001Good evening. I'd like to call together this Torington Public Schools Facility and Technology Committee meeting on Wednesday the 14th at 5:35 p.m. Uh, roll call. Actually, we'll have a quick introduction because there's some new members here. Everybody could just introduce themselves as we go around the room. Dean Pgola, director of facilities. >> Rachel Vienn's de director of technology. >> Michael Wilson, superintendent. >> I'm just Jeff, the board member. >> Uh, yeah, I'm Joe Klesa, one of the new members. >> Elena Cleo, new board member. her minicha uh teacher represent representative for the tea >> Glenburgger board of ed >> John Kiscoco old member of the board of ed >> great thank you very much you looking to get an approval of tonight's agenda motion for an approval of tonight's agenda motion do I hear a
002second by miss all in favor I next on to approval of the minutes from last night next last weekend's or last month's meeting I should say which I think only only I can approve >> how do you handle that >> you can approve and as a matter of record because they're new members as long as they review them you can make the motion to approve >> okay I'll [clears throat] make the motion to approve the minutes from last month's meeting in the absence of other board members who were present at that meeting. You guys can second it if you've had a chance to look at them. >> Yeah, I second. >> All in favor? >> All right. Anybody on public participation here in the building or otherwise? Josh, no. We'll skip that. Uh, next steps,
003technology over to Miss Baines for her social media update. >> Thank you. Um, so I did pass out um a um piece of paper. Um I accidentally put Torington Middle School twice. I put it under intermediate school as well, so I apologize for that. Um but that will be uh corrected in the packet. I've already sent it to the board clerk. Um so just a quick recap. Um Torington Middle School takes the gold star this month. they had the most views. Um, and I already spoke to Jason earlier and I already told him I was going to give him a shout out. Uh, he was very creative this past month. Um, and he decided to play a little game on Facebook where he, um, was having the audience guess where the alternate field trip was
004for the students that were not going on the DC trip. So he basically took um like a zoomedin portion of a screenshot of um the photo that would tell them where they were going. Um and then by the end, you know, there were some guesses, some shares, some likes. So that was really fun and interactive. Um and as you all know now, they're going to see Hamilton on Broadway. Um so just really loved that he played that little game and that the public was interactive with it. So, shout out to Jason for for doing that on the social media this month. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. Any other questions about social media? >> Sure. >> I love the positives. >> Not unless they were not not not to my knowledge. Not unless they were causing some
005sort of inappropriate like inappropriate comments or things of that sort. gives them a down arrow anymore. So, >> right, >> like a sad, but we haven't had any of those, which is good. >> We would typically um turn off the comments if we were seeing things like that. Um, which the comments are still viewable on our end. It just wouldn't uh allow others to continue to comment. >> Sure. >> Any other questions? on to your tech update. >> Okay, so um first thing I wanted to mention was uh we wanted to review the Arctic Wolf data. Um so it's been going for a few months now. Um so I included the little report that Arctic Wolf offers from um within their dashboard. Um, and I wanted to bring particular attention um, down to the bottom
006um, in the remediation details. Um, so you can see on November 20th there was a fishing scam that was sent out to our staff uh, titled don't panic updated benefit guide. Uh so unfortunately that did get quite a few of our staff uh 81 clicks on that link. Um and what happens when they click on that link it basically redirects them to Arctic Wolf saying you know you know unfortunately you clicked on a fishing scam. Um and then just gives them a little uh detail on you know why it was unsafe to do so. um and they have to complete a little uh remediation. So you can see that 58% of people completed that remediation um which is is pretty good um for the amount of people that clicked it. Um we did have a
007few less on the more recent one, the customer service uh process improvement, but there were only nine clicks on that. Um so we're we're moving in the right direction. you know, all it takes is that one click and then you see that Arctic Wolf screen and you go, "Oh boy." Um, so, you know, moving in the right direction. And I actually did have several staff members forward this email to me saying, "Is this legitimate? Is this safe?" um which is, you know, perfectly fine to do and I I actually encourage the staff to do if they ever feel like an email or or anything that is sent to them seems a little off or fishy or it's something that they did not expect to get. Um they can certainly forward it to us and we
008can take a look at that and and help them determine whether it's legitimate or not. >> Ask first, click later, right? >> Yes, absolutely. Anybody [clears throat] on the committee have any questions about the tech update for the fishing simulations? >> I did have um just a few other things if you don't mind. I just I wanted to cover that first because I know that we were talking about covering that. Um I did want to let everyone know that the data system that we spoke about last meeting has been installed and is currently successfully running our backups. So, thank you all for um that. Um myself as well as um Mason, our technician, received training on it. Um very happy with it so far. So, that's good news. Um in other news, um I did
009want to mention just because there has been conversations back and forth between me and these groups of people, um I just wanted to bring it to attention that the um St. Jude's Tathon is going to be coming up on March 1st and that's going to be at the Torington Intermediate School. Um, so just wanted to get that word out there as well as History Day. Um, which is going to be on March 14th. Um, so just wanted to to give those a little attention and so people can mark it down in their calendars. >> And that's all. Anybody have any questions on any of those items that Rachel has presented? >> I do have a couple of questions. Um, >> sure. >> The fishing reports, I see that it sent out 2,800 messages and there's
0101400 active users. Are we sending is it a rotating so not not the entire district gets the fishing campaign at once? Is that how we're doing it? >> Correct. And then the one stat that I was curious on is what percentage of compliance or I say compliance uh participation we'll say do we have in the videos they sent out the actual forward-looking training videos. >> Um if you give me just a minute I might be able to see. So currently we are only at 30%. Which is still quite low. Um, I did want to have the discussion with admins about maybe we can um provide staff an opportunity even during PLC days or something of that sort for staff to catch up on some of their trainings. Um, they are relatively short as I've mentioned
011in the past, but um, sometimes things get overlooked in their emails and things of that sort. Um, so providing them a specific time to to participate in those trainings, um, I think would help boost the participation. >> And they're about five Well, three to five minutes, I think, if I recall the ones I've been doing. They're not >> Yeah, >> they're not long. >> Horrible. >> Yeah, >> they're not horrible to watch. They're pretty well done. >> Yeah. Good. >> Awesome. And that was the only question I had. Oh, and on the data, which size did you end up going with? >> I did go with the 12. >> 12. Okay, great. >> Absent. Any other questions? We'll move on to your capital presentation. >> Sure. So if you look in the capital presentation um
012it is a little different uh than I've presented in the past uh mostly because of the switch from MacBook to Chrome. Um so instead of asking for sometimes over a million dollars in capital um it has reduced quite a bit. Um, we have a fleet of Chromebooks coming up that um will be requiring some uh replacements um just because they're reaching end of life. I know that Chrome or um Google rather did extend the life of several of their devices. Um but you know, I I think it's still a good idea to stay ahead of the game and get them replaced. Um, as well as the continuation of laptop replacements for staff. That's something that I've had on this capital budget in the past. Uh, interactive displays with the PC module to which is the
013smartboards. Um, again, all things I've had on there in the past. Um, and for this year, I also did network switch upgrades. Um there are a few switches out in the schools um that are quite old and I would like to uh update them and move them over to uh because we are currently using Moroi. Um and those switches are are not to Moroi. They're either Aruba or HP. Um so I'd like to keep it uniform across the district and be able to monitor them all on one dashboard. Um, other things that are a little different on here, um, I did also include some, um, UPS units. Um, for those who don't know, a UPS is basically a battery backup that, you know, in the event of power loss. Um, this would kick in and
014keep the switches alive basically until um, a generator can kick on or power comes back, you know, whichever comes first. Um, we have some closets that, you know, the they they tend to beep at you when the batteries are low. So, they'll be they'll be yelling at us for new batteries or or replacements in general. Um, so I thought it was a good idea to start including a replacement cycle in the capital. Um, and if you would like me to go through each year, I can do that as well. Or if you have any questions, I can answer that. Maybe you could just touch on the iPads in 2029. Everything else is kind of a continuation of your replacement cycle, the Chromebooks and network switch upgrades, but >> yeah, so the iPads, um, it's again
015that four-year mark where, uh, the service runs out and repairs become more expensive. So, it's better to replace ahead of time than to let the warranties run out and be stuck with a potential bill. Um, so I wanted to put that in there just so we were prepared. Um, and one of the nice things um that Apple has done recently is they are now providing four years of Apple Care without service fees if you can um if you can prove that you are putting them in an approved case. So, um, they have a list of cases that are approved in in their opinion, um, that would extend the longevity of these devices. So, as long as you are keeping them in those cases, um, they wave all of the service fees, which used to be
016like $50 an iPad to send it out and have it repaired, no matter what repair it was getting. Um, so that's kind of nice as well. We don't have to keep that a line item for that open. So to for repairs >> repairs >> anything else you want to add on capital you're good >> I don't think so unless anybody has questions I could add more >> we'll turn turn to the group anybody on the committee or otherwise have any questions on the technology capital plan guess that leaves me [clears throat] uh just a couple questions the Chromebooks we replaced was it a thousand with the Chromebook pluses that we just bought >> for the middle school. Yes. >> Or for the height was high school, wasn't it? >> High school is using Chromebook Pluses
017now, aren't they? >> Correct. And so is the middle school. >> So that would be about 15,600. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So then the next 1,200 would be what set of grades. >> I'm sorry. Oh, those are regular Chromebooks. >> But where would we be using those? Just I know that our lower grades, we have Chromebooks, but they don't leave the building. So they're for the most part they're less susceptible to excessive damage. >> Yes. However, because they are a bit older and some of them are still surviving from the COVID years, they do have quite a bit of cosmetic damage. Um and uh you know, not necessarily things that would hinder the performance of it. Um but are just you know, rather not pretty. um you know, cut edges from being dropped and things
018of that sort. Um so, you know, would just like to replace those and give our students, you know, something nice to use as well as um them becoming out of compliance with Google updates. >> And probably even above and beyond nice is that they're not breaking as often, which lessens the load on your staff. >> Correct. Yes. >> So, how many what is the cycle that you're planning on using? Is it four years, 5 years, six years? The the software cycle is 8 to 10 for them. But obviously, we're in a harsher environment than you know >> somebody home with just one. So what what are we aiming for for life cycle so that if we don't get the capital money, we got an idea where we're stretching where we're kind of in the middle
019where we're all the way at the end. I mean, when does it become critical? Right. That's >> So I was aiming for eight with the cushion of 10. >> Okay. >> Eight's eight's totally reasonable and I was going to say six to eight would be my guess in a school environment. So >> right and and depending on uh you know the breakage we we do see right um so like I said a lot of those Chromebooks were surviving from the COVID years where they were going back and forth in the backpacks of younger children. Um so we do have quite a bit of cosmetic wear on some of them. >> Okay. And then network switch upgrades. Which which buildings are these? And you have them as priority three. Mhm. >> I mean, if how old
020are they? I mean, this if a switch goes down or if it's a core switch in one of these buildings and it goes down, we lose doesn't matter how many Chromebooks we have, right? They're >> These are these are access switches, not switches. Yeah. Um I believe the core switches were switched out uh prior to me being in this seat. Um but the these are access switches only. >> Are the core switches on Maro or they just a newer version of H? Okay. So, you do have visibility across the board for at least Core switches. Yes. >> Core switches. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, you're not as you're not super concerned about these switches? >> No. >> Concerned? Yes. And they should be replaced, but they're they're not rising to level one because it's not
021the core. >> Yeah. And I also um put them out for as well. Um so, it's not as large of a priority. Um but I didn't put out uh enough inate to replace them all. I wanted to reserve some funds in for each year. I didn't want to just blow our whole budget in the first year. Um because they just replenished that funding for -ate. Um so just trying to be conservative of it. >> Oh, makes sense. Next one is the UPS's are those for our servers, network gear, those ones in the switch closets, which ones are those are those UPS's also so close to end of life that we should prioritize those in any way >> that I also put them out for rate. So that's why they're at three as well. >> Yeah,
022>> makes sense. Last question is the iPads. >> Yep. >> Um some districts and even some of in our work um they self-insure which is kind of tough here because we you only have the capital once the repair is it's difficult to play that game with but >> in your what are we seeing for damage rates on the iPads? I forget I don't remember what the you gave us a nice spreadsheet once with damage to the various levels and it seemed like for the most part the younger the group got for the most part knock on wood we had a little bit less damage right. Do you think we're having, we'll say, 180 of those iPads destroyed or broken in the four-year period? >> No, not since we moved to a cart model. Um, but
023like I was saying with the the the end of life with the Apple Care, I feel like it's good to get ahead of it. And if you do turn them in a little bit early, Apple gives you a credit towards new devices >> and education gives you a pretty They're pretty good about that >> on top of education. Exactly. So, I think it's just good to stay ahead of the game. And, you know, I know that uh iOS extends quite far, but it does make the devices slower as they go on. And I mean, we all know if you have an iPhone, as soon as the new update comes out, your phone gets a little bit slower. >> Almost like it's on [laughter] purpose. >> Almost. Um, so just trying to stay ahead of that
024curve is all. >> And then do we have we have talked a couple times in facilities about phones, the phone system. Mhm. >> So is that I didn't see it anywhere. We you kind of talked about hey we need to address it because we have an older system. Is that in your plan somewhere? Is that are we looking for a grant for that outside of capital? How are we handling the phones because this one very well done. It's put out for a 5-year period. Where where do we want to drop the phones in the whole mix? >> So I was actually able to purchase phones for the schools um with some money from last year's budget or no this year's. Um so we started replacing phones in the schools. Um the uh communication between our
025current NEC system and Cisco was proving to be more of a headache than it was worth keeping it them both alive. Um and was difficult with the interd district dialing and things of that sort. um calls were getting kind of rooted all over the place. Um so we went ahead and started that project school by school >> and we did that out of GB or how did we >> I believe so through a um I used state contract because they're Cisco phones >> and we replace we're all cloud-based then or you have >> correct. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. Anybody else have any questions? one question. Sure. >> Which levels use the iPads? >> Uh that's K1, so kindergarten and first grade. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Uh if there's no
026other questions, then thank you very much for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> You're up, Mr. Pola. >> Okay. Um, so the first thing on our agenda for uh facilities is an update on the TIS roof. Um, I'm going to turn this over quickly to Donna. She's going to give us some dates that we have coming up um for that. >> Sure. Good evening everybody. Um well, as you know from our previous meeting, uh the bids came in high for the TMS, uh well, formerly known as TMS, TIS roof project, uh that we applied for a grant with the state with. So we got a new estimate and it is of course higher. Um so right now what we're doing is we're going to reapply for uh extra funds from the state. In order to
027do that, we have to have our local appropriation match it. So we will be going out to referendum. We're hoping um around early March uh Dean Mr. Bgola and myself will be there um next Tuesday uh at the joint meeting board of finance and city council to um present uh what where we're at as far as the project goes. Um but that's basically where we're at right now. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. >> Anybody have any questions on the roof? No. Um so it will have to go to referendum for sure. >> Yes, we have to bond um the u match. So the match is usually like 25% of the project. So it's approximately $1.6 million that >> so we're going to have a little bit of a project ahead of
028us then if it goes it will be the only do we know we don't know if it's the only item on the referendum or not. >> It is I believe so >> be the only Okay, that will be a chore. But uh thank you for the update. Okay. Next, um I'd like to go over um I sent you guys a draft of the um our 313 capital reserve fund. Uh and I just handed out tonight. I sent it to the board clerk to updated and one that we uh submitted to the city if you want to take a look at that. Um some adjusted numbers and these are the projects that we have again and uh they they you know we we we wanted to do these in the past. they just haven't been able
029to been been done because of finance. Uh now we seem to have um enough money to handle uh this. So the first one to chiller at Torren Ford Elementary School for 500,000. Um that's something that's been a band-aid for the last well since I've been here and prior. So that is really a critical piece of equipment we need to change out. Uh the Vogle elevator uh again uh we have been bandating that together and it's getting to the point where it's obsolete. Uh parts are getting harder and harder. Last time it was down uh was almost 2 weeks. Um by the time they were able to find the proper little $6 relay to make this thing work. Maybe it was a little bit more than $6, but my point is uh the parts on it
030are to the are are really getting scarce. And um um so we're looking to take care of that. Uh the next item is a is is is a is a combined uh Vogle D uh DAS indoor air quality requirement from the state. Uh this is where and I know I've talked to the board about it before where they come in and they do they do a assessment of our system. They'll go through the mechanicals and make sure that the indoor air quality um not really make sure they're going to check the equipment and they're going to give us assessment on what has to be done. So, this is merely an assessment. Nothing to do with actual work to be done to get it up to par. It just tells us what we need to do.
031Um, I've also um thrown in there um um and that's usually about the research I did and I talked to a couple different towns. That's usually in a neighborhood of 45 to let's say 50 cents per foot for this study. I I put extra money in there because our mechanical system general generally there in that building is really antiquated. Same thing. We're spending a lot of money on pieces of equipment that we're finding harder and harder to find parts for. And it's a consistent repair of fan motors and relays and and things of that nature. The core of the system at Vogle is very good. When I say that, I mean the boilers. The boilers in there are in very good shape. Um I I had to date when they were installed. We're okay on
032that end. These are all terminal units um that through that go that are throughout the building that are failing. um you know, just about every week we're we're changing things out. So, um the other item on here is something that we've been wanting to do again uh um is our locked foyer at Southwest School. Um the $15,000 is for the design. There's a couple of different ways that we can go and uh I've looked at it before, especially when we were doing the touring Ford facility. Um we looked at that and there's there's some options that we want to look at. So a design um cost is in there. Uh and then of course once the design cost is the design is done then we would go and and um and uh install it. So
033that number of comes from kind of historical data on what it cost us for the middle school and for touring forward. And we looked at it and you know kind of came up with a number that hopefully is sufficient at this time. Um so that gets a total of our um our 313 capital reserve of 1,ion520669. Any questions on this? Let's see. Anybody have any questions, comments? Anybody? Any other members? >> Okay, that that defaults to me then I guess. >> Go ahead, Mr. Burgerer. with with the um air quality. >> Yep. >> It's it's stuff that they're going to recommend to do. Do you have any idea of some of the items that they may came up with that hey, they're going to recommend to do A, B, and C when they do that
034evaluation? >> Yes, I do. And actually, if you if you look at my capital plan, which is next, you're going to see that in the capital plan. The things that I'm going to I I know it needs to be done. they're going to come up with an indoor study. So, that's when I said it's a little bit more not just the indoor air quality, but there's also going to be I want some design in there and some and just some guidance on some of these units we know we're going to have to replace. >> That's covered in another All right. >> Yeah. >> Uh question on the indoor air quality. We had that state mandate a while back to have on a rotating basis over a period of years get all of the indoor air
035quality. Will this meet the requirement for that one building? >> This will meet the requirements that they want. They won a percentage per year and because of our new complex we able to buy a little bit of time because >> we'll count this as the first one. >> Yes. So, um that's the approach I've taken so far. So, that's why this year I want to make sure we at least get a building done that has not been done. >> Okay. And then on the southwest, I can only ask certain questions because it's security. We're not in executive session. But, um we had talked about a year and a half ago, Mr. Mr. Ber, I think it was about the Southwest locked foyer and I think Mr. Ucalo had some suggestions about design. Did we did
036we use the same person? Have we already done the design or are we just and it's I'm looking at this. We submit this capital request to the city for $257,000 and we don't have a whole lot of recourse if there's if that number is not enough or if we're way off, you know, how are we handling that? Have we already done a preliminary design? from what I gathered somewhat of a preliminary but not enough to go and and start putting out the bid. So, uh the the the architect that we used for the last two buildings I spoke to him um and you know I asked him you know to put this together because he has put put some time in it and I asked him for a budget number for design and that's where
037the $15,000 came in for design. As far as the Oh, did you say something? Was that me? Sorry. >> A little flashback there. Um, as far as the dollar goes, um, for the actual lock foyer, it originally was budgeted for $90,000. >> Okay. So, I feel pretty comfortable we should be covered. Especially, again, there's certain things we want to do there that um, I think we're covered. >> So, when we get that design back, will we get to do an executive session to see what we're planning to do? for numbers purposes. I suspect you're going to come back with a couple different options that you know we're going to have to shoehorn into a budget. >> Correct. >> Great. Any other questions on that? No. All right. On to your your project list here. >>
038Uh actually, no. I was going to go to my capital plan. >> Can we do we have project updates next on the agenda? >> Oh, is that all done? >> Yes, sir. >> Oh, backwards. >> All right. Um, okay. So, you have the um the projects in front of you. Um, yeah. Threw me off on this one. All right. So, um I guess the one of the big things I'll just say we're we're doing uh we are still evacuating from Nigen Avenue. I have the um the shredding company who I spoke to today who told me they have a date of January 30th where they can start trying to get a plan on manpower and how to get rid of this stuff really. So um you know that's that's coming up. What we what we
039just completed was um TTA. We got that up and running over at Fast Academy. It was uh we started right after right after they came back from Christmas break and everything's been going great over there. The they have a brand new kitchen setup over there. Um rooms have been built for them. U equipment's been brought in. So there's been a lot of time over our Christmas break taking care of those two items. um getting them set up over there, you know, getting them out of the east school also and getting them brought over there along with um just continuing to sort through years and years and years of stuff at Miden Avenue. Uh and then any other questions on any of these other projects that we have going or had going? Actually, the if it
040was done, uh I took it off the list. So, so this is just stuff that is in progress or to be done [snorts] >> to the committee and others. Anybody have any questions on the project list? >> Just one, >> Mr. Burgerer. >> Well, if you click on something, it seems to be like a link and then we have to ask like an for an access code. I did it by mistake the other night and it was late and I didn't want to bother. >> The thing I sent you was a was a PDF, correct? Yes, but it if you you click on it, it allows you to it's a link. >> Yeah, the project is a link. >> Yeah, the PDF >> is there additional information we can access if we do that or
041>> Yeah. No, no, you can't. It's kind of it's so it's a it's a a program I use that you have to download notion and go through all that to do it. It's just it's not a >> it's an actual >> Yeah. Okay. >> Anybody else? I've got a surprise. I've got a few more uh intrusion alarm issues at the Maybe this was asked previously, but intrusion alarm issues. Any What's the uh story there? I know the Southwest. We just had an alarm panel replaced. Maybe that was the fire alarm. There was an issue with the alarm but a year or so ago. What are we uh what are we up against in the intrusion alarm issues? Bottom of page 19. First p your first page of projects. my first page. >> It's at high
042priority. >> No, that's in progress. So, we are we are 95% done. A little bit of a coordination with Sound Works on that, but we all the schools are up and running. We're all on um Sound Works is um they're monitoring it. We're off of Sound Troll. We're not using them anymore. So, we're we're the one that when it says in progress, we're right there. We're not 100% yet, but >> So, the the alarm issues is just the transfer from sound patrol to sound work, sir. >> That's all. Well, we had that problem. They had the problem with Frontier. Um, we had a whole phone problems line and this and that and so we ended up just >> started with Torren Ford and it went to Southwest and it went to all the schools so
043we just went and >> Gotcha. And just moved to cellular I assume in most of those locations. Yep. >> Yep. >> Uh, next is the Vogal prek playground. It's page two about a third of the way down. >> Yep. So, we are uh Donna is also involved in this um with some grant money where we're looking to put a prek playground in um along the side of the the school um that runs parallel with um Bill Ki's property. There's a fence that's there. Not sure if you know where it is. Um, if you're looking at it from the street, >> yeah, >> Vogle, Vogle School is there. And then to the right of Vogle School, there's a piece of property there that we're looking to uh we have a design going on for it. And
044uh Donna's got some grant money to put preK. >> That's on the bus loop side or the front side? >> No, the front side of the >> front side. Okay. Past the courtyard further down, >> right in Vogle. It'd be the courtyard on CH on Prospect, right? Used to be the old courtyard. >> Yeah. Yeah. Go Yeah. Go past that. >> Yeah. Okay. Exactly. Exactly. >> And then I just have a couple on things that are listed as Major Bessie or part of the new building project. The This says 50 MB the gates. I'm assuming that's the is that the card access or >> Yep. >> So is that an US thing or is that really a building project thing? Same thing with complex parking signs. I mean >> no parking signs are us. I
045guess what we have is what we have. So we've been putting up reserve signs and also visitor signs that they haven't on. They painted it, but we actually put post and signs up. Wasn't included. And >> are we doing those [clears throat] oursel? >> Yes. >> Okay. And there was one that was just repair items for fast. >> Yes. There's just a list of small repair items that we're doing over there. Nothing. There was a to-do list that I had of >> And the only other two was library key for THS because that's also a new building. >> Yeah. just to figure out to get somebody a key, proper key or a proper core. >> And then this is my favorite one. It's actually been pretty good tonight. Cafeteria equipment noise. >> Yeah. >> Did
046we uh did we manage to get a hold of them? And are they going to warranty any of that stuff or >> It's fixed. You don't hear it. >> I don't hear it now. That's why I said it sounded pretty good. >> Yes, we're actively working on it. >> Great. I appreciate it. Without any further questions, one last chance, everybody. On to your capital, Dean. >> Okay. Um, so we broke it down per school and I broke it down for priority. Um, one or two. I didn't go to three like Rachel did. I just went one or two here. Um, fast academy. [clears throat] Um, gymnasium floor resurface uh, and paint. Um, the floor over there is really in in in bad shape. It's um, it's very slippery. It's it's just it's in time. It's
047time to spend some money on the floor over there. But I do have that as a priority, too. Um what I do have as a priority one over there are the gymnasium lights. Again, they're old LE uh their old fluorescent lights up there with cages on them. And as soon as the ball goes up there and hits it, either the cage falls or something and it's just unsafe. But the good news is we do have all the lights that we had from the old ths gymnasium I took down and we can install those in there which are LED lights um you know they gym was lit up pretty well to be honest with you um for you know before we knocked it down. So we're hoping to get that done. Um, we were just over
048there also this week. The drinking fountains that were in the the old drinking fountains that were recessed in the wall in the gymnasium um, right in front of them, the floor, it sprung a leak and rotted a good part of the floor out. Fortunately, it looked like it happened before. So, it really didn't rot out the gym floor. It rotted out the repaired floor from the leak prior. So, we ended up just ripping those drinking fountains out. And um we have a brand new bottle filler drinking fountain in the hallway that we're going to utilize. Um then the reason why I say that is because um um again the gym the whole gymnasium area lights now that that's cleaned up and then the floor. Um we do have some items that we need to change
049in the classrooms downstairs. They they were set up for um little kids. So, they're they're they're like mini everything is squatty. Toilets are squatty. The countertops are squatty. Everything is squatty. We're able to fix the toilets by putting a nice 3-in lift toilet seat on there, which was an easy fix. Um, but we're finding out now that these switches are on the outside of the wall instead of the inside of the bathrooms. So, now people are going in there and people can shut the lights off. So, we want to do some change there. Also, the bathroom doors weren't lockable. We do want to put some sort of lock on the doors. the each one of those classrooms has got a uh I don't want to say kitchenette, but a countertop with a sink in there.
050And it does have a water fountain, not a drink, not a cooler, but just a a water fountain that the teachers are finding very useful where they don't have to send the kids out into the hallway to use them. But again, they're at ch children height, so you really got to bend over to get these things. And some of them are broken down. So, I'm looking to raise the height of all of those. maybe take the cabinets out, putting regular countertops in with other sinks. Um, >> could be a part of our PE program, squats and >> Yeah, it could be. It could be. So, that's a little explanation behind what we're doing there. Um, any questions on Fast Academy. I'll just keep going. You guys stop me when when when if you have a
051question. >> Uh, we go over to Vogal Wetmore and um again, we talked about it in my other plan here for that building. Um, so we do have Okay. So, because we made that adjustment, I have it in here also because I took it out, but I didn't take it out of capital. So, we'll have to take that $80,000 out there because that would be covered under the um 313 fund. So, we have to make an adjustment to that. Um, but you'll see below that, uh, replace heating system per facility study. Um, and that's, uh, 1.64, you know, you can see the number there, $1,643,000 for that complete heating study, uh, heating system in that building. Let me take the word complete out. That is for everything I talked about before, all the room heaters,
052uh, unit ventilators, things of that nature, and and possibly possibly the DAS requirements included in that also. >> Okay. Um, as you go down to the Torrance Middle School, and just so you know, also on here, just to explain a little bit on all of these, you'll see a double star in the second column over. uh that means that it is eligible for OSC and our reimbursement and as you can see my totals coming down um we let's use Voggo wetmore for an example just to explain it uh the totals of the project for Vogle wetmore would be 71,723,750 uh the amount eligible is um what it is for the heating system the engineering for it is not eligible so that got pulled out of it so right now we're at a 74% reimbursement That's
053what that equals right there. So the the total that the city would be paying in the end would be 57 um,375 for a um $1.7 million job. So they're all broken down that way as I go through them. Uh Torrenton Middle School, uh the public address system over there, uh is in pretty bad shape. So that was again >> Mr. Pull, you mean the intermediate school? I do mean the introduction. >> Just thinking maybe >> I will change that to another. >> Maybe we could even put the Torington Mutual formerly TMS or something, but >> just uh you had me confused for a moment. >> Yep. Sorry about that. Okay. Um if you go down to Southwest School again, the PA system down there is in uh some need. Um the repair of stairs I
054put as a uh number one priority. uh could be a tripping hazard and um really looking to we've done some floor work down there already, but this is getting worse. Um where it's starting to peel away from the the rise of the stairs and you can see where it's definitely going to be a tripping hazard. Um so again, that's in there. Uh unfortunately for that grant money isn't really eligible for those items. Uh if you look at touring Ford School, uh we have additional cameras that we talked about there, we got a we got quite a few blind spots. Um I don't remember actually the total number of um cameras that are in there, but it's not very many. >> Yeah. Um so we're limited to cameras over there. We want to add some cameras.
055We also want to add some uh um some some access badge and controls to get into the building. Right now, you know, it's it's a one-story building. there's a lot of doors in and out of that place and depending on where teachers go with the kids um it's really not covered. There's not enough access to get from the outside in through using a badge. Um if you go down a little further, district plan here, this is more uh for everybody. Uh of course, custodial machinery um is a as a number two priority. Number one priority I put would be snow removal equipment. This is um you know we we did purchase something for here uh last year at this time. We got some money and we bought a um we bought a new tractor with
056a snowb blower attachment and a broom attachment on it and we are I really want to really wanted to start going down the road to to get a broom attachment at every one of our schools. It works so much better um getting these sidewalks clean instead of just pushing snow and leaving that layer of snow on. We're actually going out there after a storm and we're getting right down to black top or we're getting right down to um concrete where before you throw salt down and now you're bringing in salt. So, we're using less salt. Um it's a better job. Uh it's it's less wear and tear on the concrete the broom instead of a a metal a metal um blade going across it. So um looking to change them out as we go here.
057Our next one would be actually Southwest school that his piece of equipment over there is is definitely the oldest one we have. Okay. Um >> so um for the snow removal is that 50,000. That's just for one school then. So that's like >> that' be one. Yep. >> That's so that's the price for one broom. Okay. Yep. >> Anything else you want to add, Mr. PGO, before I open it to >> um Let me just see here. No, I don't I don't think so. The totals are on the on the bottom. Um can't believe I left it as middle school. Um >> Huh. >> Yeah, it's at the bottom, too. Yeah. >> Yeah, I know. I'm looking at again. Yeah, I got to change that to TIS. All right. >> All right, then. I'll open
058it up to questions. What's the crew have for uh questions on the 5-year proposed capital plan? Anybody? Mr. B, >> I'm going to talk about the access control stuff. Just a question maybe for Rachel and Dean. I know prior to your arrival, the previous person was talking about standardizing the same access control platform at all schools. I don't know if that was ever done or not done. >> Yes, it was. >> It was. So, they're on the same platform that this high school's on now, >> correct? >> Okay. Um, I would question a little bit the number for six card reader ads at that dollar amount >> for which one? >> Uh, you had six access badge control >> the badge readers. >> Badge readers. >> You're adding six new access control doors. >> Yeah,
059that's a very very light estimate. just just so >> so so most of these have um push pads. >> Okay. >> And it' be replacing I I don't know how many. I forget how many we said. But so it wouldn't be like we're not talking running wire. We're not talking that. We're talking about replacing just that control instead of push button to the card swipe. >> But the card swipe's got to go to that head end where the new access control panel is. >> Correct. But um we we did put a new one in there when they did the locked foyer project or I should say reused from the old high school. Um we had two access control panels at the old high school. So we took them out. One was utilized at TIS and
060the other was put into Toringford. So we did reuse that equipment. Um and the uh pin code pads that Dean's referring to, they're already ran to that system. So, it would just be physically replacing that pin code one with a badge reader. >> Okay. >> And it it's the same wires and everything. We also um we did take all the badge readers off of the old high school and that is what is on some of the doors at Toringford now, but this would just be to complete all the other doors cuz like he said, it's one level and there's a lot of access doors in that school. Can I make one suggestion? Maybe we buy new card readers that are multi-tech card readers so that we can upgrade credentials in the future without changing hardware.
061>> Sure. >> We could talk offline. I mean, the cost of a reader is not that much. >> Absolutely. >> Repurposing a $200 card reader versus buying a new one. >> I'd be more than willing to. >> Um, it gives us the flexibility to add another layer of security in the future. >> I would love that. Okay. Anybody else have any questions on the capital budget? >> Mr. Cl. >> Yeah. Uh maybe I should have asked this a little earlier, but for the intermediate school with the roof, I know reapplying could be timeconuming and then obviously going through the bidding process too. Would we expect I'm just not familiar with the current status of it. Like would we expect in that time to possibly have to do repairs? Is it that bad in in terms
062of its current state or >> No, it's it's under control. So, we know the the weak spots and we've been able to keep them under control with very very little uh you know, I've had city roofing out there maybe twice just to do a patch here and there, but it's been we've been able to control it pretty good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, that would be a priority too then it's a lower priority. And then just from my question would be on these reimburseable items given the uncertainty in educational funding these days. Is there anything that maybe take it to the to the group here what they think but some of these reimbursements at 74% is a good deal for us. Do we have anything we want to pull forward? I mean the city
063is obviously not always had a lot of money to give us but it does seem to work a lot of times to be able to say look we're getting 74% of this and we may not two years from now. So I just with all the uncertainty going on out in the education community and funding at the moment I wasn't sure if we'd given any consideration to that or what anybody else may think about that. I am glad that you grant person. >> Yeah. No, I'm did not put any consideration to it. It's more or less this is the things that we need to do and I I I understand that that could be a problem, but I I can't predict that or >> Well, of course, but I wasn't sure if you had anything that
064you know, you're you're very good about not requesting $36 million in one year. I mean we all know that the constraints that we have but is there anything that maybe we want to pull forward given that also even >> well at this time the only thing the only thing I would say is what is on what this here are are definitely our priorities on our what we're going to ask for that it's our money already and we don't have to that those are the priorities right now as first priorities and I guess you can look at everything else is two and three because you know you know we are patching as we go it's just it's it's costing a lot of money to keep patching these things Well, that's the case I'm somewhat suggesting we
065would make to the city that yeah, >> hey, every year we wait to do a $2 million project as we're finding with the TIS roof, right? >> You know, that started as a $2.5 million roof. Then we thought it was going to be four and a half million. Then we have to start over again. Two years later it's a $6.5 million roof. And when would we start to Joe's point? When do we start the process of a 2728 roof so that it actually happens in 2728? Do we we're starting this sometimes before we have the money obviously, but is that a doable thing? Start a little bit early so that when we get there the the research is done. I'm just afraid that the same thing is going to happen again. That's not your fault,
066but we have to you have to work with the forces that are that are against us, right? And the the state and the city and all these things that have pushed it on. I mean, Mr. Burme better. How many years has the TIS roof been rolling through and Yeah. So that's no fault of yours. >> Just may I speak or course? Okay. Thank you. I just want to reassure everybody that the uh plans for the roof were approved by the state. The increase is unfortunately a natural ask that a lot of communities have to come go back and ask the state for more money. It requires one form for us to fill out. the reason why we need to ask for it. Of course, we have to have the local appropriation secured before we could
067do that. So, you know, if March we find out, yes, we can go ahead, then hopefully the bidding process takes a month and then hopefully we'll be uh doing some work over the summer on the roof. But it but it isn't reapplying for the whole grant all over again. Everything's all those 20 30 forms are submitted. They're approved, the drawings are approved, everything's, you know, pretty much ready to go. But it is unfortunate that the wheels of bure bureaucracy do go slow to no one's fault. Um, everyone's trying to do the right thing. >> Oh, appreciate that. Um, the only two questions I have left are the two on the top of the second page, the thermostatic mixing valves and the labs and the replace generator at Toring Ford. I didn't see it on the
068list of when you want when you wanted to do it. So I wasn't sure if it was it didn't it didn't show up anywhere in the columns and then also at touring for the replacement of electrical receptacles. Do we do that ourselves? >> Um no um so on touring uh hold on a second lost my own page here. Uh yeah I just didn't carry that over. Um I just didn't carry that over. So, um, >> they're not I was just only concerned that maybe you wanted them for this year. That's why >> No, no, no, no. I will carry those over. I thought Yeah, you're right. >> I'll take care of that. >> Any other questions? Hearing none, we shall move on now. All right. Uh, topics for future meetings. You guys have anything down
069there that on your end that needs to show up? Anything down? >> Um, no. No. Besides the usuals. >> Yeah, besides usual. Nothing. >> Not besides the usuals. >> Nothing besides usuals. All right. Anybody on the committee have anything they'd like to see on the next meeting or we can we can defer Mr. Cronin whose meeting it would be. Mr. Burgerer, you have something? Are there any contracts that are expiring that re need to be renewed soon that we should start talking about or start planning? >> Uh none that off the top of my head right now. The only one um we're in the third year of our Hussy um uh that was the only one that I had questioned, but we're in our third year of it. So we're in good shape there. >>
070Which one? >> Hussy. Our Hussy does our um does all our bleachers, does our grand stand. So, we made some adjustments because they um because they're new. So, we're actually we're not going through maintenance and repairing these, just inspections this year. Um but we're in our third year of that anyway. So, they just sent us a proposal out for when it is up, but we have they're we're covered under this year. >> And I'll just ask for next meeting if you can give us an update on how the new plow company's doing. >> Yep. >> All right. I'm sure Mr. Cronin may have some other ideas for his next meeting, but uh in the absence of that, I will look for comments of the good of the order. Mr. Michaelelsson, >> thank you. >> Thanks.
071Great meeting. >> Good meeting. Thank you. >> Yep. Good meeting. Thanks. positive meeting. Thank you. >> Anybody Mr. Burger? >> Mr. K, >> two quick things. One, thank you, Mr. Pervola, for eliminating the distractions, the the noises behind us. That that was very helpful tonight. And also the open house. Somebody should talk about the open house because it went very well Saturday morning, this building, middle school, and a lot of people showed up. And I don't know if the superintendent would like to say anything more about it, but it was a great great experience. >> Thank you, Mr. Kisko. I would love to. Yeah, it was a great turnout. About 270 people by the clicker. Um students did a wonderful wonderful job uh escorting and giving tours. Every person that came back from the tour,
072some were winded as Mr. Kisco and I noticed when they were walking out of the building and commenting on how large both of the buildings were, but everyone uh gave huge accolades to our tour guides. Mr. Putnham, your son, was one who ran many tours. Actually, we definitely put him to work. I think he was the second highest tour giver. Uh someone beat him out by one good, but not that that's a competition, but uh it was really a wonderful day and the community had nothing but positive things to say. So, thank you, Mr. Kiscoco. And >> really a shout out to those student volunteers. They were here at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. So, uh yes, I did bribe them with donuts and bagels, but uh to get them out of bed on a
073Saturday morning um was a real testament to their dedication to Torington public schools, but it was a great turnout and a great day. Thank you. >> All right. Uh thank you all for a great meeting and uh thank you both for all of your hard work on the capital budget. I know it's not simple to put together and it takes time and you have a million and a half other things to do. I also received a lot of text messages about the tour. um people just impressed with our students and that they were young students giving tours to adults and you know in today's world young children and and adults don't always able to communicate in the same way or they're afraid of each other from a you know just awkwardness standpoint but every went
074very smoothly and a lot of positive feedback. So, thank you all for the hard work. And after that, a motion to adjurnn and second. Second. All in favor. >> Thank you all. Have a good night. Good evening. I'd like to call to order this Torington Public Schools budget committee meeting on Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 at 6:37 p.m. And we will start with a roll call. We'll just ask for quick introductions, too, for some of you are new for our new board, new board members. Great. >> Donald Labby, director of finance. Michael Wilson, superintendent. >> Jeff Putnham, Board of Education. >> Joe Klesa, Board of Education. >> Elena So, Board of Education. >> Lenburgger, Board of Education. >> John Kiskcoll, Board of Education. >> Great. Thank you. We won't have to do that again, but just
075wanted for the board members benefit. Haven't met everybody yet. All right. Next, uh, we need an approval of the agenda. Are you looking for a motion to approve the agenda? Yeah, we want >> this is the agenda. So, this is the current current weeks >> for the minutes. >> Yep. >> So, move. Sorry. >> All right. Let's need a second. All those in favor? I >> approval of the minutes. Believe I'm also the only board member here from that meeting. So, I will submit a motion to approve the minutes. Just need a second. >> All those in favor? I. Anybody here for public participation? I don't see anybody in the room. Mr. Mr. Michaelelsson anything? Nope. Then we will skip that. Moving on to discussion and next steps. Mrs. Lavyby, it's going to be monthly
076financials for you. >> Great. Well, good evening everybody. Everyone received the um packet for the budget um to date to the 1231 2025 uh end of month. And before I just jump into a few items that popped out, I just wanted to answer a couple questions that were asked at the previous meeting. Um so I just uh wanted to go through three of them. There was a question about the substitutes for the teachers and the paraprofessionals. Um and that was trending high and we um the question was posed because we had the perfect attendance also being um you know use utilized to its fullest. Uh why that was and the reason being is because we've had um more fill rates. Uh so we were able to get a lot of these absentees um filled and
077there was also a higher pay minimum wage has been increased. Um so that has increased uh that expense and um also we were um having some long-term leaves. So so those were the um reasons why that was trending higher even though the perfect attendance was uh being uh utilized. Uh the other question was for a sub nurse. Uh I had uh misspoke and said that we had uh to have a a fill for an opening, but actually it was a nurse that was needed uh for additional care for a student um that had some uh medical needs. So that's why uh we had a substitute nurse come in. The last uh point was uh the electricity bill. Our favorite topic. Um I I did do some look back and we it looks like we've been
078underfunding that line item for a while at a around a million even with our previous structure of the buildings. So um I think it was a combination of a little underfunding some um additional expenses over the summer as we know uh for TMS and the construction. Uh but we are looking at that line item to you know fund it appropriately and we do um thanks to Superintendent Wilson have that funding coming for use and occupancy from our calf budget. So that's going to help offset the overages there. So that was basically um questions that were asked on the previous uh budget presentation. I don't know if anyone has any questions on the answers to those. If you want me to just jump right in. >> Okay, here we go. So, everybody received their packet and
079um just want to acclimate the new board members. On page five, you're going to see what looks like a 30,000 ft view of our budget. Um so, we usually have it the rollup first and if you have it in color, it's like the blue and the lighter blue um stripes. Then if you um continue on, it's going to go deeper into the budget line items. Um on pages, you know, six through seven. And then on page eight is where it really gets exciting and dives into the weeds of the budget. Uh so I I just went through it and we're in good shape uh for where we are in the fiscal year. Um there were a couple items that popped out that I was just going to bring to your attention. So on page eight,
080if everybody could turn to that, you're going to see um some line items for stipens for um the actual number is 511.50 and you're going to notice that we're at 82% and those stipens are normally paid out twice a year. The reason why we're trending higher there is there's been some um reclassification and some funds that were uh some stipens that were being build to um different line items that we're correcting. So, we have some grant uh stipens for the social media reps that had hit that line um in error. So, we're really digging deep um working on making sure that those are all tied out um for the rest of the year. So, you you'll you'll see some accommodations there. um coming up. Then the other item is on the bottom of that page
081and it's um the paraprofessional for Bristol Tech. I might have mentioned this at another meeting, but once again that um staff was being built to another line item. That's why if you look all the way over to the right uh second column from the right, you'll see it's only 8% utilized and a reclassification needs to take place there as well. on right underneath that the KOD the certified occupational therapist um assistance. We had had another staff member that was being built to that line item as well. And I I just want to make a note that we had about maybe 200 to 300 I know Lisa can attest to this um moves when we did the reconfiguration of the schools. And so the um budget had to have you know multiple um areas where we
082needed to make sure that um staff were being assigned to the appropriate line item. we were pretty much 99% there. Um, thanks to everybody in the finance and HR department. So, the next item I just wanted to point out was on page nine and it it is um if you go down the page threequarters of the way, it's 5130 and I I just wanted to note uh the OT wages for clerical have been trending down. Uh we've been keeping an eye on that and again I think that was a little underfunded from previous years. So, uh, we're going to work on that for our next year's budget. And you can go all the way to page I want to say 12. And on page 12, I just wanted to point out um, especially for the
083new members that tuition um, for special ed is kind of a moving target. Sometimes it's hard to really lock it in. Um, so you're going to notice at the bottom of the page that it appears that we are over in that line item. However, if you look right above it, we have some other funds that we're under. Um, so we're hoping we're going to keep a close eye on this and hoping to land um in the black there. So, um, we're not over spent. I believe that's it for my updates um or um notes as far as the budget goes. And I didn't know if anybody had any questions. Hey, Donna, could you just explain encumbrances for them quick just in case just in case they're not familiar with it? >> Yes. So, if you
084look at page five, you're going to see a multiple columns. You're going to see the budget column to the left. You're going to see the month-to-ate expenses right next to it. And right to the right of that, you're going to see incumbrances. And what that is is uh the majority of our budget is encumbered, meaning we set that money aside with a purchase order. Uh so for instance, we'll take Eversource for electricity. We'll set aside $100,000 and then every month when we receive a bill, we'll put the invoice against that purchase order. So the money is set aside. Um so it appears that it's consumed in a lot of the line items like for transportation. You might notice that, but indeed it is just being set aside so that we have it there. we know
085not to use it in any other place and um and it's there to fully consume by the end of the year. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Anybody have any questions for Donna on the budget? Anybody else? >> I have I have I have a small list. >> Okay. >> A question. Is there just for the board members benefit and I've never asked this question before. Is there a way to tell between a 10 and 12 month line items? A lot of these line items when you're watching the percentages cuz when I first started I looked at the percentages only and so some of these percentages get skewed because our budget starts July 1st but we don't have any expenses out of it until September 1st because it's a 10-month line item. Do we
086have any idea what some of those 10-month items are so that they wouldn't be skewed by the percentage? >> Yes. So, that's actually a really good question and we are are looking at that as far as 12-month employees versus 10-month employees. So, the PAR line, you'll notice one of those 10-month um line items and uh the teacher line is more of a 12-month. Um so, we don't encumber the salary. So, those are the only line items. If you'll notice on the top 5100, all the 100s are salary line items and we don't encumber those. Um but once again, uh to Mr. Putman's point, uh, the, uh, 10-month, uh, employees do the percentage is a little different than you would see a 12-month employee. As far as other expenses, I want to say that we do
087encumber, you know, as soon as we hit the ground running in July, you know, for utilities and for professional services. Um, some things don't come in like tuition until, you know, we really open the doors to the school, um, because people are kind of moving around. Um, those are hard to pin down, >> of course. Uh, next one is 5121 for the tutors. I asked this question um a couple months ago. I'm just going to revisit it quick that we had uh 17,000 this month down from 22,000 last month, but we're heading towards like a 100K over. Do we have a is that an anomaly this year? Do we need to change our budget for next year? I'm just kind of starting to get into budget mode a little bit. >> Yes. Then yes, it's
088a it's an anomaly and we do have to update it for next year. I did look at a trend analysis and 100 is probably maybe even 120 is a good place to land there. Um because it's a little bit unpredictable as far as where we're going to need the tutors. Um but it might be safe to go higher for sure. >> This one's from Mr. Pragola. Uh not a complaint though. 513080 the OT custodial looking towards the budget for next year. Do we feel that this is an anomaly with the all the extra overtime? We did 33,000 in December. Or do we think we really just have to we gave it a pretty good bump last year with the new facilities? What's the driving force behind the OT in your line item this year and
089do we need to account for it next year? >> Yeah, I think a lot has to do with the uh um just the transfer of the schools and the amount of time we spend spending um overtime having come in normally we wouldn't have to. Um and we do also have uh some of our other schools being used. Um um Southwest School is now the gymnasium is being used um for uh soccer club over there. Um that is 503 C uh 503B right um and also uh Fast Academy that that is being used also. So there's there's some additional people in our gyms that um you know were >> part of our facilities package >> that don't pay us because of their qualifications >> because of qualifications. Yeah. But the majority is definitely based on everything
090that's gone on. I mean we just you know it's been it's been no holds bar. Yeah. >> I was just thinking thinking thinking for next year. >> Yep. Got it. >> Um prof 5320 professional education services. Not sure how I missed this one before. Um there's no transactions in it. 117,000. What are we expecting any transactions? Is it or is it one of those we had we moved them to a different line item. You're you're always very good about that stuff. >> Yeah. So that's adult education. Uh Torington is the hub for the adult education. So we receive funding from the state to offset it. It's about 250,000, but 117,000 is what we need to appropriate per legislation. >> Oh, okay. So, we we just received the invoice, so we just paid it. >> Okay,
091great. >> You'll see it in the next month. >> And then 53401 legal fees. It was 44,000 this month. With all that's going on, are we expecting to have to line item transfer to cover that the rest of the year? >> We're going to keep tracking that. In February, we're going to make some recommendations for some line item transfers. So, we we will keep a close eye on that. That again is sometimes a little hard to predict. >> Okay. And then on page, it would be page 10 of your packet 5340 and 53404. I was just curious what the difference between other mis other professional services and miscellaneous professional services was. >> That's a great question. I have the same one. [laughter] It's um we I do look at what's coming out of each one
092of those. Um other professional services does include some special ed services in there. uh miscellaneous professional services is more like the um shredder and some odds and ends um that we work with, but we're we're going to look into tidying that up for next year. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh now we talk on transfers next time. uh 55305 which is on page I think it's page 9 11 >> 12 50 yeah 5530 is on page 12 that is uh 05 is licensing and warranty contracts and we're pretty much out of our encumbrances and we're we're heading over. Do we expect that to continue on trajectory or >> we're we're all set on licenses. So once again, if we have to do a line item transfer, there's some other um additional funding in tech supplies that
093we're not consuming. So we might um use that to balance it out, but we have all of our licenses, so there'll be no more purchases there. And if there are, we do fortunately have some some grant funding that could help supplement. >> Great. Thank you. And this one is on the tuition for VOAG. We split it out between VOAG sped and VOAG. The question here was does the limit, we actually limit the number of students who can go to say Lake View. There was a whole discussion about that years ago when they came out and they let as many people as they want go and then we put a we put a cap on it which districts are allowed to do. Does that cap encompass both sped and regular ed or is that a separate
094can can a sped student elect to go to Lake View regardless of our cap? How does that work? >> I'll have to get back to you on that one. >> Okay. And Lastly, the big one is health insurance. Uh when do we expect to have some? That's probably the one of the largest risks to next year's budget as far as from a cost driver. Do we have any idea when we're going to hear whether either one of you can speak to that? >> I can definitely speak to that. We've been in constant contact with our broker and our broker is working very very hard to get the number um down um and to obviously everyone across the state across the country actually has received an increase in insurance. So we're subject to that as well.
095But however, Brown and Brown is working very hard to keep our number minimal and we should have that number within the next two weeks so we can plug it into our budget. >> Great. Uh so any anything they can do is certainly a help. It's a big big portion of the budget. All right, that is all I have for questions on that. Anybody else have anything that may have come up in the meantime? Anybody else? Um I guess just looking for a little clarity on page 12, line item 55634, the private sped uh DCF. I guess that's I just see that that number is pretty pretty high above. I don't know if there's something I'm unaware of or >> Yeah, I I can definitely um So, anything that's DCF related, we're mandated to pay because
096that is a DCF placement. >> Got it. And the best part is the DCF placements don't necessarily mean that they are Torington students. Correct. They they can be DCF placed from Newington to Torington and we absorb that expense out of a Torington budget. >> Okay. Thank you. I have two questions. Uh 5563 tuition private. Does that mean outplacement students? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that would be different from like special ed line item. >> Where where are you at? 55 >> 63 >> 55 63 Okay. So, you're looking at the two Oh, I see what you're saying. >> Private. >> Yeah. No, they're they're both special education. It's just um the way that it was named. >> Okay. So, that would encompass all all outplacement special education students. >> Correct. Would that be all or
097would that be a special education outplacement to private facilities versus public because we do have sped public which I think is absolutely an outplacement that goes to a public establishment versus a private establishment. >> Correct. >> That's probably what you're asking, right? >> I didn't know if we had public. >> Yeah. So that's they're split up based on technically where we're where they're going, what who we're paying the bill to. Is that accurate, Donna? >> Yes. >> Y >> Okay. And um lost my page here. >> Happens to me all the time. >> My pages are a little >> uh 52.95 $17,500 for clothing allowance. What is >> Yeah, I believe that's for the custodians. >> It's in their contract as a clothing allowance, I believe. >> Okay. Thanks. Welcome. Thank you. >> All right.
098Anything else? Then we move on to the budget development calendar. >> Yes. So, I just wanted to um put it back in the packet [clears throat] because um just to update one of the dates. The March date needed to be March 18th. I think your previous one had a uh the 25th or something. Uh so, we just updated that. Um, as far as the progress goes, we're moving right along right according to the schedule. Um, and I just I just want to thank everybody in the central office cabinet and um, especially HR because they are we are like um, working very well together and really digging into a lot of these line items that might have needed to be dusted off from yester year. um and making sure that we have everything accounted for in
099the budget down to the stipens, down to the clothing allowances and and so forth. And I couldn't do it um without Miss Schulty and her team and especially Lisa. Um so I just want to give a big shout out for that. Um and Superintendent Wilson has been a great guide in this whole process. So um just want to thank everybody. Uh we're we're moving right along. So, um I feel like our timeline is intact and if anybody has any questions, um definitely here to help. >> Anybody have any questions on the budget timeline? Mr. >> Kiscoco. >> Uh yes, they do. We will add that. Uh we need to get a Let's see. probably have to add an addendum to the agenda for that. Correct. >> You could do it, right? Since you did development,
100you'd have to just go back to a fine. >> That [snorts] sounds good. All right. Then any other questions on the development calendar? >> Uh my only comment on the devel development calendar is I think this is going to be a very different year than we've had in the past given that what we think the budget's going to need to go up by to meet all of our contractual obligations. We have a pretty good feeling that the city is still in a rough position. So, I think when we get the when you guys give us that first, you know, the first edition of the budget, we may have maybe more questions than normal, maybe we'll have to add a meeting to the agenda, but uh we'll see how that goes. And then I do need
101to get a motion to if we can back on monthly financials. Thank you, Mr. Kiscoco. Uh to pass the monthly financials along to the full board, which will meet the end of the month. >> Yes, sir. >> And a second. >> All those in favor? I. Thank you. And thanks again, Mr. just go for the catch. All right, topics for future meetings. I added -ate reimbursement, which ironically came up tonight. Um, there have been some changes in the -ate reimbursement um, rules and what you can and can't get reim reimbursement for. So, hoping to get just an idea how that whole thing fits into the picture for us at the next meeting. Does anybody else have anything on their list that they would like to have added to the budget agenda? And if you can't
102think of it now, you can certainly reach out to me at any time. Elena. >> Anybody else? >> Mr. Perol. >> Okay. Uh, in that case, comments for the good of the order. We'll start with Mr. Kisco this time. >> Thank you for the clarification. >> Yeah, good meeting. Thank you. >> Good meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you everybody. Have a good night. Thanks. >> Thank you everybody for the effort. We look forward to a lot of hard work ahead and appreciate all the time and the energy that's going to have to go into this. So, thank you all for that hard work and a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move. All those in favor.