Copperas Cove city council again postpones action on Five Hills Scholarship Program

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove City Council decided to again postpone action on the status of the Five Hills Scholarship Program until their next regular meeting on Feb. 15, due to a council member being absent. 
Tuesday’s workshop and then regular meeting focused on what direction the council would provide to city staff regarding, whether the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program should remain under the city and be adopted officially via an ordinance as a city activity or whether the city should cut ties with the program. 
Mayor Dan Yancey started the discussion during the workshop with a suggestion to allow the Five Hills Scholarship Program to continue with the pageant currently scheduled for March 26, and have the council members come back during a meeting in April to make a decision on the status of the program “with the thought that however form that it turns out to be, that it would be as of the end of the fiscal year September 30, 2022.”
Councilmember Vonya Hart expressed concern over this specific form of action impacting the reign of the titleholders, who will be crowned the end of March and hold that title and those responsibilities until the following March. 
Councilmember Jack Smith said he wanted to see it go from March, so that the new titleholders would at least have their full year of reign. 
Councilmember Dianne Campbell said she also felt that it was never thought to be an instantaneous process. 
“There is no way that if there was a decision that the pageant should pursue private organization or whatever, that can’t happen overnight, and it’s always been my position that we would be supportive and continue to support the pageant until such time that is reasonable that they’re able to transition to a private organization, with the understanding it’s not forever, if that’s what the council voted,” Campbell said. “I don’t see this happening in a day or month or six months.”
Hart also asked about an offer that had allegedly been made by a third-party organization to come in and give support in setting up the program as its own 501c3, taking that responsibility in getting the paperwork set up. 
Campbell said that she had been in conversation with a company that “made the statement that they would be happy to do all the paperwork, to do everything necessary to help them transition to 501c3, also to help with all the financials and provide all those kinds of services.”
FHSP Volunteer Director Wendy Sledd said that her understanding was that the company would help with the financial side in writing checks and handling the money that comes in through the program and is then disbursed back out. 
“But that’s not running the 501c3, so if they are willing to do that, please let me know that, but just being the fiduciary agent is - there’s a lot more than just handling the money with a 501c3,” Sledd said. “It’s like running your own business.”
Sledd added that the board has had discussions with City Manager Ryan Haverlah and former Mayor Bradi Diaz, looking for a way to make it work. 
“You’re aware of my position at the school district,” Sledd said. “As a one-person department in a 6A district, I work more than 60 hours a week. I mean, there’s just no way I can run my own business. I would be a volunteer, but it’s still a business. You all talk about the growth of this program, and we have never rested on our laurels. We have continued to produce for this city, and it’s almost as if now, I read the agenda packet, as if we’re too successful now for the city, the city can’t handle, we’ve gotten so big, etc. But we’ve still managed to do it, but I cannot possibly take on more as a 501c3 and run my own business as a volunteer for the city.”
Campbell said that she had received countless emails from supporters and past and present titleholders of the program. Campbell said that she had been under the impression that the pageant program had been operating independently from the city already and that the city was not doing more than the finances aspect. 
The city provides support for the pageant program by allowing the use of city facilities and opening and closing the facilities. City Manager Ryan Haverlah said that from 2018 to 2021, the Five Hills Scholarship Program’s use of city facilities has resulted in a total of $15,756.75 in foregone revenue. The estimated salary costs for 2021, not counting benefits, was approximately $700, and the insurance cost just for one year is $676. The financial fiduciary responsibilities cost the city less than $200. Haverlah later calculated that the city’s financial support amounts to approximately $1,440 annually. 
Yancey said that he wanted everyone to understand that whether the city adopts an ordinance and keeps the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program or chooses to part ways that the city would still continue to support the program and “that nobody’s turning their back to Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program or whatever it’s going to become.”
In the citizens forum portion of the regular meeting, several citizens spoke in support of the Five Hills Scholarship Program, including former recycling coordinator and former Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful Executive Director Silvia Rhoads. 
“I also remember thinking how each and every royalty member I ever came in contact with always served our community with a smile and without complaint, always,” Rhoads said. “It takes a caring, special person to dedicate so much of themselves and not ask for anything in return. In my opinion, each of you has a great opportunity here to show, as a whole, how our city council values and supports those that give so much of themselves without asking anything in return.”
During the regular meeting, Chavez made a motion for the council to revisit the item on February 15, with the stipulation that the council would take action on that day and not keep postponing it, as long as there is a quorum.
“I don’t want to keep putting everyone through this,” Chavez said. “It’s highly stressful, and it’s not fair to keep pushing this down. I want us to make a decision- whatever that decision is going to be, however the vote goes.”