001in the concessions. It's Tuesday, January 13th, 7 p.m. [snorts] >> Is there one agenda item or I guess >> you are the perfect >> if you want to start and just introduce your board members and we just got to remember this is for an audience outside of your >> Okay. Uh so good evening. My name is Anna Cell and I'm the superintendent in Oaks. Welcome. Thank you for attending this session. It's an informative session about the survey that will be coming out to homes um to ask about our facilities. So, it's for our community, is for our district stakeholders, and we really want feedback from people. So, uh we're asking that everybody fill out out the survey for us. So, welcome again. And um I'll introduce our board members that are on our facility committee.
002So, um Patty and Brian, you want to just come out up and introduce yourselves? be like that where it's like one >> Patty Kelly just moved here four years ago. So pretty new to everything. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh so my name is Ki with Icon Architectural Group with Travis. Uh so the purpose of this meeting today is to present the survey that was drafted with the the community- based committee group um and the school board to make sure that the the public understands what the school is is currently facing and can adequately weigh in with a informed opinion on what they think the school and school board should do moving forward. Uh so as we go through this the uh the hope is that we can explain and and make sure that everyone
003understands the intent behind the questions. If you don't like a question, don't like a a path forward, that's what the survey is for. And we found that doing this process um through an independent company gives us really good information and helps us understand as a public and as a community what makes sense to go forward before we ever go to a vote. Uh and and I'd say any questions that you have, we'll answer uh related to the survey and then any questions about maybe I don't think that this is the right path, we'll just direct you guys to you know take your survey and then that information will be uh you know shared with the the committee. >> So you me I'm uh been with ICON for a year and a half. I'm a former
004educator and uh my school went through this uh process with school perceptions at one time which we found it very valuable. I was a superintendent in for eight years and then he kind of whisked me away from so I don't know if you want to talk about the process or you know however we can do it too but if you want to start maybe that'd be great. >> Sure. Um, so as everybody knows, we um failed to pass a referendum in 2024 to make um some needed fixes that we have on our HVAC in our school. Um the bathrooms, there were several different things that we were asking of the voters that was voted down. So we kind of took a step back and we got ourselves together and Monica, the president of our school
005board, formed a facilities committee and we started meeting. Oh my gosh, I don't even remember the date. Dan, we had maybe was it April with you guys up there? Oh, the date on there. And we had 18 members of the community that came in. Um, and it included teachers, it included people. We tried to be really um prescriptive about who we chose to make sure that we got to see all different or hear all different viewpoints and um to have input from different groups. Then icon, we brought icon on and they helped us facilitate those m meetings and we met did we end up meeting about six times? I should remember that piece too. So we ended up meeting about six times and finally at the last meeting the committee came up with the recommendation
006or a couple different recommendations for us and we built those or the school perceptions built that into the the survey so that we uh did not discount what that committee said and we're bringing that forward but we wanted to go beyond or we needed to go beyond the committee and move to all of our stakeholders to get their feedback because we also heard from them outside of the committee. So, um I think then I'll just hand off to you guys in the next. >> Sure. That's great. >> So, yeah, as you can see, we brought in uh a lot of different professional consulting firms to help guide the committee's decisions and uh to look at what's been done and what needs to be done. And as Anna said, it all uh culminates into this survey
007that should start hitting your mailbox this year in the next day or so. I know staff probably have received it already, but we're just going to go word for word through the survey. So, I know that's kind of redundant, but that's how we do it so people understand. So, as you know, voters in Oaks are rejected a bond referendum in 2024. Uh money from this referendum would have been used to uh fix and repair the 100-y old building. We respect the community's decision and so obviously that's why the community task force was formed to reook at things. We've been developing less expensive plan to address most of the pressing needs to help accomplish this goal. We formed a community task force. This group worked with outside architect ourselves to prioritize potential projects. Ultimately this new
008plan must reflect uh the taxpayers uh priorities and wishes and therefore we're asking taxpayers to weigh in on this survey to give the board some good feedback. going forward. So, the survey is going to look exactly like this when you got it. You can do it uh via QR code and do it online. Uh every household in the district is going to get one survey sent to them. Um you can certainly ask for more and if you want an extra survey, just ask the school the school district will have extra uh paper copies of the survey. Every survey will have a code linked to it uh which is a onetime code. So, once you put the code in and you take the survey, you can't that code can only be used once. Um, so that's
009what you'll see. And, um, the survey was authorized by, uh, Superintendent MSL and the school board, uh, authorized use of this survey. Any questions on pretty straightforward? >> I do have a question. So if you use that code, I use the code and we have a tenant in our basement and he wants to take the survey. Does he just use the QR code, but he doesn't? >> Just request a copy from the school. >> Okay. So he has to get his own code. >> I do have codes. School perception sent me codes. So then all they have to do is just call the school and I'll give them that code and keep track of >> the codes that have been used. >> Yeah. Extra codes and extra printed copies. Um They have found that in
010general when they send one out to every residential mailbox, it's maybe a handful of extra codes that are recommended. They do have software that if if 40 surveys came from the same IP address, it does flag. Um, but they assure us that that's not a thing that normally happens. >> Great. Okay. So the f first part of the survey is just asking voters or taxpayers what they think about looking at a less expens expensive option than your first referendum that failed. So the community task force used the facility study to identify the most significant challenges in the building. Obviously the the significant challenges the heating ventilation cooling HVAC system is unreliable reaches expected life. Elementary school kitchen is too small which makes it difficult to serve uh efficiently. The high school lacks a sprinkler system,
011a fire uh sprinkler system. High school restrooms do not meet ADA requirements. Windows are at the end of their useful life and are uh unsafe and doors, roofs, and other structural components need to be repaired, replaced. That is what the committee uh found when when we met in the the six meetings that we had. And so the question just asks the district includes some funding uh for facility maintenance in its annual budget. However, uh the issues above are too expensive to be paid in this way referring to this the school's building fund instead of our only option to pursue another bond referendum. So the first question we ask folks is this is would you support the district pursuing a less expensive bond referendum to address those issues above? Yes. No, not sure. There's always a
012spot for questions, comments. >> And the purpose of this is these are the needs and we're asking permission to go to a vote. It's before we've identified exactly what that scope is. That's what the next questions are for, how much it costs. The the point here is just do you understand that this is the only way that the district could potentially address some of these issues and then going forward we'll talk about how that's broken down. Any questions on that one? All right. So, the committee uh recommended to the Oaks School Board a base plan that was 6.3 million. Uh we want to talk you want to talk quick just where 6.3 million comes from. It's kind of high level. >> Yeah. So the $6.3 million um dollar amount, you know, represents the committee. Um
013the committee rep they uh felt that that really there's two priorities that rose to the top and were as their opinion as a group. These are the items that needed to go to a vote. And so those two items um you know utilizing uh multiple different engineers utilizing uh you know I'd say some uh you know maintenance data also walking and inspecting the buildings ourselves and making sure that we understand um costs. We are able to work with um contractors engineers and our team to get high level costs. Those these are budgets uh or estimates not budgets. We haven't designed anything. What we have is we have uh buckets for this amount of new piping, this amount of new mechanical systems, this amount of uh window t or ceiling tile or or things that would
014need to be uh replaced. We do that on purpose to get uh the community and the public an accurate idea of how much it could it should potentially cost. But at the same point without doing a full design um we we have to use you know I would say historical data and and um you know industry information. We do that on purpose though so that the school district and the community doesn't pay us to do to do a design until the vote happens and the vote says yes let's do something. So for us, it's been this balance of getting enough information to get uh a good enough number to go to a vote, but not so much information that you have to pay engineers, architects, all kinds of different people, hundreds of thousands of dollars
015to design a set of of drawings that are ready to go out to bid. So right now, the the solution here is maybe two or three pages. When we go out to bid, it'll be 200 pages. Uh so if that makes sense, that's how we get to our dollar amount. is a high level, but this is our business to make sure that that that the solutions that we recommend are within the dollar amounts that we should. Is that what you want? >> That was unbelievable. >> So, so the base plan is at 6.3. We're basically asking, would you support a 6.3 million bond referendum to fund the base plan? We throw the tax uh impact on there so folks can see. Um the tax impact is based on a yearly true and full value of
016a $100,000 property, what it would cost somebody a year. So residential, somebody with a home is going to pay $91 a year um based on $100,000 true and full value of property. And so they get to check one of five different boxes. Definitely yes, probably yes, undecided, probably no, definitely no. And then we ask them to uh if they're undecided or would not support the referendum to give the main reasons why they do not. Is there any other information you need before making a decision. Open-ended questions uh that we'll get good data for as well. >> And it is very important to understand that the committee, this is their recommendation. Anything beyond this is coming from the board, but the committee did not sign off on anything beyond these two items. You know, we had
017six meetings, hours and hours spent debating how to properly address the the needs, uh, without overspending dollars, without, you know, fixing a problem that didn't exist, without doing things that that the committee felt weren't necessary or weren't a top priority to be taken to a vote. So, it's very important to understand that the committee's work did settle in on this and say that these are the two items that they felt without a doubt this is what needed to go to a vote. I just want to point out because we did have a question today on some other in a different school about interest rate. Um somebody might ask you know where you came up with 5.25% interest rate. That is the interest rate that we believe uh it's an average you know it could be
018higher could be lower. Um obviously the school construction loan is out there of 2% but that's not guaranteed. You can certainly apply for that and maybe get it but we put 5.25 and We're pretty comfortable with that interest >> and and that's the recommendation of PFM, which is a bond consultant uh that works with almost every district in the the state of North Dakota. Their their job is very much like ours. They are just trying to give the information out. If they earn business, that's when they get paid. And so for them, their business is to get interest rates uh on here that they feel comfortable will be able to be sold if a project is is approved by the voters at or below. So this is in in their opinion, this is almost like
019a for interest rates. Uh, and we've never had a situation where that's ended up being something that broke the project. So, pause for questions. >> Question. Sorry. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Okay. So, is the um annual tax increase for how long? Is that the 20 years from underneath there? Okay. >> Great question. Yes, >> that's kind of small. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And that is the standard. Uh, we have seen a couple districts in the past that have done 15 years, but Uh any project that I've been involved in over the last 10 years has all been 20 years. Uh that's just the way that that people have been able to sell bonds. Um they are municipal bonds and it just seems to be that's the sweet spot to sell them on the market
020and they are publicly sold so you can go out and actually purchase part of these bonds when they are sold. >> Next question. >> Uh on the $100,000 home valuation, I don't know if that is this is this kind of the final that's going to get sent out. >> Yep. Okay, that's what I thought. All right, then my comments on >> Well, the and the $100,000 uh just to make sure everyone knows, we don't suspect anyone has a $100,000 home on the dot. Uh we have again historically said $100,000 is just the easiest way for people to try to do the math in their head. So, if it's two or three or they're um commercial property they know is worth x amount, it's just trying to give you a figure where you can do the
021math and figure out what your property is. The only way to really know is to go to your county tax statement, look at your true and full value and then take that number as it relates to 100,000 >> and just >> and it is true and full value. It is not your retail value. Uh it is true and full value set by the county tax assessor, not set by the school district, not set by the city. It is the number that that can only be found on your county tax state. >> And the tax impact comes from PFM, which comes from the county. I don't know if that's what you're going to refer to, but that's where those numbers came from. Good questions. All right. So, this is a convoluted slide a little bit, but
022I had to try to fit it all on one slide here, but so we'll start at the top right. Uh, the school board of oaks, in addition to the base plan that the committee came up with, the school board of oaks also wants to test additional projects. As we noted on the first slide, there's numerous uh maintenance and and facility issues that need to be addressed. So, if the community supports the recommended base plan, the district could consider completing the following projects while construction crews are already on site. And so, what we have here is a list of those. And we have high school window replacement, estimated cost 975,000. Windows are at the end of their useful life, inefficient, and have created some safety concerns. The project would replace windows in the high school section
023of the building to enhance safety, security, and improve the efficiency of the HVAC system. High, medium, low. What is the likelihood that you're willing to vote yes on that one? High, medium, low. So then the next one is building roof and exterior sections of the building's roof and brick work are failing and need repair. The project will repair aging and facil failing sections of brick work and the roof high, medium, low. Would you support it? 450,000 for that. Fire safety, fire suppression. High school lacks a sprinkler system for safety. The project would add sprinkler systems to the high school to improve safety. High, medium, low. Would you uh recommend voting for that? Accessible bathrooms estimated at 190,000 high school bathrooms do not meet ADA compliance. The project would update high school bathrooms to meet accessibility
024standards. You have to mark high, medium, low for all those. And then there's a spot for comments and suggestions. And I would say in our history of doing this process, we have never had a survey come back where everyone checks yes on everything. We've never ever had that. Uh all of our surveys uh there's generally some approval for some things and some approval for for or and not no approval for other things. We are a firm believer in trying to ask as much ask as many questions as possible because all you're going to do is just get more information back. And what we don't want is to ask one question and then not know anything beyond that. Uh and and at the end of the day maybe you don't we don't actually have any good
025data. So they highly recommend broadening the scope a little bit to make sure that we ask good questions. But at the same point uh you know in in our experience we've never seen a survey come back where it's just like oh yeah they want it all. Like that's just that's not what happens. So, what's great about this is this is a great opportunity for the community to to look at these priorities and directly feed these back to the school board. And I'd say that our advice is always to just listen to your community whenever it comes to time, you know, comes time for a vote or any school projects. >> And this would add to that. >> Yep. And the next slide will talk a little bit about cost. >> Interesting enough, like if the
026if the school board was to approve the base plan and then we start having community meetings, very good chances that people are going to Did you consider window replacement? Did you consider the rope? Did you consider fire safety? So, at least now the survey will have that data that if we have community meetings, we can say yes, we tested every single one of those things. Right. >> Yep. Exactly. >> I was maybe going to mention where school perceptions pulled those off of there was the surveys that were given during the first referendum. These are the things that people asked for. And in fact, when we put out what the community decisions were, we received phone calls for that. Well, what happened to the windows? What happened to the bathroom? So, we got questions from people.
027So, that was all that data that school perceptions asked for. And so, that's where they got those extra things from. >> Uh, on the window comment, are people going to have access to that drone footage that we spent all that money on to show that the windows are not inefficient? That's I'm too late to >> this is written. It's done. I don't agree with the way it's written, but I'm too late to throw you on that. >> But do they have access to that to show that the windows >> aren't the so other spots in the building. >> Yeah. The question is if you know if you go back a few slides to our intro, you can see we had Prairie Engineers icon and then we had a Theero. Um I do believe that's on
028the website. If it's not is it already on there? >> We I don't have all of the it was so big to put on the summaries on there. Yep. Yep. Yep. So all of that information should be should be on the website and and found and uh it's very good information on there and I think that they provide information regarding I think the energy efficiency was surprising for us. There's still other concerns but certainly uh to to the question energy efficiency efficiency alone doesn't doesn't justify replacing the windows. I think if if you look at other things like security or or function or just you know maintenance there's other things there but but what's great about the the drone survey is that they actually looked at all the roofs, they looked at all the windows,
029all the wall panels, and there's lots of great information on there, and we'll make sure to get that as available as possible on the website, >> but it is hundreds of pages, >> but it doesn't address the safety concerns the >> And again, that's what's great thing about this survey is that the expectation is that we want everyone to share their opinion and and the expectation is not that it will come back yes in my opinion. Any other questions on this? >> Okay. So, what we do here is we have a number of different tax impact slots here for folks to look at. But, so funding support, we will use our community's input to determine how many projects, if any, can be completed at this time. And so, the first one on there is obviously
030the recommended base plan, the 6.3 million that the committee recommended to the board. uh adding high school window replacement. Those numbers 975, building roof exterior 450, fire safety 692, accessible bathrooms 190. If you were to do all the projects, you're looking at about 8.6 million. And so this is where we want folks to land, what they support. Not necessarily saying which ones they support. They're just telling the board the dollar amount that they would support to add in some of these projects. So which bond referendum amount would you support? Assuming the projects were included were acceptable to you. I would support the 8.6 million. I would support 8 million. I would support seven and a half. I'd support seven. I would only support the smaller bond. I would not support any bond. I'm not sure
031I need more information. And there's obviously a place for questions and comments. And the power here is looking at how people ranked the priorities of the other projects and then the support of the dollar amount. And there should be a point. And it could be that it's at the bottom and it's 6.3 or it's not even 6.3 or it could be somewhere there. And that's that's really the power here is getting both pieces. Any questions? Awesome. Okay. So, the survey uh anytime you can pull your entire district, it's a good idea think to ask a lot of different questions and so school perceptions likes to put these on here and boards typically like to see them as well so they get some good feedback. So we ask some questions that are not necessarily related to
032the building project but sometimes we may see correlations between the data here and the data that people are either supporting or not supporting and so we ask uh the district to weigh in on delivering a high quality education doing a great job good job poor job fair job keeping the public informed managing funds appropriately building pride in the community. We're wanting folks to check one of those boxes. And on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely would you recommend the district to a friend or family member? We're looking for a number there as well. Zero being extremely unlikely, 10 being extremely likely, and then a place um to ask some questions or put your thoughts down. questions. And this is the last uh page of the survey is basically just breaks down the survey
033so that the district can look at it uh via different demographics. So it asks your age. It uh primary residence is it in Oaks school district? Yes or no. They ask the municipalities that you might live in because they can break it down into municipalities. Um, are you an employee of the Oaks School District? Do you have children attending the district? And how do you like to receive information? And one of the beauty thing, one of the nicest things about school perceptions is that um they have different waiting factors. You know this better than I do, but they have different waiting factors. So like if you are an employee of the school district or you have kids might be different weighted, correct? >> Yeah. Yeah. And they they the waiting changes. So this is a
034statistically valid survey. So they all this demographic information and every year it might shift a little bit, but it could be that that you're a teacher, so your your vote might weigh a little bit less than someone that's not a teacher or not a parent, right? And so what they found is they try to mirror what polls look like and they try to blend the responses to match the polls. So if if one demographic is over represented at voting, they try to match that. And that's really that's their magic. That's their secret sauce is controlling the information coming in so that they can accurately project what a vote would be. They don't care if it's a yes or a no. They just want good information to the district. Otherwise, we stop calling them. And so
035that's what's really great is they don't they have no interest in what actually happens other than they want the information to the community and back to you guys in an accurate fashion. So then they ask that it be completed by February 2nd and uh they got the number on the district there. So you call for additional surveys if you want or if you have any questions in regards to the survey. That actually will end the survey. And then just for you guys uh to kind of know what happens next. The survey uh community meeting to review the survey is obviously tonight. Survey should land in mailboxes in the next couple days. Um survey deadline as we noted is February 2nd. It takes school perceptions about three weeks to create reports and uh we are currently
036slated to present the data of the survey to the school board uh on February 23rd and that that would be school perceptions presenting it. Again, we're here. We're we're assisting the facilitation of getting information to them to you guys, but we don't write this. You know, they, you know, they control all the information. If you turn your survey in uh via the mail, it actually goes right to their office in Wisconsin. If you turn it in the office, it just gets sent to Wisconsin. If you do it online, the information goes right to them. Uh that's all on purpose. So, you know, the district doesn't control the information. We don't control the information. It is uh is anonymous. uh they will look at at um at feedback and find common themes and give you guys
037information on that. Uh they they highly discourage, you know, trying to read every single comment and every single every single um item. Uh because what they want is for you to get the trends of what your community is is offering. But that being said, there will be, you know, you know, opportunities where they might say, "Oh, you know, here's here's something we think you should pay attention to was a common theme." Um and That is just to note again that this is not authorizing a project. It's simply giving the data to the school board and the school board then will either uh based on the data authorize a project or not authorize a project. Uh for time period purposes if the school board does authorize a referendum, April 1st is the deadline to authorize for
038a referendum to have a vote on June 9th. Um so board would have plenty of time February 23rd and April 1st to u weigh the survey and find out exactly what if a project what type of project how many what projects they're going to be able to do within that survey. They'll have some time to figure that out. So that's how that works. It's after April 1st. It can't it can't go to vote June 9th. >> Regardless any any measure would not be a special election. It would happen at the primary or general elections only. Was that on the survey? Any of those dates? I don't think >> Well, just no. >> Okay. >> Just the just the deadline. Survey deadline. >> Sure. >> But that's something that can be put on the website. >>
039No, I I keep that. >> So, the question was if if the dates for different potential votes and things like that are too much >> and and what we don't want to do is be presumptuous that there is even going to be a vote. >> Yeah. I didn't see a relationship. Any other general questions about the survey, the survey process, uh anything that that needs to be more clear or um you need more information to accurately respond to the survey? >> What percentage of return have you seen back? Not dollar amount, but like surveys 100% of surveys go out and you get 50 back or >> Great question. So, school perceptions would say 18% is a great number to give back. And that's where we've seen we've seen anywhere from 16 to what 24 I
040think. >> Yeah. Yeah. Any Yeah. Anywhere from that I'd say 16 to high or low 20s is good and then that's enough for them to feel confident. And if if the pool isn't large enough, they'll let us know. So they they look at a percentage of male and then they also look at percentage per pupil. So they have different information. So the community of Madina, for example, I think they only had 120 surveys came back. But at the end of the day, the survey said, "We love your school. This is all too expensive. We we chopped the project in half and it passed easily." And and nobody came to a meeting after we listened to what the survey said. And so it's very important that the survey showed that they they appreciated the way the
041school was running, but that the dollars were too high. And what was really important was again that the the board took that information pivoted uh and ultimately they are enjoying addition to their school right now and that was 120 responses >> and that's what you see with most of them. I mean for percentage on what passes and what doesn't even even with that low of a >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I think it's it's all about percentage mailed and percent per pupil. They have they have If I think if they're not confident, um, they'll tell us because that's their business. And I'd say the the margin for errors, we've seen anywhere from 2 to 4%. And they'll put that on the survey response. >> Be curious to see moving forward when it has to be during
042a general election when you're going to have a higher turnout. >> And and the requirement to have Yeah. to have a general election uh is new to North Dakota, but not new to other places. You know, if you look at Minnesota, it that to have a special election that you have to have already have had a failed vote or have a higher threshold. So, this is something that is new to North Dakota, but not necessarily new to the the rest of the country. >> And again, that's just primary general. So, like June 26, November 26, no votes can happen in 27, you're back to 28. June 28, November 28. And I don't I I at once thought that might change. I don't foresee that changing now that they've got it in. So, we have a
043number of districts that are in the same process right now going through this. If you don't get the survey in your mail, call the district. uh they they have a they have a software that they use that they draw the the map of the district and it finds every residential mailbox, but it's not perfect. And also the postal ser service, you know, sometimes there could be an issue um with it could be with our addressing, it could be with the software, it could be that it it the wind took it out of a mailbox and they put it in there and you never know. So, we always just like to say don't assume that the district is not is targeting you to not give you one. Um, they have no control over who gets a
044survey. Uh, if you don't get one, please call the districts and they will get you one. >> It's one survey per household. >> It is. They mail one survey per household. However, if you want an additional survey for another person that's over the age of 18 or spouse or something like that, you just have to call and ask the district. >> I was just wondering if there's anything that you think is confusing on the survey that needs to be explained better. >> I was I was concerned about full and true value. Is that confusing? You think that will be exact wording right off the tax date. So >> and and should a project go to the go to vote, we'll have a calculator on the website where people can type in the true and full
045and and I think within if you have any questions to call the school and they probably run through um you know a calculator process to double check your your We'll put a we'll put a somebody's tax statement on there too. Blackout names and stuff, but we'll explain where to find the true arrow to true and you take that number and put it here. So, it'll it'll be explained >> Yeah, I'd say don't don't hesitate to call the school. Awesome. All right, with that, I think please everybody take your survey. Uh, you know, personally, we are happy for someone to not support what's on the survey. We just want an educated, informed vote. And so, you know, even if you're if you're not supportive, please just take the time to read the survey and go through
046it and give your information. Uh, the school district will value it. If you are supportive, same Please don't just check yes. Please read through it because uh the information is only as good as what we get. And so I just say please, you know, ask questions, read, and uh take your time to be informed and then respond. >> Thank you.