Community Connections!

Collaborative Construction Resources, LLC's and its Affiliates Collaborative Construction Resources, LLC CCR provides consulting to construction industry stakeholders interested in delivering collaborative / integrated construction services efficiently and productively. CCR helps such stakeholders utilize Collaborative Agreements, BIM and Lean Construction methods to achieve Collaborative / Integrated Project Delivery. Visit the Collaborative Construction Blog. Construction Owner Resources, LLC COR helps construction owners and their professional advisers adapt to the revolutionary changes sweeping the US Construction Industry. Read COR's White Paper Here. Onuma, Inc. Onuma, Inc. is the home of the now world famous BIMStorms and their underlying web-based software program, the cutting-edge Onuma Planning System. Design Atlantic, Ltd Finith Jernigan, author of the wildly popular "BIG BIM little bim" which serves as a layman's guide to the BIM revolution, is the principle at Design Atlantic, which has provided valuable services to Onuma, Inc. in the context of several BIMStorms.

Community Connection Resources Initial Announcement! Community Connection Resources is the community service arm of Collaborative Construction Resources, LLC (CCR) which donates space in its email newsletter to worthy causes. Below you will find information about community events scheduled throughout the summer at the Highlands United Methodist Church (HUMC) located at 314 N. Fort Thomas Avenue. These events are co-hosted by other Churches in Fort Thomas, including the First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, and Highland Hills Baptist Church. Join members of these congregations and other community members for family fun and fellowship this summer! Who: Gospel Blue Grass Singers When: Wednesday, June 11 2008, 7:00 p.m. Where: HUMC Plaza, 314 North Fort Thomas Avenue The Gospelway Bluegrass Singers is a traditional bluegrass group that has been performing together for over 20 years. Each member of the group is an accomplished musician and lead vocalist—a unique feature amongst bluegrass bands. Join us in welcoming these talented musicians to Fort Thomas! What: Open Micah Night When: Wednesday, June 25 2008, 7:00 p.m. Where: HUMC Plaza, 314 North Fort Thomas Avenue Are you a comedian of any age? Have a special talent? Come join us for Open Micah Night, a night of family friendly comedy. Reserve your spot on the stage by contacting Jeff Millard at jjmillard@fuse.net and join us at the church with The Big Red Doors! Who: John C. Knight Family When: Thusday, July 3 2008, 7:00 p.m. Where: HUMC Plaza, 314 North Fort Thomas Avenue John Christopher Knight and family live self-sufficiently without electricity, farm organically with horses and train Border Collies in rural Kentucky. Having never pursued a music career, John's incredible story began while camping at a Border collie event and he was overheard playing. John and his family have appeared on CNN and the Today Show and around the country. Their show is wholesome and humorous. Who: River City Drum Corp When: Wednesday, July 23 2008, 7:00 p.m. Where: HUMC Plaza, 314 North Fort Thomas Avenue River City Drum Corps is one of Kentucky’s premiere youth organizations. Founded in 1990 by Ed "Nardie" White, the River City Drum Corps is a non-traditional arts and education concept which molds traditional African drumming, percussive music training, performance and cultural education into one focus. If you are a Fort Thomas resident please forward this announcement to friend and family and ask them to join you on the plaza. If you are not, take the short drive to Fort Thomas for these exciting events. We hope to see you there! Warmest Regards, James L. Salmon President, Collaborative Construction Resources, LLC

Upcoming Community Events

In an effort to increase traffic here and further stimulate discussion I am going to start posting information about community events that might be of interest to readers of this blog. My plan is to focus on events and activities specific to Fort Thomas, and not to try to cover too much ground in this regard. If anyone has a particular event you would like to see highlighted here please let me know.

Politicians Discuss Possible Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth

Below is a link to an interesting article in which Pat Crowley interviews a number of politicians regarding the possibility of school districts like Fort Thomas suing the Commonwealth over the inequitable funding provided by the Commonwealth. I will try to expand on the litigation option a bit in a separate post.

Is litigation an option?

Posting Comments

If you want to post comments it looks like you will have to register with one of the services mentioned in the drop down box, unless you have a google gmail account, in which case it appears you will be able to comment after entering your gmail account login information. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me.

Welcome Fort Thomas!

Thanks for visiting the Fort Thomas Collaborative Blog. Please spread the word about this exciting new tool to your family and friends. Here, we will engage in the exciting task of leveraging our combined talents and resources for the benefit of the entire community.

In an effort to stimulate conversation and kick start this blog I suggest we first turn our attention to one of the most difficult problems we face, and that is funding for our schools. Many of you are keenly aware that the Fort Thomas Independent School District (FTISD) does more with less than just about any school district in the Commonwealth. Kentucky's statutory school funding mechanism, SEEK, interacts with other state statutes related to property taxes in a way that severely limits the FTISD's budget. That problem has been compounded by the Commonwealth's failure to fund education at adequate levels. These budget constraints limit the FTISD's ability to fund day-to-day operations and the district's ability to fund improvements to capital facilities.

Facilities, of course, represent another staggering challenge. Highlands High School is being renovated, but an additional $25 to $37 million is needed to complete the job, while Woodfill and Johnson are in dire need of replacement, at a combined cost of $30 to $40 million, depending on the size of the schools we build. Moyer, which is the most modern of our three elementary schools, needs substantial work as well that could cost another $5 to $10 million. Accordingly, we need between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements in our school district. Unfortunately, our current bonding capacity stands at a meager $10 million or so.

So where do we get the funding? Frankfort refuses to pay for the improvements we say we need, arguing we should "consolidate" two of the elementary schools to save money. The money saved from consolidation would be pittance, and would not address the issue of chronic underfunding. Even if we agreed to consolidate, Frankfort will not fund the building of facilities at market cost. Frankfort insists you can build a 600 student elementary school for a little over $10 million, while the reality is closer to $20 million.

The last two Local Planning Commissions struggled to balance our desire as a community to maintain our neighborhood schools against Frankfort's demands that we consolidate. The current plan calls for us to maintain our three elementary schools, a course of action sure to raise the ire of key players in Frankfort. The prior plan called for consolidation. Currently, the legislature has authorized the use of approximately $6.5 million to rebuild Woodfill, which is less than 1/2 what that will likely cost.

To summarize, our school district's operations budget is chronically underfunded and we need to invest between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements to modernize our school facilities. Your assignment as a concerned citizen is to begin brain storming solutions to this conundrum. Over the next several weeks I will post additional thoughts on this matter. For now, I invite each of you to subscribe to the blog and post your thoughts and comments in the comments section. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post please let me know. For now, stay tuned!