By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
After a nearly two-year hiatus, the fate of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant program is up for discussion on Tuesday evening by the Copperas Cove city council.
This time, there is a draft of an ordinance that if eventually adopted by the council, would bring the program back and make it an official activity/program of the City of Copperas Cove. Likewise, there is a draft of program bylaws for discussion.
Back in June 2023, the council had directed city administration to go forward with preparing an ordinance draft and bringing it back to the council.
At that June 2023 meeting, Councilmembers Joann Courtland, Fred Chavez, Shawn Alzona and Jack Smith voted in favor of moving forward.
Councilmembers Jay Manning, Dianne Campbell and Vonya Hart voted against moving forward to draft an ordinance.
The decision facing council since 2022 has been 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, when Andrea Gardner was city manager and Joe Brown was director of Parks & Recreation.
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 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 a volunteer board of directors would be appointed and be in charge of appointing the program coordinator.
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 at that time. “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. Upon clarification, an 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.
The Tuesday, April 14 meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Copperas Cove city council chambers at 508 S. 2nd St. in Copperas Cove.
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