Interim Planning Committee 2006 - Building Use Subcommittee
August 28, 2006
Present: Robert Aeschback, Marguerite Willis, John Taylor, Jennifer Williams, Chris Skelly, Donna Paley, David Greenburg, Bill Yager, Ned Wolf, Gerri Johnson
Chair Bob Aeschback called the meeting of the Building Use Subcommittee (BUS) to order at 6:30pm. The meeting was held in the Central Office meeting room, at the Mohawk Middle School Wing.
Minutes of the 08/22/06 meeting were discussed for format and approved. Future minutes will be submitted to the Chair for approval and then posted with the Central Office as soon as possible.
The BUS discussed the best means to keep a "building use" focus. It was noted that while all issues of education, community, budget, staffing, busing, are important and inter-related in order to complete the task the committee will likely need to limit the focus to the usage, and re-use/alternate-use of the District's facilities. The committee again reviewed the available previous studies, surveys and reports and that some are available online, and some in paper format.
The group discussed additional means of keeping as many existing buildings open through new revenue sources. The suggestions discussed were after-school, child-care, and "extended day" programs.
The updated list of "Major Options Under Consideration" from the Superintendent was reviewed. The BUS discussed the process by which recommendation will be submitted to the School Committee.
The need for good data about predicting future capital costs was discussed. One suggestion was to survey the custodians about past expenditures. The committee decided to send a joint survey to the school principals/custodians about recent extraordinary repairs, and also asking the to list their so-called "wish list" for capital improvements including those definitely needed and those which would improve the operation/reduce costs.
The BUS agreed that the District's lack of a long-term capital plan hampers the work of this committee. The committee recommends the District develop a capital expenditure plan, for a many reasons, and this recommendation will be submitted to the School Committee (understanding that it will not be available to us in the near future).
A notice was received from the Budget Subcommittee that they are focusing on options 1.2, 2.1 and 3.1 due to the short time frame. The BUS agreed to continue through all options prior to determining which seem to be the "best" options deserving of further consideration by this subcommittee. The Budget Subcommittee also requested information on projected capital costs.
Having completed a "SWOT" analysis on options 1.1 and 2.1 last meeting, the committee discussed and tabulated the strengths and weaknesses of options 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, and 2.3.
The Chair reported that the Interim Planning Committee asked that committee membership be determined at the close of the second meeting. Therefore, he sets the membership to include the ten (10) members who have attended the meetings to date (and shown above).
The next meeting is posted for 09/05/06 (a Tuesday) at the Middle School.
The meeting adjourned at 8:33 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
John E. Taylor
