By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board had a heated special meeting this morning.
The one agenda item was to approve the guaranteed maximum price contract with Nabholz Construction for the new Hays High School building and the Roosevelt Elementary School addition and renovations.
Those contract amounts are listed below.
Board president Ken Brooks said the meeting was called because the board was striving for transparency.
The board had been given a presentation on the plans for the new high school and the guaranteed maximum price for the project at a special meeting on Sept. 18. However, the board adjourned without officially voting on the contract.
"When looking at that, it was a simple oversight, and we are here today to correct that," Brooks said.
Board member Curt Vajnar said he was concerned about how he was notified about today's special meeting. He received an email from Superintendent Ron Wilson. Vajnar said he thought he should have been notified by Brooks. He said he thought Brooks was in violation of board policy.
Brooks said the policy does not stipulate the board members have to be notified by the board president as long as they are notified.
Special meeting agendas can't be changed. The board is also not required to offer a public comment session during those meetings.
Both board members Allen Park and Vajnar voted against approving the agenda, but the motion passed 5-2.
Park asked why the board attorney was not present. Wilson said he talked to the attorney Bill Jeter and they determined that he did not need to be at the meeting.
Park also asked why the meeting was not being videoed. Brooks said the district had not done that for past special meetings.
Open meetings law in Kansas does not require school board meetings to be videoed.
Board members had a copy of the Nabholz contract as of their Sept. 18 meeting. The contract was signed by Superintendent Wilson as of Sept. 19. Vajnar said he was concerned the contract was signed before the board officially approved it.
Wilson said the contract was presented to the board and discussed at the Sept. 18 meeting. Wilson signed the contract as a representative of the board. He said he had talked to Jeter, and he said Wilson signing the contract was "perfectly fine."
"There is nothing illegal in what you're trying to create here," Wilson said. "It was done in transparency if you want to use that word that was thrown out.
"The project is moving forward. It's disappointing that these types of games are being played at this point," Wilson said.
Vajnar said he did not believe he had an opportunity to educate himself on the contract.
Park asked Wilson, "Do you see anything that you failed to do?"
Board member Meagan Zampieri-Lillpopp asked Wilson to explain the process of hiring Nabholz Construction as the district's construction manager-at-risk for the bond projects.
The board several years ago signed a contract with Nabholz to manage the construction. Nabholz shared a virtual tour of the school at the Sept. 18 meeting and representatives answered questions. The oversight happened when the board did not officially approve the guaranteed maximum price contract on the HHS and Roosevelt projects, Wilson said.
Wilsons said there's no new information since the meeting on Sept. 18.
"We'll celebrate tonight the groundbreaking (of the high school) and a great thing in this community and it's wonderful," Wilson said. "And it's sad that we have people who are choosing because the bond passed to make issues of minor, small little details that don't really matter."
Park said, "I don't think that signing a contract for over $100 million is minor."
Wilson said, "You knew exactly what it was. We talked about it."
Park said, "People out here in our community expect us to be involved in that process ...
"You've made all the decisions yourself as far as what is in here," Park said.
Brooks said the board has had the information.
Park again brought up his concerns about private bathrooms at the new high school. That part of the plan was discussed at a regular board meeting in April and again on Sept. 18.
SEE RELATED STORY: Hays USD 489 hears concerns about private bathrooms at new high school
SEE RELATED STORY: Hays High construction to begin in August; project on budget
Brooks said the bathroom issue has already been discussed.
"We should take two hours," Park said.
"We should have special meetings on just that."
Board member Craig Pallister said every board member when they ran for office said they supported the bond issue.
"We spent hours with DLR [the district's architectural firm], meeting with architects and having the community come in and talk. We've had hours to spend looking at different parts of the building and what are the design needs and what they look like," he said.
"When we have one board member start issuing things that it is his opinion, he is not speaking for the whole board."
Pallister said there may have been an oversight in not approving the Nabholz contract on Sept. 18. He said the board has the grace to correct the mistake.
"If we still support the bond issue like you said you did earlier, we need to make adjustments and move on and do better at the next meeting," Pallister said. ... "Don't rehash things as if you have a vendetta almost."
Board member Tammy Wellbrock said she appreciates the team of people who have put in the hours and hours of work to get the bond projects to the construction stage.
"I'm working on a premise of trust," she said. "I believe there's been mistakes, but I don't think that this is indicative of malicious intent."
She said although she has heard concerns from residents who share Park's sentiments, she's heard from three times more people who are excited about the new high school and other bond improvements.
"I feel as a board member I have done my due diligence in listening to the community, and also reviewing what we have," she said. "There is simply no expectation that should be put on any of us that we should have been in all those hours of meetings like our team members at the school district have. I am prepared to move forward and support this contract."
Vajnar said, "I agree the bond is exciting, but we should put in hours and hours to make sure it's done right."
Zampieri-Lillpopp said she has listened to the community concerns.
"In my purview, the thing we said we were going to do, we are going to do. We are equipping our staff, our faculty and our administrators with the tools they asked for in these new buildings," she said.
Park expressed concern that there was no public comment opportunity during the special meeting.
He circled back to the bathroom issue again and suggested the district do a survey of parents about the private bathrooms.
Brooks said the board has discussed the bathroom issue.
"The whole bond process was done out in public," he said, "and community involvement was key."
Park said as a minority opinion on the board, he should be allowed to bring forward issues for discussion.
Brooks said "On a regular basis you take things off the consent agenda to talk about something unrelated to the agenda. We have discussed that practice. You talk and you have that opportunity. What I am asking of you is to be respectful of everyone else. That's not what we get from you."
Brooks asked Park to offer comments and points that had not been made before.
Park brought up the bathroom issue again.
Brooks asked for a vote.
The contract was approved on a roll-call vote of 5-2 with Park and Vajnar voting against the contract.