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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022_04_28 Board MinutesIDAHO FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT #91 SPECIAL BOARD MEETING (Thursday, April 28, 2022) Generated by Jessica Means Board Members present: Administration Present: Elizabeth Cogliati, Trustee (arrived at 5:34 pm) Dr. Jim Shank, Superintendent Hillary Radcliffe, Vice Chair Kelly Coughenour, Assist. Supt. Elementary Education Lara Hill, Chair Dan Keck, Assist. Supt. Secondary Education Paul Haacke, Clerk (joined by phone) Margaret Wimborne, Director of Communication Brandi Moreno, Acting Deputy Clerk, Recording Board Members not present: Larry Wilson, Treasurer Others Present: Mike Clements, Bateman-Hall CEO Aaron Loftus, Bateman-Hall Doyle Clements, Bateman-Hall Heather Thompson, TAC Booster Lisa Burtenshaw, TAC Booster Special Board Meeting called to order at 5:30 PM by Chairwoman Lara Hill. ADOPT AGENDA Chairman Hill requested a motion to adopt the agenda. Motion by Hillary Radcliffe, second by Paul Haacke. Final R esolution: Motion Carried Voting Aye: Hillary Radcliffe, Lara Hill, Paul Haacke SPECIAL MEETING BUSINESS A. Bateman-Hall Update Mike Clements, CEO of Bateman-Hall states that all three representatives from Bateman-Hall will be presenting. Aaron Loftus starts by providing an update with Ravsten Stadium Turf. He states it is under construction and the majority of the pit run for the upgrade is complete, track surface has been demoed, perimeters storm pipe will be going in tomorrow. He then states after they will be prepping for asphalt and track and going forward with concrete and turf system after that. He states the current budget is at $2.243 million and change orders of $20,000 for end zones, change in D zone, and to deal with the saturated soils. Aaron states that potential changes that they are keeping an eye on is what is underneath the track. He states they are anticipating saturated soils again, however it doesn't appear when the original track was built that they put any kind of pit run underneath. He states they will know more next week. He then states the schedule is looking good with a slight overage due to saturated soils and extension with the end zones because of the detail. Right now, they are looking to be complete around the middle of August. Trustee Radcliffe asked if Hellas is ok with the timeline and will still be able to put in the turf. Aaron states they have been in contact with Hellas and they are actually coming out next week to see where things are to finalize things with the concrete curbing crew. Superintendent Shanks asked about an issue with tech conduits. Aaron stated tech is working with HK for conduit sleeves to help with technology and will come out of Tech budgets. Trustee Haacke asks about what the timeline is on tearing up the asphalt and is there a test Hellas runs for w ater run-off. Aaron states next week the asphalt will start coming up next week and we should have an idea what we are dealing with. Aaron then states he is not aware of a test that Hellas does but expects that it will come up when Hellas visits next week. He also states it ma y be part of their acceptance of the subgrade prior to putting the system in. He will mention it to Hellas when he meets with them. Aaron also provides an update on the stadium lighting upgrades. He states the bidding is complete and have been presented to the Board for approval. It is an action item tonight. He then states with the seating repair in the stadium, they were late in getting that booked with subs for this year. He states their recommendation is to go back out to bid in the fall to catch them for next spring. Trustee Haacke asks what the seating repair entails. Aaron states it is to repair any damaged concrete, repair of the areas where rebar is exposed again, getting joints built back up, and a new coating material to keep it water sealed. He then states it is just an update to keep it functional and dry. Superintendent Shank states that we can get in a regular maintenance program rather than waiting for something to go wrong and recommends that. Aaron agrees with the recommendation. Doyle Clements provides an update on Idaho Falls High School electrical upgrades. He states the drawings have been finalized with the electrical engineer and architect. That has gone out today to get proposals from different electricians. Most of the work will be electrical with some dry wall and painting. He states in a couple of weeks, they should have more information when we they get bids. Superintendent Shank asks what the confidence level is on getting electrical bids. Doyle states with the Madison project there were a few electrical contractors, however IFHS electrical is a unique job and may be a project not everyone is going to look at. He states it is hard to say but they will have more information on May 6th when they do a walk through with electricians. They are encouraging all electricians to come see the project and walk through. He also stated electrical equipment is hard to get and the duration to get the equipment will be hard. They will find out from electricians what that timeline is. After all the information is in they will figure out what will be the best approach to that the project. He stated the electricians have said that the main infrastructure will be able to remain in place. He then provides an update on the admin building. He states the partitions in the admin building conference room will be done this summer, when they receive the partition door. He then addresses the basement remodel which involves the elevator. He states the architect just did a redesign and found out they can use a LULA, limited use limited access elev ator instead of a full-blown elevator. This will be a substantial savings and they are currently doing a redesign with the drawings. He states they are hoping to see the designs next week and they will make sure correctly complied and get the information out for bid. Doyle provides an update for the CTEC project. He states that bids were done yesterday and all the numbers have all been turned into the Board. He states that they do not have a status on a permit from the city as of right now and they are waiting for it. He states the city is aware they are waiting on the permit and would like to start on the project as soon as possible. He states that this project has to be ready for the fall and they have already started demo and ordered studs, doors, and frames. He said there are items they have been able to do to help move the process quickly and they are fairly comfortable with the project. However, they are not aware with what the city contingencies will be. He also mentions that he met with the electrician yesterday and there are certain things that will not be received until this fall. Doyle then states the front areas can be ready but some areas, like the welding booths, will not be up due to materials. The electrician stated he feels comfortable with having lots of the project complete for the fall, but some areas will be transitioned in the fall. Trustee Radcliffe asks for clarification on how this project is funded. Superintendent Shank replies that feder al funds are dedicated to this everywhere we can. However, some items may not be able to be funded with federal funds. Trustee Haacke asks if there is anything they can do to meet with the City to help move this forward. Doyle responds that he talked to the City architect today and he understands the importance of moving the project through, also Resin is meeting with them to help. Doyle states they can follow up with the City tomorrow. Mike Clements, CEO of Bateman-Hall provides an update on the bleacher package that was put out to bid. He states there are four specialized contractors to do that work and are not local. There is no one specializ ed locally that does this kind of work. Of the four contractors, two did not have time for the project and two were interested and have already been booked out. However, they all have expressed interest in doing this project next year. Mike states they the key importance is to have regular maintenance on the bleachers to avoid having such a big project every 6 years or so. He also states they have built into this package was a yearly maintenance plan would be and look like. He states if the project goes out in October, we should be able to book them for next year. Superintendent Shank asks if it is the recommendation of Bateman-Hall to do the regular maintenance. Mike agrees and states it has been since 2012 that maintenance has been done. He states there should be a savings to do upkeep a regular maintenance. Trustee Radcliffe states the areas under the bleachers are more important now than they have been in the past and we should have that regular maintenance to avoid any further loss. He states that this is like the IFHS electrical project, this project will contingent on the market and contractors. Trustee Haacke asks if there are areas that need to be addressed this year. Mike said he spoke with Kevin Klingler, Director of Maintenance and Operations, and he stated he thought it was ok. Kevin stated there might be concrete exposure but nothing that would leak into the facility at this point. He stated that Kevin felt we could move forward to next year and be ok, but nothing further than that. B. TAC Update Mike then provides an update on the TAC (Tiger Athletic Complex). He states the bid came in significantly higher than anticipated for the Phase 1 scope. He states that he has been working with the booster club representativ es and the contractors that were low bid to reduce this to something that can still happen. He presented to the Board a finaliz ed summary. He states the earthwork is the grading for the softball bed, baseball field, two football fields, and all the off-side road improvements for the turn lanes that need to happen on the county road. This also includes the parking lot road and gravel to the parking lot and the majority to the retention basin. He stated even some fill for the future soccer fields too. Mike states with this project what missing is the buildings, the well, and fencing. He states it will get the grass in and we didn't downgrade the irrigation system and is still a really nice system. However, he states out of a two-pump system only one is going in now because that will handle the capacity for Phase 1 with future phases the second pump will be needed. He states from this point the boosters can come in and start working on fencing, back stops, and they can put them in without interrupting because part of this is the electrical. He states they put in the electrical to get in past the parking lot for future areas so we are not going to be tearing up the parking lot to put in anything new in the future. He states that has been accounted for in this phase of it. He states there is still some civil engineering and permitting that need to tak e place. He states there are three specific items listed that are open issues. One being the county still has a requirement on there for fencing on the canals. Mike stated they held a meeting with them today to see what we could do to not do that. He states the process they need to go through would be to go back and do an amendment to the original plan that w as submitted. He states that is probably ok because we need to go back and amend the scope of what will tak e place in Phase 1 anyway. He states county wanted a buffer between the agricultural area and he think the biggest buffer is the canal and canal banks on either side, being the only agricultural land,we really have. He states the county says it is a safety buffer and he has done research around other high schools that do not have fencing around the canals. Mike states he thinks we have a good argument to make with them but they cannot allow us to do this without the amendment. He states the soonest we would be able to submit would be May 25th and then we would be on until for June 22nd. Mike said that is the process to know if you have to fence or not. He then stated the other option would be to reduce the fence to just co ver the canal in Phase 1. He states as of right now the budget does not include any fencing. He stated we could start the grading and work we need to do but would need to have that resolved to do the roadwork on the county road to be inspected by Road and Bridges. He reiterated that the grading and fieldwork does not need a permit inspection. Mike states that water is in the canal so we would still need permission from the canal compan y to set the box to keep things from coming into the system. He said he thought we could work with them to ha ve them set the box while there is water in the canal. He states the third item of concern is last year we received a letter from the irrigation district that was putting farmers on rations because of the shortage of water. He states that is a potential for this year also and in the fall when we would be planting and seeding. We would need the most water then and the only source of water is from the canal. He added that we are not irrigating the entire spot, just the fields and so the amount of water might fall within that capacity. He states it is a concern he has and wanted to share with the Board. Trustee Radcliffe questions the original bid coming in high and now that we have a reduced bid, does it need to go out to re-bid? Mike explains the reduced bid cut out complete contractors and that scope is gone. He reviews the summary of the bids and contractors interested. He states some of the bids only had one bidder, however mostly the reduction is in the scope package. Trustee Haacke asks about the fencing issue. Mike replies that when the county submitted that requirement they did not say what kind of fence it needed to be, whether it be chain-link or wood, no criteria was included. Mike stated that he had Custom Fence price it out as 4 ft. chain link, thinking that would be adequate for that area. He said that that price is about $200K for both canal banks. The count y did say they want a 6 ft., but that number has not been reworked due to just finding out today. Mike does say there is about a $20 per foot difference in pricing for 4 ft. and 6 ft., which would be a significant cost impact. Mike adds that would be a good argument to state, because the 4 ft. fence should provide that buffer. He explains that they are looking into to doing something similar to the entrances to Ravsten Stadium, where the fencing is U shaped for people to get in and out of. Mike states the county sounds like they are willing to work with us, but originally the fencing part did not get addressed so they need to meet with them again. He thinks they would be willing to let us do the fencing in phases, which was his impression when he met with them today. Trustee Haacke asks about the irrigation pump. Mike replies that the one pump will work for the first phase but in a future phase the additional pump will be needed as more land is added and irrigated. He then explains that the tr ansformer is still sized to the original size but what we have reduced is the total amount of the electrical run. Trustee Haacke asked if there is anything that we downsize to make this project work. Mike states we could consider this would to be Phase 1A and Phase 1B would be adding back in your restrooms and a storm system, septic system, and water lines. Trustee Haacke comments on the water shortage being an issue and a concern to him. Trustee Haacke states he has talked to several farmers about the water shortage. Superintendent Shank asks Trustee Haacke if any farmers have expressed any comments specific to the water board already looking at restrictions. Trustee Haacke states no one has said any restrictions but everything that he has been told that if the water is gone, it is gone. Trustee Cogliati states she has heard that we are heading into a long-term drought. Superintendent Shank states when we first started talking about irrigation pumps, he recommended getting a good pump and make sure that we getting the quality that is needed due to his experience with Cassia County. He states those pumps at the high schools became problematic and asks if the recommendation was walked away from. Mike answers and states no it didn't and that is the one area they did not make any changes in. He said they worked with 2M to design that system, but only reduced the number of pumps needed for Phase 1. He said the pump is really high end. Trustee Radcliffe asks about when a school is on the property and a well is needed, are we duplicating the work by putting in an irrigation system. Mike states he thinks you can still irrigate with the well but that is something that would need to be worked out because at that point there would be ties to the city and their water usage. Mike states in other areas where they have done work with schools, they have utilized their water rights to irrigate their fields. Trustee Hill states the well was something that was talked about when the proposal was initiated. The Board discusses water rights and well water. Mike stated the district hired a hydrologist to do the work on the well and that it is designated to feed the restrooms, feed the football room with a hose bib , and water to the baseball field. He then states the water used on the douse the fields between practices and games will be from the well, not the canal. Mike stated throughout the process the contractors have worked closely with Bateman-Hall and the contractors need to know if this project is going to happen or not. He states in all fairness to them, they need to go find other work or start this project. Mike states he is hoping that in the next couple of days he will be able to provide an update to the contractors about this project. He also states the pump and vault are coming and they will need to know what to do with them, store or start them. Trustee Hill stated the reason this was not listed as an action item was because the whole Board of Trustees was not present at tonight's meeting. She states in all fairness they wanted a full Board to weigh in on this new information. Trustee Haacke asks who is present at the meeting from the TAC project. Trustee Hill stated Lisa Burtenshaw and Heather Thompson are both present from the boosters. Trustee Haacke asks where Athletic Director, Pat Lloyd is and why he is not present to discuss this. Trustee Radcliffe states after the meeting on Tuesday regarding Bond information, we are looking like we will probably run a bond. She shows a concern in timing with a bond. She states there is a lot of what ifs and reconciling that need to be processed. She states in light of timing not this project, just the timing with the bond. Trustee Cogliati states she has concerns about the irrigation and new systems with a potential drought. She states she has been told older water rights are not an issue, but new water rights can be an issue, which causes concern with her. Superintendent Shank hands out the original meeting minutes from appro ving the Phase 1 for TAC. He asks Mike Clements was is the value of this project and its end. Mike states all he really has the Phase 1 information. He states he could look at what the potential for Phase 2, 3, and 4 would be. Superintendent Shank states it would be good for the Board to review and ask everyone to consider, if we can finish the project without additional financial support and some other means. He states that he projects that it is far more than what we had originally thought we could do . He states that he thinks it is a fair question and will this require a bond to get it done. Trustee Radcliffe asks the boosters how the fundraising is going. Heather Thompson, TAC Booster, states they have a lot of people interested but have not collected funds without work being done. Trustee Cogliati asks if they have an estimate on what funds would be raised if the work goes ahead. She states the project has an overage of $48,000 and asked the boosters if they have that amount estimated to cover the overage. Heather states she is confident that they will raise the $48,000. She goes on to state she is not confident that they can raise $2 million. Trustee Haacke states he does not think it is the booster's responsibility to fund the entire project. Trustee Hill reiterates that full board support on this project is needed and not fair to the project without it. Trustee Hill states if the Board has any further questions they need to go to Dr. Shank. Trustee Cogliati states she has further questions that she will email to him. Superintendent Shank asks if the boosters wanted to talk. Lisa Burtenshaw talks about an issue in the past on the bond was that they could not put fields in IFHS because Skyline had spent so much time impro ving their fields with their boosters. She states the Board members that presented Skyline would not do a bond resolution to put fields in for IF, when the boosters did it at Skyline. She states it is a different time and now we are getting turf at Ravsten, so maybe that make Skyline content. She also states there was not a sense that IF belonged on 49th either in 2017. She states for the boosters, they w anted to get irrigated ground to have the boosters do what the boosters at Skyline had an opportunity to do. She states that is to fundraise for backstops, fundraise for bathrooms, and there was always an opportunity for Skyline to have something that wasn't the same for the Idaho Falls players. She states times have changed, but in the past that was not something the Board had wanted to do five years ago. She discusses the property at Taylorview Middle School once being meant to be an area for a new high school and issues they had with that property. Heather Thompson, TAC Booster, states that she is a mother of athletes and want our kids to have the opportunity to have a home field. She discusses about 6 or 7 years ago the talked about fields out by Taylorview and was not approved because they were hoping to pass the bond. Heather states that here we are now having the same discussion and if we let 7 more years pass, we will still not have fields for the kids to practice on. She states it is frustrating as a parent and she is willing to do the work to help the funds that the district cannot afford. She then states that at this point, she does not feel like that is an option for us and it seems like their hands are tied as parents and for the kids. Heather states that she is excited that Ravsten is getting turf but it is hard that we do not have practice fields and yet we would do such a substantial upgrade on a field that is really for one group of athletes. She states she wants to be a team player and thinks everyone should have nice fields, both Skyline and Idaho Falls. Trustee Hill states that the only reason the TAC practice fields was pulled as an action item was due to Trustee Wilson not being able to attend and needing the support of all the Board members. Heather asks what they need to do to move this process forward, they are willing to do anything. Trustee Hill states that once all the board members questions are answered they can see where we are and try to fast track it as best we can. Trustee Cogliati asks if we can offer a timeline, asking if it will be an action item at the next Business meeting or the future. Trustee Hill states Trustee Haacke will still be out of town but hopefully can still call in and Trustee Wilson should be in attendance. However, she states it will depend on if all the Board questions are answered. Heather Thompson states that if they do not start the project in the next couple of weeks or so , the project will not happen. Mike Clements responds with if we cannot start to have work for the contractors, they will need to move on to other work. Heather states it would be awesome to have a win for everyone to come together as a school and build some team unity for the whole district, not only for boosters but also for our students. Trustee Haacke states that he speaks for the board and that the entire board supports and continues to support this project from the beginning, howev er the project is much more expensive from what was originally projected but they need to figure out all the details. He also states that this project has nothing to do with Skyline versus Idaho Falls. Lisa Burtenshaw clarifies that she stated that Skyline had the opportunity to do their fields and it is not an us versus them, it's simply the opportunity given to boosters. She states they are happy to raise the same kind of money and put in the same kind of facilities that the wonderful boosters of Skyline ha ve done. Superintendent Shank agrees with Trustee Haacke regarding the support for this project but states the only thing in the way is the money. He states there is no lack of will to do the project but wonders where do we get the money to pay for the items outlined and that is in the way of lot of things, not just this project. Lisa Burtenshaw states if they would have known the district priorities were headed in a different way they probably wouldn't have spent the time and district money to this point. She states they probably would have said they were not in line and had a better understanding and it's their fault for not recognizing that the district was moving in different direction when it came to athletic facilities around Idaho Falls campus. Heather Thompson states he $2.2 million still gives them a start that does not include bathrooms or fencing, which is more than we have now. She states that she hopes the bond passes and either way they are still in the same boat. Trustee Cogliati and Trustee Radcliffe both state that there have been a lot of things with facilities and bond changing within the last year, including construction costs. Trustee Hill states the board members questions will be answered and then report back. Trustee Haacke states this is still a priority. ACTION ITEMS A. CTEC Bid Superintendent recommends the CTEC Bid, as presented. Trustee Radcliffe makes a motion to approve the CTEC Bid, as presented. Motion by Hillary Radcliffe, second by Elizabeth Cogliati. Final Resolution: Motion Carried Voting Aye: Elizabeth Cogliati, Hillary Radcliffe, Lara Hill, Paul Haacke B. LED Lighting Bid Superintendent recommends the LED lighting bid, as presented. Trustee Cogliati asks what the entertainment feature is on the bid. Superintendent Shank states the bid includes an entertainment feature that allows the lights to do nice features, lik e programming the lights with highlighting the field for teams and half time performances. He also adds that this project w as originally scoped with the IFHS electrical upgrade, however because of some of the federal regulations we had to do, the project was put in its own scope. He then states some other reasons for doing this project are the LED lighting is cheaper, the surge charges to turn lights on will be substantially reduced, and the fan on the transformer will benefit also. Superintendent Shank stated he thinks it is a worthy project. Trustee Cogliati asks what the alternate #4- dark sky compliant on the bid means, Superintendent Shank states that there are requirements for dark sky to follow code due to the lights turning on throughout the neighborhood, so there is an added component for the dark sky to been seen ev en when the lights are off. He states it is included in the bid and helps with splash light in the stadium. Trustee Radcliffe makes a motion to approve the Ravsten football LED lighting replacement bid by MUSCO, as presented. Motion by Hillary Radcliffe, second by Paul Haacke. Final Resolution: Motion Carried Voting Aye: Elizabeth Cogliati, Hillary Radcliffe, Lara Hill, Paul Haacke ADJOURN A. Adjourn Chairwoman Hill requested for a motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 7:24 pm. Motion by Hillary Radcliffe, second by Elizabeth Cogliati. Final Resolution: Motion Carried Voting Aye: Elizabeth Cogliati, Hillary Radcliffe, Lara Hill, Paul Haacke