WEBVTT 00:00:07.522 --> 00:00:10.110 - and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. 00:00:10.306 --> 00:00:16.846 - The Monroe County Capital Improvement Board met on December 17th and discussed construction updates 00:00:16.846 --> 00:00:23.910 - on the Monroe County Convention Center. Weddle Brothers project manager Andrew Sherry said the construction 00:00:23.910 --> 00:00:30.647 - has been moving forward despite the weather. He said the construction will require closures on College 00:00:30.647 --> 00:00:37.383 - Avenue between January 26th and February 12th and again from February 13th to sometime in June. Sherry 00:00:37.383 --> 00:00:39.934 - explained the reason for the closures. 00:00:40.194 --> 00:00:45.629 - We're going to have lifts and everything like that, but it will also allow us to button up additional 00:00:45.629 --> 00:00:51.277 - demo curves, pavement, things like that, set storm structures that way that whenever summer rolls around, 00:00:51.277 --> 00:00:56.606 - we can complete our asphalt patches, our curb work, and everything else that ties into the project. 00:00:56.930 --> 00:01:03.978 - Next, Galen Cassidy and Holly Warren gave an update on the signature artwork for the Convention Center. 00:01:03.978 --> 00:01:10.958 - Cassidy said the recommendation committee had 180 applicants that they had narrowed down to 10. Warren 00:01:10.958 --> 00:01:18.142 - said the selections were based on past experience, craftsmanship in their art, and staying within budget. 00:01:18.562 --> 00:01:24.479 - This was a very hard job. Everybody was very talented and brought a lot of different skills to the table. 00:01:24.479 --> 00:01:30.397 - So now for those top contenders, we are reaching out to those that we would like to be our five finalists 00:01:30.397 --> 00:01:36.203 - to confirm that they're still interested in the putting forward a proposal in the spring and to discuss 00:01:36.203 --> 00:01:41.841 - next steps with them. Once we have those five finalists, we will come back to you just to share more 00:01:41.841 --> 00:01:42.846 - information about 00:01:42.946 --> 00:01:48.869 - who they are, what they've done in the past and our procedure for getting them just more familiar with 00:01:48.869 --> 00:01:54.965 - the project. So they're set up to give us the best proposals that they can. And again, we will be looking 00:01:54.965 --> 00:02:01.061 - for them to give us those proposals of actual potential art for the Convention Center expansion in spring 00:02:01.061 --> 00:02:06.985 - of 26. So we're really excited about that. The final artists will receive $5,000 for their work, which 00:02:06.985 --> 00:02:09.630 - Warren said is standard for the art industry. 00:02:10.274 --> 00:02:16.309 - Next, the board heard an update on the Convention Center Hotel from Bloomington's Director of Economic 00:02:16.309 --> 00:02:22.344 - and Sustainable Development, Jane Coopersmith, who said that the Redevelopment Commission has not been 00:02:22.344 --> 00:02:28.204 - able to reach an agreement with Dora Hospitality. She said that the Redevelopment Commission passed 00:02:28.204 --> 00:02:34.180 - a resolution supporting the site for a host hotel, but did not approve incentives, which left a major 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:34.942 - funding gap. 00:02:35.042 --> 00:02:42.486 - She also explained that the City Council limited support for the convention center to money collected 00:02:42.486 --> 00:02:49.858 - from the food and beverage tax. Board member Adam Tease said Dora Hospitality wants to put the hotel 00:02:49.858 --> 00:02:57.667 - on the Bunger Robertson property, but that the funding gap makes it difficult. As we announced in October, 00:02:57.667 --> 00:03:02.046 - we had asked that at the end of this 60-day period of time, 00:03:02.146 --> 00:03:08.819 - we have some indication that a deal was imminent. And it sounds to me, and you can correct me if I'm 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:15.426 - wrong, but at this point, there does not appear to be a path forward with this particular property. 00:03:15.426 --> 00:03:22.363 - To tighten the funding gap, the board has reduced the scope and amenities of the host hotel. Vince Dora, 00:03:22.363 --> 00:03:29.630 - with Dora Hospitality, expressed concerns that by reducing the hotel's features, it could lose marketability. 00:03:29.954 --> 00:03:36.899 - the RFP and the scope of work that we did on one of the two, tentated in an upscale hotel with the Host 00:03:36.899 --> 00:03:43.777 - Conduct Center. It would help the team over at the visited Bloomington to keep the cell in the Conduct 00:03:43.777 --> 00:03:50.454 - Center. I mean, they need that nice upscale host hotel to steal from the city of Louisville and all 00:03:50.454 --> 00:03:55.262 - the areas that bring business and tourism into the city of Bloomington. 00:03:55.714 --> 00:04:01.343 - And at that level, that's the reason for the gap. We've been working closely with the city to present 00:04:01.343 --> 00:04:06.861 - other options that reduce that scope of work and therefore reduce the cost and therefore reduce the 00:04:06.861 --> 00:04:12.656 - incentive package task. It's chicken and egg though because every time you present a reduction in scope, 00:04:12.656 --> 00:04:16.574 - we also lose the ability to market the hotel or the convention center. 00:04:17.314 --> 00:04:24.310 - Board member John Wyckart noted that the Host Hotel is a way to draw in convention center goers, not 00:04:24.310 --> 00:04:31.998 - merely a place for people to stay for a night. The Host Hotel is designed specifically to attract conventions. 00:04:32.418 --> 00:04:37.910 - So if in my career I wanted to go to a convention where I were being sold on a convention, you wanted 00:04:37.910 --> 00:04:43.671 - to know what the amenities were in the host hotel. And clearly that's what we need to attract conventions, 00:04:43.671 --> 00:04:49.162 - which is our goal. This hotel is not simply a place for people to stay overnight after an IU football 00:04:49.162 --> 00:04:51.262 - game and then drive home the next day. 00:04:51.682 --> 00:04:58.288 - It's designed to attract 600 people to come to a convention and want to stay here in our downtown in 00:04:58.288 --> 00:05:04.829 - walkable distance to a lot of other outside amenities in a nice place. Weichart said that the hotel 00:05:04.829 --> 00:05:11.435 - needs a bar, a restaurant and a fitness center. He supported the idea of Dora Hospitality looking at 00:05:11.435 --> 00:05:15.294 - other locations for the hotel before coming to a decision. 00:05:15.938 --> 00:05:22.085 - I don't know how we further reduce the scope and still have an attractive host hotel for conventions. 00:05:22.085 --> 00:05:28.353 - I think we've done what we can. I think if we can offer parcels to the South and West, that's something 00:05:28.353 --> 00:05:34.380 - else, obviously, that ought to be considered an incentive because it doesn't have price tags on it. 00:05:34.380 --> 00:05:40.648 - But the hard work will have to come between now and then with Mr. Dora looking at those other locations 00:05:40.648 --> 00:05:42.878 - and seeing if he can make it happen. 00:05:43.330 --> 00:05:49.793 - and reporting back to us in January that he thinks he can. Dora said that the company is still committed 00:05:49.793 --> 00:05:56.071 - to the host hotel project, whether it be on the Bunger Robertson property or at a different site. The 00:05:56.071 --> 00:06:02.350 - Bloomington Board of Public Works met on December 16th, where they heard a proposal to close portions 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:08.505 - of South College Avenue to allow construction of a sky bridge for the Bloomington Convention Center 00:06:08.505 --> 00:06:09.182 - expansion. 00:06:09.474 --> 00:06:15.775 - Public Works Director Adam Wason outlined the request from Weddle Brothers Construction. As you recall 00:06:15.775 --> 00:06:22.015 - earlier this year, Weddle Brothers came to us with a phased approach to what they expected to be some 00:06:22.015 --> 00:06:28.193 - of the lane and road closure requests that they would be coming forward with. This is one of the big 00:06:28.193 --> 00:06:34.494 - ones they're coming forward with. This is basically a two-week closure of College south of 3rd Street. 00:06:35.138 --> 00:06:43.073 - To facilitate the installation of their skybridge And then so that would be from the January 26 through 00:06:43.073 --> 00:06:49.406 - February 12 dates for a two-week period with traffic being detoured over to Rogers 00:06:49.794 --> 00:06:57.104 - Then from there, from that February 12th through a end of July time frame, or end of June time frame, 00:06:57.104 --> 00:07:04.486 - there will be a request, this is a request to have college in a one lane southbound configuration from 00:07:04.486 --> 00:07:12.011 - February 13th through June 26th. Engineering field specialist Kyle Baw expanded on the effort to install 00:07:12.011 --> 00:07:14.878 - a sky bridge for the convention center. 00:07:15.010 --> 00:07:22.352 - Other public notifications that we're working on So sign boards are planned to be out no later than 00:07:22.352 --> 00:07:30.134 - November or November. Sorry January 5th of 2026 to let the traveling public know when and where to expect 00:07:30.134 --> 00:07:37.696 - those closures so as Adam mentioned the vehicular detour would be from Third Street to Rogers and then 00:07:37.696 --> 00:07:43.422 - back over on second the planned pedestrian detour is going to travel east and 00:07:43.554 --> 00:07:51.571 - down Walnut and then back over via Second as well. Yeah, as Adam also mentioned, we have included the 00:07:51.571 --> 00:07:59.588 - communication that's being sent out at this time to the affected property owners. So we're looking at 00:07:59.588 --> 00:08:07.134 - those folks in between College Walnut, between Third and Second from North to South, of course. 00:08:07.554 --> 00:08:14.966 - So that's all in process at the moment. We're still working on some of the particulars of the actual 00:08:14.966 --> 00:08:22.525 - temporary traffic control plan. We're working to get that shared with emergency services. So we really 00:08:22.525 --> 00:08:30.011 - feel like we're crossing as many boxes off as we can for something this large, but we still have some 00:08:30.011 --> 00:08:32.286 - time to get it all wrapped up. 00:08:32.802 --> 00:08:40.160 - Board Secretary James Roach asked about access to the traffic control plans for the project. Boss said 00:08:40.160 --> 00:08:47.375 - he will make sure board members have access to that information. I seem to recall during yesterday's 00:08:47.375 --> 00:08:54.805 - work session, the packet included the actual maintenance of traffic plan. And I don't see it in today's 00:08:54.805 --> 00:09:00.734 - final packet. It just had the two maps. What we included were the two maps showing 00:09:00.834 --> 00:09:07.947 - Where the closure the phasing of the closures? I don't know that we we've kind of gone back and forth 00:09:07.947 --> 00:09:15.129 - with you all on do we give you the full maintenance of traffic plan with all of the tiny little legend 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:22.172 - items showing you where every single sign is based on MUT CD standards for temporary traffic control 00:09:22.172 --> 00:09:28.030 - plans Getting this down finally there's probably a happy median between nothing and 00:09:28.290 --> 00:09:34.948 - The full engineered plans. Yeah, so Did we that median was added today? I don't know if we added it 00:09:34.948 --> 00:09:41.673 - too late to get it included in the it should be you should have it On paper. I'm so sorry. Yeah, and 00:09:41.673 --> 00:09:48.465 - that's my Map I think yeah, so that so this will show the plan detours for these for each closure And 00:09:48.465 --> 00:09:55.256 - my apologies wasn't on there originally. No quite. All right permits meeting this morning I was like, 00:09:55.256 --> 00:09:57.054 - I think we want to put the 00:09:57.506 --> 00:10:03.826 - Reader's Digest version of this detour in there without everything, so that's why you got the printed 00:10:03.826 --> 00:10:10.271 - copy for this today. Board President Kyla Cox Deckard asked about coordination with properties affected 00:10:10.271 --> 00:10:11.262 - by the closure. 00:10:12.066 --> 00:10:19.238 - I know you had mentioned the coordination and communication with the other properties that are affected 00:10:19.238 --> 00:10:26.341 - in the closure area and we specifically talked about I believe the midtown loss midtown loss. It's the 00:10:26.341 --> 00:10:30.686 - larger apartment complex right off of Smith and South College. 00:10:30.818 --> 00:10:38.468 - Yeah and so it sounded like one Smith was gonna be a potential entry point for that property. I'm curious 00:10:38.468 --> 00:10:46.190 - about my sister's closet which sits in the same zone. What's the access point for them during this closure 00:10:46.190 --> 00:10:53.840 - and detour? So that's a part of the detail that we requested from Weddle Brothers. I don't know if Andrew 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.902 - you've spoken to any of them on that level of detail just yet but we will be having 00:11:00.098 --> 00:11:08.559 - A requirement for all of those properties to have a access plan for this period of time And it may involve 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:16.466 - having to come north on walnut to Smith To kind of circle. Yes Smith will be open and Smith will be 00:11:16.466 --> 00:11:24.374 - open and walnut will be open South of Smith like it isn't gonna have construction activity there So 00:11:24.374 --> 00:11:29.118 - it may require my sister's closet patrons to come either up 00:11:29.442 --> 00:11:35.651 - Walnut North, west on Smith and then back south on College because Smith and College will be open to 00:11:35.651 --> 00:11:40.446 - traffic. The board approved the closure request and noise permit unanimously. 00:11:41.506 --> 00:11:47.953 - At their meeting on December 15th, the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission heard a resolution regarding 00:11:47.953 --> 00:11:54.154 - the host hotel for the Bloomington Convention Center expansion. Director of Economic and Sustainable 00:11:54.154 --> 00:12:00.294 - Development, Jane Coopersmith, said this resolution concerns Dora hospitality. She explained that a 00:12:00.294 --> 00:12:05.022 - gap in funding is preventing the city from making any progress on the hotel. 00:12:05.602 --> 00:12:12.903 - From the beginning of those negotiations or discussions, the hotel developers described a significant 00:12:12.903 --> 00:12:20.347 - gap in order to deliver on the scope of the host hotel. When the city, on our side of the negotiations, 00:12:20.347 --> 00:12:27.791 - required full land value as was previously requested, that amount simply appeared as a required subsidy 00:12:27.791 --> 00:12:30.654 - in a different part of their pro forma. 00:12:31.810 --> 00:12:37.400 - So the city considered a range of partnership structures to determine how best to advance the project 00:12:37.400 --> 00:12:43.100 - at the site. And this body approved expenditures totaling $400,000 to advance investigation of the site 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:48.690 - and design of the building while it continued negotiating with the developer. Initial site work, like 00:12:48.690 --> 00:12:54.280 - soil borings, has gone forward. No design work has advanced in the absence of a letter of intent with 00:12:54.280 --> 00:12:55.102 - the developer. 00:12:55.746 --> 00:13:03.072 - Corporation Council Margie Rice said the resolution does not establish an agreement with the hotel developer. 00:13:03.072 --> 00:13:09.865 - The resolution before the commission would simply indicate that the redevelopment commission supports 00:13:09.865 --> 00:13:17.057 - a hotel at the convention center. This resolution shall not be construed as approving the final development 00:13:17.057 --> 00:13:23.783 - terms, a land conveyance, or a specific financial structure, all of which shall require separate RDC 00:13:23.783 --> 00:13:25.182 - review and approval. 00:13:25.570 --> 00:13:34.263 - You are not negotiating in this resolution a deal with a hotel developer. So let's just get that off 00:13:34.263 --> 00:13:42.871 - the table. What you are doing in this resolution, if you pass it, is signaling to the world, to the 00:13:42.871 --> 00:13:51.650 - city council, to hoteliers, to the CIB, that the roughly 2.4 acre bit of land that you own that is in 00:13:51.650 --> 00:13:53.630 - need of redevelopment, 00:13:54.050 --> 00:14:01.529 - underdeveloped property in downtown Bloomington. You are signaling that you think this is a good location 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:08.867 - for a hotel and you may make it available at a nominal cost. Nominal meaning, by dictionary definition, 00:14:08.867 --> 00:14:15.006 - very small or below the real value or cost. Not saying you are, just saying you might. 00:14:15.586 --> 00:14:22.460 - Deborah Meyerson added an amendment that removed language that could be interpreted as committing the 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:29.468 - city to sell land at a reduced or nominal cost for the host hotel. The commission passed the resolution 00:14:29.468 --> 00:14:36.274 - as amended with member John West voting no. The next redevelopment commission meeting will happen on 00:14:36.274 --> 00:14:37.150 - January 5th. 00:14:38.242 --> 00:14:44.515 - The Monroe County Commissioners met on December 18th. The meeting began with County Health Administrator 00:14:44.515 --> 00:14:50.787 - Lori Kelly providing an update from the Health Department. According to the Indiana Department of Health 00:14:50.787 --> 00:14:57.179 - Dashboard, as of December 16th, there have been no increases in emergency department visits for COVID-like 00:14:57.179 --> 00:15:01.182 - illness, but wastewater concentrations are continuing to trend up. 00:15:01.634 --> 00:15:08.969 - According to data from wastewater scan, we are now seeing moderate levels of flu, but very low levels 00:15:08.969 --> 00:15:16.303 - of RSV. The health department still has free COVID tests available. Anyone can walk in Monday through 00:15:16.303 --> 00:15:23.566 - Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to pick up free tests. And the public health clinic located at 333 East 00:15:23.566 --> 00:15:29.534 - Miller Drive has vaccines available. You can call 812-353-3244 for an appointment. 00:15:29.986 --> 00:15:38.007 - Later in the meeting, Highway Director Lisa Ridge discussed a change order for the Morris Creek Road 00:15:38.007 --> 00:15:46.346 - stormwater project. So our milestone Morris Creek Road project, they paved it last November, so November 00:15:46.346 --> 00:15:54.446 - 2024. They spent 2025 doing minor finishing up touches. So we're closing out the contract and getting 00:15:54.446 --> 00:15:58.814 - everything finished out. So the total of our under run 00:15:59.298 --> 00:16:12.756 - was $74,628.58. There was one change to the treatment of the subgrade that cost an additional $6,939.40. 00:16:12.756 --> 00:16:20.190 - So our total under run was $67,689.18 below the contract. 00:16:20.546 --> 00:16:29.620 - The commissioners approved the change order and then next resolution 2025-58 was introduced regarding 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:38.516 - notice to homeless encampments. Jeff Cockerill explained. At that work session, the discussion, the 00:16:38.516 --> 00:16:47.501 - request was that the commissioners allow or require 30 days notice in the event that we are going to 00:16:47.501 --> 00:16:50.526 - remove a homelessness encampment. 00:16:51.106 --> 00:16:59.890 - Um, so this resolution recognizes that it also recognizes that we won't issue that 30 day notice until 00:16:59.890 --> 00:17:08.760 - March 2nd of this year or next year, 2026. Sorry. In the future, a little bit there. Um, and that, that 00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:15.838 - this will, this is enforced unless, uh, the commissioners get notice from, or, uh, 00:17:17.378 --> 00:17:23.958 - Unless you rescinded any notice meeting or if the emergency is determined, an emergency is determined 00:17:23.958 --> 00:17:30.408 - by law enforcement, the Monroe County Health Officer, or if the removal is requested by the city of 00:17:30.408 --> 00:17:37.246 - Bloomington. So I think we've we've covered our bases with, you know, I used the word if something became 00:17:37.246 --> 00:17:43.825 - unstable at that, which granted is a pretty generic term. Right. I agree with them. But but those are 00:17:43.825 --> 00:17:45.438 - the people who can help. 00:17:45.986 --> 00:17:52.667 - who will let you let you guys know if it's unstable. And of course, if you can determine on your own 00:17:52.667 --> 00:17:59.745 - if if it's unstable, that is. And then it also has a section that where the where you are going to request 00:17:59.745 --> 00:18:06.426 - other Monroe County and city of Bloomington elected leaders to meet and discuss steps to address the 00:18:06.426 --> 00:18:12.446 - homelessness in the community. So those are kind of the two components of this resolution. 00:18:13.122 --> 00:18:20.431 - County Council member Peter Iverson made a public comment regarding the new resolution. The resolution 00:18:20.431 --> 00:18:28.166 - is a little hard to find. So I just wanted to encourage folks that when you go to the Board of Commissioners 00:18:28.166 --> 00:18:35.334 - website, you have to go down to the all the way down to the agendas and packet section to get to the 00:18:35.334 --> 00:18:40.798 - resolution. I will say this the meeting on December 11th was really helpful. 00:18:42.018 --> 00:18:50.391 - And the county council stands in solidarity with you in wanting a working group to talk about these 00:18:50.391 --> 00:18:59.098 - issues. Clearly this resolution is is a first step toward that. And we see it as that. And I would just 00:18:59.098 --> 00:19:02.782 - encourage you in the now therefore section. 00:19:03.074 --> 00:19:10.251 - that when you direct people to give that notice, that 30 days notice, that it not only include Mineral 00:19:10.251 --> 00:19:17.707 - County staff, but also those street outreach folks, particularly through the contract that we have through 00:19:17.707 --> 00:19:24.815 - Health Net. So thank you for this. And I look forward to continuing this conversation. Another public 00:19:24.815 --> 00:19:32.062 - comment regarding the resolution came from a resident of the Thompson property, Ashley Chaunting. It is 00:19:32.674 --> 00:19:39.121 - Honestly, it has so many caveats as to make it almost meaningless as protection against winter evictions. 00:19:39.121 --> 00:19:45.203 - And it is very concerning to me the lack of transparency and the lack of community involvement that 00:19:45.203 --> 00:19:51.407 - are involved in the proposed next steps. So we also look forward to continuing this conversation with 00:19:51.407 --> 00:19:57.732 - you guys via the means available to us. The next Monroe County Board of Commissioners meeting will take 00:19:57.732 --> 00:19:59.070 - place on January 8th. 00:20:00.194 --> 00:20:07.177 - The Monroe County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees met on December 16th. President of 00:20:07.177 --> 00:20:14.300 - Monroe County Education Association, Jennie Noble Kuchera, discussed a resolution on the agenda which 00:20:14.300 --> 00:20:21.423 - would eliminate the Title I teacher supplemental pay stipend of $2,000 per year. She asked what could 00:20:21.423 --> 00:20:25.822 - be done to help retain teachers. We have roughly 225 teachers. 00:20:27.458 --> 00:20:34.843 - who will no longer receive the supplemental pay, it will be a decrease for them. And so the question 00:20:34.843 --> 00:20:42.887 - that I'm asking here on their behalf is what are the alternative sources? It seems to us that the legislature 00:20:42.887 --> 00:20:50.053 - with this just has one more notch on their belt of public education dismantlement. So the teacher 00:20:50.053 --> 00:20:56.926 - appreciation grants from the state, they're only gonna go to potentially 13% of our teachers. 00:20:57.474 --> 00:21:04.719 - And that's only if the IDOE deems them eligible. So my question to our community, to the school board, 00:21:04.719 --> 00:21:11.753 - and to our administration is, what then can be done to help retain the teachers who work hard every 00:21:11.753 --> 00:21:17.310 - day directly with the population of our most school-dependent kids? Thank you. 00:21:18.146 --> 00:21:24.907 - Jeffrey Henderson then presented Resolution 2025-26 Supplemental Pay for Teachers and Priority Schools 00:21:24.907 --> 00:21:31.667 - under Title I Guidelines. Board members Erin Cooperman and April Hennessy commented on the discussion, 00:21:31.667 --> 00:21:38.297 - saying that it is a hard decision to make. And I suppose on the heels of that, just to say that it's 00:21:38.297 --> 00:21:44.992 - a hard decision because we so greatly appreciate the teachers that serve at our Title I schools. Yes. 00:21:44.992 --> 00:21:47.486 - As we appreciate all of our teachers. 00:21:47.810 --> 00:21:57.048 - We understand that that comes with special challenges. Indeed. And we implemented this because we understood 00:21:57.048 --> 00:22:05.693 - those particular challenges, especially in retention. But I do think that we know that at this point, 00:22:05.693 --> 00:22:14.338 - we are in this spot where we have to make these kinds of fiscal decisions in order to be able to make 00:22:14.338 --> 00:22:16.542 - other sorts of offerings. 00:22:17.218 --> 00:22:23.889 - So yeah, I agree. The board approved the resolution. Henderson then provided an overview of facilities 00:22:23.889 --> 00:22:30.689 - management in MCCSC and expressed the importance of supporting facilities management. Quality facilities 00:22:30.689 --> 00:22:37.230 - support quality instruction. The operations staff is the backbone of our school system. These hidden 00:22:37.230 --> 00:22:43.966 - heroes take care of daily tasks that keep our buildings safe, clean and maintained so that our teachers 00:22:43.966 --> 00:22:46.686 - can concentrate on providing our students 00:22:46.914 --> 00:22:53.860 - with excellent educational experiences. The director of building operations and the director of construction 00:22:53.860 --> 00:23:00.361 - facilities and safety, along with our skilled maintenance staff, monitor the uptime rates of our HVAC 00:23:00.361 --> 00:23:06.925 - systems, our pool filtration systems, our fire alarm systems, our plumbing systems, and our electrical 00:23:06.925 --> 00:23:10.430 - systems. They respond quickly when any problems arise. 00:23:11.170 --> 00:23:17.133 - They also monitor the quantity of work orders received and how long it takes us to resolve the issues 00:23:17.133 --> 00:23:22.979 - identified by staff. The directors and I frequently visit schools and when we're there, we take the 00:23:22.979 --> 00:23:28.883 - opportunity to speak to staff members and principals about any concerns or needs that they have with 00:23:28.883 --> 00:23:34.846 - regard to their buildings. In conclusion this evening, I'd like to again share why this work matters. 00:23:35.426 --> 00:23:42.244 - On this slide, you can see several recent examples of the investment that MCC SC makes in a variety 00:23:42.244 --> 00:23:49.744 - of spaces. Maintaining high quality facilities allows us to uphold our board's priority to sustain excellence 00:23:49.744 --> 00:23:56.630 - in our schools. As such, ensuring the state of the art academic, ensuring state of the art academic, 00:23:56.630 --> 00:24:04.062 - athletic and performing arts facilities continues to be one of dr Winston's top priorities. We see every day 00:24:04.194 --> 00:24:10.657 - that our facilities directly support our students by providing high quality educational spaces where 00:24:10.657 --> 00:24:17.376 - our children can learn and grow. Winston expressed gratitude for the hard work of MCCSE employees during 00:24:17.376 --> 00:24:23.775 - recent inclement weather. She responded to complaints about school delays by stating that there are 00:24:23.775 --> 00:24:30.366 - many students and employees who live outside the city limits where road conditions can be considerably 00:24:30.366 --> 00:24:32.222 - worse during severe weather. 00:24:32.354 --> 00:24:40.785 - Winston expressed that safety and security of employees is quote one of the hardest decisions that a 00:24:40.785 --> 00:24:49.217 - superintendent has to ever make end quote. I want to take a moment just to acknowledge our deep deep 00:24:49.217 --> 00:24:58.065 - appreciation and recognition of our facilities team. The last couple of weeks we've had inclement weather 00:24:58.065 --> 00:25:01.822 - unexpected in great levels with freezing and 00:25:02.146 --> 00:25:09.502 - thawing, refreezing, and very unsafe conditions for our buses, for our employees, and for our students. 00:25:09.502 --> 00:25:16.645 - And what many people don't know and what Dr. Henderson was really alluding to is the fact that while 00:25:16.645 --> 00:25:24.001 - many of you are sleeping, they are out getting business taken care of. And so I definitely want to just 00:25:24.001 --> 00:25:31.710 - begin with just that acknowledgement of appreciation. When he talked about the number of tons, how many tons 00:25:32.034 --> 00:25:41.524 - I smell did you say 250 tons or something like that yeah that's that's just unbelievable and and and 00:25:41.524 --> 00:25:51.015 - yet they do it quickly they do it without complaint and and and probably not as much appreciation as 00:25:51.015 --> 00:25:58.814 - our entire community should share with them I say that because I do recognize that 00:25:59.330 --> 00:26:06.023 - We've had three days of weather in December, when generally speaking, we don't get those days in December. 00:26:06.023 --> 00:26:12.404 - We usually get them after the holiday break. So there's been a lot of unexpected aspects. And there's 00:26:12.404 --> 00:26:18.721 - been a lot of frustration, quite frankly, in our community. There are family members who don't quite 00:26:18.721 --> 00:26:25.039 - understand the decisions that have been made, the factors that go into that decision making, and the 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:25.790 - painstaking 00:26:26.562 --> 00:26:33.457 - hours and time that it takes to kind of get to that point in time. I can assure you that Dr. Henderson 00:26:33.457 --> 00:26:40.486 - and I and other members of our facilities team are up at 2.33 o'clock every one of these days that we've 00:26:40.486 --> 00:26:47.381 - had to have conversations and discussions around what are we hearing from our meteorologists? What are 00:26:47.381 --> 00:26:54.142 - the roads looking like? Are directors in our facilities and maintenance and construction departments 00:26:54.658 --> 00:27:03.024 - and transportation, they're out driving the roads while you all are sleeping. The MCCSC School Board 00:27:03.024 --> 00:27:11.555 - will meet again on January 27, 2026. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats 00:27:11.555 --> 00:27:14.206 - and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.