001Okay. Um, welcome back everyone. We'll open the meeting up to uh public comment. And just a reminder that public comment on the front end is for agenda items only. uh general items will be public comment at the back end of the uh meeting. So, we'll open it up right up now to public comment for agenda items only. If you have a question regarding agenda items, please come up to the mic, state your name, and you can shout out your question. Okay, we'll close public comment and our consent items. Right now it will be uh H A.1 to D with an addendum that's being passed around. So that'll fall under personnel the addendum. Need a motion to accept our consent items. Motion by Heather, second by Tom. um normal procedure. If you have any questions, there's
002anyone any item you want to pull out, there's any comments, questions or clarification, let us know. Everyone's good. Okay, we have a motion on the floor by Heather, seconded by Tom. All those in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? So carried. Okay. So, we uh just approved uh the hiring of our new assistant principal who will start with us at the middle school on July 1st of 2025. I'd like to uh congratulate Gina Sylvester and she's here with us this evening. Congrats. Okay. Um under curriculum and instruction, our monthly principles report. Start with the high school. Good evening everybody. Uh just two additions to uh this month's bo board report. Um the Highland senior scholarship event which is coming up next week. Just wanted to go over some numbers. um a total of $59,61784 is being distributed
003uh to our seniors. So big congratulations to our seniors and all the staff, especially Maryanne and Val who put a lot of effort into that. So just a quick round of applause. That's up $5,000 as compared to last year. 10 more scholarships and 10 more students this year. So we're super excited about that. Um, additionally, um, you know, Frank probably will include this in his board report. Um, a lot of good things happening with our sports teams here. Um, I just got word that our girls softball team won. Is that correct, Frank? Girls softball won. Girls lacrosse competing um, coming up and boys lacrosse as well. and Frank had a very successful season um with the boys baseball. And then additionally, a few hours ago, I just got word that Josh Bishop will be attending
004nationals uh down in North Carolina uh Greensboro on June 20th. Um the stand the national standard for that is 11.2. Um and he ran 11.04. So he did qualify for that and he'll be competing in the 100 meter sprint. So best of luck to Josh Bishop. Those are my few additions for the high school report. Does the board have any questions about any Thank you. Okay. Uh so just a few quick updates. Uh first on uh Monday this week we um along with Sunni Olter did our president's challenge scholarship interviews. Mr. Fear was there as well along with some of our our um staff in the building and then uh university or college staff. Um so while we don't have those results yet, we just want to thank them for their continued partnership with us
005um offering students scholarships to Sunni Olster, which is which is awesome. The kids love it. We love it. It's just a great program. So I want to thank them for that. Uh second uh this afternoon our uh national junior honor society um did their um uh project which is like a you know service project and they went to Tconic Rehabilitation which is right um in Highland across from the to Walgreens right Aid Walgreens. Thank you. I always do that. Um so it was fantastic that we held a senior prom for the residents there. Couldn't take any pictures because of HIPPA and stuff like that. So, they're going to provide me with some, but it was a great time. The kids did a fantastic job. Um, and I want to thank them for that. And I
006want to thank the Conic for welcoming us and helping us hold that ceremony. So, those are my updates. Does anybody have any? Yeah. Does anybody have It was their idea. So, I the the students came up with the idea. I just made a phone call and they were like, "Let's do it." So, I give them the credit for coming up with it. So, does anybody have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. You're up, Ian. You know it's June when we're clam clapping for principal reports. All right. My only addition uh is just highlighting last night's uh spring concert, which was amazing. uh can't say enough with our music department and the dedication and hard work that they put into it. So it was it was a phenomenal job and uh that's my only addition. But
007uh any questions? Just a comment. Um you had a lot of tenure candidates this evening and I think you handled that very well. So you know appreciate all the positive comments and making everybody feel like you've been here for 10 years or more. Thank you. Good job. Good job. [Applause] Okay, our director's monthly report. Uh, our directors are here this evening. If you have any questions for them, you can shout them out to them. Okay. Only comment I have is we had a lot of bus drivers retiring. We're going to have to recruit heavily this summer, but good to see. I mean, tons of years of experience that we're losing. Um, but certainly appreciate all of their their work. Oh, Mr. Zimmer, new career. There's there's an individual that works for the uh school district
008that does quite well in recruitment and he's sitting out in the audience right now. So maybe we can get him to uh generate some recruitment language for school bus drivers. Mr. Rizzo. Okay. Um again to our principles to our directors um year end is approaching rapidly. Um hopefully uh we've wrapped things up and now the students can enjoy the last several weeks of of the school year. Our directors can now take a little breather, recoup, and look forward to September. Except for our director of facilities and maintenance who has a major capital project on his hands coming up in three weeks. So, but congratulations to all our principles and our directors for a job well done. [Applause] And for Kai, um, we're going to hear your last report. Just say, "I don't have one." That'll
009be great, right? Go ahead, Kai. I actually don't have one. Um, but I did want to thank each and every one of you for welcoming me on the board. I feel like I learned a lot and I really appreciate that you guys were so receptive to me being here. So, thank you. Thank you for assistant superintendent for pupil personnel services and human resources. Dr. Boy. Um, Kai, I just want to say thank you and I know Bill and I always looked at the agenda to see who would have to follow you because it was always such a challenge because you did such a great job. So, um, thank you for everything this year. Um, at the last meeting, I did mention, um, about some of our federal money allocations. I know there was concern, uh,
010kind of throughout the state, um, about some of those changes to that. Uh, we did receive our first round of allocations and they are similar to, uh, previous years as we kind of thought would happen uh, despite some of those fears early in the year. So, uh, one of them went up slightly and one of them went down slightly. So, just kind of where we thought they were going to be. Um, those will be completed this month and submitted prior to July 1st. I wanted to thank Chrissy Sailor and senior Gabby Barbaro. Uh, they had invited us to a filming of the thread um and to honor um mental health awareness month in May. Uh, the film addressed a student who is struggling with her mental health in a much more true-to-life depiction. In it,
011she challenges the stigma associated with a typical movie depiction of a mental health struggle. She shows how students and teachers can help support those struggling and get them to support uh that they need. Uh so a big thank you to Gabby for putting that movie together. She did a great job. Uh thank you for uh some of the teachers and other students uh who were in the um movie as well. Uh great job there. Um lastly, we have uh our summer planning. Our services do go year round. So, we'll be meeting with our PPS team this Thursday to finalize our summer programs and plans and all the work that will come in as I hand some of that off to Miss Hathaway. Um, but we are uh looking forward to getting some of that done
012uh and a reboot this summer as we plan for next year as well. Any questions for Dr. Boyd? Assistant soup for curriculum instruction. Mr. Zimmer. Good evening. We I do actually do I prepared a statement. It's my last meeting official. So, I did prepare something uh something small that I'm going to read um if you'll indul indulge me. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board of education, colleagues, and members of the Highland community. As I sit here this evening, I find myself filled with both gratitude and reflection as I prepare to retire after 33 years in public education, 11 of which I've had the honor and privilege of serving in the Highland Central School District. When I first joined Highland as the high school assistant principal, I knew I was stepping into a district
013with strong values and a deep commitment to students. What I did not yet know is how profoundly this community would shape me both personally and professionally. From my time as assistant principal to my years as principal of Highland High School and now in my current role as assistant superintendent, I have been continually inspired by the dedication of our faculty and staff, the resilience and heart of our students, and the unwavering support of our families and board of education. These past 11 years have truly been among the most meaningful of my career. Together, we've worked through challenges, celebrated successes, and remained focused on what's doing best for kids. I am proud of the work we've accomplished, and the relationships we've built along the way. I would like to thank the board of education for your trust
014and partnership, the leadership team for your collaboration and friendship, and our educators and staff for your tireless efforts every single day. To the students and families of Highland, thank you for letting me be a small part of your story. Though I am stepping away from my formal role, I will always be a supporter of this district and a champion for public education. I will always be a Husky through and through. And Highland will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you. [Applause] Are there any questions? Thank you, Mr. Zimmer, and uh we congratulate you on your retirement and hope you have many, many enjoyable years coming forward. Okay, our superintendent. Okay, so uh myself and the two assistant superintendents attended uh Bose's the third meeting of the reorgan or the regionalization uh activities
015that were going on uh this year in Olter County and across the state. Um, Bill, I just want to thank him for his active participation. It's not easy to be so active when you're not going to be here for the future. Um, but he was contributing the entire uh the entire cycle and it was very evident today that he wants to leave a mark not only on uh our school district but on uh the the county itself. Um, we'll have more uh story about the regionalization uh work. It is not about merging. I think that was a misnomer that some people thought it it was about. It really is more about looking at services that uh are are here in our county and how can we capitalize on uh working together across the county for
016the betterment of all of our students in Olter County. So, uh great meeting today. There'll be more of those coming up as uh the Portrait of a Graduate and the Blue Ribbon Commission uh recommendations start coming out in the fall. So, that was the big event for today. Uh I think uh Mr. McCormack already mentioned that last night was elementary school final concert. Uh this week we also have the middle school's final spring concert uh on Wednesday the 4th at 6 p.m. and then the high school follows the next night on the 5th at 6 pm. Our moving up ceremonies are on the calendar, but please mark your calendars. You're all invited to attend those moving up ceremonies. Uh, elementary school is on June 24th, 12:15 at Highland Middle School. And the middle school ceremony
017is on June 25th at 11:45 at Highland Middle School. And then the moment we're all waiting for, it's always a a fun evening and uh very celebratory is our high school graduation will be June 26th at 6 p.m. on the new field. So, we're looking forward to that and uh and what wishing our seniors well as they move off into their uh college or career uh futures. And that's all that I have. Okay. We have some old business. Any new business? Okay. Um, old business. two things that we've uh discussed at our last meeting. Um one was the crematory. Uh just to let everyone know there is that meeting coming up on June 12th, the town hall. I'm sure they might move that venue to another location because I'm pretty sure that small town hall
018facility is going to be packed with community members. Um, I know I think it was Heather that sent out uh a text from uh a school district, I believe it was in Pennsylvania, New Jersey um regarding crematories and how they uh pushed their school board to uh support uh a resolution not to u support, you know, the uh building of a crematory in their local community because how it affects uh children in the community at large. So I just ask if we can as a as a board to attend that meeting on June 12 uh 12th if you can uh we can have a presentation prepared prior to that. Mike, I know you want to speak a little bit about it. Yeah, I mean we could certainly attend, but I don't believe have we been
019officially communicated to a as a property adjoining this property? I mean, has has has process been followed out? I don't believe there's been a public hear Tiffany's not here. I don't believe there was a public hearing set for that because only when there's a public hearing, the adjacent land owners would be notified to attend the public hearing. Uh I think it's back in the uh zoning board for their final recommendation. I don't think this is even planning board. I believe it's the zoning board of appeals on Tuesday uh Thursday, June 12th. No, we have not been communicated from any communication to the district regarding the crematory. I believe it's 7 uh 7 p.m. Has legal been enga has our attorney been engaged in this issue? No. No, they're not aware at all. Um, so let's
020let's raise awareness of this issue. I mean, if if the majority of the board feels it's worth it. I I believe they should be sent a letter that the Highland School Board has come to this knowledge and uh, you know, I'm not sure what the general consensus is, but I'd like to see this application exited as soon as possible. I don't want a pet crematorium adjacent to our elementary school. And if we all feel that way, I'd rather engage legal sooner rather than later. I don't know where in the process the public hearing is, end, beginning, or end. So, that's where I, you know, that's what I want to talk about. The only way that we uh found out about it was a reporter who was in the audience one evening at a board meeting
021probably two months ago. And the direction that I got from the board at that point was to engage the town supervisor to find out what was going on. and that I did that and I got back um information from himself and from Dave Barton uh with all of the technical information technical information that I forwarded on to the board. But as far as an official notification that there's one going there, we have not been informed of that. No, I feel it's the time I can definitely get legal counsel involved if the majority of the board, you know, I don't know how you feel about it. Obviously, I feel strongly about it, but if if we're in support, even a majority, the answer is I don't want to wait. I want to be out in front
022of this because I feel like things are moving outside of the public eye, and that's I'm not thrilled about that. Uh how's how's the rest of the board feel? I mean, I'm I'm in favor. we can go to legal uh have them review the circumstance, see if they can come up with any uh any case studies that are out there maybe uh throughout New York State that might support it even more information. We're a school district, so you know, I'm sure the attorneys know what letter to send that basically says, "Hey, we don't like your plan." And B, what's the next step in engaging them in discussion on exiting this as soon as possible? I mean, that's, you know, that's the idea. Is everyone okay with that? Heather, you're all right. Janine, Jen, Tom, All
023right, I'll call them tomorrow. Thanks. Thank you. As well as now, is it okay if I I plan on attending that meeting if I'm able to? Are others going to be at that meeting? Do we worry about quorum or can we all go? Does it matter? I just want to I think we have several representatives of the school board there to voice our concern and if we do have some kind of a of a legal document or draft from uh legal to to read, you know, we'll do that. Thank you. I know I think we have a few in the audience that want to speak on that. We'll do that in public comment and then we could generate some conversation. I allow that. Lisa, there's one item that we need to realize Let's do that
024right now. That's all right. Yes. Yeah. So, sorry. I get that. I should have pulled. Okay. So, that got pulled that got pulled from the consent agenda. Yeah. We need a a motion. Uh be it resolved the board of education upon a recommendation of the superintendent hereby approves the following bond resolution. Bond resolution dated June 3rd, 2025 of the board of education and Highland Central School District authorizing not to exceed 992,497 aggregate principal amount of serial bond serial general obligation bonds to finance the acquisition of school buses and one pickup truck with plow at an estimated maximum cost $962,497 levy of tax and annual installments and payment thereof. the expenditure of such sum for such purpose in determining other matters in connection therewith. Motion please. Motion by Heather, second by Mike. Roll call. All right.
025Thank you. All right. So, Mike Paxius, just state yes or no. Yes. Jen Becker, yes. Janine GML, Ed Meiselle's absent. Heather Welch, yes. Tom Miller, yes. Alan Bar, yes. Okay. All in favor? 6. Thank you. Okay. Um, like I said, we I know we do have some in the audience that want to speak on that and we'll do that in public comment and then we can generate some conversation. Uh, another item on um, old business is um, we voted the last meeting to create an intermunicipal agreement with the town of Lloyd reg regarding the July 4th celebration. Um, I just want to and we did receive a letter from the town of Lloyd this evening. I don't know if anyone from the town's going to read the letter. I don't believe so. All right. The
026letter came from the town supervisor and it lists um the many years that town has provided the celebration over 20 years for July 4th. um recently uh they followed our building youth form, but recently our insurance company has changed the requirements. And not only have they changed the requirements for school districts, my business, we're a general contractor in school construction. They've changed the requirements for every contractor working within school settings and every subcontractor. So, it's not the Highland Central School District that has initiated this major change in their insurance requirements. It's the insurance company that's requesting this, not the Highland Central School District. Uh, it was also stated in this letter that um the town is very community-minded and they work tirelessly to bring our residents together with events such as this as well as
027others. Uh, the town is very community-minded. They have never turned down the school district for use of any other any of our properties. We can cite examples if needed such as the use of to town field, Tony Williams facility, Highland Landing for its students and athletes. I understand that. I've always worked with the town. I think the school district has always worked with the town and use that phrase shared services. That's what it's all about. Uh the Highland Central School District has supported summer fund in many many years with bus transportation for their weekly I believe it's a weekly event where they travel to areas such as Splashtown and such. We do not charge for the buses to transport those children. There are there are communities so we we work with them. So that shared
028service is back and forth with the town and the community. The issue of the requirement of insurance, additional insurance for a function that the town is proposing, not the Highland Central School District, is beyond our control. I just want to cite the requirement from Nicer on their umbrella and excess insurance. For general use, they're looking for a million dollars. For organized athletic leagues, they're looking for $3 million. For athletic and recreational camps, they're looking for $5 million. And for carnivals and fireworks display, listed right here, they're looking for $10 million. SED in all the years that we've provided the use of our facility, what the superintendent has to sign off is we have to get a permit from SEDD to require the use of our facilities for fireworks. And STD's procedure requires, among other things,
029the proof that display provider has the appropriate pyrochnic licenses, including those issued by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the New York State Department of Labor, asurances from the local fire marshal of suitable conditions for the display, and a confirmation from local authorities for crowd control and fire protection. all of which must be subscribed to to the superintendent of schools as a signatory on the permit application. So we as a school district are not saying no, we're providing the use of our school property, but we have to follow the recommendations of SED and our insurance carrier. As simple as that. I'm I'm not proud of the fact that we are be going to be held responsible if the the town event the celebration on July 4th is not fulfilled. I'm sure
030it's the fingers are going to be pointed at the Highland Central School District and I don't think that's fair. Everything is spelt out. The documentation is here. If anybody wants to pass it along to the town, you can do it. It's all right here. So, I just felt that we have to put some type of closure to what the school district is doing for the town in regard to the July 4th celebration. We've never turned it down. Right now, we're handcuffed by insurance. That's the bottom line. I'm going to open it up to the rest of the board to uh support how you want to follow through. We have a motion out there and a pass motion to have our legal enter into or draft a intermunicipal agreement with the town. Uh there are some
031stipulations in that. Uh the one that I think we're going to struggle it with is that they're asking us to provide some type of educational experience that this event is going to trans translate into uh you know either our staff, our students being involved as an educational experience. Just open it up to the rest of the board and your feelings. I'll start um just so I'm 100% clear on what's transpiring here is that the Highland Central School District is allowing this event to happen. We have no qualms with the use of our facilities. We just ask that all of the insurance guidelines put forward be covered. And as I understand it, one of those guidelines requires additional funding for up to $10 million from the fireworks company. And the discussion here is whether the school
032board would approve paying the difference in funding. It's not about using the field or the space or the property. It just feels like a misappropriation of funds when there isn't which isn't part of the district's educational program. So, it's not about hosting the event. The the property is for use and we approve all that. It's asking for additional money to have it happen. Am I surmising this correctly? Just so I'm fully clear. Yes. As far as we know, the our insurance carrier uh is requesting uh the entities that are using our property to secure and it would be the town and their vendor to secure $10 million each. That's their requirement for fireworks and carnivals. So, this event can absolutely happen as long as the town and the vendor follows through with everything that's required.
033Correct. Okay. So, it can happen as long as they follow those details. Sure. It happened last year. They followed the requirements of nicer last year. The town did and it happened. And just reading in the letter that um the town provided, it does look like the town um has the appropriate amount of insurance. It's the vendor that they are looking to use that does not. Um after our meeting last uh last meeting um I did receive some feedback from some community members and actually some um small businesses within our town who actually were quite upset with the conversation that was happening here um that the school district was considering paying for that portion of that insurance. Um, as this small business provider provided the information to me, the town is requiring them to have a
034certain level of insurance that this small business cannot afford and will not be attending a town event because they can't afford the insurance that the town is requiring. So, I do not think it's something that is just the school district. I know in my professional life, it's always something that we're working through as well. insurance has gotten more expensive. It has gotten stricter. What they're requiring has gotten more stringent. Um, and I agree, it should not be put on the school district itself. So, just want to make sure that, you know, we all keep in mind really what we're talking about. We're not talking about the possibility of hosting the event. It's really just the cost and the insurance required. Any other um discussion? We have an issue before two municipalities. The municipalities, I believe,
035have an interest in working together to work this out. Um, and I think that if this isn't an avenue to help work this out, then perhaps there's other avenues to do that. Um, again, we shouldn't feel like there's anything dirty. There's no misappropriation. As a matter of fact, I feel quite comfortable speaking in open session about an intermunicipal agreement to address a common problem the two entities have. Um I'm certainly looking for that to be to pass through legals review and everybody's comfort level, but um you know sometimes we go to the town with a problem, sometimes they come us to with a problem. I just I I feel a responsibility to help try and um to solve it. You know, if it's unsolvable, I understand, but it just doesn't, you know, I I don't
036see that in my purview right now. I think part of our of of my dilemma here is that just recently uh several months ago, I know we we put a freeze on on spending. I know the athletic department had a freeze put on on some of their purchases and rightfully so because we're trying to, you know, we're working on a tight budget. Uh I know we're having uh some additional expenses currently because we have two possibly three uh of our sports teams going to states and those that cost is probably more than what we're looking to afford to the town for their July 4th celebration. Um, so I mean we are and the unfortunate thing is that I I know Babe Ruth requested use of our facilities back in the spring and they couldn't meet
037the insurance requirement, but they went out and got their $3 million additional policy that Nicer has requested. And I don't believe it was an exorbitant amount of money to get that $3 million. So, um, and I've said this be before that we got to bring in our our community sports and, uh, either, you know, cheer, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, whoever wants to use the facilities that is governed by nicer and the insurance requirement just see what those additional premiums would be and how we can work through that. Uh, so I'll entertain anybody else that wants to have discussion at some point in time. We'll when we open it up to public comment, I'm sure we're going to have some more discussion both on the crematory and on u the July 4th celebration request. Does a
038uh does an intermunicipal agreement uh once it's signed is that a year-to-year basis that that gets uh you know started again? Is there a it could be whatever we want it to be basically I mean that can run you know year after year after year. Uh the thing that I believe we have to have resolved is what happens next year, what happens the following year, you know, where does where does this go? Uh does that cost increase each year? And are are we do we budget for it? Does anybody budget for it? Well, you know, when we talk about costs, uh Mr. Flavch's letter alludes to something. Um and I and in exec I even said look we the town and the school overlaps in so many different ways. Uh there's certainly ways to offset
039these costs. Our our commandeering of the Tony Williams field in the 20 in the current school year where we've got tennis practice, tennis matches, track practice up there has a cost to the town. Now Frank's great. He doesn't communicate that. But I am telling you with the more traffic there, the average cost to the town is 10 to 12,000 over the annual more supplies, more maintenance. It's a lot of people over there. And they do graciously give it to us. And I just want the powers to be to possibly work out an an agreement where there's an exchange of value that can work in perpetuity to offset this increase in town, but also address uh the rental of the Tony Williams the consistent rental of the Tony Williams field to Highland Central Schools. I mean,
040there's many avenues. if the leaders around the table agree that a solution is present. I I don't disagree with that, Mike, but earlier I mentioned that we support summer fund with bus transportation on a weekly basis for those four to a six weeks, whatever it is. We run one or two I don't I don't recall it's a couple buses I believe we run for transporting summer fund students to a venue, Splashdown, wherever else they go, uh at no charge. So I mean one hand washes the other when you want to use that as a reason to um move forward. I I just I think we have to come up with another reason because I think like I said earlier the shared services is there. We help they help. Yeah. And that's part of it and
041that's what we've been doing for a good number of years. uh summer fund when I served on recreation going back 20 something years ago was the same scenario. The Highland Central School District supplied buses to summer funds and transported children. Is that in an agreement? Huh? Do we have a There's no there's no intermunicipal agreement if you want to call it that at this point in time in the district. It was just a it was a handshake and it was just a common common practice. I'm talking now. We have a we have an agreement uh for the uh SRO for that specific purpose for that position but not addressing the uh the trading of field usage. Not that I'm aware pluses. I don't I don't believe so. With this specific um situation that we're talking
042about what I get hung up on is we're not even looking to cover the cost of a t the town's piece. we're looking to cover the cost of the vendor's piece to my understanding. That to me is even more of a red flag. Um, but additionally, I guess before we would do anything, my question would be, have we vetted all of the vendors out there? I mean, pyrochnics is a a pretty risky thing, right? like I would think that some vendors maybe does do have that insurance and I wonder if that has been vetted that if there are any other vendors obviously right now for this year I'm sure it's too late because July 4th obviously I'm sure people book up pretty quickly in that uh profession but has that been vetted we're not looking
043to cover the cost of the town we're looking to cost cover the cost of a vendor but Heather I think you bring up a good point and I want to bring that up the timing of this right if this was an issue last year right why did we just get why did it just be brought to us in the past couple of weeks? Fourth of July happens every year the same time. So if this was an issue last Fourth of July, then July 5th last year, things should have been brought to the table and there should have been investigations to figure out is there a better vendor that has the insurance policy that they need to have, especially for something as risky as fireworks. What you know, what could the school do if we did
044it this year? what there was none of that until last minute. So the timing of this also I think makes it a little bit tough because if the fingers are going to be pointed that it's the school district that's not going to be allowing this event. That's not true. It's the circumstances around the vendor that the town found to do the fireworks doesn't have the appropriate insurance. Like I said earlier, uh in my occupation, uh we've had vendors, which would be subcontractors, which would vendors, just like the letter stated that their subcontractor is a vendor, uh denied work in school districts because they can't come up with that insurance, that $10 million liability. And we've had quite a few smaller companies that have to deny doing work in schools because nicer is requiring and nicer
045and and and Udica general I believe it is you know mutual national UNICA national are the two carriers of of school districts in New York state and they're both asking for the same requirements. So it's not it's it's it's affecting everyone and it's unfortunate. So I guess where do we sit on this? We passed a motion last week, but like what? Last week's motion, last meeting's motion was to have legal draft a intermunicipal agreement, which we have the language of that. And it states that they're looking for us to be able to try to identify the educational purpose of us funding that event or being a co-founder of that event. What is the educational purpose that we can justify? Right. I believe I believe the language is a nexus with the education of the students
046and you know agreed July 4th when school's out of session it's a toll order u so I guess the question right now is uh revolving around the motion that was approved at our last meeting regarding the uh municipal agreement. Uh we can we can bring it up again, have a vote if we're going to accept what the languages of that intermunicipal agreement and then have to come up with creative way of making it an educational. I mean, would it be worth bringing in strong at the next meeting uh for an exec beforehand just so we Our next meeting is July 1. Oh, that's true. That's why the celebration was seated. We h we have to move we have to move on that motion to accept that u draft uh intermunicipal agreement or not. So right
047now we have the motion to move for legal to draft one. Where are we going with it now? Are we deadended with it and we're done or we're going to move forward with it? Let's say if it was, it's either going to be passed or not passed this evening, right? So, if it's passed, what happens then? We have to be very creative and come up with a educational idea to support it. Does our administration feel that they can do that and that is justifiable and ethical and at what cost does that come? If we uh have to align this with some educational programming, is the cost more? If we were to align this with some kind of activities that would take place that day, I would have to bring in staff. It's a holiday, so
048that would be additional time. And whatever activities we'd be doing, I would assume that those would be at our expense. I don't know that that is feasible to expect a school district to create an educational program on the 4th of July. But if that's what the board is looking to do, I can't perform miracles, but I will do whatever the board is asking me to do. I will not be in New York State on that day though. So, um, Bill is retired and I believe Patrick is away that weekend also. So in order to move forward right now our our resolution at the last meeting was to draft a intermunicipal agreement that has been done. Uh we have to act on either moving that forward or not moving it forward and it doesn't have to
049go if nobody goes to a resolution it just dead ends there. I mean, unless someone's going to put forward a resolution to accept that intermunicipal agreement, then we vote on it. But if we don't get that motion and second, then it dies right there. Or it could or it could be it could be tabled. It could be. Yes. And then we would have to have a special meeting tabled for whatever reason and have a special meeting. Do you want to come back to it and we'll open it up to public comment and see if we can with generate some more discussion. That sounds good. We'll put it to vote. I'm comfortable putting it to vote tonight. Okay. Um we'll hold that right now. Is there any other old business? We'll anything for the good and
050welfare of the district. We'll open up the meeting to public comment for general items. Okay. Whoever wants to come up, state your name and hi. There you go. Um, I have a couple handouts. Can I just like put them around? Hi. So, my name is Megan Quinn. I am a mother of a kindergartener at Highland Elementary. I'm also a high school English teacher in a nearby district. So, thank you for all you do. I know it's a very um hard job to be on the board and it calls for a lot of late meetings. Um, so I'm here to talk about the crematory. Um, you know, when I first moved here from Socrates about I guess it was seven or eight years ago, uh, of course you ask I didn't have a kid yet, but
051of course you asked about the district and u, my co-workers all had amazing things to say about the district. Um, I did not hear one negative thing about the district from my co-workers in in the nearby town, which was amazing. And, you know, now that I've experienced the school, I have to say it has exceeded my already high expectations. Um, the faculty, the staff, it is amazing what you do in such a small district. There's a feelings teacher who comes in and talks to them. There's a handwriting guy who comes in and helps them. I I guess he's an OT. I'm not sure. Um there's a speech person. My daughter has been getting so much amazing attention. So I just first of all want to thank you because she has it's just amazing what she
052has accomplished this year. Um but uh this is why it sort of pains me to be here today. Um especially after this celebration of what makes this district so great. um you know, seeing all these older kids and their accomplishments and what what they've done. Um, this district has a good reputation and your reputation is priceless and our elementary school reputation and our district's reputation is in jeopardy because of a short-sighted, nonsensical, and frankly highly unusual proposition, which is putting a bulk animal incinerator 200 f feet from an elementary school. When I mention this to people, they liken it to something Mr. Burns on the Simpsons would do because it is that bizarre. The closest animal incinerator to any school in the state is over 2,000 ft away. So, this is a remarkable district, but
053we're going to be remarkable in a very odd way. I think that the public perception of our district will shift because of the attention this is getting. As a parent, knowing that there is a bulk animal incinerator 200 feet from my kid's school, do I really want to move to that district? I will tell you very honestly, I would have second thoughts about that because it's just it's just bizarre and it's not right. There is a lot of research. I know you mentioned before about research about this kind of thing. We have a lot of research. There's a group of us who've been really advocating for this. Um we have a website that's on your flyer. It's let kids breathe.com. And you can see lots of statistics about the emissions and how they're harmful for
054kids. And we already know this as people invested in education. We have laws about the emissions from school buses, how you can't idle next to a school. We have legislated this. So why would we have a constant source of emissions right next to our school? If you look into the project too, just like the way the height is, the chimney is it's just it's not it's not a smart move. Um so basically the the project makes no sense. Um, basically the crux of the issue that's coming before the board zoning board of appeals on June 12th is it's a zoning issue because every many other places this is zoned as a facility. We have it zoned. The determination was made that it was a service business, but an incinerator is usually not a service business.
055It is a facility. So that is the actual reason for that zoning board of appeals meeting on June 12th. But another key problem was alluded to earlier in this meeting which was the fact that the school district and you the board of education was never actually properly notified about a public hearing because there actually was a public hearing on this exact issue about the pet crematory going next to the elementary school. Um it was set at the planning board meeting on February 27th and there was an unanimous vote to set the public hearing for March 27th and the public hearing was was held. The only reason we know about this issue that they are putting the pet crematorium was a um local man called Bruce Eper who is a retired zoning lawyer was watching the
056minutes or watching the meeting for fun I guess and he saw it and went to the public meeting and said this project makes no sense. So the process hasn't been followed properly. Um, and you obviously should know what's going on because you're the board of education as a huge stakeholder. So, um, my I have two questions for you today. How can we work together towards our common goal of keeping Highland remarkable for the right reasons? So, I basically have two asks. Will you as a board write a letter to the zoning board of appeals or the town or whomever stating your opposition to the project, the project itself? And the fact that you weren't even given proper notification? And my other ask um please is will board members either just as a as a group
057officially or just as individual stakeholders who care about this come to the zoning board of appeals meeting Thursday June 12th at town hall at 7 p.m. Um and I'll just close with this. You know our youngest Huskys, they're doing their jobs. Um speaking for my daughter, she learned all her uppercase and lowercase letters this year. where she conquered all her fears, her social fears. She learned how to say mozzarella and she couldn't say that um because of her great speech teacher. So, our kids are doing their jobs and we need to do our jobs as parents and leaders because the kids can't speak for themselves. They're little kids. We have to protect the environment and the integrity and the reputation of Highland Elementary School. And if you have any questions, let me know. An answer
058to two of your questions. I think we discussed that earlier. Okay. We are having legal look at it. Yeah. And we are going to attend uh the June 12th meeting. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks. Anyone else for public comment? Hi, Dave. I think you all know me, Dave Flapchack, town supervisor. And uh so I'm glad I came because I heard a couple questions that um for one, we didn't just start looking at this. We've been looking at this since last year. Okay. And we started we had the issue last year and we never had it before, by the way, which was kind of I think what startled us last year. every every prior year we turned in our certificates of insurance, the vendor certificates of insurance and it got approved at the local level
059and we moved on. That's how it worked. Uh last year we had the issue. So we had our team start looking at other venues whether it was at the river uh whether it was at Tony Williams uh and there are the only spaces big enough to meet the radius of the fire district. Okay. And the issues with both of those venues happened to be parking, happened to be blocking roads and uh we chose not to do that at the time. Um and the other question I heard so so then I did come forward I think I can show you the emails back in March to start working on this insurance issue. So it wasn't like I just started it with our back against the wall. So I want to clear that up first. Second question
060that Heather brought up on vendors. We also went out to four fireworks vendors and all of them have $5 million of liability insurance which appears to be the industry standard in this area. Okay. Uh and then as I thought through this a little bit, I said, I have 10 million. It's my event, right? And nicer, who you have, we have Nimmer, by the way, which is municipal insurance reciprocal. Yours is school insurance reciprocal. And I'm sure if I went to Nimmer and asked them what should I be asking the the school district for when they use our fields, I'm sure it would be higher. Okay, I'm pretty positive it' be higher because they had sent me a letter. Okay, but we make the we make the decision at the town board level. Okay, so when
061I look at what NICER is asking me for, they're saying if the vendor has $10 million, all I need is 1 million. That's 11. Right now, I have 10 million. The vendor has five million. That's 15. So, where we're at right now is actually better than what aggregate wise than what Nicer is asking for. And when I look at your use, your facility use, it says $10 million in aggregate. So, I'm really trying to understand how we how we get to this specifically all of our subcontractors for our event, which I'm insuring. um you know also require that. So uh so so what I'm what I asked in my letter wasn't for and I believe me I don't I didn't come to the school board asking them to pay for any part of our event.
062I asked for them to make the decision local which is what we do. Okay? We have never turned down the school district to use our fields. And we can go tit for tat if you want el but I don't want to do that. I don't think it's necessary. Right? I mean, just last week, we got a call for Tony Williamsville, for a senior barbecue, for our pavilion, for the music department, and we didn't even hesitate. We just did it. Okay. I could charge revenue. I could charge for that, but that's what we do to, you know, to residents and everybody else. Let me just back you up because I know through our business working with school districts, okay, per nicer carnivals and firework displays is $10 million each occurrence and aggregate. what that means because
063we go through the same thing. We might have $5 million umbrella, but then we have $6 million of excess umbrella. That's the aggregate. That puts it over the 10 million, right? So, your vendor doesn't have 5 million and excess liability of 5 million to put it at. It's not the aggregate through to both entities. Correct. But I have 10 and 20. That's fine. But your vendor doesn't have it. I I understand that. I I I do I understand. Yeah. So I get that. What I'm asking is for a local decision. That's what I'm asking for. I'm not asking for you to pay for it. I don't want you to pay for it. I'm asking for a local decision. Just like I make local My board makes local decisions when the school district asks for something.
064That's what I'm ask for. It's a community event. I We're trying to build the community up. Dave, I agree with you 100%. You're a local decision, but let's let's expand our our scenario. We're a school district. We have currently coming up millions and millions of dollars of capital project. I understand that we have vendors that can't secure the 10 million. I understand. So, are to are we to make a local decision to say John Joe Plumbing can do work in here because he's only got five million because we're making that exception. Because what's going to happen is going to be a trickle down effect. Once we say okay to the town with their vendors, that's going to trickle down to the attorneys and everything and say, "Well, you already did it for your town. You
065got to do it for them now." Well, here's the deal. I will not have them in in your field next year. This will be the last year I have them there. I will move them so I don't have to go through this. And I I would rather pay for logistics and police support than be extorted by an insurance company. I mean, really, that's where I'm at with this. Okay. I I mean, and I I appreciate that, Dave, but except having the event there supports those town businesses. That's what's so vital. We move it anyway. They don't get the same support on that particular day or days leading up. So, I agree. Um, that's why we have it there. That's why we've always had it there, Mike. And I appreciate the help that you that you
066know that that that you've given us and you know and I am trying to create a community that includes a school district. We come to your civics class. We try to help people. We've get people you know we we bring people out. We honor the students when they come through and we're trying to create a community and that's why it's in the center of town. That's what we do. That's why we do it. And I am fine moving it instead of paying for insurance. I would rather pay to move the venue. Unfortunately, that hurts the local businesses. Yes. But um so my qu my again, as I put in my letter, I'm not asking for money. If that's how you want to do it, that's your choice. I am asking for the decision to be
067made locally. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Can I just maybe comment on that or or I guess question or discussion um for back discussion of both crematory and yeah just on the on the fireworks itself I understand um the request of a local decision I guess even at a local decision um when we think about what the school has been through the past year and a few months now, right? Um it was not too long ago that we had a fire in the middle school and we had all of our middle schoolers in the high school. And that's really my concern at making a local decision. It's not about not wanting a community event. It's we are probably already red flagged in our insurance company's system. We just had a major fire. We
068were out of that dis that school building for quite a while. They did they covered everything we needed. They covered everything we needed up here in order to make everything work. Um, it would be my concern that if something were, god forbid, to happen, um, where would we go for insurance at that point? I know we're already high-risisk. There's only one other insurance company, as I understand it, they're not really interested in taking us on as a customer. Um, that would really be my concern. I'm very risk adverse. Um, and that's where my concern would be. There's Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, you brought up No, that's you brought up another point. The other thing that that I did research was firework incidents and firework incidents occur when you have fireworks right in a warehouse, in
069a nightclub, and in residents. open field fireworks surrounded by fire trucks, fire people with a 800 with a 400 foot radius. It's about it's about a one it's about a five sigma chance of having an incident. Five sigma is one in 100,000 for those of you who aren't math people. But um it it's a very low risk for open field fireworks. So I just wanted to make sure that was that was also clear. It it is a tough decision and you know I'm going to allude back to what Babe Ruth had to do back in March unfortunate situation where they had to secure the $3 million uh currents in aggregate and they they spent the extra money to to get that insurance so they could utilize our facilities during spring training for indoor activities. Um
070I I I I think the discussion's got to center around if we're going to do this one time, it's got to got to generate and just around every youth organization that's wants to utilize our facilities because what Nicer is asking for those organizations is probably beyond what they have as coverage. So I I I think it it it opens up, you know, more than just one occurrence. It it it's asking us to do it throughout all the youth activities that want to utilize our facilities, all the vendors that come upon our facilities. Um, and I think my biggest drawback here, as much as I want to do it, the biggest drawback is NICER is going to catch wind of this. And then what happens? Udica National, I keep saying that Udica National is already, we
071reached out to them to see if we can change and they have denied us. So, where do we go from there? That has nothing to do with, you know, a god forbid situation. It's got to do with nicer catching wind that we locally allowed that drop in coverage, which I'm sure deep down we all want to do that, but we're a fiduciary respon our fiduciary responsibility here as board members is for the district. And you know that old saying, it it a while ago. It can't happen in Highland, but the occurrences around the nation can happen anywhere at any time. And I don't want to be the naysayer here, but I'm looking at it as our fiduciary responsibility to the district. Where do we go? Al, are you worried about um Nicer catching on? Obviously
072we are. Um what what what are their options? What would they do? What do you think they would do if we did this without their Okay. Would they deny us insurance or they make it? Do we want to chance it or would there's there's a risk factor in a lot of things in life? I mean, if we go to ask them, what are you going to do if we Well, no, I'm not saying ask him. I didn't say ask him that. I'm just saying if you just do it and it goes through, everything's fine. They get wind of it. They get wind of it. And at that point, what do they do? Raise our rates or goodbye. You We We're not going to insure you. I I guess I guess they could raise your rates.
073I guess they could say goodbye. I guess they could do anything. I mean, ask a lot of community members. Car car insurance. They'd drop you like that and you had no occurrences. They'll drop you. That's just the way insurance is today. I mean, look at what they got of the billions and billions and billions of dollars they got to shell out for all these. Yeah, insurance companies are wealthy. They reinvest and reinvest, but they're paying out a lot. So, they drop you in a heartbeat. I've known people had car insurance with the same company for 30 years and got dropped because of no reason at all. I'm sure we all have some people that we know it's happened to. So ideally we have we have town has Tony Williams as a site that's acceptable. Um
074I know the issue with the vend the town business owners and stuff some of them would take a hit on that night. My thing is inter in enter uh municipal agreement IMA um if we entered into that with the town um how to Tony Williams and then our end of the inter you know the inter municipal agreement would be providing busing back to this site but I don't think I think it's too late for the town to really to really as point for maybe in the future. Oh dear, David said that. Yeah, I can't hear you. I said I'll figure the future out, Tom. I'm only worried about this year. I'll get through this year and I will I and the town board will figure out the future. All I'm worried about is this year.
075And and by the way, I have the same problem with Nimmer. They're exclusive, so nobody else can bid it. And I'm sure it's the same problem in Nicer. They won't drop you. They'll just keep raising your rates. They raised mine another 20% last year, and they'll probably raise it another 20% this year because I can't bid it out anywhere because they're exclusive to our region for NRA. They're an insurance reciprocal. You're not supposed to get hurt with claims, but the claims are supposed to be spread, but you do get hurt with them. So, I understand I understand the business they're in. Yeah. Okay. And uh but I'm only worried about this year now, Tom. I will figure this out with the rest of the town board. Thank you. I mean, I I our our cleanest
076way is to try to fund it. That's our That's our cleanest way at this point. We we fund it for one year only. As Davis said, they'll they'll work around that for the future. I think that was one of our concerns earlier that how do we you know what happens next year, the year after the year after. I mean I I don't think it we're going to go to next year and the year after. Um we can fund it. Is it going to open up a can of worms? Absolutely. Um somehow you know we have to look at the other groups that are coming in that can't support the requirements of how we can work with them. Um so you know I'll I can't make the decision alone. It's got to be the full board.
077So I'm open it up for discussion. I have one more question. Sorry Dave. Can you come up again? I'm sorry. Has there bring getting your steps in. I apologize. Um, has there been discussion with the vendor about them getting the insurance that they require and how much that would be? It cost them $6,000,5600 and they won't ever use it again because nobody else requires it. He told me the only time they get a bigger umbrella is if they're doing a show at the Meadow Lands or something of that size. for these small shows, they never require more than five million. That's why I think nicer standard is incorrect. That's my opinion. Right. Right. But um you know they they they don't we've asked them to buy it. So they said, "Well, it's good for you
078if you have it." But they're saying, "Well, no, it's not because there's no ROI for them, right? They won't get additional business for it." So they will not entertain the possibility of even Well, they have to buy it and I paid for it last year. That's what I would do again this year if we choose to go forward. And as I said, I talked to to three other vendors, Fireworks Extravaganza, Legion, and the one we use, July Forever. They're all 5 million. That seems to be the standard. And then there was a fourth one we reached out to who didn't respond back to us, but that appears to me to be the industry standard is 5 million. That's what they carry. Okay. So, why nicer has a higher requirement? I I can understand if it's
079a nightclub or a warehouse or residential, but not an open field. Okay. So maybe that's what's off. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I'll I'll not speaking for Dave, but I'll you know we throw something else out there that we we share we share the cost. Another avenue possibility. I guess the question is how do you do that without an agreement without it being viewed as a gift of public funds? I would say on our end the justification can be there. I mean we do use town facilities. Uh that justification could cover the u rental of those facilities for this year only. Um where it goes from here it's not up to us. I mean, we're we're we're documenting it as as rental of facilities. Desmond's not here and I don't want to speak to him, but
080speak for him. He would have all the legal checkpoints. I mean, again, there's no there's no under the table work here. It'll all be out in the open. It's all going to be vetted. You know, we need a mechanism here to work with our m municipality. Come on up. General comments. Um you had read off a list um with the prices for for sports um something that I'm involved in at at both the youth level and working with you directly to to build our varsity programs as well which we agreed starts at our feeder programs our our kindergarten students moving all the way through. What are the costs again? Can you read those numbers off if you don't mind? Uh the umbrella and excess insurance for general use is 1 million. Organized athletic leagues is
081three million each occurrence in aggregate. Athletic and recreational camps is 5 million each occurrence in aggregate. Carnivals and fireworks displays 10 million each occurrence in aggregate. So for youth sports, there's probably not a league in this town that meets that aggregate of three million. They're all five. Well, I I I think for most of them, because when I was involved in Lily, it's 2 million, right? So, you're going to look for 1 million to cover that 3 million. And I know, you know, I I look at my involvement with youth softball and baseball. That's a league that's struggling financially. Um they did end up having to pay for it over the winter, you know, and we pushed hard to get these facilities, and they're beautiful facilities. Um, I I don't see our leagues and our
082youth I they're going to end up doing it, but every way we spin this, whether the town pays for the fireworks, whether the youth pays for their their leagues and their additional insurance, it's just it's all getting passed back on to me, the taxpayer, you know, it's, you know, and I don't think these leagues are going to be able to access the facilities that we pushed really hard to get. Um, and I think that's what a lot of people are asking at this point where how do we make them accessible because I don't know even if there some of the leagues can actually get insurance above and beyond what they have because they get their insurance through the league. So for example like lacrosse in youth football they buy their insurance through the league. That's
083what they offer. It's a one shot oneshot price. So I'm going to give you an example. We want to do a free football clinic for youth, for Highland youth that are enrolled in Highland Youth football here on our turf this summer. Two of our students are doing this as a as their capstone project through um the Civic Seal of Readiness. We can't use the fields. They need $5 million of insurance. I'm going to have two 17-year-old boys go out and buy $5 million and put that liability onto themselves to you to do something that would be a a a community service event for students that are already enrolled and we're already paying for the insurance of the school district to use this and the taxes on the on the on the buildings. There's there's got
084to be a better way. I agree with you. Uh I think I've said at several meetings that we need to bring all our youth groups into a general meeting and kind of let them they got to brainstorm what these requirements entail. So, we have a feeling uh I'm going to use, you know, Babe Ruth. If they their general liability is 2 million and NIC are looking for three, what is the cost of that additional million dollar premium to get that excess up? Let's just say it's $600. I mean, Dave said for five million it's 6,600. Say it's $1,000 and they have 200 kids in their program. It's $5 more for registration. I mean, I I used this when I ran little league for 40 something years. That that was my back then it was a
085little different. You know, it was, you know, why why, you know, smoke that extra pack of cigarettes? I mean, I'm talking 40 years ago. You save that $45 and you pay for your kids registration. It's a little different now, but of course I we I need to let them know what that is going to cost all these youth programs so we have a good feel of what it is. Gotcha. You know, just like now we know we knew from last year that it's a little over 6,000 to provide that extra 5 million, but we don't know what what it how the impact is on our youth programs. And I think we need them to come forward. And so if I'm hearing we reach out to them and what you're asking for is the leagues that
086I'm involved in. I'll I'll convey that message back to them. Yeah. Even if it's a written document saying this is what it's going to cost so we have a and this is what our enrollment is so we can analyze it and say hey you know you raise it $5 it covers it or it's it looks like it's a lot of money because you don't have a big enrollment and we'll have to right see what we could do or uh get some local vendors to support them to pay for it. you know, there's there's avenues there. There are, but uh but we don't I don't know what what their the impact is to them, right? And and and I'm just going to joke with this a little bit. In in 93 when I was playing little
087league for you, it was what $25 $30 a student at that point or an athlete at that point in time. It's it's $180 now at a minimum for a kid to play a sport in this community, you know. And then you add $5, it's 185. And then the jersey price goes up $3. Now it's$187,88. And then you keep adding up costs. It's going to be $200 before we're before we're said and done. What does it take to send your child or daughter to your son or daughter to daycare? Of of course the cost of everything is going up. That's the way it is. What can we control at the local level so that we can provide that access for our students, for our community as we push this field? This was a community project and
088you know there are people on this board. We worked hard to get this community to buy this project and I'm proud of it. I'm looking forward to opening day of of football season on this field. But I I really I'm I'm looking more forward to watching our youth enjoy this for the next 50 years while I'm here, you know, and and I I worry that we're setting ourselves up and we're we're creating an exclusive situation here rather than an inclusive situation based off of allowing the insurance company to govern what we're what we're doing, you know. Um, and I I I speak that, you know, with sincerity. I I I love what you guys do and I support you 100%. But I have kids here. I have kids, families, friends that have kids, and I'd
089love to see them have access to our facilities. That's, you know, and I think I share the sentiment with everyone here. I don't disagree with you. Right. Thank you. Yeah. I don't think anybody disagrees with that last part of that sentiment. I mean I don't as having kids in the community as well. Um my conflict is just really going against what our insurance company is requiring for us. That is correct. Ice hockey is pretty expensive. I I I I I think I think to move this along I mean we have couple avenues to take. I mean the first one and don't take this negatively but we can deny everything and just move on. Um second one is I don't think at least I can't turn my back and move it forward knowing that nicer is
090already aware from last year and possibly this year that this discussion is out there. The last one would be how do we help support it either fully or partially. I think that's the decision that we have to make. I mean you can make any one of those three decisions but I think that's the only three that we can move forward on. Deny everything totally turn our backs to nicer or support it fully or partially. tough decision, but I think we have to have that conversation. Otherwise, we're going to be here and keep everybody here for another two or three hours. I know I'm really pushing my limits right now. And Dave, you can answer right from where you are. You don't have to get up. Would the town be at all open to splitting the
091cost of that extra insurance? I think Right. Absolutely. Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. No, it's just a question just in terms of kind of what we're talking about. I um um just if they can't, what's our next move? If they can't, if the rest of the board says no to supporting that, we don't have another meeting till July 1. Yep. We can call a special meeting. I mean I if we get the consensus here that we can move forward somehow we can call a special meeting Dave with another scenario to the town to split the cost. Maybe throw that out. Now we're looking at shared service. Jen, Janine, Tom, Mike thoughts for more conversation. Yeah. I mean, we've done it before. We've had a meeting on the 26th of graduation night, but I don't know if
092you want to wait that long. And I don't know if I don't think he's going to be able to wait that long. would have to be right after because the permits and all that would have to go through. If we have anything for the town board to decide, I would want to have something right after so that we can have it decided and the town can figure out which way to go. Exactly. Yeah. And the permit to New York State, I can't submit it until I have all of the insurance documents and all the extracts, the IDs, all of that information. So until they settle on, you know, the the company, I can't submit anything to state dead. I understand that. But if I'm I'm I can't just to move to move it along a
093little bit. I'm just going to ask the board members for just to pull you in a decision or your feelings of full support or partial support. I mean, we got to know if we're going to generate a special meeting after Dave gets the opportunity to speak with his board. Um, if you're willing to do partial, full, or turn your back partial and we would still need the educational component so that it does not it's not looked at as a gift of public funds. That's if we're going to be partnering, we need that educational component. Well, we would, like I said earlier, we would fund, we would push it through as a rental of an athletic space. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And that's what I was, you know, if there's um we might need some time to
094approach it differently. In other words, the resolution as it stands right now that we were looking to do doesn't sound like there's support for that. Joel. Um, but I think that some additional u strategies need to be explored, you know, and and that might be legal calling the towns legal with some background and have them talk about and see if a solution emerges. Um, we if you're still pulling the board for where their support is full or half, I'm at full. And you know, I'm I'm looking to help the community continue its traditions. This is a really, really tough spot. I am all for being community-minded. It's what I love about Highland and I value about Highland. I respect that there are um vendors that benefit from these events. I'm also struggling with being mindful
095of the use of our funds and what they're supposed to be used for with um education educational programs. I don't have a clear path on what I want to do. I am in support of this event and I do not want to be a roadblock to it. But I also want to be mindful that we're not opening that can of worms. That if we craft some agreement to support this, then how do we turn down every youth program, every educational program that needs, you know, a bump here, you know, a partnership here? Like I I don't want to h I feel like we're the villain no matter what we do. We're the villain if we're the roadblock to this event. We're the villain if we have to turn other youth programs down. I am in
096support of the event. I do not want to be a roadblock. I'd love to think of creative ways to do this so that we are financially responsible and that we're putting the students and education and the funds for them first. Um it's not an answer yes or no. Um, I'm really struggling with what path to take here because there's a case on all fronts on how to do this. So, I'd be curious as to what the town says in partially funding um so that we have a clearer path that way and what other ways we could earmark this without being in violation of our insurance or putting us on the radar for anything of that nature. So that's kind of where I stand. Um, either way is fine with me, partial or full. Of course,
097I would lean towards partial, but I think we're we're getting Dave's word that it's a one-time situation that after this year, they're going to look for another venue or insurance carriers around the the state that changes their requirements, but uh otherwise, you know, it's going to be back and forth. This is your year, this is your year. And that's not productive because as Kevin says, it comes out of the same pocket. It comes out of the taxpayers. Just where is it funneled through which entity? But uh I would support either one more so the partial this way. Excuse me. We have the shared service there and we're sharing the cost. Uh when it comes down to the other organizations, like I said, we got to bring them in. we got to get a a good
098feel of where they are with their requirements. I guess I'll speak next. Um, obviously as I mentioned earlier, I am in support of the event itself. Um, it is a great community event. We all I know I have always attended it. Um, from the school district perspective and from my duties as a trustee on the board of education and the fiduciary responsibilities we have, I cannot support it. It's hard because we're here for the stu we're here for the students to educate them, but we're also here for community. And our community and our students, they they go hand in hand. I I struggle with the idea of assisting with funding when we've turned other organizations from from Boys and Girl Scouts to various athletic programs away because they have not had this. And these are
099this these are our students who go through these doors every day. So I struggle with that aspect of it. I also do not want the event not to happen because again it is a big community event. It is Fourth of July. It is why we are all here. So with that said, I would support partial but Mr. Rizzo, I really hope that we can get these other organizations in here and get an idea of how much insurance they have, what they would be able to do, how much additional, what that additional looks like. Because if we're going to help, right? If we're going to help in this situation or we're going to help in other situations, then that we need to know where we're at. It's got to be a meet halfway. So, we got
100to get these organizations in here to see like what they have so we can because if we're going to help with the town, we got to look at other creative ways to help with other organizations because again, we went out for this field. We went out to the community to support the capital project. We got to let people use this. Otherwise, what is it going to collect? Dust. Okay. I believe the general feeling is that we're going to move forward support in a partial or full uh but also uh make sure that we entertain the concerns of all the other youth organizations in the community. Um so does that I think you know during however we make a decision to cover all the outdoor organization outside organizations uh we have to look at that and
101see what the cost implication is and move it to a line item in our budget. Does that mean we're asking administration to put together an educational component to this? No. I think if we uh the decision that we make, we're going to u fund it through uh the the rental of of the sports facility. It's it's going to be a one time only paid expense. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, I think at this point we'll we'll wait for Dave's response from uh his board. We'll try to generate a special meeting some point in time. uh once we hear to kind of meet quickly um have that conversation again and move it to a resolution. Okay. Anybody else have any public comment? All right. Uh nothing else. We'll ask for an adjournment. Motion. Motion by Heather,
102second by Tom. All those in favor? I opposed. So carried. Thank you.