Scholarship & Education Committee

Scholarship & Education Committee Meeting Minutes - Draft Monday, May 20, 2019 6:30 P.M. City Hall Annex, 98 Washington Street Called to Order: 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Tyler Carlton, James Flynn, Elizabeth McGovern, Cynthia Nina-Soto, Jennifer McAlpine, Tayla Rose, Amy Stewart Staff Present: Dominick Pangallo 1. Welcome and introductions 2. Approval of minutes The committee unanimously approved the minutes of April 22, 2019 3. Financial update The Scholarship Fund received $311.18 in April and has a balance of $3,817.66. The Education Fund received $128.02 in April and has a balance of $21,871.46. Liz asked for a breakout of how much was donated through the new link on the City website. Dominick distributed the four-year trends for February, March, and April, showing the significant increase in donations to both funds in 2019 each month, with the exception of April donations to the Education Fund, which were half the average of the previous three years for that month. 4. Old business a. Discussion on the use of the Education Fund The committee voted unanimously to request a home rule petition for a special act that would enable the committee to transfer funds between the Education Fund and the Scholarship Fund. Dominick will ask the City Solicitor to draft the petition, which the committee may then submit to the City Council. The committee discussed creating an application form for entities and organizations that wish to apply to the Education Fund for funding. b. June Scholarship Awards event The committee verified June 11th at 6pm at the CLC for the first awards event. Dominick will develop an invitation and scholarship recipients and their families will be invited, as will elected officials and the community in general. Dominick will check with Root about catering. During the event, the committee would like to show photos and the bios of recipients on the Great Room screen. c. Flatbread Pizza fundraiser Tyler will call Flatbread about trying to get a date in August for a fundraising night. The committee expressed an interest in trying to schedule similar nights at other area restaurants. 5. New business a. Feasibility of DipJar utilization  Dominick reported that there were no issues with pursuing DipJar from a procurement standpoint. However, after hearing about the fees the company charges for their system the committee decided to postpone pursuing it. Committee members indicated they should remain open to other similar systems or products, however, if they are more reasonable in cost. b. Review and vote on 2019 scholarship applications The committee received 28 applications for the Taxpayer Scholarship Fund for 2019, one of which was disqualified as a substantially incomplete application. In reviewing the applications, the committee indicated that will be interested in revising the applications for 2020, to better standardize the information being requested from applicants and to reduce the volume of materials required. The committee agreed to review the applications for 2019 in two steps: first, a needs- based review and, second, a merit-based review of those demonstrating need. Committee member Cynthia Nina-Soto recused herself from review in the first round, as her child was an applicant. In the first stage, the committee reduced the 27 eligible applications to nine finalists. In the second stage, the committee selected six of the finalists to receive a $500 scholarship award each and so voted unanimously. The six scholarship recipients are Megan Curley, Lara Pitombo Dantas, Aaron Fournier, Andrew Fournier, Darly Hernandez, and Jeremy Pichardo. Dominick will draft letters from Tyler to all 28 applicants to notify them of the committee’s decision. c. Business outreach Tyler will send letters to the licensed marijuana retailers asking that the companies consider donating to the Taxpayer Scholarship Fund as a part of their charitable donation commitments as stated in their host community agreements. Cynthia and Liz also offered to reach out to local banks to see if they would be able to provide donations to the fund, as well. 6. Set regular date/time for meetings The committee established the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. as the regular date and time for meetings going forward. There will be no meeting in June due to the awards event, so the next regular meeting of the committee will take place on July 23rd. Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 23rd, 6:30 p.m., 98 Washington Street Adjourned: 8:15 p.m.