001Stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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. 3.0 is to approve the meeting agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Seconded. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Agenda is approved. All right. 4.0 are acknowledgements and recognitions. Uh we don't have anything specifically uh this evening. Uh 5.0 are recognition of visitors and community comments. Uh, community comments is an opportunity for the public to address the school board on an item included in the agenda in accordance with the guidelines printed at the end of the agenda. Uh, we don't have anyone signed up for community comments tonight. Uh, but welcome
002to all our visitors here in the room and out there in cyerspace. Thanks for joining us here for our May 2025 business meeting. Um, all right. 6.0 are our reports and 6.1 is the principal report. Uh, good evening, Mr. Balanchi. Good evening, everybody. All right, the report seems small, but there's a lot going on these last couple weeks of school. Um, tomorrow we're going to have our last Satu student assembly of the school year. Um, that'll mark the point where we've recognized every single Satu student for being a junior Viking value, being responsible, um, being respectful, being their best. Um, so we'll do that tomorrow. And then just a list of activities that are coming up that um are open to families um to come and experience and see the hard work that their kids
003have been doing this year. On Friday, tomorrow, uh the art colony is putting on the K2 art show. It's all about northern Minnesota luminescence, things that glow and um light up. So, our kids have been spending the last couple weeks down there making art pieces and those will go on display tomorrow after school and be I'm not sure how long they're going to have that display going, but it will be it's a month a little bit. Yeah. Um and then next week, Friday, is our Sautu spring concert. Um families are invited to come in and see the kids sing and play. And then, uh Miss Barers is bringing back the Saut Mountain Elementary talent show. And there are, I think, 30 interested acts. so far. So, there's going to be a lot of work to
004whittle that down to 10. We only have time for 10 acts. Um, and that's going to be on Friday the 30th. Um, families of performers will be invited to come in. Otherwise, um, all of Sawtooth will be there and then the families of performers. And then our big field day is happening on that Monday. We come back for those two days. Kindergarten graduation on the third, the last day, and then a fifth grade recognition ceremony as well on the last day. Um, and then next week on Wednesday, we're going to recognize our senior scholarship award winners at our um, awards night in the ACA. Um, last year we did it um, in the ACA and I think we there was over $300,000 in financial aid and scholarships and stuff handed out to the graduating seniors
005last year. So, um, that'll be pretty cool. We're doing that next week. And then our eighth graders are gearing up. there. Um, not all of them, but quite a few of them are going to be going on a Boundary Waters trip. Those last two days of school, they're going to show up to school um get bust up to an outfitters, paddle out, do some camping, paddle back in, and get back to school um by the end of the day on that last day of school. So, that's uh being led by Miss Spoon and Miss Walstrom. So, we're really excited to get that going. Um and then just uh some community announcements. Just wanted to recognize last night we had a great um turnout at the Grand Portage Student Awards banquet. Um uh I read over
006107 uh names of students K through 12 in um ISD166 school. So it was a really great event. I want to recognize Mr. Balanche. I've like sat through six of these things. Sarah actually said it because I was just kind of like, "Oh, things are going really good." And Sarah's like, I've never seen uh any any of the principles, especially from town, do the 107 names correctly or whatever correctly, but but like not too fast, not too slow, like you know, there can be a lot of situations like she he knocked it out of the park. I got to concur. Thank you. No, it was a great it was a great event. There was a lot of people there, too. It was so so great to see. Um so just wanted to recognize that. And
007then of course on May 31st, big day when um all of our seniors um walk across the gymnasium floor and get their diplomas and just want the community to come out. I know last year was my first time seeing a Cook County graduation ceremony. I was blown away at how big of a community truly a community event it is. It's not just families there, but the whole community showed up and so looking forward to that. Awesome. What time is that senior scholarship award? 2:30. 8:30. Y cool. I also just tack on that the eighth grade uh trip to the Boundary Waters is part of our partnership now that we have with Friends of the Boundary Waters. They've been inserting themselves into our school slowly but surely. A little more, a little more here, a little
008more there, and this is the next step. So, we're happy for that part partnership. And this is a day job uh question, but like still pertinent to the school board. Um, so do you work with the lady who is now the full-time person here in Grand Marray with that or that's who's helping coordinate. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're excited about that. Thanks to them. That's a good partnership. Is that Sarah? I believe that sounds right now. Sounds great. Yeah. She and I actually have talked about it face to face, but um Yeah. Awesome. All right. Yeah. Thank you so much. Good luck with the last couple weeks of school here. Got this. All right. Um, next up is 6.2, the superintendent report. Mr. Lindholm. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You can see
009in the packet, there are a few updates there. Um, in our agenda later this evening, there is kind of the renewal of the agreement of the joint powers agreement we had with the YMCA in years past for custodial staff of our district to clean the Y. uh when that was in operation that worked really well and it was good for the district and good for the county. Um we we stopped doing it kind of for Quinn and Eric's sake uh because we lost an employee and just couldn't replace them. There were no applicants and so we dissolved the JPA um we're hoping to get um an applicant or two uh this time around. If we don't then this doesn't really happen. If we can find a good applicant, then it does. Um but it's definitely
010a win for the district. it brings on for us another full-time custodian uh that we could move in all of our different needs and parts and um throughout the district. Uh enrollment projections for next year are looking good. Um right now our kindergarten projections are exceeding what we projected before. Uh in our projections we we said 17 for next year and we feel like we have at least 20 um coming our way. So uh we're happy about that. Uh and then just a shout out to our um teacher development and evaluation system task force. They've wrapped up their work. Uh we met five or six times throughout the school year, put together a brand new evaluation system for our faculty. That will be coming to the board uh probably in June after the union approves
011it. Uh so they'll approve it, then you'll get a chance to look at it. Uh it's based on the Danielson framework which we've been the art and science of teaching which we've been looking at and immersing ourselves in for the last couple of years. It's uh directly aligned to high reliability schools. Uh and I'm really proud of the way the the team worked together as a team to get it there. So we'll bring that back soon. And then last but not least, just this morning announced uh the legislative leaders and the governor uh have agreed on a the budget targets for the next bianium. Uh so finally after a long slog with those targets in place uh now the the devil's in the details, right? Like what how does that trickle down into all of
012the education dollars and policies uh that will play out. So we'll find out a lot more over the next couple of days. Um it's been mentioned already that there's likely going to be a very brief special session to complete all the different pieces, but I'm anticipating obviously we know we probably have the 2.7 uh gened inflationary factor for next year. Um, but what else is the big question? So, we'll find out over the next few days. That's all I got. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. 6.3 is our student school board member report and we've got Greta Young Doll here with us tonight. Good evening, Greta. Good evening. How are you doing? Good. How are you? Good. Are you getting excited for the end of the school year? Yes. I'm so excited. Good. All
013right. Um, good evening to you all. Uh, May has been a really busy month as the school year starts to wrap up. Um, with finals coming up, end of year events, and everyone getting ready for summer, there's a lot going on. One of the biggest highlights this month was prom night, which took place on May 3rd. It was held downtown at the North Point building. And to make it even more special, the street was closed off and covered with a big tent. The theme this year was Monte Carlo, and the decorations definitely brought that vibe to life. There were playing cards, gold accents everywhere, and a classy casino style feel throughout the venue. We had a live DJ, kept the energy up all night, and it was really fun because I've actually never been to
014a dance that had a DJ before. Uh, everyone seemed to have a great time, and it was definitely a night to remember. Our clubs have been busy this month. Our three Environ teams traveled to Clo forestry Center to compete at sections on the 5th. One team made it to state. Uh, they got fourth place and the top four go to state. So, they'll be traveling to Wolf Ridge next Monday to compete. And on Monday, the Unified Club and the Junior Unified Club, so like all the special education elementary students, took a field trip to the Lake Superior Zoo. It's a beautiful day and they all had a blast. Hot. Yeah, it was like it was 80° in the direct sunlight. It was It was really hot. Um, our sports teams have also been very busy
015this month. Tonight is our last softball game at home, which is actually happening right now. Uh they won their first game the other day against Stella Maris and our baseball team is 1 and seven. They're also playing right now. They have seven games left in their season. Our track team just ran their conference meet yesterday and lots of people did really well. And next week there will be subsections where they compete to qualify for sections which then leads onto state. Um our middle schoolers have been very busy the last few weeks. Eighth grade has been in preparation for their autobiography graduation ceremony. And seventh grade had a very successful night with their amp performances, which is art, music, and poetry. Students had the chance to recite their poems in front of the community. They got
016the chance to present their art and perform their songs they put together as well. They also had to show off their musical skills at the middle school high school band concert on Monday. It's been a very busy and exciting month as we headed into the final weeks of school. With summer right around the corner, graduation coming up, we're looking forward to finishing the year strong. That's all I got. So, thank you guys for your time. And if you have any questions, feel free to email me. Well, yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, that that is like a nice breath of topics in this report. Lots of stuff going on. What's What's the What's the vibe in the school right now? people are getting excited or are we just focused or No, I think everyone's like just
017like slowing down and just not in it anymore or at least for me. But I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's almost there. So, you guys got this. You guys got this. All right. Thanks, guys. Cheer. Thanks. Good luck with the rest of the year. Have a good night, guys. All right, 7.0 is our consent agenda. Um, if there's anything that needs to be pulled for further discussion, uh, speak now. Otherwise, uh, we just need a motion to approve it. Motion to approve. I'll second. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Those opposed agenda is approved. All right. Um 8.0 are discussion and action items. 8.1 uh is to accept the April expenditure revenue report April um which is in the packet. And we don't have uh Teresa with us tonight, but did you
018want to fill in for her? Yeah, I can just make a few editorials. Um it looks different. Uh you'll notice that Teresa put in here our um revised budget for current year and then some preliminary budget numbers for next year. So I'm just trying to plan ahead for um inflationary rollups and things for the year ahead. Um but looking at current year uh things are very much on track. You can see that um on the expenditure side um things like regular instruction and special education instruction and pupil support are trending you know down in the 60 percentile of budget spent. Uh that's because a lot of that is annualized and it catches up in June, July and August as people get paid uh for the what you would think of as fourth quarter of a
019corporate cycle kind of thing. Um, so that all trends out exactly at as it should to be at 72% in our general education uh is about spot on right now. And then on the revenue side, we're it's a little faster. Of course, our our money's coming in coming in uh and we're doing just fine. So in that revised I we expect to hit revised budget pretty spot on, especially since we just revised it. So it's all good. Okay, great. And here you you also see the big bond referendum dollars in there as well. Uh that when those debt service and construction are effect construction. Okay. Yeah. Great. Um questions if if not we just need a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the April expense revenue report. I'll second. Any further discussion? All those
020in favor? I I. Those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.2. Uh, we got a discussion and a visitor from ICS for construction updates. Uh, so Matt with IC is here. You want to come on out? Thank you, Mr. Shirley. Yeah, I'm Matt Hughes with ICS, project manager for the project coming up here. Um, so I'll just give a brief update. Um, we're still working through design. So two months ago I was in front of you guys virtually for the SD board approval. So since we approved that we're firmly now in DD phase which is the design development phase. We're wrapping that up at the end of May here. So the due date from the con for those documents is May 30th. Um beyond that um IC will do our own internal estimate which will be
021a lot more pinpointed than schematic design. Schematic design. We're still working through square footage numbers, wall layouts. Um all that stuff's kind of firmed up now. We've held multiple user groups between um myself, DSGW um one of the design consultants um in person here. Our last inerson round of that was uh April 2020 board of with a couple virtual um user groups following that for some more discussion groups. So we're kind of with the school as much as we can here kind of wrapping up that user group aspect and leaving that ND phase. Um, next month I'll be in front of you guys in person here with a very similar presentation that SD be a lot more formal hands on just narratives which you kind of got walk through at that meeting there. So, but
022in the background that's what we're doing roughly 15 internal design meetings at this point. Um, soil baring work has taken place. Um, we're wrapping up site survey and picking up a couple more items just to the very complex site here. Um, rock conditions, stuff like that. held a pack meeting this afternoon. Um I think that was our fourth or fifth PAC meeting. So um not any concerns at this point. Um yeah, that's kind of a construction update. Hopefully everybody's seen the updates I pump out monthly and those are getting distributed. Um and always reach out to me if you have any questions on those. Matt and the team have been busy and it's uh probably one of the big questions of concern for the group here is like budget. I know we haven't really worked
023down much of it yet, but do you have any like just quick thoughts on where we're at in the budget goal? So, as we reviewed in the PAC meeting and I think that'll get distributed to the school board too as we have an overall budget summary. We've been tracking some dollars. Um, we are tracking interest earning dollars, $1.675 million of interest earning. We're kind of leaving that as unallocated funds for right now, just pending design development estimate. Then once we kind of get that estimate firmed up at the pox choice or the scoreboard's choice, we can kind of allocate those dollars to some design aspects. So, um, typically we try to save those till the DD estimate is complete because between DD design development and the CD construction down phase, we're not expanding square footage
024at that point or adding too many walls. It's all minor minute items. So, it could be paint colors or tile height on a wall or something like that, but it's not it's not$100,000 $200,000 changes typically. So, if anybody gets old the budget summary, you're going to see a green box at the bottom that shows us how a surplus of 1.66 six right another thousand $100,000 depending on playground donation. So yeah from Lloyd K. Johnson. Yeah. And a lot of the thinking right now for the three me board members that are not on PAC is um you know hold that 1.6 million carefully for right now because there's so many unpredictables with um going out to bid in September, October, November and all the millons that just gonna sit kind of wait. But if we're going
025out per voters, don't we want to be clear on we don't want to be ambiguous about that or we do? Well, it's it's just it's part of that $24 million referendum, right? It's just that's that and then what we go out to voters for is a whole separate pot of money for a whole separate project. So, you know, I mean, they kind of overlap, but they don't really in what's this what do we send to the state the review and comment? We have to kind of be clear about different pots of money. I mean it's really nice to have that getting interest because it gives you a big fat contingency which right now going out to bid with the tariff stuff going up and down really nice to to have that just to have it.
026We are tracking a contingency beyond this $1.660. So there's a million dollar not included with that. So more or less right now you could say it's $2.6 million contingency factor project which makes me feel better knowing the environment we're in. for sure. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it, Matt. All right. Um Okay. So, 8.3 um is to approve the approval matrix um on the bond project. Here we go. So, this has been in front of the board a couple times. The pockets seen it multiple times. Um ultimately uh ICS does this with all of their projects to just set up matrix of decision making. Um this is this is boilerplate standard what we do and they do and you know most of their projects and it's a living breathing document we can change whenever
027if we have to. So um the recommendation tonight from ICS and myself is just approve it and then we'll implement and if we feel the need to change we'll revisit whenever. Um, but nothing has been changed since the last time it's been in front of and this is it's basically how a decision would be made in the event of changes. is kind of like is where this comes into play once we mostly once we get into construction which is out there quite a way still. Yep. So if there are any questions or anything fire away otherwise we just need a motion motion to approve. I'll second it being quiet. I'm quiet. Further discussion. All those in favor? I I. Those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.4 is discussion item on regarding the bond referendum 2025
028potential year. All right. So, um, this is probably the meat of our meeting. A lot of what we have coming up after this on the agenda is pretty uh quick and easy. So uh welcome to Lori Christensen. She's on screen via Zoom. And you know the purpose of our time now is to circle back to the conversation about the pursuit of a referendum in November of 2025 and what's included in that, what's involved in budget and um you know kind of the recommendation to go forward with a referendum. Um Lori, do you want to start off or do you want me to start off or how do you want to handle that? Well, let's should we start off with the ILRB? Do you want to kind of give a recap of our conversation? Okay. So,
029per our board meeting last time we met uh there was some questions about well if we go to for a referendum for five, six, seven million, what does our triple RB want? What's their uh scenario? Since then, um Lori and I met with Whitney and it's Roy, right? I think at le um in preparation for their board meeting, which I think is on May 29th. And um they were of course surprised to learn that some things have shifted and changed in the project. Uh but Lori did a really good job of articulating why civil engineering is kind of ruled out that second stall of the gym. uh from a need to keep that multi-purpose field um argument and the realities with water. Uh and also Lori did a good job of talking about how some
030of the soil boring data and um some of the site challenges with elevation and how it just drops off to the east and to the southeast so significantly has added a lot of dollars, a lot of money for Phil. So, um, she was able to articulate, I think, quite well, to their satisfaction, uh, that, uh, this was basically taking the same amount of money for that we were asking for before and and putting it into the the stadium and the project because of increases in cost. So, at the end of that conversation, you know, their understanding was that uh, it was a match, a 50-50 match, and it'd be a $7 million gift with a $7 million bond referendum to fulfill all the things that were in question. too. The auditorium, baseball field updates, the
031multi-purpose field, throwing stations, jumping stations, all of that. Um, and so then, uh, following that, uh, in board notes tomorrow, I have a link for you all, uh, to the documents we sent to RV. It's the full I don't know 20 page narrative uh that we sent them that IC IS helped prepare and then the budget that laid out a $14 million budget seven and seven um at the end of that. So that's the where that meeting ended. Anything you want to add to that, Lori? Uh just the only other it was kind of like a data request and the only other thing was what you see on tonight's board agenda for approval is just making sure we have the right language in that resolution. Yes. Yeah. So item number 8.5 in your agenda is
032a repeat approval of a resolution we already approved but the name of the fund at the very top was the wrong name. So it was a clerical mistake. You know our bad. So, it's the same thing. It's just the technicality for the $7 million donation. Yeah. And and it was they have been uh reaching out to other districts, too, that are in um trying to g get some of the funding um with the same type of questions. So, I mean, they were, you know, just doing like their due diligence before their board meeting and and in preparation for that. Um, I think it would be great for Chris and I to be at that meeting. I don't think we have anything that we could angle for, but at least that personal presence I think would
033be positive um to help just secure those those funds that they're willing to give. But no, Chris, you sum that up really well. Um, any questions on that or thoughts on that? So, I have a question. Um, we had they had talked about 7 million when we had the uh the other gym, an extra gym and then uh that was about $2 million, right? So is it is the changing the stadium such a so much so expensive that it we're at 14 million then instead of whatever it was nine more because that's that's significant I mean to me yeah I mean it is significant amount of money um and just kind of looking at everything that with like the additional like patio and how we want to lay out the fencing and and security of
034the the field. Um yeah, it really did end up being a lot more just to do the the the um football field. We are carrying a little bit of um and it also has an auditorium too, so don't get me wrong, it's not just the football, but we are we are giving ourselves a little bit of a buffer. um just because we don't know what we might get get into um with the soil. And so there is a little bit that as we move into design could maybe be a little more flexible on adding some additional scope but not to the point of building a gem. I'll just add that in the conversation with Roy uh there was a dance there of um uh because he asked the same questions Arena he was very poignant
035about that and um so we had to we had to go towards when it was seven it was a five and a two and it was a you're going to go after and and do what you have to do to get that second stall of a gym. That was kind of their deal back six months ago. Um, in the absence of that, it it felt very much like they wanted to hear 5050. Okay. Um, and so for us to say we were going to go six and seven, I think we would they would have went it'll be six and six. So, so I'm curious, did was there a conversation about five and five? Because that wouldn't come close to covering the total cost of the project at this point. Okay. So, have we seen updated
036numbers since our last meeting? She can show you the one that was submitted to IT RB that you'll see tomorrow. Do you have that pulled up for us? Yeah, I have to find my share like the big green button in the middle that says share. But we've also taken stuff out like we took out that row. Yeah. Says I'm not allowed to share. Chris, could I Oh, let me fix that. And I think part of it too was when the original questions were scoped um I'll try. It was with less information than we have now. Like we've since done all that soil boring and stuff which has given us a more like realistic cost estimate. Sure. So but which has driven some of the cost. It's my understanding that the what they're talking about the
037design is working with where the field is now. Yeah. There and not moving it uh to the which direction is that? The east. East. Yep. So, we're we're kind of working with what's already there and just changing some things around, right? It's a significant expansion, actually. Uh we got to go back to the north as far as we can go. Um are you seeing the right screen? Just so I know, I can't tell. We are seeing the stadium right now. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So, if you look at about um look at the track on the north side on the west end there, you see a light spot. That light spot is actually where the current bleachers are at the 50 yard line, right where she's pointing out. So, uh, it is moving. It's moving probably
03825, 30 yards to the east, uh, to make room for the track and the jumping space on both the east and the west end. Is that large white spot? Is that the bleachers? I'm trying to correct read it. This is Yeah, that's correct. Thank you. and then long jump off to the east of that. Um, and so right where it is placed question last time and the elevation drops off significantly at about the I don't know 30 or 40 yard line on the east end of the field. So there's a ton of fill coming in there um just for that um in that whole area and that's where the cost just goes right through the ceiling. And we, you know, this fencing that we have here, I mean, I would say in discussion or in
039design, we could have a a discussion and it, you know, do we need this? Do we want this? Um, you know, we actually have a nice a chain link fence around the whole uh field or complex uh just for football games or whenever you're going to actually charge to get into an event. Um, not saying they'd come through here, but maybe. I don't know. Um and it could be for safety. So some of that conversation how how do we want to secure the the um field could be just you know it still is conceptual. I just want to say that. Um but we're just recommending that we include some dollars in there. Um and then yeah this drops off right now quite a bit. I think about right here it starts to drop off. And
040then there's a lot of tree coverage here that needs to be all this would be filled in. These darker double areas here. This is a retaining wall. I guess you it's labeled here, but that's a retaining wall that would need to be constructed. Um we also have another retaining wall on this this side too. Um so significant infrastructure that needs to be put in just to secure the the field itself. Um and discussion we've had with um taking out the road and taking out the other stuff that we had. Um I've seen a couple of stadiums where uh imagine walking in paying your ticket and having the concessions and the bathrooms there kind of where the concession stand is now. Um but then um think of that whole area from there walking around the west
041end of the track. Instead of it being like a bumpy grassy/gravel space where people sit on lawn chairs, imagine that the outer edge of the track is a retaining wall and a short fence because the elevation from the top of that down to the track is could be a 3 to fourft drop. So you'd have a what we did in Peekquat is we had a small retaining wall there and then a 4ft fence and then we used that as a patio and had picnic tables all the way around and a place for people to tailgate and eat their concession food and hang out at much like people like to hang out on the hill now on blankets and on chairs. It became a favorite place for people to watch the game eating their hot dog
042and whatever. Um, so that could easily be a more of a formal ADA compliant for wheelchairs and stuff. Um, patio going around, but some things to make it. And then what we did then and is once we did that, then that became kind of a stage for like concerts for end of year party or whatever, maybe kids down on the field and there was a band up there playing. Lots of ways to make it multi-purpose. Um, if you give it a nice space uh for people to hang out uh before a game or a long long track me or whatever. Uh so lots of lots of ideiating going on here right now. So the elevation comes down quite significantly. Will be lower than they currently are. Maybe maybe not. I mean that'll be something I
043think Carrie will have to play with, right? because like that far northwest corner is the high point and then it drops a little bit going down to the bleachers currently. Um and you know in the southwest corner it's actually at grade with the field, right? So it'll be a matter of going up high enough to level off that patio so it's level not going up um for ADA compliance and then just keeping it level all the way over to the bleachers for wheelchairs and the ramp and all of that. Uh, so I wouldn't envision it would go down too much because it's kind of neat having it up above like that. We've talked about that view that we and then you can see the lake spending millions of dollars for but you know Yeah. Why
044drop it if you don't have to, you know, and you can keep it up there. So that's also in the trees right now. So it it will require some grading and blah blah blah filled. So can we see like a like the thing we saw last week that Dan was like this is you know I spent this x amount on a pole building da da da can we see that updated just really rough not really granular. Um this was what we sent to ILrB for um the funding just so we're they wanted to see that updated how we're getting to 14 million. Um, and so you can just see still the bus. This doesn't include the I think this was a line item you had seen before, but this doesn't include that drive anymore, but
045you have the the bus maintenance garage still included. Here's those upgrades to the the track and that's the total the outdoor learning, the concessions and the parking along with that storage building and the bleachers. So, kind of a breakout of that. I can if you needed me to to find I could I'm just wondering how much are we spending on Phil? Like how much are we pushing this project? And I feel like more and more I hear it's like trying to put an elephant on this table. Like it I don't know. It just seems like we're just pushing this thing so hard. And I don't know if the site is really viable for what we're trying to do without like spending billions on gra a million dollars on gravel. It's funny because you know there's
046plenty of rock up here. It seems like it should be well. So I just So maybe the question is you know how reliable do we think that budget is, right? Like is it is 14 million it? Are we going to are we going to get our project for that? Because kind of to Green's point like we originally thought it was going to be 9 million to do this and now it's 14. Well we feel like that's still good. I guess I mean this is kind of what you know I was getting at anyway. um like hypothetically and this is all just based on a feel from when Chris talked to him like do you think if you decided and again I'm not this is a he like oh we don't need the bus garage you
047know knock million off is then like would they say great six and six or is it they're doing seven we need to do seven and we need to fill out that much you know what I mean like do we have is it are we spending seven and seven period and we just have to fit our projects in budget to that. I I think they've probably already sent out board packets for the 29th and you know that like that that's out out the door. Yeah. Yeah. So that that's kind of what I'm getting at. Like that's regardless of how we do it. If we want to do the do this and do it with that money from the B, we need to hit that. So, so I'm wondering, let's let's just say when it gets further
048down the road, we realize we need 12 million instead of 14 million. They do seven, but maybe if we say no, we're actually going to bond for six, then they just give us six. I think they would do it. I That's what I'm asking. kind of I I think that the triple ILR and I've worked with a couple of things now. They're not like state funding where you have all these rules and different I mean they kind of it's a little more political and it's like you know all the representatives get to give out money to their constituents. I mean it really is like that. You go there for one of their meetings where they're approving stuff. They don't even ask you a question. They just like to see that you're there. It's really different
049there. So, I would think, well, we got an awful lot of questions this last week. Well, I know you really point is is if you said, you know what, you proved seven, but we're only going to bond for five or six. Then they're, you know, and it's a 50% match, they're going to keep their extra million. I think they're not going to take it all the way. Yes. That I mean, that doesn't make sense. But maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong on that, but that's my sense of it. But I don't see these projects generally going down. Oh, I know. I a problem. I I guess what I was curious and this is kind of I was saying last time too. I mean, is there is there reason to look at this and say like, oh,
050we could save money here, or is it does it not matter because we have a floor of what we need to question. And I would also ask ourselves what what has been spoken out to the public up until this point and what I have said publicly on the radio is that PMA run that you all saw like six, seven months ago, that was $4 per month on a $400,000 house. That number is seven and seven. It's 14. But so that's what's been communicated. Um it was more of a five and a two and all that, you know, when we were talking about it. But the run that they ran and what I said on the radio was $4 for a $400,000 house. At the end of the day, it's still I mean, you're still saying
051we went out and found $7 million, right? You know, and that $4 was $11 last November. Yeah. if that makes sense. And the reality with inflation is that if we're like, "Oh, this is something we want in the long run and we don't do it now, it's just that much more expensive later without the $7 million match." Can I see the chart again? I'm curious. I want to soak that in a little. This is the different than the numbers we looked at two weeks ago. Significantly. Yeah, it was rearranged because we got took out the road and took out the um dome stuff and put more into this stadium. So, it's three quarters track field softball baseball upgrades which should get you an awfully nice facility. Uh which I think kind of tracks with um
052to the degree the survey that we saw on the priorities. I mean because you know what were the high priorities the track obviously and then ADA compliance ADA you know compliance seating and everything I wonder how much of that was high because no one would give it a one yeah I wonder like I can't imagine that someone would say I really don't want that you know right but anyway yeah but those same people who are like it's all about the sports are going to have the same argument well that's why you have performing arts improvements at the but a smaller number. Well, the new bus maintenance garage toward the top and then put the other stuff down. We don't want people saying it's all about bus maintenance. Should have moved out living spaces on top
053too just for the optics. Well, I mean, I I don't think it matters that much whether we're asking for five or seven million in terms of the tax impact on people. I think it was an easier cell. We said, "Hey, we're getting seven. All we got to come up with is five." That was an easy That was a great talking point, but I mean it's not still a terrible talking point, but Well, no. I mean, I think the the opportunity to get that much money sort of basically without strings attached is kind of an amazing opportunity for us that um you know I I don't know what the exercise of us going through here and being like I mean what I would like to I know we have more information when we came through um
054and did the site surveys as a part of site one which helped clarify what the actual cost of this would be which drove the price up a little bit. There's some politics going on with the budget because of how I triple RB and whatever's we've been talking to them about numbers. So there it's fair enough, but how much we want to come in and so I would, you know, appreciate assurances that this is a reasonable budget for the project that we're trying to do and that we're going to be able to pull it off. And then how much how how is it a fool's eron for us as board members to come in here and be like well I don't know if I believe that number you know what I mean like I don't know
055that that's where this conversation needs to to live you know like kind of picking that those numbers apart I think oh I believe those numbers you know yeah I don't think that that's what people are saying I just think there's so much other uncertainty out there yeah It's it's just, you know, it's it's more there's more risk this time around, I think, in in terms of it. And but I mean, at the end of the day, we put out our best proposal and we asked the voters to do that, you know, and they decide and these numbers aren't different than we saw two weeks ago because two weeks ago, we're like, well, maybe we could expand our project because there's we get 14 million. It's totally it's made and so I think it's worth it
056to to note that this is different than what we looked at and to ask why you know I don't think that's and essentially I mean I think we essentially in some ways are expanding because there's some more features of the track I mean the patio area that kind of I mean basically more money I know we're putting more money into it because of needing more fill but also more money is going in to improve access and and take out the dome number that was in there a few weeks ago and right which is over half a million then it doesn't show a half a million like extra that we can and Lori was clear that there's cushion in here uh to do some upgrading. So when we go like this, so this is obviously a
057real high level budget that super we need for now the other part of this process is doing a review and comment with the state in which we'll provide them with some level of a narrative and budget as well right more granular than this or like I'm just wondering like in terms of like how when we when we actually get into the divi real design phase and like really throwing money at it like how much leeway there is with this, you know, in terms of I don't think it'll be um the difference. Yeah, I guess we would show that the the 7 million, you know, only half is going to be asked of the voters. Um I don't see this being required to be more granular for the review and comment. Typically, when it comes to
058learning spaces, they have different requirements and want to know what each space costs. um type of space I should say. So I could see MDE being very similar to this if if we want to strategize and communicate and look as a board. I mean we can do that. I mean we could if if we think it's beneficial for the community to see a breakdown of every detail. We can you know look at being more granular. Um, it's just depending on is that going is that what we want to focus on or do we want to focus on, you know, the the the opportunity, I guess. So, I I could go either way and I kind of I'd be open to how you guys are. And doesn't it feel a little bit like if there's a
059change order or something if we got too granular in our publications that it's just more of a make people upset? Well, yeah. I'm just wondering more about like when we're actually designing and if there's a buffer in here like how are we actually going to you know that would be for sure we'd have more detail come come to the design um you know that's where Matt and the design team then Matt would go well I guess he'd probably have the level he has now in SDS you can correct me if I'm wrong Matt um or what we have and then as you get into DDS really get more granular on on that budget. It's no different than let's say we get into uh mid 2026 getting into 2027 and we're still a million and a
060half ahead on the $24 million first question project. We'll come back to the board and say, "All right, we have some extra um assets. How do we want to go about um upgrading to the project or adding to, you know, our our plans?" So we would be having that conversation when we know we got to that point where it's safe to have that conversation and we don't still need the million and a half sitting in a bank. So, um, I I actually lived through that in Peekquat because I walked into a project where it was a third, twothirds of it done. And surprise, we had an, you know, at the end we had almost a million dollars that we didn't know we had as we were getting now that I don't think that'll happen this
061time around, Matt. I'm not saying it will, but that I have navigated that and the board circled up and said, "Well, these are three or four priorities that we were hoping we could do that we didn't plan for. Now, let's put them back on the table." um and we implemented them and it turned out really good. Um it's just got to fall kind of within that big overall scope of the review and comment which is why to carry point you kind of write it big picture in vague so that you've got wiggle room in there. You don't want someone to fall in love with one thing that goes away and we know that we have like probably 2.6 six million sitting there between what was putting and interesting, but that's on the 24 million fund.
062So now you go over and let's say this all passes and we run and we have extra money on the first one and we run into problems on this one. Would we be able to use that bond money over here? That's a good question. Lori, what do you what's your thought on this? Well, I I can go both ways because technically um you're going to be limited on what you can use that for in the the language of that referendum. So, we'd want to find something that, you know, is it site improvements? Um I'd have to read through that language again. You know, can we use it for you know, maybe that goes towards your throwing events and things that kind of are in proximity and and affected. What's that? and fit fet. Yeah. Yeah.
063Um if you talk to PMA because I last week at MASPO is talking to Steve and and Michael and they're like, oh yeah, you can use it towards this if you want if you need to. It's like okay well you know I don't want to make a promise right now but you know I think there is definitely some flexibility and uh in those bond pro on on the investment dollars not your necessarily your original bond. So you could maybe use on the original one for the outdoor learning spaces that's educational like that, but you might not be able to use it on say you know uh discus throwing but you might be able to use it on some ADA compliance because that was clearly in question. you know, so there are some ways to crosswalk
064side find ways and some site, you know, we're going to maybe have some dup duplication and you know, what kind of site work are we doing here to flow into here? Is there, you know, anything that may may kind of overlap a little bit? Um, we're going to be doing some staging over here, I believe, and then we'll be repurposing. So there could be some opportunity to use some of those dollars towards this project if need be. Um ideally though we would have a buffer in this project. Um the buffer we have in this project would actually be able to you know come up with some more enhancements is what ideally what we where we'd like to be. Um and if that's you know maybe around a $400,000 opportunity that would be fantastic. Um, I
065just don't know if I'd be willing to commit that to another project or another added scope at this point. I'd probably keep it just with what you have. We also have that opportunity with the LCCMR um on the outdoor learning and and some spaces. So, you know, maybe there's few dollars here that that get supplemented with that grant a year from now. Um, and we can move that around too. Yeah. Or maybe we just put that much more into outdoor learning spaces. Right. We do that too. Exactly. Yes. Or we can enhance that even more. But the Lindo don't go. That just sounds bad all the way around. I can see that on a bunch of are chasing you out of town. Exactly right. like the Y and there was one Dennis whatever good lord
066pretty no so next steps Lori so I would say if we're good with this the next steps would we we'd have that that May 29th board meeting with the IT RB um early June if possible come back and approve um going for a referendum and allowing for us to to develop the submit the review and comment. Um really Chris, you would submit it, but we'd help you pull that together like we did last time. And and then then we jump back into communication for this component. Um I think this would be helpful too is Matt and his team if there's anything with coordinating um they'll kind of have a better idea what to coordinate with their current project too. So I think I think if I remember right last time we did this we said
067yes we're going forward with a referendum then you did the review and comment then we approve the review and comment. So um I think the question is is do we feel like there's consensus enough to end the June 5th work session to just schedule a special meeting and and vote on that. uh obviously don't need to make a decision now but um any questions or more discussion so procedurally I mean because I wasn't here last like when you when we say you know we all today voted you know yes how specific does that have to be or what exactly we're like is it nailed down it's it's the dollar amount yeah okay so and it's seven and seven then right that could be we could decide we want it you you know, whatever a swimming
068pool instead of a track and we got a swimming pool. I'm not saying. So then then they prepare a review and comment storm water management is included. So we say yes, we want to go for a referendum. Then ICS goes out and prepares a review and comment document that encaptures all of this. Um, and then that gets approved by the board and then we submit it. Then we're tied to what's in that scope of in the review and comment. So, we couldn't just put a swimming pool in. We're stuck with a track. Yeah. You know, but but like it's not the fine exact budget of like it's a big budget like the one you saw. Yeah. Like that one. And so whether you know a little more money goes into learning outdoor learning spaces or
069a little more money goes, we can work on that later, you know. Okay. That's that's kind of what commitment to specific things does entail. Yeah. And then the driving factor is how we communicate about it. You know, what the public thinks they're voting on, that's what really matters. So for the um when we like assuming that we move forward, okay, and we're preparing the review and comment, I mean, that's only for half of the budget. So, do you just like submit to them like a portion of this project as like going to be covered by that referendum and or do you just like cut this number in half and say it's going to pay for 50% of a multi-year vehicle? You know what I mean? Yeah, good good question, Dan. we would um we would
070show the total project cost and then we would show the the fund or the IT RB paying for half of it and then show that the other half would be coming from the the referendum the ask from the voters. So we would map that all out to give a really clear picture to MDE on how this is going to be constructed and paid for. Otherwise, they're going to look at us and like, how how can you do all, you know, they're going to question us, where's this other money coming from? They want to feel confident that that this project is doable and it's um you have a plan to come up with that other half. Okay? And so we map that out and and just put it in the review and comment so they can
071see that. And that that's common too where um when we have different funding sources. I mean, sometimes we have LTFM funds that we put towards it. Sometimes we have district funds. It's common that we would show all those funding sources to pay for the overall project and they can see what this total scope is. Um that's a slight change of of direction but sort of parallel. Uh Lloyd K. John said $100,000 for the uh playground and I see the playground looking kind of different on this plan and I just don't have we even discussed like what's what's happening? I can tell you. Yeah, I'd love to know. So, in question one funds were approved to do some playground upgrades and they were looking more at like the asphalt replacing the wood chips with a sprayed
072in um wheelchair compliant surface. All that was in the $24 million referendum. Uh, and then when L Boyd K came forward and they they thought that this playground would be a good investment, I pulled together Lacy Smith and the couple of paras that work out on the playground all the time. You probably know who they are. Uh, and said, you know, what's the best investment uh we can do here? ICS ran the numbers for the turf, ballparked that at about $70,000. Um, so then we knew we had about $30,000 left and we went shopping for a couple of pieces of new equipment. Uh and they thought that the best in addition to our old equipment in addition. Yep. Relatively new. That's very reusable. Yep. Um and uh and so the idea is uh to add
073a couple of pieces of equipment for our m our littles that are ADA compliant for our handicap students and for all kids because um so basically our preschool and lower primary elementary kids. So um they got to go shopping a little bit which was kind of fun for them. So, it'll be like a little basketball court. Um, yeah, that's that's that's not accurate. So, the basketball court is on the north side, actually. That's where it has been in the past. Yeah. And where they're showing basketball court, that will be artificial turf. Okay. For the kids because tons of the little guys like to play baseball. It's like a mud spot, right? It's totally mud right now. Yeah. And kids love to play football and catch and all that. And so, that'll be a green space.
074Uh, and then we'll add a couple of pieces of equipment in the A couple pieces of equipment that are in might actually move because they may have to pull a couple out to do the work. Um, so it'll give us back get an opportunity to reorient them correctly. Um, and so then I think the last question that we have I don't know the answer to yet is what about the sandbox? Because some people love the sandbox, people don't like the sandbox. So I got to work through that. The local cats love the sandbox. Yeah, we haven't had that much of a problem. But but a couple of our paras are asking asking if we could figure out a way to cover it so that it's not like filled with water and ice and all that
075in the winter time. And I was like probably probably not. So not for like playing under for like just winter cover. Um so anyway, that's where that's at. Uh the Lloyd K is basically going to complement uh what we've already passed in question one. Henry keeps asking the timeline of that. That'd be 2027. Because that's when we'll have all the if referendum passes, that's when we'll have all that outside equipment here moving dirt and all that kind of stuff. So Henry's fired up, huh? Yeah. Yeah, he's really interested. Can I speak to this playground real quick? Yeah. So you'll see it in DD, but the turf area and the asphalt area are actually flip-flops. So, that is correct. And we did that because the sidewalk and ramp that's going to be coming out of um
076the elementary space. Um the plan was to if you were clearing that sidewalk with any equipment, you would just be able to transition right off of that into the asphalt area to clear it in the winter. So, that's a very Well, I stand corrected. Yeah. There you go. So, it'll it'll just flip-flop. That's not a big deal. No, it actually was some cost savings for how long. That was the main reason and and leveling it is going to change it a lot. Yeah. the drainage. Get some drainage space will be the top level. We didn't redo the playground that long ago. So, I think right equipment stays uh enhancements is a nice like and I think that might have been when they chopped out half the asphalt we didn't try to make it grass and
077it was a failed experiment. It's just used. It's a nice idea for sure. And this will make I think this next pass would make it even perfect. Way better. now. Yeah. Um, so thank you for that, Matt. Yeah, so Quinn, yeah, I mean, we we got we the timeline is such that, you know, we're kind of coming up on it to make this decision because June is kind of the time frame for getting it into the state so they can do and then get it back in time for the vote in November. So, we, you know, it's something we should start wrapping our heads around. Um, and I guess I'd give one final plug on just like us kind of thinking about just the opportunity in terms of like getting, you know, doubling our money,
078basically taking advantage of the opportunity to do that. Like you made a great point, Carrie. This project's not going to get any cheaper in the future. Um, it's kind of like an opportunity that is, you know, before us. We're doing all this other construction at the same time. So, I mean, I have I see when uh Eric brings up some somewhat skeptical skeptical questions, it's like I I totally see that, but then got to be right. I feel like for the voters, I would hope that they sort of respond to the buy one get one like uh Josiah Wedwood invented that by the way, buy one get one sales. People have been going for it since you know. So we just the bogo referendum bogo the bogo referendum. It's a big I mean people people
079respond to that. So in some ways it feels bogo like I go back and forth in my head about it but in some ways it feels like with a $7 million opportunity by not pursuing it. You're fa you're failing people. Like let them decide with that. For sure. You did you know that piece of history? I learned that this year in my history classes. I appreciate that. The Josiah Wedgewood like Wedgwood China. I don't know what Wedgwood China is. It's fancy China from Britain. Expensive China from Josiah Wedgwood invented buy one get one free and Oh, interesting. Wedding registers everywhere rejoicing. Got the queen to somehow agree to let him use the queen's china as his way of selling it. got like connected to P. Nobody buys China anymore, but you know. All right. So,
080I think we're probably good on this um for now, but you know, we'll keep it on the we'll bring we'll bring back um and maybe you you and I can hook up, but I'll tenatively plan to bring back on June 5th the um resolution could not using that word right. Sorry, not a teenager. I'm sorry. It's too much to not Chris. If you wanted, we could start drafting the the review and comment. Um, when is your board meeting after the 5th? What would be the next one then? Uh, the it' be the 19th. 19th. 26th. Okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Five and 26. Okay. Oh, Junth. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah. To the 26th. Yep. So, did you do you feel like we got to get it earlier? Well, we were sensing a lot
081of referendums coming up in November just because of the last November. Um, and I'm we could do it on the 26th. Um, but also I could come prepared on the 5th, too, if if you wanted to approve the the review and comment. I go both ways. I just know earlier we were just we knew a lot of referendums will be on the um at MDE for Chris Kubish to review and sometimes he's a little I don't know. I mean it's like first come first serve and I'm like I don't I swear he waits till that last minute and then with the new publications it was just making us more nervous. It's just us. we approve it earlier having the time to let me. Yeah, that's I mean does I think we have a lot of
082soularching amongst us here or if the board is okay with it, we can ask ICS to be ready with review and comment on June 5th. With that and especially I'm just going to rate one small issue that's not really related to us. It's related to Brady at the county. um this is non-election year and he just took on a big project with his staff because it's not an election year and he you know he has pretty much just a small staff they're they're converting to a new payroll system which is always a couple they just told the board I picked this year because there's not an election just saying that's a that's something to keep in mind and you should probably he and I have talked twice about this. So, this isn't a new thing
083for him. Okay. I'm just I'm just I'm just mentioning it. Something to just Yep. And as far as the workload of this Well, an election is is a workload for his staff and um it's a big deal. Yep. And I have talked to him so he knows and I'll reach out to him. I mean, it sounds like we're kind of in some consensus here, so I'll make make sure I start greasing that with him. Um and then uh that does cost us a little bit of money. So we're all aware it was something like 30,000 I feel like I recall approximately that in that ballpark. Um so uh we'll we'll cross that but yeah Lori let's plan on trying to be ready for that for June 5th which is enough to really help it. So
084we'll work on ballot language and review and comment and and get all that moving forward. Um PMA will help us with the section five on finances. So, okay, that that sounds great. Um, yeah. And then I it is a all mailin ballot. 100%. Correct. M. Okay. Yes. Even Even if the people that live in town. Yes. Randy and I talked about that. That's what they did in the 2016. He went and actually pulled out the 2016. That actually makes it easier for him. So, Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was wondering. He doesn't have to staff a an election night. Yep. and I talked about that at length actually. Um, so yes, 100% mail in for uh if that impacts PMA or um any of that. Okay, I will talk to them right away tomorrow.
085All right. Um, thank you. Thank you guys. Thanks, Lori. Yeah, thank you guys. Do you want me to stay on for uh We just had the RRB redo of the resolution so you can probably take off. Okay. All right. Have a great night everyone. Thank you. You too. Yeah. Bye. Okay. Thank you everybody. I I would I and maybe I'm wrong on this, but it seems like an allmale ballot um is going to be a higher risk for us. It is IRS. Um because if people had to actually show up to do this one thing, it would probably be more in our favor than against them. If everybody's got it at home and it and it's got a a stamp on it and you just put it back in the mail, I think it's a
086higher risk. It's going to that that's going to take a different kind of community, especially where theoretically our yes votes probably come higher from in town here where you do go vote in person. No, I I just think in general people that might not care about it Oh, I agree. Yeah. are gonna are going to vote because it's pain to them and it's not hard for them to do that. They don't have to. So, I just think it's something to manage because I'm not as familiar with it like where doesn't get mail and ballot just in town. Okay. because I mean I Yeah, just in grammar and then there's just two precincts in town other and they used to have precincts everywhere but they quit doing that because it was just everybody was too spread
087out so they went to the male votes for everybody outside of grammar. So probably I mean but the highest concentration of of yes are the people that would have voted in person previously. Not necess not necessarily because I mean town voted yes much higher than correct anywhere else portrayal but now the people that just didn't show up to vote in town. Oh no I think you're right that that does make it easier for if they had to actually go didn't bother but it's already amongst I'm saying that a lot of the nos previous nos were probably already male the last time. Yeah. I mean, we're going to it is I mean, it is for sure. I mean, it is what it is. Yeah. I just want that because I think it's just going to take
088a different kind of communication strategy this time. Well, totally. And, you know, there's some headwinds just in terms of like doing it again just sort of inherently about that. So, we're we're going to have to be totally wide open on that piece. Yep. Um, okay. Good discussion. Thank you everybody. Um, let's move on to 8.5, which is to approve the ITR for the grant resolution, which um I was wondering why our names were already on there, but that's because we've already done this. Yeah. And so the very top of the document, if you open it, where it says the ILB Iron Range School and Community Development Account, where I have it highlighted, that's what was incorrect the last time we did this. So, they wanted specific language in a resolution. Sure. Okay. Um, so we
089already passed it unanimously. We're just doing that again. Correct. I'll make a motion to do that. I'll second it. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I I. Those opposed? Resolution is adopted. All right. 8.6 is to approve the health insurance provider. Move a health insurance provider here. All right. In your packets, uh, you have, if you follow that link, you have a summary from Teresa. um we by law have to go out every two years and do a hit a bid. We did that. Um just like all of our neighbors, our rates came back terrible. Um and ultimately the best response came from our current provider which is Medicica through the Northeast Service Co-op. So the recommendation is to go with that. Uh we what we do is once we get it back
090then we go back to the the best bidder in this case Medicica and say give us your final best offer and try to get some things to be tweaked just a little bit. So in here there's a little a couple little tweaks. Um that $12,000 for family or $6,000 deductible plan uh was added and uh one of the Cadillac plans was removed. Um, and hopefully next time around we'll do do that one more time and get rid of that last $850 deductible plan in hopes of getting better bids from uh providers. We couldn't eliminate both of them just due to some of the contract language that we have in employment agreements. So, this is the best we could get. Uh, it's a good 30% hike, 32% hike. Everyone's going to feel it. Um, all employees
091uh all employees if contracts didn't uh change would end up going from pretty much fullies to having to pay for a fair amount of their health insurance premiums. So, um approximately 30% of it, right? Yeah. Pretty close because a lot of them were kind of just break even in or, you know. And you had um I mean I if somebody I don't know exactly know how this works but like if somebody were to go onto like the marketplace to like search for their own plan that was like cheaper like is that a possibility for them? No not if your work if your work offers that you can't Yeah. Okay. There is a a plan mentioned in the opening paragraph up there of uh an ICRA plan, individual coverage health reimburse reimbursement arrangement. Um ICRA um
092NIS was trying to educate us on that and the insurance committee which is Julie Bishop, Teresa and myself. uh it is such a foreign leap that we were like uh not now but maybe let's study it over the next couple years where it's more what you're talking about Dan it's uh we establish some contribution and then allow all of our employees through an IRA arrangement to go out and shop and market on their own individual setups. It's a way different model than I've ever seen. Okay. Um, so way too fast to try to transition like now. Uh, it'll require a lot of staff education. Um, but we're we're looking at it when rates are going up like this. So there you mentioned here. Yeah. The insurance review committee. What who all comprises that or like
093what representative? Yeah. Theresa and me. And then we invite each of the bargaining groups to, you know, have a person or two. Uhhuh. So, um, Julie was for the teachers and then the two people for the paras and the teamsters just never showed up for the meetings. Okay. But they everybody all the interested parties get a chance to kind of look at this and make help make the decision. They're invited. Yep. Okay. All right. Boy, I think it would be a lot to have everybody have to go out there and figure out what the insurance is or the model. I was just like, whoa. I I would I would totally struggle with that. I mean, I I would rather pay a little bit of money to have someone go out and have that. It's It's
094Yeah, I was scared of it. I just And I think most people probably fall in that category. Tell me what I got. You'd almost have to have somebody in house like helping hold your hand. Yes. Handful people. Yeah. It's not how the world that hurts either. It's the opposite. Nobody holds your hand with this stuff. Nope. Thanks. All right. Well, um, thank you for going through this process. And here we are. Here we are. So, okay. So, and we need to approve this cuz it's a new plan. Whatever. Every two years. Yeah. I'll make a motion. Was there motions already? Nope. You got it. Seconded. Further discussion? I Oh, sorry. All those in favor? I I Those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.7 is to approve the joint powers agreement with the county for the
095YMCA custodial uh custodial services. Yeah. And this is the document that was alive and well up until about a year and a half, two years ago. And um the only real change uh was the special projects just establishing a solid rate of $45 an hour, which is a blended rate. And that's only if there's some neat thing that's outside the normal scope of this, which frankly I can't remember ever really happening um prior. But otherwise, it's the same boilerplate from last time and it worked. So, let's hope we can hire someone. Sure. And the way it came came about, just so we know, is Brooke uh from the county approached Tom and said, "Would you be interested in it?" And Tom said, "Yes, I would be because it helps his staff as well." So that's
096a good deal for both sides. They both agreed that it's the right if we can if all right motion to approve. I'll second I guess listening to the heater tab. All right. Further discussion. All those in favor? I I abstain. Those opposed. Uh motion carries with one abstension. Noted. Um 8.8 is to approve the Minnesota State High School League uh resolution for renewal of our Yeah. And this is an annual process. We do it every May or June somewhere in there. And it's just for the next year's membership in the high school. Um, just note that um, this is not we won't you won't actually physically sign this at the end of this meeting once the board approves it. It's a docuign protocol. And so Carrie, you'll be getting an email after I sign it.
097You'll have to sign it and then it's complete. So it's gotten more technologically complicated. Ninth graders fall under it now. Ninth graders now fall under their insurance umbrella. Yeah. Yeah. for that. I'll make motion to approve that. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I I motion carries. Resolution is adopted and 8.9 is to accept of nations for May 2025. Oh, there. Yep. I'll make a motion to accept these donations um with thanks to all the people who have made donations to our school community. I'll second. Um further discussion. Yeah, I echo. Thank you. Yes. Amazing. Yep. Thank you so much. All those in favor? I I I those opposed. Motion carries. 9.0 is personnel. 9.1 uh is to approve our new hire uh slate here for May. Yeah. Just comment that uh Ree
098is a student right out of college, I believe. Luther College, I think. I can't do my memory's right. I might be wrong on that one. Clara Lewis student taught here last year. Clara Lewis is great. She's in my Ojiway language table and she's taught at Oski the past year. Yeah. After student teaching here and filling in a little bit here, so we're keeping her local. Um and then the others, our cultures and activities director and so welcome aboard to our new new staff. I make an enthusiastic motion. I'll second it. And I would just say I'm glad to see Steve Anderson uh take on the activity director role. He's good guy. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I I those opposed. Motion carries. Even more enthusiastic to adjourn. Okay. Motion to adjourn. Journ 627.
099We got for us to sign. K. Oh, yeah. We got to stop.