001Next, >> you're all set. >> I call to order the April 13, 2026 Westlake City Schools aboard work session. Roll call. >> Hernand >> here. >> Ron >> here. Venukan >> here. Craft here. Mr. Lamb is unable to attend tonight. >> Yep. If everyone will please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> West Lake City School District mission statement is we educate for excellence, empowering all students to achieve their educational goals and to direct their lives and to contribute to society. And our vision statement is Westlake City School District will provide a dynamic student- centered learning environment. Our district will be characterized by high achievement,
002actively engaged learners, mutual respect, shared knowledge, pursuit of new skills and capabilities, collaborative learning, willingness to take action, a team commitment to datadriven continuous improvement through our strategic planning process, and tangible results. Uh, thank you for everyone who is here tonight. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So >> moved. Second. >> Roll call. >> Crap. >> Yes. >> Anukin. >> Yes. >> Ron. >> Yes. Pir. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> And I am going to turn it over to Dr. Gogan about our strategic plan and action capital improvement update. >> Sure. Um, well, it's that time of year where we are looking at uh capital projects. Some are already planned and in place, but also we want to make sure we're very mindful about the projects we do and the budget we
003use. So, we do have uh Adam House here, our director of business affairs, along with the presentation. And uh I think the best thing would be to turn it over to Adam and you want to be at the podium is find it. And I think Mr. Hopkins can get your presentation up. >> Fantastic. Thank you. >> And you should have your agenda too if you want to follow up. Great. >> Good evening, members of the board, uh, colleagues and and guests. Uh, tonight we'll be discussing our commitment to stewardship and sustainability of the district's uh, facilities, grounds, and equipment through our PI account. Uh this presentation that we're going to go through outlines uh how we manage the community's investment to ensure schools remain safe, modern, and efficient and with an emphasis on safety. Of
004course, uh before we begin, I want to express that this can and should be an interactive conversation. So, please interrupt with question or comments as we as we work our way through these slides. Uh your feedback's essential to uh which which way we go on some of these things. slide please. Before we jump into any specific projects, I want to take a pause to look at what the PI uh fund is. The permanent improvement fund. So, our permanent improvement fund, the district's permanent improvement fund uh is a point was a 0.8 mil levy passed in 2016 as part of the Westlife Elementary School construction project. Um it was uh conjoined with that in that year to uh ensure that we had long-term funds to uh uh continue the maintenance of all of our district assets,
005not just for that facility. Uh as a note, these funds are restricted to assets with a life of five or more years. Uh and that includes everything from technology, infrastructure to building maintenance, transportation, vehicles, equipment, uh etc. Uh I want to note that also that uh the this fund is independent from operating levies. Um it can't be used for our day-to-day operations. It is specifically for those things. Um so now that we've discussed what the uh funding source is and where it came from, uh let's take a look at the funds we have to work with. Uh the total annual revenue of this uh PI levy is approximately $1.1 million. uh $100,000 of that annually is committed to uh debt service for uh improvements that were included with the construction of the elementary school. Um
006those were things such as uh uh certain type of windows. Instead of going with wood windows, we went the higher vinyl windows um >> furniture. There were certain things that the board uh determined that we wanted to go with uh as part of that project. The last payment on that debt service is scheduled to be an FY30. So, we do have a couple more years of those payments uh coming out of this fund. So, when all is said and done, we have approximately $1 million uh for all other district-wide PI expenses. So you'll notice that this slide those of you have been through the Kosvar experience will will not recognize this slide. Uh Mr. Kosvar had his own way of doing it and it worked well for him. Uh I've I've taken it on upon
007myself to kind of look at the uh the format of these reports and how I manage the data to make it uh uh in a way that's more accessible and that we can look at it from different lenses. So looking at FY26, the current fiscal year that we're we're working within, um I broke uh the the projects down into eight different categories. So there's there are eight categories on that pie chart. I'll list them off here. There's one that does not appear because there's nothing this year. So I've created athletics an athletics category building envelope which has anything to do with the the outside of the building roofing windows doors walls. Uh exterior improvements anything to the uh the outside of the building that's additional construction projects. Uh interior improvements which would be uh small
008renovations within a building. Um flooring, painting, that type of stuff. uh mechanical uh in mechanical improvements that would be anything that's uh from our chillers that drive our air conditioning units to our boilers uh to electrical equipment. Site improvements. Those would be things that are maybe not uh tied to the building but are on our campuses. Um uh an example of that would be the dredging that we did at our Bison campus last summer. uh technology and transportation which includes not only school buses, school uh uh student transport vehicles but also uh uh fleet vehicles for maintenance. So as we look at uh FY26 and how uh we break it down by category, there are three uh categories that really drive uh the expenses for this fiscal year. Uh the first one is interior improvements
009which has approximately $220,000 either projected or projected to be spent uh in that category. The building envelope uh which I have $200,000 there and we'll talk a little bit more in detail when we get to the next slide about what makes up what comprises those numbers. Uh $200,000 there and transportation uh at approximately $130,000. slides, please. >> So, as I mentioned, the way I'm managing the data allows us to look at it through different lenses. This allows us to filter and look at the expenses broken down by building. Uh, PAC and the high school kind of go together. Uh the PAC uh is listed there and that comprises the largest single investment that I would like to make uh this fiscal year uh which would be $200,000 towards replacing a portion of the roof uh
010at the high school that at the PAC uh not over the main theater area but uh in an area that is adjacent to it in the hallway that we've had issues with uh leaks that we've chased for a while. Um, and so that's that's a big part of that. The other piece that is part of the PAC is uh I'm recommending the and it's been discussed uh resurfacing of the stage for the performing arts center. The performing arts center was open approximately 20 years ago >> and 20 years ago and and the stage structure is good. However, the surface is a is a melamine. It's a it's a fiber board basically that gets laid down and then painted. And so it's seen a lot of wear over the years. Um there's been some soft spots
011that have developed. So I'd like to uh make an investment into into resurfacing the stage to make sure that it's up to up to speed with the rest of the facility. >> What's the hell involved? >> So uh without uh removing the the substructure, uh it really is just removing the top that top layer of melamine. >> Um they're screwed in. They're not glued down. We've we've discovered so that makes it a little bit easier. Uh, and then replacing it with a product. I've identified after doing some research, I identified a company that produces a product called Polyonix. Uh, it's a it's a polymerbased stage surface. I've reached out to some other districts that use it. They're out of South Carolina, so there's nobody local, but there are other districts and facilities that have had
012it installed in their performing arts centers on their in their theaters. Um, and they had positive feedback about it. So uh the goal would to be to provide something that um is not only renews it but also is resilient so that it continues to to maintain uh the quality for a long time. >> Couple of questions I think about the possible replacement and like the current one you said easy to you unscrew it take it out you replace it. uh the proposed new one similar or is it >> similar inst uh reverses of the the uh removal the opposite of removal is the installation. So it's really just uh regular woodworking tools. >> Uh they come in 4x8 sheets lay them down >> this screw in so 20 years from now. >> Correct. It futurep
013proofs a little bit. We're not doing something that is going to cause more issues down the road in terms of removal. Yeah. >> An additional question there. I I think about um uh our uh students, staff, um uh our constituency talking about, hey, we need some improvements to the PAC and and this falls into one of those categories that the the powers of be or the um folks that had an interest said, "Hey, we we want this replaced." >> Uh the short answer is yes, that that is the case. Um, as you as I mentioned in my first couple of slides there, we have a a fairly limited budget. A million dollars sounds like a lot. Um, so we're trying to target those things that that have an impact and that are that are visible
014and are going to help improve the facility. >> And this was on the list. This was brought to our attention by uh staff that the the floor was having some issues. >> Correct. >> And uh uh and that's why we've moved it into a priority uh to have done. Additionally, as you take up the old floor, uh we'll have the substructure um inspected. >> Correct. Correct. We'll we'll ensure that the substructure uh underneath that melamine layer is level and solid. Any repairs that need to be made to it will be done at that time before the the new surface is put on. >> Would this be done over the summer? >> That is the plan for this to be completed over the summer. >> As part of this plan, is there any way we could
015touch up the paint on particularly the sides? sides >> side wings of the stage where it stage left. >> Yeah. As you're walking out >> facing the front of facing the front of house, >> you're sitting in the house. You can see that there's a couple spots where it's been banged up by probably piano coming off and on. This is not a complaint about them having I I understand that's heavy and they're moving it around, but it's a couple >> I I would be happy to explore that as a as a project here for later this summer. >> It's just giving more of a floor needs it. I know. I've heard about it. So, it's just one of those like structural things that need to be done. I think minor little touch-ups. >> Okay, understood.
016I there's always the back of house component and then the front of house and I think that might be a nice balance to those. So, I appreciate that feedback. Um, any other questions before we move on to the next segment? Thank you. Uh, as we work down the list here looking at the the graph, uh, BOE is kind of an outlier for this year. Um, a portion of that is the renovation that we'd like to do to or that we are working on with the gym, converting that into a professional development space. Uh, another portion of that is a mill and overlay of the portions of the parking lot that weren't addressed the last time we had work done. Um, it's at a point where it's uh alligatored and it's beyond uh just putting a
017a seal code on top and maintaining it. uh dis uh this is something that uh was brought up at the last board meeting here. I believe the board approved or the board did approve the agreement uh with Scapcon to remove that front archway. Um place some ballers there to to discourage and provide some security discourage cars from driving through there and provide some security for our students. uh as well as uh opening up a wall uh in a in a courtyard uh putting a gate in and a new walkway for uh access to the kitchen so that deliveries can be made when the new walk-in cooler goes in in that space. And um just to clarify on that, I know that's been discussed. The walk-in cooler, the plan for that is not to use PI
018funds because we have food service funds that can cover that. That's the goal. Yes, we'll have an opportunity to see the um what the final look and product would be as far as the front of dis. >> Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure we can come up with some renderings. >> Remember the front of the is uh >> really far more demolition than any addition. >> So, it's just taking down that archway, right? >> Removing that center pillar. Uh, and then for safety, it's putting in some ballard so cars couldn't drive into that area. >> That's really It's not >> um there there's not much to >> render uh uh because nothing is being added other than the ballards. >> That's fine. >> I'd be interested in the look. >> What is it going to look like?
019>> I mean, with with AI now, we could probably generate something that would be close to what it'll look like. then please do that. >> Yeah. Uh the the other component to expenditures at DIS this year is a purchase of another classroom set of desks and chairs uh that I'd like to make. Um I know when Mr. Kosvar purchased furniture for that entire building, there were some classrooms that didn't get replaced. Um and there is a desire to to do that by staff and the the administration there. Uh moving along to the right here, the bus garage, uh transportation. Um at the next board meeting, I'm going to be uh submitting a recommendation to purchase uh one 78 passenger school bus uh from Cardinal. Uh it matches the build that we have uh for our
020other vehicles uh in the fleet. The reason I'm uh I'm going with one right now is one budgetary, but also after having some discussions with the the rep from Cardinal Bus Sales, uh they have a vehicle on their lot. Uh that's a brand new vehicle that has not been sold yet. Um it is uh going to be under the OSC fall bus bid pricing. Um and I know we agreed to participate in the spring bus bid and we can still do that and explore that option. Uh but my belief is that the pricing moving forward is going to increase and so I'd like to take advantage of uh the better rate if possible. So that's >> Mhm. >> I was going to say is that unusual to have a bus sitting there not being accountable.
021>> Um not nec not necessarily. They get a number of stock bus builds delivered to the their their sales their their dealerships I guess you would call them. Um and sometimes people buy them, districts buy them, sometimes they they don't. Um, it's not like this has been sitting there since the fall. This was delivered in April. Um, it's a newer vehicle. It is a new vehicle, but it's newer to the lot there. It hasn't been sitting there for a long time. >> You feel we're on a good cadence when it comes to buses, new buses, bus replacements. >> I feel like we've made some uh made some progress in it. Um, I know the the desire is to buy two per year, right? Um, obviously the budget dictates what we do and I'll continue to
022recommend the purchase of at least a vehicle every year, if not more. Um, as I mentioned, we agreed to participate in the spring bus bid. Those prices are good through the when the fall bus bid comes out, so through October. Um, when we purchase a bus through the bus bid, it's built to order. And the uh lead time on those can be lengthy. It's not as bad as it was during COVID, but we're still looking at about six months. Yeah. >> From order to delivery. >> I I smirk when you asked that question and made Adam smirk back at me, but um you know, just as a reminder, uh about how many buses we have in our fleet, >> there are approximately 45 buses in our fleet. >> All right. So, buying two per year
023would uh be a little over 22year replacement cycle. So, that's something that we want to think about. Okay. Um, now we were fortunate in, uh, when we passed the PI levy, uh, we did some financing and were able to buy, um, I think 11 buses right away. Then we bought a few more outright after that, uh, fairly quickly. Uh but it is something that as we move forward, we're going to have to figure out some challenges because in in 20 say 17 when we bought those 11 buses, okay? Uh they were running, don't quote me on the exact price, they were running in the 7778,000 price tag. And the new one from the fall bus bid is running >> 129. So, your buses, the price of your buses has, you know, coming close on doubling
024here pretty quickly. And um and so we're going to have to figure out how we want to replace our buses because that is a large investment. And when we're looking at only a million dollars on an annual basis, it would be a very large chunk. It's already a large chunk at two of them. Doing more than that, it's probably a very large chunk. So >> when when we do go through that exercise, do we take in consideration where population is going and and children and you know for schools and stuff? >> Well, we go through our um uh our enrollment projections or or not projections, our our actual enrollment uh history I include into our five-year forecasts and that's something that we have discussions. Um enrollment projections are tough. >> Yeah. Um and then the
025other piece of it too is just as a reminder to I know the board knows this but as the community um we transport not just Westlake not just students who attend Westlake schools but any student who lives in Westlake is eligible if they attend a school uh K through 8 K through eight within 30 minutes >> of doing that and we do that so we transport a number of students hundreds of students who don't attend Westlake schools and so that's factored into our needs of our buses as well. So, >> uh well, we come to the board and we do deem uh impractical when appropriate, but uh you know, the state has strengthened those laws and so um we provide more transportation than really we ever have. >> And it's it's just through 8th grade.
026>> Yeah. Well, it would be through 12th grade except we don't provide transportation for our own pythons. >> So, we don't have Because we don't provide it for our high schoolers. We don't have to provide it or >> but high school students with disabilities outplaced. We transport. >> Yes. For us. Yes. Students with special needs are are different situation. >> We have 45 bus fleet. How many? We imagine we have a few that just on the lot as backups. How many are out every day? Roughly >> uh es and flows, but there are times where we have anywhere from four to six or seven buses down for a short time. Um it might be for the morning only. It might be for a couple days. Um but there there definitely is a cycle of of
027vehicles as any equipment h does. It breaks down and you know we have issues. >> But I I think going to your question more specifically we actually set aside a certain number of spares. >> Yes. >> How many spares do we have? >> Uh I don't know the exact number right now. I think we are probably around 10 or 12 spares. So you'd be somewhere around that 35 uh uh number that you're sending out on a you know on a constant basis. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Uh continuing to work our way down here and some of these costs uh have already been seen. Um when we look at maintenance uh most of that is is if not all of it is already been spent. Uh, I know this year we purchased a Bobcat wheel loader
028uh for the maintenance group uh to provide not only plowing in the winter but also uh other utilization throughout the school year. Um, >> can you give us just a a quick uh reminder how helpful that was this year? >> So, this winter was uh as you as you can recall, unless we have short memories here or blocked it out, uh this winter was a pretty rough one in terms of snowfall. Uh, and this piece of equipment came in handy. We were able to, uh, we kept it at the elementary school. We were able to plow the lot there with it. Um, which helped out immensely. But not only that, we were able to put the bucket on it, uh, take it over to some of the other campuses and move piles of snow uh,
029to to clear up space and shuffle things around. So, uh, from my perspective, it's already been a great asset to the district. I'm excited to see as it's warmed up here and hopefully dries out what other stuff we can do with it. >> Right. And um wasn't it uh wasn't a conversation that hey, we may just buy another pickup and put on a plow. Um was that a conversation that we had? >> We we did have that for this past Fis or this year to >> Yeah, we weighed those options. Uh we took a look at our our maintenance fleet um and determined that we had enough vehicles to get staff around to where they needed to go because most of the year that's what they're used for, right? We're not plowing we're plowing four
030months out of the year maybe. >> And wasn't it less expensive than that? >> Uh it was it was it was about comparable comparable um to to getting to the purchase of a a pickup truck. >> Um >> but a lot of uses for that particular type of vehicle. >> Correct. >> That we didn't have as an asset. >> And we did Yeah. We did not have uh an example of a use. Another use that we had for it was uh with the spring musical. You know, they they rented a set. Uh it needed a a a forklift or something with forks on it to get the set out of the back of the truck. We were able to put some forks on it and and utilize it for that. So, we've seen little tid
031breadcrumbs of its use so far aside from plowing. And again, I I think we'll see um some other good uses for it. Um, aside from the the the Bobcat, which was the big purchase, we had a a couple of plows to replace uh ones that were no longer functional. Um, we also had, see here, uh, we purchased a top dresser uh for the grounds crew to ensure that we can maintain our fields. We have a number of grass fields that we use for different athletic groups, not only on our campuses with our school buildings, but also Basset and Holly Lane, uh, which get some fairly heavy use. Um, so that that was part of that amount there. Um, the high school I think was included with me see here. Oh, high school had a couple
032of things there. Uh, we had a water heat heater replacement that was unforeseen. That's part of the the PI costs here that's already been already been spent. Um, and just recently as I got feedback from uh staff and administrators at the high school after a lockdown drill, uh there was some areas inside the library that were identified as not having uh the ballistic film on the windows. Uh particularly a room behind the librarian, is it a librarian at the high school? >> Media center >> or media >> media specialist. uh the office the space the prep room behind it is the room that this the students are supposed to go in in the event of a lockdown. There was no ballistic film on that. So uh we recently completed a project that added that to
033all the windows in that space to to add another layer of security. Um and then uh the last bar on the chart is uh LBMS. uh LBMS uh has really one major thing on it and I know it's been a request before and I would like to continue I plan on continuing to to proceed with it is a digital sign board for the front of the campus. It's Bernison DDIS. Um I had a a company out to take a look at it uh this past fall um and they provided some information. The real issue or the the the hiccup that we had was how do you get power out to it because it's way out where we would want to place it is way out by the street. Um there's no direct line, no way
034to get power from the main electrical rooms in the buildings to it. Um so after some discussion, we determined the best uh route forward is uh to pull power from the power pole. There's an electric pole there. We can add a meter there um and we can have power to it. So that I plan on moving forward with that as as well. Thank you. That'll be really helpful for not just identifying where the buildings are, but also special events like uh the soccer invitational when they say, you know, to help when people are just driving by to find where they're going. >> Absolutely. >> Would you like to see what it's going to look like once that comes about? I'm guessing it's went to the high school and the elementary school, >> but I would
035love to see >> I would like I'd like to see that too, just to see because you have two buildings. >> It's a different situation. >> Yeah, maybe twice as big. >> One side's Burn, one side. >> Does that mean we could change it twice as much? >> Yes, >> we could. Depending what >> I I do know that this is that this sign has been discussed for a while now. Um and I believe there I do have a drawing a rendering of what it would look like with that. So I'd be happy to pass that along to >> feels. Yes, we absolutely want this. True. >> Yeah, it's overdue. >> It's really overdue >> from 06 or 16. >> I remember discussing hearing the discussions before I was elected to the board. >> Right.
036>> Thank you. >> Uh uh slide please. >> So now we've talked about the current fiscal year. Uh, I just want to quickly review what what the five-year outlook is here. So, this is FY26 this fiscal year all the way through FY30, which remember is the last year that we have that uh debt service uh payment being made. Um, as you can see there, it kind of es and flows. Uh, but if you add up all the numbers, we have approximately $12.2 million in in uh permanent improvement or capital improvement projects that we would like to do. uh if if my math is and I'm uh correct, five years and a million dollars a year is only five million. So we come up a little short there. Um however, there are uh within each of
037those numbers are obviously the needs, the things that we have to do every year. And the next slide we could talk about a little bit of those uh some of those things uh and then those desires, those wants. Um you could see the peak year in the middle uh 2028 uh is really driven by a couple of things. This building is due for a roof replacement. That's approximately 1.3 million. The last quote that I had um again I'm hoping that that's that stays close to that as we've seen prices have gone up though. Um and some interior improvements at DIS. I would like to do something with the floor there. Um the fifth grade hallway has some original tiles that have been beyond their well beyond their expected life. Um they're still stable, but could
038use some some attention. And Brad and I walked through there a couple weeks ago and I will say our maintenance staff has done an amazing job and custodial staff maintaining the floors, but you could definitely tell it is >> Yeah, it's >> very much showing its age. >> It it is for sure. Um and and on that note, I have had a contractor out to take a look at it so we can start getting pricing and an idea of where we might end up. Um, like I said, this is this is a future project, but I I like to kind of have a ballpark for where we're at so that I can kind of hone my planning. >> That particular floor floor may be kind of like the high school floor or not. >> It
039could be a poured floor like that. It could be >> seems pretty resilient though. >> Could be vinyl. It that that floor has done a nice job and held up well. Um, I I've I've heard positive feedback about it. I don't know how the board feels about that type of floor, but >> it still looks and acts. >> I think it looks great. Yeah, they did. It was It was nice. >> High school or >> high school do something similar? >> Yeah. >> All All uh all possibilities, right? >> And we'll explore those when we get to that point. Any other questions about the overall numbers per for each year? Nope. >> Just clarify for those in the room that this is just sort of expected expenditures of things in the timing of it. Does
040this mean we're going to be spending 3 point 3.62 million in 2028? No, it's just giving us a >> Thank you. Yes. And we we obviously prioritize those projects that have to be done, those that are safety uh safety critical um and we we pick and choose what is best for the district um out of those. >> Obviously, I'm sure there's a lot of wants that out the needs. I I think that's driving a lot of it. There are some needs in there like roofs and and flooring that are going to need to be done. Um but there are some wants in there too that drive those up. Slide. Uh as I mentioned, I've reorked the way this data is managed to look at a different way. Um here's a long-term outlook not by uh
041well, it's by year, but it's also broken down by those categories that I provided you. So, if you see the the blue at the top, that's transportation. You'll see it carry over from year to year to year. That's a placeholder for our uh school buses and maintenance vehicles. Um, you'll see the other ones kind of eb and flow as we have projects uh as I mentioned uh 2028, that orange segment there, that's 1.3 million for the roof on this building planned. Um, it's uh I believe that purple uh bar above it, the purple portion of the bar above it is mechanical. That's a a RTU, a rooftop unit uh air handler in HVAC component of HVAC back system at the high school that is um at a point where it it will need to be
042replaced here. Um so that just gives you another way to view it. So any questions about that slide? Well, thank you. Uh that's the end of my presentation. So, our goal uh with managing the PI account is to be proactive instead of reactive. And by following the five-year roadmap that we've laid out, uh we can help to protect the community's investment uh in our in our buildings, our facilities, our grounds, our equipment. Um I thank you for your time. If there are any other questions, I'd be happy to take them. At this point, >> I got a couple things uh to to mention. um one excellent job. Um it it's nice Dave did a great job with it. It's nice seeing it through a different lens, you know, and to be able to have it
043presented another way, it's very helpful. Um number two, one of the things that we know our community values is that when they invest when when they give us the money to invest in uh facilities that we take care of them. And I really like how you lay lay everything out so that the people in the community can see that there's care happening. Um and and we're really trying to extend the life of um what they've given us or allowed us to build and and and purchase. Um, the third one is, you know, I thought you did a nice job really showing that there's a lot of wants and needs and um when people hear a million dollars, a million dollars is a lot of money, but when you have buses that cost $100,000 a piece
044and or over that, you're buying two of them, the money goes away very quickly. Um and and I think I know something that um uh whether it's myself or the board members here, we do hear from uh families or or other community members. Um let's even just say about some of our athletic facilities. You know, we'll hear about the track and you know, uh the track is something where it's it's pitched differently than than most tracks. The eighth lane is short. Um there's issues with it. Uh and but the the solution to that is a big solution. That's a big project that we would have. We are looking at doing some repairs to the PAC, but you know, it is over I think it was 2005 is when it opened. So it is over 20
045years old and could use a full renovation. You know, um we've had water in the pit before. I know there there's preferences on the the the openings uh to be able to access the stage. So, we have a lot of other projects to do that cannot happen through this permanent improvement um levy that we've we passed. So, you know, a a conversation for the board at the time is um uh Todd has mentioned before that we could potentially be on the ballot in 2027 uh for an operating, that would be a good time to have a conversation about if we wanted to have either a bond or a PI there to try and tackle some of these large projects, whether it's Reedfield or cabinetry in DISIS or um full renovation of the pack. >> Yeah,
046full renovation of the pack. Um returfing the field, the football field, you know what I mean? So, there's >> the new press box. But those are the those are the things to prioritize and be able to say because one of the things your bar graphs show is that there's no way those projects are getting done with $1.1 million. So, at some point in time, if they do become a priority and and become uh a high want as opposed to just, hey, it'd be nice to, but if it's something that we really want to move forward with and and so people are watching and saying, well, when are you going to do the track? When are you going to do this? We we want to you I'd love to see a new track there. Um but
047when you look at the fundings that we have and the wants and needs, you know, we're going to have to plan it out a little later. So, but a great job, Adam. And board, if you have comments or questions, feel free. >> I know uh citizens of West Lake have always asked us to be good custodians. Uh gosh, I think years ago, I think there was a feeling that we we could be better custodians and current administration, current board um and staff have have done an excellent job um with um with everything that you've you've talked about today and we need to continue that. So, Dr. Gagan, I think of your thoughts. I know that the PI original PI was very popular. I love the idea of, you know, did we bring this to the
048ballot in 2027? Um, and I think it's something that the citizens of Westlake um, uh, would support without a doubt. >> Definitely think PI piece as part of the next time we're at the ballot would be definitely prudent to be part of it, especially given the rising cost of buses and if we wanted to have a repurch purchasing of, you know, maybe four, that that's half of money, right? >> Right. And if we added operating is definitely going to have to be part of it because it's been 20 years, but if we could add in an additional PI piece, this would definitely help tackle that list and make sure we're good custodians continuing going forward. And so we don't end up with buses with antique license plates. But I will say even personally, I haven't
049purchased a car since 2018 and I'm starting to look at cars and I'm shocked. I'm like, wow. But um so I can imagine vehicles that are five times larger. >> Very good. Anything else? Um the one thing that it might be worth even considering and I had thought that the federal tax credits uh on some of the green energy things had fact but they have not for school districts and there's actually cash being returned to some school districts about solar um whatnot. Um, I've got some information that I can send. >> Um, as somebody who installed solar panels and who has seen how very little I have to pay on my electric bill now, it's kind of impressive and definitely just something to think about, especially since our peak time is when the sun's out.
050Yes, I will admit December and February were not the greatest, but um, yeah. Uh, but yeah, there's I think 70% back. I'm trying to find that message that I had on the open put on this roof here. >> Help pay for that. >> There you go. >> Well, thank you again. I appreciate your time. Thank you. >> And hopefully Brad got to see that. >> All right, moving on. Legislative leazison, >> right, a little bit the news about like the Senate Bill 156. Um the success sequence just kind of that's um gone through three house hearings. I think it's going to vote the house relatively soon but nothing new about it. It's had passed the house back in November probably or late last year something come up in the past but otherwise something newsworthy that
051I've seen or come across. Student achievement liaison is Brad and he is out. Um >> just something a little bit on student achievement. Um I know um I know the board had an opportunity to visit Westshore Career Technical uh recently. Um uh I think along with the courses providing certification including auto tech sports and exercise science teaching uh the two new courses being offered um have had a very strong start and and you may have seen that um that of course was the result of a $5.7 million state grant that was used to build the welding classroom lab as that includes 24 welding bays. uh the MEMS's classroom which is uh just unbel unbelievable just super impressive. Um Mr. Joseph Zernich the welding instructor says that he loves seeing students today stepping into the lab
052and striking an arc using various methods to initiate the weld pool. Um Mr. Kyle White, the men's instructor, boasted about his students taking part in the annual Association of Career and Technical Education Legislative Showcase in Columbus recently. The event brought together representatives from 44 districts across Ohio to share their work with legislators. Um, important to know if anyone has an interest in attending, the Westshore Career Technical District will celebrate its passport ceremony, its graduation ceremony on May the 19th. That's at 9:15. So if you are interested, keep an eye out for that invitation. >> We'll see the past four por is always very impressive to attend and where the students are heading afterwards. Really, really >> that was my first time seeing shore. I knew very little about it beforehand. It's really an impressive program
053and setup and wellrun and every you know every new professor we met and every person we've met is blown away more and more but yeah the men's lab is really cool >> pretty cool >> that's something that I'm sorry to interrupt but that's something that I think we we didn't have any Wessel kids go into it this year none of them and and I think that's a tough one to explain to people. It's almost like something you have to see because it's like, "Oh, you want to do memes?" It's like, "What's that?" And and so I think you actually have to to see that. Um Dr. Brad said he was going to he was starting to do parent tours. You know, they'll kind of reach out to them at middle school or intermediate school kids
054and then they'll go home and parents will say, "No, you don't want to do that kind of thing." And he said, "Yeah, he wants to bring them in, let them see it for themselves and kind of expose them to what they do." >> So it's a lot different than Yeah. even when 20 30 years ago. >> Have we all seen the animation invitation to students on the career technical website? Um and I don't know how often if it's up to the student or counselors to really share that with students or not, but it is very inviting. Um I think it um advertises all the programs very very well. Uh so I I think as these programs continue to take off I think our students will I think so participate in a very >> sorry I
055interrupt you >> I was going to say and it's always great to have lunch at uh the rancher cafe >> at the kish >> very nice >> we're going I'm going on Wednesday with PTA presidents so we'll show them the program as Anything else for student achievement? >> Uh, superintendent committees on the We went through our update already on all of our policies. >> Final vote next. >> Yep. The next meeting in our tours. Thank you both Amanda and Paul for the tours going through the buildings and for all your hard work on the curriculum view treasur committees our last uh finance meeting uh we spent a lot of time on the audit. We also had an opportunity to uh discuss with uh Mr. House and Mr. Hopkins really what was presented today and to
056think about think about those priorities that uh we we discussed those are priorities of the community. They're our priorities to think about what what we want to again with with limited dollars um really what we want to prioritize for the district. So if there are ever thoughts you know share those but myself and Mr. Fuku can have that good fortune to meet with Mr. Hopkins and Mr. House pretty often. >> Additionally, I do want to add two things uh just to keep the board uh up to date. Uh one is as we've discussed the board means uh the auditor of state's office uh has opted to uh send our audit out for the next 5 years to a IPA, an independent public auditor. uh they've gone through that process and um you know we will
057uh be uh signing a contract for the next 5 years. Uh it comes in actually a little less than what we're currently paying. >> So it it has a a little bit of a savings on it. So uh that'll be finalized here in the next couple weeks and then I can tell you who uh uh the selected vendor will be. So that's good. Uh the other one I just want to bring to your attention and uh uh it is making a lot of waves in the county. Um we're not let me say it and I'll explain it is uh the county last week uh sent out an email to all fiscal agents um letting us know that um they are no longer going to be sending advances of tax funds. So, you know, typically what
058we've had for the past well, my entire career, uh you'll get like two advances. So, we'll use here in uh 2026, we had an advance in January, advance in February, and then a settlement payment. Now, I won't lie. I mean, we've talked about it publicly at at a board meeting. you know, those advances have become a little bit smaller than I would have liked in the past, but uh now they've announced that they're not going to have advances at all and they're going to be uh only giving the settlements. So, there'll be two payments per year. Um that would be all of our tax income coming in. >> Um I'm sorry, >> but I was just going to ask you the date or the month. >> Uh it would be normal settlement time. So in
059this case it would be March and then uh uh September October depending on how the schedule is. >> Is it just school districts or is it all taxing entities? >> It's all taxing entities in the county. >> So anyone who would have property tax. So this be your library, your port authority, your metrop parks, your city, your schools. Um you know you have a number of tax authorities that have property tax. And so, um, you know, I want to stress that, uh, for Westlake City Schools, um, we are financially stable right now and we are, uh, uh, blessed enough that we have a a large carryover balance, uh, that this will not have a, uh, devastating effect on us. Okay. Um, will what effect will it have on us is an example again using this
060year. Okay. is um if we didn't get our advances in January and February, even though they were smaller than we typically would, we would have had a a sell investments. We wouldn't have been able to get through January and February um without that money coming in um it just it's just how schools run. So, we would have gone uh and sold some of our investments. So, it would have cost us some uh uh investment uh uh potential gains or possibly some losses depending on timing of uh the sale of those investments. Uh again, not ideal for us, but not catastrophic for us. Uh for a large number of uh taxing authorities within the county, this may have massive impact where they're now going to have to go out and take loans uh to make payroll
061uh try to find ways uh to get through those months because this is tax money that is, you know, technically uh u the the the ownership of in our case the school district. it's just being collected on our behalf. Uh they're collecting it. They're going to hold it and then they're going to release it at a later time. So, uh again, not a panic for us, but if you start hearing about this, uh again, email wise and in uh forum wise that I'm part of, uh this is causing uh some significant constrnation for uh uh some treasurers and uh even other uh fiscal agents outside of school districts that are in the county. Um, and it could have impact and it would eventually have an impact on us at some point, but it's not something
062that we're going to be in panic mode on. Uh but we would hope the county would reconsider this and uh go back to the standard because um you know on the opposite end of us while it might cost us to um uh you know sell some investments or the lost uh interest there at the same time as those advances come in we're able to have that in our coffers and get interest on our money that we have in our in our accounts. So, um, you know, either way, we'll have some loss on it and it benefits the district to have the money that's rightfully ours, uh, as soon as possible. So, uh, we would ask that the county would reconsider and that's, uh, lawyers are involved and school districts are involved and others. >> And
063that decision was made by the county. What? Um, so they're citing a couple of different uh pieces on the timeframe changes of uh Ohio law on certification of property values and then >> um the uh ability to uh question valuation or or challenge I'm sorry challenge valuations of properties. Now, um I've seen emails going around, including one from an attorney representing a school district, uh that um uh is saying, hey, you know, even if you say, okay, you know, the law says, you know, it's not going to be certified until we have to certify that state, but the state could take a little bit longer. You could sit there and say, hey, you know what, 30 days after it's certified, we'll be the first, you know, uh uh uh advance. You don't have to take
064a hard line of saying no advances. And as far as we're aware, no one no other county is doing that at this time. Um, you know, so there's a lot of pieces involved, but they're citing changes in law as the reason for it. >> Is there a a cost to having multiple uh dispersments? >> Uh, I don't believe so. >> That's not, >> you know, there could possibly be a cost of sending it via a per transaction. If not, >> not significant. >> And um, if we didn't have a surplus and we didn't have investments, what would we do? Um, so for other districts that are in that position, okay, I'll use them as an example. >> Uh, uh, you would you would need to go out and take a loan. >> I mean, you
065you would go out and either do a a TAN tax participate or not. You're going to have costs involved. Uh, you may end up taking more than you need. You may end up taking not enough and then you're taking another loan. um you'd be playing these games trying to figure out when the money is going to come in um and how much you exactly you need to get to that point. >> Uh it's going to be challenging for a number of districts that uh because really you're looking at >> uh again missing out on those two advances. Uh in our case this year was, you know, three or four million. Um that's we have a we have I call it a burn rate, but we we have a spend rate of uh about $5 million
066a month. So that's that for us is nearly a full month of in of of revenue that we would be spending through. >> Um that would cause a problem for us and and it's essential to keep the operations of the district. >> Talk about property taxes. Has there been any any more update or uh insight as to how that bill uh is going? The no property tax bill is it >> collecting signatures? >> Yeah. So that's not a bill. that is a initiative. >> Yeah. >> Uh so that that's a little bit different but they are >> I think the deadline is July or August to be on the November ballot. Um let's go with July. Um and so you know we'll find out here in the next few months if they're able to do
067that. >> Thanks. >> Any other for treasurers committee? Okay. Moving on to board comments. Think we've been folding most of them in. Um I am the next meeting we have the internship students coming in to speak. I am traveling for work and I will not be here. Please be nice to Claire. >> So she's going to be here. Um I would also say don't forget it's going to be Brad's first meeting. It's up to you if you want to be nice to him or not. >> I know. >> He's done it at fair. >> Yeah, I know. Um, any other board comments? Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> All right. Journ at 6:54 p.m. Craft. >> Yes. >> Brown. >> Yes. >> Penukin. >> Yes. Motion
068carries.