Executive
Committee – Transition Meeting
OACRAO
December 15, 2000
Committee Members PRESENT: President, Dick Carpenter; President Elect and out-going Vice President/ Workshops, Martha Hicks; Immediate Past President, Byron Thorsen; Vice-President/Program, Bob Myers; Vice President/Workshops, Mindy Starcher; Treasurer, Sharon Purvis, outgoing Treasurer; Allen Cole. Committee Members ABSENT: Becky McOmber, Secretary. Others PRESENT: Brad Myers, Great Lakes 2000 Coordinator and Past President; Cheryl Gloege and Connie Goodman, LAC Co-Chairs. Others ABSENT: Lorinda Bishop, Great Lakes 2000 LAC Chair and Past President.
Treasurer’s Report – Allen Cole - Allen distributed membership dues 2000-2001 report (see attachments). Discussion of outstanding dues took place. A decision to remove OSU regional campuses was agreed to based upon prior approval. A decision to re-continue promoting Corporate Memberships after a year’s de-emphasis due to the tri-state meeting was agreed to. After a discussion of the need to update the mileage reimbursement to be closer to the IRS level a motion to raise the rate from 30¢ to 32¢ was made and withdrawn pending further discussion. A motion was made, seconded and passed to match the IRS mileage compensation rate annually, beginning January 1, to be in effect for a full year regardless if the IRS increases its rate more frequently, starting with the current rate of 34.5 cents per mile. He also passed out “Itemized Fiscal Report” (see attached) copies and noted certain items. The “Great Lakes 2000 Conference Itemized List” was distributed (see attached) and discussed. The conference hotel’s bill has not been received yet, accounting for the large surplus, as this is always the largest expense of the fiscal year. A discussion of the pros and cons of extending the Treasurer’s term to 3 years did not result in a motion.
VP Workshops Report – Martha Hicks – Martha indicated that she had nothing significant to report since the annual meeting report. She said she already turned over to Mindy all her records.
(There was a later discussion at this meeting about possibly holding multiple workshops on a day during the summer. This was recognized as being more economical to put on and more attractive to offices for carpooling, classified staff, etc.)
Great Lakes Conference 2000 Coordinator’s Report – Brad Myers – Brad referred members to a handout entitled “Great Lakes Wrap-Up” (see attached). He reported that the only things that “clearly didn’t go right were related to the hotel”. These things included: hotel staff arriving for cleaning before sessions were ended, then began setting-up for the next session; they didn’t clean rooms well; there wasn’t sufficient water in session rooms; there wasn’t enough drinks at lunch one day; He noted that the hotel staff were given adequate time to perform all their functions. One of the main problems was the fact that we were not the only conference in the hotel. Feedback complaints included comments that it took too long to get to the 4th floor room and that the COSI room was too noisy but this was related to our not having flexibility due to the other conference. Brad reminded the committee that this was the third hotel contacted, due to buy-out problems with the first, resulting in relatively late negotiations and limited choices. Brad said that if we have Great Lakes again IL will probably join-in and it won’t be in Ohio and it will be in a larger hotel – maybe in Indianapolis or a city more central to the possible 4 states. He reported that people loved the program and comment forms were “super”. The vendors were happy with having three states to offer to. The vender sessions received mixed evaluations, with some saying they felt that a whole session tract was “lost” to them, as there were 14 in all. He felt that most liked the sessions however. It was also noted that sound systems were substandard in the hotel and left a lot to be desired. He passed out a December 7th Summary (see attached) plus “Future Conference Topic Suggestions (see attached). A few wanted to have more traditional admissions sessions. Brad reported that the consensus of the other states was to possibly do this again in 2-3 years, so a meeting in Seattle to discuss this further was proposed. He didn’t know if he was supposed to coordinate the Seattle meeting or not.
There was a discussion of whether to have an OACRAO reception at AACRAO. It was recognized that it’s just too expensive for the relatively small number of attendees.
When asked for recommendations of what changes would be made if we do a multi-state conference again, Brad responded that we should pick the year, the host state and the city location much sooner to get better hotel deals. We should have our related year’s planning meeting sooner than late Feb./ early March, as is normal for us, as the other states have their meetings in Nov./Dec. No later than Jan. and with all of the committee chairs from each state; not just topic coordinators. Communication was difficult for Great Lakes Y2K. Have each state do their own session planning; not via topic coordinators as last time. LAC worked well but could have used program info earlier in the year. Web site program was a hit. Sixty-minute sessions were preferred to 75 min. School meetings (“open forums” at AACRAO) were popular again. Some time separate state meetings at the regional conference was enjoyed and encouraged for the future get togethers; unlike SACRAO which has both regional and state conferences the same year.
Brad also recommended that for future conference budget planning, to plan on smaller attendance numbers when outside of the central Columbus area. He noted the large surplus of wine and candy dishes at Toledo.
Survey Report – By Thorsen – By distributed handout, “Reasons for Not Attending”. Martha noted that only 25 of the 75 new members attended the new member session due to members not wishing to miss the other sessions scheduled at the same time.
Secretary’s Report – Bob Myers – Serving as acting secretary, Bob referred to the previously distributed October 31st Minutes and asked if there was any discussion. With no discussion he made a motion to approve the October 31, 2000 minutes, which was seconded and passed unanimously. He then referred to the Nov. 1st meeting minutes and asked if there was discussion. Hearing none he motioned for acceptance of the November 1, 2000 minutes, which was seconded and passed. He noted that all should have copies of the annual meeting minutes but no motion was needed at this time.
Committee Assignments – By Thorsen – By distributed “Proposed OACRAO Committee Assignments for 2000-2001”, plus two addendum sheets (see attached). Further corrections were noted. Expiration terms were discussed as potential problems for several committees where the majority of them leave the same year, i.e. the Scholarship, Constitution, and Audit Committees. It was recognized that many often stay beyond their terms. By said he would do some more juggling and asked that we review this more before he sends to Connie for the newsletter.
VP Workshops – Mindy Starcher – Mindy passed out, “OACRAO Workshop Ideas” (see attached) then discussed the merits of content, audience, times/dates of each with the committee. A suggestion was made to hold professional development workshops simultaneously with the other topic workshops since they often don’t draw well alone.
VP Program Report – Bob Myers – Bob passed out a tentative program planning meeting agenda (see attached) scheduled for Feb. 16th. He noted that last year’s planning meeting resulted in many topics desired but which we couldn’t put on for the tri-state meeting. Also good suggestions came out of Toledo. Martha suggested that we somehow get the program chairs more involved earlier in the year – maybe in the proposed retreat. It was also suggested that we see if the Clarion Hotel has a video to show during the planning meeting – maybe at lunch or during the coffee/refreshment time.
Local Arrangements Committee Report – Connie Goodman – Connie passed out “OACRAO LAC Meeting #1-12/11/00” minutes and “OACRAO 2001 LAC Volunteers” listing. The next LAC meeting will be December 17th at the Clarion. Vendors have already been contacted.
Letter of Thanks – Dick read a letter of thanks addressed to the committee and membership from Deb Benton, Ohio University, thanking all for the Linus J. Ryland Award presented to her at the last annual meeting.
Retreat Proposal – Dick gave out brochures about the proposed retreat site at Ohio Northern University’s Nature Center located near Ragersville. Costs are only $20/person/day including 3 meals. Sleeping accommodations include two dormitory style rooms in a century old 3-story farmhouse. It was hoped that in addition to the Executive Committee we could include LAC Co-Chairs, and program chairs. Bob asked if the program vice chairs could be included, but Dick indicated that the house only sleeps up to 17 people and the total invited would be 18. However, all agreed that it was unlikely that all 18 would show. It was further noted that the program chairs are not connected very well to Exec’ and this would be a good way to accomplish that. (Secretary's note – The dates of March 11-13 are set as of this posting. Also Secretary Becky McOmber indicates a conflict and probably won’t attend.)
Discussion of the best dates in March to hold the retreat was discussed and left open until members could check schedules. Arriving on a Sunday afternoon, planning for dinner together, then Monday all day and leave Tuesday after lunch. All liked this idea. Agenda suggestions included team-building exercises, opportunities to get better aquatinted with each other, time allotted for strategic planning about the future of OACARO and enough free time to make it enjoyable and allow for reflection of events.
Bob, Mindy and Martha volunteered to program the retreat.
Script-Safe Proposal – Joe Orndorf made an offer of an annual $1,000 scholarship from Script-Safe Security Products, Inc. Discussion of the name of the award and whether it should be a separate award or not, was lengthy. Bob will contact Joe to see what he expects. The need for better scholarship policy and procedures and accounting was recognized. Bob recommended that we hire a financial expert to help us with all of this. Mindy agreed with this and asked if we could postpone any decisions on this until after we get expert advice.
Non-profit / Incorporation Status – Dick reported that our assumed non-profit status is still uncertain. Allen produced a number that Sharon would check on with the Secretary of State’s Office. Discussion about liability, IRS reporting and tax exempt status, plus AACRAO’s change to incorporation and related subjects ensued. No decision was made.
Historian’s Role – Dick informed the committee members that he talked with our new Historian, Dave Sauter, about his role and Dave suggested establishing the “Historian’s Corner”. This would consist of articles in the newsletters. Dick passed out copies of the first article (see attached) and all felt that this is a good idea.
Future Meetings – After discussion it was agreed that Executive Committee would meet during the February Program Planning Meeting (at Mt. Carmel); next at the proposed retreat; next at
AACRAO (Seattle), then June or July in the summer.
Respectfully submitted for Becky McOmber 1/25/2001
Bob Myers, Acting Secretary
Approved 02/16/01
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