001here. Lux >> here. Madson >> here. >> And Campbell >> here. >> All right. We are going to do the pledge of allegiance and we're going to ask any veterans if they wish to, they can step forward and we can lead the pledge if they would like. If not, we will do it. I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you veterans today. All right, I'm going to get across the ring to make a motion to the agenda. I don't think there are any changes. >> No, the only thing if I don't know if it's actually an agenda change, but our AD is out with AD duties, so he'll do
002his uh report next month. >> Motion to approve the agenda. Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion carries. I don't believe we have any waiverss, so we don't have to worry about that. Um, approved minutes from October 14th. Mary emailed them out and unless there was any changes, I would be looking for a motion to approve those minutes. >> Make a motion to approve the minutes from October 14th. Second. >> Um, expenditures, we have A through C on the agenda. If anybody wants to something out, we can, but if not, we'd be looking for a motion to approve the expenditures. Make a motion to approve the extended A3C. Second. Okay. All in favor? I. I. All right. Motion carries. Uh number 55 is financial statements. And again, we have A through K on the consent
003agenda, unless you want to pull anything out. If not, we'd be looking for a motion to approve those financial statements. >> Right. Motion to approve financial statements. >> Yeah. Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I motion carries. Um we are to the patrons and others. So 56 we have a which is the 2025 audit. Bruce is not here but you had something. Bruce is not here. Um he began the audit and he's up on fourth floor if you guys have any questions. Amber has the uh entrance letter that we just need. Okay. >> So we just need Yes. We don't need to do a motion on that. Right. We're just saying right. >> All right. And the next item is a ribbon ribbon week essay and poster contest. And
004Miss Price is here to present those. >> Whatever you would like to be here. here for Red Ribbon Week. >> Okay. So, I made copies. I dropped a few. You'll have to share. Um at the middle school last year and this year, we did like a red ribbon home room to home room competition. And um so, you can kind of see in there what the things we did, but we did dress up dailies. We had week um daily announcements. Um I hid red ribbons every day. The kids could find them for like bonus points for their home room. Um classroom dress up counted as points towards their class, their home room. So the very last page of the packet if you look at it is kind of the point totals. Um they could every home
005had an opportunity to get like bonus points by tying ribbons on trees, um doing coloring sheets for their lockers, um word finds. Um I think that's about it. And then every home room created a puzzle piece and then the puzzle pieces all went together as a larger puzzle on a bulletin board near our library. And so I had a few judges come and kind of score the puzzle pieces um 1 to 10. And then that was also part of their score for home rooms. And so um Monday we crowned not this Monday but last Monday we crowned like our winners of our home room. And so the Lawrence County coalition helped pay for prizes for that. So our first place got a pizza party, our second place got a pop float party and our third
006place just got some like candy to share in their home room. So um the kids kind of get into it every year. It gets a little bit bigger I think and a little bit more exciting. So if you have any questions, let me know. Any questions? Good job. >> It was fun. We had a good week. So, and we'll do a kindness type thing too um during random acts of kindness week um I think February March time um and then we do a whole week too kind of similar. So, we try to do it a couple times throughout the year. So, well, thank you for coming tonight. All right. We are to item 57 which is new business. We have contracts and resignation. >> Okay. We just have one resignation and that's uh Sylvia Trent
007uh elementary repair professional. We'll be sorry to see her go but uh I think she's moving correct Jay. >> Yeah. Dan sold her house. >> Yeah. >> So we wish her well. Thank you. >> I'll make a motion contract. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I motion carries. The next item is the to approve the memorandum of understanding for the SRO agreement. >> Um the theou um is basically the same agreement we've had past years. I think a maximum $12,500 uh from the city of Leed. um 25% u salary and benefits from the city of Deadwood and then the lead deadwood school district picking up the the balance there. >> Motion to approve theou agreement. >> Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right,
008motion carries. Um approve lunch policy EFC to amend the policy that was adopted in January of 2024. We did go through this last time with some kind of questions and things that had come up with it. Um, so the we just need to decide if we're going to approve that as amended. >> So I guess I would entertain any discussion by the board and look for that. Do you have a copy of that, handy? I think that um the part that I if if I recall the part that there was some question about was uh kind of in the enforcement stages you know and we've got people that don't pay school lunch accounts for a variety of reasons. Uh some people are unwilling to pay or I should say some people are unable to pay
009some people are just unwilling to pay. There are different just different circumstances. And what we typically do is when that account balance uh exceeds $50, um then the principles make a phone call. And it's always been our practice to be as understanding as we can that, you know, if people want to make payments towards bringing that balance down, you know, if they're willing to work with us, we always will. But uh the proposed wording and this goes back to correct Margie goes back to previous policy that we had had. >> Yeah. And previous months attached to that as well. >> Okay. And that wording is building principles will contact parents guardians when mail account balances exceed $50. If communication attempts are unsuccessful, efforts to recover delinquent balances on mail accounts may progress to using the
010courts to seek reimbursement or enlisting the help of the school attorney. Um, so I guess that's that's the point of discussion. So I'll I'll let the board discuss that. >> Yeah, I'm I'm the one that had the biggest um I think rub there. I just don't like the idea of us utilizing the courts in order to uh try to get back that money. Um I if it was up to me, you know, we wouldn't be in this situation where kids have to worry about paying their renewals. Um but unfortunately that's the world we live in. Um we don't have a state that does cover those costs and I understand that that is a expense to our district and then also to our taxpayers. Um my proposed change in wording um would be to take out
011courts and bringing in the school attorneys and just go to collections. I feel like that gives us um a a little bit of removal from the process and that also gives our families a little bit more room to work without resorting directly into um the court system as well if it becomes necessary. Now, um I did have some discussions with people that are familiar with how the collections process works um as far as you know what the cost would be to us and it's not insignificant um but you pay based on you pay uh I'm just going to throw a number out there say 30% um to collections if they are able to give back that balance. So, say someone owes us $500 um in collections is able to successfully get that $500, then we
012would have to pay 30% of that $500 to collections, but we don't pay any of that money until such time as um that collection is made. Um that I guess that would be my uh suggestion would be I do not want to see courts and attorneys in that policy at all. I would like to see us use more uh I guess I I prefer the language of collections over that. >> Well, I guess I'm fine with it as it is. Um it does say May. I don't think in our time if we actually can we can probably count on one hand the amount of times we've gone to court over a thing. We try to work with the kids whatever is going on in their lives and we try to go that way but it
013leaves us the tool if we have to do that >> and let me correct so and and I know what you guys mean but like we don't work with the kids >> well we work with the parents >> to deal with theirs >> uh you know and that's also in our policy but students are never confronted about their school lunch like like we never ever >> go to kids and say hey >> you need to get this paid hey can you tell mom to pay the lunch bill that never happens it's always dealing with parents parents and guardians. It's their responsibility. >> Um I would say I mean I I understand that we're not in a position or that we have not historically used the courts. Um, however, I think we also need to look
014at who's going to be here in the future when we're not and is that attitude going to change and are we going to end up in a position um where utilizing the courts ends up with saying a family loses their means of transportation because uh you know that's that's how the the sheriff's office enforces you know um getting that money back once there is a judgment against that family. Um that's my biggest issue with it. Well, I think that going to collections that's in the end that's usually the same process. >> Collections >> they go to court too and then they execute the judge. >> So >> potentially, but it also gives us a layer of removal from it. >> It does. I think collection agencies can feel pretty ruthless compared to we're more of
015a kind or gentler I think attitude than collections would be because that's their sliding bread and butter. if they don't collect, they don't make money. And so that can be pretty bad. >> And then another thing with that too is that um you know another and again this is conversations I've had with other agencies that utilize um collection services is that if in that event the family were to come back and say hey we want to pay this bill um that is potential option as well. It would all depend on whatever agreement you came up with and whoever you utilize for that purpose if you were to go that route or not. So I think it's I I think at this point we have a policy in front of us with the wording. Um Lexi
016has asked for it to be changed but ultimately we have to take a vote on it. So I think at this point the writing that's there what was presented. >> So I I guess I would say let's I mean we can see what happens with the vote. Well, either either Lexi could >> either Lexi could uh move to >> change the wording or someone else could move to um to approve as is. So >> I think it's collection efforts which could be for collections >> and then it covers both >> and I actually I where I defeated the purpose purpose of collection >> I really wanted to say collection right well and where I found that is I looked at other school districts policies and what they utilize and some other districts surrounding us are
017using that wording collection efforts instead of courts lawyers things like that that's where I found that >> y so somebody should make a motion >> I'll make a motion that we change the wording of the policy to say um election efforts as opposed to the courts. Let me find that in the packet here real quick. Um it's not in the packet. You have to go one from last month. There's that one. Thank you. Um so may progress to using um collections efforts to seek reimbursement would be my motion. >> What does it say now? >> So I would say building principles will contact parents guardians when meal account balances exceed $50 if communication attempts are unsuccessful. Efforts to recover delinquent balances on meal accounts may progress to using collection efforts to seek reimbursement. Right now
018it says courts. >> Right now it says using the courts to seek reimbursement or enlisting the help of the school attorney. My recommendation be or my um motion to amend would be uh may progress to using collections efforts to seek reimbursement. >> Yeah, we have a motion. Don't think a letter from the school attorney would >> I think it could, but how much are we also paying for that letter from the school attorney? >> We we do currently use that. It's a pretty minimal cost. >> The motion was made to make the change. We would need a second. Okay. So the motion would die due to a lack of a second. >> Do we have a motion on the >> We do not have any other question right now. >> So I think that's the
019question before. Does anybody else want to make a motion >> to approve the policy as written? >> Make a motion to approve policy as written. >> And we have a motion and a second to approve the policy as written. All in favor? No. No. Okay. So, you have 41. Do you need to do a roll call? >> Yes. Roll call. It would be I >> vote. Deers. I looks >> no. Madison. >> Hi. >> Handle. >> I so it would pass with a 4 to1. The motion would carry. Okay. Thank you. Um we have two open enrollment requests. Um both of them it looks like were previous or students >> currently but they moved elsewhere. So but they would like to remain in school here. >> Make a motion to approve the open enrollment request.
020>> Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I have your guys' copies back, please. Have to make something on the back. >> Thank you guys. The next one is to approve the map club request that was in the packet. This will be a club account and for policy it says that all club accounts that are established need to be approved by the board. So I don't know if Mr. Embro wants to just to comment more on this but um Betty Campbell and Lexi Stiff want to start a club. They'll meet every Tuesday during lunch to do puzzles, games, >> games, games, and then basically to get ready for the map once has been made. >> Okay. So, we would just need we have a lot of these club club accounts,
021so we just need to approve the club or the club request. >> Make a motion to approve approve the math club request. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> All right. So before we go into item up, it's review plan for school development phases. I just wanted to explain because I know we do have some speakers um here that >> sign change on the agenda. >> Yeah. >> The one that's posted. >> Oh, >> okay. So >> there was a change to the agenda then after we got it. >> Yes. So F was what? >> Change order number four. >> Oh, the one in the board packet. >> Okay. Was the one that was posted >> correct? >> That where did this do? So it was on
022the one that was on as well as in our packets. I know on outside so that's fine. So F was a change order number four. We'll have is that Bill? >> That change order I believe was that show or Pam? >> No. >> Um >> electrical work. >> Let's see. >> Oh, they were changing some electrical work as far as those um there's some not really offices, but there's some rooms that are across the hall from when we're doing this. they uh are going to end up having to change the lighting and some of the electrical going through those rooms. >> Yep. >> The amount on that is $5,210.99. >> Make a motion to approve the change order number four. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I So it
023would be G. is the is that the review plan just to make sure that that's correct. >> So G is the review plan for school development phases. >> Is that right? So before we get into that I just kind of wanted to explain to anybody in the room. Um the process that we have is as we're going through this this is just a discussion amongst the board. Um we did have five people signed up with um public forum speakers. That'll be under item 60 at the end. If anybody else in the room wants to talk during that time, we do have a form that you need to fill out beforehand and it's just right up there. Um, so if you can get that filled out and hand it to Mary before we get to that
024point, that would be great. So, just to kind of let you know, >> and it's super easy to fill out. >> Yes. >> But just in case anybody came in late, I wanted them to make sure they had an opportunity to fill that out. Um, so then with that, just through your >> Yeah. So, we've, you know, um, as you know, we've been talking about this for some time and kind of, we've got a committee put together. We've been progressing, uh, slowly forward on exploring the possibility of, uh, doing some development on the, uh, school district owned land and, uh, and there's, you know, as you know, there people have varying opinions about it. uh some of the neighbors are here, I think, to uh express that they don't want to see it happen. And
025I think that it's important uh that we I I think as we hear all of these opinions, I think it will ultimately help us to come to better decisions. So, I think that's a that's a good thing. And we've got some some dialogue going on. And I've talked to a few of these guys in the last week or the um last few weeks and and we kind of explained and I had uh shown you guys on that proposed timeline. I kind of put that out to the board last week as you know to give you something to react to and you know if you recall I asked that uh we're not going to approve anything with that timeline tonight. We'll kind of put it out there, talk about it and then um make a decision
026down the road. And I think one thing that is becoming evident is it would probably be a good idea to to make a little bit of a switch. And in that proposed timeline we had um to approve said timeline in December and then try and hold a public meeting where we could actually have some dialogue with the public. Uh give people a chance to ask questions of the board of the administration of committee members who whomever uh and have a little bit of back and forth. And I think it might be prudent to put that ahead of uh approving that that timeline or ultimately approving that plan. So I've got a few things I'm just going to kind of go through here u hit on some questions that have kind of been that have kind
027of come up. I'll try and keep it brief because I really would like the board to have a little bit of discussion on this. Uh and u I guess you know the big question that comes up a lot is you know why is the district exploring this? Why are we looking at this? And and I think that it's no surprise that we find uh housing to be a challenge here at Lead in Lead Deadwood, particularly in our school district. I think in both communities uh in Lead and Deadwood, I see Bill Pearson back there and he's uh I think done one of the greatest things that um that this community really needs is uh like in that stage rug development. Um I think Mr. Rocket lives in that area and and uh you know that's
028the I think that's the kind of housing we need more of in this community and I really think that as that stage run fills up uh hopefully it fills up with families but I think we know it's going to be a mixture not all families but I think down the road in the future we're going to need even more um for the viability and the sustainability of our school district you know um so I think the big impetus for this is that we know we've got an issue with u with housing for families. I think that decline in enrollment is hitting us a little harder than some other communities where housing is more readily available. Uh I think we we can all attest to that. We've seen it anecdotally. Um, also I know that we've
029experienced situations where uh we've had uh we've offered a contract to a a teacher, a staff member and they interviewed, they're excited about it and then within 24 hours we get a call back, hey, I'm not going to take the job because I got on realtor.com and man, I just I don't think I can make that work. And and you know, you you try and sell it as best you can. Usually by the time you get that phone call, they've made up their mind. Like, I can't afford to live there. Um, and we kind of prep people that, you know, housing's a challenge, but but people do find good places to live. This is a good place. And somebody brought up the question, well, why don't you just tell your teachers when you hire them,
030go live in Spearfish and then drive? It's a short drive. And it's it's beautiful. And u I think we really, you know, if people choose to do that, that's certainly their right. But I think as a school district, we really want to uh try and build an investment in our community uh and have people invested in in our school community to to the extent possible. Um so another question that has come up is uh you know does the school district have the legal authority to do this? Is this even legal uh to do this kind of thing? And number one, yes, the school district has the authority to sell property. And that's been one of the challenges where we've pivoted a little bit on this is initially, if you recall, we talked about doing an
031RFP and trying to get uh developers to kind of bid on it. Maybe not with uh dollars being the highest criteria, but maybe uh meeting the needs of building some family type housing, that kind of thing. uh and have a competitive competitive bid process uh through an RFP. And we kind of found out that that proved to be a little too challenging uh when we look at the bid laws which are are pretty straightforward or the surplus property laws in South Dakota that when the school district surpluses property it has to go to the highest bidder. End of story. And uh so the committee kind of pivoted and looked at uh doing some um uh platting to break it up into into chunks. Uh and with with the idea that maybe at some point portions
032of it could be sold for development purposes, portions of it could be retained by the school district uh potentially for staff housing uh if we would deem that appropriate. and uh and some of it might just never be developed. And so uh there's another law I'd like to point out. Southakota codified law 1324-9 uh specifically states that any school board shall have the power to erect, purchase, lease, rent, sell, equip u among other things, dwellings for teachers homes or other enclosures the board shall deem necessary. So it's it's very clear in state statute and there are other school districts who have done this. Um so so there is legal authority for for the board to do that if the board would so choose. And then another question that comes up is uh what due diligence
033has the district done to explore the feasibility of the project? And and I I think we've heard from a lot of people that it's you know it's not feasible. Um I think I've been told it's going to cost you a million dollars to put sewer to these particular houses on Greer Avenue and uh some things like that. and the district has done, you know, through the committee and through consultation with uh city employees, uh contractors, uh the folks at Terasite who are uh what do you call their business? They're they're kind of >> Terasite design just got purchased by Interstate Engineering in Spiritish. >> Okay. >> I just got that notice on Thursday. So, >> well, there you go. >> We're dealing with both of those. And we yeah we've dealt with interstate and terasite
034and uh but but basically they plan uh and design developments. Uh they've been uh consulting with us on that. Um so we don't you know it's a process and we don't have all of the answers to every question yet because we're still in the process. Um and then so then that leads to the question of what happened to the idea because we've pivoted a little bit and now the focus has been a little more and if you recall as we've talked about this the focus has been a little more on trying to identify kind of lowhanging fruit if you will the the lots that might be suitable to build on sooner than later that wouldn't cost uh as much for infrastructure, roads, sewer, that kind of thing. Uh and a big part of that was
035just looking at like kind of in the heart of that thing um was uh you know the idea was that sewer for instance could gravity feed down and go to a a lift station that's there. Um, and as we inquired about that, like through the city, uh, we found out that lift station is we've been told it's at capacity and that it's, you know, nope, you're not going to add 30 homes to that or 50 homes to that. That's okay. Yeah. Like, we've been told that. And so, you know, that's the thing. We're doing our due diligence with this. you know, we're in a process of and I think it's important and I can certainly respect people have different opinions on this stuff, but I think it would be um I don't think anybody can
036fault us for inquiring about how to utilize a resource that the district owns uh to potentially work towards solving some of the district's problems. And so that's kind of what the process that we are in right now. Um but and that's really what's driving looking at okay the the big development thing bringing uh more homes for families and having that happen. Um you know that doesn't look real feasible in the short term. Uh so we we thought okay what about uh and we've kind of talked from the beginning retaining a certain amount of that property for um some staff housing. Uh so that when you have that situation where you have an employee or a new hireer that is reticent to sign the contract because they don't think they'll, you know, they're scared by the
037housing situation. You'd kind of have that in your back pocket to say, "Well, what if the school district could could rent you a house, a nice house for say a year, two years while you find the home that you want in our school district." Um, and so that that's kind of the the strategy that uh that the committee's been looking at and and been looking at that in a couple of different ways. One way would be uh and just to be clear, we know the school district doesn't have the capacity uh to go put up 10 homes right away and do this. It would be a thing that would happen over time. You know, it's like like maybe one a year or one every other year or and those are decisions that would that would
038be made down the road. that decision hasn't been made yet. But another thing we look at is uh we started to kind of run some numbers and look at the idea of um some of that land up by where the uh Black Hills Energy Yeah. by the water tower where Black Hills Energy substation is going to go. Uh maybe do a little cluster of three, four tiny homes. And we and we are in the process of researching what the what the city allows. We've been told different things. We've been told 500 ft² is the minimum. Uh we've also been told 400 ft² is the minimum. So we we need to kind of pin that down, but guess what? We're not breaking ground and building a house tomorrow. So, you know, we've got time to get
039those answers. Uh but those might be in a little different need as well. So, those are a lot of the things that are kind of being looked at. And I, you know, another um another big question that comes is on the on the big development idea. Well, who would put in that infrastructure? And I I think that we all agree the school doesn't want to become land developers. You know, we're not going to build roads and put in a, you know, put in like all these sewer mains and run all these utilities. That would fall to the developer that purchases that. That would be their responsibility. Another question that came up was um if you know who would take on the responsibility like like would the school district be equipped to maintain a property like
040a rental house or something like that? And I guess to that I would say uh we we've got really a strong maintenance department right now. Uh we maintain $80 million worth of buildings right now. So I think an additional 400 foot house I don't think would be the tipping point to where that would fall apart. But anyway, those those are some of the thing that was kind of a quick and dirty uh update on on progress that's been made so far and questions that we've been asked. And I think that if we look at does the board have copies of this proposed timeline? Okay, I don't know that this got in the board packet. So, I did make some copies. >> Okay. >> You emailed it to I think they had it. >> Yeah, I
041emailed it to you, but I I don't think it got in the board packet. So, if anybody in the out in the crowd would like one >> and they're they're like we'll have to share a little bit, but you want to just see if they want to pass those around, take a look. >> And this is the one where you were talking about this might change obviously. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, this is just putting something on paper uh for the board to look at as far as a a timeline uh to kind of quantify when we might make decisions on this stuff. And um so all of this is subject to uh the board's discussion >> and and we're not approving this tonight. >> That's probably that's the one change I would say like like
042where we say uh Yeah, public information meeting. I think it'd be a good idea to try and schedule that for December so we could have kind of a a dialogue with some of the public at that time. Give people a chance to to ask questions and get answers to the extent we can. Uh and then I think push the approval of this um or the amendment of this or whatever we're going to do with it u out into January. So with that, I would guess I would ask the board to chime in on some things and give some of your opinions or your thoughts or anything like that. I sit on the committee um almost three years of working on that committee. Um we don't take it lightly. There's been a lot of behind the-scenes
043stuff and we're nowhere near actual building a house. So, just so everybody knows that we're not to that point yet. We're not asking for that, but we are to a point that we have to do some platting in order to set it up for whether we're going to sell it or not and try and break it into smaller tracks. So, that and smaller I mean right now it's one big piece. It's about >> 100 acres. That's really hard to we don't want to sell the whole 180. That's never been the intention, but to make it a little more feasible, we're breaking it into about four different tracks. That's what you're going to see coming up. It's like the city of Le meeting. It'll be four tracks. We'll have the phase that we kind of want
044to look at for future development and then the stuff that we're really not going to do anything with right now, but we want to have it into smaller pieces. So, if and when we do decide to sell it, it makes it a little easier and more manageable to sell. So, we're not selling 180 acres. Um, that's kind of what it is. And so, the platting is, I think, the the thing that you're going to see right now. Um, it's not platting it into 52 lots. It's platting it into four tracks. Um, and so you'll have the stuff that's kind of way off the beaten path, which almost touches um Nevada Gulch Road. A little harder to get to, but we're going to break that into one tract. you're going to have the stuff kind of
045in between into one tract and then the stuff that's closest to Greer and then the the phase which is where we're looking at the tiny houses and approximately 5 to seven lots give or take. Um we don't have that plat back which is why the timeline is the way it is. Um the interstate engineering is working on it right now so we don't have that to share. If we had it we would share it with you but we don't have the information yet. Um, so that's kind of where that is. I know that has come up with some of my discussions that I've had with people. Um, we are trying to put very strict covenants together that we want to get recorded against all of the land so that if and when something happens, it
046still meets the school's needs. That's really the two things that we are looking at doing right now. Um, and then from there we would have the public meeting. Um, and then who knows? I mean, I can't say right now that it may not happen, but right now, we do need to get some plats approved. Plats aren't going to hurt anything. People plat property all the time. You can sit on it and have it be track 10 for, you know, I think it's track A through, let me do it, one through four. I think they were going back and forth, A through D or one through four. >> Well, there's track one A and B. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, so ultimately, that's what we're looking at, right? And the platting is just platting. I don't get
047too worried about plats. People plat property all the time. Um, but I know that was a big thing is I think people felt that we were going to like go to the city of Lead with 50 some lots. That's not what's happening right now. So, just so everybody knows that that is not what they're getting presented. Um, but we do have to get to this point. If you remember, we did end up annexing all of that inside the city limits of lead. So, we went through that process for annexation. So all of that property is now inside city limits of lead. Um there is no county property left in that. So that's just kind of a couple things I know I was questioned. I had you know people had asked me about so I wanted
048to make sure that >> another might be of know about the substation. >> Yep. >> You mentioned it but that piece of property will have to be plotted >> to transfer that to Blackfield. >> Yep. And that and this might be a good time to bring that up too that there were some lots you when we first started talking about this there were some lots in the city of Deadwood uh I think it was two lots and they were a total of I don't know eight acres or something like that. Uh and the city wanted that and they and uh they wanted that to be part of of their trail system they're putting in >> system >> and so the city had approached us if we'd be willing to part with that and we agreed
049on a price for uh right at 45,000. I think we ended up netting uh you remember 44. Yeah, 44 uh 442. And um also then so we've had a little bit of expense in doing some of this engineering work, some of this platting that we've kind of committed to. Uh and we're going to have a total of and we also have 50,000 budgeted in the current fiscal year uh to go towards some of that site planning and that kind of thing. And again, that's that's within the um you know that that's within the rights of the school board to to do that. But also along with that with the sale of that land for the substation, we anticipate that that will bring in another chunk of money. I I don't want to use the word
050equivalent, but uh in the ballpark of what that deadwood land brought. So when you look at uh putting that against the total expenditures that were that are going to end up being around 70,000 with that um it's it's going to be you know I don't want to sit here and say well no tax dollars going to be used for this. We've been pretty pretty cautious that in this phase before we really committed to a hard course of action, we really kind of want to protect the tax dollars and and try and utilize uh proceeds from those other sales. So, I do have some copies of this of this spreadsheet that Margie had made. So, you can go ahead and pass those around and and if anybody else wants to see it, have you shared that
051with any of these guys? on Monday. I share with a few of them. >> Okay. So, some of them already have it. >> Oh, does anybody have I mean other board members, do you have any interested? >> This has all been discussed. You guys have been a part of this discussion for almost two years. Um, I don't think we're at a point that we're not asking you to approve anything. It was justformational because, you know, we try to do these every couple months of letting you know where it's at. >> I don't have any major concerns at this point. Um, I have heard from a couple of people with concerns about um, what we're doing. And I mean, I think it's the same thing that you talked about with your summary of it. Um, as
052right now. I think that if if we are going to look at breaking it into these different flats, then um I mean that doesn't mean that we're committing to doing this particular project. Um but it does move us a little bit further in direction um potentially. I do really like the idea of us doing some public meetings. Um and I certainly invite would love to see everyone in this room attend those meetings and more. Um, I can tell you that I mean myself being a younger person living in this community, it is incredibly difficult to find um find housing, especially post 2020s. Um, and I and I live out in this round neighborhood myself and one thing I will say is that we do have quite a few kids and young families in that neighborhood.
053I do um enjoy seeing that um as well and I I would love to see more families in our area. I think the platting where the platting becomes important and I think we we all know kind of too what you know like what the market is doing right now and I think that you know for a large scale development I think for that to really be attractive for a developer we're a ways off from that but I think it kind of gets us prepared that if there's a time when the board says hey we want to jump on that like the leg work is kind of done it's it's ready and and we've kind of answered some of the some of the questions uh that come along with it. >> I will add um should
054have said this a minute ago too. I I used to live in that neighborhood and so I very much see where people are coming from that particularly live in that neighborhood as well. So >> are you talking about edition? Yes. I used to live up on Bur Avenue myself. So I very much understand um you know a lot of the concerns that we're hearing from the people that live back here as well. And we've also heard from a number of people that that think it's a good idea, too. I mean, there's it's not all negative and but but at the end of the day, if it's not what the board deems appropriate, you know, my job is to is to do the homework and kind of package this in a way that uh that it
055kind of makes sense. You know, it's something we can look at. Uh and there's quite a bit of work in there and I haven't done that myself. would have had a committee of nine people from a variety of backgrounds. And so, you know, that's kind of my job is to bring that to the board and then it's going to be your job to decide and it's going to be your job to >> either commit to it or say no, that's not for us. >> So, is there I guess do you have anything else, Tim? Or you I mean, really today it was just to show you this timeline of kind of what the approach was going to be. We would move the public meeting to December instead of January. So, we'll plot that um do
056that a little bit sooner. And then we're still waiting on the plat. We don't we don't have it yet to share with you. We were hoping it would maybe be done, but it it didn't get done yet. So, we don't have that yet. And then we would have it though hopefully by that public meeting. And then that way we would have like an actual packet to be able to share hopefully. >> And I think at that public meeting it would be appropriate to put like some some maps up there. >> Yeah. the covenants like we can we have most of that in draft form. >> It's just not we can't record anything until the plan is dealt with isn't yet. So, >> and some of that some of those documents that have been internal and
057have not been shared publicly. I you know like like I've had people ask for some of those things and it's and and I've not wanted to give it to the public before I give it to the board. And then also just likeformational documents I've put out in the past over this like if you remember there was one that looked like this you know and it was just information on what the plans are going to be or what what's being explored well even a lot of the stuff has changed from that. So, you know, once you put something out there, make it a public document, bring it to a board meeting and and it becomes a public document, then it can get confusing for people that, hey, I thought it was this, now it's this. And
058you know, those people don't maybe come to every meeting and they don't follow the evolution of the process. And so, um, we've really been try trying to be transparent with it, but haven't changed the whole >> um, >> no, but that was we were still looking at the RFP at that time. Yep. >> Which we found we can't do. >> Yeah. >> It would have been easier. But >> this discussion about the land is a long ongoing discussion. >> Um I've been on the board of now for 13 years and we've been talking about it for at least 13 years >> about what to do with the property that we own. How do we get that on the tax roll? How do we, you know, because we are self-funded by tax, property tax, how do
059we get that on the tax role and what do we do with that property? So, this is not a new discussion. It's just that it's never come this far and this much detail in this discussion. So, I think it's good that we have this discussion and we move forward. Some things came up like Black Hills Energy wanted a piece property for a substation which kind of drives a few things. So, I think it's good to have this discussion. I think we really need a discussion. A lot of people probably didn't know we had all this land up there on the hill. >> And honestly, if if we were going to do something with this, I wish it would have happened 15 years ago when when prices were different and uh but I think we can
060see a lot of places where people are building now that 20 years ago you just said, "Oh, nobody will ever." And then now there are houses there. I will say too, I've had conversations with people that um have actually had some pretty innovative ideas for ways that we can improve even our current um you know, housing student needs and I've brought those questions and ideas to board members that have been here longer than I have and I've been you know had those discussions about you know what is the feasibility in doing these things um too. So, and I guess my impression from having those conversations with more senior board members was that, you know, trust me, these are all conversations that we've had in the past and we are trying to work on what's going
061to be the best option um for our families on ground and also for our district and our students. >> Okay. So, um like I said, there's there's nothing that you guys need to approve tonight. If I think what Dr. Dr. Pearson would like is if you guys would look over this projected timeline if you're want to see something changed or you want it to take longer or whatever if you could talk to Dr. Pearson and you know maybe give them your what you don't like about the document for now that would be helpful and then this would get presented again in December. What are we November? whatever we're in November, December. It'll get presented again in December and then we'll decide from there and then hopefully by then we can have the August >> in
062the planning side. >> We're getting to a tricky time of year to schedule things, but I think we're going to start looking at dates and kind of I guess I'm going to start with the board >> and like start putting together dates. Hey, does this work for you? and then to try and get something out there to the public that uh hey here's here's when we want to do this have this discussion. >> Now please tell me if I misheard that, but did I understand that this is going to come in front of board in December, but were you also potentially looking at it going like having a public meeting in December? We're hoping to do the public meeting before >> Yeah. Well, or or >> like flip-flop on that timeline and and actually approve
063this in January. Maybe do the public meeting first >> in December. >> I just really feel like December is such a big deal. That's a public meeting. If you want to come get attendance, >> I think if you do it early December, you'd be okay. But I think if we made Christmas cookies, >> Christmas cookies, >> I think it would really break. >> I think early December, get through Thanksgiving and then have it. You'd have to have it like that first to have December to make it work. >> Well, we'll look at the dates. We'll send them to you. And if and if December isn't going to work, then more public meetings the further we got into this project. So, I mean, obviously have the public meeting in say December to go over this particular
064piece of it, but if we were to if we were to proceed further with this, do another public meeting in or something like that, too. >> Well, and it's hard to say depending on what the plan is. I mean, if you have a public meeting and then you decide to do nothing, there's not a need for public meeting. >> Do another one. Exactly. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, so that was all there was for presentation wise tonight. And then, um, the next item is correspondence from the Lee De Middle School staff. >> Then we have um two administrator reports now because Zach's not here. facility superintendence report. >> Oh, I'm sure people are tired of hearing me talk, but it hasn't cleared the room yet, so uh yeah, I've got a few things. So, we got
065a bit of good news. Uh RNG mentioned to me yesterday and it just kind of timing was just right. said, "Hey, we got this guy that offered to uh write a check to pay the delinquent launch bills in the elementary." So, they're not going to be sent to collections or board, but uh and and would bring them current up to, you know, as of Monday. And she said, "Hey, do you want to come downstairs and meet him? He's driving up right now." Like, you know, that'd be great. So, um, yeah, it was over $9,000. And, uh, really kind of a a generous thing. And one thing he did, and Margie got a thing she's going to read, the one comment he made that was kind of he talked about like, uh, like Jennifer Garner, like
066the actress, we all know who that is, that she did a a project where she would uh go and give stuff to homeless people and drive around and do that. and and she kind of took a lot of criticism because she was public about it like hey I'm doing this and she took a lot of heat that like oh you're just doing that for attention and this what this guy said was well her response was I'm I'm reason I'm making it public is that maybe that will spur other people to be generous as well and and so he's like that's kind of like I'm trying to get the Jennifer Garner effect here that maybe somebody else will donate to bring those lunch balances down or whatever and so I'm sure that like like starting now
067yesterday and today they're starting to build back up. But that was really great, aren't you? >> Yeah. He as yesterday, excuse me, read this letter and it says Tulle Elementary School from Deborah K. McCoy. She's from Lennox. It says, "Attention, please accept this donation of $9,58 for the express purpose of paying off all student lunch current all student lunches currently in Arars. Please acknowledge that this payment has been made and confirm in writing to Deborah at the above address. God bless this school and all who walks in its halls. Sincerely and merry Christmas, Deborah K. McCoy." Very nice. So that's good. We'll start my report with a little bit of good news. And so um and and thank you for the work you're doing on that as well. So uh real quickly on on our
068school safety plan, uh I'm kind of excited to report that the superintendent, principles, transportation director, I think you got an invite to that meeting, Bill, right? >> Yeah, I seen this afternoon. >> Okay. on Friday and the SRO's we're going to meet and we're going to talk about uh doing like an evacuation drill um whether that is you know probably with all staff talk about whether we think it's appropriate to do students in there that kind of thing kind of going over the and it's you know that school safety plan and that crisis plan is so important and it's just something that uh it's so hard to find time to get all the key players together. Uh so that that's good that we're getting that put together here for Friday. Um I shared with the
069board a little bit uh that we are in the midst of beginning an alternative school study. Uh the admin team is working on uh basically a study that uh um comes directly from the strategic plan that the board approved in October. And you know some of the things have already happened with that. And basically we were looking at, you know, not all students are successful in a traditional school setting. Uh schools everywhere and especially in South Dakota are being hit hard with uh um you know uh kids transitioning to homeschool. And I think in South Dakota, this is an oversimplification. I get it. But like in South Dakota, I kind of put the homeschoolers in two buckets. You have the what what are the traditional homeschoolers and then you have the no schoolers. basically legalized
070dropouts. Uh, and since the legislature took away any accountability for homeschooling, and I understand the the reason for that. Um, but since that happened, since the laws changed a few years ago, we've just there's just been a flood of families that uh they're up against the truency policy. They're being reported for truency and then they come in with the homeschool thing. we're homeschooling or um you know student isn't doing well. Variety of reasons they decide to drop out that way. And then also the other homeschool students who uh want something the school district can't offer. You know, there's like like whether it be a faith-based education or um some other things that uh we're trying to look for. Are there ways that we can re-engage with either of those groups? Uh is there something we
071can offer? where we can like reestablish a relationship. Uh and then also um uh we've got kids within our walls that maybe aren't looking for a total alternative program uh but need some credit recovery options. So it's kind of a two-prong deal and uh Mr. Embro has already begun working on how we can better utilize our current credit recovery options as well as identifying whether we need to make some policy tweaks or uh so he's kind of working on that and trying to get a better path for credit recovery. Uh the admin team is kind of identifying some of the differences between the need for credit recovery and opportunities uh for high school students and alternative program. Uh then we've already we've set some goals on that and those goals are to uh graduate more
072students. I forgot my glasses. To graduate more students from Lead Deadwood, especially those not traditionally successful uh to re-engage with homeschool students and to attract and enroll more students from outside the district. It's just um so part of big part of this study is we're going to be reviewing uh policies uh in successful alternative programs. We're going to do some visits to alternative school programs and see if that is maybe a step we want to move towards or see if that is feasible for us. Uh, and you know, something I keep saying, our the the uh decline in enrollment hits us a little bit differently than it does some of our neighboring school districts, the state aid schools, uh, every kid that drops out or leaves the school is $7,000. you know, you hate to
073equate kids to money, but uh with us being outside the state aid formula, you know, if if a kid walks out the door, it doesn't impact us immediate financial impact. Uh but it it impacts our capacity for serving the students we have. You know, like if we have a bigger core group, we have greater capacity. We can just find more staff. We can offer more to kids. uh and it's just a more robust sustainable school program. Um so so our impetus for trying to get kids in our walls is maybe a little different from some other schools. Uh tomorrow I'll be going before the school finance accountability board um and have to justify uh why we have a 30.54% fund balance in the general fund. uh by state law we're limited to a 30% fund
074balance. So we're half a percent over in our fund balance. And basically what that boils down to there are a number of reasons for that. Um and one of them is and this was for last year for FY25. So the accountability comes a year later. This is the first time that a non-state aid school has had to comply with this that they just changed the law there. Uh now they can't withhold funding from us because they don't give us any. Um but one of the reasons for this is you know we're making adjustments on that fund balance with with a long-term strategy in mind. Uh we're not just going to irres irresponsibly spend down a fund balance spend money to spend it. But but over time, you know, you lower levies. You levy less than
075the max uh and you you be good stewards of of the resources and you spend the money appropriately and over time you bring that fund balance into line. One thing that happened was we had budgeted for uh a middle school CTE teacher last year. And if you all recall, like I was teaching middle school wood shop last year uh because we we we had somebody signed a contract. He backed out of the contract. We weren't able to fill that. So that was about $80,000. Uh and no, we don't pay a teacher 80. We don't. His salary wasn't 80,000, but that includes salary, benefits, taxes, the whole package, whole cost. Anyway, well, that was $80,000 um that we didn't spend that was in our budget. Uh and then also we had $150,000 transfer to food service.
076And you know, we've got a business manager that I'm not saying it just because her husband is in the audience, but we got a business manager that is really on top of things. and uh you know she doesn't make accounting errors. But you know had she transferred that money or done a a loan between funds early in the year that would have solved the problem. But that just wasn't even on our radar. Like we've been good stewards of this money. So that $150,000 transfer that happened in June, had it happened in October, no problem. had we hired the CTE teacher and been successful there. Uh which we did actually have that was another example. We had a guy that we offer a position to and he called us back and said, "Nah, I I can't
077I can't find a place to live." But anyway, uh so there like a number of reasons why that why that fund balance was half a over. Uh, and so I need to go present that case to the school finance accountability board and tell them what our corrective actions are going to be. And those include lowering levies for FY27. Uh, the FY26 levies are already set. So, we can't do anything about the current year. Um, making that food service transfer in October. Margie took care of that. >> They did. We did a loan that you you can see on the financial statement there's a loan out of general fund to the food service for 237,000. So for about 27% October >> and and Margie and I both think this is silly, right? I mean it is
078it's kind of a a silly little rule. >> It's just that because we try really hard to keep stuff in there going because of the time of the year that it was. So she sighed and I cussed about it. >> You did so well >> and and we fixed it. So >> yeah, and and we're trying to and we're going to budget for uh a little bit of a little bit of a fund balance, you know, to dip into that fund balance a little more the following year. So we're taking steps to bring it down, but also we need to be responsible. So um Mr. Mr. Embro and I and Zach had a quick little meeting with uh Amy Todd uh kind of bringing Mr. Emrock up to speed on the vision for the Digger
079Depot and kind of realigning some things that that we'd like to see in a really productive meeting. And one of the things I think that you're going to see coming out of that in the coming months is um more availability of gold digger gear and apparel. Uh, and we're kind of looking at at ways that we can have that more readily available for the public. So, that that's a good thing. Uh, and then last thing, I'm trying not to be long-winded here, but we've got the comprehensive property tax task force and they've got a whole list of uh recommendations that they're going to bring to the legislature. these things, you know, like some of them will be very impactful to schools, some of them will be, you know, not as impactful. Uh, and some of
080the things that they they're proposing just aren't really going to be feasible. There are also some things in there that we've got to be careful and we've got to engage with our legislators and we've got an opportunity next Monday, a couple of us are going to meet with some of our area legislators. Um, we I think we've really got to try and protect local control and not have the state overreaching and and setting even more rules on how we manage things. But we can all everybody I think everybody in this room, maybe not the high school students, but I think everybody else in this room can really relate to a need for our property taxes to to go down. I think that's we can all relate to that. I think even the high school that
081>> they pay property tax. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm not going to read all of these, but I'm going to read a couple that were uh brought forth by our by our representatives. So, Representative Odinbach is making a recommendation uh to create a a new fund dedicated to state aid to education for school districts, general fund and special education fund and deposits into the state aid to education fund. All state lottery revenues that are currently distributed to the state general fund. And those of you who are paying attention, 30 years ago, that was supposed to be where video lottery was supposed to go. Um, but also again, keep in mind those things are centered around state aid and it kind of leaves us out in the cold. If we have a a big property tax cut,
082I think we're in favor of that as property owners, but we've got to have some way to backfill that, not in the state aid formula because that leaves us out in the cold. Uh, also rep from representative Odenbach, uh, repeal the authorization for a school district to transfer monies from its capital outlay fund to its general fund. I think again that's a local control issue. uh and limit annual increases in school districts capital property taxes to the lesser of 3% or inflation removing additional increases allowed from annexation development of property reclassification of property termination of tax increment financing district and the application of the discretionary form. Okay. And then Senator Dybert, I know this stuff is riveting, but anyway, uh create a dedicated fund in the state treasury to replace the property tax portion of
083local effort for school district general funds and special education funds. Um, so I think this this might like I'd like to ask him more questions about this because he's he's talking about local efforts and so that >> will he >> as far as I know >> any sources of revenue the committee chooses to put toward reducing the general fund and special education levies can be directed into this fund for that purpose. Then also, Senator Dyberg create a local effort replacement fund in the state treasury used to replace a a proportion of lo school district's local effort from property taxes. And then on July 1, 2027, when the sunset date is reached for the sales and use tax rate reduction deposited in the local effort replacement fund, the additional revenue raised by the.3% increase from the
084current tax rate of 4.2%. Something I would like to see, and I don't know how practical this would be, I would like to maybe see a local effort sales tax that could offset property taxes. Now, if you think about that, I think in like lead and deadwood, um, and perhaps especially if you did a seasonal sales tax, that could be earmarked for the school district. And then we would offset or reduce property taxes the following year by by that amount. I think that could be a big boon for our property owners because who pays the majority of our sales taxes in leaders. Yeah. So that's that's a thought I have but nobody asks me or listens to me. So okay that's my report. Do you want to share that report? >> Yes. >> Um so
085nothing else? >> Nope. That's that's it. Well, then it looks like we have some stuff from Bill. >> Yep. This is pretty short. So, um we had a new door installed down in the elementary building um on second floor going by out playing by the elevator. Um and then the last month the the last few blocks were set for the parking lot of the middle school um high school. Uh that commercial oven that we got has been hooked up. So, that's ready to go. uh construction update. The sheetrock is almost done over there. They're going to start uh mudding and taping probably next week and then uh they're going to be pouring some cement for the stoop so in the next day or two. So >> That's it. All right. So we are now to
086the public forum. Did we have any additional um forms public? Thank you. >> Do you have a timer or you want me to do? >> So, um the process of the public forum is I will just call your name because we have them already listed. So, I'll just call it and then that gives you your opportunity to speak if you want to. We usually limit it to two um minutes per person and then we can extend them if need be. Um the board president can extend the time. The time is for a public to discuss or express concerns to the board of education on policy and communities affecting the lead school district and its function. Um action will not be taken during the item. The board can choose to ask questions or not, but they
087don't have to. It's just a time for us to listen to what your concerns are. Um and then that's really kind of the process. We ask that you be respectful of anybody in the room. Um you cannot mention teachers names, kids' names, that kind of thing. I will cut you off if that happens. So, we try to kind of keep that where you're not mentioning Susan's names and things like that. So, we are going to start and Mr. Klein, you're up first if you would like to pass. >> Um, to me, the core mission of people sitting up here is education, taking care of our kids. And I I guess I'm a little taken back that all of a sudden we're going to get into the land development business. And I just uh it bothers
088me. I first off, you know, I wish we would have done something 15 years ago. I own a couple chunks of ground and people through the years have asked me to sell it to them and you know I held off and now 20 years later I'm looking at it and the value has gone way higher and so I I keep getting this sense of urgency that we got to get something done right away. And I if you if you haven't driven up Greer Avenue, you ought to drive up there and see all the activity that's going on. It looks I it looks like a kaleidoscope up there. There's flags everywhere. There's paint all up and down the street. And you know, I guess I get the idea that not much is going on, but when
089you drive up there and see what's going on, there's a lot going on. And I I'm concerned that there won't be sufficient public um uh exposure to to all this before decisions actually get made. and the taxpayers are what we're talking about is the money that uh the taxpayers are putting forth uh because that's where the school gets their money is from us. And so I'm very concerned about, you know, and I live up on Greer Avenue. I'm one of those guys and uh the taxes aren't cheap. And I'm just I'm concerned that everything that we're talking about doing here is going to end up raising the taxes even more. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Um so the next I our next person is Keith. >> I live right
090next door to Greg uh 36 Avenue. I bought my house 13 years ago because it had a beautiful view and I probably paid an extra50 to $70,000 for that view and uh so I'm not really, you know, interested in having a tiny house, a couple bunch of those in front of us, but there's other things uh I mean that we've uh talked about. Uh maybe there's a of other things that you guys can look at uh to help group uh students in uh and I see a lot of a lot of lot of school almost every school is paying uh back student loans for students. I don't know if there's any of that going on here or not, but that's the biggest thing. I got friends that are teachers. I got friends that are are
091in North Dakota that are uh one of the uh on teacher and uh I'm I'm here to stay. I'm on the board of directors for the Chamber of Commerce and uh I just like uh and I'm a little disappointed in what we've learned so far. We got should have got a little bit better uh um intel on what the plans were and stuff like that. But just I just want to focus on Thank you, Mr. Pearson. >> I'm not going to stand up. My legs kind of hurt me. But uh uh I'm a developer and I'm just concerned that you guys know the true costs of doing this. I mean, I understand the infrastructure costs and then you also have the housing cost. So, I mean, I'm just most of my questions I had for
092tonight were answered and I'm looking forward to the public forum, but I just want to caution you on what the costs are going to be in this endeavor. And I guess I'll echo what Greg said about it's taxpayers dollars we're talking about here. And I know it's capital outlay that you're looking at right now, but that's still comes from taxpayer dollars. So that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um Louie, >> um I think I still think, you know, there's a lot of information that we haven't heard out here, but it seems to me that um they're trying to rush it through. You know, we have to have this meeting and then maybe have a vote. I guess I'm not really understanding if they were just trying to vote on
093their boss or the whole process. But I I think that we need to pump the brakes a little bit too and if it's, you know, I don't know why we have to have it in December, you know, maybe we can have it pushed off a little bit further and and have have people involved in it a little bit more. >> Thank you, Lori. Yeah, I guess a lot of questions were answered for me also. I'm glad to hear you can have another meeting. Uh, and my concern, I'm echoing what Bill says too, is the cost. I work sanitary district and infrastructure and I mean it it runs in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and it just it doesn't look like it's something that school should be dealing with. You know, schools should
094not be in the business of housing and little whether it's little houses, uh, whatever. If you can't get teachers, you need to raise the pay. That's my opinion. If they're not making enough money to live, you got to give them a raise. And if that land was there for a rainy day, if the rainy day has come, then sell it. But sell it and do not put our money into it. Make money, you know, don't spend it. >> What's that? >> One minute. >> Yep. Anything else? >> Yeah. You know, and I do think whatever you come up with, there needs to be a vote of the people because there's a lot of people in town that voice their opinion and are against it, but they won't come here and do it because they have
095family members that work here. Uh they do work for the school a number of reasons. You know, it's a small community. it's, you know, it's the largest employer and nobody wants to be that guy. But if they can vote anonymously, then you'll get a true reading of what you have. So anyway, thanks for your time. >> Thank you guys. >> And then is that Mike? Is that right? Okay, Mike. I had a guy coach me tonight just before the meeting that one is looking for buying a house up there. and he said, "As long as those houses are going up from um from Mountain View all the way up in front of Greg's house," he said, "I'm not going to buy." And so I think the view is important. I think you're going to run
096into so much expense using that land. You know, I'd really like to know where that lot uh Okay, there's that empty lot right there in the corner of Gear and Mountain View. But where does your guys property start when you go on Ger Street? >> It's right around the corner. >> Right where is it marked or anything? >> There is a mark. I believe the corners >> there's a plat there's a plat too. It's a it's a platted lot. the whole thing. Yeah. So, >> but if you're going to put you're going to put a bunch of landing houses along Bur Street up there, it's going to devalue the houses that are up there. >> I mean, you're okay. So then if you're going to go ahead and do that as far as valuations are
097done and we're not going to have to pay that stack on our houses because you're going to start to evaluate if you're going to be putting 400, you know, 500 square foot houses up there. I mean, I bought a lot right behind me simply because I didn't want somebody to dig that hole. And so now, I mean, I'm paying three times as much on taxes than what I paid for a few years ago because you started digging some of that stuff out, you're going to have nothing but problems. And I don't think you guys realize how strong the developer and spearfish and to just go ahead and put infrastructure, sidewalks, stuff like that in it's going to run $200,000 a lot. That's a flat ground. Okay. All right. Well, thank everybody for your comments. Um,
098you know, if and when the date that we decide to hold another public meeting, it'll be out there. Um, we'll put it on just like normal, you can look at the agendas every single time, it'll be on there. And I'm sure for something like this, like so everybody knows when it'll be. Um, we don't have a timeline yet. So, I can't even share you a specific date because we don't know yet. So, but we appreciate the comments and that's kind of why we're holding them this way so we can collect the comments and and have them. So, we appreciate that. Um, so I think that's it for audiencewise. We are going to go into executive session for the superintendent's evaluation. You guys want to hang out? We can, but you don't have to. Take your