Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors

of South Dakota RehabAction

February 22, 2007, by Teleconference

 

CALL TO ORDER: 

The meeting was called to order by Board President, Margie Helgeson.

 

ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS PRESENT: 

President, Marjorie Helgeson; Past President, Alan Vandenburg; President-Elect, Cindy Ryan; Treasurer, Bernie Grimme; Interim Secretary, Mary Lesselyoung. Board Members, Keith Rouse and Dan Rounds were absent.

 

REVIEW OF THE MINUTES/ ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: 

Minutes of the meeting held 1/11/07 were reviewed.  Bernie made a motion to accept the minutes, and Mary seconded the motion.  All were in favor. 

 

REPORTS:

Membership Report:  The membership report was given by Bernie.  The average # of members is usually around 100 and we currently have 94. Current memberships are posted on the RehabACTion web site.  It is anticipated that there will be some new memberships at Midwinter Conference.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Bernie provided the Treasure’s report which is basically about the same as last month’s.  Our current balance as of February 17, 2007 is $37,787.80 however, this is not actually accurate due to the expenses coming in and going out.  Bernie will hand out an updated report at our annual meeting on March 5, 2007.

 

2007 Fall Conference:  Arrangements continue to be made for the Fall Conference to be held at the Ramkota Inn in Aberdeen between Oct. 16 – 19th, 2007. This date would coincide with the National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month events.  Dan and Bernie are taking the lead in getting this set up.  Richard Pimental is scheduled to be our Primary Speaker.  Catriona MacDonald, our Lobbyist, will not be presenting at the conference.  Bernie spoke of a Mentoring Project and Employer Group meeting which may be offered during the conference. Dan will be passing around a flyer at Midwinter Conference with information about the upcoming Fall Conference.

 

ARAN Consortium Report:  Margie provided an update on ARAN activities.  Catriona MacDonald’s contract was approved and will be effective March 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007.  Catriona’s fees for service have increased from $3000 to $3,500 per month.  In the past, our SD Chapter has funded $3000.  Margie would like to raise this to $3500.  The Oregon Chapter, with only 6 members, has sent $3500 to support ARAN so hopefully SD can follow.  ARAN’s current budget of $24,000 is a shortfall of $7-10,000 from the $31,000 + needed.  Alan made a motion to increase SD support from $3000 to $3500.  This was seconded by Bernie and all were in favor.

Discussion was held on the # of SD members needed on the ARAN Board.  Since Rich has left, Margie has been our only representative.  Bernie commented and everyone agreed that we should keep 2 members on the Board since we are the second largest state.  Margie will present a nomination at the March 12th ARAN Board meeting for our SD Chapter to have 2 representatives on the board.  We will have further discussion on this at our next meeting. 

Annette Frazier, editor of ARAN’s In The Public Interest newsletter, made a suggestion to the ARAN Board to have a network of Chapter liaisons to report each state chapter’s news & events for the newsletter.  Margie explained that the liaison would submit articles, photos, updates, and other chapter activity for inclusion in the ARAN newsletter.  Margie has volunteered to serve in this position.  With further discussion it was decided to have future outgoing presidents automatically  serve in this position.  Bernie made a motion to accept this action and it was seconded by Cindy.  All were in favor.

 

 

Mid Winter Update:  The Midwinter Conference agenda was reviewed.  Bernie reported there are 114 individuals registered so far. 

Discussion was held on the upcoming Annual RehabACTion meeting which will be held during Mid Winter on March 5th. Plans are to have the meeting from 5:15 to 6pm and then the Social following at about 6:30pm in the courtyard/garden area.  Discussion was held and clarification was provided on the order of the agenda for the annual meeting. Grady will report on the National Legislative update and Shelly Pfaff will provide the State Legislative report.  Margie will give a brief update on ARAN activities and Bernie will provide the Treasure report.  Margie will run copies of last year’s annual meeting minutes for all members and these will be reviewed during the meeting.

After the gavel is passed, Cindy will be in charge of the nomination procedure for new board members at the annual meeting.  A few nominations have come in but more are needed.  We need to start recruiting for a President Elect candidate.  Cindy will send out another email to all RehabACTion members and then prepare the ballot.

Finalizations were discussed for the Social.  Cindy will purchase the prizes, Keith will be in charge of the beverages, and Janet will take care of the hors-d’oeuvres.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS: None

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Bernie made a recommendation to set up a policy for gift giving when employees retire or resign.  The group consensus was each case would be handled individually but in order for RehabACTion to purchase a gift, the outgoing employee will need to be a current RehabACTion member or have at least 10 years of providing vocational rehabilitation services (VR or provider).  The value of the gifts will be from $50 to $125 and the amount to spend will be determined on a case by case basis.  Bernie made the motion to accept this new procedure and this was seconded by Cindy.  All were in favor.

Bernie would like to update the RehabACTion web page.  New software priced at about $300 would be needed to accomplish this.  The state may also be updating their software in the near future so a separate purchase for RehabACTion may not be necessary.

The RehabACTion account is over $25,000.  In order to keep in compliance with the IRS, Bernie will be meeting with an Accountant in March to see what action needs to be taken. 

Bernie informed us of the upcoming Region 8 Field Managers& Directors meeting scheduled for June in Logan, Utah.  RehabACTion contributed funds for the social at the last meeting which was held in ND.  He indicated that this is a nice gesture to promote RehabACTion.  Further discussion will be held on this at our next meeting.

 

Next Board Meeting:  The date and time for the next meeting will be scheduled after the elections at the annual meeting.

 

Adjournment: 

Meeting adjourned.  All were in favor.