001Meeting the order at 7:30. Mike, can you call the role? Scott Fishell here. Dennis Key here. Denise Brewster here. Graci here. And stand for the pledge, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we have uh our treasur is not here. So, we will elect a treasurer prom. I make a motion to approve Linda Grassi as treasurer prom. Can I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. Mike, can you call the role? Uh, Scott Fishell, I. Dennis Keaney. Hi. Denise Brewster. I Okay, we have a consent agenda, finance and audit. Okay. Uh, make a motion to approve item A listed on the finance audit consent agenda as recommended by the
002treasurer. Can I get a second? A second it. Any discussion? Mike, can you take the role? Dennis Keiny. I Scott Fisher. I motion carried. Uh, consent agenda personnel. Uh motion to approve uh items A and B listed on the personnel consent agenda as recommended by the superintendent. Can I get a second? A second. Any discussion? Um did you want to introduce a wait till the vote? Okay. Okay. Sounds sounds good. You're right. Okay. Go ahead and take the role. Uh Denise Brewster. I gracias. Hi. Scott Fisher. Hi. Dennis Keith. Hi. If I could have a minute. Uh, with joining us today is Motion carried. Yeah, I'm really excited. Excited. Um, if I have joining us today is Kaylee Flint. She was just approved to be our new middle school principal. So, we are really excited
003to have her. She comes to us from Willowick Middle. Um, she will also be here uh at the normal June meeting uh to meet the entire board. Okay. So, welcome. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for choosing us. Absolutely. I'm I'm very happy. Yeah. She's a resident as well. Yes, I am. Yeah. We are super excited to keep keep one of our own and the great things she's going to bring toward. Great. Okay. So, we have personnel um consent agenda for curriculum. Okay. Um, hold on a minute. A motion um to approve the items listed on curriculum and programming consent agenda as recommended by the superintendent. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Any discussion? Mike, can you take the role? Decross. I. Scott Fishell. I. Dennis Keane. I. Mer. I. Motion carried. Uh, board of
004education business. Uh we have um Precision Environmental for the CTE edition resolution to approve a purchase order with Precision Environmental Company for asbestous abatement related to the Riverside campus improvement project at a total cost of $32,55. Can I get a second? I'll second. And is there any um was this included in the original cost estimate? This was not uh this is the abatement of just the first floor, right? Um asbestous that's up there. So it does not deal with the basement and this is coming from permanent improvement. Correct. Was that in our permanent improvement forecast previously or is this also in addition to I can't speak to that. I'm sorry. I don't think it was, but I'd have to look to see. Okay, Mike, can you take the role? Scott Fishell, I. Dennis Keaney, hi.
005Denise Brewster, I motion carried. Um, we have the demolition of the Buckeye uh trailers and there uh were two quotes. Do we have uh printouts of those two quotes? I do not have printouts. I did attach them. I'm sorry. Um, can someone print those out so we can look at them and read them? If you email them to me right now, might do it from Hank and Eagle. Um, yeah, there's two different one of you guys. email them to me and I'll go in there. Yeah, there's two different companies. Um I think we should look at them. So, but this includes the um the two older trailers and the overhead walkways that was built and decking, right? What's going to be removed um are the older ones and then we have walkways and overhead roofs
006and so all that'll be removed and the one that we just purchased a couple years ago we would look to to sell instead of just throw away. Um do we know what we paid for that a couple years ago? I can look real quick while they're getting that I think it was substantial. I thought it was somewhere around 130,000 if I'm not mistaken, plus the cost to move it and then renovation or whatever and put it back together. I mean, it it was a substantial cost. Can I ask a question on this? Why are we putting this on the agenda now if we haven't had the opportunity? I mean, while the attachments were included in the board agenda, why are we putting this on as a special item if it can wait till the end
007of the month and we would have more time to review this and ask and formulate questions? We're being asked to do that right here at the table. Right. This like so we're going to sit here. Are we going to take people's time and my time and whatever and read these right now and then formulate questions and then have conversation and not all board members are here. I have an issue with that. So what is your question? Because there are about four things. Yeah, there are about four things in there. Why are we not having some time to review these and formulate questions? Or are we just planning to read them, sit here for a while, think about it, formulate our questions, and then ask the questions at this table right now? Well, this has been
008a process that's been going on for several months. And so, we're looking at what I'm asking. We're we're looking at acting so that the work can get done. Okay. I'm asking about the contracts, not the work. I'm asking about the contracts. Do we have an opportunity to review these contracts and look at them and discern the differences between the two of them or are we as being asked to do that right here at this table, read them? Oh, well, the contracts were sent out a couple days ago. Did you read them? Yes. Then why do you need them printed? Well, I'd like everyone to have an opportunity to discuss it if we want to have a discuss. Are you assuming that nobody read them? I'm not the only person here, so I'd like to have
009everyone have a copy just in case there's any discussion. Yeah, I read them. Um, uh, Mr. Leic, did you um uh secure um one of the bids or both bids? I only I only did the one with eagle. Eagle. Okay. And where did the other one come in from? I am not aware where it came from. I was not involved with that. I received the it's from hackavated. Mr. Fishell got it. I I received the email Saturday or so over the weekend. And who is that individual? So Paul Hack I believe is the Yeah, he's uh he's a person that lives in the district. Um he's done a lot of work including with the county and um he's a very wellrespected uh community member and uh he had given a quote and um I think
010that what we what we're looking to do is a couple things. We want the best value and so that every dollar that is spent in the Riverside local school district since it is all taxpayer dollars, we want those dollars to be spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. Therefore, there's two things. One is what is what is the cost? Is there a lowest cost option? And then also what's the value of that of that cost in the contract? And so um in addition to that, what we would like to do and what we are starting to do is develop a team of people that are community members that actually can do the work here. Um, we've had some difficulty in the past with uh having companies that are outside and sometimes far outside the district
011and uh those people don't always have the best interest of the district in mind and sometimes when they are go they're to be contacted they really don't want to uh respond very much and I know that uh Mr. our lessics experience uh sometimes where either people aren't um let's say being uh very cooperative and in uh doing the work andor responding and sometimes can't even get a response anymore. So we're developing a team that we that would be more community-minded. That's interesting. Um Miss Mr. Allesk, have you had an opportunity to compare and contrast the two quotes? No, I did not. Okay. Has this been discussed at buildings and grounds? We've discussed the two contracts specifically. Thank you. The 164,000 is the modular, right? That's what I saw. That's what we paid for it because
012um whatever. Yeah. And thank thank you for that. Yep. So, we paid $164,000 u for the latest one. And um so this is what we're doing. This is the And part of my concern was when we originally had a quote to remove um the trailers, uh it was my understanding that the original quote, and I think that was from Eagle, uh was to just dispose of all three. Um, and I didn't want to do that because we would be throwing away hundred and some thousand dollars of a purchase that had just happened a couple years previous. And so what I was looking to do was get another quote. And u Paul Hack was willing to come in and and dismantle and discard the older two uh but keep the one so that we could set
013that aside and sell it. Now, another item. Uh Chris, did you did you check on if it's law that we have to auction anything? I did not got back to me yet. Oh, no answer yet. No answer yet. Okay. So, one of the questions is um is it our policy or is it Ohio law uh that if something is going to be sold for $10,000 or more that we have to auction it and so I guess we're waiting on it. It is policy. I do not we are waiting to confirm whether it's right. because if it's policy, what what I would move to do is eliminate that policy because it ties your hands a little bit. And um if it's Ohio law, we have to follow it. But if it's policy, we would we would
014move to uh change and eliminate that policy so that we would have a wider market uh with a better opportunity to get a better amount of money for So let me make sure I'm understanding that clearly. We're going to change policy to fit your need and and can we do that with anything? So, is that going to be our mode of operation? I'm talking about talking about I am talking in general. If you're going to change policy to fit your need right here and say, "Well, gee, let's let's change policy because it doesn't it doesn't help us." There's a lot of things in policy that don't necessarily help us, should we change them all? Well, so let me ask you, over the last 16 years, have you looked at these policies? If they're not to
015our benefit, if they're not to our benefit, why are they there? Then you tell me. I'm asking are we going to change all the policies that are not to our benefit? So that's that's kind of ridiculous. Uh no it's not ridiculous. I'm asking you if it need No, we're not going to move on. Okay. So we're going to we're going to this discussion is over. This discussion is not over. You're out of order. I am not out of order. This is a board meeting. I have a right to grassy. You're out of order. I'm not out of order. Okay. So we're going to look at the the two uh quotes. You're out of order, Mr. Fisher. Uh, we have a quote from Eagle for $34,785. We have a quote from Hack Excavating for $34,000. And
016um I've assumed I just heard Miss Brewster, you said you've already read these? Yes. Mr. Keany, have you read these? Just now I'm looking. Okay. And uh Miss Brewster, have you read I'm sorry, Miss Grassy, have you have you read these? I've looked at them right now. Okay. So all right. So in in looking at the two um what I'm looking at is the work is generally the same. Um and we would be again just so everyone knows we had purchased um the one unit a couple years ago for a substantial amount of money. And what I didn't want to do was just discard that. And originally the quote was to discard that and throw it away. And so I didn't want to do that. So we have another quote but both of these quotes
017now just remove the two and keep the one and u so that we could we could sell it and um so is there any are there any questions or discussions about these two quotes. Um personally I think Eagle's quote is looks like an actual scope of work. Um we have not talked at this at buildings and grounds according to Mr. Allesk. also has not had an opportunity to have conversation with the second company. Um, it's interesting that you're talking about you'd like to keep things in district because people are too far away. This other company is located in Garfield Heights. Doesn't seem all that far away to me. Um, we've hired somebody from the state of Tennessee to do marketing. We're we're we have on the agenda hiring somebody from the state of Texas to
018do financial consulting, but that's not too far away. But Garfield Heights is I'm confused. That's all I'm going to say. Well, thank you for your comments. Sure. Are there any other comments? Um, so, um, I would like to discuss the third trailer when we're done with this. Okay. All right. So, no more comments on this. I don't think we can discuss the third trailer because that's not part of this agenda. This is a special meeting. We have to stick to the agenda. Okay. So, um, we have two quotes in front of us and, um, I make a motion to approve hack excavating and demolition. Can I get a second? Um, you have to select You have to select one. You have to select one. Yes. Okay. So, uh, I select I make a a motion
019to select. We're selecting hack. Hack excavating. So, now we're demolition. That would be item C. Okay. So that is act for a cost of 30 that is um can I ask what that selection what the criteria for your selection is? So in in selecting that we we need to vote on that. There's no vote for the selection. It was a discussion. So all all we did is discuss and now we are voting on who this selection Okay. All right. So all right. So we're selecting hack as the company and uh then also we are looking at item C which is a selection of the vendor for demolition and it says a resolution. Excuse me. We did we did not vote on item C. There's no vote with I think we just addressed item B is
020B is the discussion. So can I can I ask a question just to clarify procedurally this is a vote to select a vendor but it's not a vote to approve the contract yet correct C is the purchase order B B we talked about and B it says discussion and selection of vendor to don't we usually have to if we're going to do that and have conversation to select don't we usually have to have an item on the agenda to select I mean that's that's item B that's item B then there should be a vote so We're voting. So, we're adding a vote in B to So, I I I agree. If there's going to be a selection, there needs to be a vote by the board and and so I make a resolution to select
021Hack Excavating as the company to be considered for approval for the contract. Can I get a second? Second. And then again, I would like to know what the criteria for that selection is. What is the criteria? What has Mr. Our lesson provided us with the difference between these two companies and what we're getting for our dollars between the two companies. We haven't done that yet. We haven't discussed it at buildings and grounds yet. It hasn't been to the full board for conversation yet. So there is a small savings with the HEC. Yes. $785. Is that the only criteria for selection? I'm sorry. How much did you say it was? $785, right? Okay. Is that all the criteria is? Okay. So, is that the only criteria that we're using? So, or you're using uh are are
022you asking a question in general or Yes, I am asking a question. I am asking a question in general. And if Mr. Allesic has not had a had any conversation with the other company, what professional like opinion do we have to compare the two companies? Do we have that? So are you asking the board or are you asking Mr. Arlesa? I am asking the board. Okay. So it's my opinion that uh hack gives us I didn't ask you for your opinion. I asked you what work you've done to compare the two contractors. Okay. I have spoken with hack excavating. Okay. The person Mr. Hack has done work for the county and decades of work in the community. It's a trusted member of our community and I believe he's worthy of the contract. So based on
023your recommendation but not the recommendation of our director of maintenance and facilities. Okay. I'm ask who hasn't had an opportunity to look at this yet. So are you asking Mr. Arlesic a question or the board a question? No, I'm asking the board a question. You haven't given our director of facilities an opportunity to review the contract. Okay. I'm sorry. Mr. Arlesic, did you did you look at the contracts? The only one I saw Mr. Fishell was the one from the last committee. Okay. And so when hack the contract came in, you have not looked at it. I have not. So he's had the opportunity to look at he has not done so. Has it been brought to Bills and grounds? So no. So why are we voting on it now? Because we're going to move
024forward. Not acceptable in my opinion. Um Okay. So, we are there's a motion on the table resolution to approve Hack Excavating as the company to be considered uh for hire and it's been seconded uh by Miss Brewster. Mike, can you take the role? Uh Scott Fishel I. Dennis Keaney I. Miss Brewster I absolutely nay. Motion carried. Next on the agenda is the selection of the vendor, the approval of the contract. So, a resolution to approve a purchase order with Hack Excavating and Demolition, Inc. for demolition two modular trailers and overhead walkways at Buckeye Elementary at a total cost of $34,000. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? Just associating. Thank you for missed that but okay. Thank you for that. Mike, can you take the role? Densy. I Denise Brewster. I absolutely nay. Establish.
025I motion carried. Next item on the agenda is a comprehensive analysis of operational revenue financial management mechanisms. Um there is um a proposal uh for someone to come in. We're going to be uh our treasurer is leaving and going to another district. We're going to be hiring a treasurer. This is conversation. Can we read the motion, please? discussion of engagement in a proposal for comprehensive analysis of operational revenues and financial management mechanisms with Brisco Consulting Group. And um we have our treasurer is going to another district, we will have a new treasurer come in and u oftentimes in business it's just a good business policy to make sure that the new person coming in has a clean bill. And so you have someone u come in and go over the books for the last uh
026several years. This will be at least a six-year look back. And um so I am looking at making a resolution to hire this company to do so. Um I have just a whole slew of questions if you don't mind. So you're looking at six-year look back and it could go more. Oh, it could go more, I'm sure. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to ask these questions in no particular order. Mr. Keaney, um, this question is going to be directed to you as the chair of our finance committee. Have we talked about this at the finance committee? No. Has this ever been brought to the table as new business? No. It's never been requested, never talked about, never convers Never any conversation. Like I said, I'm I've been on the finance committee for a long time.
027It's not been discussed and you just confirmed that. Um, have you seen this contract before this weekend? No. Okay. May I make a comment? No, I'm going to continue and then and then and then people can say whatever they want. Um, this individual is from Texas. That's sort of interesting because not just five minutes ago, you said that somebody from Garfield Heights was too far away. This individual is from Texas. Texas. I would like to know what Texas school finance has to do with Ohio school finance. So, are you asking us a specific person or are you asking I don't know. I'm asking any of the three people on this board. Okay. So, Miss Graassie, um it appears that you have a little confusion. So, when you have I don't have any when you have
028a person when you have a person confused. I'm not confused. I know. So, hold on. When you have a person that's going to come in and work on, let's say, an air conditioning unit, they have to put their hands on that. They have to put their hands on that. It It's helpful that they're local. Okay. In the past, um when when you were making decisions, you hired companies out of Canada, out of Indiana, and when we've gone to call them, they were not willing to come here. Okay? That's not good business. So, that's on a physical. So when you're looking at at someone who's going to be doing something digit digitally or online and they don't need to be here, they could be anywhere in the world. Okay, those are two different things. That's perfect.
029So is this person a license? That is I'm not I'm not I'm not finished. Okay, I'm not finished. And so when you when you have when you have someone who's available online, that person can be anywhere. this particular person works in the whole country and and works with school districts and and other entities in in all around the United States of America. So again, I'll just restate that that's a lot different than having someone that's necessary to put their hands on something. So do we have any professional references because none of them were listed. There's no individual references. There's no educational references listed for this person to have they done any work in Ohio. Are they an Ohio CPA? Have they or are they a Texas CPA? I have no idea what their credentials are.
030Is this Ohio Ohio school treasure? I'm not finished. Is this an Ohio school treasurer? Is this a Texas school treasurer? What understanding do they have of Ohio school finance, which is complicated? We have a plethora of data available for free from the Ohio Department of Education Workforce. Um, any anytime we ask, we have two licensed school treasurers on our own staff. Have we asked them for this information? Have they asked you for this information at all? Any type of information like this? When you say this information, what I don't I don't know. I have no idea. You're asking this individual and this individual is coming in and actually telling you that they're going to analyze operational revenues. Oper operational revenues to me says fund 06 and fund 02. Is that what they're going to be
031looking at? So, Miss Gracie, they're going to be looking at all of our financial transactions. Okay. That's not what this says. It says they're going to analyze sources of operational revenue, right? And that's where they will start. That's fun 06 and 02. Okay, that's where they will start. So, they're going to start with the kitchen and latch key. So, they're going to start wherever they're going to start and they're going to look at all of our financial activity. That's not what this says. Okay? They're going to look at all of our financial activity and that's where they will start. And then I I want to continue. So number four says that ensure that all financial transactions are accurately recorded and and reconciled within the general ledger. We don't have a general ledger. Maintaining the integrity
032of financial data. So the auditor of state comes in every single year and does an audit of of our district and for 10 years straight we have won an auditor of state award. Why is why is this person being asked to do duplicative work? May I make a comment? Sure. Okay. I look at this as more like insurance. You know, what we're doing is uh a new treasurer coming in. You know, I know that our uh current treasur, yes, he's gotten awards, done a very good job. There's no issues there, but we have a new treasurer that's going to come in. What we want to do is wrap up the books for the new treasurer coming in so he's assured that when he comes into the position that everything is in order and he can
033move forward with I believe the state of Ohio auditor's office has already done that every single year. But but they look at things in a little different way. We're we're we want to take a little deeper dive into things to see uh just where the money is going. Not that it's going anywhere wrong, but it's just where is it going and how we can, you know, we're in deficit spending. We need to control our expenses. And this will help us with that. It'll help the new treasurer get off to a fresh start knowing that everything is in order when he starts his work. So, A, could we hire somebody from Ohio? B, there are firms that do that. C, there are firms in Ohio that audit Ohio school districts, audit firms, whatever. Not necessarily the
034state auditor's office. We could hire them. Um, have we asked our own staff to provide us with data? If you're looking for something specific, have you asked them? Did you know we can download I have asked I have asked the the, you know, uh, our assistant treasurer for information. and he's he's gathering that for for me. I'm meeting with him again shortly after our meeting to put things together a little bit more. And yes, I have asked it and they are providing information and when we get uh the initial formatting down, then we can apply it across uh the district so we will have a better handle on what each one of our uh facilities is costing us. So basically what you're saying is we don't really need somebody to do that externally. We have
035we have staff to do that. We do have staff to do that. We can we can download every single transaction we want, throw it into a file and pivot. Yes. But then but then but then you're asking uh you know people to look at that that um don't have the depth of experience in that field. So So you're saying our staff doesn't have the depth. Oh, no. No. I'm looking for an independent view, an independent opinion, and I think that's just good insurance for the district. Independent opinion is comes from our audit. It actually You're talking apples and oranges. You're talking different things. Okay. No, not and you're a CPA. You should be fully aware. Oh, I'm very fully aware. Okay. You're talking about different things and and the approach of an outside person and
036asking information from inside are two totally different things. Did you know that we can ask the state of Ohio's auditor's office for performance audit for free. Excuse me. There there can be an overlap, okay, on that information. Okay, but you're talking about different things. So, what I'm looking at doing is bringing in an outside company. We would certainly like to have a very clean handoff to our new treasurer, whomever that may be. And then shortly, we will be in the process of interviewing people for that position. Okay? It's good business to do this and and I'm looking to to do it and I'm making a motion to do it and I'm asking did you know that we can get a performance audit for free and I'm not interested in having any further dialogue with you
037because you you just don't you don't seem interested in moving forward. You don't seem interested in answering my question. Did you know we can get a performance audit for free? Is there any further discussion? I Mrs. Kerninsky did send in a statement that she asked I read it. Oh yeah. So go ahead please. So for Mrs. Kerneski, unfortunately I am unable to attend today's special board of education meeting due to prior professional commitments. I want to express my concern regarding today's special board meeting on the process surrounding a newly added agenda item that involving a financial services contract. The amended agenda for this special meeting includes a proposed title comprehensive analysis of operational revenues and financial management mechanisms prepared by an out ofstate consultant. This proposal includes a base cost of $9,500 broken down as
038follows. 1,200 upfront resource slashreport fee due immediately upon acceptance, $8,300 base fee split into 30%, $2,490 do a project start, 70%, $5,810 due at completion. Additionally, the proposal includes open-ended costs such as travel expenses if the person if in-person work is required. The district must cover airfare, hotel, transportation, other travel related costs, plus a $100 plus a $120 per DM for meals and incidentals. Additional billable hours if work exceeds the estimated 60 hours. Each additional hour is build at $150 per hour. Future investigative costs. If the consultant finds financial an anomalies, a separate proposal with new cost estimates would be submitted for approval. This proposal was not reviewed by superintendent or treasurer was not discussed during any prior public meeting was added late after the original agenda was posted requiring an amendment will be voted
039on while treasurer is unavailable and a board member is out of state. Approving a financial engagement of this size and scope without administrative input or financial oversight and in the absence of the treasur does not reflect sound financial governance. Why it raises red flags. The consultant is not located in Ohio. The proposal bypasses standard district procedures including competitive bidding and administrative vetting. The board is being asked to authorize a significant potentially expanding financial commitment without a clear justification, timing rationale or professional endorsement. These issues are especially concerning given that the district is already facing operational deficits and has already and has been relying on internal fund transfers to finance projects that are elective board decisions, not necessary projects. Also, it's increasingly concerning that the board continues to disregard the professional guidance of our treasur and
040financial adviserss when that guidance does not align with predetermined board actions. Given the absence of key decision makers and unanswered questions about this proposal, I respectfully request that the board postpone any action on this item until full board and administrative leadership can participate in a well-informed discussion. Okay. Thank you for reading that. And I I would also just like to add that it's interesting that they're asking, you know, in in our desire to look for efficiencies, this individual that's asking for $120 per DM for meals when the government services administration only approved $80 for this year for the area of Cleveland. So that's what we're going to get. Somebody who doesn't even look up and do their homework. So, thank you for that information. Make a resolution to approve a purchase order with Brisco Consulting
041Group for a comprehensive analysis of operational revenues and financial management mechanisms at a total cost of $9,500. Can I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. Mike, can you call the role? Brewster. I graci Absolutely not. And I want to make sure that our that the commentary is put into public record for our meeting minutes. Please stop this one. I ke I motion carried. Um one more item. I know it's not on the agenda, but our girls softball team has uh won the regionals and headed to states. Right. They are in the final four for states as well as we have seven or eight seven or eight track uh athletes who are competing this weekend as well. So be on the lookout for a map coming out for a third we're doing a we're taking
042the kids to the community. So pep rally a mobile pep rally if you would. Awesome. And awesome. And the softball's in Akran. Is that correct? Softball's in Akran. Track is in Columbus both on Saturday. Softball wins Saturday carries over into Sunday. The only change would be if any of the games are rained out, they just move it back in. Awesome. Go Riverside. And uh but what a great great time because this is the first time in Riverside history someone's going to the States, right? It is the first time we have a team team going to states and I in the state final four and I believe it's only the second team in Lake County ever to make it this far. Wow, that's great. And if they if they win Saturday, they will be the farthest
043the team to go the farthest in Lake County. Super exciting. Wow. And and thank you to coach uh Mr. Ross. Thank you, Coach Ross, and all our track coaches. We're super excited. Super, super. Thank you. Okay, so uh next meeting announcement, uh curriculum and programming, June 10th at 7:30 a.m. Finance and Personnel, June 18th at 8:00 a.m. Buildings and Grounds, June 24th at 7:30 a.m. Board of Education meeting on June 26th at 6 at 6:00 p.m. Yes. Okay. Dip 6 p.m. Okay. All right. I make a motion to adjourn at at 808. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. Mike, can you call the roll? Fisher. I. Dennis Keaney. I motion carried and hope everyone has a wonderful day.