Howard County News

Howard County Operating Budget Review Committee met May 22.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

8:51 AM Approval of agenda and minutes– Debbie Engle

• Motion by L. Ramey second by T. Dennison to approve agenda, motion approved.

• Motion by T. Dennison, second by T. Mallo to approve meeting minutes of May 15 2018

Discussion:

The OBRC continued editing the statement to be read to the BOE as part of the end of year report on June 21st. The following was discussed:

• Elimination of unnecessary verbiage

• Highlighting the absence of a Strategic Plan with clearly defined metrics.

• HCPSS has a structural 50 million dollar deficit and deferred maintenance of a half a billion dollars.

Motion by D.Engle, second by T. Dennison to approve opening statement as written. Motion approved unanimously

SB611 passed in Annapolis which will allow MD school systems to apply for funds for remediation of schools with environmental and air quality issues. Funding will be awarded according to severity of needs. Are there plans for HCPSS to ask for additional funding using this bill?

Motion by D.Engle, second by N. Turner to approve first section titled Business and Technology Division in the OBRC Long-Term/Strategic Recommendations as written. Motion approved unanimously

Motion by D.Engle, second by A. Holz to approve second section titled Human Resources and Leadership Development Division in the OBRC Long-Term/Strategic Recommendations as written. Motion approved: (11 For, 1 Against, 2 Abstentions)

Presenter: Ms. Olivia Clause, Executive Director of School Facilities met with the OBRC to discuss deferred maintenance.

• School facilities encompasses: Custodial, Building Services, Energy Management, Grounds, Integrated Pest

Management

• Last year there were 25,000 work orders for 90 mechanics

• There is a maintenance plan to keep existing systems in good working order by routinely changing filters, belts and fluid checks. HVAC has a life expectancy of 20 years.

• Within Operations $9 million is from the Operating Budget and $502 million is from the Capital budget.

• Ms. Claus has merged all repair and maintenance documents into one living document that includes recommendations from the 2008 Gilbert study.

• Concerns over some of the newer designs in school construction that do not take into account maintenance.

• Deferred maintenance is interwoven with Capital Improvement Projects(CIP) and Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

• Growth is a concern with more portables and a tighter budget.

• HCMS roof is one of the “hot” projects.

• Standardization of building would lead to cost savings such as architecture/design and HVAC.

The OBRC thanked Ms. Claus for presenting to the committee and her service to HCPSS.

Homework:

OBRC members will continue their review of the report, make notations, suggestions or comments on the document, and send those to D.Engle to be incorporated into the report.

Next meeting:

• May 29, 2018, Central Office in room ML-2 at 8:45AM

• Review and finalize recommendations for the June 21, 2018 report before the BOE.

Meeting adjourned 10:50AM

https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/AZ9KZW537C68/$file/05%2022%202018%20OBRC%20Minutes%20Approved.pdf