Board of Education Meeting, January 23, 2023

001it's 7:00 I'd like to call the meeting to order ask everyone to please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands Nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all would you follow here Jam Shiloh here Christian here michaelo here Mar Evans here alexos here Eric Jones pres theform is present are there any changes to the agenda as proposed is there a motion to adopt the agenda as proposed so second move second all in favor is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so moved second mov secondary V Callo yes Evans yesos yes Jones yes Shiloh yes C yes D yes motion Carri is there a motion to approve the ni

002consent agenda as presented so moved seconded second roll call Evans yes fros yes Jones yes Shiloh yes C yeso yes D yes motion car audience participation is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board on any particular issue okay we move on then Communications correspondence informational items letters newsletters there were series of uh L newsletters uh including in our materials I know if anybody had anything else to include lawyer requests look like you were busy with those there's more coming too yeah yeah have they've all been answered any questions on play requests suspension report any comments or questions on the suspension report committee reports um I have one for the um citizens advisory committee meeting we had a really good meeting um there was a what what would happen what I'm

003sorry let me start again on the snow on the snow days so we we first discussed um the reasons for the snow days such as the icy roads and what would determine a snow day and so that that was brought forth and then there was a little discussion about the Str strategic planning committee and um we had uh let's see there was 450 responses and 10 10% were students so we had a pretty good amount of students that contributed and then we talked about the preschool for all Grant and I would refer to um Steve I can't remember the director's name who did so much work to make that Grant possible me well um she's our EC Little Spartans coordinator or administrator yeah she did um I wanted to make sure everyone knew what she

004did she did a lot of work to make that Grant possible and so now um um we do need to have a screening process and there's a financial component and there is um certain things that we have to bring up the standard or there's criteria we have to meet in order to have the grant but I think that's a really good thing and then we had a really good Round Table um where was brought up some discussion about grades I guess one of the parents um came his daughter came home and told him that everyone gets an A so he was a little concerned about that naturally but then we were able to bring uh communication forth and had a really good discussion and I felt like um it ended really well because it was

005more that everyone has the opportunity to get an A and so it was just a little communication issue um this is where the students are able to retake tests in order to improve their grade which is a good thing as long as they're still doing the work and still learning so we had a really good discussion and I thought it was a really good meeting overall uh Planning and Zoning met on uh on the eth uh there were only two items on there one was just a procedural approval of all the plats that had been re replatted in the previous year just a report on that um the other was a a consideration um for Randy yach who wants to take uh a parcel of land over off of pathway drive so behind Walgreens along

006that that stretch of road there um he been he's been there before right yeah I believe so I believe years ago um but once to convert that from a C4 which is mixed used to R3 multif family to do a bunch of like 1400t town homes in that area that would technically be fall under our high density um requirements but um there were no real objections from anybody there to use that space since it's pretty consistent with the other town homes that are next to this and there's no age restriction on those are they Senor within uh it was not supposed to be targeted specifically at senior living no there was no age restriction there were questions raised about whether U those units were going to be direct sold or whether they would be whether

007they would be rentals um and I wouldn't say that he provided great clarification on that other than the intent was to sell them not to rent them out but it would ultimately be up to the the coven I mean the HOA that would take over once they're sold to decide I guess those those rules RS can't be imposed I don't think about the city so um this again wasn't an approval of that project it was just an approval that if we ever reach approval on the project that we would also improve the change in the the zoning to allow that project to proceed so thank you committee reports superintendent report uh good evening um I have several items here to to go through for the board um couple are a little bit more straightforward but

008there are a couple that will be a little bit more uh I think intensive time intensive going to stand up just to make it a little easier uh the first one is uh 2425 calendar just when we get the the calendar um approved one of the things that we were waiting on was um Clarity on Election Day um it seems pretty clear that election day was going to be a holiday in Illinois um but we had trouble just getting confirmation of that so we kind of knew that it was coming it was likely that it was coming um but until we got that clarification uh I didn't want to add it in there um but that's the only only Chang to the 2425 calendar that um I'd like to present I've worked with uh SCA

009calendar Representatives they knew that this change is potentially coming and we agreed on how to address it which essentially is just to push all the days back uh one day to accommodate that um through the end of the year so uh that's the only change uh to the amended or the revised 2425 um calendar any questions for me any exra for snow days uh just the five that we're required to have um and just while we're talking about snow days real quick quickly today was our fourth emergency day we'll add on four days at the end um So currently students end the Thurs last Thursday in in May the 30th uh staff comes back for one day um last year we had a picnic on that day it's it's kind of a work day for

010staff it's technically a teacher Institute but we give them time to wrap up uh the school year we're planning a picnic again for that day we did that last year we're planning to do that again technically that's right now Friday May 31st so it' be really nice if it just ended that way we didn't have one more day but the way this winners are looking um yeah just those five emergency days any other questions on the 2425 calendar amend I guess just quickly the I know at Quick Glance you just at it you're like oh we go till June 3rd but that's just the way the calendar Falls and that's really that's the only change you weren't in tune with this and looking at it all the time it's just the way the dates fall

011this year and that's why it's in some years it's earlier and some years it's there and you know over the years when I've since I've done this and been in education every four or five years it seems like that first day creeps up creeps up and then all once you just kind of it resets itself yeah uh we try to align start later yeah y start later um and later we try to align with the ihsa calendar also that's a huge consideration uh we don't necessarily have to do that but but it works out really well if we do that um so we every couple years it just resets itself so now for the next couple of years it'll start to creep up yes and then five or six years from now it'll it'll get

012pushed back again other than that calendar really is is pretty much the same does that uh state law about election day being a holiday day does that also apply to the primary in April it's not just just general would you like approval on this we do need approval for the amended calendar yeah is there a motion to approve the amended calendar as presented so mov second second yes Jones yes Shiloh yes yeso yes Evans yes D yes haven't quite posted the 2425 calendar because we kind of knew this was coming but now that this is done I'll work with or holds and communication to get post uh the next one is board policy revisions uh this is first reading so the policy committee met on December 8th weren't quite ready to present these in December

013um but we are ready to present them this month so um ready to to present those on first reading really defer to there's not a whole lot in terms of updates in this one but i' prer to to Jim or to Michael members of the policy committee if you guys have any comments yeah as as far as these updates go most of them were um housekeeping kind of uh issues uh re raming or reing statutes um and changing different terms as statutes have sort of changed those terms but uh other than that they they're really the uh only uh you know uh possibilities for change that we had uh we didn't take we just kept things the way they are you know the biggest the biggest change was a a change that a board could

014make to to your library policy um but if you uh you know chose to go that route then you you risk the potential of losing your funding for your for your library so we we opted for the option that uh that the way they are which keeps us funded by the by the state I have a question with regards to that um so I I went in on on press and it looks like there's an alternative that the district could use which states the practice of banning books or other materials with the district's Library program is prohibited would that alternative still give us the flexibility are the option of re receiving State funding without having to subscribe to the um what was it the American Library association's Bill of Rights so that we can have

015a little more local control with regards to books um as opposed to just subscribing to what the Library Association recommends I'd have to go back and Poli I don't have it in front of me um well we that's you can't answer that until there's litigation and um we chose the path of going down the road where we stay the same where we know that um it's been accepted in the past and so that way we we don't get tested um by by someone fire and and I think this one is likely to to come up again you know Banning books kind of a kind of resurface is a Hot Topic yeah probably isn't the last time we're going to see policy or recommendations on how to proceed there but typically with these things I I

016agree with Jim when it's controversial um I hate to be the the district that sets case law I'd rather that be set by somebody else and then we follow that so that's I'd agree that's one of the reasons why we we kind of kept it status quo see how this thing progresses in the future so it's more common to accept the Bill of Rights than from the Library Association then to go off and just say you know we won't ban books but we're not going to accept the Bill of Rights I guess we know that that works without without okay and we're unsure about yeah say the total the total ban thing we don't know whether there'll be litigation or not okay and we don't want to be the sample case gotcha in case gotta

017there is liation then your question yep any other questions that was a good question thanks this is first reading and typically boards had uh two opportunities to see policy revisions so we talk about it tonight and then I'll we'll bring them back in February per second reading if they're approved then then they become policy okay next two are a little bit more in depth um so I'll take a little bit more time here for a long time we've talked about the high school as a facility um you all know uh not only veteran board members but even uh those of you new were to the board uh High School needs some work uh We've invested in our facilities over the last several years U but the high school is the largest facility um one of

018the older facilities and and it's going to need some work coming up the original portion of the high school was built in ' 61 we have additions to the high school in ' 67 77 98 2003 2013 I double checked that with Mr extrom who I'm I'm glad is here tonight um the current facility serves our students well but it needs some required maintenance also some recommended maintenance um we'll talk about figures here in just a second we've considered those over the last couple of years but one of the things that I've I've really thought long and hard about is is not just updating an aging facility but is there a way to position the school district to not only um make sure that that facility is maintained and is up the snub but to

019Envision what that High School looks like moving into the future so I'm going to talk a little bit about that tonight problem is as you guys know is that the debt limit uh for the school district we're not there but we're pretty close district is carrying a a lot of debt right now and that limits what we're able to really consider doing with respect not just to the high school but to all of our facilities I'm going to focus on the high school tonight because um it's the largest it's in the the need of most work we've talked about um the current state as well as the future of the high school uh I'm going to talk about some things tonight that we've discussed already but also some conversation that we've had within the district

020I am not I'm purposely not going to go into the detail of everything that needs to be done um if there are questions about about that I'm glad to answer that we've hatched some of that out in the in the past but that that list is so long and so detailed didn't really want to get into that U I'm just going to talk about overall overall um figures if you guys can see this very well um I'm use the the pointer tonight so there's a copy of this in the slide like you have a chance to look at it up close uh if you'd like to copy this image I'd be glad to send it to you uh the original portion of the high school was built in 1961 it's really everything that faces um

021to the east as well as this this piece here um on the west side of the building there are additions in' 67 um the gym and some of the classrooms around there as well as um shop area um on the west side of the building additions in 77 uh and a couple of different locations 98 in 2003 and then 2013 just briefly and we're I'm not asking the board to make any decisions tonight just want to have some conversation about the high school we've talked some of us as well as internally about um the future of the high school should we be looking at maybe relocating or or building a new high school at some point down the road that point would probably be on my time uh with the with the district just because

022the that we're carrying currently um but we've had that conversation and part of my job would be to work with the board to position the board in the future as well as the administration in the future to make that kind of decision um one of the things that I've really kind of struggled with is yeah you you could move to a different location it would be very expensive we'd have to buy property that's going to increase that cost a little bit but one of the one of the things that the current high school has is a lot of existing infrastructure and while this part of the building was in built in 61 now we're coming up on on over um 60 years uh other portions 6777 other parts are newer Fieldhouse built in 2003 um

023could probably use some some work and will need some work in the future that's a really unique facility that not a lot of other high schools have uh is there a way to hold on to that is there a way to hold on to the existing football field um I will tell you uh having spent a lot of time working on athletic fields and some of the challenges that come with them um our high school field itself as well as the stands that have been upgraded in crust box are in great shape uh can serve the district for a long time moving uh and moving forward as well as some of the parking that exists um tennis courts are going to need a little bit of work in the future that's another conversation but we

024also have all this green space uh behind the building so there's a lot lot of existing infrastructure that the district can tap into if we keep the high school on this side and again we're not talking about any making any decisions tonight just kind of spitballing a little bit uh we we did just so you guys know involve the The Architects FGM architects in the conversation um they threw out some ideas and and kind of acted as um check and balance to some of the conversations that we were having but they have been involved in the conversation one of the things I didn't include here um should have zoomed out just a little bit uh you guys all know that uh Salem Lutheran Church I think I have that right is located about right here

025um there are some commercial buildings over here but there's Green Space there between the church and those commercial spaces so while the district doesn't own that currently one of the things that's kind of played into my thought process and part of our conversations is um at some point in the future would it behoove the district to pursue that property and add it on to to the high school so I mentioned FGM are Architects they have a great working knowledge of the high school experience working on high school projects so they have uh some figures already previously that they've presented to the board but we asked them um during our conversation for more current figures so the required work currently is about 3 $46,000 U those are 2023 costs so not 24 or 25 costs but

02623 costs uh would likely go up a little bit depending on how far the in the future the work will take place recommended work is about almost 16 million other improvements would be 27 million that that total alone comes up to about $43 million but that does not include maybe other enhancements that we'd like to make as well as other work that needs to be done within District over the next 5 to 10 years um the high school again is not the is not the only facility it's going to need work there there are other facilities to take those figures does the the Improvement figure include the recommended figure or is it a separate fig a separate figure yeah good question $43 million is a big number and at the end of the day that's

027probably not all of the money would need to spend on the high school in its current state as well as other work that needs to be done so again the problem that I've wrestled with over the last couple years this is how you pay for all of that because our school districts at its debt limit um or not at but close to it there's limited room to take on additional debt now some of you are part of a conversation that we had with PMA uh within the last year or so um they made a presentation and there is room to take on additional debt but that really starts to put us at our Max and one of the things that that worries me about that is that if we ever get into an emergency kind

028of situation um where we need to borrow additional dollars because of work that needs to be done at any of the other facilities it really ties our hands um there's some room to do some work but I'm really cautious about pushing the district to its to its maximum debt limit we've got the ability to borrow about $12 million uh that would allow us to do some work um but keep in mind one of the things again wrestled with is that the high school is already aging 61 67 77 get into the '90s and the 2000s a different story U but when you're in the kind of the middle 1961 to the to the end of the 1900s you really start to put some age on the facility one of the opportunities for Revenue U would

029be the county school facility sales tax I know the district has considered that in the past um there are some challenges with that um but one way to generate some additional Revenue that we don't have right now was the the 1% sales St uh 1% sales tax there was a presentation to myel Nichols at an isbo meeting um but they repeated that presentation at a superintendent's meeting in keing county and presented some fig figures to all of the school districts that that were there they estimated um and in the end if the district moved in Direction one of the things that we need we need to do is a feasibility study on what we would actually generate um but they estimated uh an additional $25 million in Revenue that's primarily almost all for facilities only

030there are one or two exceptions one of those is paying for uh school resource officers U which we have already and is part of the budget but by and large that money is only set aside for facilities not paying for facility St just paying for facilities U new add-ons Renovations those sorts of things we do have a a modest budget of approximately $350,000 and that sounds like a lot of money but we go through it pretty quick because it's not just the high school it's the high school as well as all of the other facilities in the school district um one other alternative not the only other alternative but one is the to kind of continue to take a wait and see approach um piece together we can the high school uh meet our life

031safety requirements in terms of the required work that needs to be done get that recommended work scheduled out into the future um but again we have to wrestle with this the debt that the district has as well as debt that the district needs to consider in the future tonight played out really well um one of my recommendations is is that um I would recommend that the board just have some time to consider whether or not the board wants to pursue a conversation about the 1% sales tax um we've had some conversation before um one of the things that's transpired that is not part of the presentation is that some of the other school districts in D County have had uh expressed some desire just to have a conversation no commitment um just as a desire

032to have a a conversation about possibly pursuing that 1% sales tax um for several years that had to go to the County Board to get approved to go on the ballot it doesn't necessarily need to happen that way anymore um the majority of school districts in a county um and there are a lot of school districts that have land in the Cal County but the school districts whose whose home office so to speak is in the Cal County a majority of those can decide to put it on the ballot themselves they don't have to have County approval anymore um so things like that have changed but there is some conversation already starting amongst other school districts in theal County about whether or not to to pursue that so while that's one thing that I would

033have recommended that the district consider anyway there is some interest amongst other districts in the county uh at least of just having that conversation um one of the things that also appeals to me about that 1% sales tax is that not only generates a little bit Revenue to do some of this facility work it buys this time buys this time to pay off existing debt and get to 20 let be on the next slide 2036 and 2039 we have large amounts of debt coming off in 2036 we have another large amount coming off in 2039 pursuing the 1% sales tax and generating $2.5 million a year allows us to do work every year but it also allows us to to borrow some money um with that sales tax revenue uh as the source to pay

034off those those bonds allows us to buy time to get to 2036 then to get to 2049 uh and position the district to have a much different conversation I think about the high school as well as facilities in general one of the other key points you get to 2036 and you get to 2039 and you pay off debt uh it positions the district to borrow funds that the district needs to to do that work the high school without increasing property taxes so as debt rolls off um debt could be issued it takes the place of that so residents don't see a necessarily an increase in their property tax bill you miss the opportunity to bring property taxes down uh and as a property owner in the district I love that that idea but many of

035us know maybe all of us know that if that tax rate comes down trying to get it back up is a whole another challenge so that's just something that the board I think needs to consider as as we kind of plan for the future we can get to 2036 and we get to 2039 um additional debt could be taken to pay for renovations or additions to the high school um if we do that it gives us time also to to really take our time and what we would like the high school to look like what we' like it to function like in the future and um think far beyond all of our time probably on the board and administration like I said this was meant only to be a conversation to give you guys some

036things to think about um we'll come back to this in February just have some additional conversation but I would be open to questions um and maybe some discussion any comments for me you mentioned doing the work on the safety aspects of the high school and I'm just wondering is it possible to do smaller things like that I think when we went to the first meeting it was a special meeting when Alex and I first got on the board and they talked about um just doing something regarding the plumbing I think it was that was a major issue at the time um I I'm sorry I forget the gentleman who used to be on the board and was the he was a contractor or a lot yeah yeah he knew a lot about the building yeah

037but anyway um is it possible to close off areas of the high school and get smaller things done and while still using the building and um I don't I'm sorry I don't interrupt yet oh go ahead so I've worked with um Architects and contractors over the years a little bit um Mark and and Nicole have worked with our Architects quite much longer here than I have it's amazing how creative they can get when it comes to phasing some of that work um we' really need to work with high school administration depending on where that work needs to be done how can we section off those areas of the building um but it also depends on the work that needs to be done in those sections of the building are those are those projects that we

038can afford given the current budget um but but projects like replacing piping uh Plumbing can be pretty expensive and pretty extensive so we may be able to section off portions of the building and kind of do that work over a phase period of time um I don't know that we're in a position right now uh unless we were to pursue you know some of that $12 million you know borrowing additional funds to do some of that work um but I think there's other work that's equally or or close to being as important um so again that's kind of one of the things that I've wrestled with is how would you kind of pick and choose what work and and the required work that's about 350,000 346,000 that's absolute bare minimum uh that needs to be

039done then you get into the recommended work and it gets into some of that that plumbing and those other projects but Architects have been pretty creative in terms of working with the school district on have a section off parts of the building to do that work I think there was some of that sectioning off in this building when we was done so that's a possibility yeah few um could this CSF St money um be used to pay down principle on existing bonds that were used to um for construction purposes so we could get that done maybe even sooner than FY is it 26 29 it it could be in fact I've seen districts use that that 1% portions of that 1% sales tax revenue to to Abate taxes so you still still you still um

040put that on the on the tax levy you know the debt that you have to pay off you're required to do that but then you can use that 1% money to Abate uh some of those taxes so it can be used for that um and I think if the district decides to pursue that and let's take one step further if all of the districts decide to pursue that in Cal County and and the voters approve it it's a referendum so the vot the voters out to approve it then one of the conversations that that we would need to be having internally and then recommended board and the board would need to have a conversation about is is where's that kind of balance between how much money are we using to do some of the work

041that needs to be done and how much could um existing debt be Abad and and paid off I guess maybe I phrased it wrong or maybe I'm not understanding something could we pay down that debt like pay and like if you're for example we thinking this like a mortgage um make an additional lump sum payment of $25 million per year to just get this the current debt outstanding reduced quicker than the current timeline I don't know how much of our debt off the top of my head I don't know how much of our debt is callable that we could pay off early some of it is structured way you can't pay it off early but I think most of it is structured you can't most of it was but even if we could then we

042wouldn't have the money to do the project yeah buying more time that's all to your question could we I I don't even know that we could if we wanted to but second of all I think the biggest reason to to pursue that is to to be doing some of this facility work in the meantime um I think one of the things to consider is how to sell that Community if the board in the districts in the in the county decide to pursue it um paying down debt and and especially evading taxes is really appealing but I think we really need to be able to explain to voters why that money is important um so I think there will be an expectation to maybe Abate some taxes but also use that money to actually do that

043work so I think there's a balance there but I think we need to get over that first step first to have that conversation but our neighbors to the South that don't seem to be having you know a revenue problem with all the new development along the ada8 corridor they could just take their percentage of this and aate property taxes and to shift their revenue Source because that was already an issue that board discussed is well the residents came up you our rates too high so that could make it appealing to C and they seem to be the deciding factor just there're more than half the county so certainly I think the cow would have a u the largest impact on that outcome um but Sycamore is the the next largest community in the county and

044I think both of the two communities together really um I think it's going to come down to D Calin sore primarily D Calin Calin sore together if that decision is made to to pursue Sal and that kind of leads me to my final question how's this money um generate because I believe the 1 and a half% taxes levied by the county how do they portion it out to each district within the county so typically what happens is that 1% is added to sales tax throughout the county on a lot of items but not every item so for example agriculture is one of the the IND that is kind of exempt from the 1% not every aspect of Agriculture but a large portion of Agriculture uh is exempt from 1% groceries are exempt from the 1%

045addition but eating out is not God to Tom and Jerry is there's going to be 1% additional sales tax um all of that's collected by the Department of Revenue they send it back to to the county typically to the regional Office of Education who takes that money and then dist distributes it to each School District in the county based on um students enrolled in your District who live in Deal County okay so one of the things that um I also need to share about that is that we have some students that live in cane County so that portion of our enrollment doesn't count when it comes to that 1% sales tax and that was factored into that estimate that that was given earlier um it's only our students who live in theal County every District

046who has a St lives in the Cal County would get money so if you have one student that lives in the Cal County and I know that there are a couple districts that just have a sliver if you have one student you're going to get some money um but for us we're we're a good example we we exist in both Calin and Kan County it's only oural County students enrolled in more schools that count toward that calculation and it's divided by the students then so the population of the right based on that money um that money follow gotcha all right thank you are the students that are in K County just on the other side of County Line Road how does that work they're included our enrollment but they're not included in the calculation and

047the dispersement of that 1% that County school facility sales ta money and that's so every year the the regional office typically does those dispersements every year um they they collect enrollment figures for each of the schools that have students in in the Cal County they collect that and then they um kind of portion out where that money goes it's a pretty transparent process typically the RO we also keeps an administrative fee um to process all of that um but by and large that that money that goes out to students school districts our tank County population is pretty small though right yes a little bit of make park I think but most of that's CA so yeah look like we have probably half million or so in principle that be called by next February but I

048don't know how those interest rates I guess that was my other question well I think attrative no because you guys strategically restructured in 20 right when we rat for low right or so could probably wouldn't um my question is more about the numbers up there I know we've had several meetings since uh FGM did their original facility study in 2020 2021 2019 started and I feel like the last time we talked about financing numbers for the high school that we were looking at a number closer to seven so what what's different I guess between that number and this 40 so yeah that includes and Mark help me out if I'm incorrect that includes um 235 and Beyond these numbers are just going 204 20 35 and Beyond is that extra money this also doesn't include

049instruction spaces looking at that imag maybe more than that I know it's not terribly important to the specific conversation well I I think it brings up a really good point so there's a reason that I didn't include that um so we talked about a couple of different options again just kind of spitballing with our with our ARS based on what the facility looks like now would we keep the existing structure and just renovate it uh there is room for an one more addition there's one more potential planned addition on the west side of the building um so that was part of the original plan for high school there is still the opportunity to do that um this is purely my idea it's not marker or Nicole so um the AR but this building this part

050is 1961 this is 67 this is 67 also but it's a unique part of the building because it's got the gym in it there's some classroom spaces but it's Unique um because it's got the gym a lot of the newer parts are over here on this north side of the building so one of Steve ideas um and we had a conversation with the Architects about this is instead of man I haven't seen a bug in a long time where did this come from it's kind of a nice s actually not really um so this is the front of the building right now you come off a Spartan Trail there's parking out here it's a great entrance to the school the other reason I brought up this Green Space over here is that if we decided

051to pursue that green space there are there is a portion of that older part of the building that could be demolished and retain and retain some of this newer Port these newer portions over here I know the 67 portion isn't but again it's the gym I think that's unique you never want to give up gym space um that's that's a space that I would um want to renovate but you could change the the look of the high school by by doing an addition on the West Side here and then making this you know the front of the building somewhere over here come off of the Cala Avenue as opposed to the down the Spartan Trail uh you don't necessarily don't need it's not that you necessarily don't need Spartan Trail under that kind of idea

052part of the reason I didn't include some of the additional enhancements is that one of the things and this is kind of the envisioning part of U I think the the discussion is um we don't just have to renovate the existing space or or proceed with the addition that was originally planned if we can get to a point where we can really have a conversation about what the district can afford if that makes sense you could leave it just the way that it is and renovate existing space I think there's parts of the structure they're still in really good shape um at the same time for the community to get behind an expensive renovation they love to see something new on the outside you know they we know we need the pipes and the electrical

053W the wiring and the mechanical systems but nobody sees that um one of the ways to get the community behind uh a renovation and support it financially is give them something different to look at something new to look at so I didn't include all of that because if we ever get to the point where the district has that conversation and you're actually demolishing part of the old building to replace it with something new or give it a different look you're not you're not enhancing classroom spaces you're not placing them and that's part of the construction class so I think that's a really good question but there's a reason that I left it out with my presentation I guess what is um what are the improvements then is that not what you just described is that

054something else I would call those I I would say that's new you know maybe U not really new construction because you're adding on to uh an existing structure but you're adding on new space so again just to kind of talk about Steve's idea not our architect or ni or marks necessarily but if the front of the building was somewhere around right here um with an addition over here for for classroom space that you're losing you have a whole new facade potentially to look at and you have new classroom space uh over here so the enhancement shows up in in new space that we don't have but that's not included in that $26 million figure 1961 SP education know there's a lot of offices you know the administrative stuff is all at that end cafeteria and

055stuff like that Administration is here but it's on the first floor so this entire second floor Mark correct me if I'm wrong the entire second floor is instructional this hallway uh most of that is instructional it's music the auditorium um kitchen space is down there library is here in the 77 portion this portion is the uh yellow hallway so that's all instructional space right there um cafeteria is down in this area part of the cafeteria is 61 and part of it is 98 right correct just looking at this I think first I I like Steve's idea the I think a facad would make sense in terms of like if you're going to pitch to the public if there are the means to do it but I think another piece that as a comment less a

056question the fact that over the last 60 years additions have been made I think that's the in a lot of ways the road map to the Future too I think that within the means of the district I think we're going to see just through necessity new addition but less and I'm less inclined to want to renovate old space I just don't know that that's money L SP I think another piece of context that's helpful is utilization of the high school itself so again thinking about a high school in 2037 and how space is used in terms of in person versus already the fact that we have a lot of classes offered hybrid um including the partnership with uh other with Kishi and in terms of other out of school opportunities I have half mind to

057wonder you know if a buildout is going to be as needed in 2037 uh or if we find ourselves using less space last piece to this is the fact that over the last 10 years our student population has maintained it's been complet almost flat almost decreased so I certainly don't know that um if we can be more efficient with utilization of space I think that could be another option as the tax base grows if there's a way where that tax base since the tax base is apparently outpacing population of students while inflation is keeping it at way I think there's an opportunity for those two lines to intersect and eventually you go okay we can put on an expansion with a really really tight utilization given the fact that we don't have a grow in

058student population so just that my general opinion of what I think is going to happen is is that and I I like the idea of additions I'm blessing to support renovating older spaces and then as far as the sales tax goes I think we'd have nothing to lose letting the community weigh in and other districts convene and then weigh in in the vote so I don't know it's just seems like like there's no risk in that so I think if we're going to support it or if we're going to pitch it discuss it let's discuss it first obviously but if we're if we're going to even consider and saying this is what we' like to do I'd like to have some sort of plan in place that we can maybe advertise to the public and

059listen this is why we're doing this is the purpose of it and we be able to show them what the plan is for in the future of any facilities that we have the updates we're intending to do I don't know if we prep reports just little blur put out we Communications people that stuff on social media um but something tangible that people can see relate to I think that's a good idea Vision 2035 or whatever this is what we'd like to have for the community um little change whatever yeah well I think not to interrupt you but I think that's the opportunity here you know for a long time we've been talking about what do we have to do to high school what do we have to do to high school you know what's required

060you know what's even strongly recommended this whole time I've kind of wrestled with how can we get to can it just have to be what we have to do can can we get to a point where we can actually have a conversation about we have to do this now but we we can have a conversation about what this looks like in the future and and truly this is the hard part right is if if that conversation happens now and that decision happens now it's not until 2035 now I've benefited in a previous position from a board and an Administration who had that kind of fore thought made those decisions and then position The District 12 years later to be able to have a conversation that they couldn't have at the time so the hard part

061for us is that we may never be part of that it's about setting the district up for that um and that needs to be part of I think the message and um very likely that if the board decides to engage in that conversation in the districts in the area decide to to pursue that that probably isn't going to happen till March of 25 the election in Spring of 25 so it does give us time could do it in November it be a little bit of a rush I'm not sure that putting this on the ballot during a general election is a good idea but there's you know different different uh different opinions on that um but we would have time and I think Christian your point is really good we need to be able to

062talk about um why this matters how it uh enables the district to have not just this conversation with the high school but other potentially other conversations with um other buildings in in the school district in general um gives us time to plan for that and not just camore right you know that that vote happens throughout the county so part of that strategy is also engaging with Cal and salok and sandwi and the other districts in the county but I think that's a really important piece it's not just about having the conversation deciding to do it but how we put together a plan and and kind of a campaign to inform voters in terms of that could mean um remember that's a referendum you can't go out and tell people to vote Yes but you can

063go out and tell them what it what it could mean and what would enable the district I guess for me something super really appealing about a sales tax is it gives you know one opportunity for the district to have a source of local funding um that is not property taxes um I mean if you look at the way the city is syamore funded people don't at least in my experience complain about their their taxes to the City of Sycamore but they have a plethora of um other um income streams that aren't property taxes so that the the on their their tax bill the portion that goes to the city is much is much less than the district because we're sort of pigeon holding this one funding option whereas I think we present this is look

064we have an option or an opportunity to generate some Revenue besid the value of your home that isn't necessarily what you paid for your home it's in some cases an arbitrary number that that that in itself would be a sales pitch that I the public would entertain I think that's a really good point and I think it's important for everybody to remember that if we inter new conversation and decid to pursue it everybody who lives in the Cal County is still going to pay a portion of that but time you know opportunities like Pumpkin Fest and um Corn Festival in toal where a lot of people come from outside of toal County and spend a lot of money those are kind of opportunities where uh you know people come and visit here are helping to

065fund that there will certainly be a portion that's on the shoulders and and backs of residents of theal County it's not through property tax but there will be opportunities to to share that with people who come here and just another reason to generate interest and and U interest for people to come out County for or against the sales tax I think regardless putting it before the public as an option you know if you endorse the sales tax this speeds up the timetable uh you know or it allows us to do these improvements in in this capacity whereas if you said no to the sales tax then it means that you know you're going to have to access debt and it's going to be accessed like so it's there isn't a scenario where you're not going

066to have these meanss it's just a matter of how you're going to access for the needs and I think as long as you know as a board we present the information in such a way where an informed voter can go okay I want the district to access money you know option A or option b I think we've done our due diligence as a board and if that means that it passes great if it means that it fails great but regardless then the community has chosen how they want the district to proceed so but to me that's how I think the narrative should be presented I think the more we can present the community is a choice here are the options um here's something that the district is facing uh we're doing our best with what

067we have but this is the issue it's the high school it's facility planning for the future um we know we have this responsibility here are some options which is most appealing to you you know selling it that way as opposed to this is the one this is the only thing that we need to do I think think if people feel like they're painted into a corner they're less likely to consider it if we can is kind of P your options you know we're really seeking feedback on this that the best that we can not going to work perfect but if we I think if we can put it out that way um we got a better shot at getting people at least just to listen and engage and but then they get to vote and

068and and do live they own the outcome yeah really so I guess in terms of the next steps you would talk about like hey there's these conversations that are potentially going to happen or something like that like in terms of that direction do we we need to wait till the end of February or can I mean like all we're saying is hey if there's conversations happening can we be included like is anybody opposed to that like seems like no brainer so one of the dangers of doing these getting these slide decks ready in advance is that that conversation happened after I got this ready and and did this so I didn't really know I will tell you that there's been some conversation over the last couple of years just about man should we should we

069kick this idea around but there was more conversation and meeting last Wednesday and and this came out last Tuesday so um but I mean what what bad like I I see no negative to be included in a conversation of what's going on in the county I I think all we would um all you need to to tell me is that we're not opposed to that you're not voting on anything sure and at that point why wait a month like like I just don't want to delay why delayed this anymore hand cuff you at all and that conversation may not happen till after the next meeting but if there is a sense that hey we're just we're open to being part of the conversation then the only thing uh we would need to decide is who

070um I need to be there I think and then uh at least one if not two other board members no more than two but but one to two board members who would be interested in just being part of that conversation that does not need to be decided denied if if the board feels like hey it's not a bad idea to participate in the conversation that's fine what we need to do over the next you know couple of weeks is decide who makes most sense to to attend that meeting but um yeah I don't know we have to wait until February I've always thought that the sales tax is a better option to increasing property tax because we've already had people come that don't have children in school in the district upset you know from the

071audience participation I think that was we were in one of the Great schools and um yeah so I do have a question though you were saying once you don't have I just want to explain it it explained a little better to me um once you don't increase the property tax then it's hard to get it back or that was said could you explain that a little more because I didn't really understand that sure so anytime you're you're talking to the community about increasing their property tax you know taking on debt that's going to increase their property tax that generally doesn't go over well I'm a property owner I don't like my taxes to to go up but if we get to 2036 where that first part of of the debt is paid off that that

072would enable the district to lower the tax rate because we don't have that debt to pay off anymore but then going back to the community and saying well now that we've paid that off it's been a year or two now we have an idea of or we have a need for for to borrow money for for for more Revenue getting them to support the idea of the tax road going back up is really hard um if you can keep it and please hear me out I'm not interested in keeping taxes up is any longer than anybody else is right however there is a need and if that's the way um if we can wait till 2036 and 2039 and when that debt rolls off talk about additional debt that keeps that tax rate at the

073same place place from a communication standpoint explaining to the community that we're not increasing their taxes but we're still going to be able to generate Revenue by selling bonds to pay for those projects it's not easy but it's easier than sing them your tax rate's going to go down but in two years we're going to ask you to raise it again that's really hard I see and then you know we have the convocation Convocation Center what is it called the big Sports Arena that they have over now will we get if if we have the 1% sales tax will concessions and um other foods that are sold at places like that also help contribute so in other words our our constituents or people living in our district won't necessarily be carrying all the weight of

074that 1% sales TX the majority would would still be carried by residents in Cal County or to Cal where that's where most of the population is um but to kind of use your example when there's an event at Communication Center and people come from Cane County and I don't know my county is this well oal County once they come over here and they're spending that money here um that's a resident from another County who's coming here spending money and we get a little portion of that okay so U when there's events like that and I do believe that concessions are covered although i' want to double check that yeah I they're tax exempt so I'm I'm pretty sure that they're not that was my question as long if they're tax exempt they're not generating any

075sales tax so it doesn't matter um so at the Communication Center no uh if they go to fatties or some place and grab lunch or or whatever that is that is covered and then we do have a lot of college students that come from all over the place that frequent a lot of the restaurants and everything I guess so the grocer stores and Walmart well that's an excellent point though that Beth brought up though is is NIU part NIU um is all of Ni tax exempt or we capture some revenue from from that I don't think so we can explore that but I'm pretty sure University my guess is it's like when schools in session almost all if not all Ts exemp but there may any any business that those students patronize yeah off Camp

076but the bookstore whatever those are the sorts of things we would just need to fine-tune that we need to know that but we also need to make up part of a Communications effort you know this is what's exempt and this is what isn't this is what's going to generate revenue and this this is what won't but and I used just such a big part of the county you know interesting would increase our tax up to 1% so one one quick point I didn't talk about this earlier it goes up a maximum of 1% you can ask for it in quarter is that right quarter per increment um I think if you're going to do it ask for 1% but it would take our our Revenue tax up 1% again rests right now I don't know

077I would want to double check that and I think that would be part of if there's a conversation some of that research that need to be there was some information presented by SE about tax rates in in um Cal County and ke County yeah has it you said ohly misunderstood that but but ogal is pursuing it they've had this conversation for a while so they are um committed to pursuing sales tax in O County so they're couple steps ahead of us any other questions or comments for me um just a comment that's kind of irrelevant but when I look at the picture I see that the building the part of the building that was constructed in 1961 that's the year I was born and then 1977 that's the year my daughter was born so I

078just can't help looking at it has nothing to do with anything funny how it matches up right yeah you know when we talk about uh Renovations so keep thinking about this building know what it looked like before it was renovated and it's it's like a totally different building people came in here there's like a new building to so you know so I think in in some ways we've delivered on that promise before and you know could do it again and could use this building as an example of that the other thing though that I've been thinking about that has me a little bit nervous and that is we're not the only District that's going through this problem in fact the majority of districts throughout the state have this problem of maintaining building that have already

079been built and what I'm worried about is that we go through this and we get uh financing from the community and then the state makes available grant money to start to maintain buildings that has already put money into or or communities have already put money into and we then have to go sit on the sidelines [Music] because you know because we already took care of the financial need and so we miss out on that funding so I I I really want to talk to um our state representative and and find out what's what's going on in that world in terms of uh intends to do or not do with regard to uh to maintaining these buildings I mean you know uh little districts way down state are not going to have uh the money no

080matter what kind of sales tax they put into place they're just not going to have the money to maintain their buildings so in my way of thinking the state's got to do something well I don't disagree um I just don't expect it coming anytime soon so I think you're right at conversation with our local Representatives about what the conversation is like in Springfield and amongst the legislators I think is a really good point um but I know that the school construction grant program that was in existence for a long time was only funded about every 10 years and only the districts at the top got a cut of Mone there was there was very little in terms of what was needed but things are quite different now in terms of funding from the state so

081um you know they've really kind of scrimped on what their obligation is and at some point they're going to have to make up for it and that's their pattern you know that's their pattern is you know go as long as we can without doing anything until it gets to be a big big problem and then we address it and then it costs more there's there's been a lot of talk about resurrecting that school construction grant program um it look different I think they have to I mean I don't see any way around it I agree but but that conversation's been going on for a while and if that happens that's a good problem to have we've got some Rec you know an option that we didn't have that we don't have now but I hate

082to see us miss out on it because we've we' we've done this as a side point I I agree with your concern a valid one at that the Grant I think Warren Buffett addresses that as doar cost average investment and I think that like what we see with the path here with expansion the district when when you talk about spending any money we should embody that method where we're doing incremental changes over a period of time so if the state does release money we don't miss out on that opportunity so that is just and I think that's just a general rule like when you do investment you never put all your money in one point spread it out over a period of time so you don't miss volatility spikes Sous you brought up another point

083that I thought was really good is that the way we educate children now is going to change is to always change we don't know what the classroom's going to look like in 30 years or 10 years um it very well could change what spaces are needed how we utilize those spaces and what technology we actually need to buy or invest in as a district so guess factor to consider in all this we're looking at bricking morar how much and where how how the district invest its money we should again Eric probably can speak this to an investment dollar cost average investment strategy is tried so I don't know that at any point we're discussing not doing that but I I do think that Hybrid models and volatility from the state here's what I'd like to

084to kind of recommend closing this this part of my presentation is as that conversation continues amongst the schools in inal County get the board informed if there's a meeting that's scheduled obviously make sure that the board is is uh aware of that that happens before February 27th um I may be seeking you know interest in terms of participation in that it doesn't happen before February 27th I'll give you an update on February 27th we can have a conversation then and um see where we're at I mean I think I could have points individuals to to represent to represent us on whatever committee comes to yeah okay I'm going to close this one you have additional questions or comments this is a big enough one that I think that you're going to go home and you're

085going wheels will turn and you'll think about things please reach out to me feel free to shot me an email give me a call whatever the case may be okay um the next one is future focused um and I chose uh transfer tax and impact fees this is a topic that's come up we' we've had some interest in uh local residents um so I I picked Nicole's brain a little bit we did some research on documents that we had um so I'm going to talk about these and uh then fill in any questions so uh impact fees and transfer taxes were implemented in 9 1990 and 2006 respectively um talked about the questions that have come up um about these two sources of revenue I included them as future focused items because they've uh come

086up from members of the public so I thought it was a good opportunity I had to do some research because I know a little bit about these but they were implemented before my time so it helped me to do that but um hopefully it's a it's a worthwhile conversation from the board um there's been some calls to end these my recommendation would be to continue to support them but um we're also not asking I'm not asking you to to make a decision on this tonight just getting information so first a little information about both um and I think some of this is going to get direct at that um Eric sent me email early with some additional information um impact fees were initiated in 1990 um by city of uh City of Sycamore ordinance they're

087collected for new and residential construction uh all taxing bodies and syamore benefit from these funds so the city collects them and then uh it's dished out or or it's distributed to uh all the taxing bodies in in Sycamore fees are calculated based on the number of bedroom bedrooms in a new home each taxing body receives funds monthly distribution has changed a little bit over time but but right now we're getting uh funds monthly funds are restricted to purchase of land purchase of real estate facility renovation These funds have to be spent in 10 years so one of the things that Nicole does is track when those funds come in how long we have them and when they need to be spent by uh and that was part of the Cash Land audit that was presented

088uh part of the consent agenda currently I have a balance of $1.39 four million in um that fund so to speak that account transfer taxes are a little bit different initiated in 2006 by the city of camore Sycamore by ordinance it's collected from new residents um uh within Sycamore City Limits transfer taxes can be collected from the same individuals that they move out and then they move back in so that was one of the concerns that was brought to our attention resident lived in Sycamore moved out wants to come back but knows that they're going to have to pay that transfer tax if they they come back because they're a new Resident school district is the only beneficiary of these funds um um although there is a small administrative fee held by the city it's

089calculated based on $5 for every $1,000 of value I put each tax in body it's the it's the um School District only we receive those funds monthly these are unrestricted they're deposited into our general funds they don't go to a facility or operations of Maintenance or anything like that um these funds have to be spent within 10 years is that correct right I didn't think so that's my error sorry about that um we get about 500 M $500,000 in uh transfer taxes annually and quarterly installments fluctuates a little bit um but on average it's about $500,000 they both offset the increases in expenditures due potential increases in student enrollment um track transfer tax can address increases in Staffing equipment so on and so forth um represents about 1% of our Revenue it's pretty small portion

090of our budget but it's a a portion of our budget that's meaningful um impact fees specifically Support Facility and facility needs um because the higher expenditures typ typically associated with those costs uh again while there's been uh calls to to abolish those or end those at this point I would encourage the the board to keep those in place uh but keep this as a a topic of conversation U moving forward questions or comments one thing that I'm having a hard time with um is that if a resident lives let's say they live just outside City Limits but they still pay property taxes to our district and then they choose to build a new home within the city of syamore they have to pay that that impact fee we could we wait or somehow amend that

091that just to me that doesn't make a whole lot of sense if especially if the levy is just going to the district it be one thing okay the city's collecting the additional money to pay for their Library Fe or whatever but since that Resident is already paying our district for just moving I don't see the the need to tax that but maybe I'm that thought I'm I'm sure that conversation could be had this is ordinance um it wasn't done you know without the school district knowing anything about it um but it's a city ordinance so we'd have to work with the city on on that um it does open the door to um residents or families that have students in the district and I've asking for other exemptions and and exceptions as well so the

092only I'm not necessarily opposed to that but one of the caveats side we put out there is that once you start a conversation about one exemption um there will undoubtedly be others to the board we just need to kind of brace itself for that and and be prepared to hear those and weigh those as well but I'm I'm sure that that conversation could be had it would just be a matter of working with the city on that because at the end of the day this is a city ordinance it's it's not something that the school district overseas and I suppose that well the the basis for the text was that there's an impact on the school district that the school district doesn't recover somebody first moves into town now you may argue that well they

093already lived in town but when they move then they you know they change their residence and somebody else moves into their to their property and so that has an impact that we don't uh immediately recover it takes a while for us to recover that and so the tax is designed to um allay that um impact um as much you know in a very small way because I mean you know taxes are are quite a bit more than what this Levy is so um the uh that that was the that's the basic um gist of it and that's that's what the G the mayor's committee that formulated it which was comprised of a number of organizations and people throughout the community um went with so and I agree philosophically with that approach I think it's gotten

094pretty far away from that original intent I I know when I first got on the board this was pasted four months before we bought our first house here um but I know at the time when I first got on the board we were having that discussion about there's a lot of new construction going into Sycamore there's a several year lag between that house going in it generating or actually being assessed at its value and US collecting tax revenue of Coast I think it's like almost a two or three year time lapse between they move into house and school actually collects the revenue from that house being assessed as real property so we've got you know5 $10,000 a year we're not collecting you multiply that by a couple hundred homes going in having to build elementary

095schools and they don't have the funding for it my issue with where it's gotten today is that there's not a lot of new construction it's being assessed on every house whether it's created a new impact or not if the necessity in my mind is because it's an impact and that's what the impact be should be for not the real estate transfer tax which is being assessed on every commercial building that gets bought and sold in town so you're discouraging commercial investment or at least taxing people who are just buying and selling commercial property and then going and abating them their property taxes perhaps because you've decided that they you want to motivate them to come to town which seems weird to me um other homes where you're just moving from you know right like you

096said right outside of town and into town or if you're buying a rental unit all of those are getting assessed that that tax I can tell you just you know anecdotally between me and my my parents and my in-laws we collectively have my two kids we paid that tax 10 times in town we move businesses here from California Etc and I didn't create that kind of impact for the the district so I get that it would be very hard for us to give up that Revenue I acknowledge that I acknowledge that it's it's a gift to have that and that we'd be having to scramble to find other ways to replace it but philosophically I have an issue with the the motivation behind that tax still existing today how it's applied and how it runs

097counter to some of the other things that we're doing in town to try and encourage businesses to come here Etc I would rather see this say actually as a change a drastic change perhaps in the impact feed that says yes if you're building new homes we need more than the I don't know what we charge for impact fees right now I want to say the city cost maybe $2,000 for a new home maybe that needs to be drastically reassess for all this new property but that's my my personal feeling yeah I think that was the issue with the group that came into the one board meeting we had she had moved out of the district and then back in in fact I think there was a group of people who were upset if I remember

098correctly yeah well and you have to remember those are all senior citizens that's a senior complex the other issue with the way that that tax is assessed is that it's not Equitable amongst people moving in either because if you move into town and buy a lot that you're going to build a house on well maybe you bought that lot for 20 grand you know pay transfer tax on 20 grand and build your $500,000 house versus you come into town and buy a $500,000 house you're now paying transfer tax I don't I don't think that's correct it's based on the it's based on the number of bedrooms that's the impact fee not the transfer tax transfer tax is just based on the price of the deed it's a half a percent so if you buy $20,000

099thought you were talking about that no yeah no transfer tax specifically I had no problem with the impact I think that makes perfect sense but we also have to be prepared that according to at least that city ordinance that they can terminate at any time without our permission as well so it could be taken away just as easily without our say say we know what the impact I don't know anything about the impact they're both by city ordinance so um technically they they both could I would hope that they would you know reach out if there's conversation amongst the the city council and the administration about making a change I would hope that they would reach out I believe that they would but at the end of the day they they could make that change

100independently of input from the school district is there a timeline where we actually you said 10 years that that was an error but is there actually a timeline where we have to utilize that F the impact Fe 10 year yeah impact 10 years there is no time Lim on the transfer tax I guess my concern with the transfer tax too like Eric brought up is is potential disuade any any growth you know or at least an incentive not to build here I suppose to bill here you already to pay so do people have to pay an impact fee as well as a transfer tax and the transfer tax is moving impact is on the new construction but the transfer taxes another way of saying it is each property can only be taxed for an impact

101fee once but it can be taxed on a transfer tax that's what I'm saying so if you have a senior citizen moving from Hoffman Estates to a Granger unit that's those are some of them are taxed $113,000 a year 60% of that goes to our district they never put kids in the system and they still have to pay an additional fee on that or gr withay you're saying they never put kids in the system depending on where they move from if if they're already living in our district then um they're putting kids in the system because you got a new family that's moving and one other thing moving from out of time I we can't I guess my my pick up is if it's an impact fee it there should be a direct impact on

102the district by the person that that's paying the fee I would also say potential for to have kids ever there are times where we have F movement in the district and new a rental that don't pay that so I think part of the philosophy there and that's just one example there are situations where the person that b the rental it they did and you can make the argument that you know um they paid it when they built that that that building let's say um but if you have multiple renters come in and and you have renters move into a space that where kids weren't living previously I'm just saying that there are situations where you have students committed the district that don't pay these um so there is some degree of that offsetting that cost

103and again you know this is something for the board to think about if there's conversation about that and we can provide some additional information on your potential impact um if if that revenue is lost how how do we overcome that not just in one year but over the period of you know perpetuity so to speak so um just a lot of things to consider there and if the board really wants to have a conversation about modifying approaching the city about modifying it um I would want to do a lot more research and and have a second or another presentation in the board some more detailed information I would personally I at least the transfer tax there's been a very a lot of community members have spoken to me about it they spoken to us about

104it as a board I it's something that's important to at least look into not necessarily getting rid of it entirely but to maybe just meing it modify like people are taking issue with very specific narrow situations um relating to it how it's imposed to be something like exploring I don't know it's just opening a Cann worms letting loose the floodgates but it might something that would be good to have a conversation with the community about I wonder if the community understands that we aren't the one that made the ordinance because they came to the school board meeting upset but until tonight I didn't even realize that it was the city that really maybe it was maybe Jim did tell them that I think that night but anyway I don't even know if we can really

105do anything if it's the city do we have that influence to change what according to the ordinance either party can terminate oh okay I don't think that it's reasonable to look at like the origin of a tax but instead the effect tax has on the district I think that's a more pragmatic approach in like if you eliminate a transfer tax the obligation the district has financially still exists so it's going to still be captured I would sooner see an argument about the impact fee being reduced with the IDE with the rationale being that it could drum up more new construction that could essentially offset the loss initially so like as a district going okay how do we spur growth in our tax base while you know making it less prohibitive to be here iured a

106series of home builders that I talked to a lot of them one of them has built 37 homes last year none of which were in syore I was like why are you building all these homes in pingry Ro he said you know it cost $10,000 in permit fees to build a home in Sycamore and if I'm buying 15 20 Lots selling those lots it's a lot easier to sell them in Pinker world than it is to sell them in Sycamore I don't know that this is us problem but if we're building 51 new homes in sore a year and that number has been tried and true for the last 10 years as a district if we can find a way to get that number up to 70 with cooperation with the district you're not going

107to do it messing with transfer tax but you sure will at least by entertaining a change to the impact fee so idea yeah it makes sense the people that fill that house would have an impact on the district again the rationale to me is a is a like it's minute it's more or less the effect that you would have from the you know what I mean like you start getting down this well we have this tax because way back when we did whereas like a pragmatic approach would be like well this is how we're using the money now and this is how we could potentially ease the burden on taxpayers and get more this community and have more than the same 3,000 students going for the last 10 years but then those additional students you

108know require funding right which is where you capture it on theet after three years yeah mean again like you do it with abatements on commercial property this is like the residential abatement so so do be no no it's like we we Grant abatements in terms of commercial properties so what type of abatement exists for Residential Properties and since Sycamore is composed of 88% Residential Properties it would only seem reasonable that our district would posture itself to try to ease the uh or try to grow that residential basis if we can't grow the commercial basis and impact fees have a direct hindrance to the growth of residential bases just look you got a demographic data and like they're not we had 177,000 people here in 2010 in syamore with 18,300 in 2024 other communities are adding

10920 30% to their population in some cases Sycamore than goodness is not seen decline but I wouldn't call it growth and that's you know that's not what a community wants to hear if they're talking about you know expanding that's like it's like the kiss of death for a community as population eventually declines again lowering impact feeds bring in more people hopefully more buing I have a whole lot more to say but I'm not going to say it I just this is future Focus I just throwing it out there for conversation um something to mull over and I encourage you to do that if if there is a further conversation that you'd like to have about it or um I'd be glad to reach out to the city you know one of my questions I think

110New Growth can can be good for the community um Min my understanding is that sore is purposefully and I think for right reasons kind of control that growth um if if we do things to encourage that you know just kind of be mindful of the the effect If instead of 50 if it's 70 what's the impact not all those homes will have students so just some things to think about but um more conversation if you like to just talk to Jim and let know let me it seems in congruous to me that we're talking about raising sales taxes and we're we're what we're going to give up uh transfer taxes I that doesn't seem to make sense to me I guess I'm missing something I agree I also don't think we should I don't think

111we're going to change City Hall that easy well I mean opting out of receiving the transfer I guess I don't I don't know if it's honestly worth I mean it seems like it's such a small you know amount of money we get from the transfer tax but it's something to us right but I guess I I'm just trying to figure out how big this really is to see if it's worth continuing to investigate or you know I think the burden on an individual or a family is smaller than the impact to the school district if that if that goes away um you know $500,000 a year so one of the things sometimes I'll I'll do to kind of put that in perspective is a certified teacher on average $60,000 65,000 $5,000 so half a million

112to the district is not quite 10 but is that eight eight and a half certified staff so if that money goes away that's the impact on the on the school district um it's a smaller amount to families it's significant to families it's significant to home owners don't get them wrong but um that's just something that we would need to have a conversation about you know moving forward if if we want to change anything well we acted out of it and tried to be nice about it to people the the Count's still going to keep the money I I I don't see them getting rid of that tax even if we say oh we don't want the money prob not I'm not suggesting that we get rid of them not prepared to make that that recommendation

113or ask I'm just saying when members of the community come to me at complaining about this text I also can't defend that it's existing to fulf the that originally intended right right it's just another tax that we're collecting on people moving around whether there's an impact situ have to pay for but if it goes away it's not like you're going to get rid of staff so like you know if you're moving to the town you have to know that you're going to pay it one like you have to pay it one way or another whereas the impact at least like that's something that is entirely variable so actually that's important to me targetable to to me it all comes down to fact that the state is not funding education properly and they should be beating

114on the doors of their representatives demanding that um that the state properly Finance education uh then we don't have to nickel and dime and charge these these fees that people hate um I don't BL I don't blame them right right uh uh but we got to make money somehow I mean you know uh somebody alluded to the fact that I think it was you Alex that you know the city has a whole millu of opportunities to raise funds and and we have a very limited space to do that and uh it's it's it's it's ludicrous and and yet uh you know everybody comes here because they see that big figure on the tax P that says this is the school district that's Charing this tax but it's just passed on from the you know the

115operating funds for the State uh it's a it's a deliberate policy on the on the part of the state of Illinois to fund um to to to fund um education off of U personal property I mean it just it just it's clear that that's that's true and you know until people wake up and and and start to realize that and start directing their opposition in the right place we just stand as a screen for for Representatives you know they send everybody here saying well look you know it's the school district that you raises your taxes not us well yeah it is it's the state and it's uh it's the state failing education which clearly they they have a mandate to do Under the Constitution it just it just drives me up the wall because you

116know having been on the school board as long as I have I see it uh pretty clearly and uh yet they continue to get away with it year after year after year so anyway I said too much already proba no it's okay it's the truth it's pretty corrupt well that's what I love to do with future focused I just throw stuff out and get you guys stirred up so and I don't see him getting rid of any taxes we'll just keep the money somewhere else if this if the district doesn't get it well you know how the lottery funds education sure sure okay we take the lottery money we put it in the general fund and then we take an equivalent amount out of the general fund and use it for Education yeah that that

117worked out well any other item any other uh issues or questions or comments about future Focus segment all right then we'll move on to uh open discussion and future agenda items um Alex I know you have something yes you have something yeah I'll I'll just pass this out it's it's kind of a lengthy future agenda item therefore um and let's make sure one gets to the superintendent too um so he can sort of follow thank you Alex yeah so I'll just go ahead and read this so it's clear so for so so everyone's aware the Board of Education belongs to a policy service through the Illinois Association of school boards which is a Association that this District pays du dues to and they have a service called the policy reference education subscription service and it

118provides guidance to Local School boards on suggested policy changes press ensures that policies in the manual are aligned with good governance principles and to keep the footnotes and legal references current press is press issues are released as needed but generally three to four times per year this was taken from kand I Didn't I can't write that eloquently I'll give credit words to and um so this is me now um I've recently discovered that certain policies um specific examples include 450 and 480 pertaining to finance and audit are missing some of the ISB suggested language and um in this packet the um the pages labeled Gros revised I handw wrote those on there include the missing language um and changes were the to these policies were first initiated in 2008 by ASB but it's not clear

119why they these changes never were reflected in the district's policy manual I uh talked to an iasb rep and the superintendent and there aren't clear records on that however in 20 in February of 2022 the board voted to um adapt this all the red language um however it still has made Point into the manual um so this has resulted in discrepancy for deite despite the decision the board previously made the policies have failed um to be included in our press plus policy manual system um all of the other districts in our conference so canand um Geneva daal Genoa Kingston hawaa have all this language so I just want to try to clear this issue up and ensure that we have all this language in our policy manual um not just for 450 and 480 but

120to see if there's any other policy discrepancies from our manual and the recommended press language so first I'd like to affirm the adaption which is what Steve and I sort of discussed would be the best route to take of all language included in 450 and um and then I'd like to review all you know at some point review all the policies of the manual to see if there's any other discrepancies between our policy manual and the the Press policies that we have been voted on and then I'd like to figure out a way to ensure that we don't have this issue going forward so that there's some sort of to ensure that when a policy is voted on it's it finds its way to the manual and those two things are synced up um 100%

121so all the all the red is what's missing correct correct and this is just two policies I happen to find there could be more um so I guess I'd like you to fill in Steve if there's anything I missed or got incorrect so our our understanding so first of all I want to back up and and and say that Alex just really dug into this we've kind of G back and forth a little bit he's made recommendation poliy had a conversation about that with polic commit met in December um you know our understanding really I have to credit this CU she did a lot of the the leg work on RN contacting IB so when policies are are updated we send those to IB press um they update them so when you look at our

122policies online we don't do that we send them the updates and then they do that for us um these two policies for whatever reason um especially 480 I think got pretty complicated and um so our understanding back in 2009 is that the board did see these and for whatever reason chose not to include what whatever language can I can't speak to that as well before my time um you know so we've done that digging and that's our understanding based on the conversation withb one of the other complications with this is that press offers two Services kind of a press basic um where everybody just gets the recommended polic up and that's it um there are some options but it's pretty standard it's pretty boiler boiler plate we subscribe to press plus which is advantageous because

123press um and IB will tailor policies if we choose to do that so in reviewing policy changes if we want to add something that we can be specific toore we can do that if we want to take something out we can do that we have a little bit more flexibility in terms of customizing the policies when polic come out which are one of my favorite things to receive in in an email and Kelly likes it even more um we get the press and we get the Press plus and they're not always the same because policies that we've reviewed and updated in the past if we customized those now there's a kind of a deviation from the Press policy um so we've talked about how we can kind of tight down with the policy committee make

124sure the policy committee knows here's the Press version here's the Press policy or press plus version um at the end of the day there there may have been some use communication from the district IB what shows up I guess there are a couple of things that I and Alex make sure that I get this right ultimately Alex is proposing changes to four 450 and 480 at least initially but I'm there's I think there's more Che make sure I get this right um so recommending changes to these two policies I guess I wouldn't say it's a change it's more of a firming the the language that was voted on February 8 2022 um that didn't make its way into the manual it so it's affirming the previous board's decision and that's part of where the miscommunication

125or or mis maybe miscommunication Mis interpretation again when you've got the press and the Press plus um and they voted on press and not press plus is what I understand is what I for my conversation with um the IB attorney the issue and I don't think that was intentional um I think that that was part of the miscommunication so part of what I think Alex is asking for is to reaffirm what the board voted on at that time but that was in 2022 with a different board kind it complicates things a little bit um or does this just go to this board goes to the policy committee for review again comes to the rest of the board for for consideration just to affirm that's what this board would like to have in place um I

126think those are two routes to accomplish the same thing in the long run there's one thing is just policies 450 and 480 um I I guess want to be clear about this one route is for both of these to go back to policy committee come back to the entire board for consideration vote I I think it's that committee structure exists for a reason and it's nice to have the time to be able to go through those policy updates have some conversation about them and then have recommendations comeing the board they go through two readings so the entire Board gets to see the ones and then gets seen twice um so that that that kind of deals with 450 and 480 um one of the other things that Alex and I talked about was we have

127caught these two policies and and there are potentially some deviations from what this board or the previous board thought that they were approving and what we have is there a need to do an entire review of the of the policy manual which is based on recommendations from my ASB either a year or a two-year long process um they've kind of they have a map uh I don't think I brought that with tonight they have a map where they kind of recommend if you're going to do that you going to do it over one policy the sections in this order um if you want to do it over two years and kind of take a little bit more time um there's a there's a procedure to do that over two years that's an intensive process I've

128not been through it before but I've talked to boards and and IB about doing that I would if the board wants to do that I think that should be a an ad hoc committee um he probably going to meet I would guess on a on a a maybe almost a monthly basis Maybe during the summer but on a monthly basis to go through every policy um and to see not only where there may be a deviation but then to review every policy and make sure that that's that's what we want um so that's that's number two and then Kelly and I part of our job is to make sure that moving forward and we've had this conversation moving forward whatever we have whatever new comes out making sure that the policy committee knows here's the

129Press here's the Press um so that as reviewing as we're reviewing those they're clear on what's being recommended to the board and and we can make sure you guys know this is what's been recommended from the policy committee because one of Alex's points is I think that maybe a previous board voted on having the language that he's recommending in here um we want to make sure that moving forward policy committee knows what they're recommending and the rest of you the other five know exactly what the policy committe recomending did I get it all yeah you hit the nail on the head I think so yeah good and I would be happy to do this for the other policies and I know it's it's a lengthy process but if if you guys think that that's something

130you'd like to do I don't mind or having another board member join me two things one that is still in your there um no to the second Point um I do think that as a board we should decide uh in some capacity now tonight as Steve had mentioned and Alex had mentioned um to either affirm this as a oversight from 2022 uh to the policy or uh to proceed with a review by the policy committee and then have it represented which to me seems like affirming it will still require it to be represented because you there this not an action it so the way I see it the path that is inevitable is that we've reviewed this now and then come second reading as a board we will need to affirm it Andor adopt it

131is a synonymous language just because yeah we could put on the next agenda usually I'm not in favor of just the the affirmation rather yeah know what all has changed because even going back to the February 22 like the stuff that's missing here wasn't new stuff in 22 it's not highlighted it's not called out so it's not like the decision we made in 22 was saying yes we want to add those pieces either so I don't think that reaffirming that decision serves the intended purpose of saying gosh we've got something wrong here let's adopt the right one and know why what has changed the BL so i' rather do the two readings like we normally do I'm just saying I don't want to go back and say oh we voted on it in 22 so

132just make the change and we'll move forward oh not yeah we can't do that tonight anyway right right I know we can't do anything tonight but just of those two paths I would rather know what all has changed get do it all at once or do it section by section and be do something but right so we could um yeah we could do like a first first read next time I guess it's just to me it's frustrating that press plus hasn't caught this so is it even worth paying for that service if there's you know you know that's my concern too Kelly Kelly can ATT tested this uh we sat and and discussed this at length um I think it is beneficial to have press plus I still think it's beneficial to have that um

133and moving forward I think we've got a good plan to make sure that the policy committee knows here's the Press here's the Press plus here's our existing may make those meetings a little bit longer but just to make sure that we have clarity I I still think it's worth it to have um PR plus I do okay yeah I think one of the things that we can do um and I've kind of requested this for a while now um there are a few sections in in most packets where they give you a choice okay the vast majority there's no choice but usually uh there's one or two things that you have a choice on and we should highlight those especially for the board so that they know um what the choices are and can read

134those sections a little more carefully yeah because most of the other ones are just maintenance stuff I think that's similar to what we did tonight where I brought up the the library book Banning um policy and and that was highlighted in board docs is is there's a that the board does have some flexibility with that language um yeah maybe that wasn't practice you know I don't even know I guess we didn't have press plus when this happened but um no but I'll tell you what we did um I don't know if that was 2009 or report before we did uh review the policy one year um you know line by line letter by letter and uh it did it did it took over a year and and uh it was um it just wasn't very

135productive um mostly what happened was grammatical changes like well we need a comma here or this needs to be capitalized and I mean I suppose that has some value but you know it's the substance that we really interested so I think that we could um why don't we try highlighting those Provisions where there are choices and um and and see how that goes as opposed to um going through the whole thing and um you know I mean you're certainly you certainly can can go through the whole thing if you want to if you find others other areas that are then I think that's an indication should do all I guess it was two different policies but it was in the same section yeah so I I I guess maybe I could start doing a sample

136from section six a sample from section one and seeing if there's discrepancies there too yeah if that would and yeah and and you know it's an issue with press plus I mean yeah uh if that's the case because uh you know they're supposed to be on top of all that like three lawyers they working on that a Master Doc all the sections optional not well that's what I that's what I was comparing it to Michael showed me there's a way for us to log into that and see that Master file and that's what I was comparing us to yeah and I noticed that there was a I found two discrepancies but I I just haven't had the time to go through every policy yet to see if there's any addition that's what I'm wondering is

137it seems like easy tool to be able to say yeah you're you know you're paying them for the subscription so it's like hey this is these are all the disparities between what yeah something to make sure that could they do that just I guess I'm not saying I want to go through and look at every piece of optional language the board's ever decided but just to make sure this language that's not optional is included in our manual and is that a service that IB would even maybe even offer as a courtesy since we have this problem with them um we can ask my experience with that is the answer is no um you're willing to pay for it probably but we can certainly ask um again our understanding is that for whatever reason the board

138saw these and decided not to adopt them so there was a sense that there was a choice in 2008 2009 when these came up um but because I think there was maybe not clarity when the board reviewed these policies after that I don't know that that it was clear enough that here's the Press version that's the boilet plate that has all that language and here's the Press plus which the district chose to adopt in 2008 2009 we had press for a while so this is right in that transitionary period is when that's what it sounds like so you know even if we do a full review one of the things that I would just draw as a caveat is that you will find sections where our policy deviates from the kind of press Master document

139the next question is going to be should it be that way do we have documentation that we do have notes of policy from policy committee work going back a while not back to 2009 um but there may be points where we can say yeah it was and we don't keep copious notes about why we chose not to to accept optional language so we may not know that but um we can certainly dig into that when there's a deviation and you know if we catch another situation where um there was maybe a miscommunication with that ASB let's Rectify that um but there may be times where there's a difference we don't have the notes to establish why and then maybe that goes back to policy committee hey there is there is a deviation there was a

140decision made years ago we don't really know why we're just going to look at it again as a matter of practice to um to R kind of like your reviews that is the Press is recommended now exactly yeah and in the Press Master document you it it has section by section there's um these little numbers I don't know what they're called attached at the end of certain sentences and if you click on it it will give you the option to see view alternative language and then it will tell you if that if that section of policy is optional or not optional and these were not optional so I mean I don't mind doing that it's time consuming but I I think there might be some benefit there I do like the idea of maybe doing

141spot spot checking a couple sections and see if we catch anything else and if we don't then the board can consider whether or not we want to take further um if we don't you know maybe these were two kind of anomalies happen to be the two that that you looked at but um if we don't catch any others then the board can Recons that too and decide well we would do still in it or no you know we're good because one thing that policy committee knows and I'm not sure that the rest of the board knows is couple of years ago ISB for a long time if you adopted a policy back in 2000 and it was never updated you just never saw it again several years ago they started uh recommending the boards Lo

142at each policy at least every five years so even if there wasn't a change to the policy you were going to see it every 5 years so if we don't catch any other ISS issues one kind of safety net is that the board's going to see in the next 5 years the board's going to see every policy at least once whether there's a significant change or not so there is there is going to be an opportunity to see every policy so longer period of time but an intensive review is going to take you know a year to two years anyway and I don't think that's necessary I think you just just identifying discrepancies and reviewing those is all that be important and it seems like that's can can be done the afternoon where you will

143see the most deviation is whenever it refers to uh our bargaining contract with the Union that's that's the sections that that have the most devation right there then the others are you know a choice here or a choice there we made but the uh major deviations are in the Personnel in the Union contract so all right and I can hopefully I'd be able to see on press that I mean I assum that language is isn't just I don't think it's no I don't it's just might be option if it is let us know and we'll get you a because there's no reason while you as a board member should be able to see that no I can see all the policies yeah those are public and same with PR plus I can see those to

144compare we cover everything so I guess I I just should I do we need consensus to bring this back up again or I think okay based on what I heard we put it on the consent we'll put it on the next uh agenda okay and then we'll vot on it so we'll have a second reading on the policies that were up tonight for the first reading and then we'll have a reaffirmation over and then I'll let you know if I find anything else in between these meetings and then that might change our and yeah and then I think we need to have a conversation I I tried that conversation and you know it kind of was you know it seemed like you know that to be accusatory administ it was one of those press oh

145it's your District's problem the district it seems like press so I don't know what the issue is but at least it's caught and it seems like we have a solution going forward so I'm happy but we're paying for the Press plus service yeah I think they should you know you call that passing the buck yeah yeah well the buck was passed one of the reasons why we went with the Press was to save money so yeah um because beforeand we had to have the attorney approve every change to the policy and that got very expensive so sure but uh for the money we pay press they ought to get so will we get a link right to the stent bill that policy that or we just to see everything so in your packet I I

146should have gone over that I'm I'm sorry no problem the the files labeled Gros revised okay those have the additional language in red the files that say press are are printed straight from the Press um Master file essentially and then the files labeled Sycamore are the ones that Sycamore currently has in our policy manual so the red so this is just to show discrepancies of the language that's missing this one here shows that's just the other policy this is the one straight from press with all the additional language and then this back here is what the district currently has on the file when this goes to review Alex is this language optional or non-optional okay that mentioned that earlier the um the only piece of language that's optional is dark red and underline and that

147is in on page three of 480 Gros revised and that language is just a list of internal controls just a just a list of them now that I guess would be for the policy committee to decide if they want to adopt that additional language or not but that's why that's dark red and underlined it that that little section's optional but nothing else is so when it's non optional what it how I to interpret that what does that mean it's up to the board to decide if they want it or not but it's not optional how is the board deciding no no that is optional that part is right so when we review this a second time we're reviewing am I understanding correct we're reviewing non-optional language so there is no choice for us to make

148other than the age to adop the langu on the same I guess but that is at their point though do we want to add in this additional language or not but I guess who typically would I just that would be a policy the committee recommendation so you guys could deter yeah this would keep us yeah in in check with PR but I guess do we want to add the list of internal controls well that's the part that's okay thank that's all for me it's a long one so glad I printed it though CU it could you imagine me trying to verbally no no there was nice of you to print all these papers yeah no this is the way to do it thank you that's a lot of work why they pay you the big

149bucks my salary will be doubled for it though so you know what triple it yeah um any other uh open discussion issues for future agenda items is there a motion to go into executive session salute do we need that need to the ches we don't we don't need to cons or Personnel report was part of the consent agenda so we don't have to go into oh okay never had that before we can do that just as long there's as long as there's no um supervisory personel a Personnel report can go into consent agenda as is uh I double check this with it's pretty sure but I checked it with uh F burer anyway oh okay um but that can go into the um into the consent agenda one thing that all of the board needs

150to know this is one of the reasons that you get it in advance is if uh there's a question about a specific position you can ask that Advance there was a question about that um and if there's a position that um you want to vote on separately that can be pull and an impromptu so to speak executive session the board could go into kind of an impromptu to discuss that so let me give you a really good example um if I was a board member and the board was going to hire my wife or my son or my daughter uh I might purposely ask that to be pulled off so I can vote Yes or whatever on the rest of the personal report but abstain from that pulling it from the Personnel report doesn't mean

151that you're necessarily going to vote against it um now it may be a position where you have a question um you vote against it if you if you so desire I would encourage you I would ask that you if you have a concern about a position please let me know as as soon as you can um but that's a really good example of pulling it out of the Personnel report so that it can be voted on separately the board well within its right to do that any individual board members within its right to ask for that after all those years it seems weird I believe you I I figured it would I know you've been it's been this way for a long time but till I had a good conversation then assume legal updates we'd

152still just go back there or contract negotiations or could uh go into close session for any of those reasons that are approved could be a personal item could be student discipline could be legal um could be a variety of things there are 15 16 that that are approved if we feel like that's necessary we're going to let you know and it's going to be on the the agenda to go into executive session um so yeah we still can but we don't have to every meeting okay well there's only one thing left that is there a motion to adjourn second moov to seconded all in favor all right we is