001Okay. Um Anthony, we are good to go. You can begin the meeting at any point in time. >> Okay. Uh welcome everyone uh to the second uh board of education Shelton board of education workshop. Um, it is Thursday, January 8th at 6:07. Would everybody please rise for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag >> of the United States of America >> and to >> to the republic >> for it stands one nation one nation under God indivisible indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Can we get a a a roll call, please? >> Jim Fen will be here when he can. Lorraine Rosner >> here. >> Anthony Sparagino >> here. >> Kate Coutach >> here. >> Joey Palagi >> here. >> Jason Neps >> here. >> Patricia Munan >> here.
002>> Carol Ponazo >> here. >> Rich O' Conor >> here. Also in attendance, uh, Ken Sarinich and John Calhoun and Jackie Tulings. >> Okay. Um, is there minutes from last uh last workshop or No, >> no, you don't have to do that. We could just go over go right into the agenda items, which would be turning it over >> uh for presentation by the superintendent. >> Okay. So, at this point, we will turn it over to our superintendent, Dr. Cerninich, and um we'll take it from there. >> Thank you. So, um this is our second budget workshop. As the agenda indicated, we're going to talk about the operational side of um our budget, you know, uh basically any any aspects of our budget that are non-instructional. Um just as a reminder, the other night we
003we went over certified staff, non-certified staff, employee benefits, and utilities. Um tonight's focus will be professional services um building equipment, building and equipment services, um and equipment in general. Um we do have Mr. Calhoun with us this evening if there's any questions after I do the presentation of of the proposed budget items. Um just so the board is aware, uh as as you know from the last meeting, Mr. Newman's no longer with the school um system. Um but before he had left, he had done all of the budgetary matters um and proposals um for for the next year. So um the materials that were sent to the board and that I'll review tonight uh were were put together by Mr. Newman and Jackie and I would be happy to speak to those issues um if
004necessary. Uh but um unlike the other night where we saw some pretty hefty um dollar amounts and percentage figures, um you won't see as as a high reflection. Um but it still increases the overall dollar amount. Um I just like to talk about um those increases and what those mean. Um go over uh the idea of capital plans and explain that especially to our listening audience and of course our new board members. And then we'll answer any questions when necessary. So with that said, I'm going to share the screen and if I can just get confirmation from someone that people see the the financial walk for number two on the screen. >> Got it. >> Okay. Thank you. [clears throat] So, um, as I indicated earlier, um, to make to make it easier in terms
005of what our focus is, uh, there are highlights, um, of the families that we're going to review this evening. Um, when [snorts] it comes to professional services, uh, which is any contracted services that we do for the for the system. I know I did talk about some non-instructional items. Sometimes professional services does fall in in instructional if we are contracting um any type of outside provider that may be providing something directly to our students. Uh but there is a portion of of the the finance money and professional services that covers non-instructional items too. Um in our current budget um it's a little less than $1.5 million as indicated right here as I'm highlighting. Um the administration is not proposing any increases to this line item. Uh we've been pretty well we've been able to manage
006this line item well um in the dollar allocations that we have. We reviewed uh all of our professional contracts that we've had for this year and how they may be affecting for next year. Um so in the idea of being fiscally responsible and in the basis of trying to minimize the requests we are have from the city um our recommendation for professional services is zero. So that that will remain at the 1462693. Um the next family that I want to review is the building equipment and services. Um our current approved budget for that is a little over $1 million as you can see in this. This is our current budget. Um we are asking for a very modest uh increase to next year's budget. We're asking for 120,000. Um in general um uh the the
007cost for this although it reflects a high percentage from 1 million $120,000 in the overall budget is really um really really minimal. Um but this $120,000 increase is specifically being asked in affecting of um increase in custodial supplies um materials. Uh I'm sure the board is is well aware of you know the current state of affairs in the world in the economy and what's happening here. We're seeing price increases in in many items across the board and in consulting with Mr. Calhoun as he presented his budget to accommodate for those um adjusted costs um that are being affected with materials and cleaning supplies um we believe we would need an additional 120,000 added to building equipment and services. Uh the last increase um in the equipment item uh again reflective of a pretty high increase
008in the family as 12% but again a very minimal uh increase that administration is proposing is we like to increase our equipment line item of a little over 15,000 um by $1,900. um that specific dollar amount um is to accommodate that uh in working with our head of security uh Mr. Ben Trapka um he has gotten um quotes from our service providers um for the service contracts that maintain our security systems um the licensing for the cameras that operate under security um they have uh uh Jackie, correct me if I'm wrong, was it a 5% increase? >> That's correct. Yeah, they're looking at a 5% increase for the licensing of all of our security system. Um, and that 5% equates to $1,900. So, we have to um put that budget item in our proposed increase
009to maintain um our current security system that we have in all of our school system. So, in terms of tonight's walkthrough, I know it's very simple um and short before I talk to capital plans. Um, that's kind of what we're proposing this evening. Um, I don't want to talk about capital projects yet because I do want to speak about capital projects as a whole. But what I am going to do is I'm going to stop sharing for one moment so I can see everyone if there's any questions and ask if there are any questions from the board relative to these three families. So, I'll turn it back to Anthony um, in terms of uh, addressing questions directed to me or how you'd like to do that. Would anybody like to um put a question to
010>> quick point of information, Dr. Sarinich? Maybe I I was in a mind bleak there. Did you specify what professional services were for the public and the new members? I can't remember. >> I I did I I said that there any there any services that we contract beyond um what our own staff provide. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Like like not speech and language therapist, but >> Correct. if we had to have a BCBA or, you know, a behavior tech or or something or or we have to pay um some um outside contractor to do some kind of maintenance service to the district that normally can't be covered by our own staff or the city. That's where all those line items would come from. >> Yeah, there's a lot coming fast. Sorry if I'm >>
011No, no, no worries. >> Jackie, did you want to add something to that? >> Yeah, I just wanted to add to that. That family also consists of legal services, insurance and insurance athletic athletics besides technology and professional services as well. So just to give you a little more detail on that. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Are are there any other questions relative to the proposals for these three families? >> No. >> Okay. um if there are not and we can come back if we need to. Um what I'm going to talk um next and I present to the board is our capital improvement plans. Now I I definitely wanted to make a natural break in showing the budget proposal when I discussed the capital plans so that everyone as I say our viewing
012audience as well as our new board members or just to remind our current board members um we present to the city capital improvement plans. They are not part of our budget proposal. They are separate from our budget proposal. They do not have a direct impact on the allocation or request or increases that we ask of the city. Um we've actually worked very well with the city in terms of presenting to them capital plans and um they then financing those plans separately from the budget in itself. Um it works. It's a it's a mutually uh effective situation for us as a board of education. um we don't have to worry about funding large projects um that may affect our school system. Um and we're able to maintain the budget and operations for to do the day-to-day
013operations for this for the school. for the city's aspect. Um they're able to keep the the percentage for the overall budget down, the budget increase, and then they can they can do whatever they would do in the city, whether that's they choose to bond that money um um if they want to find some kind of municipal grants to do that money. Um but it's totally separate from the budget ourselves. So, uh, in essence, when we put forth our budget proposal and when the board votes, um, in budget workshop 4 on the budget itself, what I'm going to show you next is actually not part of the budget proposal. So, you know, the what the items that I'm showing you um, have no overall effect on the percentage or the increase in any way whatsoever. Um,
014but when we do hand in our request to the city of our request for the budget, we also make them aware of our capital requests because as the mayor and the board of alderman plan for the overall city's budget, they have to take in account how they would fund the capital projects separate from the board. So, it's it's just a like I said, it's a way that the board of education works with the city um to undertake large capital plans um that don't have long sustaining um impact on the budget, you know, because most of the things that you're going to see are one-time purchases, like big big projects. So, you would never like add that money into a budget and then have that figure sustain over time when it's really just paying it for
015a one-time purposes. So, um, any questions about capital plans before I review them? Kate, >> just for the new members, I want to give a bit of history. When I first came on the board, many, many years ago, um, a lot of the buildings were not being kept up because capital plans were not being funded, but in recent years, city hall has been more amendable to doing those big projects like we just had the roofs and the windows and things like that. So, it it's a lot better than it used to be because we were catching a lot of flack in the public eye for not maintaining our facilities. >> Anthony, I have a question for for um capital improvement. >> Go right ahead. I don't know if you're I'd be happy to answer the
016question. >> Sorry. Um are they are these plans done in 10 year increments, five year increments, or are they done as needed? >> That's a great question. And um I will I'm going to kind of walk you through them. Um in terms of what they are, we have what we call the six-year capital improvement plan, which is a a a large outreach in terms of um you know, with with the direction of Mr. Calhoun and working with the city, we'll look at concepts of like boilers, window replacements, roofs, and and major projects um that you're talking about million-doll projects, per se. So obviously those things can't be done all at once. So as um we watch and maintain the facilities we obviously and and again under the direction of Mr. Calhoun we we we rank
017in order of okay which building is next to get the roof which building is next to get the windows and obviously that's a priority basis based on you know um regular maintenance of that you know um some of these are and then there's we have what we call the small capital plan um which I'll explain what that is but that's an annual thing and that's just done annually Mr. is coming in. So let me just allow him to come in. Um and then the other capital plans which fall under technology that's multi-year and when we talk about security capital plan um as I said those security issues or or those those um all of the the uh items in the capital plans they're they're large um in terms of dollar amount but they're one-time purchases.
018So, we don't include them in the overall budget and we present that to the city and we basically ask the city of, hey, this is going to need to be fixed. How would you like to finance it? I mean, that's going to be a decision of the city. So, it's it's really us just keeping them informed of the needs um of the school system itself. Um Anthony, I don't know if you can see hands and I know Mr. Fian's here, so I don't know if we're turning the board over to our chair, but I know Mrs. Spanazo has her hand up. So, Carol, if I guess if you'd like to ask a question. Can I just go ahead? >> Yeah. Oh, >> okay. Thank you. So, um, on average, and I don't know if this
019is a Mr. Calhoun question, on average, what percent of capital projects are completed, um, on a yearly basis? I don't know if you have that information, but what what would you say is the percent of um, what we present to the city and what actually is completed? >> Okay. Well, on the um on the small capital plan um that we present, which is a yearly which is a yearly plan, um we pretty much um get about I would say 90 to 100% of that done each year. Those are tend to be smaller in dollar amounts and um [snorts] they're they're approved project by project. You don't have to go to the state for them. So that's there's a lot of success with the smaller one. the larger the larger ones or you know I would
020say um depending on it's it depends on the year like like uh like Kate was saying that some they you know we we have some years where things get approved uh you know and and we have more things that get accomplished. Um I I'd say generally um we have in the past we have kicked the can down the road quite quite a few times but like I said I I think with the um we've gone out to the city has already gone out to bid for the engineering service for the next two window projects. So I'm hopeful that those are those are [cough and clears throat] up. So I'm you know I'm saying we're you know we could be in the 60 to 70% if if we get these projects done as far as what's
021on the list each year. Um, so I'm hopeful going forward. >> Great. Thank you. >> And and one of the things um with that in in the capital plan. So now we have to make adjustments. As you know, you know, Moheaggan just got a roof this past year. That was always part of our capital plan. It was on the capital plan for quite a few years and each year we'd have to make that adjustment. Um but of course it's it's the city's ability to how they're going to fund it. So, our responsibility really is to just inform them of the needs of the school system. Um, but as a reminder to to the board and again to our viewing audience, I mean, the school system is tenants in city buildings. You know, the board of
022ed does not own the schools or central office. They are all city buildings and and as tenants of those buildings, we're letting our, you know, landlord, you know, the people responsible for the building that, hey, we need a new roof. We need a new boiler. We need a new windows. And that would be a city's responsibility to as any city building outside of in the board or even outside the board to to um change that and and that a lot of that is basis of also state statute because you will hear the conversation of um what what they refer to as inind services and and you'll hear dollar amounts associated well inind services mean that money that the city would put towards the board of ed to possibly fix a roof, replace a boiler, um
023pave a parking lot, you know, th those are inind services. Of course, the city has to fund it and it's and it's charged against the board of ed because we are the department that that money comes to, but it is not part of our budget. So that dollar amount does not factor into our per pupil expenditure because again the money spent to educate children is the $80 million that we're given to allocate and that's where the per pupil expenditure comes from. You know replacing a roof, fixing windows, replacing, you know, paving parking lots. Those cannot be factored into expenditures towards education of students. So they do not impact the per pupil expenditure. The per pupil per pupil expenditure is solely based and that's by state law on the money that we use towards education. Okay.
024If there are any other questions to kind of just overview the capital plans. Yes, Anthony. I'm sorry. Did you say something? >> No, I just said if there's any other questions because at this point uh Dr. Sage, I'd like to turn the meeting over to Jim Fee, our chairman. >> Okay. Um, Mr. F, I I we've already gone through the walk in terms of the the three families. I know the board has received the documents. I know you've probably received them, and looked at I was just going to briefly overview the capital plans at this point. >> Keep going. Sorry to be late, everybody, but I was on our fabulous route 15. >> Okay. So, I am going to um share my screen again. Um, can I just get a verbal confirmation from somebody everyone
025that you can see the technology capital plan? All right, I see a thumbs up from Carol. Thank you. >> Um, so what you're seeing here is uh the technology capital plan that was put together by um Glenn Newman before he left the school system. Um to uh Joey's question, you can see here that this is for technology. We do a capital plan that stretches over four years. um he breaks it down and I know all these documents have been given to the board to review so I don't need to go over in the details and again for our viewing audience um because this is a formal meeting of the board of education any of these documents are available um per request to my office we can email those documents to anyone who would like to
026see them um but as you can see directly for next year uh because a lot of the work that we've done with grants and working with the cities uh with the city um we don't have a direct Chromebook book um replacement schedule for next year. That has been an annual thing. We're looking to do that in 2728. Um but we did highlight some issues that have been ongoing and again we just talked about this. I know Carol had asked the question and and Joe to your you know question again before that. Um our interactive boards which are um predominantly uh the name brand is Prometheian boards um that are in all of our classrooms. Um they are approximately 17 years old. Um some of them are older than that. Um Prometheian as a com company
027is no longer in existence. When a board breaks um it is very hard to get replacement parts for that. Um our tech center does uh a wonderful job in piecing things together as best they can. Um but we do need to start replacing all our interactive boards. I mean in the way that uh instruction is is is it's given today in in the 21st century. I mean we we no longer have LCD projectors and use chalkboards and blackboards. I mean everything is virtual and interactive with our instructional staff and to provide that that level of education that we've been giving to our students. Um we need to replace our boards. We have been replacing boards um through grants and some um -ate money that money that we receive over time. So, we are slowly replacing
028boards um with a Panasonic um state-of-the-art board, very reflective of the board that you see in our board of edroom. I mean, that what we're replacing the Prometheium boards with is what you would see um when you come to our board meetings. Um we've had this as our capital plan and each year we kind of move it forward. the unfortunate situation about the the the capital piece with the interactive boards. We've had it going for quite some time with the city. Um, every year it kind of moves to the next year because the city it doesn't want to necessarily fund that or have the funding to do it. But as we all know with technology, every year we move it forward, the following year those prices go up. you know, um, our original quest to
029to fund 250 units of of Prometheian boards 5 years ago were nowhere near um, $78,000, but the cost of technology increases over time. So, the sooner that we can replace the boards, it's almost the the cheaper that we can spend, but this would be something that we would talk to the city. Um, our Shelton High School auditorium uh, needs a major renovation. If anyone has been in the auditorium for quite some time, remember, we only have one high school. It should be the flagship for our school district and and our auditorium um doesn't have working projectors and screens. Um it's very difficult to uh facilitate meetings in in there um instruct students. Um it's a great meeting area for the city. Um it's only $30,000. It has been again on our capital plan for quite
030some time. Um those are the two major issues that we're looking for when it comes to technology. The other ones are years out, but uh if we're going to work with the city this year, those are the two points that we want to work with technology itself. >> For my non tech brain, EOL is end of life. >> Yes, end of life. Yep. >> Okay. >> Easier than I thought. >> I'm going to stop sharing so I can just see everyone and then ask if there's any questions about the technology capital plan. >> Thank you. I want to take it in sections. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Anyone have a question? I do um the the interactive displays it it basically says 250 units. How much of the district will that accommodate? Ken, >> the
031250 will will replace all the ones that are outstanding. At that point, we will be done. >> Excellent. And again, and I've had conversations with the mayor about this and in the past, I mean, even if we can parcel this out, maybe say we'll do half of them or a third of them this year and kick, we'd be willing to do anything. But I mean, we are we are desperately looking at a situation where um those those old Prometheium boards are failing at a at a daily rate. And I would welcome to bring anyone in, >> board members, board of alderin members, anyone who wants to go in to see some of the current state of these Prometheium boards. Um, which is somewhat appalling when we try to think of trying to do instruction in
032some of these devices in the classroom and and how bad they've gotten. >> So that's even in small instructional spaces. >> Yes. Yes. Yeah. Every every teachable space at this point has a Prometheium board. We we also have to be careful of installation because it's not just wheeling a board in and taking the old board out. I mean, we're kind of forced to look at our summer time as the installation time rather than, you know, oozing into the school year because that's just so disruptive to instruction and just to the a school's way of life. It it's it's insane. It it it's a hardship when we when we have to look at the school year to do the replacement. That's just my piece of mind. That's all. >> Ken, are there any technology grants offered
033by the state any longer? I know that there were technology grants that were competitive, but >> and that was something that was brought up last year. Um when we talked about the Chromebooks, uh we were specifically requested by the alderman and then the mayor to look at every possible grant option that was out there. Um and we did and we showed evidence of every single grant that was offered um that the that the city was aware of or anything uh whether we can I mean obviously there are some grants that we're not eligible for. Um there are some grants that are competitive that we did apply for and we just didn't get and we we did we do as much funding as we can um to alleviate that tax burden on the city. >> Thank
034you. >> Any other questions? Anyone? Um Ken, you kind of alluded to it and I think Lorraine did as well. Um obviously that's a big number. Um, I wonder if for presentation with the city if it would be smarter for us to break that down over a four-year period. Um, if anybody hears anything, that's my dog in the back. Um, was wondering uh if that might be a better idea, Ken, you know, because I look at 738. Um, I just think it's too big of a number to swallow. I I would be happy to recalculate that over years. My only thing is is I don't want to go too far long. I know you suggested four years. I really think four years is going to put us in a real jeopardy situation. I don't know
035how much life we have left on some of those boards that um we're trying to make along. I can't imagine what it's going to be like four years from now. >> I got that. But you know what? If you're rolling back a big number, what's the difference? I think it's more palatable. I would Does anybody else have an idea of how long you'd like to see that uh spread out? >> I I just want to say that we've got to make them know we've got to let them know what we need even if they're not going to get it, but we've got to keep poking the bear and and elaborating what Ken has just said about how bad they are. >> How long is the tech cycle? I know that every manufacturer basically has a
036cycle of life of the next generation. Did does anyone know like how quickly? >> So, I mean, we do know that with our current Chromebooks, I I don't know what the I mean, as I indicated already, the Prometheian board, which is the one that the district did several years ago, um they're no longer in production anymore. So, um, the new boards that we're working with, the Panasonic boards, um, I mean, they give us a seven-year warranty. I don't I I mean, so I at least know that they will be covered for the next seven years. >> I mean, I would imagine that when we did the Prometheian, we had a five or sevenyear warranty. We stretched that out almost 15, 16 years now. So, um, do the best we can. >> Agreed. Okay, no other
037questions. Can we you do me uh do us a favor and let's recalculate this >> and let's go with a three-year spread if I don't hear which would be basically 250 a year thereabouts. Uh if seeing no if I don't hear any objections, let's spread that out. >> Okay, Jackie, you have the original spreadsheet, correct? That from Glenn Leftis. Okay. Uh, Jim, do you think that would be wise to do now or or wait for the inevitable cutting and then going back and and messing around with that that timeline then so that we could, you know, sort of carve out 300,000 here or 200,000 there rather than than um not going with the big number in the beginning. >> Normally, I would go with that, Lorraine. That's a great point. That's a really good point.
038My My problem is is that >> I honestly think with the other issues in the budget that it's a smarter way for us to present it that way. I I think this quite honestly I think this elephant's too big to eat at 758. And I think also there's a problem which for the new members is that technology uh committee that they wanted established and the fund didn't happen and this was part of the things they wanted to do. So I I don't see them kind of moving on this. So I'd rather try to give it maybe a little bit more powerful. That's my own personal thought and I'll do whatever the board wants to do. I would suggest breaking it down by building. So, a whole building gets done at once and then >> actually
039I'm just going to um we have a plan of it's it's actually being done by um >> you know like yeah I I if we do it by building some buildings got Prometheium boards much later than others and right >> you know we have some situ we're really doing it you know in terms of how old the boards are and the ones that can't be replaced. Yeah. >> Got it. Got it. >> Yeah. I don't want to micromanage you there. That's for sure. >> Um I will just if I can comment on Lorraine the suggestion you had said, you know, you got to remember too and I know we're going to get to a point where we are going to have to do the carving, but these are capital plans. They're not going to impact
040our overall budget. It's really just talking to the city on how they want to fund it, you know. So, >> okay, >> let's do this. >> The biggest obstacle will be that techn technology committee they wanted. That'll be the biggest nut. >> Yeah, let me reverse myself. Let's keep it the way it is. Let's see what happens. And let's try see what happens. Lorraine, let's go with Lorraine's idea and let's keep it where it is and and stay there unless again someone anybody has a different viewpoint. >> No, I just agree. I agree with you and that we should ask for the whole thing and if you know they come back at us then we adjust. >> Okay. I I have to say, Jim, I I I agree with that, Jim. Do it, you know,
041seeing that it doesn't affect our overall budget. I think we uh, you know, we let them know what, you know, what's at what's at hand, what's at stake, and then we can negotiate from there. >> And just as an opinion, I agree uh 100% also uh going in with the full. >> Good. All right, let's go that way, Ken. Please. >> Okay, we'll do. All right. Um, if there's no more technology issues, I'll go to the next capital plan, which is security. So I'll just share the screen. So um this is a a small capital issue with security but because of the large number and again um because as I explained this would be a one-time purchase. So we wouldn't incorporate this into our overall budget because we wouldn't be annually asking for these things.
042But um in speaking with uh Ben Trapka who's the head of our security department and also working with uh Glenn Newman before he left um there there are two major issues um that need to be addressed. Um first of all is a camera system upgrade. Um this has been asked before of the city. Um we did have a possibility of having it funded through a grant but the city needed to um do do a percentage of that and they weren't interested in doing that at the time. Um but the issue still um exists and it's specifically at Perry Hill School. Um Perry Hill School, the the cameras that have been put into Perry Hill School um now are are the oldest cameras in the system. Ironically, I know people look at Perry Hill as one
043of the newer schools that got renovated, but um at the time that they got renovated, they put in the best cameras that they could they could afford at that time. This is now we're know we're talking um you know almost 15 years ago you know and as we talked earlier with technology uh 15 years is a whole lifetime when it comes to technology. Um after Perry Hill we did a lot of upgrades to SIS the high school and the elementary schools. Um and we're having a huge failing system in in the quality of cameras at Perry Hill. Um that just needs to be upgraded. And we got an estimate. I know I sent those quotes uh to the board separately. It's not in the presentation tonight. Um, but it comes to about $53,000. Um, the
044other thing, the 60 $61,000 is um all of our security footage um everything that's recorded um by our camera systems throughout the district are uploaded into a server. Obviously, it's digital, you know, so that if we need to get security footage um from an event that takes place uh either in or after school, um we can go and and abstract it from our server. Um, our servers that house these the the security footage are 16 years old. Um, it's been highly recommended that we need to replace those. Um, we obviously that's an issue where you want to be proactive with that. Um, you want to replace the server before it fails, not have to replace the server after it's failed. You know, we had that system once before in our school system when a server
045melted down. It wasn't a security one, but it was uh one that we used data for in our school system. Um and it was a tremendous impact. There were so many documents that were lost and everything. Um if we lose a server before we properly place it, we can look we can, you know, uh end up losing um critical security data that we may need over time. So, um, we have been told, um, by the the the company that services us that that these servers are are well past its lifetime and we should be upgrading them. Um, and that's our recommendation in terms of uh in terms of capital. So, again, I'll pause for any questions before we proceed. It's pretty straightforward, but I just want to make sure that >> no one has any
046questions about that. Okay. Um I'm going to move on to um our our maintenance. Now, there are two capital plans with maintenance. I know everyone's got a copy of them ahead of time. I know Mr. Calhoun just explained. Um one of them is we call the small capital plan. Um every year annually, we have asked the city for uh around $250,000. Um for the most part, we've been given that that dollar amount. Um, and with that, John is able to prioritize um, maintenance and performance issues that we have across the board within the district. Um, it's worked very successfully with the city. Um, we have yet to have an issue where they haven't fund the small capital plan. Sometimes the dollar amount has not necessarily been $250,000. U, but that's always been the request. and
047it's a great way to do um required maintenance and and what I'm going to say some preventative maintenance issues. Um the other one is a six-year capital plan. Um they are much much larger issues. Um it that the six-year capital plan really um is the decision of the city and where they want to proceed. As you'll see with that, it's boilers, it's roofs, it's parking lots, it's and such. We're talking about multi-million dollar endeavors. Um, but it is our responsibility to make the city aware of the conditions of these so they can plan appropriately. So, first I'll I'll share the small capital. Um, as I said, it's not necessarily my intent to go through line by line. Um, but I will just point out because I know the board has cops of this. Um, John
048does prioritize these. So, there is a tier one, two, and three system. And then even within the tiers A, B, and C. So even if we were not to get the full dollar amount, um John and himself has prioritized some of the major issues that need to take place within the system. Obviously, we're looking at um we've had this discussion. I I brought this up at a finance meeting once about our press box and and what's going on in our stadium. You know, we have this beautiful, you know, field. Um but the infrastructure around the field is is failing tremendously. Um, and it is being used by the city, you know, not just the board of ed, but you know, we have our youth football and such using that. Um, and that's a system that
049needs to be replaced. You know, John has done a program with refernishing um gymnasium floors, which he wants to continue to do. There's some also some other aspects within the system um that just need to be addressed. And he and he breaks that down by dollar amount in the tier system um which I know John can answer any questions for um without me going into detail. So, before I show the six-year capital plan, um I'll just stop this. I know the board all has copies of that. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Calhoun about the small capital projects? [snorts] >> I have one. >> Hey, John. For the uh press box uh ren uh re renovation or remodel, what what is that? What does that include? Is that mainly technology? No, this would this
050would be uh this would be structural. Okay. >> Mostly structural. It' be windows in the new windows, doors. Um >> you know, replace the door, replace the windows, the uh the countertops, uh vinyl flooring in there. It's it's in it's in really rough shape as you know. Um >> the door that doesn't close in the back. Yeah. >> No. No. So, it would be it would be structural in nature. >> Oh, good. Good. Yeah, that's definitely a tier one project. I agree with you. Thanks, John. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions about um the small capital? As I said, this this has really worked really well with us in the city. Um I don't anticipate having issues um with getting the city to accept the small capital plan and and and um and John
051can speak to this firsthand, too. We we have worked with the city of the the small capital plan that's presented. we've adjusted as needed in this, you know, sometimes during the school year something breaks and and we didn't expect to have it and they've allowed us to make that adjustment on the small capital plan. So, um it's my hope and expectation that they just continue to fund that. It it's worked out well for for everyone included. I know Kate has a hand up. Kate, do you want to ask a question? >> Yeah, with the press box, I know it was an issue at one point, the speaker system and and all that stuff. Was that taken care of in the past recently? um >> speakers and the audio and all that. >> I and I
052think we'd have to we'd have to ask um athletics on that because that's something that they they look at and I'm not sure if they if they renovated what they had or or upgraded what they had or or actually replaced it. So >> I know >> I could speak to it somewhat. So the speakers at the time were replaced. So there when when they did the renovations to the stadium, they they did but this press box renovation, it's really all the under the hood stuff, right? Like the wiring for all these things are shot, you know, and and that's really, you know, to to keep these new speakers and everything keep going. They really need to renovate inside. I mean, if anyone's have gone into Press Box, I mean, the the wiring, it almost looks
053like a rat's nest the way that, you know, how we're trying to keep this together and and functional. cuz I I it's been a while since I've been able to go to a game for health reasons, but um I know like the speakers like when the pompoms went out there to dance, their song just sounded so tiny you couldn't really hear it. And I was just wondering if that was dealt with. So it must if they replace the speakers, one would hope so. Any other questions about the small capital? Okay, the the last thing I'm going to present is the six-year capital plan. Um, and again, um, this is a pretty extensive plan that goes over the course of six years. You're you're talking about bringing us already to, uh, 2032, you know, when we
054look at where this goes. Um, John does a really good job at updating this, speaking to city officials regarding um, the issues here. um keeping things on a cycle and and as as we know we've we've already spoken about not every year the the city can fund every aspect of the plan. So we kind of roll over these projects from year to year just to keep them reminding them. But you know um it's pretty extensive. I know all the board members have copies of them. It is broken down by school. It is broken down by issue and then John has looked at each school um where the issues stand in the school. um how long they can go dated wise. Um, and then you have some like it's a two pages and in a bottom
055line total where I said, you know, you're talking about multi-m million dollar projects, you know, 2 million, you know, 1.5 million, 1.7 million going yeartoyear. Um, so this is something that it's really the city's call in terms of which project they're going to take, um, what they're going to fund. Um, our due diligence with this plan is just making them aware. Um many of these projects that are done, they also work in coordination with um state of Connecticut reimbursement like like the Moheaggan roof for instance. There's a percentage that gets back if the city replaces it, state of Connecticut will reimburse it. So there's a there's a real um uh aspect and operations of what the city's going to choose, how's it going to be funded, what percentage they're going to get back, and and
056John does a good job just uh informing the city of of the district's needs. again. Um, would anyone like to discuss or have any questions about the six-year plan that I'm sure Mr. Calhoun can answer. Okay. Um, if there are no other questions, I mean, I'm done with our presentation tonight. Um, I'm just going to uh end again with uh, you know, informing the board, as I did the other night, that obviously we're open to your feedback, uh, on any direction or changes that we need to make before things are finalized. Um, what you're seeing here are the administrative or superintendent proposals. The board has the right to make any changes before the final vote takes place, and we'll continue to have communications. The next budget workshop that we will have is one week from
057today. So, we'll we'll wait a whole another week. It'll be next Thursday night. And at that time, we'll dive into the instructional aspects um of of the budget. If there are any things that people anticipate that they're going to want to see relative to instruction, um by all means, please email me and say, can you make sure that you talk about this or share this? I mean, we will we will um be talking about, you know, enrollment data, you know, retirement numbers. We'll have all that stuff that will be presented. But if there's something that you're thinking about, you want to know and just make sure that we're prepared to have that, please let me know before next Thursday. >> I I just have one question. I'm sorry. It just it just came to me.
058John, um, for the, uh, high school boiler replacement, would there be, uh, can we have one our our boiler tech or this company that we that we uh, depend on for service write some like evaluate this this system in terms of, you know, how much life is left in it. So when we do talk to the mayor and talk to the city, we say, "Hey, look, you know, here's a recommendation. this is how much time we have. This way it's just not a uh you know no one's blindsided by the event. Um is is that something that we can talk to one of our vendors and just get a just get a formal letter to say hey this is kind of I mean for a lack of a better word on its last leg. >>
059Well I could I could do better than that actually because it is actually it's actually down. It's it's not operable. >> Okay. We went out to the insurance, the uh Harford steam boiler, tried to make a claim. They told us it was at the end of its useful life, which I don't necessarily agree with, but um I think it had some defects in it that should have, you know, been possibly possibly covered through insurance. But um that being said, um we do have we did, like I said, we did put in a claim. So, um there is no there is no useful life on it. It is. We we are running uh two boilers now for for two years. Um and this one it definitely needs to be replaced. You know, >> probably not as
060efficient as we want to be either. So, >> not as efficient and also um not as you know, we're we're basically unbared time. If one of the other one goes, then we're really in we're really going to have a hard time heating that that giant building. >> Okay. I just want to understand that. All right. Well, sounds like you and I have uh something to handle. Okay. >> Thank you, J. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else? >> Um, for the other members of the board and uh general public, I have been on the recipient of a boiler that goes bad and it never happens at the right time. And John, if you would, for general consumption, if that boiler was to fail completely and we had to do an emergency repair, what kind of cost
061structure would that be? Well, there would be, of course, there would have to be a uh there would have to be a rental of a uh of a boiler, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars. And then you're still you're still talking about the $375,000 plus to uh to to get a to get a new boiler in the interim. So you could you could be in the in the mid4s to you know depending how long you have to have to run it for. I mean you could be in the $450,000 range. So um just to replace just to replace the the the boiler. And then if one of the other ones were to go down, like I said, then you'd be talking about then you'd have a rental and now you would be two
062then you would be two boilers down. So that's why um it's really important to have uh the redundancy of the third boiler. >> Roger that. Thank you, John. >> Any other questions, statements from any other board members, staff, anyone? Seeing none, I'll call for uh adjournment. All those in favor state by saying I. >> I. >> Any being opposed? Hearing none. Unanous be closed. Everyone have a good night.