This meeting is being recorded. Good evening. This is the council's second March legislative session in which we give final consideration to legislation previously introduced and discussed. This legislative session is being conducted as a hybrid meeting which is available in person and virtual via WebEx. It is also available to the public through live stream on the Howard County Council website and broadcast on channels 44. If you're Verizon and 99 and 107, one if you're Comcast at this time, I will do a roll call for our council members, Dr. Jones. Good evening, everyone. Ms. Young. Here. Ms. Rigby. Here. And Mr. Youngman. Here. Moving on to our agenda Wait, what am I doing? I thought you had a read it I read it after you we removed from the table. It's on the table Princess for God our glasses in the car. I I move to remove CR 63 2025 from the table. Second. Mr. Ms. what okay this is a total setup. Sorry. Ms. Tarrad would you please call the vote to remove CR 63 2025 from the table. Chair Walsh. Yes. Dr. Jones. Yes. Miss Young. Yes. Miss Rigby. Yes. Mr. Youngman. Yes. The motion to remove CR63 2025 from the table passes. Council Resolution 63 2025 amendment for Howard County Board of Education Request Interagency Commission on School construction. I move to approve CR63 2025. Second. CR63 2025 has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Ms. Chair, would you please call the vote on CR63 2025? Chair Walsh. This isn't the first time. I don't think that we've had to call ourselves into special session like this because the school board couldn't manage to complete some budget related timeline. It is the first time though. I'm pretty sure that the board's asked us to vote on some supplemental budget amendment without a single word before the public, before the people who pay for this budget. It is embarrassing. This council, this council, oh, geez, I can't read it. This council, and she still only knows what. This council still only knows half the story about how and why the board figured out it left $4.4 million in state capital improvement program funding back in fall when this council passed CR 151 at the board's request. $4.4 million in state capital funding approximately $9.1 million in additional schools construction. That's embarrassing for the board. Here's what's embarrassing for the board. Here's what's embarrassing for this council. What's been requested to fund without additional $9.1 million. Five projects have been identified as part of this Council Resolution 63. Two new roofs one at Howard High School, one at Forest Ridge, one new elevator at Athleton Elementary, but not Hammond Middle. And two new high school gym ACs. We don't know all of the other schools that needed roofs. We don't know all of the other schools that needed new elevators. We don't know all of the schools that still need new air conditioning in their gyms that otherwise aren't air conditioned. But what we do know are the two schools that are proposed to have high school AC is reservoir high school and Oakland Mills high school. We know the embarrassing part about that is that Oakland Mills High School is the next of the 78 schools in this county's inventory that is slated to be entirely renovated. As soon as a completion date in 2031, according to the documents in this same CR-63, why on earth would we pay to install a new gym AC in a building where there will be a new gym in a matter of years and perhaps less than five years? We can reuse this new AC. We were told in the monthly meeting this past Monday. That's absurd. Why do we pay to install an AC? Take it back out and then reinstall it in a second location. Why don't we just put the air conditioning in some other school where it belongs? One of the other 77 schools in this county. By preference, my preference is this is when we vote this down. Tonight we are told by law that we can amend this bill. We can't say no, let us please not put a new gym air conditioning in the next school to be renovated according to the board's long term capital program, but we can amend it. The thing we can do tonight is we don't have to approve it. We can meet again tomorrow if the board puts forward a more reasonable assembly of projects to be completed with that $9.1 million. Here's what I think is the embarrassing part for this council. A majority of you won't do that. You will let this stand and you will let a capital budget go forward again based on the whimsy, the admitted whimsy of the board. It is their capital budget, they tell us. It is not the superintendent's budget. It is their board decision and they do not have to comply with criteria. It is because they say so. What are on these lists for tens of millions of dollars of finite capital budget funding that this council very likely will approve directors. It cannot continue that the single most important criteria as we consider the school's capital projects. Be where the board chair sends her own kids. It cannot continue. My vote is no. Dr. Drens. Yes. Miss John. I trust the school district to do its job. Mr. Brown has years and years of experience making these types of determinations going through lists. I don't think that this was a whimsy of the school board, rather they relied on the expertise and the research that Mr. Brown did in determining which items should go onto this list. The reason why Mr. Brown stated that Oklahoma was on the list actually was one which I have had personal experience with. My daughter was in a basketball camp at Oklahoma's high school many years ago. She graduated in 2015 so that was quite a while. There was no air conditioning in the gym then and that gym was being used all day long every single day all summer long. And it was really, really hot in that gym. And as Mr. Brown said, the reason why they chose Oklahoma Mills was because of the extensive community use of that gym. I know that it was like 12 years ago, and I assume it is just like that. And when you have gyms that are being that extensively used by camps and other community groups and private clubs that are paying fees in order to use those gyms, you need to be able to have air conditioning. So again, I'm not going to second guess, Mr. Brown, Mr. Loubley. I don't fully understand why they didn't know sooner about the amount of money that was available to them, but I'm glad that they figured it out before it was too late. And I will happily vote yes for this opportunity for them to get this extra money. Ms. Rikby. I respectfully disagree with one of my colleagues as we all gear up for, similarly, to congressional hearing season. This amendment, fully funds, partially funded projects, already in the FY26 capital budget for systemic renovations project, E1058 and roofing project, E1059, that this body voted on. This includes projects all around the county, from Gilford Elementary to Clarksville Elementary, to Worthington Elementary, to Howard High School, to Clarksville Middle, as well as Tried Delphiia Ridge and Clemens Crossing. It's clear, and we've been told that we know the criteria for these projects. If you are unclear, please watch the work session. Mr. Brown stated it over and over by work orders and maintenance cost and by the funding available to fully fund and finish these projects that are already on the list that the Board of Education and the Council have all voted on. I'm embarrassed tonight but it's not by anybody at HCPSS. My vote tonight is yes. Thank you. Mr. Youngman. Yes. CR. CR 63 passes without we are adjourned. This meeting is no longer being recorded.