September 9th Meeting Recap - $1 Million for Window Air Conditioners? BOE Faces Scrutiny on Taxpayer Spending and Transparency on Delayed Minutes (Again)

The RIH BOE meeting last night was like the agenda, short.

The BOE AGAIN tabled all of the minutes from the summer meetings. Some of the meeting minutes have now been tabled THREE TIMES without any public discussion about why.

Last night, Kim Ansh said the Board sought an opinion from legal counsel about approving the minutes, and said Board Counsel advised that minutes should be tabled (this excuse was not used the last two times the minutes were tabled without discussion).

The Board seems to be deliberately trying to hide something from the public. Board Minutes are the public record of the meetings, and should be promptly approved to give the public access. Ask yourself WHY this Board (and now their legal counsel) is trying to delay and hide the public record of what they are doing?

I remind the Board - and it's new attorney - of the proper process to either approve or vote down Minutes, as discussed by Judy Sullivan and Board Attorney Stephen Fogarty in July 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1x94U3F6kg

The last time I caught the Board trying to force their will and make the Board Secretary change the minutes was discussed in my post of February 13, 2023. It seems Kim Ansh’s board is up to the same games, and using their expensive new legal counsel to try to help them get around Roberts Rules and the Sunshine Act.

The minutes of June 24, 2024 Closed & Regular, June 27, 2024 Closed & Special, July 1, 2024 Closed and Special, July 11, 2024 Closed & Special, July 22, 2024 Closed & Regular, August 7, 2024 Closed & Regular have once again been withheld from public view by Kim Ansh and her board. Also tonight, the Minutes of the August 26sssth 2024 Closed and Regular Meeting were tabled for the first time.

Kudos to Dr. Lorenz, who was the only board member to vote no to tabling the minutes without discussion.

The Board discussed motion OP1 “The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District Board of Education approves the‬ submission of Electrical Distribution at Indian Hills High School by LAN Associates to the State‬ of New Jersey, Department of Education…”

Apparently this motion has to do with upgrading the electrical panels at Indian Hills in order to install 22 window air conditioners (the Department of Education needs to approve this). Ms. Emmolo noted the budget for air conditioning this year is almost a million dollars (for window air conditioners??). Ms. Emmolo then tried to back track and say the plan for air conditioners had not yet been finalized in committee. Then WHY are we proceeding with architect designs and electrical plans for said window air conditioners?

It was also brought up that the district ‘found' 2 large air conditioning units ready to operate, one at Ramapo and one at Hills, for which no ductwork has been installed. Who buys air conditioning equipment without having ductwork in place? It was not clear why the district purchased and possessed these units that are not being used, nor was the cost to the taxpayers revealed.

Kim Ansh and Marianna Emmolo’s Board has been very good at spending tax payer money - but are they doing it wisely?? Listening tonight, that seemed questionable.

Follow the discussion on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/RIHBoardWatch/posts/pfbid034HtFrTbXgB5tGG2yWwSa1oCksKF8W5wxm3psAFMqXFVBHmCDyKaCCwFdFGRBd4hml