001Excuse me. Got to turn off. Welcome to this evening's meeting of the board of education. Will you please rise for a salute to the flag? Ice 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. Okay, welcome to this evening's meeting. We're going to start with our uh reorganization that the board does every year. So, we'll begin with that and we'll have our district clerk take her oath of office. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of district clerk according to the best of your ability? Yes. Thank you. I will
002now administer the oath of office to the superintendent of schools for the 2526 school year. We should have stated. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of superintendent of schools according to the best of your ability? Yes, I do. Thank you. Um, as we begin the new school year, I'd like to uh congratulate our our uh two uh returning trustees. Uh that's Laura Ree and Jennifer Perfetti. Uh two of our board trustees that uh won uh reelection uh in in May. Uh and we'll have the district clerk administer the oath of office. [Applause] Back to you, Elaine. Okay, perfect. May I have a nomination for the office of
003the president of the board of education? I'd like to nominate Anthony. Uh, are there any other nominations? All in favor? I ahead. Thank you, Mrs. McGuigan. I'd like to nominate Jennifer Petti for vice president of want to board of education. Are there any other nominations? Second. All in favor? I All right, gentlemen. All righty. Item C, appointment of officers. Item C1, the audit committee will consist this year of the board president, uh, board member Tara Cassidy, community member Christopher Austin, community member Jonathan Spisto, and community member Michael Tumbell. Item two, treasurer, that Michael Karns is appointed the treasur of Wanto Union Free School District. Item three, deputy treasure that treasurer that Diane Sales be appointed as the deputy treasurer and dis and the district clerk prom, which will be the vice president of the board
004of education for the 25 and 26 school year. Do I have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item D. Item D1, general and labor council. Item D2, bond council. D3 fiscal advisors, D4, school physicians. D5 external auditor and D6 claims order auditor. Do I have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? I. Item D7, internal auditor. Eight, Nassau County Auxiliary Police. Item nine, architectural services. Item 10, construction management services. Item 11, committee on special ed and the committee on special preschool special ed and the subcommittee on special ed. Item 12, building visitation committee. Item 13, committees on districtwide school safety team, AIDS advisory committee, health and safety committee, and wellness committee. Item D14, the dignity act coordinators and D15, shared decision-making committee. Do we have a motion? Move. Second. Second. All in favor? Item
005E, bonding of personnel E1. And I uh do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Hi. Item F, designations. F1, depositories. F2, newspaper and legal ads. Item three, authorization to publish annual financial statement. And item four, meeting dates of the for the board of education. And item five, the an next year's annual reorg meeting. Do we have a motion? Move. Second. Second. All in favor? I Item G, authorizations. Item G1, designation of person responsible for certification of payrolls and the designation of the district purchasing agent. Item G2, establishment of petty cash funds. G3, insurance coverage and consultants. G4, Medicaid loss prevention and billing services. G5, records management and access officer. and G6, residency hearing officer. Do I have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? I. Uh, item seven, 504, district officer. Item
006eight, district leaison for the education of homeless children and youth. Item nine, designation designated education officer. Item 10, title nine compliance officer. Item 11, chief privacy officer. 12, data protection officer. 13 is the asbestous designate. Item 14, workers compensation trustee. And item 15, officers of the extra classroom activity funds. Do I have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item H, adoption of impartial hearing officers. I H1 H item H2 mileage reimbursement. Item H3 policies and H4 senior citizen passes. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? All right. That will bring to an adjourn the reorganation agenda. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting. Second. All in favor? I. That completes the reorder. Now on to our business meeting. Item
007B2, communications to the board of education. Communications were received from the people listed. Item C, superintendent report. Mr. Magname, great. Thanks so much, Mr. Greco. We appreciate everyone uh in attendance tonight. Um we always like to start off with some good news and some recognition. We have a bunch of our athletes here. uh just an outstanding uh spring that we had for uh for all of our athletic teams. Uh we really want to take a moment tonight just to recognize some of the outstanding accomplishments of our uh our Long Island Championship for our boys lacrosse team, our county championship for our varsity baseball team. Uh and also we invited back tonight as well our Long Island Championship girls basketball team. We had a chance to recognize them. Uh, so how about a big round of
008applause for all three teams on outstanding seasons. I think I'm I'm still recovering from some of our playoff games this year. Um, the boys lacrosse, those uh those those that Long Island Championship and County Championship game, it's some of the best lacrosse you're going to see. Uh, winning in just unbelievable fashion. and uh and our our varsity baseball team this spring uh that that three-game series and the county championship was just outstanding uh and and them just just showing such resilience in coming back in game three and and doing such a great job. So really just outstanding all around. Um and we wanted to recognize our teams as well as our individuals uh that in in other sports that uh had outstanding seasons as well. Uh so I'm going to invite uh Miss Keenup, our
009our director of athletics. uh she'll uh she'll she'll speak to uh those teams. We also have uh Councilman Schneider here as well from uh town of Hemstead uh who is going to join Miss Keen up at the podium. Uh the count the town is is uh gracious enough each each season to provide us with uh really really nice signs for our our championship teams. Uh so they wanted to present those tonight as well. So I'll turn it over to Miss Kane. Thank you Mr. McNamera. Good evening everyone. Uh it was a tremendous year. um capped off by a tremendous fall season. Um first, I'd like to introduce Councilman Schneider from town of Hemstead. Just to say a couple quick words. Well, thank you very much. It's great to be here with you tonight as a
010proud Wanto Warrior graduate. Um it's always a pleasure to come back home. It's especially a pleasure to talk about how great Wanto is. Um as Jen mentioned, you guys had a great year. Uh I think these are signs number four, five, and six that the town is giving this year. So, uh, when you think about the Long Island Championship for the girls basketball team, first ever in, uh, in history, Longo Island Championship for the boys lacrosse team, first time, I think since 2001, is that right? Okay. And the, uh, the Dynasty Wanto baseball program, which is on I don't even know how many coach sacks. It's a lot. Um, and that's a testament to the great uh, the great job our coaches do and uh, and of our athletes. So, congratulations to all of you.
011Um, as a former Wanto track captain, I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate the track athletes as well. I know there's some uh individual awards that we have for you too, but uh thank you for letting me uh come here and and salute you. So, it's great to be with you. You wear the black and gold proud. Great job. Okay, when I call your name, if you could please come up and you're going to actually head up onto the stage. We're going to start with girls basketball. So we have coach Buyosich, Coach Wrath Gabber, and Coach Perez. Then we have Jane Burns, Sabrina Aidorian, Juliana Sarasi, Michaela McNeel, Giana Pacion, Cameron Mitchell, Caitlyn Clark, Bridget McAwen, Riley Forthover, Kayla Manx, Isabelle Ferraro, Molina Gallow, Kate Benovic, and Ella Perfetti. Our long champion girls basketball
012team. Do we want to do these? Do you want to do these individual? Yeah. Send it to [Applause] Yep. Oh, okay. For our individual recognition, we have from girls lacrosse, we have Juliana Sarasi, named all county all-American and all Long Island. Laya and Grilly, all county honorable mention. All county honorable mention all American. Yep. If you could all just hold your applause until the end, it would be greatly appreciated. Uh Riley Forthover, all county That wasn't Was that Riley? No, that was Laya. Yeah. Okay. Sabrina Aidorian, honorable mention, all county. Is Isabella Sandival, honorable mention, all county. Okay, for softball, we have Emma Priest, all county and number one outfielder in New York State. Lucy Lore, all county and pitcher of the year in the conference. Christine Mor, Coach Christine Moran, coach of the year.
013For spring track, we have Aaron Burns, all county. We have Ian Frasier, all county, 4x8 relay, county champion, twotime county champion, and seventh in the state. Share McMillan, all county. Sean Hart, we have all county, 4x8 relay county champion. Ethan Chen, all county and 4x8 relay county champion. Owen Stacklick, all county 4x8 relay county champion, twotime county champion, seventh in the state. And actually Ian and Owen both attended the state championship in each season, the fall, winter, and the spring, which is a pretty cool accomplishment. Okay, now we have our Nassau County Champion baseball team. team. We have Coach Wasan, Coach Navaji, and Coach Saxs. Please come on up. Oh, you want to do these first? Hold on one second. Coaches Okay, back to baseball. Coach Watson, Coach Nivaji, and Coach Saxs, please come on
014up. Then we have Michael Emodio, Michael Avetal, just go up on stage for right now. Nicholas Ben Civi Anthony Khis Charles Casino Ryan Canigliaro was also all county as well as being a county champion. Dominic Kusamano all league and county champion. Christian Danzillo, county champion, all county, all Long Island and conference pitcher of the year. Gavin Dgnen, county champion, all county, all Long Island, Nassau County playoff MVP and Joe Korea award, best duel player in Nassau County. Oliver Ikabazi, Nicholas Lanisano, Ryan Martone, Frank Mcnal, Matthew Rackley, Joseph Russo, Chris Romano, Cole Spanelli, Lucas Sumeri, Robert Tana, Luke Tierney, Ryan Tulo was also all league as well as being a county champion. Tommy Wonderlick and Coach Sachs for being named coach of the year. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you. Okay. Hello. Hello. Hello, Danzilla. Where's my
015uniform? Tomorrow. Tanzilla, tomorrow. Okay. And our Nassau County and Long Island Champion boys lacrosse team. We have coach Bolo, Coach Ray, Coach Latus, Coach Galina, Coach Lago, and Coach Bange. Okay. Dylan Campezy uh was also a county champion, an uh a Long Island champion, and an unsung hero. Frankie Falco, PJ Falco, Michael Phenezy, Nick Figareroa, Ryan Favven, Patrick Forththover was also all county. Johnny Gandelle's uh all county and academic all-American Matt Jacabello Luke Gonzkowski Anthony Graci Jay Harkin Michael Hogan Miles Hogan sorry Miles Hogan sorry Miles Connor Kurs Carter Laughman, county champion, Long Island Champion, and honorable mention All County. Dylan Martini, County Champion, Long Island Champion, all county, first team all Long Island, first team all-American, as well as Tom Flattley, award winner for the best football and lacrosse player in Nassau County. Luke
016Martini, Nassau County Champion, Long Island Champion, and all county. Sam Mandolia. Timothy Majette, James Nellis, Joe Nicholson, County Champion, Long Island Champion, All County, Second Team, All Long Island. Honorable mention, all American. Devin Pacion, Nassau County Champion, Long Island Champion, all county second team all Long Island and honorable mention all-American. Luke Perfetti, County Champion, Long Island Champion, and unsung hero. Sean Stachick, Brendan O' Callahan, Robert Graci, Jack Nouse, Chase Dankenbrink, Giani Pasaro, Jack Develin, Ryan Bardac, Jack Lee, Casey Nouse, Joe Adamo, Tyler Owens, Matthew Como, Marty Met, Mark Inmba, Owen Ven, what did we miss? Phoenix Tetro and Coach Polo was named well he was a county champion, a Long Island champion, conference coach of the year as well as Newsuesday Nassau County coach of the year. Get really close and have Oh my god.
017[Applause] 31. You want Ah, Joe. All right. All right, once again, congratulations to all of our all county athletes and all of our uh our lacrosse members, our lacrosse team and our baseball team. Right. Um also a couple other recognitions for tonight. Uh we have two members of our staff that are retiring. Unfortunately, they were unable to be here tonight. It's uh two of our teacher aids and two of our outstanding teacher aids at that. Uh Ronnie Rom uh is currently over at Mandalay Elementary School. uh will be retiring this year after many many years of dedicated service. Just an outstanding uh outstanding aid uh that just does everything uh that you could possibly ask for. Uh such a hard worker uh unbelievable with the kids uh and just so dedicated to our our uh
018our our special class program. Uh she's been just such an asset to the district and will be greatly missed. And the same uh for Joanne Borneman. Uh Joanne is uh currently over the high school but also years of service at Wanto Middle School. uh just uh highly regarded by the the teaching staff providing one-on-one support to students as well as uh classroom support. Uh so they'll both greatly be be missed and I just want to wish them all the best in their retirement. So congratulations to Ronnie and Joanne. Um we also have uh in a few minutes the board's going to be taking some action to appoint some new members of our staff that I just wanted to point out tonight as well. Um we have uh a new uh elementary supervisor for humanities. Uh
019and that's uh Dr. Tracy Pignetti. Uh Tracy's with us tonight. I just wanted to congratulate her uh and welcome her to uh to our our staff. Uh Tracy joins us from the Lindenhair School District where she currently serves as an assistant principal uh in in one of their elementary schools. Uh many years of teaching experience uh most recently at Garden City as a kindergarten teacher. also uh had a teacher leader role in the Northport schools uh working collaborating with teachers to support uh learning and instruction there. Uh we're really excited about Tracy joining us and we want to officially welcome her to the district. So congratulations Tracy. Also with us tonight is Dr. Jessica Ryan. Uh Dr. Ryan's joining us from uh the Lindbrook School District. Uh 18-year veteran of the classroom uh primarily as
020a fourth grade uh teacher. Uh she also serves as as an adjunct professor uh at Mallaloy University uh where she's really done some outstanding work in in providing professional development uh for for teachers. Uh she's going to be joining us in in uh in the school district as a supervisor of elementary STEM uh where we're really looking forward to the work that she's going to bring to a district to support our uh our science and mathematics classrooms. Um once again a wealth of experience uh as I mentioned uh 18 years as a as a veteran teacher. uh we know she's going to bring a lot here to Wanto. So uh congratulations to Jessica and welcome. And then also uh two uh new members of our our teaching staff. Uh Nick Biano uh is going to
021be joining us as a special educator at uh at the middle school. Uh Nick has worked with us uh as in various leave replacement roles already uh over the past year. Uh has has really done a nice job with us. Uh so we want to officially welcome Nick to the district as well. Congratulations. And then uh Jacqueline McCriedi. Uh Jacqueline's joining us uh in the music department. She's going to be working actually across three buildings in the district uh providing support for our our coral program uh at Mandalay uh at the middle school and the high school as well as some general music instruction. Uh so we want to welcome Jacine and congratulate her. And then just a couple more updates for me. Uh one is uh summer facilities projects. Uh you can see the
022list that I have behind me. Uh we we're this is just kind of some of the bigger projects. We have a number of projects going on uh as many folks in the community are familiar with in uh December of 22. Uh we passed a a bond uh in in the district. Uh and and a a bulk of that was for infrastructure work. Uh so we're going to be doing some uh this summer we've already uh already in process electrical upgrades for all the HVAC work across the district as well as um a significant amount of HVAC work right here at the high school. We're going to be replacing all the unit ventilators uh in in all the classrooms uh in the uh in the in the high school this summer. Uh we're also going to
023be doing renovations for our bathrooms at Forest Lake. Uh we have 16 bathrooms, classroom bathrooms that are going to be renovated. that work uh began right as the uh the students left on Friday. Uh our our construction teams moved in uh to start that work. Uh as well as um roof replacements at at W Elementary School. We have a a significant portion of the roof that's going to be replaced. We did a smaller section last summer. We're going to be doing a larger section uh this upcoming uh this upcoming uh summer as well. Uh and then some significant cafeteria renovations. Uh we're going to be completely renovating uh the cafeteria here at Wah High School. Uh the demolition on that is beginning this week. Uh and the kitchens and the serving areas at all three
024elementary schools as well. Uh and that work is underway. So it's going to be a busy summer. Uh but we're excited about a lot of the the capital projects that will be be taking place across the district. And then one last update for me is the uh property at at Beach Street. You know, it's been an ongoing conversation uh the board's been having over the past couple years, but certainly over this past year uh about uh you know, what to do with this property. We had a a long-term lease. Uh this is the uh the original uh schoolhouse uh goes back to 1909. Um uh after it stopped serving as a schoolhouse, it it served as district offices uh until uh the early 1980s uh when uh it began to be leased in 1985. uh
025and uh and ever since then uh was was served as a a local daycare with we friends. Uh that lease has expired. Uh and we've been exploring different options in terms of that property. Uh so uh after reviewing that over the past year or so uh we're going to be exploring the potential sale uh of of that property. still a bit of a process to go through uh with that. Uh which includes uh you know doing some marketing uh appointing a a realtor to do that work uh as well as um uh you know finding the right uh right bidder for the the the potential sale and then um it would be a a public vote that ultimately would determine uh if the the property is sold. So we're still a ways off from that.
026Uh you know it'll happen over the next several months. Uh but uh just uh more point of information uh for the community and for the the board about that. Uh and with that, I'll just wish everyone a great summer uh and uh you know, looking forward to a great 2526 school year. I'll turn it back over to Mr. Greco. Thank you, Mr. Magname. Back to our agenda. Item D, approval of minutes. And item E, financials. and item E2. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item F, personnel. Item F1. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? I. Item G. Item G1. Item G2, item G3, and item G4, item G5, and item G6. Do we have a motion? Second. All in favor? Item G7, item G8, G9, G10, G11,
027and G12. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item G13, donations. The board of education would would like to thank the Teachers Federal Credit Union for a $1,000 donation to the Wanto Memorial 911 Memorial 5K run. We'd like to thank Legacy SP Limited for a $1,000 donation to the Wanto Warrior 911 Memorial 5K run. We would like to thank the Helix Contract Corporation for another thousand WTO Warrior 911 5K run donation. We'd like to thank the Mandalay PTA for their $80023 donation for the fifth grade field trip. And we'd like to thank the Mandandalay PTA again for a 2000 donation for the assembly world champion BMX rider Chris Pulos. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item 14. Item 15. Item 16 and item 17. Do we have a
028motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Item H, unfinished business. H1. We have a policy revision. Do we have a motion? Move. Second. Second. All in favor? Item I, new business, approval of committees on special ed and preschool special ed reg recommendations. And item two, districtwide safety plan. And item three, the district code of conduct. And item four, which is another policy re revision. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? I also have an addendum. Adendum A1, a memorandum of agreement with WHISA. Do we have a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? I do. We have a motion to adjurnn, Mr. President. I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. All in favor? I. All right. know if we have any organizations here this evening but Forest Lake PTA Manderlay PTA
029WA LPTA are 612 SEPTA PTA council sports boosters performing arts boosters or the foundation. Seeing no one, we'll open the mic up to public comment. Hello. How are you? My name is uh Joseph Patron. I'm a resident of Wanau. I'm um I'm a concerned parent. I have um three young kids. Um we actually um moved to Wanto recently and um concerned about this RNJ contractor that's doing work um in in uh your school. Um, so this R&J contractor, there's been a big buzz around. I've been seeing in the supermarkets. The parents are talking, a lot of parents are talking about this guy and um, also the parents brought up about this guy in in March that he's uh, convicted criminal, something like that. Um, I just I don't want, you know, this guy around, you
030know, our kids, you know what I'm saying? Um he's also not I know he's also not um paying um what he's supposed to pay to his workers. So I'm just uh reach you know wanted to just concerned about that. If he is awarded the job why why isn't he paying his workers you know what they're supposed to be paying. So just wanted to bring that up. Thank you. Hello, Moren O'Donnell. Um, you all know why I'm here. I'm just wondering was there is there anything updated about the lights on the field for this soccer club? Has there been any anything changed? Any new updates? No. Okay. Okay. And is there another meeting after like in August or so? Like if you don't have any updates, I could find out. Okay. All right. Just wanted to
031see if we could get some answers. Thank you. Sorry, I'm blind. My name is uh Raymond Festa. I represent District Council 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Yes, we're the guys out front. I appreciate the opportunity to speak this evening regarding the district's recent award of the cooperative bid for general painting and repairs contract to R.J. Painting, Inc. I believe the gentleman before mentioned it as well. Uh while the award has been made, the contract took effect today, July 1st. That means there's still time and a legal obligation for the board to reverse cost and in the interest of compliance, accountability, protection of public funds. Let's begin with the most urgent issue. RJ Paintings bid is below cost of and legally non-compliant. The bid 39 uh 93.99 an hour is mathematically
032incompatible of covering the labor costs required under labor law 220. Once you factor in the base wages, supplemental benefits, the mandatory employer contributions such as FICA, workers compensation, unemployment, insurance, disability, family paid leaveback, the true legal cost is approximately 110 and 81 cents. R.J. Paintings bid is $16.82 below below an hour. The legal cost considering their insurance and administration costs above that. A bid this low cannot comply with state labor law and therefore is non-responsive and irresponsible. New York State New York State Finance Law 1639F. A contract must be awarded to a responsible bidder defined by their financial capability to perform and comply with the law. The do prevailing wage manual states if a bidder is suspiciously low and does not demonstrate the ability to meet the wage obligation the bid may be rejected. This
033principle is backed by state controls procurement guidelines and reinforced by legal precedent. In Marriott versus uh Orange region medical center uh affirmed rejection of a bid that failed to account for prevailing wage obligations finding the bid non-compliant and ineligible. The matter of Granite Works versus the Town of Gates upheld disqualification for lack of financial capability. Uh the matter of LNL L&M I apologize. Uh Bus Corp versus New York City Department Edge confirming the agency may reject bids based on prior violations in legal incapacity. But the bid only is not the only is not only below cost. RJ Painting is non-compliant on multiple additional grounds. First, they do not possess the required EPA renovator certification at the time of bid. The bids were due on March 26th and the certificate was issued on March 29th, three
034days late. The district's own bid documents require certification to be valid at time of submission. The bidder lacks the required insurance coverage. The contract mandates $10 million embellar policy for elevated work above 10 feet. R.J. Painting has never held this coverage. and even even when they performed elevated spray work work heights of 30 feet in this district alone last year proceeds with the contract and includes such work without proper insurance violates your own terms and situation expose one to a district to unnecessary liability. Third, R.J. Painting has a documented history of prevailing wage violations confirmed by New York State Department of Labor, including violations on prior want to school district projects under this contract. affirmed rejection of a bid that failed to account for prevailing wage obligations, finding the bid non-compliant. Fourth, they are non-respons
035for failing to meet the contracts apprentice requirements. The bid requires the ability to provide a minimum of three apprentices. R.J. Painting claimed that claimed that they would affiliate with the ABC apprentice program if needed, but that program is currently under probation under section 12 NYC CRR6-18 uh program. A program on probation cannot dispatch apprentices on public works during this period. This is a representative material. The district should uh the district should ask did anyone directly contact the ABC to whether they're legally able to dispatch apprentices or capable to lo to want to schools. In summary, the bid is financially below legal labor cost. The bid lacked EBA certification at time of submission. The bidder does not carry the required insurance. The bidder has a documented record of wage violations. The bidder misrepresents his ability to
036require apprenticeships apprentices and multiple court decisions support rejecting such bid. For these reasons and on behalf of district council 9, I respectfully urge the board to withdraw withdraw the award from R.J. Painting and assign the contract to the next lowest responsible responsive and compliant bidder. Thank you. [Music] All right, we'll do this one more time. Alan Foley, I'm also with DC9, the painters union. Um, I think my partner there kind of summed everything up, but I'm just going to recap. So, Eastern SuffK Boseies has recently about a month ago rejected their bid. Longwood School District has rejected RJ Painting's bid just last week. It's all in their agenda, all in their minutes. Please feel free to double check. Uh they've been found guilty of prevailing wage violations multiple times in the last few years. One
037of which right on this property as Ray mentioned what uh this gentleman Joe here had mentioned. The owner killed someone drunk driving just back in March. Two weeks later sold the company to his daughter and son-in-law. Um, but he still receives profits as per the sale agreement, which we were able to get a copy of foiling through Boseies. Um, so we could either pretend he's a new company, in which case he doesn't have the five years experience that your contract requires, or it's the same company that can't get insurance in the United States, and literally liability insurance is through a policy through the Cayman Islands. Not I wish I was joking. That's an actual fact. Um, as of May 28th, and I'm sorry, that shady uh liability policy was in the former owner's name, the
038guy who's currently sitting in jail. Um, and it expired before the contract was awarded. As of May 28th, the district had not received a current insurance policy. May have at this point, but we haven't been able to get any kind of feedback whatsoever. Um, it was awarded to him anyway. They didn't have the EPA certification required at the time of bid opening. Um, you know, despite ourselves reaching out numerous times, other biders have reached out to protest this award, have gotten absolutely no response. Um, Senator Steve Rhodess sent a letter um concerned with the facts that were laid out to him and his office uh sent a letter to the district. I'll be happy to share that. That was that's dated March 31st. Um, again, the the the the protest provision under the contract. We
039know other contractors have other biders have protested this award, yet they've gotten zero response. I believe you have a legal obligation to respond to your bidders. Even if it's to say you disagree, some kind of response is warranted. I truly believe. And I I I believe you have a moral obligation to your students and taxpayers to pick a responsible contractor. Thank you for your time. Seeing no more, we'll close the public portion of the meeting. Mr. Magnamar will respond. Uh so as far as uh the field lights go, uh no updates there. Uh we still uh are in discussions with the soccer club, but uh not at any point uh where we have any type of final agreement. uh still ongoing. So, so really no new update there. Um as far as the uh the
040bid process goes, I'll I'll let uh Mr. Sedron, our assistant superintendent for uh business, just talk a little bit about the competiting bid bidding process that we use uh and how we go about appointing someone. Thank you. So, state law controls uh the competitive bidding process that districts need to follow. Um and it is uh awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Um, it does not require an award to union uh shops or labor. Um, it does require the payment of prevailing wage. Uh, that's a requirement of the contractor to meet under the bid. If they don't, that's an issue between the Department of Labor and the contractor. Um, so that that's how the process works. All of the items that were raised by these two gentlemen earlier uh have been vetted since the bids have
041been opened at the end of March. um and the the contractor who received the award. Like I said, those items have been reviewed to the satisfaction of the district. The answers that they're referring to that they're waiting for are forthcoming. Um they needed uh legal review and some back and forth, but those answers will be uh sent out and on their way. Thank you.