January 10, 2024 at 5:30 PM - Meeting with Brady Village Board Members

Discussion:  President Ryan Stearns called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. President Stearns acknowledged the Open Meeting Laws in the board room and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 

Discussion:  Jill Miller read the two Mission Statements that the Mission Statement Committee came up with. They created a mission statement between the two boards along with a mission statement for the Learning Center. 
It is the mission of the Village of Brady Board of Trustees and the Brady Public Schools Board of Education to sustain value in Brady through a collaborative effort to build a learning center for a brighter future for our thriving community. 

The Delores Gengenbach Learning Center strives to sustain value in our community by providing a nurturing environment for lifelong learners. 

Both boards were happy with these mission statements and wanted to take an action on them to approve. 

Discussion:  Ryan Stearns presented three different plans to build the Learning Center. 
Option #1 was the most expensive at 2.6 Million. This would include changing the shop area to the learning center and then building on a wood working, FFA room, Wrestling room, vehicle storage building, press box, football stands, and one 4 lane straight track. 
Option #2 was the most affordable one at 912,000. This would include adding the learning center to the south side of the building towards the west with changing the board room into the preschool area. Would also move the school offices to a better location and would provide room for a preschool playground out front. The Learning Center alone would cost a little over $500,000. 
Option #3 was an add on to Option #2 at a price of 1.6 Million. This would include everything in Option #2 with including a new FFA room in the back, concession stand, restrooms, vehicle storage building, press box, football stands, and one 4 lane straight track. 

Both boards agreed that Option #2 was the most practical and they loved the idea of the Learning Center out front. Adding the learning center to the front of the building would also help the school become more functional with having to renovate the school offices to better locations to fit the school needs. The Learning Center and preschool would be two totally different spaces. The Learning Center would be connected to the school, but no one would have access to the school though the Learning Center unless they had a school key card to get through the single school card entry door. If they didn't have a school key, they would have to go to the main entrance to get into the school building. 
The Learning Center would have a big open area for a library space, and two smaller rooms for conferences or classrooms. It would be open to the public to use during the designated hours. The board talked about having a key library card access door to get in. Community members could possibly get a learning center membership that would provide a library card. 

If the town library moves up to the Learning Center the place were the library is now could be a daycare if there is a provider that would want to start one up. 
It was brought up if $130,000 was coming from Delores to maybe have the conference room in the Learning Center be named after her or have a big plaque in the Learning Center to show gratitude instead of naming the whole Learning Center after her name. This would allow other businesses to be able to maybe contribute large amounts and get their name recognized somewhere in the Learning Center. 

Discussion:  There are currently many grants out there that the school and the village could apply for to help with finding funds. If the village and the school could come up with half, then the grants would hopefully be able to provide half and the funding would be complete. Jill, Necole, and Mrs. Foster will be looking into grants. Ryan Stearns, Mrs. Foster, and Molly Most will be coming up with a more complete drawing plan. The next meeting to discuss progress will be February 7th at 5:30 PM.