By Becky Brewster
The Culberson County-Allamoore ISD Board of Trustees met in Regular Session on May 22, 2018. Newly-elected Trustees Eduardo Seyffert and Jodi Corrales took their seats with the board after taking the oaths of office. The Board approved the following slate of officers: President – Letty Hernandez; Vice-President – Romy Ramirez; Secretary – Angie Gonzalez.
Doug Carr, financial advisor, gave an overview of the Chapter 313 Value Limitation Agreement process to the Board, noting that HB 1200 providing for such value limitation agreements was passed in 2001 as an economic development incentive. Carr discussed the advantages and disadvantages of these agreements and provided financial scenarios to show the impact on the District’s revenue. The Value Limitation Agreement would apply only to the Maintenance and Operating fund; the project sites would be fully taxable for the Interest and Sinking (I&S) levy collected to pay the bonds for the new K-12 Campus. For each agreement, the District will receive a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes of at least $50,000/year which is not subject to recapture by the state. At this time, there are four potential applications: two solar projects and two gas production plants.
Sara Leon of Powell and Leon provided the board an outline of the process going forward should the District decide to participate in the Chapter 313 Value Limitation Agreements. Once the District accepts an application, it is a four to six-month review and approval process through the Texas Comptroller’s office. Leon noted that this is actually a state program designed to have no negative financial impacts on school districts.
Mike Frye, representing Targa Delaware LLC, briefed the Board on the two applications that have been submitted to the District for the gas production plants. Wes Jackson, representing Intersect Power, briefed the Board on the two applications that are being prepared for the solar projects.
The Board unanimously accepted the two applications for the Chapter 313 Value Limitation Agreements from Targa Delaware LLC for two gas production plants to be located in the northern portion of Culberson County. The applications will be reviewed for completeness and submitted to the Comptroller of Public Accounts. To facilitate the process, the Board retained the services of Powell and Leon to provide legal/financial assistance in the review and processing of the applications.
After a lengthy executive session, the Board directed Supt. Baugh and legal counsel to take action as discussed in the closed session regarding two pending claims by Julie Uranga: one charge with the Equal Opportunity Commission Charge and the case before the Texas Education Agency (Julie Uranga vs. Culberson County – Allamoore ISD).
Assistant Principal Sondra McCoy informed the Board that the District had received approval for a “Project Lead the Way” grant for computer science in grades 6-8.
In other business, the CCAISD Board members:
Received an update on the K-12 Campus construction project from HB Construction Project Manager Manuel Quinones.
Adopted Updated Policy CCG (Local)
Approved the 2018-2019 School Calendar
Approved the sale of three properties as presented by the Culberson County Appraisal District.
Approved consent items.
