001um now this isn't on our agenda thing here but we're going to do the moment of silence and pledge if you don't care so everybody will please stand we'll have a moment silence while we have this um bill is not with us tonight his brother passed away last week they had the rece of the friends and services and stuff so he's not here the director you can see has left an absence he is is he out of the hospital yet yes he's home he's come home he had kidneys problems pneumonia a little bit of everything over the weekend so he's not with us and then we've also found out that county commissioner John Neil Scarlet he had went into the hospital for open heart surgery I believe was and he's not doing too well right
002now so if when we have this moment of silence please remember those so be will thank you flag States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you we got some recognitions here to get through so I'm going to have the assistant director of school you going to handle all this good stuff for us well this is the fun part so thank you for letting us do this Miss W is gonna help me here um we're GNA start with recognizing our district level teachers of the year so I'm G let you get started since the first one is Elementary so our first K through four District level teacher of the year is lesie V she's not here with us tonight but I do want
003to talk about and Mr day if you could join me and accept her certificate since she's at your school so you can come on up here um Miss Vines has been with Deron County schools for 16 years she teaches English to students who speak other languages she has nine different languages at just Elementary right now including Japanese Chinese and Spanish um one thing about Mrs Vines her learning environment is just fantastic um there's lots of visuals so when you're teaching um teaching students English you're sh a lot of pictures you have a lot of interaction a lot of videos and so her room is really colorful and it's got a lots of visuals um she's very interactive with her kids singing songs um getting those manipulatives having kids move their body um all the things
004that make learning exciting um she also co- tees with other teachers so she pushes into the classroom and works with other teachers does an excellent job at that she's loved at Jefferson Elementary and we are so proud of her um and we're happy to recognize her as our teacher of the year for PRK [Applause] for do we want to take a picture I guess without her here just did the next okay okay I also get the privilege of announcing one more District teacher of the year and that is Pam Mo so I'll have her come on [Applause] up so Pam has been teaching for 18 years she's currently she's been at Pont Elementary this entire time she's currently teaching fifth grade social studies and science Pam is one of the coolest people I know she
005totally is um so Pam goes to at National Parks she's been to like half of them in the nation maybe 34 35 out of 63 she's hyped uh the Smoky Mountains National Trails that's 900 miles she's done that all of them twice and she's on her third third time around um you know you have a book character dress up day she's going to go all out you might even see her in rber skates kind of happens um she's very inspirational she actually has taught both of my daughters very few teachers just how how that worked out had them both and you know they would come home and want to do the hiking thing they would want to do um all the things that she would talk about they would tell me the stories she's very
006much a Storyteller and an Entertainer and she's just a lot of fun so the kids love her um you know the teachers love her she is just an asset to our our school district also she is a runner uh she beat me in a race last year um yes so the um we had the jeckerson county for the health for one of our health initiatives we had a a fund like you know 5K um and boy Pam went at it like she she pulled first place for all the women so congratulations P we're proud of you thank and Miss Allan if you want to join us we'll take a picture what thank you and I have the pleasure of introducing our 9 through 12 Teacher of the Year miss Lanny o Conor so you come
007up [Applause] is probably one of my all-time favorite people I mean just a real inspiration for a lot of reasons I did not know a few things about her I did not know that she initially had no intention of getting into teaching she was actually a journalism major and just randomly I guess moved here and said I guess I'll sign up to be a um I substitute teach and then suddenly she found herself teaching so the last 11 years correct you have been in service learning 14 years at the SCH 14 years at the high school Service Learning teacher for 11 um if you don't know what our service learning program does you should most definitely check it out it is a very um unique uh experience for kids kids love her class they want
008to take her class more frequently if you're not following it on Instagram you should be because you can see all of the things that they do um she has just developed our young adults into our our kids our high school kids into young adults who enjoy working with other people giving their time um basically those students work in all sorts of um different organizations throughout the county how many different organizations would you say at times it can be like 30 okay and they give their time they do different things seen several of them over here moving boxes in back in over here after Renovations have been complete um you see them cleaning up trash and you know at the park or at the lake or wherever um so they do lots of different things lots
009of kids want to take her class more than once and if they do she requires them to do a Capstone project which is something that they come up with um one of the things that one of the Capstone projects Lenny in her article if you haven't read that article it's great that talked about um you know sometimes students will come up with a Capstone project that maybe doesn't seem like it's going to get any traction but one of those was the prom the senior prom senior citizen senior citizen prom and it has really taken off and and our senior citizens love it so and it just showcases our it showcases our students and what good kids we have in this District it also showcases just that partnership that we have with all of those um
010all of those those organizations but also it showcases Miss Lany as a leader and she is she's a very inspirational person kind gentle the exact person we would want leading our kids so [Applause] congratulations nobody from the high school can be here because they're in District tournament and I think we're having a district FEMA thing it was every spot was taken when I was leaving so we'll just take a picture the next thing that we would like to recognize you see a lot of students here I'm so glad that some of them could make it um I don't know that we'll have everyone here but we spoke with you guys um a couple months ago about J create which was an initiative that one of our teachers Miss Mana block brought to us um a
011while back and so we kind of started small we started with our middle schools our hope is to expand to high school and elementary school as well but we just um had our initial inauguration of that trail um and so we have several students who submitted artwork or literature that they wanted to be published poems or short stories things like that and if you haven't seen it you should definitely look at it because it is amazing what our kids can do so these are our young authors our young artists um we're going to start by recognizing and I am going to probably ask principes to come and pronounce some names because I'm not sure if I'll say them correctly but let's start with Jefferson Middle School do we have a principal from Jefferson Middle here
012tonight come on Mr ly um what we'll do is we will call out our students and then um we'll take a picture and I don't know if all of our teachers are here but I also want to recognize the teachers who submitted um some of their things so um we'll start with Jefferson Middle and I'm gonna let you thank you Emily [Laughter] all right and we'll give you we're going to give them a certificate and if you guys will stay up here we'll take a picture a group picture okay thank you fin Patel I proba it how do you say last night there you go say it again onus aalon thank you I knew that I actually did say that one when I was trying you picked the wrong person Jackson Courtney Robert bird Madison
013seal Isaiah lman yeah there he is Presley BR there's and then Roy Ramirez all right if we want to get a picture all together we probably need to like scrun together I yes you come on in Miss walk because you've been a part of this it's middle school but missee we don't have any like teachers we also want to recognize Maggie Reed Sarah Garrison and Thomas gron if any of them are here that helps our young people sub of these things okay get another picture thank you guys so much we [Music] love miss Emily would you like to come up and you wouldn't and Miss blof has done again she's our brainchild here she's the one who came up with this and um very creative so um we'll let you guys call those is not
014here Jada Brady Harley Miller Ezekiel Bryant Noel donakowski michaa [Applause] next is Rush strong and I see Miss Sarah in the audience do you want to come up and no she's a little child and she's here to support her well Harper do should we bring that up yeah we should mother get up here um Alicia Kel saw anybody El Esther kelly didn't see her and Josie Mundy see say just me and Harper or [Applause] not I think I know that girl come on she'd much rather have her picture made with her teacher [Applause] p and the teachers who submitted from White oh meliss Miss Melissa Aon I forgot to mention submitted for um submitted some names for um rest strong Lorie Hughes and Michael Herer they're not here tonight are they okay they submitted names
015for plat Ashley Gilliam Emma Samantha Jan Angela yes thank you so um I encourage you again get on our website it's jc-nj create I think JF JC that's the old one is it jc- t.net back slj jcreate but if you're on campus at our middle schools you'll you'll see signs that have QR codes please look at those they're fantastic they've done a great job thank you allate put in also you the here up I know what about never going to get there thank you all we appreciate you we have one more who time can we just recognize her as well Madison seal from Jefferson Middle [Applause] School all right well that takes us down to director inform of course director's not here and the assistant director said she didn't want to speak on any of
016this so but um Jessica did you have anything you'd want to add about the budget items and everything more tell us about the budget um on school side we're we're just working along so I do appreciate your fiveyear plan um always appreciate a fiveyear plan we could go 10 years so I'd be good with that but but other than that it it's just really early we're waiting on Tissa funding um we'll know more on that hopefully in the next few weeks all right well thank you I know that it is hard time of the year when budget start rolling around so we appreciate everything this does puts into it and everybody else I know they're having meetings with all the supervisors trying to figure stuff out so we appreciate all that so um that brings
017us down to school commissioner items for discussion and I I'm going to read to you which is in your packet um what was left us um from the director and I guess uh sort of set this up last Thursday night we met with our joint County Commission um committee and there were four school board members there three of us are on the committee um and then there were eight I believe County Commissioners um two of them were on the committee one of one of them was was not present of course it was snowing and icing and everything like that so but we was appreciative of a turnout and we Doug discussed the 5 year plan um and that was well received by the the County Commission several of them spoke to they need to develop
018themselves a fiveyear plan I think Mr snot grass was talking about that um the need for that so everybody that had a part in working that fiveyear plan up we sure do appreciate that I know it was several meetings and a lot of work but it's a good guide post and a way forward for us and as Jessica said she sure does appreciate them maybe we can work on that 10 year one one of these days um and then um Paul talked about the building and maintenance committee um his hopes and dreams and wishes for that and y'all meet tomorrow cor y tomorrow Mount horb at 4:30 so they're going to be having their first meeting and of course that um committee is made up of um Paul coaches on there Tommy Austin Bridgewater um
019and we got some um community members and and School Employees on there as well 10 of them and they're going to be working on that but the one that I guess everybody was waiting for was talking about J Elementary and what we could do going forward there and it was Tommy EXP explained the um contracts that are you know what what we had had so far scopes of work that were put together by the Lewis group and blank and ship and those numbers and he talked about what it would take to do each and then it was a lot of questions and a lot of comments um we cut everybody short at 9:30 so we could get out of there so we were there for hours talking it was it was a productive meeting I
020and any of y'all that were there you can sort of jump in here I I felt there were a few big things that came out of it one money is tight when it comes to the county and what the County Commission can put out there um I I don't know exact numbers because there wasn't an exact number put out but it's we can't just go in and throw 20 or 30 million dollar at something without you know being very um intentional with who's putting who you know what are we putting forward what's County Commission willing to put forward can they put as much forward um I sort of got the feeling that what what we might like to have might not be what can be done I mean just be truthful I mean if any
021of y'all sort of whether you know if if we wanted $19 million don't know if we wanted 15 don't know it may be lower than that so that might influence a decision down the road um there was also some talk about I mean just everybody sort of put their two cents in on what they felt was the best way to go I mean there was the usual hangups of the fair grounds we talked about you know the proposal of buying the property um what was it 19 AC there with the hospital that was brought up um but then it was well how much is that going to cost to get it actually worked up and ready for a site um and see the big hang up I would say is actually what's on here the
022Lewis group contract there were several County Commissioners that brought up a contract with no expiration day and they felt that it was kindly hamstringing so they're they and I think jimy carmichel brought this up and several of them so if if we didn't build a new school there're saying and a 100 years from now we decid to build one or we still beholding to this contract and we were pretty much told that it wasn't going to happen withis I mean I mean is that what you sort of yeah especially with their experience on their end in the past but that's pretty much what I got from the discussion that they definitely didn't even want to entertain a new building using group I would agree uh uh not only in last night but in just individual
023conversations with them I guess the County Commission has has some you know major uh questions with some of the contract contracts that they've gotten into some of the projects they done with Le group there is definitely not a pro Lewis group sentiment on the County Commission um I'm not going to tell you who said this but a couple people said you could bring us a contract for a new school you know for nothing if loose group is on it we're not going to vote for it they all did not say that but some did I again I'm not going to get in that's not my wheelhouse but there was definitely a bias a definite negative sentiment from of them on on the Le group um I would say just like you mentioned uh Mr chairman
024uh the other big thing is money um they have spent the last four or five years trying to whittle down debt and Miss Jessica I think you could maybe speak to this um and they are very very adverse very very hesitant go into debt anymore being that they worked so hard to get that down so what would be I I got this idea kind of this idea from what would be available is what they have on hand um and what could be done without raising more taxes because of the uh problems with raising the wheel tax and property taxes and all that so that very much h them and by that it hamstrings them and hamstrings us on how much we could spend to do what we need to do what judge said what we
025want to do we can't we won't be able to do it but um those were the you know as far as this question the Jefferson Elementary question that was definitely um what I took took away from it um I don't think anybody is against renovation I don't think anybody is against a new school but a new school with the leis groups name on it is not going to fly on the County Commission want to say anything um I thought the meeting well I thought it was productive it was very informative I mean I really liked it say we were there really late it was a long one um nobody got no fights there was no harsh words towards anybody which is good the and how I felt that I knew it was positive was because
026Jimmy carmichel said when are we going to have next one April 20 or April 17th by the way at 6:30 I believe is when the next one is going to be scheduled to discuss more issue whatever they are wanting to bring up but um uh Tommy said something to afterwards about you know well do you think we need to look into this contract and I said well I mean they brought it up so I guess I guess we you know need to do something so he set to work and you can see his um letter here and he's asked me to read it said School Board Commissioners after considering the following documents there is a path to moving away from the contract with Lewis group I need you as a board to take the next
027steps to consider ending the contract with Lewis group if you as a board would pass a motion for me to end this contract then I will write the letter once the motion is passed we will give them the ample time stated in the contract and allow for any money owed to them to be discussed I do not think much would be owed as the main portion of the approved work has been paid thanks director Tommy Arnold and what he's actually referencing um he has an email here that is highlighted within your all's packet and if you will look in the stateful contract if you'll turn to article 10 it doesn't really I guess that's on or article 9 page 15 I guess this will be 16 then um 9.5 9.6 so the email here from
028Tommy to the board lawyer um can you forward the signed contract by langon pots from Lewis group that is for two new elementary schools then amended to include a renovation at um pedmont and a new Jaron Elementary School the question that the board wants to know is are we still obligated to this contract from four years ago if so how can we get out of choose another architect and then you can see up here here uh Mr Bennett replied per sections 9.5 and 9.6 the board can terminate for convenience upon 7 days written notice um the board would owe for services to date as well as any reimbursable expenses how much work has been done by Lewis group and then Tommy replied it'd be very minimal I think we're about paid up for the scope
029of work that has been completed so if you look at page 16 there in that contract 9.5 says the owner May terminate this agreement upon not less than seven days written notice to the architect for the owner's convenience and without cause and 9.6 if the owner terminates this agreement for its convenience pursuant to section 9.5 or the architect terminates this agreement pursuant to 9.3 owner shall compensate the architect for services performed prior determination and reimbursable EXP so what will need to be looked at and discussed later or you know and the decision made is what the director wants here pass a motion to end the contract and he'll write a letter once the motion is passed so I kind of wanted to just give you that you know what went down for everybody that wasn't
030there and Maran had some real good notes on it if you get to read it go on Facebook there yeah uh we've been on jeffon Elementary School since 2019 six years and U all we've done is talk I've made several motions uh and uh according to what you just said a minute ago you I you just know school is not possible right is that your opinion or well my opinion I don't okay my opinion is it's not possible because of the money I don't think it's available okay yeah so we so what's the point of this dealing this contract for not want to build a new just here School a contract you know while we wasting our time on it uh I think about everybody in this room knows we're eventually going to end up
031remodeling School uh I'm fairly certain with that it's just a matter of finding the money uh and uh uh because there's been so many motions made of various degrees on Jeff Elementary Co School uh one we got it down to 15 million from County Commission you don't want get much more than that you know I mean that's that's getting down there of course we drained our pockets and to get there and and then of course the one that was made back in um September I think was Johan made it uh then we uh in November we send request budget amendments totaling around $10 million see I've been hearing over the years why don't you why don't you maintain your school right you've heard it you know why AR okay so we put forward to the
032County Commission uh budget amendments toally around $10 million to be spent on Perfection Group at Mari and you met Jeff mil school and the light problem at Mari so we went that direction and we get I'm just really like a bird dog chasing my tail here you know what what do they want us to do just come out and say it I'm tired of being Hur it does that make sense I feel like I'm being hurted by a pack of one of those black and white dogs that what yeah they don't give up they're tenacious so if they want to remodel let's remodel that let me just tell us what do you what will you what will you fund let's go um I I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying um I just you know
033if if we even though Lis group seems to be sticking in their craw even if we have a another contract that would be close to what Le group want or certainly if it's any more the money is still not there according to them um what we would what we would do would be adding more time to resolving this situation I mean it's going to take time you know rfis rfqs interviews get the bids vote on the bids again we could all be dead and buried I mean we've already been on this well not me but you know coach and and Bill you know for what five years and and we're no closer to get that done than right now um I I feel that I feel that at this point you know and I'm not
034saying because want to new school I mean if we had the money if we were Anderson County or S County and had all the money we needed sure I'd love school but we don't the fact is we don't and we have so much we can put towards it they say they have so much they can put towards it I say we vote on what we can put towards it it needing a remodel ask some what they can put towards it if it's enough to do it let's go with it if not we're back to the drawing board then I think we can look at this I don't know again I don't know I I don't know to what extent to what to what end because they just don't have the money and they will I
035have been told they will not go into debt where they have to pay interest because by paying interest they have to raise the property tax again or they have to raise the property tax again you know uh all you know what is going to work so I I said I I I just don't see I mean I'd like to go back if we if we could if the L thing was the only situation that was standing on a way yes let's lose to the side and go on but then we got the money issue we still got the money issue and I don't see that changing with with reiding a contract for a new new schol I got agree with Coach I've been on it five years we went to the County Commissioners I don't
036know how many times we've asked for this this this I'm like him if they want to remodel let's remodel let's just let's do something you know I've got three more year and three year I'd like to see something done at this school I may die before then I've got to good chance I'll get in tax D me we'll see other I I'm going to co you hit the nail on the head there um sometimes it'd be nice if people just said straight out hey we we don't want to fool with this bunch here I was glad that the air got cleared for the most part at that meeting I mean and and and some truth being spoke you know what felt about that the money um other things you know I think um one of
037the things that that that was talked about was you know being able to give you know contribute a certain amount and and I can't remember that number but then being able to I don't know sell sell a bond something like that and get a certain amount and then without having to raise any taxes or do any you know any extra to the well tax for that's not going to be on it second reading at the next you know County Commission to pass it so the will tax definitely coming back just to pull us back up um what the news fails to report because they did not stay while we talked about J Elementary is everything we're just talking about right here they came in they got the 23 million they got the 27 million they
038got a hot take from here and there and then they walked out they didn't hear what the County Commissioners had to say which is I thought would kind of be the point saying you know so then we're drugged through the mud it's your all's fault your all's fault I mean it is what it is everybody just be mad at us reckon but you know y all have tried for however many years you was trying when dny come home maybe this could have been resolved a long time ago if everybody just like coach said just said what they felt so the one thing with the contract I will say was that I kind of got the Feeling regardless of whether they you know we we all went with renovation or what they want the contract terminated
039because they I guess the word was the county doesn't need to be hamstrung by the contract being brought back up you know whatever so you know if if we voted whenever and it went through to do a renovation I think they still felt like they wanted the contract gone yeah the Lis group was selected twice t uh for the 2010 remodeling of the high school and building the Patriot Academy we went through an interview process of seven people aboard blind numbering system we turned our paper in they added up the numbers and the Lis group was selected that one it happened again Jeff Elementary I mean so what does County Commission want to do do they want to start interviewing the uh The Architects that we you know see what I'm talking about what I'm
040looking at here it's like we we are doing something under the table the ls group went through the interview process you all have gone through it to get the blank you see we' done that twice and those times they were getting into all lghs because there were a lot of people wed that uh High School renovation that patri Academy of course we also interviewed uh and chose the co or hired them to do Mount HB say uh because their plans they had a set of plans ready to go and we saved money on those set of plans and uh so it's not like the Lou group is just uh you know we're giving them these jobs on the table it's all the above board and the interviews are open to the public and and we
041score and I that's why I don't understand the need to get rid of this contract more than likely we're not going to go that route we've made so many motions yeah I can get I get it after a while okay I'm slow so okay by turning all those motions down that tells me but but even right now you know the problem is inflation things are going up cost and more uh the first bid on that Jeff elementary schools I think 199 so now look what 8ou 8 mil not 8,000 of wish $8 million more so how are we saving the county money that's what bothered me I'm a taxpayer too we all are say so uh delays l l and and what really bothers me is that I know if you went to your orientation
042in Nashville when you came on the board Tammy Gren you know what I'm talking about right she Ed the meeting when I went down there with one word it was safety the safety of your students and at the end of the day what we sat through that's the one thing I brought home with me safety we have students in my opinion that are in an 100% safe building and they've been it been in there for six years now when we finally determined With A needs assessment that it was the worst school in the county now if we started remodeling this summer or building this summer it's going to be two or three years that they're still going to be in that building if we remodeled and keep them in the building wow that's a nightmare
043right there now you say well we done it at Pont pont's a different school and remodeling Pont and keeping the children was not I think the principal could tell you wasn't the ideal situation but it worked and basically the remodel Pont it's a new school now uh and I wa sure you it looks new if you took me in there today you know I mean I've been there and I've been there over years you know but um that remodeling was what 11 under1 million let's say uh and that's half the cost of remod Jeff Elementary I don't tell something there's a lot of work to be done there a lot of work and I don't know what's the number now I think it keeps going up 23 245 245 for the REM because we add
044remodel we added in a project manager that Tommy asked us to have put in there 245 and the bill is 273 four something like yeah huh right so we're looking at probably what $3 million now you know that's a lot of money but for $3 million we get a new school and we're not rebuilding The Money Pit we get 8,000 more square feet at Jeff Elementary that you don't get by Remar now I don't know how many drove around this County this count is growing they stuff popping up everywhere like mushrooms so we're going to need probably before we get Jeff Elementary remodel it's not going to be being now what we're going to do we're not looking in the future now if it takes do away of that contract that we went to some
045most trouble to enview those fol to get money to build new Jeff Michal and I'll vot to terminate that contract that's what it takes uh we you heard the fairr that before you all in y here that was one excuse that was used right fairr farram well we have another option I don't think we need to buy the whole 19 Acres that they're offering it $220,000 an acre I think the director said we needed nine acres is that correct seem like you know get too many numbers here n nine or 10 acres nine or 10 I'd go with 10 you know uh and maybe we could negotiate with the hospital you know they since we are we're a nonprofit organization you know business would be different you know they might cut us some slack no
046we've not got to that yet and like I said the other night I'm for the fair ground I have nothing to get you it just we hand the land so I guess I've talked too long uh but I just had a lot of pin up things I just needed to say tonight it's a good time to say them and we're not voting anything and hopefully we'll go out here friends you know I know we will no problem it's just business we won't got to go along with every one of you by now and I don't know about too much way the seriously those some things to think about particularly right in that area the remodeling numbers creeping up now 273 an architect you know you were talking about 30 million uh going having gone through
047two building programs when they give you a number 273 we'll see they put it out the bid and they give us a guaranteed maximum price and it should be 274 whatever they say it is or 24 what guaranteed maximum price now then what happens if that don't that you know once we uh ask the County commission for money and they give us x amount of dollars obviously we're not going back right no no I know that so you have to make it fit say so things fluctuate a little bit you walk in there you've got a uh discretionary fund it has other names slush fund some people call it sometimes in construction you know but uh I know down at the patri Academy to make it fit we had to cut out uh some parking
048spaces which my AR when I voted for that I mean uh because freshman are not going to be drive to school anyway so we don't need to be parking L uh and it seemed like one uh like a dressing room and we're going to build a football field like back for the freshman football and I think now they practiced in high school those kind of things you tweak it a little bit to get it in it has to it has to fit that whatever we sell whatever they sell bonds for so if they say 245 then we get that that's it we got to make it fit yes sir go ahead oh I'm sorry about I'll anym you know I see I I absolutely agree with you you know we we got to make whatever
049we do fit with whatever money we can get um I don't really know why we're even talking about the Louis contract because if we go to them with the Louis contract they're going turn that so the number on the Lou contract the uh the square footage of the Lewis contract the very fact that it's a Lewis contract to me whether we terminate it or whether we just say that really doesn't address a renovation and that's the way we go so it's not really material I mean whatever if we looked to build a new school with a new architect you know folks this is that's going to take another eight months to year to a year to get even rolling even to get to where we are right now if we find out by requesting money
050from the County Commission how much they're willing to give us then we're going to know like you say what we have to stay within all right so the question is do we want to take the time to go down the same path that coach and Bill and Danny have gone down and they be at the same place at the end of that because the money is not there to fund what they whatever this new contractor and whatever they say a new school is going to cost or do we want to finally put this thing to rest find out what they're willing to give us find out what we can throw on the pot find out if what what will fit into that that thing and get on with it I'm more towards to think let's
051get on with it I think the county I think we I think the students I think the the community is tired of hearing about this we've got other things to to talking about having to do new things at the dump because the dump is getting filled the landfill that's M that you know they're talking about their garbage trucks are starting to get old and that's they have a lot of things on their plate that they've got to deal with just like we have other things on our PL life we still got these two agback podcast we have have to do at some point in the near future you know we have to keep the schools you know in good shape preventative maintenance wise things will obviously come up that we're going to have to deal
052but I'm saying let's get this out of the way move forward you know I think right now we've got a new Avenue of communication with the County Commission I think anybody who was at that meeting last Thursday you know f that they were more open to us they feel we are more open to them they want to go forward together so that's kind of what I have to say I don't even know where to begin with all that um I'll start with County Commission meeting sen I got from them just like we all said they know that with this contract um I think just knowing that this contract l there and we go with a new one I think they're just going to show us down I mean I think that they they know it's
053there um so if we go and you know we get rid of the contract uh then we're right back to where we'll be here another year trying to figure out who we're going to use go through the whole process all over again um even if they have the money and it sounds like they don't have the to give us um I'm a taxpayer too I don't want my taxes going up and if we decide to go new and go with a whole different group and they're okay with that I think they've kind of already told us our taxes are going to go up and really they said they really didn't even know how they were to come up with the money they were but that that was one of the things that they brought up
054was it could be the taxes going um kind of jump these numbers that we've been kind of talking about here the do the remodels 23.5 million that was pretty much all inclusive everything um you know another 4 million just under million was the Lewis group bid at 27.2 and and after they sat up here and we got to ask them questions and I went through a whole list of questions does it include this Does it include that um just the things that I asked that number I already have it just on three different aspects about 29 and A4 million dollar is what it's going to cost us I'm not into cutting things out you sure cut cutting things out of things here and there you start shortening your your parking lot you I mean if
055we're going to start cutting out a parking lot on a new building you really getting what you want I mean people's big complaint about the existing building is the the drop off and the parking lot we're going to end up with the same kind of situation there I think what people really need to understand that if we're talking about like my coach said safety the kids safety and I'm going to tell you there's not a week that goes by I don't know about anybody else I get nasty emails I get the phone calls are even nastier people don't want to tell me who they are they restrict their phone numbers and they're not pleasant answer but I listen and everybody's everybody keeps talking about if the safety of the children do what's best the children
056harm if people were really concerned about these children then they would be for the remont because if they if somebody thinks and I don't think those kids are in any danger sitting there we've had different enemies come in and check it out if we do a remodel the first thing that happens is the abatement and those kids and that happens over a summer kids go back in school the ABAB done if we do a new school a new build there's no abatement done of that old school and those kids for the next three years are going to sit in that school in this what everybody keeps crying about why they want a new school they're going to sit in the same environment so anybody tells me you got to do what's best for these kids
057and you build a new school to me that's just a to me that's just a very selfish way of getting a new building and uh you know that kind of stuff doesn't fly with me I I'm I'm not for building a new school on the fairgrounds I think if we end up buying the piece of property you know which I would be more into doing a piece of property if the hospital was sett but right there you're starting to add to add that number to that that new school price 29 and a quarter well by the time you buy this property and you go through all the legal legality of everything you're over million and that's not with any kind of amendment of hey we got to get this we got to get Port we
058got to I mean I I've looked at other contracts in the past here from scan they had these amendments half a million dollar more half a million dollar for this $400,000 for this and and like I said at the County Commission meeting we can sign into a new bill with with Lewis and there's obviously when you go from a when you get told you're going to get built a county clerk building for 1.8 million and it terms into the 5.3 that concerns me using that I would find it hard pressed to see why they could even double that from 30 to 60 but even if it's just 5 million now we're 35 million County commission's already said they don't have the money to to make this even at 30 or 27.2 um you know I
059think it's time I've been on here six months I'm wore out over this in six months I sat over there I can't even imagine you all have been through but I'm ready to put this behind us and start getting on to things that we really got on here and there there's a lot of things that I want to work on and I want to look at and and and you know we have a great School District here and I think the more we keep working on just the Jefferson Elementary School it's just like main if you don't take care of something it starts to falling apart and the more we keep concentrating on the Jefferson Elementary School other things are going to start falling apart or it will just stay the same where I want
060I I want to elevate our school district I think we have the opportunity to have the best CTE program in the state and we're right on that Verge but we're not going to to get anything done just sitting here debating us all the time I think the County Commission has already showed which way they would favor and what they'd be willing to do um you know I'm I'm I'm more out over this I I spend countless hours going over these numbers over and over and over and uh you know I think people also need to understand that if if we remodel this school it's going to be right along the highway and it's going to be it's going to look good it's going to be just like you go by Pont it looks really really
061good it's not going to look like it does now and um you know I I I think that we would be doing ourselves an injustice to build a new school and then hide in the back of the proog somewhere um so yeah I I I will I will say one more thing one of the big things I keep hearing too is how long will a new school last 50 years how long will remodel last oh 25 30 years you get 25 30 years years if you don't do any maintenance on it there's no reason that school still can't go another 100 years we have buildings this building right here I promise you this is way more I don't even know when this thing was built 182 that's a lot longer than 50 years or 100
062years and and uh you know it's going to be on how we maintain our buildings and the reason that school is not in good Shapers right now because we have not maintained that building I I you know I I agree with everybody I agree with Coach sitting here about you know we like to have a new school H sitting here you know he don't disagree with having a new school but we're sitting here and and it's not really not up to us whether we remodel whether we buy build a new school up to the County commissioners of what money they want to give if they want to give us the money to remodel then give us the money and let's remodel if they said well we're not going to build a new school because Lewis
063group is involved in it okay I ain't got to think in leis grp okay then let's move them out said okay how about this company well we don't like this company either well just what do you want to do you know what does County Commissioners want us to do just like he was saying about up the dogs chasing I just like to know what they want they want to remodel then let's vote it in and let's move forward you know U we sit here and talk all night long but we're not going to make that decision of what's going to happen that school you know yeah I'd love I'm like coach for for five years we' sit here and went to them I don't know how many times of we we were willing to give
064this much money if you're willing to give this much and understand and then we started hearing we're not going to give you a penny to build a new school because Louis group is involved in it okay and please tell us what you want us to do you know you got our hands you got I mean we're tied so I think our next step is ask the County Commissioners what do you want to do and how much money do you want to give us to do it with and let's go from there so I mean we sit here and talk until midnight tonight we're not going to get any better so so I'm so prior to my time being here on the bar um you said was Pont that had the remont for what I think
06512 million well I think we allocated 12 came in under bu so and and it basically looks like home school now how much regular maintenance was done before that remodel took place was it regularly maintained you're asking me to Reg I'm just you have to you going to have to cover 66 years CU both of those buildings are old you look at that in 66 years how many different school that sit here so who you going to point your finger at say we just got we got to take care of now we can't worry about what we've done in the past we got to clean the mess up right so we're putting out simple as that right now so I'm just curious you know over that time was the school maintained up to that point
066because what I hear um all over the place is that Jefferson Elementary was just neglected for several years that's what I hear so when I'm looking at Pont Anders El okay so lack of maintenance on Jefferson Elementary but Pont perhaps had maintenance so it didn't require such a heavy remodel so I'm just trying to understand I'm just trying to you know I'm asking questions I'm looking for information you know get I can answer your question pont's not half as old as Pont was very small school and the major part of the re renovation at p was that Center section in the old school out on the sides were were additions that were done in the 70s and things like that so but you're looking at Jeff Elementary most of that is the original school so
067it's just a matter of time deterioration so Pont those Center three classrooms I think along the front and the gym and all that I don't know what the r was but I'm sure J was a bigger enrollment than Pont was back in the day I think Pont even older Jeff Hill I know I know in that study they did they said it was the third the the school that was in the third worst shape of of the you know Jefferson in the worst shape I think at that point they said White Pine was in now it was it one and two and that was the first motion made was to to build those two new okay so P was number two in yes they were so it's just a matter of old age and and
068in know you get down the maintenance just a lack of money say too uh it's like we're sitting here now you know we take from our fun I've made a couple motions to use fund balance it was tough because I knew that we're taking away from Pand say that's what happens that's the way it works uh uh and uh you were mentioning the landfill earlier uh I was on the County Commission when that went on and now I've got into of this mess that's it's not a mess that's not a good word is it turmoil but I will you know uh in 2013 we had a tragedy in this County that was avoided because there was no school that's when the roof collapsed to high school okay I got to call and I got out
069there I was the first school board P personnel there which is not good it were TV cameras there uh and wanted an interview but when I walked up and saw when I saw I knew where those classrooms were I knew how many people were in there and they totally collapsed from that weight and the only thing I hope I don't cry here the only thing I could tell those people on the news was we were blessed that we were out of school because there had been 30 kids to 40 kids they would have had time to go out that me they just crashed out now why did the Wall fall down because that wall was put up by code before we could occupy that uh again we had to go every 4 ft and cut
070a slice in the wall cost a lot of money about $900,000 just that one building put rebar in there and P concrete if you go out there what I call billing eight if you go out there now you can see where they cut the slot all the way around today standard now today standard that one won't fall but this the Cod now that what are we looking at at Jeff Elementary what is inside those block there was nothing inside those block there's no Concrete in there no rebar no nothing and that those walls are really talking and that that g at Jeff Elementary concerns me for that very reason because that is sadl and that wall is is is I don't know what the footage is obvious it's tallest part of part of the building
071so it is it's a quandry you know I'm glad we're talking about it and you know I just uh I don't know we could uh I can understand County Commission not want to to borrow money and pay taxes but U this count is growing folks it's growing I see it I'd rather an off out down 257 uh after there County Line next to tobert out in there all L where I here to 417 uh there Apartments popping up everywhere people have heard about us They found us I guess you might say and moving here uh of course uh over where I live in downtown swans Sylvania there's a lot of growth over there too but most of those people I would guess uh living in communities don't have children they retirees they've done re time
072and they' moved to climate say but you see a lot of U well like when you turn into J Family Physicians there's a lot of houses in there for sale those houses are in the price range for starter homes that's that's the ones we need really need to look at how many starter homes are we getting in this County and that means children later on down the road so uh you know what is it 60 something th 61,000 ft versus 77,000 Square ft you know that 8,000 square ft may come in a plate somewhere down the line and uh of course cheriff Elementary is has a a what is it six six 700 Square ft classroom is six uh those are obviously going to probably remain uh I don't think that a u I believe
073Mr blankin chip maybe said I don't know that they couldn't be enlarged but with a new school everybody would have an appropriate size classroom I need to quck time well um I took a time not for can to sort of start wrapping this up I will say we did include when we were talking with the County Commission um the director printed off I'm guessing it I believe most of it had started in 2020 all the maintenance and everything we've done 34 and5 million dollar worth and I counted stuff on Earth since I come in and it was probably five six sheets and that was 50 some things had been done since I had come on here and I mean that's you know 2022 you can't say we need put money in stuff I think you
074know several people have hit on that um and it's it's going to take more as I mean that's something we got to think about too we can't throw every bit of our fun you never know when something's going to come up um we also um we were trying to you know talk about our budget Tommy said you know 80 some odd per of our budget is teacher and you know paid for people and we got to get teachers by 2027 entry up to $50,000 you know state law you know requirement so there's a lot of money issues I mean I think everybody from the from the small household all the way up to federal government I mean that's what it comes down to and maybe it' been nice if we could have somehow got in
075on some of that stuff that Elon Musk is uncovering and sending all millions and millions of dollars around that just didn't happen so we're going to have to do what we can and whatever hand has dealt with us um we just going to have to play it that's about way I say forward I I I went in I listened at this thing I I didn't you know put my two cents in I just listened and wanted to hear and I heard I mean like I said you can read Mar's notes that put out there very very long very in depth and you can see what was said so um we're just going to have to BU our shoes and do something here get something done I'm not I'm not y'all get this done um it's
076it's just been too it's been too long and one way or another and I appreciate everybody's disc scores here several disc course um they going to be mad no matter what new school somebody going to be mad no school on the um fire grounds some ain't going to be mad no school on no property somebody not going to like it old school setting not being used somebody somebody's going to say something and we Ain there going to get everybody but we got to do something so I'm hoping that we can put some sort of proposal out there or whatever and see if they'll move forward so is there anything else School commissioner items for discussion yes this is a small one um many of you may or may not know that the Jefferson County Chamber
077of Commerce uh sponsors and has our student leadership program uh they have a yearly dinner that they invite us to um they did the same this year uh I asked Rhonda who had signed up I'm the only one so far who signed up from that I think if they're giv to us we need at least kind of part per the fiveyear plan to partner with them and show them our appreciation by at least showing up so I would throw that out there I don't know all the details anybody who has Thursday night I believe it's going to start at 5:15 and it's going to be at the Carson Newman um Student activi Center um I would encourage you know we all don't have to go but for just me to show up I think it's
078kind of a slap in the face not because it's me just because there's not more of us is that the the student the pool yeah I'm sure there'll be signs now I had a previous commitment when we got that email about that but I no longer have it I I have no problem I actually think I do go there what time was that I believe it's 5:15 is it not I think so CU they've got a reception and then I think maybe the dinner at 6:30 okay that's but your ticket is paid for the school system always buys a table and your ticket is paid for is that this this Doug I appreciate what you're saying but I I'm dealing with my mother oh no no I wasn't Wednesday and Thursday all right let's remember
079PA's bman maintenance committee meeting tomorrow M 4:30 4:30 next Thursday will be our schedu business meeting 6:30 here any other announcements do remember those folks that we when we have them on the silence Bill and Tommy John Neil sure they'll appreciate the PRI so we are dis