Hospital sewer line
The school board talked briefly about the request of Ringgold County Hospital’s board to run a pressure sewer line across the school property.
The final route across the school property is still being determined, it was noted.
The school board is asking attorney Jim Pedersen to develop an agreement on how the upkeep of the line will be handled over the years and the board hopes to be able to approve the agreement at a special board meeting being scheduled.
Other buildings, grounds items
A number of other buildings and grounds items were also mentioned at the meeting.
Superintendent Reiter noted that there is one more item of paper work for the application to build an addition to the southeast corner of the high school to served as a FEMA storm shelter and double as additional wrestling room and weight training space.
It is hoped that the project will be approved once the final paperwork is in place. The space would provide shelter in the event of dangerous weather for the school and athletic facilities.
Work will continue on the garage being built at the high school grounds as well.
Reiter said he was going to try to organize some volunteers to help finish up the project, which was begun by the construction trades classes.
Painting is being completed in the elementary school rooms and halls, it was noted. Four youth have been hired to help with projects at the schools over the summer in a federal work program, it was noted.
It was noted that the custodians are working around the Sites For Learning program, which is being hosted this summer at the high school because of the construction at the elementary school.
The board also discussed what kind of compensation they might pay Saint Joseph Catholic Church for use of its facilities for classroom space this spring after the flooding at the elementary school.
Reiter said he was still working with insurance companies on responsibility for the flooding at the elementary school.
EMC Insurance has also reopened the matter of winter ice storm roof repairs, he noted.
Indiana insurance presentation
Bob Shafer and Indiana Insurance representative Dave Davies made a presentation to the school board about an alternative property and casualty and workman’s compensation insurance plan for the school district.
Davies noted that the company serves school districts in several other midwest states and has been doing so for some 30 years.
The plan is an alternative to the proposal from EMC Insurance that has been brought by Cunning Co. Inc. of Mount Ayr. The school has used EMC Insurance for many years.
Some differences in coverage and programs offered between the two companies were pointed out in the presentation.
The bid from Indiana Insurance was $68,153 plus $1,030 for terrorism risk and $3,555 for additional pollution coverage.
This is substantially below the more than $100,000 that EMC Insurance charged when Shafer handled that company’s coverage in the current school year.
Superintendent Reiter indicated that the EMC bid was substantially lower as well and that he would look over both bids, ask some further questions, and then bring a recommendation on insurance coverage to a special board meeting being planned.
Technology purchases
A list of technology purchases planned for the 2009-10 school year were discussed with the board and approved at the meeting.
The district plans to purchase 24
Apple computers and a mobile cart for $27,667.95 with special education funds.
Plans also call for the purchase of six LCD projectors for the secondary building to be installed during summer of 2009. This $17,300 would come from special education funds as well.
As part of the building project, another six LCD projectors will be installed in the elementary school building in December 2009 at a cost of $15,500.
If stimulus funds for Title I come through as promised, 12 lap top computers for Title I and Fluent Reader programs would be purchased at a cost of $10,000. Because the programs wanted work best on PC computers, these computers might be PC computers instead of Apple computers.
In addition, purchase of a new server to replace one of the 14 that the district currently uses may be done for a cost of $3,000. The new technology director would determine which server to replace.
Also included are the $40,000 for the third year of the lease of the one on one computers for the middle school students.
Line item budget
The school board looked over the line item budget for the 2009-10 school year and asked several questions.
Superintendent Reiter plugged in some changes that board members noted and ran out another copy of the document before it was voted on.
“This is a working document and my plan is to hold tightly to these amounts,” Reiter told the board.
“I’m not happy with the dollar amount for supplies and equipment, but that’s all we have left to spend,” he said. “It will be another tight year.”
With proposed federal stimulus money included, the budget would be some $128,000 more than the current year.
The budget includes a $25,000 hike in the electric budget to cover the difference expected in electrical bills, but does not include an increase for the proposed Alliant rate increase.
Auditing firm contracts
Contracts with two auditing firms to help with auditing of the Mount Ayr Community school district finances were approved at the meeting.
After sending requests for proposals to three auditing firms, only Van Maanen and Associates of Pella, the firm the school district has used in the past, returned a quote.
The board approved continuing with the firm. Base bid for the work was $8,700 with add ons for special reports.
The board also needs an auditor to look at its early retirement system and calculate the liabilities as part of the state-required accounting system.
Quotes of $6,750 from Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc., $6,000 from the Silverstone Group and $1,800 from J. Robert Hopson Inc. were received.
Hopson is a retired actuary who has been helping a number of school districts with the requirement.
The board approved working with the Hopson firm.
School finance report
The board looked at the secretary-treasurer’s monthly financial report through the month of May.
General fund balance is $906,595.23 as of May 31, some $112,627.50 higher than this time last year.
“The bad news is that we levied $500,000 to build up our cash balance and we have consumed much of that in operations,” superintendent Reiter noted.
The management fund balance was $17,720.48, down $14,881.11 from last year at the same time. The lunch fund stood at $107,858.96, some $26,971.38 higher than last year. Reiter noted that with no new money coming in and salaries to be paid out over the next two months will mean that the fund breaks about even, which is better than the deficit last year.
The capital projects construction fund stands at $4,658,720.24 at the end of May after expenditures of some $2,229.061.07 during the past school year.
The capital projects fund stands at $396,741.42, up $333,540.01 over last year.
School start public hearing
A public hearing was held as required by the Iowa Department of Education on the plans to start the 2009-10 school year on August 24.
There were no objections so the board voted to approve the start date.