Yes, I should I just disregard That's my niece for Okay. Where did Lindsay go? Oh, okay. Good morning, everyone. I've got 900 a.m. and in uh respect for everyone's time,
we'll begin the meeting calling it to order. At this point, um we have a number of items on our agenda. We'll be getting through. Excuse me. Uh we'll begin with Miss Ellison. Our roll call. Good morning. Uh Miss Kaine present. I have Mr. Leonard as possibly going to join us late. Commissioner May, Dr. Northup here. Miss White here.
Mr. Williams here. Judge Williams and Miss Woods. Miss Woods present. Thank you. Okay. Uh we'll now go proceed with the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Williams, please. Please stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next item is approval of the agenda which is uh before the board. Have a motion to approve. move. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Next will be review of the minutes from our last uh meeting dated
January 13th that are included in the packet and uh staff has recommended approval of those. Does anyone see any additions, deletions, modifications, corrections, or otherwise? And hearing none, we'll submit those or have those stand as submitted. Next, the treasurer's report with Miss Abrams. And we have that financial report for December included in our packet. Good
morning. I'm going to try to break your little book down into something real easy to go through. Um, just quick highlights where we are 25% through our year and we have collected 60% of our revenue from the taxes so far. We have total liabilities of almost $3 million. That includes this Pensacola CRA of 1.85. Um our statement of revenue expenses shows that we are right now running at 8.64
administrative, 3.14 for tax collector and 88% for programmatic expenses. Um we are on expenses. We are have spent 21% of our administrative budget and we have spent 15% of our programmatic budget. So, um, our contract schedule shows that there's a balance of 11,82,346 left on our awarded contracts
and 16.5 million remaining in funding requested by current providers. And that would totally come out of our cash we have on hand. Our cash on hand at the moment is almost 30 is about 30 million. 27.8 8 of it is in our general funds. Out of that 27.8 7.1 is available for new funding and uh 89% of it is obligated. So do you guys have any questions for me?
I have a and that obligated is for the is for all the programs that we've already guaranteed money to. Yeah. obligated is to cover the whole period that they've requested for our current programs. I have a another uh question of inquiry noting that you've had where oh 6,427,000 uh that has been refunded back or returned back to the trust and we are now into February of
this year. Uh when do we anticipate or do we I'm reflecting back on the CARES grants that we were able to provide last year and uh when would we be do you all anticipate the potential of looking at uh the the ledger and the balance and all that and perhaps uh having a similar type of opportunity this year by any chance. So that would be something as you guys discuss your funding obl uh
priorities that we'll discuss but um every month as we have contracts expire that adds on to it and that 6.5 is mostly been reobligated and respent. So um we will have some coming up under the mental health that gets unobligated and then we will have more that comes up as CARES expires in April that wasn't spent. So we'll know more then. Okay. So probably April May time frame that we would be
looking at potentially uh determining whether we would have that recognizing again that's uh not a permanent uh portion or part of the program of the trust but an opportunity we had last year by having that surplus uh that uh existed in the budget. and uh just looking at kind of roughing out timelines of when we might have that. Then could then notify the public and have them
uh submit funding requests and give the program committee and others time to look at that and everything and just trying to wrap my head around some type of a timeline there of any sort. Well, in the program committee, we we talked about that. I know you weren't able to be there um for that conversation, but a lot of it was um really looking at our our current RFP, which we'll go through in detail um in just a little bit uh that we want to put out, but we also are looking at zero to five initiatives um as a process going on. And then CARES was mentioned um so really we've
got to look at what we're going to prioritize related to um Bright Pathways, which is our RFP for out of school time. Um and we talked about bright beginnings which is our zero to5 initiative that we have a framework for as well. Um and then looking at CARES at that point as well. We like that opportunity for our community and we think some of our smaller nonprofits have learned a lot um through this process and working with us. And so whether they want to do it again or not, I think they're figuring that out as well. Um but those are definitely opportunities because those
are grants that we already have established. the process is there and they would be easy to um get going again. So great that fingers crossed that that repeats itself because I think I agree with you completely that I think the community and particularly a lot of the smaller providers really uh benefited from that and bottom line is the kids benefited by having an opportunity to receive additional services. All right. So, the treasures report,
we have a motion to accept that and then uh have that stand. Okay, it's been second. All righty. All in favor? I I Okay, thank you. The next item on the agenda is public comments. And Miss Alma, did we have any? Okay. No one submitted the forms and my apologies to you all for that. that the forms for that were over on the table and none submitted. The next item then will be a special
presentation by the Children's Home Society for the committee, one of our grant recipients, Michael I see doing his forte up there. Good morning. Thank you guys for having us here today. I'm Leah Harrison. I'm the executive director at Children's Home Society and we're grateful for the partnership that we have with you guys. We're excited to share specifically today about the work at Pine
Forest High School. and then I am gonna pass it over to the best people and they're going to tell you a little bit. But I'm gonna start um I just wanted to start with you guys helped us uh begin community partnership school at Pine Forest High School. Otherwise probably would have been a little bit further behind. So I know this is not fully what we're talking about today, but I did want to point these things out to you guys. um you know years we tried to uh bring community partnership schools to Pine Forest and really needed that clinic piece and everything
just kind of fell into place at last minute and you guys stepped in with the Soul Source grant um which brought direct access and resources right there to Pine Forest and I'm putting up here just some of the things we put in our Soul Source grant so you can see the the exact outcomes Um when we started at Pine Forest it was a D school. Um after that first year it was a C and it has maintained at a C. Uh when we talk about access it's a huge part of community partnership school model is access to health care um and and mental health. And
so you'll see here through our partner, Community Health Northwest Florida, just last school year, um, we had more than 2500 primary healthc care visits to not just our students in the school, but that's for families surrounding the school as well. And then this is a little bit more granular, but did want to put this up here because, you know, one of one of the priorities that you guys have, children are ready to succeed in school and life. We really wanted to hone in on this and what you'll see we made progress. We didn't meet our goals exactly but man we were super close. Um so
we wanted to focus on what you know the schools call the ABCs. So attendance um the school year last year uh we were at 89%. Our goal is 90. Now I will say and I know Mr. Robinson can speak to this a little bit but when you look at this school year I think the first and second semesters were pretty high like over 90. this past semester was a little bit down, but um our goal is still focused on that 90. And then behavior, um referrals have come down significantly. And what's really interesting too
is tardies are part of this, which you know, I think they should be, but um when you when you take out some of those tardies, it's even more of a significant decrease in behavioral referrals. And then course performance, which is what we're going to get into a little bit today. um something that you guys have really stepped up to help us with with the CARES grant. But uh you can see here um we were 10% short of that goal for ELA and 8% in math. However, um I wanted
to point out we were at 20 and our goal for math, 20% um and our goal was 45. So we went from 20 to 37 which I feel like is pretty darn good. Um, and this is not done in a silo at all. It's done with you guys. It's done with the admin team that was there before and that's there now. Um, it's done with this whole team here and with all of our community partners. So, I just wanted to set this up for the team. Um, thank you guys for even helping us get to be a community partnership
school. And so, what we're going to I'm going to introduce you to our amazing uh, community partnership school director, Mr. Reginald Robinson. He's going to share about the impact of the CARES grant so far uh this year and then you're going to get to hear straight from one of our students DJ. Good morning everyone. My name is Res Robson, community partnership director at Pine Forest High School. Before I get into my numbers, I wanted to thank Miss Lindsley, Miss Ray, because none of this would be possible without you guys. And anytime I call you guys or have a question
about the grant or anything, y'all always one call away. So, thank you guys for that as well. In the fall, we had 57 students enrolled in the program. Out of those 57 students, currently 17 of those students are back on track to graduate. And this semester, we currently have 131 new students enrolled in the program with the total enrollment being 188 and growing. So, our current graduation rate right now is 81% and our goal is 100%. Last year around this time, it was 71%. So, we got a 10% increase. Thank to you guys and support you give us. And last year
overall graduation rate was 89% but our goal was our goal is 100%. And I'm a sports guy. I love sports. I played high school basketball and I played college basketball. So I know being a student athlete is tough. So I'm going to bring Mr. DJ in to kind of tell his testimony of how EBB has transformed his life from moving from Chicago to be able to play sports. How's it going everybody? My name is DJ Blanks. Um, so I'm here to tell my story about how I,
um, coming from Illinois, I was a number one ranked overall track and field athlete. I played football. I also played baseball. Um, coming to Pine Forest my senior year, I was actually ineligible um, the entire first semester. Uh, I came to Pine Forest with a 1.4 GPA. With programs such as Eagles Beyond the Bell, I have been able to balance my sports, my work, and my normal school work um together, which really helped uh getting back on track. So, not only was
I able to get back on track with graduating, I've also brought my GPA up from a two 1.4 to a 2.2. um and has also caused me to be eligible for both baseball and track in the second semester. All right, that's all we have today. Do you guys have any questions for any of the three of us? I don't have I don't have any questions, but I I want to commend you on uh double double digit
improvement school improvement plan because I've did them before is is great. Usually we we don't try to increase it more than three and 5% but for you to do that as uh that was great. Just want to commend you and I really love to see that the results that's happening there at Pine Forest and uh just keep up the good work. Thank you for doing that. Thank you. I appreciate it. And I got one more thing to add. I know Miss Leah said that um we are currently a C school, but we're like a couple points away from being that B school. So myself and Mahaney are bringing in different
tutors and different partnerships with the University of West Florida to get that to go over that threshold to become a B school. So hopefully by the end of the year we'll be a B school. DJ, I have I have a question. What position do you play for baseball? I play everywhere in the outfield including left field. So you're playing So you're playing tonight? Are you playing tonight? Yes, ma'am. I'll probably be there then. I'll be I'll be looking for you in the outfield. We will be playing Tate tonight at 6. Yeah, her son plays for Tate. Yeah, that's up. But he's on freshman though, but we will probably we'll definitely come make that
game because I think Adrian is an amazing coach over there as well. So, I look forward to seeing you tonight and congratulations on increasing that GPA. And and one other thing, Adrian, Miss Chambers is your baseball coach, correct? Yes, sir. Yeah. Ph graduate. Just want to throw that in there. Come on now, Mr. Williams. Come on now. I just want to say thank you. I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you for coming. This is We love having our providers come because it shows us that all the work that our team does and our staff does and then that the taxpayer money
is actually being used and you're moving up. It's a team effort of course, but you're moving up and so thank you for everything that y'all are doing and congratulations. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. I want to echo those thoughts of uh thank you for coming and as importantly or more so thank you all for the work that you are doing. You I'm sure are serving as a phenomenal role model and uh uh setting the objective to try to achieve what it sounds like you have already done
and want to uh congratulate you on that. I did have a question regarding the clinic that you all uh have out there as part of the community school and you mentioned the number of visits. Is that clinic able to be open pretty much year round or is it during the academic time or when is that? It's year round. Great. Great. Wonderful. And it sounds like with the number of visits you are uh posting here that you all are fairly active in that endeavor part of things as working really
hard to get the clinic within the school. We were working on that for a couple years, but I know with our partnerships uh with North uh Community Health Northwest Florida and with the school district, uh we're hoping to make that happen sometime in the near future, too. We feel like that will expand it even more. Great. Great. Thank you all again. And also for that clinic, we're using too for sports physical so our kids don't have to go nowhere outside to get a sports physical. they get this sports, let's go on campus and also the if kids get sick at school instead of a parent have to come to check them out and take them to the clinic, we'll get a sign permission
ship from the plant and just walk them over there to the clinic to be seen so they won't miss no class time. Yeah. And parents don't have to leave work too, which is huge as well. Well, that is a another one of our big interest and desires is seeing collaboration between entities and uh the ability to get those sports physicals done there by having things moved in and providing service not just to the kids but the surrounding community and all as well. Just sounds like a
stellar uh impact that you all are making. Thank you for that. Yeah, thank you guys. Yeah, and it again it is a collaborative effort. We could not do it without our community partners. So, thank you guys for being one of them. Certainly welcome. All right. Okay. Thank you guys. Thank you. Okay. Next items of business are in the business section. Interestingly, uh the first item there being uh programs and looking at 2026 funding priorities. Miss Cannon.
Well, I think we already kind of got into this a little bit. Um, we are going to be, um, I'm going to have Deborah Ray present our RFP. We already know that we're moving forward with Bright Pathways. Um, we're looking at about 3.5 million being dedicated to that particular RFP. Um, seeing how many we we feel like it's going to be highly competitive. Um, but but we've set aside 3.5. you want to remember we're we're finally at a place where we're actually getting a new, if you will, 10 to 11 million to actually put in. It's not already committed. Um and and what we can
do going forward. So, we're looking at about 3.5 for that. Um the other thing that our community is really rallying around that I've been fortunate to be a part of um is uh and Deborah we've both been able to participate is um there's a um maternal health task force and they're really looking at infant mortality which you know is definitely one of our key priorities. Um there's a lot of organization happening in our community um around that which is great. um they may or may not need funding to support that, but what we do have is a new focus in our community related to those
particular issues. The other thing that's unique about that is um we know and one of the things that especially when Deborah and I got here is how is Miami beating us in the graduation rate. What is happening in Miami? I mean other than they have millions upon millions of dollars, what what is happening literally to make that in every one of them and those communities have said we invest heavily in our zero to five population to get them ready for school. And so um with that Deborah's built out a really wonderful framework related to that that we can bring to another program committee. Um and so we want to look at putting about 3.5
million to that as well. And then to answer your question as well, Dr. Northup is looking at what we have what we will commit through that and what we have left um and what sort of initiatives we'd like to do going forward. We know that we have um multiple organizations um that are currently in Soul Source and we have some that started three years ago like Pine Forest that have sunseted um and and will end their their three years. So um so there will be other funds available there too.
So, it's kind of a a rolling process really that we need to look at month monthly um and determine timing um moving forward. So, um I just want to make sure that everyone is comfortable on that. That's we've discussed that in multiple meetings um but really looking at the outcomes related to that and we have some investment in zero to five but um but there's always more that can be done. Um at the next program committee meeting, could we get a breakdown of um what soul sources are um the
commitment is done and um if that commitment is not done where they fall under our obligations as far like you know if we have that breakdown. So like if we have a I know we early learning just came in. So you know where that falls under our commitment and also um can we put on the agenda to look at like a budget for soul source because in the past it just it doesn't seem like we you know like we have a budget but at least knowing where we align with what we have. So, whenever you
guys are getting those requests, you know, where they fall and like what are y'all what are you as a as a um staff allowed to filter out that comes to us. So maybe figuring that out so that um you guys have that ability to you know tell people if that's you know falls under what we're looking for in one of those brackets so that we don't have to see a lot of applications come through that may not fit what we're looking for. Yes. And so I I will just tell you where we're already getting
a lot of proposals right now. Um we've we've redirected them to watch our board meeting, look at our RFP and be ready for that. A lot of them are um after school supports that we're getting, but that doesn't mean there won't be other things that come along. So, yes, but we can definitely have that for the next program committee meeting. And Tori, we do already track that on the last two pages of your financials packet, you're going to see the contract schedule. On the very right hand, I'm sorry, the very lefth hand side, you'll see what they were done as sole source, like it lists
um say legal services. right now they have 343,000 left of their balance and and I I know that I guess what I'm saying is like like how we like how Lindsay just said we had 3.5 for this and three you know we want to do that like in the past we didn't have a limit and so organizations were coming and because those source sources um come throughout the year and the source source might sound great but like if we don't have that money allocated then we just Again,
even though the source source might sound great, if we've already allocated that money, like I don't I don't feel like I knew or I was educated enough on what we had available because we never really had a budget for soul source. So, if we were able to look at that and say, okay, this is what our budget is, you know, just like with the other grants. So if people are coming to us and you know we also may be mindful of what we're approving because if we don't have you know and I'm just making this up if we said that we're only going to allocate a million
dollars and somebody comes to us and asks us for a million dollars then that means all the million dollars for the year is gone. So if anybody else comes for a soul source like we don't have any more money. So I think if we had that at least in our minds and can be reminded of that when people are coming you know um we're aware that we don't have that to give because we've already allocated the soul source whereas with the grants we we're looking at it so we know you know we we give those grants in the past we did a three-year grant so we know this is how much we have every
year but with the soul sources it's not that concrete and I think at least for me I would like to be aware of what we have available so if Somebody comes and says, like I said, they want a million dollars. Well, we're only giving out a million dollars in soul source grants. So, if we give you a million, we can't we don't have anything left to give anybody else. Thank you. I am noting that looking at the RFP here uh that there needs to be a vote to proceed and
that according to the timeline on the front page that is anticipated we will be releasing the RFP in two days. So we need to look at that. So would um I'm gonna ask Deborah Ray to come. She's got a little PowerPoint for you all to kind of break this down. It's a it's a hefty packet. Um but I think it will give you um a clearer idea of how we're structuring it because it is different than what we did before related to out of school time. Um and um I think it'll be pretty impactful. So
I'll we'll let her share that with you all. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Wonderful way to start our day with a presentation to a school that I might be a little biased towards. Um nice to see the good work and what a wonderful representation that they had this morning with um coach Regginal and DJ. So thank you for that. Um we're excited about this new RFP. It's Bright Pathways. So those of you probably familiar with Bright Futures and the state scholarship that is offered. So through our 0 to5 with bright beginnings uh we
will start that foundation and through bright pathways our K through 12 or preK through 12 will allow them to have their own discoveries and pathways as they go through their um education. So here are some important dates. Um, with your approval, we will release this RFP on Thursday the 12th. We will have a mandatory information session on February the 18th. Our proposal submission
that is in red, April the 10th, grants committee meeting, April the 28th, funding recommendations to the board on May 12th, and anticipated contract start date on August the 1st. So, this gives a little bit more of a breakdown as to what that process will look like. This will all be on our online at the landing page on Thursday. So, I just didn't want to go through each of those dates, but just an overview as to what will happen in between those major dates. We will
have those Q&A sessions. Um also that all of the sessions will be public so people could see the questions that will be posed and our responses as our team will go through those as well. Um the there's going to be a mandatory financial session and those who attend the initial one will find out those dates. So we want to make sure that people have a firm understanding about the financial obligations as well as some of the HR requirements and contractual requirements prior
to them moving forward um with their application. Um also once the deadline has been locked as far as that submission, we will be looking at all of those applicants as a staff. we have a a rubric that we'll look at and we want to be able to streamline or to um provide that feedback to those um potential applicants as to what is needed before we even give it to the review committee. So
all of those mandatory documents that they'll need to provide an understanding of the training that will be required as well as the background tricks, we'll make sure all of that has been aligned before we sub submit them to our review view team so that they can have that confidence and those um program quality asurances that we have screened each of those applicants prior to submitting to the team. So that is something that we have worked on also um prior to this RFP process. Here's probably the the beef of those requirements and looking at our schedule. I think our team has
made a lot of notes since we've arrived as far as um our new completed staff and made notes of things that we wanted to change and moving forward. So, you have here just a culmination of all the feedback that we received from you all in the community as well as what we've seen um just through our our actions between us and the providers. So, we have a firm schedule in place. It would be a school year programming. Monday through Friday is our expectation. A minimum of 100 program days annually and maximum 180 days annually. After school time should be at
least 2 hours per day. Our summer program Monday through Friday and parenthesis we have um our Escambia County schools the sites Monday through Thursday since they have a summer schedule. um minimum of 24 program days in the summer and at least four hours per day of structured activities. We have attendance goals. So our target participant attendance for a full year and summer program a minimum of three days per week during the school year to support measurable outcomes.
um looking at those both academic and social emotional goals. Planning and preparation, daily staff prep, a maximum of two hours per staff members without children present. Weekly planning a maximum of two hours for curriculum alignment and student progress review as well as professional development and that's that ongoing program um training for program staff and that has to be pre-approved. It can include professional after-school conferences, webinars,
or other required training. All direct services providers must complete a minimum of 10 hours of training annually. So, any questions over those requirements? It's very prescribed as you will see um you will see when we're looking at the budget that that um their reimbursement will be contingent on their attendance and participation. Yes, ma'am. I have Sure. Um, how does this compare like briefly to what we did in the past? Right. There was not a
prescribed time. Each of the providers or the applicants were able to set their own goals as far as attendance as well as their outcomes. So this prescribing and looking at that attendance, it allows us to see the potential of the program and maximizing that participation for the most optimal outcomes in those situations. If you will see um as we progress with the the grant, the curriculum that will be prescribed, all of those things will require maximum participation.
Dr. Not that is the for my edification here the school year programming versus summer programming is it uh expected slash going to be a requirement that the providers sign up to provide both or will there be some that do only the school year program and then some that do only summer programming? Yes sir. They won't have to do both but if they do do both then this is the expectation. Some will only do school year programs, some will only do summer, and some will do both. But we have
a breakdown for if they do it for full year versus summer only. We were able to see that with CARES that some of them did primarily summer program, but still they still measured those participants throughout the remainder of the year in their contract. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Yes, sir. Tori, did you have a question? Um there and I don't know if this might be on the next page. Is there a m there's is there a minimum and maximum amount of kids? Yes. Okay. We'll go forward. Okay.
So looking at our overall budget as discussed we have a $3.5 million budget for out of school time. The maximum allowable funding per program annually is 350,000. The maximum allowable request per program participant is $2500. And here's the breakdown of that cost. So the cost $2,000 per p part participant for the school year. They only do it for the school year. We add an additional
$500 per participant for the summer. So, if you are a program that has a fullear commitment, you will have that full $2,500 per participant for a full year participation. Um, with that type of program, they must complete a budget narrative form providing details and justifications for that cost, including staffing, materials, transportation, meals, and snacks, and administrative overhead, as well as identifying any inind contributions,
space, volunteers, as well as donations. Any questions about budget? Is that similar? Did y'all get that maximum allowance and for both funding and requests by looking at we did the past? Yes. So there wasn't a firm breakdown per program in the previous OST. Um the most prescribed we have gotten would be with healthy schools when we were doing that cost at 450. Um, but we looked at the trends, the spending trends, um, what our larger programs were spending and the
reimbursement rate to make sure it would be fair like with our biggest programs, could they manage this and along with our funding, the additional funding that those larger programs were able to bring to the table, it would still cover even our largest programs. That's good. And I think it also forces our providers to also look for other sources beside just us to help. So, you know, if when we are if we are sunseted or not put back on the referendum, they're going to have to go find somebody else to help them as well. So, I think that absolutely, we took all of those things into
consideration. A lot of them are bringing some funds to the table already. Um, those who have not had access to 350, I think we've had some very smaller ones that have done with far less. This gives them an opportunity for expansion if they were to move forward with this next OST process. Okay. Um looking at the ratios a minimum staff to student ratio of 1 to 15. Um I looked at the overall uh ratios that we do like for the state and the classroom ideal ratios but from 1 to 15
for a minimum I think is fair. Looking at the maximum category if it's an elementary setting um 1 to 18 from middle school 1 to 22 and high school um 1 to 25. website gives you a breakdown of that ratio and those expectations at a very minimum of 15 students per staff member. Um, of course, background checks and compliance with state child care regulation. Um, what you all have not been able to see, we've been working on it very diligently and didn't
have time to really address it the last program meeting, but we are working on those quality program asurances right now. So, we do have a new um, evaluation system that we will have in place. Um we will also have a system to look at financial um those expectations in different categories and that will be a rubric as well as well as the audits that we have and going into each of the programs. So looking at those three areas um looking if they're critical or emerging as far as what those expectations on those um programs could potentially be put
on a program improvement plan. So all of this will roll out at the same time. We'll have some heavier discussions with those who are approved through this process. But that evaluation system will kind of pilot this semester, if you will, to make sure that it would cover all of the areas and go into the different programs that we're currently providing. But we have a lot of um measures and quality program asurances in place. So, we're excited about that. Okay. We have also taken into consideration the different ask throughout our county and some of
our underserved areas as far as programmatically. So additional points will be awarded in the application for the following targeted areas. Programming serving residents in the Sentry Warrington and Navy Point as well as Biola Ensley and Fairy Pass neighborhoods and also additional points will be awarded to our secondary programs for middle and high school education levels. As far as the out of school time site, the only only accepting applications from organizations
that have a clear site for services or an memo of understanding with another entity. So, we want to make sure if they said that they're going to be out of school that they actually have permission um from our district and those administrators that they will be held. So, those would be looked through um prior to making the approval. This gives a breakdown and I know it's super tiny on the side. So I'll just go over the areas in each of the pathways. So looking at our elementary school pathways and we're calling out
the foundations and discovery pathway. Um each of the components here um will be required for the elementary settings. So an academic and enrichment and supplemental learning, social emotional learning or SEAL, the early intervention and academic support, family engagement as well as wraparound supports, career foundations, enrichment and exploration, consistent staffing
and quality staff development, a safe, structured and positive environment, and monitoring assessment and data use. So, in every elementary program, these components will be required. Looking at the middle school pathways, it's very similar. Um, we've added some additional sections for middle school access. Again, we have that academic and enrichment, the social emotional learning piece, intervention and academic support
as well as family engagement, the enrichment and career exploration, um health and foundational sports, consistent staffing and quality staff development, safe and structured, and of course that monitor and monitoring assessment and data use. and our high school pathways are the launch. So, um it'd be great if we can have them K through 12 in all of our programs to really have some true measures. But for the high school,
we're looking at that academic support and college and career readiness. That would be the distinction there at the high school level. The social emotional learning, health and wellness, that family engagement enrichment, workforce development. So, they can you can kind of see the progression in each of those areas. um consistent staff and in quality staff development as well as safe, structured and positive environments in that monitoring assessment piece. Are there questions about any of the pathways K through 12 and the focuses focus areas? Okay,
so if you break it down by band and the co- focus areas as well as how we will measure each of these. So with our elementary K through five that foundations and discovery we're going to be looking at that foundational literacy we're going to look at math as well the emotional regulation um attendance and that career foundations we have been tracking um of course we had Mr. Bobbit come and he spoke to us about data elements and that was a wow moment for for everyone involved to look
at the progress as well as some different areas that we can work with the schools and partnership as well as the providers and those um metrics. So we'll look at ELA and math proficiency as well as growth. We'll look at the social emotional learning um or SEAL, the aptitude as well as the attendance rate. So for middle school, the momentum band looking at academic motivation, um identity, peer skills, early career awareness, and in all areas of the ELA
um and math proficiency, social emotional learning, reduction in discipline and attendance consistency. And then before we launch at the high school level, credit recovery, which we saw works beautifully today with our presentation, graduation readiness, leadership, and workforce pathways. And the same core areas as far as the metrics for ELA, math proficiency and growth, chronic absenteeism reduction, arrest and discipline, and postsecary readiness.
Any questions about the pathways? um how we're going to measure what that looks like across the board. Okay. Um I explored a lot of different curriculum, went on the Florida state uh the Florida Department of Education and looked at some of the recommended platforms and consulted with district staff as well as building level administrators and looked at a program that we could um bring to all of our providers. So if we covered this cost, it takes it out of their
budget and then that way we would be highly involved in what that looks like. So a meeting with the representative the entire team got to to hear what I was familiar but it was nice to see their excitement, enthusiasm, the potential of this program. So it's actually a prek through 12 curriculum for math and ELA. Um each of the resources we were explored were able to look at the the learning tools um resources for classroom engagement as well as instructional tools. Um
there is an assessment piece as well as analytics that are involved. So with this new tool that we would provide, it really gives us across the board apples to apples data that we would have access to. Our staff would be trained as well as each of the providers and there's training available at the beginning in the middle and towards the end as well as intermittently. They have um contacts that they would give to us as far as their representatives to answer any and all questions. We will look at a beginning baseline measure a midyear as well as um end of the year
but allows us to look at progress towards the go towards these goals that we would develop. So the difference is that now that we have this platform, we can utilize this data as well as the additional data received from um district practices whether it's classroom um district assessments and also the the formal assessments that students getting. So together that collaboration um on those measures would be very helpful for them to be the same across the board. So, I think the the actual cost is like $18.75 per participant and we
um sent a quote or requested a quote for about 1,800 participants. Any questions about or utilizing a supplemental curriculum? Of course, this does not replace instruction whatsoever. So, I think with this in mind that um any of the applicants should take that into consideration when they're looking at their staff. Are they going to have the qualified staff to bring on to ensure that this can be implemented with fidelity? Because we will be looking
so looking at some of the collection and the evaluation tools that we have for our mandated metric types. So for our academic progression, we'll be looking at fast. We're looking at and math and ELA as well as district assessments. For social emotional growth, these are just a list of programs like we're not going to prescribe a social emotional program, but the expectation is that they are providing it. There are a number of free tools um that people would have access to and I will definitely share that with them when we're doing
the information session. We're going to look at attendance and discipline. So, we'll look at the um school district data that would be provided. A lot of our programs are already getting that data consistently from their participants. Um their OST signin logs, site level daily attendance forms. um look in at arrest and violation of parole or VOP as well as safety, school resour resource officer reports, Escambia County juvenile justice data,
um sharing agreements, um aggregated results of course, and then the career and workforce readiness looking at the attendance, participation, surveys, job training and placement and pre and post assessments. Any questions on data collection and evaluation? Okay, a brief overview of the overall applicant expectations that they would attend a mandatory pre-application workshop. Once awarded, a mandatory financial workshop is required
to review submitting reimbursements. What is allowable and not allowable? Best practices, required forms, and uploading documentation. A reminder that failure to follow the ECT's communication guidelines will result in financial penalties or loss of funding as well as awardes are expected to be transparent, respectful, open, and honest. And that is a brief summary of a very long extensive RFP that is a number of pages that
you will see on the landing page. But I hope that we've given it very careful thought of just um things that were tried and true and things that we know we would want to expand upon. But we're excited about this process and starting from the very beginning and aligning those expectations with each of those potential providers throughout the community. Yes, ma'am. two. So, I love this. I'm so excited about it. Um, and on the 18th, that meeting is going to be from 1 to 3. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And then if you know we move forward, then
um grants committee, you have that one on the 28th from starting at 10. Yes. Okay. Yes. We'll be reaching out to potential reviewers as well. We know that we'll have zero to five coming up, so we don't want to wear everybody out. If we can have a um a variety of reviewers, that would be awesome. And of course, we invite any of you to participate in that process. I think it's it's it's enlightening for you all to be there from the beginning to the end. I know that Miss Woods has a lot of experience with that, seeing it from the very beginning and see it through the
three years process, as well as Miss White and Dr. Northrup being here from the very beginning. So, you've seen the evolution of programming. Um, we've seen a lot of positive outcomes. I think with this new opportunity to measure consistently across, we'll have a lot more data that we could share as far as looking at the growth um, and the full potential of our programming. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much for that very thorough review there.
So now we will request for a motion from the board to uh vote to proceed with this uh again unless there are any further questions. Motion. Okay. Has been made and seconded. Any further questions, comments, any input? Uh if not, uh then what we're voting on is for the staff to proceed uh to meet the deadlines that are listed on the front here. So the next one coming up will be release of this
proposal two days from now on February 12th. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Okay. So we have unanimous approval and I want to extend my thanks to the entire staff. This is really a tremendous amount of work product here that looks like this has great potential. Uh as our prior out of schooltime programming has had on impacting kids and maybe improving these outcomes
so that Miami will be looking at us going what are these guys doing? Oh yeah. We're going to give them run for their money. Be great. So super. All right. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hey, we had a couple providers come in after the public forum. Would it be okay if if they wanted to speak? Just give them a couple of minutes. They might have wanted to speak to the public forum. Is that that okay? Yes. Yeah. U Benny Washington, did you want to speak? I had a I had a question
real quick. Sorry, Mr. Benny. Um RFP, we just voted. So, does the RFP process start right now? no talking. I'm just want to clarify when we launch it on the 12th. Um so we gave ourselves a little buffer in case anything comes up that we did not account for, but we have um been pouring over this for a very long time. And so yes, so the 12th would be your starting date. We do have people reaching out. I've just responded with um and I would encourage you to do the same thing.
It's going to be intensive. Make sure you're on our website and you're following this. We'll do a full um media release of course to make sure everyone knows and notify all of our elected officials um along with the uh link so that it can be easily passed out to people in their particular community. So, and we're going to try to get it out as much as possible. Great, Mr. Washington. Thank you. Um, I just want to say the board, uh, this, you all doing a great job. This group of
people over here, they really work hard to make sure we get things done. And I just want to say thank you. And I know you don't get it enough, but we really appreciate you. And so, I just wanted to say that. Second thing, uh, in the community, I'm just kind of hearing that people that are already in the grant, so when you come to renew that that there's a possibility they contemplate not allowing the the people who have the grant renew for the next three years. Is that true or is that
it's not it's not a renew process. It's a new application. So everybody has to go back. So we can apply again with Yes, sir. So, okay. Because kind of like if you got it one time, you can't get it again for other people to No, that's that and um those were like a soul source, but there's no guarantee. So, everybody would go back in the pot and then everybody reapply and get reevaluated on the new the new structure because it's a different like it's a different application. Okay, great. And then my second thing, um, we already using that's a excellent program. It really is. But my
question is on on some of the the the requirements for elementary. I think we're trying to do one staff per 15 students with the elementary. uh with the kids that we have, I just want you to know in the beginning, the kids can't read. And so sometimes you need to take an instructor or a tutor to pull those kids over to the side and put them in a room. And a lot of these kids have IEPs,
504s, uh, ADD, ADHD, ODD, and and so a lot of those kids, especially at that young age, need a little bit more hands-on one-on-one. And you have to take them back to the back because if they read orally with the other kids, sometimes they embarrassed. Sometime kids can be mean and and you know so I was hoping we can change that at least have two for the elementary because we see
it every day and I just think for those elementary kids a lot of them can't even write their names. I'm not talking about kindergarten. So I just hope there'll be some leeway on that. But uh great job. Appreciate all you do. Um, and I just want to clear that up about that. I appreciate the support. Thank you all very much, Mr. Washington. We appreciate all that you do, sir, and all that your organization does and the other providers as well. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wanted to say I saw your post the other day that you wrote down what the kids are doing and
what I've accomplished. And I think that's that was a great write up because it broke down like your stats and I thought that was very informative like how you know where the kids are and like you wrote it was like a post I saw that that broke like that explained everything out and it was it was a really good read. So I think that was great. Yeah. But what we did like it looked like and I'm not saying this we have kids that's been in the program five and six years. They're in the ninth, 10th and 11th grade. Those kids are doing extremely well and they are killing it on the basketball court too. I must say that they student athletes and those a great group of kids. We're
going to take them down to Florida&M University, James Eden Museum, Florida State University. We want to go to the capital but it's President's Day so we can't. But there's another group of kids coming in with that elementary kids and they don't have that foundation that some of those kids that we had in the eighth, ninth, and 10th grade. And it's it's a little struggle, all right, with some of them. I'm just saying we going to get it done. We just hoping we still maintain those numbers,
but uh and they and they are getting better. They are getting better. They trust me they are getting better but that's a lot more work than uh it was previously but thank you very much for that. Okay, anybody else got any question with me? I got another meeting I got to go to. Thank you for your time. Appreciate you all. Thank you. And Mr. Chair, I just want to acknowledge that also we have in the audience I think Erica Lane Douglas. She may not want to speak but I just want to acknowledge that she's here. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, our next item on the agenda is a change
of scope request with the Golden Elite Track and Field Club that Miss Canon is going to address this request. Absolutely. So, this is another one of those unique opportunities that we have. Um, as you all know, the Golden Elite Track and Field Club was one of our CARES grants recipients. Um and they through the course of this time that they've been able to bring kids that previously could not uh afford to be a part of their program. Um they have found some stellar track stars that
have been invited to um participate in the I think it's the Nike Invitational in New York City. Um you so it's an indoor Daniel knows all about this. I don't run so let's let's be clear about that. um they they have reviewed their budget. They want to make sure that those children have the opportunity to go and that finances are not a challenge for their family to be able to participate. And so they um have written a very thorough um trip itinerary and um budget plan that they have that they would like to um uh change their budget um as a as a
budget amendment and then also uh amend the scope. And we do have I think coach Mike and and Cheryl are here. If there's any questions that you have specific to to this request. This is the same one that came before us before. Okay. So, no no changes since then. So, I don't have any No, we've had no changes. Thank you all for coming down and explore explaining this. I love your shirt there with the track on it and things. So, she picked it out. So, great. So, are we supposed
to make a presentation or we don't have to? Y'all have any questions? First, congratulations. Well, thank you and thank you for using these funds with uh it looks like tremendous uh results here and opportunity that's being uh extended to these kids as a result of it. Well, we want to thank you guys for believing in us, Lindsay. Uh you know, we've been hand in hand since day one to get this. Well, you and my wife didn't know each other. And so, Mr. Williams, you know about who we are and what
we do. So, thank y'all for the opportunity that we have and putting something into these kids. DJ, uh, first day he came to Pensacola, we met DJ and we had DJ over the summer. So, knowing the opportunities for the kids that y'all are allowing us to do what we're about to do, we're grateful. They excited. The parents are excited. Uh, so we're excited. So, thank you. Is she gone? Is DJ He went to the Junior Olympics. He went to the junior junior Olympics. Yeah, he went to
the junior Olympics. And I think um you had said during the program committee that it was six right now, but there may be additional children that are going to qualify as well. You have to qualify and uh they only take Nike just sent me something last night. Uh was asking, do we have any more kids that are at the uh base of being able to make it? And we told him we would see uh cuz I told him I have to see you guys this morning or today and we uh will make a decision after that. I was looking through the request here and noticed that it talks about host
city. Where is it actually going to be or is that known yet? It's in New York City. New York. Okay. Yes. New York. New York. Okay. Very good. Thank you. I uh have some uh personal connection to this. I ran uh hurdles, high and low hurdles at the old Booker T. Washington back in the well, a few years ago. I was terrible. I would have never been included in this type of an invitation. So, this is very impressive reflecting well on the kids
and reflecting on you all, I think, as well. Well, thank you, Dr. North. We also train seniors if you want to come back out and get back into it. We do set aside time. All right. Uh are there uh have a motion to accept this change of scope request? Motion. Seconded. Uh any further discussions, questions, comments? Hearing none. Uh call the question in. All in favor of this request by I I.
Any opposed? Very good. Bring home the gold then. Bring home the gold. Yeah. Dress warmly up there. All right. The next item of business is going to be a budget amendment request by Chappie James Flight Academy, one of our other uh stellar organizations here in town. Um, and I have Tammy's name next to that.
Thank you. Um, Chappie James had originally a field trip scheduled for the Blue Angel Air Show that was canceled due to the government shutdown. They have a need to move the funding for that to some other items like uh virtual reality headgear and some IT services and printing um and along with the laptop to use in the ground school pilot project. So um my recommendation after take it program committee is that we move forward with that.
Okay. Are there any questions motion? Sorry further discussion. Um, not trying to get into any controversy here and that is not my intent, but I notice if I'm looking at this correctly, that there is a decrease of $1,135 specifically coming out of fingerprinting and background checks.
uh and wanted to make sure that that's going to uh not have any uh potential or I did specifically ask about that and they said that they do not anticipate any necessary more background checks but that they do have additional funds to cover them if they do. I remember we had the presentation uh here previously and I uh have personal awareness of this organization and its activities and things and feel comfortable with that. I
think they're one of our stellar uh programs and grant recipients. So the motion has been uh made and seconded. Any further questions, comments, discussion? And if not, uh, call the question to approve the, uh, budget amendment change for the Chappie James Flight Academy as presented. All in favor? I, I. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
My stack here. The next uh area we will be moving into is operations and uh this is the potential for a number of policy revisions. As we have noted numerous times in the past and as I think everyone here in the audience and certainly our staff recognizes, we are still a relatively new organization and entity and we remain uh and continue to be on the uh so-called learning curve.
Uh some people will refer to that I think uh very positively and proactively as continuous quality improvement. uh rather than finding oops and boooos etc. And uh I applaud our staff for uh the very positive role that they have had in this and uh looking proactively at opportunities for us to improve what we do and how we do it in order that we could be even better stewards of the taxpayers
monies in order to better benefit the children of this community. So with that in mind, we will be looking here at the potential for several uh policy revisions and this has gone before our subcommittee already and the first policy to look at is going to be funding motor vehicles. Uh and Miss Canon. Yes. So we have update to this particular policy related to um and you can see the striketh through and the underlined is what we would like to add. Um uh first part is of course
about five years after the purchase um or the program is ended whichever comes first want to look at being able to release the the lean on that particular vehicle um as the trust. We don't we're not going to retain vehicles at our site. Um but if for some reason they they are um ended in a way prior to um contract end um or that five years, we would be able to take those vehicles and put them back out into other programs that are active. Um so we have some updates related to that as well as
um having a motor vehicle report conducted um every year and then um be documented as a leanh holder as well on the vehicles. These are all things that we've discussed uh in in program committee or from the dis at different meetings um that we've incorporated into our policy update. Okay. I request a motion to approve the uh motor vehicle policy change. Second and seconded. Okay.
Further discussion. We do have a copy of the resolution in our packet uh with as Miss Cannon mentioned the strikethroughs and the underlined portions of either deleting or adding to the wording for clarification on this and again this has gone before the policy and bylaws committee um and was reviewed extensively by them fur lots of discussion on this issue and that policy and bylaws committee committee did uh reach a point of recommending approval
of this resolution updating the funding of the motor vehicle uh policy as presented. So any further discussion questions for the staff or any of the members that were present at that time? Okay. With that in mind, then all in favor of approving the resolution 20261 signify by I. I. I. Any opposed? None. And the resolution passes.
Thank you. The next item then is contract suspension and enforcement policy. Uh Lindsay has some comments on this as well. And again, this particular policy resolution 202602 went before the policy and bylaws committee recently where it was discussed and reviewed in some detail and that committee came to a uh resolution to forward that to the full board with a recommendation
to approve this resolution as well. So Miss Cannon, yes. So we um we we've put together this is sort of an expansion on what we have in contract. We have this we need to be more clear specifically related to not only our processes but our providers understanding what their what we are able to do uh with their contract and then also what that process may look like uh and the reasons for it. So obviously child safety is our our number one obligation here.
um related to that which has has prompted a recent suspension and subsequent cancellation of a contract. But we want to make sure that we're being transparent um in in a very clear way uh for the public as well as our providers. And so this is our policy and process that we put together. Um it's been vetted through program or sorry policy committee and we'd recommend that it move forward. Thank you. Uh do we have a motion to approve uh resolution 202602?
Motion. Second. Okay, it has been moved and seconded. Any further discussion, comments? And again, we have a copy of this resolution in our packet. Okay, hearing none. Move to the vote. All in favor of approving this resolution signify by I. I. And any opposed? Okay. So, resolution 20260 passes as well. Next one is provider background screening policy.
And this is part of what I alluded to in the earlier request from the Chappie James uh portion of things knowing that this was coming up. But uh the next one is uh policy resolution 20263. And this uh has to do with provider background screening policy. And again, this one has gone before the policy and bylaws committee where it was reviewed and some detailed discussion made and
uh with the additions made to this policy, a recommendation came from the committee to approve this expanding and updating provider background screening policy. So, uh that also has Miss Canon to anybody. Any further comments, Miss Canon? No, I think I think that we uh had a lot of discussion about this as well in um in our policy committee, but definitely uh this has been a part of a requirement again for our providers in policy and in contract. So, this
is actually an expansion of that or an enhancement if you will really looking at the frequency with which we will um require background screenings um and monitoring of that. Um and then also, you know, I think some of our larger organizations really have a handle on this related to liability, but as we're working with um some of our smaller or grassroot organizations, there is a need for true clarification and understanding um our expectation related to background screenings and their ability to monitor that. So certainly as they move forward um with applying for our funds,
it would be really important for them to have a firm grasp on their liability that they also take on when they don't do regular background screenings or keep a handle on that. So um we will be auditing of course as we always have to make sure that those things are uh in place. However, again needing to know the expectation that we have for our providers that we fund. And I think as I have looked at this that one of the biggest changes for all of us to be aware of is it's not just as a provider particular provider with say a threeyear contract that the screening
is not done one time at the beginning of three years and then basically put in the drawer and forgotten about that there's ongoing screening done monitoring uh reviews that are updated throughout the time of that contract and hopefully even beyond. fun that time again for the benefit of the children and the others that are involved with these various programs. So is there a motion to approve the provider background screening policy 202603? Motion second. Okay. Thank you.
Now that having been moved and seconded is any further discussion, questions? If not, we will move to a vote. Uh and again the committee did recommend approval of this. So all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. So resolution uh 20263 uh amending our provider background screening uh passed. The next one is participant incentive policy. Um and we've had several of our program
providers that through various means have like all of us looked at ways of incentivizing participants to not only be involved on the front end but then maintain involvement throughout the time of the given program. And this has been one of the means that has been used and we've relooked at this policy uh again by the committee with a recommendation that this be passed and that also has Miss Canon's name for further comment. Uh this um participant incentives we all recognize the
value of incentivizing our our children and youth for performance and in some ways or participation. However, accounting for that is something that we have to take very seriously. Gift cards, cash, those kind of things. Um, not that we've done all of that, but specifically gift cards are particular challenge for providers in tracking as well as um the trust and making sure that we're being completely transparent how those dollars are being spent. Um, so we have um we have an amendment to our original um incentive policy to look at what things are
permissible and what are not. Um, so you will see a lot of underlined additions. Um, but you know, and the purpose for those and how we're going to be very asking for very specific program um, budget that really highlights how they're going to be utilizing participant incentives. We're not going to be able to just accept we're going to, you know, take them shopping or something along those lines. like we need to have very specific understanding of how we're um incentivizing these youth and what it takes to get to that incentive through the program side.
So we have updated that feel like this is actually another very clear thing that we wanted to put out there to our providers um from from all walks to be able to to give examples of allowable incentives and things that are not allowed as well as the uh one probably with uh some impairment of uh reading through lots of legal ease and other things. I like that it's not only been underlined the additions, but some parts in here bolded in
regards to not allowable unless approved by the board. uh incentive plans, budget amendments, those types of uh emphasis that should help with the understanding of this and clarity of it and hopeful uh transparency as you say to this when uh things are given out. But it is reasonable and appropriate that the public and others could be asking us as the trust who would be asking the providers of what is being done and how can we demonstrate that and show it clearly that
uh not perhaps some nefarious activities taking place here. Not that that would be the case but okay. So we need a motion to approve the participant incentive policy and revisions as noted. And again for the benefit of all those here in the audience, this also went before the policy and bylaws committee who had a very long busy and uh strenuous meeting looking at all of these various policies was not something done quickly and without due consideration.
So motion to approve. So moved. Second. Okay. Has been uh moved and seconded. Any further discussion? If not, uh all in favor of approval say I I. Any opposed? Okay. So resolution 2622064 is approved as well. Yes, we're getting through these people direct. Sorry, it's not the fun part of what we do, right?
Oh, no. I I am just impressed again and reflective of the amount of work that the staff and the members of this board put in to this uh effort to uh try to see that things are done correctly and uh transparently and that uh resources are being expended uh with the goal of benefiting the children in this community. I think this is uh reflective of all of that. The next resolution
202605 looks at direct client assistance policy and again there are strikeouts and underlining of the uh additions and some bolded as noted with an effort of improving both the clarity of the intent here as well as compliance with that. So that also has Miss Canon's name by that. Yes. So
we want to make sure this is also very clear the difference between a direct client assistance and a participant incentive um for anyone that is working with the trust. Um we did have a lot of discussion about this at our program at our policy meeting um and subsequently had a response um from u Miss Gileiam at United Way West Florida related to the availability of um direct client assistance related to short-term housing and utility assistance specifically related to their
project for healthy schools escambia. Um those are some of the items that we may need to discuss as a board and decide what will be allowable or what will not. Um so it is highlighted in your packet as well. Um but we have the guiding principles related to direct client assistance assistance which really shows the intent. Um we also have put in a dosage related to that so that we're not just handing these out all the time for direct client assistance. there's actually a way that we expect our providers to track and monitor that type of thing if it's approved in their budget.
And then also um putting in here what they're um what is allowed, what is not allowed. And then um you know acknowledgement of receipt by the client um and that usually comes in the uh reimbursement request. We see that in there. Tammy has a tracking for that. So, so to clarify the short-term housing or utility assistance, we did have language in there um that talks about that being um something that would be on a provider byprovider basis for approval. Um and requires of course submission of
appropriate documentation supporting the need and appropriateness of that type. if we're looking to keep in short-term housing or utility assistance on an as needed basis. So, are are you asking us to amend what we made the recommendation? Are we voting on what we made the recommendation? So, the we did not have on this one, if I remember right, this was something that we needed to bring to the board for discussion related to
utility um and housing assistance. I know at the committee we had three participants that were not comfortable with that and said that that was not um didn't feel like that was our purpose was for for utility and rental assistance. We do have that built into the United Way budget um with a process related to that and that is specific to healthy schools um because they actually have the 211 system so they know when when that's exhausted. Um so we
can completely cut that out if that's the desire of the board or we can keep language in related to approval on a case- by case basis. So either is fine. That's why it's highlighted for discussion. I guess our next question would be to make a motion to approve this and see if it is seconded and if so then could open up for discussion. I have a question on this myself as well. So do we have a motion to approve? Second and seconded. Okay. So any questions uh regarding this or any
further questions? Um I know at like you said at the meeting we discussed not doing that across the board especi I mean and that's that's what that's what we had talked about and what is that would that be an amendment to this or what would that be or what would like what do we I guess I'm not I don't know we would simply strike that. So, it's under uh section D number eight, short-term housing or utility assistance. If that is wanted to be an unallowable, we can simply a update the
policy to make that an unallowable and strike that whole section. Okay. And you said under as of right now, it allows some leeway related to that. But that's really a a call for the board. I'm as a staff, we're fine either way. Um but there is some advocacy around reasons for it. Regrettably, I was unable and for again transparency here folks, I was unable to uh attend this committee meeting. One of my questions would be along the line of funding or not. Is there anything in here
that commits us to funding? I.e. If we do it for some folks who now find that we all of a sudden do not have funds available to do whatever we may have done already but yet we have set a precedent by doing it. Are we then committed to provide that funding going forward or is this somewhere in here clarified in regards to whatever funding we do it is done on the basis of as funding is available
just to are you speaking of just to the short-term housing or utility assistance or in general DCA just in general DCA of the idea that we provide for one, two, or five individuals with some form of client assistance. And now we've set this precedent. I can envision us having lots of individuals. Now we look out there and the line has gone from one, two, or four or whatever it is, and now there's 40. and that I I whatever we agree to, I just want it to be or think it would
be wise of us not to commit to saying we're going to do this for all comers, so to speak. I so so to answer your question about precedent we have not the only program that's actually done any rental or utility assistance is literally the healthy schools of Escambia and it was very specific because of United Way's ability not only as a funer of those kind of things but they also are the warehouse for who has money for rent and utility assistance in the instance that they have
actually um utilized this it was literally to prevent homelessness of a child that would be in their school. So, um very specific to what school they were in um or you know, uh for one of the four that they're in right now. So, and it's very last resort. So to answer your question, I think that that's something if we want to allow, it needs to be very clear, as we've said before, even related to like direct client assistance or the participant incentives, it needs to be very clear the intention of what they're wanting to use that for and what the process would
be to get to that place. Um, what they would exhaust to expect the trust to pay that. Now, I know the United Way has that process. I cannot speak to other providers and how they do that. Um, so that's why we kind of left some leeway in there. Um, but again, those things can be stricken as well. Um, it does open that up though, Rex. Well, you did it for one, you want to do it for others. Like, I totally understand that, but our projects are not apples to apples either. I think as we start to streamline, then you'll be able to see some of that
um really start to be more measurable. But when you talk about a wraparound service in a school, you've got 10 partners. There's a lot that can contribute to that, too. So, as I said, they're not it's not a overuse of that line item related to United Way. Um, but can see where that can definitely, you know, choke things up. I think that that would be part of our discernment when we have a contract or we have a proposal. Why do you need this and how would you use it? I think we just have to really, from my perspective, hone in on that um and be able to understand the why. But
for all intents and purposes, we can make it very easy and just say we're not going to do that at all either way. And under D which D what number four? Okay. So it's the resolution 202605. It's under section DH number eight on page two. Okay. Yeah. The second page. Sorry. Yours looked tinier than mine when you held that up. I'm sorry. Cuz I was looking at six. That's Oh, okay. I was like that that looks that's why I asked for this album. I'm like what am I looking at? Um,
so I know at our policy committee and I understand the reasoning but I also understand not I would I would rather be safe than sorry and I don't want I don't want pre prejudice if we allow one organization and then other people come and we say no then it's like well why are you not allowing us but we've allowed that in the past and I don't want that to write us in the Okay. So, I would say strike eight and it and it can create a tracking issue if we have multiple that are doing it. Um,
now we'll know the family, but it might have already been dispersed and requested for reimbursement by the time we know it might be the same family and multiple just Yeah, I mean that's a community issue like we've talked about that for years. How do we know who's getting what where at what time? Um, because we don't have a consistent database for our community to put all that information in. So I would make a recommendation and we already have a think so I think Stephanie's got a comment. Recommend approving striking number eight amendment to that. Is that what I would need
an amendment? Hold on. Are you are you adding that back in? No, I'm just I'm striking it. So we're the motion stand as we already because because we approved it without without it. Correct. We have not approved it. No, the policy committee didn't approve it. No, we brought it here. No, we we said we were going to bring it here for larger discussion related to that. Okay. So, I would Yeah. Yeah. I'm making an amendment to the motion to approve this striking eight because that's what we talked about at the program committee meeting. Sure. I'm going to second that
and then just say, you know, the statute says we're supposed to do children's services and so that's not a children's service. And you know, if something comes up and really needs help, I'm sure we could come together as a community and come up with personal funds if someone needs help. But this is not what we we have to say in our lane per statute. So, so for clarification and recognizing my deaf left ear, we are the amended motion would be to approve the policy striking
1.7 paragraph D as in David number eight short-term housing or utility assistance that that paragraph would be stricken. Correct. Okay. And Dr. Rex, um, would you all want us to move that short-term housing to the unallowable uses or just leave it off to maybe provide some leeway if it comes up or do you want me to put that under unallowable? Good question there. The council brings up the
uh potential of taking paragraph 8 well 1.7 D as in David 8 and moving that under E for unallowable uses rather than striking it specifically is to have it contained within there so that is perhaps a little more clear that it is not just absent that but it has actually been considered and
is considered by the board to be an unallowable use. So would that be your motion to do that? Yes, that would be my motion. And would that be seconded? Okay. Okay. Sorry, Dr. X. We'd also need to amend um E3 which references section subsection 1.7D8. So, we can just move to strike that language unless approved in accordance with Can we not just strike the unless approved in accordance with subsection? I mean, it already says payments for rent, utilities,
or others, recurring household expenses. Period. Okay, we can do that and then not move. I mean, it just that's fine. Okay. So are we striking again for my clarification striking paragraph D David number eight and simply striking that with the idea that that is covered in the unallowable by saying payments for rent, utilities, etc. are not approved are not allowed unless approved.
Okay. Correct. So then that is the motion that it would pass. Uh this being um policy 20265 direct client assistance policy with the note that paragraph 1.7 direct client assistance paragraph D as in David number eight that subp paragraph would be completely stricken from what we are approving.
Yeah. Question, Mr. Chair, if I if I may. Yes, please. Again, reasons for striking this is families may be doubling up or just want to have a blanket um um blanket motion or or something that making sure that it doesn't fit within one. We don't do it for we don't take it on individual basis. Well, I know um Stephie said to it's not an allowable like it's not it doesn't fit under child
services like what the trust is supposed to be funding. It says not allowed. I mean I would need to look back at the statute but the statute says that our job is to per provide children's services and so I think we need to stay in the statute what the statute requires. So we're striking um 1.7D8 and also removing number three from up under unallowable. Would it be need would it would that statement need to be in there at all if we're striking striking it from the allowable expense?
My understanding is that paragraph E as in Everett number three would continue to stand and noting that within that there is the notation this may be a case to bold this note in here the unless approved in accordance or we could maybe change that say unless approved by the board. Okay. Be stricken. As of right now, that would just be stricken. But you all could amend the motion
to say unless the board approves if you want that leeway. But I think right now amend that motion. Is that what I need to do? Amend the motion. Well, right now the the amended motion would be striking D8 and then striking from E3 unless approved in accordance with 1.7D8. Okay. But if you Mr. Mr. Williams wants to amend to include a little bit more leeway. The amendment could be that E as in Everett three could say payments for rent, utilities, or other recurring household
expenses unless approved by the board, the ECT board of directors. Yes, I do that. Okay, is that good? Miss White will need to confirm that she accepts that amendment. I accept that amendment. Amendment. She accepts that amendment. Okay. Thank Yeah. So to summarize uh see why we brought this we are voting to approve resolution 20265 with paragraph 1.7 D as in David. So, paragraph 8,
short-term housing utility assistance, that that entire paragraph 8 would be stricken and that paragraph E as in Everett, someone with their military can correct me of what E would be, but anyway, Everett number three would repayments for rent, utilities, and other recurring expenses would fall under the not allowable unless approved by the children's trust board of directors. Okay.
So that is the motion. Any further discussion? Everyone in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. So that one passes but with the amendment as discussed. Now update budget amendment policy. The policy and bylaws committee looked at this. This will be uh policy 2026 uh updating the budget amendment policy. The bylaws committee uh reviewed this one as well and
did make a recommendation that the board pass that one uh or that resolution as submitted. And that uh does also have Miss Canon's name by that one. Further discussion? Yes, this is another one that we have had plenty of public conversation about in many uh meetings. We're talking about budget amendments. Originally um when when we had policy, it was um up to five amendments per year,
less than 10% could be approved by the staff um executive director and finance director and then anything above that would come to the board. And part of that process is leading to incremental creep, if you will, from the original intent of the program. And so we want to be flexible related to to the work that we're doing, but we also have to have um a really wellthoughtout budget and budget process from our providers. And so uh the committee discussed that we would and the recommendation was that no more than 10% of the
budget can be reallocated each year. So not up to 10% because the conversation was if you have five 9% requests basically have a 45% change in your in your budget every year and we can't continue to do that. I will tell you in my experience, I'm sure Tammy can echo this. Typically, you have a budget that you prevent present to a provider. You do a reforcast, if you will, of where you're at midyear, which kind of gives you the idea of what you've spent down, where you're looking at running
short versus where you have excess. And at that point would be an appropriate time um to really do a a budget amendment. That that is the way that Lindsay has worked in the nonprofit. We don't have to do it exactly that way. and and they they don't have to do it that way if that's not the desire of the board. But the discussion was having one budget amendment per year and 10% or less if um if needed. Some may not need it at all. And so that was the recommendation for that. Okay.
Do we have a motion to approve in order to allow discussion? Motion. Second. Okay. So it has been uh motion made and seconded. Now discussion uh on this recommendation. I will say sorry to interrupt and and affecting these changes in the policy. I think there's a couple questions that came up. For instance, how many do you want to put a limit on? We know it's a total 10% threshold, but do you want to put a limit on that because they could do, you know, 10 um amendments a year. Do you want to
put a limit to to three up to 10% or just to get to the 10% threat overall threshold? That was uh I was going to have a question in that same regard that one request to 10% per year that the reality is I've seen a number of our providers who have had understandably and I think legitimately have needed two or three requests through a year's time
and that the question being at least as I look at this or the intent so to speak, is that that total not exceed 10%. Even though they may ask for 2% here and 4% there and 4% on another one that you would allow that and just uh would raise that as a question for my fellow board members here of limiting it. you have a single request that maybe is only for 4% change,
but that's your one trip to the well, so to speak, and now you're you're left with no further even though you've got in theory six more percent left on your budget to request. So I would I I have a question just on average I guess Tammy might can answer. How many amendments you know do our providers ask for the I'm on average three or four. So it is diff very widely between each provider. So some providers don't ask for any at all and others will have
three or four. So on average I'd say probably two to three. Two to three per per year. Okay. So, just for my clarification, if um if I had a million dollar budget, my 10% would be $100,000 for the full year. Sorry, say that. Did you just ask me? If I had a budget of a million dollars, if I had a budget of a million dollars, my total amendment I could amend for the entire year would be $100,000. Yes. Okay. Yes, sir. And then you the question is how many times can I come back
asking until I get to that $100,000? Correct. Okay. I think the whole bud point of the budget is you stay within I maybe two. I mean I might I would probably be okay with two at the 10 because we don't Yes, you have up to 10% but the goal is not to move 10% of your budget because you gave us a budget with the expectation of staying within it. So, I would recommend two amendments.
I don't know if anybody has any other thoughts besides two. I need to be reminded. Have I Have we brought this to a motion yet? No, I don't think we have. Yes, we did. We did do it and it was seconded. So, now we're in the discussion part. So you're making a amendment to the proposal that one we accept this proposal but we put a limit a total cumulative limit of 10% and that be again
a cumulative 10% of the budget and that they be limited to a maximum of two because right now we request correct per year because the current the current proposal doesn't have a limit on how many times they can come in front of So I'm adding a limit of two budget amendments to not exceed 10%. Okay. Overall, so that is the uh amendment that has been recommended cuz before it was five. The
the original policy had five and there was no limit to how much overall long as each of the five stay under 10%. So the new change is overall 10% with two amendments a year. Okay. Is my So this actually results in being able to have three requests or if you will in regards that you've got your first budget that you submitted. Then you've got a first request to amend that and then you've
got a second request to amend that. So you've really got kind of three shots at uh hitting the amount there. And that the total amount that has been uh suggested has been a total of 10% of the budget as a per year change per per contract year. Per contract year. Okay. And does that make sense from our council there? Okay. So any further questions on that recommendation? Ready to vote?
I I Yeah, I do. Um I I guess I'm just thinking about the time when I had to do all the budget amendments. Um I I would like to see three if possible, but I could live with two. Um that's my recommendation. Three, at least three because we already have a limit on 10%. I mean, we know they can't go up to that, but and we're not doing the work. I know the staff is one that's got to do the work and so I don't want to put any more burden on them to continue to amend budget. So, um Okay. But whatever the the board vote for, I could go for it. But I I just recommend three. Miss Wood, would
you be willing to accept that it would be a total of three amendments per year? Limit would still be 10% of the budget per contract year. Tammy, your thoughts on two or three? I mean, she's got to do the work. So, we can track it either way. the amendment is put in through Samus, we'll we'll develop an Excel spreadsheet where we track the dates amendments were done in the percentage so we can add them together to make sure we don't exceed 10%. I would my one request would be that
when they begin at the beginning of a a contract year, when they're going from contract year one to contract year two, that they be allowed to adjust their budget right then from what they first applied for with their new application, their new um contract negotiations for contract year two and that not count as one of their adjustments because they're going to learn in year one what amendments what they're going to need, what differences they're going to need for year two and
things can really change a lot over the period of a couple years. So that would be my recommendation too is that they are allowed to change their budget when it's going from the original to the approved budget with their bud their contract and then two to three amendments. It doesn't matter. It's okay if that's as long as it's not the 10%. So that that one change could be the one and then two more. I would be okay with that, Mr. Williams. So three. Okay. I'm that's fine. Three. I'm follow
three including that one. Okay. All right. I'm looking over at legal counsel now. Does that Well, that would be the three. So, if they added the one then two. Okay, Sally, can you read our what we've come up with back to us so that we can vote to approve it all? Let's see if I can do this. So, the the motion and maybe the amended motion would be
um that we would allow a total budget adjustment amendments for up to 10% per contract year of the award, grant award. um with a maximum of two budget adjustments per contract year up to that 10% threshold. Um and then when they come for renewal after the first and between the first and second and second and third years, they are allowed to uh submit a an amendment to the original budget um that does not go against the two maximums and does not count towards the 10%
threshold. Okay. All right. Is that right? All right, everyone. And the goal is not to have a budget amendment. So, we don't want everybody moving stuff, but allowing that availability. Okay. All in favor of the uh proposal with the amendment as stated by council? Yes. I I Any opposed? Okay, that one passes with the amendment as noted. The
last item that we have here is a discussion regarding indirect cost and a possible vote um on this and this would be listed as proposal uh 20267. We have some information in our packet. Uh, one labeled a Scambia Children's Trust policy regarding indirect cost and the other one being a copy of the section of the policy manual related
to funding community organizations. And it is my understanding as well that uh I see Tammy's name here but also Miss Canon has collected some information through discussion and otherwise from some of the other nonprofit organizations both locally regionally and even nationally that we could consider in looking at this issue. So, Miss Abrams and or Miss Canon. Um, I This says 15%. I
thought we said five. Didn't we say five? This is not This is the original. This is not an updated one because we did not get to We didn't get to the discussion really about if we if we want to do indirect or not do indirect. I know there are a lot of questions um related to what those things in indirect can be spent on versus what would be direct. Do we not want to do indirect but allow folks to put what they would in indirect in your full budget and look at that um submit receipts
etc for those type of things. Do we want to um keep asis and lower the threshold of what we will allow um for indirect? So I think all of those options are up for discussion. Um what you all want to see we can do. Um we just need guidance on that. Um we have federal contracting standards. I sent you guys um like a comparison, the pros and the cons um of of indirect and you know some of it has appearance and some of it has real validity to um you know the uh the sustainability
of the organization. to get that information. I reached out to Andrea Kger at um PSC who has that nonprofit center for excellence and just asked her like, "What do you have?" And she has way more than what she sent me. But those were some key articles um that she actually teaches when she's working with nonprofits through her her center uh related to indirect and understanding its usage um and how you how you should account for that as as an organization. So um so we we are open. This just continues to be a question related to budgets. It continues to be a concern and I think
we need to have that discussion and guidance from the board on what you what would make you most comfortable in contracting with nonprofit entities and how you want to see that. I when I look at the allowable expenses for indirect other organizations and that we've contracted put these in their budget and I would prefer to see them in the budget and see them accounted for and see them have to give us because we are a um reimbursement like process and they have to show receipts and I
I would prefer to see the receipts for the payment and proof that these things are being paid. instead of giving you a lump sum of money and you don't have to show those receipts. And I think I think any organization and with the scrutiny that we're going that we've been under and and I know that you guys do a great job and I know the majority of the grant recipients do a great job. But if you're doing if you're paying these expenses, then I would prefer for you to show us how you're paying them because if we have to show the taxpayers where the money is going,
I would rather us be as more transparent than less. And I think putting that in the budget as a line item is being as transparent. And if you're using that money to pay those expenses, then you can show us where you're paying those expenses. And when we're looking at large grants at $350,000, that's $35,000 that they're not having to show receipts for. And I would rather see receipts for $35,000 than not see receipts for that. And that's that's my say.
Okay. Um, we could do this several ways. is either make a I don't even know that we have a formal uh recommendation here at this point. Uh would there be either to develop a proposal here and now or secondly is there any potential benefit of this going back with the additional information that you all have now gleaned to the uh program and policy committee with a sharing of that additional
information uh to see if the program and policy committee I don't want to rush to something that has been a significant item of discussion for some time and I know we've got one more item here yet to discuss of significant importance and what y'all's thoughts are of doing that both you as the we can certainly with the guidance from Miss Woods develop a policy and bring to policy committee for discussion and recommendation moving forward just need to know if that's the desire of the rest of
the board for to do that and and we can that's not a problem. Um, like we said, we can get I I think that from a from a larger organization versus a smaller organization, indirect can look widely different and how they how they um expense things. And so, um, you know, organizations are going to need the indirect type of things that they pay for, um, to to create stability, but if we can have the in their regular budget as you're suggesting, so we're not saying we
won't pay for those things that are necessary to competent organization working well, um, we just need to see the receipts essentially for that. I think that we could develop a policy for that very easily um and bring that back if if that's if that's what you would direct us to do. So would that mean yeah just had one quick question and Miss Woods just cl for my clarification. Are you doing away with the percentage? Are you doing away with the percentage of allowable percentage? Is that what you suggested? Um my suggestion is to what to make a policy as far as what is allowed
and not have indirect at all. Like I like when I'm looking at the the examples of indirect other organizations include that in their budget. So I don't I don't I'm not comfortable paying indirect. say like for like big organizations like YMCA, CHS, like how are they going to I guess the you know their leadership or admin support like the finance director who has to give all the receipts they're not only just doing trust stuff they're also doing you know their other 20 programs are doing and I think that's what indirect covers am I if I'm correct yes it's typically a percentage
and a formula related they're gonna have to they have to if we don't allow indirect are they going to have to hire someone just for Look, I'm not saying don't I'm not saying don't pay it. I'm saying in the budget if if it's a percentage of your sal if it's 10% of the executive director salary could that not be listed as a budget line item 10% of the executive director's salary. So we're not saying we're not paying it but in the budget it's saying so allowable item would be you know executive staff or what however you limit it and that 10% of their budget but it's
listed. So whenever you're paying whenever they getting reimbured that's 10% of their salary not I understand I guess practically like that sounds great theoretically but like practically how does that work for them who are compared to a small mom and you know small just two people working only on this and so I just practically I would like to see how that would affect them instead of you know in theory it sounds great. Well, and speaking from the nonprofit point of view, you're going to be
looking at making them change their procedures, too. They have a whole like a nonprofit usually has an indirect cost pool, and all those expenses are put into this separate pool, and we only pay a certain percentage of it. So, you could be asking for an extra 40 or 50 receipts every month to be sent to us um to pay for their rent for their main building, their utilities, their executive director, all that stuff for their their administrative building, too. So, a percentage is definitely easier for us to be able to track and account for. But I think
because of the scrutiny that we are going under, we we don't have that flexibility. And when you're looking at people that have to vote on this, they don't care about what national nonprofits are doing. They want to know where the money's going. And we constantly are having to debate that issue. And if it comes back to can we show where the money went, I'm more comfortable saying we can show where the money went. And I'm sure like again that's we've had people come here monthly saying
they have a concern on where we're being. So why not be more transparent than less transparent? And I just feel like if you're spending it where it's supposed to go then you can show us where it's going. And yes, I and I understand like large and small nonprofits or large groups and small groups, but we don't have a way to to it's not fair to say, well, the big nonprofits don't have to do this and the small ones don't. If you want the money, you show us where you spend it. And that's just I mean, I can't I can't go anywhere and not show where I spend my money.
So if you want our money and you want the taxpayers to revote this in in five years, then you want to show us where you're spending it. And if you don't, then don't apply for the grant. I make a proposal that looking at the significance of this issue, the complexity of it and obviously the uh variation of opinions and thoughts all of which have validity that we would ask the staff to perhaps uh review the material that you have, take some of these comments, all of them into
consideration, develop a uh draft, if you will, policy on this that could then come to the policy uh committee for further review by them kind of hash things out and then bring a proposal as you have with these other policies to the board for our consideration and uh having refined that so much as I say it's been a a long meeting we are over two hours now and yet we've got a remaining
very important topic that we need to address as well. And uh I don't want to hurry through and rush something of this significance. Would that be agreeable with everyone? Yes. Okay. All right. The last item that we have on here um is a our council report uh looking at both the executive director contract as the first thing. Look at that firstly I guess. Yes. So, first item, um, executive
director contract. A copy is actually not in your meeting packet. There was only one substantive change requested by by Miss Cannon. Um, and that was a request for six weeks severance pay in the event of trust dissolution or termination. That is identical to the current severance language if uh, Miss Canon is terminated without cause. So if the board is agreeable to that one substantive change, um then we will present the final contract at the next regular board meeting retroactive to her
current contract expiration. what this has to do with I think most of us on the board are familiar with this and my apologies if I'm being redundant here but as a lot of people know the current legislature at the state level is uh looking at the stance in regards to property taxes and what is going to be done with that and the discussion is all over the place and at least from my humble non legal ease and otherwise understanding There's no telling where that is going to go,
but kind of worst case scenario is that we end up being impacted significantly in light of our funding source being based on uh a uh percentage of property valuations and that type of thing. So, there's the potential, hate to even say this, but that the children's trust could no longer exist uh or have significant changes in funding, etc., etc. So with that in mind, what Miss Canon has requested that if that eventuality occurs, heaven forbid that there be
a uh condition or note in her employment contract that simply says that would basically again my understanding would basically say the same thing that is in the contract now regarding termination without cause. We just decide that for whatever reason we're going another direction. and there's no real cause and she has in there certain items that if that happens that these things will be uh afforded to her and it basically this says that if she's terminated without cause or the
trust ceases to exist either one here's what uh her compensation would be uh related to that dissolution and so with that in Do we need to do anything at this point or just uh just have the if the board is agreeable to that term, if you would take a request a motion and a second and a vote on that term, then we will finalize the contract. Motion. Second. It's been uh made and seconded.
Any further questions or discussion while we have council here and Miss Cannon? And again, hopefully this is like life insurance or something. you don't not going to need it. Although I guess that's an eventuality probably bad analogy there but anyway. Okay. So made and seconded. All in favor? I I any opposed? Okay. Passes. Thank you. Uh next item is the proposed in our local agreement that would resolve um the dispute between the children's trust and city of
Pensacola relating to the demand for tax increment funding revenue from the trust. Um, as you know, I kind of recap it at every meeting, but it's helpful to do so. Um, this began back in July of last year when the city requested uh payment of tax increment incremental financing revenue from ECT. In response, uh, we prepared a request for exemption that will ultimately be considered by city council. If that exemption is granted, then the ordinance and statute provide that ECT and the
city would enter into an interlocal agreement regarding um how the tax incremental payments are which become payments under the interlocal uh will be spent by the city. So at this point in time that exemption request is pending. It has not yet been heard by council because I think all of us were hopeful that we would pre-negotiate the interlocal so that we could present to this board one that's acceptable to council and staff and likewise if acceptable to this board then the
mayor and city attorney would then turn around and present it to council as yes we endorse uh requesting or granting the exemption and entering into this proposed interlocal. So, after much negotiation uh between us and the city attorney, when I say us, I mean Sally and myself, um and then Miss Canon's conversations with Mayor Reeves along with his staff, um we have the final iteration of the proposed interlocal agreement. And so I will and when I say final iteration, I think both the city well the city has certainly expressed that this is
what they consider um final and um don't want to participate in any further negotiation and I'll address that in a moment. Um we've accepted that and at this point and when I say accept in the sense that we are ready to present this to the board for determination and further action. Um so the interlocal asis would provide um tax incremental funding payments less any expense um penalties and interest. So that's been removed as we've previously reported. and then also a
partial credit um against any tax incremental funding owed in the amount of 75% of the grant that's currently existing between ECT and parks and wreck. And so we had previously talked about set off and some amount. We requested an entire set off. We had some back and forth regarding just coming up with a number just throwing a number out there. um the 75% the city has articulated and Lindsay can expound on this as well that in their mind you know not a 100% of that grant is spent
within the CRA and what we're really resolving are expenditures within the city CRA limits and so instead of offering 105 100% uh set off it's a 75% set off so the total amount that would be paid to the city is in paragraph seven of the agreement on page three. Um that would be1,851,00031 $1,851,333.70. Um and as you can see in paragraph B of 7, it reflects a credit um against the total amounts
due in that 537679 uh amount. This would resolve tax years 20 through 2025. 2026 would be reserved for a future discussion and separate interlocal. Um the money will be directed to zero to 18 child care. Um so the issue resolves you know services to children within the city and CRA which of course is of the utmost importance to this board. Agreements like this are never perfect. So I'll
just say that in advance. Um they represent negotiation and ultimately compromise and what we would hope partnership moving forward. Miss Cannon can expound more on that generally. Um so at this point the board can consider the proposed interlocal in front of it. If it's acceptable to this board, um then our direction would be to go back and communicate with the city that it's been accepted by this board for further recommendation and presentation to city council and recommendation that they accept it there to fully and finally resolve the matter. Another option for
this board is to say, you know, Miss Fry, I don't like the center local. keep working at it and, you know, tell me specifically which provisions we should really be hammering in on. And then finally, you can say, "Miss Fry, I don't want to do this interlocal at all." Um, go back to the city and tell them we want our exemption request heard before city council. And Miss Canon and I would then present at a future council meeting and request our full exemption with perhaps an interlocal agreement to be negotiated after decision by council based on whatever comments and
feedback we receive at council. And I'm happy to take any questions because I realize I talk fast. Can you give the three three options again? Yes. So the first would be to take the center local agreement um as is and my my direction from this board would be uh to return to the city attorney and tell them that our board has agreed to accept the interlocal in this form and
request that it be placed on city council's next agenda with recommendation that council grant the ect exemption request and immediately enter the interlocal. That was the exact procedure used with the county. The second option would be to say, "Miss Fry, I don't like the center local agreement. Please return to the city attorney and further negotiate, you know, whatever section we don't deem acceptable at this meeting." And then finally would be to instruct council to entirely reject this proposed interlocal agreement and just proceed with the exemption request before
city council with an interlocal to be entered afterwards if the exemption is in fact granted. The $537,000 is that 75% of what we have paid them or is that 75% of the contract? It is 75% of what has been reimbursed to the city? What has been paid? So what but they're still in we still are paying them currently. Right. Correct. till when May theirs goes through
May 31st. So the rest of the money from now to May is not included in this 75%. It is not um it would be considered in a future exemption request related to the 2026 tax year and the 1.8 is four years worth of income. Is that four years? Three 2021 22 23 24 25 years five years.
Miss Cannon, a couple of questions if I may. Um, you've had discussions directly with the mayor. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Plenty. Okay. Is this proposed interlocal agreement a reflection in your opinion of the discussions that you have had personally and directly with the mayor? Yes, I would say that and I would say that it's it's one of those things where we have to go back and forth and decide what's most important and the money sitting here doesn't help.
um they have worked a lot a lot especially uh Miss Sharp that's been brought on too to really look at a childare project um even in his state of the the union address that he had the other night or state of the city um the mayor was talking about access to child care still being a very important part of this. So, um, but the other part of this is how do we project what, you know, three years looks like related to this funding? Um, what if there's a windfall from the state, which would be nice,
um, related to child care? What if that's not it? What if we have more emphasis that's needed on an older age group, not necessarily 0 to five? Um the unique thing about the city and even working with the county is that they have facilities which we know are a really challenging issue in our community related to facilities and and infrastructure to support projects. So what I will say is when um we've had a lot of discussions about not knowing what the future is um and having some levity around that 0 to 18 population that the city might be able to serve in some capacity.
Um but still the focus is really this access to child care first. They've even taken the steps to put an RFP out um to bring on a provider um that has it doesn't have anything to do with us, but it's going to be their pilot that they're looking at to replicate hopefully with our funding. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I am looking at the section six titled the city's obligations A B C and under C there are six paragraphs and then D. Um, and I guess I'm contrasting that
in my mind to the agreement we reached with the county regarding CRA and TIFF dollars and what those funds would be expended for and what we would be getting in return. I'm also reflecting on what we started today's earlier discussion with regarding our RFP here and I'm thinking of uh the presentation that we had in regard to again what would be expected of our providers that if you're going to get these dollars here's goals objectives measurable outcomes reporting that's
going to be done back just an entire litany of things that we're not just writing you a check and handing it to you and saying go do good things and as I read under the city's obligations it it does fall within the confines of what we as a trust the uh receive pursuit of this furtherance of educational health preventive developmental treatment intervention rehab services for children zero to 18. Uh collect information and statistical data to the extent permitted by applicable law.
share that information with the trust to conduct research which will be helpful to the trust in the city in deciding the needs of children. Well, we've already done multiple needs assessments and we have our outline in regards to our plethora of needs that exist etc etc. So that's not really the reason we're asking our other providers for information. It's to look at to see are you achieving the goals that you've told us as a trust you're going to in order to get the monies that
we've agreed to give you and we've got measurable outcomes and that type of thing. Not to tell if there's a need there. I mean the whole we're agreeing there's a need there. We wouldn't be giving you money in the first place. uh the the data we're collecting is to tell if we're meeting and moving the needle, so to speak. Uh and then down there, they're going to provide the trust with quarterly reports detailing expenditure, the interlocal agreement during the preceding quarter and continue until the funds are exhausted. Uh such reports will include reasonable, mutually
agreed upon participant data and outcome. But yet, none of that's really down here what that's going to be. And again, I'm looking at what we're asking number of our other providers, which is no different or very similar anyway to what we've asked providers, at least as far as I recall since we've been here. Here's your check, but here's what we want in return. And multiple policies that we just agreed on today through a long discussion saying here's what is going to come along with this check. The city as I'm looking at this basically says you guys are going to shall
deliver the trust shall deliver an interlocal agreement payment to the city in the tune of $1.8 8 million such inter local payment represents the amount the tiff contribution not including this and that if the trust not being grant anyway I look at this as something they're getting a lot of what they're wanting which is our money they're telling us they're going to in the most broad sense that I can possibly imagine they're going to spend it on kids and maybe they're going to give
us some feedback that may or may not really be helpful with the feedback we're expecting of other providers providers and from what I understand from current and past um council that yes, they can request these funds from us, but that the funds are then supposed to be expended on what they originally collected to do and what the taxpayers most importantly in this county said, "Yes, we're going to pay higher taxes. We're going to volunteer to do that with the understanding
that these dollars are going for these specific things. And now the city, as I read this anyway, and I'm admit to being a little probably uh less than completely confident in things that uh we know you've got money. We want some of it. and because you are required uh to make annual tiff contributions to the committee redevelopment etc. I I'm just I don't know that if another provider
came in here and requested dollars from us with these terms and I know you all have put hours add infinum into this. I know we're tying up dollars that could be going to children's services, but I just have those concerns that uh we're we're kind of caving in my opinion, and this is me alone not having an opportunity to speak to my compadres here. As I say, I can't help but reflect
back on all that has gone into this document and knowing it's this and more for one proposal. And here's the city kind of saying, "We're going to do something like this and trust us. We're going to go out and do good." And but I I think the difference honestly, Dr. Northup, is there's a statutory obligation that has not been satisfied at this point at the state level. And so we're in a conundrum. So what I would tell you is anybody that's applying for that RFP sure doesn't have
anything in statute that says we have to give them that money. And so I think that the the city's been very strong and they feel that their position is just as strong as we feel our position is, you know, that we don't owe it and that we shouldn't. And they're saying, "But you should." And so, you know, after two years of working through all of this, we still don't have any clear definition on the statutory obligation or not. And so without having that this we're going to have to negotiate
in some way um that we know it will go to children and and I think same with the with the county you know working that through with them. We knew that they had a program um that was already functioning with a weight list and I think what's a little bit different about the city is they have a demand that they're looking to meet. So, um, with things that don't exist yet. Um, so I think that they're although they're similar, they're a little bit different too in in that. And so part of it is they're wanting to know too is this going to work. So working with us on Samus, putting information
in um I think the expectation is that we are going to provide data back to them around their effectiveness um or not um you know related to the programs that they do provide through our funding. So although it's not comfortable, I think that that's very different related to someone applying for funds that's a nonprofit in the community versus this, you know, place we're in related to statutory obligation. Well, well, and thank you for bringing that up and I for clarification on
my stance, uh I am not opposed to uh funding the city with these dollars. My um discomfort I guess is is this kind of obligate them. They've got a nice big obligation as to what our uh doing are the trust obligations. We're going to write this check and kind of hand it over. I'm just wondering are we comfortable with the terms of the city's obligations in light of again I come back to
the thing that was my understanding I'm not an attorney by any means but we've had council of several good attorneys that says that the intent that even though they get these dollars that again they're not going out to sidewalk street lighting road improvement infrastructure etc which we've had concerns and discussions with in the past that does this really I'll look to my legal counsel here and say are you all comfortable that there is enough meat on the bones whatever that
the dollars when we write that check are we going to get the the return on investment that we would be expecting from other providers and is this document going to kind of hold their feet to the fire so to speak uh to do that you're faced with a very the very similar response with respect to the county and our local I mean it is a little bit of faith right and um obviously it's articulating
the services that they're obligating themselves to provide the context to that are the very good healthy discussions that Miss Cannon has had um with the city personnel that will ultimately be responsible and finally yeah the reporting and data sharing um I think will keep not only your spotlight but the public spotlight on them to make sure that they are really doing with these dollars the same thing that the trust would do which is to brides provide services to the children. I was just going to say if this is the same that we did for the county then I think that
we just need to approve it and move on and that would be my motion to approve other discussion or comments or input please. What was the recommendation from? I couldn't hear it. I motion that we approve this. We have a second on that's been motioned and seconded. And of this would then, if I'm understanding of the three options that you outlined, this would be falling within your option one of accepting the interlocal agreement.
uh entering into that uh and prayerful deliberation hoping that uh the uh Mr. Cobb and others step forth in good faith. Okay. So that has been made. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote on the recommendation. All in favor say I. I. I. Do we need to roll call that or anything? Any opposed? I oppose. You're opposed. Okay. Tori is opposed.
All right. And just so the board is aware, um the next procedural step is that I will return to my office and let Mr. Cobb know that we have accepted the red line in lawyer terminology that he provided uh to our office um and request that he place it on council agenda. Like I said, it will appear on council agenda as um ECT's request for exemption. Um and it's our understanding that then Mayor Reeves will attend council, request exemption be granted, and enter the same interlocal that this board has just approved. When does that meet? So the
next agenda meeting that he wanted to place us on was actually February 26th. Sally and I both have an unavoidable conflict. So it will be the March the first meeting in March. Can we get that date in time? Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. That that concludes my report unless you have any further questions. Okay. With your attending meeting, u can I ask of what in addition to saying we're going to do this any opportunity to provide some of the discussion
from today? So when it was some reluctance? Sure. Sure. when we were presenting to county it was the similar presentation um Miss Cannon and at that time Miss Bush presented um and yes added some additional um I won't say argument but certainly our statement that we think that this represents compromise not a reflection of what we think would apply necessarily in a courtroom I think that concludes our meeting today and apologies to everyone for the length
and duration and my deep appreciation for the time you all have provided to us. Thank you.