001hello and welcome today is Tuesday March 25th 2025 and this is the special governing board meeting of the Lichfield Elementary School District I am serving as temporary president this evening in the absence of board president Melissa zida I hereby call this meeting to order we will begin as always with the Pledge of Allegiance please join me and stand if you able for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all we will now observe a moment of Silent reflection thank you our next item on the agenda is item three public comment I believe we do not have any public comment this evening so we will move on to item four adoption of agenda and approval of consent agenda I will ask my fellow board members if they have any items they would
002like to remove from the agenda board member Owens I do not or member Mike's none for me or member wal plus none for me none for me as well so I will entertain a motion I move to adopt the agenda s agenda items as presented a second having a first from board member Owens and a second from board member Wallace I will call for the vote board member Owens yay board member Mike yay board member Wallace yay I am also a yay motion passes we will now move on to our action items the first is action 7.1 annual audit which will be presented by super vendor Davidson no ma'am M Mar I just wanted to let you know that Mr Von is here with us electronically tonight and so he is available as well as
003our partner I believe from heinfeld and beach so thank you the floor is to cfov Von Madame President members of the governing board superintendent Davidson colleagues and Community thank you for joining us tonight to discuss the district's annual financial and usfr compliance audits for the 2023 2024 fiscal year joining me tonight to lead the discussion is Eric Taylor partner of heinfeld meech the external audit firm that audits the district at this point I'd like to hand it over to Mr Taylor for his discussion of the audit um members of the board thank you for can you hear me it's green technical techn they're all shut up test test test test test okay members of the board uh thank you for allowing me to be here with you today uh we did complete the audit for
004the district uh this year and as usual it went very well thanks to Mr vaugh and his staff uh the district on the financial statements received an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion you can get that means we believe the financial statements are stated materially correct um we also performed a federal compliance audit and we tested your Esser grant that this year and there were no federal findings in that um and your financial statements had no uh findings that Rose to a significant deficiency or material weakness to go in the single audit report so that's excellent and we also uh conducted an uh State compliance audit and that's the usfr compliance questionnaire the district had only six uh deficiencies of non-compliance uh and to compare that of all our districts that we audit throughout
005the state the average is 15 so that's uh very good um very good uh result so um with that I can answer any questions you might have about the audit board member Owens yeah have no questions thanks board member mikees no questions for me Wallace no questions I don't have any questions either but I would like to say as a former external auditor myself that um we've always done a good job in this district and I know that cfov Von and his team put in a lot of time and effort so that it makes your job easier to um provide the information that's needed and I'm was happy to hear that everything was presented fairly I know some members of the public um recently there have been some other districts um here locally that have
006uh had run into some financial trouble and part of that warning system is is the external Auditors and the reports that they provide and those other districts or that one in particular um did have some warnings ahead of time and um so this is a I think a great Testament to the fiscal responsibility that our Administration provides that we get a um fairly presented fairly opinion um and and unmodified opinion with no material misstatements from our external auditor with that I will entertain a motion I move to accept the 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and the external Auditor's compliance findings as presented I will second having a first from board member Owens and a second from board member Mike's I will call for the vote board member Owens yay board member mikees yay board member
007Wallace yay I am also a yay motion passes thank you for your presentation we appreciate it next up is action item 7.2 approval of the guaranteed maximum price for tour Elementary School and this will be presented by director insen okay good evening Miss Moran members of the governing board we're pleased to present with you GMP number three for Troy Gilbert Elementary School this is the final GMP so we thought we would give you a little bit of an update on where we're at here's where we are we and where we've we've uh been we have the Democratic study that approved the acceptance of needing a new school we had a voter approved Bond the site selection and Boundary changes occurred the governing board approved to hir the architect and the CM RIS contractor Community input
008meetings occurred uh throughout the district the guaranteed maximum price number one was for long lead items that occurred about a year ago uh schematic design design development and construction documents have occurred guaranteed maximum price number two was approved this previous governing board meeting that included site prep um clearing the site and additional long lead items our next step is guarantee maximum price number three which is being presented tonight we are also working on land acquisition um that's basically just closing on the property the school facilities oversight board will be approving our adjacent ways uh verification assuming that we're uh submitting for our adjacent ways properly and per statute um that was submitted uh this morning to them for review construction start is spring of 2025 um you're going to see some track uh trailers out
009on the site any day now uh construction completion in summer of 2026 and I'm told that school opens in August of 2026 so we're right on board for that here's this uh the entire District the bright yellow star at the top is Troy Gilbert Elementary School site it's at the corner of Glendale and Perryville there's a site a shot of the site from the north uh West corner and this is the site as it stands right now that's going in for permitting um we're still working on the permits you can see in the blue those are all the buildings the green is the field um as you can see in those red little um squares that is your parent drop off one of the most important things for many of our parents as you can
010see we have a double uh pickup zone which we've kind of done at blino and verado Heritage and continuing that along with plenty of parking to the north is your school uh bus route where they're going to come in and leave so they're completely separate from the from the parents um you know several trees some Landscaping lots of sidewalks um and plenty of shade throughout you may have seen these previously here's a street view and some Courtyard views of the site these are just renderings from the architect some colors and actual elements may be changed just here and there here's a shot of a typical classroom you see the chairs and the tables the Cabinetry will look very similar to what we're used to seeing in a lot of our campuses there's the front office
011that is like I said a rendering so it may not look exactly like this with the coloring or with that uh dolphin you see in the corner I'm assuming that's not going be there some elements that we did consider uh during uh the design seped the crime prevention throughout environmental design that was a very big impact on our campus safe routes of schools to make sure that our students can get in and out of the campus safely and efficiently uh efficient use of spaces uh fiscal responsibility we were able to come in right on budget from what we were expecting on this project uh district and state standards and energy and Water Conservation placement of plants amount of turf things like that um support uh support departments from our food service uh it um Community
012Education I'm sure I'm going to miss a few Transportation um all had impacts on on the site and finally is it right for students making sure that what we're doing we're building and how we're designing it is it right for our students and of course of said it before the hundreds of thousands of decisions that have been made up to this point just to get off the ground is mindboggling when you sit and think about how many people have worked on this project designers Engineers uh City officials fire departments um it's quite the quite the uh group of people as you know we did select the name of the school um Mr Jank was a great part of that major Troy Gilbert Elementary and you've heard this already and you've read it before we're excited
013to be able to open this school with the great namesake and plenty of elements will be brought throughout that campus in his honor and we've already saw this slide any questions for myself Mr janky or Mr Stone board member Owens yeah I don't have any questions excited for it to get going great board member Mike no questions for me thank excellent board member Wallace I have no questions but I am also excited about our tenative Earth Day groundbreaking that sounds great has that been discussed a date members of the governing board um yes we have uh decided on a date which is April 22nd um that'll be also uh and a save the DAT section the country you'll be out of the country yeah I'm not in the country okay well we will this the
014first time hearing about this date I think yeah um it was just we we just confirmed that date here earlier with our with our colleagues on the um um on what date we were able to do it with core our core representatives and DLR who we're coordinating the groundbreaking with um there will be some on the uh this Friday's uh board report we have that and a few other save the dates that are coming up here in the next couple months okay great um I don't have any questions on this but I do just want to comment that I know this is an action item and I think we're going to talk about adjacent ways but before we get to that I want to say just for public um knowledge that this is a big
015dollar amount that we're approving tonight however it's been in discussions for almost a year now um really longer than that but in more detailed discussions for over a year so um we have put a lot of hours and time into this entire project as director insen um commented as well well and uh lots of uh teamwork has gone into this and and many people have gone into the decision-making process I would appreciate um principal jeny an update do you have an update on like mascot and colors and all of that I would love to hear about that yeah so that's actually what I was going to talk about next so um after we finally chose the name um the next part was to go out to stakeholders and get some ideas on what some possible
016mascots and then colors would be so um after we solicited some impact or some some feedback on that one of the names that was brought up would would possibly be Thunderbolts which is the mascot of the 56 Fighter Wing and all the Airmen that are at Luke Air Force Base another idea was to be the Trojans which means mighty warrior which is also major Gilbert's call sign another idea was the Jets which is which that mascot would cover all the planes that have flown at Luke and that will fly from Luke um another idea that was brought up was the guardian which certainly would embody what major Gilbert did as he protected others and what also what our Airmen do from Luke um and what we finally landed on was the aviators so um we
017felt like that embodies also what major Gilbert is and then just to try to really line things up um we are going to be a school that's built on leadership and we felt like Airmen and aviators are leaders so so we felt that lined up well and then the colors are going to be the Air Force colors which are blue and then a grayish silver excellent thank you does anyone have any further questions or comments before we move to adjacent ways I just have actually just one question and this is I mean I'm newer into the process with all this stuff but I was just uh maybe you could verbalize the SI the size of the school population wise is what it's being built for is about what about 1,50 okay is what we're looking
018for as far as students go okay um that'll go up and down depending on programming okay all right and then as far as the uh as far as um the additional piece with oh I lost my train B so K K8 it's build just a th over a thousand and if I think of my other question I'm going to come back to it but I'm going to write it down next time okay thank you okay great thank you I think we're ready to move on to the adjacent ways portion will that be cfov V okay I do want to make it clear um that I'm talking about adjacent ways tonight uh for information purposes the approval that's going on tonight is simply for the third uh GMP but I did want to get uh this
019adjacent ways information uh in front of the governing board uh and the community um and that'll become clear as to why in in just a moment so adjacent ways is a fund districts can utilize to pay for expenditures that assist with entry and exit off of District property and many times the improvements do not remain property of the district at our last update we had shared that our adjacent ways estimates were not fully accurate due to unforeseen uh complications with the site including having to complete a Half street leading up to the school and major sewer improvements would you mind switching the slide for me while the adjacent Wass fund can be utilized for those purposes adjacent ways funds do have to be generated before they're used adjacent ways resources are generated through a primary
020property tax in Maricopa County and it is truly a prudent financial management on the district's part to engage in the adjacent ways process this is because if you think about the major examples I gave on the last slide such as a street or sewer these are improvements that will be owned by others after the project we simply are required to construct them we we are always very mindful of the tax rates though so let's take a look at what we think the adjacent ways Levy may look like throughout the project for our taxpayers if you could switch the slide that'd be great thank you there are parts of the district's primary property tax rate that we cannot calculate at this point due to where we are in the state budget cycle however this slide shows
021the parts we can't speak to this year we levied $1 million in adjacent ways and there was 1.2 million uh levied to help pay for the quasim Meer tax settlement next year given governing board approval we plan to Levy $2 million in adjacent ways to support construction of Troy Gilbert despite the increased uh in adjacent ways Levy due to the one-time nature of the quas fire Levy and in uh increased assessed valuation the primary property tax rate should still go down given all the factors we know to this point in the final year of the project we believe we would need to Levy $1 million and the property tax rate from adjacent ways should cut in half next slide please the adjacent ways process must follow a very prescribed legal timeline with very little flexibility
022I've outlined that timeline on the slide it begins with publishing advertising and not notifying all newspapers in the district of our intent to hold a public hearing at least 10 days but not more than 20 days prior to the hearing and holding a truth and Taxation hearing and uh voting on the levy within um 3 days and mailing it uh the results to the property tax oversight commission at this time I'm available to answer any questions you might have board member Owen what board member my mic's not working I have no I have no question I don't check oh there we go um I have no I have no questions Ras no questions thank you um I don't have any questions but I just want to comment that I appreciate this being brought to the
023Public's attention because as CFO Von noted we will not be voting on this as a board until June but this will impact taxpayers tax bill as these adjacent ways um uh as the schedule is implemented over time and so I think it's always important to give the public more time to digest these things that are going to impact the property tax rates any further questions or comments on this item if not I will entertain a motion I move to approve right the guaranteed maximum price number three with Core Construction as presented I'll second having a first from board member Owens and a second from board member Mike's I will call for the vote board member Owens yay board member Mike's yay board member Wallace yay I am also a yay motion passes congratulations very exciting
024that's the that's the big piece um of the new school next on our agenda is item eight discussion items we will start with item 8.1 which is a first read of selected sections from chapter 4 good evening Madame President members of the governing board um in chapter 4 there is actually only one item that we have made changes to that is 44-22 Staff student boundaries um and the other ones that are presented for first read there were no additional changes I stand for any questions that you might have member oh board member Owens I have none thank you none board member Mike's none for me board member Wallace no questions no questions from me either you're getting off easy fabulous next up is agenda item 8.2 which is a first read of certain sections from
025chapter five well there are several uh adjustments and changes in this um policy we have 5-13 which is talking about attendance and excuse we have um homeschool students at 5106 we have 5201 flag display US Constitution Bill of Rights 5-22 students with disabilities 5-23 um which continues with the students with disabilities and 5-27 curriculum adoptions 5-29 School libraries media and Resource Center 5- 210 with special interest material uh 5- 212 student clubs and activities 5- 212a Oh that's procedure um 5-24 which was course activity and programs 5-25 loss and damages with deposits 5-26 promotion and retention of students 5- 218 Family Life Education and 5-29 Arizona online instruction the other areas uh for first read we did not have any changes are there any questions about the policies that we were making adjustments on board
026member Owens none for meard member Mike none weard member Wallace I don't have any questions about what we're making changes on but there was one portion that talked about reciting a part of the Constitution every day do our students do that that was one that was new for me as well we do have that's where the US Constitution and Bill of Rights moment of silence and Declaration of Independence we do have the flags displayed as well as the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in our seventh and eth grade the Declaration of Independence I've added to a list to make sure that our Middle School principles are aware of that that was not um on some of the information that we've done before so no currently we do not we'll make that adjustment and change
027for the future okay but as but as far as reciting it is what it says it it is the law and I went back and I double checked it so it looks like that was a change that's been made I don't know exactly when but probably in the last year or two yeah what page is that on I missed that is 5.21 that is um the flag display US Constitution and Bill of Rights so let me find it on the 80 ages that we have yeah we have 217 we did not take that out we yeah there was no changes to it I just as I was reading through it it was something and then I asked both of my children they're like No like is this correct it says a declaration of independence each
028student in grades 4 through six shall recite the following passage from the Declaration of dependence at the com commencement of the first class of the school day and so it's though we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are owed by their creator with certain unable rights that among these are life liberty in the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed should a student or the parent or legal guardian of a student object to the recitation of the passage set forth above the student shall not be required to parti participate okay so we will be potentially if this is approved by the board we will be implementing this as a policy that
029will begin in the fall correct okay and can you just for my own knowledge because I haven't been in elementary school in many years um tell me what else is required I I believe we do the Pledge of Allegiance we do the Pledge of Allegiance many of our schools do their school code of conduct or whatever they site we also do a moment of silence those are required okay I know the moment of Silent reflection is required um okay so that's very interesting okay would you like me to see if I can get additional information and send this in a Friday update okay yeah if you could get more information because I do feel like um if it is the law of course we want to abide by the law but if it is not
030the law then I really don't want to add something um to our teachers routines and plates um that is not required I agree completely I will um research more of that and I will get that to you in a Friday update okay obviously this tonight um is for discussion only do any other board members have any questions or comments about any of these policies there was obviously a lot of information in here and I wasn't objecting I was just hadn't seen that in practice so neither have we I'm just going to add to that I think it's challenging to ask a fourth grader to read this when they're not going to understand what it actually means so uh okay any other commentary all right then um that is the end of item 8.2 and the
031end of our meeting I I will entertain a motion motion to adjourn the meeting I second having a first from board member Mike's and a second from board member Wallace I will call for the vote board member Owens yay board member mikees yay or M Wallace yay I am also a yay meeting adjourned