001[Music] this meeting is being recorded but the recording does not constitute the official record of this meeting the pledge pledge alance to flag the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all any revisions revisions to the agenda okay uh we're going to start with some public comment today right yeah is here may they reached out to ucation with a 10 minute T thank you Mr chair for letting us here there I'm going to pinch it for my other two Compadres we usually do this with three of us but I want to take us through all three so we have a vote coming up in May process with which you guys are more acquainted than most for sure um and we're looking to
002fund two different projects as well as renew the resort tax so I'll start with Resort tax uh Resort tax itself as you guys well know funds uh you can't s anything in this community without hitting something that was funded with Resort taxes uh it is a substantial resource for everything that we do as a community so state law on Montana with most taxes requires a sunset meaning they have to be renewed out of Voters after a certain period of time so Resort tax has been renewed a couple times it uh it RS again in seven years the district is looking to renew early and do that renewal now because that also resets the bond clock and it increases the amount that they can Bond safely with this group I don't have to explain 20 minutes
003what that means um and so they're looking to renew early that's critical for everything we do in the community whether you agree with either of these two other proposals or not I strongly encourage you please renew the resort tax um that would be uh yeah catastrophe I can't even imagine if we were not to do that if that vote were to fail for some reason get another bite of that apple in a couple of years um it's never failed on renewal I think it's pretty obvious the benefits it has to the community so it's super important that uh we look for that so slide please uh Resort tax has taken a look at these couple proposals in Under the Umbrella of liable Big Sky Resort taxes you may have seen in the past couple years
004started Gathering from everybody a capital Improvement plan what is everybody looking to do uh to try to whether it's Resort tax funded or not but start to get an arm around what is the the big things Community is doing and they identifi two projects as being uh FastTrack for Resort tax funding they're large enough scale that they need to be funded via a resort tax bond which takes a community vote which brings me here today but the whole underlying principle is to create a liable Big Sky to use Resort tax's bonding ability on the capacity to undertake larger scale projects um to do things that are going to effec Real Change within the community over a long period of time that term can mean a lot of things to a lot of people but affordable
005housing accessible public spaces health and wellbeing these are kind of the big uh the big categories that Resort tax is looking to address slide please so with that we've got the resort tax renewal itself and then two projects within that the cold smoke housing Bond and then the community park Bond uh I'm I should have introduced myself at the beginning I'm David oconor I'm the executive director of The Big Sky Community Housing Trust but I'm here to talk about all three of these projects as well uh slide please there we go okay I'm going to slide please in the interest of time kind of move through that a little bit more quickly this is a really important conversation um because the word bond typically when you see it on a ballot means my property taxes
006are going up often means Levy same sort of thing um however a resort tax bond is paid entirely with Resort tax collections those Resort tax collections will be collected no matter what the outcome of the vote is this is not an increase in Resort tax this is allowing the resort Tax Board to dedicate to undertake debt basically um but it is not a property tax bond that is one of the biggest uh points that we're really trying to get across to people because most people now hear Bond and think property taxes and that's a different proposition so uh the the financial portion of this what taxes are collected doesn't change in the slightest um this will not cost residents any more money than they're already paying uh for goods and services that are already subject
007to Resort tax but this doesn't increase that okay slide please so how much are they talking so so for cold smoke it's two separate expenditures 15 million for the infrastructure 45 million for the acquisition of about 100 acres I'll go into a little bit more detail about what that is the community park bond is a little bit smaller scale this refers to the existing community park that's in uh the meadow Village over softball fields the community park that was sort of there first uh they're looking for up to $6.8 million to complete uh a Park expansion uh project that they are about halfway through and they they've substantially funded with private dollars already or private donations slide please so going into housing this is the cold smoke project this map at first just to get
008you an orientation this is the Big Sky Spur Road or Montana 64 that's the Ace Hardware Store these are the sewer lagoons these are the Riverview apartments that are just about complete uh and so just to get you by orientation the project includes 264 apartments across eight buildings on the remainder of that bench that's up here these will be on the same level as these apartments and then you go over that bluff and across the stream and there's this whole area in here um that we're looking to construct 125 single family homes combination of attached and detou duplex um both projects are going to be condominium ised we'll be able to sell and rent sort of as the market will be ready to absorb um certainly our vision includes primarily rental up here primarily home
009ownership down there uh across a range of affordability everything we've done so far is hit kind of either you know 80% or 100% or 140% area median income this is the first project we've done that'll that'll undertake a range because the scale is big enough to allow that uh for the timeline we uh assuming that we're able to take down the land with this vote uh we'll close on that around the fall that's when the entitlements will be finished it'll be ready to be purchased uh we hope to uh start on infrastructure construction immediately uh and then break r on vertical right after that allows we'd like to be in the first homes by the end of 2028 and be complete by 32 slide thes uh so how sort of how we got here I
010just want to give the impression that we're you know there's a punch list of land that is applicable for a project like this that we're looking at um and we've been since the Housing Trust was formed in 2020 we have been keeping tabs on every land opportunity we can find and trying to check off these 12 or 14 boxes it has to be uh able to be annexed of the Water and Sewer District we're looking to use housing specific water that the voters set us side in 2020 specifically for this purpose uh so we need to be adjacent to the district to be able to be annexed it needs to be uh completely entitled and subdivision review done and all that it needs to be basically shovel ready for us to build using public dollars
011to acquire this land we don't really have a risk tolerance uh that we can use that the land might not be approved or the project might not be approved at the county level so in order for us to close on that all that has to be done first um uh the pro the housing will be available to any full-time member number of Big Sky Workforce uh there is no employer specific this is reserved for that employer or this is reserved for that there may be a world down the road where maybe an employer buys a group of apartments or a group of buildings that would that would change that but anything that uh you know to start that's going to be open to everybody entirely uh and then the Housing Trust will retain the ownership
012of that land underneath the buildings and then will ground lease that land to the buildings um in perpetuity and that gives us the greatest degree of control not only over what goes there but also the ongoing stewardship to make sure that the rules that we put in place there are followed year after year after year uh into perpetuity there is no time limit or period of affordability that expires after a certain amount of time uh for this project the the roles that we put in place will stand as long as the buildings do uh thank you uh why are we doing this what problems are we trying to solve again group of people that I probably not need to convince too much of that um you know really looking just since just before covid both
013condo and home prices have at least doubled uh over what was already a pretty a pretty unattainable uh price point uh what was what was reasonably unattainable for most of our Workforce is now completely out of reach for all of it uh because of what property prices have done um our Workforce is growing our wages are growing they're just nobody's wage growth is going to keep up with the kind of property growth that we've seen so we were already coming from a pretty untenable position and now today uh between 80 and 90% of our Workforce can't afford to participate in the housing market and that is way upside down that's what we're looking to fix these are the numbers we're going off of we didn't make these up we do a housing needs assessment um
014that takes into account a dozens of data points everything from job creation Department of laters Labor Statistics um uh Census Data locally surveys all that stuff goes into telling us what type of housing do we need rental or ownership and at what household incomes must they be affordable and so operating off of that Playbook that's where these numbers come from that study most recent version it was the end of 23 says we're 1300 homes deficient to even house the workforce that desires to live here of that 1350 1,00 has to be priced below the market so almost essentially all of it what this project uh will hope to whack out is about 389 almost 400 of that so we're not done if we pull this off there's still quite a bit to go um this
015does account for things like the one and only the Montage things that are just getting open Now does not account for like New Town Center hotels and stuff that's being talked about that isn't really on paper any okay slide please all right through the housing stuff that is a record for me if you know me at all Revy is not my strong point so the community park Bond and I I beg your Indulgence for a second especially if you Happ to be on the BSO board I'm not and I'm pinch hitting for whitne couldn't make it down but I've heard his his pitch enough times um so again this this refers to the community park that's already in existence uh so anybody not understand where exactly this is um this was the first Park that
016we built it is very well used very well loved um by individuals teams organized Sports and so on and it's time uh for a little TLC slide please so what do you mean we've outgrown the park well here's some of the statistics that the park sees um almost 600 just league and team sponsored by bsco that doesn't count any of the school stuff any of the inter mural pickup stuff any of that stuff that's uh almost 600 people per week when it's going that's 10,000 vehicles per month as Whitney pointed out this morning that's two days of the Spur Road still that's a that's a pretty big uh a pretty big number and you can kind of see through all of these numbers on here um this is heavy use for sure this is a
017park that we all know and love and use considerably and it needs some work slide please uh here's what's remaining to do and I I want to stress this is about halfway through a project that bco has done significant fundraising for and deployed that funding um so you know this is a halfway through project so they're not seeking the entire thing to be funded with Resort tax nor is housing I land uh but to sort of pick up in the Middle where that where that fundraising is left off um so some of the things that they're looking at Camp Big Sky uh again as this audience very well knows is a huge success um you my kids certainly went went uh through it and loved it I could use a little bit more of a
018permanent home and some sprucing up of that basketball court racket Court uh has has had a lot of input into that conversation is my understanding um new bathrooms of course you can kind of see down there none of this is particularly surprising this is what you kind of think the park would need uh but it needs a lot of it at the same time and there's a lot of economy scale to doing this work together slide please uh also expanded Park programming not only in the things they're able to offer and again this does this really well but the duration of the Season that you're able to offer it we have sports uh baseball started right they're practicing in the gy uh because they can't practice outside anym those types of things to be able
019to incorporate more modern technology and not only the surface of the fields but the underlayment their ability to shed water their ability to remove snow all of those things um are the in our climate in our Zone our best shot to be able to expand Sports Seasons uh to be competitive with the other schools that are playing on grass right now uh slide please so what happens if these don't pass right so for Resort tax and again as as uh as these votes generally look there's either going to be a for or an against right for this vote so a for vote on the resort taxes it takes us through 2065 with reliable funding for all of our districts and nonprofits um this isn't only nonprofits this is Public Safety our fire department our Sheriff's
020Department Water and Sewer are all significantly funded with with Resort tax um and then the extended term on the bond uh instead of being able to take a seven-year Bond when you take a 30-year Bond it opens up the Horizon quite a bit of what projects uh could be undertaken that are going to outstrip annual collections um a noo means uh nothing happens at all BSO music in the mountains housing fire like name it and it all goes away there is no funding for any of those things uh and really threatens livability and year round sustainability at that point we're not talking about amenities we're talking about basic necessities of life it would be disastrous to not pass resort tax um on the cold smoke housing Bond a yes vote means that we proceed with
021this neighborhood and start whacking away at the housing need that we're all acutely aware of and it lets us address that need scientifically in a way that matches uh the the work that we've done and the research we've done about what exactly do we need in what levels it lets us do this in a much more controlled way where if we depended on the market to build it a we know from experience the market is not going to build housing that our Workforce can afford to buy uh we've tried that doesn't it's conditions not going to allow that today but then also that if the market builds housing uh they're not at all going off of the needs assessments that we're looking they're building what's marketable and that's not necessarily what the community needs to
022remain sustainable um a no vote means um you know we don't do that plan B for housing for or if you say yeah you know I like that idea buying cold smoke I like 400 homes but I don't want to buy that land uh go come back with something else uh my successor will be back in five or eight years uh with something that will cost undoubtedly twice as much uh but that will materially try to address the same sort of need so delay delays our ability to address this problem but it also makes it tremendously more expensive um there's a lot of question around the community well what was this land worth in 2016 I think it was worth less than half what we're hoping to pay for it now good Lauren I wish
023we had bought it in 2016 but we didn't uh so it's the just like everything else that's the price that it is uh that it is today and that's not going down for the community housing Bond we're able to modernize uh our community park um if you were around when that Park was built it was uh bsoa put that together it was a big lift to put it together at the time it was not built by Park Builders it was built by road builders surface under that field is Road B that's why when you play soccer after a rainstorm you're standing in puddles it doesn't drain so not only does the surface need to be redone but the park needs to be re-engineered and redesigned um so that those surfaces can be uh playable this
024would allow for that and then would also allow um for bfco other funds to be set aside for reserves and do things more like paid parking and upgraded bathrooms as time goes by um the risks of that is we will uh we're swiftly on the road to a park that is fairly unsafe to play on the there will be liability issues um for any sponsoring organization putting kids on that field um that'll be a real safety issue that comes up um and then you know much like the others just the livability and year round sustainability of this community and I I would leave you with uh this is not about bartenders and Baristas right as far as the housing is concerned in my mind they're they're the happy byproduct that gets to get filled in
025we are a community that runs off of groups just like this volunteer boards with special districts and nonprofit organizations that make everything tick and those organizations need human beings to make them run and those human beings need a place to live and if we're all commuting from communities outside of here I would make the case that I think the result of all of that effort will look a little different we all have uh investment in this community because we live here and I think it's a reasonable expectation that our Future Leaders be able to live here as well and if we can create an environment where that's true and that happens and we can to keep all of these other organizations operating we'll have plenty of bartenders and Baristas we'll be able to have lunch
026on Tuesday any of those things will happen uh if we take care of the community leadership piece first so how do I do time wise pretty good not bad that was a lot to cover but it it looks great and I mean I'm fingers crossed as well so I think it sounds wonderful and love to see you go through so thank you for your time today any questions uh know where to find me look me up I'm here every day one others we appreciate it thank you very much thanks for filling in of course thanks okay move on to approval of minutes any other public comment to be heard now can I make a quick public comment I have you on the agenda on the agenda yeah you're official amazing perfect okay great all right
027move on to the approval minuts please I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from February 11th and February 25th I second the motion any changes questions see call for a vote all those in favor any opposed pass unanimously recommendations and recognitions uh not okay move into your superintendent report please I sent this out um so there's a handful of things on here uh enrollment or down one right this from here on I'll report also on future enrollment um we're going to take a really close look at our of District students as we start to kind of move forward and looking at class sizes um so I'll be able to tease that data out for us over the course of the next month we probably want to make that decision in May um about non
028District students and what levels so keep an eye open for that um the election timeline I mean in addition to what David said so I did present last week an educational session about our own ballot language and our own Levy in conjunction with them they've also asked me to join them on April 1st which which I will do uh and then school specific um I I've lined out the dates between now and elction where I'll present in the W pack and then do one other with them uh on the first and that'll be that'll be broadcast by Outlaw and then the ballots the ballots come out the 18th and they do back the 6th I'll send this out again and remind you guys if anybody wants to join on any of those evenings uh quick
029BR B and Bruise uh yeah um and it's that same presentation that he just gave um legislatively they're on a break this week but house bill so the first two house bill and House Bill 252 have gone through everything they're going to start hitting the house floor next week um the house bill 15 will give us the 3% inflationary raise that looks like it's going to go through and with the 3% inflationary raise right that'll be enough for us to cover the steps and lanes and our current Matrix um I I have a high there there's high confidence around that this is going to pass um House Bill 252 we talked extensively about a week ago um around the levy um there's a lot hinging on this but I do expect it's going to be
030on the governor's desk before we break for Spring Break um this would mean a significant increase in our general fund dollars not just for housing but for uh other areas too and this is really where we're going to focus our negotiation with the assoc with the association to meet that criteria so we can access and and open the gate to those dollars and it would really give us an opportunity to to have a really successful negotiations and and come out on the other side with a lot of people I think um I I have also high confidence that this is going to go through Senate Bill 260 is the bill that we talked about in removing the school district boundaries it looks like this is kind of going to get amended and possibly even split
031into two and not Encompass all Special Districts but possibly the school district and the hospital district has two separate bills and we'll see how that moves forward it it's still probably 5050 or slightly better than 50/50 if it gets split and if it does get split then there are some some means in there for the school district to get more money directly into their general fund um and then I don't know how it missed putting it on on here uh today we had a hearing in front of the County commission for our building for lease or rent um two good things came out of that one they approved it so the building for these are rent permit is ago and there wasn't any opposition um no public comment and opposition of our project so we're
032we're carrying on nobody uh and it's you know and it's a proper like they alert everybody they send them a mailer this is going to be heard at this time so all of our immediate neighbors were were made aware of the hearing today and and nobody show up we're a much more likable group now it sounds like we'll see the next one sure sure they read everything great awesome thanks Dustin uh Marlo Middle High School great so we are um in the third trimester which we just started this week um our third semester special is for the middle school so they switched over and so we're kind of in the final push for the year um we had a fantastic nth grade science fair last week some of you were there congratulations dry and all
033the ninth grade students very professional work that they produced and then upcoming we have the ACT March 25th and just as a reminder that's the one test high school students take um to meet our kind of state objectives for the teaching and learning in the high school that's really the only one they have in all of high school so we're wishing them well and they have one more final prep day on the 18th and then we had a successful academic world quest trip to Missoula last week with Dr Brooke um and you want to say how well they did I can't it was like top 10 uh top 15 top 15 yeah our one of our teams yeah but there's over a 100 teams 400 high school students from Montana and it's an amazing conference
034about different world affairs and yeah and then at the end they have a competition and our teams did really well and we had a lot of BL was really so it's that's something knew that Dr Brook started last year with the kids and they really love it um so it's been a great experience in our Student Life Dr Brooke is on the stage again tomorrow with the 612 talent show at 2m so that's always a highlight I've heard the kids jamming out in the long pack for the last two days so we're excited for that uh then we'll have um our blood drive by the student council on March 27th we have our foby awards for their senior scholarships coming on March 31st um and then right before spring break we send off our eth
035graders for their UI trip um we have our grease production and that's kind of what we're doing until we leave the break to do and we're teaching and learning and doing that's the focus just having to say we're getting close to the end of the year which just seems like we're saying we're just getting started with everything I know it's crazy no way too fast so any questions thank you Dr Mitch Miss Shirley yes well let's see since the last time we met we um made it to and survive the 100th day of school um also celebrated Valentine's Day on the same time so we sugared the kids up and sent them home um the next day we had a p day which was really productive for our staff they explored um various curricular options
036that we're looking at for the future um our kiddos are working on whole school research project and writing non-fiction stories we had an author come visit she's um Montana Humanities Humanities project um precious McKenzie in Precious McKenzie jeez I can't talk um she shared her process for non-fiction writing with the kiddos so that was fun um Nordic skiing has started so our kids are still getting out first grade and kindergarten went today I see the chaos of time everything it's a lot um and we finish next week I think 4K goes one day and then we're wrapping up the ski season so that's great time yeah um yesterday Mrs Janks organized read Across America day which is really great it was actually led by the ninth graders um they did all of the teaching with
037the kids and reading of stories and the teachers got to be facilitators and just walk their groups around so that was a really fun um day it's a tradition we've had for a long time since Kathy house house was here and um I think the kids were all excited and they we sugared them up again at the end of the day it's great to keep that going yeah um today we had brid your care for fourth grade which is always a fun and interesting day and then next week fifth grade gets that um and we are full focus on pie auction which is March 21st at 6th if you haven't bought your tickets yet Holly's right there she can hook you up um but kids are selling raffle tickets they do a great job it's
038a they raise I think almost $50,000 last year by selling those raffle tickets um teachers are donating fun experiences to to bid on so um it's going to be a really fun event in this steam building um all tenured and non- tenard staff evaluations are done for the year and if you didn't know all that stuff that you're doing you have 16 school days until spring break so easy peasy oh and the last piece is um we're working on building the uh list of families who are interested in the 4K program for next year and rounding up kiddos for kindergarten that aren't already in the building so great thinking forward already you guys are busy thank you everyone stay diligent uh DP yeah iort um yeah so just Trucking towards exams Trucking towards the year
039every Trucking towards and out their correct schs um and then the big thing is U meetings with 10th grade families are coming up the over the next couple weeks to provide s so parents and kids can start to decide their their path forward great okay Mr jnis for the back of the room yes thank you corki stole my spot um uh so to wrap up winter sports our congratulations to our basketball teams our boys had a great season beat some teams they haven't beat before for um got made it all the way to the third place game of divisionals and just came up a little short but finished fourth in the district and our girls picked up uh their first win of the District tournament in amazing fashion and um made it really interesting um
040against Manhattan for that last game of their season and lost to them by seven but that was a team that went on and won a couple games of divisionals so they they were playing their best basketball at the end of the season for sure uh spring sports are now in full swing just like that and um we're looking pretty good we right now we got four for boys golf uh six to seven for girls golf we still have a couple kids that are on the fence we're trying to get on board with that program Libby six for tennis seven seven no seven for tennis uh 19 for baseball and right around between 13 and 15 for track again depending on a couple kids are still kind of on the bubble there but um the weather's
041been cooperative and Mr peron's done a great job with the field having it now open and melted off for those teams to utilize um at least for the time being so hopefully that snow melt continues and we'll be able to host a track meet or two before the end of the year um as soon as the state tournament is complete the State basketball tournament up in missou I'll be able to share any All Conference or All State athletes that we got out of the winter so unless anybody has any questions um that is my report great great very much yep I'm GNA go to golf practice business manager so obviously I'm with Dustin right now we watching legisl closely with some hope that we get some funding other than that um I think in the
042board packet it shows we're sitting about $1.2 Million worth of cash left for the year we have two plus million in salaries debt or or payments to make so we will hit a Million Dollar Plus deficit as targeted um but no more than that there's nothing out of nothing accessive on target with what we budgeted and we'll probably be there again next year so it's kind of it for my my only other thing is you know dve talked about the resort tax that's great but the $300,000 um Levy that the school is asking for is a big deal um it allows with with housing initially with infrastructure and going forward that stay and and can actually use that towards colas or any type of stiens that we want to help with staff so it's it's
043a big deal yeah I think again that's important for us to be at those hearings meetings or whatever else it is that we get our word out as well that when they're getting their word out to make ours as equally as important it'll increase that c that we can collect with tax credit as well yeah 50% and it's ongoing so every every time and it just goes up with our general fund budget Authority so it it continues to help the school district going forward and well we have like in the past we've done cheat sheets and things like that that we've had that we can help to talk to people or if we're at those events or yeah I mean I I made a flyer last week and took it I forward that along okay
044perfect great all right thanks GGI uh see no committee reports right now we'll move on to discussion and action please make a motion to approve the opening of discussion for the pie option all right um one second sorry I second motion thank you um it has been such a treat to come into this leadership position this year um it is our 45th annual pie auction and um the my goal and being at these school board meetings is to be a real bridge between the PTO and you guys and my hope and my ask today is that you guys can can do the same for this pie auction and show up and represent and be a part of this really momentous occasion for our school um we have brought it to the school very intentionally we
045are now heroing our classroom art projects is some of the biggest showcase pieces that we have um as well as we have created a cake decorating contest for our student bodies fifth through 12th grade so they are really sharing the burden of the fundraising um I have some really exciting news as well um that Moonlight Community Foundation has um awarded their paddle raise for their spring social this year will be dedicated to Cola so that is the same weekend as the pie auction and so between the pi auction um we have count we have 175 silent auction items really really top-notch live auction travel items the old Explorer chairlift is being decommissioned and the resort is giving us one of the chairs like it's really unique really a special special night um and I just
046I just want to like hold hands and say like we're all in this together it's not Schoolboard over here and PTO over here or moonlight over there whatever it is it's all like David is saying like in order for us to grow these Future Leaders like we really have to approach this as one team and so I just ask that if you cannot come if you will just take one of these and hand it to someone who you think can come there's a QR code all the information is on there and um I as the president of the PTO would just be so thankful for you all to show up and show your support of of this community that's all there you go pass it thanks for yeah absolutely I'm so sorry I have to
047run does anybody have any questions before I leave no okay awesome thanks do we need to do any vote there or just opening okay move on to the next I make a motion to for cop and printers I second motion that's pretty straightforward well I mean two two are original to this building two have been leased for the last five or six years they're all limping along so it's an opportunity to get rid of everything and start a new I walked in the other morning and it was five kids deep trying to get something going so it makes complete sense time so any other questions I mean they're good they're local they respond really quickly whenever we have problems all right call for a vote all those in favor I I I any opposed pass
048unanimously should I open I mean that's just that was in there information um and I realized that she didn't put in there and I didn't put in there really she's just she was like indicating that she would not re return for her contract she came to us we were talk trying to figure it out today I think 1819 she student Tau here 1920 she worked in the community and us for years yeah it was yeah Kate Bruns was with her right yeah yeah we got two teachers from some small school in Wisconsin that move on to the consent agenda make motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I second motion all those in favor I any opposed pass unanimously and then we have uh next regularly scheduled meeting will be the week following spring
049break April 15th but I'm going to propose uh that we have a special board meeting March 25st at 10 a.m. to take up a Personnel matter um I'll send out invite tomorrow um and this is going to be due to because I'm trying to figure out some ways that we can do it so it can be electronic and or in person the board chair has been briefed on the situation you said 10 I do okay that's the 21st that week from Friday M it's a non-school day non-kid day and so I'll I'll put it out see 10: a.m. would be you know appropriate Europe time yeah I can that doesn't I cannot I can do 900 a.m. or 11: a.m. let be 9 great anything else me Jed thanks thank you thanks