Budget & Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

That's

okay. All right. I'll open this uh meeting up. Budget and finance March 26, 2026. Take roll. It looks like we got everybody present but Chairman Mars, that it and Hirshman and and yeah, Commissioner Hirshman. So, um, that being said, I'll look to approve the agenda and let's see before we do that or do I need to approve it and then make the change? Motion.

Yeah. I want to make a change now or add something on to the agenda. Uh under new business, I want to put the uh C County Soapbox Derby on there. They want to do a little presentation. All right. Anybody else had any add-ons? If not, I need a motion to approve the agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. All right. We got a motion in a second. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose?

Motion carries. All right. Public comments. We have none. Uh budget amendments. Minutes. Are the minutes on there? Yes. Oh, they're not on the the agenda. They're not on here. Oh, they're not on here. We don't have Oh, I think I think Tim had left it off the last meeting. It probably just didn't get back on there. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve them. Make a motion to approve. Yes. It's after. Okay. We have a motion to approve the budget amendments. School and county. I'll second it. You want approve them as a group? You want do one at a time?

Wait, hold on. The minutes the February minutes aren't on the agenda. The minutes aren't on here. I'm sorry. Let me back up. Let me back up. I'm getting ahead of myself. And it's not on this agenda. So, after public comments is the Okay, we'll do 4 A. Yeah. Motion to approve the minute. Rogers got the motion. Do I need a second? Hear a second? I'll second it. Have a second. Any comments? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Now we'll go over to budget minutes.

I don't have any. You don't have any? Okay. School budget amendment. Let me pass those out. Okay. Thank you, Tim. Maybe I didn't.

There's three. Sure. Yeah. If you have any if you have any questions, you want to give them all three together. If you have any questions after each one of them, just ask them then. Okay. If not, just we'll vote on them all at once. Okay. Unless you have a question, you'll pull one of them out. There you go. It is now. There we go.

Budget 4141202619. Um, this this is a state grant. Um, the the state department requires me to call center. It's for our voluntary prek grant. So, these funds are already in our budget. I'm just call centering them. So, if you look at the bottom, I'm adding a call center to each line. Um, it's a requirement that the state makes us do that. So that's what this budget amendment is for. Any questions? That one. Any questions on that? Okay.

141202620. The board um voted to set aside $500,000 for after school program to be able to fund that for the next two to three school years. And so this money was moved into out of our an assigned fund balance into our budget to use and restrict or assign to after school program for the next two to three years. Okay. Any questions on 20 2620? Okay.

And then 141202621 um we are required to purchase ELA world history and geography textbooks. um we'll purchase them this year and um for the next school year. So we'll start doing that um as soon as this budget amendment gets approved. Um so I'm taking it out of the assigned we have an assigned balance um in our assigned fund balance for textbooks. So I'm taking it out of that and moving it into the textbook line. So you're just moving this is just moving. Okay. Transfer. Yeah. So we have a restricted fund for textbooks and so I'm just taking it from there and putting it in the textbook line. Yes, ma'am. They still use textbooks. Okay. Yes.

I was shocked to see that because I thought that everything was on a tablet now. Um ELA Matt there could the throwaways so we have to replace those every year but yes there's still books. Good. Okay. Any questions on 2621? All right. Is that uh that can we go back for a second to that number 20? You said the 500,000 is set aside for afterchool programs, but that's for multiple years. That's correct. That's correct. Why would you do that?

Um the board just wanted to assign money to set aside for the after school program. Um they made a motion in the last board two board meetings ago to do that. I guess they were concerned about it continuing and um so they wanted to set aside $500,000 so that program could continue for the next two to three years and that's for all the county schools. It'll be off for well we have that at all of our elementary schools and then our middle school and middle school goes to their home school. So like if they ride

if they're East Coffee student they'll ride from middle school to East Coffee. So it service K through 8 um in the afternoons and then also this is part it's an afterchool program and then there's also a tutoring program that's separate from the after school program but it's the same time and so this is for both of those programs. Thank you for that explanation. If I'm not mistaken, a few years ago, you y'all had a grant and it was called the excellence program and that was the after school thing and then when it went away that people wanted it so much wanted that after school program back. So that is that what this for? That's what this is for. Um to be able to provide that to our children. Yeah. Um I think we can apply for that grant in two years again. So this is to get us to that two-year mark.

Thank you. That's great. All right. Any questions? Any other questions? No. I'll make a motion to approve all three. Okay, we have a motion to approve all three. Second. I second. We have a second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh I still have county amendments on here. Is that you? She didn't have anything. Didn't have any. I didn't have any. Tim just puts it on there. Okay. Nice. Good. Good deal. Usually is right. All right, Mr. Chairman. We will. Yes. I need to present this. No, we're g I'm getting to this right now. Just hold. All right. Uh number six,

uh trustee server needs, if you'll explain that quickly. Um he needs a SQL server right now to replace it. It's $3,700. So, we need a budget amendment to approve that so he can get I've seen that email from Yeah. I know most y'all probably got that email. He's named 30 3675. Is that correct? Yeah, I just said 367500 and he's got the rest of it already budgeted for next year. For next year. So, he's just needing this amount now to carry it over to the We need this server that this is what runs the database that needs to be replaced now. Right. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve that something you have to have. So, yes. All right. I have a motion to approve. I have a second.

A second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carries. All right. Under new business. Yes, sir. Under new business, um, we have the Coffee County Soapbox Committee. I want to give a little presentation. Mr. Douglas, I believe. Yes. Yes. Oh, can I? Are you with him? He showed up. Yeah. Oh, we can't have getting a dime tonight. Yes, you can pass those out. Yes. Yes, you can pass those out if you want to. Thank you. My name is is Greg Douglas for those that I didn't get to meet on the break and u

I had an old boss that told me to be bright, be brief and be gone

one time and I will accomplish two of those tonight. Uh so I've got my friends Richard Chastain and Rodney Hall with me and we're with uh the soap box. So wanted to tell you a little bit about uh what's transpired with that. It was held in for about 28 years. It was brought to by the parks and recreation director from Athens, Tennessee, guy named Austin Fesmire, who was good friends with Kirk Glit. But since Mr. Glicks kind of retired and just I don't know what all uh made the decision last year to cancel the race in midappril uh citing a lack of participation and um then in August of of 25 they decided to withdraw funding from conducting the race. At that time, five of us came together and and decided it was a worthwhile community event and we wanted to endeavor to try to save it. So, we formed a 501c3. Uh we registered with the sanctioning body which is in Akran, Ohio, the international soapbox derby. And I'm glad to say we will have a race this year, May 2nd. Uh I think we've got about 40 kids. We're cutting it off at 40. Uh we've raised a little money. We ordered this week 10 new cars that we can put kids in. Uh 40 is about our limit for this year because of the number of cars and then trying to get West Lincoln Street back open. Uh I hope that it grows from there. I'd love to have 70 75 cars in this. There's four divisions. So you can start in stock as a seveny old. Uh those cars uh with with the driver and added weight are 200 pounds. Uh the next division is super stock. Those kids

typically up to 14 15 years old depending on their size. It's a little bit larger car. They go up to 240 pounds. U beyond that there is the master's division. Older kids uh more complicated cars uh for those that are more experienced. They kind of look like little miniature coffins where the kids are stretched out and you only see about that much of their eyes. Uh so I have to be pretty courageous too. Some of them drive with foot pedals and a handbrake. Uh really neat cars. And then the one I like uh a lot is the super kids. And the super kids are are disabled kids. They may have several pausy. They may have uh autism. Whatever it is, they can sign up. we have a driver that drives them, but there's two steering wheels, so they feel like they're driving as well. Um, and it's very rewarding to see that. Three years ago, I had I saw the the father of the the kid that won and he was crying and he said, "Today, my kid got to be a normal kid. He got the same trophy as everybody else." If you win a local race, you have the opportunity to go to Akran and compete in the what I call the Super Bowl of Soapbox. Uh it it's, you know, large stadium. It's a dedicated track right next to um the airport that I think the tire company owns, Goodri or Goodyear. And it's it is a Super Bowl for kids. There is a parade through downtown Akran. There's all kinds of events for them. Super kids, all the divisions have an opportunity to go there and participate in that. Um, we would like to get to the point because it is a week-long stay in a hotel. Uh, you know, you have food costs and that

kind. A lot of the events are covered by the soapbox derby, but there are some costs associated with that. We don't want a a a child from the community that wins not have the opportunity to go because they don't have the money for that. Um if you win, you deserve to go. And so some of those kids would probably need some financial assistance of of some sort. Uh we'd like to be able to do that um as well. So that's kind of the the scenario on that. uh what do we need benefits of the derby that kind of thing it's a STEM excuse me

u thing the kids by uh regulations of the soapbox derby the kids have to participate in the building the maintaining of of the vehicle um they learn all kinds of scientific concepts of slope and drag and friction and all those things, but it's hands-on. They get to do it. I would like to see a point um where and this has gone this has worked well in other communities where middle school kids have an opportunity as maybe a science class to construct one of these cars and then maybe have a race between the different schools or or whatnot to u kind of get them a hands-on application of of putting these these uh concepts into practice. Um, sportsmanship. Uh, the organization's very big on sportsmanship. The week of the big race in Akran, the kids are called champions all week. They get t-shirts that say they're champions. So, it it's a a very good self-esteem builder for them to get to do that experience. We want to conduct the race just like that. We want it to be a very good family event where the kids are built up. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. you're a good sport. You had fun. Um the cars, West Lincoln Street is very much like the track in Akran. Uh it's about 900 ft long. The one in in Akran is 940. The cars get up to depending on division and the weight uh 35 36 miles an hour. So for a seven eight year old kid, that's going pretty fast. Uh obviously they're propelled by gravity. Uh the nuances of it is where you put the weight, uh how you reduce friction, how you reduce drag. Those are the uh

concepts that the kids get to learn with someone called a car handler that is typically a father, can be a grandfather, can be a mother, uh different ones that help them with the car and handle the car when the when the the kid is racing. Uh so, uh responsibility, they're responsible for the car. uh they're responsible for uh when their name is called for another heat, they've got to be there. And so the kids have to learn that that level of responsibility of being where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. And they need a little support depend dependent on the age, but it is building that that u um ethic into them. Um accessibility for kids with disabilities, I love that component of it. uh community positive youth focused event. It attracts visitors to the community. Um it gives we've gone around to the different clubs, Kuanas, Lions Club and and we've got some favorable responses because you need people that will at the bottom of the hill load those cars onto trailers, get them back to the top of the hill for the next race. And so, uh, we've had some positive response from Kuanas and Lions Club and and different ones to help in that a as well as some older, uh, members of the clubs that will come to the the work nights and help the kids work on the cars and get them in in good race condition. Um, what are our needs? uh funding for the race. You know, since we kind of formed, it's it's kind of been drinking from a fire hose, trying to get everything insurance in place for the race and and a multitude of things. Um I think we all agree we want to grow it. We want to expand it and make it a genuine good community event. Uh we've got a lot of car improvements. The cars that we have taken over from the city of some of them

are are over 20 years old. Uh the technology has changed. uh some of the components and we've got to retrofit those and as well as buy new cars. Um like I said, we'd like to get some cars into some schools, help some families that may need help with expenses if they win and they go to Akran and and have the opportunity to race. Um so, uh that's pretty much it. Uh it's an annual event. There's other opportunities. Other communities also uh do what's called a rally race. Uh Chattanooga has a really good rally race. It's by invitation. They do it the weekend prior to Thanksgiving and they have folks I know this year they had folks from Seattle, Washington, Chicago, uh Witchaw, Kansas. They come from all over the country um because they've built it up. And you can also go to Akran a different way by rally racing where you accumulate points. And so that's that's a big race that they have there as well as a local race. Uh we would appreciate and be very grateful for any donation, but 25,000 would give us kind of a basis to where we can have next year's race. We can expand and do a lot of different things. um to to grow this within the community. So, any questions? We be glad to entertain.

Y'all are registered 501. We are 501c3. Okay. All right. Any other questions? Have you um have you asked city for funds as well? They they did. We we went back. They initially they said that they had cut funding together. They found some u I guess discretionary funds and what they've agreed to do is kind of an inind support this year.

Uh there's a lot of setup for the course. You've got to put out barriers so the kids stay within the course and if they stray then there's hay bales for them to run into and that kind of thing. They've agreed to to assist with setting up the course this year and putting tires and barriers and that kind of thing. Okay. And several of the the staff that had conducted it because you've got to keep the brackets moving and and that kind of thing. I think uh some of them are going to provide some uh labor and help with that to make sure that we're ready next year to maintain the brackets and get everybody where they're supposed to be.

What is the registration fee this year? $43 with a fee with a QR code online. We've had some families that that registered and also most of them like the family owned a business or whatnot. And what we do is we wrap the cars with local businesses if they support a car, whatnot. Some families have bought their own cars and a car's raft is $1,500 depending on the the class, but roughly about $1,500.

You had mentioned you had mentioned that there was some uh that you had cars left over and then uh then you also mentioned about building a car. So, are the cars purchased like one whole car or is it a kit that the family assembles? It's a kit.

It's a kit. We we the through the years businesses bought the cars, donated them to the city. The city has stored them at at CD stamps in a room. And so, a lot of those cars are there, but they've got to be maintained with new parts. And and for those kids that that don't want to purchase a car, what they'll do is we'll have three nights that they can come in prior to the race and they can go through the car, make sure the steering cables are where they want them to be and and get the car where it's ready to race. Okay. Thank you.

And you said out of town people's coming in too for the race. uh that there's out of town people like we went to Athens last year and raced in their local races. So it's very likely that um kids from Clarksville primarily would be Tennessee, Clarksville, Colombia, they've got a contingency of soapbox derby. Uh Chattanooga. Um you're supposed to go to the closest local race that you can to compete. Um, but there are different reasons why you would be able to pick and choose what what race local race that you went to. So,

okay. Any other questions? Is there prize money involved for the winners? No, ma'am. They get a they get a nice trophy. They each kid will get a shirt, a t-shirt, and we'll put sponsors and whatnot on the t-shirt. Um, the big thing is like if you win our local case, you get to go to Akran. They uh if you happen to win an Akran, it's a it's a $30,000 scholarship that you get for college. And there's some other trophies and different things that come with it, but primarily there's no cash money that gets distributed. It's scholarship money. I want to make another comment. Okay.

I think this is a good thing you're all doing for the kids and and home is in Coffee County and I think We need to support our county whether it's Teleome or Manchester City or whoever. And I I just think it's a great idea. It we don't care where you come from. We've got kids racing this year from Manchester, Lynchburg, Franklin County, Tele. And to me, that's the way it needs to be. It's it's I don't care what color you are, what size you are. If you fit in a car, you you can race. Okay.

And make it a good event for everybody. What we'll do, we'll um log we'll put this we'll put you down in our nonprofit category and when we discuss we'll discuss it the night we talk about nonprofits. That correct Maryanne? Um when do you need the money though? It it's ongoing. We're set for this year. So you don't have a time frame that you need this money. I mean if we run it through our system and nonprofit section, you're fine. Okay. Yes. So, we might find some. We're good. We've paid for insurance and everything for this year's race, right? It's a lot for expansion and and

some of the cars we're going to race this year could not go to Akan because they're not in the condition that they they set, right? So, what we're we're planning to do is the kids that win, we'll build three cars that Akan because first thing that happens when you go to Akran is they inspect the car, right? And it's got to meet certain criteria. If it doesn't, you can't race. So, we'll build three cars that are suitable, you know, in like the board in the car, it can only be used for 20 years and after that it gets it gets scrapped. We've got some that kind of meet that, but buying 10 new cars, we'll build three cars that can go to a

right. Okay. And what we we may, you know, there may be some other avenues than the nonprofits we may come up with. So, okay. We were talking about that earlier, but we'll put you on that that list and um you know, just be watching when that comes up. You can come up here and listen or whatever when we start talking about that. But thank you all very much. We appreciate we appreciate you. I want Yes, Tim. I would like to just go ahead and see if we could take it out of the tourism money and not leave them hanging waiting because we we can take care of that tonight. Well, he said he didn't know. He didn't he said he didn't need it. He's going this year

instead. And I mean, and that's an a another avenue we can go down, but we got, you know, I really think we need to talk about it when it comes to the time to talk about in that budget process. When is that going to be? Uh, because this is going to be May the 2nd. Are we going to be able to take care before then? They're already That's what we're saying. Yeah, that's what we asked. We asked if he needed it now and he said they were good for this year. So, you know, you'll take the money at any given time, right? Yes. I mean that's what I right we bought we raised enough already we bought eight cars this week and we're have to shut it off at 40 which is probably a great number

right we could certainly help sure building come down and actually see what it is before the time goes up. That way you get more more of an idea of what you're supporting and how good it is. Let me know and I'll be there. I was fixing to nominate you. We record the big race in a year and you can watch a few races. Oh yeah. It's amazing how close every race is. Mhm. Looks

about how much dollars does it require to put on just the event that's going to be in? Rough rough numbers. The city said the number they gave us was $23,000 per year. Okay. But yeah, that's not buying any cars or anything. That's just That's what I'm talking about. Just that event. We don't have this that this year, but we've got a lot of free labor and and those kind of things. So,

it's going to go We've got, you know, some really we've got somebody that's gonna he's got two food trucks. He's going to bring those. They've never had those. He's not charging anything for donate some, you know, kids have something to drink. So, a lot of those things are are are really good. So, I think you could do it less than that's the number they gave us. And then one more question. Did I understand you to say that you all have been doing this for 28 years until last year when that was

questionable? for 21 years for the last 21. So you've been doing this for a while. Yes, it was it's it's been there I think 28 years running but years last year in year about 26 years actually we have had a champion Dr. horses the whole thing

good information. Okay, that's a lot of fun. We'll wrap this up then. Thank you for coming and presenting that. And like I say, just be watching and it'll come out when we do, you know, this will come out when we do our nonprofits and other things and other avenues, but appreciate it. All right. Okay. Any um old business? No old business. Um um the next meeting. Yeah. What's

Yeah, we need that. Would that be nice to know? April will have her budget ready. 4th Thursday. April April 5th. May the 5th would not be a good day. April 4th is Saturday, isn't it? April the 23rd. April 24th. 23rd. I thought she said

okay. be presented to the board on the 9th and then voted on the 13th. Is that going to be our next meeting? April 23rd. April 23rd is our next meeting. Yes. Okay. And I'll have the budget um notebooks. Oh, those big notebooks. And will that be at 4:00? Are we doing the uh we doing Are we going to do like we did this last time? Four o'clock meeting. I guess we're going to schedule I'm okay. I'm gonna assume it's gonna be at four o'clock. Okay. I'll let I'll let the chairman make that determination.

I didn't think we'd get You can make sure of it. I didn't know. I'm sorry. Okay. All right. All right. Is that it? April the 23rd, we'll be we'll come back and meet again and we'll have four or five other present uh people presentating and uh then we'll have the regular budget meeting after that. Okay, motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Got a motion and a second. Just got second. All right. All in favor say I. I. I.

All right. We are journ. All right. That's right.