by Ardis Bazyn, Secretary, California Council of the Blind
October 4, 2015
Jeff brought the October 4, 2015 Fall Convention Board Meeting to order.
Roll Call: President Jeff Thom, 1st Vice-President Eugene Lozano Jr., 2nd Vice-President Judy Wilkinson, Secretary Ardis Bazyn, Treasurer Peter Pardini,
Immediate Past President Donna Pomerantz. Directors: Vincent Calderon, Paul Patche Jr., Frank Welte, Steve Fort, Pam Metz, Charles Nabarrete, Robert Wendt,
and Joe Lopez. The only absent Director was Leena Bandy.
Jeff read the board meeting agenda and one agenda item was added. Jeff asked Charles Nabarrete to lead the exploration of a Capitol day in the spring.
Jeff read the June 30, 2015 minutes. Frank Welte made a motion to accept the June 30 minutes as read. Several seconded the motion and it passed. Abstentions
were Ardis Bazyn, Robert Wendt, and Pam Metz.
Mitch Pomerantz gave the Newel Perry report: $245,805.52. Mitch said the members of this committee are Richard Rueda, Margaret Buchmann-Garcia, and Mitch
Pomerantz. Judy made a motion to accept the report, Donna seconded the motion, and it passed.
Gene gave a 2016 convention update. Since this is a casino hotel, no hospitality room will be allowed. Peter suggested the board consider a meal subsidy
in the spring to make sure more attend the functions so we won't incur a penalty.
The next agenda item discussed was the requested meeting with the AMC president Lillian Scaife. She spoke about her concern about the revocation of its
charter. She referenced the Constitution portion about needing 10 members stating there has always been 10 members. Several board members felt this was
not valid because not all officer information sheets and rosters were provided each year or complete when provided. Many board members mentioned their
concern about past practices. Vince made a motion for AMC to supply the information required for all affiliates and chapters to CCB by November 15 including
roster, officer information sheet, current Constitution, and dues check; and the board should review the submitted documents by December 15 to make sure
they would be in compliance. Peter seconded the motion. Peter and Gene added that both the roster and officer information sheet should comply with all
relevant Constitution and Bylaw amendments in article 8. It was mentioned that any dues check received will not be cashed until a final decision is made
on compliance. The motion passed on roll call vote 10-3.
Frank made a motion to suspend the charter for the San Mateo Chapter since it hasn't submitted credentials for more than 2 years. Judy Wilkinson seconded
the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Jeff asked for reports from the four goal groups. Jeff appointed the new chair of goal 1 on fundraising, Frank Welte. Goal 2 executive committee proposed
an executive director document position statement be sent to the board for review. Linda Porelle submitted her goal 3 report in advance. She asked for
this group to be reconstituted. Ardis gave the goal 4 report. As this committee is working on how to proceed after moving to one convention, four suggestions
were made. A grant proposal should be written to get more chapters represented at conventions. A new voice mail system was purchased which was one request.
Another strategy was to have reports from chapters in the publication each year which Susan Glass has been providing. The Resolutions Committee would be
asked how the new structure is working after this last convention. Donna made a motion to accept the goal group reports. Vince seconded the motion and
it passed.
Jeff said the website initiative with a mediator is moving forward and a report will be provided when it's completed. Judy gave the Publications Committee
report. She said the audio version [of the BC] couldn't be recorded unless a new system was purchased. Synthetic speech might be one option. The Publications
Committee has changed formatting to allow more articles. Susan Glass is now assistant editor. The Publications Committee is streamlining the magazine awards
process. She gave the publication counts and costs. She said the summer issue cost for all issues was: $2,264. NFB-Newsline? is one option for those to
listen to the audio for now. There will be a conference call on November 11 for those currently using the cassette version. Ardis suggested calling Horizons
for the Blind as an option to produce the cassette version. Frank made a motion to accept the Publications Committee report. Pam seconded the motion and
it passed.
Jeff asked for board members to volunteer to provide a board handbook of information. Three board members agreed to do this. Judy will Chair, Pam will
be the new board member, and Frank will be on this committee. Jeff asked for board volunteers to be personal mentors for new board members. He asked those
willing to contact him offline. Jeff will send the board documents for signing: Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest, and Board Expectations to new board
members. Jeff asked if there were Mutt Strut questions. Sacramento had 98 registrants this year, 105 last year. Members were requested to attend the L.A.
Mutt Strut, buy raffle tickets, or donate to fundraising pages.
The phone message boxes on the phone system have limits of only 5 minutes.
Judy asked for timely dissemination of the minutes, only correctly approved with attachments imbedded. Judy suggested the Publications committee bring
forth a recommendation on how this should be done.
Public comments were next. Jeff thanked the AV personnel for handling the mics. Christy Crespin mentioned concern about programming occurring at the same
time. Pam Polagi mentioned her concern about the number of rings before the phone mail boxes answer.
Peter gave the treasurer's report. Vince made a motion to accept the treasurer's report. The motion was seconded by Ardis and it passed.
Several board members made a motion to adjourn with more board members seconding the motion. The motion passed. The meeting ended at 3:45 PM.
CCB Conference Call Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Summary, October 26, 2015
Jeff Thom brought the October 26 conference call board meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Ardis Bazyn called the roll. Joe Lopez was the only one absent.
Gene Lozano made a motion to move into executive session. Peter seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. Legal matters were discussed.
Judy made a motion that we let DRA know we are interested in entering into a lawsuit. Gene seconded the motion. The motion passed with one abstention Frank
Welte. Ardis made a motion to leave executive session. Judy seconded the motion, and the motion passed unanimously.
Peter gave an update on the 2014 audit. The 2015 audit is scheduled for the week of June 2, 2016. Ardis made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Peter seconded
the motion and it passed. The meeting ended at approximately 8:45 PM.
CCB Board of Directors Conference Call Minutes Summary, December 29, 2015
Jeff Thom brought the conference call board meeting to order at 7:10 PM on December 29. Ardis Bazyn called the roll. Joe Lopez was absent. Jeff Thom outlined
the brief agenda. Besides personnel matters, adoption of an executive director position description was discussed. Donna Pomerantz made a motion to go
into executive session. The motion was seconded by Peter Pardini and passed unanimously. The board agreed in consensus to add the following phrase to the
bullet point starting with general knowledge, e.g. Microsoft Office Suite and access technology. Examples include Word, Excel, and Power Point." Judy made
a motion to adopt the job description with the additions to the bullet point and the one Mitch sent before the call. Donna seconded the motion. The motion
passed. Donna made a motion to leave the executive session. Leena seconded the motion and it passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.
