USD 383 Board of Education

January 6, 2010
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Work session:
The board was presented with the design development for Northview Elementary.

Regular meeting:
The board approved 7-0 the design development for Northview.

Board members were presented with a request from Gould-Evans, the architecture firm working on the MHS construction project, for additional compensation in the amount of $15,740 for time spent on an additional "programming cycle" which was in addition to the 3 "programming cycles" specified in the contract. Gould-Evans also requested additional compensation for architectural work, but district administration felt it needed more information about the fee before being able to make a recommendation to the board. Board members Curt Herrman, Walt Pesaresi, and Doug Messer shared the view that Gould-Evans should have notified the board earlier in the process that the firm was expecting additional compensation for work it was being asked to do that was beyond the scope of the contract. Susan Marshall said that she didn't want to establish a precedent that Gould-Evans can do extra work and keep coming to the board to ask for additional money. Board members Pete Paukstelis, Nancy Knopp, and Dave Colburn felt that Gould-Evans should be compensated because the contract had specified 3 "programming cycles," and the firm had been asked to participate in an additional cycle. The board approved 6-1 to provide Gould-Evans with the additional compensation, with Pesaresi dissenting.

The board also discussed the HVAC system for the MHS project. Updating the HVAC system had been scheduled for a later phase, but the board had discussed at a previous meeting that it would make more sense to update the system at the same time that the rest of the building is undergoing the major renovation work. The design and engineering work for updating the HVAC system had not been part of the scope of work for Gould-Evans. Gould-Evans provided the board with a letter estimating the cost of additional HVAC design as $16,700 and additional engineering as $325,000. The board approved 7-0 to move the HVAC updates for MHS to phase one, and approved 7-0 to form a negotiating team to negotiate a contract addendum with Gould-Evans.

The board approved 7-0 a budget planning process for dealing with expected budget reductions in state aid. A finance committee has been meeting to develop a list of possible reductions as well as ways to increase revenue. The list of reductions will be grouped into tiers to allow for best and worst case scenarios in state funding. In January, a Budget Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from all areas of the district and the public, will begin meeting and examining the proposed reductions, with the plan to make a recommendation to the superintendent by March 2010.