How JEA's Internal Struggles Could Impact Jacksonville

[00:00:00] Mikes on Mic, Mike Miller, Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, Mike

[00:00:15] Miller

[00:00:30] friends at the Jacksonville History Center and the Jacksonville Historical Society, Alan

[00:00:35] Bliss and our fine donors. We thank you very, very much for your continued support of this

[00:00:39] show. Well today it's just the three of us. We have no guest plan. We wanted instead just

[00:00:44] to discuss amongst the three of us some of the more important issues that the city has

[00:00:48] been facing here lately. Two of them which really come to mind is Jay Stowe's resignation

[00:00:54] and the CEO of J.E.A. and the appointment of longtime J.E.A. fixture Vicky Kavan as

[00:01:00] the interim CEO and the second one is the Laura Street Trio and the continuing

[00:01:05] saga surrounding that and the relationship between the D.I.A., the

[00:01:09] downtown investment authority and the developer Steve Atkins. Let's begin with

[00:01:14] the J.E.A.'s board accepting Stowe's resignation which came as a surprise

[00:01:18] to most everyone I think when it first came out. Mike Tobert why don't you

[00:01:22] kick us off on that? Yeah I think we all were a little surprised and maybe some of

[00:01:26] us like Hightower knew what was going on but none not many other people did. You

[00:01:30] know let's take a look back. Stowe came to Jacksonville to run the J.E.A. in

[00:01:36] 2020 as a saison utility professional and part of his job or big part of his

[00:01:43] job was to restore the credibility of the J.E.A. as a cop flight utility and

[00:01:51] restore employee morale. It was it was this board when John Baker was the chair

[00:02:00] that hired Stowe and it was this board with Bobby Stein as the chair that

[00:02:06] decided it was time for him to go. Hightower and I both know Bobby pretty

[00:02:12] damn well and shortly after that March 26 board meeting when a lot of this

[00:02:18] started happening in public Mike called me and said would why don't you turn on

[00:02:23] that meeting go check that look at that meeting on YouTube and tell me what

[00:02:27] you think Bobby's up to and so I did it and I didn't know what Bobby was up

[00:02:35] to but like Hightower I thought he was probably up to something and we had

[00:02:41] Mike you know you remember that I'm sure given the two on the J.E.A. board

[00:02:46] for 16 years and chair of the J.E.A. board of the two terms and given your

[00:02:52] friendship with Bobby Stein what would you think it he was up to. Let me tee it

[00:02:57] up you're absolutely right when and it was somebody beside Bobby Stein that

[00:03:02] called me and said did you see Bobby did you see what Bobby said at the board

[00:03:09] meeting I went no as matter of fact I was sitting up in my place in North

[00:03:12] Carolina said I haven't really watched the board meeting so he said why don't

[00:03:15] you do that so I did and I watched it twice and what I saw Mike Talbert and

[00:03:23] our listeners Bobby is one of the most underrated smart men I've ever known he

[00:03:33] is incredible his love for the city is unbelievable but he is in some ways a

[00:03:39] financial genius and as I watched him and Mike Talbert you can relate to this

[00:03:45] when you see Bobby uncomfortable in a public situation and he speaks it's what

[00:03:53] he doesn't say that says there is something going on and Bobby is a very

[00:03:57] low-key person he is absolutely the person that you as you would say behind

[00:04:02] the curtain and so my total when I asked you I said what do you do thinking

[00:04:07] he said there's something up and when I heard Bobby talk about that we want to

[00:04:12] have let's we want to have Vicki come in so we have someone who is helping us to

[00:04:18] understand there's a relationship we need a liaison between senior management

[00:04:23] and the board and having sat on that board that is a red flag when you

[00:04:28] hear a board member say we need to hire someone so there's better

[00:04:32] communications between we the board and senior management and I know artists for

[00:04:38] half-second did you experience any communication problems when you were

[00:04:42] on the board with the senior leadership and with the CEO at the time no I

[00:04:48] because I got to remember I was there under Walt I was under there with Jim

[00:04:53] and I was under there with Paul yeah and all those men particularly when you were

[00:05:01] the chairman we always had incredible conversations now the board members can't

[00:05:07] speak of course but there was never a problem issues I had which I'll talk

[00:05:14] about by Vicki Kavey was back then when Walt was there and Mike Talbert will

[00:05:19] remember this when we got the board that's by the way Walt you sells all these

[00:05:23] else yeah when we got the board agenda and we were going to it would be a book

[00:05:29] six or seven inches thick now you know for somebody who you know spent three

[00:05:34] and a half years in junior college you know I said maybe so help me with

[00:05:44] this but anyway so going back to Bobby I did it was a red flag and what really

[00:05:51] concerned me which will probably get into this is having been an employee if you

[00:05:57] all remember during the zone situation and Lee and I left before it hit the

[00:06:04] fan but was aware that it was going to hit the fan believe it at that and

[00:06:10] knowing how it really sort of shook up everyone about and this whole city went

[00:06:15] to hell if you remember correctly with the possible sale of it what was going on

[00:06:22] and then all of a sudden you know this meeting was in public or it was up in

[00:06:25] Atlanta and all this kind of thing the pop and the pop you can imagine what

[00:06:30] that did to the employees so when I heard that there was a problem going

[00:06:34] back to what I called I called Mike Tolbert and I said Mike something's wrong

[00:06:40] and this is not good and so that's really what I did and so as we will see as a

[00:06:48] matter of fact yesterday everybody will read it about it Jay stepped away as

[00:06:54] he resigned to CEO but I will tell you I'm glad to know that Mike who is a

[00:07:00] very good friend of Bobby Steins like myself Mike Tolbert obviously read the

[00:07:06] same body language as I did with Bobby Stein and well you're right he very

[00:07:11] seldom speaks in public you know when he when I watched that meeting and at the

[00:07:19] end he started talking about fiduciary responsibility and communication yeah

[00:07:27] and and and it was obvious it and at that point I had not spoken to Bobby about

[00:07:34] any of this and I don't know that you had either but it was obvious he had some

[00:07:38] problems I had no idea that within another couple of weeks though that

[00:07:45] would then they would explode like it did but you know I watched I watched the

[00:07:50] meeting this last meeting when Stowe resigned on my computer and Stowe was

[00:07:58] brought in here to calm the waters and that was one of the reasons he was

[00:08:02] brought in and I think he's gotten a lot of credit for that and it and it

[00:08:06] you it impressed me Mike at that meeting where you spoke and boys you

[00:08:12] didn't think they didn't surprise me when I was watching the meeting and

[00:08:15] you get up to the podium to start talking and we'll talk about that in

[00:08:18] a minute but how many employees came to the microphone especially union leaders

[00:08:24] came to the microphone and started talking about by J Stowe in favorable

[00:08:30] terms and then on the screen in addition to seeing the meeting going on up in

[00:08:35] the corner comments would keep popping up from people who will watch it and one

[00:08:41] after another and another and another and it was mostly great comments

[00:08:46] supporting Stowe or saying what a good man he was and how much they've enjoyed

[00:08:50] questions about what's going on but what's happening what why is this

[00:08:54] happening it's the JAA up for sale again so you obviously Mike and you were

[00:09:02] very close to these these employees these people you've been a close jump

[00:09:05] for a long time especially the frontline that I'm sure that today

[00:09:12] there's a lot of concerns still over there why does how does Vicki Cavan what

[00:09:16] would you say tell Vicki Cavan to do to try to bring some more calm over there

[00:09:21] and assure everything all the employees that everything's gonna be just fine

[00:09:26] let's go back to the pop that popped up on the screen because board members

[00:09:32] cannot talk to each other before the meeting so when Bobby I well one

[00:09:39] number one is they can't talk so what happened was if you remember the first

[00:09:44] article that came out about a possible resignation let's put it in context here

[00:09:49] the story was based on us a comment that Councilman Rory Diamond said I think

[00:09:58] that J. Stowe is going to resign now I again Councilman can do anything they

[00:10:06] want but the first three or four articles that came out it was Rory Diamond

[00:10:11] that says I believe rumor has it that he's going to resign now wasn't Rory

[00:10:16] Diamond the liaison from City Council to JAA no Mike Bollin is so where is word

[00:10:23] where does he get his information from well it I don't know but of course the

[00:10:28] media was doing their job so I'm making an assumption yeah or an

[00:10:33] observation or an insight or an insight is somehow Rory leaked a story that

[00:10:40] somebody told him that Jay is going to possibly resign and that was it was in the

[00:10:46] paper that took over the whole thing took over so what happened was to the

[00:10:52] reason somebody called and said what's going on Mike I said I had no idea and

[00:10:56] he said well go and look at the Times Union says J. Stowe's gonna possibly

[00:11:01] resign then another person called said you better look at what Bobby Stein said

[00:11:05] so what happened was to Mike's point Jay was brought in which he you know they

[00:11:11] brought him in he sort of calmed the waters but then all of a sudden three

[00:11:17] or five days ago a story gets put on the Times Union and out on the media that

[00:11:23] Jay is going to resign but nobody can say anything but Rory's out there

[00:11:28] turning the water again well you know Mike Mike high tower there was some

[00:11:33] that was some things that it started coming out that were really bad optics

[00:11:39] for the J. E. A. and for Stowe I think though you know the story that for

[00:11:47] senior executives with very important out level I pay jobs didn't live in

[00:11:53] Jacksonville New Jersey yeah New Jersey and stuff and then and then there was

[00:12:00] the Christmas party that cost $72,000 at the Florida Theater so the optics of

[00:12:06] that were bad but to go back answer your story so what happened was why you

[00:12:10] see these people were all the same popping up Jay came in calm the waters

[00:12:14] spent a lot of time going out there and talking with employees he went out

[00:12:19] there and talked a lot of the Union people if you remember that it was the

[00:12:22] Union folks that gave him a plaque for thinking thanking him it was what was

[00:12:27] not said or the rationale for why this is happening and that never came up

[00:12:32] except when you read the Times Union which will be tomorrow morning Wednesday

[00:12:37] this will be a week when people see this it talks about by the chairman says

[00:12:44] that on major issues we were we we as the board and Jay wanted to go in different

[00:12:53] directions now the problem was that couldn't be said until by line David

[00:13:01] by line put that in there but as we all know when you're at a board meeting

[00:13:05] and the members can't talk because they haven't talked each other

[00:13:10] they're sort of in the dark until somebody starts talking and it was very awkward

[00:13:14] because Jay was there and it was known that he was going to resign but he never

[00:13:21] said why and the chairman never really said why so you have this lack of

[00:13:28] transparency and lack of understanding and you've got to think of it to

[00:13:33] underscore what Mike Tolbert just said when all these these things popped

[00:13:37] up on the screen is what's going on and I will tell you the thing that came out

[00:13:42] is sitting there yesterday with over a hundred people there it came out are

[00:13:48] we is J.A. for sale again is there something going on that we're first

[00:13:53] going to be for sale and if you remember at that meeting there were a

[00:13:57] couple times board members or someone would say it's not for sale but you

[00:14:01] got to understand is having what this community built with J.A. has gone

[00:14:05] through for the last four years with all this crap and the Zahn tobacco these

[00:14:12] people at J.A. didn't understand it was questionable and it's what they do every day

[00:14:18] when there's a lack of information something's going to fill the void

[00:14:22] and so you the uncertainty is then you have all kinds of theories

[00:14:26] yeah and so some of some of the speculation and theories

[00:14:30] that I've heard and I know you guys had probably heard is obviously the out-of-town

[00:14:36] hires Bobby Stein is especially big on that he's even talking now about

[00:14:41] making it mandatory that these senior executives have to live in Jacksonville

[00:14:46] and I don't understand if you recruit a top-level professional J.A. senior

[00:14:55] staffer you're not asking them to go live in North Dakota you're asking them to

[00:15:00] come live in Jacksonville Florida so I if a guy doesn't want to come live in

[00:15:06] Jacksonville that's on the senior team I wouldn't want him either and Bobby said

[00:15:10] that's exactly where Bobby's mind is he's even now talking about making it

[00:15:15] a requirement then you had the optics of that party

[00:15:18] that's not good we heard about the communication gaps the lack of communication

[00:15:25] and you go back and remember to talk about fiduciary responsibility it's my

[00:15:31] understanding that that the J.A. is about to spend nine billion dollars over the

[00:15:37] next ten years on projects with somebody but I have some damn fiduciary

[00:15:43] responsibility and of course we've heard Mike I know you've heard it and

[00:15:47] I've heard it that one of the things that got stolen and trouble with the board was

[00:15:52] he spent a lot of money without the board's knowledge I've heard $60 million so

[00:15:58] that that would get you in goose in the grease quick

[00:16:02] given over that expression I've not heard that one but we can keep it in

[00:16:07] unlike some of the others that we've had on this show this one will keep in the show

[00:16:11] the chairman opened the meeting he let the public speak of which I tower spoke

[00:16:21] then there was a motion we let Jay still speak and Jay had his period of remarks

[00:16:27] and it was no question it was a going away song

[00:16:30] and then as I recall right there was a motion to accept a

[00:16:40] severance package that had already been negotiated

[00:16:44] and then then Vicki Kaven spoke and she had a speech prepared great speech

[00:16:50] I mean I thought she covered all the bases but I don't know how that happens

[00:16:55] and that quickly that fast that orchestrated without somebody talking I'm sorry maybe I'm

[00:17:02] just a sinning and I don't want to say that about those people because I have too much

[00:17:06] respect for them but something doesn't play out right here

[00:17:10] there's been some kind of discussion between him and either Baker or whoever as far as

[00:17:16] this is what could come about if you don't accept this package that we're doing and that is

[00:17:21] you would be terminated publicly which obviously is going to be a bigger black mark on your record

[00:17:26] than if you decide you're going to resign I think the important thing is and that we haven't talked

[00:17:31] about Vicki Kaven if we want to but I've known Vicki for let's talk about her yeah let me let me

[00:17:35] talk about it I think it's really important to do this go ahead the one thing that I let me

[00:17:40] let me say this to begin with Vicki Kaven is one of the most one of the most brilliant

[00:17:46] women I've ever known let me give you a little background on she is the daughter of a single

[00:17:53] parent with five children she talked about it yesterday living in a very very small house

[00:17:58] single mom with five children I want to share just a little of my personal history with JAA

[00:18:05] I was raised here in Jacksonville and graduated from santa wood high school

[00:18:10] I have vivid childhood memories of my widowed mother of five crying and our poorly insulated

[00:18:17] rental home because of a high electric bills in the 70s she was a waitress that was a time when

[00:18:24] JAA wasn't among the highest electric rates in the country due to our reliance on oil and the

[00:18:29] oil embargo of 1973 thanks to strong leadership and fuel diversity JAA eventually had the lowest

[00:18:37] rates in the state I became a mechanical engineer on the advice of my extraordinary math teacher

[00:18:44] miss marita in after graduation from the uf I joined JAA my mom was so proud

[00:18:52] the suit I'm wearing today is a suit that she bought for me I wore it on my first day here at

[00:18:59] JAA as a young engineer 40 years ago wow 40 years the last time I wore it was at her funeral in 1999

[00:19:14] I chose to wear it today in her memory and as a reminder of the people we serve and JAA's strong

[00:19:22] history of overcoming obstacles speaking of obstacles we all know that electricity and water

[00:19:29] don't mix well but JAA proved that they can when we integrated our water services from the city of

[00:19:35] Jacksonville into our independent authority in 1997 and further expanded by applying private

[00:19:42] utilities we went on to provide watering services to neighboring counties as well

[00:19:48] JAA is a municipal utility an organization built for service it succeeds when it's true to its purpose

[00:19:58] providing reliable reasonably priced utility services to the communities it serves

[00:20:04] JAA serves this community it doesn't sell to it for a profit that's a different mindset

[00:20:11] it may sound odd to say but I love the JAA its employees and what it stands for

[00:20:18] municipally owned public power and water JAA is in my blood I have worked with the best

[00:20:26] and broadest former and current colleagues here at JAA many of whom are lifelong friends

[00:20:33] I remember the day I told Paul Ronald Roy I was going to return he seemed shocked and came to

[00:20:38] my office the next day to let me know that when he told his wife Linda that night that she said

[00:20:44] and excuse me well hell must be freezing over with Vicky K. V. sleeping the JAA

[00:20:51] well I came back once and now a second time I'm pretty sure this will be my last

[00:21:00] some folks practice uh intermittent fasting I think I've practiced intermittent retirement works

[00:21:05] for me her ascension up that ladder of leadership in JAA it's a little bit like the first time they

[00:21:12] put a woman trying to get going the woman to go through the military academy we'll leave it at that

[00:21:16] but she she was there she has always been very very focused on what she's doing and she went

[00:21:24] up that ladder and I can tell you she was a huge help to me she remembered what it was like

[00:21:29] like when you didn't understand or you didn't have someone to help you so as she went up that ladder

[00:21:36] she really sort of helped the people around her and helped them understand what she was doing and

[00:21:41] she became when I was on the board as I talked about not understanding what's in the board

[00:21:46] she sensed any of us on the board if you need some help she could explain it to us and she

[00:21:52] reached out to us because she said you're providing the service for free you don't get paid

[00:21:57] and so she was always there and but she also as she as she got leadership as she ascended in the

[00:22:03] leadership she made sure that all the people who reported to her knew as much as she did

[00:22:10] and she also made sure these are my decisions and why I made it she was an incredible mentor

[00:22:15] so from the time that she was there when she was there for when Walt Boussel was there

[00:22:20] all the way through all these CEOs she's always been part of a leadership team she's always been

[00:22:27] close to that CEO they've always relied on her because she's also been one of the person that

[00:22:32] was about strategy and strategy at jea is about finance and it's about infrastructure

[00:22:40] and those things which are in her wheelhouse and so she has always been sort of of counsel

[00:22:46] to the senior leadership team of that place and then she was there and she's also been of counsel

[00:22:52] for the board always there so when if you remember it was bobby and marty and john baker that said

[00:23:00] we want to bring her in so she so but a lot of people the people at jea did not just did not

[00:23:08] know what I just said because there's 2 000 of them and most of them are in the field

[00:23:12] so they didn't understand who vicki kb was who's the question came up and I think that's where

[00:23:16] mike tulbert was going is who is this woman who is now the interim ceo again lack of communication

[00:23:23] lack of understanding I think to answer a question that mike said earlier I said there are a couple

[00:23:27] questions what vicki's gonna have to do is vicki's gonna have to go in there in small groups

[00:23:32] and he's gonna have to sit down and eyeball them and that's the lineman I mean it's everybody

[00:23:39] and she's going to have to have a no bs conversation with him look them in the eye

[00:23:43] and have to answer their tough questions and I can tell you from what mike saw on as he watched

[00:23:49] it yesterday what I heard why was there it's how how transparent how authentic she is going to be

[00:23:58] and I really will I'm gonna I'm gonna this is what I'm gonna say I really believe that in the next

[00:24:04] six six months that when people go back and say what do you think of vicki kb they're gonna say

[00:24:09] it was it was a great decision by the board to pick up but right now there's uncertainty

[00:24:13] but I will tell you I have a great deal of faith in vicki kb let me ask you one final question

[00:24:18] before we move on if you were asked to help put together the profile of the next ceo for the jea

[00:24:29] what would you put on that list considering all the upheaval that we've had all of the questions

[00:24:38] since the zon thing came about what qualities should that new candidate have

[00:24:46] I am I'm going to be very biased that's all right I'm going to be very biased that's why I didn't

[00:24:51] ask that's why I didn't ask topper well let me tell you and I talked about this yesterday

[00:24:55] having been on that board for 16 years and then four years inside

[00:25:00] I

[00:25:01] the first what I would say is the first thing is let's make sure there is nobody within jea

[00:25:08] that can do the job jea is unique it is a family you got to understand the culture of jea I know

[00:25:17] you can bring in a ceo and all that but given what we have gone through in the last four years five

[00:25:23] years now given yesterday this community and the jea employees we've got to settle them down

[00:25:34] and we've got to settle everybody down and make sure to this point is there not somebody within

[00:25:40] this community is there not somebody within jea who can be who can be the next long-term ceo if

[00:25:47] you can't find that then let's go back but I can tell you when you go back and look at from view cell

[00:25:53] all the way up to to Paul McAvoy they if they grew up with that institutional knowledge

[00:26:00] they know jea they know this community and you've got to understand that just bringing somebody in

[00:26:04] here who knows finance or know an engineer isn't going to do it by the way hightower is not

[00:26:10] putting his name in for that job to quash any rumors that might be spreading around out there

[00:26:15] based on what he just said by his ideas I did get probably as of yesterday I did get an application

[00:26:20] to be a wal-mart reader in North Carolina mine is always plastic or paper that's all

[00:26:26] all right let's talk about the loristry trio yes whatever's going on with it

[00:26:31] once again we have to explain to our viewers and listeners that this is being recorded now

[00:26:36] on tuesday the 16th of april tomorrow on the 17th the di a has their board meeting at that meeting

[00:26:46] they're going to look at that proposal actually that matt carlucci sort of talked about when he was

[00:26:52] on our program back last december but from what i heard today from matt carlucci's assistant

[00:27:00] is that the bill that they're going to be discussing tomorrow is not the same bill

[00:27:06] and that's 2023 869 i believe if i'm not mistaken that includes some of the more

[00:27:13] controversial aspects to it including the hotel which they did not like that they being the

[00:27:21] mayor didn't like it and neither did the di a staff and number two the 22 million dollar

[00:27:27] loan guarantee if you will the pot of money that they were going to put in there so that the city

[00:27:32] would underwrite any of the loans and we would pay them if if steve actons could not so what this is

[00:27:41] ultimately going to look like even matt carlucci's office says i don't have a copy of it so i

[00:27:46] wasn't able to get a copy for us to take a look at to see what they're going to be debating

[00:27:50] tomorrow so with that what do you guys think one of the things that i think i've noticed

[00:27:58] going on here recently with all of this conversation about

[00:28:04] actions we've said it before it doesn't appear that akins either wants or has the ability

[00:28:11] to get the financial backing other from them then from the city it doesn't look like he's

[00:28:16] getting the backing he wants from the city uh and he has threatened to tear the project down

[00:28:23] perhaps uh he want to see he wants he says he will not let the city sell it and one of the

[00:28:30] things that seems to have happened here is i remember a time when steve atkins was a guy on

[00:28:36] the white horse who was going to come in and help save downtown he did the barnett tower

[00:28:41] really nice and it was going to do the lorris three creole but over time he's become more of the guy

[00:28:49] that is in the way i've getting that impression i mean when the mayor came out and said what she

[00:28:55] said uh about more options only more options uh i think that pretty much sealed his deal so i

[00:29:02] wouldn't be surprised at whatever happens tomorrow but it may be it may be the final steve atkins

[00:29:09] in this saga we will find out by next week and speaking of next week anything else you want to add

[00:29:15] here before we are no i i you know the parallel between what happened yesterday g a and this conversation

[00:29:22] or what mike just said we're this kind this whole program tonight is about things that people

[00:29:28] don't understand and what's not been said and where are we yep and so this has been the week of

[00:29:35] what's going on in jackson veal yeah we should change that but i think mike raises a lot of issues

[00:29:41] of one how unless you know exactly what you're doing and unless there is collaboration and

[00:29:48] understand in communication that you can go from as he used the analogy the person on the white

[00:29:53] horse that's going to be it to the other person that is now being viewed as a barrier or or

[00:29:59] an obstructionist obstructionist and so there again going back to what we talked about on the

[00:30:05] other thing there's something else going on here and uh we're dealing with taxpayer money

[00:30:10] but we're also dealing with something that is now i think out the emotional button on a lot of

[00:30:15] people i think you talk to people and say they don't exactly understand what the trio is but

[00:30:20] they think it's important and it's part of our heritage but they can't understand is why can't

[00:30:25] the adults get in a room and figure this out you see i've got a different point of view on that

[00:30:30] thing i think people are taking a look at that and they're saying let me see here what 38 million

[00:30:35] dollars for the trio a billion dollars for a new jail 1.4 billion dollars for a new stadium how much

[00:30:42] more money are we going to continue spending on developing that section of town when you take

[00:30:48] a look at it all the way from these sports you know district all the way to the downtown

[00:30:53] core and people are still saying and we talked about this before when are they going to pick up

[00:30:58] my garbage on time when are they going to fill that pothole when are they going to do all of

[00:31:02] these other things which directly impact people on a daily basis i think that's going to be one

[00:31:07] of the narratives that we're going to be hearing throughout this whole process but that's yet

[00:31:11] to be determined yeah you have to be determined you know i think when we're back here a week

[00:31:16] from now you know i think we're all going to know a little bit more well we're going to

[00:31:20] know a lot more about the school system because dr lori hershey is going to be joining us next week

[00:31:24] here in studio and uh she's a school board member of course and uh she's retiring by the way she's

[00:31:31] actually turned out i believe after this this session uh but she's going to be on with this

[00:31:36] we're going to talk about all of the things that propose closings they proposed mergers

[00:31:41] the construction costs and of course uh all of the other situation including finding a new

[00:31:48] superintendent so all of that's going to be with lori hershey next week yeah and one of the issues

[00:31:53] i just you know that i read that thing when dr green was being considered for the superintendent

[00:32:00] there were 26 applicants about a year ago when they were looking for someone to replace her yep

[00:32:07] they had 10 applicants five and they ended up five weren't out there so they went out again

[00:32:12] i just found out they've got five five i mean we're we're now down to five and there is a

[00:32:19] if you go on social media two of that five should not even be in the running well so there's going

[00:32:26] to be a lot of questions i think people are asking about or we will be asking lori hurry

[00:32:31] when you're down to four or five or three applicants for a size of a school system our

[00:32:37] thought what where are we yep but i mean i was stunned when i saw that there were only five

[00:32:43] i'm not shocked i shouldn't have been surprised but i was surprised it was only five all right

[00:32:48] thank you everybody for joining us we appreciate it let us know what you think of the podcast

[00:32:52] uh we have lots of places where you can leave comments on our website on our facebook page or

[00:32:57] any of the podcast platforms that you might look at thanks for joining us and have a good

[00:33:01] week everybody you'll take care of things mike's on mike with mike tollbert mike

[00:33:05] high tower and mike miller can be found on your favorite podcasting platform facebook and youtube

[00:33:11] visit the website at mics on mike dot com join us next time for more conversation with mics on mike

[00:33:21] mike