ACCEE Fund Board Monthly Meeting March 6, 2025

There's only one of you.

I know she's on. I see her. I will count her. Bronwyn?

I'm here. Great. Kevin? I'm here. Khalil?

Here. And Georgina? Fantastic. We have a quorum. Let's quickly look at the agenda.

Anything to add or change?

One change, Nolan was not able to make it. He had a prior engagement. So Katie, Chief of Staff, will be joining us at 11:45 just to bring us all up to speed on some of the questions and things she was working on from last meeting related to the position. And we have an update as well. So we're going to move that to around 11:45 when she's able to join us.

Do we— don't need to do approval of the agenda, do we? Do we normally do that for this meeting? Yeah, we do. Thank you. Thank you, Khalil.

Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Georgina. And because we're, uh, anybody opposed?

Hearing none, passes unanimous. Thank you. Uh, approval of minutes. Did folks have a chance to review those minutes?

This is a new— oh, these— oh, draft minutes.

Great. Thank you. Ah, fabulous. I'd like a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you, Khalil.

I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Georgina. Folks online, you can always just jump in.

Don't be shy.

Any changes? Anybody opposed?

Hearing none, we are— passes unanimous. Thank you.

We do have public comment. Anybody here to do public comment?

Yes, uh, yeah, and that's Rachel, right? Rachel, and you have Chuck Sika. Okay. Oh, hi Chuck and Rachel. Uh, just to identify, did either one of you want to join for public testimony?

Um, no, I was just here to listen and see what was going on. I read the minutes all the time, so I just wanted to join today. Well, thank you. We've met somebody that actually reads the minutes. That's great.

We always wonder who that could possibly be. Well, thank you. Same here. Just here to listen in and find out what's going on. Fabulous.

Nice to hear you, Chuck. And I see Melinda, you're here. She was actually a member of the IT team, uh, did you want to participate in public testimony? Are you here to just listen in as well? Thank you, Trevor.

I'm just listening in for a little bit before another meeting. Thank you. Well, fantastic. All right, hearing nobody for public testimony, we will close it. Somebody does pop in and we have the time, we will make room for them.

Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda, we're going fast. Hopefully maybe we'll be on time, and Katie might actually have to show up early. We have to let her know. Yeah, anyways, uh, unfinished business, anything?

I think we have everything that we need on the agenda.

See none. Great, we'll jump into a new business. We have general updates, uh, Uh, first was Nolan. Do you know, Austin, by chance, uh, we have Jennifer Clark joining us, uh, was— did you get anything from Nolan on the total fund revenue for '24 or anything? No, no, he'd indicated a few weeks ago he would send that to us if he couldn't make it, so I didn't receive it.

I don't know if he handed anything off to Marie. No, she did not. No, uh, I don't know if Katie was bringing that by chance. Let me just— we will need to— let me see. I think she's just coming in to talk about the position.

So one idea, Trevor—. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, no, please. Um, one idea is that when we talk about the calendar, one thing that Jessica and Trevor and I, when we worked through the calendar thought might be helpful is to have OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, come in and just talk through the budget process and how the 2025 budget went and what this cycle will look like. And they would obviously be the ones who— well, I shouldn't say obviously, they're the ones who would know all of those things.

So I could include that if, if Katie and Nolan are comfortable with that, inviting them, I could include that in the request. That makes sense because basically no one probably just emails them for the information. So if they brought it all together, how does the board feel about that? I like that idea. Great.

In the room, I heard kind of yes. Folks online, can— great thumbs, all of that. Fabulous. Use those reactions. I love the flying thumbs, things like that.

All right, we will follow up with that and we'll maybe just review it on when we go over the calendar. Thanks, Kevin. I love seeing the thumbs. We have somebody join, Megan Johnson. We had Megan, I think.

Sorry, I'm trying to remember everybody that's showing up today.

We had Megan Johnson join and Jennifer Clark, and I see that Assemblymember Perez Verdia just joined us as well. Oh, nice. Hello, Assemblymember. Hello everyone, good to see you. I'm in Washington, D.C., so I'm just going to listen in today if that's okay.

Sounds wonderful. Hopefully things are going well in D.C. Oh, it's a crazy place to be for sure. Oh, I've been watching the news, so thank you. Anybody else who joined, were you joining to do public testimony?

We did close it, but recognizing folks did join. If anybody was here specifically for that, please let me know and we can reopen it.

Just listening in. Great. Thank you, Jennifer.

Okay. We will circle back around and make sure that this item is with OMB in that process.

Next is just update on strategic planning status and timeline. So, and Austin, do chime in on this. Austin has been leading the work of trying to figure out— we have identified we would need a contractor to do this work for us, but the process of how we do that. So we've been trying to figure out how can we do this swiftly So either being able to use if there's an existing contract within the MUNI system of somebody who does this work that we could utilize or just expand, and/or is there a way to minimize having to go through the full RFP process, just thinking of timing and energy? So we've been working with the department around that and trying to figure it out.

And we're getting closer, but we don't have the final answer, correct, Austin?

Yes. So we don't have a lot to share. Um, again, I, I have a sense that we're probably ending up going to have to do an RFP process. We're going to have to probably develop one, uh, with the Muni, get it out and put that in. So if we think about that and just process to do it.

We're probably looking at sometime in the summer to potentially the fall to actually get to the strategic plan because of the time frame of getting the RFP put together, getting it out, reviewing it, selecting, and then organizing the actual timing. So that's where we're at. Austin, am I missing anything? Okay, any questions from the board at this point related to the strategic plan?

And just to remind the board, but also for those who are listening in, we do have an initial plan that was created by the implementation team. You will hear us refer to it as IT. That has guided the current use of the funding. Our goal as a board is to actually create a 3, maybe 5-year strategic plan of what do we, meaning our city, not we just as a board, are looking at for child care and early childhood development, developing a plan and then taking that plan and using it to determine how the money is used on an annual basis so that it's not just random, uh, it's not just pet projects, and that it's actually sustainable in moving and making sure we actually grow and develop. We will not have a strategic plan in place or vision to actually determine how we're going to put our proposed budget for It would be '26 because it's going to be due first part of September.

So we're going to have to work as a board and figure out, well, how are we going to move this forward? Part of it is also we are just getting the current money out the door, so, uh, which we'll get an update of where we're at with that. We won't actually have much, if any, data of those projects. Are they working? How's it impacting?

And so forth. So we're going to have to work off of some of the work of the IT and that knowledge base to really determine how best to use the dollars for '26 and recommending moving that forward. So again, just preface where we're at with timing because there is a lot of things that are happening simultaneously. Again, anything that I'm missing or questions from either the board or Austin?

Okay, let's go through, uh, the board calendar. Actually, Austin, would you— you put this together for us. Thank you, uh, great work. Uh, you have myself and Jessica listed, but you are the developer. Do you want to just set the stage of what folks are looking at and how to read it, please?

Sure. Would you like me to share it? On the screen too? I was just going to say, could somebody please share it so the folks online who could actually see it as well? Thank you.

Let me find it. I have it open, but it's buried. Okay, there it is.

Can you all see that? Yes. Okay, great. I move you over so I can see people while I'm talking too.

Sorry, it's a little busy. We tried to color code this just so you can see the trajectory over time of the different types of topics that the board is working on, but I know it makes it look a little busy, so I categorized the actions and activities that the board's taking into 6 different categories: budget items and other Muni code requirements, strategic planning including sort of larger things like the vision and goals of the ACE Fund Board, any staffing issues including hiring the executive director, how the implementation of the funded programs is going, any communications we're working on, and then just, you know, one of the roles of the board is to provide advice and guidance to the mayor and assembly on child care issues in Anchorage, and so that is in red. We can skip January and February since we've worked through that. I've had sort of an internal document like this that I've been working from and keeping track so that I can make sure to make progress on a good pace and be prepared for each meeting for you guys. But now I went through and, you know, color-coded and made it nice for all of you.

So wondering, Trevor, how to go through this. I think one thing we could talk about is the budget process. Do you want to talk sort of topically through what you think will will do this year, or how would you like to cover it? I think if we actually do it by the colors, it might be easier to follow rather than by the month. Um, so great.

Um, so this is something that I've seen that—. Sorry, go ahead. I can make it bigger too. No, no, no, I'm talking to Marie. Uh, simultaneously we're working with Katie to let her know that we might need her a little earlier because we're working through some things pretty quickly.

And I could also contact Dawn and Darcy at the Health Department and see if they could give their presentation earlier. They might have a more flexible schedule than Katie, so just let me know if you want me to do that. Katie said 11:30 is the early—. Yeah, Katie could be here by 11:30. Yeah, if you would let them know, that would be great.

I'll do that after we run through this. Okay, perfect. Great. So the budget is in yellow, and as Trevor said, you all won't have time to do a strategic planning process that then has a budget that reflects back to that since the budget process really starts soon. And you all need to produce a final budget, proposed budget, to the mayor by September 2nd, and you send a copy to the assembly as well.

And before you can do that, you need to have a couple different public hearings at board meetings, presumably. So really, you have to start start the budget process months before that. So what we have here as a draft budget process for you all is today, you know, hearing— I know you all have been asking for a bit about 2024 revenue and what the fund balance is, and looking at the final passed budget for 2025. We'll get that for you. The plan was next week there is a first hearing required pursuant to the code, to just a general hearing from the public to allow people the opportunity to to share feedback on funding, programming, and policy.

If people come and do that, great. If people don't, I think that's fine too. But we can spread the word a little bit and see if we can get some folks to do that next meeting. Everyone who's here today, if you have ideas, be thinking about that. Maybe you could share ideas next time.

What we were thinking is we would invite the director of OMB, if that works for Katie and Nolan, to present since you all weren't here in the development of the 2025 budget, proposed budget. Seemed like it would make sense to get a sense of how that process goes and how OMB engages with the mayor's office and the assembly and just sort of an overall summary of the budget process in general. So I was going to invite them to come and do that, and then we could have an initial discussion about the budget process after hearing from OMB.

Katie had mentioned last time that Mayor LaFrance would be interested in coming to one of our meetings and talking about her budget priorities. Childcare and early education priorities. So we thought it would be great if she were available to have her come in May as we're starting to think through those priorities and after we already have that foundation of how the budget process will work. And then the board could enter into a discussion after that about their own priorities and sort of initial thoughts and recommendations on the 2026 budget. I think Trevor and Jessica can speak up, but I think they were thinking, you know, given like Trevor said, the lack of information we're going to have about how the programs went during 2025.

It might be that you don't want to make a bunch of big changes, but we'll see what you think.

The idea was to get direction from you in May and have Trevor and Jessica and, and me, assuming I'm still around by May, then work through putting together a draft that you could actually take a look at and work with in June. And so that's the idea here. Chair and Vice Chair present that draft and then that you all have a discussion about it and see what you think. And then that after that meeting, whoever the staff is at that point would work through that proposed— work putting together that proposed budget together. And then in July we would have our official budget hearing, hearing from the public.

So, you know, Rachel, Chuck, Melinda, others who are listening in, please put that on your calendars, the July meeting. Although that's actually a question, Trevor, that we should raise at some point soon. We have that meeting scheduled for July 3rd, and I don't know if that's the best date. If, if you guys want to do it, then that's fine, but we should put that on our list of things to talk about, is maybe rescheduling. And then giving— after that discussion, taking in public comment, having a discussion, then giving direction to Trevor and Jessica and staff to work to finalize the budget.

You would then have an opportunity to review that budget, that proposed budget, in August, and then we would work to forward it to the mayor's office by September 2nd. After that, the mayor's office will be working through that, that draft that you've put together, that proposed budget, and then working to put it into their budget, which they propose to the assembly in early October. So there's about a month there where the board— the mayor's office can take a look at it and ask questions questions and see if it's what they want to include in their budget or if they want to make changes. And so that could be a good opportunity for the chair and vice chair or even other members to support the mayor as she and her staff work through that process. October and November are typically times when there's a lot of presentations from the mayor's office to the assembly, and the assembly might have questions about the mayor's office budget.

And so we could be there to support them and, you know, explain why you made certain decisions in your recommended budget. Etc. So that's the budget process. I think I can just quickly cover this, but don't want to get too bogged down since this is a ways out. But there are some code requirements beyond the budget in the ACE Fund ordinance that's now Muni code, which is that we have to ensure funded programs are impactful and meet established outcomes, which of course we want that to be the case.

And so I think that after we get through the budget process, you all should start thinking about the process for that. You'll get a final reports from the first 2 contractors for the first 2 RFP programs, the child care subsidies and stimulus funding, at the end of January. So it might be a good time to start looking at those final reports, seeing how the programs ran, and start working on that code requirement. And the other thing is that you will need to do a process that reviews financial reports and, and audits to confirm that all the spending is consistent with all rules and regulations. So you'll need to think through a process for that too, but probably makes sense to do that after the first year when the spending has actually happened.

So that was a lot. Um, that's what we're thinking for the budget. I guess, uh, Trevor, Jessica, do you want me to turn it back to you, or any comments from the board, or questions, or ideas, changes you want to see? Uh, thanks. So let's just focus in on the budget side.

Any initial questions or feedback from board members?

I guess, Khalil, just to kind of understand the nuts and bolts, I mean, practically speaking, this means that it seems like staff is going to be doing the work of like the putting together the pieces of the budget, and then obviously the board is reviewing it and it's based on board feedback. But I'm just thinking of like practically in terms of like the labor going into it, it is presumably a contractor or staff that we're hiring for this process for to support the board? Is that practically speaking how it will play out? So this is Trevor. Yes, in the sense that kind of like what the IT team did was outlined, hey, this is the amount that we wanted to go to, and then they created the formal document and did that piece.

So the board will go, we want, and we'll make sure that the math works out and so forth, and then they'll translate it into the formal paperwork. Thanks. You're welcome.

Um, one, thank you, Austin, uh, for putting this together, really detailed. One of the things that I want us to really do a good job, and I'll work with Austin and utilizing the Children's Trust, is finding a way to make sure that we communicate about our public hearings. One of the things that we have talked about at board is being transparent. So one of the ways of doing that is making sure that we really get out to the public, "Hey, you're invited, come and talk, share," and then we incorporate that. So I'll work with Austin because we have a robust communications team.

We can help get that out and utilize a vast number of our partners to share it out as well. And— That's the only thing.

Maybe about the July 3rd, we have everybody but 2 of our members. So July 3rd is, it would be a Thursday. So July 4th, it's a long weekend. Do people kind of know their schedules? Does July 3rd work for folks?

Uh, let me look. Well, let me also look at this. We're also proposing public testimony before. I don't think that's, that's setting up a barrier that we should be looking at something different. However, I also know that I'm gone starting the 10th for about 2 and a half weeks.

If we did something like the 8th or the 9th, if, uh, what we'll do is, because I don't want to take up the time here, it's a lot, Austin, uh, let's work together and just put together a quick, I'll say, doodle, uh, poll, and let's, uh see when folks are available, and then we'll pick the best. And I would like to be able to be present, and/or if I can from a distance, I will remote, just because our vice chair will be out potentially.

If I'm remembering the dates for you, Jessica.

Hopefully I'll be there up until the 19th, so like early July should be fine. Okay, all right, that's good to know. Thank you for that reminder. All right, we'll do a doodle and then we'll work that out and coordinate with Marie as well.

Sounds great. Okay, um, what other key things of this calendar do you want to review?

Honestly, the budget process is the biggest thing that I think we should talk about. I think you all are in the loop about, you know, making sure you have staff support, whether that's a contractor or executive director. So a lot of this is just, you know, continue discussion of ED. If you need additional contractor support, make sure you have that. My contract ends at the end of April.

And then I, I think that the implementation stuff is pretty intuitive, right? We're working through the process now. I'll give you an update on that in a little bit, but have— we're really close to having contractors secured for the first two, working through the pilot projects, RFPG, and I think it's just continuing to work on that process so that we can hopefully get funding out this summer. And then I have some notes about communication and when we want to do what type of communication to make sure that the public is following along. But really, I don't think that we need to go through this line by line as long as people have had a chance to look at it and it generally feels good.

And, and even if it's after this meeting, you could give Jessica and Trevor and me feedback if you think we've missed something or it's out of order, etc.

Fantastic. And just to share with the board, we, we see this as the template, and then we take this and change it over to '26 and '27. This will help guide making sure that we're meeting our requirements as a board, as well as any key projects we may be working on, and to keep, keep us focused and moving along. So Juan, really appreciate Austin doing this, this kind of detail, and hopefully support other leadership and other chairs of what are the things that need to be done and when to make sure we don't fall behind or get out of compliance. So this has been very helpful.

Any other feedback from board or questions or thoughts around this? Thanks, Austin. It's impressive. Yeah, one of the things, uh, Austin, I know that you have all this, uh, saved and so forth. How are we centralizing our documentation?

And maybe that comes as we hire the staff to lead this and not a contractor and so forth. But is there a MUNI central file that you're saving everything? So if you were not with us tomorrow, that there was a way of gaining access to all these documents and everything that you have been working on. How is that set up? Um, I— since I'm not a MUNI employee, I don't have access to MUNI files, so it's not saved anywhere on the MUNI server, for instance.

I have shared everything that's big with all of you, mostly by email, so you would probably be able to find the important stuff. I have probably other documents, right, draft agendas for future months or things that I work through on my personal drive. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I don't think it makes sense to put every single thing on the Muni Drive, and— but I could probably work with, you know, Marie if there were things you wanted.

On there. And certainly if, you know, I were to leave, give you anything you wanted that I've worked through. Yeah, well, my concerns is I totally know that you will, you will transfer everything over and so forth. I'm thinking the worst-case scenario, which is not always fun to talk about, I just see all this great work that you're doing, and I'm also dealing with at our own agency is like, how do we make sure that it's there's no— I'll use the word bottleneck, you know, that it's centralized. And that's something we can work towards.

Sure. It's just something to think about. And maybe it's just taking a current dump of everything we have it and we do, I don't know. But that also may get dealt with as we work with the ED position. So I'm just always thinking of that.

Yeah, that's right. I don't want to lose this great work. Yeah, and I did create a resources tab. Well, it was on the website already, but I went through and made a bunch of changes to it and added things like the ICER report and the McKinley report, and there's the white paper I wrote on there and a bunch of those sort of like more final, you know, not draft resources. And most of all of these things you've had, you have in your email, right?

I mean, you have the calendar, you have the agendas. And the, you know, final report, everything that you really need is available somewhere. It's just not all in the same place because I don't think it makes sense to put on the board resources page, you know, the board calendar, right? It's an internal working document. So, but yeah, we can keep talking about that.

And I was able to email Dawn and Darcy, and it looks like they're here, just FYI. So if we need to move things around, thank you. Perfect. Great. Anything else on the board calendar for Austin?

Okay, uh, we are going to just play a little bit with our agenda, uh, as we're moving through things. Thank you, uh, Don and Darcy, for joining us. We're going to jump to you, which I'm looking here is, uh, the potential muni code changes. So item D under new business. We're just going to move towards that.

Again, thank you for your flexibility, and I will turn it over to you. Perfect. Well, good morning, everybody. My name is Darcy Montalvo. I hope you can hear me.

Um, just getting over a cold, so I'm a little under the weather. Um, I'm going to try to share— I put together just a really quick little presentation on how we got here, so I'm going to try to share my screen if I can.

Should be coming up. We see it, it just needs to go into slideshow.

Fabulous, thank you. Oh, yay. Okay, um, so I just wanted to talk about 1655 and breaking down barriers and kind of how we wound up hijacking your meeting today. And thanks for inviting us, we really appreciate it.

Um, this will be a presentation by myself and by Dawn Skeed. I'll do the first part and then Dawn will take over after me. Just a little bit of background. The Municipality of Anchorage has jurisdiction for child care licensing extending north to the Knik River Bridge and south to Girdwood. And the child care licensing program operates under AMC 1655, but we also refer to state statutes and state regulations.

And back in August of 2016, 2016, we did adopt and incorporate most of— I say, well, a good portion of the Alaska Administrative Code. And so we're kind of looking to see what else we can do away with under 1655 to better align with the state.

This is just a little slide, and I don't know if you can see the writing, it's a little bit tiny, but back in 2016 when we did adopt and incorporate the regs. There were select areas that we kept. Mostly it was in regards to hearings, background checks, barriers.

And then along came Administrative Order number 346. Governor Dunleavy issued that order for the task force. So they were working to develop a plan to improve everything in terms of quality child care and early learning education, and they had made between two reports a total of 56 recommendations. At the same time that that was going on, um, the ACE Fund was also starting, that passed in 2023. You all know about that really well.

I'm not gonna read that slide to you. I just wanted to show you kind of how the link came together. So as those were going on in February, Director Rasch presented the topic of child care barriers to the Assembly in the Public Health and Safety Committee meeting, and at the same time, Child Care Licensing has really been looking at what can we do to stop the bleed, to bring on more child care providers, to prevent facilities from closing. And looking at survey results and talking with the public, we really started to reconsider, did we need to better align the municipality's child care licensing code to the state's, and would that remove any additional barriers? And so Director Rash reached out to the ACE Board to see if you guys would be willing to give us some feedback.

And in the meantime, we have conversations that are continuing between the state of Alaska and the municipality on what we can do going forward to break those barriers down. Um, the one thing that I will note is that the municipal code 1655, we always take the more stringent route and we're not always in alignment with state regulation. And Don will give a little more information on that. Um, after this presentation. So focal points that we have been looking at and considering, here are some of them.

Regulatory conflicts is a big one and was very interesting. We had a recent internal audit, and within the audit, the auditor was able to pinpoint codes that kind of conflicted each other, and so we had a finding no matter which way we looked. We, we were going to get dinged. Fees—. The municipality is currently the only ones that are charging providers with licensing fees.

And then credentialing requirements— the state's been working on making some changes there. Competitive wages, high cost of child care, a lot of these you'll see they blend over with what you all look at on the ACE Board.

So our goal right now, we'd like to repeal as much of 1655 as possible, and we know that there's going to be a few exceptions always. Our title and purpose, obviously our hearings and appeals and the adoption itself and any conflict and maybe some definitions. And kind of as we deep dive, I'm sure we'll find some more. But what we were hoping is to bring forth this to you and to the community and begin making some small but impactful changes that we could present to the Assembly by third or fourth quarter this year. I just put up a couple of resources, so I have the childcare website for the municipality.

I have the CCPO on here as well as some statutes and Alaska Administrative Code regulations. And then if you don't have any immediate questions, I'd like to turn it over to Don.

Any initial questions?

Seeing and hearing none, continue please. All right, thank you. It's nice to— I mean, we're not really seeing everybody, but it's nice to be in contact with everyone again. I recognize a lot of the names in here, and I'm impressed with the work that continues to be done with the board and the fund. Um, one of— Darcy, did you want me to try and share Sure, I'll stop presenting mine.

There we go.

Let me know if you need any assistance, Dawn. I kind of threw Dawn into the sharing thing at the very last minute.

I just lost it. That's okay. We have gone through the code and, and there is not really much left of 1655 when we adopted the state code in August of 2016. We adopted theirs in its entirety for Chapter 57, Administrative Code 57, and 780C-10 and 57, and there were a few things in our own code for the municipality that either exceeded what the state required, or they weren't— it wasn't required at all, and we still had it. So those were the things that we really focused on keeping in the code at that time.

It was August of 2016. In looking back, there have been what we've referred to internally several times. There are things that we've cleaned up, some cleanup language. There are things that we realized are still duplicative, and so we have gone through and made some suggestions internally on what we would like to see, some things deleted and repealed and others that we'd like to clean up the language. And fees is one of them.

We do have our preliminary suggestions have been moved forward with Director Rash, and I think that she has actually moved them forward to legal, and we're waiting for some feedback from legal. One of the things that we do want to start with is proposing that we eliminate the fees. When we're talking about barriers, overall our fees are really minimal, and when we get people that come in and want to open a program from the lower 48, they're actually— we've often had an element of surprise. That's all it costs? And because they were expecting it to be so much more based on where they might have been licensed in the lower 48.

The fees don't really generate a huge amount of income for the municipality. It's a $50 annual licensing fee for homes. For centers, depending on the capacity, it can range from $125 to— so $275, I think, might be the most. And then we have other fees. There's a few other fees as well, but we're thinking what we would like to propose to the Assembly and forward is to eliminate it if it's a barrier that's a problem.

Then let's see what we can do because it's not really contributing that much to the overall budget to the municipality. But while it's not much at all, it's like less than $50,000 a year, eliminating that for a licensed home that might be barely making ends meet, that $50 might make a difference. So that's one of the things we're talking about. Another requirement that we have that the state does not at all is insurance, and it's liability insurance, and that one I've always been surprised the state doesn't require it, but they never have. So that is one that we have also suggested to legal and risk management.

Please evaluate it because from our perspective, if we can eliminate it and they don't need it, they don't have to have it, it's optional, then let's do that because insurance can be really expensive for some, especially the bigger centers. Certainly our providers on here now could speak to that more. And we have— I do think we have a lot of centers that would not let go of it. They would opt to do it. But if we can take it away, is a potential barrier.

That's one of the things we're looking at doing. There's some other, and there's some other things throughout the code that we're looking at eliminating or changing the language a little bit so that it might not be quite such a challenge to meet. Playground inspections for outside is something that we're looking at the language and how can we make it simpler? How can we make it easier for programs? So right now these proposed Those changes have— they're internal only at this point.

We've forwarded everything to Director Rasch and she has taken it to legal. We're waiting for some feedback from legal so that they can say yay or nay on some things. With some of it, we had some questions just on wording. What is the best way to approach this? One of the things that we're looking at too is modifying and moving more in alignment with the state and modifying school-age child care ratios so that we are more in alignment.

Right now, in the way it's been since 2004 when we became completely autonomous and had all of our own code, and the school-age ratios in Anchorage are 1 to 10. For the state, it's 1 to 8— it's 1 to 14 or 1 to 18. It depends on the age of the school-age children. So as an initial step in trying to support child care centers this summer we— I'm sorry, is somebody trying to ask a question? I'm— No, you're good.

Okay, this summer we did work with the Afterschool Network. They had some amazing ideas and we collaborated on creating a variance so that the school or school-agers could have care more easily met, and we put the variance out there as an option if programs that are providing school-aged care wanted to do it, and it put us in alignment with state ratios of 1:14 or 1:18 depending on the age ranges and then percentage of each age range that was present. That's what changes your, the ratio there, but it made a big difference. The school-age programs were already looking at challenges this year with the changes in schedules and most all of, almost all of our school-age programs eliminated before-school care. Parents didn't suddenly not need it, and so we were really trying to figure out how can we help.

And it has, I have to say, we, I believe now, I believe we passed 42 variances. I think that's what my number was for that, and it has really seemed to assist and support the programs. So that's one of the changes we'd like to make in the code to make it permanent and put it, codify it, that it's it's in alignment with the state. We are looking at keeping infant ratios at 1:4 for safety and well-being of children, but again, these are proposals from internally within our office, and there's, there's others in there and what's left of our code, but the input from the community is going to be invaluable, especially from those that are walking walk. And I'm on screen right now, I'm looking directly at Brenwyn because she's walking that walk every day.

For those who are in the field doing the work, providing the care, accommodating families, trying to meet the needs of their staff every day, you are the ones in it to win it. And so the feedback we get is going to be— that's what's going to be the driving force on what is kept and what isn't in the code. We are looking at Kim's— Director Rasch's input from the assembly, doing it in small increments and pieces and not just pushing forth everything that we're suggesting. And I think coming to you guys, especially with the broad range you have on the board and valuable experience of those who have walked the walk, it would be great to get some of that feedback to know, yes, 'Yep, this would make a difference.' 'Nope, I don't know that this is going to help at all.' And some of the changes too, to keep in mind, are they really are clarifying pieces that we're looking at, just changing some of the language so that it— to try and ensure that it's not ambiguous, that we've— this says exactly what we want it to. They're not all just big sweeping changes.

There really isn't much left of our code anymore. It used to be about 65 pages, and I think now it's down to 20, maybe. So there, there are not a lot, but we are moving forward because I think that the task force, the feedback that we got back is pretty clear that there are some pretty distinct barriers. And if we can do our share to support the community, the family's needs, as well as the needs of the programs, homes, and centers, then that's what we want to do.

Right. Well, thank you.

One question for you all is, how can the ACE Board assist you? So you've presented, we've gotten a feel, like what's, what role could we play in this process to support you? That's a great question because it feels like there's— Can I answer that one? Sure, if you want to. I think, you know, So there's so much that we're looking at, and I think one of the places Dawn and I had talked about is when she mentioned looking at liability insurance, looking at fees, playground inspections, child care ratios, maybe getting your feedback on do you think those would be some good areas to start with?

Do you think those would be helpful? And then we can take those sections revamp them and then come back to your group and talk those over with you and get your feedback is kind of what I was thinking. How about you, Dawn? Yeah, I think right now the proposed changes are with legal. I'm kind of inclined to wait to see what we get some feedback from them, but I can look at the document that we have so that there's something concrete to look at and see if I we can forward that.

I'm wondering if it would be more valuable to wait until we get something from legal first, but I also don't want to delay getting feedback because I never know what legal's workload is like and how they have to prioritize every single day all the time. So I don't want there to be a 2-month delay not getting you something you could evaluate when, you know, they're busy with other things. So certainly it's something I will look at the document. We can maybe forward it to you, Austin. Does that work?

Sounds great. Um, there— and we live it every day because this, this role is enforcement. So our perspective on it is going to be really different from those who are on the receiving end of all these requirements, although there are some— there's some good feedback from this office too, because some of us have been on that end of it too. So really hearing maybe from, from your board members who, and as parents too, if there are pieces of it that you look through it and think, well, I've never worked in early childhood before, but this I think is a problem, or this is a challenge for my child care program when this is what happens and they have to close a room based on this because of staffing, or whatever it is, a parent, you know, you might have a different perspective. But I do welcome that feedback because we do want a document that's going to provide for the health, safety, and well-being of children to every extent that we possibly can, but is also workable for those that are on the receiving end of all these requirements.

So yeah, I can forward what we, what we have. I'm— I'll look at it. I would love for it to have already gone through legal before we do that, but I think that might be a delay, so I'll look at it and get it to you. I've got some thoughts, but other board members, questions, thoughts, what's been shared to this point?

Just a background question, and this, you know, is coming from someone who is not a provider, so not in, you know, Bronwyn's position. So I guess I was just curious, like, what were the top 2 or 3 requests from the provider community in terms of efficiency that the code level or on the topic of barriers? We put out a survey last year and one of the things really that came back kind of overwhelmingly from administrators has already been taken care of. It was— there's, there's a requirement in there for child care associates. It's a level of authority within the program and there was a requirement to have a certain number of child care associates in ratio, it was 1 to 30.

That person could be your second in charge, and you'd have multiple of them. They had to meet the requirements of the administrator. That overwhelmingly was what we heard from the administrators. That requirement, and that wasn't our requirement, that wasn't a municipal requirement, that was a state requirement. And that overwhelmingly was a barrier and a problem.

The task force came up with the same thing, and in fact, it was one of their top recommendations do something different to address that. It's been done. The code changed for the state and went into effect on October 1st. There was just a meeting, actually Tuesday of this week, there was a meeting on Teams that the state had where it was presented how the changes have rolled out. So now each program, the position of child care associate has actually been repealed.

It's now called an associate administrator. That person would be the second in charge. Coverage. You don't have to do it by ratios. You only have to have one person.

That associate administrator and the administrator would have schedules as such so that they had administrative coverage from open to close. That was one of the biggest ones, was the CCA requirement and the 1:30 ratio and the education that was involved and required. We— it was also the biggest area that we found we were writing variances for that couldn't be met, which which is an indicator when you're writing that many variances, there's a piece of code that's broken because it doesn't— it's not working for the community. So to answer that question, that was actually one of the biggest pieces of feedback we got was the child care associate piece is nearly— it's very difficult to meet. And that has already been addressed.

And that was at a state level. So that will affect not just Anchorage, it'll be statewide that, you know, the administrators will have a little— should have a much easier time when it comes to staffing from the leadership level. Right. Jessica, I saw you pop up. Did you want to ask or make a comment?

I was curious about the playground inspection and how that was going to be suggested. Is it going to be that they're— I know the state doesn't have an inspection, right, and then the muni does. And that is language actually that we push forth to legal to look at the requirement and ask, what's the best way to do this? Is it that there's only an inspection required when we license them as a brand new facility, and then if there are changes that— and we leave it alone, and if there are changes made, then it becomes incumbent upon the facility to let us know? We were trying to figure that out too.

So we're working on that, and that is one of those challenges with that playground piece. There is, from my perspective in enforcement, there's a little bit of a reluctance to take away the requirement for inspection entirely because it's gross motor play. There's a higher percentage of accidents that happen outside, and sometimes it is because there's something in the equipment. The S-rings aren't closed tight enough or the bolts aren't— they're not covered with protective coverings and somebody got caught. That's actually what happened, I think, to a child who died on a playground in the Valley.

The string on a hoodie got caught and wrapped around a bolt that somehow wasn't covered and she strangled. So there— and that was a long time ago, but it happens. And because it's gross motor play, there's there's a little bit of a reluctance to let go of the inspection requirement altogether, but we're looking to see, can we make it easier? Because overall, having a certified playground inspector, when that code went into play in September of 2004, it's been over 20 years. Anchorage actually had more— over the years we've had more certified playground inspectors than we do right now.

There aren't very many right now. It's, it's actually challenging to to actually even schedule one. And so we don't necessarily— we're not, we're not saying, oh, it's not one of those things with playgrounds where like fire and land use and they have to be done every year, every 2 years. That's not the— that's already not the case. But we're looking at, well, maybe it's only for a brand new facility and if they make changes.

So there, there are some language changes that we've suggested in that, and that's one of our questions for legal is some guidance on what, what would be a good way to have a happy medium with this and make it work for enforcement and safety, but also make it doable for the facilities.

Right. Anything else from board members?

So, uh, from my standpoint is, uh, if there's something specific you want us to look at and comment, uh, getting it to us or setting up a specific presentation on it One of the things I do appreciate is, is, uh, as we can also use, if needed, this space for any public comment around something of that nature. We could always maybe work that in. I think some of us on the board have intimate understanding of your regs because they are in that direct field, where some of us aren't. And I think the more we're able to reach out, or you're able to reach out reaching out to that community directly and also get that feedback will be essential and not just relying on this board alone for that, which I don't think—. No, that was never the intention.

Yeah, I know, I know. But I'm also speaking for the larger board to make sure they know as well. So appreciate that. But we're happy to always share our thoughts and opinion and use us as a launching point, but getting those with the lived experience or that direct contact is important as well. As well.

So appreciate it. Is there anything else, Don or Darcy, that you wanted to share? No, I don't have anything. We just— we want to hear from you. We want your feedback.

You know, we want this to be community change. Great. Well, I think we can speak, and I know when the implementation team was looking at things, getting rid of fees, just looking at barriers and really hearing from the community. I'm proud to say the Alaska Afterschool Network is under the umbrella of the Children's Trust. It's one of our programs.

I was very happy to hear about the variants and meeting that, and that's the community working with the government side, which is a great way of doing things versus the opposite. So thank you for that and your openness us and looking forward to seeing this progress. All right, wonderful. Thank you so much for having us. All right, have a wonderful Thursday.

Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Right, let's go back up to general updates, looking at A, number 4. Just wanted to talk about communication with the mayor and the assembly.

So as we are developing as a board our role and how we want to influence things and improve our community. One of the things was also how do we want to make sure that we're communicating both to the mayor, having Nolan and Marie in the room and having that connection. It's great to see that we have an assembly member, but one of the things we want to make sure that we also do is let the assembly member know what's going on. I think, uh, for our city to step forward as voters to dedicate this and have dedicated fund. Obviously, we were able to do this because assembly members also saw not just the importance of the topic, but the idea.

We're a little bit under a good microscope of, hey, if this works, how can this be replicated for the other things that we need within our city and so forth, that we want to make sure that we're communicating to them on not just our progress but the systems that we're putting in place. That when somebody is calling them going, hey, I want money from the marijuana fund to do X, that the assembly members actually know going, that's fabulous, this is the process you go through here. And that they know that when we're presenting our budget that there's this strategic plan, that we are not just doing our projects, that we actually are— got a focus and a way of growing and strengthening the field, and that they have that trust. And ways of doing that is also being very transparent and having that relationship with the mayor and the assembly. And would love your feedback of what would you envision, what would you like to see.

And we do have Assemblymember Ahn. I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions of how we can, and then Austin, of course, you have your own personal history with the Assembly and Mayor's Office. Would love to hear feedback so we can incorporate into this larger calendar and figuring out how do we want to communicate. So with that, I open it up to thoughts and discussion.

Well, I'm happy to kick it off. Can you guys hear me okay? Yes, thank you. Well, hi everyone. Thanks for being here and thanks for the work you're doing.

Well, first of all, I want to apologize for not being more engaged over the last few months. I am excited to be here and I'm excited to make this more of a common practice for me to be at these meetings and to be really connected to the work you're doing. And I think that it's a really important topic of, in our busy world and our busy lives and all the things that are happening, how do we stay aligned and stay connected and stay communicating. So I'm open to a variety of ways of doing it. You know, the one method that we use on the Assembly is through committees, and so I chair the Public Health and Safety Committee, and so that's one option to have, whether it's a standing or whether it's every so often, or, you know, have that as one way to be communicating with the Assembly.

On what's happening, what's going on. The other way, I think, is for Assemblymembers like me to make sure that we're at these meetings and participating in them.

And the other option we could think about is works sessions. So we could sort of pre-plan works sessions in advance, knowing that those are at times that there is important information to be brought forward to the Assembly monthly, so that they're kept in touch. So we can talk about a variety of methods, but I think having that sort of calendared out and knowing what those milestones or what those touch points need to be and planning those with us. Yeah, so I think in terms of the assembly, that would be probably my best feedback. And then when we get to the conversation about the executive director and that role and all all those kinds of things.

I think the other part that I would just really advocate for is that there's this really beautiful sort of balance between being independent and being sort of having that role, which is how we envision this, but also being connected and integrated into the municipality. And so that's the other piece is how that role helps to sort of stay connected. Acted as well. So that's just another thought that we can play with when you get to that part. But I'm happy to respond to any questions, but that's just my initial thought.

Thank you, really appreciate that.

Board members, thoughts?

This is the quietest I've seen you all.

So one of the things that was brought up was being, uh, being linked to a committee. How do we do that? Is that a request that we would fall under X committee of the Assembly, and then maybe it is a quarterly report that's sent or is presented at your committee meeting just to keep you informed? And what does that look like, Cameron? Yeah, so, you know, it can happen in a variety of ways.

I mean, so that's one of the reasons why I think the conversation about where this committee sort of fits into the matrix of the municipality is one piece. I mean, I've always assumed that it was connected to the health department, that that was the natural sort of home, you know, and the health department is essentially assigned to the Public Health and Safety Committee. So every month we have updates and we have discussions and we have a variety of things coming from the Health Department to that meeting. And so it may be too frequent to have you have a standing sort of agenda item on that, but it would be okay with me. I mean, I would be fine with just saying, you know, why don't we just sort of check in?

But the way to do that would be just to talk to me, I'm the chair of that committee and I work with others to set the agenda and we set the agenda usually a week to 2 weeks, usually about a week, week and a half to 2 weeks prior to the meeting. We have a pre-meeting where I meet with all of the heads of the different departments, the Police, Fire, Health Department, Law, all of those folks, and we plan the agenda for the next meeting. And so we can set up sort of a routine where we check in with you guys to see if there are things you want to bring to that agenda or not. So yeah, so I'm really open to thinking about how, but I think that would be a natural place to have some point of communication on a regular basis, and I can work with you on that. Great.

Yeah, we don't fall under the Department of Health. I I forget the technical, but where the position is— well, the board, I'm not sure falls anywhere, but our position of executive director, which we'll learn, it's going to fall under specifically Bill Folsley, which I'm forgetting the specific title. Chief Administrative Officer. Chief Administrative Officer. So working through that and just maybe adding it, and definitely we'll be able to strengthen communication and put that in place place when we have a full-time individual in that role.

Got it.

Other thoughts? Can I ask a question of Member Peralez-Verdía? Trevor? Please. Is that a combination?

So we used to, back in my days, used to have Public Safety and then we had Health Policy. Have those now been combined and Health Policy's gone? Okay, that's a good idea. I think it would be really fun and helpful for the Assembly, but you tell me what you think, Cameron, to have maybe an update on the programs that through the budget that you all funded, the programs that we're now working to bring to life and get funding out into the community. I think that's a piece that maybe the Assembly hasn't been tracking as much.

Yep. So maybe in the coming month or two we could do that. And I agree that I don't know we need a monthly update, but just maybe quarterly or something like that. Yeah, and I think honestly, I think that, that one thing we might consider is, and what the right timing of this is, to start with a work session. So you have a full hour to both sort of bring the assembly up to speed on, you know, how we got to where we are and what's happened up till now.

And then share some information about what's going to happen over the next da-da-da-da. That way you have a full hour, and then thinking about when we could have you guys come and present to the committee. And the committee is often a place for discussion that's leading to action, and so that is the— that's the place to come early and say, here's what we're working on, here's what's happening, and getting Assemblymembers really familiar with that that prior to them having to make any kind of decision, whether that— and in your case, it's likely the budget, right? So we want to make sure that we do that early and then to give folks an opportunity to ask questions and to gather more information, all of that, prior to the final vote. And is the Public Safety and Health Committee a committee of the whole where most members attend?

Great.

Okay, well, and one of the things we can do is with this great calendar is include that, like, once a year we definitely have a meeting with the mayor and make sure that we're aligned and talk about our street plan. And probably in time, part of it is us also presenting to the mayor what have we been doing and so forth. And then we could do something very similar to the assembly in a work session and then have that relationship with the committee and it's part of the calendar so we know the different things that we want to do, and it's well documented so we don't lose it. Okay, we'll work with Austin and folks and Cameron around that and, and figure out when is that best time to start doing this. Okay, anything else before we move on?

Well, I did have one question about your, I'm sorry, about the mayor. Have you heard from the mayor's office in terms of what that frequency is and how they stay connected to the work? So Nolan is from the mayor's office, so he's actually part of, and he's reporting back to Katie and the mayor of the different pieces. We do have within that we would have the, definitely the mayor, meet with us once a year, us providing an update and also talking with the mayor of what their vision is and plan and hopes for us are so we can be aligning them with our strategic planning. But we basically have an ongoing, and I think that's part of the conversation also when the mayor comes in and we start having that conversation.

Hopefully she'll be able to join us in May, and that will also be one of the questions we have with her of What specifically does she want? Because each mare may differ. Be like, once a year is plenty. She may want a little bit more, uh, or, or not. And working out those details.

And it would also be helpful just to even hear from Nolan, how, how does the information that's happening here get passed on? I'm just making an assumption that he's doing some type of report and meets with his leadership team and updates them on the projects that he's working on, so I'm assuming that information does get moved on, but that is a question we need to ask and get confirmation on. Yeah, and if, Chair, if I could just make one more comment, is that okay? Please. Thanks.

Yeah, I think that, that, I think, again, like we were talking about with the Assembly, figuring out how to make sure that that's really clear and what that time frame is and who that is, and all of that seems to be really important. And I would just say that one of the reasons why that's important, and I know this is a conversation you had earlier about your strategic planning, is, is I think to the degree that we can, we want sort of our strategic direction as a city to be all in line, right? And so being able to have strategic plans that represent the municipality as a whole and then seeing how the ACE this board fits into that. Like, you know what I mean? How your strategies and your ideas, that sort of thing, align and fit in with a larger strategy for how we're going to solve big problems in our city.

And that's true of public safety, it's true of housing, it's true of a variety of things. So I think there's a real effort to try to really, again, honor the independence of things because we need to make sure that people are doing their own things, but how that all aligns together and connects. And a key to that is how we communicate and how we make sure that we don't get off on different tracks. So I really appreciate the conversation, appreciate the effort to try to solidify that, that those communication timelines and streams now so that we don't find ourselves in different places, you know, 5 months from now. Well, no, I really appreciate that.

And what makes me really think as we are thinking our strategic planning is who else should be in the room with us as we're talking about this, like maybe a couple of the assembly members, potentially higher level of the mayor. The mayor obviously can't spend 8 hours, or making sure that she's invited at the beginning to share her idea, like really making sure that we are not working in a silo and we're making those connections. So I really appreciate that larger perspective and bringing it to the table. Thanks. All right, until Katie walks in and is able to join us, why don't we move to the implementation of the funds, and that's turning it over to you, Austin.

Yep. Can I just say something real quickly? Oh, yes. The lunch is in the kitchen, so feel free. It's just right here.

It's soup, it's gumbo, so feel free. I'll go with you if you're not comfortable, but it's just right here. Good. If you want to grab me a bowl because I can't leave. I know, not that I would normally ever ask that.

I was going to offer. I appreciate that, Marie. Thanks. Actually, I've been— uh, sorry, Austin, I've been asked for— then yes, Georgina, let's just do a 5-minute bathroom break. We do have some folks.

Oh, perfect. Thanks. I'll see you all at 11:38. Thank you.

Perfect. All right, uh, if members can, uh, and staff can just turn on your camera so we know you are back. Thank you.

We're just waiting for Georgina. Thank you.

Kevin, are you back with us?

No, let me just check here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're all busy right now. I believe it. What are the big things here?

What are the big things? Uh, I mean, a lot of it feels pretty exciting. Some work happening on the housing front. All right, that was exciting. Just checking in again, are you back with us, Kevin?

That just might have had to step away one piece if I just figure What are all the lovers? Oh, we had a really cool internal meeting. All right, um, it's 11:39. I don't think we stopped recording. No, no, no, that's okay.

Uh, I muted us and we are back on the record. Um, thank you. Uh, we have, uh, Katie with us from the mayor's office. Uh, we are doing an update on the executive director position, where it's going to live and some other aspects. So I'm just going to turn it over to you, Katie, and you can provide that update.

And thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Um, great update in terms of the back end is we figured out where the position will functionally live in the municipality. And so the position and just the fund, sort of the management of this for our purposes, will be under Bill Falzy, who's the chief Administrative Officer, former Municipal Manager here at the Muni. And so that's, I mean, relevant to whoever takes the job, but mostly relevant for us in terms of where do the approvals go and who's tracking this.

You might also just end up seeing Bill at these meetings and more engaged going forward as a result of that. So it'll probably be more of a, you know, Marie, Nolan, Bill kind of tag team and he'll be plugging in. I believe it is officially, officially created, the position, but sometimes one extra step pops up. So I'll get back to you guys ASAP. My understanding is that the position is created and functionally exists in his office.

So that was one hurdle we talked about last time. It's where does it go and does it exist? And I think the answer is we've got answers to both of those. So So that's promising. I can pause there.

Are there any questions just about that piece?

Any initial questions?

Hey, Katie, it's Cameron. Hey. Just not a long answer, but can you give us a rationale as to why it was put there? Definitely. Um, I think functionally it felt like there were 3 options, sort of report to the mayor's office, report to the municipal manager, or report to Bill, who's the chief administrative officer.

And really the way department, um, departments roll up at the muni right now, they're either under the municipal manager or they're either under the chief administrative officer. So I know our office has been working a lot with this group, but in terms of actually having an operational home, For this, our preference is that those don't, you know, report to or roll up to our office, which is one of the, you know, high changeover. We don't oversee departments. So I think there is an idea that our office will stay engaged, but in terms of actually giving this an operational home that lives on beyond us, our office sort of process of elimination doesn't make the most sense. And then conversation with Bill and Becky about where it lives.

There's a piece where It's connected to the health department, and Becky oversees the health department. I think in terms of this being a fund and a lot of the back and forth actually relating to the budget, that's much more of the department that Bill oversees. So there's a little bit of a— it could fit in either of those, and just talking to them about capacity and what they think. And obviously they work super closely together, so it's not a real either or in terms of their engagement. So I think it was just going through that process and landing at Bill's super plugged into the budget, super plugged into purchasing and IT and the HR.

Those are all departments he oversees, and that's what a lot of the actual interface of the position will be. And so that was, that was the logic. Got it. Thanks. Great.

Any other initial questions? Austin? Hi, Katie. Um, that sounds great. I was just wondering at what point I, or at all, should fold Bill in.

Like, do you want me to add him to the email when I send around agendas and minutes, or do you want to take care of updating him? Yeah, we've updated him on our end, but just starting to fold him in sounds great. So we've started to do that a little more, but yeah, making that the routine sounds good going forward.

Right, and we should maybe try to invite him to the next meeting if he can join us, and that way the board can meet and just make that connection. Okay, will do. So, okay, and then will Nolan then still be coming and Marie? Like, so when we have the position filled, uh, and moving forward, does like Nolan and Marie less— like, Marie's over committee, so is she still here? How does that all work?

Just to make sure that we know. Great question. That might be a— we come and report back a little bit more and talk between now and the next meeting. I think ideally to me in the short term we have more overlap because we've had Nolan engaged, Bill's going to be coming up to speed and getting more engaged. I think over time I expect it to shift more to Bill and away from our office, but we don't want to just just, you know, we're here one meeting and then Bill pops up the next meeting and there was no continuity.

So I'd say take a couple meetings where there's overlap and more folks and then figure out what's the sort of sustainable staffing model for us going forward. But the idea is we'll want our office to have some connectivity to it and can figure out what that means, but that operationally it does start to move more to Bill as the primary person. I think if we take that kind of step by step and get there rather than Yeah, flipping it overnight, that'll, that'll help. Absolutely. Because I like Marie.

Oh, everybody like me too. She takes care of me. It's great. And we're just now in sync. Like, she knows just at the right what I need.

So don't want to give that one up. Problem is everyone likes Marie. You're gonna have to get in line. Well, not really, because I'm the most important person in my sphere. But that's another conversation, and that— and let's not put that in the minutes.

So, all right, uh, that's great. Thank you, Katie, for that part. Uh, continue through. Great. Part 2 is— I know, um, gosh, I mean, my sense is there's been a series of conversations with the board last time we met, and then the hiring committee separately from that.

And then I know, Trevor, you've had a chance to talk with the mayor and report back to the hiring committee, and basically a series of conversations related to the executive officer role and what happens there. I think the report back in the latest, from my understanding, which I'll put out and then we can figure out if that's what a shared understanding or if I'm off anywhere, is this idea of proceeding with an interim executive director, executive officer. The idea being that this is new, there is sort of a startup phase here, and just more kind of practically, I think things we're trying to balance are continuity. I think there's been explicit conversation about, um, the potential for Austin to step into this role and the expertise that she brings. And I think the— so how do we sort of keep continuity, take advantage of what's working, take, you know, respect and understand where the board is coming from in terms of a recommendation, and then balance that with what I think for the mayor the most tangible feedback for her is really wanting to explore and talk more about about does it work for the permanent executive director of this fund to live out of state?

I think that's one thing that's really top of mind for her, and you all have done it this way, and it seems like there's a sense that, yeah, totally can work. But I think for the mayor wanting to just give that time to really play that out, talk more, figure out what's working about that, what's not, and I think her starting point preference is that the permanent executive director would live in-state for this kind of high-profile executive position, but open to exploring that. And so I think the way that's all come together is this idea of, um, an interim role that we could look at making happen sooner rather than later, with an idea that that could— I think our latest thought was could take us through Q1 of next year, or it could be kind of a year-long. That's the difference between something like 11 months or 12 months and then talk more about how are we defining success? What does it actually look like on the back end?

What is the process for thinking about who the permanent person in that position is? And is there overlap between that person in the interim? Or maybe this is all our way of recruiting Austin back to Alaska. That could be a different outcome of this. But I guess just to say, My sense is there's alignment around proceeding in that interim executive officer direction.

And so here to just report back that that seems like a place where there's alignment and more to figure out, but that's the latest. Well, and do a couple steps back just so to remind the board and some of the conversation. So thanks. So at our last meeting, it was asked to me just to have a conversation with the mayor and her team around the idea of what the process looks like and how do we really maintain the good momentum that we have. Austin has done a phenomenal job both with the IT group and now us as a board and really moving things like the— which we'll get an update— seeing where the proposals are at and how soon they're getting out I truly think has been achieved because we've had one person who's been focused on it, knows the system, and has been riding that system, and actually, quite frankly, doing the work and all of that.

And for us to lose that as we're going, as we're still trying to figure out who we are as well as a board and our own strategies and so forth. So that was presented. I was really appreciative the mayor reached out after asking for this. Her and I had a wonderful conversation on Monday and really just looking at it and just also looking at things from an optics standpoint, what helps not just our work but also being transparent to our community, everything that we've been talking about as a board and the goal of, of creating this board and the work we need to do, uh, and really appreciated her viewpoint and knowing and We all agreed that this first year there's not a lot of that community work that's needed. We're actually having to do a lot here and then bring the community in.

That we do the interim. We need— I updated the hiring committee about that conversation that we were all like, yes, 12 months would be great. And that our job then would be to figure out what does success look like. That we would review it at 6 months because again we want to make sure that our decisions and our processes are supporting and strengthening our work and don't become a barrier or an obstacle to what that is. So if we need this vast amount of community work done, then how does somebody do that remote and/or to what level because we also know that Austin would be able to come back and working those out, details to be figured out, What I love is that we are really aligned with what the mayor and her team are thinking and what we've been thinking and being able to move this forward.

So it's kind of like a little bit of a surprise. We didn't talk. I'm glad Katie was here, able to share that. And as we're gonna move that forward, 'cause it's also a conversation with Austin of what does that look like and making sure is it a contract, is an employee, there's some details that we need to, but we're going down the right path. I do want to just open up the space, uh, only one other member of the hiring committee is here, but just wanted to open up that space if you have a comment to make, and then open it up to the rest of the board of any questions or thoughts you may be having.

Kalia? Just to share, yeah, I think that the proposal kind of where we've come together is a good path to move forward for the full board's consideration. I think that Austin's invaluable, and I think there would be a big slowdown in our ability to accomplish work if we had to try to rush to hire someone who would maybe get hired in the summer, and then obviously her contract is through April. So I'm excited about the path forward, and I, you know, hope the board either has questions or comments, but I think it's really invaluable to keep someone who's been there with the continuity for the next step, especially because we're going— one thing we talked about a few minutes ago is just giving the board an overview of the budget process for our own learning, and it seems like a lot of our work will be coming in the summer to prep for the budget. So to me, that sounds like a pivotal time to have someone like Austin on board, so I'm excited.

Great, thank you. Board members, questions, thoughts, anything you want to add?

I also would love to hear, yes, we love this, continue. This is a time that I really want to see some interaction from you all to let us know that we're doing and going in the right direction.

I think we're going in the right direction. I appreciate the amount of thought that's going into this too, that we're— I mean, I think that some of these concerns make sense, that it's good to air them out, especially getting them on record publicly is great. Fabulous.

Ronren? Ronren, do you have thoughts?

Or Jessica, go ahead.

I don't really have anything to add. Okay. Jessica, you're still with us? Yes, I agree. I think that this is good and want to move forward.

Great. Assemblymember, I see you unmuted. Yeah, yeah, I did have one. I just, I guess the only thing that I, I mean, I love this part. I mean, I think that I like the, I think it was a very creative solution to do the interim.

That's a, that's a good idea. So I appreciate that. I think the only thing that I would just put on the record is the— I'm thinking long term about how this board sustains itself over, you know, decades and thinking about— and I know when administrations change, things will change, but I really want the administration and the board to be thinking about how to make this this something that's really settled in to something that makes sense so that it doesn't necessarily get flip-flopped and changed depending on who's mayor. And so my only feedback is that if the role of the municipality in dealing with child care is essentially in the Department of Health, then just thinking it doesn't have to necessarily— this person doesn't have to report to that person, but just thinking about how that integration happens, I think it's really important, and that this sort of balance between complete independence and something that's really aligned with the work of the municipality, because it's not its own organization, right? It's not a nonprofit, and I think there's a tendency to have a board and something called an executive director and that feels very independent, but at the end of the day, the budget has to go through the Mayor and the budget has to go through the Assembly, and so these are municipal functions, right?

And so I just really want to make sure that as we're in the early stages of this, as we're developing it and doing it, that we think about the long term and how we, how we develop this and settle this into something that's sustainable over a long time. Time. And we have an amazing, you know, opportunity to bring in Austin, but, you know, the truth is that if we went through the process of hiring someone brand new who had no experience, you know, working with this board, where would that person like sit? Where would be their office? You know, where would they— who would be their colleagues?

Who would they work with on a day-to-day basis? And so that they they are connected. And so anyway, just those are the thoughts that are in my mind that we don't have to talk about today, but I do think that as we do this, thinking about the long term is important to me. So thanks. Thanks, and appreciate that, and we've been thinking about that.

That's one of the reasons why we see Austin as the interim and really setting us, because a lot of this still has to be figured out and it can't be done in one meeting, and we have our strategic plan and a lot of that will help help that settle to happen as we really are building this plane and trying to fly it. So appreciate that. All right. I would just echo that. I think to me, this is a solution that's trying to really think about what needs to happen in the short term and be intentional about what we set up now and how momentum gets created and thinking about the long term.

And so to me, that's what feels what's like exciting about where we're trending here is there's a lot that needs to get done today and next month, but also like you're saying, Cameron, it's what does this look like 10 years from now and how are we affecting that with the decisions we're making today kind of thing. Right. Okay. Well, we will have more. I'll be following up with Katie on some of the next steps.

I know that she's working on, uh, we have some more work. And we should have more to you by April. And we'll make sure that the hiring committee is kind of like helping lead this work and will be kept informed and moving it along. So thank you all, I appreciate it. And one thing to that I would say, and then—.

Yes, please. —Top is just, I imagine just because of the way the language is written, that the board is appointing in consultation with the mayor, that actually having the this in writing in terms of the recommendation, and that going directly to the mayor would help in terms of establishing the process and having a clear communication with what we're doing that she can then respond to. And just that same sort of—. So, formal request letter. Yeah, exactly.

That's— thanks. And that's part of what we need to actually do as a hiring committee is actually also outline how we do this. And because And that's a piece of it. So thank you for that, and I'll work with Hyatt Group around that and draft something, get your thoughts on it, and then we can do that. Perfect.

I have a quick question, just logistics. Please. So if the committee puts forward this formal letter, which kind of covers what we've talked about to get written consultation with the mayor in addition to the conversations, I mean, what is the— I guess, are there other formal steps for the municipality if the board were to decide to move forward forward with this plan. I can go back and figure out what, if any, those could be. I— to me, that happens, and we've done all of the pre-work to say that the mayor's input has been taken into consideration.

So I don't anticipate that come back with a— then there's another step and a back and forth. So I think it's getting that in writing. If it's reflective of what we've talked about, that's the, you know, all good from her end. And then we formally The questions remain about what does the structure look like in terms of employee or— there's some backend work to sort out, but to me, that's the— yeah, something in writing and then proceed with the position. And do you feel like we're ready for that letter now, or is there anything that needs to be worked out?

Because if that's the case, we then actually need to do something formal on the board side to actually warrant that letter. And to me, the, the letter we're talking about, or what's in writing, from my interpretation— and we can always get a legal analysis— is not needing all of those details in writing. Really what the board is saying is, we would like to appoint X to the interim executive officer position. And it can be one sentence, and we don't have to have in that all of the details of the back end. And that allows us to just say we went through this process before it actually put forward an appointment, the mayor received that, um, was consulted, and then, right, I think from there the back-end logistics can work out.

I don't think those need to be, from my interpretation, in the written communication. Okay, so just quick follow-up. So it seems like logistically, just to time it out, the board could move forward with this simple formal consultation letter in the near future, and then did that mean in April it would be acceptable for the board to then make the formal decision or offer offer hiring, and I'm partially trying to game out the timeline because obviously the contract goes to the end of April is my understanding. And so I guess if we took additional formal action at the— either today or the April meeting, that works out for hiring potentially to start depending on everyone's schedules and also schedule if they— if that's what worked out. I mean, is that— or is it something we just talk about later?

Um, I think those are great questions. My initial thought is talk more later that the alignment of the board around making the appointment is really the first hurdle, and then there's maybe a little more to talk about in terms of logistics and timeline. But to me, that would feel like an important first hurdle to cross. Okay.

Uh, does the board need— yeah, yeah, that's coming up. Yeah, I'm just getting, uh, clarification on this end of what's needed so we can then figure out is there a motion. And, uh, I was just figuring out a couple other things.

Okay, great. Uh, thank you. If there's no other questions for Katie, we can let her go do her other stuff. Hopefully that's eat some gumbo. It's really good.

Thank you all. All right, thank you. All right, so for us to do this formally, one, just again for transparency purposes, I already checked with Austin. I just texted and went, are you ready for this, and so forth. One of the things that will need to be decided, which is more of an administrative side, is, is she 12 months as a contractor, an employee, some of those details, but we can work through those.

We can get the letter going. I just basically wanted to confirm that Austin was game of moving this forward because let's not make a vote and her looking at me going, Trevor, wait a minute. So one, thank you, Austin, and I know that this has been an interesting process for us all. So we do have a quorum. What I need is a motion on the table to request that we formally— what would the language be?

And I'm taking advice on that.

That asking that we would formally request the mayor to make Austin the interim executive director for the next 12 months. Does that seem right? I'm getting some head nods. Khalil, you probably want to say that the board wants to appoint since that's your role. Yeah, maybe specifically use that.

Thank you. Yeah, so would it be like the board would like to appoint Austin to the role of interim direct, uh, executive director in consultation with the mayor's office, using that same language? That's it. Yeah, we can do that.

Well, we've already consulted with her. We're making the formal request, so we're actually not consulting with her We've done that. We would actually make the request. Our recommendation is— I would develop the language.

Yeah, Cameron, I've never had an Assembly member join a board so often. Go for it, Cameron, because I like you. So the— just a clarification, so that both the appointments the consent and the consultation are formal, and so I think that you would likely want to both get the sort of the— that's what I mean. This is all new, right? This is all new of what consultation means, and is there— has there been a formality of that consultation, meaning have you received something from the mayor saying, "Yes," or, "I've heard you," or that sort of thing?

So that's all I would suggest is that there's there's something in writing from you and there's something in writing from her, it's a really important, I think, precedent to set in terms of how you would do it. So you're not looking for her approval, but you're looking for sort of a formal sort of documentation of the consultation. So that's all I would add. Yeah, so while we've consulted with her, we've had the conversation. Khalil?

Just my understanding, which I think maybe is slightly closer to what the Assemblymember is saying than what the words that you said. I thought Katie was saying we've had conversations, which personally I view those as part of consultation, but I think what she was saying is that she wants to enshrine the consultation process in writing. Okay. And so I think our letter is a request for consultation with our recommendation. So, and then they would respond and say, you know, basically, hopefully we agree with this vision for the entire, in the higher different process.

So yeah, I think the letter is still part of the council. It's formalizing, which I think we've already started the consultation, but this is kind of hopefully this next step of the consultation. I thought was what Katie was indicating. And yeah, Assemblymember, last at the last meeting a month ago, they, the Muni attorney and Katie were here to talk about how consultation is unique in the code, a little bit unique in the code, and their perspective on it. So that was part of— Shall we go with Jessica's wording then?

Do you want to repeat, Jessica? I think it capsulated, or did you grab it, Marie? Uh, sure. The ACE Fund board would like to appoint Austin as the interim executive director with consultation with the mayor—. In consultation with the mayor for the next 12 months.

Is that me? Yeah, for, uh, consultation for the next 12 months. Yeah, Marie, do you want to repeat, uh, what we have written out? The motion is to request the appointment of Austin Quinn Davidson as interim executive director in consultation with the mayor for the next 12 months, or appointment as interim executive director for the next 12 months in consultation with the mayor. How's that sound?

Sounds right.

Okay, Jessica, are you making that motion?

Yes, I can make that motion. Fabulous. As long as I don't have to repeat it again. No, we've got it written down. You did a great job.

Thank you, everybody. Entertaining a second? Second. Thank you, Khalil.

All right, anybody in opposition or additional questions or comments?

Hearing none, passes unanimous. The hiring committee will put that together and get it to the mayor. Thank you. Wow, a lot of work around that. Thank you all for that.

Uh, Austin, uh, back to you on just the fund program and the updates. Great, thanks everyone. Um, okay, hopefully I can do this and communications in 7 minutes. Might need a minute extra or two, but quick update on the program. So the stimulus payment program, we had a successful proposer.

We're allowed to say now publicly that Thread responded with a terrific proposal, and that contract is currently slated to get approved by the Assembly March 18th. So I've already met with the Implementation Committee. We've gone through some initial questions. That's Jessica Branwen and Kevin, but I'll circle back with you guys because we should plan to meet with them shortly after that date and hope that we can start working through how the stimulus program would be administered. For the child care subsidy program, we have a responsive contractor but have asked for some additional materials and we're waiting on those, so that's not ready for the Assembly to approve quite yet and is not yet published.

Public. Tamaya, did you want to add anything about the timeline for that one or any other details? Sure. So on that one, if we're able to get the information that we need the end of this week or early next week, we may be able to put that forward to the Assembly on the addendum for the March 18th meeting, which would be ideal to have those both go forward together and obviously get done sooner. Otherwise, we hopefully will be on track for the April 8th meeting, the regular meeting of April 8th, if we don't get that information, you know, by early next week.

So we're really just waiting, waiting on that. And then once the assembly approval occurs, we have to wait for 24 hours, and then we can move forward with executing those contracts. Contracts. So if THREDD is approved on the 18th, then on March 20th we will be able to route the contract for execution. So that's something that we, you know, are ready to do and ready to hit the ground running on.

And it's worth noting that the contract is included as an exhibit in the RFP itself, and so these folks have already seen the contract, comments on it if they have it, so that process should be pretty quick. Great pilot project. So I worked— Tamaya and I decided to do instead of the request for proposals, which is usually asking someone to do something on behalf of the muni, Tamaya felt, and I think it makes sense, to do a request for grant proposals instead. So this is for the pilot projects and capital funding, asking, you know, community organizations, entities, How do you want to spend this funding? And you're asking for a grant from the muni to do so.

And so that's, it's a slightly different format, but that's how I've drafted it. I sent a draft to Tamaya yesterday. She's going to go through it and make it better, and then we're going to share it with the evaluation committee. They've already seen that it's happening, but I don't want to waste their time until Tamaya improves it. Solicits both types of funding.

So thank you to those who sent feedback, either capital funding or pilot project funding, and it asked them to identify which one they're applying for. I have a question for the board, which is, um, in the RFP I used as a template, only one application from each entity was allowed. I think that makes sense here, i.e., not allowing them to apply to both, but is there any difference of opinion in the board before we finalize that in the RFPG.

That seems reasonable. Yeah, I just sit there— this is Trevor— I sit there and go, well, they may have a capital need, but they also may have an innovative thing. What happens if both are really good? And why wouldn't they? It's not competing, it's separate.

It's not that they're asking for two capital they're— we're doing one application. If we actually split up the money and made them two RFPs, then they could apply. So we could put that they could apply for one, submit one proposal for each type of funding, but no more than that. Yeah, like that's— yeah, there's one innovative and one capital. I agree with that.

OK. I don't think you'll get many, if at all, but maybe there's somebody who's got a great program, they need some capital, but they also have some innovation going. Yeah, I think it's possible. I think that sounds good. Does that work for you, Tamaya?

Yep, that works great. OK, I'm going to try to— 2 more minutes. Is it possible to extend to 12/20? Just so I have a little more time to ask questions?

Georgina just signaled yes as a motion. Khalil just seconded. Anybody opposed? You've got it. Okay, now I'm writing that down so I can get it in the notes.

Well, we're being recorded, we're being recorded, so. Okay, so I got feedback from a couple board members around about the ranges of funding that should be included in the RFP. G numbers were a little different, but I would say the majority of board members felt that the larger funding allocations should be for pilot projects because those would be big, more innovative, maybe operational projects, and that the smaller awards should be for capital. But I got one board member who thought the opposite. And so I just wanted to run through the ranges that I put in there that are totally open to being changed.

For capital, it's $5,000 to $100,000 awards. And these ranges, even in the language of the RFP, I said it could differ. I mean, maybe we get 500 applications, right? And those get smaller. Or maybe we get no applications and they get larger.

And so I think I think we'll get a lot, but anyway, $5,000 to $100,000 for capital. Part of the reason I'm not going below $5,000 was that Tamaya and I talked about the administration of that on the health department side, and also just on the requirements for the proposer. They would need to satisfy, um, muni insurance requirements and some other things that really below $5,000, she didn't think it would be worth it for them. And then for pilot projects, we did $25,000 to $250,000. Again, those could change, but those were the rough ranges I gave.

Do you have any feedback on those?

Any thoughts?

This is Trevor. I think the ranges are fine. The only thing that I want to make sure that we don't do is when someone applies for $100,000 that we don't go, "Well, we have all these applications, we're only going to give them $50,000." There needs to be either we agree that, because you, you're going to get a lot that may be up high, that we have X amount and that's what we're going to dedicate and we're not going to drop people down. And/or you need a question in there that says— and I don't know what my wording, but the wiggle room going—. Yeah, sorry Trevor, I'm only interrupting you because we have 4 minutes left.

Yeah, I know. RFP, it says, if you were not to receive the full award that you've requested, how would that impact the impact and benefit of your proposal? And what would you do if it were less? And ask for them to spell that out. Well, and I'd ask specifically, what is less?

Like, what's the minimum? Okay, yeah, what's the minimum that they could survive with? That's going to be needed.

Great. I will add that idea.

Great. Thanks, guys.

Any other feedback? If feedback is that generally sounds fine, that's totally fine. People don't need to speak up. I know we're short on time, but let me know if that doesn't sound okay.

I think you're good. Okay. Um, so in the RFP, I lay out a bunch of eligibility standards that talk about sort of general, I think, conceptual ideas around what this funding is meant for, and that includes feedback I got from you all and from the budget and the wording we use there. So talk through, you know, the potential impact of the project and benefits, you know, how many children or families might be served, how could this provide stability in the sector and even benefit long-term sustainability in the sector. We know what is the project, is it for studying something versus actually implementing something with a preference for the latter?

What is the potential of it to provide services to underserved populations? What is the age range that it would benefit and how regularly that project operates? So is it part-time, is it full-time, seasonal, et cetera, leaving it open, particularly for pilot projects, for any of those terms, but knowing that the scale of what the awards might be might differ depending on how often they're serving those populations. One specific difference for capital funding is— this is a suggestion that you provided, Trevor— that programs that want to apply for capital funding are only eligible if they operate at least part-time year-round. I think the idea— Trevor could add to it— but was not putting us in a position where there's a seasonal camp and they do a big pilot project or a big capital project and then kids— there aren't a lot of kids benefiting from it because it's so short-term.

But if anyone has an objection to that or anything to add, please let me know.

And there are a bunch of questions in there all about their application and the impact and benefits, and all a lot of things that the evaluation committee will review in more detail. The evaluation committee is Nolan, Khalil, Trevor, me, and then we invited Jeanette Lee from Rasmussen Foundation to engage with us, and she's going to be part of that evaluation committee, which again, as a reminder, and maybe for Cameron is new, that committee will make initial recommendations on awards, bring it to to the board who will consider those, and then we'll submit those to the assembly for consideration and possible approval. I've also been working, just so you all know, with Christina Holquist from the Child Care Program Office. She sent me copies of their grants, grant applications for innovation grants through the state and ARPA and CARES Act funding and how they administered that. So I've been reviewing her materials as well to make sure we're not missing anything, and I I think we're in pretty good shape.

So I think that's it for that. I'd like to briefly just say something about communications if we're OK to move on in my one minute remaining. OK, go for it. I want to make sure once that gets out in the public sphere, which is hopefully later this month, that we spread the word because we want people to make application for those. And I think the idea is that they would run for about 6 to 8 weeks, maybe 6, given that we're a little behind schedule.

Schedule. I think I can partner with THREDD, Alaska Children's Trust, maybe get Muni Licensing to send the application or the request out to licensed providers. I'll partner with Christina at the State Association for Education of Young Children. I hope that the board, you'll all share it with your personal networks and get out the word. I'll put it on our website, and then I was thinking it might make sense to coordinate with the mayor's office to do a press release release because this is actually a really exciting moment that we're getting funding out into the community and that regular providers and entities can apply.

So those are sort of my ideas, but if you have thoughts on that, I don't know that we have a ton of time now, but I would love to have feedback or other ideas you have. We don't have like a social media presence, so it kind of— I rely on other partners to help us spread the word. I think what you've outlined, your key partners that you outlined, we have a very strong network and we'll be able to get that out. So great, I think you're good.

All right, thank you. That was fast. Sorry, I actually thought we might get out early today. Silly me. But hey, it wasn't as much extra time.

Thank you all. Would love to see you in person anytime you can join us. Marie always makes sure there's a good lunch, just as an enticement. Uh, thank you all, appreciate your time, and have a wonderful weekend. Uh, motion— uh, entertain a motion to adjourn.

Thank you, Khalil. Georgina second. Anybody opposed? All right, have a good weekend. Bye-bye.

Thank you all.

Thank you all. I'm always like, with meetings, they're over, you just end them. We don't need a motion to end.