##VIDEO ID:QtSYyEqc3ZU## to order today is January 22nd Wednesday 2025 we are in the AR Center in 63 this is a regular SP meeting in January um will be by please rise I pledge allegiance to FL of the United States of America for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Amanda please here here yes Mr here Mr J here Mr Sergio here here in compliance with the open public meeting act I he stated that notice of this regular meeting has been provided to the public by a written notice dated January 15 2025 the meeting notice has been emailed to all St members at the district three School locations communicated to the record fired with the board of Cl of pide par Now we move on to the working session to review and discuss agenda resolution the person of the agenda is approving the board meeting we have two meeting minutes one is December and the newly elected board members you need to V on the December minutes but we have real meeting as well so if you have any discussion any correction please raise or say something any discussion let move on to the finance we have 12 consent agenda on finance and the first one is to approve the Food Service vouchers second it is Secretaries and treasurous finance reports third one is ratification of board secretaries mon certification budget line item status number four is to approve the payroll of um December 20 2024 and January 15 2025 number five is to approve the bill list of January 2025 this is so it's a Ty for this is January 2025 correct okay number six is to approve the transfers in our f and number seven Student Activity accounts number eight Tu reimbursements to our step members for their workshops and number nine is step Member visitation and workshops okay so number 10 is donation donation from the Korean Consulate General in New York number 11 is acceptance of uh F what FY is FIS year what is that yeah fisal year 2024 audit and annual comprehensive Financial reports number 12 is audit corrective action plan this for year of 2024 you have any questions and comments discussion [Applause] so the finance committee has just been appointed so they able to I yeah I actually um so me as a board of president and the vice president were invited to meeting this last yesterday Tuesday we usually um for a finance meeting on Monday of the week where we have the board meeting of the month but since the Monday was the har day so we met yesterday but our vice president Mr William K wasn't able to attend so instead I invited our finance name so we had the fin meeting although we have our finance meeting that I wasn't because of my imitation of the hours that was there so I didn't not ra raise all the questions to you Dr s so number five I forgot to say that in our bill list I don't recall that we discuss it before this month but the same question that can that beer list be categorized by type of business instead of alphabet yeah I think we discussed it and I don't want to speak out of place without Mr Kowski being here tonight um but as we alphabetical eyes uh all of our vendors on the bill list um there are times that multiple vendors same vendor may appear multiple times right um so I I think the I think it might be easier to export this onto an Excel spreadsheet for your the purposes you're asking but because the system generates it a certain way I'm not sure that we can you know okay but this altica was not really it wasn't always like this no this was a recommendation by the finance committee to do it alphabetical so it was easier to see it you mean the finance committee of our board yes Mr Shen made that the one of our I thought I thought this requesting go way I have to call Mr to verify but I think be very easier to go see the same category type of the business for example the the same type of business like reimbursing to the uh patterns for of the payments in R for their trans for their keys like the par name come out if for example if her name is a a comes up in a and the other patterns who are under angle or score ofle inle school then it will be categorized in E section so it's the same Ty of payments is sprayed out by atic so it's a little hard to well all of the School of Choice students are all categorized under Aid and low so they're all actually in the same area I'm not sure if I understand your request right but there's another like name what p is h h h yeah under seven seven that's trans for reimburse but it's is cized by the product name but this is not a School of Choice reimbursement this is a special education Transportation agreement with a parent right but that's a kind of reimbursement to their transportation so but before I record that there there were kind of C at the same page so we see how much the budget was placed to that reimbursable the transportation that we could easily navigate but now for the information spread out for us it's harder to understand but that's too much work for the administrator I think I would talk to the finance uh both members in the committee then should be okay but just don't understand that why it hasn't been changed to this way yeah I again I don't know the system like the business administrator does I don't want to speak for him um yeah you can follow up with this okay so but I I think I remember what Mr asked was same as I just explained and also number 11 that's okay number 10 the donation of the Korean C in New York yes I don't remember last year the amounts for the I believe the amounts are the same as last year was it 5,000 I believe it's the same as last year yes I can double check that and get back you and then the donation the 2024 to 2025 because usually General Consulate they donates for the year of like January it's different from our f um School FIS year and when it says the donation for the 2024 2025 um do you think that's our school year it's to be spent by June 30th 2025 I can't tell them when to make that donation but you whenever they make it to us I'm grateful to receive it on behalf of the board U but it is for the school year 2425 okay and we did so we didn't dece receive yet or we did receive it we have to for we have to memorialize it by way of accepting those resolutions okay so they sent us a check they sent us uh how we should spend those funds just like years past and it are to be spent by June 30 2025 um for number 10 not 10 11 um for these I haven't reviewed this y so is that something we can table or is there assurance that it's been reviewed thoroughly or so ultimately uh the I I don't think anyone's had the opportunity to review it I think the PDF that was shared uh I always refer to the audit as the big book and the small book um the small book I don't expect anyone to read this yet um if you did I'd like to hang out with you if you have that time but um I know Mr Weiss from bkc is here with us tonight um I'm sure we could table number 11 there is no requirement for us to accept it um tonight we can do that next month but with regard to the corrective action in consultation with Mr Weiss we trust their firm we trust that their findings are necessary uh we've already implemented some of them uh so hopefully they are not going to reappear uh as far as the accepting of the audit and the comprehension comprehensive financial report I'm going to defer to the attorney um is there any requirement that they accept it tonight or can that be Ted I'm not aware to the best of my knowledge um audits are not even required of boards of education is that right I'm not sure about that I think they are I don't know but you might be right I could be wrong but regardless they're not requ the acceptance is probably not even mandatory so regardless we don't have to move on it tonight I don't have to submit anything to traten tomorrow is what I'm getting at that's homework for you we got to find out if they're required Google knows so this number 11 the audit annual comprehensive finan report it was PES that was shared yesterday honestly I didn't have a chance to read but thanks to Mr W the sumary here um but since we have four reports um and I I think that many board members may had no chance to look up gole knows so they are required best that was best you live your homew okay so i' like to table number 11 out of 12 consent agenda so but we can we can decide in in our regularization later about a difference this is cor action plan of 20124 and I it was just to pce and there are some languages actually repetitive Bings from prior years as well so for me it's pretty familiar so I'm okay to but it's up to you guys to I think maybe also if I can add after hearing Mr Weiss in my report uh um no formal action will be taken until he's completed so I'm sure maybe he can satisfy some of your concerns again I'm not asking anyone to move on something they're not comfortable with the good news is he will speak under my report any and all formal action will be taken thereafter any other discussion if I is uh can I request that the treasur report be printed and provided monthly at the meeting printed not in the drive yeah no problem that's the that's the one page you're usually yep thank you I will U make note of that Amanda please thank you that's number was number two number two do you want to see it I have it here if you want to see it just for any other questions move on to building and grounds and I don't see any agenda resolution let's move on to personel home instruction I think I sorry I didn't address that we didn't vote for the we didn't approve the list of the chair and the chair committee okay committee members yet so let me introduce Genta first and then sorry but thanks to do it I wish you could do it um person we have a six consent agenda first one the home instruction teachers there are two teachers um to be recommended by superintendent to approve the F home instructions and number two is a clinical placement to request number three is appoint mod of Step there are three steps like sub daily substitute the part custodia per substitute number four part one njsla Academy after school program substitute and number five is a head football coach to be appointed and number six assistant software Cod do you have any questions any discussion in Personnel it's Dr yes ma'am uh was there a resignation from the current foot no uh all positions are annually evaluated and or appointed and reappointed um but answer is no all right thank you and discussion wait so is he still there or as the coach yeah no one once if the new coach is hired there's no question next is education we have only one agenda for um there's two brid trips one is too is it I think it's Bing and um it's a fth grade and the other is for Community College any questions n negotiations and I don't see any agenda policy other in agendas too new scard and county scard or scho saf and security committees we don't have agendas to approve tonight the order business was the last where we just to share the last minute um I don't know if you look up the share the border that was updated yesterday there are we have a tax money underpaid that was under the PID score year 21 21 to 22 and this has been raised um for request the B to pay or ree but it has not yet so we are asking both members because I don't think I bringing up in publica or Shar all both members as well neither so this um just explain base of the basis so we had our former auditor who was H with us for past 25 years right of okay and then 2022 we have change the new Auditor in 2022 and then I think the reports came out out of that and so the when the auditor go audit that usually is pass the year pass the school year calendar and that was 2021 2022 there are4 4, 22122 cents were not paid to the score District so um I think Mr kski our business administrator sent the letter to border in 2023 feary but we didn't get it back so I sent it out email three times past the year including or for members and superintendent business administrator and bite mayor council and their CFO and their business administrator so we will raise this again and the after mayor is well aware and then so they are willing to help um what the reason that I putting it up because I'm going to resend it including the newly El um newly appointed business administrator in the Bor as well and maybe this week or next week including our STA and the board members and Dr s and then Mr cond is not here but um please follow up after my email to this email and then I'm pretty sure there business administrator her name is U Mr Rob Stern she will follow as well too so and just make this information to all board members that you are aware of it can I ask a question sure yeah like how come they didn't catch this before that I don't understand why they this money it was it it was caught if I can just add a little bit of of information on this and I think Miss Chung did a good job in in Touching upon it so uh Mr weice who's in in the audience again for his findings of our past school year when they were retained um they did find that we were short $ 54,2 2122 um shortly again it's it's the month is January so the timing when Mr kondovski reached out to the burrow in February of that time it's similar to where we are now uh after our findings after our um presentation of the audit it fell on deaf ears I can't answer to as to why we were short um I can tell you that we have not given up hope that we we are still owed 54,000 change um clearly multiple attempts including our board president um for the last year it sounds like has reached out uh we are still not compensated that amount um the long and short of it is we're not going to just walk away from it it's owed to us it's owed to our schools um so ultimately I'll be more than happy to follow up with the new burrow administrator and or the the mayor and Council um CFO CFO whomever we need to because can we make a date and just go visit the mayor and say Hey you know sure you're a taxpayer we can do anything we want ultimately ultimately the mayor and Council need to approve a resolution authorizing a payment of this amount of money from that year that's it it's not that difficult I don't I can't answer to it Mr sh is there too now so he has you know you should do something absolutely yes sir just clarify to your question Mr so you asking possible to go on the past years for 25 years right I don't know I might ask Mr W is there later on if it's possible for the special auditing for this past 25 years of the same auditor with the municipal auditor and I'm wondering why Mr Weiss called it while the previous guy didn't catch it so are we missing all more money I think that's what probably needs probably for better ucation anyway oh thank you that that reminds me that I don't know if the cing board members remember that in um September 2024 the board enacted the policy that the school district ban and prohibit that the Border auditor to be appointed to the school as a school auditor at the same time this was the basis of it that's why I I made the motion to the anyone to pass so yeah any you have any questions so the board special auditing so yeah we can discuss it and then we might need the professional opinion as well too I I TR don't know about the audit much so but thank you for putting it that concerns any other discussions and there's the oh okay so new business there's a two three new businesses one is or two see here I brought it last minute today um but the first one is the the committee appointments I took some survey of your interest to be for which committee to be um which committee you want to be belong to and there was so based on my opinion or my knowledge about your talents and interest so if there's any things you want us to discuss or any request to change then please be and if not this is our committee structures and the other agenda on the new bu new business is it's a separate sheet that I just put on the table some board members are explained and the basis of what the reason the white is but this is about to amend or add just one or two sentences of existing policies so I'm going to read it and you can cons well you can raise your ex discuss discussion later so the new business policy revisions be reserved the paride prop of Education M by law 193 19322 to add paragraph F electronic communication among board members F Well we currently have e a e so we adding the um provision F School District provided for member emails may only be accessed through proper procedure in adherance to the open public record act by all parties including District administration and employees be reserved the P par Board of Education me policy 642 2010 distribute rights and responsibilities the current existing language is the computer system is the property of the district and all computer software and Hardware belongs to it therefore the district retains the right to monitor or the access to and use or use of the internet so we want to be revised this language to um the computer syst is the property of the district and or computer software and Hardware belongs to it therefore the district retains the right to monitor or access to and use of the internet for the avoidance of the doubt the right to monitor um the right to monitor does not provide arbitrary access by Administration and employees to score District provide the board members email um report to by law 9322 F which I just explained about and District employees it or otherwise and administration should not cause the alteration or deletion um of emails or other it loes without prior approval by the board the second revision is um it's not revision let's go by one by one do you have any questions and discussion regarding this because I'm going to make a motion to approve this new policy to amend this policy in regular me um in regular session so if you have any discussion um let's talk if not number two new bu for number two to number three the new bus agenda is to create a committee it's called evaluation advisor committee be reserved that the paliside park of Education approves the establishment of the evaluation of the visory standing committee to develop and oversee the effective system for evaluating the chief School administrator princip assistant principals Vice principes business administrator teaching staff and other District employees when appropriate the committee is in collaboration with the board of presidents to implement policies 2030 2131 and 4116 by creating evaluation rubrics in an annual summary conference to access performances progress and the student achievement preparing a written report for review and approval by the full board and or carrying out additional related responsibilities as needed and the um for your information the pilot 213 2131 as you might have seen it and then this about the evaluation to our school steps which is which is the Poli that our board has and then we are the evaluation advis committee is not a new word it actually was uh recommended and requested by the Pary that we have do you have any questions strong like uh being that I just F I just saw this for the first time as I got here tonight okay I'm curious number one who is going going to be on this committee um this one the advisory committee who will be on this it will be consistent with because I looked at the parcy doesn't really designate what person but that um I believe def is both members and maybe administrators teachers so this is a different from the um panel like I forgot the the name of the term that also they recommended but the evaluation advisory committee I believe this is the board members so U my my concern is we are fully in compliance with any teach andj regulations regarding evaluation um the board to the best of my knowledge uh does not have the right to evaluate teachers um principles assistant principles again I could be completely wrong here tonight but uh to the best of my knowledge again unless it's broken we don't necessarily have to fix it we can tweak it but this sounds like it's a new policy on creating a committee I I just want to make sure we are compliant number one we have annual summary conferences we do progress um again maybe we need to discuss this further I'm just a little confused on the whole thing right maybe it might not match it to the board member our our knowledge our experience too so probably if you prefer you're suggesting us to discuss more yeah I I I just don't know again I don't I'm not opposed to it obviously I'll do whatever the board is asking us to do so long that we're in compliance um obviously there's a chain of command and protocols and procedures uh within teach NJ and there are regulations that the Department of Education has um I believe might be an interference in the event board members are in a building to evaluate anything more than their responsibility on this St is tonight than any other night I I think you'd be right about that I'm not I'm not sure that and obviously M strong tells exactly what it was that is intended by this but I if we and I to just first time tonight but my understanding is if we look at the policies that are referenced in there like 2130 that talks about the princip valuation and the board already has a policy regarding the principal valuation so my understanding is that this the the idea of the committee is not meant to um do more than the board is already doing but to designate a subset of the board to focus on that the uh the role that's already there and to oversee and and so certainly that would not include actual evaluation of Staff members other than you that's what was intended by this I'm not sure it is um but but uh but could entail overseeing things like the rubrics that are used and talking to you and making sure that any updates to T NJ or anything else like that are Incorporated and um and up into that line we created a district evaluation advisory committee years ago when the evaluation system in New Jersey was overhauled um was there were requirements that parents be on it that teachers be on it that union members be on it um again I I think we need to just discuss this further I'm not trying to I I report to the board so ultimately so long we're in compliance and you advise us that this is okay to do who am I to say differently so order deta and your your concerns and recommendations and your questions we can start with these committees and then you can start with us and the committee as well yeah let me look at the policies if you don't mind the existing ones and then I think if we talk further and just dissect them one at a time and maybe add to the existing policies right and maybe I I'm misunderstanding this completely not word this is just create the committee to focus as our attorney say says um I there is many the Poli Lo like I just do you know if any other district is doing this or are we trying to be at the Forefront evalation of the bud committee yes yeah there was actually stated in our policy that was requested that I yeah I I think it's what I just referred to the D we we refer to it as the district evaluation advisory committee U when I was a it was my first year I think as as superintendent we had to create that because that's when we went to a strong model um I don't know if we want to tweak it that was obviously 12 years ago so maybe there's some language that needs to be updated but I know there's a clause in that that we are obviously bound and required to comply with any and all evaluation rights in the state of New Jersey okay just a one paragraph maybe I don't know got this one this is a policy 416 yes that's the second but this is a chip School administrator directs the develop of development of and oversees the district evaluation policies and procedures with prior anual evalation of all teaching St members the ship School administrator May conert with the district advisory evaluation committee or representatives from school Improvement panel this school panels I I why in my knowledge I think this includes the teaching steps that is correct so Chief score theator sh direct the development and overse and there's other Provisions below is yes I see yeah is kind of the par that I brought up and this is where again I'm not I don't know if I'm summarize what my concern concerns or what's the nature of this up but seeing all the negotiation process and my conversation with our administrators and we have different negotiation with different collective bargaining unit or or individuals I think this evaluation accurate and in detail that will help us to um go forther transparence and impartial process of negotiation and then we want it to be effective not time consuming I understand okay I'm glad you brought that up because there is obviously a you know in that paragraph the chief School administrator May consult with the district advisory evaluation committee it should be the district evaluation advisory committee but um I I definitely I'm going to look at all three of these policies in the next couple of days and okay I definitely will confer with you further sorry that didn't mean to surprise you you had a vacation last week and there's another holiday on one day and I was busy as well so I just brought this language today and then I'm sorry for all the board members for last me um sharing of my new agendas and there's third one actually I want to one more thing that I'm going to make a motion later on that is that it's not here to uh when I was busy sometimes forgot to add on and request our board secretary to to updates but um I'm going to request and make a motion that all the contract of our school employee the collected on our website because that is a public record and it has to be easily access to our community members so that's it so do you have any questions and discussion there are actually Four agenda resolution on the new business first is well I'm going to actually go go again in our regular session before we go we take a for more action but so far if you have any questions please do so not have a motion to close working session and open to the regular session I motion or in favor no exension no objection because our regular session start with both present report um I just want to thanks the PTA for the dance events last Friday January 17 and thank you for inviting me too I wish B were there too it was really such a great great time and I'm not good at entertaining people for you guys do it was a absolute enjoy enjoy all joy to all members step members and teachers and then you PTA members and mostly childr and their parents it was great thank you um so Dr C you have superintendent report for our audit uh three three items before I get to Mr Weiss and I thank you for Sing so patiently um first and foremost as I've been giving updates every month pretty much um I'm very pleased to announce that last Wednesday we had a our new preschool orientation for the two new pre prek classrooms at the limberg elementary school um these are not my words but the words of the administration The Faculty members it was by far the smoothest first two days of school uh that we could have envisioned in the month of January uh fortunately enough Thursday and Friday the kids acclimated to limberg Elementary um they had a nice three-day weekend like the rest of us but uh we are again very very grateful we've uh met all requirements for the Department of Ed we've received any and all waivers I'm very pleased with the work uh of the contractors that really miss Chung and I were there we met with parents last week all in all I'm just grateful that that project is is now behind us and we can move on to other items that are of of vital importance second uh as we have been discussing for many a months um I very pleased to announce we have a student rep um as selected and voted on by the students of the Junior Senior High School um there is criteria as we've all updated in our policy uh Mr Tyler Jun seated to my left will be joining us on a monthly basis when Tyler is not available uh his alternate is uh second in command we'll call her Valerie Ramirez who was voted a very close second so was a very good uh vote and uh again very good showing of democracy in in our schools so I formally would like to introduce Tyler to you I've asked Tyler to say a few words introduce himself I hope he speaks nice and Loud um so welcome enjoy yourself um you have about six months to go hello everyone uh so I just want to say a couple words so I'm really thankful and I'm excited to uh be a part of this position and I want to thank you all for coming here today and for the support they're here for you oh yeah oh yeah I'm ready thank you Tyler Tyler's a Southmore at the Junior Senior High School as a reminder uh what we did decide and I think it's uh it was best practiced by the board um Tyler will fill this position again with Valerie as an alternate in the event he can't make it through June we've asked that uh in July well probably at the end of this school year we would ask for a new runoff if we call it that for next school year but again we are going to go with the school calendar vers a fiscal annual uh January through December we're going to run it concurrent to our school calendar of J July 1 through June 30 so welcome uh good luck anything you need please be in touch last but not least Mr Jonathan Weiss uh from bkc uh had the pleasure of working out of our wonderful conference room AKA garage um Jonathan was accustomed to it it was his second go around um I thank he and his team for uh their patience their their oversight um I don't want to steal any of your thunder but in my 12 years as superintendent I can tell you wholeheartedly this was the first and and hope many more times to come even better than this it's probably our best audit and I'm going to leave it to you and when I say best it's obviously due to the number of suggestions in the past and recommendations that we've implemented uh to better our accounting business of it um so please if Jonathan you want to share with the board and the public a few words and your findings and the process please I geted got I want everybody I'll give it to him I have it I have hard copies my name is John I work for CPA we the auditor of Palisades Park School District and it's our pleasure to come down and talk about the results of the audit primarily talking about revenues expenses and fund balance and a word or two about the audit process and what I try to do with our handouts is boil down about 150 to 160 pages of the audit book into some uh charts charts graphs and some uh Financial highlights what I'd like to do is is um start with the revenues and comparing them between this year and last year and also looking at some charts and some Trends now in terms of revenue from District to District to District that I went to this past audit season there are three pretty con pretty things that are pretty consistent and Pal's Park is no different from most of the other districts I saw number one interest on bank accounts is up for pretty much everybody Palisades Park is no different if you look at interest and other miscellaneous income on the first page of our financial highlights stand out we can see a pretty big jump between this year and last year that meets that meets my expectation as far as um interest going up because interest has pretty much gone up for everybody Al stes Park is no different the second thing I noticed is uh the increase in state aid primarily Revenue Fund in the capital projects fund the special Revenue fund is the result of expanded preschool Aid and that's gone on with for several districts that we've looked at in this ta cycle everybody almost everybody's getting a bump in preschool education Park is no different in addition to that whether are called Rod or regular operating District Grant District grants are available in your capital projects fund pal states park has a rod Grant in effect right now for for a roof replacement project which is detailed in the F section of your financial report and that represents the jump from 29156 versus $577 in the prior year the third consistency is the sun setting and use of the AR Funds American Rescue plan funds where the federal government gave out additional federal aid in two waves three uh three grants and then five grants and the first the first set of three grants sunsetted around September of 2023 the last set of Grants sunsetted around September of um 2024 and we can see in the special Revenue fund a difference of 5,867 893 versus 3,231 228 that the district has used its Rod grants and primarily the rod grants were used for hbac projects that were ongoing in the district during this past year those are really spikes in revenue between this year and last year but what I wanted to do and we're going to jump into the next page of our handout I wanted to look at a pie chart just to see how the revenue stream works for the district this past year and we can see that most of our P wedge is going to be green red and yellow the green part representing the tax levy the red part meaning the state sources and the yellow part and I want to highlight the yellow part going to be going down just like it's going to be going down for everybody as the AR grants have sunsetted but for the most part the district's funding came from the tax levy the state sources and the federal sources the uh line chart to the right details the tax L what's what's happened over the last 10 years and the the real pronounce things 2020 where the district had a where the municipality had a significant revaluation tax rates went down things have been pretty steady and the line that you can control is the blue line and the district's done a pretty effective job of controlling that blue line and keeping the tax rate relatively stable if you look to our bar charts right below that we do a 10e trend and we can see that the the tax tax increased a bit but it's been pretty stable as we talked about ear ear with State sources we can really see the bump in 2022 2023 and 2024 and those bumps represent preschool W 2022 was the really the first the first year you had it 23 it was expanded and 24 it was expanded some more on top of that it also includes your for your Ro project we talked about earlier the federal money and the federal money ises on the year red on the red bar charts and we can see the federal stimulus money primarily in latter part 22 a little bit in 2023 and a lot in 2024 the spend down of those funds we also talked about the impact of miscellaneous income earlier in our presentation and we can see the spike between 23 24 as we mentioned earlier that's going to be interest interest on bank accounts and that's pretty consistent throughout um almost all the audits actually in this ccle any questions comments concerns on Revenue before we jump into expenditures okay we're gonna go over a financial highlights for expenditures and um two things stuck out to me while I Was preparing today the increase in students and instruction related services in the capital Outlet that's really where most of the bumps were in things for students in instruction Rel Services a lot of the bump there was for our occupational physical therapists our one-on-one AIDS and our speech therapists and that's going to be contingent on IEPs or individual education plans both for students in housing students attending other districts we saw a pretty big jump in that this year compared to last year in addition to that Capital outlay jump from 2.6 mil to 4 96 no Sor we are we on are we on the I'm sorry should have an expenditure Financial highlight page oh no problem so as I was saying um our big change with expenditures between this year and last year related services and to a much bigger exent than the capital outlay and the capital outlay is a bit of an outlier because we're not going to have that urine in year out we're certainly not going to be upgrading the big uh doing great big hbac projects every year and that repres that Capital ATL number also represents the uh use of the federal art money that we talked about earlier that's used for those projects moving to our pie charts on the next page I wanted to get a sense of where we were spending our money and from District to District to District that I go to my Pie wedges are primarily going to be green blue and purple most of my pie chart is going to be uh made up of that Jonathan can you just display the page you're looking at so board members can follow thank you yeah two pie charts forend the pop High chart is going to be green blue and purple in most districts and Palisades Park is no different our green our green wedges represent our our instruction costs our regular instruction and special education instruction our darker blue W pie wedge is going to be the tuition for the students that are sent out of the district our student and instruction related services are ligher blue high that represents our occupational and phys physical therapist that we talked about earlier not only that our nurses office the guidance counselor the child study team the Librarians all the all of those departments are covered in that area our general Administration includes the superintendent and principal's office as well as the business office plan operations and maintenance operations and maintenance of the buildings people transportation and employee benefits the purple wed what we wanted to look at below that is okay now that we know that the depart where the Departments are we want to see exactly what it is these these expenditures are comprised of most of it as it is in most districts is going to be on salaries and related benefits and that's going to be the green and the purple wedge a bit for utilities a little more for tuition supplies are supplies are are red wish the purchase services that's going to be our specialist and therapist that we talked about earlier your auditor your attorney and your transportation cost on the next page what we wanted to do was go through was go through and do a trend and do some line charts on things we have about eight line charts on and we can see that a regular instruction and special education instruction have been pretty has been pretty regular instruction a bit more special education's been steady over the last few years tuition's gone up and normally when tuition goes up I'm gonna look two lines down and look at Transportation because those things often work hand inand if we're sending students out of the out of the district chances are better than not we're having to transport them so I see I can see I can see these Trends are in alignment with one another bit more tuition bit more transportation we talked about the bump in student and instruction related Services earlier that's one that was primarily driven by more therapist this past year General General Administration is relatively flat as our employee benefits plan operations and maintenance we did not have as many repairs as we had last year we're also in the process of of building new things too so the expectation is hopefully we'll have a lot less hbac build once the hbac projects are done any questions comments concerns expend we talk Surplus the capital outl that you mentioned is that in the plant operations and mainten would that be I'm sorry capital outlay capital outlay are are things that either big equipment purchases or big building or big projects that the district under but it's not included nope it it won't be included in there because we find that for Trend analysis Capital can go up and down and up and down and it's very hard to thank you any other questions comments concerns for we Surplus okay in terms of surplus between this year and last year and I'm looking at our financial uh I'm looking at our financial highlights Financial facts Surplus is down 542 654 between this year and last year the big the biggest decreases in Surplus were primarily a cap reserve and we talked about the rod Grant in your capital projects fund earlier in our presentation with Rod grants there's a local match the Deb in capital reserve represents the district's contribution to that Grant because the state kicks in 40 the state kicks in 40% and the district kicks in the balance of 60% that's explaining that explains the decrease in capital reserve our encumbrances we have a decrease there we went from 1 m8493 and 562 273 this year our open encumbrances represent purchase orders where the purchase order is in the system but we haven't received the goods yet and what we want to do is make sure those funds are Reserve to set aside because we're going to get these we're going to get these products in the fiscal year we definitely we don't want to be spending 24 25 money on 23 24 stuff and setting up that reserve for incumbrances ensures that that doesn't happen really it's a reflection of just open purchase orders at the end of the year bit of an increase in excess Surplus in the state of New Jersey you can't have too much money at the end of the year an excess Surplus represents that are that are automatically entered as a budget as budgeted fund balance in your next budget cycle the amount of 1,600,000 was realized at the end of the 2223 audit and was used as budgeted fund balance in the 2425 they're always two years apart the excess surplus of 1, 30951 at the end of 24 audit that's going to be used as budgeted Surplus in the in the 25 26 that's going to be worked on soon by the district office any questions comments concerns before we move on to a couple of other Surplus charts I'm trying to follow so proba have questions later what we do now is we're going to look at a pie chart of of surplus as the as our pie chart goes from green to blue the money gets less restricted our excess Surplus we talked about earlier that that makes up our two top green wedges our lighter green wedge represents our capital reserve and the even lighter green W represents the maintenance Reserve now the capital reserves are going to be for funds in the district's long range facility plan so what this enables the district to do is finance all are part of a uh a capital project internally without having to go to the taxpayers or without having to go for the taxpayers as much the maintenance Reserve Works in a similar way in that there are items in your comprehensive maintenance plan that may be a sign that may be a significant repair that's not a capital item and this enes the district to keep funds aside to fund those so we don't necessarily have to get the taxpayer for that or at least not all in one shot the district is self-insured for unemployment compensation there's a little bit of money there our committed amount the later blue wedge it represents our incumbrances our assigned fund balance represents money that's earmarked as budgeted fund balance in the next budget cycle and the lightest blue shade is your unassigned f balance your quote unquote freund balance if you look at our you look at the trends over the last five years our restricted balance that's excess Surplus have gone up a bit encumbrances this one I expect to go up and down a little bit because it's contingent on what your purchase order your open purchase order system or encumbrances are at the end of the year are unrestricted has gone down over the two years and one of the things the state did in the 21 21 and 2022 fiscal year was increased the maximum amount of quote unquote free Surplus you can have because normally a district is limited to two% of operating 2% of expenditures or $250,000 for those two years the state allowed you to go to 4% but that uh but that ended after the 2022 f so back to 20 when the uh when we got to the 2023 fiscal year we went back to 2% in the decreases represent that our assigned fund balance represents amounts that are earmarked for subsequent year budgets represent CHS in capital reserve activity and maintenance Reserve activity and the maximum am have because as I said earlier there are some instances in the state of New Jersey where you can have too much money capital reserve what's in your long range facility plan your maintenance Reserve you're limited to what's in your comprehensive maintenance plan as we can see here the district has used capital reserve over the last years we know that from 23 the decrease in capital reserve is represented by the local mat R and for maintenance Reserve the district um the district made a transfer of funds at the end of the year increasing it a bit but the district also withdrew $350,000 in the 2024 2025 year the year now for related maintenance projects and as we can see we're pretty close to our maximum amount for what we can have in our maintenance Reserve at the end of any questions comments concerns on Surplus before we move on a word or two about the oil we come and visit the district typically early in the summer and towards the end of the summer we look at everything from payroll records to board secretaries reports to bank statements to cafeteria records to even enrollment uh District's enrollment and transportation reports the results of this past year resulted in four audit recommendations down from down from last year the first recommendation is to ensure that the district have a separate Treasurer in place or a reconciler of accounts per New Jersey guidelines the second recommendation which was a repeat of last year was making sure that the lowi income registers in eligibility criteria are maintained when reporting on the district's ASA report the third recommendation deals with um the state mandated position control roster ensuring that it's in agreement with the board's Financial records and the last recommendation and the last recommendation is making sure that expenditures that are for Capital expenses are properly classified to Capital outlay account rather than current expens accounts any questions comments concerns from the board can you explain the details of that last one again sure when uh when when expenditures are incurred we can go into one of two buckets a current expense a current expense is a result of operations or a piece of equipment or a construction project that's going to last three years and we uh when we were reviewing expenditures we saw like the big one that sticks out for me is the wireless infrastructure which was for a significant amount and it's going to last the district a good long time at least as far as technology goes but when we see things like that we have to move and we have to propose reclassifying an expense getting down in the leeks a little bit from fund 11 operating to fund 12 Capital outlay when it goes over a certain dollar amount we have to say something and this was a case where it was a prior your recommendation that wasn't completely correct any other questions comments Jonathan a question unrelated to the uh audit but what was discussed during our work session earlier this evening uh the last time your firm and group was with us it was determined that approximately $4,228 was short paid to us from the burrow this is four years thereafter are we still permitted to receive those funds yes thank you and to that question do you think we we do this SP auditing for past 20 five years prior to that year that you found that findings is that possible to go over that long years uh I think I think anything's possible I sure would like to have this conversation with my boss okay as she as she as she arranges for those type of special engagements we will look forward to getting that what was the uh issue with the position control roster the position control roster what get get a register with names salaries and where they should be charged and we we found instances where folks were were charged one were in one spot on the position control r somewhere else in the financial statement so I think what uh when I ask for a more detailed explanation of that not from Mr Weiss but from our internal systems in the event an employee a teacher um is paid from their regular line as a teacher and he or she is now a coach they technically need to be paid from a separate line but it's the same employee it it's just a management uh where we I think we the recommendation we're implementing already is that we ensure that we have like an Excel spreadsheet with all employees and any payroll line that they're getting drawn from is under that same employee can we explain it any better is that okay AB thank you so the completion date if that's a past that means we met the goal the completion no so anything now on the corrective action plan in consultation with Mr Weiss uh Alex Mr Kowski myself Mr Weiss have met um the these are obviously in the corrective action plan that's in the folder of the board members on the drive um the four items that were pointed out there's a finding in one column there's a recommendation there's a method of implementation there's a person responsible and a completion date so on the first item in the corrective action plan the finding of um not having a treasurer of school monies the recommendation was that we should obtain a treasurer of school monies or appoint another staff member as the reconciler of record the method of implementation the district has appointed the assistant business administrator accounts payable as the reconciler of record for the 2425 school year obviously the person responsible for overseeing it was Mr Kowski as the business administrator our completion date was already met on August 1st Miss Vell has already assumed those responsibilities so so long that we've met that requirement next year's finding would not have that one there so the other ones that speak to um completion date of January 13th or May 31st obviously we are working towards completing these actions okay thank you you're welcome Mr Weiss um I thank you so much for being here tonight I thank your team again for their efforts uh it's always a pleasure working with your group um I know again there's a lot of information for the board members to process here uh if there are any questions after tonight's meeting we we can you know compile them to together collectively we can reach out uh Alex would be probably the best person to contact you of course um but you know in the next couple of days comes to mind from the board um we can definitely follow up with you my contact information is available to everybody thank you sir thank you so much Mr wise questions for him yeah until we open audience sorry if you want to send them to me I can always follow up thank you Mr CH that concludes my report have a great night thank you Mond you have any report so that's approve the meeting minutes for the December 2024 and January 8 theor meeting 2025 do you have any question before we go on the voting process may I have a motion to approve the two meeting minutes Amanda please reflect the December 18th meeting minutes do not have any of the new members voting in favor thank you thank you for that line so Finance we have 12 consent agenda but as I um I mentioned in the working session that I like to um off consent number 11 since I didn't go over P of this comprehensive AIT so I need to get ation you next time um I need motion to may I have a motion to make it item number 11 I'll second all in favor no no objection okay we have a motion to approve number 11 number one to 12 except number 11 second please s yes Sergio yes Rebecca Le Anthony Kim yes J yes I yesim yes yes okay next the Personnel we have six consent agenda for number to anyone have any questions if not we have a motion to approve number 126 in person agenda and resolution [Music] motion yes yesca Le Anthony yes J yes yes yes yes move on to addication we have a Brig treat we have one agenda to be approved that's may I have a motion I make motion to approve in [Music] favor so let's jump to the uh new business let's see there are actually bus agendas byet right so we have a motion to approve the committee members for 2025 all in favor objection number two be reserved the P Board of Education amends by law 9322 to add paragraph F electronic communication among board members F scourges provided for member emails may only be accessed through procedure in adherence to the open public record act by all parties including District administration and employees he reserv the pide part code of Education man Pary 64 12.10 District rights and responsibilities the existing language is to the computer system is the property of the district and or computer software and Hardware belongs to it therefore the district retains the right to monitor all access to and use of the internet revised language is the computer system is the property of the district and or computer software and Hardware belongs to it therefore the district retain the right to monitor or access to and use of the internet for the avoidance of doubts the right to monitor does not provide arbitary access by Administration Employees to schol provideed board members email District employees and administration should not cause the alteration or dele of emails or other it loes without prior approval by the board may I have a motion to approve this new um the par revisions motion or in favor sorry any abion objection um the motion pass the next motion is about um committee evaluation of advisor committee be reserv that the par Board of Education approves the establishment of the evaluation of advisor standing committee to develop and oversee the effective system of evaluating the chief School administrator princip assistant principal B principal business administrator teaching staff and other District employees went appropriate the committee in collaboration with the board of President should Implement policies 2130 2131 and 4116 by creating evaluation rubrics conducting an annual summary conference to access performance progress and student achievement preparing a written reports for review and approve approval by the P Bo and um carrying aition related respons ability as needed may have a motion to approve to create a evaluation theary committee I was a little I thought this was going to be reviewed before we moved on this yes can we do can we it might be the language is true I don't know so can you can you can we revisit this sure um I need I I think we could just go through I think it's simple enough to create a committee to to oversee these things I don't really okay because as a board of ed member you can't evaluate anyone besides the superintendent it's not meant for it like yes but you're overseeing an evaluation of the administrators as well as the teachers advisory committee I cre so I I think to clarify language is pretty specific as to develop an effective system it's not so that the Board of Education members can go ahead and administer the schools and evaluate teachers directly that can happen won't happen I think this is to create a rubric that which I believe is a responsibility of the board according to the policies uh that can be used by the administration to evaluate their staff as well as for the board to evaluate the CSA thank you so again I'm sorry I don't want to belabor this point but a rubric the committee is going to oversee the system for evaluating all of these individuals by creating what I believe is already in place and I I feel like in place but it can be umed by so more specific requirements are going to be sought I I believe well I believe that's the intent I it I'm not sure but I think if if I'm understanding correctly that just like the board has policies on facilities and maintenance and things like that they also have this a facilities committee because it so they they want to have a specific group of board members who are dedicated to that and focused on that area and exercising the board's appropriate function in that area so it's not meant to do more than the board already is doing I think in the policies that are that are in place it's not a new policy it's it's it's just designating a specific subset of the board whose focus is going to be on the doing the existing policies and and that's my understanding right I I think the other thing is some of these policies were not being executed by previous Sports um got enough that yeah so should I make a two motion the one is that to put this on this motion on the floor or not and if you one way to do it would be to just call for a motion to pass it for get second then you can vote and then there's enough I make a motion again they may have a motion to create the evaluation advisory Comm I'll make the motion IA yes yes it could be the language issue whatever no junor yes yes William Kim yes yeah yes so the motion pass the next motion um the next new business um again I'm sorry that it's not on theenda on the paper but i' like to make a motion to put order the School Employees contract which is public report to be reflected in our website in our school website so the for example the teachers is so the Union contract and if individual um School St like the employees in our superintendent office or secretaries yeah they're they contracts are public record so those so I'm not saying each individual teachers but Union that's Union contract so may I have a motion to post our um School Employees contract on our school website what would be the purpose do the easy access to it because it's for for me it's been hard to get it correct it contracts to review this and that some parts it takes years and actually I look for other District as well and quite a few or but anyway that's not that uncommon that we can find their contracts on their websites so this would Encompass down to janitors J has a unit um do they have a unit Absolut right so that that unit unit un and then we we see some patterns questions about the current negotiations since as long as any documents and records are public I'm very open to share it and then I I think those public records should be easily access accessible to all the community members as well yes C can I ask uh Law Group if there's any issue legally with doing that no especially because it's conditioned upon that the documents being public or publicly available we can not not based on my understanding so if someone wanted to obtain that right now they would make request the office is that how they do it's right yes right it's it's subject to Oprah um with the open public record act and a request some of the collective baring agreements might be available on the perk website um you theoretically they're also supposed to be there I have a motion no then the motion cares okay it didn't pass that right there's no motion so that's move on to may have a motion to close the regular session open our meting to public made motion all in favor no objection so the particip each public participation is limited to minutes and just start state with your name and address a question my daughter last week she's in first grade from lber stating that the babies at lber are very cute and that a prek4 teacher was at lber thought it was a little odd but I just brushed it off but now today we hear that it has been implemented but there's no so what is the estimated back and forth or back and forth okay uh as I mentioned previously fortunately enough uh we have been able to implement those two classrooms the playground uh we've already consulted with one of the vendors um we are seeking the location of that playground either very close to the school building uh or near the basketball court with that being said um again I'm not the expert on location of playgrounds but I don't want to put it somewhere to move it later uh um reality is 20 plus years ago when I started in this community the playground was actually in what is now a parking lot there was a playground there it was a rather nice playground at Lindberg elementary school but as our schools continue to grow and Community continues to expand uh parking was essential playground was removed unfortunately uh with that being said the goal is by the spring warmer weather uh will obviously result in some of this snow and ice to be melt and a playground to be installed is a for pre my name is Mike I live oned Avenue I came here today to complain about the weather but I don't think Dr s s help with the weather right so get that um I remember two meetings ago Dr C showed a graph of metrics that you want our kids to meet certain or exceed certain benchmarks and I believe you know I have three three kids that go to the school district and uh each one of each of my kids go to different school so all three schools I have a kid that goes to that school so in order I'm thinking the key to meeting those benchmarks that you want to exceed are sitting in front of you weing these green t-shirts so please show value to our kids the parents that have kids in the school system and the teachers show value to the teachers and pay them what they deserve put here hi my name is Prince Prince I'm a negotiations chair for the Pal Park Education Association first I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year I'm also pleased to see that during our negot uh the reorganization meeting that the board chose to retain the same negotiation chair William pin which I hope will provide continuity in our discussions moving forward I'd like to take a moment to update the community on our current status of negotiations no progress has been made since May of 202 the board's most recent salary offer remains below the county average we are now in the progress process of finding a FactFinder has been assigned and we were informed tonight that our first meeting is going to be February 4th at this time we sincerely hope the board of education has moved past the efforts to rewrite our entire contract something no other District in our area is attempting the staff at palates Park deserves the fair and Equitable contract now our Educators have devoted their careers to this community but if these issues remain unresolved many of us may be forced to see positions in other districts where we better compensated and respected as we enter this New Year our goal remains unchanged to secure a fair and Equitable contract that reflects the values of our work and our dedication to palace's park so I just want to thank you for your attention and your continued support [Applause] would stay any but for that language that the board provide U propose is that was the one reason that I tried to make motion to put all the contracts to be available to public because I want people to see the order languages and that's the that I can explain and then have some more understanding from you and um I really appreciate our negotiation team of the members they put a lot of time to update the languages which was not being really updated for past years decades or more than that so that I just want to um express my first work thanks to all my negotiation team to do that so good evening everyone and a happy New Year uh my name is Brad I'm from U down the street down onel Avenue my my comments are about the audit some of you guys know I'm a numbers guy I'm statistics person and my my questions is is the audit specifically speaking s the acfr and AMR is at publicly posted in a digital format and if so can we find it um the second one is does the aut report uh that when they do they have findings or irregularities there uh do they require secondary reviews to being compliant with the isqc or the PCA OB so those are two acronyms I like to be posted down to ask the auditor that's that's actually required by every International quality standard and I want to know is there a secondary review and are the findings I see there's a cap right so cap is corrective action plan most quality audits in any form and has a cap up it's missing an alpha which is corrective action preventative action the reason why you have a preventative action is for the auditor it's required to come back and validate the findings because you can show a smoke show and make a treasure and that person ends up being in the cafeteria and nothing gets done so is there a followup and what's the state requirement being so I would hate to see a bunch of red tape and you guys don't get your money um and then I want to have a a comment that was made regarding the language of and of the collective bargaining agreement being posted I think it's a fantastic idea any any type of transparency is good um it benefits both sides and uh puts everyone in a level of playing field there's benefits to posting contracts and when in a discussion and trying to negotiate something whether it's for the school or or the or the board or the town or the the staff reason being is it allows you to see what you're working with you know you may be asking for a mountain but all you may be working with is 2% of the tax budget and that's one thing that needs to be addressed like what are you working with and what's your cap and whether or not you need to get together get constituents and talk to the mayor to increase the time budget because you could be asking for exist and that the town hasn't voted for the town may not have agreed to go past the 2% and or they where there are in favor of this but our voices aren't heard because we don't know what the cap is so please um reconsider posting the contract reconsider discussing what the budget is and see what can really be done because we can go for years and nothing gets done and we lose great teachers great opportunities and we and a good Community with a bad education comes a back community so I I really like where I live I like the work you guys do so thank you happy new Mr Rivera I'll be very brief in my answer uh it probably wasn't just his his charm that one you over he's pretty smart sounds like at least I don't know U but a lot of those um acronyms I'm going to leave it to these Finance guys over here to my left as far as finding or regularities and corrective actions um we have to submit all of that down to the Department of Education you make a great point and one that's very important to me uh like any um oversight agency clearly they have a job to do and I am not questioning Mr Weiss or his team because they're no longer here but when they do their job obviously who is kept watching them um you know again we've had different firms who look for different things and my hope is that if there is a repeat finding a new team would come in and that's the first thing they're looking for that it was corrected and upon correcting those clearly uh the information does get shared publicly um as far as the audit itself the ACR acfr ACR I've never heard of those two acronyms so I'm going to leave that to The Experts I know that but again I I don't know what the accounting regulations require us to post and not post you know me to be a very straightforward person if you'd like to look at it make some time you're a taxpayer i' be more than happy to sit in the office and show you them specifically thank you Mr atast I got a one from you good evening Board of Education members I'm Frank ring I live on 14th Street 251 14th Street I was born and raised here in pal STS Park I'm a proud graduate of Al Park High School class of 1981 in around a while this p August I sold my house in Oakland and now live with my father in palates Park as I seek out more permanent living arrangements after college I made the choice to return to town the town that shaped me and I settled back into the community I started my business I had an office down a Commercial Avenue that was back in 1985 I sold my coffee service in 1998 and for 26 years I've had the privilege of teaching at Pal Park High School helping to guide and Inspire the students the same way my teachers did for me this past November I was deeply honored to be inducted into the palace States Park High School athletic Hall of Fame a recognition of my commitment to this community and students but tonight I stand before you with a heavy heart and in many ways I feel like I don't know the people that I work for and perhaps that's part of the problem we have with this whole negotiation it's difficult to collaborate effectively or reach common ground when there's such a disconnect between the staff and the board of educ ation maybe that's why we find ourselves at the impa of negotiations the staff of palis Park High School is asking for a raise that aligns with what other board of educations have settled in nearby towns this isn't an unreasonable request it's a matter of fairness and respect for the hard work and dedication of the Educators who serve the community now to put this in perspective I'm at the top of the pay guide 26 years with my salary I can afford a mortgage of approxim $310,000 yet as of this morning left on Zillow there are 26 homes for sale in Palisades Park 21 of them are asking over a million dollars the cheapest is listed at $725,000 if I marry remarry a woman who's at the top of the guid Pal Park we still can't afford the Liv okay now this Gap illustrates the growing cost of living in the community and highlights the reality that many of us despite years of dedicated service we can't afford to live where we work or even the surrounding towns is getting so expensive in the past six months 24 homes in Palisades Park have sold for over a million dollars let that sink in since the contract expired 24 homes Palisades Park over a million dollars every new home sold mostly duplexes replace an older single family home and now pay two to three times the old tax bill in 2010 my father sold his two family house to a builder he was paying $110,000 a year in taxes the build to put up four Town Homes each paying $10,000 that's an extra $30,000 a year for last 15 years so the town has collected $450,000 just on one piece of property in town this has happened hundreds of times in the burrow you can't drive down the street without any new construction Okay so that reflects the affluence pouring into the town given this influx of wealth it's hard to accept that money is an issue with holding up these negotiations it just I was born at night I wasn't born last night now what's even more disheartening is the lack of connection and communication from the Board of Education now this is who I am I'm a dedicated teacher I'm a proud Alum and someone who's given Decades of service to the community but I I ask this respectfully who are you and I mean that when I say I really don't know the people that I work for not one of you has ever addressed our staff during a meeting we have monthly meetings to just communicate what's your vision of where you want to take this District I have no idea where you stand board members get elected I've never received even an email to say hey this is who I am this is what I believe in so maybe if if that happened there wouldn't be this divide between you and us here in green shirts so how can we trust in your leadership or your vision when there's no effort to engage or connect with the people or working tirelessly every day to serve this District I also need to share what recently we had a a union Workshop about seeking employment in other districts as there is a teacher shortage in New Jersey now I'm shocked that under your leadership our Union is now recommending to me that I find Financial Security someplace else I mean have 26 years here and it's Tell G somewhere else because we don't see the union lawyer doesn't see this happening here this is a school and a community I care deeply about and yet have being encouraged to look elsewhere because of the challenges we faces so I urge you to reflect on the kind of leadership you want to provide and the Legacy you want to leave I'm asking you to settle this contract with a pay raise that is in line just in line with everyone in the area was getting investing in your teachers is an investment in the quality education for the students of palisay Park show that you value hard work dedication and experience of the staff who have given so much to this District now let's move forward together settle this contract and ensure that houseat Park remains a place where Educators feel respected supported and proud to work in our teachers and our students deserve that thank you very [Applause] much Mr Frank I'm sorry miss your last name ring R ring uh perhaps if you were the negotiation there there would be a new contract because not once did your negotiations team ask for County average uh the demand has been well over County average continually and the lack of movement is because we are in this backf finding process now where literally nothing has happened for months because the because the association has not wanted to sit at the table and try to work through these things in a formal process which is also why there has not been more of an explanation from the board members during these public meetings because this is not the place to negotiate a new contract the place to do it is at a negotiations table at a meeting between the Committees and the attempts to try to do it in public uh is is not right and improper not fair to the board and when you ask why hasn't the board contacted us staff directly they're not supposed to they're not supposed to have it's not a back and forth you had your it's not a back and forth you had your time uh this is the response um the staff the board members are not supposed to deal directly with staff they're not supposed to have direct conversations about what the uh board wants to do and how to implement it because they're supposed to set the policy and not get involved in the day today so if your expectations are that they're going to come in and have one-on-one conversations or have Direct Communications with the staff they're not supposed to not what I expect I just I don't know anyone here I I don't know who who anyone is well I ask is an email this is they've all run for office they've all been subject to public like to take District that's all and as far as County averages the county average pretty much every contract we settled since I've been here and every year the board every Bo this board has said the same thing we don't have money but we look around the town millions of dollars in homes are being sold there's a 2% on what the board can do the board can raise uh more than 2% so when the association asks for count the average and it's above 2% the board's going to have to come up with cuts elsewhere thank you thank you anybody else in public if not may have oh I talks I'm sorry I'm back up come back up and I'll be not two seconds I just want to say most of what was just said if not all was complete by Mr and we have spoke even at our last board Mee before I left we went over the county average me and Amanda sat with you and went over the math that gives the exact County average that we are below right now and I also at that point because you decided to say that I we are in fact finding but negotiations can still happen and did I not say to you before I left I'm sorry I'm pointing because I don't like saying I'm being lied to or what I said it was Miss information I said anytime anytime you want to have a conversation please reach out to me February 3rd the mediators want to have a meeting we said yes the board could not February 4th is me and my husband's 15th year anniversary you know what I'm doing I'm going to be a fact finding because this is what is important to me so how dare you I was in the negotiation meeting I'm pretty sure that or the U Mr M talks about is pretty correct miss most negoti no I was there every time every single time and I don't want to back and force you didn't respect me to say no to your second speech they have a motion to close the public participation in agend the meeting oh no not agend the meeting we need to go to S so they have a motion to close the public participation motion second favor so we go on S uh there will be no formal action after the close session so