Call to Order
The January 30, 2024, virtual meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Council of the Blind was called to order at 7:00 PM Eastern by President Deb Cook Lewis.
Roll Call - Denise Colley, Secretary
At the call of the roll, the following Board members were present: Deb Cook Lewis, David Trott, Ray Campbell, Denise Colley, Michael Garrett, Kim Charlson, Chris Bell, Donna Brown, Gabriel Lopez Kafati, Cecily Laney Nipper, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Kenneth Semien, Koni Sims, and Jeff Thom. Board of Publications Member Penny Reeder was present representing that body.
Board Members absent: Doug Powell who was excused.
Staff present: Dan Spoone, ACB Interim Executive Director, Nancy Marks-Becker, Chief Financial Officer, Claire Stanley, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, and Rick Morin, ACB Media and IT Manager.
Approval of Agenda - Deb Cook Lewis ACB President
President Lewis reviewed the meeting agenda.
A request was made by Lopez Kafati to remove item 9 from the agenda due to the fact that he believes that the document related to ACB Affiliate and National Organization Expectations and questions around its origin had not been properly shared and socialized with the Board and membership.
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Sims to approve the meeting agenda as presented. The motion carried with one no vote by Lopez Kafati.
Approval of Minutes - Denise Colley, ACB Secretary
It was moved by Sims and seconded by Semien to approve the November 28, 2023 meeting minutes with corrections. The motion carried.
It was moved by Nipper and seconded by Sims to approve the December 8 and December 15, 2023 meeting minutes as corrected. The motion carried.
Mission Moment – Deb Cook Lewis and Dan Spoone
This Mission Moment was to recognize the entire ACB staff for pulling together to support ACB’s mission with the departure of Clark Rachfal and Kelly Gasque.
Dan said that ACB has gone through a difficult period with the downturn in the economy and funding opportunities in 2022, COVID revisited in 2023, and the most recent departure of three members of our Executive Leadership Team, to include our Executive Director. The positive message that is important for our partners to know is that ACB is doing a lot of things very well because members of our leadership team have all moved on to opportunities with increased financial capacity and a chance to grow their careers.
Dan thanked all of the remaining staff for pulling together and taking on additional responsibilities wherever and whenever needed.
Update on Executive Director search process and timelines - Deb Cook Lewis, President
Deb reported that we are on schedule with the Executive Director position search process. Interviews with the two top candidates were to be conducted that very week. On 02/8/2024, the Board will have an opportunity to interact with and interview the candidates in Executive Session. Each Board member is being asked, if they so desire, to create a question that we would like to ask each of the candidates. Questions should be sent to the ACB Board List and need to be in by 2/2/2024. There will then be a time for debriefing and discussion to provide in-put to the Search Committee.
On 02/15/2024, a second Executive Session will be held for the Search Committee to make their recommendation, and for the Board to vote on a final candidate. The hope is to be able to introduce the new Executive Director at the Leadership Conference.
Executive Director’s Report - Dan Spoone, Interim Executive Director
The 2022 Annual Report has been completed and is up on the ACB website. The first week in January the Alexandria office moved from their temporary space on the fifth floor to their new permanent offices on the sixth floor.
Dan then shared the outline of the Leadership Conference sessions. Our luncheon keynote speaker on Sunday at the Presidents Meeting will be Susan Baillely who is a low vision professional working for Procter and Gamble. Her current job is to evaluate the 4,000 fragrances that Procter and Gamble employ in their products. She is also part of their Accessibility Team, she is a bioptic driver, and she is on the Board of Clovernook.
Dan highlighted the return to ACB of Claire Stanley, our new Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs. Our luncheon keynote speaker on Monday at the Legislative Seminar will be Karla Gilbride who is a blind attorney, and who has finally been approved by the Senate to work as General Counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Board discussion and action regarding Kingsley Plantation tour during convention - Deb Cook Lewis, President
Comments were first shared by the Chair of the Multicultural Affairs Committee and all ACB Board members regarding pros and cons of the decision of whether or not to keep the Kingsley Plantation as a tour venue at the ACB Conference and Convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Lopez Kafati that we remove the Kingsley Plantation Tour from the list of available tours at this summer’s ACB Conference and Convention. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion passed with eight yes votes, five no votes cast by Trott, Colley, Brown, Nipper and Sims, one abstention by Pacheco, and one member absent.
Board discussion and action regarding confirmation of ACB mission and member expectations - Deb Cook Lewis, President
The document entitled ACB mission and member expectations is a document that was developed and approved by ACB several years ago, and is currently policy. It has been reviewed and updated a couple of times, but not any time recently. It spells out the relationships between the organization and its affiliates and committees and how they all work together. This was the reason for sharing it here as background for this discussion. It has previously been circulated to all affiliates and committees, but a more formal process for periodic dissemination and training on the policy probably needs to be developed.
After the unanimous vote of the Board to honor our contract and hold the convention in Jacksonville, BPI announced that they would hold a rally during convention week. This was not and still is not a concern of ACB because ACB’s affiliates are independent entities with their own statuses and mission. This only became a concern when two of ACB’s committees indicated that they would like to be represented as ACB Committees at the event. The primary issue is what is the mission of ACB and what is appropriate to ACB. (See Article II of the ACB Constitution related to Purpose, the Articles of Incorporation, and the Mission Statement of ACB.) ACB has traditionally defined this to mean ACB will engage in and take positions on issues that have a direct impact and are related to blindness and low vision, as well as significantly impacting or improving the lives of people who are blind and/or have low vision. Careful consideration has always been exercised around issues that would touch upon areas where we as individuals might disagree politically, religiously, socially, etc., just like the general population of the country. The thing that holds ACB together is blindness and low vision issues. This means that ACB needs to concentrate its efforts on topics or positions that reflect what is consistent with our mission. This then applies to ACB’s elected officials, staff, our appointed committees, and to those individual members named to ACB committees doing the work of ACB.
Deb reported that she and Dan had met with a 501C3 attorney the previous week who talked about the fact that ACB has no room to move in a situation where there could be anything that is construed as partisan, and that the lines for those things are pretty tight and there is zero tolerance from the IRS in those situations. ACB is fairly high profile because we have legislative and funding relationships, and relationships with partners at all levels. Anything that is not central to our mission that isn’t primarily affecting blind people might be considered high risk for ACB. Participating in these kinds of external events could require a significant amount of time and effort to inform members in terms of all the lines we would need to avoid crossing. Vetting speakers and reviewing possible talking points could become a matter of organizational prioritization and use of already limited resources. If our committees represent themselves as ACB in an event, it immediately makes ACB an involved participant and perceived co-sponsor. The rally, which would be part of BPI’s convention program could be supported in the same way that we support any other convention event.
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Sims that the Board of Directors of the American Council of the Blind affirms that: ACB’s sole mission and purpose continues to be “to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity, and quality of life for all blind and visually impaired people.” ACB’s Policy on Prohibited Conduct provides the expectation that we will respect individual differences and views as we join together to advocate for the common ground of opportunities for blind and low vision people.
The board further affirms that: ACB’s elected officials, staff, appointed committees, and individual members are prohibited from taking a position on behalf of the organization unless ACB has taken such a position through its Board of Directors or a vote of its membership.
The Board additionally affirms that: ACB includes both geographic and special interest affiliates which are independent entities with individual purposes and missions. While they all advocate for equality of people who are blind and low vision, many of our affiliates have additional concerns that also shape their missions, philosophical positions, decision making, and activities. Anyone may align themselves with these activities as an individual not representing the American council of the Blind.
Comments were received from the BPI President, the Co-Chairs of the ACB Womens’ Committee, the President of the Multicultural Affairs Committee, and members of the ACB Board. Dan Spoone also provided some perspective from the staff side, since, while this is ultimately a member decision, it does have a large impact on the corporate side of the organization and our staff.
A roll call vote was taken, and the motion passed with twelve yes votes, two no votes cast by Lopez Kafati and Bell, and one member absent.
Discussion and action regarding ACB’s position on the human rights rally sponsored by BPI - Deb Cook Lewis, President
It was moved by Nipper and seconded by Sims that ACB take no position on the Human Rights Rally, being organized by BPI to take place at this year’s Convention. Comments were again heard from BPI, ACB Women, the Multicultural Affairs Committee, ACB Board members, the ACB Interim Executive Director and others.
Again, a roll call vote was taken, and the motion passed with thirteen yes votes, one no vote cast by Lopez Kafati, and one member absent.
A request was made by Lopez Kafati that he be given a copy of the recording and a written transcript of this Board meeting, along with a list of the organizations that have donated money based on our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
REMINDERS: Deb reminded the Board about the two Executive Session Board Meetings to take place on February 8 and February 15, where we will deal with personnel issues related to the hiring of the Executive Director. Our next hybrid public Board meeting will be on March 2 at the Leadership Conference.
Adjournment:
It was moved by Campbell with a second by everyone to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45PM Eastern time.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise Colley
Secretary
Date submitted: 02/20/2024
Date approved: 03/02/2024