uh we will start this finance committee for Monday April 28th 2025 and um our first um item on our agenda is public comment and we have one public comment mr d
jones if you could come to the podium and I know you know we have three minutes but um you almost have it down but I'm going still put the timer on you just so that um I can be on point
all right how y'all doing i'm D jones start off with I'm the advisor for the Michigan High School Esports Federation which is the largest K through2 esports organization in the state of Michigan uh as you see I have an article i was actually on the news
for NBC and Fox 17 over 70 schools 40 70 schools 400 students registered for the event with 15 state championships crowned at the end d Jones an adviser for the Michigan High School Esports Federation and founder of Jump Ahead L3C
an organization that helps local schools build esports lab esports is important because they level the playing field it is important to get kids into esports because everyone isn't good at traditional sports some kids have disabilities health problems and traditional sports is harder for some
people but esports levels the playing field said D jones that was a very powerful article and then here uh I got invited by Harvard Business School to help them with their online entrepreneurial platform like D Jones is actually helping the one of the
prestigious best business schools on earth develop their online platform so I'm very excited for the future of GRPS the esports all of the cool things we're doing with the summer initiative because we're going to be using the play esports app to show kids how to stream develop content shout castles university
Michigan State University Ohio State University uh Fair State University uh it's a lot of colleges that are trying to get involved with this even Chanola is trying to luxury brand Chanola is trying to donate some stuff to give back to the kids and they're also trying to partner because they have three pillars
so yeah I'm helping one of the best colleges i got accepted in this college for entrepreneurship and it is funny how things is tied to universe spins i'm excited and when we do the state championship we already have these huge numbers in all of these schools we're going to be at the Devos place in
Ballroom C uh I would like to pass the sponsorship form uh to the um school district if you guys have an interest of sponsoring this event because you already see how huge these esports can be and it's going to be at the Devos place who are doing unethical things and we need to have them support defeat the
Donald Trump i already spoke about Donald Trump and it was viral but we need to have him support education and the bosses and the Grand West Michigan policy for him to change their policies i'm going to keep standing on business thank you thank you all righty and then next up we have our finance and it is an
action item with the purchasing agenda so I'll have um Miss Cribs kind of go over that a bit for us and then we will uh take a vote after that okay and our first couple items are adjustments to our blanket orders um it was about a
year ago when we were working through and setting up these blanket orders so a lot can happen in a year um the first one is for applied innovation and that's our blanket order for in maintenance and lease agreements for all our copers and printers across the
district so looking to adjust that to where we think it's going to come in for the fiscal year um the next two items down are for legal services at the beginning of the year we had some turnover in the in the legal
department we did appoint a interim general counsel but in also this year we've had additional investigations that came up that required the use of outside counsel to do the investigations um and as you know we've
had a tumultuous beginning to this fiscal year so there's been a lot more tapping into um legal resources just to make sure that we're staying current with what's going on um comes to mind one of them was the big one with the
immigration early in the January and February time frame um we're looking to get outside council to look at that as well um that fourth item there is for additional um monies for the
HBAC repairs plumbing and hydro hydronic piping as well um down there at the bottom and I think it carries over to the next page we've got um a contract to enhance our Grand
Rapids academic summer program or grass program to add some more online programming for fourth through 8th grade um the next item we've got permission to increase the contract for the Harrison Park Health Clinic um as they started to
work and work through we did have some unforeseen structural issues that require an adjustment so asking to increase that the under general building and sites we've got this time around office furniture and student lounge furniture
for the um renovation at Southeast Career Pathways at the 6 building and bringing forward under the bond projects um phase one for Chavez Kent Hills and Dickinson
to for the work that will begin this summer um commissioning services for Aberdine Kennese and [Music] Riverside and then moving services to move Kennes out and Riverside out into
their new locations and then one adjustment there um Miss Williams from the purchasing agenda that you and I discussed we did have something that came up with asbestous abatement at Riverside Mental so we did add that from the version that you said but this is
what has been posted on the website so if there's any questions um and then also to clarify uh as we know um Miss Lus vacated her position and so we had to um even when we had an interim there
was some other things that were uh we had to seek counsel for so I wanted to clarify that and as well as um the question about um um Miss um Dexter she is not legal counsel for the district she is HR and
so she cannot advise us in this fashion um she is strictly HR she does not have um the credentials to practice law in Michigan so she cannot provide us that same type of legal advice with regards so that is why our things have increased
we've had some um people leave and people be out in our legal department um but we still needed the legal services and opinion so we had to go ahead and address that with outside counsel so that's why those numbers have increased any other questions with
regards to the purchasing agenda do you expect those numbers to go back down since we do have um well I guess is it let me ask that differently will we always need to go to outside counsel for things like um policies and things that change at the federal or state level that's what I was going to
say depending on the level and what that looks like um I we've always had some level of outside counsel um when we brought inside counsel it did drop we're kind of I don't want to we're
not nearly at the level that we used to be before we had in-house counsel so okay and we I know Dr roby is trying to again still working toward filling um the position that's open but um because
of the qualifications and I know she split it some but that's having that specific school experience in the legal realm is a little harder to find counsel and I think this position has been posted i know for sure it's been posted
at least one time and didn't get a field so I I know that that's an issue but um the legal counsel and then outside investigations will require um um most when they are dealing with um
higher level they will always have outside counsel for those too so I know that that is something that we've experienced here recently um and that is been a part of those costs too so are there any other questions with
regards to the purchasing agenda uh yes uh how will this affect our sinking fund uh I know some of them uh some of the purchases are in correlation to our bond dollars but I imagine some of these
would increase i say we currently don't have a syncing fund okay which is part of our our challenge so we at some point would like to go back and ask the voters to support a syncing fund but at this point we don't have a sync fund oh I think I was sorry it's mine uh it's
Monday fund balance i'm thinking fund balance is the balance I was thinking about um as we're working through amendment two we're looking at areas where we may not have been spending and looking to reduce those some of these um may
generate some slight increases into the budget but it's just kind of timing some of it also is um and I'm just going to use as an example and it's take it as theoretical rather than there so like legal service was we do
have more outside counsel that we do have blanket orders with so likely those are not going to spend the full amount on these two are the councils that we were using for some of those other items that we've already mentioned so there may be budget
that we don't need to increase because we're not going to spend everything that we thought we were with some of the other firms these two firms because it's specifically the blanket is to a specific vendor we have to increase it if that makes sense so kind of talking
in circles if I just like uh I'm almost wondering it'd be really helpful to be able to see what based off of our most recent conversation around budgets i'm hesitant to be like "Yeah let's keep increasing
things uh because I want us to be cautious." Um and so I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for future finance committees that we can see uh oh real time is hard i know to be but to be
able to see like I just want more opportunities to be like oh we're hitting the the threshold that's what I was going to say actually the monthly financial statements that do come in your board packet so that would be one area where you could see and um we'll get to those in just a second and it can
kind of show you where it starts to show like here's our our budget and granted it's at pretty high level here's where we're spending year to date and here's the percentage so you could start to see you know big picture when we get to them a lot of our expenses are about you know we're through the these are through the
end of March so for a lot of things you'd think we're about 75% of the way through and they're you know usually tracking about that or maybe a little under we do have a lot of things that tend to get processed through even late June early July um so we have a
significant portion that processes through very late in the year so but as far as general expenses when you when we get to general fund I'm really not concerned about our where we are in spending for the year against the
budget and then the uh B1 maintenance and lease can you say more about what that's for there's not really details about just maintenance and lease of general properties
is that so i'm sorry be one oh the applied innovation yes that is for our printers and copers throughout the district oh you mentioned that but I thought it must have I must have misunderstood which so maintenance and lease of those copiers and printers
yeah okay and there's a a component of usage to that as well so that's where it's kind of yeah hard to a little hard to predict what it's going to be districtwide okay and then uh commissioning services for the new elementary schools can you say
what that's I'm gonna have to look to my facilities friends here what is commissioning of new elementary schools for 150,000 the commission agent goes in
and verifies that everything's connected correctly and because everything is computerized they they write the programs so that maintenance staff can remotely
it's just it's just a service okay and it's for So that makes more sense oh it's for these ones that are specified correct okay and that wasn't in the original budget just because we didn't realize we'd be at this point or why is that i think this is just one more step down
the path in the path it's not so it's a part of the original component but then once we get going it starts coming to us in those increments as to as they're doing the work commissioning is required to be an outside contract so that the design firm or the contractor doesn't
pay the commissioning agent to check and see that the equipment is installed properly all righty is there a motion to approve the purchasing agenda a motion to approve second all righty
all in favor please say I i any oppose same sign all righty and then we're going on to our reports so I'm going to stop just a second then on the financial statements where I usually kind of cruise through it but um just want to
show this is so this is our general operating probably the one that you're most interested in um so it does show our budget as of amendment one and where we are actual um just going down through their property taxes we collect a lot of we
have a summer property tax collection so we usually get a lot of that in July and August each year so that tends to run high throughout the the year um other we've had some unexpected significant large things come in the last couple months so we'll be
adjusting that budget in amendment too um state sources a lot of that is our state aid and that comes October through August so two of our state aid payments come after our fiscal year end
so we'll record them as a receivable but as these are primarily cash basis statement that's where you that is an area that typically lags in where we're at and then we don't have a lot under G and I'm just focusing on general programs we don't have a lot in general
programs out of federal funding um some of it you'll see on the other side for grants especially some of those we may get the full grant award especially on local grants up front we're not going to spend the whole amount so we'll do some adjusting on the budget but also at year
end then we'll defer that revenue into next year any parts that aren't used so that's where you'll see some unusual amounts um federal sources under grants the big lag there is they would have to pay the money out and then get reimbursed
on the expense side so this is where I was saying through March you'll start to see the percentages so that's where you look at at the budget to actual and you'll see most of them are tracking at or below the 75% um there's a few under grants that
are a little more unusual due to timing of things and what's there um just for example there under fiscal services and grants you'll see we're at 100% well that was something that we paid for um out of the funding that was complete in
September so so just a kind of a quick stop there one area though I do want to focus on on the financial statements and it continues to be an area of concern is the fund balance in our food service fund so our reimbursement rates for the
meals that we're serving are not keeping up with costs so um we cannot end the year with that deficit fund balance so there will be a transfer out um from general fund to cover so right
now oops this back up it's you know we've got on the budget there for transfer from general fund a little over a million dollars so depending and some of this may be timing but we are looking at that very closely through amendment too but just want to let you know that
food service is a concern about what it is and that will have a general fund impact um is there any questions on the financial statements and this might not be a question for you but has there been an analysis of what
um how much food is prepared versus used as opposed to just you know being we do some of that as well um and we do a kind of an offer versus serve so you know if it if a kid's being offered it they don't have to take it if they don't want it right so hopefully
there's not as much waste going through that way but um we did meet with Philip and again today to go to work on some more pieces of what that may look like and um the other thing we did do is um we do have staff salary increases in
there and that was significant especially in this group so um that does impact the fund balance as well so the largest cost in food service are sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal sal salaries and benefits and food costs so looking to dig deeper on those
because it is a concern and a million dollars is a lot of money so now jumping down and I think that's it so if you're don't have any other questions for Sue service are we ready
to go to the training i'm going to ask Diane to come up diane Ligins is our um director of purchasing hello it's good to put a face to the name so I'm like just thinking that right i'm just like and I felt like I've mentioned
before but then maybe I haven't but either way it's there now permanently cuz we see your name a lot we see your name and I see my name on email but and you have helped me in a pinch before but I'm just like okay so wonderful thank you that mic a little closer to
you just so it goes in the recording okay i want to like get the echo going there you go is that better that should be okay okay and then you just tell me when I'll advance for you maybe I'll not talk about statements
i'm specific there we go okay um so part of our also emphasis is uh department goals so that they're in alignment with the district so we're um aim is to enhance educational opportunities for students provide
courteous and expeditious um service perform our functions within the confines of local state and federal rules and as well as internal policies and procedures so everything also has to be in alignment with Michigan code of law and also our court policies that you
have to hear okay and then also maintain and practice the highest possible ethical standards in all vendor relationships again kind of ties right in we also besides following our purchasing policies at the top level on
our purchasing page which also ties into the board policies the 3600 bids quotations and local preference all purchases must um be according to all applicable laws rules and regulations we will also purchase materials equipment
and services from those vendors that are able to offer the best prices consistent with quality delivery and service and in no instance will we um sacrifice quality and also not always the lowest
price so there's a lot of things that go into it lowest price is not always the best price and usually when we're evaluating beds we make certain that we have all appropriate parties that are involved that they have their hands touched on it so that we can really
understand that we are getting the best um option for the district and can you elaborate on the local preference as well so local preference so when we are referring to local preference we're talking Grand Rapids however when you look at the Michigan
code of law local preference will say the state of Michigan okay so that's probably something that has to be explained when everyone knows it but when we're saying local preference we're really talking about the greater Grand Rapids area
there we go okay so again everything tying in um some from a vendor selection there's some criteria that we're often looking at to be considered in the evaluation process besides comparing the specifications the performance if you're
using an existing vendor then you're going to bring that performance level into it um knowing how they've serviced us in the past and then if you're bringing in a new vendor also you're going to look at their performance so within that hopefully they will provide
um some customer references where we can go and make a call um also service quality delivery depending on you know what item is being chosen price responsiveness responsiveness to the bid
also responsiveness to the request if something is asked how long does it take the vendor to respond back to you you know um things like that experience communication and the availability of the vendor is this done through a the a rubric's
process as well so usually yes it is and that those are some of the items that are looked at but again depending on what's being asked to quote bid then you really are drawing into the team who is
going to be evaluating the supplier what seems to be the best option so let's say it's from an area that I don't control but I will provide things of don't weight it evenly because quite honestly
that's not going to really be the best option so the things that are the most important should be weighted the most heaviest um is that no so is that addressed um in
each rubric so for instance um and this came up previously with regards to um um a a request for us to RFP and ultimately um the rubrics was kind of just general
however the board was asking for something particular that was not accounted for in the rubrics and so I'm wondering do you guys kind of adjust that as needed so that if we are looking for something we in this particular situation we were looking for somebody
that was a bit more creative and more outside the box thinking with regards to how we could do uh some of the work we were looking to do versus somebody just willing to broker sales and um things of that nature so when the rubrics was done
initially it was not looked at through the lens of what we were asking for but just kind of it was the standard rubrics where there was so much weight um and I think it was 30% given specifically to experience when in this area there's not a whole lot of places that have the
experience with doing what we were asking for in particular so I'm just wondering if there is room and if there is an evaluation process to look at the rubrics being used in this vendor selection to be to make sure that it is
again um is going to really help you get what is being asked for and not just the same old status quo that we're well well this is what we always use versus well this project may be looking for something
different has that been evaluated going into that process instead of just we're just going to use a rubric that we have okay so and I I think I'm understanding you and I think I explained it but maybe I didn't explain it enough so when you develop
that rubrics you have that team and you have to understand what is the most important okay so I may help define all the necessary components that need to go into the bid okay but I don't I'm not
going to own that relationship so usually I work with whomever to say you got to define the scope of work because I can't define it because I'm not the one going to be involved okay however I also advise them that they should have a team so create a team
before this is all going out so that they already know that is going to be a part of the evaluation process i give them a template to work with and say this may not be it but these are some things that you should think about and then you've got to look at it from the
standpoint that what is the most important so that piece then becomes the heavy weighted criteria okay so I will draft a template but they need to come up with it to make it better to fit so
that then you can kind of narrow down your selection on okay what's the next price or what's the next place price yes is a component but how much is it going to be weighted if I'm not evaluating the whole portion
on price then price shouldn't be weighted as heavy but it should be weighted Okay and then then that's kind of where that team has to come and say "Okay here's what I have what should be?" And then you play around with it but you
should know that rubrics before you send out the RFP so that those that are preparing to give a response know how they're going to be evaluated wonderful okay could you give
a an actual example of something recent or in memory um just to walk us through and and I'm particularly interested when you say like all relevant hands touch the the process could you give us an actual example just to help clarify for us what it looks like with purchasing
like any that you choose something that comes to mind i mean one that we crafted or I guess an RFP would have been maybe um translation services okay okay where we went with what was important
but then really I needed the help from the ED who owns the translation services to be what was the most important i can't judge that i don't know i don't use it so that became that piece in the criteria i cannot recall
what the rubrics look like yeah but that's how we worked at it okay okay and then when you pick your team it's got to be those that are going to be involved in it so it's probably somebody from the
high school level um middle school uh an elementary then someone maybe was you know besides the ED herself but then I'm trying to think um technology was also involved so you've
got all the parties that have a invested interest into the selection of the process okay and they're developing the rubric together correct okay okay okay thank you you keep Thank you sorry that's great okay
so then we have different levels where it's an automatic it doesn't have to go through qualifiers of different levels so anything under than $10,000 usually how it starts from a purchase requisition
which it used to be paper but now it's electronic and then secretary or an admin level will put it in and then it'll go to the principal for approval and then once that final building principal approves
it it comes into the purchasing office but I ensure that there are things like sometimes they'll pick a vendor that's not in our system so I reach out to get the W9 have them complete a vendor profile we make certain that they are a
vendor and not a vendor that is usually their social security number to pay so we are evaluating that piece and we're also looking or I'm also looking to say is this a good use
of district funds because I will push something back if it's not an appropriate use of district funds so we would like buildings to get a quote before they engage us in a relationship that we
have to get out of okay doesn't happen all the time it's still an education process but we always wish a quote would come first because a quote does not have to be processed into an order it doesn't give a commitment most of the times or
there's a good percentage that sometimes we're getting the invoice so then the commitment has already been created so now we have to work with it so that it goes through the process so in all orders we would like a quote per then
send the purchase order to the vendor saying we are authorizing you to complete this purchase if it all matches up they would send the invoice to accounts payable accounts payable goes out there matches up the invoice or the to the PO and then they will process
payment to the vendor po purchase order just purchase yeah I'm sorry i'm following purchase order PO and we do have to have the receiving in there as well so it's a three-way match so just because the vendor applies and follows
the process that is identified on the purchase order the business office will not pay the invoice until we know the goods have been received okay okay so it's not just an automatic we do make certain that those things because the thing of it is
is that if there's a problem with the order you want to correct it before you pay the invoice you said um a good use of district funds what is uh what goes into that decision like something is or is not what would
go into that decision um how did I say fix i was saying um at the tail end of the year you could say they're trying ice cream machine right there okay when I can think of
things that could be put to better use than to put that into just because you have the funds available i'd rather see it be put into educational purchase okay and if you are trying to award something then go and buy them ice cream so you
say no wish list items sometimes I know with my job they'll sometimes say "Okay we got some extra money what uh send us your wish list?" And then um we never hear back about the wish list ultimately but they do actually do that so wish list items are not something that you're
typically approving but actual need it you kind of know it when you see it if it's right that is exactly right toward the end of the year i I understand we're trying to expend the money but I want to since the one that at the end of it gets
to approve or reject it I'd rather see that it's going to put toward an educational purpose then with this process under 10,000 how much is statutoily required and how much is district policy and otherwise well the
10,000 is one that we've sent the policy okay okay um and that can go through then there's that go to the next screen then 10,000 to 30,000 it still
doesn't trigger but we've from my aspect I want to know that you've gone out and gotten three quotes okay let's be fair about it all right is this the best choice so there are things that I will ask if you've done that process all
right um just so that you know that you are getting the best bang for your buck and this this price range here this cost range isn't statutoily required this is just best practice that the districts following right if if you were to review
other districts at the same time we somewhat all have established this basis so in most districts these policies do exist so that at least there's an opportunity for everyone is it um just a single quote or is there
a com um competitive bid this would not trigger a competitive bid okay because of the dollar amount right okay okay but at least it's giving an opportunity of finding other suppliers and that you did get three and it's a good transparency
for the district to know that and to clarify the up to $10,000 the quote process is not triggered but what you kind of ask is please try to get a quote if you can yes okay but if they don't if the school shows the think of
it as it's not about the quote process and I should say is between this range is to looking be to be looking at more than one vendor yeah okay the quote process should be on any spend that you
do okay okay you want it quoted because it also guarantees that the price has been established the shipping fee has been established and when there is a variance then you go you can go back and and
somewhat challenge it so if a vendor doesn't know what pricing should be I always say estimate it okay so that over 30,000
$72 now that's okay um triggers a bid so the MDL sets or the MDE sets our U threshold bid threshold we tie the bid threshold into our policies and into
our e- purchasing so that if if someone were to put in an e- purchase request that is over the board amount they probably don't notice it but I notice it it will say BOE required
okay then from there when it comes into me then I'm doing my due diligence to see has it been added to an agenda because we do need board approval if it's not then I have to stop the spend stop the purchase okay okay which then I
become the bad guy but the spend doesn't start until after board approval though right that is correct so when an RFP or a bid is sent out in documentation it always says estimated date to
award and then for clarification for the vendor it's to it has to go through a two-step process so let's say for translation our intent is to award however it must be through go through
finance and then it must have final board approval before anything can be officially awarded before a PO can be cut if there's any um legal agreements that have to be looked at then a purchase order will not be completed
until it has gone through all the proper channels okay so quick question though can services be started though so so okay cuz I I feel like
we had an issue previously was it with That's what I was going to say sometimes things start to trickle through but yeah we really try to it doesn't services should not start before we have final board approval there are occasionally
sometimes where you know they may have started services and not thought that it was going to go over the board amount and then as the project goes on it's like oh wait a minute it's trending there we're going to get there so then it's like pause let's get the process and get caught up okay do you have a
historical example of something like just a particular contractor or something like that at the top of my head okay didn't we have a little bit of that elev that one oh opportunity thrive recently but I think that's because of a grant involvement too and sometimes that can get complicated
i don't Yeah I don't remember what happened with K12 i felt like it the it was like um a two week period like we had somehow um like the holiday period like it was starting it was like and it sat there
for a second and we were like okay we need to so I remember us remember we had to catch it up and then we had to go back and um decide whether or not when we were going to look at it again because it somehow service services started but again that was
uh that's the one one time I remember it coming before us right off the top you don't like when that happens though do you no and I and you know unfortunately you've done you do run in scenarios
where an area can start something and not pull you in till they need payment to the vendor and then that's when I it comes in through purchasing so what do you mean reiterate i don't I don't think I
understand what you just said that we get pulled in how do you mean when I say pulled in purchasing gets pulled in so to issue a paper so somebody may start something and then Oh you're not even What do you I don't They may not put their e purchasing request in started to
go out right start the process something started right and then we find out okay okay and then you need to pay the vendor so it's got to come through purchasing then I ask the questions and then that
can slow down the process okay okay so that's earlier Diane referred to an education process yeah we're frequently educating about what the process should be um we have a lot of new people in the district that are sometimes still
applying what maybe they did at their former job yeah and not the what we do at GRPS so it's an ongoing process trying to make sure people get lined up to Okay let's not get that that cart in front of the horse let's You're not saying what
I'm what I'm interpreting what you're not saying is a program or or a service starts and then come to find out now the district has to pay for it that's not what you're saying is it or no and or if it's it may be some of the times that the smaller amounts too at that under
you know it may be something even for $500 and it's like oh they've gone out and done it and it's like oh well I really wish you hadn't done it that way now we have to pay for something okay yeah you say wish you had gotten a quote first because now it's come in damaged and now we got to do something different
and Okay so it's not typically not our our big things our big things are are not the issue sometimes those smaller ones so smaller purchases sometimes are more problematic than the large ones
and I'm just looking at the time so I just want to be conscious of that so we've got a couple more things to get through here and then these are some of the requirements that have to go in bid documentation so um and it depends on
too the um well required performance but the shity and the bond information is through facilities bids but then we all have both the sworn um statement of familiar relationship Iranian business
relationship affidavit and department and suspension certificate um these are required pieces of documents that go in um some of the languages and rights of um to reject to any or all bids
compliance with federal state and local law ordinance and regulations um and date time and place of the opening of the bid so usually they're public bid opening you have to state when it is um and the location
and the competitive bid process is all about giving transparency uh procurement method which um bids from competing contractor suppliers or vendors they we um openly advertise the scope and the specification in terms of
conditions and um the conditions of the proposed um contract as well so we um solicit our bids on the GRPS site we are um mandated by MCL code that we have to
post on a public state website um facilities um all construction bids have to be posted um on Sigma so we still um have to comply that way but we also have the availability where they're listed on
the GRPS so it provides clear transparency of what's going on within the district and also provides an opportunity for all to to um see them as well is there does the state require like education service bids to be posted in a particular spot or just on at least
on our website like you said sigma construction bids construction services aren't necessarily mandated for us to bid okay okay i see but we we choose to we choose to when we you
know are shown it but okay it's best for transparency okay and those all go on our website yes and then these are the different um types of purchases that we've done before in the past um again this is just
talking about what we do um construction repair uh school buildings um supplies materials and equipment and then services there is no requirement to seek the competitive and then there is an
exception i won't and I did it emergency repairs that's something that um the superintendent can approve and then other types of purchases which will come up in another month um Rhonda will present all our blanket orders which are the normal
reoccurring um expenses the legal fees the um copers translation services everything that it takes for us the district to operate and it is um far better um to put it on a blanket order
because it's repeated purchases you're still analyzing the spend and analyzing um the dollar amount and um Again if it goes over then we're coming back to the board for approval to raise a blanket order like we've
done and then this is more talking about the local preference and then the policy for it and again it's local Grand Rapids and then these are just some past bits that we've done before um trash
removal services snow removal custodial translation can liners paper products copy paper um the book but that one was so it was a couple years ago on that one and then our me our memberships are to
the Michigan school board officials um NIGP which is the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing where it's a body that you are at least collaborating with others that are in the public purchasing arena can you know I learned a lot from that and then West Michigan
Public Purchasing Alliance as well so keeps me um a breast of what's happening out there for the district and to be aware how large is your team my team i have a buyer and then um
administrative so three three okay okay we are running very lean in our purchasing department yes I see that and Diane does a whole lot and I greatly appreciate all that she does so absolutely thank you both thank you all
righty and then um we have no policy are there any particular questions with regards to the information we received otherwise I will adjourn us and give you few minutes to have some comfort before we go to our next meeting comfort all right i could use some comfort ajourn
thanks