Staff clarified state reimbursement rates and the status of the district’s first reimbursement filing during the meeting.

Rich Gussenberg, staff member, said the state reimbursement rate for Norton Elementary School remains 50 percent. He said the North End project received a space waiver and special legislation that added 15 percentage points, increasing the overall reimbursement rate for North End to 65 percent. "So your reimbursement rate, in addition to the space waiver, which also got rolled in, bumps you up to 65% overall for North End," Gussenberg said.

Gussenberg said the space waiver covered additional square footage and that the special legislation incorporated an early childhood learning center and applied the higher rate "not just [to] the early childhood center, but also the entire building."

On filing and payment, staff reported that the district submitted its first reimbursement request on July 14. Gussenberg recounted a meeting with "Jim Jascott" and "Andrew Martelli" to seek a status update and said the district does not communicate directly with the OGA on payments; staff will have Jeff Solon reach out to the OGA for an update. Gussenberg explained a state requirement about filing cadence: "you can only request payment once you receive the previous payment."

He warned the first request "is gonna be very large" because it included multiple invoices approved in the June meeting. He said the state had placed a hold on payments while the reimbursement-rate question was resolved after the town pursued special legislation. Once the payment arrives, Gussenberg said the district can submit subsequent requests on a rolling basis.

No statute numbers, ordinance citations or explicit OGA policy texts were cited in the transcript. The transcript records the reimbursement-rate amounts, the July 14 filing date, and the planned staff follow-up to the OGA.

Staff did not set a firm timetable for when the district expects to receive payment, only that Jeff Solon would seek an update and staff would follow up next Monday.