WASFAA 2007-2008 Executive Council Meeting Minutes
February 21-22
Seattle Westin Hotel
Thursday February 21st, 2008
Present:Doug Severs, Peter Miller, Steve Herndon, Tracey Lehman, Sandi Guidry, Catherine King-Todd, Leslie Limper, David Tolman, Kay W. Soltis, Laura Hughes, Jeff Lackey, Pat Downey, Bert Logan, Alexandra Edwards, Jodie Kuba, Wendy Olson, Leonard Walker, Renee Davis, Frank Silva Jr., Frank Green, Francie Campbell, Carla Idohl-Corwin, Jordon Grant, Judy Saling, Mindy Bergeron, Tami Sato, Colleen MacDonald, John Nametz
Welcome by Doug Severs, announcements, introductions and housekeeping.
The meeting of the executive council was called to order by President Doug Severs at1:15 PM.
Changes to the Agenda: Catherine King-Todd requested to move awards to the last item of the day today. Doug Severs also said we would be moving Fund Development up on the agenda. Also, update state president’s report person to Alexandria Edwards and change AZ report person to JohnNametz.
Motion- Frank Green moved to accept the revised agenda.Peter Miller seconded.Motioncarried.
Review and Approval of Minutes (Tracey Lehman); Tracey Lehman presented the November minutes; Catherine King-Todd had 3 corrections and 2 clarifications to inquire about in regard to the minutes.
Motion: Tami Sato moved to accept the revised minutes.Mindy Bergeronseconded. Motion carried.
Review and Approval of To Do List: Tracey Lehman reviewedthe To Do list and 3 items were continued, 2 items are in progress.
Fund Development- Onita Clark and Judy Saling presented their report. Onita Clark reported that Fund Development has had a challenging year, the number of sponsors is down as well as the number of exhibit booths. It will be difficult if not impossible to reach their budgeted income goal. The committee is $87,000 under their goal. This morning Fiscal Planning suggested contacting vendors about banner advertisements to try and increase revenue. This morning at Fiscal Planning it was also suggested that the new chairs do a survey to vendors next year, Onita Clark will let them know. Doug Severs said that WASFAA will need to be more budget conscious in the future, but luckily WASFAA is fiscally sound at this time. Judy Saling mentioned that Fund Development changed vendor options this year to try and accommodate vendors but this still did not result in increased or sustained revenue. Judy Saling said they tried to reach other vendors such as collection agencies but the response was poor. Jeff Lackey said that in talking to collections companies he found that they want more contact with business offices.
To Do: Onita Clark will let next year’s Fund Development chairs know they should survey vendors next year.
Treasurer’s Report Peter Miller distributedthe complete treasurer’s report to the council. Peter Miller said that after the last meeting he was charged with buying two treasury bills but they were combined in to one Treasury bill. Peter Miller reviewed the complete treasurer’s report including our gains and losses to date.
The balance sheet as of 2/20/08 reflects our assets to date.
Peter Miller reported that the budget revisiondocument is a recap from last year, there are no 2008 revisions yet. The income and expense graphs are also from 2007-2008.
Motion- Tracey Lehmanmoved to accept the Treasurer’s report.Leslie Limper seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Sandi Guidry reported that she has been reviewing the bank statements.
Fiscal Planning Committee Report-Steve Herndon reported that Fiscal Planning met this morning for 2 hours. Steve Herndon reviewed the summary of activities from the fiscal planning report.Steve Herndon reported that Fiscal Planning feels they need to be proactive about the assumed fund development shortage in revenue. Fiscal Planning is suggesting that we reduce the income goal of Fund Developments by $77,000.In order to balance the budget we will take $77,000 from 2007 (of excess income) and transfer it to Fund Development. Steve Herndon also reported that one committee, ElectronicServices, requested an additional $500. Fiscal Planning has recommended taking $500 out of member gifts to fund budget increase request.
Motion- Frank Green moved to accept the recommendation made by Fiscal Planning.Alexandra Edwards secondedthe motion.
Tami Sato asked for more information about the RSS feedElectronic Services was pursuing. Pat Downey explained RSS. Doug Severs asked for a vote on the motion, the motion carried.
Steve Herndon updated Fiscal Planning’s discussion on asset inventory and their recommendation that the HistoricalArchivesCommittee complete that inventory once a year. It was further recommended that the Historical ArchivesCommittee will decide annually what to keep, dispose of, donate etc. Wendy Olson asked if there was a time of year that the inventory should be done. Doug Severs suggested it be completed and submitted with their annual report. Steve Herndon suggested a timeline of before the transition meeting in order to pass on an accurate inventory to the next chair.
Frank Green asked how Historical Archives would decide what to dispose of. Kay Soltis said she thought that management of the asset inventory was in Policies and Procedures already. Kay Soltis also said that the whole idea of the asset inventory was that it would track depreciation so the chair would know when to dispose of items. Catherine King-Todd said that it is not in Policies and Procedures and that is why we need to do make a recommendation and decision. Onita Clark mentioned that Historical Archives would consult with Fiscal Planning before disposing of items. Renee Davis mentioned that as Chair of Historical Archives she is not on Fiscal Planning so how would she consult them? She suggested she would consult with Executive Council. Steve Herndon mentioned that he will continue with Fiscal Planning next year and will be asking to include the chair of Historical Archives on the Fiscal Planning Committee so there will be continuity.
Motion-Tami Satomoved to approve Fiscal Planning’s recommendation in regard to the asset inventory being done annually by Historical Archives in conjunction with Fiscal Planning and that Historical Archives and Fiscal Planning are allowed to dispose of WASFAA physical assets as appropriate. Laura Hughes seconded. The motion carried.
To Do- Wendy Olson will add the above verbiage in regard to Historical Archives’ management of the asset inventory to Policies and Procedures.
Steve Herndon brought up the discussion of insurance coverage from Fiscal Planning. Steve Herndon and Sandi Guidry have been working with Rust Insurance Company to secure a proposal and coverage. Billie Jo Hamilton (a special guest at the November Executive Council meeting) suggested this company who works with many other regional associations. Steve Herndon reported we are expecting a bid of $6,000. Doug Severs has the forms to review and sign.
Steve Herndon also updated the full council on the biannual review by Jordon and Associates.
Strategic Planning Committee Report Tami Sato reviewed her report and the activities of this morning’s meeting. She has completedcommittee goals and committee chair descriptions. Tami Sato said that she drafted the goals for the Representative-at-Large, both segmental and associate and Treasurer.
Tami Sato reported that she reformatted the Measures Tracking Tool document and added years to the tool for history. She will send this out to the full Executive Council. Doug Severs announced that he has asked Tami Sato to complete his past president year.He has a computer system conversion on his campus that will take much of his time. Tami Sato will continue with Strategic Planning and Nominations and Elections. Tami Sato mentioned that WASFAA may work with consultant Gayle Northrup in regard to updating our strategic plan and membership survey results. Tami Sato also reported that her group discussed the upcoming transition meeting and presenting the strategic plan to new committee chairs. Doug Severs also reported that he requested Tami Sato and Steve Herndon work on an article for the NASFAA Transcript on the WASFAA Strategic Plan and membership survey results and actions.
Training Bert Logandistributed his report to the Executive Council. Bert Logan mentioned that spring training is very compressed this year because of the expectation that training was done by the time annual conference occurs (conference is usually in May, it is April this year). Colleen MacDonald asked if each trainer was using the same content at all locations. Yes. Bert Logan reported that they sent out another announcement to the listserv about spring training last night. Bert Logan reported the committee used anyone who listed training as their first choice on their volunteer commitment. Bert Logan reported that this is his last year as co-chair and Cindy Pollard will take his place.
Wendy Olson commended the Training Committee for having spring training; she knows it is hard work.
2008 SDBSI Kathy Campbell reviewed her report. She added that she did a newsletter article about Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute. Kathy Campbell said she would like to have her list of faculty approved; she does not need them approved so she just reported who is participating. Kathy Campbell distributed a logo for their bag. Doug Severs informed Kathy that earlier in the meeting there was a discussion of what member gifts we have in storage that WASFAA needs to use before buying more. Sandi Guidry reported what the bags in storage look like. Dave Tolman reported what they have used in the past that worked well. Kay Soltis said since we have the sling bag left, she suggests a 3 ring to go with it. Kay Soltis reported that we have so many sling bags because we had planned to use them for SDB Summer Institute. Kathy Campbell said they will try and work with what we have. She circulated a spreadsheet that listed what they would like to charge as the cost of the institute. Kathy Campbell reported that they do not know if they can get the handbook for free, if not they need to make copies of the handbook. Kathy Campbell reported they expect 124 attendees, she asked the council to look at the price breakdown. She reported that she and Mike Johnson discussed $548 for a double and $648 for a single. Doug Severs suggested we raise the rate to show some profit, he suggests $590. Leonard Walker reported that at this time there will be no cost for the facilities, $10,000 has been budgeted. Colleen MacDonald suggests we do not adjust the budget based on no cost for facilities, it gives us a cushion. Kathy Campbell reports their faculty cost are high because they are brining a trainer from Hawaii and Alaska in order to have all states represented. David Tolman commented that we should think about the total cost to directors including transportation, which is different from the small regions that do not have as far to travel. Kay Soltis suggested $575 to still make money but assist schools with sending employees. Frank Green concurs that $575 sits better. Peter Miller asked about a commuter rate. Colleen MacDonald says she thinks it is a nice gesture to have a commuter rate.
To Do- Kathy Campbell will ask Peter Miller to add her to the Kinko’s copying account for SDBSI.
Motion- Peter Miller moved to accept the rate of $575 for double occupancy and $675 for a single and $475 for a commuter as the rate for SDBSI. Tracey Lehman seconded. Motion carried.
2008 Annual Conference-Jordon Grant reviewed the conference report. He reports that they have a full program (it is on the website). Jordon Grant says there will be a night out packet included with registration which is cheaper than a dinner but offers activities for attendees. The President Reception room is only available for an hour, Jordon will ask for 2.5 hours. The Grant High School Jazz band will play at the reception. The room block commitment is full and the hotel wants us to increase it. We are 100 attendees behind in registrations compared to last year. The conference committee has found that 75 people have reserved rooms that have not registered for the conference. Jordon Grant reports that the committee is not in favor of increasing the block but would like to hear the council’s recommendation. Leonard Walker says the conference committee needs to call the people who have rooms and are not registered and he says increasing the block just increases our liability to the hotel. Kay Soltis said do not increase the room block, do not find another hotel, we are responsible for 75% of the room block. Onita Clark said that she has run into the problem before where rooms get double booked because the company and the individual book rooms.
To Do-Jordon Grant will call those individuals with rooms who are not registered for the conference.
Electronic Services- Pat Downeydistributed his Electronic Services report. He reviewed the tasks that he has completed including elections, spring training, award updates and conference registrations. Pat Downey reported on the changes that have been made to the vendor pages during the last year of change in the lending business. He is also working on a new graduate issues page for the graduate Issues Committee. Pat Downey also reported further on what the RSS feed can do for WASFAA and its members. Tami Sato asked if reminder emails were sent to people to vote about voting. Pat Downey reported that they were.
Peter Miller mentioned that there will be an additional form for committee chairs on the website.
To Do- Tami Sato will send the committee form to Pat Downey to post.
Catherine King-Todd asked if all state presidents could be all listed as chairs so they can post things on ATAC.
To Do- For 2008-09 Pat Downey will list all the state presidents as chairs.
Wendy Olson thanked Pat Downey for posting the most recent Policies and Procedures. Wendy Olson requested that the most recent by-laws be posted. Pat Downey needs the by-laws in word format to have them posted.
To Do- Renee Davis will send the most recent copy of the by-laws to Pat Downey so he can request that ATAC post them.
Frank Silva asked if there was a way to post comments on the website. Pat Downey reported that there is a contact option. Frank Silva asked if we should have a way for members to provide feedback.
To Do- Pat Downey will work with ATAC to develop a way for members to send input on WASFAA and the WASFAA website.
There was a discussion about having a summary of “Who is WASFAA” on the WASFAA homepage. Catherine King-Todd provided the 2-sided slick document toPatrick Downey that includes the Mission Statement, Core Values, Organizational Priorities and Membership Benefits. This is the document we provided to WASFAA members who attended the conference in 2006.
To Do- Pat Downey will work with ATAC on a way to increase the information about WASFAA on the homepage.
Nominations and Elections-Tami Sato reported there were at least 7 write in candidates for the Ethnic Diversify Chair. She reported that according to Policies and Procedures she needs a motion to destroy the ballots, since we do not have paper ballots; we need to destroy the electronic ballot.
Motion- Peter Miller motioned to destroy the electronic ballot. Mindy Bergeron seconded Motion carried.
Tami Sato thanked everyone who voted.
Federal Relations- Tami Sato reported that Vicki Shipley sent out a Federal Relations Committee report. NASFAA is working on a side by side comparison about the reauthorization bill (the senate and house versions). Vicki Shipley did write an article for the newsletter, you will see it soon.
Tami Sato and Vicki Shipley will keep WASFAA updated on reauthorization. Tami Sato urged us to let our representatives know how we feel about the issues with lenders, the legislation and lenders going out of business, repayment complications, default etc.
There was discussion on a recent WASFAA listserv message on the lending issue that reflected personal views and should not have been sent or stated differently.
Renee Davis mentioned that perhaps we need reminders about appropriate use of the listserv.
To Do- Doug Severs will write something up about appropriate use of the listserv and send it out.
John Nametz asked what the email said. Tami Sato read the email in question. John Nametz stated that he did not have a problem with the email in question.
Graduate/Professional- Colleen MacDonald distributed her report. She mentioned that many committee members are no longer associated with who they were affiliated with but are still contributing. She reported that her committee has drafted an email to send out to their sector about the annual conference and the sessions that would be of interest.