Good afternoon. Today, April 2, April 6th of I'm sorry, today May 6th of 2025 is the first meeting of the school capital outlay certax oversight committee. Uh my name is Jeremy Powers. I am the school board attorney. At this time, as I call your
name, I ask that each of you take a brief moment to introduce yourselves. Uh, Christopher Ludg Lynn Riopi. Very good. Did I pronounce it right? Close enough. Thank you. Yeah. Um, quick introduction. I'm relatively new to Ocala. I've been here
about three, three and a half years. My wife and I both retired from Exxon Mobile from Houston. I got a master's degree in industrial engineering and for a number of years I was a global projects manager managing projects in Europe, Asia Pacific and across the US
and some some in Canada with our Imperial Oil affiliate. Uh got experience in uh demolition, construction, contracting, project management. I mean just the typical execution of work. Just going to keep it
short. Thank you. And actually, that reminds me, your voice comes across very, very well on the microphone. Um, but I want to make sure as each of you do this, our microphones are unfortunately designed so if they're outside of about 8 inches from your mouth, we're not going to hear you and it won't pick up. So, please uh make
sure that your microphone is as ridiculously close to your mouth so that it can be heard. Okay. Um, Tom Tom Pvix. Okay. Matt Fabian,
Jim Walkup. Hello. Hi, Mr. Walkup. Good afternoon. Uh, Jim Walkup. Um, been in construction as a general contractor for a little more than 30 years and worked currently as a project manager for On Top of the World in their commercial division. So, and live here in Ocala for
about the last year and a half. Thank you for being here. Kyle Yansy. Hi there. Kyle Yansy. um graduate of the Marian County Public School System, born and raised here, have two children currently in the school system, market
president for C Coast Bank, and happy to be here. Thank you, Wally Wagner. Uh yes, I'm pleased to be here. Thank you, Lori. Uh my name is Wally Wagner. Lived in Ocala since 1994. I worked for primarily for Florida Power
Corporation, Progress Energy for 20 years and then I served as deputy superintendent of operations for La Marian County Schools. I ran for superintendent and I finished third in a three-horse race. So I finished my career in the insurance business.
Thank you. Brandon Owen, that's me. I'm a uh third generation builder here uh born and raised in Marian County. um 20 years experience in residential. Uh three years into opening uh my own company uh here in
town, got three children in the Marian County school system now and I am a product of the uh Marian County school system. Thank you. Uh Jamie Zublick. Hello Jamie Zublick. I've been here in Marian County for 25 years. I sit as the
treasurer on the Marian County Builders Industry Association. I'm a partner with Collier, Jernigan, Eastman, and Zublick, and I've been with the firm for 25 years. I have three children. My first one is graduating this month.
Howard Gun. Good evening everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Howard Gunn. I'm a product of Maran County School retiree as an agriculturalist. I am a proud owner of an act consulting business here in uh in the state. Uh we
also are a member of the black farmers association which was granted a medical marijuana license. So we do possess a medical marijuana license instrumental in that as far as the agricultural aspects of things. Thank you all so much for each uh being
so generous with your time to ensure that we uh can properly uh engage your professionalism and your efforts and supervision of our sales certax committee. Um as I said my name is Jeremy Powers. I am the school board
attorney. My phone is open if any of you my door is open if any of you ever have any questions. Um you can come to me, you can call me. I'll be happy to answer anything I can or refer you to the people who can properly do so. Now, as a committee, you will work largely very
independently. Uh your meetings will be uh arranged through our board clerk, Elena Martinez, and you've most of you have met her earlier. um when there are times for arrangement of your meetings, if you have any thing that comes up or
or if there's a uh conflict or anything like that, she can help you and she can be a valuable resource. Um also, uh Stephen Ori, that's you. Okay, go ahead. Did I I I didn't call you earlier, did I? No, I I just got you. Sorry. I'm sorry. So,
right, that that's fine. I I figured the first one uh we've always got difficulties with parking and trying to find out exactly where we go and everything. I was making sure that each person got a chance to introduce themselves. Uh they have to tell a story, do a dance and a joke. So, you're
the person that's up now. No, but please introduce yourself to the rest of the committee. Uh hi, my name is uh Jack Olri. Uh Steven's my uh government name. Um, I live about a mile and a half across the street. Um, work
for a healthcare solutions company out of Orlando and I've been living in Marian County for two and a half years. Thank you very much for being here. In November of 2024, the 1 halfsent school capital outlay sir tax
referendum was approved by Maring County voters. It's my role to share with you the bylaws for that school capital outlay certax referendum. Each of you should have a notebook in front of you which has a handy copy for you of those
bylaws. Um the oversight committee shall be made up of no less than 12 members each of who will be appointed as outlined below and we go through that. No member of the oversight committee may be a employee of Marian County Public Schools, nor may any member in a
position of personally profiting from the actions of the committee. Finally, it's preferred that each member have experience in financial management, construction, or another relevant field. Two members will be appointed by each individual schoolboard member and the initial appointed members were as
follows. Christopher Lugert, Lynn Riopi, Tom Pageviks, Matt Fabian, Jim Walkup, Kyle Yansy, Wally Wagner, Brandon Owen, Howard Gun, Steven Olirri, and Jamie Zublick. And as you can see, that actually counts up to 10. I misqued
and said 12 is our number of members. So, we have a total of 10 original members. And then we have one additional member who's an appointed committee member uh from the Maring County Building Industry Association. Should membership in the oversight committee drop below 11, a new member of or
members will be appointed by the appropriate person or organization to complete the current term of appointment. The school board by majority vote may remove any member who does not meet minimum qualifications, who violates the oversight committee's bylaws, is unwilling or unable to
continue serving, or for other good cause that may raise questions about the integrity of the oversight committee. In addition, the chairman of the oversight committee shall report to the schoolboard chair if an oversight committee member resigns his or her position, misses more than one meeting
within a 12-month span, or otherwise needs to be replaced so that another member may be appointed to complete the current term of the appointment. One of the things you saw me do here was to count up the number of people we have for quorum. we will need to have at
least five people in order to maintain quorum and we prefer to have eight people in order to make sure that a quorum uh among 11 members is present. So when we do organize these and we largely leave that to the committee to determine its schedule um we need to ensure that we have as great attendance
as possible. The term of the oversight committee shall be from January 1st of 2025 until 6 months following the sunset of the sertax. This will allow for the development of a final report on the expenditure of certax
funds. Individual members shall serve two-year appointments within the first appointment with the first appointment ending on December 31st, 2027, but they may be appointed more than once. The final appointment shall last an additional six months to allow for
completion of the final report of the oversight committee. The responsibilities of you as a committee are number one to elect a chair and vice chair. That's something we'll do today. to establish a meeting schedule, to review the expenditure of
revenues from the CERTA tax, and to ask for more information pertaining to the expenditure if needed, to provide a written report to the superintendent and the school board regarding the expenditure of Cirax revenues on an annual basis, and to report to the superintendent and the
school board chair in a timely fashion any inconsistencies between the ballot language and the actual expenditure of sir tax revenues. The oversight committee and its members shall adhere to the following
guidelines. The chair will conduct all meetings. The vice chair will conduct a meeting in the absence of the chair. And again, you will including your chair and vice chair today. The chair will create meeting agendas which shall be provided to each member of the
oversight committee at least 7 days prior to the next meeting. Meetings will be open to the public in accordance with chapter 119 Florida statutes and the secretary will maintain audio and written minutes for all meetings. Written minutes will be
distributed to all members in a timely fashion. The oversight committee shall function as an oversight body to the Maring County Public Schools, sharing information with the Maring County School Board on whether the proceeds of the additional 1.5 cent sales tax are
being utilized consistent with the below ballot language. And the oversight committee will meet quarterly and annually render a written report to the school board containing comments on the Maring County Public Schools compliance with ballot language. The report will be
kept on file in the schoolboard office and made available to the public. Reports and comments from the oversight committee will be handled as follows. All reports and comments from the oversight committee to the school board shall be in writing. Such reports
and comments shall be forwarded to the school board with a copy provided to the superintendent. Any member of the oversight committee who disagrees with the written report or comment of the oversight is permitted to append the signed statement setting forth the basis for any such
disagreement. Any oral presentation to the school board shall be made by the oversight committee chair at a regularly scheduled schoolboard work session meeting or at the schoolboard meeting under the presentation recognition portion of the agenda.
The responsibilities of the Maring County Public Schools with regards to the oversight committee shall be as follows. So this is the part where we we explain what we need to do as Maring County Schools and Maring County School Board. Provide meeting space, recording
equipment, clerical assistance, and other assistance as required by the oversight oversight committee. If you need help or you need resources, please reach out to us. We'll make sure that you have what you need. provide appropriate public notices of all oversight committee meetings and
that can also be coordinated through myself and through the board clerk, Miss Martinez. Provide information regarding the expenditure of certax revenues and respond to inquiries from the oversight committee in a clear and timely fashion. Provide a staff member to serve
as the oversight committee's liaison to Marian County Public Schools. Make time available during schoolboard meetings for the presentation of the oversight committee's annual report. Make the oversight committee's annual reports readily available to the public and respond in an appropriate and
timely fashion to report any inconsistencies between the ballot language and the actual expenditure of certax revenues. The ballot title and this is the language that you'll hear many many times as you're going through this. You'll read it and reference it often.
Was School District of Maring County, Florida general election November 5th, 2024 school capital outlay sales sir tax to improve safety and the learning environment. The ballot question was to retain
highquality teachers, reduce classroom overcrowding, and improve safety and security by expanding, constructing, and improving school facilities with collected revenues shared according to Florida law with eligible public charter
schools based on their proportion of total school district enrollment with oversight by an independent volunteer committee. Shall the school district of Marian County levy a 1 half cent sales sir tax for 10 years to fund such
activities for Marian County schools. Are there any questions about these bylaws? Before proceeding into election of officers, who reports to our committee from the school system? Uh we will we your
meetings are going to be without us present. We're not the board clerk will arrange those meetings. You are going to report to the superintendent and the board chair. So the board chair would be uh Miss Lori Conrad at least until November. in November the board chair uh
a new board chair will be selected and then the superintendent until July 11th is Dr. Gullet. Um the interim superintendent uh is Dr. Brewer and she's present in the audience there in red. And so uh those would be your direct reports for any questions that
you might have. If you have questions along the way and need to find out who it is you need to report to or who needs to report to you any of the indications because we will have folks from our our CFO um our chief financial officer will also be uh reporting things to uh the
committee. There will be multiple people who report to you and that will be uh Terresa Boston Ellis as well. So there are multiple people who will provide you input and then if you have any questions about uh anything that that input uh indicates there are multiple avenues
multiple people to reach out to. Thank you. Any other questions? I have a question regarding the process of uh in this case the sales tax savings uh also with regard to owner direct purchase tax savings that can be s saved
there. Uh is there a procedure in place currently with the county that can be made available to review for that or owner direct purchase? Yes. Uh yeah, for owner direct purchase, our facilities department would have the procedures related to that and uh we can have
someone reach out and extend that to you. So uh Miss Martinez, if you can make a note for owner direct purchase, we'll have facilities reach out to the committee to make sure that's available. If I could build on that question for a
second. Um yes, sir. To know where we're we're going, we have to know where we are. So is there a document or a series of documents of what's the process now in addition to direct purchase I mean contracting and
and the whole process that can be available to begin to look at at at at it and how things are you know from RFP all the way through how things are executed. I can I can
have I can request that we have our facilities department uh prepare u a presentation for you or a document for you that will further explain that. I don't want to tackle trying to give it an overall explanation that's going to
necessarily be inadequate because I deal with the legal portion and um although I have a working knowledge of those concepts and those things, I would probably explain it in a way that would leave out important nuances that they would like to make make sure that you're
aware of. And also, I don't think that I'm probably the best person to answer all the questions that would uh that would that would arise. So, um I can have our facilities department in conjunction with the interim superintendent prepare a document that
would explain um what you're asking and I would just want to clarify what it is exactly that you're looking for and then from there they can uh present on that exact uh that exact topic. So, if you
can give me anything you can regarding what it is you're actually looking for and I'll make sure that you get that. Okay. Yeah, maybe I can I can provide a summary to you rather than kind of taking everybody's time up, but Sure. just an outline of of the process. I'm not looking to get into the we just
understand how the process goes from, you know, initial interest all the way through execution and acceptance. All right. if you want to provide if you want to send that to the clerk and myself. Um I can then forward that to appropriate parties to get you everything that you need. Okay. Thank
you. Yes. Another question. Yes, sir. By serving on the committee, would that jeopardize us bidding on on any of the projects? Yes, it will. Yes. So uh you there would there would be you'd be expected as individual committee members to ensure that there
is a there there's no conflict of interest as to any of the projects that actually exist. So if you suspect that there may be a conflict um that you have any per the bylaws have some indication of that if you read those as to
potential conflict and that you may not have any um any direct uh benefit um where your role here would overlap with a bid or something else that you're entering then you'd need to check that conflict for yourself. If you have
questions, then please reach out to make sure that you abstain from voting in that particular area. And if you abstain from voting, we typically ask that you also abstain from discussion or advocacy of that particular point or project.
Okay. Any other questions? Okay. At this time, we'll open the floor for nominations for chair of the school capital outlay certax oversight committee. This is the tough part because you guys you don't know each other yet. You don't know who even wants
to do something like this and you don't frankly know what you're getting into. So, this is the this is the the point at which we've got to select someone to be the chair of the committee. Um, and then we'll need a vice chair of that committee. And the idea is that whomever
takes on those roles um is not necessarily it's like a jury for person. Each jury person each person on jury has uh full equal vote. Um there is a person who has a sort of ceremonial duty I guess you'd say to actually maintain the
report but that is not that doesn't mean that that person is uh saddled with an increased share of responsibility except to forward the report along. That means that that person is the person that's going to be looked to just to maintain order, call the votes um and uh to
assist in keeping uh records of of that. So uh we would highly encourage that with the chair and vice chair of the committee that you still continue to look to each member to be an equal and
fully participatory member and that not only roles but also division of any kind of further research or uh effort be divided amongst you. That may include preparation of reports, may include um uh reaching out and seeking further
information, anything that you have that should not fall completely on someone uh as a chair or vice chair to have to do. All of you as committee members are expected to be equal members. You all have the ability to reach out. you all
have um the uh responsibility to ensure that your roles are carried out with fidelity. So um that being said, we've got to have somebody that that that takes the takes the role and
responsibility of vice chair and of chair. So are there any nominations for chair? Yans, I nominate Matt Fabian. Nominate Matt Fabian. Mr. Fabian, do you
accept? He's not here. Matt Fabian. Okay. Sorry. So, Matt Fabian is not here to accept. And that that that if if so elected, that means that Matt Fabian becomes that in his absence. Uh he doesn't have to accept. In order for
that, he's accepted his his role in the committee. Are there any other nominations? Okay. Hearing none. Uh, do I hear a second for Matt Fabian as our committee chair? I'll second that. All right. It's
been moved and seconded. All in favor? I I. All opposed. Okay. Mr. Fabian is going to be That'll teach people that. You see, if you if you don't show up, this is what happens. He'll enjoy it. In the event that Mr. Fabian does not accept
uh what's our course of action at this point? He's been elected. So we'll I'll I'll deal with that. We're going to deal with vice chair. He's going to love it. So as to as to vice chair of the committee, I'll nominate Mr. Wagner. Mr. Wagner, do you accept?
Great luck. Do I hear a second? Second. All in favor? I. All opposed? Okay. Mr. Wagner will be our vice chair. At this time, we'll open the floor for nominations for secretary of
the school capital outlay certex oversight committee. I will not to dissuade anyone but I will indicate that the secretary is a person who's going to be uh helping she's gonna be working he or she will be working closely with Elena uh Martinez in order to make sure that minutes are kept
properly and also in order to request and provide reports of the committee when provided. So that will be um a sort of semile liaison type role as well. So, I nominate Jamie
Zublick. Miss Zublick, do you accept? Yes, I'll accept. Okay. I will mention I'm better with numbers than You've always kept me in line, so Okay. Uh, do I hear a second? All right. All in favor? All
opposed? Okay. Miss Zublick, you are our secretary. All right. Now, at this time, we'll turn the meeting over to the chair. Congratulations to our chair, vice chair, and secretary. And your only
remaining duty for this meeting is to ask any further questions amongst yourselves. I'll attempt to clarify if I have any if I have any clarification that I can provide. As well as specifically to set yourself quarterly meetings. We don't have anything that is particular business that needs to come
up within the next month to two months. But at about I would say at this point about the two-month mark would be where you need to set a uh quarterly meeting and then pick up from there. Uh we'll begin preparing everything that we need to provide you as to expenditures for
the sales or tax committee at that time. So you'll need to select a meeting date approximately two months from now and then set quarterly meetings. how you choose to set those or on what schedule. It can be uh a it can be a a by day of
the week, every third Thursday of the of the third month, however you choose to do it. Um we will then need to coordinate this uh auditorium for your meetings. Um and Miss Martinez, Mr.
Christian will also be a resource uh in helping to make sure those are coordinated because after this meeting, I'm not going to be here to answer questions whether however poorly or well I might answer them um unless you reach out to me. So, uh that being said, Mr.
Chair, I'll turn it over to you to discuss that one item of business that you have today, which is to set quarterly meetings. So, therefore, you're vice chair. That means that means it's on you. Are we talking about in July then? Yes, for our first quarterly meeting there is not a
specific time frame. Uh I would say that as again about a two-month from now July would be uh would be a good start. So what you meet second and fourth Tuesdays,
they can't hear you. Uh well, let's see now. Usually your meetings you you cano hold your meetings at any time that you'd like. Uh you can hold them in the evening. You can hold them during the day. Typically around four o'clock is usually the the prime time because
people aren't cutting into their evening with family time. And also we aren't having to have staff that are here specifically for that. Now that being said, we on Tuesdays we uh every other Tuesday we have schoolboard meetings here which would quite possibly
interfere with that. So uh yes, the answer is that that uh um every other Tuesday is probably not the the best Tuesday is probably not best uh for availability of our of our forum. Um Thursdays, we've already got this set
up because we have work sessions here for the school board. Um, but really it's it's up to your schedules. Anybody have any thoughts about that? I know that I personally am freest Mondays and Tuesdays. I have a quite a
commute on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have a board meeting with the McKenopia Cooperative School um every first Monday or uh yeah, every first Monday and then another with a colon every second Tuesday. So, how that's
going to work with the rest of the group? Yeah, I've got an advisory board meeting that meets um every late afternoon on uh once a month on on the first t second Tuesday.
So, Tuesdays are What if we did it Wednesday, July 9? Time convenient for everybody. Okay, Wednesday, July 9. And I don't see that we have any board activity in this me in this meeting room if that is an
availability for everyone else. Same time 4:00 work. I'm good. Yeah, it'll be tricky, but I'll make it work. Do we need a formal motion to do this? Nope. So, Wednesday, July 9th. And uh if
we can then prepare uh since these meetings would be quarterly, let's prepare one that is going to be set for approximately 3 months after September, October. Let's uh look in to our early October schedule, late
September, early October. Do we want to try to keep them on the same t same day? I mean, that that might be a problem for you, but you said you could work it out. I'll I'll do what I can to work it out. Okay. Yeah. And I'll communicate ahead of time if that's going to be an issue.
And it it's entirely possible that by September we may have uh additional uh projects that are in the pipeline that are waiting. Um so uh rather than extending the whole three months since we are getting uh there's quarterly meetings, but we're doing really this is
our first one. We're doing a second one in July. We could set that for September or we can set it for October. then have another one uh it's it probably early December so that we can because coming out of Thanksgiving and coming into Christmas often is difficult for everyone. So I
would recommend um that uh mid early to early September to early a October anywhere within that 30-day time frame for your next one and then plan one for early December. That'd be my recommendation. So, if somebody wants to name a date in
uh September or October, uh if you wanted to keep it on a Wednesday, that's fine. Uh that would be anywhere from September 3rd to October 8th. Any of those Wednesdays, you got the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 1st, and 8th.
Any heartburn with any of that? Um the 17th is our Marian County Builders Industry Association meeting. If we can not do the 17th. Okay. What about September 10? That work? If we can do it after the
15th of September, it would be wonderful due to our extended tax deadline that we would be focused on at that point. I mean, I can make it work since it's typically only going to be what, an hour for the meeting on average. Yes, one hour. That's fine then. Okay.
So that would be September 24th, October 1st, or October 8th. Then looking into early December to want to close out the year, we'd be looking at most likely the there's either Wednesday, if you want to stick to Wednesdays, and you don't have to. If
you want to stick to Wednesday, you're looking at Wednesday, December 3rd, 10th, or you can push it to the 17th if you want to get that far into what everybody's doing in December. So, four, third or 10th will be the first two Wednesdays in December.
Third, the third first Wednesday. Okay. So, at this time, is that is that everybody okay with that? I'm seeing head nods. Okay. So, at this time, what I show is your next three meetings would be July 9th. Am I correct on that?
September 24th and December 3rd, all of which fall on Wednesdays. Okay. Looking at the same time, four o'clock and that'll be 4 pm. I'll make sure that this room is scheduled. I will make sure it's July
9th. Um, I'll get with you, Mr. Wagner as the vice chair and make sure that uh um I have accurately heard the requests for uh presentation uh to the committee of some further information and uh then we will move forward from there. I'll
send out notices. I'll have Miss Martinez send out notices from uh for the meeting and also uh for the future meetings calendar invites to hold for for each of you as as did each of you I shouldn't ask. We will send out caliber
calendar invites. Um if you don't use Outlook sometimes it's a little difficult. We'll send an email and a calendar invite. Um if for some reason that you can't accept the calendar invite don't worry about it. We just want to make sure that you have received
notice of it. So, you can call and confirm with Miss Martinez and she can make sure that you're aware of it and make sure that you're down for attendance. Okay. All right. Does anyone else have any further business?
If if we're going to have a presentation, can can we get it ahead of time and be able to get it a couple days ahead of the meeting versus just trying to analyze it and listen to the presenter at the same time? Yeah, my
intention would be uh to number one make sure that I understand fully what it is that that is being requested. I I I can play back what we've talked about here and make sure that I've got a good at least uh overview. Then to have our to reach out to the departments that are
responsible for that to get you all a document or a perhaps even a PowerPoint sort of presentation for you to review on your own and then to actually have someone here to answer questions about it and further present. So, uh,
typically what we do is, uh, in anywhere between 7 to 21 days before a meeting, we make sure that, um, all of the board members in a regular schoolboard meeting have received all the documentation that they're going to be provided with so they have adequate time to review. And
that also allows us to if there's additional information that may not have been included, um, you can reach out and ask further questions. So that can also be included. Okay. Thank you. All right. Okay. Uh Mr. uh vice chair, I
will turn it over to you to to proceed with a motion to adjurnn or to conduct any other business as you may see fit. We have any more business to come before this group? I'm sorry, what was that? Second.
All in favor? like sign. All right. Thank you all for your attendance.