WS Minutes 2022.07.19COMMENTS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE NOTES/MINUTES FOR THE EDUCATION WORK SESSION
FINANCE DIRECTOR DANIEL OAKLEY
• Contract Party
o Based on the proposal, would the City be contracting with Central Alabama Community
Foundation (CACF) or Autauga Area Community Foundation (AACF)? CACF is referenced
throughout as the governing entity; however, the proposal states that we will be
sending monthly checks to the AACF.
o I was able to find the Board Members of the Central Alabama Community Foundation
online; however, was unable to find a comparable list for the Autauga Area Community
Foundation. Who makes up the Governing Body of the AACF?
• Investment Earnings
o What happens with the interest/ investment earnings on the amounts held with the
CACF/AACF?
What are these entities’ investment criteria? Do they follow State Code on
investment practices? Do they follow the City’s Investment Policy guidelines for
these investments?
• Fees
o Are fees charged based on what is disbursed via grants or based on the total assets held
by CACF/AACF each month?
• Central Alabama Community College Funding
o I would offer that any renewal of CACC’s funding beyond the currently approved five
year period should be done via City Council action, and not simply via approval by the
Education Committee as proposed in the Education Report.
o This would be consistent with how the original agreement was approved.
• Autauga County Heritage Association (ACHA)
o Just for clarity… the proposed 25% of the total proposed allocation to ACFA under the
“guidance provision” only represents 25% of their total 8% allocation, correct?
o Also of note, the City Council has already committed up to $76,800.00 towards a
feasibility study and architectural drawings for the GINOVATIONS Museum/ Prattville
Museum of Southern Industry/ STEM or STREAM Center from other General Fund
receipts.
The City has currently paid out $45,140.00 of these funds to ACHA to date for
this purpose.
• Grants for Special Needs Children
o YMCA – I do have concerns on any tax funds being allocated to this entity coming under
scrutiny for not being used for public use or a public purpose. This is due to the YMCA’s
membership requirements and that there are likely current or potentially future
Councilors on the Board of Directors and/or Junior Board for this entity.
This may certainly pass the legal and ethical tests; however, I would want
Andrew Odom’s blessing on this one.
• Restricted Funds
o These include the following as listed in the Education Report:
Reserve
Autauga County Heritage Association (ACHA/ GINOVATIONS Museum/ Museum
of Southern Industry/STEM or STEAM Center)
Central Alabama Community College (CACC)
Block Grant to Autauga County Board of Education
o Due to the relative simplicity of these proposed monthly payments, I see no reason why
the City of Prattville Finance Department should not handle these. This could easily be
included with the numerous other monthly payments that the Finance Department
already makes to various entities around the City on a monthly or quarterly basis.
o Reserves – We already have a bank account specifically set up that is currently housing
Education Reserves from the respective One Cent bucket.
o Paying CACF/AACF 0.75% to disburse these funds seems like a borderline irresponsible
use of tax dollars in my mind.
• Field of Interest Grant Funds
o Based on the anticipated high volume of grants and complexity of the grant process in
the proposed Education Report, I have no issue with this process being outsourced to a
third party to handle. The proposed fees charged for this portion (2.75%) do seem
reasonable, pending answers to the Fees questions mentioned previously in this email.
o CACF/AACF may very well be the best candidate to handle this process for the City. They
CACF group certainly seems to have some valuable experience in this area. I wonder if it
would be more prudent to go through a transparent RFP process just to cover the
Council on the entity choice, as well.
• General – Are all grants funds anticipated to be distributed each year if there are adequate grant
application requests? The Education Report mentioned that the CACF has $93 million under
management, but only distributed $4.9 million in grants in 2021.
Thank you for your time to read my short story above and any answers or thoughts provided would be
appreciated.
Daniel