Minutes 04-07-2020 Virtual Business Meeting

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6 Commissioner Dorosin said he reviewed the process the Board had done last spring. He said maybe one or both schools do not want to go forward with the proposed projects. He said if the project is not done, then the monies go back into the pot to be considered for new projects. He said the $150,000 was based on this solar array project. He said if the schools have other projects that they want to fund, these projects can be submitted and go through the same process. He suggested the $150,000 for CHCCS should be returned to the pot, and CHCCS invited to submit new projects. He said if OCS wants to additional weeks to decide, that is fine, and then can move ahead or not. He said there was one project that the Board did not fund (the small hydropower feasibility study), which can now be moved up on the list if the schools do not want the funding for solar arrays. He said, instead of starting all over from scratch, the Board should move ahead with the project it has. Commissioner Marcoplos said he agreed with moving up the hydropower feasibility study. He said in his discussion with Will Atherton, OCS Chair, it was clear to him that OCS would take the two weeks to firmly decide whether or not to use the monies. Commissioner Price said when she mentioned COVID-19 she was just making a statement that other considerations should be taken into effect, not that monies should be shifted. She said this money was pledged to climate change mitigation, and it should be used as such. Commissioner Price said to Commissioner Marcoplos that OCS may well make a decision within two weeks, but it may not be in favor of solar arrays. Commissioner Price said she would be in favor of a RFP for school projects, and she would like to look at all the existing projects again. She said she did not mean to imply moving these funds away from climate change mitigation. Commissioner Greene said she agreed with Commissioner Dorosin. She asked if he intends for the BOCC to move ahead with the hydropower project, or give it back to the CFE. She said either way it makes sense to her. She said it is clear that CHCCS is not ready to accept the recommendation of the CFE for the solar arrays, and there should be a reopening of process for what money is left. Commissioner Bedford said it is her understanding that neither of the school boards had any proposals given to them, and CHCCS did not submit any projects, so she is not sure how this process worked. She said she liked the CFE matrix, and concurred approval of the hydropower project. She said the Board needs to do some more work on this process, since it is already April. She said she needs to know how this all works and it is not too late to start developing projects for next year. She said she agreed with Commissioner Marcoplos about giving OCS their two weeks, and also the same for CHCCS, for solar arrays project only. She said she would not substitute any new projects this round, but rather start over in the next budget year. Chair Rich agreed with offering to both school districts the two weeks to consider the solar array projects only. Commissioner McKee said he is concerned that the Board may be off track, because it received an email from CHCCS that it no longer supports solar projects. Chair Rich said Patrick Abele, acting CHCCS Superintendent, said CHCCS has not declined, but in the original conversations had them not partaking at this point. Commissioner McKee asked if the Board received something specific Chair Rich said yes, today from Acting Superintendent Patrick Abele. Commissioner McKee read the bottom 1/3 of an email from Patrick Abele, CHCCS Acting Superintendent to Bonnie Hammersley this afternoon: "We are hearing that there is discussion in the public today that we have turned down the solar funds from the BOCC. To clarify, we have never turned down a solar project. We asked the last time this came up on the agenda that the BOCC allow the Board of Education an