Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
July 17, 2024 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Alright. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order the Andover Board of Education special meeting. Today is 07/17/2024, and it is 07:03PM.
And I'd like to start the pledge of allegiance. Pledge of allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America. Okay. We
have one person joining us. Comments from the public. Kimberly Persaud, do you have any?
I don't think she's connected. She's not connecting. Okay. Alright. Hi, Kimberly. Comments from the public? Nothing at this time. Thank you. Nope. No? Okay. Any celebrations? No?
Okay. Alright. Did everybody have a chance to take a look at the minutes from June 12? Yeah.
I had two three questions or three comments, Dawn. I think when on page three, when you have somebody that's abstaining like we did or that votes no, because we all have to each each vote has to be reported, like, who made it. I think you have to put that the abstained was Mike Beckwith. And then on the bottom page three, it was Celeste that made the motion to approve the teacher's contract. And I think it's just we would just singular the contract because it's one contract instead of contracts. So those three changes, that's all I had. Thanks.
Does anybody else have I have, two. On that same page, page three, where it says, c Wheeler will reach out to e Anderson and advise them to get additional quotes. We weren't asking the town to get additional quotes. I was advising him that the BOE will get additional quotes. And then on the last then on the last page for upcoming meetings under age, it's not a special board meeting on August 21. It's just a regular board meeting.
So it has to be special because it's not according to the regular schedule. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.
Oh, because we moved it? The date? Yes. Okay. Okay. Alright. Then you can disregard that one. But that was the only correction I had under the MEP update. Does anybody else have any corrections now? So with those minutes, I move that we accept the regular meeting minutes of 06/12/2024. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
All right. 500. Thanks. Okay. That's me, chairperson oral report. I don't have too much to report. I hope everyone's having a great summer so far. I just want to talk about just a few things to kind of keep on your calendar. We all received an email today regarding the grand opening of the Andover Community and Senior Center, which is on August 10 at four I know Jerry and Shannon have responded. And, again, just to keep it on everyone's calendar, the CAB CAPS convention is on November fifteenth and sixteenth at the Mystic Marriott. I know it's just July, but before you know it, it's gonna be November. So They're taking early registrations now, which are cheaper. So when people do know, I'd appreciate that. Okay. And what Val just said, if you are gonna be able to attend, just let her know because they're accepting early registration. So
You say the fifteenth and sixteenth? Yes. It's Friday and a Saturday of the sixth. That's all I have. It's I don't have too much to report. I know, Tal, you had a lot to get through, so take it away. Okay. Well, not too much. It's just,
so I know you guys have update on MEP status for you guys to talk about. It's actually been busy here for Taylor, myself, and for, Terry, even though it's the summer. So there is no principal's report, so I'll roll that into mine. So we do have the camp going on right now. I know some of your children are here. That's the grant funded portion, which is the, collaboration with pool. So they have their regular pool, but a portion of all of their summer activities are funded by us with our grant and our summer mental health grant this summer and next summer. The fact that is here and doing activities with your children, that was grant funded as well, and that will fall through till next summer as well. So that's what's going on here. Scott did move up to head custodian as of July 1 to replace retiring Steve Campbell. So he is leading the way with our other two custodians. Anthony Martin was hired to replace Scott. And Anthony Martin so he's the the the number two guy. He'll be the lead at night, and, Nick will remain as the third, portion of our team. They're doing a fantastic job. They have all four of the preschool rooms. All the furniture's in them now. They're all done and ready. And, yep, because we're gonna have our preschool boot camp as the third week of our ESY, which began last week. And so, that's up and running. So by the end of the month, a fair number of students and their families will have made their way through here. I give the guys a lot of credit. We are way ahead of schedule with all the work that they've been doing with cleaning.
And some of the teachers, they're all notified when their classrooms are done just so that they know. And a couple of the teachers have actually come in and start to set things up, which is great. So, we are also utilizing the third grant in the summer, which is that, IDEA TSA, which is that $5,000, has to be used up by September 15, and it's for paraeducator only professional development. So we've got some scheduled PMT recertification and initial training. The new paraprofessionals will go through that this summer as well. Anybody who needs the update to the CPR will go through that this summer, And they're also earning their hours for the eighteen hours of mandatory professional development for paraprofessionals. So they're really well there. And let's see what else. That's preschool. Taylor is almost done finishing the, required for curriculum, the required, reading, curriculum plan that's due for the k three. She's doing a good job with that. She did finish all of the evaluations for staff, and she's turned them over to me already so that I can review them. Let's see. I'm trying to think of what else she and I talked about because she's not, unfortunately, here. Tonight's her her son's birthday. They're having a party.
So oh, she's still working on the TVAL, the PDAC, which is the new teacher evaluation. That subcommittee here, they're taking everything that the state's given over, and that committee will have a new plan in place for next year. So, those are all the updates kind of as you walk around, things are busy busy. We're not empty, this summer. With that in mind, one of the things that I know you guys had to ponder, and it'll probably lead into next month, was where we left off last month with what we do about having somebody come in and take a look at the plumber. As you know, we had the, the quote from Aztec, and, it was a situation where it was a little bit vague, and it also had some limitations limitations to the school and things that that were not within their scope and sequence. I reviewed it a couple times. It's also an engineering because they are an MEP. As as as we ask for, they are an MEP firm. They're not an architectural firm. And so in going through this and looking at that scope and sequence, we realized in talking to some other potential
contractors that that was also a component that was missing. So in addition to that 20,000, we also wouldn't have been getting architectural designs. We would have been getting schematic drawings. There's a difference. So when the town then potentially needs to give, you know, a permit for something, we would've been short the a drawings, which are the architectural drawings. So I didn't know all this, so I'm just kinda showing off of knowing it now because they told us. So so yes. So in addition to that, you know, that's what we've been asking. Behind the scenes, some of the other things are the mandates that I told you last month that I was doing the IAQ reports. Those are that indoor air quality tools for schools reports. There's six of them. I got the two easiest ones done first, posted those. I knew that number five and number six would require assistance that myself and the custodian, we just don't have enough expertise to be able to answer those checklists. So what we did was worked backwards and went into the annual reporting form on the website and said, once we're done with them, what is it they're gonna expect us to tell them? It's kinda like a teaching thing where you say, let me look at the assessment and make sure I actually taught what they need to be tested on. So it was kind of I u utilized that strategy
and went back through and said, what is it? And it was you're gonna have to post those six. You are going to have to provide the person that's not only completing the form, but you're going to have to provide the assessment, the presence for the plants, removal of hazardous substances, who did the inspection, what their credentials were, if there were any corrective action, things that needed to occur, how you're gonna address those. So this was actually the easiest of all of the new mandates that needed to be done. We're not finished yet. One of the things we asked the contractors that came was about five and six, and we are finding that there are a number of contractors that have been doing this for schools. So, depending on who we choose, we will have somebody that will be able to, help us with number five and number six and get these done and in compliance. What that will also tell us as we create,
you know, a plan moving forward, it'll tell us, priority wise, what needs to rise to the top, if we're in noncompliance, if there's anything that needs to be fixed, and we can come up with cost analysis based on that. So that's one things. So that's just on air This is just IAQs, which was the mandate on the tools for schools air quality. They're not all air quality. Under there, I don't know if you guys remember, there was one on regular building maintenance, waste management, the kitchen, the walk through checklist, and food service, and then the one that dealt with HVAC and plumbing systems. What are the five and six? The walk through one we could do Mhmm. The one I already did waste management, and I already did the kitchen. The one that would be difficult is the ventilation and anything to do with electrical and plumbing. So not that there's a ton of things they ask you, but you have to kinda show when things were inspected and by whom. And we are not able to check off because we're not, like, licensed. So we knew we'd have to get somebody to help us with those, and that's why we left them till the end. The other mandates
And when is this pilot? When is What do they do? Yeah. This
one, we've made the effort to make sure it with the compliance date that we posted the original ones. So they will give you leeway as long as you're working toward it. But, this one, those six checklists should be done as soon as possible. We met the January 2024 deadline of posting the first one, but they're not gonna come slap us on the hand. They're gonna say, tell us when it's gonna be done. They're pretty much ASAP. Correct. Yes. So they didn't say, here's what happens to you if you don't have a mail done. But so this is one of the mandates that's kind of under a larger umbrella. And that larger umbrella is the new mandate that says every five years, and since it passed within the next five years, you have to have a much more comprehensive
HVAC evaluation done. So, again, I had pulled the from the DAS website there, I had pulled the heating, ventilation, air conditioning five year reporting form so that we kind of could see what is it that they're gonna require at the end of that five years. And in looking through that, what they are gonna require us to give them sometime between the beginning of twenty twenty six and '31 in in 2031, they're gonna require us to give them that five year reporting. Where we're different from some other towns is they give you that five year window because it goes by percentages of your school that are meeting the guideline. So for example, it says in 2026, you need at least 20% of the schools in your district to have been inspected. Well, we only have multiple. Right. So when we look through here, again, the things that they are going to require is that we've had the uniform inspection and evaluation of the HVAC system, that it was performed by someone that was certified, someone that was, under one of the categories of specialist here. You have to check the boxes next to their requirements. What are they looking to be done? Testing for maximum filtration efficiency, physical measurement of the outdoor air quality rate, verification of the appropriate conditions and operation of ventilation components. I could go on, but it's things we can't do. We're going to have to have a specialist come in and do this and sign off on. Now we technically have until the beginning of twenty twenty six to get this done. However, there is funding available,
and the funding is available already. The the HVAC indoor air quality grant program, they've already started giving out the money through the Department of Administrative Services. And the money itself is gonna be part of, there was a public act that was passed, 22 dash one one eight, and it was codified in the Connecticut general statutes and funded then, and they call it funded through that coronavirus state fiscal recovery funds, that CFRF. There's 244,000,000 that's gonna be available, but they started already in FY24. And when that money's gone, it's gone. So since it's all local boards of education, regional boards of education, and RESCs, regional education and service centers, we kinda do, benefit from getting that done sooner rather than later because not that we think they're gonna find a whole lot of things that need to be part of corrective action plan, but we don't wanna spend any money. So if we have this done now in the, you know, next couple of months, the advantage is we can then apply for the grants. We did ask the two contracting companies that came in about it in passing, and they're like one of them, particularly, said, oh, yes. We've been doing this all over the state. And, absolutely, you wanna get this done now because you wanna make sure that you can qualify for the grants to which we help you write them.
That was even more attractive. So you want it done, then you would like the grant up? Like, every Yes. Like, every day. The grant will not cover the inspection. The grant is for what if you find corrective action things Okay. That need to be done. Everybody has to foot the bill for the actual Okay. Inspection. Yes. The same person do that inspection that needs to come to do those things on your air quality? Yes. So right. And the advantage is, when I said the umbrella is that big HVAC one, the every five years, because just like I was able to fill out the kitchen one with our other reports that when the health department comes in, if we have that one done first, I could probably do those other two with that report. So and that's the one that Now let's get all of them. Yes. So I did ask them. Again, I will check this with other districts that have done this. I'll put out something to my superintendent friends and say, has anybody actually done this yet? And if so, how much did they charge you? Because what we're gathering through talking to the experts is that it's about and and the woman that came into our building spit it off of the top of her head. She said it's about 25¢ per square foot. I was like, oh. You know? So I'm assuming that that's gonna be, like, industry.
So, of course, Scott, Ladue, and I looked up how big we were. We're 53, almost 54,000 square feet, our building. So it's probably gonna be 12,000 The inspections. For the for that. And we either spend it this year or we spend it next year. We're not gonna get away with not spending it, but I would love us to do this. And I'll put it on the meeting for you to vote when you have all of the members in August. But I would love us to do this sooner rather than later so that I can, get them in here and, scheduled. And then if there's corrective action things that need to be done, apply for the grant. Right. How long how long will it take to get back the results of the inspection? From what she said and don't quote me. It was a verbal conversation. It's not in writing. But what from what she said, it looks like it would be a turnover between meetings, like, within the month. Wow. So that's why I say, you know, that would be very helpful. So this is the HVAC inspection? Yes. And it's mandatory. It's we don't have an option on that. And I do kinda want us to make sure we go with a company that's been doing them in districts because if there have any any glitches in the reporting to the state, they've probably figured that out right now. So so that's been going on with that. Those are those two things.
And then there's also and, unfortunately, I have to well, fortunately, I have to credit Scott, our our new head custodian, with kind of coming up with this because he found an email to our old head custodian that talked about that AHERA, which is the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act. That's been in existence for a long time, but I guess there was an update that was done not too long ago. And, public and private schools, you know, all have, certain things that they, have to check for environmentally. I wasn't privy to those emails. When I mentioned it to Taylor and to Diane, they said, you know what? We actually think this came up in April. And I said, well, what do you mean? And they said, when we were doing our NIAC accreditation for kindergarten and reaccreditation for preschool, one of the things they asked for if we had it, so it didn't bring us down at all, was that paperwork. And we have not had that done within the specified time period. So that's another mandate that to be in compliance, it's only a matter of time before they call us out on. What was second? Can you repeat that? Yep. It's a h e r a, which is Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act.
So so I looked back through, again, going backwards and finding out what is it that we do have to tell them. We do have to just make sure that once that's done, if there's nothing to be corrected, we just have the asbestos school management plan. And then that's just updated annually, that says that, you know, there is a periodic surveillance, of areas that could have been known to have asbestos in it. So, basically, we do should just review and check-in with them regularly. How often is that? Is that so by the way? Is found, we report annually that there's no reason for to be concerned. Okay. And have we ever had this done before? We did, but we didn't have it done in the whole building. I believe that the portion that was done was done when pool moved. They had to do a radon test, a lead test in their area, and they had to do their area. So only that? Yes. Okay. So I looked back through. And, again, this act changed in 2021, 2223. It went back to 2009, the original one, which was a self audit checklist. So historically, it wasn't that we were in noncompliance. We were allowed to go, yep. We're good. And we're just not allowed to do that anymore. So I kinda had to search the background information on it because I was like, I have no idea how this has gotten through us for five years. So
I will wind up emailing this to you guys so that you can read this and find it. It turns out and this was funny because it turns out when I went back through, this one company that came in to give us quotes on things, Fuss and O'Neil, they actually had something that they had sent Steve last year when he inquired about documentation for NIAC. And they said, oh, this was the quote that we had sent you to have this done, and we just never did, apparently. So to have the whole school done from the beginning and they test for surface of lead paint, mercury, fluorescent ballasts, lead waste, all of these things, that's gonna be almost $10.
So all of that is under asbestos even though it's, like, the word slave more. It's asbestos than hazardous? It is. Limited hazardous building materials inspection.
So it all falls under there. And then what you do get as a result after that is they'll do your periodic. So that 10,000 is that initial investment, but then just like any every other contractor that we have here, to call them just like LaFram or any of other ones we have, when they come in then to do supplemental tests, you know, you get charged. LaFram charges, like, a 100 and something dollars for each vial of water that they come take. This one has in here when they have to look at building materials for TCLB analysis. Again, they take samples. There's a one week turnaround, and it's a $133. So they give you a what do you do after we do this big one, which is great. Because then, hopefully, if nothing's found, we wind up just maintain maintain. Okay.
And we're essentially on borrowed time, if this one I would say we are.
Now I would say we are, and I would say that there's no contractor that's gonna come in to look at anything for us plumbing related without it. Because they're not gonna potentially demo anything without it. So the advantage I say is if we don't do the $10 now, we're gonna pay the $10 later. But if we don't do the $10 now, we will probably have to pay something to a contractor coming in to do the balance. And so if we say, nope. Here you go. We just did this. That could possibly be saving us something there. And we have to do it anyway. We do.
But we can question it from I don't when was the school built? Like, are we like, is it are we at major risk of it being in a period of time where we where asbestos was, like, huge buildings yet for So yes and no. Because the school was has three different wings.
Well, four, but three major wings. There's the old school of 1948, 1947. Alright. Well, next year. Where know the copula to the right of the office up there, that's the old school wing. That's the one that we need to do the plumbing on now. Right. So there's that. And we've had periodic inspections there when we had a little bit of roof fixing there when the solar came to do the roof inspection. So we've had we've done our repair and maintenance portion. What about the roof of it? We did. We had that done, but that's only that area. Right. But then they they didn't find any They did not. Right. So it's I mean, it's probably the most likely area, but not necessarily. Yep. And remember, I'm not necessarily worried about asbestos. I'm worried about any of those. Not worried. Other
things that right. Well, I mean, this area is full of radon. Let's Yeah. So Yeah. But I I guess and I and this is because this is very tactical. Right? Like, we're reacting instead of being more strategic. I just wanna make I mean, I'm not and it sounds like once we get this done, we can get in the more, like, prevention Yeah. Mode. I just Yes.
And to be honest I guess, why haven't we done
To be honest, I think that and they did have the roof project when Sally was here, so they had to have done some testing of that area. To be honest, I think that because there have been three projects, there was the 2007 or wing addition over in grades four, five, and six. There was 2,002 on the other side of the main office over there, and then the gym at a different time. I feel like, historically, what was probably done was whatever area they were working in was the only area they focused on. And sometimes, I've said this before, sometimes people are like, oh, we just did that. And they don't realize it's been years since that's been done. That's probably why all these mandates now are back up for compliance with things Yeah. With their Instead of self inspecting. Yeah. No self audit. That's right. Yeah. Good. Yeah. So so I'm gonna send you guys so you can read the whole thing because it's kind of thick here before next month, these, like, proposals. Now there is one company that also would be going up against Aztec for the the the plumbing. That's Fuss and O'Neil. Now Fuss and O'Neil, a little bit of what I know about them, and they were one of the recommendations. Remember, promised you CASB Yeah. Supers, and the principals, we would get three people to come in. The one advantage so far that we've seen with them coming in, the vice president did come in to to to inspect, is that they have a wide range of things. They are most known as an environmental company. They do do school projects. They are also compliance based. So sometimes and she said this right off. She said, I don't know if any of the other
people that have come in to offer you a quote have mentioned this, but I don't see how we would even start a construction project unless you could show us environmental testing that's been done because what happens if we open it up? And I thought, that's pretty smart. So there were quite a few things that they said that made perfect sense to me, and then Scott and I were able to look back through and say, yep. We don't have any record of that having been done the past decade. So so I feel like in the next year, there would be a fair amount spent on that, but that's how you're gonna create a plan moving forward for what's prioritized and what's not, and keep us in compliance with things. And make sure that there is another spot Yes. That we don't know about. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. So so I will make sure you guys have them, and I'm purposely gonna send them to you in separate emails so that you don't mix and match since Fuss and O'Neil, for example, has two different things that they're proposing to offer us. And you don't have to take both. We could we could contract to them for one and not the other. So I'm gonna separate that for you.
Is there any financial savings having one that one company do both things or no?
I wouldn't call it financial savings. I would say that we we could make sure that things aren't unnecessarily repeated. So they're not gonna charge you to do two things the same when they know they've already done it with this. We have used them here before my time. They were part of the inspections inspections for for the the roof roof project. Project. Roof project. So they do have a history of that. And then have you talked to other schools that have used So this? I I saw their project plans that they gave us, but I don't wanna call, like, references unless you guys say, I think this one looks good, Val. I want you to call. It's like you don't offer somebody the job. Yeah. You know? But the the the she she asked a lot of really good questions, and she pointed out some things that we had never really thought about that made sense to us as a school. Like I said, that kind of testing. She was the one that initiated the conversation as we walked around the other bathrooms because she said, for example, is there something you need to match to another project? And I was like, well, none of our bathrooms match and showed it to her. And she was able to kind of get an understanding for what is priority to us as we go through. You know?
She was able to she brought up the conversation. So I see the vents in the bathroom. You know, would you guys be keeping the same venting? We went up to the attic, showed her that. She said, so where are you with your HVAC compliance for the 2026? Bonnie, you should mention that. Then she said, so where are you with your tools for schools? And I thought, ugh. This is this is great. She brought these conversations up. So you can tell that they, right now, are right on top of the legislation, And that was good to know. So if we missed something along the way as a small district, I feel like we're in good hands with a larger company like that if we chose to go with them. So now I know you guys all had the Aztec proposal from last time. There were a few more things that I didn't pull out of this until after we had the two companies that came in. For example, she said to me from Fuss and O'Neil, I mean, no disparaging remarks to any other company, she said, but I did notice in this proposal that there was no mention of them being the architect. And I said, what do you mean? I had this in front of me. She said, they are an MEP,
and they're engineers. It says, measure and lay out existing interior partitions for drawing development. So if you have to present anything to the town for a potential paperwork issue, they're gonna ask for your a plans, she said. So you need architectural plans, and that is something that we would provide. So she gave us a much more comprehensive, but more expensive proposal because this one, if you look through under what they don't do, it means it's that 20,000 plus the stuff they don't do paying somebody else to do it all pre construction. So this one says, plus, you're gonna need a little bit more before we actually start demoing your bathroom. And so what she did was to say, I'm going to give you a comprehensive this is everything up to the point that we start to demo. And then I said to her, can you give me an idea? And I will check this before our next meeting for you guys and give you some proof. Can you give me an idea of school bathrooms? You know, won't hold you to this, but what do they cost? She said, you do usually have to figure between $3.03 50 and $400
per square foot. And I thought, okay. So I am then. I have something to ask others about how much per square foot, about how much per square foot. So that gives me a place to look at. Because with that number then, we would be talking about and that is for installation of everything. And they were do you have that one? Did you give it to me that I that you printed out for me? Oh, you did. Right here. So their proposal versus Aztec's was thicker. And so it went through not just schematic drawings, like the one from Aztec went through that phase one SD.
It told you pretty much everything that's in there. Under the contract documents, it said, address all ADA requirements, specify the replacement of floor tiles and new wall finishing, ceiling tiles and lighting, specify this. So they went through and pretty much said, we will make sure that all of that is covered in, all of the contracts that we provide for you. So it was way more detailed down to you don't have to do any of that. The bidding, attend on-site pre bidding conference with bidders, respond to the requests for information and issue addenda if necessary. Under the construction administration, review submittals. Answer the RFIs. Provide construction inspections. Their their scope and sequence was, we're gonna get you from point a all the way up until they're ready to to to demolish
for that price. And so it was on the architectural stuff in there as well. There was very little that they said that they were not doing in here. They also talked about the hazardous materials inspection or abatement designs depending on what they find. They said the abatement designs wouldn't be included. But since it's required by law, they would submit a separate proposal for that if anything was found. So they wouldn't leave us hanging and say, oh, sorry. You guys have a special. There's nothing we can do. They would submit for that. They also gave us an estimated duration of timeline there. Phase one should take three weeks to authorize and proceed. Phase two, two weeks after you approve phase one. One week for the bidding process, three months for construction administration. So they are are telling us, when you're planning on doing this, we're going to create a timeline from the very beginning so that you're you understand this. And they separate all the phases for us.
So their phases that were similar to what we got from Aztec. For example, phase one is SD on Aztecs, and it says schematic design, but it only includes structural engineering design. It said it did not include oh, I'm sorry. It did not include structural engineering designs or analysis, including what might be required for the mounting and support of the MEP. They basically told us it does include the architectural. Their price for that phase was only 6 of their 20, but it didn't include architectural. We would have had to get somebody else to do that. Theirs says we'll take care of all the architectural in for the lump sum in that line for phase one of 13. When you move to the second one, the contract documents, again, that was where this one was weak and said, we can't do most of that. We can't do anything to do with the state funding and all of that. They lump sum did and included all of that in there for '19.
Bidding was about the same. And then the construction period services, that's the big part there because they weren't seeing us all the way through to demolition. So, yeah, it was 20,000, but it was not comprehensive, and it was about half of what we probably would have wound up spending. So I will send this to you. It would look like from now to demo would be a large chunk. It would be 48, and that would take us through to demo. And then what we would expect from there would be that pricing of the $3.50 to 400 per square foot. So but I Which is about how much? Probably 3. 300,000?
And that's the plumbing and the That's the reconstruction of the bathrooms completely. Remember our original number that Rick Wilson graciously said, don't hold me to this, but because he's a plumber. Originally, had said the plumbing project and upgrades, not remodeling. He said, in his estimation, and he admitted that this was just kind of off the cuff, was gonna be 200,000. Because remember, that's where we came up with that number. So and that wasn't including architectural designs, and that was not including all of these other things we might have to do to make sure we have no asbestos, make sure that we have no issues with environmental concerns. So and she did say, although we don't recommend, obviously, cutting corners, if the board would like us to come and speak to them at a meeting or otherwise or, you know, via something else to explain which things could be optional and which things can't be, she said, I'm more than happy to do that. But we all understand that our goal is to get these bathrooms done. And in our lifetime, as a superintendent, as a business manager on a board, we don't wanna touch these bathrooms again. We don't wanna put that back on our capital list.
So chances are good this is gonna be, you know, once for two decades or more that we when we do this. So It's definitely more than
so so that the three fifty or four, that doesn't include the plumbing?
That includes remember, this price takes you up to demo. Right. Then to complete the demo and everything of the bathrooms, yes. Like, the full reno? That, right, the full reno. Because what we're asking for now is yes. If you're gonna go in there and fix the plumbing and change the tiles and change the toilets, you might as well make sure that you then make sure that the fitting that's rusted on top of the heater is fixed. That do you know what I'm saying? Like Right. It's a full gut. Get that. But I'm just but that's that includes some plumbing, though. That Yes. Okay. Absolutely. Yes. Can get that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, yeah, so I will send this to you guys so that you can see it all kind of written down on the paper. Right. And did we get any other quotes? So we didn't because they only came yesterday. We didn't get in writing yet from a company called FLB,
which is Mark Lawson is his name. Another recommended one. They came, and they we gave them a copy of the plans. We gave them a copy of the same thing that we gave Boston O'Neil. Scott and I walked around with them as did Taylor. And we were impressed with what they could tell us, which was pretty much the same as the other two about the plumbing. That was universal. They all could do the pipes. They also still didn't seem to have more than Aztec, but they still didn't seem to necessarily have a handle on what we'd be looking for in terms of making sure that we can line it up with our environmental concerns and our our student stuff. But to their defense, we don't yet have their quote. So that's why I'd like to send these to you now. And then as soon as we get the one from FLB, send you that one, give you a chance to go through them. I'll resend as text so that anybody who doesn't have it can read that. And then that way, if you have any questions, you're ready for the next meeting. Because I would like us at the next meeting, if possible, be able to take some action on it. Even if it's just, hey, Val. We would like them to come in and talk to us. Or we've read them, and we would like to have this one be our one of choice. So So it's just Fuss and O'Neil and F. L. B? For right now, there is a third well, in Aztec. There is a third one,
but they have not scheduled to come in yet. Do you think that they'll be able to come in before the office? Oh, I do. Absolutely.
If they're interested in the project. Okay. I've gotten an have three. I've gotten another name too, but that doesn't work out. Sure. Told me about Action Air Systems Incorporated, and they specialize in HVAC and plumbing, and they do lots of school. Say it again. Action Air? Action Air. I didn't go Systems? Systems Incorporated. They're in Manchester. I've their yeah. The vans around, and they have lots of school projects. This is for air quality break? No. It is for plumbing. They do plumbing and HVAC Okay. Which obviously They may do HVAC inspections too in that case. Okay. But but they do Thanks. Industrial, HVAC, and plumbing.
Okay. So we can give them a quote and try to get them in here as well. So so we've made progress. We've made quite a bit of progress. We know this is not going to be done before the start of this school year. So it's a priority, but I think, you know, we need to do our due diligence to make sure that we have all four.
And, hopefully, we will be able to have all four we'll be able to review them before the August meeting to hopefully vote on
someone. Next step. Yeah. Next step. Okay. Yep. Okay. So and like I said, don't panic when I send these. I'm purposely gonna send everything to you in separate emails so that you can either print it out, save it, store it, log it, or just decide I don't need that one and get rid of that email. But I don't wanna put them all together because otherwise It's too much. Yeah. Okay. So be great. K? And that's it. Alright. Okay. That's it. Take a Take a look. Alright.
Well, if everybody would turn to their detailed custom expenditure report, what what I'd like to do, it's gonna take a little more time, but I'd like to go down through the report and talk specifically about, where we have some surplus and why. Within which report? Sorry. The summary The detail custom the one that's like Thank you. The bigger one. The bigger one. Yeah. Thanks. So when everybody's ready. Ready. Okay. Okay. So teacher salaries, as you can see, there's a surplus there due to grants, especially with some library grants. We had our speech person that was a shared service between Scotland, so we had some savings there.
And we also had a couple of new new teachers that were obviously less expensive than our teachers who have been around for a while. Do you have anything to add on that? Let's see. On that section there, nope.
Nope. You've got them all. Alright. Can I ask one question really quickly just because I know it look I thank you for adding in the transfers? Mhmm. I just wanna make sure if if it's negative on the line, it was transferred out. And if it was positive on the line, it was transferred in? Correct. I'm guessing by the dollar value. I just wanted to confirm. Yes. K. K.
Page two. Wanted to talk about the surplus under support salaries. Our our noncertified admin salary, we had a grant called CT SEDS that covered, you know, some of the cost for her salary. We also had we we also had to I could read my own handwriting here. We we had less subs needed for one of the positions in here. We used to have three full time, I believe, custodians. No. Two and a part time. Two and a part time, but there was but the previous administration had approved that person to work forty hours every week during the summer. So now we don't do that anymore. So there's the savings for the custodial salaries. A little further down, you'll see a savings in custodial overtime. Same thing, just tightening the belt with less summer overtime. Actually, no summer overtime at this moment. Page three, pensions. That is the MERF. That's the municipal employee retirement fund. And I've noticed since I've been here just in the last year and a half that that has the, employee
or his portion of that has decreased steadily over the last two years. So that's where the savings is there. And you may also see that again at the end of this year because it's going from I believe it's going from like 15% down to 11%. So the employer portion is definitely decreasing. Is
that because we have fewer employees participating? No, it's just the state
doing, I believe doing their due diligence. The the the employees are paying more. The districts are paying less. Okay.
You'll see that at the town side too, Kate. And because Murph is the municipal pension. It's like TRB for municipal employees. Yeah.
The retirement buyout, as you know, we only had one retiree, so we were we did not have to use our the entire amount for that. Benefits, we had some some people drop the insurance in the past year, and we also had some changes to the retirees. So both that savings is attributed to retiree and in house savings. I don't know if that's gonna be the same for this year because I've already had a couple of new new people with families come on for the start of July 1. So I don't think they know about In the timing. People that this We yeah. When people retire, they have the right to opt in stay on our insurance
while they're Like COBRA?
Or No. Well, no. It's actually beyond because COBRA, you can only take for, like, eighteen months. Yeah. No. This is until you hit 65 and you're able to get your Medicare and your supplemental through the state of Connecticut. Wow. Yeah. That's Yeah. That should work for people. It's in our Or
but they also are paying a hefty amount of money. They pay more than as an employee. Yeah. But, Kate, I the same thing. I remember looking at ours going, who are these people? They don't even work here. They will retire. Yeah. But most districts do.
Yes. One had passed, I believe, in June of April. Cheaper than COBRA. And if you're eligible out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And it's only for six months. Right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a savings there, but like I said, I don't anticipate that there will there will be a savings with the increase in cost of insurance this year. Further down under professional educational services, obviously, we have a surplus in psych services due to the school mental health grant that we received. So a lot of these are savings due to grants or just better planning on our superintendent's part. Page five. We could go to page five. Just wanted to reiterate. You all know that we had some unexpected playground repairs, and that's what those two negatives are. The 5,400 and the 9,200. Okay? No. We're Age five. Age five. Under repair of outdoor equipment. It's, like,
Yeah. 9,272 Shannon. Two Yep. Got it. Actually wait. I thought we told this story last year. Mhmm. A a kid actually got stuck Yeah. In two bars out there because there was something wrong with that piece of equipment. Thankfully, they weren't hurt, but we had to replace two bars on the preschool piece of equipment, and it's not like you can take the bars off. Somebody had to come out from the company and pretty much construct that. Yeah. And so it was it was it was costly. And there wasn't a way we couldn't do that because last night, have a graduation this year. So that that had to be done. And that is not something that we really could have taken out of the preschool because because it's in facilities.
And what what was the other one? That was it was 5,400. That was for both of it? Or It was for 5,492.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. The other one. I don't know what you know. Off the top of my head, I thought they were both. Playground. They're not both playground. One says repair and maintenance. Yeah. What's
the other one? Can I get back to you guys on that one? Because I didn't have the detail. Yeah. And there's an encumbered deal, so I would Well, that's enough.
Spent yet. Or no? No. No. Because it would have been rounds deleted. Okay.
We just pointed out there's encumbrance instead of having them happy. Of it. Right? Or no. Is this your? Is
this the line that you've been serving from in? Yeah. I don't know. You got checked? Yes. I will check that number for you. Okay. Because you're right. There's still an encumbrance there. So maybe it'll pop into my head. For the second piece of equipment to the
playground. Yes. Yeah. Yes. I know what the encumbrance is. The 10,000 encumbrance is because sorry. We have talked out before. Because now we have four preschools. There has to be two small child play areas outside, and we didn't. We only have that one little fenced in area. Otherwise, we can't service the number of preschoolers in that small fenced in area. Mhmm. And it's encumbered because it hasn't come in yet. Correct. Where is it going? Do you know where the, like, fake log is that the kids play within the back, which is it's going there. Okay. And so that will be the area. And then this next school year, we'll have to get a price out of it. It's not urgent now to do the same thing. As long as it's a supervised area, it doesn't have to be fenced in, but that will need to be fenced in that other second area then at some point, like the other preschool area. That's what they cut back to you. Some some kind of, like, handicap accessible something on it. For the preschool?
It'll be littles accessible. It won't be preschool. I mean, won't be handicap accessible for a wheelchair. No. They'll be able to enter the area. The fence will make sure they can enter the area, but that little area will have to just abide by NIAC for preschool. It won't be yeah. The the the goal is for the big one when we do the big one to have that be fully accessible. Yes.
Further down under student transportation, as you know, we have some savings because we were able to use the van for our one of our special ed students. And we we did not use an outside contracted service, which saved us quite a bit of money on that line. And I believe there's just for under regular transportation, there wasn't what was the reason for the 20 extra 20 for there for under transportation? We we still didn't use the fourth bus.
That's right. The fourth bus. But with the increase in population, that would change. Okay. Alright. Page six. I think that's pretty self explanatory. We did not have we had one student come back in the district, and there was a savings of a 125 there. It's a big number. Okay. Page seven. Wanted to point out the the overage on the supplies for the interior. Yep. As you guys know, we do not have a separate line item for furniture in this building, and we needed quite a few things, and we had to put it into that line. Where did it work to go?
In that facility supplies interior? Yes. Oh, yeah. No. Where did the Oh, all of the building. There were bathrooms. There were desks for certain classrooms. There were tables for certain classrooms. Some of them were chairs. There weren't enough chairs in smaller classes. It was a variety of things, but it's pretty much for the whole building. I can't believe we I think at one point, we actually did, like, five years ago, have a line item for furniture, and we had never used it. I believe when Laura was here, we did have one. And since we never used it, it was taken out.
But Yeah. So so part of that is obviously everything
that mom did. Yeah. Should we put a lot should we put it back in there? Yeah. Maybe for next for the next next budget season.
I think it makes sense to do that. Mhmm. Especially since that might be part cap.
Yeah. So I think we should put in a line item for furniture.
The $25.26. Gotcha. Alright. Page eight. I think you guys we already talked about the, ELA curriculum line being overdue to four grade four to six mandated, curriculum that was not covered by the grant. All the rest of the grades were covered by the grant. We had a surplus in our electricity and oil because of our cooler summer last summer and our warmer winter. I'm thinking this summer's gonna be a little different. Page nine, more savings in our diesel. And that pretty much does it. I know everybody was a little surprised at the final number, but remember, we're we haven't not everything has been settled yet. We'll get into our we'll get into our as soon as we can get our audit done, that'll really help. But 2% will be we'll have plenty to put into our 2%, and then hopefully, it more to put into our capital account.
So you alluded to this, and that that was my my question. Yeah. Do you have any estimate about how much we might have left to pay, or is this a pretty good ultimate figure?
I think Valerie and I pretty much agreed on the fact that we'll probably have between 2 and 300,000.
Left. I'm just saying so No. We're the we we agreed that the problem is this. Remember, last year, this audit was done during this calendar year. Yep. And we found that there had been some issues with the use of Edmonds. So we don't wanna we don't wanna tie ourselves to that number in case there was a difficulty with Edmonds because that was not fixed until during this school year. So when the audit's done, Michael will tell us everything was done right. Yes. Those numbers are accurate. So we're we're trying to be reserved on it. Oh, no. My question Yeah. My question I'm sorry. I didn't
communicate it properly. My question was whether or not we have a lot more outstanding bills.
The outstanding questions, Shannon, are not about the spending. Right. It's about as her expenditure reports are approved and done and accepted now, it's making sure because remember, all of our grants are rebates. They're reimbursements. So you do always run the risk a little bit until the audit's done that there's an expenditure and an expenditure report that might not be approved. Okay. So Terry does the expenditure report. She puts it in the computer to the state. I read the expenditure report. I see what she says she put in there. I look back at my grant narrative, and I say, everything looks good, and I approve it. It goes to the state. The state and Michael, our auditor, they can see this, and they go through, and they say, good or nope. That actually doesn't fall under the purview. If that happens, the problem is an auditor kicks that expense back to your general fund. Mhmm. So we think that the reports that she did are fine, accurate, the state's gonna approve them, and so is the auditor. But just in case something from one of those grants gets kicked back, we just have to make sure that we have the answer to that before we say definite.
And when when
what is there, like, a deadline on They've been getting better. Remember, the audit was done a full year earlier than last time. So I'm anticipating with as good as the town was with getting things done for this last one in the spring, I'm anticipating that they're probably gonna be ready, and she's ready earlier in the fall pretty much, you know, when they need to be. So, you know I would like to see an audit in the fall because when they audited me in January,
we had already I had already been here a year, and there was issues that so I there are issues from the first six months of of the twenty three, twenty four year that had to be fixed. Okay? So I feel pretty confident this year. I'm feeling really good, actually. So I don't want you to worry. I believe that there will be money left over. And That wasn't the worry. I just was curious how much it's gonna be. I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, it's hard to give a number. No. I don't want a number. I just was curious. So do you have any outstanding
of those expenditure rebate? You know what I mean? That you're waiting for approval?
You're not Oh, you're always waiting for it to be audited. Audited. Okay. But not but But we've received the money Right. As the rebate. And as long as they don't say,
sorry. Your report was met up and you have to return it Yeah. Then she's done and accurate. And and you're not waiting on any of of those? Okay. No. Can you appeal those? Like, it gets kicked back by the state Okay. That's
And I have to tell you, 99% of the time, you're fine, but we are being ultra reserved. And I just wanna tell you a little aside here. So in case anybody either watching or watches it wonders, well, so then when you did the budget for next year, if you did have this left, why didn't you cut more? And so that would be a valid question from somebody even though Terry went through and said, this is where the money came from, things we couldn't have anticipated. Weather wise, we couldn't have anticipated. Remember, Celeste, when you presented that budget, we did cut that overage that we have this year in the outplacement. We did cut that from next year's budget. Remember, like, $90,000 of that $1.70 because we knew that that particular student was not gonna be outplace next year. So that doesn't exist in next year's budget. So that surplus in that line won't be there. Mhmm. I remember, we also had a conversation about the trends of heating oil. And I think it was Steve that was like, Val, did you put enough in? And I said, yes, based on the trend. So we won't run short. But if we run over again next year, it's not gonna be because we didn't plan right. It's gonna be because maybe we have a mild winter again.
I will tell you that Terry mentioned to you two of the salaries where we had 5,000 left and 5,000 left, it was because of CT SEDS. That's gone. So that's why that no longer would be able to come out. We were not sure with the money that we saved for speech whether or not we would wind up needing that for this next year. We have now hired, starting in the fall, a speech teacher that we again are sharing with Scott. So there may be the the potential that there is a bit of surplus with the speech person next year as well. The mental health grants, those won't change, but we will lose them after this year. The after school grant, as you guys know, is over. And there are no more, as of right now, ARPA or ESSER grants moving forward past this year. So all of those things that helped make this happen are not Yeah. Anticipated for next year. And keep in mind that, yes, in the new budget, the reason why we did have to ask for money too was our enrollment had gone up. We had other special ed needs. There was the negotiated
contract we know for the salaries increase, once negotiated, once not. The increase to the benefits, the fourth preschool. So and we do also already know that we do have one more larger expense with special ed, but it's not in public place. So still confident in the budget for next year. No need to worry about more or less. Still confident in those numbers, but I did wanna explain them because I didn't want somebody to say, if you wound up with a surplus this year, why did you plan for so much for next year? They are two separate things. Okay?
So Question. So if going back to, like, the air quality inspection and the what was the other one? A h e The 500 The vest. The Yes. If we it's a point to approve those, are they going into next year's expenses? Or You can't go back. So I always say it's penciled down on June 30. Okay. So that's July 1. That's still okay. So Yeah. It would ideally, it would have been nice if we had But you guys still can because
if we pay for them and the results of the audit do yield that we have a couple of 100,000 and the 86,000 is put into our 2% nonlapsing account, you guys control the expenditures from that account. And although they are meant for academic or student needs, they can be used for unforeseen things if you guys opted to. And that account currently has a 174,000 in it, and we'd be able to put 86 in there. So that is an option for you. I know you guys are also working with the board of finance on that other capital account that has 203,000 in it. If this money if you talk to the board of finance and ask them to put our surplus at the fall in there and they say yes, all of that money's there as well. So you do have revenue sources to pay for those things for next year, and we're grateful for that. It would just be a matter of you guys deciding which bucket you're gonna take it from and talking to the board of finance.
So Any other questions regarding the financials?
Thank you, Val. Janet, do you have anything? No. We'll do that. Caitlin? No. Fine. Great. Thank you for your problem, Pat.
Thanks, Terry. So going through that will help. So thank you for taking the time to do that. That definitely helps. So thank you. Yeah. Okay. Liaison reports. I don't think you have any school readiness.
Oh, wait. There is one thing, school readiness? Yep. We're
we're not part of the larger school readiness. Right. I remember you talking about that. That's a patient thing.
CIP. Go for it. We were approached by the library. They did not need to come before CIP, but they are redoing the bathroom in the library and brought their project, which actually turned out to be very good because we gave them a lot of ideas about things that doesn't sound what they had considered. So, hopefully, we will all benefit from a new bathroom in the library. K. There's no CIP meeting, which will be occurring tomorrow because there weren't any projects to review. Thank you. Jerry, any curriculum updates? No? Okay. Any community?
No. That'll reach out about getting ahead of her. That
that would be fanta I was gonna mention that. So thank you. If you could maybe provide an update on the next meeting, that would be great. Thank you. I don't have a PTA update. We have minutes to summer, so we don't we will be meeting soon for a budget, but I don't I don't have anything for for the PTA. Go ahead. What about the playground? We're working on it. We're getting there. We're getting there. You have all the money for it, though. Right? I think we do. I think we do. Yes. Yes. So yep. So okay. Thank you. Alright. So that brings us to the put my glasses on. To the items for discussion and action, seven a, goal development and evaluations, we did discuss and come up with four proposed goals for for the BOE for this coming year. Those new goals will appear at the top of the agenda for August, and we will put it on the agenda for next month to vote on them. So we did do that. Can we vote on before we put it up from the bottom of that list? I'll use the word proposed, Jerry, so that you guys have no conflict. Yeah. Yep. But no. That's good. Thank thank you for bringing that up. Think you provide does anybody have any other discussion on on the goals that that we did? Or No. It's good. Okay. Next item is the update on the MEP, which I think, Valerie, you took care of in your superintendent report. So what I'd like for you to do is hopefully get us those four quotes
for all of the board to then review them, and then at our August 21 meeting to vote on potentially going with one of those vendors to to get the call really get the call rolled. Alright? Does anybody else have anything to say on that? No? Okay. Brie, just an update on the June town meeting summary, if you have anything for us. I'm gonna defer to Shannon on the board of finance. She was there in person, and I listened after the fact. Okay.
A large part of it, it was excellent. A large part of it was discussing, and I see Joanne and Kim are with us. Yep. They can always chime in. They, like, they allowed me to chime in at their meeting, but they were very interactive and receptive to listening to a discussion about the tri committee board. Got it. Thai board Thai board committee. Here we go. The new policy, which I think they're gonna take action on this one, and then it would be a matter of what's the day in the board select. We take action thereafter. And the other thing that we talked about was the MEP. Okay. Because that had been passed on for their consideration by Eric who was on vacation,
and I clarified why the board had not chosen to go with Aztec. Okay. And I had sent Eric an email after our meeting letting him know that we were looking for a a second opinion. So he he did receive that. So Yeah. I just think we need to clarify that we
are look when we say it, like, we didn't decide not to go with that. Correct. I decided to I made it at that. Sorry. That's good. Yes. And I said that in the email. Said we just wanted some we wanted second opinion. So No. No. I'm just trying to I just I get it. Gotta make sure that we're clear. Was there anything else that you remember from the meeting? Because those are the two things that I No. No. I I was just paying attention to our stuff. Yeah. So And I I did not I mean and I don't know. And I know, like, as well, I don't think the intent is to come in here with Nope. A whole No. Breakdown of everything. No. Just
Just a quick snapshot of what applies to the part of it. Yep. Do
you have anything else to add, Brie? Or No. Not to the part of my answer. But they did, yeah, they did talk about the the plumbing project. Yes. Okay. Yep. Yep. We took care of that. Okay.
Did the order selecting do anything with the Notre Dade?
Thank you. Great. Thank you for watching those meetings and providing an update. I appreciate that. That's that's the intent of this, to watch those meetings and just provide an update. And I also think it's helpful for all of us to experience these meetings and see see who's on these boards and to see how things are talked about and discussed. So I appreciate that. I know you're up for July 3. Thank you. Yes, I am. Thank you. So we'll have it on the agenda for next month for update on July town meetings. Great. Okay. We are up to comments from the public. I see we have, but I'll start with you, Joanne.
Hi, everyone. Don't really have too many comments, but I just wanted to listen in. I know it's your year end meeting kind of summing up you know, financials or different things going forward, so I always like to listen firsthand. So thank you for, yeah, for the meeting, and no no further comments this time. Kimberly Prasan? Nothing at this time. Thank you.
Okay. Upcoming meetings, our board meeting for August was moved to 08:21, so it'll be on August 21. And I think what we have so far on the agenda is going to be an update on the solar project. We'll do an executive session. I'd like to vote on to vote to accept the goals that we proposed, the July town meeting updates. Hopefully, vote on a vendor to do the plumbing project, vote on the HVAC inspection, and then do we vote also on the the asbestos?
Yeah. Because you'll have to give us information to sign into a contract. So vote vote on asbestos
inspection. Is that how you want it? No. Just building inspections because then still vote on building inspections, and I will take care of both of those? Okay.
Do you want self eval? I'm sorry? Do you want the BOE self eval on there? That's what I thought the goals were. No? Or