October 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Special Meeting

Discussion:  Schuyler Community Schools, District 19-09123 10-11 QSCB Hearing Schuyler Central High School Media Center October 11, 2010 The Qualified School Construction Bonds Hearing was convened at 7:03 PM. . A public hearing was held by the Board of Education (the “Board”) of Colfax County School District 0123 (more commonly referred to as Schuyler Community Schools) in the State of Nebraska (the “District”) at 7:00 p.m. in the Media Center of Schuyler Central High School located at 401 Adam Street, Schuyler, Nebraska, being open to the attendance of the public and having been preceded by advance publicized notice, said advance publicized notice having been given in accordance with the provisions of Section 79-10,110, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, as amended (the “Act”), and the provisions of Article 14, Chapter 84, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, as amended (the “Open Meetings Act”), and having set forth (a) the time, date, and place of this hearing; (b) that this hearing would be open to the attendance of the public; (c) that an agenda of the subjects to be taken up at the hearing could be obtained from the office of the Superintendent of Schools (the “Superintendent”), (d) the District’s itemized estimate of amounts necessary to be expended for the construction, expansion, rehabilitation, modernization, renovation, repairing and/or equipping of public school facilities for use by the District and/or for the acquisition of land on which such public school facilities are to be located (the “Project”), (e) the District’s proposed issuance of one or more series of bonds pursuant to the Act (the “Bonds”) in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $4,600,000 to pay the costs of the Project, and (f) the District’s levying of a limited tax not to exceed 5.2 cents on all the taxable property in the District for a period not to exceed 30 years to pay the principal of and the interest on the Bonds. Each Board Member was previously furnished with a copy of said advance publicized notice, the same having been transmitted to each Board Member simultaneously with its publicizing. A copy of the affidavit of publication of said advance publicized notice was ordered annexed to the minutes of the public hearing as Attachment 1. Additionally, reasonable efforts were made to provide advance notification of the meeting to all news media requesting the same of the time, date, and place of the meeting. The President of the Board publicly stated to all in attendance that a current copy of the Open Meetings Act was available for review and indicated the location of such copy in the room where the meeting was being held. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the meeting was open to the attendance of the public. The President of the Board, Larry Wennekamp, presided, and the (recording secretary) Secretary of the Board, Cathie Marking, recorded the minutes of the hearing. On roll call the following Board Members were present: Larry Wennekamp, Chuck Misek, Virginia Semerad, Clinton Parr, and Richard Brabec. The following Board Members were absent: Jim Mejstrik. A quorum being present and the meeting duly commenced, the following proceedings were had and done. The President opened the public hearing as required by the Act in connection with the Project and the levying of a tax as provided in the Act for a period of not to exceed thirty (30) years to pay the costs of such Project, including the Bonds. Notice of such public hearing was published in the Schuyler Sun, a legal newspaper of general circulation within the District, for three consecutive weeks prior to the date hereof. The President then invited anyone present who was interested in expressing any position or opinion concerning the Project to do so. The following spoke in favor of the Project: Kathy Mares – Community Member Being a past teacher she always has the best educational needs of the students at heart. She would like to see the school board proceed very cautiously when considering how to spend the QSCB funds. The following spoke in opposition to the Project: Chuck Misek – SCS Board Member The comment was made that board member Misek was very, very disappointed in the plan the SAA developed for QSCB with little regard for the rural schools. The following spoke in a neutral capacity: Jerold Kracl – Colfax County Commissioner; Joseph Hewgley Mr. Kracl noted that cuts in funds to education are being predicted and the commissioners are going to be watchful when working on a budget for the county. Mr. Hewgley noted that he has been present at the two previous special meetings and that all eight possible options were discussed thoroughly. Other audience comments were concerned with paring the present eight possible options down to three options to make the choicse more workable. A copy of the itemized estimate of the costs relating to the Project was ordered annexed to the minutes of the public hearing as Attachment 2. After everyone desiring to do so was given an opportunity to speak, the President closed the public hearing at 8:03 PM. DATED THIS 11th day of October, 2010.

Discussion:  The hearing to amend the 2010-2011 budget was convened 8:04 PM. In the notice of the Budget Hearing and Budget Summary as originally filed the SCS budget had not contained a disbursement for Qualified Capital Purpose Undertaking. The amended budget would contain $4,585,500.00 under the heading of “Total Available Resources Before Property Taxes” for Qualified Capital Purpose Undertaking. The total Personal and Real Property Tax Requirement would be $308,757.00. After everyone desiring to do so was given an opportunity to speak, the President closed the public hearing at 8:16 PM.

Discussion:  The hearing to amend the 2010-2011 budget was convened 8:17 PM. In the notice of the special hearing to set the final tax request for 2010-2011 the property tax request for the special building fund was $308,080.81 with the proposed tax rate of .040466. The amended tax request for 2010-2011 would be $308,757.00 with a proposed tax rate of .040555. After everyone desiring to do so was given an opportunity to speak, the President closed the public hearing at 8:26 PM.

Discussion:  The meeting was called to order by president Wennekamp at 8:25 PM. Members present were Wennekamp, Brabec, Misek, Parr, and Semerad. Others staff members present were Principals’ Comley and Vrba, Superintendent Stevens, and Larry McGowan. Community members present were Lumir Jedlicka, Jerold Kracl, Kathy Mares, Kara Dinslage.

Discussion:  Jay Spearman, representing Ameritas Investments, answered questions from the school board and community members regarding the Qualified School Construction Bonds. Joseph Hewgley of Hewgley and Associates provided the school board with an updated overview of a proposed addition to SES. The plan would house 4th and 5th grades. This expansion would allow additional classroom space at SMS for grades 6 thru 8 in the future when increased class sizes demand more classroom area.

Discussion:  A motion was made by Parr and seconded by Semerad to adjourn at 9:53 PM. Motion carried.