Diane Blevins Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana January 8, 2008 Call to Order The Agenda Setting Meeting of the Board of Trustees of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and the High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana was duly held at The Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana on Tuesday, January 8, 2008. The meeting was called to order at 12:10 p.m. Chair Malcolm Goodrich presided. Roll Call Those attending were: Trustees Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Kathy Aragon, Katharin Kelker; Superintendent Jack Copps, Clerk Leo Hudetz, Kathy Olson, Dave Williams, Thomas Harper and Rich Whitney. Nancy Hines and Scott Anderson arrived at 12:20. A draft agenda for the regular meeting on January 21 was handed out to those present. Since the 21st is Martin Luther King’s birthday, Trustee Guthals was asked to make a 10 minute presentation honoring him. There will be a report from Kathy Kelker, Chair of the Budgeting For Results Committee, and the administration regarding the 2008-2009 budget. Following that, there will be an item on elementary levy discussion and the need for levy as well as action to call for the intent for the vote. Trustee Kelker stated that the BFR Committee has not talked about elementary services not being maintained at the status quo, but have talked about the need in general terms only. A Special Board meeting will be held on January 28th to discuss deferred maintenance. Superintendent Copps believes there is community support for a levy but has had no commitments. We need someone to provide leadership. Trustee Guthals remarked that last year there was interest by some community members to run the maximum levy amount. Because of the significant growth in the tax base there was no significant impact to taxpayers. We need to continue the high level of educational services. Before the meeting on the 21st, a decision needs to be made as to what the dollars will be spent on. At the Planning and Development Committee Monday, January 7th, Rich Whitney presented deferred maintenance projects. These projects address only warm, safe and dry issues. Superintendent Copps stated that bond elections provide additional GTB (Guaranteed Tax Base) funding from the state, but building reserve elections do not. Thomas Harper stated that it would take three to six months to prepare for a bond issue. Trustee Goodrich believes within 30 days we should have a feel from the Chamber of Commerce Committee about support for a bond issue. Trustee Guthals wants to make sure the State has enough dollars to match up to 48 percent of an 84 million bond issue. Thomas Harper will make a calculation on the exact percentage. Trustee Goodrich stated that we need to have a dollar amount for the deferred maintenance needs. Rich Whitney explained that $70 million was what was left over from the old list, and he has added projects that come up to $80 to $85 million. These are only warm, safe and dry projects. He also related that $85 million in 2008 could mean $100 in 2009 because of inflation. Superintendent Copps will have 20 minutes on the 21st to have a “state of the district” presentation. He will include level of student achievement, dual credit, etc. The Superintendent’s evaluation will be discussed publicly. Trustees Goodrich and Kelker will discuss the evaluation results with Superintendent Copps prior to this meeting. Contract issues will be discussed separately. Thomas Harper will have an item on energy resolution extending the terms of the intercap loan. This has to be done by the 25th. The wording needs to be changed from the last meeting. This will be done at a special meeting, which will be set up after the 15th and before the 25th. The Energy and Environmental Innovation Committee will have two items: recycling program (written proposal) and CREBS (wind energy bonds). Matney Franz will come to the committee and make a presentation on their proposal projects which will then need to be approved by the Board. Trustee Kelker stated that the wind projects need to have some special kind of planning for public opinion. This will come back to agenda setting next month. Nancy Hines and Rich Whitney will work on public communications for these projects. Recycling will be on the special meeting agenda on the 28th. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m. _________________________________ Malcolm Goodrich, Chair _______________________________ Nancy Coe, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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