The American Council of the Blind (ACB) Board of Directors met on Saturday, July 19, 2014 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for the post-Convention Board Meeting. President Kim Charlson called the meeting to order at 10:11 a.m. At the call of the roll, the following board members were present: Kim Charlson, Jeff Thom, Marlaina Lieberg, Ray Campbell, Carla Ruschival, Mitch Pomerantz, Berl Colley, Sara Conrad, Katie Frederick, Michael Garret, George Holliday, John McCann, Allan Peterson, Patrick Sheehan, Dan Spoone and David Trott. Board of Publications Representative Denise Colley was present. Staff present: Melanie Brunson, ACB Executive Director, Lane Waters, ACB Controller, and Larry Turnbull, ACB Radio Managing Director.
President Charlson reviewed the agenda. Three items were added, discussion of logistics for the fall board meeting in Dallas, an ACB Mini Mall report and discussion of the Editor’s report. Several moved and seconded adoption of the agenda as amended, the motion carried.
After several guests introduced themselves, President Charlson gave her report. She indicated that Dr. Ron Milliman has tendered his resignation as Chairperson of both the ACB Public Relations Committee and the Monthly Monetary Support committee. She will be looking for new chairpeople for these two committees. She then asked the board for ideas and thoughts on our conference and convention voting procedures, which came up under New Business in convention and will be taken up by the Voting Issues Task Force. Several thoughts and ideas were presented.
Campbell moved and Lieberg seconded acceptance of the President’s report, the motion carried.
Mark Richert, ACB Resolutions Committee Chairperson, presented the resolutions prioritization report. There were 20 resolutions adopted by the convention. They were prioritized as follows:
2014-01, Service Animal misrepresentation, priority 2.
2014-02, Lions White Cane resolution, priority 2.
2014-03, Orientation and Mobility Instruction, priority 3.
2014-04, Braille Instruction, making sure instructors are qualified to teach Braille, priority 3.
2014-05, that all ACB convention facilities are in compliance with local fire codes, priority 2.
2014-06, accessible paper currency, priority 1.
2014-07, issues with Overdrive Inc. and Library Accessibility, priority 2.
2014-08, Humphreys Vending Institute, priority 2.
2014-09, National Council on Disability and 14C, priority 2.
2014-10, Department of Justice and representation of Federal agencies in Federal 508 lawsuits, priority 2.
2014-11, Section 503 regulations on Federal contractors and technology accessibility, recommended priority 2. Spoone moved and Frederick seconded making 2014-11 a priority 1, the motion carried.
2014-12, BARD cartridge issue, priority 2.
2014-13, Medicare information accessibility and alternate formats, priority 2.
2014-14, issues with cluster mailboxes and mail retrieval for people who are blind, priority 2.
2014-15, marketing of randolph-shepard vending program, priority 2.
2014-16, set top box and related accessibility, priority 1.
2014-17, efficacy of ride share services, guide dogs and accessibility of apps, priority 1.
2014-18, thank you to convention hotel, priority 1.
2014-19, thank you to convention committees, priority 1.
2014-20, thank you to volunteers, priority 1. Pomerantz moved and Trott seconded acceptance of the Resolutions Prioritization report, the motion carried.
Larry Turnbull, Managing Director, gave the ACB Radio report. Highlights included:
- We ran into issues with the Ice Cast server, due to a software update. The issues we found did not surface until larger numbers of listeners were accessing content during convention.
- We averaged 130 to 140 listeners during convention week on the server side, with 130 during the Sunday night opening session.
- We had 625 listening by phone during the Sunday night opening session, with an average of 610 to 620 during the remainder of convention week. For the candidates forum, we had 65 listeners on the server, 450 on the phone.
- The workshop recordings that we have will be archived soon.
- The ACB Radio Management team will discuss how to use exhibit hall interview content.
Pomerantz moved and Conrad seconded acceptance of the ACB Radio Report, the motion carried.
Janet Dickelman, Conference and Convention Coordinator presented her report. She felt that overall we had a good conference and convention. We did run into Audio/Visual issues, but, we had a plethora of volunteers. The board brought forward several issues and questions. Peterson moved and Conrad seconded acceptance of the conference and convention report, the motion carried.
President Charlson discussed logistics for the fall board meeting. Everyone needs to be in Dallas for this meeting by 2 p.m. on Friday, October 17 as we’ll be having a board working session.
We moved to the 2014-15 ACB Budget Committee election. Peterson moved and Conrad seconded appointment of Carla Ruschival, Berl Colley and Dan Spoone to serve on this committee, they all accepted and the motion carried.
Carla Ruschival presented the ACB Mini Mall report. She stated that during the conference and convention, we had $9,000 in gross sales, up about 50% from last year. The mini mall has a working shopping cart which is just about ready for use. The mini mall seemed to be a popular stop at this year’s conference and convention. Trott moved and Lieberg seconded acceptance of the mini mall report, the motion carried.
The Editor’s report was discussed. Pomerantz moved and Lieberg seconded acceptance of the Editor’s report, the motion carried.
Under new business, Melanie indicated that ACB needs to take a look at and possibly revise our positions around the issue of accessible voting.
Officer and board liaisons presented their reports. Most reported on activities the committees and task forces they work with had during the conference and convention. Trott moved and Lieberg seconded acceptance of the liaison reports, the motion carried.
John McCann and Carla Ruschival reported to the board that we have 773 Twitter followers and 568 likes on Facebook, respectively.
There being no further business, Pomerantz moved and Lieberg seconded that the post-convention board meeting be adjourned. The motion carried, and the meeting adjourned at 1:40 p.m.
Ray Campbell,
Secretary
Date submitted: 9/09/2014
Date approved: 10/18/2014