Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order by Carol Johnson at 7:33am.

Minutes:

Jack moved to accept November 19 meeting minutes, seconded by Jim McEntire. Motion carried.

Guests:

Mark Hanna of SCORE, Eric of Citizens for Affordable Housing, Bill and Sandy from the School Board, Steve Methner.

Announcements:

Edna invited members to the dress rehearsal for Panto, Dec 5th at Edna’s Place, admission by donation.

Kaj said today is the last day to comment on the Rayonier cleanup

Dec. 3rd the City Council takes up a resolution supporting ranked choice voting, doing away with a top two primary. Attend the meeting to voice your opinion.

PABA approved a letter to DNR and would like to submit it prior to the final comment date of Dec. 3. Matthew moved to approve the letter, second by Edna. Kaj thanked Jim for the phrasing of the letter. Motion passed.

Program:  Marty Brewer, Port Angeles School Superintendent – Capital Funding Levy

Over 150 community members served on bond committees over the past decade and have recommended improvements or replacements for PA schools.

The feedback was to maximize dollars from the state, provide a long-range, performance-based plan with a consistent rate, and minimize the burden on local taxpayers.

Port Angeles has more kids and less money to spend than other districts. In reality they are asking less than the 2018 levy.

They have installed a safety vestibule at Jefferson Elementary, creating a single point of entry. A facilities board will help with community input to determine what students need.

There is a 40% increase from when they introduced the high school bond in 2014. Only Roosevelt has fire suppression. Mr. Brewer reviewed the timeline and building conditions.

Challenges are to pay a prevailing wage, follow the school buiding protocol and to build to withstand an earthquake.

They need to have all the dollars collected from the levy before they can start building. For a $100K home, the cost is $262 a year.

They have no budget to change out complete systems but have more money now than 7 years ago. Funding was understated by the state for keeping systems operational.

Stevens students can’t drink the water, they have separately plumbed pipes for quality drinking water at specific places.

They want to retain the asset of portables and use them moving forward, potentially for storage. They want brick and mortar for students.

The high school campus has 2 roofs that exceed 35′, the city said they won’t have to have a height exception.

The school district plans to be ahead of vocational trades and has had initial conversations with a makers space. They moved their offices to the Lincoln Center and the composites center is there which they can use for teaching and learning.

It’s a performance-based plan they are proposing and will go back out to a vote after the period is over.

A board member is working on the harvest issue with the DNR. Two ways to raise money are a capital levy and capital bond, until they have a voter approved levy or bond, they cannot collect money.

Mr. Brewer said they share the concern about reducing the cost drivers and that a reform is needed but the issue gets pushed to the back burner. They don’t like to publish bid prices and alternates.

Upcoming Meeting:

Dec 2: Danetta Rutton, PASD Truancy Committee

Meeting adjourned at 8:45am.