Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Yavapai Education Service Agency – in person or zoom
2970 Centerpointe East Drive, Prescott, Arizona 86301

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 1:00 P.M.

Also present were: Stan Goligoski – YCESA, Jenn Nelson – YCESA, Frank Vander Horst – YCESA, Rosemary Agneessens

Yavapai County Forest Fee Management Association
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m.by President Brown

Establishment of Quorum and Pledge of Allegiance (President Brown)

A quorum was established. Due to conference call meeting President Brown dismissed the Pledge of Allegiance.

Limited Call to the Public (President Brown)

• The public is invited to speak about any agenda item.
• There is a limit of three (3) minutes per speaker and 20 minutes total.
• Request to speak must be in writing and provided to the Clerk at the beginning of the meeting or prior to any agenda item.
• The President has absolute discretion over procedural matters
• The Board may waive their “Public Participation Policy” as it applies to all speakers.
• Members of the public may indicate their support or opposition to a topic, in writing, that will be noted and entered into the record.
• The Board may not respond to comments from the public, but may ask the facilitator to respond or place the item on a future agenda.

No call to the public.

Discussion and Action Items of the Consent Agenda: all items on the consent agenda may be adopted as a whole with one motion, unless a member of the Board wishes to consider it separately

1. Approval of the Minutes from the Regular Meeting on March 9, 2021
2. Approval of the Minutes from the Special Meeting on April 23, 2021
3. Approval of the Regular Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Danny Brown made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Danny Brown, Dennis Dearden, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Fiscal Agent Report, Political/Legislative Updated, Secure Rural Schools Update

Tim Carter explained to the board that all of the districts 50% of distribution checks has been received with the exception of Walnut Grove which will lapse as of June 30, 2021. The amount in the bank is $1,024,066.13, the amount encumbered is $352,107.06 and the amount available for future encumbrances is $671,959.07. Political update is that Arizona does not have a budget approved yet, and will return on Thursday with the Senate but there is still oppositions of items in the budget, a “skinny budget” may be passed while issues continue to work out. Bills for rural schools are still going through congress, there is no estimate of when the bills will be heard, but once they are they can be funded fairly quickly. One bill is for 2 years and one is for 5 years.

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Review and Potentially Modify Encumbrance Items and Amounts

1. Yavapai College Matinee Series – Craig Ralston and Ryan Gastonguay presented to the board the past season of Yavapai Performing Arts, streaming will continue through the fall and in Spring there is hope to open to on campus in person attendance. Steaming allowed more rural schools to participate, FFMA funding was able to have 9,412 district views, 16 districts participated in the streaming of the educational series. In order to fund the next season, YCPAC is requesting the board approve an additional $31,535 to the already encumbered amount for a total of $45,000. Streaming will continue for rural schools, fees will not increase.
2. E-Rate Update – Frank updated the board that 7.2 billion dollars as an emergency fund will pay for internet service to students’ homes, hotspots, tablets and laptops. The funding window will open around July 1^st and will be open for 45 days for schools and libraries to apply. 50% of applications should be funded around October. All service and devices can only go to students and school staff that do not have sufficient service or device for remote learning. If any funds are remaining then schools can apply for retroactive costs from the past years. E-Rate contract will be invoiced in August and there is only enough encumbered for the single invoice, Stan is requesting an additional $16,000 for the next year.
3. Administrative Fund – Carter is not requesting any additional funds at this point. Travel has been reduced and emergency teams have not had a lot of requests. The remaining balance should suffice through June 2022
4. Elections Update – Carter advised the board there will be a request for $300,000 for the 2022 election cycle. PUSD and HUSD had unsuccessful overrides and may want to run an election in 2022, those voting numbers would bring in larger fees.
5. Lobbying / Advocacy Update – Rosemary shared her exit report and thanked the board for the opportunity to educate community members to advocate for their schools. The board thanked Rosemary for her work with the districts. The board discussed if a district wanted to hire a new lobbyist how that will work. It was agreed that if the district or districts hire a new lobbyist, then FFMA would need to be provided a copy of the contract with that company or individual in order to make payment. The districts were given $7,750 and most have half or more than half of that amount available. There is no request of additional funds at this time, just an extension of the encumbrance through June 2022, but the board will need to replenish the $55,000 that was taken from lobbying funds to fund the Director Salary encumbrance.
6. Technology Related Funding – After review of the discrepancies with the tech fund spread sheet and encumbrance sheet, the board was unable to make a decision on funding with the limited amount of funds that are available for future encumbrances. Stan, Jenn and Mr. Carter will clean up the tech fund spreadsheet, the recommended spreadsheet, and create a timeline to explain the tech fund and was is needed to fulfill the full amount requested in 2019.
7. Professional Development Funding – The board agreed to table this item until next meeting
8. Other Budget, Encumbrance, or Financial Items Raised from the Member Districts or Board Members

The board agreed to extend the following encumbrances through June 2022 and hold a special meeting June 16, 2021 at 8am to review encumbrance funds.

• Executive Director Salary – Extend through June 2022
• Yavapai College – Extend through June 2022
• Elections Costs – Extend through June 2022
• Teacher Recruitment – Extend through June 2022
• Lobbyist / Community Organizer – Extend through June 2022
• College and Career Specialist – Extend through June 2022
• Substitute Consolidation – Extend through June 2022
• Tech Fund – Extend through June 2022

 Danny Brown made a motion to approve the extension encumbrances above through June 2022 as long as encumbered funds are available; Stephanie Miller seconded the motion; it was approved unanimously 5/0 by Danny Brown, Dennis Dearden, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

Discussion and Action Item: Topics from the board for future agenda items

Mardi Read requested that the board discuss sending out another survey to review the encumbered priorities of member districts. Stan will provide a copy of the previous survey that was sent out, this will be discussed at the September meeting.

Announce Future Meeting Dates

• Wednesday June 16, 2021 (8AM)
• Tuesday September 14, 2021 (1 PM)
• Tuesday December 14, 2021 (1 PM)
• Tuesday March 8, 2022 (1 PM)
• Tuesday June 14, 2022 (1 PM)
• Tuesday September 13, 2022 (1 PM)
• Tuesday December 13, 2022 (1 PM)

Action Item: Adjournment

Danny Brown adjourned the meeting at 2:45 pm

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