001Good afternoon and welcome to the Finance and Capital Management Committee meeting. I'm Barbara Sykes, chair of the Finance and Capital Committee um and chair of the capital Finance and Capital Management Committee meeting. Yes. Uh so joining us today is the co-chair uh Gregory Harrison and a member of the committee Dr. Renee Molinar. So if we could start off by approving the minutes from the previous meeting. Um if there is a motion. So move. Second. And uh before voting on this um I I noted that we did not note that there were uh public comments last last board meeting. So if we could kind of make note that there were public comments at the last committee meeting, I would appreciate that. So with that amendment, uh all those in favor I I those opposed. Okay. So,
002the eyes have it. We're going to get right into the meeting. Uh let me just say just for those who do not have a copy of the agenda that we're going to first hear from Dr. Thompson who will give us a fiscal health indicator report. Uh after that, Dr. Thompson will also give us the monthly finance report. Then we'll have the Kenmore project design update uh by our business affairs director, Mrs. Folk. Uh then we will have our budget update for the Kenmore project by Dr. Thompson and Mrs. Folult and then uh we will talk a little bit about the architectural design contract of North High School. Uh and finally we will do the temporary approp appropriations update. Uh so um if there's no additional information that any board members would like to add then
003we will start with the fiscal health indicator report. Let me just say if there is a individual that would like to make comments uh no one has signed in but if someone should come in while the meeting is going on and give us the indication that they would like to make comments then I will recognize those the public. So Dr. Thompson fiscal health indicators report. Uh thank you madame chair um vice chair and member Molnar um and u superintendent Ali. So this is brand new fiscal health indicators. This is the first year that they have been applied to public schools. Uh it I believe they've done cities for at least a year or so. Uh so it is basically a report uh from the state auditor of Ohio. uh giving us indications of where they
004see us from 15 different uh vantage points as they look at our finances. So um it is again called the fiscal health indicator. It'll be done yearly and it is also please remember this is running a year behind. So this is measuring fiscal year 24 not fiscal year 25 which we are currently in. Mhm. So what is it? It this is just a report that just gives us exactly what it sounds like. You know, it's a physical basically of our finances, if you will. Um and again, it was previously with cities and counties and uh it's just monitoring for any financial pitfalls that you may be headed to. So that's what it is and how it works. It's based on financial statements gap and the report includes for us 15 indicators. Cities are 17 and
005these indicators will take a look at trends and ratios. How are we flowing from year to year? They're looking at balances, revenues, expenditures, assets, just general overall fiscal health. and they color code it much exactly like they do if you were to move into watch caution or emergency. So um and each uh each of these 15 indicators they've applied a color too. Green being positive, yellow being cautionary and red being critical. So the key findings came out of those 15 areas. Four of those critical outlook indicators are read. And again, you have the full report. It's in your packet. It was also attached to this um to this document. There are four that uh provide a cautionary outlook. Seven indicators are positive. And so the report says that if there are eight combined indicators that
006is the basically they're saying you know hey you need to take a look at what's happening you're under some fiscal stress which we know um this marries our 5-year forecast very very closely as you would expect and that's about the same timeline that we're looking at although I do have some positive news coming in a bit. Um, so that meets the criteria for the heightened fiscal stress under Ohio law. So that's where we would be if you were to look us up on this particular indicator. So the auditor did give us some recommendations to review and analyze critical and cautionary indicators uh which we are doing. We will have a report uh by the middle of July on our staffing levels. Just taking a third-party look, no charge to the district, third party look at
007how do we stack up versus similar districts in terms of um staffing levels, etc., etc. Um I think the exercise will help us with our EMIs and making sure EMIs is saying what we think it says. Um And so I think that will help us from just even a housekeeping situation. I put in a request also to the state auditor's office for a um for a fiscal audit and that is not an audit like we get done every year that says you're doing the right things with the money, the right pod, etc., etc. This is a different look. This is a look to see ways that they see again a third party to potentially reduce expenditures. So, um, so far I haven't gotten a reply. Well, I have gotten one reply back. Um, but I'm
008still trying to, uh, get through that office and get it started. And I had the same problem in a previous district trying to get this going. It took more time than I would have liked. um they you know they ask us to implement targeted financial planning which we are doing. Uh we're in the midst of moving into next year already in that regard and then um contact the auditor's office if we have any supports that we need done. And you can see again um it's called a performance audit and if we were to move into watch or caution or any other stage they would require it anyway. So, we're just getting ahead ahead of the game and to try to prevent it. And obviously, we we want to avoid falling into any of those colored
009statuses. So, that concludes my report on uh the fiscal health indicators. Thanks, Dr. Thompson. Uh before I ask if there's any questions from any committee meetings, I will admit it recognizing that our superintendent is with us. Welcome, Madam Superintendent. Any questions from committee members? Thanks, Dr. Thompson. So, we'll move right into the monthly financial report. So, the monthly financial report again, you have if you go through your packet past the auditors, you've got the actual report and then you've got a summary um also that I think kind of kind of helps. And let me make sure I can pull this up for people to view. Okay. Not sure why it's doing this. I've often been uh recruited to be the uh technical director with my expertise, which is totally zero. Um I don't know why
010why am I on this? I just wanted to open up that thing. Oh, see. Oh, because it's in your Google Drive. So, in the monthly financial report, I I'll I'll get this going. What you're going to see are we're obviously very close to being finished. Uh we're very close to knowing what exactly is going to be in House Bill 96 and knowing what our budget is and we are trending more positively than I've been forecasting. Uh is it not not not significantly but better. Um and I'd like to show it to you. Okay. Um USMC USMC got to be caps. Don't disrespect the No, no, no. What's your Oh, S. Thompson at Thompson 3. So, it's out in the ether. Okay. Now, that sounds like 876. Probably going to have to take out your phone
011for a seven. You're verifying your phone. Okay. I'm sorry. So, we're we're trending about $6 million more in revenue than anticipated. Um, so our our cash we're we're in deficit spending, but not as bad. Not. Thank you. Now we have close that. There it is. Getting there. Well, that won't work. You don't want it like that. I'll let it go down. I think it I don't think you can hear that. I just do that. Yep. Okay. Sorry for the delay. Um, what you're looking at right now is the the remember this report compares this month to the to year-over-year fiscal year and then it compares it which is u I think more critical the bottom half which is as it's compared to our our forecast. So, how far off are we? And revenues trending, as
012I said, a little over $6 million more in revenue uh than we had originally anticipated. We'll see when uh the final year closes, which is very, very soon. Um expenditure is a little um also favorable. Um so, you know, it's a roughly an $8 million swing. So, that I will update this along with House Bill 96 on our 5-year forecast. I'll bring it back to this committee and then to the board uh sometime in the month of July. I I'll I'll shoot for that July finance meeting to have everything um completely updated based on what we know. Um and just a couple of So, if you look at at that right box, that blue box, end of year, current fiscal year, it's it's saying $96 million right now and we were projecting about $89 million.
013So just eating still in deficit spending. Yeah. But eating a little bit slower into deficit spending. And I think what you'll see it in you you'll be able to see there are certain indicators that tell us basically why. And a lot of it has to do with of course our levy came in. So that's extremely helpful. Remember half the levy proceeds we collected in that in fiscal year 25. We'll have a full collection in fiscal year 26 which we are about to begin. But that what is what is really telling is um when you look at salaries and benefits we actually even with pay increases step increases we still spent less on salaries than we did the previous year. So that that is some of those reductions being held and helping us. Um we need
014to do it a little deeper uh a little more concentrated but um we're in a better position uh than again than than anticipated. So I I was glad to see despite the fact that we did have um you know the step increase a salary increase and significant increases in health insurance we still ended up on the right side of all of that. So that's that's good news that is that I was not uh forecasting. So that's where the the the real difference in expenditures is coming is from that area. So, so it's better than anticipated. It does not uh you know, and I'm waving the caution flag. You know, we have to be careful. We have to be on our do our due diligence. We got to make our reductions, but we're heading in the
015right right direction. Great. Thank you. Are there any questions from committee members? Uh just one question. So, we did get in our five-year forecast in a timely manner. We did. Thank you for Sam. Sam, you're out there. Appreciate you, Sam. All righty. Sam works in the in the tech department. He does a really good job of knowing exactly what needs loaded, how to load it, executes it, and I'm grateful for him. Okay. Wonderful. All right, Dr. Thompson, there's no questions on the monthly fiscal report, so we're going to move into the Kenmore project design update. [Music] Hello. Good afternoon, chairman, co-chairman, and member Molner along with Superintendent Utley. I do have brought you a team with me, and I will let them introduce your themselves for us as we get into the update on the
016Chemmore design project. Please. Thank you. They do look somewhat familiar. Good to see you again. Hello. Great to see you all. I'm Zach Forny with Prime AE, the architect on this project, and I'm the project manager with Prime AE. Good afternoon. My name is Scott Hoffman, and I'm with Palmer Conservation Consulting, and I am serving as the district's representative for the project. Good afternoon. Matt Collier, CEO, CTO, project executive. We're the CMR doing the construction. And you want to for the public explain CMR and the committee. CMR stands for construction manager risk. So we manage the uh bidding process, the building process and turnover of the actual building to the school district. Thank you gentlemen. Okay. I have an update for you. So if you would look at the screen that I have in front
017of you. originally advertised for the Miller South project once we had got the estimate out there was a building we were looking for. I am terribly sorry. Yes, sir. Do we have this somewhere? It It's hard to see this. Do we have handouts of this somewhere? Um I didn't bring handouts. I thought it would be I can certainly I have a handout if somebody would like it up here. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, we'll continue and we'll catch up and and looking at this as we as we When this building was put out for design, it was originally estimated at 150,000 56,000 square ft and the budget was 54 million. Now I will get into the budget in the second slide and that equated at that time to an approximate cost of $346.15 cents per
018square foot suggesting a possible opening date of August 2027. Currently, what came back in the design is 169,746 square ft at a cost through the work of our CMR of 67,21,951, which now equates to a square foot uh cost of $394.84. So therefore, there is the difference that you've heard of the $13 million. CTT on this slide refers to our wonderful CMR and they they had a call with prime AE after they were approved on 425 to discuss value engineering this project because obviously what came back was higher than the original budget. We did go out. We currently looked at OFCC projects because this was kind of the base we worked off of. And currently construction per square foot for OFCC is $400 per square foot. That is a difference of 20,000 square ft additional
019space with an increased cost now of $4869. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when you get into the square footage. And that's where your 13,21,950 up charge you heard to the budget came from. We have now started to look at what is called vees or valued engineering and they're being addressed at this time at with Pyer and Miller South. Actually, Superintendent Utley and myself were with prime AE. We were with Zach and Trevor on Friday, June the 6 to get ideas from the staff at Miller South and Piper, and we had a meeting at 10 at Piper and at noon with the Miller South staff. And those meetings went very well. So, this is where we are at this point, but I'm now going to bring Zach and the team up so
020they can give you some ideas of what they heard. So while we were at Pyer Elementary, we spoke with some of the teachers and they gave us a good insight as to things that we could start to, you know, cut back on to save the square footage for the space. Looking at the, you know, the Py for elementary site, you know, we presented the plan hasn't really changed. Do we have the Should I connect to show the design or would you guys like to see the design? It hasn't changed since last time, but yeah, we like to see everything. We like that. This is the same design that was brought to the finance committee earlier this year. So, we just thought you should see it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Our memory isn't what it used to
021be either. Well, I'll speak for myself. So, we spoke with the teachers staff at Piper and at Miller South. And at Piper Elementary, they had a few recommendations. Just looking at the, you know, the spaces we have. Now, just just just clarification so we all can be on the same page. When you talk value engineering, this is what we're talking now. Value engineering, the changes that we can make with the schools. Okay. All right. So, there are more generic value engineering things you could do like, you know, taking uh the quality of carpet and reducing it. uh you know taking the quality of some of the materials or taking the nice Cadillac things and bringing them down to something more realistic. So overall with that we can start to reduce that and you know we've
022started to look at that in our pricing but the teachers coming from them was looking at the Do you know how to get this connected? Oh she's printing that's right. Uh so yeah we looking at the the actual offices you know speaking with the guidance counselors like we don't need as much storage space we don't need this we don't need that we can start to cut back there. So everyone is really pitching in saying all right we want a space to teach in uh we don't need all the whistles and bells and whistles and stuff. So that was really really nice to see. And going over to Mill Miller South they had a lot more things to look at. So, initially we had the blackbox theater and that's something that we're going to cut just
023square footage that we're getting rid of. It was something that was kind of a pie in the sky. Let's get this blackbox theater. We can get more, you know, more of a multi-purpose room. Uh, but it was walked back to something was more of a multi-purpose room. It's like multiple uh performances could be happening at the same time, but then that was also reduced to we can just end up cutting that. Another thing we're looking at was so in the original RFP there was a 500 seat theater and that was immediately doubled into a thousand seat theater. So that was something that we had to deal with once you know we got the initial uh program and speaking with people at the school all of that and they currently have a thousand seat theater. So
024something that we were looking at was in the mezzanine which is 250 seats. If we were to remove that that would save a big chunk of money structurally you know just planning wise. So that was something else that they all agreed we can get rid of the mezzanine and settle with a 750 seat uh theater. So still very large uh bigger than what was in the initial RFP, but that was something else that we would start to save that square footage. And with that we wouldn't be cutting off square footage from the footprint, but we would be reducing the you know the second floor of a theater which you know reduces a lot of uh structural has a lot of structural implications and there's always a dollar sign attached to that. Uh in addition, we
025looked at the you know the shared classroom spaces and that's sort of in the corridors where teachers can bring their class out to have an activity uh to do just additional learning just to be more creative with how they're uh you know delivering the information to their students and how they're getting more feedback from the students. So that space currently is um pretty large but looking at that everyone sort of agreed we can reduce this a bit. We still want to maintain the overall idea and still be able to capture that activity from the students in the classrooms uh within that corridor space. But overall, we can start to cut back on the corridors, on those shared spaces, and a few other things like that. Ultimately, that's what I can say verbally without showing you
026guys things. Uh but I can go ahead and see. Well, let me just see the committee members before we go any further. Did you have any questions in this before we go any further since this is not any of our area of expertise? Uh so, okay, we want to make sure that we are understanding exactly what you're saying. So, with Fifer, you're saying that we're looking at cutting back on maybe the quality of some some of the materials across the board. it would be looking at the quality of materials but on the Fifer side we would be sort of shuffling around some of these spaces and then reducing some of the storage spaces as well. Okay. And reducing some of the storage spaces and this has been been discussed with the teachers right and the
027administration and everyone figures that this this could work out and did with Miller South. Yeah. So the blackbox da Okay. So the blackbox da there uh your original thought was to go large go big with a thousand seats. Uh so the blackbox theater is a separate sort of just empty box that you know the classes the directors whoever can go in there and start to present or have performances that are more in the round. It's more creative uh in the sense that like this could be a blackbox theater could be a performance in the center. It was in addition to the thousand seat theater, which is why immediately everyone said, "No, we don't need that. Let's cut that." So, the idea is to get rid of the black the black box theater. Correct. And then
028the consultation and communication would just take place in a classroom someplace as opposed to in the in the blackbox theater. It was kind of an add-on. So, they can still have their other spaces. We still have the uh you know, the main theater. We still have the main stage that would be the 750 seat theater. So, we still are maintaining that. We're not removing that. It's still a performing arts school. So, we want to make sure that we still have the heart of this building in there. Um, but we are getting rid of a bonus art that we were adding. So, so I I heard you say something about 500 seat theater, correct? So, the 500 seat theater is now 750 correct seats. Okay. And that's because we're getting rid of the blackbox theater. No.
029So, so ultimately, so we increased So, it sound like we increased the theater. Yes. So, in the initial RFP, we looked at here's this problem. In the initial RFP, it was listed as a 500 seat theater. Mhm. Um, so when you know all the numbers were developed, was that 2023, it was looked at as a 500 seat theater, they were going to be giving. Miller South currently has a 1,000 seat theater and it would have been quite a disservice to slash that in half. So pretty much from day one it was okay you're on board prime AE triad let's design this building and we're doubling the size of the theater. So that was kind of a day one thing where that was in our interviews with the teachers school people in community like we can't
030cut this in half. So that was how that piece started and we got up to 1,000 and now we're trimming it down to 750 because we're all sort of giving something up here. Okay. Okay. Member Mola. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so for clarification on the slide, now that Thank you for printing these now that I can read the slide. It said that the original program was uh the original project was 156,000 square ft and then it said then it went up to 169,000 but now we're cutting back. So after cutting back, are we now at 169 or are we now below 169? Now that if if these if we don't do the black box, if we take away these seats, what how many square feet are we at now? We haven't ran the calculation
031as to where we are now, but 100 what was that? 169 is where it was when we stopped. We said, "All right, this is coming in over. Let's stop with a 169. Let's start to reduce." So when we remove the, you know, the second floor of that theater, when we remove the blackbox theater and shrink up the other spaces, that's when we get back down closer to 156,000 ft. So currently, this is showing the 169,000. And once we start to make these changes is where we start to shave off the numbers, shave off those square feet. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Now, the next part of this, if there's no further questions, is the budget update for the Kenmore project. And if you would please go to that and as well. Um, I just wanted
032to give you a timeline as to how this all came about. The original because there was some question as to how the timeline was. July 23rd of 23 is when the APS board of education agreed to build a new building on this site. The original budget was 61 million for all cost and I gave you an understanding that 40 million would be certificates of participation. 15 million wars esser and then there was already a previous discussion with the previous superintendent as well as the previous mayor regarding the LFI funds being possibly split that are left from our OFCC projects and at that time it was 8 million. Would you just explain LFI for? LFI is local fund initiative and those were the funds that were generated and are currently still available from the original projects
033that began in 2003 through 2022. December 16th of 23 is when the sale of the certificates of participation for the $40 million occurred and it was successful. On July 22nd, 2024 is when the board approved that Prime AE group would be the approved designed firm. And somebody asked how did they meet? They began to start meeting with internal team members, staff members, and community members beginning August 12th of 2024. And I can uh count in the calendar for you. There have been 74 meetings and conference calls that have taken place through the last meeting that Superintendent Otley and I attended, which was on June 6 of 2025. On January 13th of 25 is when the board approved Palmer Conservation Consulting LLC to be the owner's representative. And the reason we did that is previously we
034used to have an architectural department here at Akran public and your architects that were employed by us were our owner's representative. We do not have that capability anymore, but we wanted to make sure our interests were always part of this. And that's how we began to work with Palmer. And once that was approved, they began meeting with prime AE and the APS staff on January 21st of 25. And there have been 35 meetings that uh Scott has been involved with since June 3rd of 2025. We went to the next phase because you have to have a schematic design available. On February 20th of 2025, CTO was approved to be the construction manager at risk for the project and they began meeting with the team on April 2nd. And they have continued to meet and review
035the designs coming forward. And it was actually on April 16th of 25 that they got really into the schematic designs and came back with the pricing that I have previously adjusted for you. So this is the process and I can advise that we are currently going through this value engineering with this and we met earlier today with Dr. Thompson and Superintendent Oley and members of this team to move this forward and we're getting an update. It appears that we are slightly off, but we're looking now at an opening in August of 2028 for this project should it go forward being approved by the board. Thank you. Any questions from the uh committee members? So basically, no question. So basically what I'm hearing you saying is that you had to go through this process, these various
036meetings, dates, changes, updates in order to understand what was happening with the cost overruns. Absolutely. That's what I'm hearing you saying. All right. Uh so uh and at all times we had always included understood that Etser and the local fund initiative will be a part of this funding from day one. It's not something new. That is correct. this has always been the case for the for the funding because you know I'm new to this whole process too. I'm just coming in the middle of this too and uh it it seems like it's is reasonable to me what where you are and where we expect to be. So I'm not going to say very much about the expected date but uh it's good to know that we have an expected opening date uh understanding that there
037could always be some delays. Uh so what I would uh like at this particular time uh madam superintendent if you would like to add anything. Thank you. I would first like to um give a special shout out and show a sign of appreciation to our two staffs because they understood that we needed their cooperation to look at the plans and to see what was reasonable to give up. And I would like to thank Zach for leading that discussion, showing the plans, very personable, put everybody at ease. It was a very open discussion and um the updates that are to follow. I think we're on the right track and the team is solid and we're ready to move forward once the board makes a final decision. We will be ready to go either way. Okay. So,
038I think thank you, Madam Superintendent. I think that what we're missing now are actual numbers, costs. So, Mr. Treasurer, do you have anything that you want to add uh to uh the discussion? Where where we stand is where we've been over the last um couple of weeks in terms of uh total cost for the project. So we know that we have to reduce some of our we have a gap. Um we know that we have to settle the arbitrage issue which we are working um diligently in that meeting today. Um Steve Fricker was there as well. So we're working with the city closely. We're going to shepherd that through as quickly as we can because that's really the final lynch pin is what is that number? You know are we you know do we have
039enough? Are we a million short? you know, and that's driving some of the decisions obviously that they have to make as architects. Um, and so, uh, so that's that's important that we move that as quickly as we can, but we're kind of in a holding pattern to a certain degree on the as a result of arbitrage and not knowing what that final dollar amount is. Do we have has that been requested of the federal government to tell us what we would be expected to pay in penalties as it relates to the arbitrage? So, so we pulled all the information um steed to the city. The city will hire uh these calculations are very intricate u very complex and um I don't feel comfortable doing that. Steve Fricker doesn't feel comfortable trying to do that. So,
040uh, we'll go through like Baker Tilly, for example, is a company that can, um, do that work for us. Uh, we think it'll take approximately two weeks for them to sift through that, give us a good calculation, and then we make that payment, and off we go. And then we can settle the total dollar amount available for the spend. Any questions, board members? Madam Chair, thank you, Madam Chair. Uh are when you say we're in a holding pattern for the uh for that number, we're not waiting on that number to make decisions, are we? that I at at this point uh we're we're moving forward with the design changes and and and continuing to move forward. Um I would like to see even if it's a tenative agreement something in writing with the city that
041less arbitrage they are agreeing in in in principle to give us the full amount. So, I don't know if that can be done or not. That would make me feel a lot better to know. Um, but that's but in terms of really uh we're we're looking at Matt somewhere around next spring before we're actually moving dirt. Yeah. You want to come to the mic, please? So, based upon the level of Is that on? Can you hear me? Yeah. based upon the level of changes and based upon what we've worked with on prime AE the earliest we would see activity construction would be would be February March of 26. So um but again some of these things will have to be worked through to let them proceed with their design changes get permitting and the such
042rolling that's that's what really will kind of dictate to us in our time frames that we'll move forward from here. Okay, Madam Superintendent. Madame Chair, the other thing that um I do recall from JBR was the need for an amendment and we were told that it was with their attorneys and we would need to follow up with our own and so we will be in the process of doing that as well so that we can give an update to you where we stand with the amendment with the city because you would have to uh vote on that at a JBR meeting. And that amendment would indicate as well. Go ahead, Deborah. I I'll Okay. The amendment would be to the agreement between the city and Akran public schools with regarding the CLC's. The agreement currently
043states that there are funds from the OFCC, which was the state part. this will not be part of that and they felt that the amendment should go through to reflect the removal of those funds from the state and to reflect the correct information from the current status with the cops as well as the ESSER and what is available in the LFI funds providing that the boards both agree that LFI could after the arbitrage be used for this project. Okay. Thank you. Now, I didn't hear hear anything about the amendment indicating that it would definitely be a CLC. Would that be part of the amendment? It is our understanding that in order to have access to the funds, it needs to be a CLC. Correct. That is correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any
044additional questions? All right. Um, one last thing is that the last time that you all was here and you showed us the design, I did request that the design be presented out on a website someplace so that the public could see and I don't believe that has taken place. Uh, no. So, previously that was something that uh, Dr. Robinson had was going to move forward and we never got the okay. We just spoke today and once we get the I think we said it'd be like two 3 weeks to you know work on the new design make those remove uh remove those spaces and then we can go and send that over to you and we can get that posted somewhere for everyone to see. Uh just to give everybody keep everybody updated on you
045know what we're doing. Uh we're once we have this design going we're ready to pass it on over. That's something we want to make sure that everyone has access to and that was something that came up when we were speaking with the staff again. It's like we haven't seen this let's get updates. So yeah, I'm all for making sure that we have access to that. Thank you, madam. Thank you. Uh so madame superintendent, we really would like to see that. And where would we expect to to see that? What website? Do you have any idea right now where the public will be able to go to see the new design? I will work with the communications department, but I believe we would want something right on that front page that would bring attention to it.
046So, we'll make sure that it's posted a link that'll take you to it from the front page, our homepage. Uh, thank you, Madam Superintendent. I think that really would be helpful. Additionally, I think any significant dates listed there would be very helpful for the community to feel that we are on track as to where we said we were going to be. Because let me just just remember again now we originally the original date we were talking now I hear we're talking August 20 uh 2027 the original date was uh 20 well the original was August of 2027 that was the original date the redesign the rechanges now would push that a year back to August of 28 2020 28 yes so uh that type of information I think would really make the public feel uh
047comfortable able with where we are. I think that uh here having an understanding that uh from what we've heard today is that basically we are where we are because we had to get to this point in order to understand what was actually happening with the crossover runs and you just could not foresee that as much as we would like to look into the future and that you did the best estimate and so now we're at the point where we are doing some hopefully hard numbers as possible. Mr. treasure to say where we're going and how we're we're getting there. If I So the the value engineering process, that's what that is. This is common on every school construction project in the state of Ohio. We go through all things and we've talked about it isn't
048really lesser materials, it's other materials because there's a quality that that we want to maintain on every building. Mhm. So, it's things and then as we progress through this with this new square footage changes, we've we've been constantly interacting with prime AE looking at what about this, what about that? We've come with ideas. They've said no. They've come with ideas. We've said yes. So, it's a it's a collaborative process that goes on. We'll get through it. They'll get their new design. We'll see what other changes we can make. And then we can give you the best uh guess at this point as to what those dollars project at after all of these changes. Okay. All right, member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Miss Folk, can you explain the um owners rep um how we
049come about with an owner's rep and why? Um, as I stated earlier, we used to have in this district an architectural department. And when we started the OFCC projects in 2003, you had a head architect and under that particular lead, you had a four P uh four staff architects. So, as you did each one of those, an architect was assigned, say, to be with us at case. It was our owner's rep. At this point, that department no longer exists. It has been as we've right-sized the district, those duties have gone on to other division leads. And at this time, these projects are so large and they need our attention. It was a very specific decision to seek an owner's rep in order to make sure if somebody from APS could not be at these meetings,
050our interests were valued. This person was part of our review process for our CMR when we were in looking for those firms and they were also vetted by our legal department. So this is their responsibility to be our eyes, our ears at all times and to actually bring very good value to the discussion because they have done this for other projects for other school districts. Thank you. Okay, any additional questions? Just one last thing. Just one last thing. Let me just say that when you mentioned uh that looking at Fifer and reducing some of the the uh the uh value of products that we're still not talking cheap. No, we're still not talking cheap. They they they still have they still have significant value. We're still talking a a standard that is not below standard
051that we at the Aken public school system are accustomed to. So we're just we started out with as we always do in any whether it's personal or professional the pie in the sky and now we're coming down to the realistic expectations as to what we should expect in our school system. Correct. Is that what I'm hearing? Great. All righty then. So, we're going to look next to see the design, the proposed design within the next three to four weeks someplace on the website. And I'm sure during our board meeting, we will continue to to ask for that that design and we will constantly get an update on what's happening with our finances. Uh, Mrs. treasurer uh as it relates as it relates to this and what's happening with our finances on this and the uh
052the cops finding the esser founding and funding and the local fund uh initiatives. We will continuously give an update to the community on where we are with that and then we all will all look for the uh August 20th 2028. We'll be looking forward to that. So, if there's no other comments or questions from the committee, thank you very much for your presentation. We appreciate it. All righty. We're going to move on now, not to confuse the issue, not to confuse the issue with the architect design contractor, North High School. Good afternoon again, chairman, co-chairman, member Molnar, and superintendent Oddley. I wanted to bring to you an update on the north project which is a result of the passage of issue 27. At the February 10th of 25 meeting, the board approved the release of
053an RFQ which is a request for qual qualifications to seek a professional design firm for the project approved through issue 274 north. On May 12th of 2025, the Akran Board of Education also then approved the ranking of the professional design firms for North High with Hassenab Architects and Moody Nolan being ranked number one. If you remember, there were four rankings at that time. This allowed the contract negotiations to be led by our district's legal council with that firm. On June 5th of 2025, APS and its legal council had a meeting to finalize a school building that would include,00 students for North High and the same square footage the OFCC uses which gets us to approximately 238,000 square ft including an eight lane track and dual football and soccer fields for the facility. And the reason
054that is listed specifically, this will be a self swing, which means we will be building the new building on the current practice field football location while the students stay on campus. Once they move into a new building, the building would be demolished and the new practice area would be to the area in which the building is currently located. The firm was to assume an $85 million budget that we started with because that's what we told them we would have due to the levy and the district obtains additional funds later. We could update those numbers. The final fee cost proposal was due to legal on Friday the 6th and I sorry I missed the five. So it does should say June 6th of 2025. The next steps are to seek the APS board approval of the
055Hassenab Moody Nolan contract at the July 15, 2025 meeting, which will begin the process of then seeking the internal discussion with APS leads, students, staff, and community members to engage them in a similar fashion we did for the Kenmore project so that we can start the schematic design. Thank you. Any questions from the committee members? Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh my my question would be um I I guess more for the superintendent. Um as to we know we're building north. We know we have um can we do more than one thing at a time? I I guess would be the most efficient thing to do if we're going to engage the community. Um can we engage the community while we are working through contracts? Um it it just seems like we're we're maybe doing one
056thing at a time and if we do multiple things, especially if we engage the community that we would be able to do that. So if your question is can we build two buildings at the same time? I'm sorry did I misunderstand? No like with north okay we know we have to engage the community correct. So can we start with the community engagement yes at the same time that we're doing yes the inside work so that we can be more efficient with our time. Yes. And we have we've built multiple buildings and gone through the process at the same time. So yes, we can do that and we will member Mona. Thank you. Um so I see the next step would be for the board to uh review the approval of the contract in July 15.
057What is the timeline? Do we have a timeline for this build? And then I have another question. Um, in addition to that, would this building be a CLC? The timeline that is expected, we're hoping it could open in August of 2029. The latest would be 2030 in August, but we're hoping for 2029. The building may open. I want you to think of an example of as Elllet. We opened Elllet in the building at one time, but we didn't finish the property until we finished the field earlier or later. So, that could be you'd have a building, but we still have to finish the practice field, etc. because we've got to take the other building down. Um, regarding your question about a CLC, technically it would not be a CLC, but please understand this is a
058wellused building and current site. We have never not had the community in our building at North over the 40 years that it's been there. So, I don't anticipate it not being scheduled and actively used by the community along with ourselves and the city because it is such an important site. Thank you. And just of clarification, so if it's a CLC, then the the design would be a bit different. Uh so we would need to start that process up front. Yes. But we have had very successful building um processes using the master plan that came out of the OFCC. I don't think you would not want to start with that. That's the same thing we did with the Pyer Kenmore build as well because those standards are very classic within the Ohio school construction. And the
059other thing that it does um member Sykes is also allow us to plan the maintenance of these buildings because the OFCC has a very rigid suggested schedule for maintenance of roofs, parking lots, etc. which we have put in place for the other ones as well and are doing a better job of putting that together. Does that help? Yes, it does. And the difference is that we would not have any additional monies any place that we could get from the city to say give us additional monies for CLC. That would be the that would be the difference. But are am I hearing that we may be able to fit it in with the budget that we have now? We don't know. I I would anticipate if that building isn't complete for another four years and you
060know depending on construction increases I think it's safe to say it's going to be short and to some degree uh we had at the previous meeting I gave you a description of one way one option right to fund that without destroying our general fund reserves. curves. Yeah. So, I think we can move our way through that, but we'll have to just be very valued engineered on engineered on that one as well, just like we are on our current build. And any money we can shift over from this project to north, we we will if that presents itself. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions from the committee members? If if not, we'll move on through Thank you very much. We will move on through the agenda for the temporary appropriation update. Dr. Thompson. So what
061you will see is a flood of some uh three things coming that have to be done in the month of June. Um and that is one is the year end appropriations. So in that handout that I gave you there's a description of what they are and then underneath it are the actual most updated numbers we have right now. But th those appropriations by law must must match penny for penny. So we'll also be doing some transfers to make sure inside the you know moving money from one account to another to make sure that those meet Ohio revised code. And then we have one more payroll. So it the sheet that you have tells you where we're heading which is it's in pretty good shape overall. You can see the percentages of dollars that are used
062with just uh one more payroll to go. But you'll do year-end appropriations, you'll do transfers, and the final one that you'll do are temporary appropriations, which is required statutoily. That begins on July 1st, and it's all it is is onethird of our general fund budget until we make the final appropriations for fiscal year 26. um in um in uh September. So, three things to approve, transfers, uh appropriations, which you get a real good look at what it's going to look like, and then one-third of our budget uh for pro for temporary appropriations. Any questions from the committee members? So, we can expect to see this on the agenda. that would be required to be on the agenda on Monday. Monday. Yes, ma'am. Any any questions from the committee members? All righty. Uh so, let's move
063on to the board members event information. So, I think we got a chance to look at that. I don't think there's any questions on that. Is there any unfinish unless you had something member mod? No, I'm just looking at the Okay. Uh is there uh any unfinished business to come before the committee? Any new business to come before the committee? Hearing no unfinished business and no new business come before the committee. The finance and capital management committee. Uh I will ask for a motion to adjourn. So moved. All those in favor? I. Those opposed. So, this ends the uh finance uh and appropriation the finance and capital management committee at 529. I'm giving you back one minute. Goodbye.