Minutes 10-21-2025-Business Meeting

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30 priority needs. He said normal funding for high priority needs is the annual amount the county borrows for schools and the lottery money from the state for school capital. He said that the policy states the categories and the funding sources of the categories. Commissioner Carter said the bond is only going to be used to fund major projects. Kirk Vaughn said no. He said that if there is remaining bond money, it could be rolled over to high priority needs. Commissioner Carter said she would like to retain both major projects and high priority needs under this scheme and revisit the discussion after working with the schools. She said she would like to keep the $250,000. Commissioner Fowler said she thought at the school level, $300,000 was the cut off for Board of Education approval and $90,000 for operational. Kirk Vaughn said that was just for contracting. Chair Bedford said she would rewrite it, so it doesn't have any dollar amount. John Roberts said the dollar amount could be deleted and it could be phrased as "#2, Provide for the management and oversight of all construction or renovation projects to be funded by the 2024 Orange County general obligation bond." Commissioner Carter asked about CIP funding. Chair Bedford said it would apply only to the $300 million in bond funds and the amount of pay go the county has pledged, which had been $100 million. Vice-Chair Hamilton said there are other processes they must look after. Chair Bedford said they are switching to project based. Commissioner McKee said there is a saying that too many cooks in the kitchen creates chaos and ruins the stew. He said that this discussion indicates to him that the Board doesn't have a good grip on what this could entail over time. He said the concerns from both school boards are valid. He said that the ILA is overly complicated and creates a lot of backtracking in going back to the core group for approvals. He said he is not sure what they are trying to achieve with the agreement. He said he was planning to vote against the ILA. Chair Bedford said the initial ILA didn't have enough specifics other than creating the project team. She said one purpose is to protect$400 million in county investment. She reviewed previous bond funding for the school districts and capital funding. She said that the funds were not spent in a timely manner and the county was paying interest on those funds. She said she wanted the county to stay informed as to what is happening with projects. She said that there were good points such as not having to go back and forth over every change order. Commissioner McKee said that following that feeling, the county should take it over completely. Chair Bedford disagreed. Commissioner McKee said that the ILA does not improve the process and does not eliminate a lot of the back and forth. He said if they are going for total oversight, then they have total control. He said he would not support that either. He said they are supposed to provide the funding and then they watch as it evolves. Chair Bedford said she did not think that anyone on the Board would support taking over the process. Chair Bedford reviewed the changes that had been discussed. She asked if there was a termination date of 2033 because that's when the bond money was supposed to be spent. Travis Myren said yes. Chair Bedford reviewed the new section of Article 4 in the ILA. She asked what would happen if a project came up outside of the annual CIP process. She said she thought there should be flexibility in the timing and that the BOCC could possibly advance funds if Commissioner McKee said this goes back to what he was saying about the ILA being convoluted and confusing.