Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, September 12, 2023

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

Tuesday, Septmber 12, 2023 10:00 am 

Also present were: Jenn Nelson – YCESA, Frank Vander Horst – YCESA, Suzie Roth – Yavapai County Library District, Corey Christians – Yavapai County Library District

Yavapai County Forest Fee Management Association
Board of Directors
  Meeting Minutes

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 10:00

Establishment of Quorum and Pledge of Allegiance (President Brown)

A quorum was established

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 Item: Review a Brief History of FFMA and the By-Laws

Mr. Carter shared with the new board members a history of FFMA. The board as a whole reviewed the by-laws the board reviewed the schools for groups and agreed the groups are in line with each other. Jenn advised the board that Article VII Section 3 has not been updated since Champie School District was dissolved and since then Walnut Grove has been removed from the by-laws as well. Mr. Carter requested that Jenn send him the exact date and he will have the by-laws updated

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 Regular Meeting Minutes on June 13, 2023
2. Approval of the Agenda for Tuesday, September 12, 2023
3. Ratify the Election of Superintendent Matt Schumacher of Clarkdale-Jerome School as the new Representative of Group 3 Schools (Bagdad, Beaver Creek, Clarkdale-Jerome, Mayer, MICTED)
4. Ratify the Election of Finance Director Lynn Leonard of Mingus Union High  School as the new Representative of Group 4 Schools (Camp Verde, Mingus, Sedona Oak-Creek) 

Stephanie Miller made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Matt Schumacher, Stephanie Miller, Kellie Burns, Lynn Leonard, and Mardi Read.

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

Mr. Carter and Jenn shared the distribution sheet and general ledger with the board. Mr. Carter and Jenn explained in detail the accounting sheets and advised the board that the total encumbered amount is $1,385,404.28, the total in the bank is $1,790,673.01 which allows a total of $405,268.73 for future or additional encumbrances. Mr. Carter gave the board a current political update regarding secure rural schools: currently there is no vehicle or bill that secure rural schools could attach to in order to be passed for future funding. Mr. Carter will be in DC in Oct. and hopes to speak with staff to get secure rural school funding on a bill and passed. Currently there is no funding and no timeline for when funding will be received

Presentation and Discussion: The County Library Education Liaison Would Like to Discuss their Role with our Schools and Possible seek Funding 

Suzie Roth made a presentation to the board about SORA, a program that the YC Library uses with 12 districts. The program is an app for students to have access to books digitally. The app is available to districts that are members of the Yavapai Library Network only. Suzie is seeking funding for the remaining need of the app in the amount of $3,738.47, and in the future in order to sustain the program the funding needed would be between $10,000 and $15,000. The board discussed that it would be ideal for all districts to be members of the YLN, however it is an expense the districts do not budget for, Dr. Miller suggested Suzie and Corey present the board with a price range for all districts to become members. No action was taken on this item.

Information and Discussion: Review Recommendations of the Yavapai County Educational Technology Consortium (YCETC) Board of Directors in Regard to Sparklight.

Mr. Carter updated with the board with issues with Sparklight. Currently Sparklight is giving lower pricing to other entities than YCETC, when YCETC requested to receive the lower pricing Sparklight dismissed the request. The amount of savings would be around $40,000 a year over the 3-year contract, for a total of $120,000 savings that is not being given. YCETC and legal counsel is drafting a letter addressing concerns and allowing another opportunity to negotiate, if the letter is not successful the YCETC may consider legal action. Not knowing the costs of a lawsuit and legal action, the YCETC board wanted to keep FFMA updated on the situation that they may need to request funding. Frank advised the board that there is good legal standing through E-Rate called lower corresponding price, in which a vendor could not give a lower price to another entity in the same market, the issue is what defines a market to Sparklight, since Arizona State receives the same pricing except YCTEC. The board agreed that YCETC should move forward with a letter and respect putting the issue on their radar.
The board took a 10 min recess to reconvene at 11:50

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

1. Technology Related Funding – Jenn and Mr. Carter presented the board with the Tech Fund spreadsheet; Jenn advised the board she hasn’t received a reimbursement request for technology in a few months. The board requested that the information for technology funds be emailed out again to IT personnel, school administrators, and business managers, as well as having board members reach out to their member districts and share the information directly in conversation. Jenn reminded the board that reimbursements can go back to purchases made from July 2022 to current and the encumbrance has been approved through July 2025
2. Consolidated Substitute Teacher Potential Training Update – – Mr. Carter advised the board that there were 2 trainings held this summer and no additional funding is being requested
3. E-Rate Update -Frank advised the board that there is no funding requests because of the success of E-Rate. The board discussed removing this item from the agenda for future references unless an update is needed.
4. Lobbying/Advocacy Update – The board reviewed the lobbying spreadsheet. Jenn advised the board that AZ Capitol Connections has a new contract for the 23-24 school year and July and August invoices have been received and paid. Dr. Miller requested a breakdown for each district and Jenn shared that in the distribution sheet it shows each district part of RASC pays 117.64 monthly for the annual contract. Some Verde Valley schools have private lobbyist and have yet to send in reimbursements. The encumbrance is allocated through June 2024 and will reviewed for more funding when it gets closer
5. Yavapai College Matinee Series – Currently the College is reaching out to schools for their 23-24 showcases. They will invoice around June 2024. No additional funding requested.
6. Administrative Fund – Mr. Carter shared with the board the current administrative fund expenses and explained to the new board members that the administrative fund covers the following: insurance for FFMA and YCETC, website expenses for FFMA and YCETC, governing board training expenses, countywide meeting expenses, subscriptions for news, and the crisis team. No additional funding is being requested
7. Elections Update – Jenn advised the board that the allocation should be enough through the 2024 election cycle. There will be a better idea of Nov. 2024 expenses around June 2024 when it will be known how many items will be on ballot
8. Other Budget, Encumbrance, , or Financial Items Raised from the Member Districts or Board Members – The board discussed further the possibility of encumbering funds for the SORA program or for districts to be part of the YLN. The board agreed to have each member speak with the member districts and see if the membership is something they would want and SORA is a program they would use. The board requested that Corey and Suzie share with the board a price range for all districts to be members of YLN. The board also agreed to speak with member districts to see if another option they would want is to have a “library fund” encumbrance in which each district would receive funding on a tiered basis and they could use their encumbered fund for either membership, their own library updates or any library needs

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Election of Officers (President, Vice President) Shall Take Place at the Annual Meeting, December 12, 2023

Mr. Carter advised the board that the Election of Officers is coming up and will need to be done at the annual meeting. Currently the President is no longer on the board so Vice President Read will be presiding until new elections. Mardi Read advised the board that she will be retiring June 2024 and will no longer serve on the board but is willing to proceed as an officer until the end of her term. The board requested that Mr. Carter reach out to each member to see who would like to be nominated as an officer

Discussion and Action Item – Topics from the Board for Future 

Follow up with YCETC, officer election, YLN funding/membership

Announce Future Meeting Dates

• Tuesday December 12, 2023 (10 AM) 
• March 5, 2024 (10 AM)
• June 11, 2024 (10 AM)
• September 17, 2024 (10 AM)
• December 17, 2024 (10 AM)

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 12:47 pm

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