001for uh getting on this meeting uh Louisa would you do the roll call please sure Al present Michelle present I he Terry present uh Dr Cronin okay Lauren here I'm here glattus here Kate here Monita here Rich here and Julie okay here she here I'm here okay superintendent would you like to uh go over this uh Moi memorandum of understanding before we get into the action item yes absolutely first I just want to say I want to say thank you again to everybody for taking time out of their busy day we'll try to make this as quick as possible um we got a a call from the city that um they had a little bit of additional arpa money uh that they were trying to kind of redistribute and they thought it would be we
002would obviously benefit by that um we talked about the uses and so um we are obviously going to have a lot of expenses as we open up the academy we have some money set aside but there are a lot of unexpected expenses such as filling up the media center with thousands of books and um you know equipment that we're going to need that's not covered by the the FF package and so um we don't need to be as super granular with which books we buying or which microscopes we're choosing at this very moment but that this gives us um some time to spend it but the the intended use is to support the instructional supplies and equipment needed to support the opening of a new academy uh and the shift so it's sort of a
003generic cover at the moment and then um as we go to us this we'll get more granular and certainly report out on on how that's spent um we're getting a lot of these typ of um right now December 31st is a huge trigger date for the end of arpa money so um the state I just have two two small requests in the last couple of weeks uh for small amounts that came through the egrant system for us to apply for hurry up and apply you've got two minutes to apply the deadline is tomorrow you has to be encumbered by the 31st so we're starting to see a few of these come in um but this is a a very nice chunk of change we're very appreciative of the city uh that they thought of us
004and um we will happily accept this money if the board chooses to do so any questions before we uh move into the discussion yes Teresa um the other people receiving arpa funds are they subject to the same reporting that we are yeah so the arpa funds are you know they have a a few more strings attached to them then other other things so there's you know there are very strict guidelines on what you can spend on the bidding process and the procurement process is a little tighter uh needs to be you know scrutinized you have to get reimbursed so you have to put money out and then get reimbursed um so you know this is uh we're kind of familiar with this with these protocols so it's all it's all good on our end we
005just um we'll work with the city for that to you know to access these funds once it's approved I hear someone talking in the background okay I'm sorry I'm sorry to cut you off to Res that's fine I was I was finished um I just uh okay never mind uh thank you thank you okay I just have one question is it only money is the money only for the Career Academy no you can use it for the Career Academy no so we had to designate how would we use the money to make sure that it's a qualified expense under the arper rules and so um you know like I said given the fact that we're going to be you know needing every penny to open up that that Academy we thought for sure this could
006be help us with that effort so um that's it's you know there's there's still a lot of unknowns you know once you open up a new building there's a lot of things that come to light that you know were not included um and and we will need more instructional supplies over there you know especially with the startup so uh the money will be for instructional supplies for our kids regardless it'll just help on on the academy side but it benefits it benefits the school district as a whole uh we have Wanita and Dam Michelle why she's muted I don't know we can always go back okay um Michelle for just to get an idea if it's 200,000 towards these expenses what is the overall budget currently on the job on the project itself allocated for
007such funds is this a drop in the bucket is this like this 200,000 represent in the overall you know budget regarding you know this kind of allocation for resources yeah so we'll definitely you know there are all kinds of things that we'll have to purchase and that we plan on purchasing and some of that money we did set aside if you remember but we couldn't spend it because we didn't open up we didn't open up when we were supposed to um so we do have some of that in the reserve but we need um you know there are certain things Michelle that U so like if you have class sets in in the classrooms and uh bookcases of libraries and and reference material in classrooms um the the kids that are still students that are
008still at Danbury High School will need to access that so we won't lift that and bring that over to the to the Danbury West Campus we'll need to have more you know another set there same thing with uh things that aren't necessarily covered in the RF in the um FFN package which is the uh the equipment package so some things get covered some things don't and so so it's $200,000 um you know is it's usually a drop in the bucket for such a for 1400 students to outfit from from scratch yes however it complements some of the other money that we have set aside and the money that we'll need moving forward so it's definitely um a nice like I said nice chunk of change to help us with that effort can you please remind
009me or or the group how much money has been set aside and what am I looking for is because this is what I used to do what is the budget currently look like to outfit the furnishings and materials necessary so that's all in should be some sort of a a milestone a budget that's been allocated what does that look like like for you to have presented and get these funds you know I understand that the museum isn't going to be funded at this point um you know they're not being funded the money is being allocated what is that noise sorry somebody has their has got um her computer on and it's echoing with the phone so I know that there's other projects These funds came to us and we're fortunate other programs have actually lost
010funding so we must have put forward something and I'm wondering what is the number that we are looking to outfit outfit and furnish this school there has to be a number what do we currently have that you said we set aside I don't recall the number at this moment and this 200,000 you're looking to allocate and put de side to that if not possibly useing another way that eventually helps I'm just looking for some clarity on the numbers thank you sure so the so the furniture numbers the equipment that was covered is all available as part of the project we could certainly get what that what that is that's on the the project stuff is on the city side with the the packages that have been submitted and those things have been a little bit
011on the move as as the project is coming uh coming along right and so um certainly we can get that list um but that's covered in the bond um and so what we're will'll be working with to find out is you know what other materials that we'll need outside of what we think we set aside 1.4 um last year if you remember Michelle and that's what went into the reserves because we couldn't spend it um and that is what we think now will get us up and running but there's you know every every week that we meet there's you know equipment that we're identifying that we that we may need that may not be uh ready to come over yet you know come over from deny high school that we're not that we're not splitting
012if you will so you know we set aside about 1.4 but you know every day those numbers become um thank you every day those numbers become you know a little bit more um fluid in in the sense that like going to bring over some laptop carts those are not going to be covered in the in the bond uh in the in the package we have to bring you know copiers need to be outfitted over that build some of our copers here are obsolete but some of them work we'll be bringing those over from Beaverbrook so um we're just identified this to help us with the overall uh expenses that will incur as we're moving as we're transferring um you know our and we're seeing kind of how we're able to out the new school so
013some of it it's it's a little bit fluid right now um so this you know it's it's is like I said we're we're happy to to be right no I I understand and I'm not trying to give a hard time I'm just like okay so obviously for our next budget we will also be allocating funds specifically to cover that absolutely to k a cost driver for sure yeah right I'm just trying to make it so that you know when we're there we've figured it out and we've allocated the funds for it and that we're not really you know what I mean yeah and again this 200,000 is very high level at this point um on purpose you know as we progress through the year no I I understand can yeah I construction and moving in
014and things you didn't think about so that's why I'm wondering how much have we allocated what in reality is the budget I know that there's been other schools that have opened in such a manner you know what is the typical 10% of the overall budget you know what I'm saying usually is a way is an outliner that's all so just want to make sure in line and realistic okay thank you thank you is it okay if I read Juanita's question See's question okay so we need said are we looking into funding for preparing bbac for the use uh for reach and Endeavor keeping this important issue this is also very important to us as well Anita um we did get some preliminary um some estimates here they are a a lot of money our preliminary
015estimate that just came in and we're kind of questioning it is there's about $13 million to redo this building to make it habitable for students um so we just kind of we got that information back from from frier and we just started to discuss it but um that's for another day really but it's a lot of money to so we have to try to um you know figure out how to approach that in light of the budget season that we're anticipating and opening the academy so um we're still figuring that piece out we're going to have to sit down together it might be a good discussion to have for sites um coming up that we we anticipated that being an an agenda item coming up maybe on the next sites to discuss but yeah we
016were we had some sticker shock when that number came back um and thank you for I saw that you vote in favor so I will if other people do not see what we need to put in she said she voted in favor of the motion yes I saw okay any other questions yeah I do GL it Richard yeah is I read theou if I'm reading it correctly it says the expenses have to be encumbered by the end of this year and then paid for by the end of 26 because to me as I read that that means you has to have that mean at this particular point you would have to have obligations already committed by the end of the year for these particular projects is that correct yes which is why I had to
017determine how we would use it we had to come up we had to you know come up with the phraseology of how we were using it so that we can put that in make sure that it was allow allowable expense you know a thumbs up on that um and then the city on the city Side they encumber it the city encumbers it because the city holds it they'll encumber it by December 31st we have some of our grants here that we have to encumber by December 31st Okay small grants that are that the state provides but um uh and then we have to spend according to that that umbrella okay all right I want to make sure I understood that thank you y okay for we move on are there any other questions one more
018yes Teresa um it looks like we have to pay the bills first and then get reimbursed by the city yes if if they approve the bills that come in I mean it's kind of tricky considering the the history of of City finances I have full faith that um that you know the city the city has been you know granted these allocations so this is money set aside it's special money uh for these purposes um you know along with other other arpa projects that are that have been designated so um I have full faith that we'll we won't have any issues um with this if the if the number was uh millions and millions you know those probably make me sweat a little bit more but I think we're good on this number here you know
019if they granted the encumbrance it should be just a flow through that the invoice followed should be no yeah should be pretty quick yeah okay are all hearts are clear all minds are ask all the question that you want to ask okay so when we get to the questions in the motion we should not have any okay Al would you read the entire motion yes memorandum of understanding allocation of American Rescue plan Act of 2021 parentheses arpa funding motion that the Board of Education approve the memoranda of understanding between the city of Danbury and a board of education for $200,000 allocation of the American Rescue plan Act of 2021 funding in accordance with 24-24 Al made the motion could I hear second to the motion I'll second who Kate Kate Kate okay are there any
020question seeing none all in favor could I hear I I oppose I so have it I make a motion to adjourn so move make a make the motion made by a second it by Lauren