001Good afternoon everyone. The time is 5:08 5:08, sorry. Uh This is a special called meeting of the uh of the board of trustees for United Independent School District. Uh will the trustees uh present, please announce your name for the record. >> Gilbert Aguilar, present. >> Present. >> Michelle Ballina, present. >> Marisa Leal Vasquez, present. >> Javier Montemayor, present. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present and this meeting has been posted in accordance with Texas Texas Education Code 551. I'm sorry, Texas Government Code 551. Uh will everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance >> 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. Honor the Texas flag, I pledge
002allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you. Any public comments? >> Uh yes, Mr. President, we do have one public comment. It is by uh Letty Juarez regarding financial advisor versus efficiency audit. And uh just a reminder, she'll have 3 minutes and I'll go ahead and keep time. >> Thank you. Tonight's agenda is for agenda item is for the a financial advisor. You can certainly vote to hire a financial advisor even though the district has limited funds. A financial advisor will tell you what you already know, declining enrollment, revenue pressures, and expenditures out out pacing revenues. They typically will focus on cash flow planning, fund balance forecasting, enrollment trends, and finance and financing strategies. What they do not generally do is conduct a comprehensive investigation into the root causes
003of internal spending problems. They do not automatically go looking for administrative excess, central office inefficiencies, unnecessary contracts, or operational operational inefficiencies throughout the organization. What this community has repeatedly said is that before continuing to reduce employee compensation, cut student services, or close schools, they want a truly independent examination of where operational waste may exist within the district. At the last board meeting, I reminded you that last November you had approved the 2025-2026 district strategic plan, which recommended an efficiency audit. UISD paid approximately around 40 million 40 million 40,000 to Mo Casey for this strategic plan. When the board approves an agenda item, which you all did, it creates an expectation that the approved actual action will actually be implemented. Uh Ms. Molina, I'm a little bit perplexed. A couple of meetings ago, you questioned whether
004the district had fully scrubbed the budget to identify all to identify all possible cost savings. Yet, I am not seeing you advocate for the very tool designed to answer that question, an efficiency audit. The district often justifies hiring outside consultants based on the specialist on the specialized expertise that they provide that the district may not possess internally. So, let me remind you again, those experts, Mo Casey, which you paid 40,000, recommended an efficiency audit, not a financial advisor. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And if there are no further public comments, sir. >> Thank you. For the record, it's apples and oranges of what we're doing here today or what we're looking at today. >> And for the record, I have advocated every meeting that I've attended. Um we should turn in. >> Okay, so
005discussion possible action to retain a financial advisor and to enter a contract for financial advisory services and matters incident thereto. Uh Dr. Cruz, we currently have uh we currently have Robert De Heredia as our financial advisor who gives us advice on our bond ratings uh and he's been on as our financial advisor since 2019. Uh Ms. Benavides, you want to elaborate on what on the services that that Robert >> cuz Dr. Cruz was not here. Thank you for the opportunity. Lyda Benavides, CFO for UISD. Mr. De Heredia's firm uh has been our uh financial advisor firm since uh since 2019. Uh we renewed the contract with them. That it was a five five-year term. Then we renewed it again in '24 for another 5 years. There is a 30-day clause, you know, like any other
006uh service that we may have, you know, contacting the other party 30 days, we no longer need your services, that type of uh terminology's in the contract. Uh the transactions that that the uh De Heredia firm helped us with uh the last bond issue uh that we had that was for uh over 400 million, he helped sell the last tranche of the series at seven you know, it was about 75 million. And then uh when uh the pandemic hit, uh interest rates plunged. So, they gave us a lot of refunding opportunities. We refunded over a over 232 million dollars of our existing bonds at that point. We really brought um our debt uh interest payments down. So, uh I don't know if you remember the the interest rates at that time when when the pandemic
007was going on, uh very very low interest rates. And then they helped us with about four maintenance tax note uh series, and that was the uh transactions that the firm helped us with. >> Just for clarification, they don't get paid unless there is a transaction. >> Then there's a transaction, yes. >> There there is no transactions, they're not on a monthly retainer, they're not on any any type of uh >> No, only if we're going to do like a refunding of our existing debt, and they're always bringing us opportunities to see if there's any uh type of opportunity to refund our existing debt. >> So, the way I understood this is that we did not have a contract anymore with the D'Hedina Services uh Robert D'Hedina, and that's why I wanted to bring the discussion
008back up so we could start going out for request for qualifications. I think it's important that we continue to have this financial advisor on board. They're not Moak & Casey, they're not performing the duties of a legislative audit. >> Right. >> Uh they're not doing any of that stuff. This is a financial advisor that has been I think before D'Hedina was Noe Mendoza, uh and he'd been he'd been advising the district even before I got on the school board. >> Yes. Yes, just some research on our previous uh the previous firm, they helped us all the way back to around 2003. So, we had had the Estrada firm uh before the D'Hedina firm took over in 2019. But there is an existing contract right now. >> Yeah. >> And I understood that we didn't have
009one, that it was basically already terminated, and that it was on a month-to-month basis. >> Expired. >> Yeah. >> No, uh we did some research and I know there's so many things that happened, but uh it did get renewed in 2024 for 5 years. >> So, for confirmation, we're currently in contract with Mr. Robert D. Henning. >> Yes. Yeah. >> And so, I have a question. And uh why is there no presentation or cuz I know I had to ask, right? But you all said there was no presentation like for us to go over as to the purpose of this agenda item. >> There's no presentation because when we asked for it, we understood there was no contract. So, my motion was going to be to go out for request for qualifications and have each
010firm submit uh their qualifications to the board or to to to superintendent's office who we could they could be forwarded to the board. And then the board will have access to those to those uh resumes or if whatever their qualifications would be and then the board can decide from there what to do. That's why there's no presentation. >> Well, so then since we already have a financial advisor, right? We already have one in contract, then we don't really have to go out for a bid from what I'm understanding, >> the board's option. >> So, yeah. So, it's a professional services contract. >> Right. It is. >> And the professional services contract as they work uh can be terminated and by the board with a 30-day notice. And we have various various uh professional services contracts
011like your delinquent tax collection, we've got legal services, we've got uh financial advisors and and I'm sure there's quite a few others. >> Yes, sir. >> But at this point, because we have a contract, then we really cannot act on this on this >> On this item, I mean, you you legally could, but uh if you wanted to go out for RFQs, I would not I would not suggest that it is enveloped under this language uh because you could technically uh hire, you know, additional legal counsel, additional professional services in any of those areas you mentioned because none of us have like an exclusivity on services, but if if the desire would be to go out for RFQs, under this language as it stands right now, I I wouldn't vote >> Well, I I will
012tell you that I am concerned because the bond rating has has gone our bond rating has gone down as well. And I think just like any all the other contracts that we've asked this administration to look into and you know cut or renew or or you know, modify whatever we need to do to to bring savings. I think you know, this is probably one of the contracts that I personally think that we should look into it. And at some point I would like to go out for RFQs. And so, you know, I you know, I don't think it's you know, matter I think it's a matter incident there, too, that we at least take a look. You know, we don't have to terminate right now. You can continue to work with with Robert D. Hinojosa
013but and I think it would behoove the district not to not to look at other opportunities as well. >> I agree, but I want to say for the record that we're not the only district whose rating has gone down. It's circumstantial. I don't think it speaks to the work of the current financial advisor that we have. I think it speaks greatly to the environment that all school districts are in right now. >> I agree. >> Yeah, I agree. >> I'm going out for an RFQ would take if we post say this weekend would take 10 days after that, then the evaluation process. So, preliminary timeline would take us probably into late June um early July. >> And so, it's just because just so I can get the record straight just on my end. Um it's
014just is it because like you're not satisfied with the current financial advisory or >> No, again, this item was put on because we were under the understanding that we the contract had expired. >> Okay. >> So, this is to start up that conversation. Where are we at? What do we need to do? What's coming up? It to naturally have that conversation in the public, so >> So, let's just say if we were to decide, right, to go for a bid, right? Would there be any penalty to taxpayers for terminating the contract or is it just you have to give the 30-day notice? Is that >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> So, administration could go out, for example, for RFQs on its own prerogative, even though there is a current contract in place because there is
015no termination penalty. >> And so, and so, we're also looking at all contracts. This isn't the only contract that we're We're looking at all service contracts. >> no exclusivity. Like, we could have 10. >> You could go out for RFQs. >> And you don't pay unless the transaction's done. So, >> There's a refund or there is a set >> Right. >> But I would like input from from administration. Are you unsatisfied with the current financial advisor? >> Well, right now, again, because of our situation, we're very careful. Uh we're trying to handle all our uh purchases within our budget, right? I think the last time we did sell uh maintenance tax notes was last summer. And so, we're really holding the line on doing any financial transactions. That's not to say that we may need
016to in the near future, but as far as what we're seeing right now, we're trying to hold the line in having to even use this kind of service for right now cuz you're right, uh Mr. Montemayor, we only use their service when we're going to do some type of uh borrowing, right? So, uh we're trying to be real careful, but so, you always do want to have somebody on hand that can be on the lookout for refunding opportunities. Uh and just to tell you all, we haven't brought it, but we did get an email, I think it was early last week about a refunding opportunity. So, it would be It would be advisable to, okay, do we Do we have somebody on hand to help us with a refunding opportunity or the board is interested,
017we could go out for an RFCQ like Dr. Cruz said. It just gets us beyond the regular board meeting date to take any action. But we could we could have purchasing advertise and then we could accept bids or qualifications and then come to the board with our recommendation. >> But the Hinojosa already in contract for that, right? >> Right now there are current financial >> financial advisor to do that. >> And apologies for the you know, the misunderstanding, you know, cuz we did bring it in 2024. And it was a 5-year contract, but it has that 30-day out clause. So. >> So regardless Hinojosa assuming you know, the board wanted to go a different direction at some point. Hinojosa has the the refunding opportunity for the next 30 days. If something were to be done
018today it's 30 days. So >> Yeah. We need the opportunity to look at that refunding opportunity because I mean if if interest rates fall a little bit more, maybe we could save a little bit more on our interest payments, but we need the the opportunity to review what is being offered. >> Yeah, and considering the situation, I think it's only fair that we review all options. Who can give us a better return on that refund? >> Well, that would be the >> the financial >> But but whenever that comes up, you can also go for RFQ to see who's going to give you the best. I mean, at the end of the day that's what we want to do. We we need to review all the contracts. We need to see what's the better financial
019opportunity for us moving forward at least for this year next year to see what we need to do because those maintenance tax notes are not going to go anywhere. I mean, the reality is that we're still borrowing. We still need to keep up our campuses, our facilities and everything. So I don't want to be reactive. We should be proactive in this and I think this is the approach we're taking for that. >> And I think it's a good idea to have more than one. You can have >> I was I was going to ask for the record, we can have more than one contract contract service here. Yeah, we can still hire somebody else. >> Correct. Yeah, we can work through that. Because you can only have that person. But to have many opens the
020door, you know, and with competition comes great prices. >> Yeah. We can we can get uh we can get uh what do you call it? So, um the process uh we'll get with the attorneys. Okay, you know, when we have we have this opportunity, you know, how do we use these FAs? So, we can do that. >> I guess we can move the table. I'll move the table with the second. >> Second. >> And uh any discussion? >> I just have one comment. I know I was online uh while Ms. Hardesty was doing her public comment, but I guess that they were the the way the item reads, it was misconstrued, right? To we needing a financial advisor to look into our finances, right? Into our situation, right? And I guess it was interpreted as
021we need an efficiency report, right? From what I understand. >> I think she's >> She she's I think she misunderstood the item. >> And and just to clarify, the efficiency audits are usually done when a district is interested in pursuing a voter uh a voter-approved tax rate election. That's when the the government or the state actually requires you to get the efficiency audit. Um but that's where that term came, the efficiency audit, in relation to uh districts having wanting to go out for a voter-approved tax rate election. >> I can see I can see her comments now. >> So, I didn't understand her comments at all. >> I guess to avoid that happening like again, um could we whenever we have this, can we have some sort of like backup information or presentation because again
022like we have we need to inform our public about exactly what we're talking about. I think that if we would have had a presentation available, that comment would have been completely different. Like I think the wording of the purpose >> I had no idea. >> Yes, so I mean I asked today and and I was honestly really disappointed to know that there was no presentation. Like you have your school campus administrators, your teachers, like they have to provide information, right? Like to their staff and to their students. So I mean we need to have that. Like that should be a standard for us to have. It shouldn't just be all talk, which I know you're giving us factual information, but again you know, we have to hold ourselves accountable and if we want to make
023sure that the message is being sent out clear, then we need to make sure that we have some sort of information so we can study it as well and know what we're coming into rather than just not knowing, right? Like what was going to be discussed. I definitely think we need to do better on that. >> So all right, so you're you're going to go up There's a motion in the second to table uh with the understanding you go up for some request for clarifications and we'll bring it back uh future or a later date uh >> Yeah. >> Late June or early July. >> All right. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, sir. >> Agenda item number five, closed session. Board will adjourn to closed session. Oh, all those in favor signify by saying
024I. I'm the >> I. That uh previous uh item passes. Uh closed session, uh the board will adjourn to closed session pursuant to uh the following sections 551.071, 074, 082, and 0821. Uh we will return no vote no no uh vote will be taken in closed session. All right, back on the record. Okay, the board has deliberated uh the level three grievance appeal of Ingrid Barroso. Is there a motion at this time? >> Um do you want to go ahead and read what you need to read? >> Uh yeah, I think the recommendation would be to um affirm the level two decision in its entirety and to deny all requested relief at level three. >> Is there That's That's the recommendation. Is there a motion? Is there a motion in the second? >> Second. >>
025All right. I'll make the motion seconded by Miss uh Molina. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. >> Aye. Motion carries. This hearing is now concluded. The time is 6:43. For the record, Miss Martinez had to depart early. >> Step out.