RSU #18 Funding Formula Committee

RSU #18 Funding Formula Committee Belgrade Town Office Meeting Notes 1/26/16 7:00 P.M.

Present: Carl Gartley, Chris Rhoda, Howard Holinger, Dana Doran, Ernie Rice, Lani Carlson, Becky Seel and Penny Morrell

Absent: MacGregor Stocco, and Dan DiGirolamo

Also Present: Tyler Backus (Oakland resident; Employee of Dept. of Education)

1. Minutes of the 12/8/15 were approved as presented. Penny will e-mail them to Mary to post on the website and copy the e-mail to Lani.

2. Becky explained the Freedom of Access Act. She discouraged any public official from having even one-on-one e-mail, especially if it’s a decision-making body. According to the law, if at least three convene, it’s considered a meeting, even though the participants do not think of it in that way. Sub-committees are subject to that ruling also. It is easier to discuss issues by e-mail or phone prior to a meeting, but it can be violating the law. E-mail is a public record.

Howard asked about disseminating the information on the spreadsheet distributed to members of our committee prior to our meeting. Becky concurred with Howard that it wasn’t an issue. It is just getting pertinent information to each member to consider in order to be prepared for the meeting.

3. Chris Rhoda explained his work on the spreadsheet wanting to be as concise as possible especially the most large items. The committee was thankful for the effort he put into helping us have a written picture of our findings. The first two options are close at the bottom line.

What Chris found interesting is Option 3. Howard asked Becky and Carl how open the RSU would be to our tuition students in order to make the spreadsheet as accurate as possible. It was reported that the RSU needs revenue, and will consider that in the equation. Carl will find out what the tuition price for high school students similar to our situation is currently, and also if different towns pay different rates. Special education students can be factored in and part of the negotiated cost. We have three China students attending Waterville and Carl can find out what rate we’re paying for tuition. The committee updated, added and edited figures as the discussion continued.

The goal of the spreadsheet is just to organize what we’ve been talking about for weeks. We will discuss further at our next meeting. 4. Tyler Backus formulated the e-mail distributed via Mary Vogel 12/11/15 to committee members to amend the cost-sharing formula. Ten percent of the number of voters in the last gubernatorial election is needed on a petition, in this case 950 signatures gathered and verified, to demand the RSU revise the cost-sharing formula. Then the district would form a committee to look at the formula. Tyler can recreate the information he presented and send it to us.

5. Penny suggested that we ask the Selectmen to hire Planning Decisions (PD) to look at the three tasks we have and validate our numbers. It would be up to the Selectmen to decide if the price would be feasible or not. The Select Board wanted a recommendation from this committee as to whether or not to hire PD. Dana suggested that the Select Board decision to hire PD be made after the Facilities Committee (FC) makes their review process. It’s a timing issue. Ernie recommended saying to the Select Board (SB) that these are the reasons why I think you should wait, supporting Dana’s recommendation. Our committee will continue until we’ve met all our tasks. Lani will address the next meeting of the SB on Feb. 2nd with our recommendation to wait for the FC recommendation(s).

6. Item #6 of this agenda is our agenda for our next meeting on Feb. 9.

Respectfully submitted,

Penny Morrell, Recorder