001Good afternoon and welcome to the finance and capital management committee meeting. Today we have with us the committee members uh member uh Harrison and member uh Dr. Molinar. So if we could have a motion to uh approve the previous meetings minutes, I would appreciate it. Motion to approve previous meeting minutes. So move. Uh so that's a second from from member Harrison. All those in favor? I those opposed. Thank you. So we're going to start with um our uh agenda here. Uh there I see no one is here that that uh has requests uh to address the board. So we would hear from our treasurer, treasurer Ber, our official treasurer Ber [laughter] uh and we would hear from him and the uh requests and the September finance report. Welcome treasurer. Thank you. Uh, President or uh,
002[clears throat] Chairman Sykes, Represent Dr. Waln, nice to see you. I apologize for the chaos at the start. I I um I literally spent all day working on this stuff and still just didn't get to the deadline on time. So, [snorts] we'll jump right into the financial report. Okay. more technical difficulties. I apologize. So, we're now 25% of the year uh 25% through the school year. 3 months in, our first quarter has ended. Um we are now starting to see that the numbers are going to reflect the forecast a little more closely. Um, up until now we've we've seen some weird variances where we were looking like we're maybe going to have some money at the end of the year that we didn't say we were going to have. So now now it's tightened up
003um a little bit. So we'll go through how that how that shakes out. um in the top three uh tiles there, this is showing our um revenues, expenditures, and cash balances for September of this year versus September of 24. Um and you can see that our revenue this year was up 23.7 million this year. Expenditures are down 7.9 compared to last year, which is a uh and our cash balance is 14.2 higher. Now, this seems again like I'm talking, you know, in circles, but we did pass that levy in November of 24 last year. That's why that revenue is so much higher. We're monitoring our expenses very closely right now with the current climate. So, and we didn't make a big textbook purchase earlier this summer. So, we'll talk about the details of these a
004little bit more, but this is why our cash balance is where it is. And the the next uh set of tiles there [clears throat] is the same information but for the whole quarter. Our revenue is trending 6.7 higher. Expenditures are down and our our uh [clears throat] net potential trend is for 12.4 but we're going to see very shortly that we're actually on pace to meet this. So, I apologize. This is not the [snorts] PDF I need right here. This this here, this June 30 cash balance is incorrect. That that is not where we're going to end up. In your paper documents you have in front of you is the correct version. So, we're actually going to be spending down to 78. three of the Okay, we got we got it. We'll be able to
005follow it. So, that's 78,413,961. Correct. Okay, we can follow it. Um [clears throat] I worked Friday afternoon on this with our consultant and did not get this link updated apparently. So, back to that slide, that that bottom section there. [snorts] Those blue and gray bar graphs show our cash balance over the last two years. Gray is last year, blue is this year. The blue has come up through September. You can see that spike. We're at about 138 million in the general fund right now. Yes, it's going to start to decline now because we received our fall um property tax amounts. we will no long we've collected all of that so far. That's our second half amount. Now we're going to start spending that down and then you can see it'll start to go back up
006again in February, March, April. That's when we'll receive our first half of next year. It'll somewhat mitigate that that decline and then we'll start to level off at the end of the year there. [clears throat] So, here's the revenue detail. You can see our local tax collections, like we've been saying, are up. This is showing the month to date versus the prior year year in more detail. Um, our so our local taxes are up 4.2 million, which is most of that four 5.3 million difference. We've also seen some state revenue come in that we weren't expecting necessarily more. in Homestead and roll back came in. You can't gauge when that's going to come in or how much. So that's that was a nice surprise. [clears throat] This is again is the detail through the quarter.
007So it's just showing the first three months and that's where that 23 million781 is broken down uh into three categories. Our property tax, state and all other revenue. And again, it's the um [clears throat] property tax driving that up along with that home center roll back. So this page here are our expenses for the in detail more detail. Uh salaries and wages are down negligibly at 266. The the total we're down is about 1.22 22 overall, which is, you know, when you're looking at 33 million, the only thing to really point to there is possibly um here. We're still hiring staff for the year, so we're a little bit low on that side for salaries and benefits. You're right. Okay. I'm sorry. We're at the bottom of page five now, right? Good. Okay. For the
008quarter. So this is expenses for the quarter. Um [clears throat] so we're down we're off 7.9 million from our estimate. We're that's actually lower. So like I said earlier, we didn't make a big textbook purchase earlier in the year last year. We made one in July of of $3.8 million. And Deb has assured me that we are monitoring our buildings and grounds very very closely this year. So we're we're down about 2 million over there, too. So that that makes up most of that that variance there. [snorts] Now this page is comparing the the the cash these financial reports to our forecast our five-year forecast. And you can see that we are so this this will have to go off our um Yeah. This one is off the paper report. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, because
009when I looked at this, it's like, "Guys, this cannot be right. This is this is we uh so you can see after we reviewed and entered in our forecast data to match what what we to line up better with what we have here, we are now trending about 717,000 off. And when you compare that to our $377 million in revenue, it's about.1%. So, we're very, very close there. Same thing on the expenditure side. It's even better. We're we're only off 431,000 there. So, our our estimates are very close to what we're what we were saying they were going to be through the first quarter of the year. I went through that very quickly. I've there any questions on on any of that so far? So the 707,328 that we originally which number is correct? The
010number we see on the screen. No, this here. The number that is the stuff in front of you. Okay. All right. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. I literally ran upstairs to put this version on this drive and I don't know what happened. Well, what we normally work on if something can go wrong, it will. So, that's that's Yeah. Thank you. That's just life. Let's keep we'll keep moving. But as long as we we're constantly updating our numbers and staying on top of it, that's the main thing I think we want to be concerned about. Every chance I have. Yes, it's [clears throat] fluent. You know, we expect it to be. Okay. All righty. Okay. So, we then have the bank wreck. Okay. The next page, we are sitting at about $254 million across all accounts.
011Yes. About 138 million of that is general fund, which is what all of our discussion is about there, right? Um, we do that to, you know, ensure completeness and make sure we're tying out everything properly. We also have attached an investment review from our largest investment um company. So we we invest with Redry Star Ohio and then we have the balance of our general fund money in Huntington which is like our operating money that dayto-day needs. Uh this what this is showing is that through the first quarter the red tree investment money netted about $435,000. We plan to make we are estimating that we'll make about 2.2 in there and we're right on track to do that this year. Mhm. Um [clears throat] overall just in general or we're projecting 2.7 million in investment income
012this year across all funds. Great. We're right on track for that. Wonderful. and I appreciate you providing this information. [clears throat] That's all for the monthly report. Yes, there's a question from committee members. Dr. Mona, not a question, but a a comment. I want to say that I really appreciate I will acknowledge this was not exactly specifically what you intended, but I want to acknowledge that I appreciate that um I see the hard work that you put into this and it is um for those of you watching at home, it's literally his job to predict the future with millions of dollars. And um it's not easy and there might not be one uh clear right answer. And that's what that's what I'm learning here and seeing from you is you saw an answer and you
013went back and reworked it and brought us an answer that you think is uh more usable for us and so I appreciate that. Thank you. Of course. Yeah. [clears throat] Member Harrison. Um thank you, Madam Chair. Is there any um projections that concern you? They they look accurate. I keep saying I'm digging into the details and I am. I I'm I'm line by line going through and making sure that what was there before I took over makes sense and it's just there's a lot. So in in the time I'm I have like last night as I sitting there going through the operating stuff I it it I will let you know if I see anything and we'll have to tweak the forecast if we find anything and I'm hopeful that we'll find something, you know,
014that that's positive. That's positive. Yeah. That goes in the good you in a good direction. Thank you. Sure. Okay. So, if there's no more questions from the committee members, um [clears throat] we will move on to you have a section here now called miscellaneous. Yeah. I just I thought instead of having a million slides with various topics like oneliners, we could just run through there's a bunch of things going on in the finance department every week. I thought we could just I could just touch on them and if you have questions um we could we could discuss it. So first off we have the performance audit engagement letter did come back. Okay. Uh the the uh cost is going to be 114 114,000. The cost is going to be 114,000. [laughter] I will forward you
015the engagement letter. Uh, I was advised by council to send it back and get something changed and then we'll we'll get it into the the the rotation and you can approve it or not at the next board meeting. Board meeting. Not the third, but the the one after that. So, um, so that so the second meeting in November, yeah, is when you will bring the engagement letter. Okay. I'll try to get it for the third, but we're already way past the deadlines, right? Yeah. So, okay. [clears throat] Um, and then our regular financial audit is ongoing. They've come in about a month ago and my team is pulling data constantly. Deb's also in the middle of pulling data for them. I just it seems to be going well. We we are answering all the questions
016and and making sure they're happy. That's all we can do. Um, the So, any questions on the financial audit? Uh, any [clears throat] questions from committee members? So when we receive the engagement letter, will we see exactly what the auditors what we have agreed upon that the auditors will review? Yes. So the performance audit engagement letter details everything that they plan to do and the cost associated with that with each one. Will it give an estimated time of completion? I did not notice that in there. Nor a time of like a start date. Yeah. Okay. So they did say it was going to be potentially six months before they could even get started. All right. And the the final uh comment is that at one point you mentioned that the board is we can meet
017with the auditors to just talk generally about some areas and some concerns. Those meetings are not covered by sunshine law. So the entire board could meet with the auditor and discuss where they're at, what they're talking, what they're working on now, and and it wouldn't have to be an open public meeting. Well, you know, I don't mind it being an open public meeting. I just want to make sure that we all get we get an opportunity to do this. So whether it's the total board or the finance committee, at least one of us, one group of us, the finance committee, but I suspect the total board would want to be engaged and involved in that conversation. Okay. And as they and I don't mind I I think it'll be fine to be open to the
018public, but uh uh we would like to set that up as Yeah, I'll work with them on how that works, like how much time they spend before we schedule one. Okay. They're working on that. Sounds good. Um I wanted to touch on the JBR situation. So, we had scheduled a meeting, but we have pushed that back a little bit as the legal counsel from the city and our legal council discuss a new agreement arrangement. Um, they'd like to bring that before we get together. So we we there needs to be some sort of um agreement that we would have a reason to be meeting to talk about because the current agreement is um has ended and it only applied up through the CLC building period and the new one a new one would have to
019start up now. [clears throat] Okay. Pass Harrison, I know you have something. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I I have um and uh for the record, I'm I'm also speaking to Superintendent Outley who's in the meeting. Um the JBR, the agreement between the city um and the district and and you mentioned um that the city's attorneys and our legal council are looking at the agreement. Um, and I think it's um um I want to put it on the table that um we would like to see an agreement. How what we're looking at the agreement before it's presented to us as a um finished product that we say yes or no to. Um because I think there's some historical data and knowledge um that we want to be sure that we're agreeing to. Um that's what's
020presented in front of us is not a finished product, but we are part of that process. Madam Superintendent, did you Yeah, a draft that Right. That's what I was going to say. A draft that we could bring forth. And just for the public, Madam Superintendent, would you explain what the agreement generally does? This would give us guidance on how we're going to operate without the state portion because when we originally had the LFI funds, it was a portion from the state, a portion from the city, and then the schools. And we are no longer under that agreement. So, we need a new agreement. And this is dealing with our community learning with our u community learning centers. Yes. And the other piece that we did not hear about was the arbitrage that uh they wanted
021that to be also settled because then each body would have to vote on the use of the funds. So that needs to also take place. Yeah. Well, uh, what opinion is that that each body I mean the voters have already voted on the purpose of the funds and I understand that the mayor wants city council to vote correct on that's that's what the mayor wants city council to do. I don't know if we're really actually required to do that because it's already the voters have already voted that the community learning centers the the levy money is for schools shall come to schools and schools are the only one in the business of community learning centers and so I think it it is the money that will come to the school however that's fine yeah so
022that agreement would be the mechanism that they could allow us to use that money with. That's well well I'm just making it very clear it's not them allowing us. The voters have already voted this and said that these funds are to go to community learning centers. Correct. And we have passed our resolution saying that this school will be a community learning center and therefore the money will come to us. But uh in in cooperation and working with the city, we want to do everything that we can to make it a smooth transition. Uh the bottom line is that uh we want to make sure that the money comes to Akran public schools and our community learning center. Uh but but it's not as if we're seeking their permission to do so. The voters have already
023given us the permission to do so. But I understand what you're saying, treasurer, and and that's nice of you and this and the superintendent. Um, so [laughter] you had you had you had asked me about Steve Keenan. Um, we did file all of your requests with the city prosecutor, the IRS, the state auditor's office, and the Ohio Ethics Commission, and the IRS. They've all been filed. We have not heard back anything yet, but that's all been done. So, just to make sure clarific clarifications and the treasur is making reference to the fact that the the board did vote to refer uh items to uh any authorities that may be able to look uh at our at a uh situation that we wanted to see if uh if there's anything else that we should be concerned
024about within the school system as it relates to how we handle our monies. Uh, and so those uh, referrals have been made and you have not heard anything back from them. Okay, that's all the miscellaneous updates I have tonight. Okay, so I'm going to move on to the uh, I went to APS financial facts. All right, I just wanted to touch on the payroll. Okay, numbers just was near and dear to my heart. I've done this for the last seven years. So, just I thought you might find it interesting. Um, you can see here that the total wages and benefits we process for the last three years there. Last year it was $310 million. We paid taxes of $31.4 million. We paid retirement contributions of $31.8 million. And 24, we're using 24 because those are
025the W2s. We're not done with this year yet. So to be consistent with the next page which shows our processing numbers. So the types of payrolls we process up there. We've processed 147. You can see I've got that slightly down. We used to do 20 or 48 bi-weekly pays. I removed an entire bi-weekly pay and just do 26 now. Um we've also reduced number of supplemental pays. We used to do 11. Now we then we did seven. I we have it down to five. We're trying to make that more streamlined. We've talked about everybody going to 24 pays because you can see the number of processes that is and you can only imagine what that calendar looks like. Yeah. Having the semionthly and the bi-weekly every other week coming due. So it's it's a lot
026of coordinating effort and with HR and our team and um so these are the number of the in the middle there the AC's process that's our electronic pay numbers we processed 106,000 109,633 of those and then we've got our checks way way down because they're not as secure so we're working on getting that to zero we're down to that's a total of 110,9 95 pays we processed last year. When you say our checks, you mean physical checks. So you're saying that we don't just deposit direct deposit everyone. We do. So the AC's those are electronic deposits. The 109633 in the middle there. That is that's the number of paid checks electronically delivered. Okay. 2024. Okay. and we only had to pass out 1,272 paper checks. Okay, we're slowly trying to remove that. We have an
027option. We think that we'll be able to do away with that completely. Um, and that number just that comes out to about seven paychecks an hour worked for the Just throw that out there. It's an interesting fact. And we also issued 4,718 W2s last year. Okay. And that,272 checks, those are errors, unusual situations that you had. No, we just Some employees want a paper check still. And there may be certain scenarios they're in where they can't get a bank account. So, that's the uh that's the solution we're looking at to give them a card that they can be paid on instead. We just haven't found the one we like yet because I don't want any fees. I don't want our employees to be able to borrow on that. So, I'm trying to find that option.
028We'll get there. But, um, yeah, it's just the checks are just not safe. People copy them, right, and submit them, you know? So, we we've pretty much gotten away from that. That's all I had. thought you might find that if you find this kind of stuff interesting, I can populate slides like this for every finance meeting where we can talk about another area of the school district. [snorts] And that's I don't know for the other committee members if they find this interesting or not. I actually do, but Okay. I don't know. I mean, if I'm boring you to death, I won't do that again. But if if you do find it something, I think it's good stuff. I I mean I'm amazed that 1272 people still get paper checks within our system. It's 1272 checks.
029I don't know how many not necessarily people. Okay. How many times the same person got their physical checks. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I think it's interesting and probably not every committee meeting but but maybe every once every six months or so, every quarter or so, we we'll we'll talk about these types of things because this is all saving money for us. the number of of uh of various uh yeah trying to streamline everything transactions that we the least number of transactions that we can make. I understand that's that's that's saving money for the system. So thank you. We appreciate it. Of course. I I'm going to turn it over to Deb Folk now. Okay. Let me do that if you don't mind. I'm sorry. [laughter] Thank you. So I if there's no more questions from
030the committee members uh for the treasurer then we will go into uh uh we're going to talk about the construction update. Good evening. Thank you madam chairman Sykes member Molnar member Harrison superintendent and treasurer. Um, the first one I wanted to give you an update on is Pyer and Miller South. And if you give me a minute, it should Whoops. Okay. Technology is just so fun. All right. Um, this is a slightly different slide, but really what was important and I have Zach. The first update is for Piper Miller South and we were at the planning commission meeting um uh and presented for the certificate of starting the construction with the planning commission meeting. They did approve this. So now their next section is a public comment time that is prior to seeking prior approval
031and in talking to Mr. Antonucci after the meeting he felt that this could be sometime in November. We actually need this approval to allow the project to go forward. But the one thing I wanted to give you tonight, if I can get them, are the first views that Zach presented at the meeting. Oh, yay. It worked. Uh, these are the outside views for the front of the new Piper Miller South complex. And this is the actual front view. And you will see as you're looking at it, I want you to look at that beautiful entrance. It is a dual entrance. So, if as I stand here and you look at it, the building to your left will be the Piper location for the complex and the building to your right will be the Miller South
032one. Then I also have Whoops. Well, Bla, really? Okay, let's get Maybe I found the thing you didn't want to find, right? Scott, can you come up and give me a hand, please? Where'd he go to? Oh, thanks. All right. So, now I have view two of the entrance again from another angle. And that is actually showing this is one of the questions that Pastor Harrison had earlier. This is the actual parking lot and you're coming in off of Battles and you will be proceeding down past the building. So what you're seeing at this corner of this pro presentation is the actual Miller South side of the building. Now, let's go back here. Okay. Nope. It doesn't want to do that either. H. There it goes. Hello. Next one over. There we go. There we
033go. Okay. Okay. And then I have a third one for you also that and this is also from battles. So we just wanted you to see we took these to the meeting. We got very good comments about the colors and items. So we're very very excited that this project is moving forward and hope to get you a final construction permit to move forward. The reason this is important is because the actual property is zoned residential and you need to have this other permit to [clears throat] allow the school to be built on the property. And if you had any questions for Zach, I did bring him with me tonight. Any questions that you're more than welcome to ask. Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. I I just have a qu clarification or um a clarifying
034question. It was my understanding that all schools are built in residential areas and so [snorts] that's a common practice that you have to get the dual zoning. Yes, that is correct. Okay. I did want to advise you that the next community meeting for this project is being held on January 14th of 2026 and we will be using the Chemmore Community Center again and it is from 5 to 7 7:00 p.m. And we have worked with uh the superintendent um and we're looking for a groundbreaking the second week of March. For those of you who would like to know dates, it's between March 9th through March 14th. And we're working through the superintendent to work with the mayor's office to have an official groundbreaking. Okay. My second update for you this evening, before you go any
035further on this one, let me just say that I know I know that we keep saying Fifer Miller South and and and as people start to hear that, it it it kind of gets starts to become the name of the school. And I know we have not officially named the school. So that is just what you were calling it now, but it is not the official name that the board has agreed upon. That is correct. Just to just to just to clarify that and not to uh make anyone think that we get down the road and then all of a sudden things are changing. Understand? Okay. All right. The second one I have is an update on the North High construction project. Um attached here is the presentation that was provided to by Moody Nolan
036who are the design professionals at the meeting that was held on October the 9th. It is already on the website and anybody who would like to look at that presentation is welcome to do so. I'm not going to go through it all because it was very well done and we actually even had an interactive meeting where we could take comments that night. We took the form from that night and also made it available and I have attached it here. Again, we took out this particular uh QR code, but we have now got this also on the website and we have can make comments through that. Um, Mr. Principal Morrison has also given it to his staff again. So, we also will present to you next the fact that we received eight vendor responses to the
037RFQ seeking an owner's representative for this project. They came in on Monday the 13th of October. The APS and legal council reviewed the responses. It was determined that one vendor could not move forward as they did not respond correctly to what was requested. So therefore, we had a remaining seven vendors that were fully vetted and determined their rankings. And we are presenting to the board at the November 3rd meeting a resolution will be forthcoming seeking approval of the rankings and we have gone over that with internal legal counsel as well this morning. Okay. Thank you. Of course. Okay. Help me here. All righty. No, I don't want to add text. I do love these programs. But all of this is on the website. Yes. including the model pictures for for absolutely middle South and yes
038they were added. Great. Okay. And when we say website, could you say exactly what is the the address for the website? What uh it is www.acranchools and it is all one word.com. Okay, excuse me for a minute. www.acranchoolschools.com so they can go and they can see exactly what we're talking about and what you're presenting to us today. That is correct. Great. Okay. The next update I have for you is on the book CLC stadium construction project. Okay. Following the board's approval of the CMR vendor rankings that occurred at the 106 meeting, contract negotiations with the number one ranked firm were begun and recently completed. A recommendation will be added to the board meeting of November the 3rd, seeking final approval of the vendor's negotiated contract for the board to approve. This is an exciting part
039of this process because this will now move our design and our CMR to move forward with an actual starting of the construction with a hopeful ending date and opening in August of 2026. And then the final update I have this evening, as you all remember, we unfortunately lost the Elllet Fieldhouse due to a fire. And Paul Davis, representative, who was the uh instruction construction manager provided by the insurance vendor, is now handling that restoration and they are meeting with the athletic coaches. The funding has come in to secure the replacement of the equipment lost um due to the fire. Some of it was reclaimed but others were not. So they're meeting for us to make the selection. And at this time I can advise we [snorts] feel that this whole project will be done by
040mid December of 2025. Okay. Thank you. Any questions from committee members? Member Molina. Thank you. Not a question of a comment of clarification. Um for anyone who is watching and would like to visit the website. Um I I didn't expect anyone to have it memorized, but um the pathway to find it is uh exactly what uh Miss Vulk said, the akranchools.com, but then you have to go to about APS, then departments, facility services, and then there's the link for the APS construction projects. So that way people don't have to spend time searching. [laughter] All right, Superintendent. Thank you. Um, thank you, member Molinar. I was going to actually have Scott come up and demonstrate very quickly. There's another way that we put it on the uh landing page that we thought may be a little
041easier for our public to get to. Okay, great. Nice. But it's the same address. It's www.acrinschools.com. ainschools.com and then if you scroll down you should see it right there where it says building projects on the bottom right. Okay. So just same as soon as you get there scroll. We wanted it to be easier and not have to remember to go to departments and all that. Right. So yeah, you could just scroll down and then when they click on a link, it should take them to the information for each school. I have a question. Wonderful. Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a question about the North Build. Um while we were at North when we had the open house, a lot of people asked about the um artwork at the top of the older
042building. Um, have we given any thought to incorporating that into the new build? Actually, that is has come up in the uh discussion with the design professionals and see if we could take some of that terracotta off of the building in what we did similarly to say Garfield. If you remember, that terracotta went into the building and is along the wall along the gym in the library. We have done the same thing at Forest Hill. So, one of the requests that night was if you go up to the main entrance, can we save the Viking ship? That is a large rendering. It'll depend on what happens, but yes, the design professionals heard that and would like to consider it. That is a restoration part of this and sometimes they do come off very easily, but
043for the age of them, sometimes they're fragile and they break. So that will be a process talked about during the upcoming design and uh process and working with the eventual CMR. Okay. So if it's any way possible then we will try we will you it will happen if that's any way possible. All right. If there's nothing else did you did you have any anything you want to add? No. All right. Thank you. So, we will move on to board members event information. I think we've seen that. Unless there's something, Mr. Treasurer, that you want to add to that, uh, we will we'll move on. Uh, is there any unfinished business? If there's no unfinished business, if there's is there any new business? There's no new business, then may I have a motion to adjourn? So
044moved. All those in favor? I. Those opposed. All righty. So, today we're going to give you back u 16 of your minutes. Thank you. We appreciate it.