001Welcome to the meeting of the Londereary School Board to be held on Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 at 700 p.m. and the cafe at Londereerry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londereerry, New Hampshire. The meeting will also be broadcast on local cable access channel 8, as well as the district YouTube channel. And tonight, I would also like to welcome our town council, our town manager, and the members of the town and school working group to join us uh for tonight's schoolboard meeting. If we could all rise and pledge allegiance, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We'll jump right into our consent agenda with 3.1. We have a couple of retirements tonight. Um Kristen
002Cronin, please. After more than Can you hear me? After more than two decades of dedicated service, we celebrate the retirement of Kristen Cronin, a special education assistant who has worked at Moose Hill School since August 2003. Her compassion, patience, and support have touched the lives of many children, families, and colleagues. Mrs. Cronin brought warmth and understanding to every classroom, fostering a safe and nurturing environment where all learners could grow. We wish her the very best as she begins this exciting new chapter. Thank you, Sarah. And will uh Ann McKran, please. >> We extend well wishes to our school nurse, Ann McKran, who is retiring after 15 years of dedicated service to the district. Hired in 2010, she has served in both part-time and full-time roles and cared for students in all three elementary schools. Spending
003most of her time at South School, she has touched many students lives through her compassion, empathy, and commitment to student well-being. She cares for more than just the medical needs and supports students social emotional health as well. Ann creates a welcoming and trusted environment in the nurse's office for all who visit. We wish Annne health and happiness in her retirement. >> Thank you, Amanda. And moving through the rest of our consent agenda, we have some upcoming meetings. November 4th, 2025 will be a regular schoolboard meeting right here in the cafe at 7 pm. And on November 25th, 2025 will be the budget presentation right here in the cafe at 7 p.m. Could I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those
004in favor? >> I I 50. Thank you. >> Moving into 4.1, announcements and presentations. um up and coming our our famous Veterans Breakfast uh will be held here in the cafe on Saturday, November 8th, 2025 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Um if you need any further information, please contact Katie Sullivan at ksullivan londendary.org or 603247834. Um this is a wonderful event. We see upwards of 150 to 200 veterans right here in this room and um a welldeserved breakfast for for folks that um make it so we can do what we can do here today. So uh look forward to that and uh thank you to Katie and and her group. All right, 4.2 Matthew Thornton PTA. Welcome. Come on up. Good evening. My name is Abby Sloper, very proud principal of Matthew Thornton School,
005and with me is Scott Sakart, the assistant principal. These ladies are very, very excited to present to you tonight. It took them two years to get the courage to do this. So, as you can imagine, when you are talking about a PTA, they bring so much to the spotlight, but they prefer to work behind the scenes. So, what you have before you are three women, and the saying goes, while a big personality can brighten up a room, these three ladies can brighten up an entire building. And my little inside joke is these are the only people that burn a little brighter than the walls of the Matthew Thornon main office. If you haven't visited, I highly encourage we set a new standard. Thank you, Joe Parzick for that. But before you, you have Deb, Shauna,
006and Kelly, and they bring to us joy and a sense of community that quite literally can light up our building. So despite working full-time, despite having families, shuttling children in their neighbors children's off to many, many events, they work at Matthew Thornton. They volunteer at Matthew Thornton, they sub at Matthew Thornon, and they run our PTA. They quite literally live there, as you will see with their big personalities. Their laughter echoes throughout our hallways, our classrooms, prompting many doors to close because learning continues whether they are there or not. Tonight, you'll get a snapshot of the events, the excitement, the energy, and how they supplement everything that we do. We really authentically try to extend the learning inside of the classroom to outside events, activities, and it's their creativity and just love of children in
007schools and working with families that bring that to the forefront for us. It was our mission two years ago when we first met. We sat around a table for four hours and we were really trying to figure out how can we open up our doors to bring a community in and how can we establish that partnership? And lo and behold, it's just personality, I think, in their attitude, in their Tik Toks. So, without further ado, um, the famous Matthew Thornton PTA. >> Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me? And thank you for having us here tonight. On behalf of the Matthew Thornon PTA, I am Deb Moore, the PTA president. Wait, hold on. Great. This is Shauna Marshian. She's a vice president. Kellyust, our treasurer, and we have Caitlyn McKenzie, our secretary, and Lindseay Kleti,
008our new volunteer coordinator. We are so proud to share a little bit of what we've been up to and what makes our school community so special. So, thank you for giving us the opportunity to be here tonight. We are honored to represent the Matthew Thornon PTA and share a glimpse of the heart, creativity, and teamwork that make our school such a special place. As parents and volunteers, we know what that what happens beyond the classroom is just as important as what happens inside it. The PTA exists to bridge that connection and to support our teachers, to bring joy to our students, and to create lasting memories for our families. Our PTA is made up of parents, caregivers, and staff who all share one goal, to support our students and teachers in every way we can.
009Over the past year, we've had so much fun creating memorable experiences for our school community. From boos and traffic cones and car lines to refreshing our playground, and we love finding ways to bring people together and spread a little joy. We also take great pride in organizing some of our school's biggest traditions and most beloved events like the fall festival, our jingle mingle, and the booster thon. These moments not only raise funds, but also build a sense of community that makes our school feel like home. Beyond the big events, we're always looking for ways to brighten up our everyday school life. We've surprised students with themed fun days like Pirate Day and soon to be National Ninja Day. We support our teachers by by providing classroom items such as wiggle chairs, mobile book carts, and
010common corners. Tools that make a real difference in helping students feel comfortable, focused, and supported. We even sell school merchandise to build spirit and pride among students and families. Every effort, big or small, is done with love and with a goal of making our school an even better place to learn and grow. I know we're one of many wonderful PTAs in town, but we truly feel we're on to something special here. This partnership we have with our administration, teachers, and family families make us feel like we can do anything. It takes a special group of people to volunteer their time, their creativity, and their energy. And what we have is unique because of the strong relationships we've built with our students and staff. Together, we've created something very special that feels more like a parent
011organiza. More than just a parent organization. It feels like a family. And with the continued support of our school leadership and community, we're excited to keep growing, giving, and celebrating everything that makes our school great. We are always looking for unique and creative ways to fundra that will appeal to a variety of families. Through many of our fundraising efforts, our goal is to connect with families and welcome them into our vibrant volunteer community. We are so thankful for our incredible leadership team, Abby Sloper and Scott Sakard. They are always supporting us as we take on new projects and try out new ideas to bring joy to our staff and students. I believe that parents first join the PTA to get involved in their child's school and then they volunteer more because of the friendships they
012make among other volunteers, but they become a dedicated part of our team when they get to know the school leaders. Through volunteering, I have witnessed the support and true encouragement Mrs. Sloer and Mr. Sakard provide to not just our PTA, but to the teachers, the staff, and the students in the building. Our PTA would not be what it is without them. With this support from the administrative staff combined with our growing team of joyful volunteers and Matthew Thornon families cheering us on, we know we will keep growing, evolving, and giving back to our teachers and students in fun and engaging ways. We are proud of what we have accomplished and are more excited for what's to come. Thank you for giving us this platform to speak and show you all how special Matthew Thornon and
013our PTA truly is. And you're all going to be Tigers now. >> And feel free to buy our merch. >> Okay. Put those on. A >> thank you ladies. >> All right. >> Great way to kick off the night. Um moving into our um topic of the night with the uh joint uh meeting here with the council and the uh working district office uh working group. Uh 5.1 will be a presentation from the district office group. Do you want to >> Great. Yeah. >> Yep. I'll kick it off. Um I want to thank all the town council members for coming and obviously members of our of our uh town as well uh to to kind of join us here. So, you know, what we have is a collaborative presentation. Uh, it's pretty short, but there
014there's um, you know, some some important things in there and and I hope we want to, you know, just have a good dialogue amongst the school board and the town council and and kind of build off the collaboration we've already had over a few short months as a working group and see if this is something uh, we would take on together in in the upcoming budget process. So, I want to kind of uh, share everyone who's part of the group. I'm Dan Black again. I'm I'm the superintendent of schools. And if I go to my left, all the the members will go go that way. >> Oh, Bob Slater, Tim Porter, >> Michelle, >> Dave Wallally, >> Shawn Mahol and town manager, >> Tols from the town council, >> Justin Campa, >> Joe Parzac, director
015of buildings and grounds for the school district. >> AMD Small, business manager. >> Jason Parn, assistant superintendent. Okay, go to the third side. So, you know, we have a lot of capacity uh in this group and there's been a lot of good collaboration over a few short months and we're going to kind of share where we're at, uh where we hope to go and hopefully, you know, really think about that collaboration amongst the two boards because, um, we won't get to the end result without that collaboration. But, you know, basically, we got here because, um, seven years ago now, um, you know, we moved out of the the district office that was right across the street. It was a sick building. Uh we did have a staff member hospitalized in 2015 and 16 for a
016couple months with pneumonia and at that time you know the the most costefficient solution was to lease a building. Um and it just ended up being very far away. Um and you know I think over the years we we've heard time and time again we've got to come up with a long-term solution. One that's not a lease hopefully one that's closer to our schools. We've tried a couple different versions, but hopefully uh this is the one that kind of gets over the goal line. And I don't know if um Sean or Bob wanted to add on that on top of that, too. >> Yeah, good point. Back seven years ago um with the uh aging of the building, ventilation issues. Um is about the time I got involved with the school board and uh looked
017for alternatives for the school board at that time. and um they had ended up leasing space where they are now up at Kittyhawk um to try to come up with a solution for uh a new location or to rebuild there. Um as the year went on um they decided to forego looking at a uh solution for a while due to some education um areas that needed attention and give them time to kind of figure it out. Um and so here we are uh 7 7 and 1/2 years later um in the same predicament. The the only situation here now and uh as you know we brought up a couple of warrant articles over the past seven years and and just missed uh getting um out of the long-term lease and into a place to call
018home back in the center of town. Um, so here we are tonight uh with this uh presentation and the collaboration as Superintendent Black said um to try to work with the town and uh move forward to to not have to renegotiate a lease uh for the near future. So >> I'll just add a few things in terms of uh the benefits to us. This this makes sense for the school and the town to collaborate. we have a a situation where we do have sufficient cash reserves that we can use for a capital project like this which we don't normally have which will allow us to save and they're going to talk more about that considerable amounts of interest that we'd have to pay on borrowing money over a long period of time and this will
019basically allow us to share some of the space in the existing town hall which we plan to do uh to be a lot more efficient with both the school and the town working together again these opportunities don't come up every day and this happens to be one that actually fits both the needs needs of the school and the town at the same time and this is the priority project for the town this year in the CIP. >> Good. No, and I also have to thank uh town town manager Mholland. I mean uh I think we had a great working relationship amongst the town and schools and the boards in general. You've taken that to a new level and I've really seen your leadership in this project already and you know we're going to go over
020some plans for what the building could look like. But uh just the the open arms he's brought to this process has been wonderful. It's it allowed us to save money and really kind of see um you know the benefits uh working together amongst both organizations. You know late later in this presentation we'll kind of go over the financial benefits but getting away from a lease will save us money and time uh and and we'll get to that. Um I think there's tons of collaborative benefits we'll see between both organizations. Um and you know we've been stuck at a few issues for a couple years now um in terms of our master planning. Um, and I think if this helps us get over those humps, we can move on to other things in time. And I
021think that's a huge benefit for the school district. I don't know if uh Mr. Combmes wanted to add some of this. >> Yeah. I don't know if we wanted to stay here or go back a slide. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Um, so certainly going into uh this slide here. Um so this past summer uh the town of school had began partnership you know uh between uh the different departments and we were able to get going with our working group. Um I thought really we've had a great relationship moving forward from the beginning and moving this along and I've been really impressed with how quickly our architect has been able to move on the designs and get back with our questions as quickly and swiftly as he has. Um and as well we were able
022to engage with our lawyers and architects and evaluate um swift estimates on costs to get this moving quickly as much as we have. I think is been probably the fastest projects I've seen move through this town. Um from design uh sorry concept design working group and estimate of costs I think this has been quite impressive. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. and um moving back to the empty spot where the old district office was um where it's just sitting there being unused made the most sense to all of us and um collaborating with the town obviously was necessary because we're going to be attaching to the town hall but I think it's been really healthy to have us working together on both sides and as you'll see through further explanation as we go along here we
023were able to actually trim down the cost because of that collaboration because that there will be space used in the town hall jointly with the school uh school district office um that help bring down costs even further from when we actually started. >> Yeah. And I'll just close out this slide um to hit off both what um Mr. Combmes and Tim and the town manager stated is this is a project that um is probably one of many coming down the road with the town and school working together. I think in this environment, we've all got to brainstorm and do things on both sides of the aisle or each side of the street to help one another get projects and move this town forward in areas that need to. And I think with the expertise on
024both sides uh and the collaboration of of our families and and other community members in here, we can get the word out a lot better. We can get a lot more information out and it's going to it's going to take that moving forward for the town of London with uh a lot of things coming down on the town side that Mr. Mahalland is proposing um business-wise and the school side as well. So, I I just uh looking forward to continuing this relationship, getting stronger as we do these type projects. As we all know, we are looking out for our taxpayers to do the the right thing moving forward on both sides of the street here to be successful for the entire community. So, great. >> So, we'll look at a we'll look at the designs
025of the building in a little bit. Um but we're going to turn over to to Justin next. Um, basically, you know, both organizations are are going to access u reserve funds to basically fund this. And that way it's it's a net uh net impact uh zero impact to the taxpayers. And then Justin's going to kind of review some of the finances and then turn over to AMD. >> So, the town will be proposing a warrant article to utilize $2.5 million of undesated fund balance in order to assist with getting this project done. In uh addition to that, there'll be a lease agreement with the school district in which they'll pay uh up to $250,000 for 10 years in order to pay the town back the 2.5 million, which all of this because it's coming from
026undesated fund balance will result in uh no impact on the tax rate. Um, with that being said, the sorry, uh, with no impact on the tax rate regarding the amount and then after year 10, it'll go to a dollar stereotypical friendly lease of they're there and we no longer have to pay lease payments. Uh in contrast, if they were to go out for a bond, you'd be looking at uh payments of about 291,000 if you were going for a 20-year bond because the project would be about 3.9 million where the school district will be putting in the additional 1.4 to make that up. Uh that would result in about 1.9 million in interest over the life of the bond that the taxpayers would be losing out on. If we were to lower that down to
027a 10-year bond, you'd be looking at about $714,000 in interest that again the taxpayers would be losing out on where this money is readily available. That $250,000 will count as revenue which would reduce the amount that the town would have to raise through taxation um as it rebalance as it adds back to the fund balance through that process. >> Great. Thank you. And then AM is gonna kind of compare >> the different ways we could fund it and why this is um the best way. >> So the other if you go back to the other slide the other portion of the money um would come out of the schools and um unassigned fund balance and when they when they made the decision of what they were going to keep and and retain and then return
028to the taxpayer this project was in mind. Um so that's where the other portion would come also wouldn't be a tax rate impact on that. And then the next slide um just took the tenure for comparison's sake. Um you know basically we have three options that could be over the next 10 years to continue the lease um which would continue to increase with CPI increases um in perpetuity that would continue um beyond the 10 years but you can see that um and that would fluctuate with the with the market. Um, the bond payment would have a consistent payment over that time, but like Justin said, there's a $715,000 pay uh portion of that that would just be interest. Um, and then you can see the payments to the town would be equal um over the
02910 years and then after that 10 years, it it goes to one. So, you can see the contrast um on the bar graph on how each of those would play out, >> you know, and if we continued to lease um we would still lease, but we would never own it. and that would just go on for forever. Um, but by year 10, uh, we would be, you know, happy renters or, you know, for $1 a year. Uh, and then actually, you know, save all that money for the taxpayers as well. So, that's something just to kind of keep in mind in the long term. >> Yes. And, and on the two options of, um, being back in the center of town for either the bond payment or the payment to the town, we would not
030have real estate taxes that we currently pay on a lease spot as well. Okay. Then if we go to the next slide, there's another more detailed design coming up. But you know, this is the basic footprint uh of the the new district office. Um it's very close in size to what the old district office was, maybe 200 square feet larger. Um but it's obviously designed better uh than that one and obviously has updated air handling systems. Uh but the school board's already approved $90,000 for us to work with architects and uh engineers to kind of get moving. And as Ten said, we we've moved very quickly. Uh so we've already done a site survey. Um and we've already we have, you know, pretty solid plans that are now going out u for, you know, 50%
031uh cost estimates. Um so what we're proposing right now is a 5,300 square foot um building that that would actually attach a town hall through the through a new door uh maybe in in the conference room there. and and also adding some parking which which Dave will talk about uh in a little bit and that's going to be key because uh you know we're bringing 21 employees back uh to the center of town. Obviously we we would bring people back to the center town to interact with us. We need to make sure they have parking there and that would be a huge benefit I think for for the whole town outside of this project as well. So I'll turn it over to Dave for that part. >> Thank you. Uh one of the first things
032I did in 2021 arriving working for the town of London area was do an analysis of the parking at town hall uh as they were struggling then. Uh certainly that has become an even bigger challenge as the years have gone on. Uh and what we were even looking at then was considering with the school coming back at that time as well. So um even with the numbers today if they were to come back we would we would only have basically about 40 available parking spaces for all four buildings. um town hall, the um library, police station, and then the school district office to operate. Now, 40 spaces seems like a lot, but when you consider the amount of patrons that visit the library, uh the business that goes on at town hall uh routinely uh
033throughout the work week, as well as visitors to um the police station and and what have you, um it really is not a lot, especially when you incorporate delivery of services and and parcels and packages and and whatnot, and then meetings and conferences and training that goes on at the police station as well. Um it it gets uh quite busy there. So, we we've looked at and identified an area uh that works closer into the woods uh towards Laffa. Uh and that will provide some overflow parking in weekends when town hall or after hours when town hall is closed and um and even perhaps on the weekend uh outside the library operating hours that would provide some relief to the lapa complex and in general in the in the central part of town which is
034always struggling for parking. Um, so that's the area that we're looking at for the additional 30 to 40 parking spaces that we believe would provide adequate parking for all of these uh facilities. When I asked the assistant town manager um community development director to apply the same matrix, if you will, if this was a private um uh ordeal and that would result in 235 spaces. We currently only have 187 on the entire um parcel. So, we're deficient just by that own standard and this will at least get us a little bit closer to that that to meet all the needs of all four facilities. Um, and then if you go here, um, this is a this is a kind of a looking down upon the the the district office. Um, it has office space for
035um the 21 employees, uh, all the all the departments of our district office. So, it buildings and grounds, the business office, student services, uh the assistant superintendent and superintendent and human resources. Um you know, we have a a small copy space. Um and then basically, again, thanks to leadership of town manager Mhalland, we would be accessing the conference rooms uh in town hall uh when we need them. Uh we would be accessing the break room uh to eat lunch uh when we need it. So there's there's that collaboration that I I think is really central to this to this project that it's been uh great and open arms. I don't know if Dave or or Ricky had any other u you know thoughts or comments uh on the design plan. Uh, no. There there was
036one challenge. Um, there was the existing um door, if you will, that once served into the uh the the old school offices, and we decided to move that down so that we could kind of align it with a straight through corridor of the uh conference room, Moose Hill conference room at the back of the room uh where we decided to have more of a cross unity of of space between the two uh the school district and the town. We thought that the stepping back of the building 6 ft made sense. It didn't have to alter the interior layout of the building and it also provides a little bit more of a definitive break in which service entrance you want to utilize whether you're visiting the school district and town hall offices. >> Got it. Great.
037If you go to the next slide, >> Mr. Black, I just wanted to add in >> Sure. Through our coordination of revisions of our plans, with coordination of the town and school, >> through cost-saving measures, we were able to, you know, reduce down space in this and allocate conference rooms within the building and as well. The >> uh the cafeteria that we have in the building for >> your staff, I think it's been a huge piece to have a as cost savings. >> No, it was great. Yeah, great point. We saved about 900 square feet from a from an earlier design from August and probably about a half a million dollars some somewhere within that range. That was that was great work. Thank you. I forgot about that point. If we go to the next
038slide, that's kind of the the 3D rendering. Um if we all remember the old uh district office was kind of an isore. Uh did not fit next to town hall. It was just kind of there. Uh this this is intentionally trying to make look like it it does fit there. Um and kind of meshes with the whole campus. Um, and you know, that's what the the the 3D rendering looks like. And uh to what Mr. Waller was talking about, we pushed it back six feet so we had so we can have an easier entrance uh from the from the district office to the the town hall conference room. Um and then in terms of what's next, um you know, I think we have a meeting uh November 20th. Uh we're hoping to have our 50%
039cost estimates by that point in time. And that'll really help us, you know, as a group kind of determine the next steps for budget season um and potentially work with uh finding a construction manager uh to to to bid on this project and come up with a guaranteed maximum price so we kind of know where we are. Um we're working on um you know a rental agreement uh if this does pass and other things that Mr. Mahallin thinking about too. Yes, we have our presentation, formal presentation in front of the council as well as the budget committee for the actual warn article that'll be necessary to do this. Uh, and again, normally you don't have this sort of opportunity. We have sufficient cash reserves to be able to build a structure of this nature without
040having to borrow money. We're in that spot fortunately uh right now and we're going to take full advantage of that. That's why it's important for the town to get this done. When I say the town, I mean the entire town which includes the school district and again allows for that efficiency. It allows for that partnership so we can get this project completed and we because we have other capital projects obviously we need to address. Uh but this is a particular niche and the the funds I have available meet the need. So again it the the stars have aligned to make this work and and work effectively and hopefully we can move it past the finish line. So, we're we're here to answer questions and have a great dialogue amongst the two boards and kind of
041see, you know, where we go from here and and we have all the right people in the room to answer those questions. So, we're just going to turn it back to to Bob and and go from there. >> Welcome questions from the non-members, but council, uh, school board, uh, any concerns you have, then I'll open it up to the public, um, if they have some concerns or questions and that, but I'll I'll start with, uh, council. Any questions from councel? >> I don't have any questions. >> Come on, Dan. >> A shocker. Dan doesn't have any questions. >> I don't have any questions. I'm very familiar with what's going on. So, so well versed on. >> Yeah. Anything. >> I think it's a great project and I'm glad it's moving forward. Um, I hope that
042in the future we'll have more meetings like this on other ideas and other projects. Um, so I think this is a very nice start to a very new beginning that's going to be very um successful for all of us, I believe. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Deb. Appreciate that. Ted, anyone? >> Uh, I think I'm good right now. Any of your schoolboard members may have questions? >> Any questions? >> I don't have any questions, but this looks great. um appreciate you guys taking the time to work on it. I know right now everyone's really concerned about spending money, but the more we table things and talk about them over and over, the less we're getting done and the more expensive things cost and um this could have a positive impact over time. So, appreciate
043all the hard work done. >> I think to add on to that, we've seen time and time again, every time a project gets pushed down the road, it becomes more costly. as Bob you would know that work in the construction industry and I'm really glad to see that's this is able to move forward and if the voters do approve on both ends this will be a zero impact project which I don't think we've ever seen a construction project from the town or school ever be a zero tax impact >> which will be huge >> again that'll go to help all the other projects in town that we need to move forward in areas that we need work so this is the first stepping stone of many and to Deb's point >> we need to work
044together. As I said earlier, it's just going to make the community stronger. So, >> Ron, any >> I'm good. I'm I'm all for this. Thank you. When you first came and presented it to the council, council was very responsive to it. So, I appreciate you coming and forward and presenting that to us and I think it's a great project for the taxpayer. >> Justin, anything to add? >> Good. Thank you for all that information. Very key. Dave, anything? Uh, I just I just like to add one other thing too. Um, Town Hall is now 20 years old. Um, and as I'm looking at some of other potential investments that we're going to have to do, for example, the roof of town hall, uh, as a standalone project, so there's other costs that could be saved
045here for the taxpayer. So, as we look at replacing the roof on town hall, if this project is ongoing, that's something that we can do as an add-all, too, and and take care of that and then save because they're already mobilized. They're already on site. Uh there's other other components of town hall that we could perhaps, you know, incorporate into that with our expendable maintenance trust fund, but those are also some savings that could be realized on larger, you know, um you know, maintenance projects of town hall that are coming due. So, >> great point, >> Ricky. Anything? >> Good, Ken? >> I've been following along quite a bit already, but um just want to say I love this project as well. Everything that I've I've seen about and I appreciate the work that everyone
046on both sides has put in. Um, I know it's not easy, a large project come together very quickly and certainly appreciate everyone's work on on this. Anything to add? >> Nope. Good. >> Anyone? >> No, I'd say I'd say we're in a we're in a good spot to be ready for budget season. So, whatever the town council needs from us or the, you know, town employees, we're we're here to work with everyone and I think we're in a pretty good spot. We just got to, you know, make sure we have the momentum to keep on collaborating. So, moving forward here tonight, um it sounds like everybody's in agreement to move to the 50% as we are and then incorporate that into our budget season and work through with the group and just report back to
047both groups, the council and the >> and the school and um just keep moving forward through budget season and keep everybody in up to date with our current budget on this project as we go on the school side and and the town side. Sound good? All right, seeing no questions, >> Mr. Slater. Anyone from the public? I'm >> Yes, just going to that. >> Anyone from the public like to come up, ask any questions? >> Come on up, sir. Just state your name and address, please. >> John Wilson, Tranquil Drive. >> This may have already been answered, but >> can you step forward a little more? Just a little closer. Y >> uh this may have already been answered, but I couldn't hear most of the presentation. So my question is, is this new building
048going to be built as an addition to the present town hall? >> Yes. >> Or independent structure. And the other question is, is this addition going to be built so it can accommodate a second story in the future? Yeah, it it is. You can stay right there, sir. Um it's going to be an addition onto the building as we'll have access into town hall um so we can use conference rooms and and the cafeteria and um the committee uh looked at the option of going to a second floor but with the space um which the town manager might be able to um chime in on that um we felt as though there's no need in in uh at this time or in any near future for for space. So, I'll let the town manager chime
049in a little bit on the space that he has. >> Yeah, we're looking to construct a building that should have a 50-year lifespan. Of course, it'll be more than that, but I guess we don't replace things uh uh as quickly as we'd like to. Uh so, it's going to last 50 years. This town has a maximum buildout and we're not going to get that much bigger that we need to add additional staff. But if we do, there are large portions of uh town hall that were con it was constructed 20 years ago and it was built for paper and of course the modern world we don't really need paper anymore. So we have a lot of file rooms and I do mean a lot of space that are just you know taking up room and
050some of it's prime office space that has windows that are filled with file cabinets that I plan to scan and remove that will never come back. So, I can increase the size of my staff by at least a third and be able to fit them all in there uh and without any issues at all. Uh because I don't plan on having paper in that building here much longer. Uh so that we have that space to be able to use. And only that, we're looking at our DPW facility and that's there's a certain amount of staff that would actually leave town hall and move to that new facility where that whole consolidated operation is located. So there's plenty of room for the town to grow, the town offices to grow without having to expand any further.
051And and what I also anticipate is more shared space with the school district as we move forward, we get rid of all those paper files. I want to create another conference room so we add to that capacity. So I I I see no need to h have a need for an additional uh floor in that building. We just need to be smarter about the space that we do have looking into the I would I would consider the longer future not the short term with the longer future. >> Good answer. >> Anyone else? >> Mr. Slater. >> Yes. >> Can you have them go back to the drawing page so we can have uh Mr. Wallally point out where the door will be connecting? >> Um >> use your mouse. >> Yeah, use your mouse. >>
052If Mr. for while he can reach. Hey, there we go. >> That helps. >> Get on the chair. >> Yeah, right in right in where that the precursor is is where that'll connect through into the uh excuse me, into the Moose Hill conference room. So, right in through there, >> Maroy 189 Lfield Road. In the design process, did we consider or explore the use of a metal roof comparing the initial cost to the long-term savings? Yeah, we we are not at that point yet, Marge. I mean, that can be looked at with the working group. We haven't reached the 50% plans to go out to our construction manager to get us close to our GMP gross mim, but those are alternatives that we're hoping that are once we get into the 50% if we get
053approval. These are some of the design work that would happen after the March vote till probably middle of summer to finish the drawings. And of course, we'll take input from everybody in the community that, you know, wants to give it to us. But that's one option we can look at is a is a metal roof option as well. Um, I think what we're trying to do in in uh building this addition on to town hall is to to match the brick as close as we can so it looks like one building. So, whatever we do on that roof, we may want to do on the major major roof. As Mr. Wooley said, the roof's, you know, 20 plus years old. It's time for either new shingles or metal. So, we can look at that. So,
054everything um kind of goes in in sync with one another architecturally. So, great great thought. >> The timing might be right. >> Sure. Thanks. I appreciate the input. Anyone else? Seeing none, I will um that'll conclude um this part of our joint session with our our council and school board. Um what I'd like to do is just take a few minute recess and um let our council uh get on with their nightly routines. They had a long meeting last night and then we'll come back here in a few minutes and uh continue with our regular school board meeting. Thank you for everyone coming out and tuning in and uh stay tuned for further information on this We're back after a short brief uh intermission here. Um and we're going to continue on with our agenda
055items and I'll open the floor. I know we have a few people in the audience in case there's any public comment. So the floor is open to anyone that would like to come up. Seeing none. All right, I'll close public comment and we'll move into 7.1. Uh, our student representatives are both here tonight. Welcome. >> What do we got tonight? >> Hi. So, um, as far as October, student council really doesn't have that much going on, but school-wise, the senior class is running a gift card bingo night, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on October 29th. It's going to be in the calf, $10 per board, and they're only accepting cash or check only. The drama club is also hosting a haunted woods Tuesday to Thursday this week, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the town commons. Five
056bucks for a tour tickets and $3 for the goblin garden. >> Um, but then once we get into November, we have a few major events for student council. Um, one of them being the craft fair which is happening on the 22nd. Um, it's a Saturday. It's the Saturday right before Thanksgiving. Um, and then the day before that we have something called teacher tea cart which is where we go around with a um a couple carts filled with pastries and coffee and tea for our teachers during that teacher workshop. Um, just something to brighten their day since no one wants to be there. Um, and one like final thing that we have happening in November is our Waterville Valley trip. Um it's for student councils around the state and they meet and they talk about student
057leadership and other things to do um with student council. That's November 11th uh sorry November 13th and 14th. >> Great. Well, thank you both for those updates and uh look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. Thank you so much. >> All right, school board liaison. Anything? >> I'm ready this time. >> Okay. >> Mel has three events coming up. The first is the PTA firetruck ride along. Raffle tickets are on sale now through October 24th. Um, tickets for the Musel PTA raffle baskets are now on sale and the kindergarten Halloween parades are coming up on Halloween day. Um, the AM session is at 9:30 and the PM session is at 1:00 p.m. >> Great. Thank you, Sarah. >> Um, just a couple updates u from the high school. We have the drama club
058is hosting the haunted woods at the town commons. Started tonight, goes through Thursday. It's 5:30 to 8:30. Um, and we have for the middle school, uh, this Friday, we have the 6th grade social, it's 2:30 to 4. Next Wednesday, the 29th, we have the school picture retake day. Um, and just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow. It's a workshop day. >> Great. >> Thank you, Sarah. Hi, I think the Matthew Thornton representatives pretty much covered everything, but just um to mention the the fall festival which they had brought up uh was this past Thursday. It went out without a hitch. So, thank you for everyone that came out in support. >> Thank you, Kevin. >> Uh yeah, two things. One from the CIP committee. The last uh CIP meeting is actually tomorrow night
059uh six o'clock. So, for all those interested, swing on by, tune in. Um and then the from the north school PTA uh few few dates coming up. Um starting this Friday is their cancer awareness walk during school day for the students where all grades will be walking the rail trail. Um and then it's also popcorn Friday uh this Friday for the from the PTA. Um this Saturday is the North School Trunk or Treat from 12 to 2. Uh games, crafts, and of course trick-or-treating and candy. Um then next week on the 29th is on Wednesday uh is the family library night. Um the fall and Halloween themed uh events, STEM, uh some STEM events, um reading under the stars and some treats there. >> I have one more thing. Uh my wife would kill me
060if I didn't bring this up. Uh this week is also uh Matthew Thornton's book fair and on Thursday night they have the family uh time for anyone to go in from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. if you want to go in and support the book fair at Matthew Thornton. >> Great. Thank you. And uh South School had their PTA last night. I was unable to make it. Had another meeting. Um just a few updates. The Halloween parade will be held at 1:30 p.m. uh at 10:31 uh on 10:31 and the garden cleanup continues with staff members and parents uh with weeding and trash removal um and prepping for pave pavers and mulch. Um that project is coming along well. And um new is a Halloween movie night uh on 10:24 and the Boosterathon registration is open
061uh at mybooster.com and then there will be a fun run on 11:12 uh for all grades and times are assigned per grade. So check on that and uh that's what I have for updates at South School at this time. And um council had a meeting last night um and they are moving ahead with starting a 501c3 uh committee to uh take over old home day and uh so they're putting that those documents together and uh trying to put a committee together. So, anyone interested in uh joining the old uh old home day uh committee, please reach out to town hall. Um and as well as uh some other meet uh some trust funds are being developed through the the town to study traffic uh intersections as well as uh improvements to these areas and be
062able to fund it and go after grants, which I think is great for the town as everybody is concerned with traffic. Um, so there's a couple of big things happening on the town side. And just real quick, um, uh, Tim and myself attended a meeting up at the state house today regarding our school care situation, um, with the, uh, insurance assessment, uh, with Senator Carson, uh, Speaker Packard, uh, Secretary um of State, Mr. Scandlin and two representatives from school care. They gave us an overview of uh how they got to this position and how they're going to correct things moving forward. There's still a lot of conversation to be had over the next couple of months with the superintendent and the business administrator and the board on uh where we go from here. uh still
063a lot of unknowns, but um couple hours of our time uh with those folks and six or seven other senators and representatives in the room. A lot of good questions were asked and uh how to move forward um with our insurance um concerns and uh stay tuned for that. We will keep everybody uh updated as we get updated. So it was a a great meeting and a lot of information. So that ends uh liaison. Uh we'll jump into deliberations 8.1 the overnight equestrian field trip. >> Good evening. >> So I know you have my memo in your packet, but I'm here to request permission for the equestrian club to go on their annual overnight trip to the Ecoin Affair in Springfield, Mass. Happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Any questions? All right.
064Uh, look for a motion to approve the uh, Question Club um, trip to Springfield, please. A motion to approve that. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. And moving on. 8.2 options to budget for full day kindergarten. Dan. >> Yeah. So, you know, we're kneedeep in the budget process and I think we just need the school board to weigh in and then kind of let us know uh the method you want us to to budget for full day kindergarten. There's two basic ones. If you go to the graphic, that might be the better way to to share it. So, the first one is um you know, build it into the operating budget and what that would mean is any new costs like furniture
065and curriculum would go in the operating budget. uh any potential staffing changes will go in the operating budget and then new revenue from full day kindergarten will be in the operating budget. Then that would be compared to the default budget because basically that's what the default budget is. It's it's last year's budget uh plus any contracts and maybe how staffing has changed. Um and in that default budget would be half day kindergarten. Um, you know, obviously any major changes in uh the middle school or high school would still be in the operating budget or other departments, but we would make sure we isolate the difference uh between the two. So you can kind of kind of see the effect of full day kindergarten the operating budget. Um it's a simple majority vote. The second option
066um you know so we we talked through legal counsel kind of based on um the conversations over a couple meetings. Here's another option. Uh the best way to think about it is it's it's very similar for how we do collective bargaining contracts. Um so you would have you'd still have an operating budget, you still have a default budget. K to 5 would basically be the same. Um and then you know there could be changes in the operating budget if we decide to make any intentional changes in the middle school, the high school or in any of our departments. Then sitting outside of that, so within that the operating and the fall budget would both have half day kindergarten. Then sitting outside of that would be a warn article. Um I don't know if the warrant
067article would be positive yet. I don't know if it would be negative yet. Um but basically a simple majority of voters would would vote for that warrant article. Uh if it went through then just like a collective bargaining contract all those changes would then get transferred into the operating budget for the future year. Um so those are you know those are basically the two ways we could do it. uh they both require um a 50% or 50.1% support. And if if you scroll down a little bit, I think, you know, what we're thinking about internally is we just had a 2hour and 10-minute part one uh budget with the elementary folks today is I think the most important thing for us is we can do either way. Uh in theory, we could change uh later
068in the process. I wouldn't recommend it right away, but maybe maybe by the public hearing. Um, but I think what we want to start doing in November is actually start registering uh and be very transparent with families that this is still something that needs to be voted and supported on. It wouldn't be settled until, you know, March 10th. And then I think we'll have a tenative budget come November 25th around full day kindergarten in either way. That would probably could be updated by December 18th if we go the um the the Warren article way. if if we get, you know, different signals on registrations in either way, we could update it and we would do it again probably by mid January. So, I think we're trying to be, you know, as flexible as possible knowing
069that we have to really kind of work with the families of four-year-olds in town to kind of understand what they're going to do um kind of with this dynamic. And I think that'll help us kind of be much more detailed and kind of how we plan down the road. And that's that's those are the two options. >> I'll open it up. Uh questions >> question. >> No questions. >> Questions? >> Any option? >> I mean, I I think I mentioned I said at a previous meeting I was in favor of option two to have it be voted on. >> So, that's what I'm still in favor of. >> Yes. >> Any questions? Yeah, I think it's, you know, I I kind of agree. I think the numbers will be in in the in the budget.
070It'll look like our bargaining agreement and um you know, people will have that right. I know um people should have the right. We we've been out we've gone out twice with two different projects. last year's was cash positive in year three. um you know to take care of two two situations that we're we have in the school district uh one education wise and one um office space and um and that so I feel as though we're um we're bringing this forward again to go to a full day kindergarten program that I would want I would want the people to vote for it and um have that right to vote for full day kindergarten where we've This is our um third time trying to implement it where we have space in the buildings at this point.
071>> So everybody good on that? >> Yep. >> So do we need to vote on this? >> That would be helpful. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I just wanted to make sure >> Yeah. Now, I I think, you know, either way it's set up, you know, the town gets to vote on, but I do feel it's cleaner if we overlay kind of like we do with the um with the collective bargaining agreements where it's here's the starting cost and overlay it over it. So, that makes sense to me there. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I would agree with that. I think there's been a lot of talk over many, many years and differing opinions and I think it's probably better to do it the clean way and just put it out there and get an actual support
072number. >> All right. I I will look for a motion to go with option two for budgeting purposes. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Kevin. All in favor? >> I zero. Thank you, Dan. >> All right. To policies. We'll start with 8.3 and it's the third reading to amend policy JICJ unauthorized electronic communication devices including cell phones and I know Mr. Parin had a word to add in there I seen. >> So or Dan. >> Yeah. Yeah. We we you can jump in too. Um so we've had a really smooth transition into the high school. That's great to hear. Um, I could tell by the questions I was getting from the Lancer spirit after the last meeting, the kids were not happy. U, but they kind of understood the predicament. Um,
073but I'm really proud of Lancer Nation for rallying for another big change, you know, so they're doing real really well right now. One thing that's come of it, which is good. Um, is we just need to add one line to kind of help us navigate things a little bit better. So in that second paragraph, personal electronic communication devices include but are not limited to cell phones, tablets, iPads, wireless earbuds, and headphones. That's key. Uh because I think those are things that can easily attach to your phone. So I think um we want to help our schools kind of navigate um wired headphones into computers for legitimate learning reasons, but if they're wireless, we don't want those around. >> Gotcha. Any questions? Seeing none, I will look for a motion to approve the third reading to
074amend policy JICJ unauthorized electronic communication devices including cell phones with that added word of wireless, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I 50. >> 8.4 four second reading to adopt policy K public complaints. >> All right, if you don't mind. Um, sorry I didn't get a chance to go into detail with this before tonight's meeting, but I'm going to ask the board if we can table uh 8.4 to 8.8 um the second reading of these because I had some concerns about these that I wanted to outline. And what I I'll do is I'm going to send you all um an email not to reply to um but I'll outline u what my points of concern are to you and we can discuss them at
075the next meeting >> if that's all right. >> Any problems with that? >> That's fine. >> Good. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Can we get the email too? >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Good. >> Sorry. That way it can be part of the packet and that too come that point. >> All right. So 8.4 4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, and 8.8 will be tabled to our next school board meeting. >> Thank you. >> You bet. >> All right, we jump down to 8.9 second reading to resin policy JFABB foreign exchange students. Any questions? No changes? Seeing none, I'll look for approval. A motion to approve the second reading to resend policy JFABB foreign exchange students please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All in favor? >> I 50. >> 8.10.
076Uh sec uh second reading to resend policy JFABBR foreign exchange students. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll look for a motion to approve the second reading to resend policy JFABB-R foreign exchange student, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? >> I five Z. Um there was no changes on the rest of these. So did anyone have any questions on the rest of these second readings? >> We don't. Yeah, it's really just you guys. Just did anyone and I can go right through rather than read them twice. >> Nope. >> No, >> I'm good. >> Okay, >> so we'll go right through these. >> Uh 8.11, look for a motion to approve the second reading to adopt policy JHC, student early release precautions, please. >> So moved. >>
077Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I I 50 >> 8.12. Uh motion to approve the second reading to adopt policy JLCK, special phys physical health needs of students, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? >> I 50 8.13. I'll look for a motion to approve the second reading to adopt policy JLDBA, behavior management and intervention. Please. >> So move. Motion by Sarah, >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? >> I 50. >> 8.14. Look for a motion to approve the second reading to adopt policy JLCA, use and location of automated external defibrillators, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I. 5. >> 8.15. I'll look for a motion to
078approve the second reading to resend policy EBBAA use of automated external defibrills. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? >> I 50. >> 8.16. I'll look for a motion to approve the second reading to resend policy EB B AE AED incident report. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. Second. >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? >> I 50. Thank you. All right, we'll jump right into 9.1 uh first quarter financial report. Emity. >> Yes, it's hard to believe we're already almost through October. Um and that first quarter closed at the end of um September. I did want to mention that we have hired um a new finance director. Her name is Colleen Lewis. She's fabulous. Um she's a former Linandere grad herself. Um so you'll
079be seeing her face at the budget meetings as as we get underway with those. Um quarter 1 is, you know, it's really just a lot of where we are with incumbrances and things like that because the year is just starting off. We haven't gone through winter. We could get unanticipated bills like something from school care. So it's hard to make predictions as to what our surplus will be right now. Um, but just as a reminder, um, as far as tax rate setting, we have not yet been notified by the DRRA, Department of Revenue Administration, um, to give our information, um, about the December 2025, um, tax rate. As soon as we do have that meeting and it goes through and we get that rate, we'll share with all of you. Um what we do know
080is that um you guys had looked at what we had as far as year and um unassigned fund balance and that you voted to retain 3.4 and to return 1.369 um that will be used during that tax rate setting process um to lessen the burden on taxpayers. So that will be coming um and that we cannot retain more than 5% of the net assessment which is roughly around $3.7 million. So all of that will help in the tax rate um as we move forward. Um as we look at the general fund where we're seeing savings right now is in salaries. So last year we had 14 professional staff retirements that includes administrators and teachers. um these retirements along with four open positions are providing a significant savings to that line right now about 975,000 but
081we we do plan that we may um or we're trying to hire some of those as well. Additionally, there were nine retirements in the support and custodial staff lines and you see the savings there as well. Those total together are about 921,000 and we are always continuing to try and hire for paras and custodians. Um, so you will see that go down as well as we make some hires. Then as you go on to the next pages, you have um our revenue table. Right now we're on track with most of those. What we don't know, we haven't been notified of our special ed aid amount yet. Voke transportation aid and Medicaid is always unpredictable throughout the year, but we do our reporting, everything we need to to to maximize what we can get back in
082all of those. Um, right now we are about $80,000 ahead of where we predicted we would be, but again, we have to watch and see where some of those state reimbursements come in. But that's good news so far. Table two shows um the balances of our capital reserve accounts. And then as far as expenditures go, um most of the like supply accounts, discretionary accounts are just beginning to be used. um will you do encumber the benefits and other predictable costs like our debt, our contracts and maintenance um so that we can project um and have that accounted for with what we tend to spend on those. But winter is so unpredictable um damage is so unpredictable. I mean in the last nine months we've got the school care bill and we've had a roof blowoff.
083Um so we always have to be mindful of you know unplanned things happen throughout the year. Um, there's several reports to see the different line items. The results are the same about how much we have in there, but each one shows you a different view. Um, we look at historical trends to assist the predictability of the accounts with each of the object codes that we do. Um, we look for any unpredicted trends. Right now, we're not really seeing anything unpredicted that that's um shouting out at us. Um, but we'll continue to watch that and anything that does come up, we always evaluate. Is this a one-year sort of off-the-cuff thing that has happened or is it something that's going to continue to impact our budget? And we we have those conversations during the budget process.
084Energy accounts, again, it's unpredictable to see where we're going to be. All of us know homeowners, companies that the electricity rates have gone up um with what they are charging. We do have a locked in rate uh for the supply portion through December of 26 and with natural gas through March of 2026. Um we don't know water um bills are subject to market volatility that could be off as well, but we are hoping to save some cost now that we have new boilers that are finished at LHS as well as the LMS and cell school boilers that we had put in last year. Um, so as as the bills start to come in, as we turn the heat on and fire things up, we'll continue to watch that and see um where we are with
085those. And then you can see the different functions um where the availability is. And as the year plays off, we see if there's some that are going to overrun that we have to compensate for and other ones where we have surplus. Um yeah, so that's that's where we are is the birds level view of quarter one and where we are. Thank you. >> All right. Seeing none. Thank you for that report. Amity. >> Yep. >> Things look good, but as you said, you know, we don't want any more surprises this year, please. >> I know you didn't bring it on. Um, all right. Anything else before we close up? Got anything? >> No, nothing here. >> No, sir. >> Sarah, Dan, >> J. Good. All right. I'll look for a motion to go into non-public
086session requested under RSA 91A 3 section 2B, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. Roll call vote for my left to right, please. Hi, Kevin Bur. >> Hi, Tim Porter. >> Hi, Bob Slater. >> Hi, Sarah Lockman. >> I Amanda Butcher. >> Good night, Monetary.