February 9, 2010 Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF
BLAINE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 61
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 – 6:30 P.M.
DISTRICT OFFICE

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to convene to Closed Executive Session pursuant to Idaho Code §67-2345(1)(b) to hear a former student’s request to re-enroll in Blaine County School District and for the discussion of personnel. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

Present were Board Chairman Julie Dahlgren, Vice Chairman Dan Parke, and Board Members Mari Beth Matthews, Steve Guthrie and Paul Bates. Also in attendance were Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Lonnie Barber, and Board Clerk, Laurie Kaufman.

Chairman Dahlgren stated that a quorum was present.

I.         Closed Executive Session

The Board of Trustees heard a former student’s request to re-enroll in Blaine County School District at 5:00 p.m. in the Blaine County School District Office located at 118 West Bullion St, Hailey, Idaho.

After hearing testimony from school administration, the student and the student’s family, Board Member Dan Parke made a motion to convene to Regular Open Session. The motion was seconded by Steve Guthrie and passed unanimously.

II.        Convene to Open Session

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion that Student No. 2009-10:01 be allowed to re-enroll in Blaine County School District on February 16, 2010 under certain conditions. The motion was seconded by Paul Bates and passed unanimously.

Board Member Steve Guthrie made a motion to return to Closed Session for the discussion of personnel. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

III.       Return to Closed Session

Board Member Paul Bates recused himself from the remainder of Closed Executive Session discussions and vacated the District Office Board Room.

The Board then entered into a discussion and deliberations on the matter of placing a certificated professional employee of the District on Probation. 

Board Member Steve Guthrie made a motion to return to Open Session. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

IV.       Return to Open Session

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to place a certificated employee of the District on Probation and to direct that notice be given to said employee together with a written Program of Supervision and Evaluation and that a copy of said Notice and Program be placed in said employee’s personnel file. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

Board Member Dan Parke made a motion to return to Closed Session for the discussion of personnel. The motion was seconded by Mari Beth Matthews and passed unanimously.

V.        Return to Closed Session

The Board discussed personnel matters.

There being no further business to discuss in Executive Session, Board Member Dan Parke made a motion to return to Open Session to conduct the Regular February Board meeting. The motion was seconded by Steve Guthrie and passed unanimously.

VI.       Return to Open Session

REGULAR FEBRUARY BOARD MEETING

VII.      Call to Order and Welcome

VIII.     Pledge of Allegiance

Tyler Wolfley, Wood River High School student, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

V.        Accolades

Dr. Lonnie Barber read a complimentary letter Principal John Blackman received from patron, Elizabeth Jeffrey:

Dear Mr. Blackman,

Last month I was lucky enough to meet and work with the wonderful students and faculty advisor of the Wood River High School Environmental Club. I cannot speak too highly of the individuals I met and the group as a whole.

Two weeks before our event, I presented them with an invitation to assist in hosting an electrical efficiency open house. With overwhelming interest, the students began to research and prepare posters for the event. They carpooled to the open house and arrived in plenty of time to become familiar with the set up, display their posters, and divvy up the jobs for presenting. As the evening moved along, they each became more comfortable with their roles and engaged the adults attending the event through their obvious interest, concern and knowledge of the topics. Wendy Jaquet, one of the attendees at the event, was so impressed with them that she urged any or all of them to contact her if they would be interested in applying for the legislative page program during their senior years.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Jeffrey

Dr. Barber shared additional information received from the Environmental Club’s Faculty Advisor, Erika Greenburg:

Students that helped with the open house:

Tori Pfaeffle, Steph Sloan, Julia Broderick, Morgan Jones, Rachel Blum, Jill Feldhuesen, Sean Sutton, Dylan Carey, Meagan Carey, Isaiah Garza and Savannah Hughes. Each of the students was asked to research how the average family in the valley could reduce their carbon footprint by making simple changes to their life styles. Jill, Meagan and Steph all researched ways we can be more energy efficient in the kitchen. Isaiah and Dylan spent time researching entertainment centers, computers, TVs, and determined which videogames systems used less energy. Tori, Savannah and Julia researched common household practices: shutting off the lights, power strips, recycling, etc. As we worked on the project the students were amazed at how much we waste and how easy it can be to make quick and simple changes to our every day routines in order to be more eco-friendly. I found the project to be hands on and very effective for my students. We were honored and felt privileged to be asked to help with such an amazing event.

►  Patty Rice , Senior Professional In Human Resources (SPHR)
► Jessie Gage, Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
► Jeffrey S. Loosli, Professional in Human Resources (PHR)

Katie Palmer, Blaine County School District’s Director of Human Resources, has some great things to say about her department’s staff. Dr. Barber read Katie’s letter addressed to the Board of Trustees. 

TO:          Board of Trustees
FROM:     Katie Palmer, PHR

It is with extreme delight that I present to you a fully certified Human Resources Department. The Board and District should be very proud of these individuals for taking their time and efforts to become nationally certified in Human Resources. This certificate states that they have met with distinction the high standards of education and experience, and demonstrated knowledge established by the Institute of Human Resource Management. These are the same people that certify accountants as CPA’s, and the like. The Institute is widely known around the world for its promotion of industry professionalism and best practices.

I present to you, and attached their certifications:

► Patty Rice, Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR);
► Jessie Gage, Professional in Human Resources (PHR); and
► Jeffrey S. Loosli, Professional in Human Resources (PHR);

I am reminded of the unique set of skills and the mastery of those skills that these letters after their names represent. This certification should provide the district administration and staff with a level of comfort in knowing that they are working with professionals who are credible and knowledgeable in their field.

Additionally, I have included a letter each staff member wrote about why they work in HR and their certification. If you have the time, please enjoy the diverse personalities and amazing rewards of the individualization and strength that it brings to the department as a whole.

Please click here to view certifications for Patty Rice, Jessie Gage, and Jeffrey Loosli.

Dr. Barber read Kathleen Turner’s article published in the January 13th edition of the WeeklyPaper.

How many high school students do you know that continued to put in class time over the holidays? Four of Kevin Lupton’s Architectural and Mechanical Design Academy students invested enough time to create an entry for the VEX Clean Sweep Robotics Competition to earn them a place at the world competition in May. 

The competition is played on a 12-foot-by-12-foot square field with two teams, moving different-sized balls around with their respective robotic creations in specified time periods. Students combined skills from engineering, computer and modeling disciplines, working as a team to turn their visions into a three-dimensional project that would provide an affordable, accessible, table-top robotic model.

Lupton noted, “Myself and the four team members just decided to commit to the Utah state tournament two-and-a-half weeks before Christmas break. They came in to my classroom and worked on their robot twice over the break. How many students were in their classrooms twice over the Christmas break?!”

“The goal in this initial entry to the contest was to design and build a robot that just worked, have fun and learn so we could do better the second year,” Lupton said, continuing, “When the students got there, I think they could sense that their robot really stacked up very well against the other teams.”

Lupton said the team was performing well, thinking quickly on their feet, and making on-the-fly changes. They completed many of those changes as judges were approaching for the final inspection and came away with a championship title, earning them a chance to compete against the top teams from China, India, Europe and Asia.

Please click here to view a picture of the VEX Robotic Champs, John Siegel, Rusty Williams, Jason Tracy and Tyler Wolfley.

IX.       Consent Agenda

a.        Consideration of Minutes

Regular Meeting of January 12, 2010
Special Meeting of January 13, 2010 – Judicial Confirmation Hearing

b.        Acceptance of Monthly Financial Report – Payment of Bills

Please click here to view the January 2010 financial reports.

Classified Staff – Exiting
Katie Palmer – Human Resources Director, District Office
Elayne Tingey – Student Services Paraprofessional, DSB-Student Services

Classified Staff – Recommending for Hire
None.

Certified Staff – Exiting
None.

Certified Staff – Recommending for Hire
None.

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to approve items “a” through “e” of the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Paul Bates and passed unanimously.

X.        Public Comments

a.        Jim Laski

Chairman Dahlgren read Mr. Laski’s written submission.

Dear School Board:

I will be unable to attend your meeting tonight but want to submit this email for consideration as part of public comment.

With respect to the Judicial Confirmation Resolutions, I would urge that they be passed so that the facility for funding the Levy improvements in advance of collecting the levy funds is in place. I have spent a significant amount of time reviewing this issue, attending public meetings and asking questions of district representatives and have come to the conclusion that it is important to have the judicial confirmation in place as quickly as possible so that the District can have the flexibility to access the cheapest money (QSCB & QZAB) as it is available. In addition, I believe any delay in passing the judicial confirmation resolutions merely continues an unnecessary distraction from Board’s work of implementing the other goals of the Comprehensive Plan in an efficient and expedient manner.

However, as I have noted in my previous comments to the Board, the judicial confirmation process does not actually approve the projects. As such, I will reiterate comments I sent to the Board after the January meeting, which have neither been acknowledged nor responded to: 

• How is the “administrative council” working to prioritize the strategies proposed to carry out the comprehensive plan? What is the status of this prioritization and is there input from members of the various committees that made the recommendations? What is the Board’s role in this process?

• With reference to the questions above, what is the specific status of the goal to incorporate language classes K-5 during the school day and expand middle school language offerings (both goals that came out of the subcommittee I sat on)?

• How are the capital improvement/levy items prioritized, and is this part of the “administrative council”? What is the Board’s role in this process? As I stated in the December meeting, I urge the Board/Administrative Council to prioritize the curriculum goals over all non-essential capital improvements.

• What is the best way to have input in the decision making process on these issues and/or raise concerns in a productive rather than adversarial manner? My perception is that the system in place tends to lead to adversarial interaction when policies/priorities/actions of the district are questioned as opposed to productive interaction.

• Finally as a general comment, when running for the school board last year, a HUGE issue among voters was the perceived lack of public access/interaction with the Board, particularly at the Board meetings. While I understand the distinction between public meetings and open meetings and the necessity to control the length of the meetings in general, it does not appear much action has been taken to address this concern.

Thank you for your time and attention to these matters.

b.        Leslie Dilley

I also wanted to speak to the Judicial Confirmation Workshop that took place yesterday. I attended the workshop and I also looked over the Levy Committee notes. I just wanted to make a comment that after studying all that it is still a very confusing issue to me; how much money it’s costing us to do these COPs. By my calculations it looks like $4.7-million is the cost of those. In some of the question period yesterday, the Board asked what was the return on investment; which was kind of fuzzy to me. I would ask that the Board give us another month or two in order to educate the public, as well with the workshop, because it’s not clear to me. It may be clear to Mr. Laski, but it’s not clear to me and I spent a lot of time looking over the notes, exactly what it’s going to cost, what it means timeline-wise, and if we’re meeting needs or wants. That is my request.

c.        Kathryn Graves

I would like to speak on another item of the Action Agenda: ‘The Approval of the McKinstry Contract.’ I was on the phone with a couple of different people. I spoke with Mike (Chatterton) today and I understand a little bit more about this contract, about how tonight is actually not the full McKinstry contract that’s going to be approved, but it’s going to be a portion of that for some engineering designs for about $280,000. What I’m concerned about is that the horse side of the barn is going to lead to the approval possibly of a $16-million contract for Hailey Elementary, Bellevue Elementary, Carey and the High School. What I’m most concerned about is that we’re starting all these projects at the same time and we don’t even know; - is this going to work in our area? I know there’s a firm here in town that builds homes but nothing like the scale of a school. I understand that Hailey Elementary and Bellevue are probably on the priority list for things that need to be fixed there like the Hailey boiler, and I would love to see just a pilot project at Hailey Elementary or Bellevue and we’ll see how it goes. We’ll see what the problems are, and we’ll see what can be avoided instead of going forward with all of those projects at the same time. I would like to have that slowed down, and if we cannot use the $4-million grant that adds to that, then we don’t use it, but then we end up spending less in the short run. Please just slow it down. Thank you.

d.        Alex Sundali

Madame Chair, thank you for taking my comment this evening.

There are 114 school districts in the Great State of Idaho. There are only 34 with no bond or debt and the Blaine County School District is one of those 34. The only district larger than Blaine with no debt is Lewiston. I think this is something the tax payers of Blaine County should be very proud of. The Blaine County School District has no debt. The District is fiscally responsible and completely transparent in its management of the people's money. And it always has been. We have Mike Chatterton, our Business Manager, his staff, our previous and present Superintendents and our Board of Trustees to thank for this.

The Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) awards a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting to districts meeting comprehensive annual financial standards in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles published by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. The Blaine County School District has been awarded this Certificate of Excellence for each fiscal year beginning in 2004-2005.

For those of you here in the audience I would encourage you to go to the District website and look at the Finance Page. There you can watch Budget 101, a simple and clear presentation of school budget basics. This presentation was presented to the public twice on the day of May 20th 2009. A total of 15 people attended this public meeting. On the Finance page you will also find financial statements from 2005 forward as well as budgets from 2006 on to the present as well as a great deal more detail concerning the budgeting process.

Going forward, - this evening the Board will be considering Resolution 2010-01 with respect to the financing of the construction of certain ordinary and necessary improvements. The Plant Facilities Levy was put to the voters in October and approved. The District held a public hearing in January to take public comment from voters regarding the acceleration of projects to address immediate safety and security needs. I was present at the public hearing and the comments were overwhelmingly in favor of moving forward quickly with the construction.

The Blaine County School District has an excellent history of managing the taxpayers' money well and I look forward to the approval of this resolution for judicial review this evening. Thank you for your time.

XI.       Guest Presentations

What does Carla Stewart-Donaldson do as the new College and Career Counselor? Carla believes in “Happenstance Theory”: You create your world; you do the best you can to prepare yourself and then life happens to you. Carla is a life-long learner, a doctoral student at Oregon State University, and is studying intrinsic motivation in students.

Please click here to view Carla’s PowerPoint presentation.

What does the Latino Services Coordinator do for the District’s students and the Latino Community?

Please click here to view Molly’s PowerPoint Presentation.

The High School Physical Education Recommendation Committee (PERC) was formed last fall. The impetus of this committee was a presentation that was made to the Board last May by two parents, Joanne Brand and Penny Eagan. Their concern was for more flexibility in completing the two Physical Education requirements at the High School. From there, the committee looked at even a larger picture, which was to evaluate the entire High School PE Program. The committee’s charge was to look at the PE Program broadly/generally and make the best recommendation based on the prevailing desires that were represented by this committee and combine that with the prevailing District direction as represented by the ten goals of the Strategic Plan.

Please click here to view the High School PE Recommendation Committee’s presentation.

Board Member Steve Guthrie asked the committee to consider one credit for one sport.

The Administrative Council has been divided into two groups. Principal Angie Martinez is facilitating Team 21: 21st Century Learning, and Principal Fritz Peters is facilitating the Blaine County Program and Staffing Committee. Each of these groups are presenting tonight.

► Strategic Plan Goal # 2: “Every student receives a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for college and is supported by challenging, inspiring, and relevant instruction.”

• Blaine County Program and Staffing Committee – Fritz Peters, Wood River Middle School Principal

Facilitator: Fritz Peters, Members: Lynn Seifert, Lynn Fuger, Scott Manning, Howard Royal, Mike Chatterton, John Peck, Don Haisley, Rex Squires.

Mission: To review and recommend the validity of current programs in our District based on cost, effectiveness and support of our current Strategic Plan and to consider present and future levels of staffing to optimize our cost/benefit program ratio.

Fritz Peters:

The committee is basically looking at a massive list of everything that the District does. Every time a topic is finished, there are more things found to add to the list. The list was created by brainstorming in our administrative meeting; the list just got longer and longer. We condensed the list, took out all repetition, and created 12 categories of things that are done in the District. Everything is being looked at and being discussed. There have been four meetings in two weeks; it has been very fast-paced. We are looking at what the program is, who it serves, how many kids are involved, what are the costs, and what is the benefit to our District? It is a massive process. As we add 21st Century Skills, IB and other programs, we are talking to staff members about what can be taken off their palates. Their capacity is getting full so we are looking at some of the things that we have been doing traditionally, and are we getting as much bang for the buck for it? That’s our task. I will keep updating the Board on our progress.

• Team 21: 21st Century Learning – Angie Martinez, Bellevue Elementary School Principal, Debi Gutknecht, Director of Student Services

Angie Martinez:

Team 21 is focused on the future and living the 21st Century Student Performance Indicators through an action plan. Our committee thoroughly looked through the Strategic Plan for any strategies mentioned in the document that had anything to do with 21st Century Learning so we could be thorough in our work in creating a plan over the life of the Strategic Plan and thereafter.

Debi Gutknecht:

The committee has started looking at how the Strategic Plan and all the pieces that are in our plan (21st Century Skills) really fit into our School District. Now we are going to take a look at curriculum and instruction, professional development and technology, because all three of these really wrap their arms around each other in order to support 21st Century Skills. Our plan is to go ahead and give a year by year suggestion of what we need to do over the next eight years to develop 21st Century Skills for our students.

Angie Martinez:

As an administrator, what I embrace most about this process that Dr. Barber is having us go through, is that it really gives us direction; we can be very clear and purposeful about where we’re going. We have the Strategic Plan, we know where we’re headed, everyone’s on the same page; it just unifies all the work that we do on behalf of kids in Blaine County.

Please click here to view 21st Century Learning – Implementing the BCSD Plan.

Fritz Peters:

As an example, there was a concern about the art availability at the High School. Silver Creek students as well as Wood River High School students were being turned away because classes were full. Lynn Seifert, Principal of Silver Creek, put her mind to this concern and started talking to CSI. If they can have enough students from Wood River and Silver Creek, CSI is willing to put on a class. That would be much, much cheaper than either adding a staff member or adding a portion of a staff member. Those are the kinds of things we’re looking at to increase availability of programs at little to no cost.

XIV.    Chairman’s Board Report – Julie Dahlgren, Board Chairman

a.        Additional Public Comment Period

A second public comment period is being added to the end of the Regular meeting agendas for several reasons; suggestions received from the community, and to give the public the ability to comment specifically to the current meeting’s agenda. We would like to keep the second comment period very short; two minutes. Looking forward, if the meetings run long and you are not able to stay until adjournment, paper will be provided on the entry table if you choose to submit your comment in writing. Your comment will be written into the public record. We think this is good governance and we look forward to your comments.

b.        Web Comments

There is one more way to contact the Board of Trustees. Go to the Blaine County School District website, the Board section, and then to Contact Board. Typed comments will go directly to the Board Members.

c.        ISBA Day on the Hill

Board Members Steve Guthrie, Paul Bates and Julie Dahlgren will be attending ISBA Day on the Hill with Superintendent Lonnie Barber on February 19, 2010. The Blaine County Board of Trustees has a good relationship with the Idaho Legislators. ISBA Day on the Hill is an opportunity to talk with them and find out what’s really going on.

d.        Streaming Webcasts

Only Regular monthly Board meetings will be filmed and streamed in a six-month pilot project. The camera will be stationary, focusing on the Board, presenters, or presentations. A "hit" tally will be part of the data collection to determine the success of the project. We will keep track of qualitative data such as positive (or negative) comments and emails. The camera person(s) has/have yet to be determined. Chairman Dahlgren thanked Board Member Paul Bates for all of his work instituting the web streaming process.

XV.     Information Agenda

Principal John Blackman presented the progress of the Advanced Placement Program since its inception at Wood River High School in 2000. Two AP courses began that year, AP History and AP Calculus, for a total of 17 seats with 82 percent passing with a score of ‘3’ or better; and 35 percent passing with scores of ‘4’ or ‘5’ (5 being the highest attainable score). The growth of the AP Program since 2000 to date is illustrated on the attached PowerPoint presentation. In the 2008-2009 school year 122 students were involved in AP courses with a 81 percent passage rate with 48 percent of the students scoring ‘4s’ and ‘5s’. This year the High School has two periods of AP History, AP Government, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, Micro and Macro Economics, AP English Literature, AP English Language, AP Biology, and AP Physics, totaling 228 seats. Next year pre-AP Spanish in the Middle Years IB Program/Dual Immersion and AP Chemistry will be added.

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews noted that the Board gets a lot of comments stating the District is just about buildings and facilities. John Blackman’s report goes right there; the AP Program is continually growing, the curriculum is growing, rigor is growing. This is not something the Board of the School District has lost sight of; it is just a great accomplishment.

Please click here to view the Advanced Placement Presentation.

b.        Calendar Committee – Julie Dahlgren, Board Chair

The current negotiated Teachers’ Association contract designates how the Calendar Committee is formed. The contract is very specific as to who sits on the committee and it is very large. As much as we have talked about making the committee smaller, we cannot, as it is in contract. The Board will be contacting our five Zone representatives and will ask the PTAs to help us find additional committee members.

Teachers Association Calendar Committee as specified by contract:

• One Teachers’ Association approved certified professional employee representative for each school;
• The Association president or designee;
• The Assistant Superintendent or designee;
• A patron from each School District Zone (5);
• Two building level Administrators, one elementary and one secondary;
• The Committee will be chaired by the Superintendent or his designee.

Dr. Barber stated that Keith Nelson, Vice Principal of Wood River High School, will be chairing the Calendar Committee as his representative.

c.       Status of 1992 Ford Taurus – Rex Squires, Director of Transportation

A Call for Bids for the 1992 Taurus was published in the January 27th edition of the Mountain Express. No bids were received at the February 3rd Bid Opening. Idaho Code states that the District can now re-advertise for a best offer.

XVI.    Action Agenda

Please click here to view Resolution 2010-01.

Mike addressed the concern heard in one of tonight’s public comments regarding the $4.7-million.

Mike Chatterton:

The $4.7-million concern that I was addressing yesterday at the Trustee Workshop was an opportunity cost that we would lose by not entering in the Judicial Confirmation, based on the projected inflation costs that would happen within the communities over the next five years. That’s saying that there’s not going to be any inflation this year, two percent next year, three percent, four percent, five percent five years from now. The cumulative costs of those increases over the five-year period of time by doing nothing and letting money accumulate equates to about $4.7-million in additional costs to the $24-million program. Evidently there were people that took that as a cost of going forward with the financing. It is an opportunity cost that we would lose by not going forward. The true costs of financing this thing would be the attorney fees that were discussed yesterday, between $50,000 - $75,000 to get to that point with the Judicial Confirmation, as well as up to $125,000 in underwriting fees and financial fees for selling the debt instruments. Probably the worst case scenario would be around $200,000 to do all the financing for $16-million.

Paul Bates:

I think that this is a good idea; I don’t think it’s the only idea in the world and I don’t know what the other ideas are. I know that they’re out there. We have a bunch of money in our general fund; how might that play into it? The Board has never discussed or prioritized the Levy Committee’s recommendations to even see what it is that we want to move forward on. Lighting retrofits are Phase 2 in the plan as it sits now and lighting retrofits are the highest return on investment. We will make the biggest bang for our buck by making that Phase 1.

Dr. Barber:

The only reason they are Phase 2 is because we have a $4-million geothermal grant, and if we don’t put our resources there and move on Phase 1, we’re going to lose the $4-million dollar grant.

Paul Bates:

I respect that and it needs to be part of the equation. I’m just wondering if there isn’t an amalgam that looks different. My concern really comes down to what the actual costs are to get this, and can we get that or something that works as effectively as that and change that cost structure?

Mike Chatterton:

You have to look at the other side of that coin. If we draw down the general fund money, what interest are we losing on that money?

Paul Bates:

Agreed, I just don’t know what all that looks like.

Board Member Dan Parke:

That’s why we hire people to do that.

Mike Chatterton:

My position on this whole thing is I’m trying to maintain the Department of Energy Grant. I want to do everything I can so we don’t walk away from the $4-million. The Board is going to have complete control regarding when things happen on everything from Phase 1 going forward.

Dr. Barber:

They’re just not there yet. We’re not going to move ahead on projects without bringing it to the Board, but they are still in committee, still working on the prioritizations. So what we don’t do is come forward and say, okay, we’re ready to go but we haven’t prioritized. What we’re going to do is bring the Board a recommendation of prioritization.

Mike Chatterton:

As we talked about yesterday in the Trustee Workshop, with the cash flow projection that I showed you, how we can build this geothermal grant with the existing funds that we’re going to have over the next two years, we’re protected with that in Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 of the project, as well as all of the other things that we have going on with that Plant Facility Levy, are really dependent on what happens with the Judicial Confirmation. If it’s not successful, then we go back up and focus on the geothermal grant and get that project done first, and in two years from now we’ll start focusing on the rest of it. If it’s successful, then we have a chance to look at if we want to implement Phase 2 quicker, do we want to do the lighting retrofits, do we want to do the sprinkler systems, the safety/security at the same time this summer when all of the buildings are open? I think that’s a possibility depending on when that Judicial Confirmation is confirmed. Or, do we want to do all that geothermal work, close up the buildings, and focus on that next year as Phase 2, and do we want to bring in the Bellevue Multi- Purpose room, do we want to bring in the Maintenance facility to take advantage of that aspect of the economy locally that we can draw from and get those projects done in a very cost effective manner right now? We have a lot of ideas that we will be bringing to you in the next few months. If this is successful, we need to get architects on line for these two projects. Do we want to go forward, how do you want to go forward? There will be a lot of things coming regarding what our thoughts and ideas are on this whole process. But we can’t go anywhere unless the Judicial Confirmation is successful.

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to approve Resolution 2010-01 Authorizing the Filing of a Petition for Judicial Confirmation. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke. Chairman Dahlgren asked for further discussion.

Board Member Steve Guthrie read a prepared statement:

FOR THE RECORD: Approval of Resolution 2010-01 – Authorizing the Filing of a Petition for Judicial Confirmation

On October 29th, 2009 Blaine County voters generously elected to pass a 59.8 million dollar Plant Facilities Levy. These taxed based resources will fund Strategic Plan goals No. 7 (Technology), No. 8 (Safety and Security), and No. 9 (Sustainable Facilities, Grounds, and Classrooms). Tonight the BCSD Board must deliberate and vote to either approve or disapprove of Resolution 2010-01 – Authorizing the Filing of a Petition for Judicial Confirmation. If approved, this would give the BCSD an opportunity to Petition for Judicial Confirmation, and if authorized, would allow the BCSD to generate up-front funds through a financing mechanism referred to as Certificates of Participation (COPs).

In the event that COP’s are ultimately utilized, the Blaine County School District will not immediately borrow against the full Levy amount but will systematically and cautiously approach future projects and spending. As a reminder, the District will not immediately borrow against the entire 59.8 million dollar levy, and any future projects within legal boundaries will be brought before the BCSD Board of Trustees in a public setting.

The District and Board of Trustees must insure the following:

• A complete and comprehensive accounting of all Levy expenditures.

• We must insure that local contractors are given all opportunities to successfully partner in BCSD building projects.

• Facility projects and spending of Levy recourses are brought before the BCSD Board of Trustees in a public setting.

• The proposed $13,883,000.00 allotted for the new Elementary School will not be borrowed without a detailed analysis of need and Board approval.

In closing, please know that I do not take my decision lightly, and feel that I have done all that I can do in the timeline allotted to understand this complicated process. I recently attended the public hearing that took place on January 13th, our most recent workshop, and have listened to and considered all public comment and concerns. In regards to specifics and the nuts and bolts of the process, I must rely on our District staff and Legal Council as they are the subject matter experts. As always, our decisions must be based on the interest of our children, and we must continue to improve upon our curriculum and programs, this to insure our Mission Statement – To be a world class, student-focused, community of teaching and learning.

Thank, you, Steve Guthrie, Blaine County School District Trustee

There being no further discussion, Chairman Dahlgren asked the Board Members for a roll call vote regarding the approval of Resolution 2010-01 Authorizing the Filing of a Petition for Judicial Confirmation in the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, in and for Blaine County, and Providing for Related Matters.

Mari Beth Matthews: Aye
Steve Guthrie: Aye
Dan Parke: Aye
Paul Bates: Nay

The approval for a Resolution to File a Petition for Judicial Confirmation was approved by majority vote.

Board Member Paul Bates asked to speak. Chairman Dahlgren replied, “No, it’s over, the vote is taken.”

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews thanked Mike Chatterton for all of his hard work.

This is a resolution that allows Blaine County School District reimbursement for the expenses that we will come up against over the next several months before the School Plant Facility Levy starts collecting on the tax base. Any of the monies that we are paying up front is actually money that the general fund is going to the School Plant Facility fund and will get reimbursed back when the Judicial Confirmation happens and we start drawing the money from the COPs, or when we start drawing money from the Plant Facility Levy, which ever happens first.

Please click here to view Reimbursement Resolution 2010-02.

Board Member Steve Guthrie made a motion to approve Reimbursement Resolution 2010-02. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

The McKinstry contract was presented to the School District in January 2008. We didn’t feel that signing a $16-million contract at that point in time was prudent. We wanted to investigate it further. We were also presented a contract in December based on the retrofits, the energy conservation programs that were starting, and the sustainability measures that were recommended for the School District. We still didn’t feel comfortable with it because it’s a 60-page contract document and we didn’t have the expertise within the District to be able to go through something like that, to make a value judgment on how it’s going to affect the District. So we asked for help. We asked Tom Mortell from Hawley Troxell to help us go through the contract. We have also approached Power Engineers, because they execute these types of contracts all the time. This is a process that McKinstry has gone through many, many times. It’s a process that Blaine County School District is going through for the first time ever. We want to make sure that we do things right in this initial contract. McKinstry definitely understands our position and we want to make sure that we don’t make any mistakes going through this process. We had every intention of trying to have the contract fully executed and ready to go for tonight, but we just haven’t been able to get there yet. We received all the comments from Power Engineers yesterday, we haven’t had a chance to review those comments or get those comments to McKinstry for their comments, or have our attorney look at the contract document. Instead of holding McKinstry up for another month and possibly delaying projects even longer, we feel like it is necessary to give McKinstry the go-ahead and at least authorize the engineering part of this contract. This will allow us to get comfortable with the contract and get us to the next Board meeting and not delay any of the projects. They are already about six weeks farther into this project than they wanted to be; they wanted us to execute the contract around the first part of January. We’re already five to six weeks behind the original schedule they initially sent to us. By delaying anything, we’re just pushing the timelines farther and farther back. I’m hoping to get the engineering part of this program going and we can address the contract at the March Board meeting.

The amount of the contract is McKinstry’s budget estimate of what they will have into this project over the course of the next 30 days, which is $269,901.

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews:

We haven’t worked with an ESCO before and I appreciate Mike and Lonnie’s honesty in working with McKinstry and saying that this is a new process for us. We have usually taken the low bid, but we’re trying to embrace our community and our workers here and make sure that the work can stay local. I’m not uncomfortable with their decision to accept and work with McKinstry on this contract. It’s a new contract for us; this is why we are consulting with Power Engineers to assist in reviewing the details.

Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to approve the McKinstry contract as explained by Mike Chatterton in the amount of $269,901. The motion was seconded by Paul Bates and passed unanimously.

Chairman Dahlgren stated that this agenda item is being removed from tonight’s meeting and it will be tabled for another month. The Board did make a statement in early October that the discussion of a biodiesel fuel tank would not take place for another six months. We would like to honor that six-month period of time and it is off of tonight’s agenda.

Board Member Paul Bates:

I would like to move that we try to encourage more public comment on the biodiesel tank. One of the comments Dr. Barber made to Terry Smith (Mountain Express) was that he desired more public comment in the next six months.

Dr. Barber:

This is what I actually told him. We would like to hold another meeting and get some more public input. We held that meeting and four people showed up.

Paul Bates: It was a bad time.

XVII.   Public Comments

None.

There being no further business to discuss, Board Member Mari Beth Matthews made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Dan Parke and passed unanimously.

The Regular February meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Blaine County School District No. 61 adjourned at 9:00 p.m.