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SCHOOL BOARD CHOOSES SOLAR VENDOR

During an often contentious meeting, the MUSD Board of Education reached a split decision on a solar vendor recommendation. Reporter Dan Stork says that student recognitions, board policies, and telephone and bus service also figured in the meeting…
The Morongo Unified School District Board of Education directed staff to engage in negotiation with NextEra/RGS to work out a contract for solar energy electricity generation in the District. The vote was 3-2, with board member Chris Proudfoot casting the deciding vote after Ed Will and Donna Munoz said aye, and Ron Palmer and Karalee Hargrove said no. That vote came after a motion to favor PSOmas FMG went down 2-3, with Palmer and Hargrove in favor.
In earlier business, the Board agreed to send a non-voting member to the board of Hope Academy, and approved changes in 10 Board policies. Eight more students were recognized for achievements in connection with National Disabilities Awareness Month. They are: Angelica Perez, Marshall Wright, Taylor Wallace, Beau Wekenman, Jorge Guzman, Robert Broderick, Carlos Carlos, and Jasmine Smith.
During public comment, the Board heard complaints about the phone system and Landers Elementary School and the current operations of the busing service.
On an unrelated topic, in her report as the Board’s legislative representative, Karalee Hargove gave her view that the spirit of Prop 13 has been subverted by the treatment of corporate-owned properties, with dire consequences in particular for public education in the ensuing decades. She asked that a resolution in favor of supporting efforts to revise Prop 13 accordingly be placed on a future Board agenda.
Representatives of two of the vendors in contention for the solar energy project came to the MUSD Board meeting to make their last pitches. Alex Smith of PSOmas FMG, again emphasized his company’s Hi-Desert school experience, as well as its long courtship of the District. Mike Whatley of SunPower stressed his company’s technology, financial strength, and school experience across the country. Nathan Griset, also of SunPower, pointed to the large savings projected by the independent financial analyst for his company. The winning vendor, NextEra, sent no one to the meeting.
School Board candidate Hilary Slotta suggested polling the solar advisory committee members for their recommendations.
Board member Karalee Hargrove advocated strongly for PSOmas FMG. She also claimed leadership in the solar effort so far, and implied that other Board members had not researched vendor references, a charge disputed by Chris Proudfoot.
Ed Will sketched the evaluation process and stated two goals for the project: Go green, and save money. He also said the deciding criterion should be projected savings.
Donna Munoz said that the financial component of the decision should be the most important part.
Chris Proudfoot asked Assistant Superintendent Sharon Flores whether the distribution of projected savings over 20 years should have an effect in making a decision. She thought not, although a flat rate model would lead to higher expenses in the earlier years of the period.
At Tom Baumgarten’s request, Flores summarized the effort to check references on all vendors from other districts. The responses uniformly said that all project implementations went well, and that it was too early to judge cost savings.
Solar advisory committee member Joseph Fairbanks favored NextEra/ RGS. Fellow committee member Ruth Riemann urged the Board to exercise its responsibility, and recommended looking to the dollars.
Karalee Hargrove brought up published reports that RGS was leaving the commercial solar field. Sharon Flores repeated explanations from NextEra that this only meant that NextEra would take the point position in joint projects with RGS.
Donna Munoz asked Sharon Flores for an opinion. Flores noted the large size of NextEra/RGS, but demurred on a definitive opinion. Munoz said her ranking was NextEra/ RGS, followed closely by SunPower, with PSOmas FMG on the bottom.
Hargrove attacked the record of RGS, and cast doubt on SunPower’s claims for its solar panels.
Independent financial analyst Jeffrey Mizokawa detailed steps he went through to validate the model used to compare all proposals. PSOmas FMG’s Alex Smith claimed that the model used by Mizokawa neglected several important variables. SunPower’s Mike Whatley liked Mizokawa’s model, which gave his company marks very close to those of NextEra/RGS. Nathan Griset chimed in that a member of the RGS team had left that company this week, to join SunPower, Griset’s company.
After the vote favoring NextEra/RGS, Hargrove expressed chagrin in the outcome, calling the meeting the most disappointing in her tenure on the Board of Education.

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