001I've been told to pause. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> That's as loud as that's ever been in here. >> Well, welcome everyone um to our double board meeting tonight. We will have a uh two different sections. We have a board of finance meeting that will be very short, but it'll happen and then we'll go right into our standard public board meeting. Okay. I'd like to acknowledge that we have a quorum here today. Um, and I would like to call the board meeting uh the board of finance meeting for January 15, 2026 to order at I'm sorry, let me get my ah at 5:33 p.m. Uh, the first item
002of business, we need to approve the the minutes of the board of finance meeting from January 14, 2025. So the last time we had one which would have been a year ago. >> I will make a motion to approve the minutes of board of finance meeting of January 14th 2025. >> Motion made by Schwarz, second by Longi. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. So the next the next order of business we will have an election of officers uh for the board of finance committee and and it typically the same slate of officers that we have for the board but it'll be time to re to to reapp appoint and elect those u officers. So would somebody like to make a recommendation? I'll make a recommendation that president
003uh of the uh board of finance John Minky vice President John Schrader secretary Leslie Bunch >> and I will second. >> Okay. The recommendation was made for the president of the board of finance committee to be John Minky, the vice president to be John Shrader and the secretary to be Lesie Bunch. Uh will somebody make a motion please uh for uh for those officers? >> I'll make a motion for those. >> Okay. Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. And the board has been established. Board of officers, I'm sorry. Um report on investments for calendar year 2025. And that was attached. >> Yes. And we also had a chat attachment earlier for the report on the fiscal indicators for the fiscal term
0042024. Um no vote needed on either one of those. Um item D, we want to establish our bank accounts. Um Superintendent Mafy uh recommend that the following institutions from uh from the approved list by the Indiana Depository Commission be approved for use by Southwest Dubo County School Corporation. So we'll be asking for a motion to approve German American Bank, Freedom Bank, and Old National Bank for our bank deposit. >> I'll make a motion to approve the bank listed. >> Motion made by Longi >> and I will second that. >> Seconded by Schwarz. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Last item E. Uh need a motion for adjournment of the board of finance meeting. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion made by Schwarz and I'll second. Uh second
005by Shrader. All those all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries >> by Phil. Good as I do about that. Board of finance meeting has been has been completed. I appreciate everybody's patience as we as we work through that item. Uh we'll now move right into our our January installment of our of our public school board meeting. Um any uh public comments? I don't believe we had anybody sign up for agenda items tonight. So we'll move right into Oh, I'm sorry. I I need to start above. Um I skipped right over that. We recognize the quorum. Any late additions to the agenda that haven't already been added. >> Okay. Um need an approval of the agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> Motion made by
006Longi. >> I will second. >> Second by Schwarz. All in favor say I. I >> opposed. Motion carries. Um letter A, the public comments, as I said on agenda items, which we do not have anyone signed up for those. So we'll move to B and that's the reorganization of the board. So we will go through the steps once again um to make the election of officers. So could I get a recommendation of the officers for the board? >> I will make a recommendation for John Minky as president, John Schrader as vice president, and Leslie Bunch as secretary. >> Okay. So, I have a recommendation for President John Mickey, Vice President John Schrader, Secretary Lesie Bunch. Can I get a motion to approve those? >> I'll make a motion to approve those. >> Motion made by
007Longi. >> I will second. >> Seconded by Schwarz. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion carries. Okay. Moving on to number two. Um establish date, time, and place of our regular meetings um for 2026. Uh so we there's a list of the different meetings for all of 26, one for each month um included in the in the handout in the minutes. >> I'll make a motion to approve the dates and times as listed. >> And I will second. >> Motion by Longi, seconded by Schwarz. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Um the third item, the superintendent recommends that the board continue to enroll out of district students. I will make a motion to approve that the we recommend or that we continue to enroll out
008of district students. >> Motion by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Um C routine matters. Uh our official newspaper. Um, Lieutenant Mafy recommends that the board approve the designation of the Herald as the official newspaper for the publication of legal notices affecting the corporation for the calendar year 2026. And essentially, this is where we will post any and all um notices of any meeting changes or any upcoming meetings that we have or any information. So, >> I will make a motion to approve the Herald >> motion made by Schwarz. I can second that one so I can play ball. Seconded by Shrader. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries. Number two, appointments of treasure and deputy treasur to the board of trustees. Superintendent
009Mafy recommends the appointments of Allison Pund as treasure and Beth Kippenrock as deputy treasure to the board of board of school trustees for the calendar year 2026, which would be a continuation from 2025. I'll make a motion to approve the uh treasur and deputy treasurer as listed. >> Motion made by Longi >> and I will second. >> Second by Schwarz. All in favor say I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Number three, appointment of executive secretary to the board of trustees, board of school trustees. Um again we uh recommends we appoint Beth Copen as executive secretary. I will make that as the secretary. >> Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. Number four. And now this is a bid opening committee that we're going to
010approve. And the bid opening committee will consist of the superintendent, the business manager, and the executive secretary. I need a motion to approve those three positions for the bid opening. >> Make a motion to approve the bid opening committee as listed. Motion made by Long, second by Shra. A second, second by Shrader. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Number five, approve the 2026 board member compensation as $2,000 paid semianually. So that's $1,000 in each installment. Uh no change to that from any of the previous years. Would anyone like to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the 2026 board member compensation is $2,000 paid semiannually. Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Approve facility use for 2026 Southwest
011Duboce County School Corporation extracurricular athletic camps and activities for Southwest Dubo students. >> I'll make a motion to approve facility use for 2026. >> Motion made by Longi. >> I'll second. >> Second by Schwarz. All in favor say I. >> I >> opposed. >> Motion carries. And number seven, minutes of the regular session of December 18th, 2025, claim numbers 53564-53800 and payrolls for December 30th, 2025 and January 15, 2026, which was in our packet. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as um stated in payrolls for December 30th. Motion made by Schwarz. >> I'll second. >> Second by Longi. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. That motion carries. Okay, we're ready to move on to section D, which is communication information reports for the board. >> Okay, we always start
012this section with a highlight of the month that is put together by our uh communications director, Amber Bowling. And I know that Drew, you're probably watching us uh online there and always doing a great job covering us. So, we try to give the uh local newspapers uh opportunities of things to uh highlight that are going on. And uh this month, we wanted to highlight our students uh from our district who did a great job in the Noetic Learning Math Competition. Uh it's a nationwide uh semianual problem solving competition. Students in grades 2 through eight across the country uh participate in that. Uh there's generally 20 20 questions uh that require a lot of uh thought uh problem solving going on there. Students have 45 minutes to take it. About 33,000 students across the country take
013that. Um I think we had a total of 259 students from our district um take that uh test. So it certainly isn't every student at every grade, grades two through eight. It's uh just the students that choose to uh participate and see how they stack up nationwide. And uh we're thrilled to congratulate Brooke Hillser, sixth grader at South Ridge Middle School, who earned a place on the national honor role. That's a very select number of students who make that nationwide. And congratulations to Brooks for achieving that. Uh we also had uh strong performances from a lot of other students. 62 of them earned honorable honorable mention recognition, which means they were in the top half of students nationwide. And again, this isn't all students taking the test. is pretty much the best of the best
014across the country. So, great job by our students. Very proud of that. Also, uh before we have our presentation of things going on in the district, which take place, we definitely want to draw attention to congratulate three of our female wrestlers who are up in Indianapolis tonight. Um and uh they will be competing in the state finals uh this weekend. Cory, Corey Hunterfeld, Maya Minky, and Joselyn Dubon. Uh, as we said, definitely want to congratulate those girls. >> I wanted to note, Cory's on her second trip up there already. >> Yep. Thanks for saying that. Um, there's a few other things that we do list uh that are worth uh noticing that are on the agenda there, but I won't I won't read all those out loud. We did want to definitely draw attention to
015those things tonight. At this time, um, we have our athletics team, um, our sports information director and athletic director, um, Scott Mun and Craig Pope coming forward to give us a little presentation of things going on in the athletic world. >> All right. Thank you. U, I'm not going to steal Craig's thunder here because frankly, he's the mastermind behind all this. I will tell you that um you know sports information has become a um really a a career path um that has really exploded um as sport entertainment in the college and and professional ranks has has exploded and um you know giving our kids opportunities um you know to I think it's important as you know we we recognize the need um you know we or at least an opportunity I think to recognize our
016kids recognize our programs promote them um you know through social medias uh which is well over my head um and I that's not my length and so um uh but we knew we needed to start moving in that direction. One of the things that um we think is very important is you know we I see a lot of areas that do this schools and things and and frankly it's adult driven adult produced and that's not what we want. Um, you know, it's we want our kids doing the producing. I mean, I think that's we feel strongly that that's an important part of the academic process uh here in high school and and giving these kids u you know, an opportunity um as frankly a lot of those uh up on the picture aren't a lot
017of them aren't athletes and uh but unbelievable at what they do and Craig will share that and u so we appreciate the uh the corporation giving us an opportunity uh and even Craig wasn't a big graphics design social media guy uh when he got rolling in this and uh you know all I can say is is the amount of time so they get an impact period um which is kind of a home room um if you're not familiar with our terminology and um you know and they meet once a day u Craig does some directing and leading um does some work as well but these kids are the ones doing when you see stuff come out on the athletic website Twitter all that stuff it's our kids and That's uh I think a tre I'll
018be honest, we're really proud of that and um and we've had a lot of growth and Craig's going to talk through um you know kind of where we're at, what what what they do, how they do it, and then also our vision into the future as how we want to continue to grow uh what it is uh we're doing. But I'm also I'm gonna brag on Craig for a minute too because he does um we send him stuff on the weekends. We send him stuff in the evenings. We send him stuff all the time and he is taking and and he does some of those things and no time clock um with with Craig and he's put an immense amount of um I guess off the hours time energy and you know when you have
019somebody that's that's this low maintenance and that just does it for simply the reason um that I we we hope we're all here for which is uh to give these kids a great opportunity and celebrate our athletic programs. So, I'll turn this over to Craig. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, I really just want to brag on on the kids that I I work with. So, like coach said, uh, meet with them once a day, but also like me, they they oftentimes get emails from me, um, after school hours, weekends. Um, and they just really have gone like above and beyond what I kind of expected, uh, stepping into this role. Uh, and it's been a lot of fun. So there's there's a picture of them. Um, and I've got their name and grade level listed
020here. So we have six uh seniors, current seniors, three current juniors, six girls, three boys. Um, and like coach said, I think the really cool thing, we do have some athletes. Um, we have some individuals here that love sports but don't participate in sports. And we have some students here that quite frankly like I don't even think they like sports, but they're really good at making graphics. Uh, and they really want like South's Raider athletics to to have success and they want to show off uh their fellow classmates, which which is awesome. And like for them, you know, it's it's a volunteer position. I mean, we gave them lunch one day and they're going to get a t-shirt. So, but they do a great job. Um, so what I've done is like what we really
021do is we create graphics. Um, and like I said, the kids are the ones that do all of this. So I think I have made maybe two graphics the whole school year and they were by far the worst two that I had to post. So u the kids do awesome and they kind of each what I've done is they each have a sport in the fall and they own that sport and then they each have a sport in the winter and they own that sport. Uh, and they'll have the same thing coming up in the spring. But we do graphics for game days, uh, results, uh, special recognitions like all states, all conference, um, things of that nature. We've done senior spotlights, uh, for all of our senior athletes. We've done rosters, um, for every,
022uh, sport where the the fans are walking in. That that's made by these kids. Um, schedules, we we tried that out in the winter and it went pretty well. So, we're going to do that again in the spring. Um, post like a a full year schedule for that sport. Um, uh, live updates on X, formerly known as Twitter, um, for sporting events. We do a weekly events schedule, which two of the girls just kind of own, and they do that every single week. Um, which is really, really a difficult job. like they're getting a long email from me that has every single athletic event that we have and they have to double check the date and the time and who we're playing. U and they do just an awesome job with that and really just
023any random item that comes up that people want us to make a graphic for. Uh so I have some data. Um so first with Facebook the thing that I look at is the views because like you'll see engagements or interactions they like change their language every couple months. So I look at the views um just to see how we're doing there. Uh and then the total followers. So when we first started obviously the increases are going to be huge because in July you know there's not really any athletic events. So to focus more on October, um we had, you know, from August to October 147 new followers. So we felt like that was a pretty good increase. Um but where we saw a lot of progress was November and December. Um in particular in December,
024we had over 300,000 views on Facebook. Um and we ended up with over 2,200 followers. Um, so we saw a lot of increases in December in particular on Facebook. Uh, that was more of like that's our little bit of our older crowd. I I would consider that's myself, too. >> But Instagram >> older. What's that make us? >> Don't answer that. >> I won't answer. Instagram is where we see basically our high school students. >> Do they still have the MySpace? >> I don't even think our graphics kids know what MySpace is. Um, Instagram is where we see our high school students and like college college age kids. Um, so once again, I really look on this one, I actually look at the interactions because that is how many people are seeing it um, liking
025it and like reposting it. So if you notice um, the interactions went up August, September, and October. And then I also like to look at the new followers. So we had 19 in August, 22 in September, 31 in October. Um, and once again, November and December, um, were really strong months. So, in December, we had over 4,000 interactions, which was a lot. And then we had 26 new followers, um, just in the month of December, uh, which I thought was really good, especially considering we had the, you know, the winter break in there as well. Um, X is a little bit different with data. They don't, they're not like sharing as much um, in terms of the business side of of their profile. So I can only see impressions uh which essentially means how many
026people see the tweet. Um so what we've noticed in terms of trends is we get around 10,000 uh per week u around 40,000 per month. Now that will vary depending on the sporting events. So especially for like the football sectional um lots of followers like you just notice that a lot of people are like retweeting that. Um, and I've also found that like the key to the Twitter is trying to get like a sports person around the area like 14 News trying to get their individual to like retweet it because if he retweets it then all of his followers see it and that really u drives up your data. But >> I love that you have the live tweet updates this year. Like >> when I if I was working or whatever, it was nice
027to just kind of have that pop up on my phone. you and we're trying to be really consistent with that and and make sure we do it for all of the sports and make sure it makes sense in how we're doing it and have consistent language and things like that where it's easy to to read and follow along. Uh and then I have some examples just to kind of show off once again what what the kids have done because it's it amazes me every time like they find their own ideas too. um they'll go on social media and they'll see like, oh, IU football did this. Let's do something similar. And I've sent them ideas that I've seen and they make it look just exactly the same. Um so there's a football one there, volleyball,
028cross country that we made. Um then I've got our boys and girls soccer sectional ones I just really liked, so I put those on there as well. Um one of our tennis match days that we had. And then this is like the weekly event schedule. um that we will put out on Instagram and Facebook. Um I can put it out on Twitter only if there's four or less pictures because Twitter only allows for four of them, but on Instagram and Facebook that's out there every week. Uh really easy for everybody to kind of follow along and see what's going on with each individual sport as well. And then this I just put this up here because it was my favorite one uh that we did. I sent this to our the girl that does boys
029basketball graphics. And when I sent it to her, it was IU football and it said wear red against Nebraska and it was the background picture was Memorial Stadium. Um, and she made the background picture. If you notice, it's Memorial Gym. Uh, and then wear red against Jasper and just made a really cool graphic. Um, and that got a lot of a lot of views, reposts, uh, and things like that. So, I wanted to share that one because I thought it was really cool. So then like for us what's next? Uh we want to continue to do what we are currently doing. Um so I talked to a lot of like sides at colleges and they just said like your first step in year one is just be really consistent and figure out like what you
030can consistently do really really well. Um and we feel like we found that. Um so we want to continue doing those things obviously and then also seek opportunities uh for growth. So, like I said, I'm in touch with a lot of um colleges and seeing what they do. I follow all of their accounts. I've been reading books about this stuff, listening to podcasts. Like coach said, I'm not really like I'm not actually that big on social media or anything like that. So, I've kind of had to learn as I as I've gone. Um and we we're open to really any ideas. Um next year we are trying to introduce uh videography into this. Hopefully try to make hype videos. Uh, we would like to also get into maybe like highlight packages, uh, interviews, like a
031>> could just be for I'm sorry, Craig, I didn't mean to cut you off. The videos, is that only for the sports teams or would you guys consider doing videos for like the school board? >> I'm asking for John Minky. >> I I'm open to any opportunity, but I would be more like interested in the sports side of things. So, >> again, I understand you have your hands full. Well, I mean, like a Monday Night Football intro, you know. >> We can figure something out for you. >> South Rich High School. >> Um, and then we also, something I've thought about and we're going to try to roll out is like a floating head roster poster. So, if you know like the IU basketball poster that they've done every year, like since the beginning of
032the university, we're going to try to maybe start doing those uh for every sport and and print them out and have those available um at home sporting events for everybody. Uh, and then lastly, just kind of our goals. Uh, honestly, we want to be the best Indiana high school athletic department follow um on X, Facebook, and Instagram. Um, and like I said, this is all student le. So, I think that's really important. Um, we want our students to have that. Um, we want to run those accounts like a college athletic department. Um, those are the people that I'm like looking for on social media, seeing what they do, and talking to them. And then really it's all about for us just showcasing our student athletes and our coaches um at an elite level um and
033sharing what they do um and we want to continue to evolve, adapt. Uh we don't want to just react to what's going on. We want to be ahead of the curve um and all of the trends. >> So this is the first full year that this program's in place. Um, it's something that, uh, I was talking to coach B about my first year here, thinking we could do a great job of developing a program for our kids. Do we have any kids right now who are thinking about, "Hey, this is something I might take with me to college. Maybe I can get a scholarship for it. Maybe I can get paid for it. Maybe it's even a career down the road, which it certainly can be." Any of our kids talking about that right now?
034>> Yeah, I have a couple u couple of the girls are interested in marketing, so this is something that's definitely been interesting to them. I've talked to a couple of them that I know are going to USI uh because I was in contact with their SID and he basically just said like hey recommend them to like >> come apply and do this at college because it's better than working at like the local Starbucks is what he was he was basically saying. Um and that was one of our selling points like like I said some of these kids like they genuinely I don't think they like sports like at all. Um, but they really like making graphics and they're good at it and they definitely see like a future in that. >> We do have um
035Ellie Bardwell. Um, she just got she's got an internship for next year in the Mark Cuban Center which is um at IU and that's where they run all their sport production things out of. So, she's got a internship there and she's within their department there at IU. Um, >> Mun's done pretty well for herself. >> My daughter and and Craig's right. I mean, my daughter, she's uh she's worked athletic events at Indiana State her three years uh there, gotten paid, traveled, you know, flown, been a lot of places, and then um she was able to get an internship with the Colts this past year and spent some time there. And and there is I mean it's, you know, I don't love everything about the direction of college athletics and some of those things. However, it's
036it's an entertainment business and it's and the the amount of professions now that are opening up and you know and that's one thing we talked about. You know, my daughter has grown up around sports her whole life. She just wasn't any good at them. So, if she wanted to stay around them, you know, she did. She loves sports. She loves being around practice. She loves doing those things. And it was a means to do it. And, you know, she's made a fair amount of money, you know, doing it in college, just working for the college. And um so and then I think she would tell you the experiences she's had u trumps the financial gain for what she made tenfold. And um so that's uh and we are we're meeting Tuesday at 10:30 to um
037to explore the videography u you know world and how we can start moving in maybe that direction and things. And um but I I'm I'm very proud of Craig and his group. And and I think the last the last thing I'll say is when you walk into the impact period. Um and I think this is the biggest compliment I give Craig and what he's done with this group. The culture in there and just the way that they're working together and operating, it's extremely impressive. And um it's really neat to see those kids and they they really like seeing what they've produced and they and I think they're proud of what they've produced and they should be. Just to say, Craig, also exceptional job on the presentation, very well put together, very well articulated and you
038know, it's it's it's it's really exciting to see. We have so many things and and and and Chip has said this many times and it's why the focus has been on communication. We have so many amazing things that go on around here and unfortunately most of us only hear about the challenges, right? Uh this is these are one of those things and and to be able to meet the public where they're at now regardless of our we're all this is where we get a lot of our information, a lot of our news and I know as a parent also these pictures these graphies things that go out are things that are saved and are kept by them. So kudos to you guys and and all you're doing to your students and I hope that you
039since you have several seniors you've got some folks succession planning going on with some people >> next year. I I've already talked to kids for next year. So, I have the three kids that are juniors all wanted to return. Um and then I've already got six other students. Um so, I'll have five seniors next year and four juniors. >> Wow. >> That'll kind of be the vision every time is is try to have um multiple seniors, multiple juniors, and then just kind of keep going down the line. >> Transfer portal. >> That's right. With no NIL >> pizza. Once again, thank you very >> I was just told letter E. >> Yes. >> Um which is new business. Uh first thing we'll look at is our field trip requests. Um three of them stated on
040there. Can I get a motion to approve those? >> I'll make a motion to approve the >> field trip request. >> Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor say I. >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Um number two is all the personnel items. Um we have retirements, we have resignations, new employment, transfers, volunteers. They were all in your pocket received and they're all listed here. So if I could get someone to make a motion to approve all of those. >> I'll make a motion to approve the personnel as listed. >> Motion made by Longi and I'll second that. Second by Shrader. All those in favor say I. I. opposed. Motion carries. >> And as before we move on, certainly want to draw attention to Tracy Mattingley who's been a part
041of our school district for 21 years as an educator and some other places I believe before that. Um, but she uh has announced her retirement effective at the end of the year. And we just want to as a group here certainly recognize and appreciate uh her efforts over the years uh the impact she's had on a lot of our kiddos. So, thank you Tracy. >> Class of 89er, right? >> That's right. their age. >> We're going to move on to item three there, which is to make a motion to approve the conflict of interest disclosure statement um regarding Mr. Minky. President Minky abstains would have to abstain from that vote, but he's not here. So, >> I'll make a motion to approve the conflict of interest disclosure statement. John Minky. >> Motion made by Schwarz.
042>> Second by Longi. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Our last uh section before we move to adjournment is any administrators, board, superintendent or other comments. I know we have uh four people signed up. So let's first see if we have any any anything for the administrators, the board or superintendent before we move into the public comments. >> Nothing for me. >> Okay. >> So, uh as we get ready to move into the public comments, um I have again four signed up here. Emble uh we always do as a standard. there are some protocols for for any public comments and I'll just read the highlighted areas here that are that are that are relevant to this. Um I see we have some people um signed up to speak. As
043a board we welcome input from all of our stakeholders, but there are limitations to what is permitted. Um I want to remind all potential speakers that all comments are to be directed to me um who replacing the board president today which is standard. Uh comments are limited to three minutes and Chip will keep track of the time for those and the board also expects all comments to be civil and respectful which we we fully fully know that they will be. So um okay I have I have you uh I was just going to go down the list in order unless anybody had any other questions. John Culture Blacker you would be the first one >> if you're okay with that. Y >> fine if I trip or fall be called 911. Okay. My name is
044John Comper. I'm from the town of Holland, a board member from the town of Holland, and I'm here to talk to you, not any political realm or anything like that, but school safety. And that's my main concern. We have a solar field and a battery storage energy system go battery energy storage system going out about 2 miles from here and also two miles from the uh the Holland school. So, your elementary school, your high school, this building, Holland, and the daycarees are in what we call a a a two-mile a two-m radius of this battery. And why we concerned about this battery is the possibility of a fire and having to do shelter in place and evacuation. So it I would think that it behooved the the board to kind of talk to the EMA
045and say, "Hey, we need to get an action plan going with this because if we have that battery goes um we've we've done some wind analysis and stuff like that. 6 minutes, Dave, what was that at 20 mph? 6 minutes to the school. >> Six minutes." >> And that's you know on wind wind predictions and things like that. So that it's two miles. They placed it two miles from the elementary school Honeyburg and Holland. So, no matter which way the wind is, six minutes you're going to have to get an action plan going. So, that's what we want. We're just trying to get information out so everybody can be uh knowledge this and know what's going on. I did write to the um homeland security safety uh school safety up in Indie uh and to
046talk to them about the the schools being approximately 2 miles from this battery. Uh we also talked about the corridor busing. You know, kids get on that bus and they they drive down uh Old State Road 64. Well, guess what? That's within a quarter mile of this this battery. And if we got the winds coming from the south and the windows are down and they get a snoop full of that stuff, we have a problem. Uh and then that would also mean coordination for all the schools school uh the bus drivers to make sure that they know, hey, we've got a shelter in place evacuation or whatever we have to do. Um, the response that I got to him after I talked about this and I've got the letter that I'm going to I'll hand
047you John so you can see what I've talked about. I don't have enough time for this, but the response that I got from her, I shouldn't say her, from the individual was, um, the Indiana Office of Safety, school safety has no role in the Crossvine Solar Project and its associated batteries. And I just was dumbfounded with that. school safety. Those kids are very important to us. You guys, you you all are elected officials and you know that school safety is important. Active shooter drills, things like that. This right here is now going to start falling into that. Also to let you know, the town of Holland uh last night put a resolution in to ask for a moratorum on this battery storage and I have a copy of that I'll also present to you all.
048Uh so >> time time's up. Oh man. >> John, if uh someone wants to seed some of their three minutes, you can have some of their three minutes if anyone wanted to do that. If you have some of mine, keep going. >> Can I take Dave's right now? >> You sure can. >> Okay. So, >> no, man. I don't remember where I was at. >> Great. It's going to take three minutes to figure it out. >> Yeah. >> So, um so let me go back to and like I said, you were just talking just so I my notes are you're just talking about the the town of Holland and the resolution that they just came, >> right? And I was getting ready to say Honeyburgg also has put a moratorium on uh the batteries, not
049the batteries, the solar side of it all. Uh so we're we coordinate we're trying to coordinate and try to slow this project down. We're trying to ask that they don't have these batteries here. They really don't need to have these batteries here. They can be up in Indie. You don't have to have the batteries here to charge the system. And we're just we're fighting we're fighting it. We're trying to uh compromise with them, but it there it's a business and I and I get it, but school safety is number one priority. We're all elected officials. Safety of our community is number one. Um but for the Homeland Security to sit there and tell us that they have no concern over this, it just absolutely floored me. I I I looked at that letter for I
050don't know how long going, am I reading this right? Am I having a am I having a bad day reading or what? But it just absolutely floored me about that there. Um, I would recommend that on the 21st at 5:30 up here at the uh Honeyburg Event Center, they're going to have AES Indiana is going to have a uh public information meet and greet basically. And if you if you don't if you guys go to that, you know, just ask those questions, you know, because it is it I'm not trying to spread gloom and doom. I'm trying to to to get everybody to know what's going on with this battery um this battery system up here. Um I think that's all that kind of threw me off for a little bit, but I think I'm
051good. Thank you. >> Thank you, John. >> Um Dave, >> John, did you want to >> Dave, you have a minute 27 if you'd like to take that time? >> So that's last three minutes for the next person. >> Yeah, I'll just go last. That's fine. We have all >> We have a minute 27 on your time. >> Great. You've been auctioneer. I can talk. >> Sounds good. >> You got to use the auctioneer lingo. >> Right. Fast. >> I'm just kidding. I've never been auctioned. >> Okay. We Next up would be Holly Barla Gole. >> I'm going to ask that my neighbor here go in front of me if that's all right. >> Jared Harris. >> Yes, it is. >> All right. Go for it, Jared. This is basically about the exact same thing.
052Uh, I do have copies. >> Okay. >> Of the letter that was dropped off by Dave. >> No, it's totally different. >> Gotcha. >> Do you want all I want copies of that or? >> Sure. >> Yes, >> absolutely. >> Thank you. >> That's just exactly what I'm going to read. >> Thank you. >> Some of this is probably going to touch on a little bit of what John said, but thank you. got extras. You want some for the ones that aren't here? >> Yeah, I'll go ahead and take two extra, please. >> Thank you. >> And I might need a few of your seconds. >> Bye. >> I time myself and I go over three minutes a bit. >> All right. But but but may maybe not. I'll I'll try my best. Okay. Um,
053>> ready? >> Yeah. >> Uh, members of the board, thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. I'm here to address serious safety concern related to the AES CrossVine battery energy storage system, EESS, otherwise known as, um, and the risk it presents to students and staff. Lithium ion battery fires are fundamentally different from traditional fires. According to the National Fire Protection U association, the NFPA 855 and the US fire administration, these systems can enter a condition called thermal runaway which uh where single battery failure rapidly ignites neighboring cells. Uh these fires burn at extremely high temperatures, very difficult to extinguish and are um able to regenerate hours or even days after initial suppression. The AES CrossFine BESS is currently planning a 92 grid stack 5,000 20 foot units at this unmanned site. That's 92
054of these things. Um, equally concerning is release of toxic gases, UL Fire Safety uh research institute and testing under UL 9540A National Fire Propagation Standard for BESS to confirm that these fires can release dangerous gases such as hydrogen fluoride, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and other volatile organic compounds. These gases may be released before flames are visible, creating immediate inhalation risk. Hydrogen fluoride in particular can cause severe lung injuries at very low concentrations and poses increasing danger to children due to their smaller lungs and faster breathing rates. Many of these gases are colorless and odless, meaning exposure can occur before evacuation even begins. Evacuation during a BESS incident presents unique challenges in a school setting. NFPA and EPA guidelines indicate that evacuation zones may need to be extended well beyond the site due to toxic plume
055spread. Uh safely moving hundreds of students, especially young children, students with disabilities or those with medical needs through potentially contaminated air significantly increases the risk of injury or long-term health effects. Fire departments uh nationwide have acknowledged the BESS incidents require specialized training equipment and extended response times. In some cases, the safety or the safest strategy is to allow the fire to burn while protecting exposures resulting in prolonged release of toxic smoke. This reality raises serious questions about whether rapid safe evacuation of a school population is realistically achievable. These risks are not theoretical. BESS, >> that's your three minutes. You want to borrow Dave's time that's left. >> 30 seconds or so. >> Go for it. >> Bes have already led to school evacuations, community displacement, and um first responder injuries across the country. Placing a
056facility of this type near a school fundamentally alters the safety of the learning environment. I urge the board to please approach this issue with urgency by enforcing conservative setback distances under NFPA 855 requiring independent review of UL 954A testing conducting full chemical exposure analysis and ensuring emergency plans are based on worst case scenarios not best case assumptions. Our responsibility is clear. No emer no energy goal or infrastructure project outweighs the obligation to protect children from known and preventable hazards. I respectfully ask the board to prioritize student safety and ensure no bees facility places our children in harm's way. Thank you for your time and commitment to our students. >> Thank you, Jared. colleague or would you >> just I'm just wondering how much time I've got left. >> How much? >> My name is time.
057>> My name is Dick. >> Oh, if I'm quick, can he have some of my time? Is that >> Sure. >> Um, no. Thank you guys for for listening to us today. Um, you know, we're not here to to to fight against renewables. We're not here to say this is, you know, listen to us roar or any of that. We're we're really just here as a a group of folks who love our community. Um, and I think that's the biggest thing we want to call out to you guys is yes, we want this project, this battery to be moved away from areas where families, where schools, where children are going to be. Um, but but this isn't the only one. Uh, Duff has a battery system proposed for it. There's another one proposed um up
058in Ireland. They're they're not going away. There's another one um south of Holland, south of Huntingburg that's being proposed. Um so we really ask you as a as a school board get ahead of it. Um if you can reach out to county commissioners, if you can read out reach out to your representation and just say, "Hey, we don't want this." Um I don't know if the the school board is capable of helping push moratoriums. But I I think that that's the the biggest thing that needs to be done for our community. Um this is new technology. the state of Indiana a requirement for a battery is that it has to pass the fire codes and then after that it's kicked to communities. So it's kicked to counties to say you got to do what you
059think's right for your sighting plans. Well, Duboce County doesn't have zoning. So we kind of just gave up our our rights by not having zoning. Um I I don't want to get into a zoning conversation. That's that's not why I'm here tonight either. But um we do have the power to put in ordinances as a county and this is a common sense ordinance. This is a common sense moratorum against these these projects until you know it's not new technology until we know more until the risk goes to zero for something this significant and severe. Um so yeah, thank you for your time and if I've got any left, can Dave have it? >> Thank you. Thank you all. >> You're going to get both first and last name out. >> No, appreciate it. Thank you,
060Holly. Appreciate it. >> You got two minutes. >> Two minutes. All right. I won't use that. >> He's He's Navy, so he's not going to make it. Submarines, by the way. >> Wait, wait, wait. Navy. >> Navy. >> Okay, next. >> Go Army. >> Okay. Air Force. >> Army. Army. >> Submarines. >> Cool. But >> uh Dave Duncan, a little quick background. Worked for AP for 28 years. Power company and worked for engineer company Evo for another 15. Uh, everybody hit on the points I was wanting to get covered tonight. Um uh hydrogen fluoride which is one of the the gases that Kerry talked about uh does convert to hydrofuloric acid uh interact with moisture which is your eyes your throat your uh lungs um and it immediately deaths immediately hazard to death and health
061level for that is 30 parts per million and from what I've read and researched hydrogen or the BSS can burn at 600 parts per million So, uh, one last thing because they've said everything already. Every Friday I come out here to the elementary school and I mentor a young guy out there and every time I do that now, I think about this possible battery being over the hill here and looking out and seeing a flip of smoke and it just bothers me. You know, we these kids deserve a safe environment to learn in. That's all I got to say. >> Thank you, Dave. Thanks to all of you. appreciate your comments. Let's move >> again. I I I echo move to Thank you very much. Um >> we will move on to the last agenda
062item which is a move to adjourn the the official meeting. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Longi. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. We will adjourn the meeting at 6:21 a.m.