001It is 7:02 p.m. >> We do have a quorum present and uh we do call this meeting to order. This is a special meeting of the board. If you would remove your cover and let's have a word of prayer as we begin. Holy Father God, we thank you for today and we thank you for all that you richly blessed us with. and thank you for the opportunity that we have to serve the students of this school and members of this community as as far as being on this board. Dear God, we pray that you uh help us tonight as we discuss matters of this school to keep our kids first. Dear God, we pray that you uh help us each and every day that we walk this earth that we strive to live more and
002more like you. Dear God, we uh ask that you forgive us where we fall short of your glory with our sins. In Christ's sweet and precious name that we pray. Amen. Amen. We did not have anyone sign up for our public forum tonight. So we will move to our discussion section. Not on the agenda but needing to be discussed is a change of our board meeting from the 16th which is a Monday to Tuesday the 17th. at 7 p.m. >> girls first playoff game and it's been scheduled for Monday the 16th at Merkel. >> There is there is a basketball game on the 17th, but the basketball game is here. >> So 7 p.m. would be towards the end of that game. Next on our agenda is the facilities committee presentation by Sarah Martin and
003Billy Ducet. >> Hello everyone. My name is Sarah Martin. Um I want to start by saying I'm in no way a public speaker. Uh so please bear with me as we kind of go through this presentation. Um I am a family nurse practitioner. I work at Cognto Memorial Hospital. My husband Logan Martin and I um purchased built her home about 10 minutes east which landed us in the Hermly District. Uh we have a four-year-old little girl named Delilah who's currently enrolled in Mrs. Jones class. Um and I can't begin to express how like grateful and relieved we are to be a part of this school district. Um I know personally just to brag I have seen my daughter just really come out of her shell and grow and that's thanks to Mrs. Jones, Miss Sand,
004and Mrs. Lydia. Um, while I may not be familiar with many of you in this room, I do know we share a common goal. Um, that and that's setting our students in our school up for success. As you probably know, Billy and I are part of a larger committee, multiple school members, members of the community. Um, we met several days, many hours u basically discussing and narrowing down projects that we feel um are needed for our students and for the future success of the school district. I would like to thank the board for allowing us to present our ideas and also for recommending forming a committee um to kind of get that outside input from the community members. So, >> so for someone not to be as a public speaker, he's pretty good at public
005speaking. >> I'm not much of a reader, so I'm not going to I'm just winging it. So, my name is Billy Ducet. Married Stephanie Ganway a little over 10 years ago. Stephanie's been a member of the community her whole life. Uh, obviously you guys know Kathy Gana. She's been here since Moses was a minnow. So >> I've I've lived in Styver my entire life. So u I've known a lot of the folks here in Hermley. We ran around with with all the all the girls here. I actually dated Stephanie when I was in junior high and from a previous marriage got remarried to Stephanie. So uh we have a little one. She's four years old. Name is Max. Um she's going to be in your class next year and and we're excited to see that.
006So, um, as a as a community member and as someone who who, uh, as a local business owner, um, I want to see this school flourish. I need to see this this place be a great community and a great place for for that little one to grow up. She's, you know, I don't know, she got a long way to go. She's only four. So, uh, I just want her to love this community like Stephanie's loved it, like like Kathy's loved it. So, I'm just here to help present and u see if we can't get this bond passed so we can get some uh some upgrades that are heavily needed in this this school. So, >> um before we get started on our presentation, uh there are a few things in regards to school background which
007I'm sure you're way more of the lawyer than I am. Um but they were important to me when I was reaching a decision about the bond. So, I want to share those. First off, the campus was built in 2011. State of the art, beautiful. um enrollment has nearly doubled about since opening. Hopefully that's kind of somewhat pretty accurate. Um which in turn doubling of your you know enrollment increases demands on facilities and infrastructure. Um secondly I think it's important to answer the question why is the bond needed now? Um, we will be talking specifics in the presentation, but in general, the bond is needed now to increase safety, increase functionality, continue compliance. There are multiple maintenance needs that you'll see that are occurring simultaneously. Um, there's end of life on equipment with no replacement parts
008or limited availability. Um, a bond is needed now because we are planning proactively versus reacting to emergencies if these projects go unressed. Um so if you'll keep that in mind as we start to go through the slides. >> So the first slide here is basically just what our assessment committee how we met. We met several times throughout the months um starting last year before Christmas. Um step one was to understand the facility deficiencies and discuss the potential solutions. We've all walked the campus. We all took pictures. We all looked at the things uh listened to some of the community members that were that addressed the things that we needed to see while we walked the campuses. Uh step two was obviously to to see what we needed and what we didn't need, the wants and
009what we can afford as a community. You know, I'm like I said, I'm a local business owner and I live here. So, I understand what we need and what we don't want and or what we need and what we want and what we can afford. I'm I'm obviously with you you folks. I I pay taxes here. So, I know that when taxes go up, it's a it's a hard thing to to have to deal with. Uh, so we took that into consideration as a community. >> Um, and we also I feel like as a group, we worked really hard to prioritize critical facility needs and safety needs. Um, we tried to align the project scope with community capacity and then also just maintain a fiscal responsibility for taxpayers. So, we really did try to do
010that. So this shows you the the the community, the facilities of the community. So you can look at that primarily the outside of of the school board uh members were were folks that were on the community on the the the board. So there were it shows nine members of the outside basically outside when I say outside I mean outside of this this board. Uh there were four that were staff from the school here obviously. Uh and that a lot of us have kids here. Nine of us have kids that are going to be in this school district that that are going to be affected by the things that we do or don't do. These are some photos that we took uh as we walk the facilities. Uh the bathrooms, cluttered rooms, you can see there's
011there's no storage in it. There is some storage in this room, but it is it is taken up. I mean, there's nothing in that room that you can't put a nickel in to make any room. You have to do something to that room or it's just going to spill out into the hallways. Uh this is the culinary u room. We've got the uh and also the u uh the refrigeration that needs to be done. The u we got the wall obviously all of you guys are probably familiar with the wall issue. Uh we got the bathroom here that's u it's not adequate really for the for the little ones. We need bigger bathrooms, you know, more for for kids mainly and for some staff that that don't need to be in the bathroom with the
012kids. And I'm not sure, I mean, I assume y'all probably have heard this, but I was really taken aback when I went to the elementary and saw there's only like one private voice bathroom. And I mean, I don't have a boy, but even a little girl, there's three. For an entire elementary, I mean, in the high school, too, there's only one staff bathroom for the entire school. >> I mean, so bathrooms are an issue. I mean, I can't imagine. >> Yeah. >> And this this is obviously the the gym. You guys know that the wall leaks there, gets into the floor and uh tears the floors up. So, uh this facility walks and surveys. So, this is basically we walk when we all walked it all. We did did a survey. There were uh I
013think 14 of us originally when we first walked it all. We did a survey uh new construction here on the bottom. Then you have the building renovations. Then you have uh improvements for the academic spaces uh and so on and so forth. So these slides are basically to show you what we looked at and what we graded and what was the the most important to the least important. Uh so that obviously you see the needs of the restroom facilities, bathrooms needs uh expansions to follow more stalls. I mean they get cluttered in there and and some of the the teachers were you know talking about how the kids get cluttered up in the bathrooms. It's there's more kids than there is facilities. It's kind of like you know Thanksgiving all day long at your house.
014you know for years and years and years you got 14 people trying to use same bathroom. So your we continue this is another this is the secondary wing uh where you do the general maintenance and the furniture flooding equipment is needed so or flooring sorry equipment is needed uh upgraded on the culinary so the culinary thing we the way we looked at that or the way I looked at it personally I didn't I didn't go to college so I don't have a college education I graduated high school and started working with my hands we need more folks in in our our organizations and our industries and our just people that know how to work with their hands Culinary is one of the things I I wish I would have went to school. I love to
015cook. I wish id have went to school for cooking because the thing I've been pretty good at, but we need more folks that work with their hands nowadays than and and not to say that intellect is not needed, but we're we're quickly running out of people who can do things. And if we don't start to replenish that with our kids, we're we're going to run into computers and AI is going to take over and then here we are. So that that's just the way I think about things. U continued with the survey. That's the the uh cafeteria in the gym. Cafeterium in the gym. I don't know, John, if you've ever sat in one of those chairs. Nick Eden was was here. He's a fairly goodized guy and he showed us how he sat in
016one of those chairs. It doesn't look very fun. >> Feel good. >> So, and then uh some more of the vocational agricultural building. Uh there's just some more things. It needs some new bathrooms in there. The layout of the building isn't ideal for teachers with with that many students. They're they just can't see the students when they're out there working on stuff. Um facil this other facility walk to external sorry exterior athletic facilities. The lighting is is you know obviously you guys know the lighting is going to get older and and my question was with the oldent lighting you know the old lights that that are in there. the the yard that I had in Snider, we had 22 lights, I believe, and seemed like every month one of them would go out and we
017would have to go to Cane Electric. Sometimes we'd have to go out of town to get them. Sometimes we'd have to order them in and it would be months before we get the lights in. Those lights are going to go out. They're going to continue to go out. Everything in the industry is moving to LED lights, which you were all probably aware of. Uh so that thing that alone is is to me is an upgrade that needs to be done. Plus, you can think of it your electric bill. I don't know if you guys have LED lights in your house or not, but you my electric bill went down by about a hundred bucks a month just by replacing all the lights with with LEDs. So, our ranking uh candidate projects the way like I
018told you earlier, we rank them from a one to a five. Uh one being the least impacted and five being the maximum. Um, so we looked at urgency, we looked at benefits to students, we looked at uh com uh community impact and overall values. So this was the original. So look at this please and pay attention to what we what we looked at and what we what we cut out. So when we started out on this, the leaky wall obviously is going to be number one on everybody's agenda. That that was the first one that everyone looked at. Uh then we went to the elementary bathrooms, the new age decks, uh kitchen coolers, the softball field turf, the baseball field turf, uh the resurfacing the existing tennis courts, so on and so forth. So sports,
019you all know sports bring kids to to communities sometimes. Here in Hermley, it brings a lot of kids here. Everybody wants to come play on the turf out here. When I was in high school, we didn't have any of that. We we played on Moffett Field and thank God to the Pattersons, they brought in all the nice turf. So it it was pretty cool for us to play there and we drugg everybody to those those fields because everybody want to play on those fields. So now here we are with Hermley having the one of the nicest football baseball softball structures here that everybody wants to come play. So we think that that's also important. So at the bottom of this you see here if you can or can't uh it's 34 $34,69,000 was the original.
020That's what they brought to us originally for us to whittle on. So, we went through all that and we looked at what we thought were the most important things. And obviously, the most important things are the things that that continue to bring kids to school and and continue to to get a good education for the kids. So, we whittleled that down to $12 million, $1,981,000. That will get you 18 projects out of that total. So, our ask for the bond is going to be $12 million. And if you want to look through that, we can go through it all. Obviously, the leaky wall, elementary restrooms, the HVAC, those were the top three. And those are the things that we think that you have to have. The elementary kids cannot be in there piled up in
021bathrooms on top of each other. We have to get that fixed. HVACs, I don't know about y'all, but I sure like an air conditioner at my house, >> and they're going away. the the new uh I can't remember what the new uh regulation is or whatever, but the u what is it called? The u the freonom the new freom that's going in. >> Yeah, the new freon that's going in. You cannot retrofit an old air conditioner with a new freon. You have to replace. So, we think that and personally I think that if you don't go ahead and do that right now while you have the ability to do it, you're fixing to start doing it and you're going to have to do it one or two or 10 or 12 at a time. So,
022air conditioners to me, I want my kid to be car. Uh, so then the new kitchen coolers, we need those things to work. You can't have sour milk. You can't have food that goes bad. Those need to be worked. Uh, softball field, the turf, the baseball field, the turf. uh resurfing resurfacing the existing tennis courts. Like I said earlier, if you can't have kids coming out here to go to play sports, you're not going to have any kids out here. That the sports and unfortunately for all of us is something that draws kids to schools. We all know that they don't come out here because they're English teachers. The best English teacher there is. So we're looking at those obviously that need to be upgraded. uh resurface exist Oh, sorry. The exist existing tenn already
023done. Playground needs to be resurfaced. I'm not 100% sure on that, but I think that's something that we could probably pull back if we need to. >> It's about being it's right. We talked about it's about being proactive. These are things that we need to look like, you know, we've had previous bonds, we're here now. We need these are every item on this list is maintenance or it's into black equipment if you look at it that way. The turf, it's about being proactive. Currently, it's fine. >> So, when we get to the red here, this this was wants. That's where we we basically cut the line off at the wants. >> That was on the previous slide. >> Sorry. Go ahead. >> No, it's okay. So, so the turf it's it's not something that needs
024to be done right now, but it is something that's falling apart and we need to plan now. I mean, we can have this bond discussion now or we can wait in five years with inflation and then we come back and we're asking for 25 million instead of 12 million today. I think that's just important to consider. >> Yeah. And the so the security doors and stuff, we can go through every one of them one by one if you guys want to, but I'm just going to jump around. U the last skills improvements, like I said, that's uh that's for for kids that that have downs and things like that. I've got a daughter that's that that has a disability. So, I would love for her. She's probably not going to go here. I mean, a
025granddaughter, sorry. That's something that's important nowadays. There's a lot of kids that have have disabilities and that they need to be taken care of and they need to be taken care of well. Not just taken care of, they need to be taken care of well. So, uh, in my opinion, that's what that is definitely a need. The security door for the gym and stuff, what that is is basically to keep anyone from coming in while there's a game going on or anything going on, uh, sports activities here in in the deal. right now they can just walk in and just go through the building and I don't think that's very safe. Uh the new AV the scoreboards and and things like that all that stuff is deteriorating guys. It's been for 15 years. We you
026don't buy a TV of you know brand new 4K TV and have it at your house and 15 years later it's still the same TV. That thing's been replaced 16 times because technology has passed it up and it's it's just going away and they don't they don't let you rebuild them anymore. I mean you basically throw it away. So, that's what we're looking at. U the gym floor replacement, that that's an absolute, guys. That that wall leaking, as long as it's been leaking, is going to continue to destroy that floor. And you all know that. If you have a leaky roof at your house and you got wood floors and it keeps tearing your floor up, eventually you're going to have to replace all the floors, not just that spot. So, >> and I think
027we did consider actually a partial replacement, but um it has been previously sanded or it is at its last level. So, you're almost forced if you're going to repair the leaking wall, repair the floor that's already bubbling, >> we're going to have to have a complete >> and then you're good to go for, you know, however long it takes. Last, I don't know what a gym floor lasts, but I would assume it's a lot longer than a replace than a repaired gym floor. Uh, so then, uh, renovate the existing culinary. Like I said earlier, you know, we need folks like we need kids that want to learn how to sew. We need kids that want to learn how to cook. We need kids that want to learn how to weld. You know, we need those
028kids. And that's part to help that out. Uh the lighting replacement for the football fields, like I was telling you earlier, those light bulbs that we had to get at our yard in Snider, we just couldn't find them anymore. So, we ended up having to finally do the LED lights. We were basically just forced to do that. Uh and that's on the budget. So, uh the the lighting and the sound for the acoustics at the uh for the u stage, >> that's another thing that draws people into your school. It's, you know, it's I wasn't a drama kid, but I knew a lot of folks that were in drama and that brings a lot of kids into there and you just need to some sort of, you know, give back to the kids to say
029>> athletes. >> Yeah. For the non-athletes, you know, just to say that we care about you guys also. So, I mean, that's part of it that just fell on our our deal here. But anyway, >> and also I mean my husband's a really big theater person, too, but currently the sound system we're using is literally a portable Bose speaker, you know, and so for the lights. It's lights we're wiring together just to really get through. So again, proactive. We're trying to build a program, you know, include all students, you know, who might not be sport people. It could be theater people, you know, >> there's banquetss in there. Elementary has >> school programs, >> two programs they're adding. Yeah. >> Yeah. So that's the list. And and you guys probably have a flyer with everything
030on there. Is that correct? Did you guys print them out? That's what's in front of them. >> No. Okay. But we can get you all this information if you want to look at it line item by line item. >> But we're going to go through each one and kind of show you kind of what the >> Right. This is the this is going to be the breakdown basically of each one of those line items what it looks like. So this is going to be the fine arts and the storage. Obviously there's no storage. So they're just parking things in holes wherever they can park them at. So we need some true blue storage for that so it's not out in the open that people's not fiddling with it. So the estimated cost was $268,000. uh
031what they call the escalation cost. What that basically is is inflation. That's whatever comes, you know, when would we start the project today, two years from now, three years from now, that's what it ends up because that's just the way things are. I mean, you don't buy a car today and then expect to not have to pay another $30,000 for it next week if you just go trade back in. So, the uh fees and permit costs obviously is is all included in there. So, the total cost for that is going to be $319,000 689. And I will say to a part of the committee, it was huge discussion. This number that you're seeing right here, this is a cost breakdown per square foot. So I know if the we go to the bond and the
032bond passes, these products will be will be bid. And so it might not be that much. It could be that much, but you want to have that cushion there. Um so that you know if something else is needed or unexpected, then you have those costs to cover. So because I know that was a big thing. Everyone freaked out. Oh my gosh, I could do it for, you know, $500. But so this is just an estimated cost. So I think that's important to know. >> Yeah. At the maximum level. So think about it that this is the this should be the most it's going to cost. >> So the next one is the uh new kitchen coolers, which obviously is a must. I mean, nobody wants their their milk sour. So that those are $125,000. >>
033And to my I believe the what's wrong with the kitchen coolers is it's actually leaking condensation into the light. So, it's like an electrical problem that needs to be fixed. >> Safety. >> Uh, the new security doors at the gym. I spoke about that earlier, how that isolates the gym so nobody can just walk in and out whenever they want to go. Uh, that was $250,000, $244. >> And and really that's build out. So, this is not just throwing a door in. This is building walls here and the doors, the security doors, and they're putting security doors back in the back of the hallway. And you guys stop me or ask questions. If I'm talking too fast, moving too fast, just let me know. I'll slow down. The leaky wall in the gym, elephant in
034the room. Everybody's got it. Everybody knows that one, right? I mean, it was it's been a pain in the butt since they started this thing. >> The uh gym floor replacement. We talked about that a while ago. You know, if you if you just replace the the one spot up here, I think you're going to get one more sanding out of it and then you're done. You're going to have to replace it eventually anyway. So, it's best, I think, we think to replace the whole gym floor. So, you're starting to scratch. You're you're brand new. You got your wall fixed, no leaks, you got new floor, you're good. >> You know, and I was thinking to one other thing that that I think that is huge as or I'm proud of as a part of
035the committee was we worked within this building. I mean, we could easily with an increase in enrollment, we could easily be like, "Oh, I think we need an addition, an addition." But we work really hard to try to keep it within this structure and work with the space that we had, utilize the things we have, and just come up, I mean, really just keep everyone in mind and come up with basically the how can we do this cheaply and effectively to kind of meet those goals that we're talking about. So, I think that's important to think about. >> Yes. uh the sound lighting for the the stage. Uh we talked about that, you know, if you're able to do like uh one act plays, you're able to do things like that that that does draw
036some kids in, you know, and that's another thing that you that we obviously want. We want the kids. That's what that's what this school is for. It's for the kids. It's not for us as adults. It's for the kids. Uh the elementary restrooms, we we talked about those earlier. There's just not enough. There's I mean, I don't I don't want my daughter in there with 42 other kids trying to use the bathroom to get to class and then you know and then being reprimmended for not getting to class on time. The life skills improvements in the library office. What this does is brings it it puts another office in for uh what was that exactly? So, we're basically taking the space of the we're utilizing the space we have. >> We're going into the library,
037putting the library office and basically the current office is what we're turning into basically a bathroom handicap accessible. I mean, >> kitchenet. >> Yes. A kitchenet. And it's not even just about it's needed for the students. And I >> I mean, I worked in healthcare a long time and it it is about the students, but it's also about your teachers. It's about saving their backs. I mean like currently to my understanding >> students that need to go to the restroom sometimes we're going out right here to the only staff restroom you know and so it really is needed um and especially when you're changing breathes and stuff like that it's >> it's needed. >> Yeah. Those kids as they grow they're you know they're not they may not have the the fac the facilities or
038the the functions to to be able to go to the restroom. So there's going to be issues there that need to be in that classroom with those kids. >> Uh then the playground. We talked about the resurfacing of the playground. >> I liked it. >> Yeah. That, you know, we don't want that thing to fall apart like the the baseball fields and the football fields and just do a patch here and a patch there because there's so much stuff that you're going to have to cut around and through. It would probably cost you three times as much if you just started patching. Uh to re renovate the existing uh culinary like I talked about earlier, you know, getting the kids in to to learn how to cook, learn how to do things, you know, work
039with their hands and uh just be a productive member of the of your family, not necessarily society, but I want Max to be cooking for me one of these days. Probably going to have to. And that that was obviously a big number. So you guys look at that and I know you're going to, you know, be taken it back. It's $3.7 million, but what that does is builds out the whole culinary room with a teacher room obviously and a restroom in that also. That puts more square footage and puts more abilities for the teachers to go to the bathroom there instead of going all the way out and going across the campus. They they need to be there with the kids. They don't need to be out running around. There's knives and all kinds of
040stuff in there. So, the new awning between the secondary uh the secondary and the A, if you you can't really see it, but what it is is a cover here. So, when you're walking out, you're going into the A building, you've got a cover, so you're not walking out the elements. And I mean, it's $60,000. I know everybody say they build an awning for what, but it's it's got to be compliant. The uh security fencing, that's another that's really another uh security feature for our kids. So, nobody just walks into the facility. Right now, you can pull around the back back there. I've been to that gym before. Nick and I worked out in a couple times. You can just walk back there and just come right into the facility. That's that's not very safe.
041Especially not in the back where, you know, everyone's focused on the school up here in the front. You can anybody can walk in through the back back there and just get in the doors. That's not safe at all. And we all know what what the world's coming to nowadays. I I would just rather have a fence, you know, one line of protection. And she was just talking about a fence at her house, the I think $37,000 for mount of fences. It's fairly cheap. Gerald, you build fences. You know how much it cost. It ain't cheap. Uh the new HVAC uh like I said earlier, I don't know if you can see all of the HVAC units on the top of this building just just to keep the building cool. There are a bunch of them
042and they need they're going to need to be upgraded eventually because of the new uh the new free home that's coming out. Thank the government for that. but they're going to have to be upgraded eventually. So you it's best to do it now while we have the ability to do it. >> And we also discussed actually staging this. Um so we really worked hard to kind of whittle down our projects to the 18 to really be able to we looked at doing onethird of the system, but we actually got it to where we could do 2/3. And so you're kind of phasing it. So that way we're not here 15 years later and all the HVACs are going out. So we're trying to phase it to kind of again think actively one >> the baseball
043field turf u the turf I guess of all the turf the the football the baseball we can just punch all these at the same time all of that stuff was done 15 years ago and it has a life expectancy kind of like the carpet in your house you know the heavier traffic carpet in your house is going to wear out before the carpet in let's say the bedroom or the closet so that's all heavy traffic obviously you know you're playing games on them so that stuff is going to deteriorate and I think what did the What did coach say? Had a 20 year life expectancy. We were talking about el it's 10 >> 10 years. So 10 year life expectancy. We're 15. So I mean you've outlived it. >> It's it's time to start working
044on that stuff. >> Softball fields. Uh resurfing the the existing tennis courts. So the original quote was to do the whole tennis courts, replace the tennis courts, start all over it. We think that resurfacing the tennis courts with the amount of traffic on those is going to be all right. it it's not going to be the the permanent solution for ever, but it's going to work for right now to get, you know, to get the tennis courts back up to stuff. >> And I believe someone had said, I think it's like 30 students, I believe, that are in tennis. So, I >> I think that's great. And and I think it's something we're going to address every other softball, football, you know, it's the tennis and the theater kids, man. They just get forgotten about.
045And so, I think that's >> it's important. It has cracks. It needs to be replaced. >> Yeah. >> Or reserved. Yeah. Uh the lighting, like I said earlier, you know, I preached about the lighting as much as I can preach about the lighting that and that 1.3 million is is to replace all of the fixtures. Uh there's a ballast included with all that. There's a there's a bunch of stuff that goes with a light other than just a light. So think about that. It's not just taking a light bulb out, putting a new one in. It's there's ballast. There's all kinds of electric when these go in there. And that should reduce. So when we change the lights at Snider from the business, change the lights at Snider. Like I said, there was about 30
046or so lights that that dropped our electric bill by 300 bucks a month just by changing those lights out. So, you're going to recoup some cost by changing all these lights out, I would assume. And Ellerby, I asked you yesterday. I I don't know what the the the actual number is. >> I can tell you how much we saved doing retro or going with these lights. >> She told me the number. >> Yes. >> Spreadsheet a few years ago. I was >> there was significant savings and I think a couple years ago when we did this, we had almost recouped the cost of actually doing the last project. >> So, think about this. When you when you bring these guys in for these tournaments and stuff and you're running an electric bill, they're going to
047pay you. They're still paying the school what they're paying the school that's included in that. So, you're going to get a kick basically, you're going to get a a percentage of that as as a to the good for letting these kids come in here and play because they're still paying the same amount. We're going to get the benefit of that by putting new lights in for all of the ball fields. >> Uh the scoreboards, like I said earlier, you know, those those things are they're getting antiquated that, you know, you buy a TV today and six days from now they got a brand new one that looks, you know, 10 times better than that one and you can't replace it. You can't fix it. So >> before we go to the next one, so so
048these are the 18 projects um that we worked on and kind of narrowed down. Um and before we go to the next one, we talked about that bond amount. I I just want to kind of summarize. So all these projects discussed benefit students and staff through safer learning environments, improved instructional spaces. Uh it increases the number of bathrooms which is an obvious need. Um it improves safety. Uh it supports for current and future enrollment and retention and support of staff. That's what these projects can have for the impact it can have. So, like we said earlier, the call to the bond election, the call for the school board for the bond election is is $12 million, 11.981639. U this is what our tax impact is going to be. Um so after the $140,000 homestead act,
049if your your house is homesteaded or if you're you know you're living in some impacted obviously is only going to be 22 cents of an increase. So 22 cents, if you think about 22 cents, by the end of the year, if you just don't buy two energy drinks or don't go to the water burger three times, you've already paid for your your portion of this bond. That's the way I look at it. It's it's it's fairly simple. I know there's not a lot of people in in the, you know, in the the neighborhood out here that have a $260,000 home, but there are several of us, and I'm one of them, and I'm willing to pay the extra. That's just >> Lawrence over here, he's our financial adviser. He's the one that put put this
050together as far as our tax impact. So he's the expert at the tax questions. If y'all have any >> yall have any technical questions, ask him. >> So the the average market value is 138,000. So just to kind of break this down because that's what I needed. Um if your average market value is 138,000, you're not going to be affected by this one, >> right? >> Or over 60, >> right? 200,000 140 exemption, you're looking at a $132 increase. >> So that that's kind of really the majority of people are either going to be not have an increase or around the $132 range for the most part. Um, also I think it's important to note people over 65 and older will not be affected by the tax increase at all. >> And so, you know,
051that's something else to remember um >> because they'll still have a vote, rightly so. But I mean, I think that's important for them to know. >> So, any questions about this? Because I know this is the big sticky guy. This is the one that that we need to worry about. >> And I know Jake, he was real conservative when putting this together because of property values. So, this is this is estimating a lot of property value. So, it could be better. You know, this this might be the worst case scenario, but it could be better than what we're seeing. So, the long-term value of bond approval, just in summary, I'm just one of those people, is preventing higher future repair costs by being proactive. We're protecting the community investment. We're extending life of the facilities
052and we're supporting long range district planning, what's to come. Um, and he brought up water. So, I heard someone give this example and I in in one of our meetings and I think it really just puts it into perspective. So, if you have a potential increase of $132, if you take your family of four to water burger, it's $50, right? If you choose not to go to Waterburger three times out of the year, you just paid for these taxes. You just save that money and you put it towards our kids and future generations. And why wouldn't you do that, right? And same for, you know, 65 and older population. the tax increase won't affect them, but they still have a say in a vote as they should. So, vote for our kids and future generations.
053Um, is this are we we're unless you'll have questions. So, just in closing before I will stand up here, but um I want to thank you again for the opportunity um to present this proposal and for your commitment um as being part of the board um for school and community. really good at it. >> We're aware that this is a this is a high paying job you guys are at. So, we know we thank you guys for for at least listening to us and putting into consideration that you know for our kids. Are there any questions on the presentation that was made? The facilities committee's presentation. Any questions for Jake? Any questions for uh Jacob Barton? Project questions. >> I think they were pretty clear about it. >> Question. If uh the bond passes, how
054soon will the work begin? >> That might be a a J or >> it it'll it will uh the first thing we have to do is we have to get a contract signed with school district to move forward. Uh that will take us a couple months. Uh once that contract is signed, then we start working with we start the the process of drawing all these things. right now. Right now, these things are just boxes on a page. And so then we start designing this stuff and working with uh a committee that you guys put together. And it'll probably take us uh 9 to 12 months to get it all put together. Maybe not quite that long since there's not a lot of new construction, but uh it'll take probably that long to build it. So
055So think think two years. And then the limitation that we have for total length of time for con for for anything to be done we have to spend spend that money by is how many years >> so I would say like are you saying that if something goes under budget you have leftover funds correct in that regard >> or HVAC being done in thirds. >> Okay. So then you're talking about, you know, it's not policed by the AG, the attorney general's office very regularly or anything like that, but typically they want to see it done in about 10 years. I mean, because they understand that sometimes bonds, you know, are delayed or project something happens and they have to put pause while something gets fixed and it can delay the process. Um, the only thing
056you have to worry about is if you take that money and put it in the bank to earn interest, there's restrictions on that after about 24 months. So, two years. They want you to spend it down because you can earn money right off of that bond money, but they restrict on how much you can. So, we monitor that as the financial advisor. >> I just want to say on behalf of Jacob and Martin, we thank you for letting us be a part of this. Uh we got to work with a group of people that we didn't know before. Uh that we feel like we know uh a little better now. We've made some new friends. And uh anyway, you you saw the first we do the walk through, we come back with all these ideas
057and Doug will tell you we're throwing spaghetti on the wall. Uh and we come back with all of these ideas and there's a whole list of them. And so we we present that to this committee. The committee says, "Wait, can we do this and do this and do this and save money?" and we go home, we fix it, we come back and present it again. And they said, "Wait a minute, we could do this, this, and this." And so we changed it again and we bring it back. And then they said, "Well, let's do this and this." And that's how you ended up uh a was part of our original survey. The a department didn't get anything in this because the ad cost when you start looking at uh the needs versus wants, the benefit
058to students, the benefit to the community and the overall value the overall value didn't match. We could do a whole lot of other projects and keep the the price down and they saw that and so they did a fantastic job and I appreciate what they've done. Is this like a 20 year >> currently? That tax impact is based upon a 20-year term. Yes, sir. I mean, so what I mean, I have some stuff. You all want to look at it. Do you think it's you? Would you all like to see the proforma essentially or is this I mean, I can just kind of generalize it if y'all like, but >> Jesse, what do you think? >> You want the specifics for the overview? >> Can we have the reader digest version? >> Okay. So you
059have to make assumptions about your tax base going forward, right? Because that's what and your tax base has historically gone up and down mostly due to oil and gas fluctuation which is going to happen and there's no in any given year you're not going to know what that price is just you know because it's an average of the entire year what WTI is. uh we expect a 30% hit this year in the values which you know is typical but that doesn't you know and I don't ever assume that value goes back and swings back up you know is there going to be booms and busts in that cycle of of price per barrel and so when that happens your values are going to rise I have the 313 agreements with the wind farm those are
060depreciating y'all saw back two years ago they added value back to y'all's tax base um and so we have that conservatively you know depreciate over time the new energy vault facility, you know, figured out what those that's going to be valued at and have that depreciating. So, we combine all these assumptions and and show that your values are essentially I have it showing that it's going to decline over time. I do that to be very conservative because I know that there's going to be years where you're going to b, you know, boom up a ton. Uh, and when that happens, you can turn a 20-year loan like you just did with the 2009 bond and pay it off early, right? So, this one's on 20 years. you know, if you have good years, I mean,
061essentially, if you have any good years, then you're going to start having opportunity to pay it off sooner than that, just like the previous one. But those assumptions that I've made in there perform is very conservative just to be safe because you just don't know. >> Questions, comments for Jake. >> Y'all going to add all these restrooms and stuff. What are y'all going to do about septic tanks? Cuz what you got now is what we got now for these many bathrooms. You had 10 more. You know what you going to do to that septic tank? >> We we didn't discuss septic tanks, >> you know, cuz I know one time they filled up an $8,000 to pump that septic tank out, you know, and that's what you got to look at. >> You add more
062bathrooms, you're going to have to do something with septic tanks. Where you going to go? Where you going to run your lines? >> Are the leaks? I I don't know. I mean, I'm just asking that. >> I might answer a little bit. We're not adding We're adding more toilets, >> but that's more flushing, more water going, >> but you're not adding more kids using them. So, you'll get the same usage. >> You just add more space. >> And this is too I mean, I hope I'm not seeing outline, but this is about voting for this amount of money. If there is extra or or there's a project that we're like, oh, you know, this isn't set in stone. It could easily be like, "Yeah, we need to add a couple >> septic project you got
063and everything." >> So, also in there, Gerald, in this in the the proposal, there's a $1.5 million retaining wall to to take care of the Henry's across the road over here. The the proposal is actually to try to purchase her land. >> If you have that land, then you've got all the room you need to do what you need to do with the septic system. >> It's cheaper to buy her land than it is to put the retaining wall up for it now. Yeah, that's fact. That's fact. I mean, I mean, if you flush four commot five times or five four times, you're still at 20. So, it's the same water. >> Yeah. 146 kids, you still >> cook chili. like it hits them at the same time. >> A lot of boys wait for
064that. >> Construction like the bathroom issues we're talking about, are you going to be able to do them through the summer months when there's no school activity or >> We will do our best. question that I can see. >> We've seen the same contractors at all. One reason the reason I'm saying it too many many years ago when we were still in the old school before this school was ever built we started some construction and boy there was lots of issues that happened and come time to start school they wouldn't we weren't able to so the churches were very acceptable I mean they they accepted us and we held classes in the churches for I think about four months one time for very pleased with the church. >> Those are some stupid questions that I
065asked. >> A lot of people were pretty put out on us. You know, to do what we did. >> All right. So, next item on our agenda is an action item, which is to consider and take action to adopt an order calling school building bond election in an amount not to exceed 25 million to be held on May the 2nd, 2026. If we accept a proposal that uh has been presented here, 25 million is not needed. Only 12 million is needed. >> I'll make a motion. Second. Make the motion >> to approve the $12 million. Okay. So, the motion has been made and seconded to adopt an order calling school bond election in the amount of $12 million to be held on May the 2nd, 2026 for the bond election. Is there any further discussion?
066All in favor? Five. All post. Two. All right. Our next item on our agenda is to consider and take possible action on the super superintendent contract extension. However, we're going to set that one aside and go into executive session under Texas government code 551.074, personnel matters to discuss the superintendent's annual evaluation and deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, and dismissal of the public officer employee to hear a complaint or charge against such an officer or employee. >> So, we >> sorry, >> we will dismiss to Executive session at 7:51 p.m. >> So, we have concluded close session. Time being 8:25 p.m. We'll go back into regular session at 8:26 p.m. When we come back in to uh our action items at consider and take possible action on the superintendent contract extension. >> I'll
067make a motion to approve it. >> Okay. Motion's been made to approve the contract with changes that were discussed and seconded. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? All five motion. >> Motion has been made to adjourn. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? >> Journ Time is 8:28 p.m.