Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, March 9, 2021

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

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 1:00 P.M.

Also present were: Stan Goligoski – YCESA, Frank Vander Horst – YCESA, Jenn Nelson – YCESA, Shari Sterling- YCESA

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

1. Approval of Minutes from the Meeting on December 17, 2020
2. Approval of the Regular Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, March 9, 2021

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

Information, Discussion Item: Fiscal Agent Report, Political/Legislative Update (Superintendent Carter)

Mr. Carter shared with the board that September 2020 distribution has still not been received, and it is unknown when the payment will come. There is not currently a bill with Congress for payment of secure rural schools. There is nothing in the legislature that would be adverse for FFMA.  

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

1. Technology Related Funding – Stan advised the board the Tech Fund is still frozen, he has been receiving emails requesting an update of when funds will be available and districts understand the money has not been received
2.  Professional Development Funding –The board agreed to remove this item moving forward, due to no proposals or requests
3. COVID-19 Item Funding – The board agreed to remove this item as well due to funding for schools through ESSER funds. 
4. Administrative Fund (Superintendent Carter) –Mr. Carter advised the board that his DC trip costs was reduced in half and expenses were low. There has not been a lot of need for direct services of counselors, with the current exception of the incident in Chino Valley, counselors are currently evaluating their needs to continue
5. Elections Update (Superintendent Carter & Mrs. Nelson) – Jenn advised the board that all elections expenses for 2020 have been paid and funds are not needed until the next General Elections cycle in 2022. Mr. Carter advised the board that there has been talks with at least 5 districts for recalls, but that is something that is covered by the districts and not FFMA, and currently no recall packets have been pulled
6.  Advocacy Update (Mrs. Agneessens) –Rosemary was not able to attend but provided the board with a breakdown of advocacy work being done since December 2020. 
7. 7. E-Rate Update (Mr. Vander Horst) – Frank shared with the board that the SCC has approved 3.2 billion dollars for the “final mile” and will come out with curriculum soon. There is 7 billion dollars in the new COVID relief bill for “final mile” under e-rate. There is potentially $10 billion dollars for the “final mile”. The “final mile” is for hotspots, chrome books, internet services at home etc. The parameters of the funds have not yet been specified, but it will be prorated for 1 year
8.  Other Budget, Encumbrance or Financial Items Raised from the Member Districts or Board Members –

   The board reviewed each item in the encumbrance sheet. The board agreed to increase the amount of funds for Executive Director Salary by moving $55,000 from lobbyist funds to the salary encumbrance. 

   Dennis Dearden made a motion to approve moving $55,000 of encumbered funds for lobbyists into the Executive Director Salary; Stephanie Miller seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Dennis Dearden.

   The board discussed the teacher recruitment encumbrance and agreed to change the parameters of the encumbrance for a one-year period. This will allow schools to use recruitment funds for travel and per diem expenses for potential teachers only. The new parameters are as follows: group 1, 2 and 3 (18 total districts) are eligible for a reimbursement of teacher recruitment for up to $500 each for a total of $19,000; Group 4 (7 districts) is eligible for a reimburse of teacher recruitment for up to $2,000 each for a total of $14,000. Districts are able to pull funds together as a group for administrative travel expenses, the costs can be used for job fairs as well.

   Danny Brown made a motion to approve the new parameters for teacher recruitment for up to one-year period; Mardi Read seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Dennis Dearden. 

   Stan advised the board that the teacher retention grant will need an additional $4,082 to close out current requests.

   Danny Brown made a motion to move $4,082 of encumbered funds for lobbyists into teacher retention grant; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown, Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read and Dennis Dearden. 

   Shari and Stan shared with the board that Kendra is progressing well even through the pandemic and advised the board that next year her funds will be requested to increase by $300.

   The board discussed the possibility of not receiving funds soon, and salary encumbrances not able to be paid out. The board agreed at the June meeting if the secure rural school funds have not been received a focus of discussion of funds will be on employee encumbrances. Stan advised the board that the Substitute Teacher annual registration will need an encumbrance of $9,552. The board requested Jenn, Mr. Carter and Stan to create a spreadsheet of potential and future funds needed for review in the June meeting. The board also agreed that it would be a good idea to reach out to member districts to get their top priority of encumbrances if some need to be depleted. Danny will send out a survey to all districts in April regarding encumbrance priorities. The board discussed the possible use of ESSER funds that could possibly be used through FFMA for encumbrances that could benefit all districts

Topics from the Board for Future Agenda Items

Review of survey, Review of projection of future encumbrance costs, ESSER funds 

Announce Future Meeting Dates

• Tuesday June 8, 2021 (1 PM)
• Tuesday September 14, 2021 (1 PM)
• Tuesday December 14, 2021 (1 PM)

The board agreed to the above meeting dates. 

Action Item: Adjournment

Danny Brown adjourned the meeting at 2:15 pm

Back to Forest Fee Management Association