Minutes 09-29-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Jacobs said he made the third party suggestion, as he wants to know which facility is the most vulnerable to be entered by an unauthorized person. He said he wanted to know this type of information as a whole, prior to talking to the voters about supporting a bond. He said there must be some basis to take to the voters. Chair Kelly asked if the five criteria are security, health and safety, structural integrity, capacity, and improvement versus replacement as well as possibly adding logistics. Commissioner Jacobs said yes, and that it may be wise to further the discussion to see if more criteria should be included. Chair Kelly said this proposal is logical, but the issues start to break down when deciding to whose opinion one should listen. He said being objective is very difficult and that people have been working on this for a while. He said some decisions are simply educational, and should be made by an elected school board versus an outsider. He expressed concern about the timeline when adding another variable into the process. He said the school districts have been on this "train" for four years. He expressed concern for the cost of such an analysis, as well as what would happen when the school board disagreed with the consultant or the BOCC, and how disagreements would be resolved. He said $125 million is only a down payment on what the schools need. Chair Kelly said if this process is going to be applied to the bond funds, then similar criteria should also apply to the Board of County Commissioners and the CIP. He said it is valuable to have the best information possible, but no information is perfect. Jamezetta Bedford echoed the comments of Steve Halkiotis and Chair Kelly. She said capacity is a big issue for CHCCS, but not with OCS, and that is one problem with the proposed ratings. She said this suggestion is a usurping of elected school boards by the Board of County Commissioners. She said the architect being used by the CHCCS is the same one being used by the County for the jail, and as such the County should have some level of confidence in the architect. She said the architect has evaluated the older buildings objectively, and the resulting assessments should be trusted. Jamezetta Bedford said there is no value in this proposal, and asked what would happen if the independent third party gave all the funds to only one school district. She said there must be allocations to both school districts if there is any hope of gathering public support. She said the suggestion makes no political sense. Jamezetta Bedford said deciding how to allocate the proposed bond funds is important. She said this suggestion is a very bad idea and not a positive step. Annetta Streater said she believed that the public has confidence in the two school districts, and their boards, to be responsible to the students, their families, and to the taxpayers. She asked for the Board of County Commissioners to have the same confidence in the school boards to make the best recommendations for the school districts. She said all involved have thought through the variables and needs very carefully, with great dedication. Commissioner Dorosin said in support of Commissioner Jacobs that the Board of County Commissioners is the one body that is charged to look out for all the students through the Board's funding capacity. He said if these are urgent needs that will be addressed through a bond, the funding must be candidly explained to the public. He said being frank and straightforward about the process is imperative. Steve Halkiotis said the last time the County went out for a bond in 2001, specific projects had to be listed. He said it is now his understanding that the bond counsel has said that a lump sum can be approved on a bond without a listing of projects. Chair McKee said the Board has not had this discussion. Commissioner Rich said she echoed the comments of Steve Halkiotis. She said she also agreed with Commissioner Dorosin that there was not a chance to discuss a lot of this as part of the bond process. She said it is important to be as honest as possible with the voters.