coen Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana June 4, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The Special Board Meeting of the Board of Trustees of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County and High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana was duly held at the Lincoln Center, Billings, Montana on June 4, 2012. ROLL CALL Chair Stroebe called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Those present included: Trustees Teresa Stroebe, Pam Ellis, Allen Halter, Greta Besch Moen, Lindy Graves, Connie Wardell, Kathy Aragon, Clerk Leo Hudetz, Administrators: Lew Anderson, Karen Palmer. Mary Westwood was the registered guest. Trustees Travis Kemp and Travis Smith were absent. Pledge of Allegiance was said. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Mary Westwood addressed the board stating she was happy the board is addressing some of the important issues facing the district, but continues to be concerned about decisions being made without the entire board and public involvement. She urged those present to make an effort to include all members of the board when looking at the Facilities Master Plan and to include the public. AUDIT RFP Trustee Ellis explained the process and reasons for putting out the RFP for bids for the annual audit. Just a couple of firms bid who have the necessary experience; Eide Bailly has good relationship with staff, $8,000 cheaper, switch the team to have fresh eyes on the audit. Eide Bailly was the unanimous recommendation of Audit Committee. Trustee Ellis made a motion to approve awarding the bid for the annual audit to Eide Bailly for the years 2011-2014. Trustee Wardell seconded the motion. The question was called. Trustees Aragon, Moen, Ellis, Gravis, Halter, Wardell and Stroebe voted in favor of the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Laura Bailey is the new chair of the committee and that appointment will be made on the 18th. AGENDA SETTING There was a lengthy discussion of the item on OPI overcrowding classroom update. Trustee Moen questioned but wants Kathy Olson and Brenda Koch to give an update to the full board of the information presented at the last Planning & Development Committee meeting. Trustee Graves stated and he and Trustee Kemp would like a plan established in case we get 300 additional students next year. Gail Surwill stated that the administrators have a plan in place based on last year best guesses of where something is going to happen, added teachers are not placed yet. Kathy Olson did a great job the year before planning; her estimates have been right on for two years. Trustee Stroebe asked that Kathy Olson and Brenda Koch present to the board. Trustee Moen feels it is important to pass information to the public such as historical data, issues from the past, information on what percentage of classrooms are one to two over accreditation, etc. Information presented at Planning & Development. The chart for accreditation plans will be in the agenda for the 18th. The accreditation plans will be put on the website for the public. Trustee Stroebe asked that trustees please provide questions ahead of time. This will be a discussion item. There will be a budget discussion, no action necessary. Trustee Moen has been asking for activities savings. Mark Wahl will present. There will be possible action on intramurals. Trustee Graves asked that this include a report on billboards, signage, how much and what activity account the funds go into. Calendar Committee: Trustee Ellis said there is lots of internet chatter about people being unhappy with calendars in the past. This is a three-year calendar. Trustee Wardell wants to include two designated dark days included in the contracts. Trustee Aragon said originally it was a six month process to get the calendar approved. Trustee Ellis said people are unhappy about early release time according to their complaints. Trustee Stroebe asked that all questions be sent to Mark Wahl ahead of time. Trustee Moen said people in general are unhappy with early release days and wonder why couldn’t they be on a Friday, PIR for afternoon combine two half days either Monday and Friday, PIR days partner with elementary and middle to make it easier for parents. Trustee Wardell suggested that we take as a report in June and vote on it in July so the public has a month to look at it. Trustee Aragon suggested referral back to the committee. Have Mr. Wahl do a report and send back to committee with comments. Bond resolutions – DA Davidson will put it together, a formality of getting the bonds. Hopefully the contract for Superintendent Bouck will be ready for approval. Ms. Moen would like the Planning & Development Committee report moved up in the agenda. There will be a presentation by O2/DLR for 60 minutes. There are copies of their proposal in the business office. Lew Anderson will check with them to see about putting the information on the website. Trustee Ellis asked that information on the personnel report include administrative transfers. Trustee Wardell wants to have the hiring process noticed for administrators. Trustee Stroebe stated that hiring and firing is the responsibility of the board but in a district this size it is abdicated to the superintendent. Trustee Graves asked for a technology plan to look at a five year plan, look at renting vs. buying and what is our process for getting rid of old computers? This can go to Performance Monitoring/Stakeholder Relations Committee. Karen Palmer will go over elementary technology program again, but if it is agreeable with the board will wait until July until Terry Bouck is here. Trustee Stroebe suggested that the Governance Committee meet in the near future to determine the schedule of upcoming committee meetings. End of agenda setting 6:45 p.m. PERFORMANCE MONITORING/STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS COMMITTEE BOARD COMMUNICATION OPTIONS Karen Palmer, Jeff Weldon and Leo Hudetz have been discussing board communications, email, availability and access to information, paperless meetings. Ms. Palmer went through current process for email for trustees. Missoula is the only other AA district that provides email for their trustees. City of Billings does not address open meeting laws in their policy. Montana open meeting laws are fairly specific. Legal counsel should be involved in any decision. Email used to conduct business is a public document. Email cannot be used for deliberations, communications or business properly conducted at a board meeting. Ms. Palmer went through our current system, costs, benefits and problems and our options for other systems. The annual cost is conservatively $17,200 for putting out the agenda. We have looked at several options for paperless agendas. AgendaQuick was our recommendation. It should save the district about $12,000 per year. They have their own streaming video service, can live stream or would allow Channel 7 to upload. They mark and index so can correlate to the spot on the agenda. Additional cost for the video service for up to 20 meetings per year would be $350 monthly. Trustee Wardell would have problems because of internet service. Trustee Graves said this would be a great improvement for looking up stuff, tapes, quality. Ms. Palmer said this would help with the downloading, not the huge files to download. Trustee Ellis said the goal is getting away from the packets, waste of money. Trustee Halter feels the paper agendas are a waste of money but is concerned about the exception and how do we draw that line. Mr. Hudetz said there are other real savings not even mentioned, like minute taking. We could use the electronic version with just motions recorded. Trustee Halter would like to see estimates on savings. After the first year the district should realize a savings of $12,200 per year. Trustee Ellis made a motion to recommend approval of AgendaQuick for board agendas and minutes with a more thorough estimate of cost savings. Trustee Halter seconded the motion. Those voting in favor of the motion were Trustees Aragon, Moen, Ellis, Graves, Halter, Stroebe and Wardell. The motion passed. POLICY 7265 PLEDGES, 2ND READING Trustee Wardell has a problem with this policy as worded. The way this is worded would kill our house building program at the Career Center. They go ahead with in-kind contributions. Her suggestion is to change the wording in the second paragraph, last sentence to collection or signed contract for pledged funds or in-kind contributions for said work. Mr. Hudetz stated this was an audit finding, and we need to have policy adopted by June 30. Trustee Moen stated that this is not put in there to be prohibitive. Trustee Aragon asked if Attorney Weldon should review. Trustee Aragon made a motion to approve policy 7265 on second reading with changes by Connie Wardell and for review by Jeff Weldon. Mary Westwood suggested changing the wording to “signed contractual commitment.” Trustee Aragon made a motion to change the wording on the last sentence, second paragraph to “collection or a signed contractual commitment or in-kind contribution of said work.” Trustee Wardell seconded the motion. Trustees Aragon, Moen, Ellis, Graves, Halter, Stroebe and Wardell voted in favor. Motion passed unanimously. MTSBA RESOLUTIONS Trustee Stroebe explained that the MTSBA carries them to the legislators, lobbying division takes them forward and they can actively carry or support. Trustee Aragon would like a resolution promoting health and wellness in the schools. She recommends the resolution in the packet vs. the one already adopted by the legislature with change to MTSBA from PTA. A lot of things we already do as a district but this gives us the opportunity to support health and wellness. Trustee Wardell made a motion to present NPlan with change from PTA to MTSBA. Trustee Halter seconded the motion. Trustee Ellis has concerns about difficulties to come up with fundraising plans. After a lengthy discussion the question was called. Trustees Aragon, Moen, Halter, Stroebe and Wardell voted in favor. Trustees Ellis and Graves voted against. The motion passed. Trustee Stroebe is proposing putting forward a resolution on school district insurance benefit funding. Insurance funding will be discussed at the next legislative session. This provides an opportunity for insurance costs to be paid out of a permissive levy. Trustee Wardell believes it is a mistake to promote health insurance issues which legislators will not support but focus on funding issues. Trustee Moen would like to promote the use of the health care clinics and control our health care costs. This would save $10-15 million out of our general fund. Trustee Stroebe would like this put before MTSBA. Trustee Graves made a motion to bring up funding for insurance for discussion to MTSBA. Trustee Wardell does not want it to come from us. Trustee Ellis seconded the motion. Those voting in favor of the motion were Trustees Aragon, Ellis, Graves, Halter and Stroebe. Trustees Moen and Wardell opposed. The motion passed. Trustee Aragon left the meeting at 8:05p.m. Trustee Stroebe presented a resolution on basic entitlement, which deals with funding either per school or per school unit. After a lengthy discussion, Trustee Graves made a motion to carry this resolution to MTSBA for discussion. Trustee Moen seconded. Trustee Ellis asked for an amendment to leave it open in terms of units, schools, make undiscounted units. Trustees Moen, Ellis, Graves, Halter, Stroebe and Wardell voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION FOR FACILITIES MASTER PLANNING Trustee Moen reiterated information from the agenda item. O2/DLR Group was recommended by the review panel to provide services in the development of a Master Facilities Plan. The review panel consisted of Dr. Middleton, Scott Anderson, Trustees Ellis, Aragon and Moen, and two guest architects. Lew Anderson stated the proposal cost is from $250-$470 thousand. The Bismarck plan provided by O2/DLR had a very limited scope. Mr. Anderson recommends a limited scope, costing approximately $250-270 thousand. Trustee Ellis would like to focus on a lower end price. Lee Nixon would be good person to sit in because architecture fees have dropped 50% because schools are not building. Was there a way we could reduce the cost that would not reduce the quality? Mr. Anderson has already done some of the work. O2 is Billings based. The proposal is worth reading. Mr. Anderson has talked to Terry Bouck who spoke to three districts in Washington who have used this firm. He looked mostly at the architecture side. Trustee Moen asked if Mr. Bouck could Skype in for the meeting on June 18th. Trustee Graves is fine with the proposal but his only concern is when this document comes out nobody changes it, nobody can manipulate the end product. We can debate the plan once it is done. He would like that specified. Trustee Ellis said they would provide multiple options on a cost effective basis. Trustee Halter would like to contract at the lowest possible amount. Trustee Graves wants assurance of transparency and openness. Trustee Graves made a motion to accept the recommendation by the review panel and recommend to the the full board to select O2/DLR to provide services in the development of a comprehensive Facilities Master Plan with the addition that transparency will be paramount. Trustee Halter seconded the motion. Trustee Moen encouraged all to look at their approach. Trustees Moen, Ellis, Graves, Halter, Stroebe and Wardell voted in favor of the motion. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:50. Teresa Stroebe, Chair Lindy Graves, Chair, Performance Monitoring/Stakeholder Relations Committee Greta Besch Moen, Chair, Planning & Development Committee Nancy Coe, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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