Coshocton City Schools Regular Meeting

Zach Jennings and Jacob Lonsberry were not in attendance to receive their award.

Ethan Dixon came forward to receive his award from the Board President and have his picture taken.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 8.0.

President Phil Hunt read the staff proclamation for Staff Appreciation Week to the Board and those in attendance then asked for a motion and 2nd to approve the proclamation.. 

Mrs. Breen presented a PowerPoint presentation to share the academic and extracurricular projects that students have participated in.  She explained WEPS to the Board members and how they are being used by staff and students. Mrs. Breen also discussed an upcoming Leadership Conference opportunity for students at Salt Fork State Park that she organized because the Eastern Ohio Summit was canceled this year. She shared that the Rotary made a donation at the request of Isaac Bush to pay for the attending students' fees so there will be no cost for students to attend. Mrs. Breen had student projects on display in the CES Library for Board members and those in attendance to see. 

Ms. Tiffany Swigert presented via Zoom to the Board regarding the CRA request from Argyle Properties for a 100% abatement on the property acquired on Main Street, downtown Coshocton for 15 years. She explained that the current taxes on the property value would not change, but that property taxes on the updated value of the property with improvements would not be collected for 15 years if this request were approved. She stated that the Port Authority expects to see more of this type of request in the future, especially due to the Intel building in the vicinity that could result in Coshocton County being a "bedroom community". She added that strategic thinking here could result in the districts' expectations for future development as the result of this proposal may set a precedent. Ms. Swigert presented examples of responses to the 100% abatement request that the Board could use or build upon.  One example was a tiered annual PILOT (Payment in lieu of taxes) to the School District over the 15 years. The Board members were agreeable to this option in the conversation, stating that this would help Argyle properties, yet still, allow some revenue to come to the district as a result of the improvements. This also sets a precedent that future development could expect similar requests.. The Board members agreed that approving the 100% Abatement with no PILOT would not be in the best interest of the District or the Community that supports the district. The tiered plan is supportive of the community members that voted for levies to support the District yet still supports the growth and impact to the economic development of the entire community. Ms. Swigert stated that the Board could continue to discuss and determine their final decision to be approved at the May Board meeting, but that it would be helpful for her to know their thoughts so she could begin preparing for the May meeting. President Phil Hunt asked the Board if, at this time, they were in agreement on the abatement and a proposed PILOT payment. All members replied yes. The Board will be prepared to approve a final proposal for the Port Authority to present to Argyle. This should be approved at the May Board meeting after more discussion at an upcoming work session.

Josh Predovich with SHP discussed the struggles we have been having with the information coming out of the Facility Commission. He said: to put things in perspective - when working with the School District and trying to take advantage of a November bond issue - we would hope to receive the Master Plan in Dec and Jan, the final costs in March and that would allow Mar, Apr, and May to put together recommendations and take them to the community.  The struggle was that the enrollment projections came late, the master plan options from Commission came over Break, and the biggest impact has been waiting for cost updates to see the 2022 impacts. We received them on 4/7 and finalized them on 4/14. We are 5-6 weeks behind. on making good decisions.  We need to ask questions - could the district wait a year.; we are still waiting to find out if the District is going to be offered funding for 2022.  We have 4 plans we have been reviewing. The team challenged the base master plan which is the addition to the existing PK-6 building. The District formulated a challenge with the help of Bricker and Eckler. Today, just before the board meeting we received information that the challenge has been denied but have not been told why. Josh discussed the Master Plan options with the Board. He stated that the state is looking at it as a student population and $ per square foot issue. Josh reviewed the spreadsheets with the pricing information as well as the updated increases to each plan due to inflation for each option. The Community Advisory Team does not consider option 1 a viable option for the District. The 2nd option, a new HS - 7-12 also has a significant increase in costs due to inflation. This plan was seen as a better option with an increase from 16.6 to 19.3M increase in local share. The percent of construction costs has gone up. Included with these plans is the demolition of part of the HS- This can be none, partial, or all of the plans. The 3rd plan had no significant change since the last meeting. This is the full renovation of HS (175 square feet.) The cost is significant when it went from 36.2M to 48.8M for the cost of construction. Local share went from 19.9M to almost 26.8M. CAT and SHP recommendations were to not share the information with the community until we saw these updated costs. Part of what we have looked at is the 4th option and that is renovating the HS with no state involvement. Warm Safe and Dry.  Looked at the last 10 years of improvements and look at what it would take to replace all systems in the building. Simply looking at mechanical, electrical plumbing, security, furniture, and finishes. The bottom of the spreadsheet has locally funded initiatives. Message to the board - there are a lot of moving pieces, more that he would like to have this late in the process. We still need to try to get to the place where the CAT will make a recommendation to the Board, even if it is to slow down. From his perspective, there are a couple of things that need to be done Grant; Dr. Hire and Josh need to make the last CAT meeting as active as possible. Try to get as many people as possible to attend the meeting. Get millage ranges for the meeting so the CAT has an understanding of the impact. He is glad we held off sharing the information about each plan until after the new pricing since we saw a 35% increase. Dr. Hire asked if we received the final numbers from OFCC. Josh said he has not seen the number but the numbers have been approved by the commission. The number we were given are remaining consistent. 

The vote for this item is recorded on item 11.0.

Ms. Eyerman reviewed the YTD revenue and expenditures with the Board that were in the Finacial Summary packet.  She looked at each forecast line item YTD amount and the difference between that amount and the forecasted amount.  She then provided a rough calculation of expectations each of the next three months to determine if the amount was in line with the difference between current and forecast.  All but the "other" lines were on target to meet budget. She stated that she would continue to review these monthly and inform the Board if any item appeared to be out of line. Ms. Eyerman then shared the District Financial Dashboard with the Board asking for input, comments and suggestions to improve it so that it met the needs of the Board members. President, Phil Hunt expressed that he requested such a document for the Board members to have valuable information at a glance.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 11.0.

Ms. Eyerman expressed gratitude to the donors of funds and prom tickets for their support of our student activities.

The language was changed from  "It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the attached list of Board of Revision Appeals" to  "It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the filing of the Counter Complaints listed in the attachment in response to the decreased tax valuation complaints filed with the Coshocton County Auditor on properties located in the Coshocton City School District." when Item 5.0,  Adoption of the Agenda, was approved - 

Ms. Eyerman began the presentation by explaining that it is not common practice for the District to file a complaint related to property value, especially residential, however, when complaints are filed, due diligence is important, therefore, these items were looked into and our Board of Revision attorney was consulted for input.  The Attorney's reviewed the list from the County Auditor and discussed the items with Ms. Eyerman. The recommendations to file a Counter Complaint are on commercial properties that are requesting to reduce values more than $180,000. In total, if all of the marked values were decreased by the amount requested, the District would lose approximately $125K a year in property tax revenue. Mr. Bennett motioned and President Hunt seconded to vote on the recommendation. 

All Board members that voted agreed, President Hunt abstained due to professional interests/contacts with some of the owners of property listed.

The vote for this item is recorded on 13.0.

Ms. Eyerman stated that approximately $100,000 will be paid from Title funds for this curriculum. 

Dr. Hire stated that he added the Agenda from the MVESC Business Advisory Council meeting for their review. He also stated that the County Superintendents had originally discussed starting a County Business Advisory Council and no longer participating in the MVESC meetings. They have since decided to continue with MVESC, but also form a workgroup that will focus on building relationships with Coshocton County businesses.

The vote for this item is recorded on 13.0.

Dr. Hire read through each of the items. Mrs. Susan Mann commented that she is sad to hear that Stacy Ganz is leaving, stating that Stacey is good at what she does. Other Board members commented on how good she is with the kids. All Board members concurred.

The vote for this item is recorded on 13.0.

Dr. Hire reviewed the attached calendar with the Board, highlighting some of the dates and mentioning that a graduation date is not finalized yet.

The vote for this item is recorded on 13.0.

Dr. Hire mentioned that Mrs. Shingleton used to participate in the event annually with the students until COVID. The trip is on the agenda because the Board must approve all overnight field trips.

The vote for this item is recorded on 13.0.

Dr. Hire stated that this is the field trip Mrs. Breen referenced in her presentation. He added that the student participants are not all gifted students but each did need to meet selected criteria throughout the year and exhibit leadership skills in order to participate. The criteria was set by Mrs. Breen and determination was made by Mrs. Breen and the teaching staff. There are 50 student slots and numerous chaperones scheduled for this trip.