July 2009 Board Meeting Summary

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SUMMARY OF MOTIONS

DETAILS

The meeting was called to order at 5:45 PM.

Bev Anderson, president, Laura Niznik, vice-president, and Penni Smith, treasure-secretary/technology director, were present.  Director Mike Green was attending via phone.  Amy Considine, Administrative Director, was unable to attend.  Diane Blakley, a member and our newsletter editor, attended as a guest.

The June minutes were approved.

Bev and Penni gave a review of a meeting they had had with the Sacramento support group executive committee.

Penni gave the treasurer’s report.  The Bank balance is $21,694.82.  Uncleared items total $1,140.79, making the actual balance $20,627.63.  Support group reserves, included in that balance, are $6,788.14.  Therefore, the total in the NCCNA general fund is $13,839.49. 

She also reported on the transition as she has assumed the treasurer duties from Dick Ward.  Payments are current, and each payment made this year has been scanned so that it can be reviewed in MAMA when the coding of the application is complete.  Penni will be entering all of this year’s payments into MAMA as she completes the various components of the application.  Once the financial policies are finalized, she intends to send a note to each group with the adopted policies, forms, and other information.  She has targeted October 1 as a completion date, but hopes to finish well before then.

Penni also requested that we implement PayPal Website Payments Standard to accept online donations and dues.  She reviewed the cost, and also the purpose of the terminal services package.  There was a motion to implement PayPal, which was approved.  We decided to see how that goes before considering Terminal Services.

We discussed the meeting Bev, Penni, Mike, and Amy had with Tina Tockershewsky, President and CEO of The Neuropathy Association, at the Third Annual Neuropathy Action Awareness Day.  Mike drafted a follow-up letter to Tina. 

We talked about the strategic planning day, tentatively planned for September 26.  Two possible facilitators were mentioned; we will need to find our rates and availability.  Bev will send out a Strategic Plan agenda for our review, and will draft a questionnaire.

We discussed our policy on mileage.  We will continue our previous policy (in the standing rules) of reimbursing mileage at 60% of the IRS rate for the business mileage deduction for board-approved travel by a board member.  Bev didn’t realize the rate had changed, and has been reimbursed this year at a rate lower than she should have received.  A motion was passed that we will reimburse her at the rate she should have received.  Penni will issue a corrective payment after she has completed her payment entries.

We also discussed meal reimbursement when traveling.  Bev has not been getting reimbursed for meals.  While a person has to eat anywhere, it is more costly to eat out.  We agreed that for board members doing board-approved traveling, we will reimburse meals for their actual amounts, up to $35 a day.  We will not have a specific meal limit, or a per diem.  Reimbursement only applies when an overnight stay is involved.  Of course, we will continue to reimburse meals that involve board business, such as interviews with prospective board members.

Mike needed to leave, so we asked if he had any thoughts about the policies up for approval.  Mike said he had no disagreements with the rest of the policies on the agenda.  The remaining members still constituted a quorum.

Bev, Laura, and Penni reviewed the policies.  The first set were policies already in place that had had minor revisions or none at all.  It was agreed that the revision date on all of them, including those that had not been changed, would be updated to July 2009 to reflect this review.  The Non Discrimination and Harassment Policy, Video Policy, Discount Policy and Procedure, and Advisors Policy were approved as submitted.  The Committee Policy had a sentence added to clarify that the final decision on any committee product rests with the board.  The policy was then approved.  The Administrative Policy was approved with a clarification that any adult willing to assume the responsibility may assist with the opening and logging of the mail.

The new Procedures for Implementing Policies and Board Meeting Policy were both approved.  Though the Procedures for Implementing Policies specifically excluded itself from the new procedure, Penni asked that the procedure be followed for these two items, because we had already opened them up for Sacramento to comment.  Therefore, these items are approved subject to comment from our members, and will become final at our next meeting.

Some questions arose about the financial policies, which we were unable to resolve without further information.  Because of this question, the financial policies and procedures for the use of the form were not approved.  The reimbursement form itself, however, was approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.