001house, but that that's a showstopper and that's not happening everywhere. So anyhow, little bit about us, a little bit about philosophy, the long term. One of the places that we look for money, if let's just say there was no other money out there. One of the things in these old buildings, this building, you can just tell from the design uh here in the uh in high school, middle school. This is a 1960s design. You can walk through the government came through and built built a 1950 school. I had a 1950 school. um in a 1960 school. Uh and you can just see the design type. The school that you've got over there, most of those have been removed. There's a handful left, but they're all in private hands now, uh across the state of Montana.
002when you when you have no money out there, your last option is to go look at when you start renovating, can you capture some of the savings in that, make it pay for the upgrades and then end up having a long-term solution uh that you can start returning that money by lowering those costs. And um when our engineers were out here, like they they get into the boilers, they go through your boilers to your electrical bills, through your venting systems because there's two end two sides to that. One is how much does it cost? But really more importantly in school is what are you giving the staff and the kids? Like I found in my uh in our rooms in our our building, our CO2 levels were skyrocketing every day. U Mr. Cox, he was
003my uh uh my social studies teacher. And um he would always be like, I want my my room at 64 degrees. The kids are falling asleep. And I'm teasing them all because of you. They're falling asleep. But the reality is when you put it in there, the CO2 levels are extremely high. And then we all saw that with illnesses and I mean you you can just go through there. So when we start correcting those things, you start getting the proper air flow. You give a better product to your customers, the kids. Your staff is happier because they're in a place that they're actually, you know, they're not yawning themselves if it's the oxygen issue. You got clean water and all of that. And you can drop your costs. And so that cost saving is what
004we'll go back In some cases, you can get significant cost savings. We're working with the school district right now that, you know, they're spending almost $100,000 a year in utility bills for relatively small. We think we can probably cut that in half. That's $50,000 a year that we could put back into paying for that once it pays off. You know, by the way, one of the things that I appreciate about Apollo is Apollo's looking at getting buildings built to the 20 and 30 year expectancy, 40 years. and you've got a building over here that's over that's 125 years old. So, we wanted to get it to the next level 25 30 years down the road, not 5, 8, 10 years. That always drove me crazy as a superintendent when I'd have somebody come and look
005at my leaking roofs. I had 56 leaks in my school district and we would go patch them at nauseium. I'm sure Bob's done the same thing. But you know what? When you get the freezing and the thawing, the freezing and the thawing water is going to come through. And so, we kind of jokingly called, "Well, kids, we got water features, you know. bucket here in the hall, you know, I mean, but that's not right. That's not right. So, yeah, that's uh kind of what we do and how we do. I talked about, you know, eventually, you know, let's say it takes eight years to pay for something, but it's a 22-year product. You're banking, you know, what is that? 8 minus your 14 years high school in Colorado, so you never know. But, uh, you
006know, 14 years of savings, if it's 50,000 times 14, that's a chunk. That's 70 thou $700,000 that you can invest. So, it takes some planning and hopefully you have continuity, you know, with your whole school team that they can see that vision and that continuity to say, you know, five years from now, this is what we're doing. We're going to save x number of dollars and then we're going to put it in. And sometimes that money isn't that big, but that's enough to give a match for a grant because some grants like Department of Commerce, they require sometimes a 10 or a 20% match. Well, a million dollars means you have to come up with $200,000. Well, if you're making that kind of money, you can do that in a couple of years. So anyhow
007that's why we look at and focus on the energy. Um another reason is obviously more important money is again the end state the kids and the staff uh in the community. A little bit about what we bring uh to the table. Again we're a long-term company. If you want to go find somebody that can go fix your roof, that's not really us. You're going to find somebody cheaper that can fix the roof. We'll tell you nine times out of 10 it's not going to be what you want. But what we want to do is we want to come in and we want to we want to renovate the build. and we want to be involved in this long uh long term. We're going to guarantee that we have uh we give you the best cost
008to get a 30-year building. Not going to give you the best cost for an eight-year solution, a mandate, but what we will do is we're going to guarantee a cost when we come in there. We're not going to come back. This again, one of the things that drove me crazy as a superintendent of public infrastructure all of a sudden is somebody come in and I' I'd have to take the lowest bidder because that's kind of a lot, right? Well, then I'd get change orders and all of a sudden my lowest bidder was my highest bidder. it exceeded the highest bid. You're not going to get change orders. And again, I worked with Apollo. That's how I found Apollo. Never once did I get a change order. They gave it cost and they stuck to that
009cost. And the best example of that was during CO price increases um in public infrastructure went through, you know, through the roof during CO and whatever they wrote down in 2019 for us, that's the cost that they finish the project at. And if they take a loss, then you take a loss. That's just the way it is. Um energy savings, if we come in and say we're going to save 17% or $50,000, we're going to come back and we'll verify that if we go down the energy route. There's two ways of contracting this, but we're going to calculate and we're going to guarantee you're going to get those savings uh in those energies. And then finally is the performance. Um, I had uh in my buildings we were I got stuck in a band-aid cycle
010for the first two years until it just dawned on me I'm throwing, you know, $50,000 a year uh throwing an HVAC unit, a 4 ton HVAC unit on my roof and it was like, wait, why aren't we just buying money? Well, and then the darn things would brand new ones, three years old, four years old, coil would go, the uh the fans would go and stuff like that. you're not going to get when we put a piece of equipment or we do work, you're going to get a performance guarantee with that. So, a little bit about the process of what we've done. So, again, the Apollo Apollo has a different process, which I appreciate and it's I didn't really see this as a superintendent, but now you know that I'm wearing Apollo Apollo on my
011shirt sleeve, I see why they want to do it this way. So, we had our engineers come out. No cost to you guys. We need Tom I pay for them to come out. They're here for one day. We were here for a long full day. We were top to bottom. Um I think it's probably fair to say we saw every square foot with Bob's help and Tom's help uh of the building. We actually got up into the bell tower, which I know doesn't look like been up there in a long time, but we conquered that. Oh, by the way, that's one of the things that's going to be on my personal agenda to renovate that, make it safe so everybody can near everybody can get back up there because that's Um, but that's that first
012process. And Apollo does that because Apollo wants to know. So, we got to know because if we're not going to come back and hit you with change order and play the change order escalation game, we've got to know what's here. We've got to know how much insulation. We got to know where the roof leaks are. We've got to know the HVAC. We've got to know about the Bofuel and why does it work and why doesn't it work and what the shortfalls of all of this are. And then we're going to come back at the end of this. So, we've already done this. Again, no cost anybody here. It's just we do that because there are some places that we go in and we're like they'll they'll come to us and say, you know, we want
013to rehabilitate this, we want to do this, and we just said, we can't do that. That that is not going to be you're you we can't put our name on it because it will fall apart. You know, if you're going to go renovate a portable and try to get a portable to last another 30 years, you can just go buy a new portable far cheaper. So, this is kind of where we're really at now. So, we came through, we've done our assessment. Um the three of us are out here. We pulled information. Catherine provided a bunch of information and we're kind of going through this step right now. We're pretty much done with the da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d
014d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d da collection. We've developed a set of what we call FIMS, military guy, right? Got to have an acronym, facility improvement uh measures. And um what we do is we're going to look at these are the key things you really need to address in your buildings to get them to the next 30 years. And we're not looking at necessarily the carpet or something. We're looking at structural things. We're looking at your HVAC, your plumbing, your safety and security. Um, safety and security. I can tell you as a military officer, there's nothing that cost me more sleep than safety and security. I because I knew I couldn't put up with school shooting. And I I know that's almost
015sacrileg to talk about, but it happens. And that kept me up at night, right? So, safety and security was the first thing we put in. Apollo has done that. We'll do lighting refits. Um, lighting is the probably the biggest lesson learned I had as a superintendent because I'm just like, well, I was on Navy ships, right? Lights a light. I saw firsthand how lighting, LED lighting in particular, affects a little kids, especially kids that have that are already struggling. And we had one kid, I mean, this kid, he would just I mean, he was just out of controlling. When we changed the lighting in that room, it changed his behavior. It was shocking, right? So, I'm I'm kind of on board with the whole lightning thing and there's a ton of studies out there. I
016should have just been smart enough to read them, not have to see it firsthand. There's a ton of stuff out there uh around that. So, you know, we've got all the FIMS. I'm going to present the FIMS tonight here in a few minutes to you. And then what we're really looking for again, and there's no pressure. I'm not going to say I'm staying here until you guys give me a decision. I'm going to walk away. I want you guys to process this because there's a lot at stake here. There's a beautiful building. There's millions of dollars and there's, you know, the future of Hillsburg education. this. But my favorite quote that I learned in education and around educator is you never get the second chance for first grade and right I mean I mean that's
017kind of true for me and I probably could have done better for second and third grade along the way but what we're going to do is we're going to come down to this and I will come up I'm going to present the FIMS to you tonight. Another acronym I'm going to throw at you. It's called long cost rough order of magnitude cost. We're in the process if you want to go forward and you we I don't need a contract on this but you guys talk about it. You guys figure out whether you want to go forward. You call you let Tom know. Tom will call me and at that point I'm going to come up with a rough order of magnitude costs for you. We don't do that right now uh up front because it
018takes the engineers a lot of work to do. And if you're just not interested, this is just a good breaking point right now. If I don't hear from Tom, you know, for a year, um you just put it on the back burner. It's still there. All the work is there. just on the back burner. I'll check in with you probably once and then that's it. No hard feelings. You you've gone here separately. But if you do want to go forward again at no cost to you, if you're serious about it, I'm going to come back and I'm going to present the FIMS with a rough order of cost. And you'll see something like every one of those FIMS with a bracket uh on them. And at that point, I'll bring the FIMS back. But at
019that point, we are expecting to enter a contract. And the contract would be written in a way that you have an out, right? So, it would obligate us to it would obligate the school district to us, but only when we get money. And so, I'm pretty good at writing grants. I got 28.6 million coming in my little school district. Um, and I'm not promising that here because Washington state is wired completely different than Montana. But I can tell you right now that building and this building also, there are four grants. I kind of mentioned a little bit to Tom. or four grants I can think of right now that if we had a contract tomorrow morning I'd be writing you and we'd be working with you on these grants and it's not going to be
020I mean to be honest you're talking probably somewhere on the magnitude of you know 15 to$25 million to get these buildings to last another um 25 30 years I mean it's going to be millions of dollars the little the cheap the less the the smallest cost I've seen is around 10 million on a little bit newer facility, a little bit smaller facility. Um, actually, you don't have that many fibs. You're the bones in these buildings are remarkably good. Remarkably good. So, you're blessed with not having as many. I've got one school. I've got 32 tips uh that we're looking at. We're going to put in I think I've got nine for the grade school and seven or eight for the for the high school. So anyway, that's kind of where we're at and that's, you
021know, that's once we cross this line, that's the Fisher, you know, cut bait type of the discussion that we've got. Um, I expect that to take a couple months of discussion if you want to go forward because again, we want to get it right for you because we're going to put all these guarant. So, what we'll do is I'll bring those uh same engineers that were out here. I'm going to bring them back and we're going to go instead of every square foot, we're going to get down to the molecular level. We're going to start looking at every square inch. We're going to go through that HVAC system and look at it. We're going to go through the roof and uh look at like I already know right now uh that these roofs it if
022somebody comes in and tells you, well, you can do what you want. You're the school board. It's your buildings. But if they come in and tell you they can just put TPO across this, you've wasted your money because those ropes need to be torn off. There's a lot of subfloor that needs there's a lot of rot in there. It needs to be done right. They're 60 years old. So, um things like that we're going to come in and we're going to figure out what what can we say. You know, you've got these big beams that go across. Those are those can easily be saved, right? We have but we haven't gone back to see if where it's catching water over here if it can be saved, right? So, that's the fidelity that we'll go to.
023And then once we're at that point, that's where I start hunting grants. And like I said, I can four that can address probably four maybe five of your fins right now. So, um little just real quick and I'm going to go through these real quick. This slide is an explanation of each of these. We've done this. We've done the no cost exploration. This is where we are that second data driven decision making. I'm going to provide you guys the data here in a few minutes so you can really look at what you've got the equity that you got in this. This is where um again once we uh once we agree to come together, we write a contract that you have an out if you if we don't find money for you. If you don't
024have money and we don't do a project, we're not charging you anything. Um it's it's that simple. But it also says that you have to continue work. You can't take all the work that we go work it off with, you know, Joe the roofer that's going to come back in. You patch a hole that's different. But, you know, that's that's the partnership there uh on it. And I there I could not find another company that would that would do anything like that with us. And then finally, um when we when we do the work here, there are a couple of things and actually it's down on the slide. There are a couple of things when we do the work here that again are really really different that again as a superintendent and my board uh
025also really appreciated. One is you have an on-site supervisor. Um, and you have a single point of contact for any kind of issues, general issues and stuff like that. I live in Red Lodge. I'm a Montana resident again. Um, so Tom has an issue with something. He calls me, I will fix it. It's that simple. When any work's being done here, you'll have an on-site supervisor that makes all things work together. And Tom can just go straight to that guy. he sees a pro a guy, you know, he's got his park, his car parked and the bus is open or something like that. That's how I get st You always have somebody here. You just don't have contractors running around a month. And I will tell you firsthand experience. I put my um I put
026a security system my security system on my school cost about a million dollars and I had to do it in two phases. Um and I came down to I thought now I've dealt with hospitals and schools in Vietnam for crying out loud and I've worked through I'm working with a government did not want to work with. I thought I had all this nailed down. I had my electrician stop right here and I had my cam camera controller stop right there. And it took me two months to figure out how to get that last little connection because I tried to take it on myself. So, I'm not saying that'll happen ever again, but you know how it is when you have multiple contractors working on something complex. U you know, you don't want your rails, you
027know, you don't want your rails at the Union Pacific Railroad, Utah to end up like this. They gota they got they got to be touching. So, real quick, we had I have when we came out here, we took something like 1,200 pictures that we've got in a photo in our folders documenting stuff. Um, and we have a packet of about this thick full of notes already. So, we have a head start. This just tells you what you already know. Uh, helps us again because again, when you start looking at HVAC, we're working in a school. Um, I was there in July. It's out on the planes. It's 100 degrees out and they have this really great community room and the community room is 64 degrees. No, there's no air conditioning any other place in the
028school. So, it's hot as all can be. But this community room that they build is 64 degrees and there's no one in it and there's not going to be anything. That's just money going up through the roof. So, again, we like to look at what the usage is. you know, you have, you know, people coming in like in our school, we hosted funerals and weddings and community events. We had all these different things going on. So, and we knew that we didn't need to, you know, I don't need to be heating it and cooling it on a Saturday and Sunday and the summer's different than the winter. So, anyhow, a little bit about your school. These are these are now getting into the famous I want to start with wonderful building across. I I won't
029bel labor the point here, but roves, doors, and windows, um, LED lighting, the weather seals, and electric electrical upgrades. 70-year electrical in here, you got electrical problems. And I I have exactly the same thing. And it's not cheap because you got to tear stuff out, you got to tear walls out, you got to tear conduit out, you got to bring breaker boxes up to code. There's just stuff that needs to be done. And it's not because it's a fire hazard. Anybody that tells you it's a fire hazard, there's not child lost in a school fire since 1950 something. So, it's always a worry. You want to be aware of that, but you got to get the electrical so that carries the loads uh that you're going to need to carry. Um the doors and windows,
030you got single pane hollow core doors and places again those, you know, you're in Florida or Hawaii probably wouldn't be a big deal, but here in Montana that's a big deal. Um, I would guess if we asked, you know, you got kids that are coming putting sweaters and jackets on in some buildings all the time. Well, that's a that's a detriment to learning, you know, when you're when you're focused. And I remember that because I went to one of these schools where my hands were always cold and that was a great actually I used this excuse because I was oh, by the way, I was not a good student, which is another reason I shouldn't have been superintendent, but I used to tell my teachers this all the time. The old adult C students or
031A students work for C students. That's all you guys. That's all you guys are all A students. I'm I was I wasn't even a C student, you know, by the time I graduated. So, anyhow, um more of the FIMS. Um this is the big one that we're kind of mulling over right now. And uh it's really your HVAC system. And again, I'm real sensitive to the air quality in school for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons that's and I was out in western Washington, so I didn't worry much about fires. In Montana, fires are pretty prevalent here. This was a pretty gentle fire season on us this year, but last year it wasn't. And you're going to need you're going to need an air handling system that can actually handle the smoke in
032a fire. Oh, by the way, I also remind people this. We, you know, the primary purpose of these buildings is a school. There's no question about it. But anytime that there's a disaster or an emergency, what are the places they use? It's going to be the school. If there's a I mean, you're not in a flood zone. You actually are in Flintstone because you're right below Lake George, right? Um or Georgetown. Uh Georgetown Georgetown. Um so, but the fires, right? I mean, these are going to be pumped. These could be used for other purposes. You want to make sure that in those cases you're at least can function at a minimal level. So, we came up with six. This is for the for the elementary school. Six different options. When we come back with the
033the wrong cost. We're going to narrow that down to one, two, or three. They're still all on the table, but we'll explain to you why, you know, a couple of these, they're just not going to be ideal for. They're going to cost too much and underperform in this environment. And that is a quirky building. It's beautiful. It's old, but again, it's an old building just the way it's all uh put together. So, it needs a little special thought. So, um boiler replacement needs to be done. Yep. Um over here, building that we're in right now, again, you know, size building 64,000 square ft in the campus. Doors and windows um you got a lot of you know seepage and water and they're not thermally set. Um I can't remember. I think it's back over in
034this corner. There's an exterior door that you got leaking and such. You know, again, that's where we're going to go back in and see exactly what needs to be done, what can be kept, what needs to be replaced. um where what are you know if we only gain a teeny bit of efficiency in u in the windows does that make sense well then again you have to look at security um you have to look at I mean a whole bunch of other stuff you know you're letting bugs in obviously you got to address that type stuff fire alarm upgrades and again more electrical upgrades um chiller HVAC here in the uh high school four options that we're going to come up with or four options that we came up with to this point that we'll
035narrow down for you as we go forward. And then some work there in the in the kitchen uh with a new walk-in freezer and kitchen and such. Let's see. Yeah. And then finally, solar array. You would be in some schools. I I've I've talked to a couple boards and they're like, if you mention the word wind, that's a four-letter word. put a bond and levy and everything else in the teacher fourletter word. Don't ever say that again. Fine. Um I've not found as many people opposed to solar and there's some good solar grants. So I can tell you doors and windows right now there's a grant out there that can help address that. Solar, there's grants out there. They're federal grants, but there are grants out there that we would go after. And again, what
036we want to do is work with the board and the staff here and the community because ultimately schools serve communities to make sure that it's fitting what you want or don't want. There are a handful of places in Montana solar doesn't. When you're up in when you're west of Callispell, you can talk all you want. Just leave that word on your spelling le uh list for, you know, third graders. Solar is not going to work up there. It's too cloudy. You're just not going to get the efficiency. Here you would, we've done the math on it. You would make um you know you'd be well you'd be well to think of a solar so I'm coming down to the end of this so let's talk about the money this is always right if I came
037to you and said I will do this free we would have contract property right but that's not how it works um the traditional way is everybody selfunds and what you really mean by self-unding is you know you reach out to the community and you say look you know give us some money to do this and that's not off the table, but there's no way that there's no way. I mean, in my in my district, it was so absurd. Um, I would have had to tax people $326 per thousand. We would have bankrupt people. I would have bankrupt the superintendent of the school district, right? Couldn't. It's not sustainable. So, that's that's not there. I will say Montana has changed the rules a little bit. There's a teeny bit of money that's going into building and
038maintenance funds. You can look at that and see, but it's it's going to be insignificant. So now, that's not true for every school, and I'm making an assumption by being in Philipsburg, but if you're in Big Sky, this is and this goes back to my equity thing. This is was what fires me up as an American citizen. If I'm in Big Sky, and I've been in Big Sky, they don't have any of these problems. Their their campus is unbelievably beautiful because they have a tax base that is just throwing pennies collectively together and they're building buildings for these kids and that's what every kid should have. That's what we want. So, like I said, if it's possible and you have hidden money somewhere, let me know. That'll open up other doors. But my guess is
039we're going to look at these other three things. Federal grants, there are some federal grants out there. There's two there's a federal grant that I would look at real closely for your doors and there's the federal solar grant. There's other federal grants that pop up uh from time to time, too, that we would look at. And again, if we go into this process, we're talking about we're in this for the long term. We're I'm going to fix this next year. Even if you sign a contract under one of these things, under one of these uh ways, you know, one of these models, if you will, we're probably looking at five to seven, maybe 10 years. It's going to take us time. One, again, remember, Apollo doesn't get paid until we get money. We don't do
040the work until we get money. He's I got to go get money. You can't turn on any of that. There's no grant that will award anybody right now. If we applied for a grant tomorrow, we wouldn't see money until September of 2026. And that's one grant that's only a relatively small amount, $400,000 if we were to go for that grant. So, it's going to take some time to work all of these things. So, federal grants, federal grants typically do require a match. Sometimes it's 10%, sometimes it's 20%. So, again, you know, every million dollars is $100,000 that you got to come up. The good news grants is you can often use other grants as a match. And so that's where, you know, Tom and Katherine and I, the business side of this, we're like, "Okay,
041let's make sure we're legal, but let's we call it OPM, military guy acronym, other people's money. If I can use other people's money to educate our kids, I'm going to use other people's money." And my rationale on that is, and I'm all about keeping my taxes low. But somebody's going to use that money. Why not these kids? If it doesn't go here, it's going to go to Louisiana or Mississippi or Ohio or California. Why not these kids? So, that's how we'll approach the federal grants. State state grants. There are some state grants out there. Uh the NRC has $92 million that they have uh that they have given out to a wide variety of different uh public entities, not just schools. I wish it was just schools, but um there's money there that we can
042apply for. Historical preservation grant, House Bill 12 passed this last year at $6 million. that only grants out about 400,000. But again, 400,000 is a 10% grant on the $4 million grant. So guess what? We just put those two together and we got 4 million if we get those monies. And then there's um uh well, last year both Lincoln School District and Leva uh school districts, that's how much they I think I need to update that because I think when they actually um closed legislature, they got just a little bit less than that. It was bouncing around in the leg. but they got just under $400,000 for each of their schools. And then the last one are DEQ bonds and loans. Um DEQ, Department of Environmental Quality here in Montana, um they have grant they
043have granted money that has not been required to be repaid. And I'm headed to Helena next week to figure out how that works. Um, it's really it's really communities that are extremely distressed and don't have options, which probably wouldn't be us because there are always options. But we're going to, like I said, we're going to we're going to track every every source down just to see what the possibilities are out there and we'll continue to follow. I mean, who knows what the grants are going to look like a couple years from now. And then the final one is uh direct aortionment with your uh legislators and uh legislators have been I don't know you know how powerful I'm still learning legislative networking uh in in Helena but uh there are very powerful legislators that tend
044to get more than wall flowers of legislators and we'll try to use some of those and even if it's not yours you don't have to have power I in my district we had three legislators in Washington and were the weakest. They they belonged to the wrong party and they were wall flowers. So I went to another guy and he got me the money for my security $1 million came from another legislator um out of our district. So looking at that direct a portionment and then the final one, the fifth bucket that I just don't put on here and that is there are private foundations. There's a private foundation here in Montana that gives $35 million a year out to different all kinds of different things. um for your school. There's one other school that I'm
045working with that I think also has a really good historic building. I'd split them. Um I' I'd go about I think the ask there is going to be about I would guess again this is one of those discussions but you know we're going to look at about a million and a half ask. Cost uses cost you nothing to ask. Cost me a little bit of time to write letters and I've got a bunch of draft letters that I'll go tweak and throw out there and we'll just keep hunting these guys. That's kind of I mean that's kind of what I was an intelligence officer so that was kind of what I did is hunted people and uh I will find these guys and I will bump into bump into them and shield Missoula or some
046bar someplace until we get these things. I mean, we're going to chase this money hard because it's important, right? So, that's where that we can get the money. And then this is the last slide. Apologize a little bit longer than I expected, but I just wanted to really kind of close with this. Again, you know, that's the picture over in in the high school on the wall. That's uh I don't know I hope everybody's seen this. That's the first staff that was here. 1896. >> One guy and I think seven teachers, right? and they probably all lived in the school. That building is still here. There's so much fantastic history around your campus here. We've got to figure out how to save that. Um, we're willing to play the long game. Like I said, if
047you wanted to patch, it's not us. But if you want to take a five, six, eight, 10year approach, really not much risk from a district, which is what I liked from a, you know, again, I've got noi financial obligation if we don't get the money. um we're here for you and uh we want to play the long game with you. What we'd like to do, this is kind of that, you know, get everybody together. When I was out here, I met a couple of you uh with our engineers. Um we actually sat in here for a few minutes. What I'd like to do is make sure we're all in the same sheet of music. You guys think of whether this makes sense, this kind of approach makes sense. If you need me to come back,
048you want a second discussion on it again, doesn't cost me anything but a drive from Red Lodge, which on most days. It's a beautiful drive to get into a little bit of white stuff out there, but we'll figure out how to make it work and we'll come back and have that next level questions. The other thing, too, is you have my phone number on the on the thing. You can call me up if you have questions. You can shoot questions to Tom um if you have questions, however you want to want to work it, but we would love to work uh with your school and uh with your district. You got some This is a neat community, too, right? And I know you all know that because you're living here, but that building in this
049neat community is very, very unique. And I think it's one of those things when you live in a place like this, it's easy to overlook it and go, "Oh, yeah." You know, because you see it all, but take a second when you walk out tonight and just realize what you've got and how blessed you are. If there's something we can do to help, we're here for you. >> Any questions? >> Excuse me. I'm looking um elementary school and there's like six bullets. And so my question is are those those are the options, right? Each bullet is an option, right? And then so would you say a is the best option? Are you going down? >> No. It's so it's kind of funny. They were actually numbered when when the engineers sent them to me. They
050numbered them and so I put letters on there because I was like I don't want people to think these are prioritized. Yeah, they are not prioritized. What we need to do is this is the next level of work that we need to do. We need to come back and really look at the spaces that are used where the air flow goes because there's all kind I mean there's a ton of engineering that goes into this to get the right pressure the right amount of air flow the right amount of air withdrawal and the right energy efficiencies there. The other part of it too that really complicates your school from an engineering perspective is you got a bofuel um uh system out there that has to be factored in and there aren't too many bofuel systems
051uh here and so we just want to make sure we get the right one. Is there is there a reason to preserve and continue using that? Is there a recommendation? I was talking to the engineers earlier today and said hey what are your thoughts on that? And they're like we're I mean we really got to go crunch some numbers to see what the what the numbers are. what what I will come back with you I've seen it before you know you may get D and B you may get E and A I mean it's just it has nothing to do with priorities has everything to them looking at again the school usage what it's being you know when it's being used what the peak uh one of the things that we need for Northwest Energy
052is to see where the peak demand um areas are what those energy costs are because you can find like you probably many of you probably know this on my my football field when my coach would go flip the lights on, it cost me $350 for him to turn the lights on because it was a surge charge, right? So, the engineers need to go calculate all those things to make sure we're avoiding surge charges because you don't want to be paying that and and you don't have to. Heating a building never is instantaneous, right? So, there's ways that we can work around search charges and that's what would factor in to which probably two we probably come back with two. We'll come back with all of them. We'll say we discounted this because we discounted this
053because we discounted this because and here are the three remaining or here's the one remaining. This is by far the best if there's one that's a clear stand. >> Does that answer? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> If we don't get this work done, how much life do you think we can get out of that school? >> Well, I mean that building's been 125 years. That building the walls on that are going to stand another 125. I mean, you notice like over half the buildings I'm working in have foundation. Remarkably, you don't I mean, we've been down there and we'll go through it again. I mean, like I said, we've been at the one floor level. We're going to get to the one inch level on it. Your foundations, the bones of these buildings are in
054really good shape. When you walk through here, I think we found one slight crack. Is that right, Bob? In the high school, I didn't mind. It's not a structural crack in here. So, the buildings themselves are going to stand a long time. your HVAC, everything that we listed here is at a point of failure where you're just going to throw time and maintenance money and replacement. You're going to be like me where you're throwing 25 to $50,000 to change this and fix it and three years later it's going to be broken again. And so what we're again what we want to do is we what we would like to do is when we're done with this, let's say we finish in 2030, you don't really have you have to do routine maintenance, but you don't
055have to really look at anything until 2050. You start looking planning for it in 2060 and 70 which all of us will probably not be here but that generation that's sitting here at that point they have 10 years to come up with a routine maintenance plan we'll even help you come up with hey this is when this is when you have to look at this this is when you want to start saving money and start creating what I would give or my predecessor three removed 30 years ago to set up a little bit of a fund that would have just grown so that we could have addressed these That just doesn't happen in schools, but it's possible and that's what we would help if you wanted to do that. >> I wanted to give a
056shout out to Brent and the group. Um, just so you guys know, this is the kind of company they are. They took our four plans, all the paper ones that we were able to shuffle together. We gave it to Brent, he went to Billings, digitized them at the tune of $600ish on their and came back and said, "Here's the flash drives. We want to work with you guys." We also checked our bases and checked on some other companies and we got a video camera on so I don't want to throw other companies under the bus. But those companies would come here and say, "Knock that building down. It's not worth the time or effort. Knock it down. Build a new one." >> And like when you want to keep it, yes, we found somebody like
057we found the right crew. We found the right person. >> So, Can I ask you a question? >> Yes. >> So, the funding that can be looked sought after um educational and then also historical preservation. So, you have that resource as well. Hopefully, that's a lot for something like that. >> Uh the historical preservation grant as it sits right now is only 400,000. It's capped at 400,000, but you can you can apply for it year after year. >> So, you go after 10 years, we got $4 million, right? >> Yeah. When they when they issue grants, are they considering like numbers of students or population of the county and things like that. Like they can give less for less students. >> Montana's not as bad on that. So, but the the federal grants are really
058tough that way because they often look at who I mean, you know, how many people does this benefit, right? Yeah. We can't compete with, you know, most schools can't compete with one city block in New Orleans or New York or any other city that starts with a new. I mean, we're just not going to serve that many kids. But also, we're not going to attack it that way. I mean, we're going to attack it again. Go find another Go find another iconic 125 year old Yeah. 130 year old building that's around here. And that goes back to the other thing, too. And you know, Tom and I have talked a little bit about this. I'm not going to hit just those grants. There's a guy named Taylor Sher. He writes these like kind of weird
059little wild things that makes Montana real popular. >> Yeah. >> Would you be willing to take a half a million dollars for him to come and film in here >> over a summer? He's he just signed a fiveyear contract in but it's right over the hill. So again I'm going to reach out to those types of people. Taylor Swift gives us money unless somebody hates Taylor Swift. Seems like everybody loves her. I mean I'm going to write Taylor Swift. I we are going to chase money hard. >> Um and we will strike we are going to strike out so many times it is depressing. I'm not I won't even I won't even tell you how many times I'm striking out. We'll strike out a hundred times. >> So but has Tal Pump um that gives
060a ton of money to right? Can they broad amount to >> that would be another place that we would look. Uh yeah, I mean we're going to look at all of these. Like I said, I would love again there are benefactors. Boseman's a great example of this because I've started to really follow how money works in Montana. Boseman has a whole bunch of millionaires right there. Many of them are up in Big Sky and a lot of them live right in the town and Boseman's benefiting from that and that's awesome. They should. I don't want to take that away from Boseman. Um, but there's a very well-known movie star couple there that just gave $50,000 to a T-ball team. So, why are we asking a very well-known movie star couple, you know, maybe you can
061throw some money on to address some of this? And the other part of this, too, I'm kind of tongue and cheek and I don't mean to be that way about saying, you know, we're going to say 40,000 times 10 and get 4 million. It's actually a lot more complicated than that, right? Again, it goes back to the financial side, but more importantly, really the ing side can't just stop at 400,000. Nobody wants to do $400,000 worth of work and say, "Well, we're going to wait a year. We ripped your roof off to here, right? I mean, that doesn't work." And that's what I liked about Apollo. Apollo was the only company that would come through and we'd figure out what money do we have, what's the right efficiencies in the right way. The other thing
062for me was I had to have uh I had to have um seismic upgrades to my buildings as you know I'm in the tsunami zone out there in western Washington. Um I had to have plumbing. I had to have a new roof. I had to have um ins I had to have all these things. I had to have a new electrical system. I as a as a taxpayer I didn't want to spend money where I'm tearing the walls out to put a new electrical system and I put them back up and then I get the uh another grant. I tear it off, put the seismic structure in and I tear it off a fourth time because to me that's wasted potential. That money that takes pull just a simple pull a wall apart, put stuff
063in there and put it back. That's money I should do once and take the three times savings and put it to something else. And Apollo was the only company that would work for me on that, coming up with the right way of of doing this. So again, that's what our engineers that that we'll leave that to the engineers to coming up with the right things. If we get money, let's say we get a solar grant. Nice thing about solar grants, you can fix roads with them. >> So, we go after we build that into our grant, right? Because we're going to put the solar up there. Um, unless you want to put it out in a field, but I'd say let's put it up there because then they have to dress our part of the
064ground, right? And so, we'll come up with ways of of including things that are on, you know, kind of the we'll be very thoughtful and inclusive. We'll always follow the rules. You got a naval officer here, right? So, I'm always going to follow the rules, but we're not going to lie, cheat, or steal, but we're going to be smart about how we follow the rules and how we apply for other people's >> What if Okay, so if I understand this, when you sign a contract with you, we decide to go and then you start finding the money for this. What if you don't find enough money at stuck in this contract with owing a lot of >> you don't owe us anything if we don't do the work that we'll write we write a contract
065in a way that you have out and that was important to me as a superintendent. I couldn't go commit $20 million to some company if they never do the work or if we don't come up with the money and so we come up with the contract. What we typically will do is um I would say for a school like you and with uh facilities instead of having the engineers come back. There's two ways we can come back and we could write an investment grade audit IG um and we could write it for write a number in all those places. Let's say it cost n let's say it cost you know what number divides by 90 $90,000. Okay, these are just fake numbers so don't hold me to any of these numbers. They may be high,
066they may be low. $90,000 per FIM may come back and say, "Let's put $10,000 against each FIM because for our engineering costs and um what once the we get the grant for that FIM, then we write it into that grant. The grant pays for the engineering cost. You don't pay for anything. Everything we're going to do comes from you." Now, what I will say in all honesty, sometimes you come to the end of the project and people are like, and you know, you hope that you hope that the community starts buying into this, right? is taxed already. But when you come up with a small levy, if you need to get over that last hurdle, you can go to them and say, "Look, you know, we need $100,000. We're going to take a two-year levy
067uh to get there cents." And again, I'm just making numbers up. That's not that's not the same as asking a community to come in, you know, for a 20-year bond or a 30-year bond, right? And so you could that could be the very end part of it. If the work doesn't get done, apologist eats it. I mean, that's That's the I mean that's the anxiety I feel because I'm going to be the one I will I will work as much or as little with you with grants. I was naval officer so kind of a control freak. I wrote all my grants. I didn't want anyone else. Nobody knew my community better. Nobody knew my uh kids better. Nobody knew my buildings better. I wrote all the grants. For most people though and for some people
068I helped in Washington. I ghost some of my friends that were superintendents. I ghost them. I'll work with Tom and Catherine B communitys to write them. I don't want to take anything away from you because it is hard to write grants. You learn about them. But if you want me to write them, I will chase them and um I will ghostrite them. I can't submit them. Nobody's going to give Brent Freeman from Red Lodge, Montana a grant. They have to come from the schools. But I'll ghostrite them. Whoever whoever writes them, they have to be submitted either from the board or from top. And so I'll ghostrite them. We'll submit them through the grant. And when if the money doesn't come in, there's no work done. We only do we only do the IG to
069generate a cost once we get the grant. We've got enough I've got enough information on the buildings. Now I can write a grant about the buildings without have bringing the engineers back. That's part of the reason we do this. I will have to come back at some point and poke around your community a little bit because you got to put you got to put you got to put Philipsburg ahead of everybody else. And I always this when you're chasing grants it's like an Olympic event. The winners and losers are going to be separated by a tenth of a second. We got to be we want gold or silver. We want to be on the podium, right? And that means we have to leave every we cannot leave any stone unturned. And that means we got
070to get in here. We got to be truthful on our grant application. We got to know the community. It has to reflect the community. But we got to figure out what words like my the success that I have had most of it has been around. You read through the grant real carefully and you learn the words that they're putting in there. When they talk about X Y and Z, you make sure your grant says X Y and Z and you're not talking ABC or any other letters. You're you've got you've hit those. But then I'm also talking to the grant um evaluators. What is your focus? What is your that that's just a lot of time sometimes sitting in a bar and telling which it always isn't bad but talking to somebody well you know
071this is what I'm really focused on I like elk and elk are my favorite thing in the whole world and so guess what somewhere in there there's going to be elk in there right I mean whatever it is I mean we will figure out how to hit those niches because again we've got to outpay we're going to compete on federal grants you're competing against sometimes millions of people in hundreds And so a lot of these unfortunately are screened by AI now. No humans even looking at them to get them to cut. And uh the last grant I wrote was for our field lighting in um in Washington. And um it was uh we ended up we were in second place. We fell to third place after the second round. The final round we jumped back
072up to third uh to second place uh for for funding. And it was just knowing the nuances of who's I mean who's there because at the end of the day it is a human that makes that decision and they're tough. I I don't know if you've ever sat on it's kind of like it's kind of like grading a really good teacher grading papers, you know, and you don't when you say I'm only given two A's out I'm a grade on curve. It's really really hard. You're coming down to nuances and we're we're going to fight to be that nuance. >> Well, thank you very much. [Applause] He's been fantastic. And Bob, you guys have a great staff here. Good superintendent. It's always a pleasure. So, thank well the podium. Okay. Sure. Uh, it's been a
073while since I've been to a meeting. We had a busy summer. I'm sure you all saw our new doors coming through, which is, I think, helped. We got the cell phone lockers put up. I think that's been a big help. Save some distractions. Um, we got the grading done out in front of the schools to keep the water from coming in the doors. Got the bus barn rebuilt so there's not water running in on our school vehicles. We did both gym floors this summer as well as all of the classroom floors and hallways, cafeteria. Um we've been having problems with our fire alarm system. We had some repairs done by a young technician that services it, does the annual inspections. He'll be back again. It's going to buy us some time, but ultimately the writing's
074on the wall. It's going to need to be replaced at some point because such as all these other things, they don't last forever. They quoted us around 160,000 is the first bid that I got, which that's a whole other story. The that comes to mind with me like new contractors and suppliers that we've gotten Brent from Apollo is the only one that has given us any positive feedback that it's not gloom and doom here. like I feel secure that we're going to be I'll be able to heat what we have going until it is replaced because with new technology it's not just replacing a boiler it's replacing your entire system. Um, foolishly things were done partials. They were never maintained and that's why we're in the predicament that we are. We had a company tell
075us they went as far as to say, "Look at Helena, Montana. They're rebuilding their school systems at the tune of millions of dollars. We're not that bad off." Like, I'm not trying to scare anyone. It's just it's old. The stuff's old. We're fixing it. But I'm only one person. Most contractors will not touch this stuff because once they touch it, they own it because they know I'm going to crawl right in bed with them and be like leaking again or short it out. They're going to be like, "Oh, it's old. Replace it." Well, we don't have that kind of money. Um, I do have the heating system on. Everything seems to be working good so far. um control systems. We got some bids on that for the Hback. Again, checking with other companies while Brent
076does his research. I really don't trust anyone other than Brent because, like I say, he gives me positive feedback on it is possible and we're not going to have to raise everyone's taxes. I don't want to pay any more taxes for the school. I have no problem with that. roads. No problem with that. Unnecessarily just because someone can make some money. I'm not down with that. Um, we looked at lighting upgrades, blah blah blah. Kitchen, made some improvements there. Again, we're just trying to get by with what we have. Um, the biomass, Brent mentioned that the biomass will not run until it gets like in the dead of winter here because it is at the end of its life. We got quotes that were very vague as a tune of the lower end of $200,000
077to retube it, put refractory in it. The control system alone is like $40,000. If we lose deer lodge as a sawmill, we don't have wood chips that burn efficiently enough to truck them here to heat these two buildings. Like it just doesn't work out. In 2005, I guess it was a great deal. Don't know. out. We're going to run it as long as it'll go till it springs leak and then it's it's done. It'll probably become a bus barn. Um I know one of the hot topics here tonight is use of our facilities. I spent some time today going through taking pictures. I have here 17 balls we found in our heating system. If we break a glycol line in that Philipsburg elementary gym, you will lose two stories worth of glycol into your gymnasium,
078turning it into a swimming pool and you will not have school. Your kids won't have a place to go to school because you there's no isolation valves on most of these lines. I don't know who plumbed it. Doesn't matter. I can't fix that now. It is what it is. Like we've got to be pretty gingerly with this stuff because it's getting old and it's starting to seep. One wrong move. You guys can do whatever you want. I'm just suggesting if we're going to have extra activities after hours that it stick with basketball, running, taekwond do, things that aren't hard on our buildings on our gym. And you need to put in your policy that they have to wear shoes alone for that. Like they have to bring them in, put them on, put them on
079the gym floors and use them. Um, that's really all I have for you right now. Do you have any questions? >> Both of these are really great because we just getting into our our fiveyear strategic plan that kicks off with this whole assessment of where we're at so that we can um put more effort as we go through this whole process of assessing our facilities which is our number one goal for our infrastructure. So this is great timing. Thank you both for coming in and giving us all your information. All right, next on the agenda is Robbie with Taekwondo. Okay, if I stand over here and I dance my back. Thank you. My name is Robbie House and I'm the head instructor of Philsburg Damian Young Martial Arts Taekwondo. And little history, my first class
080in the elementary gymnasium over there was April 13th, 1988. And we have gone 37 straight years of martial arts in that small elementary gym over there. Never stop. That's 12 months a year. It's not seasonal. It's 12 months a year. Two nights a week. Thankfully, Mondays and Thursdays, two nights a week, 12 months a year for 37 years. So, I'm here to plead, literally plead my case for continued use of the elementary gym for my typhono classes. Um, we've had hundreds, literally hundreds of students, adults, mostly children, but adults and children. It's a revolving door. It has been over the years. I just sat by Carrie and she sits down and I said, "Oh, Carrie, she was one of my students like how many years ago?" me, my husband, and my kids. Yeah. >> 30
081her both of them and their kids probably 30 years ago, but they were still my students. And so we've had I looked at I wrote them down as I was sitting there. Uh 13 of our black belts were high school kids were kids still in school here that got black belts and then of course they graduate and then they move on and I don't usually see them anymore. my own son. Um that but they got black belts in high school while they're students still going to school here. And I'm looking at this picture up here on the wall. That is my class. >> And we were the first class to graduate in this building. >> We were the first class. I did three years up on the hill over there and this was the first
082class and that was in 1971. So at that time K through 8 was in the elementary. We had no junior high then. K through eight was in that elementary school where I went to school where my parents went to school and where my mom was a school teacher in this elementary school over here and my grandparents. So I live like I was born here. I've lived here forever. So um I just want to say that um I I know there's issues going on with the use of the gym. I'm just here to speak for my own um my own class, my own martial arts class. Hoping that I can continue that um for concerns. My kids, Mr. Gates just now found out because this little guy comes to my class now, but he watched a
083couple of classes. They walk in the door and at the door they take their shoes and socks off. Not even socks. Take their shoes and socks off, put them over the wall side by side with the socks inside and they bow on their way in the door. They bow on their way out of the door. If they have to use the bathroom to get a drink, they got a bow if they leave this constant. It's respect. So, we respect the gymnasium and um it's we teach respect. Our main philosophy is respect, humility, and patience. we say that we have to repeat it every single class they have to repeat what our philosophy is and they um so we're in bare feet so that I think is maybe not some of the issues I also carry
084insurance okay so I'm sure that might be a concern but I have carried insurance I'm required to carry insurance by me okay But I've had it for years and it protects not just me and Danny Young but also the school and the school district. I have a major liability insurance that I carry that covers the school district. Okay. So, um I have to pay that in six weeks and it's $575. So, when I read the Peabberg mail and said we might need $500, I freaked out. I did because I don't have it. I charge $5 a month. That's all I charge. $5 a month. It's all I've ever charged. So, and sometimes I get that more often than not. I don't even get it. I don't even get $5 a month. I have parents who
085could but don't or maybe they can't. I don't know. I do know actually. But, um I don't I don't want any child to ever not be able to do this because they can't afford it. So $5, I've never changed it in 37 years. $5 a month and I have just kind of operate on that. And actually Danny and I kind of just do it ourselves on our own money. So I'm hoping I don't have to pay to use the AC and that I can keep Monday and Thursday for 37 more years. Maybe I don't know how long. I just want to keep going. So, uh I have never This is probably my first school board meeting ever. Maybe never. But if I sit down and be quiet, but something comes up later, am I allowed
086to stand up and talk or can I say anything else or when I'm done, I'm done? >> I don't know. when we get into our items for action, there's always an opportunity to uh ask any questions on each of those items before we vote and then I can ask if you have anything else at the end. We can ask comment because I want to hear there are other groups here. There's pickle ball and and I don't want to call it geyser ball. >> That's what it is. It's teaser, you know, and I feel that, you know, the community needs a place to be able to have something for people our age, you know, and I think that this could be a workable situation, but we're going to have to have communication for one thing, transparency
087between the school and the groups. you know, it's workable, but we have to work at it. And we have to come up with some kind of a solution so that all the groups that do this, the the older people who have nothing else really in the in the community to do my own group, which is mostly children, but um there's some of us, this is my assistant instructor here, Sandra Lee Barbara, some of us are getting up there and uh so but we need to we want to keep going. But I I know the others have the other groups have you know want to plead their case as well. So um but I might come back. >> Yes ma'am. >> Thank you. Um also do you have a percentage like can you tell me 50
088to 75% is that is it student based like have you ever said >> oh yes well not but yes definitely student 75% of your group consistently >> we've had 24 24 of our students actually go on to receive a black belt that's takes a minimum of five years can't have a black belt before five years minimum of five years an average of seven years. So the students that I have had 24 of them have been there at least with me for seven years. And so um yes that's it's but it's mostly children. >> Yeah. Like on I mean on a month or throughout the month Monday Thursday you could say you know on average there's 65% in that one month that are students. It's population based students. >> Yes. population based right now there's 15
089students >> last year there was seven >> or eight I don't know I just started a new class of 10 or 11 if I keep half of them I'm lucky >> that's kind of statistically how it goes I like to think that I'll keep half of them maybe I will maybe I won't maybe I'll see them again someday >> you know >> I don't know but they do have to have it's required for them advance in rank 75% attendance in class is required by Damian Young. I'm under I'm under uh an association a federation international dam federation. So those some of the guidelines are set by them not by me. Test um cost for tests that's set by Damian not me. um the required amount of attendance 75%. And I have to send that in
090in order for them to test. They have to check that this attendance is there. So, and I do it from test to test. So, yes, but mostly children. And this is Philsbury, Montana. But sometimes you would think seriously that it was Chicago or Detroit or somewhere else. I mean literally it's sad. I could write a book. >> Yeah. >> Some of the stories. It will break your heart. So I think that sometimes this is the only the only staple thing >> in your life, >> you know, school and these classes that these children have. It's very very sad. I've testified in court in ugly custody cases. I've had to testify in court. I have taken children home with me at night because nobody came to pick them up or they bring them and drop them
091off drunk or they come to pick them up and they're drunk and I have to have another parent. Please take them home and follow this person home because I don't want that little child in that car. Trust me, we still need to do this for the kids. Okay. >> Thank you, Robbie. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Who's the representative for the pickle ball? >> So, that's me. >> And the wording wise. >> Okay. >> so my name is Brian S. I'm a pickle ball. >> Supposed to say hi Brian. >> Hi, Brian. >> So, I'm here representing the pickle ball group. a number of whom are here which is really nice and uh so principally that but also kind of incillary the geyser ball gang and the soccer folks as well who all use
092the gym and uh well first of all pickle ball um huge sport now in America fastest growing sport in America and the beauty of the game is so many people of say mature years can play and so which is quite relevant to our community here as we have a an older population. And in fact, uh, Walt here, 84 years old, hell of a pickle ball player. >> And Kevin, you're 63 digits now. Is that right? >> Oh, sorry. No one. >> Um, but I have a little couple of notes there. I want to make sure I don't forget anything. But we just want to stress that our group um I want to emphasize how important the issue is to to us uh about being able to use the gym because um the 60 plus in
093fact of all the 60 plus members in our community that basically do in the various uh groups use the gym. Um it it's the community members It's not only physical health that we gain from from doing this activity, but socially and mental health because it's a very social sport. Pickle ball is not like tennis, you know, you don't get all cranky about it. It's very social um and it forms friendships and it's a big deal um for especially for the older set and um especially in the winter months. We have no place to go to play pickle ball. I mean, we looked outside today. We typically play for six months out of the year. We play down on the tennis courts which we painted lines on and everything and with the provision of the city,
094but the snow has come, the cold comes, and we have to go indoors. And the only facility um here in Granite County is that gymnasium um that we can do that at. And so, I mean, it's it's an all or nothing deal for us. Um, and at the last schoolboard meeting, it was mentioned that uh that the school was concerned about maintenance cost and damage um to the gym. And I just want to assure the board that our group is extremely respectful towards that gym. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to use it and we take good care of it when we're there. Um, we don't wear street shoes, we wear court shoes. We um we actually often leave the gym in better condition than we found it. We sweep the floors, we clean up the
095trash, we put stuff aside, put it away, organize it. Um, so we are we are very grateful for it. And also, so this is a pickle ball. It's basically a glorified whiffle ball >> that's not going to do damage to equipment to, you know, to metal. It's not going to do damage to balls. Um, you can pass that around and uh and it's too big to fit in the the heater. balls found were not pickle balls um in that that Bob found and uh >> that's what the paper said. >> Well, yes. Well, that that's what the statement was and the paper was just reporting that. But but that wasn't the case. And and I also want to state that I mean this is just we're we're not for profofit. I mean there's no money
096exchanging hands with the with these groups. We're in it strictly for the exercise of the socialility. Um and for the past dozen years there's been a in place a written reciprocal use agreement between the city and the school. Um, and from 2013 and it allows the school to use the city park, the other tennis facilities and the uh the uh the track and also states it allows the community to use the gymnasium. And I'm just wondering has that changed? Has there been have you guys voted to change that or has there been any kind of amendment to that? >> So So we have a history of use of reciprocal use which I think is it's important. Um and then also mentioned at the last meeting was the uh the need for communication and uh and
097working together. I'm happy to come to that meeting and um you know we couldn't agree more. That's exactly what we want. And so we're hoping that going forward that the school will be willing to designate like a you know a permanent liaison like a go-to person that we know if if we have questions we can contact and if the school has issues like u you know there's going to be an event that evening or something else they can let us know so we don't show up and either you know try and come in or whatever. Um and and as far as scheduling you know our regular days too and So, we want to make sure that that that happens. And I want to say too, it was it was quite unsettling when uh we learned
098that we were just kind of cut off without any kind of communication, without without anyone informing anyone. And uh it we felt I mean not to sugar coat it, we felt it was kind of disrespectful to us because we've been using it for so many years and you know we were good stewards and so we couldn't figure out why it was handled that way and we just want to make sure that in the future that it doesn't come off like that again that we can know that we we retain goodwill between the community and the school. I mean that's I think that's pretty critical in a small community like ours. So, um, so, um, so I just want to thank you for hearing us out and we're eager to work with you guys and, you
099know, make sure that the Goodwills restored and, you know, every everything's hunky dory and we can get back in the gym, >> basically. >> Yeah. >> Can I add? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, um, I was just thinking when he was mentioning older people that that it's also really that um like it's a sport where young people can compete with old people and we can all play together so the kids can play and that's probably going to grow as well. Um more kids in the community like get interested in starting to play and you can play with your parents and your grandparents. It's like that kind of sport where you can all play together. So that's why it's like you know become a beloved sport and grown you know so much. And then the other
100thing I want to say was um yeah basketball is probably going to hit a pipe or break a pipe just as a pickle ball. Um I think we can all, you know, sign a contract or whatever, you know, agree to um some fees or um you know, making sure we have the proper shoes on. Um and I want to say I was really touched by Paul. He was emotional about the damage and so I feel for him and I want to make sure that if we do get to use it that we know just how much we need to take care of that facility and we need to be aware of pipes and and what we you know how sensitive and you know the lights on the ceiling. I'm not sure you know where or
101how careful we need to be. Maybe don't play so aggressive. I don't know. But if there's a way we can work it out that would be great. >> Can you tell me what days you how how often are you using the facility? What days are you using the facility? >> I can answer. >> So um traditionally actually the last five years it's been two days a week um and we we've been very we were asked at one point um you know not to do it during school hours because we were coming because it wasn't being used but then we were asked not to do school hours. So we changed it >> and so what we do is Tuesday evenings and then Friday morning and Saturday morning the are the ones we've done the last couple
102years. >> Oh, no. >> Elementary. >> No, the elementary all the school. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, what door do you guys come in? >> The one or the back? >> You do come in the back. Nobody comes in the front door. >> Nobody comes down through the school. Well, it it depends because we were also asked at one point to park not in the back but in the front. So, we started doing that park in front. >> Yeah. And then and then um and then we come in front. >> Well, because I was just agreeing to you know, but you guys could work that out. I didn't park. >> Yeah. We've been very amenable to any request made to us and we accommodate whatever you guys need. So, for whatever reason, >> I'm sorry.
103>> Excuse me. How many members on average? So, it depends. We've got on our email list almost 60 folks. >> Of course, not all chemical lunch, thank goodness, because we don't have that. We we we have this gym is big enough to set up two courts. So, we typically have two courts going anywhere from, you know, eight to 14 folks. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, it's pretty good turnout. >> We've got a few folks coming. We got gentleman from Anaconda come sometime. We got Joe coming from uh Georgetown. And so, surrounding areas, too. Oh, that's the other thing why communication's important. Uh if if we know ahead of time that this day is not going to work, then I can send an email out to everybody and so Joe won't drive down and then find
104out we can't play >> insurance. So that's so after our last meeting when Um, we heard from everybody. We talked later with the administration about what way forward, what should we do going forward. And on our school district policy 4,330, it has our use of school facilities. And it is up to the administration to set policies for school use. Um, and so Tom and Katherine looked at a whole bunch of different user agreements for the schools and they put a draft together for us that he gave 12 of us to review. So, we have an agreement. Um, it is not an infraction because according to policy, it is just set by administration. So, that's why we're not voting on it tonight. But, I wanted to give the board a chance to ask any questions you
105have on that policy or facility use. And then, um, after that, then Tom can send it out to groups that want to use the school. You can review the policies and the requirements in there, and then we can move forward with us to the school. >> Okay. So, you send us like the paperwork that we need to >> Yeah. And we're perfectly willing, you know, if we need to sign, you know, waiverss or whatever, no problem there. Get our members to do that. >> Okay. >> So, yeah. >> So, do you guys have any questions for Tom or Catherine on the agreement? >> I mean, I think just going back to Taekwondo, I would like to see um in the categorization that if there is a percentage um of school if it's if it's leaning
106more towards a school club um that maybe there's a flexibility with with payment or fee like I think that differentiating between you know and not taking away from anyone in the community like not that groups are more important but kids groups are more important and so I think if if there's a consistent um you know percentage that's 50% that's schoolbased like that then would be a different categorization. >> And I'd like to hit a few things real quick, too. Um, just while we're on it, like if we're on this topic and we're spending this time, let's just get it out of the way. Let's get into the weeds of it. Be done with it. Figure it out. You guys need a communication piece. I need communication piece. We're here together. This is it. This is
107the time. So, we're going to tackle this thing right now. Um where we're at is this facility uh use policy. The trustees I'm just going to read it word for word. We're going to go through everything. The trustees of Popsburg put in faith the administration shall be charged with responsibility coordinating and authorizing use of all grounds and facilities by groups other than those directly connected with the school. The administration shall develop the rules, regulations, and procedures for the use of facilities as required by the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. The district shall provide an equal right of access to the Boy Scouts of America and the other designated patriotic groups. So this is our policy under our board policies basically putting admin in the realm of creating some sort of plan. And so
108over over time, I mean, I've said this before like down at Rotary and some other things. You're a new superintendent. The first year is meet and greet. Getting to know people, getting to know the ropes. Couple years you get into it. You decide whether you're going to stay or not. You open up some closets. You see some skeletons. You're like, "Okay, am I going to dig my feet in and stay here or do I have my three years of experience? I might be going over the hill or going somewhere else. I'm digging my feet in. I'm staying here. I got a son in first grade." Like, I'm trying to make this district the best it can be for obviously the generation of 2060. Like, I want to be here. I facilities continuing not only for
109me and my son Warren, but also Warren's grandkids. When I married into a ranching family, third generation, I'm hoping that ranch stays for another four or five generations. And there's a school to teach those kids. I don't think I need to sell you anymore on how much I love this school and this community. Like, I want this thing to keep rolling. So, every year now, we're going to keep fighting off what needs to get better. Okay. Um I think The communication piece is it needs to be sent out a little bit more. We have an easy fix now that we have the the Philipsburg school app and it's on a cell phone. We have the calendar on there and there's probably more than likely an easy way to have a facility use calendar too. um
110where the facility uses in there and it says what days and times and then we can even put in like hey we're have pitcher day in the elementary gym so it's going to have to be closed that day and then everybody has their phone can pull it out and look that's an easy one we can fix that but we're just communicating working together that's the avenue the school's going to use because we bought and paid for it and we can send it out to everybody through infinite campus Facebook um we're trying to start like a Instagram I guess because that's the thing and trying to get it out in millions of different ways as we can um to get that communication piece going. It's just something we built last year, so I don't know if
111everybody knows about it. And now that we know about it, we build something for facility use and we get that calendar going, too. And that will solve this problem. So, what we did is we took a bunch of different schools and we started peace peace mealing. And before we got there, I I got to backtrack. Um, insurance-wise, like I honestly, this thing became a wildfire. I don't know who's in our building, and I'm being honest. I didn't know who was in our elementary. We rekeyed that thing with car keys and then we got the fobs and I started handing out fobs as that first three-year guy, you know, meet and greet and trying to meet everybody and I was giving fobs out and I was filling out the paperwork, but you know, there was no
112yearly, hey, come back. Let's turn this thing on. Let's turn like who's in the building. I don't know. And so, We're at a point where, you know, we could put something out and say, "Hey, let's have a meeting one night and let's have everybody come in and let's turn keys on and figure out the paperwork." But realistically, that's not going to happen. Like, it's just not. If you turn somebody's key off, they're going to come in and say, "Hey, Tom, why the heck is my key turned off? I want this turned on." And I knew that would happen. And I did it intentionally because I wanted to see your faces. I wanted to see you come in and say, "Okay, who is in my building?" So, I can create a facility use form and start
113over and say, "Hey, we need to make sure you have insurance because our Montana school's liability insurance goes into depth about insurance and if we don't have it, you need a million dollars for bodily injury, million dollars for facilities in case something does go wrong. And we need to create something that's good enough to go on now until we decide to change again that fills out everybody's paperwork and it's organized and we have on there as much as we can to basically say, "Hey, if something does get broke, what's going to happen is your insurance is going to throw up and say, we're not paying for it, the school's insurance." And then our insurance is going to say, "No, we're not paying for it. Their insurance and they're going to go to battle with lawyers,
114right? We know that's going to happen. If we don't have this document signed with yearly, our insurance is so they're already on the hook now. They're going to be paying for it, which means the district's going to be paying for it, which means the taxes are going to get raised to pay for it. So, to cover everybody's butts, what we're going to do is a new facility fees form. Everybody has to come in, fill out a new one, show us they have insurance, show us who we are. So, who's in charge of it? Who has the keys? And everybody understands that you're kind of the lead person taking on the responsibility. If something gets broken so that if people are in there or if you do lose your keys and say a bunch of seniors
115pick it up and have a a senior night, we don't have issues, right? Um, but we tried to go into depth when we made this and said, "Okay, you know, facility use rates, daily rate, January 200 elementary did amazing 251 150 drumman I know is charging 120 for a yearly so we try to peel from everybody and see what they're doing you charges like 500 to use for the day we just try to steal from everybody say how does this work for us and then no charge will be made other than the $5 for the fob because if you buy a bag of those it's like eight bucks so you know if we can get $5 that help get our cost back on that no charge school approved adult education classes, nonprofit 503c's verification required.
116We just need that paperwork for our insurance and our lawyers when they go to battle force, PTA booster clubs, government entities, um boy scouts, 4 similar youth groups, uh school approved programs offering community education. Read into that how you want. Community education. Um and then this is a great time. What we're dying for is workers. Like we don't have people doing the chains at football games, working the clock, even coming to a volleyball game and being a line judge. Ball went out. We can't get people to do it. And like maybe we can make a nice, hey, we're going to discount your rate if we have some seniors come in and help out with some of the stuff. We can make this work. I know we want it like seniors want in but we have
117some asks too where it could help us out in a good if this will be a good marriage with all of us and I think it it would get you in the school more too for kids and I would be appreciative and I know my ad would be very appreciative >> um finding the people like right now we don't even have an elementary custodian right now we have a sub and tonight we got to hire him because he's been a sub too long we got to make that person full time because that played into it too. It's like if we don't have a custodian and that school needs to be ready on Monday morning, there's a lot it's an you can pull back layers. Um so we've developed this. It's ready to go. Um what
118we need we need to see 503C or at least people come in going through this with us to see where each each group fits on that and we build it. Best thing is we got it done before the snow flies except for today. So, it's ready to rock and roll and we're ready to go. And I know I was going to pull up even when I interviewed my part of my interview questions. We're talking about um facility use and how how in the community and I put in there, I mean, I can find it for the next one if you guys want to see it. And I put in there, the seniors are a part of this as taxpayers in the base. You don't just forget the seniors. Everybody has a hand in it. But
119what we needed is just communication obviously, right? I'll take fall for um but we just need time. We need time to build it and build it right so that it fits all of us because there's not there's more groups than just what's here. There's more than taekwond do. You know, this also plays into the funerals and the different things that hit our school and like every year we have bikers come in that they've been coming for years and they stay in our gym and every year they leave we call you rock mountain plumbing and do the drains and like this is just something that has to happen because for one >> like the 2013 agreement, you know, that's four superintendents ago and like I said, I just want to re-up it, put our names on
120it, and then I want it to go from July 1st to June 30th. And like with the FOBs, I'll tell you when we're doing this. I'll say, "Look, I'm putting you in ricotta. Your fog will turn off June 30th because on July 1st, you're going to show me that you have insurance, >> that you're doing it again. You're the lead for it. You didn't move out of town." and we have documentation and we're organized and then that way if anything happens to us as community we have a CYA a cover you know what for the lawyers and the insurance this is what I need to run this school productively this is what I need so that if it comes back I will be on the chopping block it'll be hey Tom as a superintendent why
121didn't you have something in place that kept us out of hot water and kept just from our all of our taxes going up and it's just a it's a back and forth. Um I I feel like the plan's really good, but it is something that more eyes need to see too and we're over. I think it's really good and we drive a peace meal from everybody and it's not something that can't be changed because administration is charged at doing this. We could put a new line number 8 9 10 11 tomorrow and say okay this is it. but with an understanding this ends June 30th so that July 1st we start over and we've now made our school district and our town and our community and our schools a better place. That's all it is.
122So I know it got off track. Um I'm sorry. I also went on a hiatus in September. I seriously worked like one day a week so I went chasing these out. So >> So where's the pictures? >> They're not here. I don't I I procrastinated so I get to keep going and write the season. So, it's going to continue on. But my promise is we're going to keep making things better and better and better. And there's always a reason behind them. And it usually comes down to 2025 lawyers and insurance and liability and that's what bites us and I'm trying to cross our tees our eyes and make sure we're all covered because again I can't afford tax. So >> love it. I think critical. So, I appreciate you guys putting it out and also
123just the spirit of getting the community involved with the athletic programs I think is fantastic. >> Um, so I think it's great. Um, when would it take effect because just getting insurance doesn't happen overnight, right? You know, this could be it could take month on the short end to get organized and get, you know, approved to do something like that. So, anyway, but what are your thoughts on when it would take effect? >> This is the I'm here tomorrow. We crank one out. We fill out paperwork. We show proof of insurance, proof of 503C, whatever you are. We issue keys. We're ready to rock and roll. I had the documentation. Uh I do think there's another piece of this though because I got thinking tonight with communication. It's that Apogee app and a calendar and
124then that gets bombed into who's in there, what nights, and it's just listed in a contact maybe >> and that will help. So, but in the meantime, tomorrow they come in and fill out paperwork. Are they waiting on the insurance? >> We have to wait. We We do have to wait because >> you're saying we need to get our own insurance. >> You have to find a group insurance or something that covers >> You got insurance, don't you? >> No, we do. >> We did it a couple years ago. >> Okay. I just I think we can re-energize the one because the one we got originally incorporated >> that's >> your group and it was right here in town with Leanne. I talk her in the morning. We get that we get that rock and
125roll. And can I make one question or comment in that >> the the use time we we had a problem one time where the balls against the wall were affecting the plaster. >> This is many years ago. But so you know we spent $600 on the plywood that's now there to make it Some of the issues about the heaters and things we've tried mentioned many times there are simple nettings that would be that just haven't happened because that the lift went away there. There's some things like that that I think that for Bob's concerns which are legitimate there are a couple of steps that might might help to make sure it's even more secure in addition to you know the document itself. I think that leaison is great. >> Yeah. I just want to say
126one more time if you're thinking way ahead like 20 years or whatever. Um well I've been going to Boseman. My daughter lives in Bosezeman so I play at this facility over there and they have homeschool day for kids packed with kids and then they have after school. So like if kids can't play like my grandson is like my size and I would love to see him do pickle ball and stuff. In fact, we're not letting him do football because he's he's going to be per and he can't he's not tall enough to basketball. So, it down the road, I know you don't want to worry about that right now, but um it is it is an up and cominging sport. And then I I know this is not like a club thing, but I'm in
127a club where they have on their website like where you can sign up for volunteer jobs and they kind of expect it, right? If you want to use this facility, you need to volunteer so many hours. I don't know if you can set that up with the go in and it's all like 9 to5 or whatever 1 to four and for sitting in the office or you know lots of jobs that you could click on on the website. So it' be cool to have it all. And then I just want to say like we need to >> we we're using this facility that's >> what was it 1876 it was built or something >> 17. Yeah. So we definitely need to >> appreciate that and It's almost like I feel like if we had some
128a portion of something we're able to make or something could go into a pot towards maintaining the building or helping to >> do this work you have to do something >> the other thing I wanted to hit before I forget like just the hierarchy and you guys this is kind of like everybody knows this varsity sports get number one we got to get the varsity sports in there practice and they do use both gyms especially sometimes if there's weather junior high sports second pick again it's athletics school activities get third and then that's where we fill in the groups and then the groups start coming true. >> So like >> you know we're always it you could get vetoed anytime where it's like hey varsity practice came in football coach like whatever too smoky in
129the fall because of fires and somebody's in there they're kicked out varsity sports >> insurance we talk pretty pretty handy about the is another one and since we're again talking about we're going in the weeds about it like our buses run out of that back portion >> and I know there's been times like okay park back I got to park in front I got to park in back well with our transportation once winter hits and the snow piles up too it gets kind of tight back there and that's when we just got to communicate like okay we got to move and figure out how we're going to get things and I talked to Mr. transportation director day. I said, "I need some inputs I can share with everybody. Um, how's this going to work?" And
130he said, "Well, the biggest thing is, um, if we have a bus that won't start in the middle of winter, we run and our bus, our backup bus is parked right next to the elementary gym, and that's the bus that will go as our backup." And he said, "There are times sometimes where people have parked in front of it, and we have to hunt people down and do whatever." And if we can get away from that and just save some time because again, then we're not wasting time. If the kids stand out, sitting there, you know, any minute counts. If it's 20 below, we want to go get them. And so, we've got to figure out just our parking. And then it goes into the front too because if we park in front parking the
131elementary again, there's snow banks there. And like the teachers usually get here at 7:15, they're pretty gunho. And maybe even earlier sometimes. And I've had complaints before because if groups are there and then they can't park close and they're parking like a block away to come to school, they get upset. So like the times have to be perfect and they got to be pretty strict. Like if it's in the mornings by 7 o'clock we're out of there so that the teachers can come in and park. So snow drifts do come and we all know that and then the teachers are ready to get in there have their parking spot and just keep everybody I'm the referee or we're all refereing it and trying to keep everybody happy. The facilities are everybody's. We're not trying to
132keep anybody out, but we need to do it consistently and effectively to where everybody gets their share and find a way if you can't pay how we can make it work. And we're always going to work with people same way because it's our community. [Applause] >> We've got a annual rate for the elementary gym. to if the pickle ballers just need it in the winter, would it be half? >> Probably figure that out. >> Yeah. But speaking for the easier guys, I mean, I did the math. If you said $1,000 a month for us to come in here from 6:30, 7:30 in the morning. >> That's wait if if you've done a thousand. If you said if you said a,000 a year or a,000 or 100 a month or 12,000 a year, I mean it's
13320 bucks a month for us out of our pocket to come do that. The guys that are drinking a night at the bar, who wouldn't do that? >> So I'm going say if you if these guys, you know, people like Brian and big little Kevin over there and Joe, if you say we got to pay 20 bucks a month to use it. >> Okay. >> Whatever's fair. Just tell us what we need to do and we'll do it. >> Like we got to work on the sideline somewhere. >> Yeah. You just got to work. We really need people. >> You guys probably want to go home, but I was just also wondering about like keeping a kitty or we have a checking account and so like I just got totally screwed with my insurance because
134I made a claim and then they're dropping me. So I'm like you don't you don't want to have to use your insurance. I'm assuming maybe they can pull that stuff with the schools. If you use insurance they're going to raise your rates way up. So if there's little things that are damaged and we can pay out of our kitty or whatever as opposed to tapping into insurance or you having to tap into insurance. >> Yeah. >> We're responsible for what happens to us >> so that they're not on the hook. >> Yeah. >> That's pretty common sense stuff there. >> Yeah. And I want to show this real quick too. Like I'm a man of my word and I some I'm a man. So sometimes it doesn't happen this month. It might happen 10 years
135from now. But if I say I'm going to do something, I'm do it. We had Eric Bis come and film during homecoming week and he's making a recruiting video for Philipsburg. And I didn't want to end here with a sour taste in my mouth. I want people to see that when we're doing stuff. I So I called this guy like, "Dude, I need a 15-second teaser. I need to show people some positive." So he's like, "I got your back." He goes, "I'm going to send you something you can show everybody." Um, and again, I think it shows that we're doing great stuff in Phil. [Music] [Applause] This is what it means to be a prospector. Come join our team. >> Family on two. two family. [Applause] >> All right. Well, thank you. Thank you all
136for coming, for your conversations, for your um willing to work with us and uh check in with Tom for your user agreements. >> I did I skipped some of the stuff from the superintendent report that I want to share with you guys correspondence because I wanted to get everybody You can see if you'd like to hear >> how That's my >> knowledge. It doesn't have to be in the second, but they give you a gracefire. I just wanted to share that instruction and he said, "Wow, you should this is the economic overview for Grant County and what it shows here is the top employing industries as of 2023 and why Ray has said the show is he said look it flip since when I was in high school agriculture and forestry were the number one
137back in the 80s right now accommodations and food services is where our students right uh retail and trade second public administration third education services fourth and then fifth is agriculture so why you look at this iss how set up. So, so this was really good. And where was the other information that I thought? Granite County had more had 300 more people moved in than out from 2020 to 2023. About 8% of the population. So, 300 people moved in. But then we go back to our AMD numbers. They're not bringing kids, which we know, but now we have the data again to show like, hey, >> we're getting less kids, but we're getting more people. [Laughter] They are showed the video. >> That's really cool. I mean, that's just the teaser, right? Morris account. He did
138tell me though. He said, "I think this is going to be the best one I ever met." I got >> some beautiful chather. >> And what I want him to do, what I've asked do is comes multiple days because then they're clips and then like say we do lose staff or we lose something we're only filming the one clip and not the whole thing over again. So kind of cool stuff but that's what I wanted to add. >> Sounds good. Okay, so moving on. Our next item is financials. >> Any questions for Katherine on the financial report? I had foot surgery Friday. Yes, >> I did celebrity surgery. >> I seen that you did a good job. >> I'll see you tomorrow >> for a little bit. Give me a don't have any questions. We
139just need a motion for the minutes. [Music] General secretaries. It covers some of his stuff. covers supplies, covers anything for like administration, covers elementary secretary, high school secretary, different things like that. Any questions? Okay, motion for the financials board of trustees. This is for Approved payments 63941 through 63960. Direct deposits 841249 claims 1775 through17782 Visa $1,689.96 and WEX $259. >> Any comments or questions? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Passes. All right. Items for action. Item A >> emergency response plan. >> Um Jen and I talked about this today and it's not ready for a final reading. We're give it another month. I did reach out and uh when I talk to the city hall today. We got a scheme and some better ideas too. Instead of having two full harmless agreements with the
140robot in the city, just use city hall and it led into like, hey, you know, if it's cold day like it's snowing right now, city hall, we get all the kids in there and enclosed and then if we ever had to do a parent exchange, we could block people off and like use a door and it be more secure. So, it just kind of got spitball from there like, whoa, we need breaks. let this thing roll a little bit more and we can use city hall as our um main backout. She wants me to create an interlocal agreement and go to the meeting Tuesday on the agenda for Tuesday night 6 where we had a little agreement together saying we need to use that building for emergencies only the whole place and I think that's
141a better route because it's closer it's indoors and that worked out that actually made I think a little better and then as we through it too. Like again, how do we put Apogee in there for getting communications out? Um are the radio stations even worth anymore? Just use Apogee by the time we call people or how do we do that? Um it does align the drums though. So if we change ours too drastically, I don't know if we want to share with them or say, "Hey, let's do it together." And then get Rico. I called Rico today and I said, "Hey, I didn't think about it being a new sheriff, but Dunk and I went through this thing together and had a pretty um good because Dunk was the first one to come to me
142and said, "Hey, dude, when you make one, you make it the exact same as drums because I can only memorize one like and fair enough, right?" So, same thing if we make it for Rico and Drummond and then hopefully work on it and be ready for November. Teacher wise, we didn't teach usually every year it's in a packet with teachers and we go over it but I knew it was something I had to come I was like well a good work through the year mainly we only have a couple new teachers so the good thing is I can just like third grade in fifth grade and kind of you know it's two people everybody else has the general sense but overall E3 is our immediate that's the good one that's the one we use as
143our E3 app this is more documentation I was just asking Tom questions like uh in there there's safety vest. Do we have the safety vest and teachers the checklist and all the rooms? So once we finalize this and we're um happy with it all there will be some um communication stuff that has to happen to make sure all the updated stuff gets in all the classrooms. Uh the bests are all there and there's a memo for parents too. So that will go out um so our whole community is up to speed once we have the final plan. Um so for this item we could just table it or do you want to do a third reading or second? Okay. >> So we can make a motion to approve a second reading with the final to
144come. >> Okay. I I move to make a motion for on the emergency response plan to move it on to a third and final reading. >> Any other comments or questions on it? >> So I think what we have to do is all the ones in there are policy ones. We have to add to into our policy and then pull that in our plan. And again, I go back to E3 like those plans are on there. So, anybody can click on the plan too. I think what's coming is it'll be all >> and we can post it on our website also and send it out to the families once we posted it as well. Um, >> yes. >> Okay. Any other comments or questions? All those in favor. >> Any opposed? Okay. Item B, >>
145review the report series. what I sent was that I printed new ones for you guys and gave you guys a hard copy and I think it's better. >> Um, some of them still go to two pages that long and I did notice I was printing some of the numbers on the right looked weird. Um, but we're going to say the course Katherine and I are going to do a what's the word? >> A demo with NTSDA to where they do our policies which I really want to go that direction eventually. So I don't know if we're doing right now that might not really be used because the sounds of it if we go through PSD there's a fee and then there's a yearly fee but it will be kept up by them and they have
146the new things and I think for us and our district it would be helpful because then it's one less thing we're doing and chasing our tails on board it just effectively like outsource no different than we're doing different things I think it'll help us stuff instead of doing this kind of stuff. >> I mean, I think they're all up to date on all the legislative so there's not things that we're having to like reconcile like, okay, this is the right this is from Sam. So now going through like did we do this? They're just doing all that for us. So >> initial I mean it's over 5,000 start but you pay that once and then it's about 1,200 a year >> and done that for us. Like she's scrubbed our policies continually and we sit
147down usually once with her and go through all of them and what's changed and updated. Um but we have to decide what money is better spent really when they're doing it for a ton of schools. The only thing we would have to be careful of is just making sure that something written for all the schools across Montana still fits in our school district size. But they pretty much >> and I think we can we can still I think we sent it to them and said this is what we want in it force. >> I think the biggest thing policies for the most part are pretty set. I mean I think it's the changes with the legislative year that is so every other year you're having to take away. So I think that's >> why I'm
148recommending too. I'm like this would be so nice off my plate. If there's a policy specific to our school that's like what we would want like that's better time spent of saying wait a minute this is a policy that's better suited for us or we need this policy this generic stuff of right like what flags are allowed and not like we don't need to be spending our time on that that stuff that we can just pull on them. And the cool thing with it, it's it's called assembly where all your policies are put in there and it actually gives you a linkable link that you find on the website. So it's instantly we can update it like right away. It's available for our community to find it and they can just find it right away
149and it's searchable. Like right now we scan it in. And so even though it's technically a PDF, it's not a searchable PDF. makes it really challenging for people to find what they need without >> um so I don't think we have a motion necessary for this. We'll just uh for now continue to review depending on how long it takes you guys to get that. We still need to have these reviewed and revised signed off for this year. So next month we'll sign off on the 2000 series. So item C >> except EPS4 policy series changes and updates. I think you found one. >> I had one. So on 1531 uh number five it says telephone services for necessary communications with business or family resulting from the trustee being away from Callisel. It just needs to
150be changed to filter. >> That's for our trustee expenses should we travel. That was the only Okay. So, we just need a motion to adopt those with the change to accept policy. >> Any comments or questions? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Item D. >> Item D can be tabled. Um, we left that on there because we thought we'd get some more substitutes and we'd be ready to go and we'll probably leave it on for a couple more months because if we get a couple substitutes in the board, but we don't have anybody right now to table the additional the hiring of additional substitute teachers for 25.6. Any comments or questions? All those in favor >> any oppos? >> Yes. >> Item E contract. So Charlie Nelson's been the sub since last
151year helping and then started southern in the elementary. Um he has a friend that's coming to stay in his house and going to interview next week. So I was like Maybe we don't do this, but then it's like, well, if that falls through, let's just get him in off her contract. We'll interview this guy next week and see if she's going to pick it. He told me today he wanted permission to show around Friday when he's working Friday. I said, "Yeah, everything next weekly by next morning we might have an elementary." Charlie's like, "We don't want to lose him because he does such an awesome job, >> but he's finding his replacement." He's like, "I will find >> he he's on for the weekends, like when Bob's gone Friday, Saturday, Sunday. He's our go-to guy
152to come in for like two hours, check boilers, make sure everything's up, no floods. If biomass is going, he's the guy pushing the ash. >> So, we'll keep him in that capacity. She better >> he really moves to offer a contract. >> Any comments or questions? All those in favor? All right. Item F >> offer junior high boys basketball coaching contract to Mr. Dustin for the 256 school year of trustees of the district number one question. Thanks for Tim for standing up and doing it again. We appreciate all of our coaches. >> All right, all those in favor. Any opposed? >> All right, item G. >> Junior High boys assistant basketball coaching contract to 26 school year. >> Second. >> Thanks to Heather, too. So, this will be two sports. We haven't done the tennis
153yet, right? >> Okay. >> All right. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> All right. Item eight. >> Offer junior high girls head basketball coaching contract Jackie Walter for the 25.6 school year. >> Is there any comments or questions? >> When does that start? boys will starting to go through Christmas and then girls and there's other districts. We might get to a point where we're going to have to do it so that we can play, right? >> But we're not there yet. >> Okay. >> And there's no assistant on retirement. I guess Jackie has something else. >> All right. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Item I create cross country activity count. So when we started cross country last month, this just makes it specific. So it has an account. Um and
154we're going to have to do the same. What did we talk about? Junior high. Elementary student council. >> We didn't get it on the agenda. >> They don't technically have a student activity account, but to keep that separate so they can keep track of the money to do that. >> So right now a representative could embezzle the right $30 $31 today. >> $31 off the 50entow. [Applause] >> Those two things right there, they are going to be rolling in the >> They're doing good. >> Yes. >> I'm proud of them. We had some nice parents that said, "Here, bring these for bringing money off of you." He finally figured out, "No, Dad, it's $50." >> Um, I moved to create a cross country activity account for the 25 26 school year. Any comments or questions?
155All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> All right. Item J >> for contract professional. My recommendations offers a half time contract to Joanna staff for the 25.6 school year >> Mondays Tuesdays. >> So is she like a new person? >> She does. Anna's mom. >> She's retired and lives up at the lake and >> teacher for Manhattan. >> I feel like she's just excited to be in Ivy's classroom, but we're really thankful that she's here. Is particularly thankful. She was only wanting I said we will figure as much or as little as she would like and she was two days. students in she's just like we're really happy else for the other two I recommend school. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Any opposed? All right. Motion pass. Our next regular board
156meeting will be Tuesday, November 11th here at 5:30. That's all. We'll journ. for the next month, December 9th, we scheduled a Christmas concert for that night. So, we're seeing like we did last year, watch the concert >> that was investing