001[Music] Alawak County School Board's in session. Madame Clerk. Mr. Collic. Present. Mr. Cunningham. President Mrs. Perkins here. Mr. Worster here. Mr. Marsh here. Over to you, sir. Mr. Chair, I move to add the hiring of a school board family member to the close session agenda and approve the agenda as amended. Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madame clerk. Mr. Collic. Can I vote on that? Huh? Can I vote on this piece to add the family member? Can he vote on that? I think just to vote. You're voting to amend the agenda. Okay. Yes. That was going to be my answer, but Mr. Cunningham. Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Mr. Chair, I move to add the purchase of five school buses and the hiring of a school
002board family member to the open session agenda and approve the agenda and remove agenda item 8.18.3 and approve the agenda as amended. Second motion and a second. Any discussion? So, Big Clear, we're removing the non-resident student admissions from the agenda. Is that what I'm hearing? That's correct. 18.3 and we're adding discussions about five school buses. It's action. It's an action item. Okay. So, there's there's three items. We're going to add the purchase of five school buses. We're going to add the hiring of a schoolboard family member. And we're going to remove item 18.3. Good. Y, Madam Clerk. Okay. Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. All right. Mr. Chair, I move to go into close session to review the personnel report and addendum posted
003on board docs under personnel tab number 16.1 as authorized by Virginia code 2.2-3711A1 2-3711A1 for purposes of discussion and consideration of prospective candidates of Olive White Public Schools for employment, contract changes, transfers, salary adjustments, supplemental contracts, deletions, supplemental pay, resignations of Alawite County Public Schools employees and to go into close session to discuss the hiring of an instructional assistant for Windsor Elementary School as authorized by Virginia Code 2.2-3711A1 and to discuss a matter involving two religious exemption students that would involve the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record concerning students as authorized by Virginia Code 2.2-3711A2 2-3711A2 and to discuss and consider one early admission for a student as authorized by Virginia Code 2.2-3711A2 involving the disclosure of information concerning identifiable students of Olive White County Schools. Second. That's a mouthful. Motion and a
004second. Any discussion hearing? None. Madam clerk, Mr. Collic, yes. Mr. Cunningham, yes. Mrs. Perkins, yes. Mr. Worster, yes. And Mr. Marsh, yes. And just real quick, Mr. Cunningham, did you second the um motion to amend the the open session? Okay. Just want to make sure. All right. And madam clerk, is there anyone signed up to speak in close session? Yes, sir. Okay. Um unless I'm missing anything, we'll go into close session. [Music] Alawat County School Board's in session. Mr. Chair, I move that the closed meeting was conducted in conformity with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as required by section 2.2-3712D. 2-3712D of the Code of Virginia and certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed and only such public business matters as were identified in
005the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered. Second motion in a second. Any discussion? Madame Clerk. Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worooster. Yes. And Mr. Marsh. Yes. Motion passes. Would everyone please stand for a moment of silence in the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Good evening. It's July 10th, 2025. We are in Westside Elementary School for our regular school board meeting. Couple little changes this evening. We got Dr. Kramer's on some welldeserved time off. And we've got someone new sitting up here with us tonight. We got Mr. Cole Munford. He's our new school board
006liaison. So, everybody give him a round of applause tonight, please. And he's opted to come up here on a night when school is out and he didn't really have to be here. So, young man's anxious to be a part of the board. So, welcome on that. Turn it over to Mrs. Briggs for Alawat achievers. Thank you, Mr. Marsh. The vision for Olive White County Schools is to create a learning environment that will enable every child to discover his or her unique gifts and talents. The Olive White achiever section of our board meeting gives us an opportunity to recognize and celebrate our students and staff for their unique talents and gifts. Um, before we get started, just to run through kind of our protocol. You should have your certificates at your seat. If you'll bring your
007certificate up when your name is called and Miss Gets, can you help me up? And Miss Gats is going to have a pin for you. You're going to stand in front of the table on the floor here facing the board until we get your whole team up. And then we'll have you turn around and go to the backdrop for a group photo. And that's a perfect time for family members to hop up and get a photo as well. So, tonight we are recognizing Well, there we are. Sorry about that. We're recognizing some teams from Smithville High School. Uh Smithville High had three teams qualify for state tournaments in their respective sports. We're delighted to honor the players and coaches for their outstanding season. We'll start first with boys soccer. The Smithville High boys varsity soccer
008team had an exceptional 2025 season filled with historic milestones. This year they were crowned Bay Rivers District Champions for the second consecutive season, a first in the school's history. They continued to excel and finish as the region 4A runner up and earned a spot in the VHSL state tournament where they advanced to the Elite 8. This marks the sixth consecutive state tournament and appearance. Uh a testament to the strength and consistency of the program. Throughout the season, the student athletes demonstrated outstanding teamwork, resilience, and sportsmanship. They have represented Smithville High with excellence both on and off the field. So, at this time, we'll start first with head coach Jason Henderson. Come on up, coach. And assistant coaches Gerald Slade and Devin Rotuck, if they're here, and manager Tristan Walker. So, y'all come on up. [Applause]
009And now for the players, we have Oh, Mr. Henderson, I'm gonna have you. You'll Yep. There we go. It's always tough going first. Um, we have Aaron Carroll, Jaden Goodian, Ian Corning, Ryland Forest, Ethan Kajano, Quanas Williams, Elijah Hall, Gordon Holloway, Christopher Lesley, Ian Lindsay, Robert Jackson, Ryland Lamb, Noah Larson, Carson McMillan, Trevor Meyers, Colin Phillips, Isaiah Robertson, Johnson, Gerald Slade, Miles Slade, Jackson Stanley, Jeremy Walker, Nathaniel Condit, and Nathaniel was all district honorable mention and all region honorable mention. Eli Allen, all region honorable mention. Danny Cox, all region second team, Cohen Rotuck, all region second team. Carter gets all district first team, all region first team, and all team second. All state second team, excuse me. Logan Young, all district first team, all region first team, all state second team. Jackson Young, all district
010honorable mention, all region second team. Andy Moapu, I'm sorry, Andy. Andy, all district second team, all region, first team, all state second team. and Brody Dulan, all district first team, all region first team, and all state first team. So, we want to congratulate all of you, those that uh came out tonight and those that were unable to make it on an outstanding season. Do we have a more Hi, Brody. Congratulations, Brody. Yay. So, thank you for being here. Let's get a picture of those of you that are out here over by the backdrop. So, congratulations, guys. [Applause] Thank you again. I want to especially thank the folks that were able to be here tonight. I mean, it is summer. It's it's, you know, it's the thick of summer, so thank you those that can make
011it. I understand there's probably a lot of conflicts with schedules. All right. Also from Smithville High, we've got the varsity girls tennis uh team. The team qualified for the class 4 state tennis championship after an outstanding season. The team is coached by coach Greg Ruffin. Come on up, coach. [Applause] And we'll get coach up here first and then we're gonna introduce the team members. Yay. All right. So team members include Chariss Alers, Ashley Breland, Briana Brown, Destiny Kelso Brown, Zaniah Carter, Candace Chong, Ella Clove, Lesie Dillos, Kiara Fuentes, Aubrey Aubrey, pardon me, Grman, Perva Patel, Cecilia Ramos, Chelsea Turner, Abigail Wall, Kayla Wilson, Adriana Melvin, and Jocelyn Hill. And Joselyn, yes. And Joselyn finished third in the region in singles, and Joselyn and Adriana finished third in the region in doubles. So, they had an
012outstanding showing. So, congratulations, ladies. Great job. Nicely done. And we're going to have you go over here to the backdrop. We'll get a nice group photo. And on a personal note, my daughter played tennis for coach Ruffin, so I'm especially excited to see this team out here tonight. He has given a lot of time and effort to girls tennis. [Laughter] I can see who's in charge. Jocelyn. Yeah. Wait, got Yep. Hang. We good? All right. Thank you. Congratulations once again. Our final team is the boys and girls track team from Smithville High. 17 students qualify for the class 4 state track and field championships. The team is coached by coach Steve Shepard and the team members are Onica Matt Oh, sorry I heard a exclamation Meline Barry. Uh Meline finished eighth in the 3200 meter
013run. Oh, hey Coach Shepard. Hi. Glad you could be here. Sorry. Um, and I'll mention, I know Meline couldn't join us tonight because you might have seen she is at the Naval Academy, so she has a good excuse for not being here. She's going through that pleb stuff. Um, all right, continuing on. Tristan Brown, Simone KS. Simone finished ninth in the long jump at the state. Grace Dodson, Annayiah Gilbert, Emma Hatimer, Messiah Mobley, Kiara Porzio, Jordan Watkins. Jordan Jordan finished ninth in the triple jump at the state and the girls 4 by100 meter relay team placed seventh. Um from the guys side we have Dion Bo who finished ninth in the triple jump. Zachary Kennedy, Caleb Greer, Logan Greer, Euan Coocha, Noah Owens, Dalon Webster, and Dalon finished second in the 110 meter hurdles and
014third in the 300 meter hurdles. And the boys 4 by 800 meter relay team placed 10th. So, we want to congratulate the boys and girls track team on an outstanding season this year. Congratul Oh, congratulations everyone. So, we'll have you come over to the backdrop and we'll get uh a quick photo from Oh, Coach Shepard said they're at practice for nationals. Is that correct? Yes. Very good. So, very good. That's it. So, while they're getting their picture taken, I want to thank all of our achievers that were able to come out tonight and the family members and friends that came with them. And we hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. Thank you very much. [Applause] Thanks, Miss Briggs. Hey, Casey. I was waiting for you. All right, Miss Whit, do we have people
015sign up to speak? Yes, sir. In accordance to policy BDDH-E, presentation of information on any subject will be concluded at the discretion of the board. No person will be recognized to speak more than once. Citizens scheduled on the agenda to speak will be permitted four minutes maximum time for their presentation. Delegations will be requested to limit their speakers to two. Persons speaking are asked to be specific. State the issue for the board's consideration and attach a copy of your prepared remarks. If you have prepared remarks, they should be given to the board clerk. Please do not approach the board members. Any matter relating to specific students will be heard by the school board only in a closed meeting. First we have Dwit Holland. No. Good evening board. Nice to see you all and thanks for
016doing that job. Obviously, it's not something a lot of people want to do. Mr. Cunningham. Uh having a hard time finding somebody to take your spot. Bulby Boyin 28359 Walters Highway District 5. Um, correct me if I'm wrong on these figures. I don't think I am from a couple conversations I've had for designing a fleet services facility, a bus garage. The design company, I believe RRMM, wants $629,581 just to design it. And there could be an additional $85,000. That's a total. And I I know it includes a BMP pond, but that's $714,000 just for designs on paper. Uh the Smithfield High School band room, they want $23,000 with a possible other $38,000, a grand total of $241,000 to design a band room. And I know some of that's all of it's paid for by profers,
017but to me, somebody needs to take a second look at this company. I mean, this is they're going to rake in for designs on paper just short of $1 million. Most of it taxpayer money. Um, I'm concerned we just got a hefty real estate tax increase and a lot of that was just to fund the school's wants and needs. Um, we don't have any money to waste. Now, I've been told that the old school board signed a long-term contract with RRMM to do all the design work for the schools. I would think to me it would make more sense if you got to bid out a building that cost $700,000. Why not bid out the designs that cost $700,000 once this contracts up? I'm sure there are a lot of design companies that would put
018in bids and I don't know this $714,000 to draw the pictures on paper even for the pond. It just sounds like a whole lot of money and I'd like to know what the school in a contract you get something I get something. They're getting a whole heck of a lot of taxpayer dollars, including this and in the past, millions. I want to know, does the school board get discounts? Does what exactly does the school board get other than they're what seem to me be to meet overpriced plans and a whole lot of taxpayer money? Um, one minute. It just seems like a lot to me. And I know anytime the word government comes in, the price triples, but that doesn't have to be true if the government doesn't volunteer to go ahead and pay the
019money. So, I just want to make sure and I know you all will look at this company and look at what they charge just to design something. It's a lot of money and I think they should have to supply a extremely minutely detailed contract of exactly every piece of everything they're going to do and how what each little thing they're going to do cost to see if it adds up and makes sense to almost a million bucks. So, thank you all. I know you'll look at it and I appreciate your service. Thanks, Mr. Boyin. And we will discuss that this evening with Dr. Coleman. Appreciate you, Martha Jackson. Good evening, school board members and our new student member, Mr. Mumford. Good to see you. I'm Martha Jackson from District Three. While school board members may
020require access to certain school information to fulfill their duties, it does not require unlimited access to school buildings at any and all times. Protocols for access to school buildings are in place for everyone and having different rules for school board members will create overstepping. Unlimited access for individuals, even board members, could raise concerns regarding the safety and security of our students and staff and may seem as if you are furthering your own agenda or for personal gain. If you need information or data uh capable s superintendent uh who is in charge of the dayto-day operations, he will certainly work with you and his staff to get the information you may need. I urge you not to implement this policy. Thank you for listening to my concerns. That's it. Thanks, Miss Jackson. Mr. Mumford, floor is
021yours, young man. Thank you, Mr. Marsh. I just wanted to thank the school board and uh all of the uh staff behind them to for this opportunity, and I'm very excited to work with you guys over the next two years, and I'm ready to get to work. Thank you guys. Thanks for showing up tonight, Cole. Short and sweet. All right. So, one of the things Connor, I think everybody up here probably had some bit of involvement in it or maybe encouraged Connor, but uh Connor developed an innate ability to call it like he saw it and he wasn't reluctant to point out the bad. All right. So, I'm not saying roll Dr. Coleman under the bus or anybody else on staff, but uh as a representative of your fellow students, it's good to hear an
022unfiltered opinion of what's going on inside the walls from the perspective of the students. Yes, sir. All right. Absolutely. Anybody want to add to that? Welcome aboard. Thank you, sir. It is. It's thundering out there. All right. So, that takes us to 14.1. Hopefully, we don't find out if the emergency generators work. Dr. Coleman, 14.1, that's you, sir. Yes, sir. Floor is yours. All right. Mr. Board chair, school board members, 14.1 fleet service facility. This is an action item. Um, this is concerning moving forward with the contract for total design services in support of the fleet service facility, which includes a total basic design fee of $629,581 and an additional services of 85,25 for combined total not to exceed $714,786. This is a uh the CIP item which was presented uh was presented several months
023ago was approved by the school board pushed to the board of supervisors which was fully funded by the board of supervisors. So this is an action item at this time and I'm ready for any questions. Dr. Coleman I so you and the board and members of the board of supervisors, we went through this numerous times throughout the budget season. Um, but Mr. Vulpy brought up some questions. I know he's not the only one with those questions. I think much if not all of that stuff we had we have discussed at one point or time and another. Yes. So, if you could kind of walk through some of those things. I jotted down some questions or you can just talk through it. I'll However you want to do this. And yes, he did. He brought up
024some very good questions. Um, okay. So, let's first go over the total basic services. That's the $629,581. All right. The total basic services is what any architectural company would provide. You're looking at the schematic design, the design, development, construction documents, bid negotiation, and construction of admin. So, that is the 629. So, it's not just the design, it's also bid negotiations. It's the bid negotiations. So, and what does that mean exactly? The bid negotiations go into the total additional services. Also, that's the geotechnical services, special inspections, partial boundary and topographic survey, storm water, BMP boring investigation, the asbuilts, subservice utility, third party cost estimator, furniture package, landscape design and bid document. So let me explain the difference between the total basic services and the total additional services that were added up. The total basic services as
025I've stated before any architectural company can actually go through that and they will bid. Some companies are higher some companies are lower as Mr. Borgens just pointed out. Now the additional services of all of those contractual services from the geotechnical services all the way down to the uh landscape and design bid document normally that's those are contracted. So we have two different ways of performing this. It's going to be an IFB. It's a type of procurement. either someone can go and contract out the 20 different vendors that are there or you can use the company. What IWCS have done for several years is use the company to actually perform the um the IFB and we just take the documents and bid it out. So they are doing the bidding and the negotiation. So you will
026see a increase in the percentage of what the national rate was for uh RMM on these designs but those are the reasons for the increased designs. One thing that you uh there was a lot of individuals that were a little mixed up in the in the terminology concerning make sure I get this right. Dr. Coleman, I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time hearing you. Okay. A lot of individuals mixed up when we talked about the guaranteed maximum cost level for the project and I didn't want the public to get uh confused on a guaranteed maximum price. And I think a lot of the public was speaking on a guaranteed maximum price. A guaranteed maximum price is part of an RFP. It's part of a procurement that doesn't allow the uh overall budget quote to get
027above that level. It's guaranteed maximum. It's below. The guaranteed maximum cost level is just pinpointing on the amount of money that they will not charge over the basic services. We went through the same thing with the new Hardy. We went through the same exact thing with New Hardy. And with new Hardy, we use RRMM to actually produce the IFB and different things of that nature. Now, I do want to point out that uh the contract for um for RMM is lapsing on September 9th. So, uh me and Miss Dary, the CFO, have already talked about and discussed how we're going to reissue this contract out and uh ensure that it gets out to the uh most vendors possible. So once again, the contract does end in another uh two months, two or three months. So
028with that said, it will be issued out at that time. So we can shop around for a better deal. We can definitely shop around. By law, we have to shop around. How long was the contract for? The contract was for uh one year and three additional years. One year and three additional years. So Okay. I think I got most of that done. Jot it down. Am I missing anything for the board up here? No. But I I've I've got a few questions. Yes, sir. Okay. The first question, uh, Dr. Coleman, is do we have an estimate for the total cost of the fleet services facility that we plan on building after the design phase is over? No, we do not have a to calls for the total. And you mean not only the four bays,
029but you mean once we add on the additional bays? Is that what you're speaking of? Yes, that's what we're designing. Whatever we're looking at designing. Okay. So, make sure that we understand that what we're designing is 7,000 square ft that will consist of five bays. What we're overall planning, the design is going to plan out an additional four bays. So, we're only going through with the concept of five bays, but the plan is overall for nine bays there. When I say nine bays, one is for the admin office, one is for the shop offices, and then it's the bays for the buses. Okay? But overall, so the construction is set up for those five bays with the plan if need be for expansion. We can always expand in other years, in previous years. Okay. To
030move on. Yes. So, I've been doing just a little bit of research. I'm by no means an expert in this. Yes, sir. Um, but one thing that that I have found is that the average architectural and engineering design fees for these types of facilities within Virginia are usually calculated as a percentage of the total construction cost or based on the square footage. And so I'm just trying to figure out where we got the 700, you know, 14786 and I have seen, you know, the statement of work and again haven't had any time to digest it. No problem. You and I have have talked about a little bit, right? Um, but I think Mr. U Boy is right. We we probably do need a more detailed breakdown of the costs. Yes, the board of supervisors have
031allocated this much money, but that doesn't mean we have to spend it. It means we have to be very diligent in in how we spend it. Um, so I'm I'm still a little bit concerned. Now, the average cost for these types of plans in Virginia between 5% of total cost and 15% of total cost on average on the high end is 16. So in that could you tell me approximately where we might be? From my calculations we're sitting at 17%. Okay. So I mean you are online with six the uh 6% to 13% is on average but I do want to pinpoint that the schematics that you probably researched did not include the preparation of the IFB and that and that I don't know. Yeah. um most times once again that is something that the
032school will be responsible for. That is something that the company will be responsible for. So the 17% does include it. And once again I'm just telling you the figures and telling you exactly what's going on. Okay. Uh with that stated, I do want to pinpoint um not spending all of the money, not spending all of the funds. When RMM did perform the uh $36 million bill on Hardy, there were funds left over. those funds were reverted. They reverted in in the matter of $735,000. I know that for a fact. So, uh if funds are not spent on these sort of projects, I believe that everyone know they will be reverted back. Um that's where the updates come in at and that's where the transparency comes in at. And you know the the last the last
033piece I just want to say on the on the cost um the cost breakdown is we're looking at approximately what 6,700 square feet for the first phase. Yes sir. And so that comes out to about $93 a square foot. Yes sir. And again on on average you know u that that's that's more than triple the average cost. So that's where my concerns are. Are we are we really getting our money's worth u from RRMM or are they are we being overcharged? And that's something that I just have not had the time to digest. And and that's a that's a good uh point, Mr. Collague. I do also want to point out that the paperwork and the schematics that we're looking at was created on March 24th, 2025. Since then, there's been escalation. So, one thing
034that the uh architects do is when they build out these, they build them out based off of what the escalation model will be in, let's just say 6 months because once again, they never know when it's going to be approved to be able to move forward. And right now, if it was approved to move forward and it was any higher than what it is on these papers, I would not accept it. So, that is also built in that. Okay. So, if we were to approve to move forward tonight with RMM, that would extend their contract for this particular piece. Correct. If we move forward, yes, it will extend their contract for only this, for only everything that's signed before September 9th. Okay. And if we decide not to go forward with this, then we would
035be looking for another company that would do this. if we decide not to go with this this yes sir we'll be looking for another architectural firm and then architectural firm will have to go through the proceedings for that and find another company for this but I do want to let you know if we do that and I'm not against it I'm not for it I'm just letting you know if we do that then this project will definitely not be uh completed before the next cycle will definitely not be completed okay I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page with that but that doesn't have an impact on the money that's been allocated for it. Correct. It doesn't have an impact of the the funds being taken away, but it does
036have an impact on the escalation fees that will occur. So then therefore, what the what the board of supervisors voted on was the and I apologize. I think it was 820 or either way, let's just go with the 7 I don't have it here. the the funding for the fleet service building that might be a little short by the time that we actually roll around. So extra funds would have to be divvied up for that depending upon at that time the the costs for it. And once again, just going back to New Hardy, I think that we all know that New Hardy was uh one month it was 29 million, right? And the next month, and once again, a lot of stuff was going on, but the next month it was 36 million. And just
037off the top of your head, do you remember what the design cost was for Hardy? I cannot. I was going to research that, but I can definitely get that number back to you. Um I do not. I think it was No, all I know is the contingency. Okay. That's all I remember. And this doesn't include building anything. Doesn't include the BMP or anything like that. Just the design. This is only depends. I mean, this is only the design. Okay. And once again, if the funds are not used, similar to the HVAC, I know that one individual pointed out the Carolton HVAC. It's very similar. The board of supervisors uh approved the 7 the 7.4 and right now it came in at the 5.9 and we're going to work through the change orders on that. But
038all of those funds uh under that uh under that threshold of the 7.4 will be given back will be given back. So it's budgeted for escalation purposes a lot. Okay. Thank you. Yes sir. That's all I have, Mr. Chair. Anybody else? Dr. Coleman, how long you been doing this job? Oh, eight years now. How long you been working with RRMM? It was eight years. seven working with they've been here since I've been here going on eight years and you recommended that we reissue the contract a year plus three ago. Absolutely. We have to by law we have to uh reissue the contract. So I am recommending that we follow the guidelines and uh before September 3rd allow me and Miss Dary to work together to issue out a new contract for architects and let everyone
039apply. Once again, RMM has an opportunity to apply just like so many other architect architectural firms. But in the meantime, um yes, go right here. Okay. What's the board want to do? I would like some more time to digest this. I I wish really we had the statements of work on board docs so we could have had a little more time to digest it and and to really look things up. Um I I just I didn't like just seeing a motion there with the amounts. That to me was wrong. And just uh FYI and I apologize uh Mr. Collie. Now these are the same forms that were sent out on March 24th to the school board. Yeah. And to the board of supervisors. Yeah. So, it has not changed. We've already seen the statement of
040work. You've seen the statement of work. I don't know if, like Mr. Collie said, I don't know if everyone had a chance to really digest it, but it has been out for since March 24th. Okay. Thank you. No problem. Anybody else got comments? Anybody want to make a motion one way or the other? Okay. I would move to approve the contract for total design services in support of fleet services facility which includes a total basic design fee of $629,581 and total additional services of $85,25 for a combined total not to exceed $714,786. Second. Any other discussion. Regardless of how the outcome of this vote goes, Miss Dr. Coleman, let's make sure that come September 9th, we do our due diligence and shop around and look at the pros and cons of RRMM. Uh, when we
041take a vote, I will vote yay based on your eight years of experiences of working with RRMM. Um, and most recently the Hardy Elementary School. I mean, that was a pretty lengthy process. Um, I stayed in your ear routinely throughout the Hardy and I know the other board members did too. It seems like they took pretty good care of us and I'll just yield at that. So, anybody has any other comments? Sorry. Did you capture that in a minute? Good lord. Come on. Any other comments? It it's it's I'm just not comfortable with that level of percentage. I re I'm really not. Right. And just FYI once again. Uh and you know, I'm just trying to be transparent moving forward. The cost could be higher. Could be lower, but it could be higher. Just FYI.
042Mhm. It's hard to predict the future. It is true. I think that discussion came up numerous times about Hardy. Had we bought had the school board bought that school one, two, three years earlier, it would have cost us millions of dollars left. Well, one month earlier, really is that going to be the case here? No one's got a crystal ball. Nobody knows. I do know that this project has been delayed for years and years and years. Yes, it is. Uh, and I for one am relieved to see some sort of progress on it. Madam Clerk. Mr. Collic, nay. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worooster? No. Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. And Dr. Coleman, I appreciate you fielding all those questions. I know a lot of that was on the spot, so we can
043move right along to 14.2, sir. 14.2 is the Smithfield High School band renovation. Move to approve the design uh recommended action. Move to approve the design services contract for Smithville High School band room renovation which includes a total basic service fee of $23,259 and total additional services fee of $38,280 for a combined total not to exceed $241,539. And that is going to be an action item. I think you skipped one doc. It's 14.2 the school bus. Yeah, we amended the agenda. Sorry, wrong one. I do apologize. Everybody got an updated agenda, but you sir, the um action item for that is 14.2. Dr. Coleman, I do apologize. 14.2 2 purchase of five school buses. Move to approve the purchase of five 2026 Thomas school buses, four C2 type C 77 passenger buses at 151,468 each
044and one C2 type C 53 passenger bus at $15155 for a combined total not to exceed $757,27. And that is an action item. And once again, these are the buses for the CIP that comes in every year that we order at this time. So these are the five for this year. So again, these are the this is the money that the board of supervisors authorized. Yes. And we it's passed July 1st. So the money's there. So now we want to go ahead and That is correct. The buses and this is the agreement that every single year we will buy five buses until we're caught back up. Somebody want to make a motion? Mr. Chair, I move to approve the purchase of five 2026 Thomas school buses, four C2 type C77 passenger buses at 151,468 each
045and one C2 type C 53 passenger bus at 151,155 for a combined total not to exceed 757,2 $27. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Madam clerk. Mr. Collic. Yes. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. 14.3. The band room. Smithville High School band room renovation. Once again, sir, this is an action item. move to approve the design services contract for the Smithville High School band room renovation which includes a total basic service fee of 203 uh 203,259 and total additional service fee of $38,280 for a combined total not to exceed $241,539. This is a action item um for the RRMM. I will be I can answer any questions. It's going to be related to the same similar questions related to the fleet services
046facility. I've got a couple questions. Yes sir. Um so we've got phase one, two and three. So this cost is solely for phase one or does it include anything in phase two or three? This cost is for the design for phase one, two and three. Yes sir. Design for all of them. This is the design for all of them. Yes sir. So these bullets that we see under phase two, all that's going to be done including some of the physical work. It is the design for that. Okay. It is not the physical work. It's just a design schematic. Yes, sir. I apologize. I wanted to make sure. And again, um, do we have any idea how much this is going to cost in in total? I apologize. How much h how much it's going to
047cost for the renovation itself? It was written up as 1.4 for that. That's what it was approved for. But um once again, if any funds are other than the 1.4, that's the only estimate that we have at this time. Okay. So, we're looking again at about 17%. Yes, sir. I haven't calculated this particular one up. the questions was coming on that but I can definitely definitely question that up 1.24. Yes, sir. I'm have to say yes at this time because I haven't calculated that up myself. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Somebody willing to entertain a motion. Mr. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the design services contract for the Smithfield High School band room renovation, which includes a total basic service fee of $23,259 and total additional services fee of 38,200 for a combined total
048not to exceed $241,533 $539. Second motion and second. Any discussion? I'd just like to say I hope I'm wrong, but I I I think we're just paying too much, you know, in the design fees. Thanks, Mr. Collie. Anybody else? Madam Clerk? Mr. Collic? No. Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mrs. Perkins? Yes. Mr. Worster? Yes. And Mr. Marsh? Yes. Motion passes. Moving. Thanks, Dr. Coleman. Yes, sir. Moving on to monthly financials. Merry, good evening. Happy new year. Happy happy fiscal new year. Happy fiscal new year. Yeah. So with that, I have some uh preliminary numbers for you um for uh fiscal year 25. Please keep in mind that I prepared these reports last week um like around July 2nd. So we still have plenty of of reconciling to do, but um we have very favorable results. And what
049I'm projecting, so I'll start out with the general operating fund. Um I am projecting that we are going to exceed the revenue budget. Uh the general fund we had budgeted 80.74 million and I'm uh projecting we're going to exceed that by probably about 175,000 which since it exceeds the budget that will be returned to the county. The reason for that is um we received more from our Medicaid recovery thanks to Mrs. Pulley and her hard work um but probably an additional $70,000 than what we had budgeted. We also received an additional about $119,000 from -ate the universal -ate. I was not aware that they are our uh consultant that we use that files these for us. They're going back and filing for previous fiscal years. So I just got in like $120,000 and it's from
050fiscal year 20. Who manages that? Wow. Who I don't remember who the consultant is, but this is um a federal program on the That's all he had to say. So the federal government's five years behind. Could be. Yeah, that's what you said. That's good. So it I mean we'll we'll take the money. Um Sure. Absolutely. So I do project that you know we're going to exceed the revenue um for this year. So with that on the expenditure side for the general fund um you know we talked about this throughout the budget process that whatever kind of excess um or surplus that we had within the expenditures that we would transfer that to the health insurance fund because that um and I'll get into that in a second. So with that um I'm projecting we should
051be able to transfer about 1.6 6 million and that would make that would then we would just meet our total expenditures of the 80.74 million. So um we'd spend all of our our budget there. It's a break even in other words. I'm sorry. So it's a break even uh except for you know the amount we exceeded in the revenue that will automatically go back from the county because if it you can't exceed can't spend more than what you budgeted. Right. Right. So that amount will go back. So on to the health insurance fund. Um claims were a lot higher than originally um expected. In fact, they exceeded the contributions that went into the fund by 1.1 million is the total amount. Uh we are expecting to receive back about 241,000 from a stop-loss recovery. We
052have a stop-loss insurance program. So, we are expecting to receive that back. Um, and so if we do transfer the 1.6 million plus the additional I'm expecting to get back in the uh stop-loss recovery, that would make the bottom line of the reserves a little over $2 million going into next year, which is a, you know, good level to have. refresh my memory. Show me how to read on your health insurance report that excess of 1.6 million. This report doesn't show that. Um but you can see down at the bottom it says for the current year to date it has 870,000. Um I actually had a couple more expenses that came in after I ran this report. So the total if you see there the the total payments of 9.3 million that actually came in
053at 9.5. So the 870 comes down another couple hundred,000 to about six. Add in um the 1.6 takes you a little over two. And then there is also another acrruel in there. I can't remember the exact amount on it, but how how long do you expect it'll take to reconcile the health insurance fund? Um, is that cut off? Is that done? Oh, it's done. Okay. Yes. I just I had that extra acral that I put in this week that I didn't get into this report. So, the total expenses for the um health insurance fund was $9.5 million. I guess the telling line for me is that the the total payments yeartoyear increased 26.6%. Yes, that's a huge number. Yes. Okay. And just for the sake of saying it again, none of those increases went to
054the employees. Correct. None of those increases. We we we kept those increases in premiums. Correct. In house. The school board covered all of that for fiscal year 26. Yes. And some some other divisions have pass those premium rates on to the employees. Correct. So child nutrition, if I can move on to that one. In the financial report, you'll see that the year to date is showing a deficit of about $97,000. But I can assure you that that is not the final number. We are still we haven't posted all of the revenue yet that has come in and make other adjustments for inventory. So I'm 99% sure that we will that that the year ended in a positive uh number not in a deficit. This may be a question for Dr. Coleman instead of you. I
055I don't know. What does the inventory that we maintain what does that consist of? Um broadly I don't know the the inventory is consist of um I guess you the smaller inventory just a summer school it's not actually for the startup of school. Are you talking about the the child nutrition inventory in the freezers at this time? Yes sir. Yeah that's it. It's a very very small supply and um that is kept in one or two freezers just for summer school mostly. But there also should be some non-p perishable items um that are in there too and different things of that nature of course. Yes. Okay. And I would imagine like plates and cups and stuff like that as well next. So that's all I have on the financial report. If you unless you have
056any other questions on that and then I have a followup from last board meeting. Um you asked at the last board meeting you asked about the Amoresco debt debt payment. So I have a little bit of history for you. Um, in May of 2014, the school board financed approximately $6.9 million at 3.85% over 20 years to cover various energy savings projects. In October of 21, the school board refinanced that debt and it is currently at 1.72%. very favorable rate and and it did not extend the period of time that we borrowed. So, it it kept it at that 20-year level, which we will pay all of the debt in full in May of uh 2033. Uh you do have the ability to prepay it. Um there's a 1% fee and plus whatever crude interest. So,
057that's probably around $50,000. Um, but since this interest rate is so low, your savings would probably be maybe around 350,000, which isn't a whole lot, and we don't have $4.7 million sitting around. So, I don't I think having it at this 1.72% interest rate is is a good rate. Yeah, I would agree. Get into the reduced the rate without changing the length of the term. That's pretty good. Yep. Thanks for digging into that. And that's all I have unless you have other questions. Oh, um and I should have the final numbers um for the state sales tax if you recall. We I normally will have those by the first week of August, which I'm anticipating will be at least 1.4 million, which is in accordance with what we budgeted. So, so come August, we'll be
058close to reconciling everything. Then we're going to roll right into the whole audit process and start this big Yes. process over again. Yep. Grant fund is in great shape. Um we've, you know, we're getting ready to to do the June reimbursement requests because we've been keeping up with them every month. So, it's in good shape. Lots of hype and grumblings about the federal side of it. Any concerns from where you're sitting with the federal grants? I mean, a lot of unknowns, but Mrs. Guess is nodding her head. Yes. Sure. They're they're absolutely concerns, but um you know, our largest ones are Title One and IDA, and those from what we've been told are, you know, not at risk this year, this this coming year. Good evening. Uh we are concerned about title two. Um we
059do pay some partial salaries out of that grant. Um and so that one is one that we are waiting on. Title two, title three, and some of title four. For the listening audience, title two is it's uh professional development and things of that nature. Um we pay for things like I said, we pay for partial salaries of a couple of staff members. Um we also provide teacher reimbursements for classes. Um, so those would be things that really do benefit teachers that we would no longer be able to pay. So I'm really hoping that one gets through. And in fiscal year 25, we received 148,000 for title two. Okay. Anybody else? Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate all your hard work. Where we at? There we go. Dr. Coleman again. All right. Yes, sir. Operations update. I'd like
060to start off by talking about the ground status. There were some issues. Before we get to the first slide, there were some issues uh throughout the last month and a half with the ground status. There was several school board members that called me uh with concern constituents about the grass around um several of the schools in the back areas and the front areas. Now, of course, we operate with a team of 3.5 contracted members to maintain the facilities. And over the past month, the lead was out and there was ever several other personnel related issues with the ABM team that was over the grass. Uh since then, we contracted and uh through ABM and got for no cause gotten more workers in to get us caught back up. So there was a issue. It was
061reported by several citizens across the division. But at this time, we're finally back on track again. So you can let everyone know. And I just want to let the general public know. Thank you for giving me a call. Thank you for letting me know what's going on there. But at the same time, it is now back up and running. Yes, sir. Yeah. Just uh one quick question. Were we able to get that septic field by Carsville mowed back down? Yes, sir. That occurred today. Thank you. Yes, sir. And that will become a normal part of Carsville uh Carsville maintenance. Perfect. Thank you. A normal part. Yes, sir. All right. tracks Smithville High School, Windsor High School. Now, a year ago, the school board prioritized and ranked several key items as part of the capital improvement
062plan and collaborated with the board of supervisors to secure funding for these important projects. IWCS is proud to announce that one of those major initiatives, the completion of the school athletic fields and tracks has been successfully replenished. These upgrades facilities represents a high significant investment not just in our students physical health and extracurricular activities opportunities but in a broader community as well. So we just want to um let you know that everything is completed and Smithville High School track and Windsor High School tracks are finished and ready to go at this time. What do you say Cole? That's your school track, buddy. I'm ready to run on it. I know that it's a heck of an improvement from the last one. All right. Next is the division tennis court completion. Both schools now have the
063completed tennis courts. Uh one was fully supported by the OBC OBC and the other one was uh out of the operating or out of the remainder of the operating budget to complete the tennis court. So, both schools now and as you seen tonight, you had two uh state championship teams or state championship runnerups right there uh playing and practicing on a tennis court that wasn't fully completed of this nature and running on a track that was not up to standards, but now we have completed those. All right, Dr. Coleman. Yes, sir. Um, with these just being finished recently, um, when school starts up, what would you think about having some type of ribbon cutting at each of the schools for these new facilities and we bring in the board of supervisors as our special guests
064for all their help in putting these together and uh have a nice little ribbon cutting before our sporting event. Absolutely. And uh, Miss Briggs is literally working on that right now. She's getting everything situated so she read your mind ahead of time. So, she's really working through this process of getting all of these projects out in front and in front of the community. Yeah. And every every time we do something that cost this much money, let's bring them in and thank them. We can get more done that way. That's right. You know what? Uh Mr. Bard, uh Mr. McCarthy rest his soul.