Calexico Unified School District Special Board Meeting August 04, 2016 6:00 PM District Administrative Board Room 901 Andrade Ave. Calexico, CA 92231 Attendance Taken at 6:02 PM: Present: Ms. Norma Aguilar Mr. Lorenzo Calderon Mr. Erik Ortega Ms. Priscilla Real A. Opening Items A.1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:02pm. A.2. Pledge of Allegiance B. COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC-The Board will take any and all comments from the public related to the sole items on the agenda. Sterling Mayes of Imperial county building and construction trade council stated that he has 16 projects under PLAs at this moment. The projects so far are under budget and ahead of schedule. They have local contractors and local residents that are working. In the last 2 months they have signed a new PLA with Coachella Valley Unified School District. All contractors are required by state law to pay prevailing wages. Trustee Aguilar asked what are the total numbers of local welders from the Imperial Valley. Mr. Mayes said he did not have those numbers but they do have a lot of them and he can get the information. Mr. Raul Gedea of AGC Apprenticeship Training and Trust stated that the ACG opposes the PLAs. This ensures that union-only workers are on these projects. Through the years they have presented fair PLAs on different projects in Southern California. Let the money follow the worker and let the employer use his workers. They are for PLAs and health benefits and local hire but again if you do approve this PLA you will be excluding the non-unions from bidding on these projects. He works for an apprenticeship program and it will exclude non-union apprentices. Our graduation rates surpass most union programs. It is discriminatory. Michelle Krew of IBEW stated that he wants to address two concerns. One is that it would cost more. The District under state law does not pay one penny more using a PLA. The employees are paid the prevailing wages, that does not change. Where it goes in terms of benefits changes. The District is only charged specifically for the prevailing wage. Number two would there be enough people to do the work in the valley. One advantage with the Imperial Valley building trades is that they are connected with both
Imperial Valley and San Diego. The other advantage is that the apprenticeships would come from the valley. If there is not enough of a workforce that is where apprentices come from. We all know that this valley needs more people put to work and that is the perfect opportunity. Eddy Pena, international association of heating frost insulator and fire stoppers local 5 stated that he represents 11 counties in Southern California. He was born in El Centro and the Valley is dear to him. He does have members that live down here. The mechanical insulation is all insulation for heating hot water and HVAC. We also do the fire stopping and fire safety. For every apprentice here, this will change their lives, being a union member, if they can work in these projects. It will improve their standard of living for themselves and their families and their children. Trustee Aguilar asked how many members do they have in the valley. Mr. Pena said about 3 members from here in the Valley and more in San Diego. Those 3 would be put on the job. Nicholas Segura the business manager of IVW 569 representing the electricians of San Diego and Imperial Valley counties with over 3,000 members in the Valley. They have over 100 apprenticeships. They have had a lot of success. We are building another training center for our apprentices for journeymen and wiremen. It is important to get them trained to have a local workforce to work on local projects. There needs to be work to be training. He is the board president for the Sweetwater district but he is not speaking on its behalf. The board members just finalized a project under the PLA. In it, there is good language to create a good partnership between the union and the community. We are the career technical path. He speaks in favor of you voting for this and supporting this measure. Trustee Real asked for the address of the Training Center. Mr. Segura said they are located in Imperial, CA at 2420 Business Park Drive. Trustee Ortega asked if they were expanding that facility. Mr. Segura said yes they bought two additional lots for a 10K square foot facility. They share that with other crafts and we have a lot of work and success. Trustee Aguilar asked how many hours are required to complete the apprenticeship. Mr. Segura said 900 hours in classroom and ours is a 5-year apprenticeship with College credit and they have to do the 9,000 hours of training in the field. Trustee Aguilar asked where those 9 thousand hours are being completed. Mr. Segura said the projects that they have built like the solar fields, the county jail, the battery storage with the IID, and several sites like geothermal. They have a lot of contractors including some from San Diego. Trustee Calderon asked, if we were to agree, how would it affect the graduate rate, and would only the rates be affected.
Mr. Segura said that is for you to negotiate. Trustee Calderon stated that we don't have these pathways in our high school. When it was brought to this board his understanding was that it would give our seniors possible employment but all he sees is opportunity for college students. Mr. Segura said at Sweetwater Union, they are partnering with trades with pre-apprenticeships. One high school he represents has a construction academy at the school. He can get them entry-level jobs for experience in the trade. It is competitive to get an apprenticeship. Trustee Aguilar said I was aware of the path colleges. There are other districts that offer those pathways to careers. You bring up a really good point. Erick Christian, Executive Director of Coalition for fair employment and construction stated that they were formed 16 years ago to oppose project labor agreements. For non-union contractors, contain four key provisions and all workers have to pay union fees, hired through hiring hall, pay health and welfare and pension plans and all workers have to come through a union apprenticeship. That is problematic because the majority of construction workforce is union free. I want you to be aware that those four key provisions are about discriminating against a portion of the workforce that is not unionized which is a majority of it. James Alvarnez, of Iron Workers 229, said we are in the Imperial Valley. The community wants this PLA, the members are here. We have 107 members in Imperial Valley County, and about two and a half dozen journeymen and the rest are apprentices. There is no PLA at the Calexico land port of entry. Iron workers are not working on this because workers are coming out of Gilbert Arizona. The best thing for this community is to have a local hiring agreement. It does not exclude competition. All contractors are welcome to bid. It is cumbersome for them who come from other counties. As far as their apprenticeship programs, their programs are a sham. Their guys are in this program until they are laid off. We continue their education through our hiring hall if laid off. We graduate our apprentices. The PLA projects do not drive up costs. They are commonly done on time and on budget. PLA is the way to go. Juan Agater, local contractor said he has done Public works for the last 20 years. For those 20 years the unions have not been here. He questioned why now, why your bond. In all the years I have worked we have complied with DIR and Prevailing wage. The PLA would exclude my company because we are not union. That means the 35 employees I have won t be able to get work. The local subcontractors I use will not get work because they are nonunion. These big companies out of town will bring their own people. That has been the practice. The big projects have PLA agreements as far as I know, there are no local contractors on the projects. None of the companies in the Valley are union except for, I think, two or three electrical companies. If you accept the PLA you are putting local people out of work. Danny Machain of Trades Association presented a power-point presentation. Trustee Aguilar asked will the local names be listed. Mr. Machain said he can e-mail the names.
Assistant Superintendent Randle said we have our attorney here with a presentation and to answer questions. Assistant Superintendent Randle asked what the range of the cost is. Mr. Hom said about $30,000 thousand dollars. Trustee Calderon questioned if it takes about seven weeks from the day we make a decision. Mr. Hom said yes. Trustee Aguilar said before making a decision he would like to do my research. He is not going to make a decision tonight. I would like to know the pros and cons of this decision. Jose Luis Miranda, 5-star electric general foreman said we are doing electrical work at Dool Elementary and Rockwood. We have 23 employees from the Imperial Valley. I am also a teacher from the IVW. We have ten teachers. He welcomed a visit. We are also backed up by Palomar College. Our apprentices can get their A.A. at IVC or online with Palomar. I went through the apprenticeship. The number of students we have depend on how many contracts we have and how many students or workers are needed. At the beginning in 2007 we had five students. Currently, at the IVW we have ten students. All of the students we have are local. Due to lack of work a lot of our students are going to San Diego. Without their hours they cannot graduate. It is important that they have work here in the valley. We just had an accident with a student driving up to San Diego. C. ACTIONS/INFORMATION ITEMS C.1. Project Labor Agreements-discussion and direction to staff regarding negotiation of Project Labor Agreement for potential construction projects funded by the future District General Obligation Bond proceeds, with presentation by District's legal counsel and comments from members of the public. Motion Passed: The Board of Education tabled the Project Labor Agreements. Passed with a motion by Ms. Norma Aguilar and a second by Ms. Priscilla Real. Yes Ms. Norma Aguilar Yes Mr. Lorenzo Calderon Yes Mr. Erik Ortega Yes Ms. Priscilla Real Trustee Calderon Jr. stated that he has heard both sides today. At the last meeting, he wanted to schedule a retreat but it never transpired. If you wanted to sell your service, you would have scheduled something. Also, this might be a new Board in November. If we don't have the bond, we can t give you work. We need to pass this bond first and then decide who will do this project. When he ran for this position he said he would always side with the students. We need to wait and pass the bond and then decide who will build. We are still here, feel free to send us any e-mails. I wish everyone the best.
Trustee Ortega stated that tonight we have the opportunity to open up dozens of apprenticeships to our local residents. With the PLA we would be able to ensure that. He is for putting our citizens to work and fixing our schools. The fees for the PLA are an investment in our community so I am for the PLA. That is his position. He wants to give direction to the district to negotiate the PLA. Trustee Ortega motioned to approve the Project Labor Agreements. Motion died for a lack of second. Trustee Aguilar motioned to table and continue investigating. C.2. Contract between Calexico Unified School District & Caldwell, Flores, Winters, Inc. for Professional Financial Advisory Services. Motion Passed: That the Board of Education approve the contract between CUSD and Caldwell, Flores, Winters, Inc. for Professional Financial Advisory Services. Passed with a motion by Mr. Lorenzo Calderon and a second by Ms. Priscilla Real. Yes Ms. Norma Aguilar Yes Mr. Lorenzo Calderon Yes Mr. Erik Ortega Yes Ms. Priscilla Real Superintendent Ambriz stated that this is a matter that has been tabled from previous meetings so we could find common ground between the District and CFW. Council has worked out an agreement. Our recommendation is that the Board approve this agreement so that we may put a bond measure on the local election in November. We are in need of facility refurbishing, rebuilding and modernization, a lot of everything. Our greatest need is Calexico High School. In order to attend to these needs, we need a bond. We believe that we will be successful with the bond. Items C.2 and C.3 are the agreements with CFW so that we may go to bond. She urged the Board to enter into contract with CFW for items C.2 and C.3. Trustee Aguilar said that she is probably partly responsible for the delay because she wanted more information and was not satisfied with the agreement as it was submitted. That is where legal came in. Assistant Superintendent Randle said we will pull up the edited contract on word document. Mr. Hom, legal counsel, reported that for the Financial Advisory services, CFW will help set up the bonding program and oversee the whole process for selling the bonds once it passes. One issue was that it was a firm 5-year contract. He added a termination for convenience clause. He was able to negotiate and come to an agreement. He also clarified some language. The other State Aid contract is for CFW to help you navigate the regulations for the Office of Public School Construction. We need CFW to get to work so we can get on the Bond list. We were able to negotiate the language to protect the District. Time is of the essence to get the bond to the County. Trustee Aguilar stated that he did exactly what she wanted to hear and thanked Mr. Hom.
Miguel Rodriguez of CFW stated that he is here tonight to personally hand over the resolution to the county registrar tomorrow. Trustee Calderon asked if the $75K flat fee was normal. Mr. Hom said it is in the range of fees. I think it is a fair number. He doesn t think it s out of the range. Trustee Aguilar stated that she is satisfied with the work that has been done. She is much more comfortable with this agreement. C.3. Contract between Calexico Unified School District and Caldwell, Flores, Winters, Inc. for Professional Consulting Services. Motion Passed: That the Board of Education approve the Contract between CUSD and Caldwell, Flores, Winters, Inc. for Professional Consulting Services. Passed with a motion by Ms. Norma Aguilar and a second by Mr. Lorenzo Calderon. Yes Ms. Norma Aguilar Yes Mr. Lorenzo Calderon Yes Mr. Erik Ortega Yes Ms. Priscilla Real D. ADJOURNMENT 7:38p.m. Clerk Of The Board