Agenda - 11-01-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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33 1 Al Ciarochi said there have been two facility assessments conducted and there are 11 2 schools that were built before 1996. He said they have been following those schools to see if 3 they are declining at a different rate than the newer schools. He said that he is also a fan of the 4 recommendations because they include an architectural consultant to look at it in a different 5 way. He said that given the needs, it is not a simple fix. He said they would like to have an 6 impact on as many schools as possible. 7 Commissioner Fowler asked if the new person would use some of these plans to make it 8 more efficient. 9 Al Ciarochi said they would want the consultant to review the schools without influence 10 from the schools' assessment. 11 Commissioner Richards said that she agrees that it needs a county-wide approach for 12 managing the facilities of the districts. 13 Commissioner Hamilton said that in the RFQ it should be clear that it is a county-wide 14 approach because it is so much money. She said they could look across the county and find 15 efficiencies. She said that she recommended one project manager who covers both school 16 districts. 17 Commissioner Bedford thanked the work group for their efforts. She said that they 18 should be flexible and that $500 million over 10 years is $50 million a year, which is impossible 19 to fund. She said there is a need to be flexible on the timeline. She said that they don't have to 20 wait 10 years to find efficiencies though. She said the next steps schedule appears optimistic to 21 her. She said they shouldn't be disappointed if they need more time and that they need to be 22 flexible with expectations. She said that she supports hiring a consultant and looks forward to 23 their assistance. 24 Commissioner Hamilton said the timeline was developed to keep an eye on the ball and 25 address things with urgency. She said they are looking to move and not just sit and talk. 26 Chair Price said she supported the 10-year plan so they have a goal. She said that this 27 will also help the consultant wrap their head around what they think they can do. She said at 28 year 5 in the plan, they would want to revisit the plan. She said that it would be a living 29 document and it is needed to have some idea of where they are going. 30 Sarah Smylie said this is an opportunity to develop a more sustainable type of approach 31 to these types of projects in the future to have the type of schools they want. She said she is 32 curious to what extent that the climate crisis was part of the discussion. She said this is a big 33 opportunity to mitigate some of the impact that the school facilities have on climate. 34 Commissioner Hamilton said that will be part of the process and discussion. 35 Commissioner McKee asked Gary Donaldson about the figures on slide #4. He asked if 36 going beyond $130,000,000 would impact the 15% depending on when those obligation bonds 37 are put before the voters. 38 Gary Donaldson said that the 2015 referendum is a wrap-around structure and as those 39 are retired, then the county is wrapping around new debt and that is a part of the assumptions. 40 Commissioner McKee said that as the Board gets further into the discussion, it would be 41 beneficial to have the debt service metrics project further out. He said the last Board held the 42 line on using bond funds for schools only. He said that lot of old buildings are coming to the end 43 of their life at the same time. He said that he would like to see metrics that show a situation 44 where they are addressing the needs on a continuing basis going forward. He said that he 45 wants to try to avoid being at a place where they have to spend a billion dollars to renovate and 46 build new schools in the future. He said that he would like to get on a regular process for 47 moving forward, and that might look like upgrading schools at 25-30 years and replacing them 48 at 50 years. He said that he wants to keep it affordable and keep facilities up to standards. 49 Gary Donaldson said that the debt model has that functionality. 50 Commissioner Hamilton said that a consultant would integrate that model.