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07-06-2011 CITY OF EDGEWATER – SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP COMITTEE REGULAR MEETING July 6, 2011 5:00 P.M. CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM MINUTES 1.CALL TO ORDER Vice-Chairman Kelly called the School Scholarship Committee meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room. 2.ROLL CALL Councilman Justin Kennedy Absent Anne McCulloch Present Vance Smith Present Mike Kelly Present Joe Rawlings Present Also present were City Clerk Bonnie Wenzel and Finance Director John McKinney. 3.APPROVAL OF MINUTES a.Regular Meeting – April 8, 2011 Mr. Rawlings moved to approve the minutes of April 8, 2011 as read, second by Ms. McCulloch. The MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 4.OLD BUSINESS – None at this time. 5.NEW BUSINESS a.Update by Finance Director John McKinney 1.Donations Mr. McKinney stated as of July 4, 2011 there was $300.85 in the Scholarship Account. Seven people are making monthly donations for a total of $19.00 per month. 2.Website/Utility Bills Mr. McKinney explained to the Committee why the check box was not on the utility bills as of yet. Currently the City has seven months of bills in stock and it is cost prohibitive to throw them away and order more at this time. He also stated that the bills will be redesigned prior to the next order, at that time a place for citizens to add a donation will be included. He stated that there would be a notice on the bottom of the bills in the interim letting residents know to go to the website for information on the Scholarship Program. 1 School Scholarship Committee July 7, 2011 Mr. McKinney showed the Committee how on the City website citizens can easily sign up for E-Bills, he is going to have something very similar to that added for scholarship donations. Residents will be able to sign up for recurring donations added to their utility bill or will be able to make a one- time donation via credit card. Mr. Rawlings asked if the City was ok with getting donations from people outside the City, if that was so he would look into doing a phone message to everyone via the schools connect-ed system. This would reach everyone that goes to the middle school. He stated he could even ask the other principles to do the same. Mr. Kelly asked what the district policy was. Mr. Rawlings stated that was what he had to check into. He felt he could word it that it would not be harmful. Mr. Kelly stated it is all inclusive for our schools. Mr. McKinney stated he just needed direction on what to do. Discussion ensued regarding the enrollment form. Mr. Kelly suggested for a one time donation that it have the address, but no account number. Mr. McKinney stated if you give a donation it is considered as a tax deduction, we don’t need the account number, but we will be required to keep it, so we will need the address. We will do two forms. Mr. McKinney will create a one-time form, he will take off the account number and add the credit card information, it can be faxed or emailed. On the website if it’s recurring it will be set up for just an email. Ms. McCulloch stated her business has a water bill, however it is paid through the corporate office, she could not add a recurring payment to the bill but she could make a one-time donation. Mr. McKinney stated we should not allow renters to do a recurring bill, because you have good tenants and bad tenants, if someone skips out, how do you not collect from the owner who is responsible for the bill. Probably not a good idea to put on renters utility bills. Mr. Kelly asked if you would call the forms “one time” and “recurring”. Mr. McKinney stated yes. What he will do is use the example of the “go green”, have verbiage with “click here for a one time donation” and “click here for a recurring donation”. The recurring will ask if it is a tenant or owner. City Clerk Wenzel suggested making the statement that only owners can do a recurring donation. Ms. McCulloch stated it should be certain the payment will be added to the water bill. 3.Student Volunteer Program Mr. McKinney spoke of the City utilizing student volunteers and putting their name in the hat for the scholarship. He explained how the City of New Smyrna utilizes student volunteers associated with their scholarship program. Mr. Rawlings clarified that if a student volunteered at the City their name would be put in for possibly receiving a scholarship from the City. 2 School Scholarship Committee July 7, 2011 Mr. Kelly felt the criteria for the scholarship should be established first, but did feel community service should be part of the criteria. Mr. Rawlings suggested naming the scholarship the K-12 Education Fund. Ms. McCulloch felt that sounded more like it goes to just schools, not the students. Vice-Chairman Kelly felt a quick link on the City website would be a great idea. b.Discussion regarding Future/Take Stock in Children Scholarship Program This item will be discussed at a later date. c.Review application, determine application to be used. Mr. Kelly stated there were some examples for them. City Clerk Wenzel stated the application provided was from New Smyrna Beach High School, from their website. Most of the scholarships use the standard application. Mr. Kelly felt the good thing about the standard application was the kids were familiar with it and the counselors could help them when needed. The Committee had concerns regarding the annual income request on the application. City Clerk Wenzel stated that once they get to the criteria it could be stated that income has zero bearing on the award of the scholarship. Ms. McCulloch, does it need to be part of the application or not. Mr. Kelly felt it was pretty gray. Mr. Smith stated most of them have financial need listed. Mr. Kelly stated this was a hot issue at the high school and could somewhat see both sides. Mr. Rawlings did not have a strong feeling either way. Ms. McCulloch asked what was the purpose of the scholarship. Mr. Kelly stated to provide financial help. Mr. Rawlings stated providing community support. Ms. McCulloch stated community service is another reason, if the purpose is to help those who need the money then financial need is more important. Mr. Kelly felt you could not exclude either one. He stated that Community Service should be one element, not that you volunteer only at the City. Mr. Rawlings clarified that the committee actually determines who is awarded the scholarship. Mr. Smith stated he has worked with kids for about 25 years and honestly most of them need the help. He stated he had no problem with financial need being on the application or not, but there is a need there. Mr. Kelly stated that just because a family has money it does not mean they are going to pay for it. He would like to see the financial need downplayed. He asked if they should exclude students whose families are financially fit. Ms. McCulloch stated as long as financial need is not weighted more than community service or g.p.a. 3 School Scholarship Committee July 7, 2011 City Clerk Wenzel stated that a family’s income may be higher than others, but it doesn’t mean the parent can afford to send their child to college. Mr. Kelly stated when CAPS came up with the form the income was a major sticking point. Do we want to leave it on the form because it’s the same as everyone else. The committee decided to keep the income on the application and they can determine with each applicant. Mr. Rawlings moved to use the standard form, second by Ms. McCulloch. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Kelly asked if the name needed to be changed on the form. City Clerk Wenzel didn’t think so. Mr. Kelly asked if it should stated “Edgewater Scholarship Application”. City Clerk Wenzel stated this was the only application on the website. d.Establish scholarship criteria Mr. Kelly suggested the following for the criteria of the scholarship: Minimum G.P.A. of 3.0; community service; financial need; letter of recommendation; resident of Edgewater; possible interview. The committee discussed the criteria and agreed with Mr. Kelly with the inclusion on one (1) personal and (1) academic letter of recommendation. Ms. McCulloch moved to accept the recommended criteria, second by Mr. Smith. Motion passed unanimously. e.Schedule special meeting(s) A special meeting was scheduled for August 3, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. 6.ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 6:23 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Bonnie Wenzel, CMC City Clerk 4 School Scholarship Committee July 7, 2011