Minutes

SWANA Florida Sunshine Chapter

Board of Directors Meeting

Bonaventure Resort & Spa – Weston, FL

July 27, 2014

3:00 p.m. – 5:00p.m.

Call to order and Roll Call: Mitch Kessler, President, called the meeting to order. Deb Bush, Secretary, called roll:

In Attendance

Mitch Kessler, PresidentTammy Hayes, Vice President

Sam Levin, TreasurerDeb Bush, Secretary

Crystal Bruce, Chapter AdministratorKeith Howard

Bob HyresRick Stevens

Jim BeckerKim Byer

David DerrickDavid Deans

Visitors in Attendance

Janice BurnsBill Embree

Warren SmithCarlo LeBron

Ray Lotito

Absent

Michael Gordon

Dan Rodriguez

Approval of Minutes

(a)Sam Levinmoved to approve the Board of Directors Meeting minutes dated

May 6, 2014, seconded by David Deans. Motion Approved.

(b)Keith Howard moved to approve Consent Agenda Items dated July 27, 2014,seconded by Kim Byer. Agenda Approved.

Welcome

(a)Volunteer Participation: Mitch Kessler welcomed everyone and noted the great turnout. He talked about where the group is, where it needs to be, and what needs to be done to get it there. Mitch advised he is concerned about several things: (1) the committee reports indicate committee participation is lacking; and (2) polled the group to see who is spending a minimum of 4 hours per month on SWANA. He suggested allowing some of the younger members step up to openings on the board and become leaders on various committees. He talked about the enormous amount of time it takes to put together WASTECON and other events. There is no Training Committee and there have been no training or tours in the last two years. He mentioned that Recycle Florida Today (RFT) is hosting all types of events, meetings and gatherings. He advised he feels the organization is not providing the membership services that it should and opened it up for discussion. Numerous questions, comments and ideas were posed. He discussed planning a retreat to get together and brainstorm about where the organization needs to go and how to get there.

Committee Updates

(a)Finance and Budget Committee (Sam Levin)

Sam reported that currently we have a positive cash flow of $8,000 but will know exactly where we stand after we pay all conference expenses. At this time, we have received $40,000 in revenue from the conference.

(b)Nominations and Awards Committee (David Deans)

  1. The election was held and 72 people voted. In order to save money, it was decided that since there were only four people on the ballot and there are only four positions open that a second reminder would not be sent out. All four of the nominated individuals were elected. Tammy Hayes moved to accept the election results, seconded by Rick Stevens. Motion Approved.
  2. Award nominees – Nothing to report.

(c)Conference Committee (Tammy Hayes)

  • Tammy advised there will not be a joint meeting with RFT this year. SWANA will be doing the winter meeting alonewhich has to be done six months prior to WASTECON which is August2426, 2015. Crystal has a Request for Proposal out for the Tampa Bay area and it will be a two-day event. Current stats for thisconference are160 people pre-registered (83 public, 77 private, 15 students) compared to last year’s 155.
  • Crystal will attend this year’s WASTECON in Dallas for the two busiest days in order to familiarize herself with this event since she will be helping to coordinate the 2015 Orlando conference. WASTECON 2015 is going to be held in Kissimmee at the Gaylord Hotel at the end of August. Tammy voiced several concerns regarding the conference; one being time of year; another is the Wednesday night SWANA event has to take place at the hotel. She feels the numbers for attendance and revenue is going to be much less than we experienced when WASTECON was in Tampa. She also advised of the other conferences during 2015 which is a concern regarding the WASTECON attendance. Tammy advised of the level of volunteers required to host these events and what is entailed. Ideas were discussed. Some of the committee slots are filled; however, there are still openings as follows:
  • Chair – Tammy
  • Exhibits/Sponsorship Sales – Open
  • Flags (Pressed and put on poles, make sure you have people to carry flags. The Boy Scout Troop was used previously and a $500 donation was made to them.) – Open
  • Publicity Coordinator (List of who should be contacted to get local participation.) – Open
  • Recycling Coordinator (Set-up and take-down process.) – Jim Becker
  • Registration Committee (Staff registration.) – Jim Becker
  • Proctors (Free training in lieu of having to pay.) – Jim Becker
  • Tech Program Coordinator (Handle local issues.) – Jim Becker
  • Tech Tour Coordinator (Coordinate tours.) – Jim Becker
  • Golf – Sam Levin, Bill Embree and David Derrick
  • David Deans moved to spend $1,000 to help promote the WASTECON 2015 kick-off party in Dallas, seconded by David Derrick. Motion Approved.

(d)Scholarship Committee (Lenny Marion – absent)

Tammy Hayes advised that Lenny is making a recommendation to the board to fund two scholarship recipients, Garrett Oswald and Kaylee Diefendorf. Deb Bush moved to approve the scholarship recommendations, seconded by Tammy Hayes. Motion Approved.

New Business

(a)Chapter Awards Update(Crystal Bruce)

Suggestion was made to revamp the awards as there was not a lot of interest this year (one submission).

Old Business

(a)2016 Tri-State – Alabama (Crystal Bruce)

Crystal advised that this was discussed at the last board meeting and she was asked to go back and tell them we didn’t think it would work out to have it outside of Florida. She asked if they would consider having it in North Florida and the response was no, Alabama has to stay in Alabama.

Comments from Chapter Officers and Directors

(a)Warren Smith– Thanked the board for nominating him for the SWANA International Professional Achievement Award.

(b)David Derrick has retired from Kissimmee as of July 11, 2014.

(c)Deb Bush – Thanked Tammy Hayes for suggesting that the Chapter nominate Warren Smith for his award. Tammy always recognizes the contributions that everyone makes to the organization.

(d)Kim Byer – Tony Boatman passed away in April.

(e)Keith Howard –Discussed the Technical Committee Policy and Procedures. Board needs to devise a way to make people accountable and handed out a proposal outlining modifications to the responsibilities.

(f)Mitch Kessler –Reiterated the idea of a retreat to brainstorm for the good of the organization. It was agreed to a one-day retreat to be held in the Fall, possibly October during a weekday; more information to follow. Ended with a push for more recruiting of new members.

(g)Sam Levin – Brought out issues with regard toRFT and it was discussed that maybe SWANA should break away from the partnership with them. He also brought up the exhibits in January and how successful it has been in the past.

Scheduling of Next Board Meeting and Adjournment

The next meeting will be a conference call to approve the budget.

Adjourn

David Deans moved to adjourn. Seconded byDeb Bush. Meeting adjourned at 4:51 am.

Respectfully Submitted

Deb Bush, Secretary