by Charles S.P. Hodge
When President Gray called the meeting to order around 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, all board members were present. In addition, ACB executive director Charlie Crawford and ACB Chief Financial Officer Jim Olsen were in attendance.
Gray reviewed the meeting agenda. Several amendments were offered and agreed to by consensus. Then budget committee chairman Brian Charlson led a discussion concerning the committee's revised report and recommendations. Board member Ed Bradley asked what additional time commitments and/or costs would be created if the board agreed to make the Minneapolis office the unified budget center for ACB. This question sparked a wide-ranging discussion about certain problems which might be created within ACB's financial administration and accounting functions if the recommendation were to be adopted. Gray said that because the recommended change in budgetary administration does not create a mechanism for dealing immediately with unanticipated income or revenue shortfalls, he felt that the revised recommendations should be referred to the executive committee for further consultation and refinement. Other board members wondered aloud whether some of the budget committee's recommendations should, in fact, be constituted as amendments to the ACB Constitution and Bylaws and be referred to the convention for deliberation and action.
As a result of this discussion, a motion was made, seconded and passed by voice vote to refer the budget committee's recommendation concerning the unified budget center concept to the executive committee for further consideration. That committee will be assisted by the chair of the budget committee, the chief financial officer, and the executive director who will be treated as non- voting committee members for purposes of deliberation.
The board then turned its attention to a report from the convention site selection coordinator. Carla Ruschival reviewed the 2008 convention proposal from Orlando which was presented during the mid-year board meeting, as well as a proposal from a Phoenix, Ariz., hotel which had been unsuccessfully offered for consideration for the 2005 convention, and which the presenter now wished to put forth as a bid for the 2008 convention. After some discussion, Paul Edwards moved that Ruschival be authorized to pursue further negotiations with the Phoenix 2008 convention bidder. If these negotiations can be concluded with terms which are satisfactory to the convention site coordinator, the board will approve the Phoenix 2008 convention proposal and Phoenix, Ariz., as the site of ACB's 2008 annual national convention. The motion carried. The board also adopted a motion reaffirming that it will entertain only future convention site proposals which contain daily room rate provisions of $85 or less for single and double rooms, and instructed the convention site coordinator to develop and come back to the board with at least two convention proposals for 2009 and future years which comply with these guidelines.
Jim Olsen then reported that the ATM machine that ACB had been operating in Anchorage in conjunction with several members from our Alaska affiliate has all too often been out of service, and the proprietor where the ATM is located has asked that it be removed because of the aggravation of having to deal with customers who are frustrated by the malfunctioning machine. Therefore, our Alaska members are proposing that we insist under our warranty that the manufacturer of the ATM replace the machine. In addition, they are proposing to relocate the machine to another site, and to increase the service fee charged, since the proprietor at the proposed new location is insisting on a share of our take from the service use fees. The board adopted a motion authorizing Gray and Olsen to negotiate with the ATM manufacturer for a new or substitute machine. This motion also authorized them to negotiate to obtain the most favorable terms for relocation of the ATM, for increases to the service fees which we may have to charge and for any division which ACB may have to end up granting to the proprietor of any new location.
Jerry Annunzio in his new capacity as the chairman of the ACB resource development committee then made a report to the board. Annunzio moved that the ACB offer sponsorships for convention banquet tables located in prime spots within the room for a fee of $1,000. The sponsorship fee will include ACB providing the sponsor with eight banquet tickets, and sponsorships will be made on or before Wednesday of convention week. The motion was adopted by the board. Annunzio then moved that ACB offer to sell sponsorships of evening convention-related events and receptions to individuals or corporations for $350 or more. After some discussion, the board also adopted the motion. Annunzio moved that ACB establish a series of non-voting sustaining membership categories with dues payments ranging from $100 up to $10,000 or more. Some board members asked whether the proposed membership dues would be one-time payments or would be annual dues or sponsorship payments. Other board members also indicated that since the ACB constitution sets forth categories of non-voting memberships and establishes the annual dues payments required for those non-voting membership categories, the proposal should be referred to the constitution and bylaws committee for further action. Annunzio then altered his motion to indicate that the board endorses the idea of establishing a series of sustaining membership categories at progressively increasing dues levels, and that the board is referring the proposal to the constitution and bylaws committee for its deliberation and action. This revised motion passed.
Several board members then expressed their views that the summaries of board meetings prepared by the ex-officio board member and representative from the board of publications had recently been unnecessarily detailed. A number of board members pointed out that the board often discusses confidential information which should not be reported upon in any detail at all. Some board members -- while professing not to be concerned with respect to the reporting of their own votes on roll call votes -- nevertheless pointed to the reporting of how each board member voted on roll call votes as an example of the unnecessary detail which had been recently included in the published summaries of recent board meetings. This reporter responded that neither he nor the editor of "The Braille Forum" believes that the reporting of roll call votes is in any way breaching the confidentiality of board proceedings, and has been provided, instead, in an effort to more fully inform readers of the magazine about board meeting proceedings and decisions.
Paul Edwards suggested that the ex-officio board member might submit draft board meeting summaries to the ACB president for his review and comment before the draft board meeting summary is submitted to the editor of "The Braille Forum" for eventual publication, and this reporter agreed, despite sometimes pressing time constraints, to make every good-faith effort to follow this protocol.
Crawford then reported that it would cost ACB approximately $5,200 to implement the summer internship program in the national office for this upcoming summer. This cost item is approximately $2,000 more than the amount allocated in the recently adopted 2003 ACB budget. The board then adopted a motion authorizing the executive director to employ a national office summer intern for the summer of 2003, and to derive the additional $2,000 of revenue necessary to implement the summer internship program by delaying filling the position of the assistant for the membership and affiliate services coordinator.
The telephone conference call board meeting adjourned around 11:25 p.m. (Eastern daylight time).