2025-2026 MELA Minutes

tools in the middle of the semester. She mentioned that she was bothered by the July 1st start date. Shalon mentioned that she would rather see one contract end at the end of a semester. She mentioned that even June 1st isn't ideal because that's not enough time to train. Her concern is that we schedule and start dates on other contracts. She asked Dr. Lebrun if she had talked to ITS about when their busy time is and when a more ideal time is to have the contract start? She mentioned that this isn’t working, or it's not working for Holmes. Dr. Krista LeBrun, MCCB mentioned that the majority of our contracts have a July 1st start date, due to when Mississippi's fiscal year begins. She mentioned that she could make the contract terms whatever is best for the group. She mentioned that just what the group has always had, but for years, no one's challenged that. She mentioned that if the group wants those dates modified, absolutely, 100%, she can do so, as she shared during April's meeting. She mentioned that about a $5.4 million spending authority, and so much is being used on July 1st that we're having to make modifications into the spring to spread out that spending authority. She stated that what she would need from the group is to say what you want those start and end dates to be. She mentioned that she wouldn't be able to go in and amend all the contracts to modify the start and end dates, but as contracts are getting either approved for procurement or approved for renewal, as part of that renewal process, she can get those dates amended, which was done with Smartservices, because it concluded March 31 st , which was a random date. CitiLabs concluded on November 30 th , which is also a random date, but that's when it got through the approval process with ITS. BrainFuse is currently on August 22nd. So, to the best of their ability, they will do their best to get it based on the timeline that we request, according to Dr. LeBrun. She mentioned that if there is a date that the committee doesn’t want, let her know and she will start working toward it. Which all of the can’t be on that date, because it will exceed the spending authority for that portion of the fiscal year. Michelle Mitchell, PRCC, commented that July 1 st has always been the date when software was purchased for the new school year, in which we would start in the fall with the new system, which we aren’t starting this summer. She mentioned that we usually start in the fall with a new system, stating that July 1st is always when the contract starts. With training starting at that date, we will then implement in the fall. When she mentioned is why it is being questioned.