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[Kreatz]: Hi.
[Unidentified]: Hi. Hi, Mary. Oh, we're live.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Okay.
[Kreatz]: Yep. And it is five o'clock I have we have Paul. I think Paul's here. Yep, there he is. And I see Paulette and John's there. And I know David Murphy is going to be joining the call, but I think he's joining us a little later, Dr. Maurice.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: He was in a meeting with me and him and a few other people earlier that continued after I signed off. So I think he's probably just trying to finish that up and then go over.
[Kreatz]: Yep, and his item is the last agenda item. So I think it's fine, we should begin. It's five o'clock. So what I'll do is I'm gonna start reading the agenda, the long agenda, the beginning. Okay, so please be advised that on Wednesday, March 3rd, from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., there will be a building and ground subcommittee meeting held through remote participation via Zoom. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, General Law 30A-18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Member School Committee will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information in the general guideline for participation by members of the public and or parties with a right and a requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the City of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so accessing the link contained herein. No in-person attendance of the members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the City of Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. The meeting can be viewed via Medford Community Media on Comcast Channel 22 and Verizon Channel 43 at 5 p.m. Since the meeting will be held remotely, participants can log or call in by using the following link or call-in number. You can join by typing in https://mps02155-org.zzoom.us, backslash j, backslash 93458270363. Or you can call this number 131-262-66799 and type in the meeting ID number 934-582-70363. Additionally, questions or comments can be submitted during the meeting by emailing kcretz at medford.k12.ma.us, and that's spelled K-R-E-A-T-Z. Those submitting must include the following information, your first name and last name, your Medford Street address, your question or comment. So we'll take the roll call. Paulette, you're no longer the treasurer, so I'll start with the roll call. I have, oh, sorry, I have my, oh, here it is. I was like looking for my attendance list. All right, Mr. Russo?
[Ruseau]: Present.
[Kreatz]: Okay, Ms. Van der Kloot?
[Van der Kloot]: Present.
[Kreatz]: And Ms. Kreatz here. So three present, zero absent.
[Van der Kloot]: Just so you know, you can ask either member to do that as secretary.
[Kreatz]: Okay, that's great. Thank you. And before I do begin, would somebody want to just keep an eye on the time? Because I know a lot of people have been doing great with their meetings and their time, and I just lose track of time. So I've been going over. So let's keep an eye on the time. Anybody want to keep it, you know, just, you know, tune me in and just say, Kathy, we're getting a little into this topic. I don't mind. So, and I see Mr. Murphy, thank you, Mr. Murphy, I can see that you're, hi. All right, so the meeting objective is to update the community on projects at the Medford Public Schools. And so the first item on the agenda is the Merritt High School generator. And I did put together some notes. I'm just going to open them up right now. Um, and I went back to our last meeting because we did have so this this meeting is our we're revisiting some of the items that were on our last meeting and um, So we did talk about the generator and I was able to share the estimate and the specs with both committee members And john mclaughlin shared them with us. Um, i'm not sure if you want me to do a screen share Um, or did everybody get a chance to look at that? Did they did they get those the specs?
[Van der Kloot]: You just might mention the cost.
[Kreatz]: OK, so the cost is, and I'm just going to shrink this down one second. I'm just going to shrink it. All right, so the cost, and just move this over. Oh, OK, it's moved on the wrong side. Second. The cost is, oh, OK, one moment. I think I have it, and I saved it here. $128,675. So the question I have, John, is, you know, I just have some general questions and I can be able to just answer them. So what I didn't know is, you know, I looked at the draft of the capital improvement plan and I noticed that the generator wasn't on it. So I wanted to know, you know, what you have for information, you know, maybe could you explain a little bit about, you know, how important replacing the generator is and what does the generator do?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Okay, so maybe why it wasn't on the main capital improvements project is probably came in after we had our drafts together. But there are two generators up at Mefford High School. One runs one side of the building, one runs the other side. So the side in the front, the side where the shops are, where we are, that generator failed a while ago. and we're being told that we need to replace it. So I brought in a company called Kraft to have a look at it, and they never got back to me. I had the other company, Power Equipment Products, give us just an estimate for a generator, and then things didn't work out with them, and then I brought in our electrician. But in the meantime, they built the shop, the new shop and the vocational school, and they kind of put their big equipment out in front of the door that goes into the generator room. So, and then also, I was told as well that where the generator is placed it's right next to the main transformer, or the one third transformer at the high school. So we'd have to start building walls. We'd have to start doing all kinds of construction work to make it happen. So I said, well, what if we do it outside? Would that be more cost effective? And most generators, I think, nowadays are kind of positioned outside. They don't really put them inside the buildings anymore. So I called in Gone Green. They came in. They brought in their professional that that does generators and that's where that quote was generated from. And basically what it what that generator does is it runs about half the building, emergency lighting and heat.
[Kreatz]: Okay, excellent. That's, that's excellent, because that's very important. And so what You know, okay, the other question I had was does that cost the 128 675 does that include the labor to install and remove the old generator or are we going to incur additional costs.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, what we were gonna do is abandon the generator in place in the room that it is right now, and then put the new one outside. So it's not gonna be in the same area. So basically coming up the vote side, they'll put a pad in, we'll put the generator and we'll put some fence around it. And then that's where the generator would go at that point. Okay.
[Kreatz]: And would it be a problem to keep the old generator, you know, in the building, you know, is there any, you know, issues that might occur if, if it was left there.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Just know this. No, there definitely isn't this time we do also have some equipment from the past that's been abandoned in place up at Medford High School as well. We have an old absorption system, air conditioner system that used to run B building that's been abandoned in place. We have two sets of water tanks, hot water tanks that the previous ones before we got the grant to add the new ones, those were abandoned in place. So it's pretty much pretty much kind of how they go. There was room in there that we were able to add the other equipment. So, and, you know, at the cost, the cost to take it out is probably prohibitive. You know what I mean?
[Kreatz]: Yep. And, um, and then, oh, my colleagues. Okay. Um, go ahead. Yep. I'll let, uh, Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: Thank you very much. Um, I just have a few questions. Um, thank you, John, for the report as always. Um, when did the generator actually go out?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: It went out, I wanna say it's been about a year now. It's kind of come along with everything else. I've been pretty, I don't know the exact date, but I do know that the generator was, you know what, when we went to the city council, about a year and a half ago to get the and they were gracious enough to give us the 325. It was out then. So it's been out about over a year.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. And who who said we had to replace it? You said it had to be you were told to replace?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yeah, the company Power Products, they're the ones that test out all our generators and they come in yearly and do our testing. They told me that the generator was, yeah, it was pretty much finished and that it couldn't really be repaired. And then they said they can do, they said, well, we'll do a $12,000 repair or a $15,000 repair, but we're not gonna guarantee it. You know what I mean? So it's like, the best recommendation that I could get on it was to replace it. Thank you. Do you know what the life expectancy of the new one is? Not, I don't exactly know. I would probably, I could make some phone calls and I could certainly find out the life expectancy, but I got to figure it's 20 years anyways.
[Ruseau]: Okay, thank you. And you don't know if there's, you know, I think about when I buy a hot water heater for my house, I can choose the short, the cheaper one that will die sooner or the longer one that will last?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: You know what? I can certainly find that out. That is a good question. I can certainly find that out.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I mean, I realize, of course, we have no idea how long we'll have the high school, but I wouldn't want to pay for a 50-year piece of equipment if there's a 20-year option. And then do you happen to... Honestly, I mean, you might've been in school at the point when it was purchased, but do you have any idea how old the one that died was? Is it the original one? When it was built? Yes, yes, it was the original equipment in the building. Thank you, that's all my questions.
[Kreatz]: And Ms. Van de Kool, did you have any questions? I hope I didn't miss your hand. Let me see, are you muted? We can't hear you, Paulette. can you unmute?
[Van der Kloot]: There we go. The mayor has her hand up.
[Kreatz]: Oh, okay.
[Van der Kloot]: And there we go. So if you'd let her go first.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yep. Just just a quick. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Just a quick question. The to refresh my memory that
[Mr. McLaughlin]: 325 covered the generator, the bathrooms, and then some... Yeah, there was a shade project that we did at the high school, replaced all the shades and C building, as well as we made some repairs to the public address system up there as well.
[Van der Kloot]: Thank you. So just, Kathy, may I? Yes, you may. Yes, go ahead. To be clear then, is the money for this generator, has it already been appropriated or has it not been appropriated?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: I think there hasn't been enough allocated for it because at the time we were kind of scrambling. And the only quote that we had was a $60,000 quote. And that was just for the generator, that's it.
[Van der Kloot]: So right now, while this generator has not been operationable, we're just running off of one generator? The other generator is what I understand?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, if we lost power up in the high school area, what would happen is the back half of the building would have generator service, and the front half wouldn't, which would mean that the heat pumps wouldn't be running, the emergency lighting wouldn't be running. It's certainly a high priority items, especially on my list for sure. And luckily we've been, hopefully we've got through the winter, which is always the main concern. Cause if we did have anything happen for a few days, then I would be very concerned without having the heat pumps running.
[Van der Kloot]: John, the other day when I went up to attend the Haitian dance class, which was really fun, it was so hot in the gym. Does that have something to do with the generator or that's just a completely different issue?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: has to do with everything's working at Mefford High School right now, and with failing heat in certain places that we probably haven't for quite some time. I'm certainly working on, we're coming to the end of the year, so we do have to slow down with a lot of what we're doing. So I was gonna have, at some point, our HVAC guy come back and add some valves to the units, especially in the gym, so that we could keep the air flowing and shut the heat off. Right now, everything runs off a main steam line that goes into that area. So in order to slow the heat down over there, we'd have to kind of cut the whole steam line because the pneumatics are short and the thermostats don't work. So I was going to have them install a valve that we could turn on and off, or maybe even open it just to crack to get a little bit in there. But that was that was going to be the plan. But like I said, right now, we, you know, we've been, you know, I'm very grateful that we've done been able to get so much work done this past year. And, you know, there's always going to be, as everybody knows, there'll always be something happening and something to do. So it didn't it wasn't certainly an emergency to get our kids back or get our teachers back to school. So it's something that we can get to eventually. It's a luxury, really. It's a luxury item.
[Van der Kloot]: Okay, but the generator, and Kathy, there was actually two bills. There were two different bills. One was for about 120 something, and the other one was for about 58, if I recall, that you sent out to us. So is it the combination of those two bills that you're saying we need? So 180, roughly.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yeah, I thought it was 150. Somehow 158,000 stuck in my head, but yeah, you're probably better off.
[Van der Kloot]: No, it's 128 plus 58, I think, right, Kathy? Yes. And I mean, so we're talking, you know, 130 plus 60.
[Kreatz]: Yeah. Almost 200K. Yes.
[Van der Kloot]: In a budget which is going to be tight. And now am I hearing that this is an emergency? You know, to get through next year, is that what?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: If anything was right now, yes, it is.
[Van der Kloot]: Was this in our former capital plan?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: It came up about a year and a half ago, whenever it was. I know that the mayor was serving on the council at the time when they appropriated the 325,000 for some capital improvements. So, and that's when we started to get the ball rolling with the bathroom project and some of the other projects that were near and dear at that point, but it was known then.
[Van der Kloot]: But what you're saying is we need to come up with roughly 200K to get this generator.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, yeah, or we could certainly, I mean, you can always get a second opinion. I assume the amount of money that we're requesting is gonna have to have a formal RFP. And here's Dave, Dave wants to talk, Dave Murphy.
[Kreatz]: Mr. Griffey, go ahead.
[Murphy]: Thank you. Thanks, John. So we've met with the procurement officials with the city within the last week, myself and Ms. Kingman in preparation for the likelihood of RFPs needing to be issued for these projects and a few others. And I think that there will be a need to go through a formal bidding process for these repairs. With regard to the budget allocations, what we have currently is an amount of money that has been allocated to the school department without specifically being earmarked for specific projects. With the first amount of money that John was referring to, which there's about $160,000 remaining, that has a fairly broad potential scope That is the, it was the intercom. There was some instructional technology pieces to it. And then there were the shades and then the restrooms. So taken together, it will not be a sufficient amount of funding to do all of those, but those are the priorities that we'll be speaking to the committee about in the coming weeks. In addition to that, there's the funding that I believe was referenced at our last full school committee meeting in the vicinity of $800,000. Those are about infrastructure projects that were appropriated on the basis that we assumed we were going to need that funding to take care of some of the COVID-related expenses. Because the definition evolved with regard to what was ineligible expense under the federal funding, we've been able to maintain and essentially keep intact that amount of money with the understanding that we need to develop these priorities and then put some of that funding toward either some of the urgent infrastructure needs that Mr. McLaughlin is referring to here, the restroom projects that I know have been a priority for the committee and for the city for some time, and then a few other infrastructure related projects that are referenced in the capital plan that was just presented on a few days ago. So we have some funding available and it's really just the question of identifying the most urgent priorities and then see what we have the capacity to address in the near term. I would say that I think that something like the generator should be viewed as a capital expense and not one that would ultimately be part of the operating budget, because whether it's 20 years, 30 years, or 40 years, it's not a reoccurring expense that would typically be something that we would consider to be an eligible expense with regard to our normal Operating education, educational operating budget. So there are a lot of decisions that are going to need to be made in the coming weeks as to how all of these different priorities will fit into the budgetary capacity we have on the capital side. And I think you'll see that it'll be consistent with the present the recommendations that the administration brings forth to the committee will be consistent with those that have been identified as part of the capital plan. And these sort of emergency more urgent matters that the generator would certainly be a part of.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Mr. Russo, I saw your hand. Go ahead.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. Mr. McLaughlin, you made a reference to something that I sort of interpret as a, you know, I don't want to say doomsday scenario, but if we lose power in the middle of a cold snap and we don't get it back for three days, all the pipes are bursting. We're looking at a massive expense if we can't get heat in that area, correct? That would be correct, yes. So I just think it's important to note that while we are going to have to struggle with priorities, I don't want us to put the city in a situation where we are going to come back and say, you know that $128,000 we needed? Well, now we need $2 million or whatever it is to make the place functional again. And I'd like to pretend nothing like that can happen. And maybe it has never happened in our school. you know, if there's anything we've learned in the last 12 months is everything we imagined couldn't happen has an awful lot of those things have happened. So I just think it's important to recognize that no matter, frankly, no matter what the cost is, having a way to prevent, frankly, a huge increased, a huge emergency cost has to be included in that. I also did just note we did, this is in our May 18th of 2020 budget book this particular item. And I see that we have made progress in identifying what it is we need to do. I just am a little concerned that 10 months, granted we've had a pandemic going on, but 10 months seems like a long time to not even have an RFP ready to go. And I'm just wondering what is the timeline? Because by the time this winter gets here, for this coming winter gets here, I don't wanna have a conversation about why we need to get a new generator. I want to know that it's there.
[Kreatz]: Mr. Murphy, go ahead.
[Murphy]: I just would agree with Mr. Rousseau's point. It's certainly our expectation that this is something that's addressed in the coming months in the spring or the summertime. So I don't expect to go through another winter with the generator not functioning.
[Edouard-Vincent]: And Dr. Maurice, yes, please. I just was going to actually echo those sentiments that it definitely was the unexpected turn of events with the pandemic last year with this permanent shutdown in March and not knowing what was going to happen and just remembering it seems like it was a century ago. were adding HEPA filters and just focusing on getting the air quality up and running for the buildings, that that's what ended up being our priority for the fall. But now that we're coming into the spring, this definitely is a priority for us. I mean, it's on our radar and we will work with that before going into another winter season.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Um, so is you know, I I was thinking of making a motion to you know, have this you know added As for discussion as a high priority item at the upcoming capital improvement plan meeting To be shared with the other committee members so that you know when we're meeting we can You know because we're meeting to make the priorities. What are we going to use that capital money for? um You know is I think that's something that we should do at this point is to have it added as a high priority item at the upcoming meeting.
[Van der Kloot]: I would second that motion.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Roll call vote.
[Van der Kloot]: On that motion, Paul Rousseau? Yes. Paulette Van der Kloot? Yes. Kathy Kreatz? Yes.
[Kreatz]: Three in favor and zero opposed. The motion passes. Okay, let me just do this.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Chairwoman, go. Yes, go ahead, Mayor. Chairwoman Kreatz, yes, thank you. I have to run to the meeting, the listening session on dyslexia. I'll let them all know that the three of you are presently in a building and grounds subcommittee meeting, but I just wanted to go on the record, obviously in support of what the admin believes necessary for improvements to our buildings, school buildings, but also advocate for, you know, the potential ADA accessibility improvements to the front entrance of the high school. And I know it's not an emergency, but just to add a little landscaping and a sign to welcome our ninth through 12th grade for the 2021-2022 school year would just go a really long way for all the children have been through all the, to go into a building with a new sign and just a freshly updated front entrance where the ADA accessibility does need to be improved there and worked on. I just wanted to go on record saying that before I left, but thank you for chairing the meeting.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Thank you very much mayor for attending. I really appreciate it. And I really appreciate everything. Thank you very much. And tell the other members of the other committee, good luck with your meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Okay, so we're moving on to the next agenda item, which is the Medford High School front entrance, which I kind of have it broken down into just different little sections. We are going to talk about the front entrance, the ramp, making that ADA compliant. We're also going to talk about the front entrance, the sign that we were just talking about, and beautification, some landscaping. So we'll start with Where we left off was we met about the front entrance in November, and at this meeting we are revisiting the front end discussion, and I know how very busy, Mr. McLaughlin was after our last subcommittee meeting, getting all the costumes ready to welcome all the students back in January. So I understand we didn't really get to do much between November and now so we're meeting again. And we're going to be talking about some of the same things as the mayor just mentioned she's very interested in fixing the ramp in the front end just a method high school. We understand that there's going to be a vision committee put in place. However, the ramp in the front high school is not ADA compliant, and it needs to be fixed and it's unsafe to wait, you know, the five or so many years until we get that renovation plan, we need to make those changes now. So currently it's utility ramp. And it's, it's, you know, listed in the capital improvement plan for the draft for the city. There's ADA accessibility upgrades that are part of that plan. So we can, you know, potentially use the free cash to fix that entrance and. We, and just to give a little background, we had Mr. Kless Anderson, who's also on the call today, and we had Ms. Carolyn Montello, and she's also on the call today, and both those parents were very, they were very involved in the process, providing feedback. Mr. Kless Anderson is an architect, and he provided us with a design plan and great ideas. Ms. Montello, she had wonderful ideas, and So we shared that at the last meeting. I can screen share, if anybody wants to see it, that design plan again. Just let me know. I have it saved on my computer, just if you want to get another look at it. I believe, did I email it to everybody? I can't remember if I did.
[Van der Kloot]: Not this time around, but last time.
[Kreatz]: Not this time around. I know. Do you want me to do a quick screen share of just the front entrance? sure okay so let me open it up one moment i'll open it up first um sorry don't mind i'm just looking around i put it on my desktop to get there i have too many things open okay front entrance design okay hold on OK, now let me go back to the meeting. OK, let's see. Sorry, I'm not really good at the screen sharing. I have the screen, and now I'm trying to get back to Zoom. Ah, OK, one minute. It shrunk down, my Zoom. Oh, there we go. Maximize, OK. Yeah, OK, so now I have the Zoom back, screen share. OK, screen, let me see if that. OK, click on it. OK, can you see it?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[Kreatz]: Okay, there. Okay. All right, I did it. That's like the first time I've done it. I'm serious. Okay, so there it is. And it's just an absolutely beautiful design. And, and I did, you know, get in touch with Mr. Andreessen, you know, when we spoke. And so I have him on the call today. I also have Mr. McLaughlin, you know, we communicated about this and I told him, you know, what the plans are is, you know, that, you know, we understand that there's gonna be a lot of different projects and we can't do everything at once. Like, so we have the ramp and then we have the brick work and then there's the renovation. So this is gonna be like a phase project where maybe the first phase will be the ramp, making it ADA compliant, getting a nice sign for the front of the school, and doing some landscaping at the front entrance, and then maybe at the bottom at the driveway area. So I'll let Mr. McLaughlin have a few words to say, and then Mr. Andreessen, if you would like to also say some things, please do. Okay.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Member Koretz, are you able to stop screen share?
[Kreatz]: I am going to do that right now. And you know what happened is I have a mini Zoom. I'm afraid I'm going to click out of it. I don't know how it happened, but I actually have a little panel of Zoom, but I don't have the, shoot, let me see here. Let me go here.
[Van der Kloot]: HAB-Masyn Moyer-Moyer): So Kathy. Yeah. While you work on that one of the questions you had up is an important one. HAB-Masyn Moyer-Moyer): And HAB-Masyn Moyer-Moyer): ADA compliant. HAB-Masyn Moyer-Moyer): Can can vehicle still drive on it. Okay.
[Kreatz]: Yes. I do have that question you got to see it too yes so that is a question that I did have you know and I that's one of my questions I had if we were to convert that ramp to an ADA compliant ramp would vehicles be able to drive on it I know that the um the ban uses that ramp and I think that ramp might be used for maybe things being delivered to the school in the front entrance that way. I'm not sure. And that would be a question maybe for Mr. McLaughlin. Do you know the interest of that? Like if we were to convert a utility ramp into an ADA ramp, would it be vehicle?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, I would make it wide enough so that you could back vehicles on it. And I would obviously, I would check with our contract to make sure that we're able to do that as well. But yeah, the plows do go up there as well. But yeah, I would keep the ramp, maybe make it a little bit wider than it is now so that in case we decided that, you know, we wanted to put some walls on either side. However, the committee or the superintendent wants to push forward with it. But yeah, definitely.
[Van der Kloot]: So Kathy Mayer?
[Kreatz]: Yes, you may. Go ahead, Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Van der Kloot]: So I know that for ADA, it's, I think if I recall, it's one inch per foot or something like that. There's a very prescribed amount that the rise happens. It's a very gradual rise. Is there enough room to, and if you think about, you know, the actual ramp that's there, you know, it goes back and forth in order to accommodate that very gentle slope. Looking at the front of the school at the ramp that we're talking about, which I express great concerns about the safety of on many occasions, But is there enough rise to make it into an ADA? Is there enough room to create the rise, that gentle slope to make it into ADA compliant? Oh, I would, I would.
[Unidentified]: I think I can take this one if you like.
[Kreatz]: Mr. McLaughlin, I think you froze. You froze for a little bit. We didn't hear what you said, sorry. And then Mr. Andreessen would like to maybe try to answer that question. Go ahead, Mr. Andreessen.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so can you hear me?
[Kreatz]: Yes, we can. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: In the diagrams that you just showed, there's a drawing in there that shows what the space requirements would be for an accessible one to 20 ramp. And I described this last time, but if you do a one in 12 ramp, handrails are required. If you do a one in 20 ramp, it's technically then becomes a sloped floor or sloped grade and you don't need handrails. And there's plenty of room for either.
[Van der Kloot]: Okay, thank you.
[Kreatz]: That's excellent, thank you. Any other questions on that? So the other question I had was, I know at our last meeting You know, we wanted to know if you'd be able to approach a site contractor or Mason. And I know that it was just very busy times. We're trying to get the schools open up to get the kids back in for the high school. So, you know, that we didn't get to do that. So, you know, as part of this process, we do need an estimate to go to the next step. which is to, you know, you know, cause as part of the capital improvement meeting that we have coming up on the 22nd, we'll need some sort of an estimate to bring forth to the other committee members so that they have the, you know, all the figures that, you know, we have to add up to, you know, that free cash amount of the $816,000, you know, or so. So I'm wondering, John, would it be possible, because I was thinking of making a motion to get an estimate for the front entrance to make that ramp ADA compliant to get that estimate on or before that capital improvement plan meeting on the 22nd?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: I don't know if I can obtain a quote that quickly because myself personally, I'm a little bit, I'm not exactly sure what the scope or the actual scope of the work is. Now, we were to put that handicap ramp in or fix that ramp and make it handicap accessible. The problem is that nothing else around that area is. There's a ramp over by where the TV studio is. So where do you go? Do you continue to go down to the driveway? And then when you get into the driveway there's two handicapped spots there that are definitely not ADA accessible the ramps are definitely not slow properly. And about a year ago I think was a year ago I want to say that myself and the superintendent. we had a brief meeting with the traffic commissioner and you know do we remove those two handicap spots that are there that are uncompliant and put them somewhere that is compliant you know because you're gonna have to make curb cuts in the front on in that in the go around in the front of the building in order you don't even need to make that to make that break. But without having to have a little ramp near the TV studio and across the way to the front door, because you can go up with there's a ramp right at the TV studio that you can go up and then you can go across the walkway to the front door as well. But so those are the type of questions that you know. that we should talk about, like as far as what are we actually gonna do? So if I bring a contractor and I say, all right, this is what we're actually gonna do. We're gonna fix this ramp, fix these stairs, fix the curbing, put a handicap curbing place in. So I just have to have a really good understanding of what we actually want to do.
[Kreatz]: Okay, Mr. Andreessen, please.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I think I completely agree with Mr. McLaughlin that this project, even though it's seemingly a small ramp, would probably require review from both the structural and civil engineer. And they would need to do a set of drawings for this for him to get a realistic quote.
[Van der Kloot]: Cha-ching, cha-ching.
[SPEAKER_03]: Indeed.
[Kreatz]: Kathy? Yes, okay, Mr. Russo, go ahead.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I don't know if this just adds cost and expands the project, but universal design would perhaps make more sense. I'm pretty sure all the kids that can use the stairs could also use a ramp without it being too much of a challenge for them. That's a joke, not really funny, sorry. Um, but, um, you know, where we are, I'm just a little concerned about. You know, and I suppose even today, you know, like, Hey, if you need to use the ramp, you can, you can walk the half a mile extra. Um, and, um, and I suppose this is perhaps a vision committee conversation more than anything. Um, but you know, having a, taking a universal design perspective helps everybody. Um, and I, I don't believe that there are people that use stairs that. would struggle with a ramp. I don't think that's a real thing. But it probably does require much more of a whole front end thought rather than using essentially the configuration we already have. So I don't know why I'm talking. I'm just wanna drag the meeting out, sorry.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. So I'm still thinking on this. So if we had a goal and our goal was to make that front entrance ramp, an ADA compliance ramp, and we had to put together a plan in this committee, What would we need to decide like do we need to decide that one, we need that curb cut out so that you know coming from the parking lot over to the front entrance there's going to be the curb cut out so that the person can go straight across and go up, you know, up the front entrance up the ramp. In and I know that it would you know, it would require, you know costs and fees Is there any way to get an estimate on? something like that if we had a plan that you know, because definitely You know, it's one of the issue, you know, one of the things that we do want to get fixed is You know making that ramp ada compliant and You know, I think, you know, we had a discussion about it in November and we're discussing it again, but I kind of want to try to move it along to the next level, which is going to the next step. And I'm just trying to think the next step would be coming up with a plan. What do we actually want? So, you know, I think what I'm hearing is that we do actually want to have the whole, you know, the parking spaces, the curb cutout, You know, both coming from the parking lot and then over to the curbing, and then the handicap ramp, you know, getting that done. And, or am I just kind of going off too far. Anybody want to chime in any committee members or anybody.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, I can I can just say that, you know, have, you know, obviously, needing to plan at this particular point in time there is a handicap ramp. It's not at the exact front door of the building. There's curb cuts, there's a couple of parking spots. very close to the handicap ramp. So just so it was at home, understand that, you know, we're not out of compliance. We were just gonna open up the compliance to more spaces. And like I said, we had the traffic engineer and I believe at this point in time that we do have more than the recommended amount of handicapped and parking and up there at the high school, but there, you know, there are some, There's two parking spots at the very front. If you walk out the front door and you walk straight down across, there's two parking spots designated right there as handicapped parking. There's no curb cutouts and the ramp is definitely not a 2% grade ramp. I don't know who put them there. It wasn't during my tenure, but they should, you know, and, and again, like I stressed earlier that myself and the superintendent. We definitely met with the traffic commissioner to try to iron out some of these issues, so that we can you know so that we could. take care, you know, we wanna be accessible in the proper way. And I would hate for a van to pull up down front, get out in a wheelchair, and then see that there's no way that they can get into the building. So that's something that's, you know, it's important to look into it. You know what I mean? But I mean, and we just got, like you said, Kathy, you know, phasing it out. All right, what do you want? You want the front half done first and some landscaping assigned? Because we did have, you know, we're neglecting the brick project too. And the brick project that was in the works that made the works anymore. So there's a lot of stuff happening as far as that goes, you know what I mean? And I think somebody's ringing on it. I can hear a noise. It sounds like a cash register. And in the background, kind of caching in here because, you know, every, every time we talk, the price goes up.
[Van der Kloot]: Right. So, Kathy. Go ahead, Mr. Antiquity just wants to chime in. She said.
[Kreatz]: I don't mind at all. I have four dogs.
[Van der Kloot]: So anyway, the concern I have is, you know, as soon as we start just the discussion around the ADA compliance, it does get very expensive. And the question now is, you know, again, that vision committee hasn't gotten off the ground yet. You know, how much money Are we going to, we all agree that some level of upgrade would be nice just to make it look better right away. I've brought a safety concern with the current configuration saying, look, do we put a handrail in? Can a truck still use it? But I understand it's not ADA compliant, that particular ramp, but we've always used the other ramp If, you know, right now, I think that there's a question of, I mean, we just have to be mindful of the money. Now, there was another drawing you shared with us today, just with the Mustang and welcome Mustangs, whatever. I, you know, I'm really, of course, I would love it to be officially ADA compliant throughout every ramp, but I'm just wondering whether we really have the money to go down that route right now and how much money do we want to invest? I mean, I loved Klaus's drawings. I absolutely loved them. And that obviously is, you know, just gets you excited. But there is a trade-off between how much we do. And I'm kind of on the fence about that right now when I think about what financial picture we face in the very short term.
[SPEAKER_03]: Can I just jump in real quick? Yes, please do, please. Not making a recommendation, but given the information that Ms. Van der Kloot just said, for me, and I think if you were to speak to your lawyers, they would say the same thing. You either leave the ramp exactly as it is today, or you replace it. But you don't do something in between, because that puts you into a really- Problem. A problem place. So it's either you do that project and you embrace the cost, or you just completely ignore that ramp and just say, you know, that's been there 30 years. We'll replace it when that happens, but interim steps with those kinds of accessible pieces is not a good idea.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: And what we got to remember as well too, is that when you spend $150,000 within like a three or four year period, every renovation that you have to make has to be ADA compliant. So that's the law.
[Van der Kloot]: Dave has his hand up, Kathy.
[Kreatz]: Mr. Murphy, sorry, I'm actually, yeah, please feel free to do that anytime, because I'm typing a little new. It's okay, go ahead, Mr. Murphy.
[Murphy]: Thank you, Ms. Kress, thank you, Ms. Brandenburg. I just, to Paulette's point regarding the overall cost, first of all, I 100% agree with regard to we can't go halfway if there's a renovation, then the renovation has to comply with the modern standards, obviously. But I think in terms of the sort of strategic decision as to whether we have the capacity to do a front end renovation that will include both the aesthetic piece that folks have spoken to and the compliance piece that will be a necessity if we do that and is important to do in its own right. I think it would be best would be if we brought forth sort of a suite of recommendations that included the generator that we talked about in the first part of the conversation, the front entrance piece, and some of the other parts that we're going to be talking about, I suspect, in the next few minutes. And then the committee can look at it in its entirety and say, based on the funding capacity that we have at the moment, these are the things that we should move forward on. There may be a need to go back to the city council for some of these pieces to get authorization for the broader scope on some parts of it, especially if they're being packaged together, I'd have to review the language as to exactly what the terms and conditions were when that funding was authorized. I just, I don't know whether or not that's necessary, but we should be prepared for that in case it is. But I would say that, I think to Ms. Van der Kloot's point, I don't think it would be ill-advised, I think, to make decisions in a vacuum because ultimately there's going to be a financial capacity for capital related projects that at least at the moment is gonna stand at a certain number. Again, we may have to go back to get some revised definitions to make sure that we're on solid footing with regard to its actual use. But then I think you can make a decision in terms of strategically here are the things that are really a necessity to avoid a catastrophe. Here are things that we need to do because it's just a prudent best practice. And here are things that we should do either for a compliance or an aesthetic perspective. And then I think we go from there and all of these things will require multiple RFPs and going through the bidding process and everything like that. But I think it's important that those decisions be made with the full context.
[Van der Kloot]: Kathy?
[Kreatz]: Yes, Ms. Van De Koot.
[Van der Kloot]: There was another photo that you shared with us, and it had the picture of the horse and blue columns on the outside. It was really a cosmetic upgrade. I had seen that picture when you sent it to us. that did not look like that was part of a very large or structural. It wasn't part of a structural upgrade. It was part of a cosmetic upgrade. And I wondered, that was the first time that I remember seeing that particular photo. I don't know, don't remember that being as part of Klaus's, I'm not sure. So can you-
[Kreatz]: No, so that photo that was the next as part of the front entrance. That was what I was going to talk about next was last year. During the beautification. Mr. Chris Christopher Donovan he's a parent community member and photographer. He had shared that picture with us the day after the beautification day. He's a photographer, so he did the Photoshop and he did the front entrance picture idea that he had for the front entrance that he shared with me. When we had originally seen it, it was discussed a while back before COVID shutdown that that would be a really nice idea. for the 50th birthday celebration for the high school to get a new sign. And actually, I had an idea, and I even talked to my son, because he was in robotics and automation engineering. And I showed it to him, and he said that it's very possible that it's something that could be done easily with a laser cutter or plasma cutter, possibly. Has everybody seen the photo? What I can do is I can screen share it right now.
[Van der Kloot]: Yeah, just so that you know what we're talking about.
[Kreatz]: Yeah, definitely. Let me do that right now. And I'm going to just give everybody a friendly reminder. We're getting close on the time, and it's getting up there. So we have to quickly move through some other things. Let me get there. Let's go to my desktop. Oh, yep. One second. It's on my desktop. Okay, here it is. I'm going to open it up right now and go back to Zoom. Okay, let me do screen share. Okay. Okay, so can everybody see that? Yep. And so that is, like, this is just a very quick picture. I mean, it's just a, you know, I mean, this wouldn't be the final version, you know, if, you know, we were gonna choose something like that. But I did, you know, get in touch with Mr. Donovan and he's actually, he might be unavailable, you know, for this meeting, but, you know, he did do some estimates on his own. Um, you know, I'm just looking at it a thousand dollars and landscaping up front would be new cool. Um, it would be nice if the vocational students could do it. Um, we could maybe reach out to Mr. Fallon and ask him if he could inquire with the metal fab and the robotics and automation teachers. If it is something that could be done, you know, via the two programs, I know that I, right before the shutdown, I got to see the robotics automation engineering, and they just have, they have the laser cutter, the plasma cutter, everything. Go ahead, Mr. Cushing, go ahead. Yep, I can't hear you, I'm sorry. I'm gonna stop the screen share. Okay, let me see. Did you wanna go ahead, Mr. Cush? Oh, there you go.
[Cushing]: So I think that looks absolutely wonderful and really great. I worry that any investment when we're looking at a potential long-term project that may be taken apart, I have seen and have actually installed, but Groton-Dunstable High School has a massive crusader on the side of its building. It's a mesh banner. that you can do extremely cost effectively. They can be as high as 17 feet high. They can be extremely long. They can look like unbelievable. And I was thinking on the outside of the theater. And then that way you can say like, you know, welcome classes, welcome whatever, and then it will serve the effect of beautifying the building while also looking at that, like, long-term, what's the integrated beautification project look like for that front piazza of the building, and while also respecting and understanding, like, as we move to beautify the front of the building, that this could be a temporary stopgap for a comprehensive long-term plan to be done. And so I was thinking as you drive up the driveway and you take that right-hand turn in, you've got basically this massive space on the backside of the theater. It's classrooms, but there are no windows. It's completely concrete and would be able to do, it would be on the front of the building essentially as, you know, it's essentially right now just a blank concrete canvas. And you could put up a large mesh banner that would run the entire length, you could have a Mustang full size and full sprint. And basically your imagination runs the gamut for what could be done for not a lot of money that then could be preserved, could be moved, could be whatever. I just worry about us looking at like an integrated plan that's well thought out that in five years, we're not removing something that we spent money on.
[Kreatz]: No, thank you. I really appreciate that idea. And I liked that idea a lot.
[Cushing]: And this is the front of the building. This is the front of the building. Actually, let me just screen share real quick just so if it'll work. All right. So I'm on Google Street View right now. I'm talking about this area right here as you drive up. Um, which would give as you're approaching the building a lot of kids come up, and they're dropped off at the West courtyard. All right, and they come in that way from either student parking or from whatever it may be, buses, and then you've got a large section of the population that gets dropped off here as well. So as you come up, it would be visible to both sections of students along this. I definitely wanna see something here. I just, once again, I worry about, and I'm gonna stop my screen share real quick. so that I just worry about that, like whatever we invest that it's lasting. And I think that also goes to what Paulette was saying around the vision committee and that integrated approach.
[Kreatz]: Well, I really liked that idea and what do my committee members think? Dr. Maurice, go ahead. Oh, Dr. Maurice and then Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I think with the, the architecture and structure of the building where there is so much concrete. facing that there definitely are opportunities to definitely add additional enhancements, even the area where Dr. Cushing was just talking about when you come up the hill. I still know though, from just having been in the district for the three years that I've been there, people who are coming to the high school for the first time or are not familiar with it, it's difficult to know where the front of the school is. So we end up saying, if you find the big tall flagpole and the island in the middle, but as people come up, sometimes they end up going straight to the West courtyard, or even if they're trying to find how to access the pools. So I do feel like, whatever the wording could be, if we can work with our vocational students, which would be fabulous. Mr. Donovan's picture where he had the lighting on the inside and just having something where people will know this is the official front door of the school. I think to have some kind of a marker just to be able to say this is your front door, This is the official main entrance where when you walk into that entrance, you're greeted by, you know, the security booth and, you know, they can send you upstairs, downstairs. That's the official main entrance because people do try to come through other doors because they don't know. They try to come through side doors. And so I do feel as we think about even though it would be for a short period of time, to add a little landscaping to the front of the high school, having clear signage, a bigger sign on the official front doors so people will know this is the main entrance, that would be my recommended priority. And we could definitely use the other sections where we have large amounts of just, you know, that cement canvas, concrete canvas to be able to say, you know, whether it's the mesh sign or if it's having Mustangs running toward the front door. So we could say, oh, when you see the horses running to the right, follow the horses. And so instead of saying follow the arrow, people will follow the horses and say, okay, I'm making my way to the front door. So there are a couple of ways we can try to be funny and play on the Mustang nation, but think of a way to use that blank canvas and at the same time, point people in the direction of where the actual front door is. Because, you know, with paint, with additional lighting, with additional shrubbery, the building has the potential to look beautiful while we're waiting to figure out what needs to happen. It's, you know, maybe I've watched too much HGTV sometimes, but... When you look at things and you just see, wow, all they did was paint it. For those of you, believe it or not, it was a year ago, last February, I believe, when we did the beautification project in the front foyer, the lobby of the high school. And that day, the Sunday, that everyone was just in there painting. And when everyone came in, it was like, wow. And that was just... blue and white paint. And it just lifted the lobby because the lobby felt, I don't know, you know, there wasn't enough lighting and it felt dark. So just by adding, you know, our colors to the inside, it made a difference. And I do think putting some of the shrubbery, getting signage up, you know, If we can have it done by our students, our students would take greater ownership. I'm not sure, we'd have to speak specifically with Mr. Fallon about do we have the right equipment to be able to. make the letters ourselves. We do have the 3D machines. We do have a lot of equipment there that if we could do it ourselves, maybe, you know, I don't know what size, you know, those letters would cost, but if it's something that we could do in-house, it might not be as expensive as we think it, you know, might be. And that would at least lift the front entrance while the vision committee is continuing to work and to be able to say, okay, we want this building to be compliant. I mean, that would be my, and I think it would be a good use of the money. I think especially this past year, the pandemic has wiped all of us out. I would love to see the high school complex have a facelift. even if it's just a HGTV version of a facelift, but just to lift the high school. And I think kids walking into the building will feel proud, happy, the same way they were really happy and excited when they saw the inside lobby as a temporary measure until we're able to really figure out what are the huge projects that we're gonna end up doing to renovate the high school complex.
[Kreatz]: Thank you very much.
[Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vandeku? Right. So I would like to make a motion that we ask central administration to explore the costs by talking to Mr. Fallon and other people who might have some expertise in this area to how much it would be to pursue the concept of Mr. Dunovan, which we see as it's a, You know, it's not a whole redo. I'm getting off here. I should just make that, you know, but how much that would cost. And also, I'd like to also ask that we explore the idea of the banner in the front. I don't see them as mutually, you know, one or the other. I think both have great potential. I really love marking the door with a little bit more excitement, and I love having a canvas, especially if we have our students input into what sort of things we might include on that, how to make it bright. And I'd love to know what the costs are associated with that. So Peter, if you would, you might give direction to that. To make my resolution more compact, that we explore the costs of the front entranceway and possibly a banner for the front side of the building.
[Kreatz]: I second that motion. Roll call vote. Mr. Russo? Yes. Ms. Van der Kloot?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[Kreatz]: Ms. Kreatz? Yes. Three in favor. Motion passes. Um, okay. And so the next part of it is just very briefly is just doing some beautification in landscaping, Mr. McLaughlin I know it's going to be spring soon and you know hopefully we're going to see all the snows, starting to melt. you know, could you hire a landscaper to maybe help us, you know, get some nice shrubbery that doesn't require a lot of maintenance, that will look nice, that's, you know, not going to be blocking anything at the front front where you come up, you know, from from Winthrop Street, you know, right there in that little corner where the, you know, the monument is, and then right at the front entrance. And, you know, where it's like we're going into spring, this is something that we would be doing, you know, anyways. Um, so I, you know, I wanted to make a motion that we, um, do some landscaping and some, you know, shrubbery in, yes, Mr. McLaughlin.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: If I may, over the years, we spent thousands of dollars down there on that corner. Uh, the, the biggest problem is, is there's no irrigation down there. So every, few years I've spent three, four, five, they've put annuals in, they've put, you know, but it just, the snow gets piled up there in the winter. It's just been kind of an Achilles heel. I mean, I'll do whatever the committee wants or whatever the superintendent wants me to do. That's not a problem. I just want, you know, I just want you to be aware of that, that we've spent lots and lots and lots of money down there over the years. Thank you.
[Kreatz]: Mr. Murphy. Yes, Mr. Murphy.
[Murphy]: Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. I think to sort of add on to Mr. McLaughlin's point. I mean, we are. I don't want. I hope my comments are not interpreted to suggest that I don't think this is important or that there are things that we can do. I suspect that there are. We should we should examine them and do whatever we can. I think that's particularly important as we hopefully increase the number of students who are coming into in-person learning. for the remainder of the school year, I think the more aesthetically pleasing we can make the building and the more vibrant we can make it, I think the better that is for culture and morale and whatnot. At the same time, I feel I do have a responsibility to note the non-emergency spending freeze that the administration has imposed on all of our various departments. And so I think whatever we do will have to be looked at in that context so that whatever investments we make, we can do so without causing disruption to the close of the fiscal year. That's not to say that we can't do something. I just, I would be hesitant to over commit or represent to the committee that we think we can do things that it may turn out when we actually look at it more closely, that we have to downsize in order to stay within the fiscal restraints that we currently have at this point in the fiscal year.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Kathy, we need to move on. Yes, we do. Okay, so if you could take it under advisement.
[Murphy]: Absolutely. We'll take a look at it and we'll work on that.
[Kreatz]: Yep, take it under advisement. I really appreciate it. And so John McLaughlin, you're up with the speed signs. It's very brief. Did they arrive? Can you tell us when they will be installed? And that's it.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: uh solace the solar speed signs they did arrive they arrived around mid-december which ground was frozen the dpw has the signs in their possession uh i'm going to double check we're going to put two up mefford high school one on the vocational sign what side one out front and then we were intended on putting one in between the mcglenn in the andrews complex is that correct
[Kreatz]: That's what I remember is, do you remember Mr. Russo, Ms. Van de Koot? I believe it was just in between. Yep, to slow everybody down. Perfect.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Right, so what I will do is I will probably have those in within the next couple of weeks. I'm just waiting around to unfreeze a little bit. The DP, well, I'm not waiting. Our friends as usual at DPW and the sign department graciously will be helping us install those signs.
[Kreatz]: Thank you very much. And we are moving on to the security camera updates. Mr. Murphy, thank you for waiting. Sorry. Thank you.
[Murphy]: Sure. So this would be a quick update just to let the committee know that we did meet this week with members of the city administration who were responsible for some of the upgrades that were put in place at City Hall with regard to security systems. We have security systems and this building is safe. And given that this is a public meeting, I think it's important to make that note that this is not a matter of having identified a particular vulnerability that we feel we need to address in a very urgent manner. At the same time, in order to go into more of the specifics as to some of the upgrades that we would like to recommend to the committee and investments we think that would be prudent to make, I would recommend that the next time we convene, we convene under the relevant executive session provisions so that we can speak in a more candid manner as to what we'd like to do and what we'd like to change. But in short, we're looking at how we can improve the locks system, the alarm system, and the camera system, mostly at the high school. And then some of those pieces would also be at some of the K-8 schools as well. So we've had our first meeting. We have a census of what the city did and where it could be applicable to us. Obviously, we'd be on a much larger scale because we have much more infrastructure. And I think that we'll be in a position to do some type of RFP process or solicitation of quotes in the next several weeks. And to the point earlier about the limitation on the funding capacity and the need to articulate all of the various strategic priorities that the committee will really need to take into account when making decisions as to how that money would be spent. I would say this sort of collection of issues on the security front will be right alongside the generator issue that we discussed earlier, as well as the front entrance and ADA compliance issues. And we'll package those together. And I would anticipate presenting to you a list of recommended priorities that will stay within that funding capacity. And we'll go from there.
[Ruseau]: Mr. Russo. Thank you. Mr. Murphy, I mean, I don't have my schedule in front of us, but I would just hope that before an RFP goes up for anything security related, we have in fact had that meeting. I hate to ask that we don't send RFPs out when we're actually ready to, but I just, the word security is a word that is used in a rather broad way. frankly, we could call literally anything security if we're any good at that. So I just want to make sure that I feel like I understand what we're doing, and I realize we can't talk about the details here, but I would just implore that the RFP not go out prior to the school committee knowing what it is we mean by security.
[Murphy]: Thank you. That's no problem at all. And I think what I would probably recommend is that we use, it doesn't necessarily, and it probably shouldn't be March 8th, one of the upcoming school committee meetings. I think it could be a relatively brief discussion in executive session where we can provide you with more specificity as to what it is we'd be looking to procure.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Ruseau]: Can I add one more thing? Sorry. Yes, you can. Go ahead, Mr. Russo. Thank you. I do think also, you know, we need to think about a way to message on specifically on security cameras without causing any problems around security. Because I know I've heard from a number of people about like, Jesus, do we just keep buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of cameras every year? Like, can't we buy the good ones? And, you know, We all get those things in our Facebook feeds for the $19 cameras. And if you've ever bought one, they last for a long time. And I recognize they aren't wired up and they don't comply with all the other things that we have requirements for. But I think that the, I have heard it enough times from the public at least that this, that we just seem to be on an endless spending binge to the tunes of hundreds of thousands of dollars on cameras. We're not Boston. you know, we don't have hundreds of buildings. And I think the, whether we do some kind of messaging around the costs and the, you know, what it is these pieces of equipment go through being outdoors and, you know, some kind of a messaging to help the public understand that we, in fact, are not just, that we're not buying rubbish, because I'm pretty sure that's not the case, and that there isn't actually some better, more expensive thing we could buy that would save us money in a couple of years. And I don't know how we message around this, but when the capital improvement plan was discussed last week, I believe that was discussed or brought up by somebody, maybe Member Graham brought it up. But I just worry that there's this appearance that we are either buying it, installing it wrong or whatever. I think maybe that's something for the communications group, or if you can look to see how other districts have messaged on this, and maybe we could copy that in some way. There's also some apprehension coming from people that bring this up. And the apprehension is, are you saying we don't have cameras at the doors? And of course, the answer is no, we have cameras at the doors. know, if we say no, all the doors are covered, and at the same time say we need to buy all a bunch of new cameras, it starts to be like, well, which is it? So just something I would like it if you all could think about in your dramatically improving communications capacity that if we could somehow include something like that. Thank you.
[Kreatz]: Thank you. Are there any more questions? Does anybody have any more questions for Mr. Murphy or Mr. McLaughlin? Okay, so just to, you know, I just wanna keep track of, so I think what I have here is that, you know, for the capital improvement meeting, maybe you'll put together some sort of a little package that you'll bring to go over the front entrance and the security updates and the emergency generator. and you'll take under consideration any extra funds, some landscaping. And then we do have, you know, Mr. Cushing's going to look into the banner and maybe Mr. McLaughlin and superintendent are gonna reach out to Mr. Fallon just to inquire if it's possible or not, if the vocational students could do something like that. And I think that's it.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Just on a side note, the Mustangs that you see hanging up in the corners of a building when you come in, they were put in and made and installed and painted by vocational students, just so that just for a little historical significance on on signage at Method High.
[Kreatz]: Excellent, thank you.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Maurice, yes please. I just wanted to say that I did just quickly do a quick check-in with Mr. Fallon and he said that they do have a CNC machine that they think they could probably do some stuff so he just needs a few days to work on figuring it out but he does believe that it would be doable. We don't know the cost so once he's able to figure that out and give us an estimate, I do think we'll be able to hopefully get that at a significant savings if we're able to use one of the pieces of equipment that we already have on hand.
[Kreatz]: Well, that's excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fallon, if you're listening. Um, I think that covers everything and we are going to end on time, even though we were getting a little late, but we are going to end on time. So is there a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Second. Okay. Roll call. Mr. Russo? Yes. Ms Van der Kloot?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[Kreatz]: Ms. Kreatz, yes. So we have motion three in favor of adjourning. And we're adjourning. It is 6.20 PM. And I want everybody to have a great night. Thank you all for coming, Mr. Andreessen, Mr. Murphy.
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