with half of my students in hybrid learning in one of my classes that means 20 students will be there i cannot socially distance them and they are high school seniors they are big kids the action that some have referred to um is a result of teachers feeling like the community has broken their half of the bargain we said we would come back and teach in person as long as mitigation strategies were in place but when new year's eve parties happen and lots and lots of people post pictures on facebook of all of their family together with no masks i'm a little worried about going back to my classroom because it takes two weeks for this to incubate i know that there's concern about the possible stage sick out but i'm actually more concerned about the real crisis that gilbert public schools will face when dozens of students and teachers test positive and get sick in the next few weeks because it will happen many students fall behind because they are ill or have to be quarantined because they had close contact with a peer that happened to my son and he lost his 4.0 because he had to spend the last part of the semester teaching himself ap physics because we were all in person and someone who knew they were infected came to school my son struggled my son bore the brunt of that please don't break the trust that the community has in gilbert public schools ability to keep their students and staff safe we all know in person is best but for right now until we're all safe learning cannot happen please live up to the commitment that you made before we went back in person and follow the metrics and begin the second semester remotely until it is safe to return in person thank you [Applause] kathy steger trina jonas and dr allison wilcock your board members and dr mccord thank you for opening tonight public's comment at tonight's meeting i have been a teacher in gilbert for 35 years i've dedicated my life to this district and i am speaking as an individual tonight although i think many share my opinion last summer the administration the board and teachers worked tirelessly to ensure that gps students would have the best learning experience possible in the middle of a pandemic we are here in the middle of a pandemic trying to teach and make this all work no one has been through this before and we're just trying to work together here the board in the administration adopted procedures to ensure the safety of teachers and students and the board also voted to follow the maricopa county and arizona health department guidelines and benchmarks which governor ducey asked to be made these benchmarks are based on scientific data and recommendations of doctors who are experts in the field of epidemiology i am asking that you remain consistent with your previous decisions to follow these guidelines you followed them on the august 19th board meeting the november 15th board meeting and the december 12th board meetings making your decisions based on those guidelines please continue to follow them regardless of public pressure unwavering resolve and honoring your word will ensure trust among families and teachers and as far as the gps dashboard is concerned that is a work in progress i'm asking you to be cautious in using it to determine delivery models please be transparent share the guidelines that determine how the numbers of cases are counted and posted on that dashboard and i'm also urging you to update the dashboard on a daily basis and finally i'm asking for community help we all want school to get back to normal we need help we need to work together to achieve that goal thank you [Applause] hi my name is serena jonas i have three kids in the district and i'm a volunteer everywhere throughout the whole district to recap i'm here today to ask you to keep your vote the same and allow kids to return to school full-time in school next week your vote was not just somebody was not just some blatant open the schools but you took um a wise and informed approach and evaluate and to evaluate each school on their own numbers and have schools go to hybrid or remote learning based on their own school's community numbers that is a great compromise last meeting you heard from countless doctors and medical experts about how kids are being affected and literally dying due to school closures there was one person who was a paid representative for the teachers association slash union who stood up here and said the teachers don't feel safe and please vote to go back online this was not based on any data new studies or any expert information and even just the benchmarks that were just mentioned how that was based upon medical experts we've got 15 medical experts that will disagree with that and i would love to see the study that that's based on because that was before any of us were actually even in school so they had nothing to base it on so like they put those benchmarks in place to get us going but now we know so much more you can do this if there is a teacher problem then let's address the teacher problem but we need to stop doing this to our families can we ask why the teachers don't feel safe let's fix that how can we make them feel safe all of the data that we have show that the kids are not transmitting this virus at school and that the mitigation plans are working so if these people still do not feel safe in these sanitized rooms with masked children then i really hope that they're never ever leaving their homes to go to costco target walmart or ever eat out ever and if you want us to start tracking and following every single teacher like i bet you parents are gonna start doing it because it's difficult to say you don't feel comfortable in the sanitary environment that the district has bent over backwards to create for you and it's very frustrating but i think we can specifically address all of those issues and lastly if there is an inability to work these things out with the teachers and there is a shortage of any kind then let's address that specific issue all i know our district and this is a special community and one email out from dr mccord saying that you need help you need volunteers you need people we would volunteer for free to come down and help i have a master's degree i will come and help do whatever you need until you figure out how do you get people and i know there's a million other parents that would too but i haven't gotten any of those i've heard trinklings oh we don't have enough subs and we've been working on substitute plans and trying to jump through the hoops i don't know how many you know letters i've written of recommendation for friends because that's needed to become a substitute teacher but like we can do this i know we can do this and all of the private and charter schools are open that's the problem that's the problem if this was california we had no other option then that would be one thing but we have options so if you think there's a deficit now and poor bonnie's over there trying to scratch two pennies together to save our district it's you have seen nothing yet if they go if you don't all go back now all of his parents are gonna leave and it's going to be so bad they won't have jobs they won't have jobs thanks [Applause] meet allison wilcock christy anderson steve lashweer and dan lundell good evening i'm dr alison wilcock i speak to you again today as a community pediatrician as well as a concerned parent of my three children at greenfield elementary i spoke to you previously about the detrimental health effects of on our community by not opening our schools for in-person learning i stand by these i continue to see the mental health of our families and our students deteriorating the lack of motivation increasing and the obesity and drug use skyrocketing the abrupt changes in learning modules are placing a large burden on our community if our children are not in the classroom we must put them somewhere else while many of us continue working so i realize that the safety of staff is important but we are all having to just shift our children to a different place to day cares boys and girls clubs and grandparents i again echo dr fauci and that the schools are the safest place for our children this is reflected beautifully in the fact that most of our schools had zero active cases when they closed in december this means that this controlled environment is the safest place for our children and our teachers to be it's safer than the grocery stores it's safer than the restaurants and it's safer than the family gatherings they've been at for this last month unless you're a teacher that has not left the house in 10 months your argument to keep teachers safe by not having in-person learning is completely erroneous i i don't understand how when the rest of us are expected to do our jobs through these unprecedented times teachers are above this expectation i remind you that children do not quarantine from the doctor's office for 10 days when they are sick and yet i will continue to provide quality care to my patients because their health and welfare is of utmost importance to me i ask do you not see teachers as essential workers do not see yourselves as essential to the health and welfare of our students and our community dr santa cruz stated at the last meeting that our schools are not set up for online learning i've had first-hand knowledge as i see the lack of instruction for my children i refuse to allow my children to have a subpar education i ask you to make a decision tonight for the entire third quarter and stand behind it because the constant changing of the plan is very difficult on families and teachers it's imperative for the health of our children in our community that you reopen schools to in-person learning our children need to be educated and motivated they need to value hard work learning and healthy relationships over hanging out and checking off a very short to-do list when they're online or hybrid i also want you to know i have already signed up my children to go to a school that's dedicated to full in-person learning and will move forward with the decision if gilbert schools do not reopen because their education is important to me i love our schools and i really love my children's teachers and i hope we will be able to count on gilbert public schools from this point forward to provide the amazing high quality education we have always received i hope you will continue to put the health and well-being of our children and families and community first with your decision and i thank you for your time and i'm grateful for my children's teachers [Applause] christie anderson steve lashweer and dan lindell i stand before you as a concerned parent and i would just like to share a little bit of our experience i'm a mother of five children my youngest is three and my older four are attending elementary school they have been bending over backwards anything i've asked them to do uh cleaning their hands extra for their t to help their teachers out wearing masks they've done it um separating distancing from their friends they haven't even questioned me i've been so proud of them for for doing what what everyone's asked them to do um but they've just been told it's not enough and schools and to be told it's not good enough and schools might be going online again crushes their spirits it like many have said i've seen these kids with a love of education just dwindling and their hope going away um they have been good sports about things for the most part and i have been proud of them they all have amazing teachers i am so grateful for their teachers they have gone above and beyond to help them and i am i will forever be in debt to them for doing that because i know this is a scary situation i know it's unprecedented and none of us wanted this this year um we cannot continue on with this charade anymore our kids are not pawns schools are for you learning students need to be in their schools and their teachers need to be there to teach them kids all over are being forced into situations that are uncomfortable unsafe scary and then unmanageable this will cause long-term damage more so than their chance of getting covered as we've already seen in the news there's the like people have said the suicide rates are up um addictions are up kids are not being watched my experience with my kindergartner she flourishes when she's in the school her teacher talks about how much their class is growing and then when school goes moves back to hybrid or online it's it's crushing they they aren't learning like they could be if they were in school um when she is at home she complains that her eyes and neck hurt from looking at her screen and here i have to sit here and force her to do it i have to help her to get her work done my third grader has a little girl in his class that he has to watch cry because she has no one at home to help her do the work and my heart just breaks i wish i could go to her house and help her too my fourth grader starts the day for online learning frustrated my husband and i are both there trying to help her and she still can't find the work that her teacher's talking about even though her teacher has tried her best to prepare her for that hybrid day my sixth grader is is doing okay he's a smart boy and he's doing really well but he's he's also become my helper to help all the other kids so he's being torn from his work if i have to go manage the three-year-old or do other things all i'm asking is that you [Applause] hello thanks for letting us speak i think we're going to be here till like one in the morning so hopefully everybody's ready and i am i'm grateful for gilbert schools i spoke at the last meeting i grew up here in gilbert um i just want to start by by saying a couple questions do we have control over a virus and the answer is no do we allow the virus to control us unfortunately the answer is yes do lockdowns work let's look at california no they don't do controlling lockdowns stop the spread of the virus well california's proving no it doesn't how many kids transmitted covid at school i have a very reputable source from a local school area that's bigger than gilbert that said zero kids have contracted covid at school i hope we can learn from the past so that we can be better in the future this virus is no longer new it is over a year old we must move forward and have faith in the future people need us to lead them through chaos i am grateful for the hard-working positive teachers i had a lot of great teachers at gilbert high school in mesquite junior high and president santa cruz you're you're one of my my teachers i forgot to mention that or one of you were my principal and i had a lot of let's see i had fun running cross-country and track with coach corn i hope we can let the kids grow like we all had the opportunity to in our day at school we are depriving our kids and parents of the pursuit of happiness parents are not allowed to watch their kids run outside where social distancing is a hundred percent possible i hope that we can work to support the majority of constituents and gilbert and teachers that want schools open today in mesa they went back to online school and the online system went down this fails our kids and teachers i do believe in closing do believe that god is in control not man if it's someone's time to leave this world then they will be called home my grandfather taught high school for a long time before retiring and then died in a car accident in front of mesa high school while still pursuing a substitute school teacher job teachers that are great impact their students for the rest of their lives like my grandfather we are not in control it says had to quote who i look to for my source of hope god for god hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind i am afraid of the future of gilbert schools please don't make us find alternative options for our kids [Applause] dan lundell angie ward and deanna victor i'd like to thank my name is dan londell i'd like to thank all the teaching professionals for all you do for our children i believe you are trying in good faith to do the right thing but people of good faith can disagree and that's why we're here unfortunately many of our public health leaders have failed to give clear realistic truthful and courageous information designed to empower responsible people to make their own choices given all the money and politics involved in all things covet many people have lost trust in public health institutions and particularly coveted statistics in this environment the chaos is amplified by a news media that is all too ready to inflame fears play up divisions and misinform the public in order to attract more clicks for example recent studies show that the incubation period for this virus is absolutely not two weeks and that asymptomatic transmission is far more rare than was thought early on this has created an even more unfortunate situation where many otherwise intelligent and rationable rational independent thinkers are drastically misinformed as compared to past public health emergencies and therefore unable to make sense of the risks that's a polite way of saying that i don't hold it against anyone for believing or assessing risk different than i do we are in an information war the effects of these unilateral school closures have been catastrophic depression anxiety child sexual abuse and exploitation and suicide and these effects are far worse for the underprivileged children whose parents are not here tonight where are they they're at a drive-through they're at walmart they're in a service bay they're somewhere and they are on the margins the other tragedy is that these lockdowns and unilateral closures will cost our children and many caring teaching professionals those precious and pivotal moments of connection that make the difference in the lives of so many children especially the least privileged children my children will be fine if the schools irrationally close again i and many thousands of parents will pull my students out and we will peacefully seek the educational alternatives that the law allows for our children and our schools and our teachers will be diminished but what about the tens of thousands of students being raised in hard-working underprivileged families who cannot make that choice why discriminate against these students and their hard-working parents we're here to ask you to take a stand against unilateral and one-size-fits-all dictates that hurt the most vulnerable and give parents and teachers a chance to make their own choices and to own those choices take a brave and permanent stand against activists with agendas counter to the will of the people take a stand for common sense uninflamed science these are turbulent times we are not here to attack our schools or teachers we are here to try and preserve them but i will issue a word of warning if we continue to kind of [Applause] angie ward deanna victor and madison judd thank you board and dr mccord for holding this meeting this evening my name is angie ward and i'm a mom of five kids that have all been students at gilbert public schools both my husband and i have volunteered countless hours to gps and we have always been extremely grateful for the teachers and education that our kids have received while here i'm here today to plead with you to hold strong to your decision from the meeting in december dr santa cruz mr carr and ms wood we are truly thankful for you [Applause] the families in this school district are truly thankful for you for putting our kids first and remembering that their futures are in jeopardy by not being able to learn in person online schooling is not getting the job done my children's teachers and the administrators at their schools are absolutely incredible i am so grateful for them and for their positivity and encouraging my kids and i hope that they are able to continue to learn in person because i know that they want to be teaching in person hybrid and online teaching has been difficult for them as well i know that there should be no debate as to what's best for our kids we've heard from countless medical professionals that they are better off mentally physically emotionally and socially when they are attending school in person please put our kids first i recognize and appreciate those who have concerns about covet and do not wish to attend school in person whether they be students teach teachers or staff they have the right to stay home and protect themselves they have that option under any of the proposals that are before us today however those of us who are less concerned about kovid should also have the right to attend school in person just as the majority rule should not dictate to the minority the minority rule should not dictate to the majority please don't forget the reason that you're elected to this position to do what's best for gilbert gilbert public school kids and their families thank you [Applause] first i want to say say thank you to lori reed and dr santa cruz for voting for our children and their best interests which is to be in school it is the safest place for our children to be not only the safest place for them physically and from the virus but the best place for them their emotional health and well-being keeping our kids in school is strongly supported by your governor and the cdc whose guidelines you have been following and trusting trusted in i appreciate teachers all the people all my children's teachers more than they know i appreciate them so much um because as your my children can tell you i am not a teacher i'm not meant to teach my children and the online programs hybrid and virtual have failed my children i have a daughter who is very motivated i she has struggled immensely with this um this year and she's very motivated and extremely intelligent and is able and has struggled so much with this and it's been so hard for me as a mom to watch her struggle um and to lose that lack of motivation for her love of learning she loves to learn and it is so hard as a mother to watch that like dwindle in your child's eyes um i teach i cannot take a teacher's place they do a fabulous job and i am very grateful for them and i just respectfully ask the options are kept open including in-person learning and those options for people who are concerned about covid those options are kept open for them to do online learning or teaching again i trust that the board will follow the guidelines and strong recommendations from the cdz and keep our kids best interest at heart and keep our kids in school again thank you lori reed and dr santa cruz [Applause] deanna victor madison judd and amy johansen i'm sorry madison then forgot to put that in the pile my name is madison judd and i'm a fifth grader at mosquito elementary i want to start out by saying please keep our schools open do you know what it's like having to learn by staring at a screen i do you are hurting children in this community mentally and emotionally i have experienced so much anxiety when i get overwhelmed while doing school on the screen i have trouble breathing and communicating if we keep on doing the hybrid then i will continue to experience this if we do online then it will only get worse in school we follow every guideline and try to prevent the spread my mom comes to play at my school it is this week we practice outside in mass social distancing and sanitize everything we could we are being safe and responsible when i saw the first board meeting in the beginning of the school year seeing all the teachers asked for us to go back to online was heartbreaking i burst into tears and couldn't stop we need to be in school it is not it is not healthy to keep us out you always tell us not to waste our time staring at the screen so don't make us please open our schools and get help us get off screens thank you to those who voted for just one week of hybrid for the benefit of students like me please let us continue in person we will do anything to get to go back to in person if we don't if we go back to online i don't think i'll participate and my siblings said they wanted to be homeschooled not all parents weren't made to be teachers if we do online that is what they will be doing please pay attention to the school cases not the community's cases they show that we aren't the ones spreading the cases no matter how many times you put us in a hybrid or long line there will always be someone fighting to open them please let us stay in person and tune and not do school on screen [Applause] it's amy johansen tina judd and lizzy thing first thank you for um being here and um i didn't think that i would be here back again but here i am um i thought after the vote on december 15th we were headed in the right direction and i want to thank you for the vote that was for you guys um taking into consideration everything that you had heard especially from all the medical professionals that spoke and then again tonight they spoke again and i'm not a medal i don't have medical degree but i agree with everything that they said that the safest place for our kids is in the classroom the cdc states that the schools are not the main driver of the community transmission and children are more likely to get the virus out of the school outside of school settings i know everyone's tired and frustrated we all are tired and frustrated and i'm sorry that there was that you felt personally attacked at the last board meeting but unfortunately when you are on a public school board that's what happens we're tired too we've been advocating for in person since the summer and we finally felt like we were moving forward only to get a notification that we're having another board meeting here we are again i told you before i've been a part of gps for 25 years and i'm getting tired of people telling me i don't care about teachers i have spent countless hours in the classroom being the classroom mom going on field trips i love my teachers that my kids have had i've had three graduate from gilbert public schools from gilbert high as a senior right now don't tell me i don't care about teachers those were teachers or some of the ones that rallied around me when my mom died i am so grateful for them i am grateful to be a part of gilbert public schools and i have always advocated that this was the best district but i'm telling you what i will pull my daughter she's a senior i will pull her um there's so many teachers that i've talked to that don't want to say anything because they're being bullied they're being bullied so are some of those doctors that spoke last board meeting they're being bullied that is not right and it has to stop i'm tired of seeing teachers who stay they're too afraid to be in the classroom when i go to work every day and i'm surrounded by hundreds of students from two different high schools they're in my office every day they are crying they're breaking down they're suicidal they have coming from broken homes they're in my office guess what i show up for them i go to work i listen i'm exhausted and i'm not a health counselor if i don't show up for work i don't get paid and that's how it should be no one signed up for coven19 we're all making adjustments in our personal lives and at work nothing in this world exists exists any more than except coven and i'll reiterate the fact that kids are killing themselves and they're stuck with abuse happening in their homes is this fire it's real [Applause] i just want to start by thanking our school board i know that you didn't ask to be here during a pandemic and i'm sure you've had a lot of a lot of emails so my name is tina judd i'm a mother of eight children my oldest graduated in 2020 and my other seven children are all currently enrolled in gilbert schools aging from preschool to a senior in high school i was a special education teacher in my profession and now i volunteer to run our elementary school musical every year and i've been there all last quarter and today i'm here because i've watched school board meeting well i'm here because my daughter asked to come but i've watched a school board meeting after meeting and seen teachers coming claiming to be victims and unsafe but they they are not the victims our our children are your statements at school board meetings that schools are not safe are not founded on fact i'd like to cite a recent article that was posted in the washington post written by a physician and the dean of public health at brown university quote the latest data has failed to provide compelling evidence that in-person schooling leads to meaningful increases in infections in communities there is no evidence suggesting spread within schools when effective mitigation measures are in place new data and experiences of individual school districts demonstrate the opening schools in a pandemic with infection control measures in place does not lead to increased transition of the virus educators can work safely in schools and schools can be the safest place to be for children during a pandemic end quote the data does not support closing schools our school district data itself shows that our infection control policies and health policies are working that our district put in place i love my kids teachers and i love our schools but my kids and our kids can't handle the inconsistencies of constant change when you come here and ask for schools to close based on community numbers please understand that the data isn't supporting that especially medical professionals for children these decisions are crushing our children and when you make changes we parents go home and pick up those pieces have you watched your child have anxiety an anxiety attack so bad that they have trouble breathing they can't stop shaking and they can't even speak because i have have you slept in your child's room because you know they are contemplating suicide and you want to make sure they're alive in the morning because i have and i had to tell my daughter that her friend that she was going to room at that college had committed suicide i don't want to have to do anything like that again any decision to close schools continues to damage the mental emotional and physical health of our children so i know please stop telling us that teachers aren't safe here the measures the districts work hard to put policies in place and i've been on campus and i know they work thank you lizzy thang jessica gillespie and laura olson first off thank you for your service i don't think any one of you would have chosen this situation and i know that probably none of us want to be in your shoes i just found out that my dad served on a school board and like you dr santa cruz he said the pay was great i feel it's most important to thank you for the decision that you made on december 14th i know i'm not here to tell you anything that you haven't already heard and i don't have any statistics to share with you but i want to ask the board to give us some answers i know your job keeps you busy and with my emails alone i know it would be impossible to respond to all of our questions so that's why i'm here i know you're concerned with staff shortages but have you done re recent surveys i know there's one floating around on some of the facebook pages but it won't be accurate unless it's done through the district and you have all the teachers and all of the staff there are spots are there spots here and there that need to be filled i ran into a board member and i know that they were concerned about a teacher being high-risk at one of the high schools and i don't know how that relates to my kindergartner not being able to go to school when there's one i know there's more than one that are high risk but when that's the concern i'm like well why aren't you telling people that there's a kindergartener that's not going to school um and what have you done to make the online platform and learning better i had concerns the first time i pulled up florida virtual i have a kindergartner who can't read and the thing was three paragraphs long and the concerns are still there the system put in place is awful and it's part of the reason that we are fighting so dang hard this is a terrible platform um you need to give teachers more creativity if you're going to force us to be home it's that system is complicated it's dull it's robotic and i all i think we all know what a flop it was and here we are four months later do we know the definition of insanity we're doing the same things over we keep coming back to this board meeting um we can't keep going back parent people want transparency okay what surveys have you done how many subs do you have in the sub pool and how many are needed each day if it's a staffing issue let the community know let us help you like justilyn said when the teachers step out the parents will walk in we are there to support this i know people are concerned with community spread and a couple of our board members are really concerned with that and when we go which i urge you to do the school by school case if a certain school gets shut down because of spread maybe it'll teach their little community to stop if i've learned anything from this experience i know that i need teachers and my kids need teachers and enough is enough i know you've heard it a thousand times our teachers scrambled to get packets ready for this week and when you change it on them they've lost all these hours of work and it's just not fair to do that life is hard enough as it is [Applause] jessica gillespie laura olsen and jacqueline mcleave good evening i'm jessica gillespie a mom of five with four children in public school and i love my kids teachers they are true heroes in my eyes and i can't imagine what it must have been like this year for them i know that they have my children's best interest in mind and i would like to thank the board for their decision to have one week of hybrid learning following the break that is to be commended but with talk of a teacher's sick out i'm here again on behalf of the many parents who feel that the board might backtrack on their decision this sick out represents only a small minority of dissent and does not speak for the vast majority of devout teachers who want to teach in the classroom please don't let the pressure of a few loud voices affect the well-being of the majority we have been able to identify effective measures to facilitate the safe resumption of in-person learning that is a fact teachers and staff have worked to ensure that our children are given every opportunity to learn in a safe in-person environment there is no data correlating a rise in community cases to school campuses a school-by-school approach can still keep our teachers and staff safe superintendent kathy hoffman recently called for governor ducey to order all schools to remain in distance learning for two weeks after the break he responded that they will not be considering this request this is a local decision the online option is already available and the governor has repeatedly made his preference clear he wants the schools open hoffman herself said research shows that it's safer for younger grades to be in person the reality is that funding for public schools is bleeding out parents are signing their children up for charter and private schools in droves in a state with school choice district schools cannot afford to go down this road any further we need a chance to salvage what little hope we have for the future of public education pushing the option of online learning depending on county metrics is not the answer on december 28th the president signed an executive order stating that when public education institutions fail to provide consistent in-person education federal education funds will be given to families instead of districts these districts will lose funding what will our schools look like when families have given up on public education and our funding has been gutted i watched in tears last march as my children said goodbye to their incredible teachers via a car parade with no clear information as to when they would be able to return in person at that time we did not know what we know now about the virus and its effects now ten months later we have so much more credible information and the survival rate is higher than anyone could have hoped for why would anyone try to keep these kids at home again no more not one more day the damage has been done and it's irreversible but we can make sure that it does not continue stand by your vote to allow full in-person learning on january 11th this stops now and it stops with you [Applause] it's laura olsen jacqueline and i believe it's mcclure i said mcleave earlier it's mcclure and zara olsen first i want to commend and thank those of you who brought forward and voted in favor of the school by school protocol so many of us that were here at that meeting related and literally jumped for joy feeling that we finally had been heard we applaud you for this we now expect that plan of returning to in person in a week with a school by school infection rate plan to be implemented my husband a physician spoke at the last meeting of the minimal spread that has been seen among children he spoke of our hardship of having four elementary age children in full virtual and hybrid models he touched on the tears anxiety heightened emotional outbursts lack of quality educational stimuli and lack of physical activity etc our children took immense strides in their learning and social development participating in full-time in-person learning going back to hybrid even in the few weeks before break the trajectory of the learning path they had been on during in-person learning our children's emotional outbursts with frustration of at-home learning returned unfortunately we are currently seeing a large spike in the community spread of covet in arizona obviously we care about our kids and don't wish to endanger any teachers six months ago switching to virtual learning was reasonable as we knew very little about this virus now we have several studies showing that in-person learning does not cause a spike or is associated with a significant contribution to community spread a recent study from yale looked at the risk of transmission from children looking at 50 000 child care providers they found the risk of contracting the disease was the same for workers whether the child care facility was open or closed again reinforcing the low rate of transmission from children those of us that choose in-person learning are done we are done being put in a corner every few weeks fearing that our children's education will be crippled again with online learning we are done hearing about community spread that the data shows is not impacted by school attendance we want to hear about what you are doing for our children and their mental well-being i have applied to be a sub and i'm willing to get a sitter for my younger children and fill in if that means our kids can stay in school we want the plan you voted upon a few short weeks ago to be implemented this plan must be given a chance before you make another damaging move for our children to further virtual or hybrid learning this meeting is premature know me know that me and other enraged parents will be here every time you make a move or motion that is detrimental to our children do not change policies out of fear of a teacher's union or the minority parents who feel their children are safer at home you have the correct precautions in place with masks social distancing and a school by school infection rate plan please follow through on implementing the december 15th plan [Applause] hello my name is jacqueline mcclure i'm a stay-at-home mom of two elementary aged children at vvl a small school with a very involved community surroundings my question to you guys is why are we here we spent four hours or more right before the break right here in this very room so why are we here again because teachers including the at that time had the time to speak so why now because a few teachers think that some party happened at some place over the holiday well if that's true then after the first week of hybrid learning those schools will have spikes and you can choose to close those schools i'm going to be brutally honest this is insane we have as parents have been completely bamboozled you guys all all voted before the break and you haven't even given the previous vote a chance our kids haven't even started school you have zero numbers pertaining to individual schools you asked the governor to mandate a school closure and he refused so why because you didn't like the governor's answer because teachers are threatening a sick out we shouldn't even be having this conversation we know from studies of medical professions the safest place for our kids to be is in school we know from dr fauci the safest place for our kids to be is in school we know from the cdc the safest place for our kids to be is in school so are we no longer following those science guidelines let's give it a chance before you destroy our kid's life again let's give it a chance to fail let's give it a chance to succeed most of us especially in my small community did not have holiday parties or we greatly reduced the gatherings but now with our kids being out of school they can go hang out at places like fat cats the movie theaters or other indoor places play places where they mingle with kids not even at their school how does that make sense for a medical crisis i send my kids to school not only for academics but at their young age for emotional learning as well this is hurting all of our kids especially our young kids at mel elementary age level but it's also hurting the junior high in high school as you've heard about the suicides please stop the back and forth please go on a school by school basis let's give our children back their childhood so they can give us the brighter future we also desperately need leave it on a school-by-school basis remember what made you become a board member and a leader in our community in the first place our kids their learning and everyone's future do the right thing and leave it on a school by school basis [Applause] zara olsen eloise foamer and phoebe foamer hi my name is zara olson and i don't like hybrid i'm a fourth grader at greenfield elementary and i have an excellent teacher that has taught me so much but trying to learn at home is very hard i have four other siblings running around the house waiting for my mom to help them it is also very hard to understand my teacher because she has a mask on talking through the computer when i took a test at home i couldn't focus so i didn't get that good of a score but when i did it in class i had a huge improvement i wear my mask covering my nose and mouth i social distance and i wash my hands i love being at school learning with my teacher and seeing friends i don't on hybrid days i also miss running clubs so please let me be in school full time [Applause] [Music] help her with that microphone there hi i am elvis fulmer and i go to greenville elementary and i want in person i don't get to see my friends drawing online i don't learn anything because it is very hard to focus it is not good for you staring at a screen all day some person keeps you healthier safer and that is why i want in person my mom is not a teacher i want to learn from my teacher it's hard for me to learn new concepts from my mom a homework packet or a computer screen i still feel behind in like i'm trying to catch up from the end of last year i was so happy at the decision you made at the last meeting please stick with that plan and let us get back into our classroom so we don't keep getting behind i am a kid you are a adult you don't know how much we are suffering online it is hard in person is easier we learn more and we get higher grades my teacher is amazing but i don't want to see her only mondays and thursdays i want to see her every day [Applause] hi i'm phoebe fulmer and i am a first grader at greenville elementary i love my teacher and love being in person at school to learn from her i can't focus on my work at home i have a hard time understanding things i follow all the rules and wear a mask please don't change your minds and let us go to school thank you [Applause] next up we have corey childs jack childs and blake gantt hello dr mccord hello board members my name is jack i'm in 4th grade and i go to greenfield elementary i love greenfield elementary but i think it's really hard to learn anything when i'm not at school i mean i do like to stay home and play fortnite but i'll be honest i just really want to be back in school after so much time away from school and just part-time in the classroom i just don't feel like i am learning anything this year i ran to be my class representative for student council and i couldn't believe it but i won i was so excited we started planning good stuff to get our whole school more excited but sadly most of the stuff we have planned has been cancelled i am asking you to try and look at this situation as if you were a kid my teacher's name is miss stegman she's so fan fun and a really good teacher you should probably give her a raise who was your fourth grade teacher i'm sure you probably had a good one because look you are up here today i'm asking you to please keep the schools open to let me learn i talked to my friends hudson and mason today who are in 5th and 3rd grade they are also greenfield gators and i and wanted me to ask you to please keep the schools open thank you [Applause] that's my boy jack right there um jack's my world um thanks for letting me be here i think it's my third time um uh board members thanks for letting me be here uh shane mccord thanks for being here and uh quick shout out to mr martin back here he was the principal of my my older girls back at highland park elementary the most epic principle thank you i'm a long time gilbert resident i got four kids that go to gilbert public schools you know i took a little bit of time and i read about all of you like on the internet i didn't know much about you and to be honest i was really impressed i saw the service that you give i saw the things that you do and uh i was like this is awesome and i just i sincerely i want to say i want to say thank you um i don't know you guys in person but if you're anything like this guy back here man we're in good hands um let's see so you know what's great about the new year it's that there's nothing really special that happens between december 31st and january 1st it's just that we take time and we look at the past year and we look what was good we look what was bad and we said hey how can i be a little bit better and i thought about it and i want to tell you even though you already know who's really excited about 2021 ala they're really excited about 2021 recently on my facebook i got an announcement it said hey we're opening up a new k-12 and it's going to be in mesa and it's going to be in you know x amount of months and we don't even have a location yet but we're just going to open this bad boy up i'm going to tell you who's excited those executives they're stoked man because they're just listening all these board meetings they're like hey whoever's going to hybrid or online dude we're going to eat these guys up man we're going to fill these schools up with thousands of students um we all know what a huge charter school does to public schools and i want to say that again we know and we know in the last three years that with dr shane mccord we kick some major butt in making gilbert schools extra awesome man i wrote down all this stuff but truthfully guys oh yeah this guy right here um ken bragg he said he's queen creek board president he said we will find every excuse we can to stay open while others are finding excuses excuses to close let them we will stay open and that's that's what we're all asking that's what gilbert is asking just stay open do it for do for jack thank you [Applause] blake gant brittany arnett and lindsey jones i think somebody's coming blake brittany or lindsay good evening school board um so grateful for you guys thank you for the support the your service i know none of you thought going into this job there would be a pandemic and you'd be on the board i'm i'm grateful for you guys for sticking in there with us i'm a mother of seven children i have five in the gilbert gilbert public schools i have two at neely traditional one at greenfield junior and two at gilbert high and we love it we love public schools we're in it and we want to stay um and i also am grateful that we were able to get things rolling in the fall so that my girls could have their high school volleyball seasons so i speak for all the athletes too that we're able to get in their seasons and miraculously get through their seasons and i hope we can start it in january for all the winter sports and the spring sports that were cut off last year because these kids only have a few years of high school and their precious years and i know they work really hard for their sports seasons and so i'm grateful that you guys got that in for the fall first of all i know this virus is real i'm not oblivious to it i've had close people to us that have been ill i've had some that passed away and i know it's real my family went through it in november i do know it's real however i'm not letting that keep me from living my life i'm not letting that keep my family from living our lives i know we need to learn how to live our life with this virus we need to learn how to go to school with this virus um also we love our teachers i love our teachers and i'm so grateful for all of them that have come to school and been extra supportive i i think teachers are awesome and as a parent if i feel like it's not safe for my kids to go to school i won't put them in school it's a choice i have um i kept them out of school if they even had a cough or any kind of cold or anything just to protect our teachers i want our teachers to feel safe and i wonder what our teachers are i don't understand why our teachers don't feel safe you school board members have put in amazing safety protocols amazing mitigations to keep our school safe they are safe our classrooms are safe the numbers have shown that the numbers have shown that there's no spread in our schools and if there is a spread those protocols that you guys have put in place have stopped that i'm so grateful for that thank you for putting those in our teachers should feel very very safe um one thing that's concerning to me is our suicide rates and they're up 60 percent this fall teen attempted suicide rates and and suicides are up 60 this fall and that one alone statistic should put us all unanimously put this these kids back in school um i again i'm grateful i hope you guys will stick with your decision for what you did in in december our kids really do rely on you they love being in school and we want to keep this going thank you [Applause] lindsay jones jessica first i just wanted to thank you for the opportunity for our voices to be heard i'm a mother of five i have a junior a freshman a fifth grader a third grader and also a preschooler at the beginning of this year i made the hard decision to unenroll my two elementary age children from public school i had always been happy with our neighborhood school and the administration there my two oldest had gone through their elementary education at this same school it was sad for me to leave a place with people i trusted to teach guide and influence my children virtual learning was not how i wanted my children taught i did not take my high school age children out of public school they are currently attending gilbert high school as a parent watching my children with two vastly different experiences in very different learning models i can tell you my children that are not in public school right now are thriving and learning and looking forward every day to going to school my children that are bouncing back and forth between virtual hybrid and in person are struggling their grades are suffering their motivation is lacking and they are feeling defeated the virtual learning structure is confusing not only for the students but for the teachers as well i appreciate the teachers that have done their best to adapt to a teaching style that is new to them but i just wanted to reiterate from my personal experience my children that are going to in person school are doing so much better emotionally and academically versus my children that are going back and forth between virtual and hybrid thank you [Applause] jessica pecha i have two children in gilbert public schools i wasn't really planning on talking tonight so i'm not going to be able to say anything more profound or provide further overwhelming evidence as to why it is better for children to be in school so i want to turn a question to the board into the teachers and the audience why did you get into education i guess you don't answer we're not allowed to answer by lots not on the agenda okay the answer isn't clear right now to most of us right now you are showing your interests lie in control and power and using our children as pawns we supported you through red for ed we have supported you through volunteering in the classrooms we supported you providing classroom supplies and class treats we support you through fundraising and donations the state even passed the prop 208 why are you refusing to support us and our children now that is your job when did you stop caring for the well-being of future generations maybe education just isn't the right career path for you anymore in fact after hearing some of these stories if you are still contemplating a stick out you should just flat out be ashamed of yourself i'm not even speaking for my own children they are fine my husband and i take great interest in their education and social well-being but there are many children out there who will not be fine there are children hungry there are children who are fighting domestic violence i am here to speak for them they deserve better the teachers used to speak for them and they're not anymore they are choosing to stay home i am here because i care about my children the children in this community and the future of our country and i urge you to please keep the vote that you decided on december 15th and allow the people who want to feel safer to be online and for those of us who want to be in school and our children who want to be in school to continue to be in school in person ninety percent of us are the majority who are sick of the 10 percent trying to urge us to adjust our lives around their desires so please please continue with what you decided on december 15th and thank you to all the parents that are here supporting us and if you hadn't noticed we're continuing to grow so please take that in mind as well [Applause] andy after andy we have katie thorpe riley gaylord and cambria garby garvey hello um i'm not gonna say much i wasn't planning on speaking but if the guidelines and the masks work then i don't see why the school should be shutting down and the teachers are fighting that the schools aren't safe their specific school isn't safe then we there should close their specific school now it shouldn't affect all the other schools that have no active cases and there's not much else to say thank you [Music] [Applause] kathy thorpe braley gaylord and cambria garvey i'm kathy thorpe i have three children in gilbert public schools an eight-year-old and two six-year-olds yes twins i was very impressed with the gps dashboard that shows active cases per school and the decision on december 15th to move from hybrid back to in person and only go to an alternate style on a school-by-school basis i'm here to reinforce my support for that decision i want you to imagine what life is like for those of us who want to be in person instead of virtual or hybrid imagine a five-year-old in august who was expected to sit for a two-hour block each day and listen to a teacher she had met in person for 20 seconds and student attendance was between 15 and 20 children with very few chances to participate and be heard imagine a mom trying to make sure all three young children were logged on and paying attention to webex at the same time imagine a mom logging into work at 5 a.m and 10 p.m on those days to try and fulfill responsibilities to her employer imagine a home where screen screen time is limited and now there are three children who work on webex buzz and google classroom for several hours per day and the suggested reward from the teachers is to offer more activities on the screen imagine at parent teacher conference two teachers telling you that based on the first several weeks of school remote including on-site learning that they were really worried your child would be a behavior problem in the classroom but the child has done remarkably well in the classroom with structure and routine and the teacher has had no problems with behavior imagine a kindergarten teacher saying she's just trying to keep kindergarten from sinking because of those first several weeks of school when we weren't in person she has so many children leaving for power math power reading etc that she has had to rearrange her whole schedule and barely had time to do assessments for parent teacher conference imagine a progress report from that same teacher where only two standards were filled out because that's how far behind the whole grade is imagine a second grade teacher saying that she will cry with you about the decision in december to go hybrid and a first grade teacher who said she needs her students like she needs air imagine a report from a therapist about your six-year-old who is angry and acting out at home that says he suffers from the following from frustration because of covet and losing his routine i feel a loss of control because of covet and not being able to make choices about school and friends anxiety because of covid not knowing what to expect and feeling everything could change at any minute with no warning being overwhelmed because remote learning is hard and it feels more difficult to learn while he's feeling isolated i've been impressed by the protocols in place and when my husband received a positive covet test i informed the teachers early the next morning the school nurse called and informed us that time riley gaylord my name is briley gaylord i'm a 7th grader that attends greenfield junior high the cons of online learning is that not everybody has great wi-fi or the time inpatient to sit to sit down for six to seven hours a day on a computer with acquired with a quiet environment government officials are making decisions that aren't beneficial for arizona or its citizens my parents know what's best for me but their voices aren't being heard another reason we should go back to online learning is that socializing is key in our life and if we are doing online curriculum we are wasting a quarter of our day sitting on a computer not learning as much as we would if we were in person the other students that have spoken will agree with me that our grades stunk at the beginning of school year but the minute you let us go in person hands-on learning all of our grades took a spin for the better an example of this is that i took a math test online on a computer and got a 60 but then we went in person and i got it and my test grade improved i got a 106 on this test this just proves that we need to be in person my mom and his my mom is an example of a parent that had to become a teacher in order to insure my little brother and nine other boys in education that is all in person and has a plan that will not break and ensure their elementary education please let us stay in person [Applause] cambria gurney brianna gaylord and lisa madison hello i am a mom of four kids who have attended and are still attending in gilbert public schools and actually mr santa cruz was my principal at gilbert high school so it's kind of fun to see you up here now working for my kids as well thank you um last year my son graduated in 2020 in covid um it was not the same as my daughter who graduated two years before him it has been very different and was not even close to the same as the experience my older daughter is able to have for him as a parent and a life coach i'm dealing with um [Music] only the beginnings of how kovid is causing huge lifelong mental physical emotional social negative effects negative effects on our children and one of the major effects with children not being in school and spending many additional hours on social media gaming and phones has significantly significantly increased um child human trafficking a topic that's not really wanted to be spoken of but is very serious and important and child trafficking is now turning to online predators and is a 150 billion dollar industry in addition to apps chat rooms and dating sites predators also use online gaming sites to find their victims now uh one in five kids online are sexually propositioned through gaming platforms and other social media and these non-contact oriented forums of sexual exploitation are increasing significantly this scenario is very scary for human trafficking because already trafficked teens are often used to lure other kids into this trap in newsweek reported that predators were using the extremely popular online gaming um forum of fortnite to reach kids adults were infiltrating the game and and offering game advancements in exchange for explicit pictures online decision making is critical for tweens and teens alike a factor for risk-taking behaviors of adolescents is that their brains are not mature their frontal cortex the area responsible for decision making does not fully develop until about age 25.

thus tweens and teens might not consider the long-term consequences in assessing online pre-risks predators and traffickers [Applause] hello my name is brianna gaylord i have four kids that should be in school full-time in the gilbert public school system i am now a printer guide for 10 elementary kids that should be in the gps school system but felt that we needed something else for the school year with the uncertainty as a mother i know that there is risk in life and yet i still want to live and experience life this is also what i want for my kids i don't want them to be afraid to live life we are human and there is risk in this there is risk in being a nurse a parent a construction worker an uber driver a doctor an electrician a scientist a police officer an athlete a pilot i could go on and on but the point is anything we want to do and b will always involve risk so let's live while we can and let's not take away the things that make life worth living from our kids my junior high kids are still in the gps system last year my son was cut from the basketball team and so he worked so hard this whole last year to achieve the goal of making the team this year which he did where um when where sorry where will that drive go if we take school sports and socializing away from these kids what will drive them what will motivate them what will they want to even fight for if we keep ripping things away from them it breaks my heart as his mother to not be able to watch him either to be able to watch him either or my daughter play softball please let me choose if i want to take the risk and watching my son play bass play a basketball game or my daughter plays softball parents were allowed to watch the football games so please open up the gyms for the basketball parents and the fields for the girls softball parents please let's let these kids live their lives the way that we got to live ours and let's not instill fear in them but rather faith and hope in a life well lived please let our kids go to school as we wish thank you [Music] [Applause] next three are lisa madison kathy waldow and ali troutman hello my name is lisa madison i spoke at the last meeting and i had no intention of speaking tonight i wanted to be here but i had no intention but here we are again um wanting to voice our opinion and like i mentioned in the last meeting we as a family have been in the district for 17 years i've absolutely loved this district the teachers the staff the board i was a substitute teacher for several years i loved it i was a room mom i volunteered so many hours gone on so many field trips this is where our heart is is in gilbert district it always has been but we're getting to the point where we're tired of fighting i'm in a position where i could stay home with my kids my kids are old enough that they could do online schooling at the beginning of the year we weighed our d we weighed our options we really really were so close to going to a charter school we decided as a family to stay here to fight for the vulnerable us parents that are here that have the opportunity to come and fight we're happy to do so but there are kids that are at home that don't have the support that that our kids do that um need people to fight for them they need in-person school we're so proud of the decision that reed carr made last meeting on december 5th and the other two board members followed through with with and we're just asking you to stick with that decision i know there's a lot of teachers that have spoke about the benchmarks that we're that were put in place for august and want to go back to that but we are also given a choice in the summer to have full in person we were not honored that choice we're at a different point than we were then we have new information in august the benchmarks we had no idea what it was going to look like and now we know the spread of the community does not mirror the spread in our schools so that's all we're asking is just to please stick with the choice that was made on december 15th and let our kids go back to in-person learning thank you [Applause] kathy waldow ollie troutman and jennifer johnson good evening happy new year i am a mom to a second fourth and ninth grade gps student and hopefully to future gps students as well as a local pediatric health care provider thank you to those that voted for the choice to to maintain in-person schooling i am here to implore you again to maintain your vote for in-person instruction there is no data linking a rise in community covered cases to our school campuses in fact so many of our campuses had zero cases prior to break and were yet forced back to hybrid learning because of community spread all we are asking for is for the board to adhere to their promise of moving campus by campus for closers which will still keep our beloved teachers and staff shielded but also allow as many students as possible to learn in person whose families choose that option of learning and are not at risk this decision is not just about our sheltered gilbert community again or our largely high achieving students here in our community it is about so many children who are suffering from depression anxiety unexposed abuse food insecurity and the absence of any structured or stable environment without their schools open across our state and nation and they are watching us and i experience that personally in my own practice teachers are incurring risk off campus by living their lives one could argue even more risk than sitting distanced from masked space students who are required to quarantine for seven to ten days with essentially any illness symptoms stop our hemorrhaging on enrollment and preserve our future funding i beg you on behalf of my own children and of my pediatric patients and their families as well i am also here again to ask that you consider a motion to temporarily waive the district substitute teacher application process or streamline it and allow those substitute teachers who have received their certificate from the az department of education to step into the classroom now and support and help our teachers although i work part-time as a healthcare provider i am ready to do just that a streamlined district application process would expedite your ability to recruit professional parents like myself to temporarily staff our classrooms when needed or warranted to support the teachers that i love and all of us are here to support please make the right decision and keep our schools open thank you [Applause] hi i'm going to make this kind of short and sweet i'm a mom of six kids who are all in the gilbert public schools and i also work from home i'm i stand here today to let you guys know that i will no longer let you guys destroy and break down my family and my kids education for those board members who don't have kids in school you guys have no skin in the game you personally do not know what it's like for our children my kids are not learning online or on hybrid they are zombies by the end of the day and to those who are saying virtual until safe i hope i don't see you in costco walmart grocery stores salons or any public places you should be doing all those things virtually enough is enough keep our schools open thank you hi my name is jen johnson and i just wanted to thank the board and all of you for being here and putting in the time i have one graduated from the gilbert pub public schools and three currently enrolled in gilbert public schools um why is our children's education not considered essential you don't see nurses doctors or nursing care facilitators on strike those whose lives are in the most danger and why because they know that what they do is essential and i believe that teachers are essential i reiterate what a parent what a previous speaker said this is not a parent versus teachers i love our teachers i have a bachelor's degree in elementary education and top fourth grade for four years before raising my own kids i fight for the teachers the teachers i know want to be in person i believe if you were to pull all the teachers in the district the large majority of them would scream that they want in person and let me make another point please remember that for student athletes this is an absolutely devastating time for them many have been unable to play the sports that they have worked day in and day out for weeks months and even years and i believe that going to all virtual would shut down winter sports for good because it would shut down the facilities they use to back up what a gentleman shared earlier a study by mckenzie and company estimated that lower quality remote learning which is what we have and will have has a huge impact on kids it is estimated that lower quality remote learning from march until now equates to 6.8 months of learning loss for black and hispanic children the estimates are worse with 10.3 and 9.2 months of lost learning disparities in minorities are estimated to increase 15 to 20 percent the decision was made at the last meeting to move schools to online individually if they reached a certain percentage of coveted cases to me that seems like a win-win if cases in a particular school get too high they move to online and keep teachers safe if cases in a certain school are low and or non-existent then the students continue in person this seems like a no-brainer and i'm not sure why we are here addressing it again but thank you for your time [Applause] tara hall jason hall and don rhodes i'm back we've wasted so much time and energy fighting for what is safe and what is not i've said it before i will say it again the school board serves the community and votes on the educational needs of the students educational needs not safety needs reid lori and charles all voted to keep our schools open i'm counting on you three to honor your vote and stand up with integrity to the word you gave thousands of students and families my kids i have four of them one at highland high school one at greenfield junior high and t2 at neely traditional academy my kids are fourth generation gps students so we're talking my grandparents are rolling over in their graves right now this is appalling that you're creating a mockery of my town i'm old gilbert and i refuse to stand by and not speak out on behalf of my kids and the future generations of gps students keep the schools open [Applause] good evening board thank you for the opportunity to let us speak to you tonight i continue to be concerned about the influences that are trying to impose their will upon our gilbert public schools there is no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging year on many levels unfortunately it feels like the biggest challenge has been in the fight to keep our children where they belong in school across the state systems are open closed hybrid etc continue to be a bouncing ball of uncertainty why does this uncertainty continue to happen with our schools while at the same time the malls giant retailers restaurants churches parks and even movie theaters remain open my message is simple it is the difference between faith and fear i know a couple of the board members are fearful of coven 19.

they have made it known multiple times in board meetings at the beginning of the school year gps conducted a survey that showed nearly 90 percent of parents want the schools to remain open for in-person learning they are choosing faith and not fear if in-person learning is the desired of ninety percent of the students and parents and i asked why do we continue to come to this point of deciding whether we should go back to a less effective remote learning model it doesn't make sense to me local teachers unions are threatening a sick out because they feel that the schools are not safe from coven 19. as it was concluded in the december 15th board meeting schools are probably the safest place for students teachers and the community to stop the spread of coven 19. for some other purposes the teachers unions are using the covid boogeyman as an excuse to drive an underlying initiative i say there has to be an underlying initiative because i'm ninety percent sure majority of the teachers employed by gps are not going home from a day in the classroom locking themselves in the closet surrounded by hand sanitizer and clorox wipes this continues to be my concern about the direction of gps decisions and votes are being made against the will of the students and families that that the gps board are supposed to be representing i know it has got to be tiring for each of you but i am asking you each of you to continue the continue to fight the good fight and hold fast to your vote from december 15 to return back to in-person learning beginning next week there are many of us who support you and pray for you to do the right thing for our children's education and our community live by faith and not fear that is what this community was founded upon and is now at risk today thank you [Applause] don rhodes darlene hibbs and leda de velgler i'm don rhodes and i am a gilbert native i have lived in the zip code of 85234 my whole life so obviously i've been a publi i'm a product of the gilbert public schools i've had two boys graduate from gilbert public schools and i have a freshman in the gilbert public schools i'd like to read you your mission our mission the teachers the mission of the gilbert public schools it says the mission of the gilbert public schools is to provide all students with an educational environment where they can achieve academic excellence succeed in developing strong interpersonal skills and self-esteem and mature in physical growth and development did you hear that mission statement do you feel our current school system and what we're providing our students is fulfilling that mission statement i don't and i don't think a lot of parents do either and other community members my son as i mentioned is a freshman in high school he has hated school all his life there's been a few teachers that he's really enjoyed he currently has some that he really likes this year this year was the first year where he begged for school to start he goes mom i will wear that mask if it means i can get into the classroom him not when he's not been in the classroom it has been a struggle his emotional his demeanor his respect has not been great he was voted student of the he got selected student of the month in september that was amazing my son has an iep not that he's not smart jill's watched him over the years he's an eagle scout he knows how to work his iep is not being fulfilled i'm contemplated if i should talk to a lawyer to make sure what you guys need to be doing to make sure his iep and all the other kiddos ieps are being fulfilled because it's not he's not getting what he did the resources he needs he does so much better in school our home environment's not as great because you know what i'm home all the time so we don't get a break from each other however we do our best to make sure we do and if i know if i'm doing the best i can and he has a pretty good home life i sure worry about those kids who don't have a good home life i've even [Applause] darlene hibbs thank you dr mccord and governing board members as a teacher and parent in this community it's important to remember as divided as we see we share the common goal for all our children to learn in a safe equitable educationally effective environment public education foundation is inclusivity where no child is marginalized or excluded but the global pandemic is leaving a large portion of our vulnerable community behind simply choosing to go to global academy is not an equitable solution for too many students promises were rightfully made by the board to all stakeholders to follow the data and benchmarks set by the maricopa county health department to help parents make informed decisions gps asked families upon returning to in-person instruction to sign waivers and published mitigation strategies that gps was adopting to aid in keeping schools safe and transmissions low but unfortunately mitigation strategies are not being followed 100 of the time the district also promised full transparency by notifying students and staff of possible exposure in positive cases through both the school dashboard and email our school dashboard is self-reported and we know it's understating cases and inaccurate based on age group demographics and zip code data published by azdh at the last meeting the board established its own benchmarks and data to be used to determine what school instruction mode to return to and when instead of the states parents in favor of in-person learning spoke at the previous board meeting about maricopa county's health department benchmarks and data being arbitrary that is not the case state benchmarks were created by public health experts with careful consideration and foresight to limit the spread of covet 19 to not overwhelm our hospital systems and to protect members of every community across the state to not use this data responsibly and accurately contradicts what educators are mandated to do every single day by administration i ask the board to please reconsider to use the unbiased science-based health department benchmarks again in an effort to be part of the solution to decrease community spread and keep our staff students and communities safe the idea our schools are safe when cons community spread is at an all-time high 17 000 reported cases just yesterday and our hospitals are at capacity as a reckless notion our schools are not a bubble independent of the community at large plain and simple we as a community need to rediscover the art of living together small sacrifices from each of us to limit what we do outside of school we'll dictate what we can do inside of school it has to be a cooperative coming together for the collective good of all then and only then can we get back to what we all want and that's in-person instruction but until then we need to return to virtual until it's safe lastly long after this pandemic is oval we're going to remain a community tied to one another let's navigate this with kindness respect and good will towards each other thank you [Applause] lita after leta will have sophia hammer iman massard that's after the speaker okay is that right lita go right ahead after leta speaks we will take just a brief recess okay thank you i'm here today as a parent of two gps students as a gps teacher a community member and perhaps most importantly right now as a sister of an icu nurse before i share my thoughts i want to share some of hers with you she was recently on an email chain in her neighborhood invited to a new year's eve block party with about 50 people this was her response to them i am one of your neighbors i live nearby i'm going to share with you that my heart is heavy i am tired and i feel so defeated originally i was just going to ignore this thread and just hope that you enjoy your new year's eve party and pray that none of you or your family members have to see me in my professional capacity i am an icu nurse that has been working covet icu since march at one of the larger hospitals my husband is a firefighter our family has been profoundly impacted by covid we are in the middle of a pandemic odd that i should have to say this but i feel the need to are you not aware of what's going on right now do you not realize that my hospital is out of icu beds we all want normal but having a block party on new year's eve will only perpetuate the issue each of you that attend are contributing to the problem and are not a part of the solution your contribution to the problem is breaking health care workers we are your neighbors she went on to tell them i will leave you with this aspects of covet exhaustion are due to the reality that many of us are carrying the weight of others irresponsibility we're holding a societal umbrella in a downpour while you're laughing and pretending it's not raining because you're not getting wet it's exhausting now i'm going to quickly share some of my words i'll talk fast both as a parent and as a teacher the one thing i emphasize about above all else to my students and my own children is integrity integrity is the practice of being honest and showing consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral ethical principles and values the five core tributes of integrity are honesty respect responsibility generating trust and helping others i'm going to ask everybody in this room and in our community can you say that you are acting with the utmost integrity to everyone including our health care workers each day that you walk outside are you holding your children accountable as well i like many others have seen pictures of not just students but adults standing shoulder to shoulder with people outside their household and no masks on in grocery store with no mass despite signs clearly they are making mess and yes i do grocery shop i need to feed my family i have seen videos of dances and parties because parents in the community seem to believe their child's normalcy matters more than the lives of their neighbors i ask you is that having integrity i don't think so to me that is putting self above community as long as the way the community behaves the only that is the way they behave the only responsible thing to do is to return to virtual uni learning it is negligent to ignore the arizona department of health services scientists epidemiologists and doctors that all agree school buildings should be closed while our metrics are read i guess i'm out of time we have about 15 more speakers we will take a five minute recess and return in five minutes yes i hope [Music] right i know you're right no [Music] 72 people i think we're about there we're about there tom blodgett is numbering him as he as he tweets out the summaries of every person so for some reason he heard seven so he has like 51 and 70 and 50 so if we go over he's gonna be really really [Music] oh i'm glad you didn't [Music] make sure you make sure i were talking [Music] okay if we can reconvene please those of you who are in the room please make sure you are seated and or and have your mask on appropriately we are going with sophia hammer iman moussard and anthony and i'm sorry anthony can't read the last name there so ms hammer thank you hello board members i am sophia hammer a senior at gilbert classical academy high school i am here today to discuss my concerns regarding covid19 i am saddened because this is not my first time coming to speak to you all about school safety i was here back in august before school start started to address the same coveted 19 concerns but here i am once again begging my school district to take a pandemic and let me reiterate a pandemic more seriously i want to go back to school as a senior i want to make this year count but not at the expense of my teachers and my peers trust me i hear your concerns about mental health i struggle with ocd and generalize anxiety myself i take virtual counseling i do think we need to emphasize mental health counseling more but i think we may need to be more proactive rather than reactionary the same meeting i went to in august you all agreed to uphold benchmarks which you all have not currently in arizona there are 561 542 cases 964 deaths a 12.6 positivity rate and an icu capacity at around 93 percent the benchmarks that you all placed included cases percent positivity and covet-like illness which i'm sure you all know but according to the official maricopa county website the gilbert unified schools district metrics are about 682.04 cases per 100 000.

a 15.63 positivity rate and a 12.8 coveted like illness rate which makes all the benchmarks you all put in place in red or the substantial category meaning by your logic we should all be virtual we are not asking for virtual for a long minimum of two weeks but since you all don't seem to necessarily care about the lives of teachers and students you all won't even abide by the metrics you put in place we are here today to ask for virtual learning for just a minimum of two weeks in order to protect everyone we do not want to see more deaths and we do not want to see cases rise we just want to know our school board cares about the health of teachers and most importantly the health of students i urge you all to evaluate your decision on returning tomorrow and uphold your word follow the benchmarks you all decided on and don't make me a high school student be ashamed of our public school officials i rather i don't want to see any of you masking inequities by pushing students back in schools do it when it's safe do it when it's right thank you [Applause] iman and i believe the next speaker i believe it's anthony but it's difficult for me to read good evening board members i'm ivan masoud a senior at gilbert classical as well and i'm here to voice my concerns about schools reopening in person tomorrow morning i acknowledge the precautions that you've taken and i appreciate them however i'm concerned that there isn't enough being done for the students and educators of gilbert schools continue to not test students temperatures at the door or follow the benchmark that was given by the state arizona's cases continue to rise and so does the risk for our educators and students we're going through this pandemic as a community so there is no reason to put more people at risk when it can be avoided once it's safe and numbers have gone down i'd love to get back to my senior year but after new year's it's not safe thank you to all the teachers who are accommodating and making education accessible to all i appreciate you we request following the benchmark guidelines and having in-person schooling once it's safe again which would be around two weeks thank you [Applause] anthony yes anthony fiannaka father four three kids currently in gilbert public schools about five years ago my wife and i made a decision to take our kids to gilbert public schools out of private schools because of the excellent bands that you had in your public schools um has anyone considered the impact on your band programs that virtual and remote learning has had the answer is it's pretty devastating despite the excellent efforts of excellent instructors who are trying to keep the program alive my kids have worked hard to be excellent musicians every bit as much as a star athlete would work they want to do things like participate in state and things like that and all those things have been cancelled because of covet now kovit's here and we have to deal with it but we made some decisions a few weeks ago and people up here stated their opinions in good faith and we made a decision on december 15th to go ahead and do hybrid for a week and come back for live instruction which would allow my kids to continue doing the things that they like to do and be the students that they can be by the way my kids are excellent students but they do struggle at home with virtual even in other classes not just banned so what's changed since then well what's changed is we had a small minority of teachers and and i love teachers to be clear we appreciate the instruction our children have received from these teachers but we've had a small minority of them threaten to basically have a sick out to me that's not negotiating good faith we don't have to agree but we come together we state our opinions we make a decision and we move forward several have said oh well we have these metrics that we we had from a long time ago and those metrics say we should stay home that's true but we've also been told to listen to the science but what if the medical professionals said they said the best place for our kids is in school you've heard it not just here but you've heard it from experts at all levels they say they should be in school if you ask the parents they'll say they should be in school when you ask the kids the vast majority of them say they should be in school when you ask the teachers the vast majority of them say they should be in school this actually shouldn't be that hard a decision i understand the safety concerns and please i don't want anyone to get sick all right we we've lost we have family members just get covid uh we've lost people that we know dude i've got a family member right now who's sick from covid in the hospital it's a big deal but you've made great decisions that have protected our students that have protected our staff let's keep those in place where there are gaps instead of having a sick out and walking off the job let's identify where those gaps are and work to fix those things that's the way we work through something this like this not by just surrendering and saying let's go to virtual where we know the education will not be as good i appreciate you listening to me thank you and appreciate your decisions thank you we'll go with wendy fandaca and then karen moss hi wendy thank you thanks for your time again i was at the last school bar meeting i wrote out thoughts that time i wasn't going to speak today but i want to speak from my heart this time i just want to give you feedback and i've been sitting in the hallway listening the whole time and i mean this carries over from the last school award meeting i hear lots of parents what i hear are parents and it's mostly moms by the way they're fighting for their kids because moms want to fix things that's what we try to do for our kids and the kids have no power and as parents we don't really have power either to fix this but it's a fixable thing and you guys have the power to fix it and i really felt i was happy with the decision you made at the i was expressing frustration where i was happy at the end and i felt it was a fair compromise and mr carr said that it was the right thing to do i feel like it's still the right thing to do um but i just i don't know whether what are we doing to our kids i was going to say the same thing that my husband said i feel parents they're trying to stick it out with the school district that for whatever reason they've fallen in love with it i did take my kids from private school to this district because of the band program at campbell verde because of the excellent teaching i thought i saw there and um the community i bought into the slogan every person every day we're a community we're we're in this together we we do school together all of that stuff has been gutted this year all of it just gutted and and what are we and i feel for the mom i don't know who the mom is with the cross country student that shouldn't have happened he was not sick he'd been working for four years to do all-state uh cross-country and he couldn't do it there should have been some accommodation why can't he run six feet away from anyone if he was next to someone he could make himself six feet away why couldn't he participate he was not sick that's that's wrong what are we doing to our kids i i have times so i'm going to review my kids real quickly with you i have a one who graduated last year so she's a college student but she didn't get a graduation not a problem like a virtual graduation or whatever it was but no real graduation she is fighting to have life real life but i tell her we tell her things we did in college and um she's she's just kind of a size and says well i hope i get to have a normal life and do some of those things again she's spinning her wheels she's waiting for her life at a prime of her life to start my son is the senior this year he's he's the one who had 43 days out of 87 days and it is accurate uh but he was only there 43 days and he uh he likely is the second number two oboe in the state but he didn't get to go and try to prove that last year he won't this year and then he'll be gone he's done he goes off to college my third one we're losing him in math i might have to pay for a tutor for math if it's like this hybrid virtual if it goes back and forth and my youngest one she has four years left she's doing fine my time's running out but i mean what are we doing we're in week 41 of the two weeks to stop the spread okay how much is enough when is it going to be enough i don't know [Applause] karen moss after karen will have amanda harlis megan winter and heather schlemmer thank you board members superintendent wherever you are for allowing me to speak this evening i'm here with my daughter um i am a math teacher at gca and have been a teacher in gps going on 26 years i am greatly offended that anyone would challenge my desire to teach and go to work i have so much anxiety each night about this issue i keep coming back to one thing there are parents and students who live in our district that do not follow the guidelines in fact they simply do not believe in the science behind covid some of these people are attending extended family gatherings some are attending new year's eve parties yes with hundreds of teens potentially exposing each other and then posting it on instagram to boast about it as you know tomorrow some of those students are walking into your gps teachers classrooms including mine as of today 5239 people in maricopa county have died and arizona is now number one in the world i'm asking you tonight please follow the county metrics arizona state superintendent kathy hoffman and the dashboard suggest virtual learning how can you ignore these warnings our schools do not have appropriate safety measures in place there is inadequate ventilation the disinfecting it's up to the teacher at the high school i have 28 to 32 students in my class six sets of that and they're only two feet apart i measured this is at least 150 contacts that your student your high school student is exposed to daily at the last more board meeting you decided to just use district dashboard metrics unfortunately this method is inaccurate at my school alone there are two reported cases i have multiple students out and i have received more than three letters of exposure or possible exposure many parents are ignoring these guidelines and refuse to call their kids in sick there's no accountability in that system i'm a parent for 14 years in gc uh gps i have high school age children they will not be going to school unless we go virtual i believe in science what epidemiologists say january is going to be the deadliest month for covet i hope that as a board you will follow the science make a responsible decision have online learning for two weeks [Applause] we have amanda harlis megan winter and heather schlemmer megan europe amanda harlis was also up and heather hi thank you dr santa cruz members of the board and district leadership for the opportunity to speak today my name is megan winter and i know some of you up there sitting there thinking great winter is coming again and i'm speaking from my heart and from my many hats that i wear in this great community of gilbert today i'm a mom like five like many of the people here tonight i'm an educator an activist a friend among other things we are here today because we care everyone in this room is invested in wanting the best for gilbert students i just completely rewrote my whole script based off of what i heard here tonight and i too truly wholeheartedly believe that the green and the black and the purple and whatever colors in these rooms really do have the same goal in mind and that's what's best for our students and our kids i want to thank the teachers and families for showing up here tonight there's many out in the parking lot as well standing in the cold as they're not letting anybody else in today we have heard many families and teachers speak passionately about how they love school and gps decisions are going to be made tonight that are not popular nor convenient but need to be made i believe you as a board know that the district needs to be virtual chandler public schools just voted tonight to return to virtual for a couple of weeks excuse me i won't need three minutes sir i agree with them too but i won't need three more than three minutes excuse me this is the board meeting they forgot to start the timer i didn't see the timer going i understand that and so we've started the timer we allow her to speak please yeah well i might want a few more seconds left back um i truly want to thank them for oh i don't know where i'm at now but anyway we can't wish away the numbers and the benchmarks they're there they're in our face we can't put back the clock back to two weeks earlier back to september we can't go back in time all we can do is be where we are today and today we are in the red we can't uh however there's been a change along the way of what metrics we have followed and so what i'm begging you to do is to put away the idea that we can't make changes because we have made changes and go back to the maricopa county guidelines and dashboard to guide the district we also can go back to look at individual schools this might require a reset in order to be able to follow through with this decisions about returning to to some school instruction would be great you like for hybrid for some schools where the community is following i truly want to thank the um i really want to thank all the elementary parents that were here tonight talking about how they taught their kids to wear their masks and behave that is wonderful and they really appreciate it we know that part of the problem though is coming from the community that's not here tonight that they're not following rules and some of the kids especially in the junior high and high schools are making a mockery of the different rules and we can't the teachers don't have control over that even when they try to we need to get the spread under control simple such simple steps such as masking up and avoiding large large gatherings we have educators students parents and community members arguing amongst themselves i am pleading that we get back to mutual responsibility for educating the students of gilbert this means that we need the community to support virtual learning to so we can get back to in-person learning i would like to ask for forgiveness if i offended anyone or hurt anyone in the process of getting to this moment tonight i truly care about the people and what is best i have never encouraged to stick out nor has the gilbert education association encouraged to stick out we haven't threatened to leave gilbert public schools no one here tonight has threatened not to show up tomorrow thank you [Applause] heather i don't blame you for not trying the last name nobody likes that one including me all right dr mccord dr santa cruz and members of the governing board thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight i think it's important to note that there were about 50 people still waiting in line to share their perspective when they were notified that no more comments would be taken this evening my name is heather schlemmer this is my 16th year in special education the majority of which i've devoted to students and families in gilbert public school i say that i would i would say that i fit the description of a good teacher from the gentleman who spoke earlier i am willing and ready to show up to teach however given that we are in the middle of a frightening surge in covet illness i believe this can be done virtually as a temporary measure i am fully capable and equipped to show up to teach online and to do it well i'm also a parent my elementary age children attend our neighborhood school in another district it was our preference for our students to attend in person we value the magic that happens in a classroom but we wanted to be sure they could do so safely their district has followed the benchmarks and guidance put forth by public health professionals as a result changes to their schedules and instructional delivery has been predictable and consistent giving us adequate time to make plans as a family they miss their teachers and friends but they have received excellent instruction and social learning opportunities through the incredible efforts and constant innovation of their school teams i think the previous 60 or so speakers have captured key issues as understood through differing world views so i will just briefly highlight a few of the concerns that continue to flood my thoughts as i prepare to wrap my mind around returning to my classroom first as i watched the last meeting online a key phrase was included in the intro to both mr carr and miss humphrey's proposals with strong mitigation strategies with tremendous gratitude to my administration and custodial team for their efforts i do not believe that we have been adequately resourced as a district with the staff supplies time or physical space necessary to implement strong mitigation practices in alignment with the question of why don't staff feel safe the cdc has an interview guide in the k-12 toolkit which i would encourage the district to consider adapting to gather stakeholder input and address remaining concerns second i'm very concerned about the expiration of additional paid sick leave under the cares act it is also my understanding that gps will no longer be able to provide the generous additional 10-day buffer made available last semester i currently have five sick days should i need to quarantine or heaven forbid fall ill i do not know what i will do i think back to the weeks where i have received multiple exposure letters and worry about how many more bullets i'll dodge especially as a community spread is rampant and while the district dashboard is not fully accurate or transparent lastly and the one that causes me the greatest stress is that mortality conversations exclude concerns of morbid morbidity we just really have no sense of what ongoing issues may present in both staff and children regardless of survival rates and or presentation of symptoms in my extended circle this has included blood clots heart and lungs we have dana fredericks looks like bailey e and alma e good evening my name is dana fredricks i am a parent of an 8th grade student athlete at highland junior high school i've been an active parent volunteer in the district since my son was in kindergarten serving on ptso school councils as well as in the classrooms first off i want you to know i recognize what a challenging position you've been placed in and personally feel you shouldn't be the one making this decision but since our state leadership will not it sadly falls in your lap i'm here tonight with a lot of trepidation as my family has taken the recommended mitigation strategies to remain socially distanced as much as possible throughout the last nine and a half months and continue to do so despite my concerns about being at large gatherings such as this i am here as my concerns for the safety of our students teachers and staff outweighs my apprehension as i feel email correspondence has not been as effective as those that have expressed their concerns in person i have always had the utmost respect for our school board and our district leadership and was appalled by how you were spoken to at the last meeting however despite the level of disrespect you were shown it is apparent that those who yelled the loudest were clearly heard based on the decisions that were made and while the concern of those who opted to remain socially distant and express their concerns via email fell on deaf ears while the main discussion has been about in-person learning versus virtual versus hybrid i believe the bigger issue is the decision that was made at the prior meeting to use district metrics versus the county metrics as had we continued with the county metrics there wouldn't be a discussion about the learning model as the benchmarks clearly indicate where we should be district metrics which rely on self-reporting and can easily be manipulated to fit the narrative by positive cases not being reported or unacceptable the commitment from this district at the start of this school year was the county metrics would be followed making the choice making this choice is nothing more than a bait and switch by changing on the district reporting the commitment this commitment was made to gps families and staff and needs to be honored i've heard a lot of people talk about honoring your decision on december 15th i'm asking that you honor the decision you made in august the issue surrounding covet is not based on what's happening at the schools as i believe our schools are doing a great job but unfortunately it's what's happening outside of the school that is creating the problem which then brings the issue into the schools as a district we cannot continue to control the decisions people have made to partake in social gatherings and travel for holidays as well as not mask up accordingly we should not be opening our schools following two weeks that people have been gathering and traveling school should be virtual for at least two weeks or at minimum in a hybrid model to mitigate the amount of people on campus at one time this is not i've got some more i know i'm running out of time there is quite a bit this is not ideal for anybody this is not what anybody wants every teacher i know wants to be in person but their safety should not be compromised everyone talks about our students having the choice to go online our teachers don't always have that same option um thank you [Applause] bailey e alma e and stacy f good evening governing board members and dr mccord my name is bailey and i'm a junior at desert ridge high school i am aware that you have been forced to make decisions of great magnitude and consequence i know this is not what you signed up for these choices should be made by people with the proper qualifications fortunately you were given guidelines to follow by medical professionals the county health dashboard all year you have been using this data to guide your decisions when we chose in-person learning at the beginning of the year it was assumed you would continue to do so your latest decision to instead use the highly inaccurate district dashboard blindsided us i assure you like everyone here i am eager to return to normalcy i want nothing more than to go to school in person and to enjoy the social and academic opportunities that i expected of my junior year however i am mature enough to put the health and safety of others above my social life like most teenagers covet has significantly impacted my mental health however the loss of a loved one would be worse and your recent decision makes this more likely i understand the pressure to bend to the will of the loud and aggressive parents advocating for full in-person instruction i am here to advocate for the students parents and educators who want a safe and ethical delivery model i should not have to worry for my family's health when i notice the classmate usually seated next to me is absent i should not have to wonder if there will be a hospital bed available should myself or a family member need one i should be able to attend classes without having to worry if my assigned partner for a project has attended the masculist party that took place last weekend many say we had a choice but it wasn't that simple global does not support all students needs those involved in special programs like ap capstone ib and those in need of special education services should not have to choose between fulfilling their educational needs and keeping their families safe these needs can be met by following the metrics and changing the delivery model accordingly this is what was expected and what we prepared for this is what i ask of you remain in the full virtual model for at least two weeks until the county is able to publish data on the state of our community then follow the county metrics i beg of you please make the right decision tonight thank you [Applause] hi um i am here as both a gps parent and also an employee i'm a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom and i'm here because i love working for gps and working with my students every day i also am so very proud to have two kids that attend gps schools and admire the wonderful job that the teachers and staff have done for them i know that many like me want our kids in school and end at a gps school because of the excellent education that is being provided by all of our talented and caring teachers therapists and support staff i know i do not speak only for myself when i say that as educators we do our job because we love our job we are passionate about teaching and we care for a student for our students with that being said i do know that we must prioritize the health and safety of our educators students and the rest of the community as we go through this pandemic by using reliable metrics i understand how hard it is to stay home i stayed home with my kids and i had to teach at the same time and i have a child with adhd so that was extremely hard i understand but it is my job as a parent to help them and also to fulfill my job um virtual learning is not the best best for all and i totally agree i totally agree with that but it is only temporary um uh virtual learning is especially hard for the population of my students the students i serve and um i do not want that for them but right now it is what is needed um as of now the arizona health department metrics uh which you guys have decided to adopt indicates a different significant community spread but you all know that um hospital bed availabilities are the lowest percentage seven percent as of sunday since the pandemic began um i am currently expecting a baby and this concerns me i have not had covet and i am concerned about getting it at work and not being able to be careful if i happen to have severe symptoms at the beginning of this parents and teachers agreed to return person learning because you guys committed to following these metrics on august 18th and indicated that those metrics would guide the mode of learning this recommendation right now is for virtual for all students no exceptions during hybrid right now is still bringing kids to campus and exposing everyone this is what guided me and i am sure other educators and parents in choosing our mode of either learning for our students or teaching back in september i understand that the survivor rate is 98 99 but that ignores the risks depending on many many things including ethnic groups as per the cdc black and hispanic and native americans are much more likely to die of covet in all age groups and i am one and i am in one of those groups um again i repeat this is only a temporary situation we all have to do our part so this can be over sooner rather than later the fact that i want us to follow the benchmarks [Applause] f kim v and lisa nenning hi thank you for the chance to speak i'm going to be brief um i have two kids in the district currently and one who graduated and is now in the healthcare business which has given me some perspective but i i'm when i chose gilbert public schools for my kids i did so because when i talked to the teachers and when i talked to the principals i got the sense that they felt genuinely supported by each other by parents by the community and i know that that's when magic happens in the classroom when teachers feel like the community has their backs that's why i sent my kids here i have i have been incredibly impressed by the education that they've gotten um thus far but this pandemic has really compromised that sense of support that we've been able to provide the teachers and that's why i'm here today to support the teachers so that we can get my kids can get back to normal they can get back to normal sooner i think we all need to work together to to make that happen um i know that there's a lot of people in in you know in the district who are very data savvy you make data driven decisions all the time about education about the curriculum i'm asking you to make a data driven decision about the safety of our teachers and our kids i'm asking you to use the most reliable valid data that we have and that's the maricopa county data not the dashboard data the the virus doesn't understand school boundaries i don't think that dashboard data has been accurate i think there's a lot of agreement on that the county data are the best that we have and i'm asking you to make your decision based on that let's go back when it's safe to do so thank you [Applause] we have we have kim v and then tisha hensley brown and lisa nunning dear members of the board mr dr mccord thank you for the opportunity to hear us speak tonight we appreciate you taking all of this time to hear everyone speak i'm a parent of 16 years in gilbert public schools including a child in special education from the age of three i'm also in my 24th year as a full professor at arizona state university with expertise in child and adolescent development and family dynamics many of us are here tonight because we share the common belief in the greatness of gps what makes gps great is the people it's the educators it's the staff members it's the administrators it's the bus drivers it's the janitorial staff it's everyone who works together to make this a great district and we all want our children to be in school because they have such talented smart and hard-working educators and they've worked 10 times as hard this year as any other year they've probably been teachers and they clearly want to be in the classroom but as many people have said tonight we're in the middle of a global pandemic epidemic my grandfather is 101 years old and this is his first global pandemic this is nothing like we've ever experienced in our lifetimes and if we want to save gps through this global pandemic then we have to prioritize the health and safety of our educators and our community and we have to do it using reliable and valid metrics metrics developed by state state and county health experts a panel of them not an individual pediatrician not a researcher like me a whole panel of them said that it is not safe to be in school right now all metrics are in red and frankly i thought they were very weak metrics and they're all in red these metrics are in place to prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed there's almost no beds left in our health care system and i'd also like to speak to the data about school opening because i've heard it mentioned tonight the data says that school opening doesn't contribute to community transmission when transmission is low and when mitigation strategies are strong in the schools and in the communities we meet none of those criteria right now and if you wonder why the schools aren't safe listen to what the teachers are telling you because i post on facebook and i got tons of messages about their concerns about safety so ask them why they're not safe they have very good reason because the mitigation strategies are not effective is our community doing our part i think we've all seen the instagram video and we know the answer to that and we don't know what's going to happen in the two weeks post that so i encourage you to return to virtual learning until we know we must prioritize the health and safety of all members of our community our children are not better off if their educators are too sick to be there they are not better off if our teachers die we all know we have a teacher shortage and a sub shortage we can't afford to lose our teachers and and frankly i i don't think they feel supported right now i think that we had an agreement to stick to the metrics and we need to do that for the teachers thank you [Applause] good evening members of the board and dr mccord first thank you all for your service to our community i am a parent of two children who attend a district elementary school i speak on behalf of my family and for friends of the district who could not speak tonight due to fears of putting themselves and their families at risk of cobed in fact i and many others have written this board requesting you ensure all families have equal access to communicate verbally and publicly to this body the current practice of requiring public verbal input to only be given in person is denying access to our most coveted vulnerable and medically fragile gps families and silencing a significant portion of our district population during this pandemic we ask gps to do all it can to create a safe option for them especially now when our district town county and state are all red and well within the substantial transmission level of community spread i also speak to express our concerns that the board has decided to disregard the state and county metrics they agreed to follow last fall both the state and county dashboards currently and for some time have indicated the learning model for our district should be virtual this board is chosen to disregard these metrics and instead rely solely on their own dashboard and a symptom-based screening strategy the district dashboard strategy would be helpful if it was reliable but it's not it relies on three faulty assumptions that prevent it from capturing a complete and accurate count of coveted cases and transmission risk in our schools one it assumes all children infected with covid will be symptomatic several health organizations inform us that children do get infected with the virus but that many are asymptomatic and or have very mild symptoms the district's dashboard strategy does not account for these asymptomatic kids a recent paper from the aamc states the phenomenon of asymptomatic kids quote opens vulnerability for schools where safety strategies including screening students for symptoms end quote and that this quote may not be effective to capture infections among school-aged children end quote two it assumes parents will notify health personnel when their child has at least one symptom kids with symptoms asked to stay home for 10 days is a disincentive for parents to report symptoms children with slight or very mild symptoms may not even be obvious to their parents a recent statement from the american academy of pediatrics says the number of reported copic cases in children is likely an undercount because children's symptoms are often mild and they may not be tested for every illness it is reasonable to say that some children with mild symptoms are not counted on that dashboard three it assumes parents will choose to have their children tested for covid parents concerned about invasive tests costs and a desire to keep positive counts low may choose not to get tested covet positive children without a confirmed test result will not be counted on that district dashboard for all these reasons the district dashboard does not give us an accurate nor complete picture of coveted case and transmission risk in our schools it is important the board follow the state and county metrics for valid and reliable data to assess risk to our children our families our teachers and staff currently our local epidemiologists and public health experts are telling us that there is substantial risk in our community [Applause] lisa and then robin doder and then finally ted gibson good evening um dr mccord and gilbert governing board members thank you for subjecting yourselves to this marathon and for allowing us all giving us all a chance to speak i know you all to be staunch advocates for the students and staff of gilbert public schools my name is lisa nenning i am a 37 year teaching veteran 27 of those years here in gilbert public schools i am here tonight to urge you to follow the guidance of the state and county health officials which recommend that schools in maricopa county move to virtual instruction due to the substantial risk of coveted spread the board voted to do this at the beginning of the school year and then voted not to do this on december 15th that decision must be preempted by current particulars surrounding the spread of the virus here in arizona there were more coronavirus related deaths reported in december than in any other month in 2020 some statistics that were just reported today include number one a 91 percent increase in the seven day death average this represents a 460 percent increase since october the first number two a forty six percent increase in seven day the seven day case average this represents a one thousand five hundred and ninety nine percent increase since october the first in fact it was reported today that arizona is showing the highest per capita rate in the world right now health experts number three health experts believe that the new strain of the disease which was originally discovered in the uk is likely widely sp already wide spread in the united states as i'm sure you know this strain called a ticking time bomb is known for the speed with which it spreads this variant is not dangerous because it causes more serious cases it's dangerous because it causes more cases more cases means more hospitalizations more deaths it seems only a matter of time before it finds a comfortable home in highly populated school campuses just today england entered its strictest lockdown since march because the new variant is driving a spiraling increase in new cases number four excuse me most importantly our hospitals and their staff are overwhelmed school communities must work with the health care community if we are ever to have a hope thank you [Applause] robin daughter and ted gibson thank you i'm rob and daughter i'm here against my better judgment i'm a high-risk teacher due to an autoimmune illness i opted for virtual school this year and my presence here today means i can't help my disabled mother for the next two weeks or unless i get tested those of us who are trying not to risk exposure have not had opportunities to speak to the board so our voices have not been represented and that's why i'm risking it but i'm here on behalf of my work family and my students right now arizona leads the nation in per capita infection and hospitalization the recent holidays will only exacerbate this on december 16th ducey stated that our current numbers are the result of halloween and thanksgiving gatherings how long will our christmas and new year's surge last how bad will it be do we really want to risk it some are arguing that we don't see school spread but schools aren't an island and the idea that schools are safe zones from covet is inaccurate and dangerous especially considering masked non-compliance in secondary schools at the massive house party in gilbert on new year's eve a video showed young masterless youths dancing in a standing room only environment how long before they get sick how many people will they infect before they even have symptoms the community outcry is misdirected this is the world's worst group project if the community wants in-person schooling the pressure shouldn't be on the school board to force that it should be on the community to make better choices all a single week of hybrid will accomplish is the potential exposure of every staff member on our and half of our students population since the virus can spread before symptoms and has a two-week incubation period two weeks of online instruction is the minimum length of time required for safer reopening an ids a study found and i quote fifteen to forty five percent of sars cove to infections are asymptomatic all others can be considered to have a pre-symptomatic phase in which individuals are infectious prior to being symptomatic i hear people say repeatedly that teachers should choose online if we're worried but there weren't enough online positions for everyone who applied and frankly teachers who opted to teach in person did so expecting to make the board to make decisions based on the state health metrics as promised the school's coveted dashboard is not an acceptable replacement you've heard multiple reasons why the one that bothers me the most is excluding confirmed cases if they weren't on campus within 48 hours of a positive test even though we know this can spread prior to onset of symptoms i understand that the mental health of our students is an area for concern but remember covid didn't start that we've been fighting for more services for years as the teen suicide rate has been climbing we should be proactive not reactive and focus our time and resources to outreach and providing services to those who need them the unknown long-term effects on young people and healthy adults include heart [Applause] that's fine we'll take it in the book of proverbs king solomon wrote the way the fool is right in his own mind but wise man listens to advice i know that i'm looking at five people that want to make a very wise decision tonight the problem is king solomon didn't tell you who's advised to listen to and that's the quagmire we find ourselves in if you think that the 71 people that you heard speak before you today are an accurate representation of all of your constituents i think you're sorely mistaken i think you know that we are in the middle of a public health crisis and to choose now as the moment not to listen to our public health officials seems not only flippant it seems like a disregard for life and i can't stand for that human life we're all humans we all have commonalities we are by nature social beings and we've been asked to not be social to be antisocial because viruses are social so we've had to move away and we've all had to make sacrifices so who do you listen to i'm here today to tell you not to listen to me don't listen to me i'll tell you what i want i want to teach in person i do and i think every single person in here wants a return to in-person teaching but it's not about what we want it's about what our hospitals our doctors our nurses our emts need us to do if you think that you can send 30 000 people back into campuses over the next week into poorly ventilated rooms and not have at least one case of viral spread i don't think you've been paying much attention and that's what our doctors are asking us to do not to spread it to a single another person because there is not room for them in the hospitals so yes schools are the safest place for our kids but icu beds are the safest place for advanced cova patients and if you continue to disregard the advice of our public health officials that's what you've chosen you've chosen to listen to the wrong advice i hope you make the right choice i hope you'll do better for gilbert i hope you'll follow what chandler just did that you will keep all students and staff out of classrooms until the 19th they also decided not to have school tomorrow to give a work day to all those that have to pivot into this new reality we have and on the 19th i suggest that you bring back elementary students and special ed students think long and hard about what you're going to do with secondary students thank you [Applause] thank you that was our last speaker we'll move on to item eight which is consent agenda information for consideration discussion and direction and possible approval item 8.01 is approval of the consent agenda items is there a motion so moved thank you miss humphries is there a second second thank you mrs eugetti is there any discussion seeing no discussion we will take a vote on the consent agenda to be accepted as presented all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those pose the same motion carries 5-0 item 9 action items item 9.01 is discussion and possible action regarding the type of learning mode for the third quarter of the 2020 2021 school year is there a motion related to that i have something to offer if there is not a verbal at this point um dr santa cruz i i was considering motioning just for discussion if we could discuss but if you have a motion to offer i'm open to that actually i took the liberty this afternoon of drafting three possible scenario motions and they are printed for your review and i'll give the board a couple of minutes to take a look at what's been presented each of them at least under my consideration is a separate item obviously we would if accepted we would only accept one of them sorry on emotion number three there seems to be a a missing part or sentence to complete can you tell us what that would be sorry board members that number three motion is incomplete there at the end but the end should read like the end of motion possibility number two i will submit motion number one for discussion if there is a second well i will second let's discuss i think it's important to discuss well the motion as i propose it that is motion number one is the introduction obviously is on november 4th this governing board instructed the superintendent to utilize school by school covet cases and gps boundary county publish specific metrics for determining when school or the entire district will meet its hybrid or in-person or will meet at school and in hybrid person in person manner gps has calculated some school specific except exceptions as previously determined those limits are and then we list the one percent for high schools 1.5 percent and the 2 percent for elementary schools the junior high school was 1.5 percent that was by way of the introduction the body of the motion as i presented would be the board updates its instruction to the superintendent as follows k-6 classes will be held in hybrid fashion for the first two weeks of the third quarter of school followed by virtual by a virtual instruction modality for the month of january two thousand twenty grades k-6 are provided additional days in order to allow time for parents slash guardians and school staff adequate time to organize this mode of instructional for this mode of instructional delivery gay grades 7 through 12 will begin virtual virtual instruction on january 11 2021 through january 29 all district schools will remain in virtual instruction mode until local county and state health related data indicates an appropriate and significant decline in covet case numbers and the rate of spread of the disease this motion may be in effect for the entire third quarter of the 2020 2021 school year i offer that as a point for discussion and miss humphries has seconded discussion i'm if i'm reading it correctly i'm just trying to process this right now it'll be two weeks of hybrid is that correct for the elementary school kids so we would be disregarding the tricks by reading that from you know basically what we're what we've we're hearing right now is from the the county is that we should be following we should be doing virtual and this would be disregarding it right and to be sure the as i've indicated that all schools will remain on virtual instruction mode and then i inserted a given the local county and state health related data that indicates the appro that there's an appropriate and significant decline in coveted numbers probably should have included that above as well but for point of discussion my concern is that i want we've we have tried these many many months in every way to educate our students and to keep our staff and teachers safe and mitigate and um we absolutely 100 know that virtual learning there's the education we don't fulfill our purpose to educate with virtual learning so my concern would be could we find any other way to have mitigation strategies that i understand the concern for the safety and health but i also understand the need and the commitment that we have to educate students so how can we find i guess for me the virtual through the end of january is really concerning and i actually i would like to i know that that we are looking at all the health metrics which we do look at we look at all of that but i also know that things have been updated um and that guidance from the cdc and from our county continues to update um and i i think that would be important to discuss as well i don't know if if jen frost our district nurse would be willing to give her latest the latest update from the county she's she speaks with county health often about what their guidance has been as of late if you'd come and just give us a briefing of that so that we can hear so that we can take into consideration all of the data that's so important including those metrics that we agreed to and that we looked at months ago that have now that there's other data as well to consider so on december 17th the last day of maricopa's guidance meeting with school nurses and school staff we have a meeting every thursday and that was our last guidance and in that guidance they indicated again dr peggy stemler said that if we have mitigation strategies in place if our community is supportive if we have enough staff that they actually did support us being in school and person and that we needed to make that decision based on our school community not based on the metrics from the district i i and other staff members from different districts districts have explained to them that it's very difficult to make those decisions as individuals when the dashboards are up there and they're visible and they're very visceral and they're all in red and they continue to stay understanding of that but that again that their recommendations are solely recommendations they did give us a powerpoint on the 17th and again it stated on page six that they found that there is not any good data saying that school is supporting the spread of the virus that it's a community spread that it's funerals weddings parties birthdays get togethers with families versus in school that actually the in school is where the environment is more controlled so my feeling from that presentation from them is that if we go virtual i don't know that it's going to change our community metrics i don't know it's that it's going to change anything for our community because we can't see that our cases in our schools have risen or dropped based on what's going on in the community it hasn't it's been a an independent factor okay again i think that's just something to add into this discussion and into the data that we start looking at and keep looking at that we're receiving from epidemiologists county health officials not just coming up with this on our own to to have that discussion so just one more thing to add in as we discussed and try to find the best way that we can to educate our kids but also have health and safety which is so important of our staff and and we need to do all that we can so i'm this is this is this is hard this this is really hard i mean it is a really hard decision and it's very hard to navigate i did have uh peggy stamler's number so i did talk to her today because i looked through that presentation and and was reading it and the conversation that i had with her you know i think we can do what we want as long as the community gets behind us and helps us to do it the conversation i had with her was that maybe we go two weeks virtual allow some of this to get out of our system but that means that if we're two weeks virtual we can't have kids running around at the park with no mass we can't have kids going to fat cats we need to stay home and help everybody stay safe so the metrics can go down and i i know that's a big ask i think it's really hard to um our our data isn't our destiny but right now we do we're in substantial spread and last summer when we were at our peak i i knew of a few people that had covered but i hear of it many many families many people i talk to that they're in quarantine or they've had a family member test positive and it does you know it does impact the schools and i listening tonight the problem is that everybody is right kids need to be in school and also we need to feel that it's safe we need to have strong enough mitigation strategies in the schools and in the community that people can feel that they can they can trust that when they go to school there will be um you know that they aren't risking themselves i mean i don't think any of us would be here tonight if we thought it was a risk that we would get covered and then take it home to a family member who would die or that we would die i mean we wouldn't take that risk we would stay home so i i think it's um for me i i am concerned about this long time of being virtual instruction but i also think there are valid concerns and i i do think we need to address some of those concerns that people have for safety ms frost did county health express any opinion or research-based data related to the month of january after the holiday and february when the incubation period will be in full blown no they have not said anything that's specific again they they go back to and it's kind of a canned response is that if our community is in support if we have the staffing if we have mitigation strategies and that's kind of the two-fold though if our community is in support that doesn't mean that our community wants school it means that our community is in support of the strategies that encourage us to be able to school go to school safely keeping their kids home when they're sick following the quarantine guidelines those kinds of things um you know kathy hoffman said that she was hoping for two weeks of virtual just to kind of um quell the spread you know after our last new year's which i think in a way does make sense because then it could shake out any positives for those two weeks and hopefully go back to lower numbers but again i i don't have any data that shows that school spreads it so that that's kind of a contraindication right there that we have another meeting on thursday but they haven't given us any any guidelines per se for that we don't have data i have anti-total data of people a couple people getting it at school a teacher who sent us an email explaining her story and how sick she was and then a friend who feels that her daughter possibly got it at school but it's hard to know because it's more prevalent in the community right and that is hard to know because with not only children can be symptomatic but adults can be symptomatic a very large amount of adults and so you know you unless you don't go anywhere else but one exact place every day you really can't say that you got it somewhere i i am very good i i was to me this is backwards i think that we that right now is when we should be virtual and then look at it like you said in two weeks um depending on what happens through the you know through from the holidays i don't think there's anybody that sits up here that doesn't agree that we should be in in and would want to be in the in the classroom i think that you know i heard that from the teachers i think we want our kids want to be in the classroom but we're in a pandemic and you know sports and all those other things are have been cancelled not because of us but because of the excuse me those were all aia decisions they did not excuse me this is the board meeting and we're discussing it's not audience participation now we've just listened to you and this is for us to discuss so we can make a decision it was done by the arizona as an interscholastic association those decisions have been made by them we you know we've had some decisions to be made but um you know i i think that we have to be safe for our whole community i've said that all along i think that we should all be in the classroom but we're in the middle of a pandemic what i would like to see is let's let's do virtual and give it the time and hopefully that in the next couple of weeks we will have we'll be in a place where we can go back to hybrid and that that's i feel very strongly about that and i've said it before yeah i i would agree absolutely with your sentiment the issue that drives part of my thought process relates to the fact that our one-to-one technology at the elementary level is not the same as it is at grades seven through twelve so what will have to happen at least it's my understanding and mr castellano can correct me or or dr newman can correct me is that teachers and staff have to be given time to call back in the technology wherever it is and then reassign it and some of those have already been placed in a holding pattern to be reassigned somehow and some of those are now just being collected i i think i'm correct on that mr castellano the turnkey operation at the 712 level is a little easier because the technology is already at a one-to-one i believe correct um we gave the elementary schools the choice though whether they wanted to collect those back or not so some elementary schools did collect those back but not all of them but i don't have the specific number on how many however they've done this to almost three times now so they could turn those around quickly the schools that need to hand those back out at the elementary level and check those back out okay the and the other the other condition that was there at least as i was thinking was the whole idea that parents and guardians and staff whatever it is that we decide need to have time to prepare for that eventuality whatever it is and and so those are drivers in in that thought process as well uh no no question that everything is in the red and we are just seeing escalating numbers of cases and the people have already mentioned that the hospitals are full and i'm not a health professional and don't pretend to be one but if we don't have teachers in the classroom even if we amass a whole army of parental support educated certified uh people instruction still is timing i guess all of these numbers have increased while we haven't been in school so how does that no don't don't don't i'm trying to discuss with him so i'm just saying then how that's where my concern is is then how does us staying out of school necessarily keep that from spreading if this isn't about school spreading that's not our job our job is to educate students and our job is to keep spread from within the campuses it doesn't it's not our job to keep the whole um virus stymied that it will never appear anywhere and i guess my real concern too is now that we're bringing up there's another viral strain that we're concerned about i'm concerned when are we ever going to what is our exit strategy here to ever have our children at school you know i'm just saying and it's it's critical that they are in school there's this doesn't this doesn't this doesn't even just let's not be delusional that there's educating as much as the teachers are working as hard as they are in virtual learning they would agree with you i know i think i know they do i know and i know they've done all they can and i and we've heard and we know it isn't a viable option for learning it that learning doesn't occur through that so i don't know again i i don't want to go virtual because i don't feel like there's any i don't feel like we meet our purpose if there's any way to find mitigating strategies to help teachers feel safe to make sure that we're being safe in the next couple weeks especially as these numbers are high i would prefer to look at that yeah and the answer to the when question is probably a good one because i'm not even sure the medical professionals know that i i think another concern then is that there are though other schools around us that are in school full-time and that's so so there is some again just as we've been told by the county health there is some leeway in it and so again we're making a decision that impacts students and their learning and there will be all kinds of consequences of it i know there are both ways i know there are every way so but i just hope that i just want us to know and be clear on the decision that we're making also i do want to talk about what are any financial impacts of it i also want to talk about that we still will have to have on-site learning so it's not as if there won't be students on campuses with adults and you're talking about the governor's executive order right which we have no control over right so but it doesn't eliminate that students will be on campus with adults there will be fewer students and and maybe they can social distance more well we can do hybrid then and have fewer students on campus that's true too you know um could i sorry let me ask though miss betts could you speak to what because to make a decision we should look at all of the things that are involved in this so what would be the financial impacts possible if we do virtual if we do hybrid what what kinds of things are we looking at just so we know all the impacts that we're looking at so um i can only share with what i know today and so what i know today is that um based upon our thinking that we would receive uh funding to the level of 98 of last year's weighted student counts we requested a 30 million dollar enrollment stabilization grant and we received 14 million dollars of that so and then now as of january we now know that the governor i mean the state the department of education has applied that distance learning reduction uh to us on top of that so we we have now quantified that and that amount is 6.4 million dollars that's based upon the first 40 days so the as we have more distance learning days that that amount could go up or it could also go down because the distance learning is over 180 days not just over 40 days obviously the first 40 days we had a significant number of of um distance learning days which accounts for that high percentage reduction so but it's early it's early to tell we don't know the you know number of students that might be enrolling again in january that happens often there's also withdrawals in january that also happens so everything is very is moving and very fluid right now so we don't have any no the only thing is the more days that were that were distance learning it will be more of a reduction than if we weren't so that's the only thing i can say about that okay miss bets can i just so that we have the 30 million dollars deficit and the 6.4 million is on top of that that's correct that's correct but we did receive the 14 million dollars in the esg grant recently and we do know that with the corona the second corona relief package there is some monies designated for k-12 education throughout the nation that has not been quantified for gilbert public schools at this time so there's lots of moving parts right now i know okay go ahead go ahead are you going to ask her i was going to ask a question about finances but you would go ahead on your thought i'm on the i'm on i'm actually going to ask for something different and i i know this is not a fair question to probably ask you because i should have called you and to give you to prepare you guys for this question but it kind of just came up right now and we've talked about this in the past our insurance trust do we know what we've paid at this point for cases of for our employees that have been hospitalized or whatever do you have any kind of a i'm sorry to ask you that now i don't have that um with me but i can get it to you we get one monthly report just on the covet right yeah like how many hospitalizations i know that that early on the the i think it was one of our consultants said that if an an average case would could be up to about 250 000 correct if it was like an average of a hospitalization the 250 thousand dollars to my recollection was somebody who would be hospitalized right hospitalized and therefore an extremely long time yeah i don't think we're that is not every single case that we have i mean but it still has an impact on our insurance absolutely it does yes because we we are self-insured correct we're self-insured we did not plan for covet so there is an additional cost this year because of covert related medical bills which happens whether we're in school or not though still we still have cover that if employees get it at school or not but um miss betts also what what would be the plan during virtual for we know for teacher i mean for staff for bus drivers for lunch for all of our other employees who are critical to our everyday work and who don't have a paycheck coming and can't necessarily work virtually how can we how are we going to accommodate that and what's what would be the plan or the thought so so right now um in our discussions uh we were talking about every staff member in order to get paid needs to be working and so as an example you brought up the in-school support so if drivers don't have work they need to do related to transportation they potentially could be deployed to our schools also what we did in the fall is we offered specialized supports for our special education students and bus drivers were expected to be able to provide transportation taking those students back and forth from home to school for their appointments so the biggest issue i see that we normally would not have a potential constraint on our operating budget would be our enterprises so we talk about our enterprises monthly so that's our community schools as well as our nutrition services so depending upon the decisions made if if they are if they are to right size where their expenditures are more tied to their revenues then the impact on our operating budget would be minimal if a different decision is made however where due to a decision where their their people are staff members are paid anyway regardless of the revenues then it would have potentially a substantial impact on our operating budget so we know in nutrition services as an example just an example right now we know that we're serving about 18 000 meals a day while students are in school because all students are receiving a free breakfast and a free lunch when we were in providing meals a year ago in april and we were providing them virtually and in many cases even sending them home via with our drivers again we were serving anywhere between um probably six to eight thousand meals a day so at that level of revenue we have to right size in order for it to not impact our operating budget was it just until the end of december or is it for the whole year that the the free lunches are going to be done it's through the entire entire year through entire the entire footsteps even if we were virtual we could still provide those services we would definitely provide the services um but it does require then the families to come and pick them up then so it's it's a little bit different so so there definitely would be impacts on the other staff members either where they're working it would depend upon decisions made again so if we're in virtual does that mean that we're not providing other activities through community schools are we not allowing renters to continue renting in any of our buildings are we are we limiting our ability to raise revenue so that would be the other consideration there's lots of decisions and all of that so those are it all depends upon you know what we come down to and what our recommendations would be to you as a board but the general sense is that employee group about whom ms wood is referring we would first look for alternate assignment kinds of opportunities for them as we move through the time frame that we're going to be involved in a different modality is that and and that that's true the the expense of those staff members though then would still be born by our operating funds so it would just it would just depend again right you know but by and large but if we have a need for them we could deploy them in another need yes you are correct and and that has already been budgeted for to some degree is that right we are as far as i know fully staffed with everybody already for all of our paraprofessionals and all of that so um i don't i again it depends okay and we we do expect that even if we did offer another another opportunity for a driver or for a nutrition services person to maybe provide support at schools for our in-person supports they may not want to do that and so they would they potentially would decline so it all depend upon what's available okay so then would you furlough them or how would we how would we keep those bus drivers who we're always looking for to be on our staff and not be and we were we would we would be assigning them as i said uh to schools to provide sdi supports or we'd provide them assign them well another option would we consider if we are in virtual would we still have preschool special education preschool so we'd have so if we did we did that at one point this fall that would provide work for our drivers but yeah we would definitely be looking for work for them training we've made a decision to provide additional cpi training for all of our transportation drivers and our bus monitors uh there are ongoing training requirements for them so we would work that that's our goal is to work really hard to make sure that individuals have work to do so they can continue to be paid yeah [Music] discussion that that comment just concerns me we're now looking for work instead we have we have work if there's if the if there's if there's not if we don't have the work we will not be providing the work that's correct but we don't have anything we start school theoretically tomorrow we're now looking for things for them to do tomorrow because we don't have things because high schools they're not driving their routes because we're not starting high school for another week and then it's all virtual so if i understand the if i understand the motion correctly k through six the motion has us going two weeks of hybrid and then virtual so starting tomorrow and then through the end of next week going two weeks hybrid and then converting to virtual through the through the end of the month seven through 12 they don't return to school tomorrow and then they and then a week from today they go back to school in a virtual format for the rest of the month now i believe seven through 12 would go back this week tomorrow and on the 11th is when they're okay theirs would begin because as i read through i get to grade seven through twelve we'll begin virtual instruction on january 11th okay right so they're not going back to school tomorrow tomorrow is the sixth but but it doesn't say anything it doesn't say anything about am i missing it where does it say that they're going back you're right there is no specificity related to their calendar for this week and i neglected to put that in but it is a given that everybody would do school tomorrow as was prescribed in the motion of the 15th for the first four days of the third quarter okay so that so that what they do this week is left out of the motion as it's written right um i'm just to clarify so much of this decision regard is related to the funding so so again at this point in time i believe the worst case is that we are short the the 16 million dollars plus the six million dollars at this point in time but i believe that to be the worst case scenario and the legislature hasn't begun yet so we don't know if the governor will continue the commitment of getting us to 98 of prior year so if that's the case we will have the revenues available to make sure that all of those operating expenditures that we planned for would be would be funded so again truly from my view the issue would be the additional impact associated with our enterprises where their expense expenses are expected to match or their their expenses are expected to match their revenue so it does not have an adverse impact on the operating funds of the school district so just to clarify yeah but that there was an anticipation among school districts statewide that the legislature would act to hold districts harmless as it relates to the funding and it was a it was in the in the executive order so the governor's executive order indicated that he committed to funding 98 of last year's weighted student count yes so it would be reasonable to believe that something is in the offing related to that funding and i'm afraid to commit to that because of everything that's happened with the enrollment stabilization grant and there wasn't enough money to meet the need correct so i just don't know i just don't have enough information right now to be able to confirm that so that's for this year that's for this year we're going to start looking at next year's budget really soon and that's correct there will be impacts on next year's budget no question absolutely and and our decisions absolutely will drive just drive families to make decisions as well so correct as long as we are clear on that and know what we're doing i guess i would prefer to talk about the education and that that's what we're supposed to provide so at some point i i would like to maybe address that a little more but maybe i'll let you if you had a comment i i'm i'm really speechless and that's not very often that i'm accused of being speechless um you know if i look at this from an educational achievement perspective i don't think there's any way that we can say we're improving education and you know if i look at this from protecting the long long term care of of our teachers and our staff i don't see any way that this doesn't damage the number of teachers that we employ how we employ them it's going to have not only budget impacts this year and i and i get people are going to now turn around say you only care about the money no that's not true the money enables us to take care of our staff um the budget impact this year and as and you know i i don't like the threats any like more any more than anybody else that i'm going to pull my kids and go but it's it's going to happen and so how are we taking care of teachers i mean i just don't see that we're doing that i think if we're going to implement this we need to have an emergency meeting tomorrow with recommendations of where we cut costs because we're going to have to cut costs this year and we're now making a vote without even knowing the the implications i look at this and and frankly i feel like we're disregarding the health advice that we've received and i and i fully understand the i i fully understand the metrics um i've spent more time looking at those metrics and i know what to do with i also understand that we adopted i mean if we look at the history we adopted that we were going to follow the county metrics before there were county metrics and people say we walked away from the three well we we said we would do that without even knowing that we're going to be 3 5 10 20 or 30.

we said we wanted to follow that and the intent there was to follow the professional advice because we aren't professionals those metrics came in they've changed not by us the county changed them i mean if at one point it was if any one of the three are read then you do something and they had all kinds of repercussions of what you did then they changed the repercussions and they changed and said no now we suggest you only do it if all three are read and we got accused of changing all kinds of things that was not an action on our part that was an action by the county in the state some think it was political some don't personally i believe it was based off of additional information we have a letter from the the county health director and dr sunshine who if you understand who dr sunshine is she is actually a cdc epidemiologist on contract to the county she's one of the leading epidemiologists in the country she signed a letter december second to miss frost to our district after reviewing our mitigation strategies and the letter says in spite of the fact that they know that the i mean this is the county health department they know what those metrics are the letter concludes the level of community transmission does not always reflect transmission within schools when strong mitigation controls are in place and again they've looked at our strategies they've looked at our mitigation controls when strong mitigations are in place the school communities community supports these strategies schools can be a safe haven for both students and staff even when covert is spreading outside of school so that that is one of the leading epidemiologists names on that letter a cdc employee telling us that we can be a safe haven we can actually be a place where teachers can go and be safer than they are in the community and at home i know there's a lot of questions about what mitigation strategies we have we have we have spent more time reviewing these and i get it not everybody trusts us but we're doing everything from bringing outside air into the ventilation system so that we're circulating air we're filtering air we're cleaning yeah i know that during the day teachers are having to clean it but that doesn't mean it's not being cleaned we've got crews that go in and do specialized cleaning we've taken every mitigation strategy i can guarantee those schools are being cleaned more and more deeply than our homes are with stronger chemicals that sanitize and antivirus levels of you know so i look at that then i look at the last presentation that was just shared with us which was dated december 17th so after we're seeing the spread maybe it's continued to increase but they they knew what the the spread was doing and the guidance we're getting from our county health advisors is i'm trying to find the page if a school can continue to operate safely and we've got strategies in place mcdph maricopa county department of public health support staying in the hybrid learning scenario so we ought to at least be doing that then they continue or or we ought to just simply say we're in essence declaring that our mitigation strategies aren't safe we're doing one or the other if we're ignoring their advice they continue with the recent publications emphasizing the benefits of in-person learning particularly for elementary schools and the emerging data indicating the in-person school attendance is not a risk factor for youth testing positive for code 19.

maricopa county department of health recommends preferentially keeping elementary and middle schools open for in-person learning so at minimum if we're taking the advice of our county health department which i will again emphasize includes one of the leading epidemiologists in this country we should be looking for ways to at least keep our elementaries and junior highs open um you know if i can just hit one other issue i i'm i this is perhaps unrelated but i want to hit it because we've heard it several times folks we have done everything we can to keep extracurricular activities going believe me i had kids play sport i want to be there i want you there that is not our decision our only alternative if you want us to keep sports going with people in person is to pull out of aia which means that they'd only be competing in in five games amongst our own high schools that is not our decision i want you there i think everybody wants you there watching your kids play basketball but that's that's that's out of our control right now we're going to do everything we can if you look over the summer we kept practices going for sports in as safe as environments we could we were one of the few districts to do that we've we've continued to do that we are supporting the kids the best we can we want you to know that it's not perfect we have to have some give and take with some things that are out of our control so please know that we want you there but it's either followed aia and for the time being you're not there but we let our kids compete and have that activity or we withdraw and you lose the activity so recognize we're trying to find balance here it's it's it's not all in our controls last board meeting we had a bunch of people talk about masks you know if you have issues with masks you can take one of two decisions either go complain about the executive order and the county because that's where that's coming from it's not this board we will follow the law that's one of our charters is to follow the law so we're going to follow it and we're going to ask you to please embrace it i get it you don't like it you know i still to this day don't like seat belt laws i don't like them because they tell me what to do but i wear my seat belt and i insist my children wear a seat belt every single time why because it's the smart thing to do we're asking you give give up on that one issue please and support us that's that's the number one complaint i hear about teachers especially in the secondary level the kids don't really wear their mask we're constantly having to remind them it's a trade-off you don't like it i'm not asking you to like it embrace it anyway help us help us keep things going um but in the end my goal is i want school going back to the motion i want school in session i would suggest that we advise this and follow the council that we have from our from our county health department let's find ways to keep elementary in person that is the direction in spite of the metrics that is the direction that the very people who are behind those metrics are giving us as direct advice so what i would suggest mr carr is that we vote this motion down and that you proposed the motion that you just read out of the maricopa county health manual there from dr sun and shine related to hybrid and the k8 model and uh what we're going to be doing with the 912.

that the motion surround that idea i don't know if it's appropriate dr santa cruz before that or after but i would like to address um some of the concerns about the dashboard including updating it in a way that is more transparent if can be i believe we've been trying to be we've heard a few suggestions from um and asks of teachers so i don't know if you would if i should bring that up now or after let's do that after let's vote on this and i'm encouraging you to vote the motion down and then we'll wait to hear what uh okay that's crafted by mr carr okay any addition you could actually just remove your motion from the table if you'd like i just assumed go ahead and vote it down okay all right okay any other discussion okay and what we're looking at is generally speaking the the number one motion that's in front of you okay so all those in favor of emotion as written with the understanding obviously and not let me rephrase that with the motion as presented to you please signify by saying aye all those opposed please save simon motion fails mr carr um i would like to move and i'm gonna i'm winging this so please um we'll craft with you i would like to make a motion that grades k through eight uh return to school in a hybrid fashion for the next two weeks um well i i'd like to make a motion that k through k through k through eight return in a hybrid fashion and that we revisit that decision at the earlier date of january 29th or when we know that teachers are able to receive the vaccine so you're you're proposing four weeks of hybrid learning 4k well i i i i'm look i mean my own personal preference is i'd like to go back in person i know so i'm i appreciate the way that you're really compromising i'm i'm trying to find something that incorporates this i think the the motion here so the answer to your question is that motion yes it would consider four weeks it follows the essence of this only it keeps him in hybrid the whole time um and the understanding is obviously excuse me i'm speaking out of turn we'll wait until that motion is seconded and then we can have discussion what about the secondary are you gonna well i i think we make a second motion and talk about secondary separate okay i'll second that motion mr cry so you know again my goal is to get us back as soon as possible it's my understanding that that teachers in should start receiving vaccines in approximately a week to two weeks and it will take six weeks once you know they have to have two shots and two more my understanding from pfizer is that while it does take two vaccines to be the 95 percent effective that within 10 days you are 80 plus percent effective so so otherwise it was quite that high something well i was looking at that slide earlier today i can verify that and share that because i thought it was only about 50 effective which is much better than zero but um that's that's good to know thank you but you know if we could do that if we can get our teachers on that vaccine list then you know we we can get them back in person full time with with the effect of that vaccine that that that's my goal i'm trying to find ways to get us in school mr carr that then that's been moved and seconded so the discussion and the comment that i was going to make is that the motion as you have presented it presumes obviously that all of the department of health metrics and all of the necessary data is included as we evaluate through the 29th is that right um i mean i would go back i i guess i would go back to what we discussed last week and i know there are people who concerned about the one percent one and a half i in my mind thank you for that clarification in my mind i'm going back to that per school metric i know that there's concern i would highlight that there are other states who have adopted that on a statewide basis so this is not a unique thing and they did that at the recommendation of their health department statewide health departments in fact it's you know at least our neighboring state it's even more lenient because if it's under 1500 students then it's 15 cases so if you take that to an elementary that only has four or five hundred cases you can be three almost four percent of the students so um so i i would go back to looking at schools individually but we're already in hybrid instead of full time which is what we were looking at before i i don't have an issue with including that our own individual calculation couples with everything else around us simply because we're not uh isolated we're not an island we're subject to what is going on around us whether we like it or not um i i was going to maybe suggest that we add some language that should the metrics become better than we expect that we can revisit the issue i mean i i think that the positivity rate and the covet-like illness i think we're setting on a path for the next two weeks we already know it's going to get worse it could get somewhat better um but maybe not before the 29th so it's kind of hard to know i think we're doing this backwards in all due respect i i think that we i we should be virtual for two weeks and then look at going back even maybe full time at the end of the two weeks um and i i certainly am not a scientist and i think that we you know all of the information that we get we can get information from anybody that will say anything that we want them to say but today i had an opportunity i went with my husband to his cardiologist and i've had to take him to a lot of doctors appointments over the last two months and the only one i get to go in with is the cardiologist because the rest of them i have to sit in the parking lot and talk to the doctor on the phone because they don't let me in i don't know if it's me or just in general but at any rate after we got finished with his appointment he asked if we had any questions and i i asked him about this whole situation and i explained that we were having a board meeting tonight and i just said what is your opinion and he said that he works at chandler regional and at mercy on the weekends he's on call as a as a heart specialist and he said that that the toll that it's taking on the health care workers is beyond anything that we can imagine and he said if i said to you know we had a probably a 15-minute conversation and i'm not going to go through all of it and i i said to him if you were going to make this decision what would your decision be and he said no school right now so that's just you know what i heard today i think i would have a question for uh ms frost um i was wondering what what the dashboard looked like towards the end we went into hybrid those last two weeks but what was the dashboard when we were all in person i mean just to kind of gauge where we were it seems like for elementary and junior high we didn't show that many cases on our dashboard if you could pull it up and look at it i just just to kind of give us some uh guidance on when you pull it up miss frost just go ahead and come to the point yes that would be fine we'll continue our discussion additional discussion regarding mr carr's motion on k-8 i i know that that is um in part of those recommendations from a county i do have concern of looking at it differently between i guess we already have with our numbers though with our um these numbers the one percent one point five percent two percent i'm just trying to figure out how is that is that the best thing for our students first of all but also for our staff to have different staff have different requirements and are we are we asking are we introducing one more thing that now we've we again and i know this is i appreciate our staff our teachers i appreciate our families and students we have tried in every way these past this past year we have tried everything i think more than other districts to find ways to have students in school and keep our stuff and teachers healthy so i i know this would be introducing yet one more iteration of what we've tried so i just i'm a little leery of that but i don't know i don't know what the what the better alternative is there at least my recollection miss wood is that when we developed and devised the 1 1.5 percent and 2 percent high school through junior high and elementary respectively there seemed to be some general acceptance of that as a process at least as i was listening to folks speak to us at various junctures okay the other piece that continues to be a concern and consideration is our own dashboard those two items are not related necessarily but our own dashboard and whether the self-reporting mechanism is really a viable mechanism giving us strong conclusive and honest data that seems to be the concern with that there is at least a passing concern if not a solid concern related to the protocols of individuals whether those are mostly high school students but students on campuses and or other adults visiting campuses and the use of face coverings and appropriate kinds of behaviors related to health and safety issues so you know those are just what you think okay miss frost so december 1st our total for the district was 34 active cases december 9th our total was 71 active cases for the district and then december 16th was 66 active cases for the district and if i may i just wanted to address some of the questions about the dashboard because i do get those as well and i hope that people understand that there's absolutely no intent to make things look better than they are and that the method of reporting actually even though it's based on the fact that the family or the staff member would report to us county department of health knows about those cases as well so should a staff member or family member decide they don't want to report to us we will find out about the case eventually so people do need to be transparent about it and we have not had an issue with that i get emails somewhat frequently stating that people know that there are more cases than we know about and i think the misnomer is is that when you see students out of school because they maybe have a different illness or maybe they're quarantined the assumption is is they're positive and so then that's a dangerous road to go down because then you do think that there's all these positive cases rumors fly rampantly the other one is that the 48 hours so a person has to be on campus within 48 hours of their symptoms starting or with a positive test and that's not something that we came up with arbitrarily that's actually an epidemiology guideline because we know that somebody that is either symptomatic or has a positive test likely was infectious on campus in that 48 hours so we are following the guidelines that we've been given that's not something that we made up it's not been a directive of department of health for us to move farther than that 48 hours so if it's been four days then since somebody's been on campus before their symptoms start our direction has not never been that we would consider that an exposure on campus that's why we did not include those in the dashboard appreciate those answers but we could we could include those in the dashboard we absolutely they don't affect they haven't affected who was exposed at school but they maybe become part of the community the number in our community who has it we we could definitely include that the only question that i continue to have is if we could if we include that number and i have to let you know it's not a a huge number um if we include that number are we going to use that number towards the percentage of the campus to make that decision if we're going to hybrid and why and why would we whenever i get posed those questions i my question back is is what is the what is the thought process behind that what is the goal for that question um just same as i've been asked several times now can we publish the numbers daily monday would be a very difficult day to publish because we wouldn't get those numbers until the end of the day and monday is a very busy day because everybody's coming from the weekend can i physically mentally publish them daily yes but what is our goal what is that to what end um what do we you know or would we look at the numbers daily and then make a daily decision based on that i don't think that would be something that would really be feasible so could we report them daily yes but they do fall off after 10 days so those numbers would go up and down very much each day my my quick response and or reaction would be the goal of that would would simply to allow our public and our staff to have that running count right with the caveat that after 10 days these numbers drop off so that they that they believe in all honesty that they're receiving earnest data in a timely way and i understand that and i do agree to a point my problem is i think that no matter what numbers you put on there and how frequently there are still people that don't believe that it's actual numbers so um whether it would be soothing to people to see the number daily or if it would cause them or anxiety i can't yeah i can't say that's hard to know that dr sanders if i'm i mean we are all and i'm looking at myself we are all guilty of confirmation bias and so when we see a report that doesn't validate what our perspective is we automatically discount it it doesn't mean it's wrong it means we discount it you know and we and we all do that to varying degrees and and i have questioned miss frost multiple times on this dashboard we've done it in board meeting i know several of the rest of you i don't know i assume several the rest of you have probably done the same in separate conversations with her and i remain confident that the data that she has is as every bit as accurate as the county dashboard is because the county dashboard has lag time too yes there may be a case or two that are left off of there that we don't find out until a week later when we find out from the county so it may never appear on the live data but we do find out about it and we know where the inaccuracies are so i i recognize that not everybody believes in that dashboard but i have a great deal of confidence that it's it's as accurate as anything that we get out there in spite of sometimes i look at it and say those numbers don't look right um when i've questioned it there's a there's reasonable explanations for it dr santacruz dr mccord go ahead i think it's also important to point out that at the beginning of the establishment of this dashboard that we all knew that when it was reported on a wednesday morning that that was a moment in time and so i think if we go to update this on a daily basis i would recommend a tuesday through third or friday just the mere fact that a monday like ms bros said is is a very hectic day for all the nurses on our campuses they've done a tremendous job reporting everything that is reported to them and jen is very very good about making sure our running spreadsheet is updated on a daily basis and tabulating all the numbers for wednesday morning we can do tuesday through friday i think that would be more feasible than anything but i would not do monday just because i think it would be a a bit of a waste of our folks time because the numbers wouldn't be accurate and again they come into question i agree with you i don't have an issue with that and i don't have personally an issue with reporting twice in that week as opposed to every day or three times in that week as opposed every day but if every day from tuesday to friday is feasible and not absolutely onerous on staff and we can do that no issue with that but i'm not personally or professionally married to every day thursday through or tuesday through friday multiple times that week perhaps but may i make a suggestion maybe just try it for a couple weeks and then maybe you could report to us at the next board meeting or a policy meeting just um i it's up to the board i i would say if you did it every day for two weeks and then let us know whether that's too much of a burden for the nurses and for yourself that's kind of what i was thinking miss frost is your mic gun i don't think so is mr carr you had mentioned you know the one or two cases that we've had that were not reported that county sent to us and that's literally it so more than likely what happens is that somebody tests but then doesn't get their results back for seven to eight days for whatever reason because it's been so busy we've had so many cases and so that positive can't show up until it's actually fallen off the board already so that's really more than likely what happens we've literally had two cases that were not reported to us that county called us and let us know about so it's it's really i just want to make sure that our community understands that there are not people running around with covid that it's a secret at least in the school district i've made a lot of connections with the county investigators they know who to call they know exactly who to email so when they get a case if they if they thought that it was for our school district they would let us know and then i guess follow up just on the 48 hour thing that keeps coming up as well is that should we ask that that's reported on the dashboard so that there's no discrepancies when we're doing this again the reason is the reason it's not reported is because according to epidemiologists that you've been instructed by it is not those people have not exposed people on the campus and they're now quarantining correct so but that would that worries the languages on the website i believe it is explained on the website right but i keep hearing from teachers that there's that 48-hour thing so they i think that they think there's many more cases than are being reported well and i think the problem is is they exactly they think that you know there's 500 cases that just weren't reported in time i had a teacher email me the other day and say that she read somewhere that somebody is contagious for 14 days before they have symptoms and that's not clinically appropriate from everything that i've read from reputable sites so i have to only go by what i know the cdc you know american journal medicine i have to go by those sites i can't use directives from other areas that are not scientific and if cdc and epidemiologists at maricopa say 48 hours is what we are using then that's what i feel is more appropriate to use i don't know that it would solve anybody's problems if we reported cases that were not infectious on campus i hate to say that it i mean we have the gilbert data there's a gilbert dashboard for our city or town there's also our maricopa dashboard that has our cases within the school district so i mean i can do it i just don't know if that actually reflects a data point that that need that would right guide us in our decision making maybe we make a separate comment so thinking about it basically someone would have to if it was a normal school week someone would have to be find their symptoms basically monday morning and not go to school monday at all and get a positive test and not have been at school saturday or sunday right for that too but if it if again in the effort to be clear could we put a separate column with positive cases that have not been on campus or not to be quite you don't think clear we could um i just don't think that's the best use of my time okay um also it might it might um start to go into verbal violation just because oh that's you get more specific with a small group of people and then it's more easy to do i just do want to i want to make this as trustworthy as possible and i understand again i could do it i just i go back to why would what's the reporting do or is that a data point that we would use to make a decision okay so christmas break well christmas break so that's similar to why i think the december that first number that you read was lower i think because of thanksgiving break is that a true in thought it was lower because of thanksgiving break because then there maybe weren't as many reporters that's what i think people have said well if they were well it could be i mean but if they were infectious again on campus then we would report them right so i did get i did get over um the very beginning of christmas break so i think our last day was the 18th so up until monday i was getting reports of teachers or students that were positive as of friday they got their positive tests saturday at the post so those went against their school's numbers now because we didn't publish over the break they will never be an active case but it is a recovered case on that camp desert okay so okay good so you're still keeping track of all of that as recovered cases absolutely and so does that 48 that 48 hours doesn't ever figure into the active cases though the recovery cases i mean the reason well they have to be active in order to be recovered okay that makes sense thank you i appreciate that other discussion on mr carr's main motion i've had a request for a brief recess after this boat and mr carr just so that we all have an understanding of what it is you're stating can you repeat that yeah i'm going to try and get as close to what i said what seems like an hour ago but um k-8 will return in a hybrid fashion through the earlier of january 29th or when teachers have the vaccine made available to them so as soon as they have that vaccine his earliest dr senators wanted metrics in there as well well i said if we but i i think if the metrics were to change we could just revisit it um i don't expect a huge change between now and january 29th because we're going to see an upward trajectory and then it's got to come back down and that's really hard to predict so i don't think we need it i take my words back so so do we need to write and we would leave in place the metrics of one of well one and a half and two percent of the junior high elements yes we would we would leave that in place because we're already in hybrid though so would you that well that was my question i mean so are we saying that we would go to virtual if we exceed that since we're already in hybrid is that well in the previous motion that i wrote it was that we would we would go to hybrid for two weeks and if the cases continued to go up the original motion said we would go to virtual [Music] so i i i honestly don't think we need that because if we're in hybrid we're we're social distancing we've made those mitigation strategies stronger just on that alone that there aren't as many people on campus and we can spread out a little bit more so um so it's in my opinion it should be a given that all of the metrics govern and drive our decisions regarding motions that we make whether those are state county local metrics or our dashboard and uh gatekeeping metrics is worth one percent one point five two percent all of those should be a given as we work through that because when we talk about it in a board meeting we we constantly come back to some metric of some sort i i guess my my question i'm trying to think so we're kind of based on the county guidance that was given to us at the elementary and junior high level correct specifically we we are recognizing that we're we're not directly following the published county metrics because we have in place mitigation strategies that the county has told us are appropriate so we're following county guidance yes we are absolutely following county guidance that's outside those metrics um one could expand the utility of the term guidance to mean whatever verbiage is written in a manual or a letter or the metrics that are provided by that agency as well well and i'm not sure that we're going to have separate metrics that apply to me it's a matter of you know where they're saying that that we can have it even when there's community spread the metrics they're publishing is looking at the community spread so this is if we have the mitigation strategies they recommend we stay at least in a hybrid fashion even when those metrics are red but in in fairness to your concern i know i would rather again i'm going to be very clear to the public i would rather be in person and more and use metrics to go to hybrid but that's we're trying to find compromise here with that in mind if we're going to measure something we ought to measure the spread in our schools so i would go back to this school specific metric that we were just discussing because now we're looking we're not looking community spread we're looking at the spread in the school if we need to take additional action it would be based on what we're seeing at the schools i understand what you're saying so i i would either leave us in hybrid as as communicated or if we feel like we need to have a metric we make it this the school specific metrics and amend the motion to include those school specific metrics um otherwise we always we wouldn't have a measure but we can always as we have done come back and revisit the decision and change the model but i'd rather have a plan and at least the community knows what we're intending to do so i i would again i i would leave my motion if people feel like we need to amend it to include a metric i would go back to the school specific metrics that we have in place any additional discussion i guess again are we is this a way that we are able to address the need for students to be educated and get the in-person experience that we know they need and yet understand the the need for the mitigation of cohorting and extra social distancing i guess that comes i i agree i i would prefer to be in person school sooner myself i don't know i don't think any of us are in disagreement with that as a as a goal i don't think any of us are in disagreement there can i interrupt dr sanchez and i go back to question i think i was looking at your question from the opposite perspective of what happens if it gets worse all of a sudden it's clicking in my mind you are asking the question perhaps of if we see improvement do we return is it like okay i think that's where the disconnect was why i was confused i was reading into your question the opposite perspective so i i would agree with you if we see improvement in the community we ought to be going back sooner than later so if that's what you're suggesting then yes i agree with that well it's a it's a double-edged sword it works both ways you know if we see an absolute explosion in the community with the possibility as we're as was presented tonight by multitudes of folks that that could contaminate our own environments hasn't yet that doesn't mean it won't i think we have a much better chance of getting back to what you're you know the in-person learning by going virtual for a couple of weeks and looking and following the metrics that's that's my opinion well frankly i think this is a big compromise on the part of some board members i mean it's way more than oh sorry i i think i i know this isn't all that you want mizzy jetty i i realized that but i do think that it is a huge compromise if mr carr votes for his own motion i will say that um so i i think it is a huge compromise and i think that um it gives our ka kids that in class time and yet classes are smaller i know that they can be more socially distanced i think we need to be careful about mitigation strategies recess places like that but i think i think that um this is quite a compromise and i'm willing to accept it and vote for it so my comment related to miss eugetti's concern is and that is going virtual immediately is the strain it puts on the classroom folks and the staff to get devices appropriately allocated and accounted for and uh moving in a direction that would allow them to provide some form of instruction they need time to get those ready and that comment is just response to ms eugetti's concern not necessarily to the motion and i and i i understand all of that i mean and i understand i'm respectful of what everybody is saying you're ready to vote on the motion that is presented by mr carr using the guidance from the arizona department of health and the verbiage that he extrapolated from miss or dr sunshine's memorandum i guess you ready all right all those in favor of the motion and we're looking at k8 in the motion please signify by saying i i those opposed nay nay nay motion passes three two four one four one four one i'd like to have something else with me but that's okay i voted nick oh you voted oh i didn't hear you that three two oh sorry i'm sorry it's three two but it passes so we'll take a five minute recess and come back and pick up the 712 or the 912 issue five five minutes gca is going to have to figure its own way out i'm sorry i guess i want to ask why you voted no okay we'll reconvene we have a motion past 3 2 regarding our okay regarding our k8 configuration uh our next mission is to address the 912 issue related to return to school and we are ready to entertain a emotion well i moved that we do the same thing i guess for 912 at least to discuss that we just passed for k8 okay so is there a second i will second it for discussion okay and my understanding this would is that uh the configuration of language in the motion would encompass k12 i guess yes at this point is that what you're is that what you're indicating yes that the previous motion with the addition of k or 9 12.

yes additional discussion i i guess the one question i would have and maybe we can call on a high school teacher that's here is um i know they were doing hybrid for two weeks before the break um is doing hybrid considering that we are aware of high school kids doing things over the break that maybe it would have been wiser not to do um if the if going hybrid would be if they would feel sufficiently that they can distance from students or have fewer students in their room so that that's more comfortable and i i know there's at least two high school teachers here in the audience do either of you want to address that lisa do you want to say whether that you feel like that would be something hybrid going hybrid for four weeks would that be enough to make you feel comfortable for four weeks for everybody yes lisa i'm sorry can we get you to go to a microphone yeah can you also tell us which high school you know miss taylor pardon me this is a board meeting i can only speak for myself correct when i say that it's it's better than i mean it's better than nothing i felt much safer in hybrid than i did in full-time instruction um but my sister who is a health care professional points out to me that i'm still you know there the there's no difference in the amount of exposure but but it does provide for social distancing and that's you know that's something to be grateful for okay reduce numbers and social distancing yes and lisa you're at what school highland high school thank you miss taylor do you have a a comment on the 712 or the 912 format marcy no not really okay all right i think everybody here okay all right yeah all right any additional discussion i i guess i i mean that is one alternative does anyone have a different alternative that they want to maybe put before to discuss um i mean i i'd really like to see consensus and i i know miss eugenio's really struggling with this and i'm sorry so if no one else has another motion i i guess we go ahead and my uh you know my if i can step back and just comment before we vote my my concern with the hybrid and i think this has been alluded to but i just want to say my concern with the hybrid as well as the the virtual is the more people that i talk to in the community and the more that i actually observe when we have kids going to school only on monday and thursday or tuesday friday but we'll just use one example what that means is that monday night tuesday night and thursday night are not school nights and parents struggle to tell their kids oh you should go to bed at nine or ten o'clock at night because it's not a school night so when we have the kids in school less it's my sincere belief and i respect that others disagree it's my sincere belief that we actually contribute to kids being out more socializing more it's it may not be our intention but that's what happens um and so i greatly fear that as we go this model we're actually doing the exact opposite of what we intend to and we're we're increasing the likelihood spread likelihood of spread not decreasing it um so i i just i just throw that out there that is not an advocate i'm not advocating that that behavior is appropriate i'm just simply saying that's the unintended consequence of of some of these decisions and i think we actually put our community at greater risk but again respectfully i know that others disagree i think are you a high school teacher yes yes please go right ahead we're trying to fill our way through this global but i have my friends on the text message and i asked her the same question that you posed to the room and she said that um she would feel safest and virtual for two weeks and then after hybrid would make her feel far more comfortable and then of course pending a vaccine that would help so she she would feel more comfortable if we went virtual for two weeks and hybrid for two weeks especially considering the massive party that was held yeah she has a lot of concerns about um pre-symptomatic exposure i'm concerned about students but also how that works into that as well so [Music] i'm concerned about high school students and i know it again we're trying to balance meeting educational needs which i don't know that even hybrid i know it's not adequate it doesn't meet educational needs and i know it's a lot of work for teachers to do it it's a lot of work for parents at home and then it's a lot of down time for kids in the in the off too so i don't know i don't know what the right i don't know i i would still be concerned with with virtual for two weeks and then hybrid for two weeks i don't know i'm but i guess i guess we need to i think again my assessment of the discussion is that everyone has an interest in trying to address those needs those educational social emotional psychological needs of the young people who are under our charge along with their health and safety and the health and safety of the folks who are providing the service staff and faculty and trying to organize around those two principles the comment that miss eugetti made is consistent with our teacher from global academy and that is she would be comfortable with the two weeks of virtual and then to hybrid and assess at that time and that's not the motion but i think i'm interpreted what uh mr jetty's thoughts are i think that would be my sentiment as well except with the concern that i've already articulated and that is getting the devices allocated for all of our students particularly our k-6 students in an appropriate and orderly and organized manner and try to try to mitigate that downtime even though none of what it is that we proposed is an optimal educational format we know that kids are involved in in some cases less than but at least minimal learning and i'm not happy with that but i don't know how to address it so having said that is there additional discussion the discussion is that the language for the first boat on k k8 also encompass the 912 format with what is ostensibly the four weeks of hybrid instruction is that everyone's understanding of the motion it is okay with that then we will vote all those in favor of the motion as you understand it please signify by saying aye aye aye all those opposed arne i'm i'm sorry i i am really torn on this i i would like to know if someone has a different idea because um i i think hybrid for four weeks is a lot for our teachers and our students um i think two weeks virtual and two weeks hybrid is also a lot because that's that's a difficult challenge and i don't really see the metrics getting better in those four weeks so i i guess i'm if if someone has a different idea please put it forward before i vote because either we we pass or we fail so the vote count is i have heard it is a three two and it right now it's a two two because i haven't voted you haven't voted i have not voted i'm sorry to say um but again i'm i'm looking for if someone has a different motion and they would say so or put forward a different idea but at this point i guess i'm i because i'm not hearing somebody come up with something else i think the the splitting there is exactly as you've communicated that's either two weeks of virtual and two weeks of hybrid or the four weeks of of hybrid uh because obviously we have not entertained just going full bore with in person at this point well i was since since it hasn't passed at this point i mean i would certainly entertain that but i uh but i don't have the feeling that that would pass so i i think you'd be correct um i i did vote so it did pass but so we are in the configuration of four weeks of hybrid or our schools k through 12 for four weeks to january 29th santa cruz may ask a question of perhaps uh miss taylor or dr mccord if he's still with us coherent with us given his condition is there a possibility in at the high school level of letting those students who are attending from home still join the classroom via zoom or some broadcast or some way to engage them in actual schooling instead of just you know having the three days on your own in the two days in class i know teachers are doing the best but if we had that ability it seems like it would at least enhance our further education mr castellanos you want to tackle that question dr mccord i'm not ignoring you if you have something you'd like to weigh in on please do so i'll go ahead and address the technology side of it okay um so our classrooms aren't set up to do that the best a teacher could do would be to initiate a webex with the students and basically have their laptop open next to them so that when they're speaking then the students at home could hear but that teacher couldn't stray too far away from the laptop unless they had like a wireless you know mic or earbuds right so they had the microphone still so our classrooms just aren't set up similar to like what this board room is so could it be done yes the user experience for the students if the teacher stayed right by their laptop then they could hear them but you know that experience is that's up for debate on whether that is good or not right so dr santa cruz yes go ahead may i also say that when we are looking at hybrid for the spring semester we would be having students come alternating days so every other day they would either be in the classroom or not so it would not follow the same model that we had done previously where it was a monday thursday tuesday friday we were looking at every school day the group would come so a half the kids would come the first eight like day a and the next group would come day b day a day b and that would continue that way so there would not be as big of a gap other than just so one day in between they're in person during that hybrid time so if i interpret that let's go to let's skip this week because we only have four days this week so let's say i i this week or starting next week i might go monday wednesday friday and then i would go tuesday thursday then monday wednesday friday that's a pretty major change that uh i mean i would support it because it puts kids in the classroom more but that's a pretty major change that i don't think we've considered uh in this discussion so are you talking about that would start when would that start here in january or would it start it it would um this week because it's a four day week obviously this week we would continue as we have already stated and then we would begin next monday with monday wednesday friday or that group go tuesday thursday and then if there is a holiday just as there is in january then whoever whoever did not have class on that friday when they came back holiday monday tuesday they would have class so it'll be every other day okay so you're splitting the alphabet on a rotation monday wednesday friday for a through l one week just for example and then m through z tuesday thursday that week the following week it would be a through l monday wednesday friday and am i following you just okay yes on a regular week unless we had a day off somewhere in there but yes and and that format uh would be difficult to institute in your lower grades is that right we were talking about that k-12 we would be we would do that as a height yes so that is uh a morphing of the hybrid process as we know okay and the benefit that i mean if i take a two week schedule right now they're attending in person four out of four out of ten days that at least gets them to a fifth day i mean it's not you know i that almost sounds sad that i'm excited to go to 50 of the time but i would say also um i'm not aware of another district that has a hybrid schedule so their choices are limited to either virtual or in person i mean that was the discussion i i've been having discussions with a board member in chandler and that was kind of the discussion that they either went to virtual or they went in person because they don't have a hybrid option correct we are one of the very few that has a hybrid option for our k-12 although the school district i grew up in in utah has that hybrid option they're doing the same thing and so utah has been doing that since i was in high school there but the difference is it's not hybrid you do it you know one week you went yeah i went every day when i was in high school in utah read okay so that would be communicated dr newman to k-12 faculty and staff beginning this week in preparation for next week yes so our plan would be that um our parents and staff would be notified about the decision of course um tonight and then with the information specifically what as soon as tonight or tomorrow the communication would be that what the hybrid schedule looks like this week and then beginning and then we would follow up at the later in the week with what the hybrid schedule would look like the following week so not to confuse the two because we've already stated this week due to the holiday right my only request would be that that is thoroughly communicated to our students our our parents our faculty and staff and that they understand that this is a modification of the hybrid we have all been assuming over the past few times we've initiated that so if that that occurs that's that's an important feature all right any additional commentary questions concerns relative to this portion of the agenda if not we'll move to item nine point zero two uh dr santa cruz if i may i i just wanted to say um i felt there were a lot of good comments made tonight and i think the most important comment was that we all want the same thing for our kids and we need to find a way to unite and work through this difficult pandemic and it's it's not what any of us wants but i think we're all trying and um to do what is best and we may disagree about what that looks like but i think we're all trying so i did appreciate everyone that came and spoke [Music] robin you've been waiting patiently though global academy students who are doing like half hybrid half in person if we do that a b b schedule like some hybrid like learners are going to that's going to interfere with their classes like for example i have my ap biology class on like when we were in hybrid i mean i do my calculus class online and we're when we were in hybrid it kind of interfered with it good point i'm going to ask you to have that conversation with dr newman and share those concerns with her so that she can work with you and students like you with that kind of schedule to see what we can do for you yeah definitely right now yeah just anytime thank you okay moving to item 9.02 is discussion and possible action regarding the expiration of ffcra emergency paid sick leave it's taken us a long time to get to this point so is there a motion so that we can discuss that or before let me defer to dr mccourt is there something you want to say there or should i defer to mr mcintosh i'll just introduce it real quick and then mr mcintosh can pick it up thank you dr mccoy sfcra expired on december 31st of this year and that was uh basically paid time off for folks that had contracted color code related illnesses and as that expired the question came up what do we do for staff moving forward and um there hasn't been anything put in place by the federal government to reauthorize that as of yet and so as it stands today those that have covered or have to quarantine would essentially have to use their sick leave during that time so mr mcintosh you want to fill in the gaps good evening i don't think there are many gaps he said it quite well thank you yeah the upshot is miss eugenie go ahead i just think the important part of this is that that that our staff needs to know that it was not us that this was this is that this was the 10 days that was given by the their first cares act and then it was not um done again correct in april the federal government you know passed the ff the original ffcra which expired as dr mccord indicated december 31st there has been an expansion of that and there's some confusion out there because they're um when they just voted in late december to extend portions of the ffcra it did not include the paid portion for employees um to utilize these 80 hours as they were in the first semester so there is a piece of it that says that until march some employers can do that if they use their payroll tax credits we're a school entity so we don't have the payroll tax credits therefore we cannot qualify for that therefore there is no more um extension of that original paid sick leave act portion of it when you and i talked though you said there is a possibility that the congress could come back and reinstate that but you you don't have to guarantee it i have no guarantee of that it's my understanding and talking and reading everything through sherm and the hr professionals across the country that the new administration may come back and look at this piece of it during this time of pandemic but there's been no for sure and i think the other important piece too is is that this was an additional 10 to two weeks basically that didn't come off the sick leave and i think when you and i talked about this earlier um and i i don't even know if this is a possibility and i know we don't have emotion and that there might not even be any point in having emotion but i was wondering if we could possibly do something with our sick leave bank okay i'll be happy to give you the stats so far what we have because i don't know it might not even be worth having a motion um in the first semester certified staff use 1433 days in this relief act and our and our classified staff utilized 30 088 hours currently in in our medical leave bank on the certified side we only have 480 days and we only have a thousand hours so it would be depleted rather quickly if we tried to utilize that and remembering that in order to be a medical leave bank member you had to donate a day so in my opinion i don't know that that would be the best interest of the medical leave bank because everybody who donated a day would then may not have the option to utilize it in the future i think i think the most important thing is that everybody understands that this was not something that we did correct it just expired that is absolutely correct and i i think we need to explain to people why we can't just give them sick days why we can't just say okay take 10 sick days i mean the gift of public funds right if we were to start giving away sick days that were not accrued or not accrued through the agreed upon like memorandum of understanding and what we bargained for you know um it would be a gift of public funds in my opinion and talking to the attorney and the auditors that's also what they stated and that's just a big no-no i would get a big red mark on us right so thank you the upshot of all of that is that our covet-related sick leave money expired december 31st 2020 and it has not been reauthorized it was specifically earmarked for covid related illnesses if we have a faculty or staff member who should contract covet related illnesses they would be obligated to utilize their own sick leave if they have expired their own sick leave or utilized all of their sick leave we would have to look at other alternatives for them or they would be reimbursing the district is that correct that is correct they'd be if they're if all of their sick time was depleted prior to them contracting covet 19 at this time they would be paid off those days unless they were a member of the sick league bank previously they could request some time from that and as long as there is time and days if there's time and a a day or two available in that bank correct dr sanchez yes how many days did you say were used by the act first semester for by certified staff 1433.65 days it was for both groups that was just the certified and then on the classified it's 30 08 hours which it's hard to tell how many days that is because support staff you have part-time employees and you have full-time employees that would equate though if you'd used an eight-hour day it'd equate to 3761 days on the support staff side so we're close to the 6 000 day mark yes sir thank you dr mccord do you uh i don't see a need for a motion with item 9.02 is there some anticipation that the board take action on this item no sir very good board members are you okay with simply having the information for discussion i don't see a need for any motion related to item 9.02 so we move to item 10 which is adjournment item 10.01 is there a motion i move to adjourn there is a motion to adjourn is there a second a second thank you mr carr typically there is no discussion at this late hour certainly none all those in favor of adjournment please signify by saying hi hi all those pose the same thank you for your attendance those of you who stuck with us on livestream and those of you who came to the meeting we are adjourned

e e e um welcome to the Tuesday January 5th 2021 meeting of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission happy New Year this meeting is being held electronically to protect public health and safety due to the covid-19 virus and to comply with orders issued by the governor the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and or the watch County Health Department we intend to conduct this meeting similarly to an in-person meeting however please be patient if we have any technical issues public comment will be via telephone only to speak during any of the public comment opportunities please call 877 85352 47 or any of the other published numbers um and enter meeting ID 7281 this information is also available on the agenda it's in the Public Notices section of the city website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN channnel 16 AT&T channel 99 and online at a2gov.org CN and if you want to watch it that way you select the government Channel Mr Leonard can we please have a roll call yes uh commissioner Mills here commissioner milin here commissioner Gib Randall here commissioner s here commissioner abon here commissioner hamers Schmidt here commissioner dish here commissioner Lee here commissioner Clark we see your lips I see you here great your volume works too full house and Quorum excellent um do we have any introductions tonight Mr Leonard no we do not excellent so we're on to item number four which is the approval of the agenda may I have a motion to approve the agenda as drafted moved by commissioner dish seconded by commissioner Gibb Randall any discussion of the agenda all those in favor of the motion to approve the agenda as drafted please say yes or raise your hand yes yes yes commissioner abin thank you um I saw everyone's hand so there are n opposed so it me car unanimously um item number five is the minutes of the previous meeting May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the December 15 2020 meeting moved by commissioner abon seconded by commissioner hamers Schmid are there any discussion of the minutes all those in favor of the minute as drafted please say yes or raise your hand yes yes looks like everybody anybody opposed I don't see anyone so the motion carries next up is item six which is reports from City Administration City Council planning manager Planning Commission officers and committees and the written Communications we had a couple packets in our um email today um and uh previously um on the written Communications um council member dish do you have any report for us I do I do um lots of good news from Council last night we approved distribution of the transportation plan which many people are very excited about um we passed the annexations and we did not reone anything as uh was petitioned for to allow greater density because most of us felt that it was not appropriate to do that from the council table without public participation or appropriate screening by the Planning Commission um in the course of that discussion um concerns about the relationship between single family zoning and race came up and I'm just floating this and maybe it's completely inappropriate or not ible but I know we have a working session on that coming up and I wondered if we could invite Council to not really I guess not participate so much as just listen in if they wanted to um but I don't know if that's appropriate or even feasible so I'm just throwing that out there because like I said it did come up and then finally we passed the flood plane ordinance with enthusiasm and we would like to see a sequel um flood plane ordinance step two um which would make some extensions to the flood Fringe and so we wondered if or I guess I wonder um it was mentioned last night I think by Mr Hancock that that could be put by staff onto the hazard mitigation work plan um I wondered if there were any action either from Council or from Planning Commission that could that would be helpful or needed to initiate that and that is all I have to say and all I have to ask thank you very much commissioner dish um Mr Leonard anything to add yeah um as referenced uh by commissioner dish uh schedule for the working session next week um we're going to have a presentation by two professors uh from the University of Michigan uh Professor Robert Goodspeed and Michael Steinberg from the law school um they're starting some research on uh uh racial racially exclusionary deed restrictions specifically in the city of an arbor um it's still in process but um I had an initial conversation with them and I found it really interesting and given the planning commission's desires from a work plan perspective to um start considering the impact of such issues in in the city um we're going to kick it off with that presentation I'd be happy to share that uh meeting notice with the council members it's a um the working session is publicly noticed as well to everybody our planning updates uh list um so um I I will I will definitely do that um I also in regards to the questions about the flood plane overlay um that that Hazard mitigation plan is anticipated to be updated that'll actually be led by the public services uh department and we can definitely uh as Planning Commission wishes we can definitely um have conversations with them about the development of that it will probably ultimately end up a resource document as well as part of the master plan um I would just point out that I think that this this came up um this this balance did come up in the context of the initial consideration of the flood plane overlay zoning District that was adopted and that is what is the right balance of protection and um uh protection of existing properties and structures and protection of the functionality of the flood flood way and flood plan going forward so um I still would stand by that the the the changes that were put forth are an excellent balance of that um they they guarantee and protect property and structures while also providing some ongoing use of structures in the flood plane um it's not to say that the city couldn't go in a different direction and seek to amortise those uses out that's going to have a much more impact on a lot of property owners and structures so um I think that is something that the Planning Commission might want to think about as we go forward um if you want to have a voice one way or another in that that Hazard mitigation plan or as that's developed um that this is a good time to probably start thinking about what the Planning Commission position on that is um and then um we're still waiting on a confirmation there's also a possibility we will have a pre PUD petition presented at the next working session um unfortunately I haven't been able to confirm that but um if that shows up on the agenda um it's for um an existing PUD near the law school um that are seeking some potential amendments um and so um I'll confirm um via the agenda if that uh comes as well thank you very much um the do any other commissioner officers or committee Liaisons have anything to report out on I don't see anyone just to note that as I mentioned to when some were on the phone orc didn't meet um in December so uh that's the ordinance revisions committee um but I expect that we'll meet in January as our we've got lots of ordinances to look at and I would also just flag here that if people do want if those of us here do want to talk more about um the flood plane ordinance and the opportunities for that like we can talk about that in prop commission proposed business like that's the right place in the agenda to talk more about that okay um next up is audience participation um this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about an issue that's not listed as a public hearing on this agenda so the things that we'll have uh public hearings for are the near North Town Homes the Capital Improvements plan amendments to the permitted uses in uh c2b and C3 zoning districts the rezoning for the ruthan nature area and oakwoods nature areas um I want to flag though that there is no public hearing scheduled for the c1a c1a our um response to city council since um it's a communication and so if you do have comments about that you this is the time to speak about that um so you can feel free to digitally raise your hand to to that end um if you want to comment on that issue or any other issue again that's not a public hearing for tonight you can call 877 8535 247 and enter meeting ID 7281 City staff will select callers that have digitally raised your hand you do that by pressing star9 on your phone um you'll get an electronic me automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak um and Mr Leonard will uh announce you by the last three digits of your telephone number when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sounds that you might have so that we can hear you more clearly and please also state your name and address um at the beginning of your comments looks like we do have a hand up yes caller with the phone number ending with 556 uh you can unmute your phone and you have three minutes to address the Planning Commission hi this is Ral mcke 1116 Red Oak uh good evening I'm here to talk about Vol 11a the report on c1a and C1 AR I sent you an email earlier today I hope you've had a chance to read it in my short time tonight I'm going to focus on the affordable housing aspect first we all agree we have a crisis there we've had a ton of advocacy remember the outpouring to approv course bases so we could spend five million of City money on it recently the a20 plan said build quad plexes that'll help those that disagreed were shamed as fear m and in the summer campaigns incumbent council members were attacked for allegedly voting against it we've moved to develop City properties for it I like that but on 415 Washington City staff shamed objecting neighbors and that project isn't even going to be affordable in November we voted to tax homeowners 6 million a year for it at your next meeting we're going to be told about the racist history of single family zoning I'll tune in Mike Steinberg's an old friend of mine and then you're going to start uh Transit supported development all under the rubric of affordable housing what about lower toown approval in 2017 under C1 resulted in a loss of $9 million in affordable housing funds $9 million it was approved by running rough shot over the master plan which specified mixed use the original staff recommendation to deny said that loud and clear what changed don't know just the recommendation did any affordable housing Advocates squawk no deafening silence not a peep what did we get giant buildings full of 2500 a month apartments no retail and no affordable housing dollars zero if that process and results okay with you I should just stop now if it isn't you need to do something to shut the door on that because if you don't it might happen again and please don't say that was just one produ so was core bases so is Lockwood Lower Town was way bigger it could have been the biggest coup for affordable housing dollars ever and every parcel that's rezoned that way is one that might be a PUD with real dollars into the affordable housing fund or one that might result in premiums you have a chance tonight to actually do something to prevent another affordable housing disaster if you don't nobody should believe every again that you care affordable housing your words will be just more political hot air and viewed as a hypocrite the right thing to do is obvious here eliminate c1a or C1 and or at least limit it to where it really belongs please just do it thank you thank you very much if you uh I see another hand up on another caller if you want to address the Planning Commission on an item that doesn't have a public hearing tonight um that's star nine to raise your hand caller with the phone number anying with 534 caller with ending with the number ending with 534 uh please unmute yourself and you have three minutes to address the Planning Commission good evening this is Tom stalber I live at 1202 Traer Street in the heart of Lower Town um and I want to talk to you about c1a and C1 a r i sented two emails recently uh covering that I hope you had the opportunity to read those uh curiously the current report seems vastly different than what was discussed and voted on at the last minute and I'm sure you'll discuss that when the item comes up on the agenda I also want you to think about discussing whether commissioner Lee should recuse himself or be recused whatever the proper process is um nothing personal commissioner Le uh you work for Oxford properties uh you said you would do so for uh Transit support to development or T1 whatever we're calling it um and this is very pertinent here some people want to spread improperly spread c1a and C1 R where they don't belong and they want to take them and move them from the central campus business district to places with the word campus in them but without a campus business district such as perhaps North Campus where Oxford properties may very well have Holdings up and down Plymouth Road uh or manage properties for other people or say the South a letic campus where actual property certainly does have very significant Holdings so you know maybe this helps highlight what campus business district really is and what it really isn't and should never be I also want to talk about the garnet uh this body recommended replacing the C1 zoning with a PUD uh which the majority of council agreed with uh and I know that was a second goor around for everybody and that did result in $888,000 a private developer paid affordable housing funds um c1a was never appropriate for the garage for multiple reasons uh the campus business district kind of reasons the conflict that it had with D2 and our at2 D2 process and also the conditional zoning that was on that application uh that conditional zoning is specifically the type of conditional zoning that the courts frown upon that application should never have even got you because of that reason alone I could spent a long time talking about conditional zoning it's been misapplied and and you know I can't blame you all because you haven't been taught uh it's complex but we're doing it wrong and we're getting ourselves into very vulnerable legal Jeopardy if we keep doing what we've been doing with conditional zoning um with the garnet even though the majority Ved uh for the Pud there uh a minority really held out strongly because instead of accepting the affordable housing money they really wanted to set a present for improper up zoning improper use of Campus business district where it didn't belong and that was unconscionable for the that Minority on city council to do that so let's clean this up either get rid of c1a and C1 r or very specifically limited to the central campus business district where it was always intended where belongs and you don't have to worry about all the fixes you were talking about if you just keep it there thank you thank you I don't see any other callers on line Mr Leonard I do not all right then um we will move on to the next item of business which is uh item eight the public hearings for the next business meeting we have one public hearing scheduled for the next business meeting it is uh an item that previously appeared on the December 15th agenda it is the Lewis Jewelers retail Plaza site plan for city council approval and special exception use for Planning Commission approval um the request is for a 300 or a for at 300 South Maple a 1.98 Acre Site Zone C3 um and plans include demolishing the previous restaurant building and constructing a new retail building this was tabled on 12:15 and has been Ren noticed um they've made some modifications and we'll be returning it next meeting thank you very much we are on to our unfinished business um item 9A uh this is the near North Town Homes resoning and sight plan for city council approval with planned project modifications um as we do for petitions before us we'll start with a uh petitioner presentation uh the petitioner which Mr Leonard will start moving them kind of into the room um will have up to 10 minutes to present um then uh Miss Leo is here and can uh provide staff's uh presentation and then we'll open the public hearing before Planning Commission discusses the uh petition um Alexis and project team do you have a um one of you be doing any PowerPoint presentation and I can give you access to share your screen Alexis I can't hear you the double mute feature from the project team do you see everybody that you're expecting on the call now everybody from your team is here great I see some nodding heads yes there we go sorry I couldn't get my unmute unmuted it's a thing tonight it's totally okay it's 20 it's 2021 we got to stay positive so Alexis am I doing a presentation or is Lexis gonna kick us off I didn't hear um you you if you have a presentation to do do you have a PowerPoint or a visual you'd like to share with the Planning Commission I would love to share with the Planning Commission yes okay I'm going to give you uh access then and you can pull up your presentation and you'll have up to 10 minutes once you get started Ryan before you start I don't know if Anthony has access in case he has to speak on anything because I don't see him uh on video with us he texted that he he's listening because he's been texting me so um is he a w r um what did he say no said I'm here so um I don't want to I don't want to hold the meeting up um Tony you're welcome to text me if you can't speak that'll work okay all right uh you have you have up to 10 minutes um on make sure you can share your screen let's make sure we can see it yep all right that y we can and I'll give you I'll give you a note when you're when there's about a minute left okay I appreciate that um I know Alexis is a uh she's also going to have a presentation um she did a larger one last time I just kind of want to go over some of the things uh some of the the new documents with our submitt the site plan hasn't necessarily changed but we've added some detail some renderings Etc and then I'd like to go over quickly uh uh some of the Planning Commission comments that we asked for before we had it tabled last time so I just want to call everyone to uh we did renderings of the courtyard um we did additional renderings of the and this was also at the request of the of the uh when we had our neighborhood meeting they all wanted additional detail on how it would look Etc so we we did a series of of uh renderings to uh to better illustrate uh the site so so uh we have those you have the site plan from before um and I'm going to go to this rendering here just because it's my favorite um just just to highlight some things about the site we have that retaining wall over here uh on the uh on the east side to to maintain some of the existing trees along the property line um the this Landscaping has been crosschecked with our landscape architect this is meant to be as accurate as we could make it um because we have a we have a pretty good drop and grade across this side of the site um many of these homes on this side on the east side are are much higher and then as it drops to the north these homes back here uh they they get further and further away from the site so we have those to refer to um so so very quickly uh I'm going to go through uh the planning commissioner's comments and Alex milin and I I I right off the bat I want to apologize if I Slaughter anyone's name you you know I have the best of intentions so uh Alex um uh we had four bullet points from him he wanted to see some some additional renderings uh we have those um uh uh better color scheme doesn't like brown this is meant to be reddish uh we did we did change it I hope that it's a rendering so it's not the actual masonry unit but we we hope it look looks better um we did have another neighborhood meeting we had uh we had 16 invites and we had eight participants in that meeting and we incorporated their requests and explained um you know or we had explanations for their questions and the main thing we want to make sure is is as you recall from the letter uh some thought that the development had doubled in size and we wanted to make sure that uh it hadn't and we're right about where we were uh when we saw them in 2018 uh trash removal was unclear um we have oh let's let's start here down here is our uh screened refu uh uh container area we'll have uh Recycling and refu and the dumpster I try not to use that but yes the dumpster is there um that they'll it'll have a regular gate that's brick but it'll that's not very accurate but um that's where it's located and on the site um it's located here uh we have a we have a truck radius here uh from the sanitation department they reviewed this we went back and forth on a couple things I changed the orientation of this to help the turning radius and they're meant to come in this way come into this area labeled no parking back in and then leave um that is that uh phasing um the building is phased in so far as it's It's Des because the building steps as you go north south to North and because we Step at those wall sections we can actually call that a phase line if we want to stop it there um that's just Aus in construction for any reason economy weather Alien Invasion whatever if we have to stop for some reason we have a phase line to get to but the intent is to because of where it is Main Street um all the factors that you could bring up it is intended to um build as one building that does make the most sense but we we had to reserve the uh the opportunity for that um Shannon Gib Randall um I believe we discussed if it was in line with the master plan the first time and it is and Alexis can confirm that um solar roofing um I'll go over that in a little bit um those were her two comments Ellie abon's uh what contributions uh what contributions besides open space uh um we we uh we made a donation to the park fund of $10,000 um uh according to hoil uh we need one of three we're we're proposing more open space our North Side setback and we have a pedestrian orientation uh in this area here well if you can see we have a break in the brick there because there's a staircase that goes down to Main Street um right through here so this is a public this does not enter a unit this takes you up into the Courtyard area and then this is meant to be a uh Ingress and egress for all the unit members uh uh in the building to access Main Street um we hope that and then we we also have a staircase over here that also gets us out to Main Street so we have uh I think I think we're pretty pedestrian oriented um then Sarah Mills um she lik the doors on Main Street they they are still there EV ordinance um we consulted uh well Alexis did an analysis of the EV ordinance the flood plane ordinance in the in the in the amendments to the zoning the general zoning um based on her suggestions and our desire to um be part of that ordinance we're going going to and so we exceed what the ordinance would require and Alexis can can confirm that we're going to um uh complete all the garages in they'll all be EV cap uh capable with stations we're going to install the stations in all of the garages so that every every garage will be will be ready for plugin for two vehicles so all the garages we'll have um stations installed and then we're going to run the conduit out to the other parking spaces so that they'll be capable or ready uh uh if the if the association so desires to do that with the outside parking but we will provide stations for all of the garages um flood plane ordinance uh I Alexis can confirm I believe Jerry gave us uh clean bill of health on complying with the new flood plan ordinance um so we're happy for that Lisa so hope that's correct um she had flood she echoed the flood flood plane questions uh from Sarah um Lisa Jane D I hope that is um she is not comt able with three items of contribution adding up to be enough that was part of our motivation to um kind of lean into the the EV requirements and make sure we added something to that um B based on her comments um Sarah hamers Schmid uh about a minute left oh okay she basically had questions about the citizen par participation meeting uh you know we we had we had a third one I think we addressed everything um that that they had and answered their questions um and then electrification so on uh electrification we are let's go back to the rendering the renderings do Show solar panels um we we have we have we have engaged a consultant we are looking at that uh we're comfortable enough to show the panels on we're not sure what we can offer or what we will offer uh uh in regards to solar as far as electrification uh we're we're going to be mostly fully electric we will have uh we will have um I want to use the right heat pump we we consulted with a um Heating and Cooling uh consultant and so we will have heat pumps electric heat pumps in 80 80% of the units except for the corner units uh the corner units uh it just won't be enough for them without an a lot of additional uh help to produce the heat so uh we will be uh natural gas on the corners but we will be 80% heat pumps and and then electric electric uh water heat Etc um so the only okay and so that that concludes my presentation thank you very much um I think Alexus is still working on her connection here just give me one moment okay there Alexis you know I'm I'm sorry but Alexis really does have the most up toate information would it be okay if I suggest we take about a five minute break and um I can see if I can help with some technical is uh support to get her online that sounds great so by my computers clock that would be 742 let's actually let's come back at 7:45 great we will take a eight minute break then and see everybody e e e I e e e are all back so uh we'll call the meeting back to order um Miss Deo uh staff presentation thank you uh I'll just speak um and go over the staff report I do have um a last month's or last um meetings PowerPoint presentation that has um um the uh street view of the site and things like that I also have access to the renderings on the site plan um but because this is a returning project I will go over the um New staff report and then any materials or visuals upon request so as mentioned this is the near North development 700 North Main Street it is a rezoning a site plan for city council approval with plan project modifications um it was previously uh discussed following a public hearing on November 17 and it was postponed the Planning Commission asked for a bit more information um about it and I and between the applicant and I we have assembled some additional information for you regarding Solid Waste and Recycling operations there was a question about that there is a single point of collection on site it can be accessed by um service vehicles um heading in and the those Vehicles can turn around and exit the site also heading out that also means that the fire department can head in uh head in and turn around on site and um head out as well the petitioner um actually held an additional neighborhood meeting by zoom on December 17th um an updated summary of or a summary of that meeting was emailed to you just last night it's also in the project file uh you had asked for an analysis of the proposed and as of yesterday approved flood plane management overlay District regulations um this building is outside of the flood plane and floodway therefore it is neutral the new ordinance does not apply um so it apply it complied then U before yesterday and it continues to comply with all of our flood plane regulations uh you've asked for an analysis about our um pending or our contemplated amendments to plan project modifications in the staff report I've gone through the basically the two amendments that we are considering and then I offer an analysis the bottom line is that um for the proposed changes which are to repeal or delete the plan current plan project section and to um expand one aspect of flexibility that's already offered and offer an additional area of flexibility for height so for what we're considering about setbacks the project um either fully meets or does not meet at all it meets meets the um setback line and yard Alternatives that we already offer to multif family zoning districts for the South Side um but we don't currently offer and we are not contemplating offering any flexibility for rear setbacks and this project needs a rear setback modification so under the proposed scheme they' need a variance um regarding height it could meet the exceptions that we are offering um and it kind of depends on what the applicant and the developer um might want to do um the proposed Building height is within the 30% increase that we are offering but they would need to make um more commitments than they have um regarding sustainability or affordable housing um so in summary the project complies with some of the pending amendments but it can't be approved as proposed with those amendments I personally think that that's a little bit more of a reflection on the Amendments rather than on the this project itself um if this is the kind of project that we would like to approve with the Amendments we'll need to take another look at the Amendments but again the these amendments are just contemplated they're not adopted so in terms of what is actually today's code IT staff argues it's our opinion that it meets um the current code now the code is a little bit discretionary but we have said in our staff report that we think it is approvable based on the justifications and the modifications that they're asking for you'd also um I will mention that we emphasized to the applicants the sustainability and affordability um priorities of the Planning Commission and city council um at the time the staff report was written I didn't have much information about that I we since have some commitments which I understand are were phrased as a consideration but are actually the um development team is going to install some solar panels on the roof they've been working with a consultant or contractor about that for zoning history this site has always been zoned off this site was zoned office for decades until 2009 and after which it was zoned PUD there's never been anything other than originally office o and now ped um a few site plans have come through and either been approved um and expired or have been withdrawn um additional renderings have been U prepared and finally conformance to the EV parking requirements um it's looking like the uh because of timing the electric vehicle requirements will apply to this project um and I have worked with the design team on making sure that the project complies what they'll need to do is provide six um charging stations and um 40 some um EV ready or 35 EV capable and 14 EV ready and I know that um this that this should not be too much of a hurdle this is brand new construction um and we're talking about uh six stations and then basically Readiness um which should be um easy to do and we'll take almost no site plan revision to do it um um to get that under construction um we staff continue to recommend approval of the project um we have found that it meets the plan project standards um for approval the site plan meets the standards of approval and we support the proposed rezoning from Pub to r4c as I mentioned at the beginning I am happy to um answer any additional questions also show any additional materials that either from the previous meeting or new things that the applicant has provided thank you thank you misso um now we will open the public hearing for this item this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed near North Town Homes development the public comment be be may be made by calling 877 85352 47 and then entering the meeting ID 7281 City staff will select callers that have raised their hand one by one and call and Mr Leonard will call on You by the last three digits of your telephone number you raise your hand digitally by pressing star nine on your phone you'll hear an automated announcement um that the host is allowing you to speak and please move to a quiet area and mute any background sound so that we can hear you clearly please also state your name and address at the beginning of your comments looks like we do have a hand up caller with the phone number ending with 134 you have three minutes to address the Planning Commission uh thank you Mr Leonard and chair Mills this is Ken Garber 28 H Hill Court um listening just now to the petitioner comments on building electrification um when he refers to a mix of heat pumps and gas with gas for the corner units you might want to dig a bit deeper into that during the discussion period um heat pumps can mean a lot of different things are we talking about individual air source heat pumps for each residential unit or are we talking about a vrf system vrf stands for variable refrigerant flow with vrf one central heat pump plant has refrigerant Distribution Systems serving individual spaces which have their own thermostats very efficient low utility bills quiet operation um Mitsubishi and some other vendors now offer some extremely efficient vrf systems that work well in our climate um I I'm agnostic on individual heat pump systems for units those are also good um but commission may want to put this question to the petitioner during the discussion period what we don't want is Pac units that stands for package terminal air conditioners or something similar these are the individual units that you see mounted in some hotel room windows that are basically individual air conditioners that can heat the room when you reverse the flow um uh these are uh expensive to operate very inefficient don't think we want those um I assume the petitioners not proposing that but you may want to check um also will the water heaters be heat pumps or will those be gas fired um that's another major source of greenhouse gases uh those are my questions and and um I look forward maybe to getting some answers uh later on today thank you you very much if any of the other callers wish to speak at the public hearing for this item it's uh star nine to raise your hand seeing no others I will close the public hearing and read the proposed motions from the uh which are in the staff report oh there is a hand so I'm G to open it back up I was too fast didn't allow for the TV delay sorry hello this is Tom stalberg again uh from 1202 travor I also want to make sure everybody knows that I um I'm manager and part owner of two adjacent properties to the North 110 and 112 East Summit Street um I want to start out by saying for the most part I do support this project I think it's a a good project uh I um want to recognize Ken garber's questions and hope those are answered um those are important uh things to answer I I do want to mention that uh the current plan project modification ordinance is something that we challenged in our lower toown lawsuit and don't feel is legal I don't think this is the place uh for us to make a a big stand on that uh because of two reasons one the Planning Commission has recognized that that uh plan project modification needs elimination and replacement and you're well on your way to doing so uh and that you've offered a couple different paths that developers can take one towards affordable housing another towards sustainability and this developer uh has been following their suggestions um towards the sustainability end of things uh with the electric um uh water heaters heat pumps solar EV Chargers Etc so you know I leave it to you to have that discussion uh if they've gone far enough or not um but obviously they're moving in that direction uh so again I'm I know you have to approve this under the current plan project modification ordinance not the one that you propose uh and again I have objections in general to the plan project modification ordinance but I'm not going to make a stand on that here because overall I think this is an appropriate project for the location uh there's something kind of similar to it uh just uh uh a little bit to the uh I'm losing my orientation here a little bit closer to downtown um and that uh it is appropriate the former PUD for this site was really a hail Mar pass uh for the former developer to try to get out of uh a lot of debt that they were in in a troubled time and partnering with on housing to do that so uh that was always going to be dicey in terms of financing that and so I don't think that's a good standard to measure any other project for this location by and that measuring this project uh how it stands on its own and compatibility the neighborhood and master plan and Zoning of surrounding areas I think a fine I think this is a fine project in terms of those measurements thank you thank you very much now there aren't any more phone calls I think that haven't spoken is that you're understanding to Mr Leonard that's correct so now I'm safe to close the public hearing and read the Motions we have two the first is the an arbor City Planning Commission hereby recommends that the mayor and city council approve the near North resoning from PUD planned unit development to r4c multiple family dwelling the second is the Anarbor City Planning Commission hereby recommends that the mayor and city council approve the North site plan with planned project modifications to a increase the maximum height to 33 Fe 6 in B decrease the Southside setback to 15 feet and C decrease the rear setback to 22 feet subject to I maintaining 43% open space double I maintaining 1132 feet North Side setback and triple ey having front doors facing north Main Street garages underneath and accessible only from the interior of the site and development agreement subject to receiving preliminary approval from the Wasa County water resources commissioner and addressing outstanding engineering comments prior to scheduling for a public hearing of the city council moved by commissioner milstein seconded by commissioner S I didn't ask before any objections to taking these together And discussing them together okay so we will we will discuss them together anyone want to start out with comments or questions commissioner dish sure I would be uh I would just love to hear a response to Mr garber's Question um I think his first question is the more important of the two as I understand it from your December 14th memo you will have electric water heaters and um I guess so that that's electric electric powered by gas um yeah yep I I uh I took a call just now because I wanted to make sure I I know what I'm talking about because I don't know what I'm talking about with regards to hbac uh these are going to be electric heat pumps split systems um the proper very efficient ones uh not the um PTAC unit he um Ken was talking about so that that that that's that is what we're proposing there'll be all electric um P pumps not pxs um they they will be sufficient and and uh they are fairly cost- effective actually so it sounds like a split system is not the the brf Central system but individual units that are not the evil Pacs is that where we are correct anything else commissioner dish um the only thing that I'm still unclear about is the where we are with the commitment on solar it was a little unclear in the in your presentation earlier I thought you said you've put them in the renderings but you're not sure how you're goingon to deliver that that is correct so still a consideration and not a commitment on the solar panels not a commitment uh we're not sure how well they'll work based on our roof space and the design the the um the the uh contractor that we have looking at it um can't really commit to a system that provides a lot of solar energy and so due to that we we went further with the EV and the heat pumps uh due to that rather than it really the redesign to those there the units are fairly small actually in footprint and we need the Peaks and the roof and the Dormers the way they are so it was difficult for to get a proper sgoing view with enough panel to really make a difference that's all from me for now commissioner Gib Randle we just lost commissioner Mills with some internet connectivity issues would you mind assuming uh running the meeting any other comments uh commissioner milin um so can we talk about the mini split units um from I very limited uh knowledge about this but I just installed a mini split system it's actually right above me here um and then there is a condenser unit I I don't know if that's the correct uh uh if that's the correct terminology but there's a unit that's inside that I'm looking at right above me then there's a unit outside um and so I'm just wondering um if if this is a similar sort of system that we're talking about a mini split system which I at least this is the way my system was described to me um with the condenser unit outside all of a sudden I'm assuming every bedroom would have this sort of a system installed um every floor would have to have this sort of system installed so we're looking at for every one of those that'd be condensers outside so in a let's just say an average unit we're looking at potentially four condenser units outside um is that my understanding I know if I don't know if that's a question more for staff or the petitioner but that seems if that's the case that seems like a problem to me especially on a um on a Condo building this large well the uh there's one condenser no air handler uh could could you share the doc could I get a document share please uh you should still have the ability to do so just go ahead and share your screen yeah and if other Commissioners have more information on that feel free to jump in um I'll yield my time so I can get a better understanding of of this all right the um we have condenser uh sorry I keep pulling out the we have screen condenser area on the top of the building Brian go to the aerial I think that shows it pretty W the aerial shot right there no there's one that's more vertical and it's looking down at the roofs you have that one there I think you showed it earlier uh oh right there yeah yeah so right here we have those little Corners right there yeah these are screened condenser area uh for the for the um Heating and Cooling on on the top underneath the eve within the courtyard so it isn't it isn't pointed towards the neighbors worrying you know when you get a bunch of these together uh they're within the courtyard and they're and they're on the top in a screened area and is one condenser unit enough to support an entire unit or will be are there is is there just one condenser unit or are there multiple condenser units I am going to have to ask I one condenser okay one condenser outside um INF furnace inside yep yep one condens continuous texting of one condenser so I I have to go with that okay and that and that was the reason for the redesign here on the roof for that okay all right I will study up more on that um and then the next question I have is going back to the phasing and this question is more for staff not for the petitioner um I I don't seem to recall that we've maybe it's just my memory that we've had a condo project like this have phases um especially a condo project that's small having phases I just a little concerned you know as the petitioners mentioned that you know what if the econ something happens to the economy they can't finish the project things of that nature of what would happen with the rest of the property and the individuals who own own the units there so um the staff have any comments about that Mr Leonard or missio um in regards to uh phasing if this is common and how this impacts us from the from the city's point of view uh would need um to to for some help on the the how it would impact the association and the and however many homeowners there are at the time I agree we've not seen many um projects as small and and single building projects um put phases in but I can tell you that it um should not be a problem just purely in terms of phases um the they have put the phase lines that sort of between the units and I can can can see from just that site plan perspective um if they were to to stop at one of the phas line points our code is set up that for um all improvements shown in the first phase that benefit the entire project and then whatever improvements are shown in that phase um are needed to get certificates of occupancy so it works from that aspect um I think logistically once you start and for the foundation I think you're kind of obligated to do the whole building but if they decide some of the outright that they're going to do the foundation in stages as well it works from that phasing perspective but I couldn't answer right now how it would affect a homeowners association um or not okay I guess then my next question would be to the petitioner in regards to the phasing um you know where you have your phase lines um if ultimately you stop at the end of phase one um and you've sold those units with phase two um you're going to need cooperation from the people who live in Phase One in order to continue building um so I'm just I'm just trying to get a better understanding of like how is this are you truly planning on building this uh in phases or is or is there a financing reason is there another reason why we're seeing phasing on such a small project especially such a small project that's all really just one building um there there are several reasons U that uh could could come up for a product like this um but we we we know that we have to put in all the utilities to make whatever what the likelihood of phasing it is very low but due due to the type of construction the the way that the building is designed it gives it it it offers itself as an an opportunity to phase if we need to but we have to put in all the utilities in the in the entirety for the site so it would be um it would be fully functional and the phases would just be a matter of um getting back out there and just just pouring the footings and doing the buildings themselves all the sanitary and water leads storm sewer the you know uh pavers uh pavers is one of the reasons um we have a brick uh grass pavers in the in the lower area and that's one reason we wouldn't want to phase but it it it lends itself to an opportunity to do that and sometimes uh you need to um we don't we don't we we don't want to make it a sticking point out okay Mr loner it looks like you have a yeah I just I just want to add on that it it is atypical um I I I I don't want to I don't mean this to be flippant we from a city perspective we care less about how the phasing is going to affect the homeowners asso association we care more about the responsibility of the developer transitioning to the homeowners associations to make sure all those obligations happen sure we can arrange for that to happen I think the other thing that could be happening here as well is that keep in mind phases are also really important for the issuance of certificate of occupancies and so um one of the things that we actually convey to petitioners is think about your phasing when you submit your plan because um for example if you have a large project but your desire is to maybe close on a couple of units before the entire development is complete we can't do that if it's all one single phase so I would say that another thing that could be considered here is the ability to um it it might very well be a sort of a singular construction phase but that would afford them the opp opportunity to apply for certificate of occupancies on a more sort of intermittent basis for just a portion of the building as they proceed great thank you gandle thank you for stepping in during my technical difficulties again happy 2021 I guess huh who there done that commissioner sove just jump in on the end of the vrf um the condensers and line sets it makes sense that you can kind of you can split line sets from a single condenser into distribution units inside and I guess that's my question about the corner units and their size capacity and the rationale that you can't do in vrf because you could do multiple condensers to be able to increase capacity to cover the square footage so I'm curious about why those ones are opted out when you could just increase the system um just the uh the diffic the our HVAC consultant stated the the the corner units are very difficult to do uh just just based on um the capacity of the amount of heat uh we do have the opportunity to put in uh electric um um uh we can we can add electric heat to the duct work um to pump up the heat because of the because of the corner units but um if um if doing the corner units is a sticking point you know we can we could look into that and and at the at the council meeting we could present something there possibly I think it's worth it I've done the system in large commercial buildings so I think a large town home is feasible to do it just takes you know a little Ingenuity so yeah I would request that that gets looked into um some more as this proceeds I'm I'm not concerned about it holding this up at this point but I do want to reinforce that um there's strong support to see it Go in all of the units and I believe it's possible um and so as as it moves forward and gets the approvals um that would be an important thing to see not a not a problem thank you any other comments questions for the petitioner staff commissioner Gib Randle um I would just like to say that um I appreciate all the research that staff did to figure out kind of how things comply with what's coming and all of that sort of thing um and I am heartened that like the EV thing is is um in line um and that the it meets flood plane ordinance and and things like that I personally don't feel like we need to hold them to the new plan project um standards that's that's that's how I personally feel about it I think that you know again they're not in code yet um and uh I feel like in terms of just the length of what it takes to put these things together and then at the very end to say oh here's these different standards you can apply and they have changed but Shifting the whole footprint around and and and changing how all the architecture goes together feels like a pretty big ask for something that we're kind of asking for at the very end so I personally am comfortable with them complying with the um the the current plan project and not the the um impending um plan project so I just wanted to kind of put that out there and and say that that's how I that's how I um feel about that right now um uh I appreciate all the work you've done to try to upgrade things and to address our concerns um I personally didn't get a chance to look at the um to look at the meeting minutes and I'm just wondering if from your public meeting and I'm just wondering if you could kind of characterize it for us in terms of just the I know that some of the neighbors were kind of you know had felt like oh it's been two years and things like that and just how the meeting went um from your perspective since it was only just a couple of weeks ago yeah it was um it was the questions I thought they would have they didn't have uh but mainly it was it was around renderings uh trying to interpret just exactly what is going on um that there was there was no uh question about doubling of the size of the development um I don't I don't know if uh that person was on the meeting um but um it really was just questions about the uh the patio what it looks like how do they see it the Landscaping uh the store owner to the north on some had a lot of questions about what is he going to see looking South so the renderings uh obviously were the answer to really 90 90% of the questions there there were some marketability questions you know a lot of the normal questions um but um it was really what's it look like okay and so the renderings just kind of help clarify yeah all all that okay I was just they have been supplied those renderings and I answered questions yes yesterday in this morning uh about those renderings and I marked up a couple for them and um as you can see we only had a couple Callins I think we took good care of it okay um yeah so I I feel supportive of the project I would like to see you know even if there's some solar I feel like it's still something um in terms of what's on there um so that's my that's my sense of it um I know that now that um because of the way the rates work with DTE that it actually makes some sense to have uh your solar on the west side of your house as well which is when people tend to be home because um uh we're putting it we have it on the south side of our house and we're going to put it on the west side of our house because we get kind of 100% of our money back when we are actively there using things and so it's sort of the way that DT has changed things it it's ended up kind of Shifting the market in terms of where it feels viable to put them so it may be something that you kind of talk to your solar consultant about that um uh and again I don't think anybody expects that it's going to be 100% of the energy use of the building but even if it's you know 15% where got that on another project that's still maybe what it's going to take to charge the the cars you know that are there so um I still would like to see some effort towards that but I appreciate the effort that you've put so far towards all the other sustainability components I'm I'm very heartened to see that any other comments I'll tack mine on to those oh go ahead commissioner Lee thanks um I'll I'll make mine quick it might be a little late in kind of the comment process and and I'm fairly new so please bear with me um my only comments really were that the north elevation to be perfectly Frank seemed a little boring and uh I I think that you know I'm thinking of the North traffic coming off you know uh it's kind of the Gateway into downtown if you're coming off of 23 and so I would have loved to see a little more you know I like the materiality on the facade towards Main Street so I I thought that looked great the Limestone and the wood uh adornment on the Windows looked good but the North elevation is just you know one big brick wall so uh you know it seemed just a little Bland so that that's my one thing but I'm not really asking for anything again I'm fairly new to this so please take uh my comments with the grain of salt um that it would be helpful to try and you know create a little more I guess complexity uh from that standpoint um enclosure enclosures I'm going to switch over to condensers I think the enclosures uh made a lot of sense one of the things that I know my condo association is dealing with is when people are getting different condensers because they're at the end of their useful life and they get you know different models and then you just get away from the uniformity of that design um my question to the petitioner what uh how long a construction timeline does 22 units take uh so when when you're talking about phases as Alex was pointing out what is um your expectation for construction timeline from this time that you guys get the you know thumbs up and go um well we would like to uh we would like to get through the construction plan review process and all that and possibly break ground in late spring early summer and um you know that's going to take uh it's going to take six months to a year to um get that finished up um I would imagine baring uh all the other all the acts of God Etc okay six to 12 months um if is I please let me know if this is an appropriate question what what is this going to Market at like what's it going to be sold for I'm only asking because in the meeting minutes with it referred to I defer to owner so um do you guys know what you're going to Market at in terms of sale price uh um I've heard I've heard many numbers bantered about by the owner but uh it's in the three4 of a million somewhere in there could be more could be less I fig it'll probably be more if the market continues to go up but uh something around that got it um okay that that's all the questions I had thank you very much anyone else commissioner milstein commissioner Lee that was one of my very first questions for the first year I was on the commission of every single petitioner to only later find out that they're always way more optimistic before us uh once they got to Market it was a very different number but I appreciate you asking the question thank you I'm here to learn and uh I just I think it's important for you know at least some expectations you know we pushing $550 a square foot oh my gosh so um all right thank you very much I want I will follow up on some of the comments the thread throughout about sustainability and largely Echo um and won't repeat uh what commissioner Gib Randle said in terms of you know we are beholden with what ordinance we currently have in terms of the plan project modifications and what's required um but really appreciate the petitioners looking back into um what elements well first of all appreciate staff doing the comparison to help us understand as we're changing things like do what impact this might have um I think it's it's helpful when there's things there's projects fresh in our mind also just to uh reiterate what I heard from the petitioner for everyone is that you know electrifying the the um um space uh conditioning for at least the units in the middle was cost effective is that fair I mean I that's a comment that I heard and so um I think that that is very promising for our discussions going forward and and to have in our um in our minds um I you know I have no strong opinions about those Corner units but looking a little bit more into that if there might be an opportunity there I think makes sense the other thing and um in terms of solar similarly like looking at what the opportunities are I wanted to just um look at the EV ordinance and make sure that I understand the numbers so based on um what Miss Deo said about what the requirements will be would be it would be for six um charging stations in total and what I heard the petitioner say was that there would be 22 charging stations is that right yeah I I'll make that clarification because Alexis didn't hear that she suggested six to meet the ordinance um besides having have have the others capable and ready um we we decided because uh we we we're not very confident in the Solar piece of it and some other comments from the Planning Commission we we there just wasn't a reason not to put stations in all of the garages I and again kind of in that trade-off right because of the you know I that is going above and beyond on on a sustainability element so I really appreciate that and I think what you'll also probably find is that if you can couple those charging stations if there's batteries that you can actually those solar pan like the solar becomes then very cost-effective you have lots of electricity load so um you know again I'm not going to push hard on that that's not a requirement even that you have considered it and you know right now within the current plan projects being so you know um solar access is or solar oriented design is something that we look at so um I think that towards the current plan projects modification um list of things your pedestrian orientation is is the thing that I can hang my hat on now but I'm I I would say I appreciate again um pulling this more in alignment with where we are as a community going um and and I'm glad that our pushing helped illuminate some things that are cost effective too so um and good for the environment isn't it great when we have win-win for that so um I am in support of this proposal any other comments questions I think Mr Leonard we're ready for a roll call vote then okay so this is on uh both motions as presented in the staff report commissioner Mills yes commissioner milstein yes commissioner Gib Randle yes commissioner soov yes commissioner abon yes commissioner hamers Schmidt yes commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee Yes commissioner Clark yes motions car very good next up city council for you all thank you very much all right yeah thank you very much uh I especially want to thank Alexa for doing a great job being available all the time and really helping us out with suggestions and uh we want to give her a lot of credit for being here we have a fantastic staff we are fortunate as a community so thank you all right good night everyone happy New Year Happy New Year to you okay next item of business is 10A which is the fiscal year 2022 to 2027 that's up 2027 um Capital Improvements plan the CIP um this is uh the petitioners effectively the city this uh so we'll have um Miss golin providing a presentation and then we'll have a public hearing um before our discussion and she should be coming in here momentarily good evening Missin thank you I was afraid I was gonna have poor Alexis's problem hold this up but it's good all right so who has the PowerPoint for this um actually we're just going to do verbal awesome great jump in dab at you're ready all right so since this is a public hearing I know that most of you um are pretty familiar with the process but I know we have council member dish who I believe would have come on board after the work session and members of the public uh may not be that familiar with the process so I'm just going to briefly go over you know what a capital Improvement plan is why we're here uh looking at uh taking an action on it here in the next meeting or so and then also a few highlights from the specific plan um and I do want to say the plan itself of course you had in your packets but it's been posted on uh the city website since about the middle of December so it's been available uh to the public in that format for some time now so what is a Capital Improvement plan and I'm going to be lazy and call it the CIP after this just to uh save some time so a capital Improvement plan or a CIP is actually a planning document that covers a six-year period of improvements and it's actually mandatory under state law for a community to have a CIP uh that comes under the U Public Act 33 of 2008 and basically a CIP is a tool to help Implement your master plan and move the community forward uh and it's also a critical element once past we'll talk in the process it becomes the building block for the fiscal capital budget so what does it take or what kind of things go in a CIP well the proposed Capital Improvement has to be something with a value of $100,000 or more or it could be a study that would be in the neighborhood of 50,000 that will lead to a capital Improvement in the future so uh we've done a number of like utility modeling studies and things along that line that eventually lead to specific capital projects themselves and probably more for the public it's like well really okay but what is a capital Improvement so we're talking about physical improvements to assets at the city control so we have a street system so Paving a street is a capital Improvement um we have a park system so if we want to put in a new baseball field or improve an existing playground that would be a capital Improvement to a city park um or it could be fixing an old water main it could be putting in a new sidewalk or bike lane so they actual you can see the difference improvements to the various assets that the city owns so how do we put this plan together um basically we many many years ago organ organiz the plan by what we call an asset group and that works well because most groups have targeted funding sources so each group has a large number of staff that participate uh in the process so the big groups are municipal facilities transportation and utilities and then within those it's broken down fur there so Municipal facilities include city-owned buildings like our fire stations and City Hall and there's a few other miscellaneous um city-owned buildings uh Parks and Recreation comes under Municipal facilities and solid waste uh because they do have facilities like you know materials uh resource facility and so on um transportation is by far the largest group and that includes improvements we do at our airport um active transportation is one that's near and dear to many of our hearts and that includes projects that help people get around not in their car not on train uh but things that require human power basically so sidewalk projects bike lane projects um things along that line midblock Crossings for safety for pedestrians those are the some of the kind of things that go in the active Transportation group um there's also a Bridges group most of us don't think about them we just drive over them but they really better be working right for us um there's a group we call other transportation and that involves things in the public right of way that are not really related to getting around in the classic sense but like our signs and signals uh our assets falling inside our right away that we have to spend money on from time to time uh we also have things like retaining walls in our rights away that have to be taken care of um and also we put the Downtown Development Authority streetscape projects into this category um then we also have parking facilities as an asset group and parking facilities are run by the DDA the Downtown Development Authority but they are City assets um the by far smallest category under transportation is new streets and it's small because this is not a community in an early stage we aren't generally in the business of building new streets from scratch however we do get a few that are done by developers that they want to become public streets uh and we do from time to time get requests from people who live on some of our gravel roads who would like to see them become paved uh that does take a special assessment District um but it's very small group for that reason um Street construction is probably the biggest of the group so the orange cones you see all season every single year we're reconstructing we're resurfacing and lately been doing a lot of what we call Capital maintenance so we may put a light surface coat on a street uh we may do things that last less long but cost a lot less and extend the life of the pavement and then finally a couple years ago we added Transit which basically has the train station and the idea uh well someday maybe cue jump lanes for buses and then the final of the big groups utilities uh has the sanitary system so that includes the system of pipes that collect waste and our treatment plant uh same thing for water all the pipes underground that the water comes out of when we turn the faucet but also the treatment plants and our system of dams and finally storm water includes again collection pipes you know catch basins and so on but also some detention storage basins and we also do water quality projects under that heading so those are the groups that the plan is organized by so if you looked at the plan you're going to see those uh that that's how the projects are laid out so how do we put it together um we go through a process I call the three PS so first we have to identify projects and a lot of that project identification comes from staff who know where the problems are um but we also have long-term planning documents Master studies of All Sorts that suggest projects but then there's also a public element where for instance the university may suggest a plan that it's our asset but it affects how they operate um we have Community groups like The wbwc who might say we'd like to see a new bike connection here uh we have neighborhood groups who sometimes make requests for projects you know condo associations so uh and also just individual homeowners and on the individual level they tend to be request for things like could you fill this sidewalk Gap please or could you please pave my stre Street um and sometimes they're bigger asks but generally those tend to be quite targeted to where that member lives so from the process of the first meeting we identify projects that are not already in the plan then we have to prioritize the projects money is certainly not unlimited so how do we decide to spend the resources that we have uh so the city for many many years has had a very robust prioritization system we did do some really um interesting new things this year because we made a change in software to a new uh product called alvance and as part of that they also furnish consulting services and we took our six biggest groups and went through a process of updating what they actually use the term strategic values rather than prioritization criteria so it was really great because it gave us an opportunity to really start rolling in Community Values that were represented but not very robustly in the old system so we were able to introduce things like um Equity issues uh more more emphasis on our new a20 um plan which really has climate elements but also trying to Foster you know more of a multimodal uh feeling to the community so each group could tailor uh their prioritization criteria to help reflect the values that most move the asset forward and help move the community forward so every project got prioritized and I mean every project so it was quite a challenge this fall because usually the first four years have already been prioritized we look at them see if the scope is changed and if so rescore them but when we changed the criteria themselves we had to score every project in those six largest groups and that's probably 70% of the whole plan so it was uh a long and robust process and then we have to program them so that just means you know the list of projects you know what their score was but it's not quite as simple as oh this got the highest score so it goes first because you have to take into account the reality of funding um if you only have a bucket for the year that says you can spend $4 million and you have a single $6 million project that ranks number one it still isn't going to go first um but it is the primary driver its score Modified by the available budget and we also work very hard to minimize disruption to the community by packaging improvements together so for instance if the engineers say these are the streets we'd like to see paved then there's a stop point the utilities Engineers say hm let's check out the state of the water the sewer the storm and that may suggest companion projects then after both are prioritized we look at those combinations that do the most um and so that results in the plan that you have that we're talking about uh for this public hearing tonight uh so it's organized by asset group within that group list of projects lists their rank tells the dollar value in thousands of dollars and the year that we're proposing uh for them to be done so a few highlights of this specific plan it's covering fiscal years 22 to 27 and because the city's fiscal year starts July 1 that means that fiscal year 22 is starting here in a few months so July 1 of 21 is the beginning of this new plan and within the plan um there are 491 projects which I think is the highest number since I've been here going on a decade now and um of that total we actually since we will have dropped off fiscal years 20 and 21 I furnished you a list of 199 projects that were completed so it was really quite an accomplishment especially considering that you know the current covid challenge affected a chunk of that time period um we also have 102 brand new projects that were added and the total dollar value in this proposed plan for the core years of 22 to 27 is a little over $ 1.02 billion and that's actually an increase of 54% which sounds like wow you know how ambitious are these people getting but a huge chunk of that increase is coming from one source and that is as you know there's been um a huge um impetus to increase affordable housing and city council um worked with um Jennifer Hall from the Housing Commission and a number of city-owned properties were evaluated uh for potential to be developed as affordable housing projects so also uh this community passed a millage just very recently that will help provide some of the seed money to help these projects go now they're still going to be heavily funded by grants but the sum I added up the Housing Commission projects are $397 million so they were a huge chunk of that giant sounding increase um if you set that aside so for the first time ever since Housing Commission is City owned buildings that's usually one of the smallest groups it is the largest this time but putting that one aside the water um asset group has the largest total ask a big chunk of that is the need to replace plant one and when I say replace it's not like a new one is proposed someplace on a new site but very very significant uh removal replacement on the current site on Sunset and also like everyone across the country our water system is aging and we are going to be spending significant funds over the next many many years uh just slowly rolling out a replacement of old water mains and then other groups that added the most new projects would be streets and that reflects the continuing fix our streets Mission from Council um the sanitary group added more than they often do and that's because there are a number of changes at the plant that are um age-based and also regulatory based and then active transportation again we're very fortunate that the community passed the uh millage to help us start uh making a greater effort on filling sidewalk gaps so we don't have to special assess to make that happen so we were able to put in uh quite a few sidewalk Gap filling projects and also continuing efforts on pedestrian safety type of efforts and then um there were you know every group had quite a bit of new things proposed but those groups that I just discussed are the major ones so basically we're looking at a six-year plan totaling over a billion doll and then if you factor in previous things still going and those we propos that'll be spending money in 27 and past the total counting the bracketed sides as almost 1.4 million or billion dollars so it's an an exciting it reflects the values of this community that we work hard to take care of our Capital assets and so I will stop there and then after the hearing any questions that come up from Community or from you I will be here to answer thank you you very much Mr Leonard did you want to add anything in just a couple couple of brief items um uh before the public hearing you'll note that in the staff report uh we do recommend postponement um there is no obligation to do so um that was done from um my recollection that in the past um typically the full uh Capital Improvements plan has been presented to the Planning Commission in a working session and then we have a subsequent meeting on it in this case the Ping commission receives several updates from Deb over the development of the process but I believe this is the first time you are seeing that Capital Improvements plan in in to in its total form so um that was the basis for that but if you are comfortable you may proceed with action on it there's no um necessity other than your desire if you'd like to postpone or take action and then we also I just want to um for the benefit particularly of our new Commissioners um just to to sort of echo a couple of the comments that Deb made um so under state law it is the planning commission's responsibility to put forth this Capital Improvements plan um it is intended just as Deb um always um does a great job describing to prioritize and consider all of the physical capital needs of the community going forward and um do our best to predict their cost and prioritization of those that document then is forwarded to the city council um it is not a um decree that the city council has to allocate budget dollars but it is a tool for them to use in the budgetary process so um just to add a little bit more um roundness to that and that's all I got thank you very much all right um I will open the public hearing for this item uh this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed Capital Improvements plan public comment can be made by calling 877 853 5247 and then entering meeting ID 921 7281 City staff will select callers that have digitally raised their hand by pressing star n you'll be called on by the last three digits of your phone number um when you hear the automated message that you're able to speak please move to a quiet area and mute any background sounds and please um is as we normally do um normally ask please state your name and address at the beginning of your comment there's a couple callers on the line I see one hand up if anyone else on the line would like to speak you can press star9 to raise your hand um and Mr Leonard um Mr Garber you have up to three minutes to address the Planning Commission thank you Mr Leonard um sorry I'm becoming so predictable um yeah but I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the CIP um I really commend sta for its work on the plan um but sustainability is again the topic for my three minutes my suggestion is this geothermal Loops could be incorporated into some of these Street and Sewer projects as you know the a20 plan envisions that all new building construction in the city will be fossil fuel free and a large proportion of existing buildings are to be converted away from fossil fuels this means heating buildings electrically with he heat pumps commission really approved three large projects all fully electrified that use air source heat pumps valala Glenn vidiian and County Farm Park and 2111 Packers and now the smaller new North the interior units anyway geothermal systems extract heat from the ground instead of the air as you know geothermal takes advantage of the relatively constant ground temperature to heat or cool the refrigerant that circulates through through the system to the heat pump it's more efficient than air source but geothermal is also more expensive to install because drilling is involved however the city can lower the cost of in its denser downtown districts by laying down geothermal Loops in which refrigerant that's warmed by the Earth circulates continuously each building along the loop would need to in install a heat pump driven Heating and Cooling system but these homes and businesses will avoid the high upfront cost of the loop which is which which cost is converted into a monthly service fee a good example is Boise Idaho Boise has geothermal Loops that now heat 6 million square feet of downtown buildings during the winter almost half of Boise's entire downtown each time we rip up the streets in our downtown area we could take advantage of the excavation to drill the holes and and install the pipes that comprise a geothermal system thus lowering the overall cost without any added disruption the dda's recent Ashley first project was a major missed opportunity to do this but this CIP includes another three million in nonspecified DDA Capital Improvements in addition to specific projects like the 3 million State Street Street 30 there may be geothermal potential there now it's possible that there's not enough critical mass of Demolition and excavation downtown over the next 5 years to make slipping in a geothermal Loop feasible but this should at least be looked at and maybe it has been um you may have noticed that the U of's carbon neutrality plan unveiled last month um calls for conversion to geothermal of all campus buildings eventually with 20,000 bore holes drilled across all three campuses we should be equally forward looking thank you thank you very much if anyone else would like to make a public comment about the Capital Improvements plan uh you can press star n to raise your hand seeing no takers right now I'm going to move to read the um the petition the proposed motion and then keep my eye in case somebody does raise their hand um it reads whereas section one colon 185 of the an arbor city code requires that the City Planning Commission annually prepare a Capital Improvements program for the ensuing six fiscal years whereas a duly noticed public hearing was held by the City Planning Commission on January 5th 2021 resolved that the City Planning Commission hereby approves the fiscal year 2022 to 2027 Capital Improvements plan as a supporting document for the city's master plan moved by commissioner milin seconded by commissioner s any discussion or questions comments commissioner Lee um in the staff report I know that there was a comment saying that there's been zero public comments is that normal um I just uh that was one that just kind of stuck out at me there's been zero public comments on the CIP is that right we haven't received any to the planning department Deb have you received any public comment on the draft plan to date and you're muted um a couple of indirect questions um someone wanted to make sure the Edgewood Snider project was still in the plan which it is um and sometimes they just no matter what we say in writing direct questions through engineering or systems plan so um it's actually pretty normal not to get a lot of questions what we find is once individual projects begin there's very robust interest in the projects but the plan as a whole tends not to generate a ton of questions I my personal belief is it's the scale of the thing um that may just be overwhelming to people but they do look forward every year when we put up a map of proposed projects that are supposed to start during the construction season and then we often start getting a lot of specific questions and of course there's public engagement on every project but it's actually not uncommon to have very limited CIP as the big scale questions gotcha thank you and by the way thank you so much for the extremely thorough um explanation of the CIP so thank you uh the to Brett is there a deadline as you said this is um enumerated by state law as a requirement of the Planning Commission to put this forward is there kind of like a date that we need to meet well um typically we try to get it um adopted sometimes in the past it's been December or January um but generally getting it adopted as early in the new year is beneficial because as I said then this is you used as a resource as the budgeting process goes on so sort of parallel to this the city is starting its two-year budget cycle and so having this document in place helps all the various departments as well as the city council consider how they move forward on specific fund allocation um so um I there isn't a specific deadline from state law there is a practical deadline that the sooner we get this um adopted as a resource and policy guide that helps facilitate the balance of the budgeting process got it thank you uh and then last question is for Deb um on the parking prioritization it seemed like they were all number one and so um what how do we interpret when they are you know weighted all the same I suppose yeah that's a really good question in fact if it were accurate they would all be zeros because since the parking facilities are um managed by the DDA they don't um have a prioritization system in and of itself but or at least in this kind of fashion so we've been talking to them and maybe by the next full CIP um they are considering adopting this same new alvance prioritization process with tweaking from them but they're they're not competing they know what their budgets are and this is what they have planned so the old software would literally put a zero I've been working with the new software people to say it would probably be better because you had that question to call them all zero all ones all zeros it's they literally are not prioritized you might have noticed that also all of the Housing Commission projects have the same number same thing since they do have an independent um you know governing board um and therefore they're not directly competing for funds with City funds even though they all are in some manner shape or form they are not ranked gotcha thank you so much for the clear explanations it was extremely thorough so I yield my time other comments or questions commissioner Gib Randle and then commissioner milstein I'm just wondering how Co has impacted all of this in terms of budgets um because of you I know this process is so long in the making I'm sure nobody ever predicted with your with your budgeting process that something like this would happen I think we're still figuring out what the Fallout is in terms of tax revenues and and things like that and so I'm just wondering how that has affected your your planning it did have some effect not as much as I had feared going into it um part of it is if you think of say a group like streets where the funding is heavily coming from millage really wasn't much a fact um you our utilities are driven by revenue from our bills now that Revenue certainly did take a hit if businesses weren't open they weren't using water and so on but the buckets were adjusted to reflect that um and one thing I should mention is we also have um an internal group we that's called cpan and I'm always embarrassed I don't remember exactly Capital planning something network but we work on making adjustments so if in fact the budget shrinks that group goes back and looks at what has to give um so it doesn't happen a lot it tends to happen more because bids came in high or came in low and we have a little more so we just moved to the next thing in line so it had some effect and you know it wasn't as startling as I thought and I think it's the nature of our funding uh that there's a lot of local control but also like General funds probably were the toughest because you know sales tax revenue was down and the city gets a share of that that so the general funds we were asked to be extremely um conscious of and in the um City's budget last spring uh they set forth sort of a pattern of how to approach if revenues went down so the biggest hit I'd say was to General funds okay that's helpful um I I also I'm I think um Mr garver's idea is kind of intriguing and I I understand that these things are a long time in the making but um I be curious to have the office of sustainability just look at what it means utilitywise in terms of just the ability for people to be able to hook up to a system like that essentially you're creating a utility yeah um and so I'm just I'm just curious what you know I mean when we're rebuilding streets it completely makes sense to do something like that um but I just have no idea of the implications whether the way that we're structured is very different than Boise Idaho in terms kind how things lay out with utilities and uh you know's selling them and all all that stuff so um I would be curious though to understand if that's something that could be uh possible because you know we do do these huge Street projects it's too bad we just ended a bunch of them for downtown um which is too bad um there's more coming yeah there's more coming that's right it never ends does it right um but I I would be curious to see if they have any thoughts about the feasibility of that and again I don't know that it would hold this up because I know these things are long long long in the making um but I do think that that's a real kind of possibility um once it's opened up that that's a lot of the project is just opening things up so if that could be integrated in and they see some um you know potential for that as as something moving forward I think that would be interesting to to understand more about if I could if I could just briefly jump in and commissioner Mills might correct me on this because she has a lot of expertise in this area but um we can definitely um follow up you know I appreciate the it seems like sort of more of an information Point than maybe an amendment to this plan um I will say that um I I don't profess to be an expert in it but I my understanding is Michigan is quite different than other states and that we have a lot of restrictions in our ability to sort of create utilities and uh restrictions actually so um there might be barriers uh legislatively beyond the Practical difficulties if any in accomplishing that so but we can we can um try to at least provide that information back to the Planning Commission for reference yeah I'd be curious because it's not a straightforward utility in the way that it's not ener it's not DTE in the same way um so and and chair Mills you probably know a whole lot more about this than I do um but uh I think it'd be interesting to see just what's possible because I think we're trying to we're trying to take anything we can get at this point right in terms of of our a20 plan so and I would chime in that I think it makes sense to flag it I think that it is is a different kind of utility because at space heating right rather than um electricity so it's different kind of rules I did do a quick search of a20 and um geothermal districts were mentioned were brought up in the process so like it was it was part of our a20 process it's in appendix 5 and it's it's effectively part of a longer list of things that said these ideas were brought up and didn't rise to the level of one of our key strategies that we really examined it it you know I I think that it's um many could enhance our communities like it's it's not precluding it but just to know that this isn't the first time it's been brought up and so kind of um elevating that and seeing if this this idea of synergies right like using the excavation I think doesn't hurt to bring to to the office of sustainability thanks and thank you for all your work uh Deb this is It's always it's always a Illuminating thank you commissioner milstein um I guess this is a a question for Mr Leonard and Miss Goslin um I feel pretty comfortable moving forward with this and not postponing it um I don't know um Mr Leonard Miss Golan if you have feelings otherwise um you know I it's it's a plan we've we've seen it before the Planning Commission twice we've now had a public hearing um planning department hasn't received any comments and um this still has to go uh to city council um so I would feel uh comfortable approving this um I don't know how other Commissioners feel but before you know we sort of go down that road Mr Lon and Miss gosan do you have any feedback on that I don't have any concern as I said it was just more of a sort of this was sort of a unique Capital Improvements the way the information came to the Planning Commission came kind of more frequently and more fragmented um but no I don't any concerns if you if the commission um wants to move forward and it would be beneficial for the city re large for planning purposes yeah I'd Echo the second part I know um Marty Bashan who's the uh chief of staff for public services would probably appreciated if it were done tonight because otherwise they proceed ahead with building the capital budget on the assumption that they're going to get a yes where knowing they have it allows them to proceed with more confidence and the budget process is starting in pretty hot and heavy right now so I would uh not only not object but actively appreciate it if it were done tonight would make people above me happy missioner dish I want to Echo all the uh Applause for your presentation miss gosin that was incredibly helpful I did read through it before you know and you really it makes a lot more sense to me now um I am fully in support of this plan um there is something that I would have thought would have been on it that's not on it and that's North Maine and I'm Cur so like if something's not on it does that mean that we can't even think about it until past 2027 or I have to have a bake sale or something North I think North M's an mot project right yes that's why you're not seeing it our water projects that go with it are in the CIP but MDOT itself is doing the road project yes but if we if we if I shall I put it this way if I were to get what I wanted out of North Bain I think it might require some City funds at a minimum some study funds yes and I believe that we added under either active or other Transportation um a small project to do what you're saying and to try and Frame Up better the non-motorized improvements we will have to pay for them is what MD has told us but to this point there's been a lot of input but no solid recommendations so I'm double cheing myself um but I think we put Main Street yes under active transportation we called it Main Street actor Transportation needs analysis and conceptual design and we've framed it um MDOT has put off the main street project itself it originally was going to be 23 or four and now they're looking a little further so we do have a project to do what you're saying and continue the community engagement and planning efforts and then I expect that there will probably be some money budgeted the next time around for whatever comes out of that analysis so that's what excellent question and as as a reminder we sort of uh approached these Capital Improvement plans on sort of an every other year cycle whereas what you're seeing now is what we call a sort of uh a new plan where we really in a way start from scratch we reprioritize the next annual consideration will be a more focused modification to this document where we'll do some updates about what is uh what has been accomplished we might add we might remove some projects but it's really um some amendments to the ex existing plan so that's another opportunity um it might not even happen in the next cycle depending on that project timing but there every year the opportunity presents itself to consider those types of improvements and to to further be clear like if it gets added on the next time around it doesn't mean that it automatically moves to the end of the list because it's the repr prioritized right it might be in the next funding cycle like it might be it might be project number one yes yeah say I while things tend to move in towards the end that's certainly not the case in its entirety there are things that crop up that have either physical emergency in nature or changing values of the community cause something to be elevated so you're absolutely right any other comments questions the one that I have and I'm not sure if this is for Mr Leonard or Miss golin because it's um it's not about any specific project but one of the things that um Planning Commission um has been uh tasked with looking at or that that's been coming up and Mr Leonard really um headed this effort um at on direction from Council was looking at um some of our requirements of developments and uh it's it was talking to particularly for kind of small projects small project improvements that required site plan which also often trigger review of water M things there's a lot of other um engineering kind of things associated with that and what my this is Sarah's very simple version of what came out of a lot of those interviews was a lot of the things that we ask of private development um or maybe maybe this is a clear way it in other communities if development is is planned in on X Road you know part of what the CIP and why it comes before Planning Commission is to say like okay it's going to be City who ex who who makes the water infrastructure and road infrastructure ready for that int that increased activity that increased development where that's not always the approach here and sometimes we pass on you know the enlarging of uh water Ms to you know a a private developer and it's not just their property it may be other properties how does that like does that has that come up in your process about like what is called for in zoning where we're expecting to see a lot of growth and if we are appropriately budgeting or I mean a lot of this stuff in my in my like reading through is a lot of Maintenance um uh rather than I'll just I'll just stop there to say how how much has has that come up among staff as like does our what we add to the CIP prepare for the development that we are anticipating um yeah I I'll start and Deb if you want to if you want to add in so in short that conversation has not is not reflected in this Capital Improvements plan so that conversation um you'll recall um city council directed us to look at sort of site plan uh Amendment site plan review requirements as it relates to small and Min projects through that discussion we identified that there's this other sort of looming factor that we hear from the development Community largely that from an infrastructure perspective it is very challenging to develop in the city because of the expectations we plac on development for infrastructure Improvement and so that conversation is going to be uh a a long conversation because it's going to need to involve some of the Departments and areas that Deb's talking about that has implications to uh Water waste water storm water roads you name it and so there's the policy discussion and then depending what comes out of that you know if if there's movement there my off-the-cuff um guess is that that would result in less resources available for more infrastructure system needs that's where some of those that's where some of those things come from is um to recognize that because we are we're lucky we are a century plus old community that still has a lot of growth pressure and desire we ALS have to do that in the context of an aging infrastructure which might be different from some communities who are making proactive Investments to drive growth in specific areas or along corridors and the like if you think about the site plans that we've you've considered they are geographically dispersed across the city so it's pretty difficult for us to say this is the area we where we're going to get development pressure we it's it's pretty stretched throughout the city so I think that is challenging ing I'm not saying that we shouldn't spend more time discussing it but um the short answer is I think that those conversations have to happen before you'll see any reflection of it in the capital improv yeah I could add just one things there is I agree with everything that Brett said but there is some ways in which that kind of thinking comes into play um there are very robust for inance utility models in this city so in the water group for instance um Troy boffman that works in systems planning with me um is in charge of the water model and they test it regularly whatever and we can say oh in this area firef flow looks like a challenge so if there is a need where for the existing City we maybe feel like we aren't Furnishing what we could we do introduce projects like one of them will be an upsizing it can either go on Ann or there but there's a little small area that has fir flow challenges there and we have sanitary models storm water models a lot of the storm water projects are driven by um inadequacy so to speak I mean that's probably too harsh a word um on the other hand if the development itself this is where it gets into the philosophical discussion that you're going sounds like you're getting into is if the development is creating the um the inadequacy then right now it's very true that our design standards and Zoning codes put the burden on the developer um to extend utilities uh to service their needs one of the places where I hear at the most office is in the downtown where we often and probably commissioner Lee is working for Oxford to understand would would know this is uh they are asked to upsize Mains because they're you know sometimes the last guy in right now I would agree is is being is getting doing the upsizing that benefits them and other people so that is a whole philosophical but there is some minor element that that comes into play today in the CIP and certainly for streets if they're already in bad shape they're going on our list to take care of whether or not there's development on the other hand if a development actually tears up a road I believe we do require them sometimes to like pave a lane but that would be not be in the CIP because it would be the other so it's very convoluted question and minimally in there at present I think just another aspect of it too is is the some of the concerns we heard is probably reflected in this Capital Improvements plan so our models are based on certain sizing of water Ms and Sewer Ms and one of the things that we you you have heard and we have heard through this process is the city's asking too much my project could function just fine with something less and so I think that that's that's even a added layer to that conversation what is the appropriate standard what is the appropriate policy for a development's going in and the capacity is not there what is what is the right decision to say we need to figure out a fix for that building and what's the future proofing of that so that the next one is successful and you know those are we could do that in a couple different ways we could say no we don't care about the next one let's just focus on this one but we're just that's sort of in a way setting us back to how we got here with an aging infrastructure that's undersized for the growth and demand that we have on our system I appreciate that um and I yeah I didn't expect that that was solved overnight and I mean that that's something that literally I think two meetings ago maybe it was just last meeting that we effectively pass that back pass that word on um I think as we I mean you you know getting to the CIP thinking about what are our Community Values those are some of the same things right that that we as Planning Commission are working to uphold in the in the in the work that we do as well and you know as you mentioned like affordability and Equity um and sustainability are things right and so and um understanding how those things all play in and like anyway I I think that this conversation is probably going to come back and just thought in case you weren't in the loop about the yeah I did on the development side what we've been hearing I that's kind of some context for it um so I think it from my perspective um you know it it that we don't have um a lot of public comment on this that we have seen a lot of this before I'm comfortable um taking this voting on this tonight myself um any other questions comments can we have a roll call vote then Mr Leonard since there was not a motion to postpone the V would be to approve this and we will start with you commissioner Mills yes commissioner milstein yes commissioner Gib Randall yes commissioner s yes commissioner abens yes commissioner hamers Schmid yes commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee Yes commissioner Clark yes carries very much very good I also saw at least two empty water glasses so I'm um wondering if we can take oh now that's three um if we can take a six minute break and come back at 9:30 to take on I think we have three more at least three more items um so see you back at 9:30 e e e order we're on item 10B which is um the amendments to the permitted uses in c2b and C3 zoned districts for city council approval and this two uh we'll just start with a staff presentation and then have our public hearing yeah thank you um so first of all I just want to sort of set the stage with this so recently we had a a project petition that that um sort of elicited some reaction from the Planning Commission that maybe it was a time to reconsider the permitted uses in that zoning District specifically storage and warehousing uses so I want to um you know and that's that's fine that's appropriate but I I do as we set this stage I want you to really um make sure that you're thinking about this appropriately you know we're really talking about a zoning District now and some potential modifications that is going to have wide ranging impact to those districts across the city so um so um at the conclusion of that meeting um you know there was uh uh there wasn't a specific motion or Direction but there was a lot of um sort of what I would say sort of unanimous support by the commission to really dive into the issue of what the appropriate permitted uses are for some of the commercial districts based on that and so um uh staff um has responded to that by putting forth these proposed changes if the Planning Commission does isn't um on the feeling like you're you're ready to consider this or you want more information that's perfectly understandable um so with that with that set um what what I did um is focused on um specifically warehouse and indoor storage uses and so um the staff report reflects um that we Define those um in our ordinance in our existing ordinance and we specifically provide them as a permitted use in five zoning districts currently the c2b district the C3 District uh the M1 the M1A and the M2 zoning districts and um and so um I'm just going to go through those districts uh and um give you sort of uh the the staff thoughts on this and then opening up to any questions you have certainly in discussion so uh the M1 and M2 and M1A zoning districts by Nature those are those are uses that tend to be um either very um Warehouse uh production um they might be warehousing associated with production um generally I thought that the the the the notion of warehousing um and storage seemed very appropriate to those zoning districts whether their Standalone uses or their integrated with a manufacturing or processing type business or or research type business um um I uh my my assertion is that those are very appropriate districts for the intensity and type of use of those locations so I didn't spend a lot of time on the M1 and uh the manufacturing districts either by further analysis or by sharing any sort of maps of those zoning districts with you so that obviously leads us to the focus on the c2b and C3 zoning districts and when we're looking at modifications or the application of Z districts this is one of the SE times when we want to look at intent um this come this comes up um sometimes with even in in response to a a specific petition review um and just as a reminder um that's the nature of an intent of a zoning District in RC is to try to set the stage of what we're trying to accomplish what the character of that district is when we have more specific regulations of course those apply so the intent section is not intended to uh cancel out some regulation that we've articulated elsewhere in the ordinance it's rather a guide for considerations such like this when we're thinking about adjusting uses or we're thinking about a new use or changing uses what is Our intention of that district and so um both the c2b zoning districts and the c2b and the C3 zoning District are pretty similar actually from an intent statement um the districts are designed for a variety of commercial activities um the c2b has uh a little bit more of a um well the c2b notably has a a more specific reference to the uses in that District um might be accessed either by a pedestrian uh manner or a vehicular manner it also relates to it also specifically talks about the c2b sort of being an extension of the downtown um when you look at the c2b map I don't really see the extension of a downtown from a g graic perspective that's not to say that from a use perspective that's not the intention and I think that's where I have really keyed in on the distinction between the c2b intention statement and the C3 intention statement which doesn't have that same emphasis on either pedestrian or vehicular access so um when you look at the C3 int uh District again some very sort of some similar language in the types of of commercial uses but I think notably it is more a assertive and saying these are uses that people are going to drive to access the service and then probably drive to another another business whereas the c2b doesn't prohibit that but it seems to embrace a more um complexly accessed integrated commercial District that could function in both ways and in short uh based on the Ci's uh sustainability goals both from the a20 plan um we're looking at you know the transportation plan draft obviously that's not adopted but really emphasiz uh other means of transportation our existing master plan have a has a lot of support for trying to find ways that our land use can help support other means of transportation uh modal Choice than automobiles vehicular access and so the short of that is is based on that um my recommendation is that the Planning Commission consider modifying the c2b District to remove what I think there is a very Automotive specific uh use from those districts however retain it in the C3 districts um I think that there there are other aspects of that I think the C3 business still does encourage some sense of um activity and interaction um but we've also recently considered other uses that I think um um for the C3 District such as micro businesses where you know they do have a retail customer focus but they also have sort of a more Warehouse grow large inactive space type function and so um so my in short my response to the planning commission's uh Direction in that regard is to propose that warehouse and St Storage District uses be removed from the c2b um as a permitted use but retained in the C3 M1 M1A and M2 zoning districts um I've provided you with a couple of maps particularly of the c2b areas in the city and the C3 zoning areas I will note that you will see um some of the same zoning along some of the same corridors um I I would note that they have a bit of um I think the C3 tends to be some larger what I would say sort of commercial node um which I think are distinct from some of the the what I would say inter Corridor segments that are are more c2b not absolute um um you also have uh Brierwood Mall of course is c2b um I think that is interesting but at its core I think that the the same analysis holds true um the mall um the building of the mall is specifically Z Z c2b and most of the parking area is actually specifically zone parking that was very intentional to focus commercial activity and pedestrian interior traffic in this case uh into that area and I think a like bringing an automotive dependent use to that where it might be just sort of a one more oneoff might be questionable as well so um I'll stop there um Alexis has also done a little thinking about this so she's just here uh to to jump in and correct me and tell me if I'm wrong um but um apart from that welcome your questions uh after the public hearing or before we'll do the public hearing next and then we'll unless Alex there's anything you want to chime in on now before the public hearing okay um so let's open the public hearing then this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed amendments to permitted use in the c2b and C3 districts um public comment may be made by calling 877 853 5247 and then entering meeting ID 95 or sorry 7281 City staff will select callers that have raised their hand um calling on you one by one by the last three digits of your telephone number you digitally raise your hand by pressing star n on your telephone um you'll hear an automated announcement that you are allowed to speak and please do move to a quiet area and mute any background sound please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments and I see that there are two callers on the line if you are interested in um providing um comment about the um the c2b and C3 zoning districts um now is your opportunity you can press star n to raise your hand just give it a few moments right I don't see any indication all right I will read the proposed motion then the Ann Arbor City Planning Commission recommends amendment to table 5.15 D1 of chapter 55 55 unified development code to remove warehousing and indoor storage uses from the c2b zoning District can I have a commissioner move that moved by commissioner s seconded by commissioner hamers Schmidt discussion of the proposed amendment commissioner milstein thank you um so I want to concentrate really on the C3 um zoning so while looking at the map um of where we have the C3 zoning um you know I'm looking at some of these major corridors like Stadium Boulevard um also Wasa and Plymouth Road where we have a lot of C3 zoning I shouldn't say a lot but we have some C3 zoning in in those areas and you know by looking at this map and seeing where those places are and some of those are you know streets that we travel on a daily basis do we really want to see storage facilities on those streets um and I you know I think this is a start um with regards to mending c2b but I would really I would really like to see us do something um with regards to C3 of having a special exemption use um for storage facilities um in those areas so I'm just a I'm I I'd like to hear more discussion on that but I I really would like to see um some limitation of storage facilities in C3 missioner hamers Schmid I think I had the same struggles um and I Mr Leonard your explanation makes a lot of sense to me so I think eliminating it from c2b for the reasons that you um articulated and then not necessarily removing it from C3 makes sense I I don't think we should just be going around like picking and choosing the uses that we're putting in our different zoning districts but looking at the map a lot of the things that commissioner milin said were the things that I was struggling with I like the idea I hadn't thought of like doing a special exception use if that's something that we could explore um I like I like that idea so I'll second that that idea um but otherwise yeah I'm I'm good with removing it from c2b I think based on where where we have that zoning right now it makes sense other comments uh M Lee uh Alexis did you raise your hand I um I did I'll just I'll insert um two two observations that um uh doing uh work on C3 does not prude that you can um uh forward this propos this amendment um and still continue work on C3 um and also um along the lines of um special exception use you can um attach use you can in the next phase if you'd like to work on C3 there's a variety of options um do nothing but um special exception use you can attach some use specific standards to it talking about minimum parcel size and the only the first one that came to mind but my my primary comment was um valid concerns um maybe there needs to be a more robust discussion about C3 but you can still act on c2b um and continue discussion on C3 I would I would take that a step further if if it was the commission's desire to consider a special exception for C3 um it it doesn't have to have use specific criteria I mean with there are special exception uses that don't have that those specific use criterias that just the sort of standard St criteria for special exception use that tends to be how does it relate to the master plan how does it relate to surrounding properties what does the transport ation accessibility to that use look like so um so it could also be done in that regard so I I would just add that there's a lot of different avenues that you that you could look at in in considering that commissioner S I saw your hand before I called on Mr Leo yeah I mean I just kind of wanted to reiterate like looking more at the C3 you know when you put them side by side some of these things are just all AC like equally across the street between the two there's the mall on c2b and then there's you know just on the east of state is a similar size project or parcel set of parcels that's C3 you know on both sides of Stadium you know both sides of um plat down thereat plat yeah like so so they seem even more interwoven than there is kind of a clear designation between the intent statement and and I guess like this just goes like the maps are so light in touch because I'm sure most of this white is single family residential and residential as a whole so I think even like I i' support C2 like working on c2b now pushing that forward having a working session looking at C3 and just U all commercial designations without residential just get a hold on it overall and how those relationship really look because I don't think we've really looked at like a full zoning map very frequently to see what those relationships look like um and I'm sure that could also be really helpful uh with the T1 type stuff uh and where these two interner woman things might reconcile with another zoning designation so I just want to kind of put that out there that um just like Alexis just said I think moving this forward while doing some additional work this is kind of a great kind of progress step um to get something in action of something we don't like to see but the other kind of piece I'd like to say is like C3 those are bigger Parcels at least it looks like so C3 is probably more likely to do bigger where house storage units along these corridors and so I think there is still some maybe urgency that those are actually ideal candidates to see the types of projects that we're reacting to that we might not want to see um in that way as well so that's kind of my take and reaction right now thanks Mr Leonard but if if the commission shares that I would um I would venture to recommend you consider adding um on the interim basis a special exception use requirement for those uses in the C3 District that doesn't preclude additional follow-up if as Alexa said you want to develop specific standards that might apply or conversely if you do that work and find that if it meets certain criteria maybe that could go back to a permitted use um as long as it was satisfying those kind of criterias but I I guess I I was struck by that comment if if you know if the analysis of this use raises that concern now that would be a way to at least provide a a a checkpoint where if that use is proposed in the C3 districts it's still going to have to go through that process where we are going to consider all those standard special exception use criteria so two cents other comments commissioner abens uh just to chime in and say I agree with those uh proposals so to move forward with the CTB um special exception for C3 and then continuing the conversation and in terms of the zoning maps that um commissioner s was just discussing like even in this context I would find it helpful to see two and three together on one map so so I'm just not having to go back and forth and to compare so or even one map that had these and the M districts um would be helpful so I don't know maybe there's a time we could like list the different map versions that would be helpful for this conversation and then we could yeah follow up at a working session with some of those visual aids well I can also we could also bring that back so if if you'd like to see that information before you render a decision on this um I can certainly do that this is just sort of my poor map choices I personally don't need to see it before voting on um on on the on special exception for C3 and removing it um from c2b but I would like to see that if we're going to continue to talk about C3 and or other districts in the future commissioner Lee so I I think I'll take a little bit of a cont a contrarian standpoint just uh and certainly I am on board with the idea of eliminating sleepy uses in areas that we want to encourage uh more Equitable access more pedestrian walkability like Stadium we know what obviously Tri triggered this discussion um and I guess what I'm kind of the contrarian point that I'm thinking of is that the the nature of retail how we consume this how we experience things is changing pretty rapidly um warehousing as an asset class is rising pretty quickly um and and certainly the the demand for that is uh relatively high at this point in time whether it's the logistics companies like Amazon or whether it's you know there there's there's plenty of kind of freight and again the the point that I'm trying to get to I suppose is certainly on Stadium wash and a I think I see Ellsworth there are elements of this where you know I I could certainly get behind that I I simply um want to at least bring up the fact are we accomplishing really what we're looking to do because there's also once for just hear me out on this warehousing as a use um there are converted uses for for warehouse that happens quite frequently so as far as kind of like a a conversion factor sometimes open warehouses can be useful so um I just wanted to take that kind of a a different I guess perspective on are we really accomplishing what we're setting up to do there are specific areas where I could see warehousing being appropriate um even in c2b uh for example right on 9 four uh looks like it's right off of Jackson probably uh just to the west of what looks like weers on Jackson um I can't tell if I really have that correct but um I just I just wanted to voice that the nature and the sheer demand scale of warehousing and how humans are consuming things um are changing rapidly and I just want to make sure that we're being methodical about how we uh you know make this decision um and again to solidify the kind of grounding point that I don't think we should have sleepy uses in areas where we want to encourage uh greater activity greater growth um but that is doing this uh going to be prohibitive to um Warehouse demand that's necessary I will tell you I get more calls on warehousing requirements uh right now than I do on say you know other types of retail so um I I just I want to at least highlight and then maybe it's just a byproduct of Co you know just what what's happening right now and maybe there is some kind of elasticity and a bounce back to you know lesser warehouses for some reason again I think the nature of retail has been fundamentally changed so I I want to bring that up I don't want I didn't simply want to say yes you know I I agree with you know eliminating that use in the c2b I just want us to be methodical I I am on board with the concept of again protecting some of these more corridors from Sleepy use as like a warehouse but that we shouldn't be shortsighted in our approach when we know that um and is everything within the highway belt you know off off hand you know not allowed to be a warehouse right so I just want to be um and that's clearly a hyperbole because we're talking about M1 Etc there's obviously other zones so I just wanted to take a slightly you know contrarian approach uh in that respect and just wanted to highlight the fact that uh right now there's more Warehouse requirements that are coming in for us than there are you know for example retail so commissioner milstein and commissioner Lee that's it's a it's a great point that you bring up and that's why I think um for especially C3 and I wouldn't even be opposed to uh c2b of having a special exemption use um with the regards we can't go out there and look at every single parcel parcel by parcel and determine what the zoning is going to be for it whether we want a warehouse district there or not um and I can see in some of these like if some of these Lots were split off where you know you have Frontage on the main road but towards the back it's touching 94 maybe that would be fine uh to have a storage facility there or some sort of a retail establishment has retail uh in the front storage in the back I wouldn't be opposed to that whatsoever but I think that's where the uh special exemption use allows us to make that determination um do we really want a warehouse on Stadium Boulevard or a storage facility on Stadium Boulevard probably not but let's just say like one of the sites looks like it's on uh maple and maybe it's Maple Village that I'm thinking of or I'm seeing there I'm not exactly sure where it's Maple and then towards the back um is 94 well the reality is Maple Village behind Maple Village is a storage facility that most of us have no idea exists there um that is an area where a special exemption use is you know I'd be totally in favor of so I think that's where you know I'm okay moving with forward with c2b um but I also would be okay if we decided to take a step back and let's regroup and let's put c2b and uh C3 into the same category of doing Special exemption use um I would be fine with that as well thank you for bringing this up and I think that that highlighted like the the fact that these are across the street from each other in many many cases right leads me to think that even though the intent is different thinking about them together makes sense the concern that I have though um commissioner milin with kind of what you were just proposing about like well let's let's make them both special exception uses and this is also contrarian right is that if if our criteria that we use is let's go back to the master plan and we know that there are either sites specific or elements of the master plan like we needed a Master Plan update that makes me a little bit uncomfortable because again the nature of a lot of these corridors has changed the the just like the description for a lot of these I mean I don't know it sounds to me like the description for c2b and C3 were definitely built like written in a different era right like and um there are elements of our master plan I think that we're also written in that in a different era and that you know these have been corridors into the city that now that is where we put Transit and so we have lots of people like and so before where before that's where you wanted to keep all the cars and all of that traffic like now that's where people are walking around so and you want them to walk around so that they can access the bus and so that's my concern a little bit with putting it on the mass like putting it putting them both to special exception use right now I think that you're right that they should be treated the same I would almost argue that with the few exceptions of the places that you pointed out um uh commissioner Lee like kind of south of the Beltway or kind of south of 90 or of 23 most of those are probably whether it's c2b or C3 probably not places that would be appropriate um and so I would almost say at least until we can come up with a better fix and given one of the communication things before us which is thinking about T1 and maybe instead calling it mixed use right like all of these like we have different classes of mixed use maybe just like simplifying the number of districts that we have um in the city like this is a clear example to me of that we are applying these two districts very similarly that we have them across the street from each other in random I mean I don't it's maybe not R it was certainly not random there was definitely an intent behind it but but it seems like these things have not always been necessarily thought of as very distinct perhaps um that it's time to just rethink these districts entirely and like these zones entirely and do we need both of them actually and so in until we can get to that which I do think takes a little bit more thought maybe it's better safer to keep what we keep what staff recommended on c2b but maybe also at least for the time being take entirely C3 this use out of C3 as well I don't think it's gonna put that much of a kib bash on the market um and many most of the places that are C3 I think probably would be inappropriate um from my perspective so commissioner hamers Schmid and you could always reone right so like that one parcel in particular that's like by weers that maybe would be an appropriate place for a warehouse like they could always request a rezoning I'm starting to maybe get more convinced that like we should just take it out of C3 as well no yeah go ahead I I would just again encourage you to think about the use in the intent sections we might have zoning districts in close proximity to each other but they're they are different zoning districts and I I'm not you know I think you're you're raising a lot of good conversations and this is like this is a a point of challenge for me is that so many of the conversations that happen around this table and at the council table um are right for a master plan discussion and obviously we're unable to do that at this point and so um you know I it you know so I but I would I think that there is given that um we are dealing with our policy framework which is our master plan and we're dealing with our current code framework which is are these distinct zoning districts um so I I would again I don't want to say that their proximity is not relevant but they are distinct districts the questions about whether or not the they're in the right places I think that relates to this but it is a slightly separate question misser gab brandle yeah that's what struck me is is more just like it seems a little random where these things are in relation to one another that's what struck me the most about this not so much the intent that you're talking about um but just that these things are all interwoven around each other and if you drive down a stadium you can't tell one from the other by looking at the different at the different zoning districts that are there so um I do think it is a bigger master plan issue I'm comfortable with c2b but I think commissioner Lee brings up a good point I do about the C3 I'm not quite willing to go there yet with the C3 with that as as part of the discussion which I think is valid I think a lot of a lot of things are changing right now and I don't know if it means that it's more like an overlay over the the transit corridors that may just prevent a certain number of feet back from something like that maybe that's a way to deal with it that's different than the the thing about the special exemption use is that it's a gamble every single time a developer does that it's like are they going to accept it or not you know and I certainly don't want to make people reone either just like oh you just have to reone because that's also a huge risk and so I in some ways would rather be just clear about what we want is it 100 feet back from the from the back of the you know from a major Transit Corridor if that's our issue let's just say that um you know so I I again I'm pretty comfortable with the c2b um just as I'm looking at it there's I'm surprised how few there are you know when I'm looking at them um and there's obviously more C3 but I I just feel like there's a bigger discussion to be had about some of this in terms of where things are going um and that there may be some other tools that we can deploy to be able to get out exactly what we want here um and if it really is Frontage along roads where we want people to be and maybe let's deal with it in terms of Frontage along roads rather than the zoning that there's some sort of overlay something [Music] so commissioner milstein how would this group feel about tabling this and uh having a discussion at our working session maybe next week um so that instead of you know voting on this separately since I think there was an agreement of some sort that this is we're pretty they're pretty much the same or at least very very very similar so it might be worth it just to table this and um have a conversation in a working session whether it's next week Mr lard depending if that PUD uh uh pre submission happens or not or if it's a a month from now I don't think it really matters um but I think I I really do think it's worth the discussion of having them together um because the more that I think about it the more I'm sort of thinking well maybe c2b should be a special exemption use um but I'm also open to hearing what everybody else says so um unless there's huge opposition um I will eventually move to postpone this I'm not opposed to that other than like given how few Parcels are c2b um wondering if it makes sense to move on that now um uh the other thing that I would just flag that this highlights for me right is the urgency and the necessity that to some extent what commissioner Gib Randall brought up but I think that is underlying this is to look at how things along these corridors are zoned and whether it's an overlay right or for the existing districts or generating a different District um I think these Maps right and and the extent to which we have different directly across the street from each other um different uses allowed or not allowed I think is emblematic of our need to kind of rethink what happens here because for example if we move done what was happening tonight you know on the east side of Liberty in that stretch of Liberty it wouldn't be okay but you could do the very same thing just across the street and I would argue that we want the other side of the street to be walkable too like it it has the same character right and so that's where that's where treating these two differently that's how that's how the zoning is applied not the intent I totally get what you were saying Mr Leonard about the intent like the intent is different but as it's been applied like how what the map looks like um doesn't always bear that out and that's what makes me uncomfortable because I feel like it just seems odd so um commissioner s and then commissioner Aon I'd say I I'd prefer to proceed I think um because it isn't just across the street they are nested and I think there was some urgency because we're seeing this and if commissioner Lee is right about the demand uh more could come up as we deliberate and so like I really do want to be proactive in the things that we do want to see and don't want to see and set up our ordinances in a way that reflect that um and so I think uh making movement on c2b um um and that's where like c3m okay special exception or you know we can kind of look at it but yeah I'd like to see all these corridors and just like what everything is the rainbow of zoning along them and have that bigger discussion but I I would prefer some action um now as we're seeing things happen pretty quickly um in some of these areas commissioner abon um I was basically going to say the exact same thing so ditto that I I would prefer to proceed with the c2b at least other questions comments motions or not commissioner aons sorry I also just maybe a question for um for Brett and Alexis the the process by which we would look at the zoning along a major Cor or and evaluate that like that is the master planning like does that happen outside of the master plan process well um we're not we're not Midway through a contract to update our whole master plan but on your work plan is to um have the master plan subcommittee meet and start talking about what are some components or aspects of the master plan that could look at incrementally um that might be that might be one of them where um and the short of it is yeah I think that's a master planning conversation it might also be a zoning conversation I'm struck by the parallel we've received some feedback on the transit district you know that is advocating for you know no don't create a new District just create one District well that you know I you're you're sort of contemplating that we got here because there was a desire for some distinctions in some of those uses I think now X years into the history of zoning here in the city we looking at these maps and questioning are are those were those distinctions applied correctly or um maybe some of them were actually in response to specific proposals who knows um so um I think it is it is a master planning Endeavor it doesn't have to be we can look at zoning to see how zoning is relating to our current master plan but I think that's the better way to go um so given that it seems like the time scale for that larger analysis could be quite long um so it kind of reinforces by um feeling that we should act at least on c2b this evening if if there's consensus other questions comments commissioner milin um I just want to point out to maybe city council members who are here or who are watching us from home um this has now become a regular thing where every single meeting we are addressing our M master plan and how outdated our current master plan is and So for anybody who's watching from home uh or on whatever way you're watching it or when you're watching it um I encourage you to contact your council members um and encourage them to make this a priority um it's time and we keep talking about it and now it's every meeting we have the same conversation that it's time for a new master plan uh for that process to start again so I'll uh mention it one more time it's time hopefully um our city council members are listening to us thank you commissioner clerk you're muted sorry I just wanted to tag on that um from like a am I okay good um like I was just working in another city that had recently updated their master plan and from affordable housing development perspective I was kind of surprised just how much more accessible the information was the interface was so much easier to go and find all you needed to know about a parcel in one spot it made even you know Finding tax records easier so there's a lot of benefits there that people might not think of um yeah just wanted to throw that out there thanks all right um commissioner milstein you suggested earlier that you might propose a motion I don't know if you want to do that or not or if we're ready to just vote and so there have been no proposals to amend what's before us instead what we're getting ready to vote on is changing the use T it's as drafted which is changing the use table to not allow this use in c2b and letting C3 be the next step could you I'm sorry I didn't get the notes of who moved and seconded the original motion you recall I kind of feel like I called on commissioner s and then maybe commissioner abon no no um who wants to have seconded commissioner hamers Schmid oh M commissioner milin you did it I don't know okay thank you thank you for that CL it's all very friendly you know you can go back and watch after this I know um I think we're ready then for uh uh roll call vote commissioner Mills yes commissioner milstein yes commissioner Gib Randall yes commissioner s yes commissioner abens yes commissioner hamers Schmidt yes commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee obstain can can can I obstain sorry um on what basis um on let me let me follow that up the reason you would abstain is for a conflict okay um um this I as we're not taking any action on a specific property um I don't see that I don't know if the Planning Commission would like to investigate that further so I would I guess I would encourage you to um if you're comfortable to take your position on the proposed change unless you think a conflict uh is is existing no I just I'm not sure that I've um engaged with this substantively enough for me to have a very um like an informed vote I I which is fine in that circumstance I would encourage you to vote no then if you are not comfortable with the information that's provided that perfectly acceptable no I is are you are is that do you have any questions about that before we move on I just want to make sure you I don't think it was yeah um okay I don't know if I can make something for the record or or do I do that after the vote well well let me just finish the vote but to be clear for all Commissioners um when you're faced with a vote your responsibility unless you have a conflict is you should be taking a position on it if you um are supportive of that you should vote Yes if you're not supportive of it you should vote no if you feel that you are not ready to make a decision in that regard and the rest of the commission is it's perfectly appropriate to vote no you can disclose that that is the reason why but I just want to be clear that um unless you um unless you are affirmatively understanding that you can support that action that's a perfectly appropriate action gotcha answer commissioner so I got you for a no and commissioner Clark um I'm going to say no because um I want to kind of learn more about where the master planning and everything fits together and I feel the same way as shley that's great so the motion passes thank you very much we're on to item 10c which is the ruthan nature area Edition resoning which is at 3301 Getty's Road and this is for city council approval Miss Leo you're have a presentation for us thank you um I will just while I speak I will share the staff report mostly for the all right are you I see it okay good um mostly for the benefit of any viewers um to see um the staff report I know that not too many people click on the link so this is a rezoning of it ruin nature area addition it's um the ruin nature area recently had an addition of um um I apologize um the roofman added little more than eight acres and there now a 28 acre Park um it was previously zoned r1a and it is now appropriate to Zone at PL plant public land here is the roof in nature area which is located at Gettys and hereon Parkway and the addition is outlined in the dash line um this is somewhat of a formality however it has um an change to the zoning map cannot be done administratively it must be done by ordinance which means a public hearing of the Planning Commission and then again by the City Council planning staff is recommending approval any followup questions be happy to answer them very good um we will we do have a public hearing for this uh this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed ruthin nature area um resoning of ruthin nature area to public land the pl uh land District public comment can be made by calling 85352 47 and then entering meeting ID 921 7802 7281 City staff will call on uh call Select callers that have raised their hand um calling on You by the last three digits of your telep phone number in order to electronically raise your hand after dialing into the meeting please press star n on your phone you'll hear an automated announcement once the host has allowed you to speak at that time please move to a quiet area and mute any background sound so that we can hear you clearly and please also state your name and address for the record at the beginning of your comments uh if there there are a couple callers on the line if you'd like to speak at this public hearing you can press star nine I'm going to start reading the proposed motion um in part because we typically don't have tons of comments keep an eye out awesome thank you um the Ann Arbor City Planning Commission hereby recommends that the mayor and city council approve the ruthin nature area addition resoning from r1a single family dwelling to PL public land that is moved by commissioner milin seconded by commissioner Lee we are in discussion any comments questions for staff about this um commissioner Lee and then commissioner Gib Randall uh just for staff this seems purely procedural um is there anything substantive that we should be U that we should know about this um everything seems again just simply uh let's just make sure that it reads correctly on the map um correct it is purely procedural although we can't just do it administratively and change the map we need a formal action to change the map but um it is one of the more um um maer I don't have the right words tonight it's one of the more knee-jerk reactions it's our policy to Zone publicly owned land PL um just when the city acquires land whether it's donated or purchased the zoning map does not change automatically so we need to initiate this formal procedure to follow it up um we are not required there is no law that says that publicly owned land needs to be zoned PL but it is our preference and our policy that when you look at the zoning map the zoning map gives you some indication of the land use and so um when it is a park land or city-owned land we want it to show as PL so you have a a clue when you look at the zoning map about what's going on there and I guess the only I guess substantive question that I might have is that if it's currently zoned single family residential um has there been a highest and best use that the city could uh don't get me wrong I love Gallop Park it's right across the street I think it's great glacial land and is uh was there a highest and best use in that glacial like pres preservation as public land in a park is the highest and best use um I know um that the there is a a longer process for when the city either acquires or accept land donated particularly for Parks um this land was um purchased by Parks um and it went through their own vetting process which includes an evaluation of the land the monetary value as WEA as the um Park value of the land um and then it the purchase price um there's a process there where um I believe the city can only pay market market value of it and so forth so um I think in some sense of what you're saying yes there's been a evaluation there's been a lot of process involved also in terms of um task force recommendations committee subcommittees um reporting to get to this point got it thank you for the clarification it was just a simply a question borne out of of I suppose ignorance so thank you for it's all it's all good missioner gandle yeah I would just point out to commissioner Lee that it looks to me like about um 95% of this parcel is in the flood plane um and so you know that that also helps clarify why it makes a lot of sense as a park and not as more single family zoning my question is is that there is no sidewalk along Gettys there is sidewalk along um here on Parkway and I see all kinds of trails and things like that through this area that people have just um made there's there's an really interesting C which is a glacial structure there that is really like I think the only one that we have in ant Arbor that's really that distinct and um there's just not an easy way for people to get there and so I guess what I would hope is that as part of this that the city would actually commit to putting some sidewalk along Gettys there and I realized that it's not going to go anywhere and all that kind of thing and that the RightWay is really narrow there but um I just would like to have people be able to have access to this thing and I think that the easiest place for if people are going to park there it's to park at the gallop parking lot and be able to cross at the intersection and get over there and and enter from a sidewalk off of Gettys and um I would just hope that as part of this acquisition that the city would commit to putting some sidewalk in there so it's safe for people to do so so if you could just kind of pass that one along I guess to City Council in terms of um you know or or parks department or whatever that I hope that that's part of the long-term plan for this site I I will be sure to pass that along to um the manager Colin Smith commissioner Clark and then commissioner milstein just real quick wanted to Second what she said that's a really great point that are is hard to access and it might be I don't know how the sidewalk Village and all that's going to go but I feel like that might be a you know appropriate since it's a public spot and everything I just want to throw that out there Mr milstein I will third what commissioner Gib Randle um said in regards to sidewalk there's also an interesting bus stop that's right there where there's really nowhere to stand at the bus stop sort of like you have to literally stand stand in the road um so I thir that um the other piece just for uh commissioner Lee um so this property was on the market for a very very long time time for a a lot of money um and really it's buildable towards um as far away from Gettys as possible um if you go straight back and you literally needed to build a bridge that was very very long to get to that small buildable part um so this is the best use for it gotta thank you no I appreciate that clarification any other comments do you want to roll roll call vote Mr Leonard or should we can we just Voice vote it is action on a piece of land let's take a roll call vote then commissioner Mills yes commissioner milin yes commissioner Gib Randle yes commissioner sov yes commissioner abam yes commissioner hamers Schmid yes commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee Yes commissioner Clark yes car you man excellent uh the next item is 10d Oak Woods Nature area addition resoning which this property is at 3382 Nixon Road and this is also for city council approval and Miss Leo you've already got things loaded trying uh you can so you can see great um this is very similar but um it's a different Park in a different piece but but this is a six something acre addition to Oakwood nature area bringing it to 55 Acres I believe if I remember correctly the uh oaka nature area is in green here it fronts on Green Road goes all the way up to us23 and it is a little bit east of Nixon Road um the addition is here in the red dashes it comes from the uh adjacent development which is now called Owl Creek during the planning phrases phases I believe it was the annex but again it's um zoned R1 I'm sorry zoned r4a and the proposal is to rezone it to PL now that it is been deed to the city um this one has was a donation the previous one was a acquisition meaning a purchase any questions I'm happy to do followup um staff is recommending approval thank you very much there's also a public hearing on this one um and so I will open it up this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes about the proposed oakwoods nature area resoning from r4a residential to PL public land public comment can be made by calling 877 85352 47 and then entering meeting ID 7802 728 one city staff will select callers that have raised their hand you do that by pressing star nine Mr leonnard will call on You by the last three digits of your telephone number you'll hear an automated message saying that you can speak please move to a quiet area mute any background sound um and please state your name and address for the record and that was largely done give it a moment see if anybody indicates a desire to speak yep for the TV time delay TV timeout I'm going to start reading the motion and maybe people will call in or raise their hand um the an arbor City Planning Commission hereby recommends that the mayor and city council approve the oakwoods nature area addition resoning from r4a multi multiple family dwelling to PL public land move by commissioner s seconded by commissioner dish any [Music] discussion all right this is largely like the last except not on that busy road it's tucked back in behind the development Mr Leonard I think we're ready for a vote commer Mills yes commissioner milstein yes commissioner GB Randle yes commissioner s yes commissioner abon yes commissioner hamers Schmidt yes commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee Yes commissioner Clark yes motion cion Anders excellent we are now on to item 11 other business this is the c1a c1a are um updated response to the city council resolution R20 d26 7 Mr Leonard we failed you in your absence last time so well um see I was going to I was going to introduce this as um I missed the meeting and just had a burning desire to micromanage you um so um on December 15th um uh you considered a communication to city council um on a direction that they had given to the Planning Commission regarding the c1a and C1 R zoning districts um we had developed some propos changes and modifications to those districts um on the 15th uh you uh modified those Communications to um uh to basically seek additional direction from the city council on what they would like to do um my my view of this is that the Planning Commission has not yet fulfilled what the planning what the city council has already asked the Planning Commission to do and that's to advise them on whether to eliminate those districts or modify them or or do nothing and so um my assumption going into that meeting was that we the Planning Commission had agreed on a series of potential changes to those districts as it relates to development standards associated with them um and I believe that at the modifications that were made on the 15th again don't speak to what your recommendations are for those districts as the council has asked so um you've already at you've already um executed a communication on this um I can't force you to go back on it my point is that I I think that I feel like as a Planning Commission we have an obligation to um communicate what our recommendation is in response to the original resolution and I didn't think the modification did that it seemed to point back to what the council had already asked the Planning Commission to do and so I presented uh a draft um amendment that um would um more directly reflect um I think uh what council had asked um which is that if that the Planning Commission does not recommend any changes or elimination of those districts um that seemed to be um what the the Amendments on the 15th were seeming to get to to say that this is not of importance to the Planning Commission unless the council thinks otherwise I would Aspire that the Planning Commission takes some more sort of determinative position on what the council asked than to do so I I think it's either um be more forthright that the Planning Commission does not believe any changes are warranted or I think our communication to them are we sh we intend to pursue the modifications to the development standards that were discussed you can yeah let me know there is no public hearing so I think what we do is I read the motion somebody moves and seconds it right I just want to make sure because we normally have public hearing okay so I will read the motion and then commissioner disa first up um the motion reads the an arbor City Planning Commission hereby approves the following update in response to city council resolution R20 d267 and summarizes Planning Commission intent for proposed ordinance amendments moved by commissioner milin seconded by commissioner dish commissioner dish yeah so I don't mind at all being forced to revisit this as you know because you heard from me after this after our last discussion uh um I wonder once we have developed the T1 District or whatever it is that we end up multi-use whatever it's called how How likely is it that these zoning designations would be used along corridors that some residents have objected to because they're too far out of the central campus area so along corridors like Plymouth um Packard wherever I mean we've never used it there but wherever is that too speculative of a question to be asking um and I'll just be forthright I mean my feeling is this is not something to put a lot of time into given all of the other things that we need to do because I think that it is not likely to be used in the imminent future and I think it is really not likely to be used uh after to is in place at least it's not going to be in in the language of some people misused once Tod is in place and I I hate to see us waste our time uh our staff waste their time I should say um well my my thoughts on that it it is a little bit speculative I I think that the transit district has the opportunity to probably resp to provide depending how if and how it is realized has the opportunity to provide a sort of similar development criteria in the ordinance as to c1a and C1 um that the couple of recent examples of those of sites that have sought that don't come to mind to me as being on the signature Transit routes um so um a little bit of yes and a little bit of maybe did you have more commissioner dish or you want me to go on to commissioner S I mean I was goingon to say that I didn't think lower toown was impossibly off it but yeah no it it's proximate um but like I think when you look at the signature corridors they are Plymouth and state and when I think about that that project lowertown beakman on Broadway is quite close to Plymouth obviously um the garnet is was sought that was denied that's a little bit off so it's it's hard to say but I think that's the intention of the T1 District at least from a staff perspective is to provide some other development opportunities along those Transit corridors where density can be supported by those other modes of transportation perhaps more R right um and I know that I or I believe I remember that this instruction to Planning Commission to review these designations was paired with a a moratorium on their use which seems like I mean that's not a word I like it just feels like a very dramatic gesture but I sort of I I feel like it's kind of safe to say these designations are going to be sort of mothballed for a while and Council can certainly not use them a developer might ask for for them Council cannot use them um knowing that we have this other piece of the puzzle underway and hopefully you know really at the council table by this summer or so um so I just I really I feel like this is a distraction and um that I guess this is just I you know I could try to make a resolution in Council to say let's not prioritize this but I I just feel like let's not make too much of this um the the horse is out of the barn for the past and we are looking forward to a future where we have a a Transit oriented development or however Transit supported or whatever we're going to call it Zone yeah I would I would concur with that you know any any proposal to reone property is reviewed in by the city and ultimately um you know that's where city is going to look at Master planning documents and other circumstances in the recent cases where this zoning has been sought one was approved one was denied um you're absolutely right you know ultimately you and your colleagues at the city council upon advice of the Planning Commission have that ability to consider the appropriateness of any zoning District so I would agree with your with your your assertion that there the city has a lot lot of ability to consider the appropriateness of if if these districts are proposed anywhere else um without any action commissioner S I saw you your hand before I guess I I read this as there's two directions one to adopt as is about the the leave it you know let it be or add the language back in and say we recommend much modifications and these are what they would be um are kind of the two ways just okay um and then if we recommend modification we would be giving ourselves the homework without a requirement of city council directive to start acting on those modifications that we recommended through this communication yeah I would Envision that happening like the site plan where you're going to communicate to the city council we've considered this we've done we've done analysis of it we think that these changes are appropriate and we're going to get to go to work on them um alternatively and the the draft that I presented uh to you this evening is the the second option it is I I'm sort of basing that on the changes that I saw occur on the 15th which seemed to indicate that the Planning Commission wasn't prioritizing that homework and I I I thought it was appropriate to be more definitive that the Planning Commission wants communicates to council we don't intend to do any changes in this regard you know and to to say recommend no elimination or modification it then kind of says like if this is still a priority to you you can send another directive back to us you know that goes without saying though right I guess that's from our conversation from the 15th I guess how I recollect it is we we were kind of feeding Council the idea that the stuff was going to done to test the waters to see what their priority was to give it back to us as homework but how it actually is written is this is the work we're going to get done and so we're automatically prioritizing it through the communication and there's no way for Council to actually give us it as a priority with everything else they've already done that they've already asked you to make that determination and do that work if you think it's appropriate and so that's I feel like I feel like I feel like that analysis went into it and then at the last minute we said but we're not we're not planning commission is not sure whatever you think and I think that the council has asked the Planning Commission for advice in this regard that's the planning commission's role and so I I it the Amendments seemed uh too wishy-washy for me they didn't seem responsive to what council asked of us and so that that's my promise I but I totally agree I think that if if the planning commission's thought is we always the city has the ability to consider such zonings in the future we don't think it's a priority we think that moving forward on Transit is more important I think that that should be the clear communication that there's no that we don't believe any changes are necessary at this time we don't intend to work on it alternatively it could be we think these districts are appropriate we think we should make these modifications to the to the development standards in response to some some of the concerns that were discussed at the resolution and we're going to proceed with that that's ideally I would see one of those two okay yeah I I think yeah my take you know from early on was I think that there's other things that should come online that have more appropriateness than this that would replace it and so working on this to then be um taken over by more appropriate things seems like not the right priority um I do think though that there is you know and I'll just say there there's a need in Zoning for something like this which is why it's starting to come up as this sort of combination of needs on a site through the c1a C1 AR that other zoning designations don't help with and I will be the broken record on this agenda item to say the master plan would be the thing to help solve what that combination of things of zoning is so just to kind of reiterate how it all circles back to that again and again um but yeah I I really appreciate you clarifying this back back into just get get a direct response done uh and it really just kind of highlights where to get the work done which is more about types of zoning designations and that we just don't have the appropriate combo right now and there's other ways to work on it thanks so yeah I actually I like the strike through I'll just kind of be very clear about that since that's the ask right now other comments my very blunt comment is that I oh go ahead commissioner well finish my blunt comment um we've already given this way too much attention given all of the other pressing things and like that was the very first thing that we said when we saw this directive which is yeah there's things about like our city has evolved this is why we need to update the purpose statements of our districts why we need to think about all of our districts why we need to think about like what are master plan is calling for like our city has evolved but as commissioner s just said like people are proposing this because they want to build something like this and actually I would I want to to say that I have heard the callers who have called in and said PUD is the way to go when people want to build something like this they should be building a PUD and that's the Pud is for when we don't have a district where we don't have a typology that you can do some like that is appropriate this one I think that there's a bigger conversation um and I think that there's different attitudes about what how often puds should be used there is a lot of uncertainty associated with a PUD it's a make your own District um if the things that we're looking for are mixed use like we have we've developed districts that are mixed use that allow some for some flexibility on parking we should just make those districts and not push people to to create their own I mean that's what PUD is kind of create your own adventure and and it locks future development into only what was envisioned at that time so I personally don't think that we want to be pushing although I I recognize we need more affordable housing I think the uncertainty associated with PUD ultimately does works against affordability personally um I mean I would be happy if somebody put numbers behind that but my sense what is that all of that uncertainty is actually not it may it may lead to additional Revenue into the affordable housing fund but it incre it it increases development costs which I I think is counterproductive so that was less blunt than or Su commissioner hamers Schmidt and then I think maybe I saw commissioner Clark's hand maybe um okay so I know there's a lot of baggage with this issue with these zoning districts I guess I have a few disjointed thoughts and comments and I'm not really sure where I'm landing with these things I guess I feel like you know going back to the original request I don't know that it's really our place to completely eliminate a recommend elimination of a zoning category without a public process without going through this master planning process so I definitely wouldn't be comfortable eliminating and I think a lot of things that commissioner Mills just said like we need these more flexible um like mixed use zoning districts to be options I don't think c1a and C1 are perfect like I think they do need modifications but I also don't think they're NE necessarily going to stick around I think what commissioner dish was saying they probably are not going to be used and we don't necessarily want them to be used and we're going to be working on these other zoning districts to probably replace them so just so this out there like does it make sense and maybe this is more of a staff like process question or maybe this is something that fellow Commissioners want to comment on and I don't even know if it makes sense but like the idea of this moratorium on a zoning District that we're saying well if Council doesn't want to do this they can just not do it I mean if if that's of the approach that we're taking that we don't love the zoning District but we can just deny it and make them come back with something else it doesn't make sense until we have something better to just do a moratorium sort of asking the question because I don't I don't know what I think well um the this this discussion is a statement of intent of the Planning Commission so if if it was desires to move forward with elimination that process would occur definitely um as it relates to um the the use of the city I guess I I don't when I say that the city always has the ability to apply the zoning District or not I would I I am personally not coming from a a a premise that it's not a good zoning District I think that as part of our discussion we recognize that obviously there's been consideration of this District in the city I think that comes from combination of market demand and and desire and appropriateness as determined in some actions and inappropriateness by by the city so my my point is not that when I say that I don't my premise is not that they're bad districts my premise is that the city with any district has the ability to decide if that district and those development standards are appropriate at the location saw and so um I look at it a little bit differently I don't I don't think saying that is is presuming the dists are bad and you know why shouldn't we just be more forthright about that my point is that it's what I've heard from the Planning Commission considering this issue over the last several months is that no this is this this has utility for a development prototype in our city the city always has the decision on where to apply that you've heard from members of the public that there's you know positions that the city has applied it incorrectly But ultimately the city always has that ability to decide whether or not to apply that and um you know that that's that's just base that's how the legislative process works I mean I liked the modifications that we had in I don't even remember when now like with the height because right now it's like no height limits right y yeah the proposed um modifications were height limit um uh that as it got close to adjacent res itial districts that height goes down um it was also removing premiums from those districts um uh and yeah those are the the bulk of it I also agree that yeah I also agree that I don't we've talked about this a lot and I'd rather be working on like a transit or a mixed use District so I don't know I mean if we said like we recommend those things I mean I don't even remember how it was like is it there a way to word it that's just like let's keep it let's do a height limit we're done we don't have to keep working on this well if if we that's my point if planning commissioner thinks there should be height limit I think the Planning Commission should say there should be a height limit here and we're going to work on that I don't think I I don't think that it's responsive to council asking you what should we do with these districts for us to say ah we think we should do a height limit but we're not going to do anything about it that's the planning commission's role is to say we think that there should be a change here and we're going to work on it okay what okay I mean I guess maybe I haven't been around long enough to know like what is the pro if we said like there should be a height like we say in this what you have crossed off like at 100 foot height limit for any portion of the site what is the what is then the process to actually get that done then we're going to draft changes to the UDC we're going to present a staff report to you with those proposed changes we're going to hold a public hearing and you're going to take action on those to recommend those changes in the UDC to the city council okay commissioner Clark oh sorry sorry no I'm I was just gonna say I'm gonna stop talking for right now I was just going to agree with what um what you mentioned earlier about puds in the affordability aspect and just um worth considering the degree of risk that it takes on for both the city and the like you know um the developers and it might you know result in only a certain type of project just simply by means but um that's worth considering thank you commissioner abon then commissioner dish so it it helps me to maybe just like rewind for a minute and fig like I feel very confused I guess about this conversation that we didn't want to spend any time on has taken up so much of our time and and we are here yet again without it being resolved and so I mean just to revisit the last set of decisions my understanding at least was that the reason that we changed the language was because the language specifically said that like here things we're going to work on and this and the feeling was that there's been enough Change in city in the city council makeup that perhaps they don't it wouldn't we all would agree that there are more important things that we would want to work on in 2021 because even those small set of changes would take up time you know and so instead it was like a kind of check like are you is there still an appetite for us to do this as opposed to putting that energy and effort towards something else so it's kind of a funny thing to say oh this body thinks that C1 AR needs a height limit it's not something I think that we would have have initiated or worked on um without having gone through the last six months of this or 180 days right of this process so I guess I I it's just very I feel it's very muddled and I think it's also very specifically about a history around two projects recent projects in the city not a kind of generalized issue like a lot of the other things that we work on and so it feels I don't know if anybody else maybe can help me feel less confused I would appreciate that because I I feel like we keep trying to kind of put it to bed and it's and we can't somehow but but I also don't want to just like on the Fly be like yeah add a height limit just so that we can get it off the work you know get it off the list because I think that's not really in good faith what I don't know what the intention of this body was at least the last time we spoke about it um so maybe just to wrap up my sorry my rambling and kind of um unfocused thoughts would be to say I either would like to just leave it leave it or I could could possibly be convinced to say that we don't want to make any changes at this time which is I think Mr lenet what you're asking us to do be more definitive as opposed to Simply uh batting it back to council for directive but I also did on the 15th obviously like that made sense to me then this idea that well we need to know that that we really should be working on this still and spending even if it's only a few hours it's like we only have a few hours together so um I think both things kind of make sense to me and so yeah I would appreciate maybe you all helping me work it out so I don't think that the changes that were proposed will improve the c1a and C1 districts if the concern that motivated sending these districts to planning was that they were being used too widely and used in parts of the city where they weren't meant to be used and we can argue over whether that is correct or not but if that was what the we can argue over the rightness of that concern but I think that was the concern and so spending a whole lot of time making I don't know there were five or six changes height limit set backs other stuff that actually make it easier to use them more I don't think that is I don't think that's going to make very many people happy so uh or I don't think it's going to make the people who are concerned about these zoning districts actually feel any better it's going to make them feel like well great now you've made them more transportable terrific and then I think there's a group of people who are just not interested in these zoning districts this is the past we looking towards a future time is limited opportunity costs staff time costs money um there was a list of those things public hearings all of that it's energy that we should be and need to be devoting to uh the the the momentum towards what our vision is for a future and Arbor not how can we fix these holdovers you know things that we hadn't used since the 1950s until the beakman on Broad Broadway project and the attempt to use it for Garnet so my feeling really is that this is not a good use of time because it isn't going to please anyone and so I would like us to support the I don't know if it's I don't understand is it an amendment a memo what it is that Mr Leonard has brought to us but that is what I think we should send forward and if council is not happy and wants Planning Commission to work on C1 AR and make them better Council can tell us that and then figure out where in our work plan it fits right I mean part of this is a prioritization I I think at the end of the day there's just like for the CIP there is limited budget we have limited staff time and our time and so yeah um I saw commissioner Lee and I saw commissioner milstein in that order I don't know if you still want to talk um I I suppose well you know I obviously read um the communication that came in from Ralph mcke and obviously I think Civic engagement is critical um I think it's a a thing we have to continue to encourage um so I certainly want to take his concerns seriously um the thing that I wanted to ask staff um was if we could just um pull up a quick map of just the filtered c1a zones kind of like what we did with CB2 um because I I have the gis up but like I'm having trouble filtering it I know I know I need to be better at it but the gis app seems to be slightly different so I just you know I I get all the comments that it seems like from a scale and time resource allocation perspective is this is something that um you know our energy could be spent uh but just just as a reminder just as a refresher if you could just bring up that map and um but I I certainly hear everybody I I just also want to be very mindful that like you know people who take the time to specifically engage write these kinds of emails and you know put in these things it's something that we want to encourage more and I want to take Point seriously uh and as commissioner Hammer pointed out there is a lot of baggage around this particular uh issue um I want to make sure that we're we're honoring those things and just understanding uh different viewpoints while making sure that we are time effectively uh and so the thing that I'd like to do is just refresh our scope and scale of the c1a um and C1 a district by just kind of pulling that map up so that we have a very you know because really the only place I really see it is at Hoover and Packard where I see that as kind of like a you know and and I know that there's that retico project going up on Hoover and green so um I don't I so to conclude I think it's a par of that we continue to try and encourage Civic engagement um that means to take emails you know that people send in seriously but that we also have to be very mindful about how we're spending our time because that is a limited resource so in an effort to balance the to an an effort to gain a sense of scope um if we could just see that map one more time I don't know if it's something that's quick to pull up but um well I'm I'm trying to find it right now but um I can describe describe it for you um the the only C1 uh districts in the city are around the state and Packard intersection um so have both c1a and c1a R that's probably the the kind of the largest uh number of parcels in a contiguous area that is Zone c1a and C1 a r um we also have now the beakman on Broadway site and then there are two other sites uh in the city that are zon one of those districts um one is Angelos the diner and the other is the uh [Music] a site that is I think just south of the funeral home on South Forth a single parcel and so those are the only sort of four geographies in the city that have these zoning districts present all of which are fair Fairly you next to campus I again I don't want to be dismissive of any um again civically age comments but uh you know I will then Echo uh commissioner um Dish's point that our energy is limited and that we do need to U make sure that we're taking we're getting a resolution on this one way or the other but uh so um thank you for the clarification I yeld my time BR you Brett you mentioned that um the largest area of c1a um is the state peckard Hill triangle um the um um and that's I me there there are some there are something like 60 or 60 or 80 Parcels there that's our largest zoning District I do believe that there was some c1a some C1 AR in the uh South U area but that got um it's no longer you'll no longer find it on the map because now that area is either D1 or D2 um but the state Packard Hill area um triangle is our large c1a C1 a r area in terms of number of parcels can everybody see the map yep so this is uh uh beakman on Broadway up at the top uh here is a single parcel on South Forth this is the Angelo's site and then as uh Alexis mentioned the largest concentration is at State and Packard these are all of the c1a and C1 Zone Parcels in the city currently currently yeah it would be fair to say that that the the biggest risk of some buite development proposal getting you know obviously jammed through would be on that corner of state and Packard is that correct um State and Packard is is actually quite challenging um because uh the c1a and C1 uh have parking requirements so the ability to realize a larger scale development um in these sites particularly amongst the what I will the multiple individual Parcels um even you know even if you were to Able able to assemble all the properties um because c1a and C1 R do not have the same parking exemptions that the D1 and D2 do um you are not going to have the same ready the sort of same um development ability because you're going to have to balance those on relatively small sites I think the the action here originated from applying that District to new areas and as we discussed um you know it's been applied and it's been rejected and um that's remains a a decision on a Case by casee basis of councel would it be unreasonable to request that we this to a working session um because I you froze on me I was going to say I was moving to see if it was me yeah sorry nope I think that was me sorry yep I just got the warning my internet connection is unstable um I'm just pointing it out because we do want to obviously avoid something and I I have to ask at least the question is there something better that we could do there um obviously the scale and scope is pretty limited and I I don't want um but I just I have to ask the question because that email obviously uh comes from a place of passion and then they do feel strongly about it so I have to engage with it um to that respect but I I will obviously encourage any know descent um in that matter commissioner milstein um so I wasn't going to speak about this just because I'm fully in support of the of the memo that uh Mr L has drafted and I completely agree with commissioner dish that we have our time is butter spend doing other things than this especially with this few parcels and commissioner uh lee um with all with all respect um we've spent a lot of time talking about this over the last six months and we have way better more important things to talk about especially because we only have 12 working sessions a year then to deal with this um issue and then also because we really don't know what the direction of this council is with regards to this um so I think going back with this memo is the best thing to do at this point um I think we've had a lot of discussions we all sort of feel like from the very first time we heard about this to I still to today you know I sort of get the sense our feeling hasn't changed it's like why are we there more important things on our plate at this point why are we talking about this um and I I totally appreciate and I respect the people who have written to us and have called in um but there are more important things for us to worry about especially because of the limited staff time and because of our limited time so um I would be in favor of uh moving this forward to council and then um having Council if they' like more from us coming back with more Direction so that we can uh provide what they're looking for commissioner Clark I saw a hand maybe maybe not all right commissioner Lee and then we'll move to vote go ahead thank you for the clarification on context again I'm fairly new here so I haven't been attending these meetings for six months so I appreciate the context and I my time yeah commissioner Clark and then commissioner aens you are muted still commissioner Clerk sorry um I was just reading through the master plan out of curiosity on the lower town area since that was brought up as the Maiden Lane and I mean it's pretty it's a you know I know people might feel very strongly and have their personal connections to that land but it's pretty clearcut that it's campus commercials in there and I agree that we're spending a whole lot of time on something that's kind of already been hashed out with you know following the master thank you commissioner abens just wondered if there were any other Commissioners who um would support just leaving leaving it as it was um or if there's kind of more more more of a sentiment that we should adopt another memo commissioner hamers Schmid what do you mean by leaving it as it was I mean that this is this isn't something actually have that we have to take action on if I understand correctly I think uh Mr Leonard feels that the action that we took in his absence isn't satis satisfactory um to the directive that Council gave us but I think we also could decide as a body that we've done enough and we could adjourn that's my understanding please correct me if I'm wrong I I agree kind of voluntary follow on to maybe be you know more de declarative in the memo than we were maybe it's late because I'm still confused I'm sorry I mean it is late um I mean I guess I was I was goingon to say something after you spoke anyway but I think the thing I'm uncomfortable with I would not recommend elimination but I don't know that I wouldn't recommend modification at the same time I don't really want to spend time on this and commissioner AB like you said a little while ago like would we have looked at this had Council not asked us to know but they did and we've looked at it and like I think that that some of the things that we said could make it a more comfortable District even if I don't think making it putting parameters on it will necessarily make people want to use it more but I think it'll prevent us from having like massively huge buildings next to single family housing just you know hypothetically um I'm not sure where I was going with that I'm not comfortable with the saying that I don't think it should be modified I wonder if there's a way I guess is there is there a way to say like here are the modifications we would propose but Council needs to tell us if they want us to work on it and then the council can that's where is that what we were my position is council's already asked you should there be modifications and if so do them they already they've already asked that and you know there's been some conversation about the change in counsil I can appreciate that but count it it from My Lens Council has asked us for our advice and I think that we should provide it but they didn't say if so do them I mean can't we say here's what we and here is what we would propose to modify and they can say like yes modify or no don't modify they could yes we could say that I I guess it's a r I think I I think this sort of relates to the master plan conversation um at some point I think it's appropriate for Planning Commission to recommend the policies that it thinks is important as opposed to always being waiting for Council to tell the commission what you should be working on and so I think in this case council's asked again I I totally agree with commissioner abon you don't have to do anything my read of it was the Amendments seemed they don't seem responsive what council has asked the Planning Commission to do I I I fully respect if I'm in you know I'm apart from the commission on that and if that's the case I would say take no action my sense is that Council has asked you should we eliminate them or modify them up until that modification it felt like we should modify them and I know it's a a distinction but it's sort of the action you set sort of said are you sure you know are you sure you want like are you sure you want us to evaluate these and they they do want you to evaluate them uh I saw commissioner s then commissioner Aon then commissioner Clark I'm so sorry is there a way to take all the struck the language that struck that we had issued and just put it kind of above that last sentence to be like we evaluated these types of modifications s that could be appropriate um given priorities and the impact of these modifications and then follow up with the Planning Commission does not recommend elimination or modification of these districts at this time so at least some of like the work about review of modifications is communicated to council but in the end we definitively say we looked at it we looked at height we looked at uh setbacks we looked at all that stuff we think that there's some stuff to be changed but we actually don't think it's a priority right now and so we have a definitive communication back that says we're not going to do anything with it but we looked at it and there's some things that if it becomes a priority in the future here's a communication that outlines them so it ends with the definitive we're not doing anything I like I I because it's it's it's everything you could definitely make that modification yeah does that I guess the question to it is does that modify what we sent enough to meet what you're recommending to us to be more definitive or does it just make it a rearranged messy thing it still feels a little messy to me it's still feels like you're communicating two things we should make some modifications here but we're not we don't think it's important enough to prioritize it and that's fine I I think that's valid there's a lot of work on your plate there is only so much liit a time I think it's it seems like kind of a copout I just want to know like I know this is like on the record filed for us but it translating forward like there has been six months of discussion and it's not for not what the communication also says is like there's a zoning District because I don't think it is about the the plan as shown for what's zoned I think the reaction to this is there's a zoning designation that's needed that people are looking to rezone for an opportunity to put all of these things on a site this mixed use and so to put some of these modifications on record and communication towards city council says what we have right now isn't the right fit there's a need for it and as we move forward and look at zoning class you know mixed use zoning type these are the types of things we want to look at and it's just sharing six months worth of conversation about the pain points and modifications to zoning overall and I'm not sure if it matters that it like that officially goes to Council on record or if we just file it away on record in the Planning Commission Communications so that that's kind of one of the things I guess I'm jostling with that just put back to the Commission in terms of what officially goes to the city council in detail or if we just just close this thing stop wasting our time and move forward with the other priorities so sorry commissioner Clark can I just throw something out there really quick because what I'm kind of hearing here is that the overarching like kind of conclusion of this conversation is that we're looking at it on a very granular level rather than how it fits into the bigger picture it might be useful to say to council like we think that at this time considering it in a vacuum obviously word a different might not the most productive use of our time and then it should be fit into a bigger more cohesive strategy um and looking at it more in depth compared to the transit oriented development as we move along and just kind of leaving the recommendation um on that and then see how they want to move forward commissioner Aon I think that makes sense but I think that the only issue with that is that we weren't it's a little odd for us to go back to them and say we don't want to look at it the way you asked us to we want to look at it a different way so if I understand what Mr Leonard is asking he's saying if we just look at it like in the if the most distilled thing the the resolution that Council adopted is actually like he Planning Commission eliminate modify or do nothing right there were only three choices and so we I guess we have a responsibility to go back and and declare one of those three choices choices the the difficulty I have with um like commissioner hamers Schmid you know POS like putting on the table I guess the possibility that we do want to do these kind of height limit things is that I actually think if we wanted went and looked at those modifications they would require some in-depth and and lengthy conversation they aren't cut and dry so you know I I know that I don't remember um if it was Mr stalberg or um the other gentleman who has reached out to us a few times but like you know I think astutely pointed out that a 100 foot height limit is higher than the height limit for D2 so suddenly you have as you move away from the downtown you you have a higher limit than a lower limit than a higher limit and so these kinds of things like I think they're not yeah so I think we just have to decide like if we're gonna if we are going to say that we think there should be modifications and we're going to take that on then we have to just be committed and to actually working through them and I don't think it's cut and dry like I don't think it's a simple thing we can just take care of tonight or or or you know without a working session so I do think the other option is to say that uh at this time we we recommend that we do nothing it doesn't seem like there's any appetite for elimination so we either choose modification and we commit time to it or we say that at this time we recommend nothing right those are our choices which I'm now kind of going back to where you started commissioner aons and you said what's the appetite for just letting it sit what I'm hearing from Mr Leonard is that is not the message that our initial memo sent um because it's not the message and so while I thought that was the message I thought we left here with that understanding if that's not the message then if and we need to make it clearer then I think the language that we have before us is clear we don't think the the thing that's really important to me that I would pass on is at this time like because we got too like the sub the subtext is because we've got too many other things that we should be spending our time doing personally so um if time were unlimited we could do we came up with ideas it will feed into future conversations Mr Leonard just to be clear so the first memo what we voted on last time has not gone to council yet right okay and so what won't be in there is the additional like if you were to change it which now we're saying if you were to change it but we don't think you should this is how you can make it more palatable um and that's the that's the height limit so so council is not going to see that but we know that that might well inform what we want to do on other mixed juuse districts in transit corridors and so we just have to remember to go back to that is that fair I think that's fair yeah rather than spend more time word smithing a memo that none of us think is a good idea I would just say let's go with what we got that's my opinion and then we've talked about it so now we know we got to go back and look at what we struck out here when we're talking about those mixed juice districts because I think these conversations the concern about this is going to come up in those places because a lot of them AB but neighborhoods right whether they're very close to campus or not commissioner sve do you mean go with what we got that we already approved or go with what we got with what's proposed right now what go with what was before us tonight the the the motion on the table cool that's what I sorry thank you for it's it's past my bedtime guys I just wanted to clarify which one we're talking about so yep yeah okay any other comments or can we vote on this thing I I see a quick comment from commissioner Clark and a quick comment from commissioner hammid and then we are voting really good question just because of for context um does this mean that the moratorium like that there won't be any going forward or not uh I believe the moratorium is already expired okay that's commissioner hammeri I don't want to Smith I think the at this time I'm glad that you mentioned this because I think that helps me because it is the like I do think it should be modified but if we just say we but I also don't think we should work on it so that at this time helps me um quite a bit but I'm wondering like we say we don't recommend eliminating or modifica or modifying like you just tell me to to stop talking but um like I almost would be feel more comtable it says like we don't recommend like pursuing the like I don't know that I don't recommend modifying it you know what I mean so like I'd almost feel more comfortable if it said like it we don't recommend pursuing elimination or modification I don't know if that why that one word like would make a difference to me I don't see support I don't okay okay can we vote y people all right we do if it's okay let's do a roll call because it sounds like there might be some varying opinions on this uh commissioner Mills yes commissioner milin yes commissioner Gib Randall yes commissioner sve yes commissioner abam no commissioner hammid no commissioner dish yes commissioner Lee Yes commissioner Clark yes is that a yes yes motion carries okay thank you very much it is in our bylaws that we don't take up new business that we vote before taking up new business but we don't have anything else to take up we've got public comment which we need to close with um so we're on to item 12 which is public comment this is the final opportunity uh for members of the public to speak for up to three minutes about any item of Interest public comment can be made by calling 877 85352 47 and then entering the meeting ID that I have said about a dozen times tonight that if you are listening to us is available on the bottom of your screen um raise your hand by pressing star n and there are have been a couple people on the line and there is a hand up right now so I will read more details if needed caller with the phone number ending with 556 556 you have three minutes to address the Planning Commission hi this is Ralph mcke can you can you hear me okay yes sir uh I guess I'm almost I'm very rarely speechless but you almost put me there that is one of the most convoluted and surreal discussions I have ever heard in my life and I I I can't think of whether I should analogize to beating my head against a brick wall or trying to get through quicksand I've spoken six times I think and written two detailed things and I'm not sure if anybody other than I heard a couple of comments Miss Clark Miss dish and Mr Lee I heard each of them make a comment that I'll call a nugget that that something that I have said got through but most of it I don't think you even get the point the point is lower town was a disaster and the moratorium is out and by not doing anything here you just opened the barn door that Miss dish correctly said that the horse is already out you're you're allowing it to happen again which is my entire point that that's the absolute disaster and and now it's okay just let it happen again it might not happen in 50 years it might be like Hurricane Katrina and after that it won't matter if it won't ever happen again that's what I'm concerned about the point about the that M dish made about about uh we don't want to make it more transportable is exactly right and number two the the uh the point about affordable housing I I'm not sure anybody got that either it's the Pud may be more expensive I don't disagree with that but Council has already said and Jennifer Hall has said and Amanda Carl everybody else who knows anything about affordable housing in this town Market will never build it the only way that it's going to be built is by getting money from developers or by a tax we just tax homeowners why can't we tax developers too that's what puds are for if you make this the route rather than a PUD you just gave the developer the money that would otherwise go into the affordable housing fund I can't make it any more blunt than that I I just don't understand why that's hard to get if it it I if that's I I can't make the point any stronger than that if if you're going to allow that item just the one time you could lose a giant amount of affordable housing money again and that's all I'm trying to prevent here so I I guess we'll just have to take this to council because this is frankly I I I see as hopeless I'll write it out in detail one more time but I'm not expecting anything to come out of that time up bye thank you for the others that's are on the line if you'd like to speak um at this time you can press star nine to digitally raise your hand H with phone number ending with 534 you have three minutes to address the Planning Commission hi this is Tom stalberg again I would like to speak as the official spokesperson for an aror neighbors for responsible development we are the neighborhood association that sued the city we are the reason you are here tonight and I think people forgot why you were here tonight we sued the city because the Lower Town approval was illegal and anybody who says oh we can't have P puds because they cost more the convoluted way that this was approved to avoid a PUD was more delay and more expensive than if it had been a PUD and the only reason lower toown was approved in the convoluted way that it was with C1 AR with plan project modifications zoning board of appeals for parking and uh conditional zoning was specifically for one and only one reason to get out of $9 million of affordable housing contribution we are here because people cheated the system c1a and C1 a r you didn't have to modify them they're perfectly fine where they are Alexis Deo was correct commissioner Lee was correct commissioner dish was correct if you leave them alone where they are they're fine you don't have to modify them they're not a problem it's when you move them where they don't belong where they become a problem and if we could trust our own City that they wouldn't move them where they were inappropriate like lower toown and like the garnet both of which had multiple inappropriate and illlegal aspects to those applications and approvals if they hadn't been tried then we wouldn't be here we wouldn't be needing to do anything to c1a and C1 AR we could leave them alone if we could trust they wouldn't be used to cheat the citizens and cheat the city out of affordable housing money that a developer should have paid at the case of lower toown a developer was given a waiver of $9 million that's the only that happened different than approving that appropriately as a PUD at the garnet four members of council were trying so desperately to not get $888,000 from the developer who was perfectly willing to give that money because they wanted to set a precedent for illegal further use they wanted the precedent of illegal further use of these categories you are here to stop that from happening again you've already done what you've done we're on to Council next and it's up to council the new Council to stop what a prior counsel wanted to do which was to cheat the citizens by illegally and inappropriately using these categories so I thank you for your time you shouldn't have had to waste your time but other people ruined it for you by illegally and improperly using these categories which which would be just fine where they are without modification thank you thank you there's one more person on the line if you'd like to speak at public comment you can press star nine to digitally raise your hand going once twice okay item 13 is commission proposed business is there any commission proposed business I did write something down it is late I'm putting it down that I would like to flag for the future which is particularly as we talk about proposed um plan project modifications having a primer on electric heating systems air source heat pumps vrfs Mini Splits so because that's part of plan project modification changes modifications I think that that would be really helpful for us so um I will commit to helping to pull that together but kind of thinking about what the right venue is I think it would help us all that's okay um anything else commissioner Lee I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for you know staying so late on a Tuesday evening especially Brett uh Mr Leonard and misso so thank you and you guys are all just Beast for being able to you know um do this so I just want to thank y'all awesome for being able yeah no I'm ready but uh I just have a great deal of respect that's all I wanted to say so and on kind of a positive note so anything else um I just have one thing um I'll be following with an email now that we're back to a full commission I'm going to be um um at the next January meeting we'll be talking about uh subcommittees and appointments representatives to other boards we had done that sort of on a quick level but since we had so many vacancies I wanted to bring that back I'll send something out in the interim for a descri reminder of the description of all the opportunities we've got a new appointment to the center of the city task force that we need to identify so um uh I'll send out that information but that'll be on the upcoming agenda as well thank you all right um item 14 is adjournment would a commissioner like to move that commissioner milstein seconded by commissioner abon all those in favor please raise your hand or say I I then you can turn it into a wave and it have a good night good night see you next week e

statement we develop knowledgeable competent responsible citizens for inspirational and innovative opportunities uh we're going to do the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god and next item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda has everyone had the opportunity to uh take a look at the agenda and does anyone have any questions do i hear a motion mr president i move that we adopt the agenda as presented do i hear a second a second all those in favor please signify by saying i i opposed the eyes have it 5-0 thank you next we're moving on to certificate of the election there were two board members elected in this last round i'm lucky to be joined by amy counts as one of them and i'm the other upon the request of the candidate not earlier than noon 17 days after the date of the election the circuit court has certified the election of the individuals declared elected by the county election board under indiana code oh i'm sorry okay so i think all we need is just do we need to um approve those no no they just need to be certified right yeah so now we just need they have been certified now we'll move forward with the oath of office and i'll invite the honorable senator roderick bray of the district's 37th district to administer the oath that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of indiana and the constitution in the laws of the united states and the as a member as a member of this governing body [Applause] congratulations no okay i'll tell ya don't give me a giggle nothing embarrassing about that not at all more embarrassing for them senator braid thank you again for being here this evening appreciate it thank you very much thank you mr rick and now this is our reorganization of the for the county air 2021 first item on the agenda is to elect our school board president do i have a nomination for school board president for 2021 mr president hang on gotta make sure i get this correct i nominate jack russell to serve as president for the 2021 calendar year do i hear a second second thank you mr alexander appreciate it thank you mr hubbard all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye aye opposed the eyes have it i will now ceremoniously turn over the gavel to mr russell and we'll trade spots thank you mr daniels this mask is big okay so we re done that we've done that okay yeah where okay our next order of business is the reorganization of the board as you see up on the screens everybody's had time to look at that these are different responsibilities that each board member has and enjoys uh doing do i have any comments my first comment is we need to change our name tags we can thank my senior in high school for pointing that out thank you bethany davis so you'll just need to not like okay see there's no comments do i have a motion mr president i move that we approve the board organization sheet as presented thank you mr alexander do i have a second nice second thank you mr daniels all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed reorganization passes 5-0 thank you our next order of business is the 2021 board meeting dates as you see we haven't removed them from the thursday night the third thursday night everyone's had time to look at those and see when we have our work sessions and so forth any discussion scene is this no discussion do i have a motion mr president i move that we approve the 2021 board meeting dates as presented thank you mr alexander do i have a second second thank you mrs counts all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed board meeting dates pass five zero you and then this next order of business is a personal pleasure but it is from all of us mr richards if you will come up here please mr daniels god i knew we'd do that rob would you come up here four years jack didn't do it for four years [Laughter] anyway uh this has been presented to rob daniels in recognition of outstanding dedication and leadership center grove community school corporation board of school trustees board president 2020 now i want to tell you something he got into office and immediately we had a pandemic [Laughter] i don't know what that says but he did an excellent job of getting us started with what we should do as a school district keeping the board informed and a lot of extra work on your part but so we're very proud to present this to you thank you and i did not cause a pandemic we can blame the other rob [Laughter] okay our next order of business is presentations and reports we have a great presentation tonight a years of service recognition for a miss carol toomey thank you mr president thank you mr russell um yes uh it is an honor and a privilege this evening to take time out to recognize mrs toomey and of course her husband dale and all the years and service to the school corporation not just as an employee but also as a school board member and this evening we're going to start off first of all with a video that we have so we're going to first go with that so all these folks would have liked to have been here in person carol but with the situation we thought this is the next best thing [Music] when i think of carol toomey there's a thousand words that would come in my mind but two or three the most prominent would be the commitment she's always had for the people and the and the athletics and just everything at center grove high school in the community and also the passion that she had towards her commitment for all the stuff that she did at center grove but most of all i think love i think about carol the way she loved all the coaches and she loved all the she loves all the athletes and she loves every sports team i can't remember a game as a coach as a head football coach where i walked out and didn't see carol's carol sitting in the front row with her right smile and you know waving i guess i'd start with elegant graceful and refined she has such high expectations for those involved and for whatever she's doing she never shortcuts and she always makes sure that it's done the right way and shall plant it out to the t my first word is organized when vandy needed a staff member to head our north central evaluation team he picked carol i was surprised that he picked an athletic director to head up the north central team but that's who he picked and i was very impressed at how well carol planned out what we needed my second word to describe carol is dedicated carol is very dedicated to center grove high school she built the girls athletic program from gaa to a major girls program that often outshined several of our boys program the two words that most clearly come to my mind when i think about miss toomey are dedicated and determined scrappy and determined were the two i thought of right away just the things she was able to accomplish in in her career in the time time the era that she started in you had to be those things in order to get things done for women's sports i'm wearing my varsity letter sweater as it represents carol's keen interest in athletics but in all honesty carol is all things center grove carol is passionate she has an undeniable love caring and support for the school its students and its staff carol is also progressive forward thinking and willing to make dynamic improvement changes to make center grove better biggest impact i would say is that she hired me so for that thank you very much carol i i've loved it here also and it's been a great almost 40 years for me carol's impact towards my career here at center grove is huge because she's one of the people that really came to florida to get me and we had a person in common from florida and that person would you know really told me that like she could be trusted and she would always have my back and it was absolutely the truth i believe mrs toomey's impact on senator grove goes a long way you know when it starts just her career at the beginning of her career working with students in physical education and health she definitely has high standards for all those that she serves and she does a lot to make sure that students get the best education that they can no matter the subject or in the area that they're in most recently the biggest impact she had on me was two years ago she led a charge to get me into the indiana basketball hall of fame which if you play basketball in indiana that's about as great of an award as you can possibly achieve and she was very instrumental in making that happen for me um so we've been in touch we've she's followed me i've called her we've been in touch for 60 years and it's it's been pretty special i know that miss toomey is is part of the reason that i had the opportunities that i had as a student athlete and i didn't fully understand that as a student athlete when i was in high school but as i got older and i looked back and i understood all the things that she did for girls sports um you know i really appreciate what she did for us to have the opportunities that we have when she started teaching in 1963-64 there was one team it was a basketball team and we got the gym one night a week for two hours and we got to play eight to ten games a year that was it that was what women's athletics was at center grove and we ended better than most schools when title 9 passed in 1972 she put her determined foot through that door and she never looked back she did what she had to to make sure that women were given equal opportunities to every possible sport at centerville high school she took them from from one sport one night a week to multiple sports multiple championships i think mrs toomey's legacy for center grove will will be a lot of things not only just what she's done for sports in general here at the school district but what she's done for the school district as a whole when she started on the school board 12 years ago after finishing 40 years as an employee in the district she helped lead the school district to a whole new level we built more in the school district than we had in the years previous and she was a critical part of updating all of our buildings that have been out of date for some of them over 20 and 30 years i always knew that carol would support what she best what was best for center road and if you could venture that this is what needs to be done for center grove or if she was convinced that it was that she would always support what was best for senator rowe from our time on the school board carol showed us that you can make the tough challenging decisions and even though they're the right decisions still have grace kindness and respect for those that didn't agree she is the matriarch of girls sports in center grove and and pretty much across the state she was a part of that and i think that she has served center grove um with great dedication and tireless love for the community for the school for all the students and all the athletes all the development of girls athletics women's athletics as we should call in today's world uh center grove high school is because carol 2 may have a plan and an idea and a passion to make the women's sport here just as good and just as equal as the men's sport which it should be but carol's backbone and drive really prompted that the women's athletics to be where we are today i personally i can't thank mrs toomey enough for everything she's done not just for the school corporation but for me personally she was critical in bringing me into the school district bringing me up to speed on how things work who to know who to communicate with and and how to grow as a professional and i wish her so so much happiness as she continues on in the next steps after leaving the district here as a school board member i i wish carol the very best and dale also who dale was a fabulous support person for carol as a board member and as a coach but i know that in their retirement or in her retirement from the board that they will still be very supportive of center road and i wish them the best i also want to give a shout out to carol husband dale toomey he has been such a support to carol in her career and accomplishments at center grove and oh my all the school board meetings that dale has attended i think makes him deserving of a badge of honor carol thanks for your time and commitment to center grove without a doubt your legacy will always be a part of center grove history i hope that retirement or whatever she chooses to call this this next stage of her life is all that she and dale hoped for and that they have continued health and happiness and that whatever direction she goes in i know she's going to be successful but i wish her all the best out we're going to miss miss and carol and i hope that you and dale take care of each other and for the remaining great years that you have left and please don't be a stranger here at center grove we love seeing you yeah i just want to thank carolina thank you personally for being such a great friend and being such a great have a great service to our school and community and all the athletic programs not just football you've been you've been so loyal to every program here in center grove a lot of things wouldn't be like they are if it wasn't for you and your time you put in and i want to congratulate you on an unbelievable career uh and i just like i said earlier i hope that you you hang around i'm honored to be your friend and it was an honor to work for you as a as a school board member i was honored it's honored to be your head football coach i'm still going to always be your head football coach and i appreciate all you've done for all the athletes here at center grove high school and have fun and relax this is timmy congratulations on a well-deserved retirement i know it is not in your nature to sit down slow down relax but if at any time you need pointers on this just call me we'll go to lunch and i will give you pointers because i am excellent at it what i will tell you to do right now is pour yourself a drink pour dale a drink go sit on your couch in front of a fire toast to a job well done [Music] [Applause] so carol um what uh you know had this not been coveted we probably would have had to have this board meeting in the gym yeah i mean just the people that would have come so um just thank you so much but as they say on every game show wait there's more [Laughter] so we of course you know this is coming we have the rocking chair you got rich yes i think dale's ready to sit in it well i think didn't dr parker put this together oh no okay so then you can buy a city well thank you very much good evening everyone i'm so happy to be here this evening after the remarkable the testimony that we heard in the video from the friends and colleagues i believe the self-esteem the contributions that you've not only made to this community but also across the state dr arkanov contacted my office a few months ago letting you know about your retirement and plans to celebrate your remarkable career with that means that consulting senator very contacted governor holcomb's office and we are very very proud to present to you tonight the highest honor that can be bestowed on the citizen of indiana i'm incredibly proud to present to you the sagamore of the wash presented by eric holden governor of our great city whereas the brightness of the sons and daughters of indiana drives in part from qualities possessed by the dopamine chieftains of the indian times which once roamed in stone and whereas it has been a memorial custom of the state of indiana to attract you and support those who have exhibited such qualities and whereas there has endeared herself to the citizens of indiana from carol estudian distinguished by her humanity and liberty for loyalty and friendship from wisdom and counsel and her inspiration and leadership now therefore recognizing her greatness and desiring to avail myself of her counsel i do hereby appoint her in chieftain among my staff with the right and title of the world of wabash witness his hand the fifth day of january thank you um one two three gentlemen thank you thank you very much for being there yes thank you that was awesome okay let me collect myself let jack pull himself together and carol you're doing okay would you like a bottle of water or anything okay all right you have to know i've known this woman for a long time okay presentations reports our next thing is responsible bidding practices and i believe that's dr long we can get that to you later thank you for uh letting me follow that act that's really kind of yeah i'm sure that's i'm high on everybody's attention right now um i know i know but tonight we're sharing uh this document with the board uh for your consideration to adopt these responsible bidding practices uh in the the document the dollar amounts have been left blank uh the dollar amounts for the project total and the contract total were left blank so if the board determines they want to adopt these practices they can fill in those dollar amounts accordingly so this is there's no action tonight it's just for the board to take into consideration that's really all i have i was just going to say does anybody have any specific questions for us or comments okay thanks see i told you it was a tough act thank you dr long next is our public comments and i'm told there are no public participation this evening next on the agenda is the consent items has everyone had a chance to look over everything yes sir any questions or comments do i have a motion mr president i move that we accept the consent agenda as presented thank you mr alexander do i have a second second thank you mr daniels got it right i gotta think of a new name for you mr awesome strong's taken armstrong's taken all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes 5-0 thank you i'd also like to take a moment and have dr henderson introduced to you uh what you've got the next position that you just approved so which will be our new athletic director so it assistant uh director at center grove high school and has served in that capacity this is his eighth year in that capacity and as you all know uh mr zwift has announced his retirement at the end of this school year and so it gives me great pleasure to present to you that you've just approved to take mr dwood's place yeah this is my wife beth the best teammate you could ever ask for and uh i appreciate dr henderson's words and your you know trust in me i'm just extremely honored and grateful to serve as the next athletic director at center grove high school when i started my professional journey 17 and a half years ago at 1a shaw memorial high school it was a dream and goal of mine to be at a school of this caliber and when you watch a tribute like we just watched for carol toomey it just inspires me more to do what is best for this community but more so the students in that building across the street so again i'm excited for the for the next chapter of center grove athletics and uh congratulations to both carol and dale and onward trojans congratulations mr knife and i guess i just want to say something personally i've i've seen scott at work yeah he's been our assistant athletic director since i've been on the board and i know he was there before then i had daughters who played sports got to know him through that reached out to him several times with probably stupid parent questions he never said they were stupid he always answered and did great so i'm really excited to see you move up into this new position and it was an easy decision in my book when i heard that there was an opening you were interested i'm just glad that we're fortunate enough to see you carry on the trojan legacy so welcome yes very good welcome scott congratulations thank you now get back to work if you need any advice if you need any advice or tips scott i bet the lady in pink right there okay next is action items accepting a donation for center grove elementary who am i turning this over to dr arkanov thank you thank you mr russell uh this evening um i would like to recommend that the board uh accept the donation in the it's a rock climbing wall valued at ten thousand five hundred and thirty dollars and as you can see by the attachment um it is sorry i'm getting some feedback here maybe there you go this has gone through the center grove elementary school parent teachers organization nicole kemp is the president it was presented as through their to enhance their physical education program and an armor reward and so this evening we're asking the board to approve this donation and it would be five about ten thousand five hundred thirty dollars worth of uh rock climbing wall for students are there any questions or thoughts do i have a motion mr president i move that we accept a donation for a rock climbing wall at center grove elementary in the amount of ten thousand five hundred and thirty dollars thank you mr alexander do i have a second thank you mrs counts all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion passes 5-0 do we i'm assuming it's dr long do we know when this will be and that was my question during the summer okay i assume in the gym okay thank you dr is it will be like the one at maple grove okay okay next on the agenda approving the superintendent 403 b contribution changes dr gabriel will explain this thank you the superintendent's contract contains the following language any contract year the board may and its sole discretion increase the contribution to the superintendent's 403 b plan provided that such increase does not exceed 25 hundred dollars in any contract year and the total contribution doesn't exceed the minim the maximums allowed by law the current amount permitted by law for employer contributions is 57 000 uh the contribution for the 1920 contract year was 22 500.