Minutes of the Teleconference Meeting of the American Council of the Blind Board of Directors
October 1, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 9:21 PM Eastern time. At the call of the roll, Pomerantz, Charlson, Dillon, Godino,Campbell, Colley, Garrett, Keith, Sheehan, Thom, Trott, and Edwards (Ex Officio) were present;Lieberg, Gray, Farrow, Ruschival and Vloedman were absent; staff present were Brunson and Waters. Ruschival arrived soon after the roll was called.
The agenda was reviewed and adopted with the addition of discussion of the movie “Blindness.”
The July 5 and July 12, 2008 minutes were approved with no discussion or amendments.
The President reported that $107,000.00 was added to Board reserves and the Board ratified this placement of funds into Board Reserves. The motion was made by Jeff Thom and seconded by Kim Charlson. The treasurer gave a report which will be attached to these minutes. David Trott moved to accept and ghillie Jean seconded the acceptance of the Treasurer's Report.
Western Regional Leadership Seminar. Jeff Thom made an initial report and indicated that his report would be brief given the quantity of information that has already appeared on the Board list. This discussion relates to the grant for the leadership regional conference for the West. It will occur in Vancouver Washington. The president reported that there is one person from Nevada and five people from Hawaii and three from California with Washington sending three. Mr. Gray has been in touch with Montana who will need help but hopes to send four. The President mentioned that there are tentative plans for seminars in the South and in the Northeast. Wyoming and Idaho do not appear to be sending anyone. Mr. Campbell moved and Ms. Charlson seconded the motion that the Board donate $5,000. Mr. Garrett asked that the board get the agenda and also that we be given a report from the seminar. The President indicated that he hoped that this would be the first of many seminars and that this would be a part of the budget cycle. Mr. Godino indicated that we need to be sure that affiliates give us dollars to support such endeavors. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Godino discussed Tropic Thunder and suggested that Blindness organizations opposing the movie ““Blindness”” ought to be able to work together. No motions were made about this.
Mr. Campbell moved that the Board enter into Executive Session.
After the executive session the President reported that the Board voted to enter into a co-counsel agreement concerning one matter. He also indicated that we were not bringing forward an advocacy services request for our 508 complaint because there were other sources of funding that were being considered.
The meeting adjourned at 10:20 PM Eastern time.
Paul Edwards for
Marlaina Lieberg, Secretary
Submitted 10-31-08
Approved 11-15-08