Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education on Monday night approved a $1.8 million project to replace the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system at Gillespie Middle School, contingent upon the State Board of Education releasing funds to pay for the project, and voted to accept the district’s annual financial report.
In other action, the board voted to waive a state-imposed administrative cost cap for fiscal 2023. That action was preceded by a brief mandated public hearing during which no members of the public appeared to comment or ask questions. State law limits increases in administrative expenditures to no more than five percent of the previous year’s expenditures. The fiscal 2023 budget projects an increase in administrative expenses of about 17 percent.
Supt. Shane Owsley said the administrative line item of the budget includes not only administrative salaries but also office expenses, clerical staff and other items. Administrative salary increases this year were limited to three percent.
AIR CONDITIONING PROJECT
After an extensive discussion, the board voted unanimously to authorize a $1.8 million project to replace the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system serving Gillespie Middle School classrooms. The project excludes the recently built STEM lab because the HVAC system for that room was upgraded at the time of construction.
In a departure from the standard bidding process, the board opted to use OMNIA Partners, a public sector purchasing cooperative based in Tennessee, to seek a project proposal. Contracting for capital improvements through OMNIA is legally similar to local entities using state-bid contracts to purchase vehicles or other commodities.
“OMNIA satisfies all legal requirements for bidding,” Jeff Escott said, account executive for Thermal Mechanics Inc. (TMI), Chesterfield, Mo. Escott said OMNIA projects tend to come in at a price that is 17 percent to 29 percent lower than national averages.
The project approved Monday night calls for replacing existing rooftop units with a variant refrigerant flow system manufactured by Daikin. The system will use computerized controls. Each classroom will have its own thermostats or the system can be controlled remotely when the building is not in use. Additionally, the project includes provisions for a ventilating system that can exchange the air in each classroom once every hour, a ducted heating system, new ceilings and new lighting.
TMI Engineer Chris Swallow said the variant refrigerant system “is a really efficient system, so it should really reduce energy costs. The system and controls for the system will be so individualized that it would be possible for a room to be air-conditioned while the room next door is using the heating system. He recommended using controls that establish parameters for room temperatures to keep temperatures within a specified range from room to room.
“If the last two years taught us anything, it’s that outside air is a good thing,” Swallow said, touting the air exchange aspect of the project. New LED lighting and new ceilings, he said, will result in a building “that has a whole new feeling to it when you walk in.”
“This is the system I’d want if I was sending my kid to a school,” Swallow said.
Under the OMNIA concept, the vendor is allowed to assemble its own team of contractors for installation, supplying controls and other aspects of the project.
“One of the neat things about the OMNIA process is we can pull our own team together,” Swallow said.
“What we pledged to the district was that we would look at all possible options regardless of money,” Escott said. To that end, he said the company did not ask the school to provide an expected budget for the project before they began working on it. Swallow said he developed about a half-dozen proposals with various price tags. The administration and TMI settled on the option approved Monday night in consultation with Brian Paige, district building manager.
“This process was very different from anything I’ve been involved with before,” Owsley said, reiterating the company’s insistence on letting them develop the project without knowing the district’s budget for the project. “I really think the new lighting, new ceilings and air exchange is really going to change things in that building.”
The action is contingent upon the State Board of Education approving an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund refund. One reason for that contingency is that district originally had expected a $3 to $4 million project. Owsley said Monday night that he will submit a new application with a revised request reflecting the lower cost.
“Part of my job is to take your resources and try to expand that as much as I can,” Escott said, noting the company will take advantage of Ameren incentives for efficiency and lighting upgrades.
Once installed, Escott said the company will provide a five-year warranty as well as five years of product support, including filter changes and routine maintenance.
Responding to a question from board member Amanda Ross, Escott said the company would be ready to start work at the end of the current school year. He suggested there is enough time before the start of the project to compensate for any supply chain issues. E.L. Pruitt, a subcontractor, will prefabricate ductwork so it will be ready to install at the end of the school year.
Before the issue came to a vote, Owsley noted that he received an email from the school’s architectural firm asking the board to delay the vote until they had a chance to review the project. Board President Mark Hayes, however, dismissed the request as an effort to charge the district a professional fee.
“They wanted to know what we had to spend,” Hayes recalled. “You didn’t want to know the budget and that impressed me. I think this is a good proposal.”
The project was approved, contingent upon the release of ESSER funds, on a motion by Jack Burns, seconded by Ross. Board members Becky Hatlee and Bill Carter were absent.
FINANCIAL REPORT
On a motion by Burns, seconded by Ross, the board voted unanimously to accept the annual financial report prepared by Loy, Miller, Talley PC, Alton. Ken Loy, CPA, presented the audit, affirming the district had a good year financially resulting in an upgrade in the school’s State Board of Education financial profile.
“Overall, the district had a good year financially,” Loy said. Three opinion letters required by the state board were all positive regarding accounting procedures, internal controls and handling of federal funds. “It’s what we call a clean material report.”
The financial profile, based on a set of five criteria, went up from 3.35 out of 4 points the previous year to 3.7 for the most recent fiscal year. That score boosted the district from “Financial Review” to “Recognition,” the highest rating available.
“This is something the State Board of Education watches very closely,” Loy commented.
In all but one of the district’s funds, revenue exceeded expenditures for the fiscal year. Loy noted a $180,000 “planned” deficit in the Capital Projects fund related to the construction of the GMS STEM lab. The Education Fund ended the fiscal year with a budgetary surplus of more than $1.6 million, Loy said, primarily because of an injection of COVID relief money.
“You probably won’t see that next year,” Loy said, noting the $1.6 million is expected to be spent this year. In total, the district ended the year with a $2 million surplus, including $1.6 million in Education.
According to an audit summary distributed by Loy, the district has a combined fund balance in Education, Operations and Maintenance, and Transportation of nearly $7 million—enough to operate for nearly six months.
The audit also includes data for the last three years of property tax collections. Loy said the district’s property tax rate has declined slowly in recent years because of increases in the district’s total equalized assessed valuation. The EAV, he said, has increased six to seven percent per year but because of tax caps, the district can increase its levy by only two to three percent, depending upon the current rate of inflation.
“That makes your tax rate go down,” Loy said.
For 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, the district’s tax rate was 3.8 which resulted in a tax extension of $3,142,011. A total of $3,129,179 was collected—about 99.6 percent of the levy.
“You never collect 100 percent,” Loy said. “It’s always about 99 percent or a little more.”
The audit shows an average daily attendance of 994 students, compared with 1,028 the previous year. Estimated per capita tuition costs—total expenditures divided by the number of students—stood at $9,452, compared with $8,906 the previous year.
“That’s not a big increase,” Loy said. “We had a lot of districts with bigger increases.”
MINE SUBSIDENCE INSURANCE
After some discussion, the board voted to renew its mine subsidence policy despite a dramatic increase in the annual premium. The premium increased from $86,000 to $101,090 for the first $10 million of coverage, from $30,000 to $36,426 for the next $5 million of coverage, and $25,000 to $31,223 for another $5 million of coverage.
“There are very few companies that offer mine subsidence,” Owsley told the board. “We know the importance of having this. My question to the board is: do we want to continue having this amount of coverage? You can drop $5 million in coverage and pay basically what we paid last year.”
The policy covers the high school, vocational building and gymnasium, which are valued at about $28 million. Owsley pointed out that insurance professionals say a 100 percent loss is rare, but the district’s experience with the Benld Elementary School several years ago demonstrated that a total loss is not out of the question.
Ultimately the board voted unanimously to keep coverage at $20 million at a cost of $169,623.
DISTRICT FOCUS
During a “District Focus” segment, GMS Principal Patrick McGinthy reviewed programs aimed at improving language arts and reading skills, and Supt. Owsley recognized all three building principals in connection with National Principals Week, observed during the third week of October.
At the sixth-grade level, language arts teacher Kim Henderson used “Book Bingo” to encourage students to read books for pleasure. Seven out of her 70 students managed to have at least one “bingo” on their cards. At the end of the first quarter, students had read an average of 3.866 books per student.
Seventh-grade teacher Stephanie Wilson issued a “Beat the Teacher” challenge, challenging students to read more books than she did during the quarter. Four students successfully “beat the teacher,” according to McGinthy.
A school-wide program encouraged students to post pictures of themselves reading for pleasure at home. Those who posted images were given a $5 gift certificate to use at the school’s book fair.
Additionally, Wilson was the recipient of a $660 grant from the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, which she used to buy two new Rebecca Caudill book series for students to use.
Owsley took principals by surprise when he ushered in family members he invited to the meeting in honor of National Principals Week. Out-of-state family members who could not attend in person participated via a teleconference.
“Families, thank you for sharing them with us,” Owsley said. “Without them, our school could not run as smoothly. We probably steal them away from you more than we should.”
Owsley praised all three principals and their work under sometimes challenging circumstances. McGinthy, he noted, had only 16 hours to prepare for assuming duties as GMS Principal after he was hired.
“We’ve seen each other in tears,” he said of the administrative staff. “I think we’ve seen the best and worst of each other over the year.”
Board President Hayes added his thanks and dismissed the principals to spend time with their family members, a departure from standard practice requiring principals to attend the entirety of school board meetings.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, the board:
- Placed on first reading an intergovernmental agreement that would provide dual credit for Gillespie students attending classes through Lincoln Land Community College’s Area Careers Center in Litchfield. The Gillespie district technically is in the Lewis and Clark Community College district and Owsley said he is working out details for a dual credit arrangement with Lincoln Land.
- Voted to hire Phil McCourt as a district custodian, pending a routine background check.