Bossier Parish School Board approves training resolution, arbitrage payment and HVAC contracts; moves to executive session
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Summary
At the Jan. 15 meeting the board re-approved a training-resolution documenting required member training, approved an arbitrage payment related to 2020 general obligation bonds after counsel explained federal rules, awarded HVAC contracts for Sun City Elementary ($707,000 low bid) and Russian Middle, and voted to enter executive session to discuss an employee matter.
The Bossier Parish School Board approved several business items at its Jan. 15, 2026 regular meeting, including a training-resolution reapproval, an arbitrage payment tied to general obligation bonds, two HVAC contract awards and a motion to enter executive session on an employee matter.
Training resolution: President Poole read a resolution (agenda item 3.01) citing Act 705 of the 2011 Louisiana Legislature that requires a minimum of six hours of board training and one hour of ethics training per year of tenure. The resolution states that listed members had successfully received and exceeded the six-hour requirement for 2025 and had fulfilled the one-hour ethics training. The board approved the resolution on a motion by Tammy Smith with a second by Glenn Bullard.
Arbitrage payment: CFO Nisha Bamberg introduced an arbitrage payment for the district's general obligation school bonds, Series 2020, and outside advisor Mike Bousada explained the federal rule that can require repayment when bond proceeds earn excess investment interest. Bousada summarized the issue in historical terms: “there was a period of time in the ’80s where there were governments that started to figure out that they could game the system… so they would go borrow a lot of money, they would invest that, they would collect the interest,” and federal rules were subsequently tightened. A board member observed that the district’s revised investment structure had produced higher returns that contributed to the arbitrage calculation. After discussion the board voted to approve the arbitrage payment (motion by Robert Bertrand; second by Captain Kent Bockhouse).
Contracts and procurement: Procurement officer Carrie Douglas presented bid results for two HVAC replacement projects. For Sun City Elementary (bid 26-06) the low overall bid was reported as $707,000; staff recommended awarding the base bid and alternate 1 to Mechanical Cooling Services and authorized the superintendent to execute the contract. That award was approved by motion. For the Russian Middle HVAC replacement (bid 26-07), nine contractors submitted bids and staff again recommended awarding the project to Mechanical Cooling Services as the low bidder; the board approved that award.
Other business: The CFO presented highlights from the October 2025 financial statements (discussion only). The board then approved a motion to enter executive session to discuss an employee matter under Louisiana Revised Statute 42:17 and to receive legal opinion under the statute and Louisiana Code of Evidence Article 506 (motion by Tammy Smith; second by Billie Jo Brotherton). Members voted to proceed into executive session.
No recorded roll-call tallies were provided in the transcript for these votes; the minutes record the motions, seconders and that motions carried by verbal and electronic vote.