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Board excuses absences for freeze day, approves roofing funding and hires building envelope consultant
Summary
Trustees unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the superintendent to excuse absences and pay employees for a weather‑related closure and approved budget amendments to fund roof and wall repairs; the board also approved building envelope consulting services for engineering and oversight of the projects.
The Mercedes ISD Board of Trustees unanimously authorized the superintendent to excuse absences and compensate employees for workdays missed because of an emergency weather closure, and approved related budget amendments and engineering services for facility repairs.
Board members read and approved a resolution that said the Jan. 21, 2025 freeze had resulted in emergency closure of district schools and facilities, that absences for employees during that closure were due to circumstances beyond employees’ control, and that compensating those employees and excusing make‑up days served a legitimate public purpose under Texas Education Code 45.105(c). The motion to adopt the resolution passed by unanimous vote.
On district facilities, administration recommended and the board approved two linked budget amendments to reclassify $109,660 from the assigned construction fund balance into unassigned fund balance and then into the facilities budget, and to reclassify an additional $162,737 of one‑time business‑office funds into the facilities budget to cover roofing and engineering costs. Facilities committee members reported they prioritized repairs to the old Mercedes High School gym roof and Harrell Middle School wall restoration, with an estimated construction cost of $923,932.80. Trustees also approved an engineering and building‑envelope consulting agreement with Robert Kishner (Robert Kissner/Robichisher in transcript) to provide design, build and engineering services; the consulting fee estimate for design/build oversight was reported at about $66,985.13 and the combined project budget after the amendments was reported at approximately $1,034,974.
The board approved the budget amendments and the consulting agreement by unanimous votes. Trustees thanked facilities committee members and district staff for identifying available funding sources and pursuing the repairs.
Ending: Administration will proceed with engineering work and solicit construction or move to procurement for repairs; the business office will make the budget reclassifications and report back on contract execution and project timelines.
