Meals on Wheels for Western New York, Inc.

Board of Directors Meeting

Thursday, December 17th, 2015 – 4pm

PRESENT: Tara A. Ellis, Richard Grimm, Lynne Dixon, Matt McAfee (via phone), Maria Scarozza, David Smith (via phone), Lamont Williams, Cathy Shifflett, and Todd Pohlman

STAFF:Lisa Woodring, Rachel Leidenfrost, Chris Procknal, Lucian Wiza, Lauren Hibit

ABSENT:Cliff Nelson and Kathy Pilarksi

EXCUSED: Christa DiPizio

WELCOME – R. Grimm

  • Another year comes to a close and the organization continues to grow and strengthen financially, trending year over year. Things are going well operationally in the commissary. Media & PR has lots of coverage. Board – strong leadership and direction. Thank you to Tara and team and to the board.
  • Approval of October 15, 2015 minutes.L. Dixon moves. T. Pohlman seconds. All in favor, none oppose.

President & CEO Report – T. Ellis

  • Thrilled to report that contract negotiations with county and Bateman going really well. Goal to have all signed by end of 2015. Small issues compared to what we’ve had to work out in years past.
  • Teams all working on goals and priorities for 2016. Hope to have them by January, they will tie in closely with the strategic plan.
  • Thank you to all who came to meeting, and to all who provided comments. T. Pohlman motions. L. Williams seconds. All in favor, none oppose.
  • Thank you so much to everyone for all of your hard work this year. You are all amazing and we are grateful for all that you do.

Operations Report – C. Procknal

  • County Audit- Email Friday 4th in afternoon from auditors requesting to come in, audit took place December 10th and 11th. No scrambling, team was very well prepared.
  • T. Ellis – It’s a sign of our improved relationship with the County. In previous years they refused to give us any information prior. Last year and this year they provided us with a list so we can be prepared and keep things organized. Much more efficient, cooperative, collaborative.
  • Meals made without gluten – will begin trial program with 2 clients in lateJanuary/early February. Wed placed an order for¼ pallet of frozen meals made without gluten. They should arrive in mid-January, believe there is a desire for these in the community, potential to serve more clients.
  • Cooler replacements – volunteers from Sacred Heart will provide 20 students to label coolers and assemble racks on 12/29.
  • MOW was also presented with Spirit Award from Sacred Heart. Established connection between SHA and MOW, we will invite them to Hunger & Hope. Potential for other Board members to contact their alma maters for other opportunities.
  • Waiting for 2nd oven prototypes. Will do quick test and finalize plans.
  • Also working with Olmstead Center for Sight to produce oven covers. L. Williams is on their Board, willing to help if needed.
  • Bateman customer satisfaction survey results. Overall satisfaction 79%. Bateman is very responsive to menu changes. New recipes, new offers, pies, special meals for holidays. Congregate sites much more vocal, but home delivery benefits as well.

Finance Report – Lucian Wiza

  • Questions regarding packet? None.
  • Meal counts. Home delivered meals projected 912k, up 3.9% on budget, 3.7% on last year. Congregate meals down on budget but up 3.5% from last year.
  • Increase in home delivered meals mix, Medicaid is up to 13.4% currently, was only 11% last year. The fee we get from Medicaid is significantly higher so that’s a good trend.
  • Joint finance committee met and reviewed proposed 2016 budget. Agencyprojected to have a slight deficit of $19,000, but Foundation projected to have a net increase of $273,000, so consolidated is positive.
  • Food contracts other than HDM or congregate switched over to the Foundation so that County is not involved. Accounts for deficit with Agency. Also 2.7% increase in meal cost with Bateman.
  • Joint Finance Committee recommends 2016 budget to the boards as presented. R. Grimm motions to approve. L. Dixon seconds. All in favor, none oppose.
  • Debt subcommittee meeting. Review debt, new quote for prepayment fees from Bank of America. Fed raised rates yesterday. Do need to evaluate if rates continue to go up, large balloon payments in 2019, need to determine if and when to refinance.
  • Started in-depth capital investment needs assessment and analysis. Will continue to evaluate. HVAC, commissary aging, etc.

Foundation and Facilities Report – Lisa Woodring

  • Plate Expectations – planning is already underway. S. Mayo has passed reigns to J. Nassivera and J. Dolce. Looking at Riverworks as the location. Meeting with them next week to pin down date. Then sponsorships can be obtained. Subcommittees will be implemented again. Passed around sign-up sheet.
  • Hunger & Hope – Passed around cards for 2016 tours. Thanks to M. McAffee, M. Scarozza, D. Smith, S. Mayo for bringing guests.
  • Wreaths – thank you. Netted $3,500+ this year.
  • Pot & Pan room – new floor is in and it looks great. Exhaust fan will be installed within the next week.
  • Step Up to the Plate – ran at Dash’s from mid-November through Mid December. Closed out at $7,400.
  • K. Campbell working on reception for major donors to be held at the beginning of February.
  • Justin – still in Boston, but was released from hospital. Waiting for his body to accept the bone marrow. There will be a benefit February 5th at Ironworkers Hall in West Seneca. Tickets will be available this week. R. Leidenfrost will send link when available. Need for auction items, food donations, ticket sales.

Communications Report – R. Leidenfrost

  • Working to build relationships with media.
  • Ride-along with Springville Journal editor went well, they ran a full page story in paper and have agreed to put us in Around Town section on regular basis.
  • Channel 4’s Jordan Williams has been volunteering with MOW for 6 months, had great ride-along with him. They arerunning a holiday commercial throughout the month which includes a 5 second snippet of Jordan delivering meals.
  • Speaking engagements – can lead to more volunteers, more donors. Example of Dave Smith – met someone at PE, he spoke at their office, and they designated MOW recipient of charitable funds for a month.
  • Government affairs – All but one municipal donations are in (waiting on Lackawanna). Two of the most recent donations are increases, the rest are what we were expecting. 18 total municipal donations.
  • New email system for 2016. Working with company called Get Response – very affordable. We will have the ability to customize lists; users can self-select which categories to receive – donors, volunteers, caregivers, etc. Will be careful not to overwhelm inboxes. Note – we have the opportunity to do one month pilot before paying. Need you all to sign up so that we can work out kinks before going public. Let me know if anything seems off or other feedback.
  • Hunger & Hope tours – New initiative strongly encouraging new volunteers to do them. Important for them to hear the mission-oriented piece of story. Six volunteers have signed up so far. Also beginning some behind-the-scenes tours of the commissary with existing volunteers, this has been popular so we will continue this in 2016.
  • Volunteer background checks – instituting for all new volunteers.
  • Written policy with certain exemptions (1 day only volunteers, under 16, adopt-a-routes whose companies conduct their own background checks, etc.).
  • Best practice throughout nation. Fortunate we haven’t had issues, but this will help us mitigate risk.
  • T. Ellis - For an organization of our size we really need to be doing this. We were waiting to be financially secure, and we are there now. Most companies are doing much more thorough checks than what we will be doing.

Committee Reports

  • L. Wiza – Personnel Committee. Change to PTO policy. Last reviewed in 2012 and at that point we increased time, and also offered PTO to part time staff. Found in 3 years that it’s very difficult to manage time off for part-time staff and costly. Majority of part-timers out of the main office at sites, which causes problems because we have to pay someone to cover the site.We have grandfathered in current employees, but new hires in 2016 going forward will not receive PTO if they’re hired on as part-time.
  • R. Grimm – Nominating Committee – We have identified a couple of prospects. Will continue to look at them early in thenew year, goal of presenting them for the June class. Any other prospects – feel free to call Rich or Tara or Dave any time.

New Business

  • R. Grimm – Request for reminders about how much is outstanding for Board giving. Essential to know what percentage of Board contributes, having 100% contribution needed. Attendance at all Board meetings also essential.
  • Great sign that things are going smoothly that meeting is over in under an hour. Thank you for everything – giving, time, etc.

Motion to Adjourn

  • L. Williams motions to adjourn. M. Scarozza seconds. All in favor, none opposed. Meeting adjourned.

Next Board Meeting:February 18th, 2016, 4:00 p.m.

CONFERENCE CALL NUMBER

1-866-866-2244, code 7168817#