Here are the official Minutes of the Collaborative Committee meeting held on Tuesday of this week: Minutes of Collaborative Committee Meeting Eveleth-Gilbert, Mt. Iron-Buhl, Virginia March 11, 2014 A Meeting of the Boards of Education of Eveleth-Gilbert, Mt. Iron-Buhl, Virginia Collaborative Committee was held on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. at the Northeast Service Cooperative, Mt. Iron, MN. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Tim Riordan at 4:03 p.m. ROLL CALL: Roll call showed that the following members were present: Mark Forte, Bill Hafdahl, Betsy Olivanti, Tim Riordan, Kim Stokes, Leon Schanlaub, Mary Spang, Deborah Hilde, Jeff Holmes, John Klarich. Absent: Deron Stender, Troy Martinson APPROVE AGENDA: Motion: Olivanti, Support: Schanlaub, to approve the Agenda. Motion carried unanimously. FINANCE REVIEW: Cathy Erickson of ARCC (Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium) was charged with finding a way to best maximize the State Aid component of any potential debt service for the proposed school, and presented the following information. In order to maximize state aid calculations for Debt Service, three legislative changes would be required. 1. The debt service equalization calculation would need to happen BEFORE any Taconite Contribution is deducted (current law requires taconite to be reduced from debt service first and then the equalization kicks in – which usually results in little or no state aid contributions). 2. If the district with the best equalization rate could carry the debt load for all the districts (and then assuming taconite will cover any other debt not replaced by state aid so there is no local debt) state aid could reach near or just over 50%. This would require legislation raising the debt ceiling for the district taking the debt, and would require 1 district to take on debt on behalf of 2 other districts, which would also need legislation. 3. The joint powers would have to outline and prepare for distribution of both the taconite contribution flow to the district with the debt along with how any excess debt would be redistributed to the other districts so all equally share in any local debt effort. Erickson showed several scenarios on how debt equalization would work depending on who carries the debt and how large the debt issue would be, assuming either consolidation, co-location, and dependent on all related legislation passing. REVIEW AND DISCUSS JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT: Deborah Hilde reported that the Joint Powers sub-committee met on Friday, March 7, reviewed the draft document and made revisions, which she went over for the joint committee. Motion: Hafdahl, Support: Schanlaub, to have Deb Hilde submit the revised Joint Powers Agreement to legal counsel. Motion carried unanimously. The finalized agreement will be brought to each local board for approval. COMMITTEE UPDATES: Members of each local board have had the opportunity to sign up for the following committees: Curriculum, Extra-Curricular Activities, Facilities, Finance, Governance and Joint Powers, and Transportation. Kim Stokes will compile the final list for distribution. There was discussion regarding the role of Superintendents. It was suggested that one Superintendent should serve on each committee. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Tim Riordan and several committee members have met with many legislators over the past week and they are getting positive feedback in support of the proposed legislation for the co-location of these schools. Several members of this committee will be testifying at the Senate and House hearings Wednesday and Thursday this week. ACTION ITEMS: Discussed setting meeting dates for the first and third Tuesdays of the month. The next meeting will be held on March 18 at 4:30 p.m. A suggestion was made that meetings be rotated. Motion by Hafdahl, support by Olivanti to schedule April meetings in Eveleth and May meetings in Virginia. Several members stated they would prefer to continue holding meetings at the NESC due to its neutral location, handicap access and large size of the meeting room. The motion to rotate meeting locations failed. PUBLIC COMMENT: Heather Surla commented that she feels the meeting location should be rotated among the 3 districts. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to adjourn by Hafdahl, Support by Spang. Meeting adjourned at 5:29 p.m.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:02:58 +0000
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