FMC EMPOWERMENT BOARD

Minutes of November 17, 2003

The meeting was called to order by Virgil Pickar Jr., chairperson, at 6:35 P.M.. Members present were Virgil Pickar Jr., Frank Rottinghaus, Larry Hickock and Jennifer Bauer.

There was introduction of guests.

The nominating committee made its recommendations for board positions. J. Bauer moved to cast a unanimous ballot. D. Freeman second. Motion carried.

V. Pickar Jr. moved to approve the August minutes, J. Bauer second. Motion carried.

CCR&R is changing Coriís position to part-time from full. The board discussed the meeting that was held with Joanne Lane and Chris Sparks. There was further discussion and comment. J. Bauer moved to reallocate $8000 to reinstate Cori to full-time. D. Freeman second. Motion carried.

V. Pickar Jr. brought up the training line item that is regulated by the board for CCR&R. Many of us would like to put that money back into the CCR&R line item so that they can control how that money is spent on training. It would reduce work for Laurie in administrating that money and make it easier to access for CCR&R. Cori said that she has a concern that it would be difficult to report the training money back to the board split up among the three counties. F. Rottinghaus suggested that she speak with Laurie about it and how to report, then they can get back to the board.

Families Together ñ F. Rottinghaus met with Alan Grueters to review the Letter of Agreement draft. There needs to be future discussion after we have the final document regarding reallocating the budgeted amount for this year ($24,000). J. Bauer discussed that it not be reallocated as they still have Empowerment money that they havenít spent. They could use that and the $24,000 could be used in other areas this year.

EAGLE ñ There was the introduction of the new coordinator, Misty Grey. She will be on board beginning of the year.

Headsup Program ñ This new service is hopefully going to pick up the programming in the areas where classes could not be supported due to low numbers for Head Start. Janiece Kueker has a student that fits the guidelines. She would like to keep him in her preschool in Frdricksburg instead of bussing to New Hampton. Janiece met with the Headstart director to set up the parameters. The money allocated to the Headsup program is being used for that student. So far his speech therapy and physical therapy have been able to decrease because he is showing so much improvement. They need an additional $265 per month to continue keeping this student in the Headsup program. J. Bauer moved to reallocate that money, V. Pickar Jr. second. Motion carried.

The board may need to look at moving more money to the Headsup line item. There was discussion that there could be money used to assist families that are struggling with transportation to the Head Start classroom.

There were representatives for the Floyd County Preschools. There was a request for additional money to fund scholarships. D. Freeman moved to pay an additional $5101 to the Floyd Co. Preschools for additional scholarships. J. Bauer second. Motion carried.

There was discussion that next year perhaps we should put the preschool funds into one pot, have representatives of each county on a committee and then allocate the funds in the three-county area utilizing the same guidelines. That will be further discussion over the next couple months until the next budget is put together.

It was brought up that there will be just under $6000 cut to the school ready grant.

There was discussion of committee structure being revived. The next meeting the board will try to have clear goals set for each committee to give them direction. The board would like to see each committee meet by the next meeting in January.

There was discussion about the Forums last year. The plans for the Forums this year are going to be semi-annually. The next Forum will be in February. Perhaps Sara Stewart could further the speech that she presented at the Annual meeting. Rachel Connerly and Laurie will look into that.

There was further discussion about training for providers through CCR&R. L. Hickock asked for a proposed plan of training and the monies that would be needed.

V. Pickar Jr. motioned to adjourn.

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Bauer, Board Secretary