Board Meeting Summaries
Submitted by Linda Porelle
[Edited from official Minutes.]
California Council of the Blind
Board Meeting
November 14, 2019
The meeting began at 7:03 PM.
Present
Officers:
President: Judy Wilkinson
1st Vice President: Gabe Griffith
Secretary: Linda Porelle
Treasurer: Lisa Thomas
Immediate Past President: Jeff Thom
Directors:
Steve Bauer
Christy Crespin
Nelly Emerson
Pam Metz
Sharlene Ornelas
Rob Turner
Frank Welte
Absent
2nd Vice President: Sarah Harris
Directors:
Paul Patche, Jr.
Penny Valdovinos
Gabe moved and Christy seconded to approve the October 10 minutes. Motion was unanimously approved.
Approval of Treasurer's Report
Lisa moved and Linda seconded to approve the Treasurer's Report. Motion was unanimously approved.
There will be a chapter and affiliate treasurers call on December 11 at 7:30 PM. Lisa will review fund-raising reporting expectations for CCB.
President's Report
The CCB office moved across the hall on Oct 30. We have four offices, with one to be used as a conference room. We'll also have a break-out area. Many thanks to Nicole for smoothly and successfully managing the move.
James reported that we should receive the EUC grant by early Dec. We asked for a little more money.
The new CCB informational postcard is available in the office. Nicole will send as many as you need so we can distribute it widely. The board wishes to thank the publications committee for creating this card.
OntheMuV Update
Judy took two units to the WA Council convention and was well received. Steve and Judy will be showing it all around. We will initially receive 100 motorized and 200 manual units. We're still working on developing infO and Marketing and will need website coordination.
Committee Updates
Judy reviewed and updated committee memberships with Gabe, which will result in the elimination of some committees. Cindy van Winkle of CCB will help with membership roster discrepancy issues. Jeff suggested we focus particular attention on retention. Christy asked about progress on creating board liaisons. Cindy will have ACB liaison guidelines to share.
Auction Update
Andrea thanked Larry Gassman and auction committee members. $9,125 was the gross profit. $160 was returned to a bidder. $865 is left with some shipping still to happen. 63 people registered. 40 people were on the call. Vita thanked the TOG for their help with the auction.
Convention Update
Judy and Lisa talked with Doubletree staff. We're looking at changing to fall dates in 2021. Our convention in 2020 will be in early June again. The room rate will be $145 per night. Jeff reviewed several sessions under consideration for that convention.
A subcommittee working on sponsorships with Alice Turner as chair. The convention title will be 2020: CCB's Vision for the Future. Lori asked about regional meetings. Judy said they are still being planned even if we are having a convention again next year.
Legislative
Jeff reported that both of our bills passed and were signed by the governor. AB169 passed and was signed making guide dog attacks even when not in harness criminal liability. AB947 was a special education bill with CAOMS. It addressed the problem of districts setting limiting restrictions on o&m trainers working with students during school hours. We also succeeded in getting extended core curriculum but will need to get districts to include it. Jeff received an award from CAOMS for his advocacy work. He noted that CCB needs to be more involved in getting funding for BRAILLE Institute.
Budget and Finance
The process will proceed and a budget proposal will be brought to the board in January. Judy is the committee chair and Lisa is the vice chair. She will have some reports in December.
Hearing of the Public
Lori asked about acknowledgment of donations. Judy said that Nicole needs to let us know when donations come in.
Ken (a new CCB member) asked when board members will visit southern California. A regional meeting is planned for April 25. Judy offered to have CCB pay for meeting space for that session.
Jeff noted that the leadership seminar is coming up in February. Chapters can donate partial payment for an attendee.
The meeting adjourned at 8:43 PM.
California Council of the Blind
Board Meeting
Thursday, December 12, 2019
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM.
Roll Call, Present
Officers:
President: Judy Wilkinson
1st Vice President: Gabe Griffith
2nd Vice President: Sarah Harris
Secretary: Linda Porelle
Treasurer: Lisa Thomas
Immediate Past President: Jeff Thom
Directors:
Steve Bauer
Christy Crespin
Nelly Emerson
Pam Metz
Sharlene Ornelas
Paul Patche Jr
Rob Turner
Penny Valdovinos
Frank Welte
Approval of November 14, 2019 Meeting Minutes
Linda moved and Rob seconded. Motion passed with Sarah abstaining.
President's Report
We will likely receive two thirds of our previous Energy Upgrade California grant with some smaller additional grants possible.
Judy and Nicole have created a procedure for acknowledging donations.
Judy thanked the publications committee for creating an appeal letter, which was sent to 700 email addresses and mailed to 600 addresses on our mailing list at the cost of $100.
Gabe and Judy have continued their efforts to bring our committees up to date to prepare for revising our web site. We will not continue with some of our current committees.
Two chapters have sponsorships for sending CCB members to the ACB Leadership mid-year meeting in February. Other chapters are encouraged to offer partial sponsorship.
Judy reported that the OntheMuV project is moving very slowly. Some of the devices are already in southern California. They are being evaluated before selling begins. We won't start our contract until they're ready to sell.
Judy, Jeff and Nicole talked with Cindy Van Winkle about updating our membership data for ACB. They conducted a three year review of our data. Plans for improving our data collection will include better tracking of life members by keeping their donations in a designated account. In addition, there will be outreach to members who didn't rejoin in 2019.
Christy talked about updating the website.
Lisa and the Budget and Finance Committee will prepare and propose a budget for 2020 at the January board meeting. The budget will be read and approved at that meeting.
Treasurer's Report
Jeff moved and Gabe seconded approval of Lisa's report.
Question from Judy: How long can we go without more Newel Perry money?
Lisa noted that it will depend on EUC payment schedule, which should be quarterly, but not confirmed yet.
Christy presented the Ellen Murphy report. She is the only trustee right now but is searching for two more. It started in 1996 or so with Cathy Skivers. Pat LaFrance Wolf served for a while. Christy is doing some online banking. In 2019, helped 6 women with 7 applications. spent $22,065.17.
Christy moved and Nelly seconded to approve the report. It was mentioned that the two needed trustees can be approved in minutes.
Convention Update
Judy reported that Doubletree Hotel wants to see how our 2020 convention goes before making any additional commitments. After discussion, they now will offer a one-year contract if we're willing to double up with another group. We will need to look at ways to use fewer meeting rooms starting this year.
Lisa's report on Treasurer's meeting on Tuesday, December 10
She noted that 20 to 25 people attended. She provided training on filling out and submitting the annual fundraising report, which is required from each chapter and affiliate. Some attendees were able to see their previous errors in completing this task. Lisa offered to support them on an ongoing basis. They may try to meet every quarter.
Hearing of the Public
Mike Keithley asked about plans for regional meetings. We will have another in southern California in late April. Mike would like to keep this idea alive.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM.
