by Charles S.P. Hodge
The pre-convention board meeting commenced around 8:35 a.m. on July 5, 2003, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. All board members were present, as well as Melanie Brunson, Penny Reeder, Terry Pacheco, Jim Olsen, Cynthia Towers, and approximately 20 ACB guests. After approving an agenda, ACB secretary Donna Seliger presented seven sets of meeting minutes for the board's consideration and adoption.
After adopting a motion to consider minutes of the November 25 telephone conference call meeting separately, the board agreed by consensus to amend the title of that document to reflect the advisory nature of the meeting, which could not be considered an official board meeting since the advance notice requirement had not been met. The minutes of the advisory meeting of November 25, 2002, were then approved, as well as the minutes of the board's January 16, 2003 telephone conference call meeting. The board next approved the public session portions of the minutes of the February 2, February 11, March 4 and April 15 telephone conference call meetings as well as the minutes of the face-to-face midyear board meeting (Feb. 16-17).
Seliger assured the board that notes from the executive session portions of board meetings which had been distributed to board members were never intended for circulation beyond the board of directors, and that executive session minutes would not be included in the finalized sets of public portions of board meeting minutes which will be made available for public perusal and inspection.
During her report, Cynthia Towers made several announcements regarding 2003 convention arrangements, and discussed the procedures which had been implemented to address the extremely dim lighting within the ballroom where convention general sessions were scheduled to be held. Towers told the board that she had personally inspected the ACB convention sites in Birmingham, Las Vegas and Minneapolis, and that she intended to make another visit to Birmingham at the end of July, as well as a preliminary visit to Jacksonville, the site of the 2006 national convention.
Convention site selection coordinator Carla Ruschival began by informing the board that the contracts for ACB's 2007 convention in Minneapolis had been recently signed, and that negotiations were virtually complete on the contract for the 2005 convention in Las Vegas. Turning to potential problems with the 2008 convention site, Ruschival told the board that during Cynthia Towers' site inspection visit to Phoenix, she had discovered that the city was planning to construct an entirely new convention facility which will not be available for physical onsite inspection until sometime in 2006. As a result, Ruschival recommended that the board instruct her to break off negotiations with Phoenix, rescind its approval of that convention site, and authorize her to re-solicit bid proposals for the 2008 convention. The board adopted Ruschival's recommendations.
Ruschival indicated that she had received a very attractive room-rate proposal from a hotel in Orlando, Fla., for ACB's 2009 convention, and, despite her expressed reservations about having only one bid, the board voted to tentatively approve that site, conditioned upon an acceptable site inspection by Cynthia Towers and satisfactory conclusion of contractual negotiations.
Paul Edwards, who chairs the American Council of the Blind Enterprises and Services (ACBES) board, said that the ACBES board planned to meet early on Wednesday of convention week and that Michael Keoghan, ACBES CEO, would be available to meet with board members on Tuesday and Wednesday. Edwards said that because his and Dawn Christensen's terms of office would expire at the post-convention ACBES corporate membership meeting, he planned to name members to an ACBES nominating committee so that nominations to fill those vacancies could be made at the Wednesday meeting, and elections could be held subsequently at the ACBES post-convention corporate membership meeting. Edwards said that, although the ACBES board was not currently expected to be in a position to increase its budgetary commitment to ACB for the current budget year, ACBES was not expected to reduce its budgetary commitment to ACB either.
Edwards told the board that, in response to the new landscape created by implementation of the new federal regulations regarding "no-call lists" for phone solicitors, ACBES has been forced to drastically modify its traditional use of telephone solicitations and door-to-door pickups as its method for obtaining donated merchandise for resale. Two thrift stores have given up telephone solicitation completely and have converted into donation centers. Other thrift stores have cut back on phone soliciting and are slowly transitioning toward the donation center method of obtaining merchandise.
Because individual donors have to come in to the donation centers in person and hand their donated merchandise to a real live person, our experience in general is that the stores that have gone to the donation center model are receiving a better quality of goods. Because some store locations transitioning toward the donation center model are not yet receiving an adequate volume of donated merchandise, ACBES has begun a program of transferring donated merchandise from one store location to another in order to meet demand for good quality merchandise. Edwards said that in certain locations, ACBES has begun a campaign of public service announcements and paid advertisements in order to publicize our new donation centers.
In an abbreviated treasurer's report, Ardis Bazyn indicated that as of May 31, revenues had totaled approximately $458,000 while expenditures had totaled approximately $487,000 resulting in a deficit of slightly under $29,000 for the five-month period.
Then budget committee chair Brian Charlson reported that some of the revenue-generating items which had been included in the 2003 budget had failed up until this point in the budget year to perform at the level that was anticipated at the time of the adoption of the budget. Therefore, the best prognostications of the budget committee are that ACB is likely to end the present budget year with an anticipated deficit in the range of $120,000. In order to promptly address this revenue shortfall situation, Charlson moved that the ACB board direct the budget committee and the executive director until further direction to let the two staff positions which are currently vacant in the national office remain unfilled. This motion was seconded and prompted considerable discussion, with some board members expressing discomfort voting on such a motion in the absence of ACB executive director Charlie Crawford. Members of the budget committee assured the board that while the executive director was far from wildly enthusiastic about this committee recommendation, he had participated in the budget committee's discussions about this matter and he reluctantly concurs in this recommendation.
The board then voted to approve this motion. Charlson then moved that until further notice, the ACB board will freeze all reimbursement authority for travel expenses for representatives to attend affiliate conventions. This motion also prompted considerable discussion with many board members expressing reservations about the impact of this motion particularly on small, financially less well off affiliates, yet reluctantly expressing support for the need to adopt the motion. The budget committee chairman suggested in response that board members and ACB staff could assist in this expense-saving effort by voluntarily contributing and using their own accumulated frequent flier miles in order to attend affiliate conventions. The board voted to adopt the budget committee's recommendation.
Charlson then requested the input of all board members during the upcoming convention regarding their expense-saving ideas so that the budget committee might be in a better position to recommend further cost-saving steps to the board at the post-convention board meeting a week hence. The budget committee chairman then moved that the board charge the executive committee with the responsibility of developing and submitting to the board by no later than August 1 a plan for how to effectively track and promptly react to trends in budgetary matters. The board voted to adopt the motion.
The board voted to publish a notice in the convention newspaper concerning available times and where to go to obtain help in filling out forms to sign up for and join the monthly monetary (M&M) donation program. The board voted to authorize the president, the resource development committee and the chief financial officer to actively explore the idea of substituting an aggressive M&M program campaign for ACB's traditional fall fund-raising letter. Then, the board voted, subject to confirmation of no resulting trademark problems, to change the name of the M&M program to the "Members Giving More" (MGM) program.
In his report for the rehabilitation task force committee which he chairs, Mitch Pomerantz reviewed the purposes and objectives for the task force. He said that the committee had accomplished its first objective by preparing and distributing to the ACB board a draft document setting forth a proposed policy position for ACB on informed consumer choice in the rehabilitation process for people who are blind or visually impaired. The board voted to authorize the rehabilitation task force to consult with other organizations and entities within the blindness field to develop a final document reflective of the views and input of the entire blindness field for presentation to the midyear meeting in February 2004.
Staff reports followed. In her editor's report, Penny Reeder indicated that subscriptions to "The Braille Forum" in all formats continue to increase. At the time of her report there were 2,335 braille subscribers, 7,940 audiocassette subscribers, 13,080 large print subscribers, 775 computer disk subscribers, and 888 e-mail subscribers. The continued increase in the number of people who choose to switch to the e-mail format is good news, since it is virtually free for ACB to distribute the Forum via electronic mail. Reeder expressed great appreciation to members of the Golden Triangle Chapter of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind for all their help in procuring excellent equipment for the convention communications center, virtually free of charge. State-of-the-art computers were already loaded with access software when she and Sharon Lovering arrived at the convention hotel, Reeder reported, and the equipment, donated by U.S. Steel and set up by Michael Zaken and others, was in perfect working order.
In her report, Director of Membership and Affiliate Services Terry Pacheco concentrated on progress in the area of fund-raising for this year's convention and other ACB projects. For the Pittsburgh convention alone, ACB raised more than $36,000 in corporate donations and sponsorships. Pacheco said that she and others expect similar fund-raising efforts to expand. For example, ACB plans to hold a friends-raising reception this fall in the Washington, D.C. area and efforts are under way to establish a corporate advisory board to assist ACB in prospecting for and obtaining corporate sponsorships. Pacheco outlined her support activities for the National Alliance of Blind Students (NABS) and for the scholarships, awards, and McDaniel first-timers' committees.
ACB Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs Melanie Brunson reported that she believes that prospects are good for obtaining the $30 million annual appropriation funding plateau for services to the elderly blind that ACB and its coalition partners have been attempting to gain over many years. Once this plateau funding level has been achieved, it is hoped that federal funding level can be indexed to automatically rise in future fiscal years in accordance with national cost of living statistics. She said that ACB is working to find a House sponsor for the descriptive video restoration provisions that are included in the Senate's version of the Federal Communications Commission reauthorization bill before Congress.
Brunson reported that ACB is also concerned about the upcoming reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the Rehabilitation Act (which will be included under the Workforce Investment Act, WIA), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The version of IDEA reauthorization passed by the House of Representatives does not contain the instructional materials accessibility language or many of the provisions which ACB favors, but the Senate committee bill does contain those provisions. She said that the final version of the law will have to be thrashed out in a House/Senate conference committee.
In addition, ACB has been assisting the Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America (RSVA) to address a number of potential threats to the Randolph-Sheppard Act's priority in favor of licensed blind vendors. Brunson concluded her report by reminding the board of her ongoing need for referral resources to whom she can refer individual blind or visually impaired claimants for legal advice and representation. In response to a question from a board member regarding the current status of ACB's pending litigation against the Treasury Department concerning accessible paper currency, Brunson said that the Department of Justice has now filed a second motion to dismiss to which ACB and its co-plaintiffs must respond by mid-August. She hopes that we may get a more definitive ruling from the federal district court by sometime this fall.
Reporting on behalf of the ACB history committee, President Gray told the board that pre-release hardcover print copies of "People of Vision: A History of the American Council of the Blind" would be available at the history gala scheduled for Wednesday evening, July 9. Charlie Hodge added that accessible CD-ROM copies of the book would also be available. In addition, Kim Charlson indicated that both audiocassette and braille versions of the ACB history were on a fast-track production schedule through the National Library Service (NLS). Charlson said that the NLS numbers which have been assigned to the ACB history are RC56115 and BR14800. By using these numbers, individual readers can make reservations now with their participating regional libraries to borrow and read the ACB history.
In his report on the board of publications, Charlie Hodge indicated that the BOP meeting scheduled for the following day would be an open meeting at which all members would be welcomed guests. Hodge told the board that the BOP had during a telephone conference call meeting of June 15 voted to institute a pilot program for a limited period of one year under which the editor of "The Braille Forum" will be required to submit the "Letters to the Editor" column and any editorial or opinion pieces authored by the editor along with the table of contents of the upcoming issue of "The Braille Forum" for review by an ad hoc three-person review subcommittee of the BOP prior to the magazine's being forwarded for publication. Hodge made a point of lauding "The Braille Forum" editor for her cooperation with these requirements, and he said that the review process had been implemented without any problem with respect to the upcoming July-August issue of "The Braille Forum."
He fielded a number of pointedly critical questions regarding the BOP's perceived need for instituting such a review program and about the parameters of and objectives for it. In response, he reassured the board that the BOP, far from attempting to quell freedom of expression, was attempting through its review and guidance process to assist "The Braille Forum" editor to present in the "Letters to the Editor" column a proportional and representative sample of the opinions received during the most recent period. Hodge pointed out that particularly in light of the space limitations that the BOP had implemented recently, the "Letters to the Editor" column in particular should be reviewed and screened somewhat more stringently than in the past.
In his report on behalf of the resource development committee, Jerry Annunzio attempted to recruit volunteers to assist at the ACB Store's table in the exhibit hall. Annunzio also suggested that the photographer employed by ACB at this convention might be asked to take pictures of consenting convention attendees at various functions, and then sell the resulting pictures in return for a small donation to ACB. The board agreed by consensus to try this suggested fund-raising project. Annunzio said that his committee was working on nearly 30 separate fund-raising projects or ideas.
Next the board turned to a discussion of a draft resolution which the president had circulated to members in advance of the meeting. The resolution attempted to explain the rationale behind the ACB ad hoc leadership committee's November decision not to sign onto the GDUI complaint with respect to the Iowa Department of the Blind's rejection of Stephanie Dohmen's participating in rehabilitation programs while partnering with her guide dog. Gray recommended that the board vote to approve the draft resolution and to forward it to the resolutions committee for presentation to and consideration by the ACB convention. A motion to this effect was made and seconded.
Several wording changes to various clauses of the resolution were suggested, and accepted as friendly amendments. In addition, a separate additional whereas clause indicating that subsequent to the advisory meeting, the ACB national office and others within the organization had in fact devoted considerable time and organizational resources to support the efforts of GDUI in this case was suggested and approved by consensus. On a roll call vote of eight in favor and seven against, the motion to send the resolution with the board's affirmative recommendation to the ACB resolutions committee was adopted. Those voting in the affirmative were Jerry Annunzio, Alan Beatty, Ed Bradley, Billie Jean Keith, Oral Miller, Carla Ruschival, M.J. Schmitt and Donna Seliger. Those voting in the negative were Ardis Bazyn, Brian Charlson, Dawn Christensen, Paul Edwards, Mitch Pomerantz, Pat Sheehan and Steve Speicher.
With no further business to conduct, the meeting adjourned around 1:30 p.m.