Minutes
Cooperative School District Planning Board
Thursday, October 16, 2003 Gorham Middle/High
School Library
Donna Goodrich
chairperson
Leona Guay Gorham
Keith Parent Gorham
Michael Waddell Gorham
Wendy Niskanen Shelburne
David Carlisle Shelburne
Lark Wood Randolph
Charles Brown Randolph
Robert Leclerc Randolph
Pauline Plourde Business
Administrator, SAU #20
Jacqueline Tetreault
Admin. Assist., SAU #20/Recording Secretary
Barbara Loughman, Attorney
Members of the public
Members of the press
D. Goodrich, chairperson of
the Cooperative School District Planning Board, called the meeting to order at
6:39 pm.
The following corrections
were recommended to the October 2, 2003 minutes:
-pg. 2 Article #2 discusses grade levels K through
12.
-pg.
3 Two things should not be combined in to one vote, and this should also not
mention a general location.
-pg.3
under Article #8 Mr. Brown changed to Dr. Brown.
Motion by Leona Guay, seconded by Lark Wood.
Motion: to
approve the October 2, 2003 minutes as amended.
Vote on
motion: all were in favor; motion
carried.
-Ms. Niskanen handed out a
draft of the synopsis from the last meeting on 10/2/2003.
-Ms. Niskanen had recently
updated the handout Options for Articles of Agreement. She had included language which had recently
been discussed by the Board to be included in the Articles of Agreement, some which
included language that is fairly standard.
-A handout drafting the
governing board composition was distributed to members in attendance. Members were asked to look over the handouts
in the next two weeks.
-Mr. Waddell presented a
copy of last years property appraisals for the town of Gorham. It was recommended that costs for an
appraisal be found out. It was recommended that a letter be sent to the DRA
starting the process of appraisal.
Ms. Loughman clarified that
in order for the Cooperative School Board to take over any property, a
committee would need to be established to conduct an appraisal. She suggested that the Board may want to
seek the advisement of someone through the Department of Education regarding
waiving evaluation of the properties the school buildings. The Cooperative School Planning Board may
need to incur the full expense of an appraisal.
C. Brown arrived at 6:58
pm.
Ms. Loughman provided legal
advice around a number of questions:
-Article #3 In regards to
governance issues, it was commented that representation should be legally
assigned by town population. Elections
may be done in a variety of ways, such as electing all members at large, or
certain numbers of representatives from each town. Certain seats may also be designated to certain towns, all that
voters from all three towns may have to vote for all members in each town. Ms. Loughman shared that the number of votes
needs to be as precise as possible. It
was also recommended that some at-large seats be included.
Ms. Loughman commented that if a cooperative school district is voted in, an organizational board meeting would need to be held to elect board members and nominations would be brought to the floor. There would need to be separate checklists for each town, and run in conjunction with the town election. The clerks from the different towns would submit the ballots to the moderator.
Ms. Loughman continued to
recommend that the Cooperative School District Planning Board seek counsel from
the Department of Education to a number of questions, and that DOE may have
answers on a practical level. She
referred the Board to Sarah Browning.
Ms. Loughman was optimistic about the cooperative school district being
established for July 1, 2005, but commented that many tasks had to be completed
for possible meeting of that date, including the articles of agreement,
agreement on properties to be acquired by the CSD, etc. It would also take a variety of agreements
by the towns that if the cooperative school district were formed, many other
separate school appropriations may need to go away. A variety of possibilities may need to be worked out, and special
legislation or DRA approval may need to be seeked. It was also shared that the new building aid formula does not go
into effect until FY 2005, and that no bonding would be pursued until then.
Mr. Waddell inquired as to
whether the organizational meeting would be a regular floor meeting, and if
membership would be decided at that time.
Ms. Loughman shared all districts would vote to establish the
cooperative and approve the articles of agreement. After the articles of agreement were approved by the voters, they
would be sent to the Department of Education to seek their approval, and then the
organizational meeting would be held to elect the officers. A small budget would then be developed to
get the cooperative district up and running, and the cooperative board would
then need to appropriate an operating budget.
Ms. Loughman shared that at
the organizational meeting, the first election would include elections for a
moderator and a clerk, which could be elected on a rotating system by
town. It was shared that informing the
voters of all three towns would be important, and that possibly before town
meetings are held in March, members of the Cooperative School District Planning
Board could hold informational meetings for voters.
-Article #4 Ms. Loughman
commented that there may be some issues if the cooperative school district does
not wish to acquire the high school, but the building committee would be
directed to explore this. Ms. Loughman
shared that it is more of a statute than costs that the cooperative school
district take ownership of the school buildings. All the boards would have the option of selling the school
buildings to the town, and taking up to 20 years to pay their share of the
buildings. It also may be possible for
the Gorham School District to exist solely to retain ownership of the school
buildings.
Ms. Loughman shared that
the articles of agreement should say generally what would happen to the
existing buildings, and should be figured in capital expenses. The articles of agreement would be in clear
in defining everything for the cooperative school district, and would begin to
exist with a possible date of operating responsibility of July 1, 2005. It was recommended that all towns to be
included in the cooperative district hold informational regarding the
cooperative school district and how each town would be affected.
It was inquired as to what
state requirements stated regarding building new schools; ie. how much acreage,
minimum size, etc. The Department of
Educations approval would be required on plans for a new school in order to
get building aid. Other facts to
consider besides the land that a school would be built on are the roads to the
land, accessibility and availability of emergency services, etc. Ms. Plourde was planning on meeting with the
Department of Education soon, and would pose some of the questions to them.
Article #6 Ms. Loughman
commented that as much flexibility as possible should be left in this article,
and should state language regarding a new building. The article may want to contain language regarding solving the
facilities issue within a certain time frame and certain conditions. It should be included within the Articles of
Agreement the possibilities of renovating the current school buildings or
building new schools. This charge would
be given to the building committee should it be reestablished.
-In regards to changing the
articles of agreement and the percentage of vote required, Ms. Loughman
commented that many districts require a 2/3 vote. The articles of agreement should contain general language as possible
and cover all the bases. If the
articles should need to be amended at any time, a public hearing would need to
be held on the proposed amendments. The
article should stipulate a certain time frame for reviewing the articles
agreement. The Board requested that
some sample articles of agreement be obtained to be reviewed. It was also inquired as to whether a town
can be voted out of a cooperative, to which Ms. Loughman replied that a town
can not, but should it choose to withdraw after a 10-year period, it would be
liable for its indebtedness. A town
withdrawal would also affect the amount of building aid received. Ms. Loughman will provide the SAU
superintendent with copies of articles of agreement to be shared with the
Cooperative School District Planning Board.
-Some discussion was held
regarding the possibility of one day having preschool included within the
cooperative school district.
-No comments were offered
from the members of the public.
-Ms. Plourde presented
handouts in regard to building aid formulas and bonding based on ADM and
evaluation.
-Due to time constraints,
it was recommended to bring this item to the next meeting.
Motion by Wendy Niskanen, second by Robert Leclerc
Motion: To
distribute the synopsis of the Cooperative School
District
Planning Board to make sure the same information is being received by all
towns.
Vote
on motion: all approved, motion
carried.
Ms.
Niskanen will try to have her synopsis ready as soon as possible, and this will
also be posted on the SAU website.
-Ms. Goodrich attended the
CARE meeting on October 9th, and distributed handouts to members of
what a cooperative board is.
-It was recommended to ask
DOE how long that it will take the articles of agreement to be approved once
voted on by the towns.
-It was asked to have a
representative from DOE attend the cooperative meeting on November 13, 2003,
and have a final draft of the articles of agreement ready for November 25, 2003.
The next regularly
scheduled meeting of the Cooperative School District Planning Board will the
Thursday, October 30th, commencing at 6:30 pm at the Gorham
Middle/High School library. The agenda
for this meeting is as follows:
Cooperative School District Planning Board
Thursday, October 30, 2003 6:30 pm
Gorham Middle/High School Library
I.
Call to Order
II.
Approval of Minutes
from October 16, 2003
III.
Method of
Appropriations
IV.
Public Comments
V.
New Business
VI.
Next Meeting/Agenda
VII.
Adjournment
Motion by Lark Wood, second by Wendy Niskanen
Motion: to adjourn the October 16, 2003 meeting of
the Cooperative School District Planning Board.
Vote on
motion: all were in favor; motion
carried. Meeting adjourned at
8:51 pm
Respectfully submitted
Jacqueline J. Tetreault
Administrative
Assist./Recording Secretary
SAU #20