Minutes
Executive Committee Transitional Meeting
OACRAO
December 11, 1998

Transition Meeting - Review of Last Annual Meeting –

Program – Dick Carpenter submitted two reports, "OACRAO 1998 Conference Feedback Form", which is a summary of the total evaluations returned, and "1998 OACRAO Conference Session Summary Information." He stated that he would encourage a shift in programming away from the traditional tracks (Admissions, Records, etc.) and more toward current needs and availability. Program references to committee sponsorship of sessions would be eliminated. He noted that there was no evaluation of the Vendor Track during the last conference. He recommended that this track, if continued, should have recorders, and as a result, have summaries written, in addition to the pre-conference workshops. It was decided that the Vendor Track would be programmed again, plus we need to provide more recorders for the summaries of vendor track plus pre-conference workshops. The pros and cons of having the school-type (2-yr, 4-yr, etc.) meetings on Friday was discussed without a decision. The "3+1" track system was preferred for next year. Dick reported that he would make the certificates earlier next year as he ended up scrambling to get them at the 11^th hour this year.

Conference Timing - Dick said that he heard that there might have been a minor conflict with some 2-year school members since the Junior College Admissions people met the weekend following OACRAO. The question of why we meet in early November was raised. Brad responded that he wasn’t sure but that most of the other surrounding states associations meet during this same period, within a week, so there must be some historical rationale. Dick expressed an interest in attracting professional school members and admission staff and felt that we should check to insure that we’re not scheduling them out of attending. No specific conflicts were identified. It was agreed that the November schedule is probably the result of striking a balance with the April AACRAO conference and no motion to change was made. It was decided that we contact the 2-year school affiliation and investigate the possibility of holding meetings concurrently. Kathleen Higgins was to be approached by Lorinda and Sharon at the next 2-yr meeting in early February.

Transition Meeting – LAC’s

Registration on the Web - Brad asked Deb Benton if we could have registration on the web. She answered that it was possible; probably not interactive, but on-line. Registration without payment was an issue. The questions of whether to pursue payment actively and/or assess late fees were discussed. It was recommended to accept registration with follow-up payment.

Deadline for Registration - The decision to move the registration deadline up to two weeks prior was made, as LAC only had one week to use the numbers before the last conference.

Registration Fee Breaks - There was a discussion about cost breaks for retired, honorary and associate members and past presidents. It was decided to give lifetime honorary and associate memberships registration fee waivers.

Upcoming Meeting – Athens - Deb reported 60 rooms reserved Tues. night, 150 rooms both Weds. & Thurs. and 20 rooms Friday night. Cost is $89 for the OU Inn and $69 for Amerihost Inn.

Last Meeting - Columbus - Mindy submitted the report, "1998 OACRO Annual Meeting Budget" and reported that the last annual meeting’s total expenses was $20, 801 and total income about $27,000, with $600 outstanding from a vendor. We spent significantly less on entertainment this time.

State Park Resorts - Dick suggested that we pursue holding some annual meetings at State Park Resorts. It was suggested that Dick contact state park rep’s and see if we can get a break on costs knowing that their rates are high.

Different Door Prizes - Sharon made a suggestion that for door prizes next year that the members bring door prizes which represent their schools or parts of the state, as an interesting diversion from bookstore sweatshirts, within budget constraints.

School Banners - Janie suggested that it would be nice if members could bring banners from each school.

Fundraisers - Allen suggested that we offer split-the-pot lotteries at the next conference, plus sell OACRAO denim shirts.

Secretary’s Report – Bob submitted the minutes from both the October 23^rd and November 3^rd Executive Committee meetings. The Oct. 23^rd minutes were approved with the correction of spellings of the names Jim Hamberg and Sharon Akridge. The Nov. 3^rd minutes were approved without change.

Treasurer’s Report – Sharon submitted an Itemized OACRAO Fiscal Report for 1/1/98 through 12/2/98 and a 1998 OACRAO Summary Fiscal Report, as of 12/03/1998 and a 1998-99 OACRAO Dues Listing. She noted that Karen Magness-Lewe would be the new chair of the Audit Committee. A January meeting has been tentatively set. Sharon recommended buying Quicken software. Books will be turned over in January. Sharon and Brad reported that the IRS contacted them and indicated that our non-profit tax-exempt status was in jeopardy, as we have not filed appropriate paperwork. They gave a 30-day notice. Brad will follow-up on this. Sharon also reported that Star Bank hasn’t given interest on our account since June, when we became a new account. However, she was assured that the interest would be applied retroactively and would appear on our next statement. Brad said we have $15,000 we can put in a CD. Sharon reported that we are now registered on-line with the Fed.’s (CCR Database) as a vendor so the Air Force Inst. Of Tech. can pay their dues on-line. The Treasurer’s reports were approved without change. Three schools are still not paid but two are coming. Sharon told Allen that she would do the taxes before turning over to him.

VP/ Workshops Report – Jim recommended that a small workshops committee be formed, to help the Vice President/Workshops, as it’s too much for one individual. He also recommended planning the workshop cost based on 20 registrations and holding the workshop with no less than 10. Brad noted that workshops are almost always held in Columbus, due to its central location and wanted to know if this is a problem. No one felt it was a problem. He also recommended doing an admission workshop and to think about doing the residency workshops that the Board of Regents used to do, as it would be good PR. Jim recommended having more than two workshops at pre-conference. This year we had four, which worked fine.

Scholarship Donation – After a discussion of our budget and the scholarship needs Brad made a motion to donate $100 to the AACRAO Scholarship Fund. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

OACRAO Membership Database Issues – Bob submitted a report entitled, "OACRAO Database Issues", which identified five issues related to the maintenance of the institution/membership database. The first two issues were discussed and numbers 3-5 tabled until the next meeting.

Honorary Lifetime Memberships Not in Database - Bob reported that Honorary members are not kept in the database as most of them are retired so they are not attached to an institution, or they have relocated; both resulting in no current addresses. It’s been previously discussed that it’s desirable to have the ability to mail annual meeting and workshop info to these members but we can’t produce mailing labels. It was decided that the Secretary would maintain a database of honorary members and would attempt to locate the member once, such as contacting the institution or doing an Internet locator search. It was decided to also place the honorary member names on our web site, and in the newsletter, with requests for current addresses. The question of whether honorary members have full voting rights was answered to the affirmative.

The Two-Category Database Has Become Outdated – Bob reported that the current Access database, for the Directory’s institutional format purposes, is broken into the long standing categories of, "Registrar" and "Admissions." However, many members have indicated that they are not associated with either office and it would be completely inappropriate to be included with them. The two-part division was implemented at the request of admission members to allow for mailings to be sent directly to their departments, as opposed to going through the registrars’ offices for distribution. He reminded the committee that this issue has risen, in various forms, at both AACRAO’s and OACRO’S last meetings. Various combinations of categories were discussed with a decision, i.e. 1) Admissions 2) Records / Registration / Registrar 3) Admissions and Records 4) Enrollment Management / Enrollment Services, 5) Other. Brad said that we might have come to the point where we should not try to group members at all. It was recognized that much more discussion and input from members is needed on this issue.

Other

’99 Directory Publication – It was decided that since the number of directory mailings will be significantly reduced this year, due to the web site, that the directories could be distributed in an unbound format, such as folders. Two copies will be sent to institutions, regardless of size, with the exception of sending an additional copy to each regional campus.

Address Labels Requests – After a discussion of the rising vendor demand (and production costs) for printing/mailing address labels, it was decided that the labels would be provided only for member vendors and only on floppy discs. Any exceptions granted would require a fee of the actual costs incurred to produce and mail.

Correction to Minutes – Jane Pidcock reported that the minutes from the 1991 annual meeting may have incorrectly identified her as the recipient of honorary membership, as did the newsletter, but in fact, she only accepted the award for Past President Larry Terrell, who couldn’t be present at that meeting. It was decided that the historian would pull the minutes and send them to exec’ for review and any necessary action to accurately reflect that Larry is an honorary member and is to be included in the new listing to be created.