HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - ASSET Admin Meeting September 6, 2023Minutes
ASSET Administrative Team
September 6, 2023 @ 12:15pm
United Way of Story County @ 315 Clark Ave, Ames, IA 50010
In Attendance: Sandra King, Jean Kresse, Deb Schildroth, Joel Hochstein, Anneke Mundel, Becky Harker,
Sophia Sarver, Ron Smith (on Zoom), and Jenny Schill (administrative assistant)
The meeting was called to order at 12:18pm by Chair Hochstein.
Approval of August 2, 2023 Minutes
Harker moved approval of the minutes and King seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report (Smith on Zoom)
The current balance is $2485.18.
Old Business
Status of the ASSET Software Training
Staff have been trained by Lewis Callaway, Callaway Technologies LLC. Schill is working on transferring
data to SharePoint.
Clarify Agency Participation Notification – Policies and Procedures
Current ASSET Policy states that approved ASSET agencies not actively participating in the ASSET
process (participation defined as submitting a budget request, reporting outcome data through Clear
Impact Scorecard, participating in Liaison visits and agency hearings) for two consecutive budget years
will be notified by July 1st in writing by the ASSET Chair or Vice-Chair that they will be removed from the
process effective the next available budget cycle. There is question as to whether July 1 st is too late of
a notification.
Schildroth looked back at minutes from the May 2022 Adm Team meeting where agency participation
was discussed, and it was stated that an agency would be given a chance to meet and discuss their
plans prior to notification being given. If the agency says that they will be submitting a budget request,
then written notification wouldn’t be sent. Schildroth stated that a notification was set for July so
other planning could be done such as Liaison assignments and the Agency Hearings schedule.
Able Up Iowa meets the qualifications of a non-participating agency but has asked if they could wait
and submit a budget next year for the FY 2025/26 budget cycle. If we wait and notify them next July,
it’s too short of a turnaround to submit all the required data according to ASSET deadlines. Schildroth
suggested modifying the policy to include the ASSET Administrative Assistant notifying the agency prior
to the letter going out by July 1st. This will give the agency time to determine their next steps and
communicate those to the Adm Team. Kresse will start making revisions to the Policies and Procedures
labeled for April of 2024 and will save it to SharePoint.
New Business
Prepare ASSET Board Agenda for 9.14.23
Staff discussed updates to the agenda and Kresse asked that Scorecard be added as a standing agenda
item under Reports going forward. Sarver reported that she has a student volunteer up for approval. If
approved, she will send the name and contact information to Schill. Schill will make updates to the
ASSET team roster and will be sent out for next week’s meeting. Hochstein pointed out that with such
a short agenda, is it worth holding a Board meeting. He suggested just holding the volunteer training at
5:00pm and forgoing the regular Board meeting. Kresse suggested having the training be part of the
Board meeting, so all volunteers hear the information. The team agreed this was a good idea and will
move forward with this plan. Schill will record in the Board minutes that training was given to new
volunteers.
Prepare ASSET Volunteer Orientation Agenda and PowerPoint
The September 14th Board Meeting Agenda will be modified to include the volunteer training.
Corrections were made and Funder staff divided up who will present which slide at the training.
Possible Mid-Year ASSET Funds Available for Basic Needs
King reported that they are often left with funds not drawn down at the end of the fiscal year. She said
if we know that an agency will not draw down funds, would it work to make those funds available to
other agencies. There could be a process put together for this. Kresse thought United Way would be
interested in this and should work well with their process. The City has a clause in their ASSET contract
that gives agencies up to 90 days from the provision of service to bill for those services. Hochstein
asked if King was proposing that this be an ASSET process or each individual funder? King responded
that she was thinking it would be individual funders working through this and not making it an
additional ASSET process. Kresse mentioned that related to funds being left at the end of the year,
ASSET should possibly look at taking away the different divisions for the age groups in Childcare and
just have the category of Childcare.
New Printing Vendor – City
Schildroth did a review of the last three years expenses for printing the budget books. She researched
cost estimates for the City print shop and presented those to the Admin Team. The City would need
about two weeks' notice for jobs. Hochstein mentioned Prints Copy Center and suggested we get a
quote. Schill will contact them.
Calendar Update
The “TBD” meeting locations on the ASSET Calendar have been confirmed for the Story County Human
Services Center through Feb 2024. Schill has updated the calendar.
Budget Review Checklist
Schill will make the changes to the document and add a copy to each agency's SharePoint folder.
Clear Impact Scorecard (Mundel)
Mundel has communicated with all partner agencies about questions and incomplete data. She
reported that this year agencies have had fewer questions and more complete data reports, so
agencies seem to be getting used to using Scorecard. Mundel will print off each agency's Scorecard
before the training next week. She is asking the board if she could include the email that she sent to
each agency with that agency's Scorecard report for the training so each liaison can have that
correspondence for their record. She will also have copies of basic Scorecard log-in information and
Scorecard basics for the training next week. Schildroth suggested that when that email is sent, to
explain that this is something new and different than previous years. Schill will send this
communication to the agencies. Mundel will send wording to Schill for the communication. Harker
thought it would be helpful to have the draw down report from the Funders before their liaison visits
so it can be asked why an agency did not draw down their funds in the previous year.
Additional Items/Concerns
Harker asked after Mayor Haila’s update at the August Joint Funders Meeting regarding legislative
action on limits with property tax funds and potentially local option sales tax funds has been made
aware to agencies. Kresse asked if the Mayor had something that could be shared? Schildroth
responded that the Iowa League of Cities should have something. Schildroth and King will look into
this for each of their organizations. Harker will work on a draft of information for our agencies, keeping
in mind that we cannot lobby.
Kresse provided an update on the succession plan for her position. The search committee met last
week and plans to do interviews with the United Way Board, UWSC staff, and schedule public
presentations. The hope is to have three or four applicants to bring forward. It is anticipated that a
new CEO will be announced in October with on-boarding by January.
Schildroth pointed out that the Hearing Schedule needs to be updated on the website. She also
reported that the City continues recruitment efforts for a new Assistant City Manager. They are
working with GovHR and the posting should close on September 15.
Harker suggested that ASSET look into maybe having an annual report to show who is being served and
the numbers of people served in different categories. Hochstein also mentioned that we have
discussed having a Data Analyst to put reports together on the outcomes from Scorecard and how
ASSET is serving our local community. He feels ASSET is getting to the point where an analyst serving
the needs of all of the Funders is needed so Mundel’s time can be focused on United Way’s services.
Schill will add this as an agenda item for the November Admin Meeting.
Sarver reported that she is actively searching for student volunteers for ASSET.
Meeting Adjournment at 2:26pm