SPECIAL CALLED MEETING

OF

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OF VANCE CHARTER SCHOOL

 

 

A special called meeting of the Board of Directors of the Vance Charter School was held Thursday, April 2nd 2009. The following members were present and constituted a quorum:

 

Jill Pike, Chairperson                                      Michael Johnson

Gina Harris, Vice Chairperson                        Pat Olmert

Tom Betts, Treasurer                                       Cydne Sharpe

Jay Andrews, Secretary                                  Brian Daniel

Susan Satterwhite, Faculty Representative    Harrison Ford

Bill Satterwhite          

 

Also present was Dr. John von Rohr, Steve Hubrich, John Foster, and Cory Draughon.

 

WELCOME

The meeting was called to order at 6:05p.m. by Chairperson Jill Pike.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

John Foster addressed the Board and stated that the recent Long Range Planning committee meeting he attended was very informative. There he had a chance to review the proposal for a new school building presented by Hock Development and Starboard Accounting. After studying the initial proposal, he felt the project would be affordable and represented an opportunity for Vance Charter to achieve its goal of a new building with much less risk. Mr. Foster also mentioned that in light of the ever changing economy, this opportunity not come again for awhile. Mr. Foster did point out that in his opinion, there were some costs and items that might be subject to review and negotiation. Brian Daniel, Chairman of the LRP committee, asked Mr. Foster if he would be willing to assist in any such negotiations. At this time Jill read an e-mail from Clem Seifert, who was unable to attend the meeting, echoing many of the same sentiments as Mr. Foster. Brian made a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel issues. Bill Satterwhite seconded. Motion carried.

Cydne Sharpe later made a motion to come out of closed session. Gina Harris seconded. The motion carried. There was nothing to report from the closed session.

At this time, Steve Hubrich of Hock Development of Durham, and Cory Draughon of Starboard Accounting also of Durham, gave the Board a brief overview of the project and fielded questions from Board members. When asked about financing options for the school, Mr. Hubrich said that there were increasing signs that more options would be available to the school in the near future, but the investors would only consider financing any equity the school might need to complete a loan. Mr. Foster asked how some of the line item costs were figured. Mr. Hubrich stated that the architectural fee was well below the industry standard, and that some of the other numbers used came from the Voyager Academy project which is very similar to this project. He also stated that some of the numbers such as site work and N C Department of Transportation requirements cannot be determined until a location is chosen.  Harrison Ford asked if any local businesses would be used in the construction of the school. Mr. Hubrich assured him that certain aspects such as concrete would come from area suppliers. He also stated that many of the construction timetables consist of variables in dealing with the DOT Congestion Management and other bureaucracies. He recommended that the letter of intent, which basically gives the school’s permission to begin construction, should be signed within sixty days. This should allow construction to begin in August, which would insure occupancy by July 2010.

Cory Draughon of Starboard spoke about the proposed budget and recommended that the school should strive to save 20%of the price of the project for equity required when securing a loan to purchase. He said there were several ways to achieve this, but trimming the present budget would be most effective. When asked about the role of Starboard, Cory stated that once the lease agreement is signed, Starboard would place someone on site at Vance Charter to assist the school in meeting its budget requirements. After the three years or whenever the property is sold, Starboard’s contract with Vance Charter will be subject to individual negotiation.

After Steve and Cory left the meeting, Michael Johnson stated that he felt the three year buyout was too short a period and recommended that the school should negotiate for a longer period or a lower interest rate. It was also suggested that after reviewing the lease agreement and letter of intent by the School attorney, Michael and Brian be given the go ahead to negotiate these terms and if they are met, sign the letter of intent. Jill recommended that with the upcoming Spring Break, the Board schedule another special meeting on Wednesday April 8th at 6p.m. if we can get the lease reviewed in time. Brian Daniel made a motion to adjourn. Tom Betts seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Jay Andrews, Secretary