FINAL School Committee Minutes November 16 2021.pdf

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Mr. Stulin added that one of the surprise issues when we moved into the new building was that the cost of energy was much higher than anticipated, and he wonders if that continues to be the case and if we understand why the cost is higher than we initially expected and if this higher cost is what we are going to living with in the future. Mr. Ikonen responded that we do believe that the cost is going to normalize going forward. We continue to tweak some of the systems, specifically the HVAC, He is working with the vendors now as well as KBA and their engineers and they are hoping to at least maintain or decrease in the future. He agrees that utility costs are higher than what was anticipated. Mr. Stulin asked if there were any other aspect of the new building, with respect to expenses, that is significantly higher than anticipated or was it primarily just the energy item. Supply chain: Mr. Ikonen responded just the energy, but noted we are changing out of filters on a more frequent basis based on need and filters are hard to come by due to the supply chain problems. Our order made six months ago was just delivered this week, and that would be the only other item and he does not see any other item breaking the budget. 11. Discussion of FY22 First Quarter Revolving Fund Report Mr. Ikonen shared that the Finance Committee discussed the negative balances at their recent meeting. He noted that most of these are due to COVID and since pandemic last year, we were carrying labor costs with a decreased revenue stream coming in which would normally offset those, such as in MTI, food services, and early childcare. The secondary reason for childcare was that we had a facilitated learning program which was for the children of our teachers and staff Space for remote learning allowed teachers to maintain their work schedule and allow their child to have an educational process under some guidance. We are hopeful that when we are coming out of the pandemic and increasing the revenue stream these will all go away by the end of the year. Ms. Crocker thanked Mr. Ikonen and shared that it was money well spent for childcare for the staff 12. FY23 Budget Process Update Mr. Ikonen noted that this was his first budget process in his new role with Minuteman and it has been a learning experience for him. He shared that he started the process in early to mid- October when he met with the lead teachers and set expectations and told them what they should be looking at. Many of their budgets were cut last year due to COVID-19 and not a lot of spending was going on, so we wanted to bring them back to a level that they could maintain and continue to provide the educational process needed. They were given two weeks to prepare their budget and department requests. These requests were reviewed by their immediate supervisors, which then came to the Business Office where 13