Copperas Cove city council calls for audit and insurance ahead of Five Hills Scholarship Program ordinance

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove City Council continued discussions on the status of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program during their Tuesday meeting before voting 4-3 to move forward with working on audits and the insurance component necessary to bring the program under the city via ordinance. 
The decision facing council was to either dissolve the program and encourage it to become its own 501(c)3 non-profit or to bring the program fully under the city via ordinance. The FHSP had originally been revived as the Rabbit Fest Pageant in 2014, underneath the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce, before the Chamber cut ties with the pageant program in 2016. The program was then rebranded as the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program and brought under the city as an activity/program under the Parks and Recreation Department. 
The city council has discussed this issue during six workshop and regular council meetings since January 4, 2022. 
During Tuesday’s meeting, the council adjourned into executive session for approximately 45 plus minutes to discuss legalities associated with the outcome of whichever decision council made before Councilmember Joann Courtland presented a possible option for bringing the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program under the city via ordinance. 
Courtland’s proposal would bring the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program under city ordinance as an activity of the Public Relations Department, with the crowned titleholders acting as ambassadors of the city and promoting the city. Courtland’s proposal also suggested that the program would retain the way it is currently set up (to include using a pageant to select the ambassadors), but would follow a list of rules and prerequisites, including an audit on the program’s finances from 2018 to 2021 to “ensure that any and all items are accounted for, and the city knows where it is starting.”
The program bylaws would be rewritten, reviewed by the city attorney and approved by city council, and the board of directors would be in charge of appointing the program coordinator, for the position currently known as the Pageant Director.
The Five Hills Scholarship Program would be included in the annual city budget process, and financial controls would be consistent with all city policies and procedures cash handling, payment processing, expenditure authority, expenditure recording, grant authorization and management as well as tax, according to Courtland. 
All events and estimated participants would need to be provided annually for liability and workers compensation insurance coverage. 
A notable change to the program also deals with the platforms of service, which have ranged from helping local City of Copperas Cove programs and departments, such as the Animal Shelter, Senior Center, and Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful, to the school district to other local charities (Hope Pregnancy Center) to national organizations (The American Heart Association, the Alzheimer’s Association, etc.)
The proposal would ensure that 60 percent of the program’s activities must be City-centric (i.e. directly benefitting the city, such as the library, Parks and Recreation, the Senior Center, Animal Control or KCCB.) The other 40 percent is allowed to be other nonprofits and organizations that are located within the city of Copperas Cove, such as Cove House, My Brother’s House, Boys and Girls Club, as well as Copperas Cove ISD. 
“The belief is we use the Five Hills Scholarship Program as ambassadors of our city,” Courtland said. “We can bring folks, families, business owners, to our community to live, work and play. What is needed is more cheerleaders for the city of Copperas Cove. We have a lot to offer, and we should not limit our scope in that endeavor. This proposal provides the Five Hills Scholarship Program the ability to continue to do good work for our community, but the responsibility for the success or failure of the Five Hills Scholarship Program squarely belongs with the program.”
In discussing what next step to take, Councilmember Fred Chavez said he wanted to do a “deep dive” on the level of liability coverage the city would need to maintain if the council moved towards an ordinance. 
As a compromise, Courtland made her motion for city staff to move ahead with starting on the prerequisites of an audit and looking into the liability insurance. 
The actual decision to bring the program under the city as an activity via ordinance is still yet to be made, or not made. Upon clarification, the audit will be specifically dealing with the difference between the total revenues from all payments of the program and the approximately $500,000 worth of fiscal accomplishments/achievements mentioned previously by Sledd. 
Councilmembers Jay Manning, Dianne Campbell and Vonya Hart voted against moving forward with the prerequisites portion as proposed. Councilmembers Joann Courtland, Fred Chavez, Shawn Alzona and Jack Smith voted in favor. 
Before the final vote, Manning read a prepared statement for his decision. He acknowledged his use of the words “public purpose” when talking about the Five Hills Scholarship Program and said that governmental purpose would be a better fit for what he had intended.
“Those things such as public purpose, public good, public interest, public benefit- you’ve done more than that,” Manning said to the crowd of Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Program supporters seated in the audience. “But these terms describe the fabric of all our civic clubs, organizations, foundations and churches. They are important to our community, but if we carry these terms into the realm of government, we’re on dangerous ground. I’m not saying we haven’t done it. For 100 years, we’ve been seeing these things carried out in government. These terms are the foundation, or they’re found at the foundation of almost all authoritarian, totalitarian and dictatorial governments. If you would study Germany, in the ‘30s, you’ll see you hear these terms over and over again. So, when we carry them into government, we’re being dangerous. So I believe we’ve endangered or sales by allowing governments to invade our daily lives. We should remember that until a few decades ago, our orphanages colleges, hospitals were founded and operated by religious groups.” 
Manning went on to quote an article by the American Institute for Economic Research that states that a limited government does not mean to cripple government and that “we need a state that is good at a few things, not a state which tries to do everything and fails at all of it.”
“Not only do I think that we don’t need to enlarge the city responsibilities,” Manning said. “I think it would be healthy if we prune some of the things that we’re doing. Judging by the vote tonight, I’m probably in a very big minority here.”