NewbergSchoolDistrict29JCitizenBondOversightCommittee

Wednesday,December 5, 2012

6:30pm District Office

Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 6:30pm by Chairman James Ferrell.
James Ferrell, Chair
Bond Oversight Committee Members Present
Denise Bacon, Andy Byerley, James Ferrell, Bill LeMaster, Kraig Ludwig, Susan Adams, Barb VanAmerongen, Mark Bortnem, Kat Ricker, Todd Thomas
Members Absent
Carley Thomas
District Staff and Consultants
Frank Berg, Day CPM
Dave Parker, Assistant Superintendent
Claudia Stewart, Communications Coordinator
Nathan Roedel, Director of Finance and Operations
Betty Bault, Administrative Assistant to Director of Finance / James Ferrell, Chair
Welcome/Agenda Review James Ferrell
James welcomed committee members, consultant and District Staff. Committee members reviewed agenda.
No changes were noted.
Approval of Minutes of October 3, 2012 James Ferrell
Minutes were reviewed and approved as presented.
Slide Show of Remaining Construction Frank Berg
Frank Berg of Day CPM provided a slide show of pictures showing the current status of all continuing projects throughout the district. He indicated that P&C is ahead of schedule on most of the remaining projects.
Track and Field Update Frank Berg
Included in the slide show were pictures of the problems related to incorrect installation of the drainage pipe adjacent to the football and baseball fields. Repairs will most likely occur in the spring. The district is still working with the contractor to remedy the pipe failure and related cost.
Non-Construction Update Nathan Roedel/Dave Parker
Musical Instruments – After going through a quote process, the district issued purchase orders to 4 vendors for purchase of a variety musical instruments that will be delivered to Elementary Schools, both Middle Schools and the High School.
Student Information System – The district has partnered with CTA, an ESD consortium (Multnomah, Northwest Regional and Willamette) and will be converting to Edupoint over the next several months. The “go live” date is July 1, 2013. A number of district employees are currently involved in implementation meetings to schedule the actual data conversion and training for all district staff. A question was posed regarding support from CTA and Dave said they are very active in the process. Another question was asked regarding historical data. Any student that has been active any time during the last 3 years will have all of their data converted to the new system.
Textbook Update – Dave went through the textbook adoption calendar and advised the committee that several adoptions, Math and World Language have been completed. Science at the high school and middle schools is approximately half way completed. Elementary will be completed by next fall and Social Studies by late spring. Todd asked if we have enough money budgeted to complete the adoptions. There are several adoptions decisions that still need to be made, but currently we are within budget. The district will be looking ahead to the possibility of electronic textbooks in the future. Claudia stated that NewbergSchool District is lucky to have the bond money available to complete these adoptions as many districts are delaying textbook adoption due to funding issues. As a side note, science teachers at the high school were very excited to receive new equipment.
Budget Review Nathan Roedel
Nathan reviewed the pie chart in the handout. He discussed the Master Budget document and how the district uses this as a tool to make certain that we are on track to stay within budget. An explanation was made regarding the additional revenue area of the Master Budget. A question was asked whether a decision had been made regarding the phone system upgrade. Our current system is over 20 years old and even finding parts is becoming more and more difficult. $350,000 was budgeted for a phone system upgrade and has always been in the plan during this bond period. After receiving quotes that came in over that amount, the district is investigating a possible solution offered through Multnomah ESD in the form of an open source system. The cost is considerably less and after meeting with representatives from MESD, it appears this may be the direction we are headed. A final decision will be made after the first of the year.
Nathan also explained how the change order process has been working with the general contractor and Frank stated that for a project of this scope the amount of change orders is not unusual.
James asked how the Booster Club is doing regarding their pledged donation. They are almost at $300,000 and we are optimistic that we will see a check in the next few weeks. Susan asked how the bond is assessed to home owners and Nathan explained the process of calculating tax rates.
Agenda Items for Next Meeting
James suggested that the January meeting be cancelled. Everyone agreed. Next meeting will be February 6, 2013 6:30pm at NHS commons.
  • Walk through at NHS
  • Tech pilot project update
  • Facility grant update
  • Field Turf update
  • Phone system - status

NEXTMEETING Wednesday

February 6, 2013

6:30pm

NHS Commons