In her report to the board, Dr. Summer Stephens, Churchill County School District superintendent, shared some of the discussions that have taken place at the state level, and will continue to take place regarding how schools might be opening in August. Online work will likely continue to be part of the program. She stressed that health and safety were top concerns as the district makes plans to move forward.
Budget disbursements for May 14- May 27 were $615,231.58. This report was approved by the board.
There was a change to POLICY FORMULATION AND ADOPTION. If there is a majority vote of the Committee to approve recommendations and changes, the policies will be placed for discussion and possible action on the next two agendas of a regularly scheduled Board Meeting to provide two hearings of the matter for discussion and possible action. The final action will be by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees.
Two hearings and compliance with NRS 386.365 are not required for policy changes to address exigent circumstances. The Board must find that exigent circumstances exist prior to taking such action. Exigent circumstances exist when, without action, the District will face significant negative consequences or fail to address a time-sensitive concern. Members of the Board of Trustees must not use this exception to circumvent two hearings of policy changes in the absence of truly extraordinary circumstances.
Staff recommended extending the OPI (copier) contract until December 31, 2020 with no changes to any of the other contract terms due to issues with COVID-19 making soliciting other bids difficult. This was approved.
Trustee Kathryn Whitaker reported that NASB (Nevada Association of School Boards) has written a letter to Governor Sisolak to request that NASB be given representation on state committees that are dealing with COV-19 issues and policy in our schools.
Old Business: Information was given on replacement options for the District’s aging vehicles. Currently, the District operates 28 light duty support vehicles. Over the past years, disposing of unneeded vehicles has taken place through the Public Surplus website.
The district received a quote from Enterprise Fleet Management and a decline to quote from D&M Leasing. Reaching out to Fallon Ford Toyota, which is listed on Nevada’s vendor list for vehicles, the district received quotes for purchasing various vehicles. Quotes were also received from Nissan in Carson City.
Phan Kaffka, an Area Sales Manager for Enterprise Fleet Management, presented information on a lease equity program.
Phyllys Dowd, Director of Business Services, presented a suggested plan for replacing the fleet. The District would lease 12 vehicles during the next fiscal year, 6 vehicles in the year after, and 2 per year following, until 24 vehicles have been replaced. Four additional vehicles that are not necessary for operations would be disposed and a golf cart for CCHS campus security would be purchased. For the first year, leasing:
• Three Ford F-250 trucks (with service body and rack) for three maintenance technicians with the oldest trucks,
• One Toyota Tundra Crew Cab Max 4 WD for the Operations Manager, and
• Eight Toyota Sienna mini vans for the special education program student transportation, student activities (trips), driver’s education program, and for staff use for operations.
Trustee Hyde questioned why the District needed to purchase 4-wheel drive vehicles. Kenny Mitchell, Director of Transportation and Safety, replied that a couple of the vehicles needed to be 4WD because of snow and mud, but that there was no need for all of the vehicles to be 4WD. Hyde also questioned the need for the Tundra Crew Cab 4WD. That vehicle was to be for Mr. Michell. Currently he is using a SUV and stated that he was willing to continue to do that as the SUV provided him the extra seating when needed.
Trustee Pinder questioned what would happen after the 5-year lease program and expressed an interest in the District purchasing the vehicles.
Trustee Buckmaster expressed concerns over the leasing options. With the possible budget adjustments the District is look at by August, Buckmaster suggested the District look at purchasing a couple vehicles this year and start working on a replacement plan. Trustee Buckmaster expressed concern over this issue being dealt with now and felt there should be more time for the public to respond and this should be discussed at a live meeting.
Trustee Schank explained that some of the current vehicles in the fleet were donated to the District by CC Communications and the sheriff’s department. She also shared that TCID and the County do not lease and expressed a concern with contracting the vehicles.
Trustee Pinder stated he would like to see the Board prioritize which vehicles transport students and those would have the highest priority for replacement. Pinder expressed an interest in looking into developing a 5-year plan that would have the District purchasing vehicles.
Trustee Strasdin supported Trustee Pinder’s comments on prioritizing vehicles regarding student safety issues. Strasdin also questioned the need for 11 4WD trucks.
Trustee Whitaker expressed concerns about the safety of some of the current vehicles for transporting students. She asked about the number of vehicles the District would be able to purchase during a 5 years period. Phyllys Dowd replied that she thought there would be around 22 vehicles by then.
After much discussion, Trustee Schank made a motion that the District does not lease vehicles this year and that a purchase plan that prioritizes vehicles be developed. The motion was passed.
New Business: The District is insured through the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool (POOL). Current policy with POOL has a $10,000 deductible per incident. Premiums will increase by $27,753 or 6.0%. Option 1 for renewing with a $25,000 deductible and option 2 has a $50,000 deductible. Both options reduce the annual premiums, Option 1 by $41,010 and Option 2 by $82,933.
Chris Rogne, from E. H. Hursch Inc., answered questions from the Board and explained some of the history on claims with the District.
Trustee Strasdin made a motion to change the deductible on this year’s policy to $25,000. The motion was passed.
Phyllys Dowd shared that Dr. Stephens and herself were on a call with personnel from other districts, and the State of Nevada Dept. of Education looking at possible budget reductions. None of this meeting’s content could be shared at this time as the meeting was placed under confidentiality rules. There will be a special legislative session coming and there will be budget reductions through that process. The budget presented at this time will have to be redone at that time. Preliminary figures indicate a reduction of 6% to 14% to DSA funding. The District will be running its summer food program all through the summer and that provides a positive revenue to the District.
Trustee Schank made a motion to approve the 2020-2021 budget. The motion passed.
Trustee Schank asked that bus replacement management program be added to future agenda items.
Sign up to receive updates and the Friday File email notices.
Support local, independent news – contribute to The Fallon Post, your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon.
The Fallon Post -- 1951 W. Williams #385, Fallon, Nevada 89406
Comment
Comments