Members of the Education Personnel Committee questioned whether routine office supplies charged to grant accounts should instead be covered by general funds or budgeted event lines. During the committee’s brief meeting, a member called attention to a packet of claims from Amazon that included Kleenex and coffee creamer and asked staff to explain the charges.
The staff member said the purchases are typically provided for employees and offered to pull those line items out of grants going forward if the committee preferred. “Typically, we do provide that for our employees. . . . If you wanted us to pull it out of the grants, we're happy to do so,” the staff member said. She said she would check with the bookkeeper to identify which office and budget the items were charged to and report back.
Committee members noted the agency operates across two counties and that some supplies are purchased for events and shared between offices and programs; one member said they had not previously raised this question but appreciated the scrutiny. The staff member said some purchases are used for events and others for in-office staff use and that she would follow up with more specific line-item information.
The committee approved the broader claims list by voice vote after temporarily holding the questioned line item for follow-up. The meeting record shows the committee also approved minutes from the June 5, 2025 meeting earlier in the session.
Discussion: committee members raised accounting and budget-allocation questions and asked staff to verify where specific Amazon purchases were charged.
Direction: staff agreed to check with the bookkeeper and return to the committee with line-item details and recommendations about whether supplies should be charged to grants or other budgets.
Decision: the claims list was approved by voice vote with the questioned items to be investigated further.