Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, March 8, 2022

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

Tuesday, March 4, 2022 1:00 PM

Also present were: Stan Goligoski – YCESA, Jenn Nelson – YCESA

Yavapai County Forest Fee Management Association
Board of Directors
Special Meeting Minutes

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 1:11 PM due to waiting on quorum

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 meeting on December 14, 2021
2. Approval of the Special Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, March 8, 2022
3. Ratify the Election of Dr. Stephanie Miller as the Group 2 Representative to the Board of Directors for a Term Ending on December 31, 2024
4. Ratify the Election of Dr. Dennis Dearden as the Group 4 Representative to the Board of Directors for a Term Ending on December 31, 2024
5. Ratify the Election of Mrs. Mardi Read as the Group 5 Representative to the Board of Directors for a Term Ending on December 31, 2024

Danny Brown made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

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

Tim Carter advised the board that secure rural funds has passed as a 25% payment for the 2021 payment. Once the bill is signed it will take 45-60 days for the funds to reach the counties and then it will be available to FFMA. The payment will only be around $250,000-$350,000 which FFMA retains half. There is a bill that would prohibit political subdivisions from having a paid lobbyist. This will affect County School Superintendents and districts and could possibly impact FFMA and YCETC.

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Transition and Guidance in Regard to the YCESA/YCETC Technology Director

Stan Goligoski is no longer with YCESA, YCETC has requested through FFMA to pay part of the positions salary as Technology Director to the consortium, since there is no employee for the time, FFMA will not need to be providing the payment. Since the position is not being filled until late June or early July, the YCESA does not need the encumbrance for the Director position. FFMA will take the remaining encumbrance of $31,364.77 and put it back into the available encumbrance amount. Mr. Carter advised the board that E-Rate success has allowed him to provide E-Rate consult for free, so FFMA will no longer be requested to encumber annual fee of $16,000. The long-term plan is to eliminate E-Rate fees throughout Yavapai County

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

1. Technology Related Funding -There is still a remaining balance of encumbered funds for technology funding. The board had put a freeze on the encumbrance until SRS funds are received. The board requested that Jenn share with them the technology funds spreadsheet and they will further discuss the encumbrance at the June meeting. The encumbrance will remain frozen until further discussion 
2. College and Career Specialist -Shari Sterling updated the board on the College and Career Specialist position. Encumbered funds will run out in June of 2022. Shari shared that she has been speaking with the schools who utilize the services of the college and career specialist and is seeking a contractual agreement with each school to continue funding the position and need a commitment from the school boards by April. The board advised Shari to continue seeking other funding sources, in the future the board may be able to take over the funding again if SRS funds begin to be received regularly 
3. Consolidated Substitute Teacher Potential Training – Mr. Carter advised the board that he is providing training for the substitutes as a two-day training. He has been requested to provide training for other counties throughout the state and has advised that any compensation received for services will be a donation to the FFMA board. Jenn advised the board that the board had agreed in the past to pay for the annual program fee for Ready Sub. This year the annual fee is estimated to be $15,830 and will be due in April 2022. The board agreed that this will need to be paid and funds will need to be encumbered
4. E-Rate Update – The board has already made the 2021-2022 payment for E-Rate in September of 2021, the remaining balance of $16,004.75 will go into the available funds. 
5. Lobbying/Advocacy Update – FFMA has not added additional encumbered funds for lobbying and in June it will be extended to Dec. 2022
6. Yavapai College Matinee Series – Yavapai College has requested to present at the June Meeting
7. Administrative Fund – Mr. Carter advised the board he has not had many expenses going through the fund, but it is unknown when a crisis will happen, so the encumbrance should remain. 
8. Elections Update – Mr. Carter and Jenn advised the board that this year elections are estimated to be around $600,000 or more due to more districts having contested elections. The board agreed that all available funds need to be encumbered for Elections. If the FFMA board can only fund 50% of districts elections, then the remaining elections balances will have to be prorated or divided by voter or district. The board agreed they will let the districts know they may only be able to cover half of elections costs due to not receiving Sept. 2021 SRS funds
9. Other budget, encumbrances or financial items raised from the member districts or board members –

The board discussed all encumbrances and decided that to reduce the following encumbrances: E-Rate consultant – $16,004.75 to available funds, Executive Director Salary – $31,364.77 to available funds, Teacher Recruitment – $20,000 to available funds, Administrative fund – $13,000 to available funds.

Danny Brown made a motion to close the E-Rate consultant fee encumbrance and move encumbered $16,004.75 to available funds, move $31,364.77 from Executive Director to available funds, move $13,000 from admin fund to available funds, and move $20,000 from teacher recruitment to available amount; to increase available amount by $80,369.52; Mardi Read seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

Danny Brown made a motion to encumber $15,830 to substitute consolidation for annual Ready Sub programming; Mardi Read seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

Danny Brown made a motion to move the remaining amount available of $342,110.88 to elections; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.

Danny Brown will draft a statement regarding the changes to the encumbrances including elections funds may only be covered 50% and other encumbrances may not be available without incoming SRS funding.

Information Discussion and Action Item: Review and Finalize Survey of the Membership to Identify Collective Needs

The board reviewed the draft survey and agreed to wait to send out the survey until there are funds that can be encumbered

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Pursuant to the FFMA Board Waiving the Election of Officers from the December 2021 Meeting to the March 2022 Meeting , and In Accordance with the By-Laws, the Board Will Need to Elect Officers, President, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer for Terms Ending at the December 2022 Meeting

Mardi Read made a motion to re-elect Danny Brown as President; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.
Stephanie Miller made a motion to re-elect Mardi Read as Vice President; Danny Brown seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns.
Danny Brown made a motion to continue with the County School Superintendent position to serve as secretary treasurer; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 4/0 by Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Kellie Burns

Discussion and Action Item – Topics from the Board for Future 

June meeting will discuss elections encumbrance, status of SRS funds, and election preparation for Groups 3 and 1

Announce Future Meeting Dates

• Tuesday June 14, 2022 (1 PM)
• Tuesday September 13, 2022 (1 PM)
• Tuesday December 13, 2022 (1 PM)

Open Call to the Public for Future Agenda Items ( Requires a written request to speak and is limited to one(1) minutes. The Board may not comment on these requests)

Action Item: Adjournment

Danny Brown adjourned the meeting at 2:34 pm

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