Culpeper County School Board 9/13/2010 8:53 AM
Minutes
August 9, 2010
Page 3 of 9
CULPEPER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
Minutes
August 9, 2010
A meeting of the School Board of Culpeper County was held August 9, 2010 at the Board of Supervisors Meeting Room at 302 N. Main Street, Culpeper, VA. Present were George Dasher (Stevensburg District); Elizabeth Hutchins (Cedar Mountain District); Robert Beard (East Fairfax District); Robert A. Houck (West Fairfax District); Russell E. Jenkins (Catalpa District); Anne C. Luckinbill (Salem District); Director of Finance/Clerk Jeff Shomo; Superintendent Dr. Bobbi Johnson; Director of Administrative Services Dr. Russell Houck; Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology Rob Hauman; Director of Human Resources Dr. Stacey Timmons; Director of Facilities, Planning and Construction Hunter Spencer, and Deputy Clerk Pearl Jamison. Leanne Malulani (Jefferson District) arrived at 6:55 p.m.
At 6:45 p.m., Mr. Dasher called the meeting to order and Ms. Jamison noted those present.
On motion of Ms. Hutchins seconded by Ms. Luckinbill, the Board went into closed session immediately regarding:
[a] Discussion of Personnel Recommendations as permitted by the Code of Virginia 2.2-3711 (A) (1)
Motion carried 6-0 by voice vote. (Ms. Malulani was absent.)
Ms. Malulani arrived at 6:55 p.m.
On motion of Ms. Hutchins seconded by Ms. Luckinbill, the Board ended the closed session at 7 p.m. and certified by the following show of hands that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only the items included in the motion to go into closed session were discussed:
YEAS: 6
Robert Beard
George Dasher
Robert Houck
Elizabeth Hutchins
Russell Jenkins
Anne Luckinbill
ABSTAIN: 1
Leanne Malulani
Those present observed a moment of silence. Mr. Dasher led the Pledge of Allegiance.
On motion of Mr. Houck seconded by Mr. Jenkins, the School Board approved the agenda. Motion carried 7-0 by voice vote.
Recognitions
Mr. Dasher recognized the following new additions to Central Office:
Ø Robert Hauman, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology
Ø Dr. Stacey Timmons, Director of Human Resources
Delegations
Mr. Dasher said persons may present ideas or concerns regarding Culpeper County Public Schools. He said there would be no action taken by the Board at this meeting and that such items would be referred to the appropriate administrators for future information and research. He said that personalities and behavior of employees are not to be presented during this period but are to be reported to the employee’s immediate supervisor. Mr. Dasher noted there would be a three minute time limit for speakers.
There were no delegations.
Consent Agenda
Mr. Dasher reviewed the items on the consent agenda for approval. He noted that the Finance Committee had met and recommended approving the bills.
On motion of Ms. Luckinbill seconded by Mr. Beard, the School Board considered approving the consent agenda as presented.
(a) Approval of Minutes - June 25 & 26, 2010 and June 28, 2010
(b) Payroll and Payment of Bills
(c) Personnel Recommendations
(d) Approval of Foreign Exchange Students - CCHS
(e) Approval of Title II, Part D, Educational Technology Grant
Mr. Jenkins noted that he would abstain from the Personnel Recommendations but would vote for everything else.
Motion carried 7-0 by voice vote. Mr. Jenkins abstained on Personnel Recommendations.
The board considered the following action items:
(a) Consideration of School Board Town Hall Meeting Dates at Eastern View High School at 6 p.m. – October 4, 2010, January 3, 2011 & April 4, 2011
On motion of Ms. Hutchins seconded by Ms. Jenkins, the School Board considered approving the dates as recommended.
Mr. Dasher noted that January 3rd is the Monday after New Years.
Mr. Beard said the town hall meetings were established in hopes they would generate public input and open dialogue; however, the attendance has not been what we hoped for. He suggested scheduling town hall meetings on an as needed basis or discarding the January date and keeping October and April.
Mr. Beard moved to amend the motion to delete January 3rd, seconded by Mr. Houck.
Ms. Hutchins said she cannot support the amendment because it is in the middle of budget time. She said she is anxious and willing to have the opportunity for the public to attend. She said she would rather keep it on the calendar.
Ms. Malulani agreed with Ms. Hutchins. She said it is hard to speak to the board during delegations because there is no dialogue. She said the town hall is a valuable opportunity for our community to come forward for the exchange. She suggested changing the January 3rd date.
Mr. Jenkins said if only one person shows up apparently they have a concern. He said it is very valuable to hear from the community. He said he would like to see the meeting moved back and forth between schools.
Ms. Luckinbill said she is in favor of keeping January 3rd.
Mr. Dasher said delegations are not the same as a town hall meeting because there is no interaction with delegations. He said there is a lot of staff labor that goes into the town hall meeting and it is a shame we don’t have a larger turnout.
Mr. Beard withdrew his motion and Mr. Houck agreed.
Mr. Houck noted a previous commitment on October 4th.
Mr. Beard suggested the staff prepare budget items to share with the public at the January meeting. Mr. Dasher said he did not feel we would be far enough along to discuss the budget.
Ms. Malulani said she would not be opposed to having a town hall meeting without all the staff there.
Ms. Hutchins agreed that we should consider having the meeting at different locations.
Motion carried 7-0 by voice vote.
The board heard the following reports:
(a) Construction Updates
Eastern View High School – Mr. Spencer said in June we sent the last deficiencies listed in the commissioning report to the contractor for his attention. He said most were communication issues between equipment (boards not testing right and programming that needed to be modified). He said a number of changes have been made. He said a technician will be present on August 12th to test the connectivity to two of the heat pumps.
Mr. Spencer said there are still some things that we want to make sure are working correctly before we release the project.
Mr. Dasher asked if we have finalized the issue with the urinals. Mr. Spencer said we are investigating several options outside of the contractor’s side.
Mr. Dasher said we have not made final payment to SHW or Shockey for the project.
Mr. Dasher said the bond for the pond at EVHS has not been released. Mr. Spencer said the contractor went to get the bond released for site work and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) had some questions relative to the pond. He said they have been in contact with the engineer and architect to discuss the issues. He said to his knowledge the bond has not been released.
Yowell Elementary School – Mr. Spencer said the architect was in last week and checked on the punch list; however, there are still a number of outstanding items. He said the contractor is trying to push us because he sent a final invoice yesterday and indicated he feels he has done everything he is responsible for on the punch list.
Mr. Spencer said he has emailed the architect because he was dragging his feet with the invoice for two weeks before he responded and told him it was not acceptable to not issue a ruling on a request from the contractor. He said he spoke with him tonight and they are working on the response.
Mr. Spencer said F&R engineers have finished their final storm water pond reconstruction drawings which have been sent to the local contractor, architect, and engineer of record, as well as, the town for review. He said by the end of this week we should have a price for the repair and know where we are with the review process by the town.
Mr. Spencer said earlier discussions on how we intend on finishing the pond was to hire someone, have it done, and seek participation from the architect and contractor. He said our attorney is helping with letters of intent to send out to both parties.
Mr. Houck said he thought this was going to be complete by the time school started. Mr. Spencer said we had an earlier plan for repair starting June 16th; however, while we were waiting to start the project the emergency repair collapsed. He said luckily it was not fixed before it collapsed.
Mr. Jenkins asked for clarification on the pond at EVHS. Mr. Spencer said DCR has asked for calculations on how the size was developed because when it rains the water is very close to the top of the dam. He said the pond at EVHS is not failing. He said DCR is trying to figure out if the pond design is large enough to accommodate a 100 year storm. He noted the same engineer designed both EVHS and YES storm water ponds.
Mr. Dasher said the EVHS storm water pond issue is the volume.
Culpeper Middle School - Mr. Spencer said the fire alarm replacement is going well. He said the contractor had an issue with getting his building permit. He said he has worked with the building inspector downtown to secure a final inspection this Thursday. He said after that we will remove the old fire alarm system. He said after the final inspection the new system will become active.
CCHS Renovation - Mr. Spencer said he is meeting with the mechanical engineer on August 18th to do a final check on some of the existing equipment and configurations. They will also review the status of design and plans to this point.
Mr. Beard asked if we have addressed the issue of auditorium seats. Mr. Spencer said a consultant has removed several chairs and they believe there are parts we can get to redo those seats. He said the $125,000 will not replace the seating. He said we spent $165,000 at EVHS for 900 seats. He said we could buy seats for $125,000 but we would not be satisfied with them. He said we need to find seats with cast iron bases. He said this group sells new seats but also renovates old seats. He said the stanchions were all in good shape and we feel, as an alternative look, if we do the back, seats, and hinges perhaps that would save money.
Mr. Dasher said he would like the Capital Planning Committee to review the proposed fix.
Ms. Hutchins asked if $125,000 would take care of the refurbishing. Mr. Spencer said he has a much better chance of meeting the $125,000 by refurbishing the seats.
Ms. Malulani said we still need to consider the issue with asbestos abatement in the auditorium. She said we could tear the seats up if we need to do abatement in that room. She said we need to be careful that we don’t tear up what we have worked so hard to have.
CCHS Roof - Mr. Spencer said a leak in the roof has developed over the first wing of CCHS. He said the roofing company we have been using to maintaining roofs is TREMCO and they are part of the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA). He said we are riding that contract through Fairfax County. He said they are a well known installer and most recently did the Sycamore Park roof. He said they did a repair on the leak at CCHS and the repair did not work well because the water was allowed to track out of the area and was released in different areas. He said they recommend replacing that section of roof. He noted a roof replacement job at the police department that was done at a substantially lower cost. He said he is putting together a set of specifications to competitively bid the project. He said a consultant will be here Monday to help us put this together. He said he anticipates a 30% savings.
Ms. Malulani asked if we would have to replace the roof again with the renovation project. Mr. Spencer said no.
Ms. Hutchins asked how much needs to be replaced. Mr. Spencer said a little over 30,000 square feet.
Ms. Malulani asked how much we paid TREMCO for the repairs that failed. Mr. Spencer said he would check into it. She said if we hired them to fix the roof and all they did was change the problem she would not want taxpayers to pay for that.
Mr. Jenkins asked what the difference is between a flat roof and a regular roof. Mr. Spencer said we never try to build flat roofs. He said we put tapered insulation on a slightly sloped metal deck. He said no one installs flat roofs anymore, they must have a little pitch.
Mr. Jenkins asked what would be better a sloped roof or roof like is on a house. Mr. Spencer said he felt a building that would allow you to put a reasonable truss on it might work out better in the long run although its initial costs are going to be much more but you would pay less to reroof it. He said we are putting on 25-30 year roofs. He said the roof at CCHS is an old built up tar/chip roof. He said it would be very expensive to put a truss roof on CCHS. He said wings with a narrower width could possibly have trusses. Mr. Spencer said a lot depends on the width and the way the area is built.
Mr. Dasher asked if we get a guarantee on roof repairs. Mr. Spencer said you get 20-25 years; however, roof guarantees are like tire guarantees.
Verizon Tower at Farmington - Mr. Spencer said we have been contacted about leasing land at Farmington for a cell phone tower. He said he is meeting next week to review areas and get more information to present to the Board at the August work session. He said this is a third party company that handles negotiating tower construction and leases with companies.