001And we are live. You may begin. Thank you, Mrs. Fakish. And good evening, everyone, and welcome to the April 28th, um, facilities and operations meeting. Let us start with the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. A. Um, do I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes from the March 24th F&O meeting? So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? All in favor, say I. I. I. Great. Okay, Mr. Slaughter, I think I'm passing this over to you for the items recommended for work session or action. Awesome. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the April 28th Facilities and Operations Committee meeting. Uh, the first item we have
002recommended for work session is a, uh, bid pack two GC change order number three. It involves three items. The first is additional rock removal. Uh, this is similar to previous change orders that we've submitted for rock removal. Uh, based on geological test borings, we anticipated rock. This represents volume from March 18th through April 1st for stormwater and domestic water piping, in the amount of $82,795 and 37 cents. The second PCO number 12 is to modify the storm water structures in the courtyard. This was an owner-directed change in order to avoid the existing electrical lines feeding D and E pod with an elevation conflict. We had requested that the contractor raise the manholes and reduce the size of the storm water pipe in order to avoid the conflict. Uh we priced this against uh temporarily moving
003the electrical lines and this was a more cost-effective way to do that work. The last item is PCO 13. This is an additional yard structure uh requested by the civil engineer. This was added during the civil review. Uh they made changes to the documents for additional inlet for roof drainage. These three items represent a total of $108,156.43. Again, this will be billed against the allowances that are in the existing contract representing a zero-dollar change order. This does not increase the contract nor does it increase the overall construction budget. And we have a remaining balance of 1,617,906.28 in the GC contract. Thank you, Mr. Slaughter. Do I have a motion and a second before we move to questions? So moved. Second. Great. Motion Motion by Mr. Bell, seconded by Mr. Kaiser. Any Any comments? I just
004have a quick comment. I just for the rock removal, I know we've seen this before. Are we Are we anticipating this to be ongoing for a little bit of time until all the rocks removed or how does that work? Yeah, so there is rock throughout the site. So uh we do anticipate as we continue, we are now up to the uh A addition area. Uh we still have uh some feeds that go to the new transportation building, as well as feeds to the uh B pod and C pod areas. Uh once those areas are completed, which will be in the early summer, we think we'll be out of the rock business by then. >> Okay. >> But there will be more coming. Yeah. Okay, thanks. We will quote you on that, that we will be
005out of the rock business in the summer. Okay, Mr. Bell. Thank you, Mr. Slaughter. Just a a quick curiosity and reminder for myself. We have $1.6 million remaining in the GC allowances. What are the other allowances for Bid Pack 2 that are outstanding? Or is it just that 1.6? No, no, there's allowances for each of the four of the five primes. And there might be a small allowance for the abatement contractor. I could get you those numbers, but I don't know what they are off the top of my head. Not a worry. I just think >> for each of the primes. Great to know. I I would love to have that refresher. I believe that was in the larger presentation that was done at the work session a couple weeks back. So, I'll take a
006peek back and we'll reach out if I don't see it. It just it's out for a reminder when we're thinking about already being sort of 13 PCOs in, we want to make sure that we're mapping out that change order allowance balance well. So, thanks for that. Certainly. Okay. Appreciate the committee's feedback. All in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. The next item that we have is item 3B. This is approval for the uh proposals. We took pricing for the installation of an additional or of an modular classroom space at Oak Park. Uh currently we are at maximum capacity in that building and there are also some students that are uh, displaced from Oak Park to another building. Uh, this will allow us to uh, it have four additional classrooms to provide some space
007while we're waiting for the facilities assessment to come back. We are certain that the facilities assessment is going to suggest that we put an addition on Oak Park in order to address capacity and the age of the building. Um, so this will be a purchase. That turned out to be a better better financial situation than a lease and will allow us to either move these to other buildings as we move through the district in construction or sell the modular classrooms when in fact we do uh, put an addition on Oak Park. The amount is $1,267,575 for the purchase and installation of these. Uh, we took four bids. Uh, Box Modular withdrew because they couldn't produce in the time frame we were looking for and Mobile Leased was the lower of the other two contractors. We've
008done work with Mobile Leased before. They were the provider for the uh, trailer that we purchased for the transportation uh, over office over at Pembroke Middle School. Hey, do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Second. Hey, motion by Mr. Kaiser, second by Mr. Bell. Um, any comments or questions? I Happy to go first in this one. >> Yeah, go ahead. We'll we'll we'll form a queue cuz I know this one's going to be good. Okay. One appreciated attending to the enrollment needs of the building and making sure we have enough space that students in the Cashman zone are able to attend that. Um I know that modular classrooms are uh atypically folks' favorite places to instruct from. Although, my seventh grader at Penfield loves her modular classroom, ironically enough. Um I am
009appreciative of the uh initial note about this being something that could be moved. Between the facility study and the demography study coming down the pike, I think it's going to be important for us to have some flexibility here. Um but I'm also looking at the big cost where the vast majority of this cost is installation. Uh is it similarly expensive if this was if this would be something that we would need for to move eventually for swing space at the high school or other things, would that installation cost be duplicative at that point? So, the installation costs are are going to be similar as we move throughout the the uh district is if unless we're doing it ourselves. Uh the cost is the connecting uh structure that goes between the building and the modulars, so
010that the students don't have to walk outside and we maintain a secure perimeter. The other cost it that is fairly large is the electrical service to the mods. So, we take the existing electrical service at the building and feed the mods with not only electric, but fire alarm, plumbing, and sanitary, and internet. So, uh those utilities that need to go out to the building drive the costs up significantly, and that would be also repeated at other buildings as well. Okay. Uh last question from me. Uh assuming approval on May 21st at the action meeting if this move forward from committee. What's the timeline that the mod would be available for Oak Park? Our goal is to have them ready for the start of school next year. We've already had preliminary discussions with the township as
011to what our ideas were and they were open to that and gave us a pathway to follow to get approval. So we anticipate uh not much of a you know a an approval process. They're basically looking for a building permit and some soil and erosion permits from us. Great. Thank you. So I just had a question about the the length of time that you expect it to be there cuz you you know, I know that you are waiting for the assessment report, but even if the assessment report says you have to build four new classrooms, how long you know, that's going to take some time. So do you have an an opinion about how long it's going to be there before anything else happens? Yeah, Mr. Kaiser, from a borrowing standpoint, we think it's fiscally
012responsible that you know, Oak Park will be one of the top uh suggestions to move forward or on the earlier phases. So 2031, 2032 would be an appropriate timeline for that as we're wrapping up the high school and that is is drawing to a close that we start the process for Oak Park or the other items that are recommended at the top of the list. Okay, so wherever they're put as far as the drawing is concerned, that's that's where it's going to stay until that at least that point in time. Yeah, it's on the hard surface play area in the in the back of the building. The reason we selected that area was uh to avoid land development and creating more impervious surface, which would have been a longer approval process and we still maintain
013the play area that's off to the right of this location. So, um well, we're taking away a little bit of the hard play area. The classrooms are needed. There's a lot of activity going on and a and a much of a lack of classroom space and educational space at Oak Park right now. Great. Thank you. I have a couple of questions, Mr. Slaughter. Um I'll start with the easy one or the fun one. If because we are putting this on um existing play surface, is there adequate play space and open space for kids um to have recess? So, uh yeah, we're only taking up a little more than half of the existing hard surface play area. Um there still are additional hard surface areas for uh outdoor activities, as well as the two playground areas
014that are there. And then with the the you mentioned 50 students were um needed to be sent to other schools. Will those kids be coming back to Oak Park? That is the That is the plan. Okay. And then with exist or what we're hearing about possible um housing development projects and other things happening, is four um is four modulars adequate to get us to that 2030 timeline that you kind of mentioned to Mr. Kaiser's question? Uh I believe it is. We don't know what the exact enrollment increase would be from the the one new development that's uh projected for being down the road, even as the what the timeline would be for that to open. But, we believe this four-classroom uh modular setup will will allow us the flexibility to absorb that. Okay. I also
015I do just have to say that I know that as a board we have worked very hard to try to keep up with the pace of additions and renovations to try to minimize the use of modulars, but we also recognize that there were modulars that were removed and the timing and how difficult it can be to get projects going. So we just want to make sure that there is a plan to use them and to keep the the projects moving forward, but appreciate all that's going into this. It's Dr. Bauer. Yeah, I just wanted to thank you everyone and agree. Nobody wants to put modulars up. That said, the modulars that were removed from Oak Park, Mr. Slaughter, I'm guessing three or four years ago, they were removed because they were dilapidated. They were in
016such bad shape that it was, you know what, right now where we are at Oak Park, it doesn't make sense. They were leased for something like 20 years and to replace and or repair those leased modulars did not make sense. So we returned them, had them removed and understood at the time if we're not in a position to do an addition, we will need to bring modulars back. I'm proud that we're going about this the right way to put together the comprehensive plan and you know, a boundary realignment someday it may be discussed, but it is not on the immediate horizon. What is on the immediate horizon or reality is that we have, like Mr. Slaughter said, it's over 40 students who are capped elsewhere. So this allows us to bring many of the give
017the students the option to return. We're not going to force if they're settled in at their current school and want to stay. Regardless, Dr. Waters and Dr. Hart and Mr. Winkle would certainly tell you Oak Park is bursting. There is no extra space. So much so that when we go over there to have a meeting, I had to use Mr. Winkle's office to meet with Mrs. Ramich and someone the other day. When we had our cabinet meeting there, we had to go into the library to have our meeting. There's no conference room. So, we are really out of space over there and this is what's best for that school community, for sure. For sure. Thank you. Okay. I would also like to assure the board that if I'm recommending modular classrooms, it is a last
018resort. My goal here is Based on that statement, thank you. Certainly. Okay. And I I look forward to the facilities plan and our and our the student population that demographic plan and seeing where this falls for Oak Park because we do know that there's space constraints, the growth in the community, it's a thriving school and want to make sure that they have adequate classroom space and other spaces to meet student needs. So, looking forward to that in terms of long-term plan. Okay, thank you very much. So, we have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Slaughter. Thank you. The last item I have and this is going to be an ongoing thing that you'll see frequently at FNO meetings
019now. We are looking to dispose of unused unwanted non-repairable equipment on Municibid. The last group that we had sold, we did much better than we had anticipated. I think we received $1,900 for one of the trucks and a little over $1,000 for the camper. So, and we've also been able to get rid of some of the shop equipment. So, again, we've we've searched the district, made sure nobody within the district needs these items. Placed a scrap value on them, and would like to put them on Municibid with the board's approval. Okay, we'll start with a motion in a second and then open it up for questions. Motion. >> Second. Second. Okay, any comments or questions? It's like the world's best yard sale. Keep up the great work here. This is very interesting. I think we're
020learning about this. Um, and thank you for this update. I'm glad that this gets to come to a a committee meeting. This is fantastic. Yes. Okay. Um >> Awesome. If anybody needs a pretzel machine, it's it's information here. Okay. Um, any comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Great, we'll move on to informational items. The first, uh, thing that we have is the construction video update. Mrs. Fakish, whenever you're ready. Hang on 1 second. I got to share now. The front of North Penn High School may look like business as usual, but take a step behind the curtain and you'll find crews reaching some major milestones in the renovation project. This is your North Penn High School construction update for April 2026. The biggest news this
021month is that the second floor of K-pod opened right on schedule, welcoming students and staff back when they returned from spring break. Teachers are already setting up their bright new classrooms and students are beginning to enjoy the modern learning spaces and updated technology that come with the renovation. With the second floor complete, attention has shifted downstairs on the first floor of K pod, crews are continuing demolition of older casework, locker bases, and corridor finishes to prepare the area for its transformation. Installation has already begun for new counters and collaborative work spaces in the hallway and learning areas while plumbers and mechanical crews are installing new water lines, drainage, and ventilation systems that will support the updated classrooms. Looking ahead, demolition of the remaining finishes will wrap up soon. Outside the building, progress continues across several
022areas of campus. Crews have begun work near H pod removing sidewalks and the brick screen wall around the chillers to make room for new infrastructure. In the courtyard, large amounts of soil are being moved as the site is graded and prepared for upcoming construction. Work is also advancing on the A pod addition where teams are tying reinforcing steel, building formwork, and pouring concrete for the elevator shaft and foundation footings. At the same time, underground utilities are taking shape including storm water systems and electrical duct banks that will serve the school's new power infrastructure. The transportation building project is also moving forward. Reinforcing steel is being installed in preparation for foundation work. Once township permits are finalized and temporary power has already been set up to support the construction site. And finally, the new radio tower
023project has officially entered the bidding phase. So while things may look calm from the front lawn, behind the scenes, the transformation of North Penn High School continues to move forward one milestone at a time. And that is your April 2026 North Penn High School construction update. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Fakish and Mr. Gilmer for that presentation. The second informational item that we have is our monthly report from CHA or construction management services. Uh we have Mr. Jamie Lynch and Mr. Bill Hambly available to go through that presentation. Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Slaughter. Good evening, everyone. Um it's always tough to follow up Mr. Gilmer's video uh uh update. Um so I'll go ahead with my with my boring update. Um on project approvals, uh we're in the home stretch here. We have
024our NPDES permits for the projects that are underway. We've got a modification required for the projects that are out in the future due to changes in the design for J-pod and also for other features that happen later in the project. We've gotten our highway occupancy permit from Montgomery County Roads and Bridges, so that was a a a major milestone. And construction has actually been completed out there that ties stormwater to the stormwater pipe that runs under Souderton. So that's all happened in the past 2 weeks, which is great news. We're going back and forth with PennDOT on final comments related to traffic improvements and signalization at Snyder and Valley Forge Roads and also crosswalks. Uh that work is not impacted by the delay as it happens later in the project. Uh and as mentioned in
025the video, the transportation building uh building code review is underway. We expect to get that back within a a couple of days here so that we can continue forward, but that has not been a delaying impact on transportation. So very clean on permitting at this point. Radio tower design, as you mentioned, has been completed and we are out to bid. We had good participation at the pre-bid meeting. Bids are due May 7th and they'll be in front of the board for review and consideration uh in May. Uh due to the time frame for completing the delegated design and also getting the tower, we're looking at a completion in December of this year. Uh transportation building, as I mentioned, permits are underway. A lot of rebar is tied. Our contractor is mobilized and ready to start
026with his first footing installations. Over on bid package one, as you saw, successful turnover over spring break of the second floor. Uh, it was greeted with a lot of excitement and we're down on the first floor. As you may understand, these contractors really know how to do this as they repeat from floor to floor. So, we're moving back rather rapidly. First floor completion is expected before summer. And, um, before you know it, bid package one is expected to be complete at the end of summer. So, we have the offices to do yet over summer. We have the nurses suite suite to do and we have the large glass storefronts on K pod to do in order to complete that work, uh, end of summer. And so, bid package one is in very good shape. Bid
027package two, uh, tremendous amount of work, um, completed. We're working primarily on wrapping up storm water work on the site and electrical duct banks. Yes, there is one more significant run of storm water, uh, where we may in- uh, encounter some rock along the way. I heard your comments earlier. So, hopefully we're getting to the end of what we need as far as rock by summer time. Uh, A pod building stone as you saw in the video is installed and a lot of foundations are installed, ready to go. Uh, structural steel is expected, uh, over the summer. Um, we've got a new water service connected at H pod for the entire building and we've got a lot of electrical work occurring that supports not only the A pod addition, but we're running all the way
028around the building for all of the electrical duct banks that support subsequent phases. So, a lot of that work is happening, uh, ahead of time. We'll be continuing to restore the stadium ahead of graduation. We've worked with building leadership in the district on having a plan in place for traffic patterns for graduation. That's all going very well. As I mentioned, foundations are going for A pod addition and transportation and a lot of storm water work. We're getting set for summer of 2026 in A pod in which we take over both floors of A pod. We begin with a little bit of abatement and demolition before we go into wholesale renovation and we worked again this week with building leadership to understand how classes will move and be ready for the start of school in the
029fall. Next slide is bid package three which is really in a holding pattern at this point in time. We've got 90% design documents. There are another group of end user meetings in all facets of the building. We've confirmed where we are from a cost standpoint there. More constructability comments are coming in and being shared with the design team really in the coming months so that we're ready to bid in early 2027 and start work out there in 2028. Just an update on safety. There really were not a whole lot of incidents to report. Unfortunately, we had one trip and fall. It was actually by the GC superintendent. Only minor abrasions to report there, but we're continuing to emphasis our emphasis on weekly safety meetings, also badging, closing gates, keeping a secure site, and also cleaning
030roadways and minimizing dust as we get to the warmer portion of the year. Couple of dashboards are attached here for your use. Remaining material allowances is here for the four prime contractors and also the remaining contingency in bid package one. So, that's itemized here. Um overall, again, bid package one is in is steaming along nicely and in good shape for on-time completion at the end of summer. The next bad uh dashboard is for bid package two. Uh similarly working along uh those lines uh to get APOD expedited. We've been delayed from the permitting, but in working with the team, we think we have a schedule to get back on track by the end of summer of 2027 for that project. Uh worked very hard with the contractors and also with the district to understand what
031if any impacts there are and uh we'll be reporting to you more on that as we get a little closer to summer. But, I think we are in overall pretty good shape. Project budget remains the same as I've reported in the past uh couple of uh meetings. Their total project budget at $264,000. We do have um contingency uh in hand for bid package one, so that would presumably roll over to be used in other facets of uh the project. So, from a financial standpoint, um I can report again that the project appears to be in relative good shape. I think the thank you slide is next. So, I appreciate you listening. Happy to answer any comments or questions that you have. Thank you, Mr. Lynch. Just for clarity, that was $264 million. I didn't want
032anybody to think we were only spending $264,000. Sorry about that. My mistake. >> No worries. I wish. Yeah. So do we all. Any questions? >> Okay, seeing none we'll move on to item 4C. That is the 10-year capital needs update. There has been no update to the capital needs list since February. I will be providing some updates next month. However, some of the modular classroom HVAC replacements we've been able to secure we feel like value engineered uh alternative and we're going to try and perform that work in-house over the summer. So, we think we'll see substantial savings on that to buy us some more time until which time we get the regular facilities report and do a full update to this, but um we're looking forward to knocking some stuff out uh this summer and
033also we're able to complete some stuff ahead of this summer as well uh with intercom systems at the ESC, which is about 50% complete and we did an expansion at North Bridge on that intercom system that is done. Uh so, that was something that was scheduled for this summer. We were able to get it get it done earlier and get it done at a much lower cost than we anticipated by doing it in-house. Any questions on the 10-year capital needs update? I just I just have a question. What does with Reno mean? Maybe I missed that. Reno is um remote notification. Or or I'm sorry, with renovations. I'm sorry. I was confusing our BAS system with renovations. So, there's a lot of items there >> that are part of the construction project that are still
034in the capital needs list. So, they were identified as a need. Once we started of project, a lot of that scope was rolled into the project. Um so it's still carried in this list since it's not done yet. As it is completed, it will be become part of the uh the the construction project and removed from this. Great. Thanks. Any other questions? None for me. Okay. We're going to move to the budget presentation for this year. Um guessing there's going to be questions for this. So we're presenting the uh facilities and operations budget for uh 2026-2027 um for uh um facilities and operations. Next slide, please. So just to bring everybody up to speed on what the facilities operations department does, we're responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the buildings and operation of the
035district. We have 21 buildings, just over 2 million square feet, 500 acres of property. That includes all property, parking lots, athletic fields, and open areas. And we accomplish this with 132 employees. Next slide, please. Our staff is made up of a variety of uh groups. First is the maintenance staff, which are responsible for all the boilers, chillers, fire alarms, security, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC HVAC systems. That's a staff of 15. We also have a staff of five grounds people, and they're responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of all the athletic fields, building grounds, playgrounds, secondary lawn maintenance, and all our snow removal. Uh our our staff also includes 104 custodial staff. And the next item is uh a change from last year. So, we have supports personnel and administrative and supervisory staff. Uh, this year
036we have included the warehouse, uh, courier, and the print shop as part of our staff, uh, as well. All out of our building, but a slight move from being under the business office now under facilities and operations, but still under the business office. Next slide, please. So, some of the requirement compliance requirements that we, uh, have to follow are federal requirements with the EPA and AHERA, uh, our EPA for renovation, repair, and painting. That's, uh, involves any kind of lead paint removal. We also have to follow NFPA and NEC for fire system protection, including the sprinklers, all the fire extinguishers, the kitchen containment systems, fire alarms, and dry systems that we have throughout the district. We're also required to maintain right to know, our integrated pest management as we make lawn lawn applications, and the
037pool. We still have some underground storage tanks that we need to maintain paperwork on. We have a DEP clean operating permit for the high school based on the size of the boilers and the generators. We also have regulated dam compliance at the high school, which is the lower area between our property and the Calvary Church property. We also have to have our elevators and wheelchair lifts inspected and our boilers and pressure vessels inspected annually, as well as our Act 39 lead in drinking water testing services that we provide. So, some highlights on the budget for 2026-27, our facilities and operations proposed budget is $8.35 million. This does not include salary and benefits. Uh, this represents an increase of 16% from last year's budget. The reason for this increase is increased money towards maintaining the buildings.
038That's not part of the capital program. A little more on the preventative maintenance side to help us avoid some of the uh, failure and repair issues. Not to mention the uh, increases in uh, utility rates. Uh, overall cost increases on parts that we'll get to a little later. Um, so that's the overall top down. So, major components of the budget um, the salary and benefits will be covered in the board presentation by the CFO. Our utility and waste services are at 3.84 million. Now, this represents an 11% decrease from the 25-26 budget because some of our electric and natural gas increases that were forecast did not reach those levels. So, we have been don't doing year-to-date and and forecasted cost for next year, we believe we're able to reduce that by 11% as far as
039utilities go. However, we are seeing significant increases in water and sewer to the amount of 12.8% year-to-date from last year. So, water and sewer was always kind of an afterthought in budgets because it wasn't much of a cost, but we're seeing that increase significantly to where we're now paying attention to it much closer. We're following it much closer and we see some substantial increases. Uh, the other item of note is Land at Lansdale Electric, which is five of our buildings. Uh, they announced a rate increase of 15% for 2026. That's on top of a rate increase that they had in 2025 as well. Um, building system maintenance and repairs is increasing to 1.006 million for this year. Our custodial maintenance and ground supplies is up to 1.35 million. This represents a 12% increase from 25-26.
040We just wanted to point out that we've been seeing instances of product increases at about 30% on average. So, the parts that we buy every day for our repairs, our light bulbs, our ballast, converting to LED, plumbing fixtures, all those repair parts that we buy, we're seeing significant increases from the the supply houses. One of the other items is our safety system inspection and professional services. Uh this is 558,677. So, we're adding additional items to the 26-27 budget that were not there last year. Some of that is going to be elevator preventative maintenance and services. Right now, we only have a service contract for the elevators at the high school. We're going to expand this to all the buildings. What this does, while we do pay an additional fee for preventative maintenance, we also pay
041a reduced cost on repairs on the buildings that we have under contract. Um we're also adding emergency generator preventative maintenance and services. We've been doing that in-house, but we're not really qualified to do the repairs that we uh have to do to some of the emergency generators. So, we feel that again, in the long run, the preventative maintenance will reduce downtime and failures in the emergency generators by going out to bid for uh biannual services on that. Additionally, we're adding lawn mowing at the middle school so that our grounds department can focus more on the sports fields. We always seem to be kind of behind the ball on our sports fields. So, we're trying to get a jump on that with our ground staff by contracting out the mowing at the middle schools. Next slide,
042please. So, changes to the overall budget our general supplies and ground supplies are $855,408. That represents an increase of 12%. Our new and replacement equipment for this year will be $576,350. This represents some vehicles, some heavy-duty equipment including a forklift. We are entertaining purchasing a bucket truck to replace some of the lifts that we have that are starting to incur large repair costs. And there's also a new robotic floor machine for the high school to help offset some of the vacancies that we have in cleaning there. Our custodial supplies cost is going up to $501,860. This represents an inflationary increases of 13%. As we had touched on earlier, our utility rates in that category are decreasing by $404,702. That's a minus 11% overall. Electricity rates are down 9%. Lansdale electric rates we touched on earlier
0435% in '25, 15% in '26. Our natural gas is where we saw all the most decrease. That's down 23%. And again, we compared our year-to-date spends plus forecast the cost for energy for next year to come up with those numbers. And our water and sewer rates have increased at a 7% increase from '25 '26. Next item. So, some of the changes from the budget new items that are different from last year that weren't included earlier. We have the elevator PM services district-wide, emergency generator PM services district-wide. We have increased costs based on the warehouse and courier services. That's not an increased cost, it's just a move from one budget to the other. So, we're not seeing increased costs in that. It was just formally shown in the business office budget. It's now in the facilities
044budget. Same thing with the district-owned print shop services. That was also formally in the business office, now moving to the facilities budget. Also, the increase in contracted services for the middle school for focuses on athletic fields and getting caught up on playground maintenance. Um and larger building budgets at each school for necessary repairs and upgrades and to try and get ahead on that preventative maintenance uh portion of things that rather than being re- reactionary, we're being proactive on those items. Next slide, please. So, this represent This slide represents the 10-year historical increase in the budget for uh without salaries for the facilities budget. You can see we have our increase from last year to this year, but it's been a steady increase basically since just prior to COVID. Next slide, please. Uh this is a
045multi-year expense change comparison from our district to other districts. This represents 2019 through 2024. You can see that North Penn is still at the bottom as far as increase changes. Um so, we we're doing very well from a fiscal standpoint as far as us being compared to other districts. Next slide, please. This is a line item spending compared to districts of similar size. So, this represents uh you know, us compared to Abington, East Penn School District, Neshaminy School District, and three more. You can see we're on the conservative side down towards the bottom with only Pennsbury being lower than us as far as line item spending comparison. So again, just providing an example of our fiscal responsibility. The last slide is our line item spending for compared to districts for all. So this is across
046Montgomery County and some of the districts that border are partially in Montgomery County, partially in Chester, also partially in Montgomery, and partially in Bucks. So as we rank rank down through everyone, you can see that our line item spending is next to last. Again, showing fiscal responsibility. Um and also kind of showing that the need for the increase in the cost we're spending per school to kind of get us, you know, back on track again. That is all I have for the budget. I'm sure there are lots of questions. Any questions from the board? From the committee? I I had I have a couple. Um The I did I I see that some of the things were moved over to your group. Um but but you don't have any kind of responsibility for uh a
047computer network infrastructure, right? And in facilities, right? That's somebody else. That's the idea. >> are some Yeah yeah, IT is a separate budget than us for the most part, but you know, we provided the new air conditioning in the IT server room. We also pay for uh the backup phone line system that we have. And some of the internet like at the healthcare center. So there are some, but it's very minor. But we do do some of that, yes. Okay. And with the grounds crew of the five staff that you have, what what is that mostly just maintenance of landscaping and and grass cutting or No, mostly of it is a revolves around athletic fields. So, we have 42 fields, sports fields between the high school and the three middle schools. So, getting them ready
048for games, lining them, grooming the infields, mowing grass at at the middle schools right now. Uh we're trying to get it uh ahead on uh the playground assessment that was done. Uh trying to get repairs done on those kinds of things. And of course all the snow removal during the uh wintertime. So, essentially from March 1st when spring sports starts all the way till winter sports starts in November, our focus is on um on athletic fields and playgrounds. So, by releasing that mowing to a contractor, we'll be able to spend more time on that and and do a better job on fields, making, you know, a baseball field look like a baseball field. Okay, my last one was um the electricity cost. Lansdowne went up, but it but overall it was down. I just wanted
049to make sure I understood that. Yeah, so last year's budget, because we were coming off a three-year contract, we had tried to do forecasts for what we anticipated the utility costs were going to be under a brand new contract. And we presented it around this time when we were still under the old contract, weren't sure where the numbers were going to come in for the new contract. So, those forecasts between Mr. Schneider, the former facilities director, and myself were forecasts that at I think natural gas was at 30% uh or 38%. Um so, in reviewing the year-to-date, we're not spending what we thought we spending and we now have a consultant partner Provident Energy that does some of the, you know, lines up the bidding for us, lines up some of the purchasing, suggests when
050we should pull the trigger on certain things. So, between their estimates for next year and our year-to-date cost, we felt we could lower those budget numbers. Just to confirm that re-state that it's we are seeing a decreased versus budget but an increased versus what we're actually spending. Correct. So, the actual numbers we're paying per kilowatt per decatherm are going up but the overall volume from budget year '25-'26 to '26-'27 is reduced. Got it. Thank you. Uh a few other thoughts and questions on my end. One, I I really appreciate the comparative data points uh versus surrounding districts. It does speak to the efficiency uh looking at my own budgets uh that's more efficient than a lot of schools that I'm looking at and I run a pretty lean ship. So, really, really solid work on
051a I like the average per student spend metric. I think it's a really thoughtful way to look at how are you keeping things lean um while still providing top-tier services. I also am grateful for naming the fact that you're seeing a 12% increase in supplies. Um I would love at some point to discuss further at how that supply spending and staffing spending is offsetting some of the 10-year capital costs. Like you just named that you were able to do some of the work on the 10-year plan in-house. Um it'd be interesting to contrast and compare the savings there versus the increase in cost on supplies and equipment that you're bringing in that might have a longer lifespan than just uh contracting out that work. So, I think that that could be something interesting to unpack
052a little bit further as we look towards a very long list of projects in the future. Certainly. Yeah, that I could put together something for a future meeting on that. Um, the only other question and I can I appreciate you or Mr. Kaiser, I appreciate you lifting up the, uh, question around the utilities. It is a shockingly high percentage of our total spend. Like the fact that the utilities are almost 50% of the entire, uh, proposed budget is a lot. Is is that number surprising? Is that something as you're looking at this with Providence and that we're trying to bring down or is that just sort of an it is what it is moment? So, uh, based on board policy 3810, that sets the standards for room temperatures, occupancy hours, um, temperature set points. We
053we really do try to run a lean ship from what we consume. Um, obviously, it can always be done better. And we're we're looking at different ways we can do that and and save costs without jeopardizing any of the buildings or anyone's comfort. Um, but right now, utility costs are trying to get a a handle on some of those items. Just when you think you have like, you know, electricity and gas under control, then all of a sudden, woah, here comes water. That and and like I said, you know, that was something that was an afterthought for everything cuz it was pennies per thousand gallons and now it's turning into significant costs. So, uh, obviously, keeping a track on everything and trying to see where we can cut back and and kind of save a
054little bit here and there when it's 50 40 to 50% of your budget ops absolutely makes sense. Mr. Slaughter, how do the age um of our buildings play into this and is it Yeah, what is the what are the linkages to energy inefficiencies in our aging buildings that play in? So, obviously low-hanging fruit and something that's a simple energy savings would be like LED lighting which as we move forward we're doing that, you know, even as as we do like individual replacement. Excuse me. But, you know, as we saw that on a slide that we were presenting in in Mr. Lynch's presentation, we did we didn't provide it this month. You're seeing probably with like new equipment, you are looking at utility cost savings of somewhere around 25 to 30%. Just from the efficiencies of
055the newer equipment. So, based on the age of our buildings, the average age, you know, other than Montgomery Knap and Hatfield which were the three last renovations which were in the between 2012 and and 2026, uh everything else is prior to 2000. So, we're at a step here where upgrading our buildings is going to increase our efficiency. May I ask one last curiosity in this menu? Maybe one more for uh Miss Hauser than it is for you, Mr. Slaughter. Um looking at the budget, it's an increase of 16% year-over-year. Um certainly there's places where that's popping up a lot. Is a portion of that the adding of the new services like the new business services moving over included in that 16% increase or is it 16% increase on the current services plus the new stuff?
056That is the overall. So, overall increase. So, that includes what we've moved from one uh budget to the other. Is it a Are we able to see what the increase in the budget is year-over-year if we didn't include those new services? I would have to run those numbers, but yeah, we could I don't think it's very significant, but we could run those numbers. I think that just tells a more apples-to-apples story about the system that we're running here. I think I We're >> I don't understand your question, Mr. Bell. Like what Which Which services did you want us to take out? Um the We've got the If you go up a couple slides, Mr. Slaughter, you were talking about the new additional programs that are going to be included in this budget that weren't in
057there previously. So, like >> Right there. Whoop. Yeah, so I think what Yeah, what Mr. Bell is asking is if we take out the courier services, we take out the print shop services, and the paper, what does that look like from the overall increase? Okay. I mean, I think it helps paint a picture. >> Well, it's And it's also a shifting of responsibilities, right? Because we used to have For whatever reason, the warehouse and the print shop were in the business office. So, they're going to be coming out of my business office budget and moving into the that budget. I think it makes total sense from a logistical and deployment standpoint. I think a 16% increase is very stark to me, and what it sounds like is it's probably more like 10 to 12% when
058we factor in the additional services that were originally budgeted somewhere else. So, I think that that helps me unpack quite this scale of increase here. Okay. Seems less uh jarringly large than the 16% would come across. Understood. Thank you. Would you like the added services included in that as well? I think that that's helpful. I think that that's an important part of what you're bringing to the table, and I think that they're incredibly thoughtful. Um the utilities and the work that you're leading in the answer to Mrs. Ramage's question within to create that leaning in around preventative maintenance and efficient services uh is ever more important. So, I'm very supportive of that, and at the same time I think painting the budget picture inclusive of that is helpful. I appreciate the additional details. No problem.
059We'll get that for you in the future in immediate future. Any other questions? Thank you to you and Mrs. uh Mrs. Hauser for incorporating the budget presentation into FNO and for creative scheduling to fit everything in. So, um we appreciate it, and I do think this felt very much like it was aligned um to the agenda, so it was good. Okay, any other questions or comments from the board? Okay. I think that means that we are now on to the student rep update. Hello. Um I don't really have too much to say. Um thank you so much again for your feedback and all your support as per the student survey last meeting. And um we are excited to say we shared that with Mr. Hassler and we'll hopefully come back to you with results soon
060and actual feedback. Um we also who that the trees for the outdoor classroom had been cut down, so we're excited about that, and thank you for all your support and help with that as well. Thank you, Audrey. Cassie, would you like to give an update, too? Okay. Thank Thank you both so much for being here. We know that you are coming to the end of your school year, and we just appreciate that you have stayed with us every meeting. Um also, do just want to give a shout out to the Enact Club um for the work that they did around um Earth Day and all of the events that you all had planned, so um it truly The work that you all do is truly a gift to our community. So, appreciate you all for
061that. And yeah, so great. Okay, so we will now move on to the summary of recommended items. Um Mr. Slaughter, do you want to do the summary, or would you like me to? So, the items >> Sorry, I was muted. I wanted I think we have to see if there's anyone for public comment. Oh, I'll do that. Okay, yep, let me not skip that. Okay. So, um Mrs. Vakish, I am going to assume that there is a hand raised, and I'm going to start to read the um statement. So, individuals attending this meeting virtually or intending to speak to the committee should be aware aware that they are being recorded. In order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Sunshine Law, it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the
062committee during the meeting. To assure compliance with this requirement, it is essential that those planning to address the committee raise their hand electronically and state their name and municipality. Members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to matters being discussed at tonight's meeting or matters that may come before the facilities and operations committee. Members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to 3 minutes. Okay. Um yes, we do have one person, Mr. Lanier. I'm going to unmute your mic and then you may begin. Jason Lanier, Lansdale. Uh commiserate a little bit with the Lansdale electric utility rates. Man, you're right. That's uh that's that's been an interesting an interesting couple of years. Um leave it at that. Uh wanted to um go back to go all the
063way back to the very beginning of the meeting and talked about this rock excavation. I remember back in August of last year, I think it was August or so, there were a couple of contracts that came up and in that were add-ons to buy for lack of a better term, insurance on rock excavation. One I want to say there were one were there like 20,000 bucks a piece or so. And that was with the anticipation that we might hit hit rock and in fact we did. So is is this in in addition to that or was this something other than that? Because I if I remember correctly, those two add-ons were passed again, August, September time frame I want to say. Uh and wanted to just get some clarification on that. Everything else uh I'll
064leave it so I can kind of read through it a little bit more. Um but if you could the slot if you could give me some idea of what I'm talking about and whether or not that if I'm remembering that correctly and if that is if what we're talking about now with this big uh additional add-on is separate from those. I'll leave it there. Thank you. Mr. Slaughter, would you like to follow up or connect with Mr. >> Certainly, if you would like allow me to. If you would like, yeah. Yeah. So, in bid pack one, we we took the the allowance for rock, which is basically changing rock from unclassified to classified. What that does is it makes a fixed cost for the rock removal. Uh we felt that number was um a good
065number to take on bid pack one and and we uh guessed correctly and I I think we were 20,000 to the better as part of bid pack one. Um so, what happens is if you take that number and change the rock from unclassified to classified, you then owe that contractor that money, but if it goes above, then you you uh kind of hedge your bets on that. When we took the cost for bid pack two, the cost to change rock from unclassified to classified was in excess of $400,000. And we felt that that looked like a lot. Um we are not there yet, but we're we are getting close. So, it's um uh we did accept it for the electrician though. So, the electrician has a uh uh the rock clause in his uh contract
066now. So, any rock that the electrician hits based on the pathway of the um utilities, then uh he would own that as part of his contract. So, you you are correct in the in bid pack one, but we did not take it for bid pack two for the GC um based on the numbers that we received on bid day. Thank you, Mr. Slaughter, and thank you, Mr. Lanier, for um your attention and for that question. Okay. Um Mrs. Baker, I'm assuming that that is our final public comment. You are correct. Okay, perfect. Mr. Slaughter, do you want to do the summary of items for work session? >> Certainly, I can. The first item recommended for work session is the seek board approval of bid pack two for the general contractor for change order three. Uh
067we also have item 3B, which is the furnish and installation Excuse me, of the modular classroom for Oak Park Elementary School. And item 3C, the last item we have for board approval, is approval to place unused items for auction on the Municibid website. Perfect. Thank you very much. So, the next Facilities and Operations Committee will be held on May 26th, immediately following Safe Schools, um that starts at 5:45, and will be held in a virtual format. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Motion. Okay, meeting adjourned. Thank you to our administrative team for their attention um this evening and for um wrapping up their third committee meeting of the night. We appreciate you all. Um and everyone have a good evening, and to our students, best of luck as you finish out your
068final 35 days of school this year.