Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for Current Year

Current Year: 2024-2025

In accordance with OAPT Bylaws, minutes for all Board Meetings can be found below. Board meeting minutes will be posted as they are made available.

July 2024

Oklahoma Association for Pupil Transportation

Regular Board Meeting

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Location: Putnam City Transportation Facility 7111 NW 42nd St., Bethany, OK 73008

Call to order at 10:04 a.m. = Donnie
Recognition of Online/Guest Attendees: Arguell Harris (Lawton PS), Robbie Holzberger (Edmond PS), Matt Messelt (Edmond PS), John Summar (Sand Springs PS)
Guest Vendor Updates/Proposals = N/A
Approval of June 12th, 2024 Meeting minutes = Motion to approve Robert Feinberg:, Seconded Richelle Miller:, Approved: All
President’s Report -- Donnie = N/A
Old Business =
1. Next Conference Location and Date: Choctaw Durant on 6/8/25-6/11/25. Positive and productive meeting with Choctaw and address every issue raised with suggestions and input on how to save money next year. Donnie would like to entertain a motion to approve Choctaw again for next year’s conference. See the note Items for next year in Google Share. Motion to approve: James Page, Seconded: Curtis Thompson, Approved: All
2. Adding Sky or Grand Tower to our next contract - They can do this if we want. Contracted rooms update = How many rooms should we reserve for OAPT? 10% at Sky, 10% at Grand, and 80% at Spa? Verify 2024 room conference reservations of the number of each tower.
3. Need bios/photos for new board members, a good email and phone number also. Zach still needs Brandon Olmstead. Need more than one paragraph in your bio. Zach will be finishing updates this week.
4. Final Bill for Conference $61,550.68 after the $25,000 deposit. Donnie needs to add to our shared drive. Motion to approve: James Page, Seconded: Erich Anderson, Approved: All
5. Conference Feedback - Feedback link below https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c5g6BLafasUo8w81G05QDl1EgDpiJ3zjB5cVSLK-p8A/edit?usp=sharing
SDE Updates -- Kim / Mat = Curtis and Robert had a CDL training class approved by the state at the conference. Robert spoke with Kim at the conference. This is the slideshow that was presented. The slideshow is on the website. Trainers can click on the slideshow tabs to review for the class. It is ELDT-approved and meets SDE. Possible adding a flat fee to have access to the testing materials and answer sheets? Recommendations for Master CDL trainers have been approved by the state. Robert will post all information in the Google Share when finalized and approved to put out to everyone.
Service Oklahoma Updates -- Amanda Casebier/Alyson Sorenson = Working on Emergency Rule to approve modernization.
Secretary’s Report -- Tammie = Will be sending out more invites and information.
Treasurer’s Report -- Richelle = Main = $2,911.88 ;Training = $80,872.86 ; Total = $83,784.74. Spending cap limit and who will determine who can spend it? If the amount is less than $1000.00 no approval needed for the Treasurer to pay. Motion to approve: Curtis Thompson, Seconded: James Page, Approved: All. Above $1000.00 will need to have approval of the board. Blanket approval for the Treasurer to pay Smart Horizons, Insurance and post office bills as they come due to be approved annually. Motion to Approve: Donnie Ryan, Seconded: Jay Hunt, Approved: All

Needs to be in the Operating Manual so that everyone will know. Motion to authorize approval to pay Smart Horizon $700.00. Paid Ralph $400.00 for Mechanic Training. Quickbooks is raising their fee to $99.00. Any other yearly bills that need pre-approval? Annual Budget? Reimbursement for OAPT Leadership annual conference flights? Cutting off support for Districts that owe back payments? Do we issue refunds if someone pays and cannot attend? Quickbooks fee going up to $100 a month. Balance of $18,647.00 in the training budget. Combined total of $21,559.06 in budget. Most districts are caught up on their bill.

Refunds from director/mechanic registration (fee only) cutoff dates 30 days prior in writing, to conference date. Refunds from Vendor registration (fee only) cutoff dates 30 days prior in writing to conference date. Vendor only refund will be 50% off fee. After 30 days, no refund. Motion to approve: Curtis Thompson, Seconded: Erich Anderson, Approved: All.

Refund notification posted to conference enrollment form. Tracking of districts that enroll, pay and ask for refunds to be done by the Treasurer.

Districts that owe money from 2023 on, Richelle has sent out invoices stating past due. From this point on, districts that have past due balances will not be able to attend conferences without paying their bill in full. June 24th, eight districts of conference payments. Registration will state prepayment required for conference attendance. Zach can cross check to see if the district has a past due balance for training and will need to have it paid before training can resume.

Cutoff training balance is six months out and not paid, training will be placed on hold until balance is paid. Motion to approve: Richelle Miller, Seconded: Donnie Ryan, Approved: All.

OAPT budget google doc listed in the share drive https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZWBE0J7Ey1BQ53UzEKIq5w2TyzRVmvrK/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101192247883987907466&rtpof=true&sd=true

Request for reimbursement of airfare for NAPT Leadership Conference, for the following people; Robert Feinberg and Donnie Ryan. Total invoice cost to be submitted to the Treasurer for payments.

Communication Director’s Report -- Zachary Wouters = Future website improvements. Social Media for OAPT. Cell phone for OAPT.
1. Website improvements and options available: Added online training links, request form for SmartHorizions classes, cleaned up conference information, made it clean and uniformed.

Mutual Aid - organized by district name (send Zach information that needs to be update), Social Media added to the site and updated with award pictures and videos. Drop your extra pictures in the share folder for Zach to add to the site. Banner will be added. Cell phone would like to stay with Zach. It is our primary source of communication to hold it.

Vendor Director’s Report -- James Page = We are good.
Training Director’s Report -- Curtis Thompson = Review our online training course to ensure it has ELDT and is aligned with Federal/State laws. Should we raise the class price for the conference? NAPT charges a flat fee of $2300.00 and $1193.00. Total cost of $2493.00.

NAPT classes will need to be raised to $40.00 due to the cost of NAPT classes at $35.00. Motion to approve: Richelle Miller, Seconded: Donnie Ryan, Approved: All.

ELDT to be updated to be compliant. States are able to choose which classes they want to be current and can be updated. Robert to schedule a date and time to view on google meet. Bus rodeo, to bring it back we would have to add a day to the conference. Will visit with others for input.

Regional Director’s Reports =
1. NW Director - Cody Thompson = N/A
2. NE Director - Brandon Olmstead = N/A
3. SW Director - Jay Hunt = N/A
4. SE Director - Shannon Fulford = N/A
5. Tulsa Metro Director - Erich Anderson = N/A
6. OKC Metro Director - Robert McDown = N/A
2024-2025 Committee Assignments Updates: Committees to be assigned
1. Conference Awards and Pins (Richelle, Shannon, Donnie) =
2. Bylaws Review and Recommendations (Robert F, Donnie, James) = Job duties for review
3. Nominations and Election (Robert F, Shannon, and Tammie ) = Should the name/school be on the voting form? School district only
4. Mechanics Day (Jay, Kevin, Curtis, John) = Air Brake Certification class? Will follow up to make sure the class is in place.
5. Conference Topics and Speakers (Donnie, Curtis, Robert F) = Conference Sequence of Events.
6. Conference Catering and Logistics (Robby, Matt, Cody, Richelle, James G, Donnie, Robert F) =
7. Vendor Show and Buses (James P, Matt, Kevin, Robert M, James G, Zach) =
8. Future Conference Locations (Robert F, James P, Erich, Brandon, Robert M) = We will be identifying the 2026-2027 conference locations earlier than the last several years.
9. Registration (Richelle, Shannon, Chandria, Matt, Tammie, Brandon, Cody, Zach) =
New Business:
1. Approving the Leadership Team Members -- Donnie: If you want to be on the leadership team you must participate and attend meetings. Meetings are in person and online as well. There are plans in the bylaws to remove you from the leadership team for non-participation. Leadership team members are: John Summar, Kevin Means, Chandria Youngblood, James Graham, Matt Messelt, and Robby Holzberger Motion to Approve: Donnie Ryan, Seconded: James Page, Approval: All.
2. Set meeting schedule for the year -- Donnie: First Wednesday of each month, skipping August. Move the January meeting to the second Wednesday.
3. A new yearly calendar of events -- Robert: Sent a link to everyone for OAPT for a calendar of events. It will contain reminder notifications.
4. Polos for Board Members for the conference -- Robert McDown: Polos wear to identify the board members and make us look more professional.
5. Ideas for next year’s conference -- Robert:
  1. We are losing the Magnolia rooms where the mechanics classes have been. We will need to relocate those.
  2. They have added a couple of other spaces, the Old Steakhouse and the Grand Summit Room.
  3. Possibly move the Vendor Appreciation to the Old Steakhouse, it has a bar, area for food, plenty of seating, TVs, Speakers for music and they can add tables as we desire. There could also be a silent auction in an adjoining room. If we do, we want to stress to the vendors to start their dinners at least an hour later.
  4. Monday night's option would be using the Grand Summit following the Awards Banquet. We can have a Blackjack/Poker/Craps Tournament. Not for money these would be for prizes for the winners. It is $750 for the gaming reservation (we may be able to add it to our contract), $50/hour for dealers, and $100/hour for a supervisor (1 for every 2 dealers required). We want to get a vendor or two to sponsor the event and there are a ton of TVs to run static logos. There is also an area to do Karaoke and it has a bar area.
  5. We can also possibly add a slot tournament either in the Grand Summit room or on the casino floor, which could be any day we want.
  6. We can lower the food and beverage minimum and take a look at specialized menus to see what we want to have served instead of the pre-packaged plans. We can let them know roughly what we want and they can come up with menus.
  7. We need to have everyone seated in the ballroom before meals and then give the prayer and release for eating. We can make it a game like hidden numbers on the table to see who releases first and so on.
The Next Regular Meeting of the Board: September 4, 2024, at the Oklahoma Department of Education 2500 N. Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City OK 73105 OLIVER HODGE BLDG, Rm 217.

Vote to Adjourn -- Donnie = Time: , Motion to adjourn: Erich Anderson, Seconded: Zach Wouters, Approved: All.