001And once I lay down, it's over. The worst is when I would do that. Then I have to do practice. meeting to order. Adequate notice of this meeting is provided by sending such notice to the Asbury Park Press, Middletown Patch, and Middletown Township Public Schools District website and the posting of such notice at the August T minor administrative offices and each elementary, middle, and secondary school in the district. Roll call. >> Mrs. Minuise >> here. >> Mrs. Scholaski >> here. >> Mr. Sapparowski >> here. >> Mrs. Tobacco. >> Mrs. Torres >> here. >> Mrs. Weinstein >> here. >> Mrs. Wright >> here. >> Mr. Capone >> here. >> Mr. Avita >> here. >> You now a motion to go into executive session. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >>
002I. Uh now there therefore by the Middletown Township Board of Education that the board of enters into executive session to discuss the following items. A confidential matters for statute or court order collective bargaining matters and personnel matters. I need to further resolve that the items discussed in executive session may result in board action when the board reconvenes to public session. for the pledge of everybody. Please rise for the pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, first thing we have on the agenda is the uh presentation the June 30th 2025 annual comprehension financial report. Mr. Walton. >> Good. >> All right, let's make sure you can hear me. Thank you very much having
003me tonight. Um, again, my name is Brian Walder. I'm a partner with Homeland Freddy Alison. I'm here tonight to just give a brief synopsis of the uh 2025 financial statements that were submitted to the Department of Education uh on the December 26th of the date of the report. They were submitted prior to the due date of January 15th. Um we are a little later uh than we have actually probably a little sooner in some cases. Uh we are awaiting some information from the state of New Jersey and also information from the federal government releasing some information regarding testing to some of your federal grant monies that we had. I received that right at the end of November. So once we did that, we wrapped it up with your business office to get the reports as
004soon as we could to you. So everything has been filed on time. Uh so I'm going to get right into it. Um we offer three opinions in our financial statements. Uh the first and most important is our independent auditor's report. just states that our financial statements are fairly stated uh with all material respects uh and we have uh in accordance with all the requirements from the department of education, the division of local government services and your generally accepted accounting principles that you would follow. Uh we have an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion that we can render. We have no comments or recommendations uh inside of the audit. Uh the second opinion is our report on internal control over compliance uh and major programs. Um and we do a lot of significant testing related
005to compliance and internal controls and we have no instances not of non-compliance to report in that as well. Uh and since the district receives significant funding from the state and federal government uh we receive what we we do another additional testing what we call a single audit test. Uh so therefore we have a third opinion on that as well and we have no instances of non-compliance over your federal or state grants. So again, all three unmodified opinions again and the best opinions that we could provide to the uh to the district. Um the one thing I just like to point out, uh Middletown has this in their their financial statements, the certificate of excellence. Uh I'm not sure how many years now that you've received this in a row. Uh but it's a nationally recognized
006financial reporting for the financial statements. Uh there were no comments provided back from this federal agency, which is a great thing to see. So, you know, congrats to the board for that. That's really good accomplishment. Uh it's often that these go out, but not very often that they come back with no comments and findings. Uh that's not something we review. It comes from the federal uh agency that puts that out. So it's a nice little kudos to the financial statements they have. Um puts together uh it's a really kind of condenses everything of this 200 pages into about five to 10 pages for you to say more in layman's terms. breaks things down, see how things were increased, decreased during the year. So again, just if you would like to stop reading after those pages
007that would you can do so without having to read 200 other pages. Um just high level on the actual activity for the year for the on the general fund, which is your main account, we had roughly about a 1% increase of your revenues this year over your prior year. Uh if you look at that uh with your expenses, there was about a 1% decrease in expenses, which again, all great to see. Um, however, there was a utilization of roughly $4.4 million in your general fund for this year through various reserves and fund balances that you had. Uh, so we had seen about a $3.8 million loss overall as far as your revenues or expenses over your revenues in this case. Uh, brought our total fund balances down to roughly $4 million for the the general
008fund. Uh, three million of that is what we call unassigned. Uh the rest of that is tied up in various different reserves or incumbrances for your future year. So again, just something to always monitor as far as looking at your overall budget. It's roughly about $185 million budget. Uh at least it was in 2025. Uh so when you look at that roughly represent about 2% uh you know of your surplus, I'll say, you know, represents your total budget. So just something to continue to monitor. I know that the the federal side um has decreased due to the co funds drying up. Uh but also obviously on our state side, you know, which you all know as far as the decrease in in cuts there. Uh and then the last thing I would say over on
009your proprietary fund, the school district operates, uh the food service fund, uh roughly about a 60 to $69,000 decrease this year. Um, something I've said here uh in a couple years past is that we needed to continue to spend some of the funds uh to better to the uh improvement of the school district for the food service funds that the state was mandating that that happen. Uh just to note that roughly about $580,000 was spent this year uh for assets uh things that we would call fixed assets that were to be capitalized and appreciated. So, a significant amount of assets are being put spent and put into back into the school district uh for the food service programs. Uh again, I started off by saying that, but I I you know, I thank you, you
010know, for having me here tonight. You know, no findings, comments, recommendations. It's the best thing I can tell you tonight. Um if there are any specific questions, you know, I'd be happy to answer. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll bring into committee reports. Co-curricular, Mr. Sappari. >> So, we met uh last week and we discussed the different clubs that were going on this year, the advisors, the uh way that students are going to start signing into the club starting next year. they're going to have to sign scan their ID to get in. This way we know that the clubs are actually being attended and that the stipens that are being paid, the teachers are earning them appropriately. Um, also we discussed that the yearbook pictures
011for non-stip clubs will be included in the high school yearbooks this year, which is something new. Uh, seasonal updates for the athletics cross country. Helena Zep won individual sectional championship for cross country field hockey short conference coaches cup championship girls volleyball short conference division champions for high school south boys soccer short conference tournament champions NJSIAA state sectional champions NJIAA state finalist all for boys soccer girls cross country or the short conference champions ions and the NJ SIAA state sectional champions. And for gymnastics, they were the NJ SIAA state sectional champions and Ava Treza was the NJSIAA overall individual state champion. Congratulations. And for winter athletics, the Mayor's Cup ice hockey game for High School North and High School South is going to be on January 29th, 5:15 at Middletown Iceworld. The unified basketball, uh, Middletown
012versus Neptune is February 12th, 5:00 at High School South. Girls basketball, neither North or South has a freshman team this year. Uh, so no freshman coach was hired. And for spring athletics, um, just touching on that, the girls softball, the status of the freshman programs at both schools is unknown at this time. uh due to signups and tryyouts and everything. So to be continued on that. Um other things that we discussed was that we are getting new wrestling mats at High School North and Beayshore. Um and interestingly enough, one of the mats is being used for um one of the the wrestling mat. They're using it for one of >> Atlantic City. And then after that's over, they ship it up here. So, we get a little bit of a break on the price of
013the wrestling mat. Um, High School South is going to get new band uniforms long needed. And overall, the um the clubs we discuss also with the clubs we discussed, elementary clubs and kind of getting on track to get something uniform with all the schools. It it was a kind of a beginning discussion. We talked about it last year a little bit and moving forward I think with contract negotiations and stuff worked on. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Curriculum is right. >> Okay. Thank you. Um we met on uh the 20th and we had a pretty big agenda um that we went through. A lot of it I think was just um some really great updates in terms of where we are. So bear with me as I try to go through everything. Um the
014first thing we talked about and this has been going on in the district for a while is uh the students just went through their winter assessment using I Ready. Um as you know we've been using that now three times a year which is really helping the teachers drive personalized instruction um throughout the year. So now we're at the midyear point really seeing what growth students are making from the beginning of the year and then we will have another assessment at the end of the year. Um and I believe that the results from the winter assessment will be available in Genesis uh tomorrow actually on January 23rd. So uh be sure to check that out. Um, this one I'm still so excited that we finally brought this to the district, which is the Dibbles, uh, middleear
015assessment, which is our early literacy screener. Um, doing this three times per year across the K through three classrooms. Uh, and this is really, you know, geared towards helping students and really finding students who need that extra help and instruction and being able to then give them that personalized instruction much earlier. So that way we have much more successful readers and they're not getting frustrated as they're moving forward. So this I believe is also going to be available in Genesis tomorrow as well on the 23rd. Um so be sure to to check that out. And then in conjunction with that, there will be professional development that's happening for those K through three teachers. Um and Mr. Mr. Colin, I'm I'm going to kick this one particular one over to you to talk a little bit
016more about and then I can take it back. >> Yes. Thank you, Miss Wright. So, we are working to train our teachers even further. I mean, our teachers are dynamic, they're skilled, and they're obviously bringing their agame every day and supporting the development of skilled and enthusiastic readers throughout our K3 classrooms and of course beyond. We're using focus grant money um to provide professional development from our administrators and our reading development teachers so that we're really maximizing the benefits of the dibbles data. So we have this information and the question is how are we going to make it actionable? What are we going to do to support these readers moving forward? So um we will be training all K to3 teachers on two occasions. one at central office and then another opportunity within their buildings
017to talk about specific students and how we can address their reading needs. So, that's all happening in February. >> Thank you for that. Um, one of the other things that the committee talked about and I think this is really going to be a great thing once this finally happens is just finally having all the information for students in one place and that will be Genesis. Um, and that will actually, you know, I know right now there's like Genesis, there link it, there's the other some of the other programs, but this, if we're actually able to do this, and I think there was some really good discussion that we're going to finally get there, is that we can have all of the students scores and all of their testing in the one place in Genesis. So
018that's the only place where parents will have to look at this point which would also include all of the um NJSLA NJ GPA right the PSATs the SATs dibbles every type of testing that's happening within the district will now just be housed eventually in Genesis the one platform and so I think that's really great to see and so there'll be more to come on that um I know this one is the next one is is a big big topic within the district and that's the prek and kinder garden information nights. So, if you don't know already, that is coming next week on Wednesday, January 28th. It's being held on Zoom. The preK session begins at 6 PM, followed by kindergarten at 700 p.m. And so, both presentations will feature all of the important details that
019you need to know to be able to enroll um in both of those programs. So again, preK will be at 6:00, kindergartens at 7:00 on January 28th. >> And Miss Wright, we could also note that those will be recorded and posted to our website in the event that someone can't attend. >> Yes. Um so just to quickly, you know, note, we had a really great presentation for student achievement at uh 6 PM before this meeting started. Um, I think one of the really great things is that I think both high schools, is that correct, Mr. Colin Wright, earned the AP honor roll status, um, which is a distinguished honor from the college board that demonstrates impressive performance results coupled with broadening participation on the high stakes exams that our students take. And I can tell
020you from the long list of students from both high schools that were announced at six o'clock, our students are excelling in ways that is just unimaginable. And so to be able to have um that distinction in both high schools, I think is a really great achievement. So again, kudos to all of those students and thank you to the to the faculty that is actually helping our students achieve um these really great awards. We talked about uh a I think a Perkins grant now, right, for our CTE program and how we'll be able to actually uh bolster that program um and to make it even better in what we actually have now. And I think that also led to a really great discussion. I know that we've sort of been hinting around this for a little
021bit now, for a while. I know myself as I've talked about it, Miss Vinuise has talked about it, but is also really trying to figure out how to actually have a true trades fair within the district as well. So, not only are we going to talk to the students about, you know, other careers that are available to them through the CTE program, but then also for those students who may not want to go to college or think that they're ready to go to college or just trying to explore other avenues is to actually have the trades come into the district. I think that would be a lot easier for the students and I know that our vocational school in Mammoth County does a really phenomenal job. I don't want to take anything away from them,
022but I think there's a a piece missing where for a whole host of reasons. I don't think enough students are understanding what the vocational schools have for them. So, if there's a way to actually bring the trades, which I actually think there is, into the school and do something like when we do the, you know, AP and dual enrollment fairs, right, where the kids go around and talk to the different teachers to find out what's involved in those classes, we can actually invite the trades in and start talking to the students about what those careers look like for them, apprenticeships, and everything else. And so, I think we had a really great discussion about that. I have some ideas actually in reaching out to some of the trades that I know getting the New Jersey
023AFL CIO involved to help us and just see if we can actually spearhead this because I've seen it done in other districts and it's a really really great thing for the students to have. So hopefully there'll be more to come on that. >> Yes. And we also had a conversation about increasing the number of internship opportunities for our students in CT so they can get that authentic experience outside of the classroom. So, we're looking to again expand upon, you know, our arsenal and see what else we can uh get our students to to do outside of the classroom for the CTE pathway. >> Yes. Um for our high school students, uh coming up next week is midterms. Um so, I believe the schedule is going to span from the 27th through the 30th. Uh just
024highlighting that marking period number two officially concludes on the 30th and then report cards will be visible in Genesis on Friday, February 6. So good luck to all of the students next week subject to adjustment based on the snow. >> Yes, >> because we're probably going to have to push it, but we have a plan that we communicated today. >> You do. >> Okay. Um you'll see in your packets for next week that we are going to be voting on uh professional development um that we've done you know every month for the teachers. There are specific ones for over 150 and under 150. So I encourage all the board members to review that. Um we're still looking and I think you know the we talked about this last year. Um, but we are looking at
025uh figuring out going forward, I think for the next school year what new math program we are going to be utilizing within the district. And right now there's the two pilots that are ongoing between Amplify Desmos and I Ready. And so I think we had some initial feedback from teachers, but that's still ongoing. So there's more to come. Um, as we sort of move towards the end of the uh, school year, we will find out sort of what the results are and where we're going to be moving in terms of our K through5 uh, new math program for next school year. A lot of this was also just sort offormational about what was happening from last year towards the end of last year. Um, I think those are mostly the big highlights of where we
026are now. Oh, and I think just maybe one other thing uh to talk about is um we've done this in the past and the art showcase is going to be returning to the MAC. So, I'm I've looked forward to that because it was really great in the past and I believe we have a target date right between March 5th and March 27th, but there will be more information to come. But it was really great to hear though that that's going to be returning to the MAC this year. >> I think that's it. >> Thank you, M. facilities. Miss >> Yes, we had a really good meeting. We met on the 15th. We discussed um and went over work orders which I had brought up at our last meeting and um I think the concern that
027I had and we did discuss it was that when things happen in a building, parents are going to see it, staff's going to see it. The most important part is the superintendent needs to know about it so that when questions are asked and board members ask questions, she knows exactly what went on. So that's going to be worked on and information is going to be um shared as things go on. We talked about 25 26 budget projects that are ongoing. We're working on grease truck replacement which will be on a future agenda. It's a summer item to be funded by the food service, which is what the auditor just discussed. The money that we have in there for the food service. Uh there's a replaced bay door at high school south stage that we're waiting
028for quotes on. High school north and south bleachers ongoing completion by spring break. We're hoping small gym floor replacement of threequarters of the floor. It will be completed when school is out. Doors for the APR and small gym at Beayshore are done. Repair leaks under and around the library areas in Thompson and Thorne. They'll start in the spring and will be on a future agenda. As you know, both schools are the same uh model. So, they're having the same issues in both schools. Paving outside uh a path at Bay View, which we're working with the township on getting that done. HVAC units. The bids going out shortly for unit pricing and replacement units for units that break beyond repair during the year. It's hard to get parts for those units. As we all know, sometimes
029it's a little bit of a wait and we hear buildings are, you know, cold or certain rooms. Like last year, we had a few issues, but we're hoping, you know, to get this stuff done. On the January voting agenda, we're going to have on there the South Jersey Turf Services for High School South and High School North for the June 2526 budget. It was allotted 50,13622. This includes services for the grass fields and artificial turf fields. Beayshore small gym, the floor is in there at $64,162. uh the grant for the new Mammoth playground for 75,000. We're going to be voting on submitting that next week. Good luck to I hope we can you know help them out a lot. Um approving that in the we also talked about 2627 facilities budget, the operating budget, the
030equipment and the capital. The committee reviewed preliminary facilities budget information. The facilities operating budget is basically flat. Utility projects are still being reviewed and may be increased. The budget is an ongoing document. So there's, you know, hopefully, you know, be more things put in, but it'll be coming up to the board in the future. There are some equipment items being considered, specifically trucks to replace aging trucks in the maintenance fleet. The average age of the maintenance fleet is 11.7 years and only two trucks in the 32 truck fleet have been replaced in the last seven years. Potential options are for purchasing or leasing trucks will be reviewed at the next meeting. Administration is still evaluating potential capital projects through the lens of what is necessary for safety and security of students as well as funding
031available in the budget. uh the Linoft annex. The county business administrator did do a walkthrough of the annex earlier in January and said the space looked good. Big difference from the initial walkthrough before the work began. The remaining work for the winter is parking lot painting, punch list items, alarms, shelving, and etc. Items to consider for future budgeting would be window replacements and outside masonary work. Total cost to date facilities purchases of $266,163. The architect was $42,500. Furniture was $42,596 and security cameras were $10,297. The total cost put into the annex so far is $361,556 when we budgeted 200,000. The rest has been absorbed through the budget. Um hopefully we didn't really get an opening date on that, right? We don't know when it's going to be complete. >> We're we're going to start having
032staff come in and take a look at it. We're actually having our next uh two facilities and finance meeting over there next month. So, we're going to start doing some uh limited use of it, but I know Dr. Alone was saying that we weren't going to fully move programs there full-time. No, not right now. >> Until early September, but we'll bring the kids over um in the spring so they can get acclimated to the space. >> That's good. >> I'm sorry. Why aren't we bringing them over in the spring to start? because we're not exactly certain of the target date and the teachers um and supervisors of that department had concern regarding transition transitioning a sensitive population in the middle of a year like that far into the year. >> But that was always our
033plan was to do it when it was ready. >> Yeah. And we don't have an exact date of readiness. So >> I know but I hate to hear that we're going to just use it for meetings when we've spent a lot of money and the kids need that was the entire point of it was to have the kids have their own facility. Well, the facility in meeting is only going to be over there for one month. We plan to go school to school at our meetings. The high school south turf field. The repair work performed in December was successful in smoothing out the rippling alongside of the home sideline. The findings where we were able to see the condition of the base under the turf when the section was pulled up and we did get
034to see pictures of that. Adam brought them and it does need some work. We're really going to have to start considering somewhere down the line where we're going to have to have a plan to start putting money aside to replace that field. The base material was very compacted and does not allow for the water to drain effectively. So, that really was the problem. Bay View Field project with the township. The district met with representatives from the township regarding the township's improvement plan to the Bay View fields. The township is planning to install an irrigation system, including a well, drainage, sod, and do a small amount of paving on the site. The work is anticipated to be done during the summer of 26 and conclude by September. The township will provide an additional level of maintenance
035required to maintain these fields for community use. More um frequent cutting, lining, fertilizing, weed control, soil, and amendments. Um let's see the recap um of advocate facilities modeling. Advocate is working on facilities modeling analysis to benchmark our facilities department staffing against districts districts that have outsourcing contracts in place for custodial staff. This work is ongoing. Um we also have the DCO energy community solar which we looked into and it's really not viable for our district. So, we're not going any further with that. Um, we talked a little bit about um budget steps and where the budget process is going. That's more of a finance though. Um, I did ask for us to start looking into the long range facility plan and with discussion with Amy. We want to get through the budget process first and
036really the long we're due to put another long range facility plan in place and that really should go along with strategic planning and that's what we discussed in facilities. >> Thank you Mr. News. Uh next up is finance. We met last evening at our first meeting. We went over three items that are on the uh voting agenda. The first is the acceptance of the auditor's report. We heard the presentation this evening. Uh and then we'll be looking for two items that are related to the IDA grant. The first just updates our fiscal year 2026 allocation to incorporate the prior year carryover and the second amends the preschool portion of the grant to reallocate budget expenses from tuition to salary. Uh there's also two quoted routes for transportation that'll be on the agenda. One is Ocean
037Avenue. It's a change in school from Navasync Navync to Ocean for a special ed student and the other is Bay View need additional bus for students moving into the walk. Uh we also did the 2526 budget background. Miss Dy gave us background on that and we discussed the overview for the 2627 uh budget which Miss Dar is going to be presenting. So part of our facilities committee uh meeting was to review uh basically a 2526 budget review and 2627 budget preview. So we're going to bring up the board has all of this in your packets. We're going to bring up this um I mean you can either stay in your seats or we're going to show on the screen uh what's you know the presentation is. So gonna bring that up. you can go. So,
038just to give a summary of what we were trying to share with the uh finance committee and share with the board at this point, we just wanted to review uh the key drivers and priorities and things that were impacting our adopted 2526, our current year budget, and then talk about uh how that budget development process required the district to address a very significant budget deficit uh that was further complicated by changes is in the NJDOE budget process that were introduced very late in the process. Uh but looking forward to 2627, the district will still need to find ways to balance anticipated expenditures with available revenue, but our overall projections are much better than last year. So if you want to flip to the next, you could flip that again. Okay. So just reviewing and reminding
039everybody about the discussions and the development of our 2526 budget. are significant pressures there where the uh final expiration of federal uh pandemic relief funds and we'll talk about that in a little bit more detail later. Uh also a significant amount of non-recurring revenue that was utilized to balance budgets and keep the tax levy increases at an average of 2% over the last several budget cycles. Uh there's also been uh cost pressures, inflationary pressures, uh health insurance premiums are an issue for everyone across the board. uh liability insurance is in has ticked up. Uh transportation is something we're always uh monitoring and supplies and materials. Um so if we want to flip to the next page. So we had this slide in our tenative budget presentation last year and we just wanted to bring it
040back just to put some context over the last three years of uh our total budgets. Our budgets are made up of our operating budget, our grants budget, and our debt service budget. So what we're illustrating here is, you know, if you look at the total amount of the spending, uh, in 2324 was at 197 million, 2425, 198 million, and the current year's budget is at 206 million. Uh, but what we there's a couple of key points to look at on this slide. I mean, if you look at the 206 million uh compared to the year before, it was about a 3.7 uh% increase. Uh but a majority, a lot of that was the increase we had to budget for health benefits, which was about 2.5% of of that 3.7%. Overall, you know, between 25 26
041and 23 24, you know, our total uh budget with all the components went up, you know, a little more than 4%. But what we want to highlight here also is we just talked about in the last slide is if you look at the section that says grants budget back in 2324 we were we had a grants budget of 8.2 million. Uh now for the current year we're down to 3.8 8 and that is a result of we had funding that has expired and not recurring you that we talked about primarily from the pandemic uh that was absorbing a lot of our operating costs and that has ticked down you know close to $5 million. So you know that is that is one of the drivers of our um our total picture as well. So, if
042you want to flip to the next slide, uh we did also have this slide in our tentative budget presentation last year just to give the uh give everybody an idea. We utilize several sources of funding that we don't have to draw on anymore. And you know, this did absorb costs in our budget uh and enable us to put budgets together. But when those funding sources are no longer available, you know, that's when they need to be replaced. So, we just our four-year average over those four years was about $4.8 million per year in funding sources that we don't have to draw upon anymore. So, you can flip to the next slide. This is a recap of our reserves that we updated uh our balance at the beginning of the year that was just audited, July
0431st, 2024. We had capital and maintenance reserve 240,000 and 584,000. uh we did utilize a good chunk of those during the 24-25 year. Uh we did not allocate anything to the current budget and so our remaining balances in those reserves are 42,000 36,000 respectively. Uh we did also add on here we have and we've talked about this we are self-insured for our health insurance benefits and being a self-insured entity we are required uh to have reserves put aside to offset uh incur but not reported claims if we need to transition from being selfinsured back to a fully insured plan or and also for claims fluctuation. We budget based upon the advice we're given from our broker and their actuaries on what our claims are going to be for any given year. That's what we budget
044based on. But of course, that is an estimate and a projection. And if the actual claims come in higher, we have to have the ability to pay those claims because we're responsible for them. We are basically the insurance company. Last year, we did utilize we had be began with a balance of 5.2 2 million and that was established when we first became self-insured. We really haven't been able to add to it since then, but we did have that money put aside uh when we transitioned to the platform. We did utilize about 1.5 million of that uh during the past year to supplement our budget uh to pay claims. So, we're now down to 3.6. So that's something that we have to take a look at replenishing because that's not at the level of what's being
045re what's recommended for us to keep. So that's something that we're going to be uh reviewing during this current year. If you want to flip to the next slide. Obviously the biggest driver of our budget is our salary and benefits expense. Currently salaries represent about $119 million out of our roughly $200 million general fund operating budget or 60%. Uh we are currently negotiating two new agreements with uh our bargaining units, the Teamsters bargaining units facilities in Paris. Uh they will be retroactively effective back to the beginning of this fiscal year. Uh next year is the last year of the contracts for the MTEA and the MTAA. So, we do know what those increases are to budget for next year, but beyond that, uh, we'll have to be negotiating. Uh, so the administrative team's also currently
046in reviewing all of our enrollment schedules, identified needs. That's something that's ongoing and, you know, that we do every year. Flip to the next slide. This is a recap of our debt service payments that we budget for uh, each year. These are the debt service payments that we'll have to budget for for this year. This is a separate component of our budget. There's a separate tax levy that deals with the uh our responsibility toward that those payments. That's something that's established and agreed to when a referendum is passed. So, it's not something that uh we have any um you know, we it basically happens automatically. We commit to paying the bonds off. So, we have three outstanding bond issues. uh our principal and interest that's due in 2627 totals 6.5 million. Uh approximately 20% or
047about 1.3 million of that cost will be offset with state aid. We don't get that number until we get our state aid number for the general fund, but it it's pretty consistent. It's been about that level uh for you know for the past several years. So we you know I'm sure it's going to be about the same. If you take a look at the maturity dates, you know, that's what something we've been talking about for a while. Um, two of the bond issues mature August 1st, 27. So, we'll be budgeting for a full year of payments for them in next year's budget. Then after that, uh, there will only be the August 1st 27 payment that will be in our 2728 budget and those two bond issues will be completely paid off. uh the 2014
048bond issue which we did for the rod grant projects we did back at that time that uh will continue but that will also be fully paid off by August of 29. So as we've been discussing in the next few years we will extinguish all of our uh out you know long-term outstanding debt as far as bonds go. Flip to the next slide. So talking about this current year uh looking at our current total projected revenues which includes an assumption of a 2% increase in the tax levy uh that will bring up our total revenues uh for the year about 1.46% over what it is the current year uh because there's some revenue sources that are decreasing. Uh one of you know one of them is our state aid. you know, we did receive a component
049of the state aid with that tax levy incentive program that doesn't recur. And there's some other uh revenues that we've adjusted, so about 1.46. But again, these are all preliminary numbers. We're continuing to review and uh refine projections as we go along. We are projecting state aid is flat. Uh last year we did get a 6% increase in state aid. if that you know that equated to roughly 900,000 somewhere along those lines. So we have had no information given to us about state aid for this year. So right now we're projecting flat if we get the numbers. Uh obviously when we get the numbers we'll adjust to actual. Uh we will we don't expect any increases in federal funding. That's going to continue to be you know at the lower preandemic levels. expenses that are
050driving our budget is our essential technology refresh cycles primarily the Chromebooks and other devices. Uh we continue to evaluate our cyber security environment make sure that we are doing what we need to do there. Uh there are some curriculum and textbook and subscription renewal updates in the budget that we are reviewing. I know they talked about that uh with the curriculum report. Uh health insurance is something that we focus a lot on and we focus a lot on controlling those costs. Uh our medical claims have actually remained pretty stable. It's and we're not alone in this, but the prescription is what's really driving our health insurance costs at this point. So we've been working with our broker to put in uh some some measures that will help us control that cost more. We're continuing to
051look for ways to do that. Uh we are right now we don't have any facilities projects in the budget as Mrs. Minui said we have a list of things that we are considering. It's going to depend upon how much space is in the budget uh to fund those projects. Uh but again with aging buildings and equipment that needs replacing you know there will have to be something in there. And then, you know, we've had continuing rising costs for special education services and we're addressing those in the budget as well. Getting back to strategic priorities and planning as we've been talking about uh really a lot over the past few years is trying to get long-term financial sustainability, shifting our focus from short-term fixes to multi-year financial planning and structural budget balance. Uh we also as
052we do every year evaluate program effectiveness to make sure that where we're putting resources is having the most impact on students and that continues. Our timeline at this point we have been meeting with our school and department level administrators to review all the needs that have been submitted. Uh we've are focusing on staffing and student scheduling. Our tenative budget must be approved by the board and submitted to the New Jersey DOE uh county office by Thursday, March 19th. So, at this point, we have a board meeting scheduled March 17th, and we anticipate that's when we will be uh approving our tenative budget to submit. That timeline could change with a new governor. They do give uh the courtesy of more time to establish the state budget which may put push back when we receive our
053state aid which could have an impact on when the budgets would be due but we haven't gotten any of that information yet. Our public hearing and adoption of the final budget must be t done between April 24th and May 7th. Our board meeting is scheduled for April 28th and so at this time we would anticipate that's when our public hearing would be to adopt our final budget. So, we'll continue to review all the information with committees and we will be uh in February uh going over more details on the budget as they've developed. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Mr. Matam. Anything on legislative? >> Uh we did not have a legislative meeting. We did have a policy meeting. >> I think that's the next one. Uh well it's it's mixed up so you could you
054you could take policy now and then we'll just jump on. >> Okay. Policy committee met uh yesterday. Um there are two mandated updates from the NJSBA policy. Um first policy is number 4111 uh recruitment selection and hiring regarding our employees. The key point of this was the addition of verbiage regarding transparency in job listings. It's something that we actually already do. Um all of our employees do get um emails of job listings as soon as they are posted. Um so we're already in compliance with this and the other addition was salary ranges will also be included in all job postings as per the new policy language. The second mandated policy has to do with uh commencement activities policy 5127. The key point of this one was the addition of legal references for high school voter
055registration law resources. Um we discussed the addition of the legal reference and um that was not present in our previous version. Um we have been providing students with voter registrations um and they will be educated for their civic duty to vote before graduation. Uh the third policy 6163.1 media center library. The key point of this policy uh recommendation was the addition of policy verbiage regarding selection of material and requests for removal. Um, our committee discussed the addition of language to the policy which outlines the process of curation of library media center materials and also outlines the removal request process. Um, so the process for removal of of a book that anybody has a problem with would be a committee of stakeholders who will make a recommendation to the board of ed. The board of ed
056determines if the materials and questions are removed from circulation after reviewing the committee's recommendations. And the fourth policy that we discussed was 7113 school closure policy and the committee determined that no changes will be made to that school closure policy. The last one uh was an information only no policy changes. It's on the HIPP process voting and appeals. >> Thank you Mr. Uh negotiations is ongoing personnel is >> close session. So, next up, student services. Mr. Torren. >> Okay. Um, student services met after the curriculum committee. There was a lot of overlap, but um, focused on a few areas. The all-in for inclusive education consultation visits are continuing. There have been three of them or three scheduled for this year at the elementary schools. um talking about different co-eing models and one of the things
057that we talked about was that um the co-eing pairs are banded by grade level to provide more planning time uh and to make that more consistent. Um the best practices with inclusive education is something that is uh continuously emphasized during these sessions. Um the transition building, the annex was also talked about and we talked more about what the building would actually be used for in the different areas within that um room to make it more like a um authentic experience rather than a classroom. And it should be a very interesting I'm excited to see it with facilities because um there's the space for a kitchen um making beds things like that like the real life experiences. Additionally, they have like a um a space for a home gym, which we talked about was like a
058really important thing. You don't have to go somewhere to maintain a healthy lifestyle and things like that. So, that was a good thing as well. Um along those lines, the community- based learning has been expanded this year in all grade levels, providing real world uh experiences in stores, restaurants, fitness gyms. Um and that is across elementary, middle, and high school. It's tiered based on level and that helps strengthen the academic, functional, and social skills of the students. Um they talked about the extended school year which is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th through Friday, August 7th um for uh students that need to have the extended services throughout the year. They also talked about uh the projections and scheduling for next year and how that is going in um ongoing based on IEPs and the needs
059and that that fluctuates throughout the year and that is uh being compiled for next year. There were two um specific programs. the athlete allies for autism that visit New Mammoth. Uh started off as a baseball program and has expanded to different sports um with the high school kids with uh coming down to the elementary school and the fostering friendship club at high school south has been reintroduced and we talked about how that was a good start and how we're going to expand these programs uh in the future. The developmental disabilities week is coming again um in March and rather than just an awareness week, there's going to be a new component added with education uh where there's going to be lessons about inclusion, readalouds and assemblies to encourage further um learning regarding learning disabilities um
060or all disabilities really. So that is something that we're looking forward to expanding as well. So that was a good um not just awareness but bringing in the education for that. The out of district trainings and workshop are ongoing. Um it was discussed during the curriculum meeting and uh staff are continuing to attend these opportunities uh related to inclusion specifically as well as writing IEP goals and objectives multiensory strategies and specialized instruction. So those are some a little more detail on some of the PD that's been going on. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Technology. Miss Weinstein. >> Um, so the technology committee met last week. Uh, first and foremost, there aren't any voting agenda items this month. Um, but a couple of different project updates for this year. Um, let's see. The
061secondary security camera server project has been completed. So, now all the security camera servers for the schools have been upgraded. Um, and new CRG maps have been implemented as well. No hot topic in here but board meeting audio and video changes. Um so we have made changes uh to the audio and video configuration at these meetings. The video quality has improved with the removal of the Zoom streaming component. The video still streams via YouTube. Uh additional microphones as you can see and a new mixing board uh also increase audio quality. Um we also might have some additional updates that would include a new amplifier and new speakers to help with sound. We are also migrating all Genesis servers. They have been upgraded from the Oracle database to Postgress. Um Postgrass removes the cost of annual
062software licensing and it also provides us with an increase in performance. So it's a win-win. Looking to the next budget, um we have reviewed preliminary 2627 technology information. Overall, the projection is very similar to the current year's budget. uh district-wide security camera server client software upgrade is being considered as that is the next step to the server hardware upgrades that have been done over the last two years. The current software is about 10 years old and it's really not sufficient to accommodate all of the capabilities of our security camera system. Um the budget also includes of course a continuation of the Chromebook refresh and um as well as improvement to the district's managed detection response or MDR platform to strengthen our cyber security environment. Um we've also have uh the 2526 rate cycle that's begun.
063We'll continue to file for category 1 internet services. This cycle uh we will also submit for category 2 services um and replacement of end of life equipment for our wireless network that includes access points uninterruptible power supplies and cloud services. >> Thank you. M >> uh shared services nothing to report there. Uh next is a re a review of the draft voting agenda. Sorry. Anybody have any questions? >> I think all the voting items are covered in the committee reports. >> Okay, questions on that. Okay, we'll move along then. Next up is old business. Any old business? Good. You go first. >> Well, I was just wondering, we had discussed um at meetings November, December about recording questions that were um at public comment that weren't answered and they were going to go into the
064old business. I didn't think it should be on the draft, but do we have a status of that? Like our last time is not being appropriate for old business. It's really not something that should, you know, occur there. >> So, >> why can't it go under like the president's report or the superintendent's because they have to be answered somewhere. I mean online it's fine but people are watching the meetings and >> I don't know have you seen it any other way on a board agenda? >> Well, I think we talked about the fact that the old and new business is really board business and it's not it's not the it's not a forum for answering public questions and you know as we always encourage everyone to reach out to us directly with questions but the
065these are really board business meetings. There's got to be a place on there for the questions to come back and be answered to the public. I mean, we we would like to hear the answers, too. I think I know I would >> like to hear the answers to the questions. >> I don't know if the board agenda is the place for them, though. So, we'd have to think of another. >> Can we do it at the workshop agenda? >> There's no other public meeting to do that at. >> Mr. Mr. Burns, do you have anything about where it's done in other districts or how it's done in other districts? >> It is not done in any district. I >> So, so how do questions get an how do we ensure questions are answered? >> The
066the person from the public usually follows up directly with the superintendent and the superintendent answers them directly. If there you want to set up a website or a link on a website to a page that has a basically a database, that's fine. But with respect to other boards, I have not seen a a running list of public questions on agendas. >> But that doesn't mean that we can't we can't do it >> or how do we like how do we get the questions to the board? Like how do we ensure that you pick and choose which questions to answer? >> You would have to answer them all. >> Answer them all. >> Yeah, >> you would have to >> you'd have to answer them all. either we can answer them here or if we don't
067have the answer, we would come back on some somewhere on the agenda the next month and give those answers. We'll take it into consideration at this time. >> Any other old business? >> Um, are we going to revisit our uh monthly meeting schedule or the calendar for this year? because I don't think it was completely set at the last meeting. >> Uh, yes, we will. Um, I know we talked about having at least two meetings in March and April. Is that what you're talking about? >> Yeah. I mean, we left it very open-ended and I think we had a problem for February when I think it was a good number of people couldn't make the second meeting that was trying to be scheduled. So, we just left it hanging. So I think we need to
068at some point we really need to finalize this. >> The February meeting was already set premise >> I believe. So I don't have the calendar in front of me but I believe we have a workshop and a >> but three people couldn't make it. >> I have the 19th for the workshop meeting. >> No, I do too. But I believe the discussion was I think there were several board members that couldn't make that date. And then going forward if we're going to continue and again this is a point that I made at the last meeting too is we're doing this hybrid. Some months we're going to do a workshop. Some months it was discussed that we didn't need to do a workshop. That's still unclear. If we're going to have multiple meeting dates in a
069month that needs to get set very soon so that way everybody can now have a clear schedule in terms of what's expected. Well, as I said in in the in the first in the last meeting, I was open to having two meetings a month at least through the budget cycle, which brings us through April. So then we need two meetings additional, one in March and one in April. Then we have the the high the new the hire or the rehire meeting in May, >> which we already have two in April, >> right? And then and then we're into the summer. So, I'm open to discussing adding two meetings for a meeting in each month in March and April if you want to propose some dates. >> Okay. >> What about September and October? >> November.
070>> Well, we have March 17th. We have a meeting already, >> right? budget >> March 17th and when the 31st also >> yes >> it's spring break >> sorry >> no you only have one tenative budget meeting in March >> on the 17th 17th yeah the tenative budget is the 17th When are we going to have another public meeting before that for the budget? If we're talking about transparency, >> well, February, we'd be doing a budget update. >> Yeah, that's one. We said we were going to have a >> Well, then the tenative budget gets presented, >> right? And gets voted on the same night, >> right? But it's tenative. So, >> but it doesn't matter. It's still public input andformational. So we would just add a workshop the week before >> the 10th >>
071I would say 10th >> we're talking about being transparent. Yeah. >> Well and the only thing I'll say is the 10th is very early in the month where I mean do you believe that we would have to get committee meetings and just be mindful committee meetings will have to be scheduled all in that first week. Yeah, because if the tenative budget isn't done by the 10th, it's not going to be any better on the 17th. It's got to be in place. You're only having a week before you present it to us and we vote on it. >> Is there a reason why that meeting is the 17th and not the 24th? >> Because the tenative budget is due to the county by the 19th. >> We don't have a choice, unfortunately. >> Unless it unless
072anything changes, but the schedule on it, we don't know yet. I mean, there's probably a high likelihood of that, but I I don't know what what difference it's going to make to have a meeting on the 10th and then 17th for that budget presentation. What what is going to change? I mean, we'll have and then we're going to be forced to get all those committee reports in by that date. Unfortunately, we're constricted by what the what the calendar is and what the date is to submit our preliminary budget. >> The point is we'll have one meeting in February for the public to hear about the budget and then the meeting in March. We have to vote on the budget. >> There's there's two meetings. We have two meetings in February. >> Yeah. But but we're
073only going to have one one workshop where it's the budget's going to be discussed. >> That's what we're told. That will be discussed at the workshop meeting. Okay, that's fine. >> Any updates for the voting? >> Update it if we have to at the voting meeting. Yeah, we could always update it. >> We could do >> if there's changes. >> I think I truthfully think we're going against what was said to the public that we were going to have several budget hearings before the tenative budget. And it was said and now it's not said. I just think we should follow it through. I mean, especially after how last year's went. We all know tenant budgets don't change much. So, do we want to schedule another April meeting? The 21st will give us a week before
074>> the voting meeting. >> Yep. >> What date are we looking at? >> April 21st. >> That works. Okay. You sure this play first? I'm definitely not. >> You could have somebody that's >> which one you >> So, are we adding the 21st? >> Right. What we'll have to do is we'll have to present a revised calendar at next week's voting meeting for the board to approve. Right. Right. >> So, we'll we'll make these adjustments. >> Did we decide on a date? >> April 21st. Right. >> As a workshop meeting. And then May we have two. >> And then June we probably don't need to. >> July. >> Yeah. >> When's the retirement? >> May probably be hiring but we >> it might not be necessary. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. And then 919 that is
075the board meeting, right? We'll put it on the agenda for Tuesday for >> Yes. >> for those amendments. >> So March is staying the same. It's just 17th, right? >> Yeah. Cuz there's two Yeah. We have to keep the 17th as is now because of that county deadline. But if the county deadline changes, >> can we move it back? >> We could always move it back. >> If we did that, would we be able to do the workshop still on the 17th to do the committee reports and then the budget? >> Yeah. a week later and it would be helpful to do it that way. But and hopefully we'll know more >> um now that the new governor is in place and then hopefully we'll get the ball rolling with um you know when we're
076going to see our state aid numbers and you know that that would be the determinant of that if that deadline gets pushed because the later the state figure comes out they'd be more inclined to give us more time to complete our budget. So would it make sense to do um at our Tuesday meeting like if we put in March 24th as the tenative budget if needed kind of >> like would it make sense to do that or we have to wait? >> No, I think we should wait. >> Okay, we don't know. >> Yeah, we don't know. They could leave it status quo. We'll probably know very soon. Okay. >> Yeah. >> That's kind of meeting >> any other old business. >> Yeah. I just wanted to discuss what I brought up at the U
077reorg meeting and I talked to a few >> other about, you know, getting together and setting board goals and >> Yeah. >> Any progress on that? >> No, not yet. I'll have an update though, you know, in the next couple of weeks. So, I'm just getting all the committee set. We had all the meetings, so it's it's on the list, okay, to we'll make sure it's taken care of. I know that we talked about forgotten about it. >> Uh, any other old business? >> Uh, I would like to say thank you for making the committees very distributed. >> So, thank you for that. >> I agree. >> They were successful. Yeah, >> it's a lot of information to take in as you know. >> Okay, new business. >> I have an item on new business
078new business. >> Yeah. Um and I I was I probably should have jumped in after Mrs. Torres talked about student services. So, sorry, but I just wanted to uh give an update that uh Middletown Front to Diverse Learners had a meeting on Wednesday, uh the day after the student services meeting. Um we met with Mrs. Granger. We met with uh Mr. Dory who elementary supervisor. It was really great to meet him as well as Mr. Treza. He was there for uh the secondary schools. Um it was a really comprehensive meeting. I think these meetings with Mrs. Granger are really great. Uh just quickly sort of going through some of the highle topics that we touched on. Um we did go through quite a few of the inclusion updates. Um we were able to hear again
079about the consultation visits that are happening from allin. So it was good I think for um MFODL to be able to hear those updates as well. We sort of looked at um the co-eing model again uh in the general ed classes especially beyond ELA and math. Uh I think we had a really good discussion around the status of the inclass consultation model. So here in the secondary that's for world languages and then in middle school that's for social studies and science. Um we talked about uh sort of the successes that we've seen already in the district around the communication boards right for the playgrounds. I believe the one that was just done was at Harmony uh where else we can start bringing those to some of the other schools. um and as well as the
080success of sensory pathways in some of our elementary schools and now bringing that hopefully to uh schools throughout the district as well. Um we talked about strategic planning sort of where we're at, how that's going to be starting up again very soon um and making sure obviously uh that those committees are um identified as well. Uh we had a discussion, I think we touched on this a little bit, but more around uh what additional unified sports hopefully we can bring to the district. I know we're about to have a uh unified basketball game next month on the 12th versus Neptune. Unified cheer uh is going to be coming back as well, but then what other sports we can hopefully uh bring to the district. Uh they were given an update um about um the transition
081building. Um, so that was very exciting. Um, I think everybody's really looking forward to rolling that out. Uh, we discussed with them about the more adhanced planning around the development disability week. Um, how it's going to look much different I think in elementary as well as the secondary schools and some really great ideas uh to really pull in the students at both middle school and the high school level. um and then additional programming that hopefully uh MFODL and the district will be able to do together for the remainder of the school year. So, it was a really good meeting. >> Thank you. >> New business. >> Yeah. >> New business. >> Yeah. >> Um so, I just want to let the public know that um at our board meeting next Tuesday, Mr. Haber and Mr.
082Mr. Aean, his associate will be coming to do a presentation to both the board and the community on the findings of the boundary analysis and um facilities utilization study. If for any reason our board meeting gets cancelled because of snow, because with that much snow, you never know. Um we will have to resine the meeting and we'll bring him into whenever that rescheduled date is. Um we're working on their availability currently just in case that happens. So they'll come in and do a formal presentation um and to everyone at once, the community and the board of education. >> Can we just hold that meeting if it does happen? >> We are going to hold it in the auditorium. Yes. >> No, we're going to be setting those um within the next week now that we
083know that that report is going to be presented. Any other new business? >> Okay, let's open it up to public comment for 30 minutes. >> Hi, Kristen Rooney, Middletown. Um, just a quick question. What did you decide about the dates? I I didn't follow. Did you pick dates for >> for the meet for the meeting? >> Yeah, the dates that you were just >> Yeah, but they're going to be on the voting meeting. >> Okay. >> Next week, so it'll be published. So, we're going to have to we'll put it on um for the agenda Tuesday. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It was April 21st. >> Okay. >> That we added. >> Okay. I guess I'm just confused because I thought that we had talked about previously adding more meetings before the budget process because
084I had asked about when we're going to see the budget a couple meetings ago and Dr. Alone you had said that >> we have two meetings in February as well. >> Okay. >> So we have it's the almost the end of January. So we have a basically a midFebruary meeting and a later meeting in February. So we can do an update at the second meeting. So there'll be a workshop and a regular meeting in February. >> Okay. And the regular meeting. So you can do an update at that meeting or >> we can do it at both meetings is what we were saying. Yes. >> Okay. Because normally the preliminary budget >> it's March 17th is when it's when we have the meeting to present the preliminary budget. Unless of course the state pushes the
085date back because of the new governor which they get additional time to establish the budget. >> Okay, got it. Thank you. Um, and I just had a question about just the process for the committees. I really wanted to thank all of you because I think this was great having every committee reporting and we got a lot of information. So I think on behalf of a lot of people, thank you for that. Um my question is about the process for the committee meetings and um I know we had said in the past that you do have minutes that are recorded or notes. Um who records those and where could those be found? Like if somebody wanted to go back and look, how does that work? Well, right now we rec the the the liaison for the
086from the administrative team record the minutes and share them um with the committee chair from the board um and then then report out from there. Um right now they are housed you know in our in our kind of behind the scenes board docs. Yeah, I mean we could talk about and discuss amongst the board if we wanted to put out a shortened version of like bullet point notes for the community, but that's something that, you know, we have to determine how that's going to look. >> Okay. Yeah, I think that would be helpful. Yeah. Um if it could just be posted somewhere in all the other documentation. Sure. >> Just to see like who was at the meeting and the general overview. Especially if you're not going to watch the meeting, it's an easy way
087to go back and get the updates. Um, I think that would be great. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Scott McFersonson, Middletown resident. Uh, Miss Stardy, your presentation, the PowerPoint, is that going to be put up on the website? >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh, and then the Habber report, have they actually delivered an actual report to the district? >> No. Will a um will the actual report be released simultaneously with the presentation at the next board meeting? >> Yeah, we we're going to provide it to the public once we have the finalized draft from them and we're all seeing that at the same time. So, um we will definitely post it on the website and make it public information. >> And then as far as you mentioned the snow a couple of times and
088it's my understanding that pursuant to state law, you cannot have virtual learnings. Isn't that correct? Correct. Correct. >> I know you're going to see on social media people saying, "Well, why can't they just go?" >> No, we will not be going um virtual. Um what we're we're in a good position in the sense of we built in snow days into our calendar. So, if you recall, we did that last year for the first time. So, Easter Monday is our first day that if we do have a school closure, that would get eliminated from the calendar. And then our second date is the Friday before Memorial Day. So, we have two days to play with, which is great. Um, you know, it does seem to be a significant storm. Um, I'm hopeful if, you know, given
089the situation that maybe it's a closure Monday, delay Tuesday. But again, it's a big area of space for not necessarily us to clear, but also the township to do all the side roads and, you know, that's a concern and with the ice and the temperature. So, we will always air on the side of caution. I've said it before, I'll say it a million times. Um, but we do have two days to play with and um, as Mrs. Wright had mentioned in her report, we do have midterms for our high schoolers which start off next week. We have publicized a plan for that. We have just made the determination that we're going to communicate that now because it does seem like we are going to get snow. That way all of our teachers and our students
090at high school can rest easy knowing the plan. >> Right. Yeah. And we appreciate you putting the safety of the, you know, the the students, the staff, the administrators. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm, you know, we don't want anybody in harm's way and anybody waiting at a bus stop with icy roads or wind or sub freezing temperatures. >> And then my uh last uh just kind of question was Miss Minuis, you you brought up the LRFP, the longrange facility plans. It was my understanding that was a major amendment was done September October. Isn't that accurate? >> Yeah, of last October. Yeah, but Miss Dardy, that was a major update that I I my understanding of this of the law is it's a major amendments due every five years and that was the the major >> and
091that also coincided. We were required to do that to get the approvals for the disposal of the vacant property as well. So, it all tied together. >> So, is the idea that we're going to um do another amendment to the LRFP sometime this spring? >> No, we're we No, we're not planning on doing an amendment, but we're going to we need to start reviewing it. uh in >> prioritize >> to prioritize and in conjunction with doing strategic planning. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Bernard Doss, Middletown resident. um this my comments surround and Amy I'm going to wind up sending you an email on this um with a list of questions surrounding the uh the annual comprehensive financial report but I'll put on the record and then I'll email you um no red flags necessarily
092but things that I think merit further explanation um and notes. So, um, there was a restatement, um, tied to compensated absences that I think merit a little bit more of a layman's explanation on. I'll send you my, uh, my specific question on that. Seems to be a a new or emerging liability um, that was uh, restated in this um, financial report. Um, you know, the sale of the Port Month property is listed in there. that has a one-time sort of episodic revenue stream and it's just listed as sale of property. So, for the unacquainted person who just came through, I know it's Port Mammoth, but there's absolutely no explanation of this kind of odd one-time unusual um revenue um sale of property. So, I'd say, you know, page 21 where there's like an opportunity for
093management comments, um it would have been appropriate to add something there. And I'm not sure if Habber, I'm sorry, HFA has that or if that's you, um, but I'll email about that. Um, Miss Minu, is there's a $5 million drop in plant operations maintenance year-over-year. Um, so since you're overseeing that, uh, you know, that, uh, committee now, um, you know, I think that's something, you know, it's a substantial drop year over year. So, like any kind of financial report where there's like, you know, a big difference on a specific line item year-over-year, it's usually appropriate to call out um and with an explanation um and um a more general comment having looked at these year over year over year over year um I'm not seeing a lot of notes um related to the depletion of
094the reserves basically. So, like, you know, I you know, there's it's a it's financial report. It's mostly tables. I get it. Um, you know, we don't have time to put big narratives on everything, but there probably should be some notes when we're dipping into the reserves. So that's kind of my four kind of observations about the ACFR is the uh compensated absences um the lack of explanation on the port mammoth uh property sale 22% drop in plant operations budget and um you know like we're just casually burning through reserves without a lot of comment in the ACFR as far as I can clean. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else from the public wish to comment >> Katie Little Page Middletown um at the last few meetings um I would hear Miss Muise you would
095say that you were um frustrated with the way that the workshop meetings went and you said this isn't how the work how they're supposed to be done and um I was I'm just genuinely curious because this is also my first time seeing workshop meetings be done. So, I'm just wondering um if you could speak to how it's how it went tonight. Do you feel like this is how they've been workshop meetings have been successful in the past and or would there be anything that you would suggest to make them um more productive? >> I think that this one is better because I really couldn't say the last one was a workshop meeting. I think that the reports out and our committees that when we met we got a lot more information and we're sharing it
096with the board so that everybody's aware of what's going on. I think that was a piece that was missing. Um I would hope like in the future if there are some big issues like maybe even with the budget presentations that we have our administrator liaons give more of a report on why we're doing something you know why we're picking this to do over that. Um but that's really more I would say during a budget process but I think this this workshop meeting was much better. >> Okay, that's good to know. Thank you. Um, and I agree with the with the budget um, topics that are coming. Um, I really appreciate all of the effort put forth by everybody tonight to schedule adequate um, meetings leading up to the tenative budget that's going to be presented
097in mid-March because um, and I would just like to um, suggest that um, in those meetings leading up some like big ticket items could really be discussed before that March 17th meeting. So maybe in the February meetings like where everyone's think heads are at in terms of big ticket items like redistricting or closures or things like that so that we can start discussing in February and it's not this big you know surprise of something happening in March. Um, another point um at the Miss Pores said that um brought up in old business about questions um getting kind of lost questions from the public, questions from the board um and could we would it be appropriate to put them put them in old business and it seemed like perhaps maybe it's not appropriate to put them
098in old business. Um I I do think it is a valid thing to do because the community is quite engaged here in Middletown. Um, and we want to make sure that things that are concerns and questions that are brought up are not getting lost um, and are actually being followed through. Um, one suggestion that I had made a couple weeks a couple meetings ago was actually live during the meetings in the same way that Miss Doy was able to put up her presentation. I don't know if it would be our lovely media employee or even um, a board member that could um, volunteer, but just as the question is asked, someone typing it up on the screen. That way there's no and then the answer could also go up whether and the answer could be
099what the answer is or that there is no answer at this time and to please email and put that there because that way this is being streamed on YouTube and everybody at home could just see it right there in real time and it's much easier for the public to just and they can reference it again on YouTube and then there's no like extra step. So is that something that we could do? >> Yeah, we should discuss it. Yeah, we'll have to discuss >> consideration. >> Um, okay. I brought it up a few meetings ago, so was hoping that maybe we could decide tonight, but that's all right. Um, okay. >> Oh, I guess my only other concern was that the shared services committee that did you did you meet or because you said there was
100no meeting. >> No meeting yet. No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public wish to speak? >> Okay, that a motion to adjurnn. So, >> all in favorions.