All right.

We'll begin the uh informal session for the Jonklin City Council for Monday, August 3rd.

And thank you all for being here.

First up, Ms.

Haas, Education Assistance Update.

Good evening, Mayor, Council.

Tonight wanted to go through some information on our education assistance policy.

This policy was updated in 2023 with the adoption of the new employee handbook and then updated again in 2025.

Really, the reason for this policy is to help employees advance within the organization.

It's available to regular full-time employees who have one year of service.

They have to be actively working and performing satisfactorily.

It needs to relate to their career development.

They have to do an application and have their supervisor sign it.

They have to achieve a passing grade.

Currently we are budgeting $27,000.

This was increased in 2024 from $25,000.

The reimbursement is set at the undergrad uh rate at Missouri Southern State University, and we cover expenses, tuition and up to 50% of the cost of books.

And there is a $5,000 a year limit.

Also we deduct grants before we do any reimbursement.

Master's classes are only considered if they're available budget dollars after reimbursing for undergraduate classes, and if it's required for the career development of that employee.

But now there are a lot of eight week eight-week classes and uh all kinds of different classes.

So we set we defined what fall is and what what spring is and summer, uh, and we allotted budget dollars for each one of those.

So right now it's 12 for fall and spring each and 3,000 for summer.

Um all the employees that meet the criteria are then placed in a pool for reimbursement on a prorated basis of the total amount being requested to the total amount of education assistance budget available.

Um any employee who does receive education assistance, they're required to work for the city for two years.

If they don't, uh then they repay it again on a prorated basis.

So here's how it has worked uh since we adopted the new policy.

This is fiscal year 24.

Uh, this is the only year that we have had to prorate, um, and we did learn a few things uh this first year.

Um, but you can see uh we had a lot of participation that year and we were able to get everyone some money, uh just not quite all of the money uh for spring and summer.

But in 2025, uh you can see we did not use all of our budget dollars, and we were able to reimburse everyone what they were eligible to receive.

And then this year, same thing.

This this year we haven't had as many people participating, so it kind of ebbs and flows.

Uh so in summary, uh this program seems to be working really well.

It used to be first come, first serve that uh I don't think there was anyone happy at the city about the first come first serve program.

It just uh was not fair.

Uh but with this program, employees know up front the minimum amount of their reimbursement available if they meet the qualifications.

Uh it's much more equitable.

Uh we've received a lot of positive feedback about the program.

The reimbursement process is streamlined and improved, and right now our budget amount is sufficient.

Uh so with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Okay.

Are there any questions?

Mr.

Moran?

Hey, Leslie, just real quick, do you know how much per is when you say the minimum that the person is eligible for, is it based off years of service, so they get an increased amount, or is some one person going to get $500 a new hire?

So it's prorated.

So if we have a year, and we that's why we break it down by semesters.

So if you take the fall semester, if we have people who have submitted, say $15,000, which is over the $12,000 budget, then we're prorating what they're due based on those available dollars.

So it's just prorated uh based on that particular semester.

And then if we have dollars left, then from spring and summer, then we can go back and repay anyone that was shorted for fall.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Coppel.

So do the people know ahead of time that it's going to be prorated when they get their letter, because in the past we we didn't do that.

So are we making sure that everybody has a clear picture when they okay?

Yes.

So now we're letting them know ahead of time.

So they have to turn in their application before the semester starts, and then we calculate what they could receive if they do everything they're supposed to.

Um and if everything comes in like it like it should, it's the minimum amount.