001school system we are going to do something a little bit unusual we're going to take a f minute recess I believe we have three of our board members literally 5 minutes away so there we go and we're gone e e e welcome back to the work session for March 6 2025 first up is our Pledge of Allegiance led by Miss Tammy sharp pledge alance 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 ask you to Bow your heads for a moment of silence please thank you next we have the agenda any changes next we have the consent agenda next up we have a special speaker tonight we have a demonstration of open gate and uh you're
002up so I had the chance to go to MTSU to talk to them about our graduation and when I went in there they had several of these inside and so I got to talking to them about it and they have purchased several of those that they're going to be using at our graduations and I just loved how sleek and they don't have any wires I mean they're so simple to operate they don't look like a metal detector so I really started inquiring about them and got connected withun yeah and child is not here so ask them to come in and do a demo for you guys you can see what these are all about maybe possibly more thanks for having me tonight uh my name is Bill meller retired police officer from St Louis I
003am the training specialist for open gate um for communications Technologies uh communication Technologies we've been around for 25 years we specialize in K through 12 uh metal detection we deal with cameras Access Control phones all that we uh special we are chay's uh largest distributor for k312 in the United States for open little bit about ch ch has been around since the late' 60s um they're formed in Italy Hudson Ohio is their uh United States headquarters their claim to fame is they protect everybody from the pope to President we walk through their metal detectors uh whenever we go to the airport they manufacture our the open gate was designed for fast through put and get about 2,000 people through in an hour we once set hour they operate on a battery 18vt lithium battery it's
004flip on the switch and wait about a minute about a minute the 2 minutes setup and you're ready to go with the open gate we can look from a large weapon all the way to a half a scalp New York City uses them they were looking for weapons they went for looking for weapons to knives to scalping the kids have changed from bringing uh guns show you a few videos here St line F moving guys going straight going straight please keep going straight please look at me at me straight guys straight please straight please don't worry about stopping keep going St Ahad take the guys take the please take the going straight please keep going straight guys don't worry about stopping I'll stop go off keep going straight please going straight please you going straight
005don't worry about stopping I'll stop you if you're going straight guys already talked about CH open gate is completely wireless 300 zones of detection compared to a traditional metal detector in the archway they have 80 zones of detection that's why I'm able to change the settings on a secure app from a large weapon to half a scalpel blade they're lightweight they weigh less than 25 lbs about 20 lbs without the batteries 25 with they're weatherproof uh controlled by a secure app really no divesting um items there's a few for for students with school Chromebooks uh three- ring binders uh collapsable umbrellas and eyeglass cases are the 98% of what all kids bring in their backpacks there's a a few other items that uh we'll set it off but those are the main items greater throughput
006fewer nuisance alarms um with this I can walk through with a lot of things and not set it off you see the sleeves on them we can um you can doctor them up however like School logos 300 there's 30 60° uh alarm indication on it easy to locate onoff switch battery compart ments they run off of the 18vt lithium batteries the battery life is 12 to 14 hours you only need one battery to operate it so um long as you have one battery and you can uh use it recommended distance for a part um is 28 to 36 in traditional metal detector is 28 rapid charger it comes with about an hour and 30 minutes on charging the batteries we have uh stabilizing plates over here for outdoor use football games you see uneven surfaces
007give us a bigger base the secure app once the machine is registered to you nobody else can have access to it I brought Mark here with he's from Manchester City they use him I trained them about month ago month and a half ago um he was kind enough to bring his units up so we can do a little demonstration ation for you they're used for everything from school entrances to football games random checks graduation Schoolboard meetings we do deal a lot with um courts now and um the random searches everybody wants to ask uh can it get Vapes I can get Vapes with them I can get about 50 to 60% of of the Vapes about 50 to 60% of the time as I mentioned a few things that need to be divested Chromebooks because
008that metal hinge on the Chromebook represents a large Kar knife which I'll show you here in a second here's a school in Pennsylvania here's a football game football game you know Stadium chairs binoculars large cameras it's looking for a me density [Music] so as I mentioned it's looking for a metal density so this is compliant with the uh National Institute for law enforcement and criminal justice meets their level two compliant for full size and compact uh weapons this represents my slide my Barrel most guns are are made of polymer lowers are made of polymer so this is a metal DS it's looking for this is our test piece mentioned there's um a few items that kids would have to take out of the backpack eyass cases binoculars supporing this free ring binders you see the
009kar knife that's what that binding represents collapsable umbrellas if umbrellas are made of aluminum every time you go out the wind they break and in half so the metal when it's collapsed meets that metal Den far this also looks for IEDs as you see the Tomato Soup cans get brought it to can food drive they were stacked like that we were wondering what act going on well once we separated them it didn't eat that metal density so I had one paper 10 cans of the you like big question we get asked is medical devices in the safe for uh implants defibulators insulin pumps coar implants yes CH has a third party that uh does their certification on other machines again there's your sleeves your sleeves to Dr however you like take them less intrusive with
010the strap with the open gate this is how easy it is all I do is search for devices turn them on [Applause] [Music] that's how quick it reads it reads it off Bluetooth and here's what it tells me it tells me it's 32 in apart it tells me serial number battery life indicator which battery I'm using which is the main and the secondary Tower there's two types of users with it there one user which is a regular user it only can see the settings it can't change the settings so we're ready and set up we're ready to go everybody can walk through with I've got keys my phone not a problem metal detection is either way it doesn't matter which way I'm walking soon as I have my test piece it's going to go off
011this also has a counter on it so football games graduations you want to see how many people um attend um counter like again metal detection is either way if I have 100 if I go through 100 times towards you and 10 back it counts by 100 is my inbound here's a little bit of what we can see in change alarm duration alarm tone alarm volume counter inbound and outbound reset and go back there's only three things that will set it uh make this thing not work one is too far apart which is over 36 in wrong orientation because we have to have the transit SES facing each other or electric LS low ceilings we get some electrical panels closed we get server room Boiler Room that's got a lot of electrical noise that can problem
012so when these came out orig uh they came out for schools but they use them over in Paris Olympics for the Olympics we have different International settings I remember I said I can look for a large weapon all the way down [Music] to to changing theck so before I went through with my L my keys my [Music] phone as soon as [Music] it now it's now it's basically a traditional I can bump it up we have called sensitivity Delta some schools want to get small knives some schools don't I say small knives go to a teacher Des going bu a pair of scissors and I can do more damage with a pair of scissors than I can do with that small knife so small knives remember if we want to get small knives we got
013to bump up the sensitivity and then we lose more things out of our pockets with the school settings this is the school settings that 98% of my schools use and it's going to find your weapon I was in I've been to 33 States I have over 100 trains and I went to uh North Fork Virginia in January they had a new staff new security director new security officers they been using it for a year they know what they were doing I trained them I got a phone call last Wednesday they pulled out a 9 mm of a kit that was going to use went through the machine set it off we separate K from the backpack he cleared he went and searched his backpack found it grab the kids on through the office um he
014was getting bullied and decided he was going to take uh so these things work if they go off there's a reason we just have to find out why any questions yes what is the lifespan of your units typically well as I was telling them earlier um when 911 hit CH all the machines you walk through the airport they've been there since uh 2001 we've got a set of machines that we travel over to the United States to get run it out to get shipped out for demos no issues with them they're 5 years or four years old they there's a 2-year warranty on them CH manufactures everything um on here once you purchase them you own them free updates on the app if there's an update alert you just all you do is push a
015button and it takes 3 to 5 minutes for the update and if there's any issues CH is very good about um taking care of the issue for out of all the schools I've trained I think I've had two issues of probably a th000 units couple questions uh maintenance is there any type of Maintenance to do no maintenance maintenance um wipe them down with a wet cloth dry them off no chemicals it's only mention off they are weather they weather um you know High School is probably 2500 2,000 how many of these are recommended for schools that size I know it probably depends on how many how many entrances you have many I mean I had some schools with six entrances we've cut down a some we've cut down at least three um 2500 students probably
016need two at each door if you have three doors Two at each door um I did Steven County uh Georgia we had four over 1300 people kids come in we have four units two up top two now below we had every kid in not one was late to class anybody else what is lead time from the time we get the PO and we get it to CH probably about two weeks okay that's what it's been right now and as I was talking to Mr vau u i schedule I'm out to the middle of I'd be the one doing the training um I'm the middle of April right now is that state bid or on new contract or anything we have I think um TI tis do you have a list of any other counties or
017anything you've worked with in Tennessee you could send us or anything you one [Music] man I'm Mark Allen the technology director and safety director for manchest City schools and um we have a lot of safety lers our our our school district is really small we three schools don't have a high school and uh haven't had an incident like like you've seen in some of the public and real student taught in ruford County so I know the size that that's here and uh but we were missing a a layer of security we have access control on every single classroom door we have the tent on all of our Windows uh we have teacher um uh teacher buttons you know for our teacher distress so we were just missing one level we initially got these as a
018random check and then Antioch happened and we thought we can't do random checks anymore so when we looked at evolve we looked at the price uh and it's it's just enormous for us small District like us to go um for random searches you know random searches for that kind of money so we ran across uh the open gate system and it fit our budget we thought we would give them a shot and uh as you can tell they're very simple um you need no technology um experience to run them we're running them right now at our Middle School 467 kids in about 12 minutes um so you have two we have just one one set just one just one set we're running through right now so we're moving that was the apprehension that we had
019at at that school is how much staff it's going to take the first day it took more our SRO are there they're not involved in searches unless they have to be you know involved in that but the kids are starting to they're starting to run through pretty quick they're they're used to it now so we feel like it provides us with another another lay of security so I'm happy to answer any other questions y'all have from from a school systems perspective no problems no sir no sir no problems at all they're they're as simple as you see they if you run out of batteries you can go to Home Depot and get Milwaukee batteries run them you got to be careful they're the big batteries your maintenance guys will steal them that's why we inventory
020them yeah our guys wouldn't do that that's why we inventory him any other questions M I would say um one of our schools did request to have these in their school at all times um they've had the evolved system ever since an happened and she does not want them to leave she wants them in her school every day from now on she said that her staff and her students feel safer with the in the school and I've got principles right now asking me how can we buy these so I just wanted you all to know how important these are to our students and staff and our principles in our schools and I can Echo that was part of our um it was not something that think Mr didw and I discussed it was not something
021that as a director I've ever really believed in being in schools if F set the wrong message but I think Antioch hit close as close as it possibly could and I definitely believe in it now um and it was a big portion of our budget request and budget conversation of the principles just the the deterrent the sense of security agree yeah and for me how sleek and simple start set up and how fast they set up that was one of the things that caught my eye you can pick it up by the handle move it to another set of doors like that it's there's no issue and like he was saying one of the things when um MTSU was showing them to me they said them too close and so when you're starting to act
022up it tells you they're too close and you got to set them so far apart so it's you know I call I was going to say ID proof but they seem to be relatively simple to use and effective and uh I think my fellow Board member Miss sharp would when we first came on we probably would have been a hard no but things have things have changed drastically well and and like they were showing in the videos and stuff you know the kids since we've had evolved in the schools the kids have gotten used to it and it becomes quicker and quicker every day that they walk through these they understand what they you know passing the computers around umbrell things like that they know well they've seen them at ball games and other sporting
023events outside of our school system so they are becoming secondhand just a thing like clear bags we don't we don't have any choice yeah but to provide security we I mean if kids don't feel safe it's not going to matter so we got to do all we can that's right M Max go ahead Tak about days what they it takes about three days for the kids to understand what they have to take out and how to do it after that there's no issues I get more texts from um security directors saying hey we're on our third day and went great awesome Miss Maxell M Rosales um so and I so when are what is okay sorry I apologize for being late that was a really bad traffic um what is the next step in trying
024to get the the um metal detectors for every school are we waiting for Budget there a couple things so one I want to explore a couple different options and let the board know all the different options of what our current systems are how much that would cost um I want to hear from other big districts as well if you can provide some um just across the country that have used them um and here just some pros and cons there and then look at our state bid list as well and see what other just so you all have comparisons to make a good decision for them but that's a priority for me in the next couple weeks okay great so you think this may be coming up for a vote in April then yes okay perfect
025thank you yes Mr B I mean do we have funds available now that we could we could purchase these if need be fund balance uh fund balance any other questions m one yes Mr Dr s how much is the evolved system and this don't have a a subscription fee what was the sub the subscription on the evolved systems are 20,000 each per year per year per year for another three years okay there's nothing on these so right no all the updates are all the updates are free if there is an update it comes through the app you do the button and we I can tell you um we debated doing this in executive session but I wanted the public to know that we're serious about looking at these things so we Patty and I talked
026about which one to deal with anything else so we're going to see here another vendor or is that not necessarily I'm just going to give pricing options and other options as well what because I think it's fair to look at what we currently have and see what the cost would be okay perfect thank you just so you all know too I have other school districts that reach out to me asking me question about different things that we use so like Dr s said I've already got an email waiting for another school district for me to call in so I'm in the same boat as they are calling other districts to get what they're using you know and how it's working for them and things like that you just have one today that's it was called
027me actually I've been called several times for people want to know what we think about them and how we're using them use them daily or use them for spot tell Joey love Yeah well if that's everything thank you gentlemen thank you so much for coming this was very informative next we have Rutherford proud Thursday she's going to be here Thursday I'm excited first female that's awesome uh no public comments tonight um financial matters uh yes so we have a fund 177 fund balance and expenditure approval I know it seems strange that it's fund balance but this is getting ahead on a project we need to to go ahead and move on so Mr Lee this will be done by this summer correct yeah the LED project will finish up the last little bit of the
028um Sports lighting and the other will get us the equipment that is needed for the Smyrna Elementary project and the other half of that project is next year's budget but by buying this now we will be able to complete the whole project this summer so instead of having it carry over into another summer so you'll see this amendment moves funds from account 34685 committed for capital projects to account 91300 335 maintenance and repair services buildings in the amount of 1,635 $468 this movement of money from fund balance will go to fund the additional increase of 84,4 42 to the high school LED lighting project and the additional increase of 1,551 26 to phase one of smyna Elementary HVAC project this is part of a 2-year project for smyna elementary school that began this summer allows
029RCS to do additional work before the next school year um just for anybody watching our fund 177 is fund by is funded by property tax largely and some adequate schools facility tax that comes in because it's un property tax usually in February and March we had some issues with Smur Elementary School last Friday yeah last Friday and so we want to go ahead and take care of this during this summer and not wait so this allows us to go ahead and get it done it will have to go all the way through commission approval because it does ask for fund balance out of 177 okay next we have go ahead Trey as far as the LED lighting can you kind of give us an update where we're at on the LED are we talking mainly
030just the athletic fields at this point yes sir what we budgeted last this in this year's 177 was $6 million that is all County Sports lighting Fields baseball softball and football we will complete all County schools in one year with an LED upgrade by the middle of the summer we the lighting came in at 6, 84,4 4 $2 so thought that was pretty good but anyway we will complete that right now and we'll I guess it'll be next week at the retreat we'll discuss moving forward with the building LED inside the buildings Miss Max Rosales I thought I had remember last year we had the same conversation and we brought that up and you had mentioned it was going to be phase one and phase two and that we were building it in the budget
031and that first phase one was going to be on the outside um that changing the LED lights and then the phase two we were going to move forward with the building changing all the lights in the building so I know that we're going to have a retreat but are we discussing that's what he saying it's all fun 77 so it's all depending on if they let us keep 177 oh okay cuz there's a conversation that they may be removing the fund 177 we had a very interesting conversation with a county commissioner recently about budget and they were wanting to know specifically the pennies how many pennies we were keeping for our for our budget that we're going to be asking which is a very interesting question look at it in that regard every penny we
032have well I understand that but yeah and additional pennies huh and additional P well we kind of touted around that there may be some additional pennies been asked on that as well yeah but it is it is part of this year's fund 177 budget that's us funding it ourselves okay okay one more question really quickly so there was a um and I don't want to bring up a controversial issue but there was a piece of piece of um there was a statue that was built into the co that was part of the um the um education savings act that was passed that included funding that can go towards maintenance of effort do you do we know if there is a timeline for those funds to be dispersed at all or how much we're going to
033get for the county not a lot the one that was $25 per kid is that how much it was $25 per kid is that that was it really oh wow yeah that's not a lot then it made it sound like it was a lot of money yep I think it's just a little bit over a million and a half okay hi next we have number 10 Human Resources this is our advantage XO renewal agreement rord County Schools currently contracts with Advantage XO for substitute teacher Services Advantage XO will maintain their current contract and Bill rate will increase by 28 cents per substitute daily obtained this increase is due to increase in the smart find software profile rates is this our last year of renewal yep and what is the daily rate that we're giving to
034our uh substitutes um the daily cost rate depends on if they are degree they have their experience on that and then also we do additional $10 for the hard to fill schools if they have no no degree just a high school diploma is it 95 85 it's about 95 um uh and then it goes up $10 for each additional area and then they do uh also additional things if they you know substitute 20 days a mon month and they do a little assigning bonuses for that okay well and so right now our fill rate is running about 77 78% which is really good because uh we do realize that our subs become our EAS our EAS become our teachers and so it's a great recruitment as well yes it is yes Miss sharp thank you
035madam chair uh when was the last time they received a raise you remember I don't remember two years ago two years ago when we went for additional I think we started out at $85 yeah okay number two this is a contract renewal with mtsu's athletic training education program to place graduate students at rord County schools with Redford County Schools Athletic trainers to gain clinical experience okay number 11 uh let me ask a question about the athletic training is there enough for those kids at MTSU that we could put them with the Middle School athletic training that was part of the budget request by the Department um I can tell you right now based on where we are in the budget it was not something that will be in my budget um just with everything else
036we have to fund okay but it was part and you guys will see you'll get every principal request and department head request but it was not something that we have funded right now number sorry coach chairis and Mr Dr Rowling they don't know that yet I meet with them later this week okay number 11 legal this is annual policy review is the last section that we have to finish it is section two which is financial um to meet the board of Distinction number 12 lots of um engineering construction at the school level first L High School CTE Barn request the C Department's requesting to purchase in place a 10 x16 portable Barn Building for use by the CTE programs cost for this structure will not exceed 10,000 it will be funded through the CTE Department
037engineering construction review the request and has no objection hey Trey um I know where we're doing the addition or the the the three additions three step level additions where is the CTE uh building going to be this particular Barn mhm will be where we're going to build the new CTE AAR at L this is going to be utilized for storage of materials for their current classes um and then it's not going to be used for Animals we will be building them a we will be removing their Greenhouse okay and building them a a very nice Barn good Animal Facility okay Wonder so it's going in that same area for them to utilize for storage okay I was trying to visually trying to the football fields here the schools here you know the it be to
038the right in the back near the soccer field okay okay and Mr vau and I were having this conversation before we started we don't build much storage in our schools and with these programs they just don't have a place to store their equipment inside the building so that's where where these barns come into play for them and the fact that they're portable once we get them if we need to move them we've got the equipment if they're not too large we move them for them okay move them around okay thank you number two this is a painting project request and it's the third one we've done School nutrition Department's been reviewing options to upgrade the appearance of the cafeteria serving line at Cedar Grove Elementary cost for this project is $4,725 will come from the
039fund balance will not require additional funds engineering construction department has reviewed the request and has no objection number three Rockville High baseball softball metal building request principal Steve ler is requesting to allow the baseball softball team to build a 30X 70ft metal building for use as a batting facility for baseball and softball cost of the structure $1,759 and will be funded by The Joint booster clubs this request is at no cost to the board engineering construction has reviewed the request and has no objection okay number four seagull middle baseball field naming request principal Kim stoker requesting to name the baseball field after former coach Mike Tobit coach Tobit was the first baseball coach at Seagull middle and spent countless hours starting the program and getting it to where it is today Eng construction reviewed the
040request and has no objection if you've never seen it it looks like a junior college um baseball I mean it does number five Blackman Middle fence request principal Dr Jessica Jackson requesting to replace the fence at a cost of $8,000 the cost for this replacement will be from the baseball softball and football accounts as well as $1,000 from the school's General athletic fund engineering constructions review their request and has no objection number six Madam chair yeah go ahead M Dr suin is this the fence that was taken down or am I we had one that was taken down when one of the buildings was erected did that situation ever get no it's at Blackman High School that's still Blackman High I thought it was school but that still has never been no I got an
041email about that a couple weeks ago so y you know what uh you you know what tore up his fence up there probably the former principal three times ago would be my guess did you say who tore it up or who put it up tore it up no my my suspicion is wear and tear from the general public and after hours jumping over it climbing over it jumping over it we have that a lot of fences around our playgrounds we have an issue at a couple of schools where we fix a fence and the um students and or neighborhood children cut holes in it to gain access so they can use it as cut throughs we fix the fence they cut their hole it's an ongoing cycle that whales still working good out there in
042yes all right next Browns Chapel Elementary Eagle Scout sun shade project principal Christina penny is requesting to partner with eagle scout Skyler Grove on a project to install a sun shade on the walking Track area of the school that cost for this project will be donated by the Eagle scouton at no cost to the board currently the drawings and the structure connectors have not been provided to engineering engineering has reviewed the project and has no objection to the location and intended use however due to potential wind loads Engineers requesting additional support documentation prior to final authorization engineering supporting the request provided they receive additional information I'm not exactly sure what a sun shade is but okay number seven before I read number seven it will come back to the board for final approval with more
043funding this is just to get it started steuarts Greek High School football facility request principal Dr Clark Harold's requesting to begin the process of raising funds for building a football Fieldhouse the anticipated cost at this time is 2.5 million will be funded through donations and fundraising this includes paying for architect design plans the request is at no cost to the board engineering construction review the location and there are Utilities in the general location approval from the local authorities will need to be granted before moving forward and Engineering construction can assist in this process pending utility approvals engineering has no objection to the request um but just like we do with other groups that are looking for loans and donations they have to come back before the board to get that approval it's pretty it's pretty
044big time Fieldhouse cost is getting more and more expensive every time we build one of do they uh they have turfield there at Stewarts Creek yeah they yes sir and $25 million man I know imagine that's like the off sheet of the Titans number 13 book review so these are our internal reviews for The Following titles um you have Catch 22 the assassination classroom volumes 1 through eight and number 11 Perfect Chemistry Water for Elephants and yolk and so those are for and everyone will find the uh recommendation and findings here and if you see any that say um inconclusive that means we have a recommendation that was varying between two um reviewers yes missar um spoke with representative Michael Sparks earlier today about another matter and he said that someone had mentioned Catch 22
045is that an AP we have those it has been it it does show up in the AP test yes okay thank you it can it can next we have the financial report all right if everyone well this is February's financial report so if everyone want to look at the revenue first so we're going to look at the one-page document that's front and back so 141 general purpose School fund not surprising you will see that property tax so I'm looking at revenue 41110 revenue is extremely high in property tax cuz people pay property tax in February so we normally are expecting 6 million if you budget it at over the whole year and we actually expect got 23 million last week or last week that'd be nice last month you'll see local option sales tax was
046actually up which is a nice Trend but it is usually two months behind so that is accounting for the Christmas season in December so I'll be interested to see what January looks like so the 10 million compared to our 8.5 you will the other ones I always like to look at is investment incomes about middle of the page 44110 still above but interest rates have dropped for investment income so that'll that'll start to right size as time goes on Tissa still where we would expect it um so Revenue overall still looks strong I would expect based on Revenue several million to go back into fund balance again um based on Revenue that is why when we I know that the County Commission I mentioned it last time never wants to to increase maintenance of effort
047but just as we've talked about being honest with our um expenditures I think it is it is a fair request for us about being realistic about what some of these are bringing in as far as Revenue goes and so when we're we're asking about Revenue we have added students since the last time maintenance of effort was increased and so some of these accounts are bringing in more funds than are were budgeted which I know you want to do to to protect your accounts to some degree but putting in an additional 5 to 10 million in fund balance when we're potentially looking at a shortages or some conversations that we'll definitely have with our our County Commission and we'll have as a board as well so that's that's Revenue if you'll look at expenditures we are
048right at from a a funding standpoint or from an expenditure standpoint a little bit over 70% finished with the school year but from as we talk about every time from a teacher standpoint we are a little bit over 50% of payroll and so for our teachers we're looking somewhere between 50 and 55% of salary used it throws it off a little bit because we have power hour and those different types of things that we also pay out of these lines so they're going to fluctuate a little bit EA again we're at about 70% of the year so you would expect those to be above but teachers again we we pay the year we withhold June July and August so that they're um those are going to be a little bit less than the 50% ones
049but everything else looks looks within line we the cleanup Amendments have been posted to this I'm sure again there'll be some other cleanup amendments we have to do as we get through the rest of the year but if there's anything you want to point out and discuss on Thursday feel free to ask just wanted y'all to kind of see where we are looking for February but Revenue looks really strong right now good to see number 15 director's update yes so we did the financial report um I will discuss this on Thursday because I think it's worth discussing on Thursday as well um but I do want to we celebrate a lot but I think we always need to celebrate a lot um James Evans was named the communicator of the Year by the Tennesse school
050public relations Association so congratulations [Applause] will I wanted to mention it tonight um because we'll do a press release tomorrow but I'll also mention it Thursday because we'll have a bigger audience on Thursday um that is a a big deal it was in Franklin seeing the admiration that his colleagues have for him was uh was really neat that was just seeing people come up and and talk to him uh because James has a lot of credentials that people don't realize and they don't talk about um so that was really neat he has been with us since 2004 and so one of the things hearing people talk about just the stats of our County and the time he's LED Communications being seeing the opening of 20 schools 20,000 additional students and then he is eligible for
051the national schools public relations Association Communicator of the Year that'll be in July so congratulations Jame I'm super proud of you so and that's all I have well Mr VA you were just in the nick of time for your state and federal report do you have anything or you going to wait for till Thursday okay yes Miss sharp oh we are in general discussion now okay we're in general discussion U y'all it's Jaz Fest time we we are back at the fountains again through their graciousness of lending us the U facilities um we have 20 plus bands two of the private school bands are making an appearance we also have an appearance by Belmont University Jazz Band we also have the victory drum line and the cadets they'll be um performing each one each day
052um so we need we need to fund it because it's an all volunteer staff so we need sponsors and donations if anybody wants to it's going to be a great year we don't have a prom or a wedding or rehearsal dinner this year to contend with so we have the parking lot and everything all to ourselves so and they're not building beside us so we we have more than enough parking last year it was over we suspect of over 4,000 people so um Reach Out reach out to Dr hawford um for donations or any of the board members so we just and we could use some volunteers as well so if you feel like you inspired and want to help with this we' just mentioned reach out to Tammy or myself I have a sign
053up Genie yes and we have a a Facebook page and everything too so most of all of that's out there so okay Dr Sullivan go ahead yeah Mr Lee I think you've got a bust information about 9084 and 78 Mr Vault asked for this information at the last meeting uh and I tried to uh provide it it you you can get into the weeds with this whether you finance your bus for 5 years 10 years or 12 years and what your interest rate is and all that kind of thing so I did I chose not to go into that so what we have provided Miss Maxwell is there any way to put this in the like where we can see it she wants it lot bigger I will email I will email this to you
054after tonight's meeting okay I just wanted to follow along while the the first box is the 90 passenger bus which is what most contractors have and what we have predominantly in our district those buses cost $173,000 that's no tax that's if I go buy one according to the local bus dealership that's what the bus cost an 8 the next box is an 84 passenger bus it's 171,148 next is the 78 passenger conventional I I'm sorry passenger bus 78 passenger bus which is a flat nose it is 169,170 the next box where you see a drastic drop is a 78 passenger conventional bus that has a most of those have a hood on them they're not made as Stout they're not made as um and I'm trying to think of a good term um that is
055the typical the cheapest thing they can buy yes most of our contractors that are running if they have one of these buses they're going to have the 78 passenger bus because it's more durable it's going to last longer and it's intended for I guess a more rigorous ridership most all of the buses according to the local bus dealerships the fuel mileage on all of these is basically the same it's going to cost them around $7,200 a year for 10 months they're incidentals tires oil changes those kind of things normal wear and tears around $2,000 a month next is what a 90 passenger bus running a standard 60m route which is the minimum that we pay pay $71,700 divided by 10 would be $7,700 a month basically that's with no fuel surcharge and that's no extra
056mileage that's the minimum route for the 84 passenger bus that route pays 68300 68,4 over a 90 passenger bus that's a saving to the county $1,059 less the seat rate 3267 that's $198 that the contractor is losing if they choose to go drive an 84 passenger bus over a 90 yes sir current seat rates I cannot speculate on what the seat rates are going to be yet so I'm using our current contract 78 passenger same thing it's a basically a $3,500 loss to the contractor if they chose to drive a 78 passenger bus over if they're driving that's a savings to us here's here's the catch and I said it I tried to be clear at the last meeting when we got into this discussion I'm all four allow giving them the option with the
057caveat that they can be moved if I need a larger capacity bus and right now we have more buses leaning toward the capacity than we do that don't except when you get out into the kol last casses Milton Rockville two eagle most of our Rock Bell buses that are running back towards town are all running pool I have we have very few buses that are running low we have our buses vast majority are going to be more to the full side than not um and some of those could take a chance it would be their business decision to do so and we would provide those seat rates and I would be uncomfortable from a personal standpoint and from a selfish standpoint as well going to the 78 passenger conventional and I say that from they're
058going to be more prone to breakdowns which is going to add to additional drivers trying to cover those routes have no problem with the If a driver wanted to drive the 78 passenger I just struggle with the conventional yeah go ahead when those routes are make sure your mic's on Katie took care of that she watches that for me I don't do a real good job of it but um when you design the routes or I assume you design the routes or the computer program designs arounds computer and our Personnel in the transportation office yes from history and standpoint everybody kind of knows enrollment you just see it it just evolves right and they change yearly but yes but but they evolve yes o over time it's and the only my only experience with this
059would be when Daddy used to carry the mail at Place cases and when last castes started growing uh fact Bill carried route two daddy carried route one then there was a third route added their capacity their routes didn't get longer but their capacity increased and then it got to where they couldn't haul that much M so then the third route was created I assume it's kind of the same way with you with you you you can run 60 Mi 60 Mi 30 years ago was a lot different than 60 MI now there's going to be three times as many houses so those those routes are added here's the ultimate question I think I've got to get back to or at least from my standpoint from an you believe from an efficiency standpoint I think that
060a 90 gives you and I say you transportation department not not you personally Trey but transportation department more flexibility if every bus is the same if every uh Capac it is the same that would be a true statement can we adjust for a 78 passenger would love to and that's the reason I'm think you know you kind of think outside the box does this do we really get down to efficiency but then you look at you know UPS FedEx the their short route trucks their long route trucks they're all the same you know it's kind of interchangeable parts you know what is it Southwest flies the same size plane everywhere you know they they they've designed those routes where they're what 90% packed 95% packed all the time so I I I guess we're going
061to come back around and meet ourselves here in the equation that the 90 passenger bus even though it's the most expensive bus in the long run it gives you more flexibility or gives the county more flexibility in designing those routes and making them efficient yes and I'll pull back the curtain slightly that's fine when we start getting into that 67 range we start looking at adjusting routes or adding a bus if I go to a 78 I'm really not 78 I'm going to be in that upper 50s range when I for a high school it real they a vast majority of our buses run in elementary a middle and a high we have some because of distance not capacity distance that they don't run but two they'll run an elementary in a high or they'll
062run a an elementary in a middle and they don't run a high there's it it's a time and it's a mileage thing and we got a computer and I got some ladies back there that do a wonderful job and I'm not arguing with them so so I say that to say in those instances if If a driver contractor chose to go to a 78 it would impose upon us and it wouldn't take a whole lot of growth the addition of another bus quicker than I could maybe get through the rest of the year if I had a 90 are are you following where I'm going cuz I'm sitting here trying to do the simple math you know a 78 is really a what somewhere around a 60 62 yeah a 78 I mean it's going
063to be in that 60 62 range is for a high school route now elementary kids I can get them on there all day long but I have to look at that drive that contractor's route not just from elementary if he's running elementary middle and high I have to take the highest well then but then you get back around to the efficiency qu you know equation you're you're you're transporting more people her people I was going to say produce but that's probably not a fair way to look at it I've been moving corn today so that's I've got it on my mind uh that you would save on labor cost your labor cost per individual would drop your Capital cost drops but it's going to end up being probably the same if you did the simple
064math so your labor cost theoretically we're saving on labor because we can ha over that's what it comes back to yes sir thank you it is that kind of answer what you were trying to get yeah and that was that was the conclusion I had come to but nobody had ever for us to really look at the big picture and to prove and I think my and I'm speaking for myself right now you know we've got the the commission looking at us you know here again this this body right here the operation of the school system 75% of the tax rate in this County and we've got 21 people kind of overseeing us to make sure we're as efficient as we can and I you know you and I have been around 30 years in
065this 35 years now I guess and some of the County Commissioners haven't been exposed to all this and it's e it's easy to be that Monday morning Monday Morning Quarterback and question okay why why are we doing what we're doing so sometimes I I just felt like we need to go back and redo the exercise again to say hey here we are doing as efficiently as we can here and here's an another thing that we can add to that and it's the same thing it's another way of looking at it if a contractor goes to a 78 I can save the T I can save $3,000 I say I meaning the district right and it's there in red it's $3,478 in a year I can save that but if I've got two of those in
066that one route and I add 10 or 15 students to one of those buses I no longer have the capacity to make the rest of the year and I've got to buy I've got to put another bus on at a cost of 68,000 right and that's a lot of that's 20 some odd buses at a savings of $33,000 a month across a district that I I believe we're going to be adding more buses and we're going to get back which which is a valid concern and and the other part of this equation for me was if you believe the administration now that we have they're going to do everything they can to lower energy cost well what does that look like two years from now is that an excess of natural gas is that LP
067looking at a different fuel type um you know if I was a contractor I'd want to look at that because you know diesel it used to be that diesel was the throwaway right when you and I were young guys we could run Diesel half what we could run gas and now the Diesel's higher and from the emission standpoint these guys are having a extremely hard time with maintenance and repair so that that's the other part of the equation for me is the upkeep maintenance and repair you know does it open up different possibilities for thank you I think that's one reason I wanted to have the diesel and the and the gas in our fuel index in the contract we've always just had diesel yeah and I think we need both cuz there again benefits
068the district if the drivers decide they can get a gas bus versus a diesel bus they can make a little more money I think we should have both of those in there as part as our fuel indexes Diesel and gas where we've always had just diesel in the past yeah and and personally I would probably put in there natural gas propane we do have one something so far Mr tile on that same topic when you're talking about the 78 passenger buses and you're talking about kol and some of these more rural routes that are more time constraint than the are capacity um where it might make sense for that contractor as long as they have the awareness that there is going to be a loss of funds that's I mean based on this math here
069and that they could get moved if capacity they buildt a huge neighborhood outside rip side kol that's something that could happen years down the road um if those things happen they still have the could potentially have the option to do it I'm trying to figure out where it would make sense for them so one of the things that one of the contractors mentioned is that a lot of surrounding counties have the 78 passenger buses so are they just looking at it the cost here to me doesn't make sense so are they looking at buying used buses that they're looking at the used bus Market when they've stood and that used bus is and and I've got a county close to us that has 15 or 20 buses they're going to run them for about 10
070to 12 years and then they're going to get rid of them about four to five years before their state says they have to get rid of them now you can go two years beyond that now but you've got to have them inspected twice a year and all that kind of stuff if they're really good buses and they're like you and I and that thing is not giving me a bunch of problems I'm going to keep riding at horse but when it starts giving me problems what are you going to do that's the ones they're unloading which then become my problem when they're broke down quite often if they're buying new ones buy them tomorrow we have a mechanism in the contract that if you can't keep your bus running we're going to you know we
071can potentially there's ramifications for it as long as those ramifications are backed up and enforced I don't have a problem with them buying a used bus that that is where that is the goal for them they want to buy a used bus that's got 3 to four years left and if they're in a kol Las casses area where it is time and I'm not where I have no problem with them W with everything you've just said and I tried to say that the other night I'm for it if a contractor wants to do it but going your way there's a subdivision after subdivision after subdivision that they're adding two houses this month three houses next month it doesn't take many of those for that bus to start and at that point I've got two choices
072at a route or swap two buses and when I swap them they're going to make seven phone calls and when they do I need you all to go we had this conversation we're all in agreement you knew what you were getting into sorry you've got to go to the North End of the county to run and don't I wouldn't do that unless it was you but you understand where I'm say what I'm saying I have zero problem with it but when I have problems I'm going to chir pretty loud and that makes sense and that that should all be clear up front that that is a risk there taking and and as long as everybody understands understands it I don't have a problem at all for a 78 passenger bus oh I think that should
073be if the board sides to move that route that should be in the contract as well to make sure all that's firmed up but what kind of discount are you talking about on the used bus for I mean if you got four or five years left on a bus you got any guess as to what kind of difference it is I I I would have no idea and it's and it varies based on make model years miles it's almost like buying a used truck you know has it got is it a 2017 with 50,000 Mi or is it got 200,000 miles yeah I'm just wondering if these that have four or five years left are they selling them for 20,000 or are they selling them for 70,000 because I'm just not seeing how the Math's
074really adding up for them it it's a it's a it's a business it's a business decision basically do I want to run Ed vehicles or do I want to buy a new one run it for 10 years and flip it you know and get me another new one and I'm sure they've all got reasons why they do what they do I have a question M Maxell thank you um this is totally a different topic than the mileage and the cost everything but I'm just curious um there was a comment that was made last time about the 2-year weight that they have to wait for the for a 90 passenger bus that was mentioned there's no waight they're all about the same was about the same the 90 and the others according to the dealership down
075here I can have anywhere from 8 to 12 in two months okay well I don't know I thought I had heard that there was a they waited a 2 years to get the 90 passenger bus because there was only one manufacturing that made them Thomas down here yeah I I think what your Tom go ahead Bluebird I think is two years out M bluebird's got plenty of the smaller buses right now because they I think they made a business decision too yeah it's yeah they've rolled the dice right here from the information I've gathered is that they overloaded production there so that's what you've heard is correct but it's a different brand bus oh okay so there's other brands that are making n passenger bus so it's not just Bluebird yeah prely here there's Thomas
076and bluebird you get in other states International still builds buses um Carpenter builds some small ones still but they got out of the Big Bus business no they they're up north there's about six manufacturers but here the two predominant just because of parts and service or Thomas and blue Thomas and blueberg okay okay thank you anybody else anything else I got one okay Mr Dr Sal I think don't forget we have an executive session immediately following I think um Dr Martin should share what um she did uh Saturday in a a week ago I think you you asked her to do oh absolutely yes yes we had a special request from the DAR at one of our schools yes and um thank you Miss Maxville for making us aware of that so I represented the
077um school system and went to that Dar ceremony there at the batty Farm um right across um from our new Hill Elementary School so that was a lot of talk too um and so we um kicked off the 225 Year celebration and um got to sign George Washington's birthday card so not everybody can say they did that two Saturdays ago so thank you for inviting us and thank you for representing I sorry I couldn't make it but thank you for being there it was an important event and to this community and to the the baty I did not realize they had a revolutionary war hero there but they do thank you for thank you is anything else move to adjourn we're adjourned