February 2016 Minutes
AWB February 13, 2016 meeting Minutes
The meeting was called to order by President William Hawkins, Odell Hollins led us in reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
21 members answered roll call.
The President reported he had received correspondence from MCB office, Grant Applications were available for First Timers to attend the MCB State Convention, to be held in St. Louis from October 7 through the 9th
The auction committee is asking for donations no less than $50, the donations can be from affiliates, or individuals
, please call Virginia at the MCB Office to inform her of your donation for the silent auction.
President Hawkins also said the March 12th meeting would be held at Alphapointe 7501 Prospect, Kansas City, from noon until 2:00 pm.
Treasure Alice Valdez reported that our beginning balance checking for January is $1,812.89, ending balance was $2,693.14.
Investments $32,488.80 MCB grant of $500 was included in the report along with a certificate of good standing with the IRS. Alice reported that in the previous month 50/50 drawing Odell Hollins was the winner, and donated his winnings back to the organization.
Public Relations Chairman Tracey Hawkins read a letter AWB received from The Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) thanking us for our donation of $300 for the continuing education for a student.
Corresponding Secretary Barbara Dewberry reported she had called the members informing them when and where the February meeting would be held, she also reported one birthday in February.
Activities Chairman Merle Long, reported members wishing to go on the Gangster Tour March 19, should bring a check for $25 made out to Allied Workers for the Blind at the meeting on March 12.
Fund Raising Chairman Melvin Smith said he has been contacting businesses and letting them know who and what the Allied Workers for the Blind does in the community. No money yet.
Health Benefits Chairman Brandi Jones gave her contact information so she could get information about some of our members who may need assistance.
Shirley gave a report on the MCB Board conference call January 28, 2016.find this information at the end of the AWB minutes.
The following is a list of AWB Officers
President William Hawkins
Vice President Eldon Cox
Recording Secretary Shirley Brokaw
Treasure Alice Valdez
Corresponding Secretary Barbara Dewberry
Activity Chairman Merle Long
Education & Advocacy Darla Rodgers
Fund Raising chairman Melvin Smith
Health Benefits Chairman Brandi Jones
Membership Chairman Terrie Arnold
Special Services chairman Lisa Eleazer
Bylaw Chairman Bill Reynolds
Respectfully submitted
Shirley Brokaw
Recording Secretary 2015-2016
MCB January Board of Directors Conference call
Draft minutes (not approved)
From Denny Huff President MCB
In my presidents report I asked the board to appropriate money for a fund raising seminar to be held in February in St. Louis. The cost for the 40 hour class is $2,500.00 for three people to attend. Those people are Chris Gray, Kim Vaughn and Darrel Vickers. The board voted to approve this.
During our last convention I had stated that we were going to take a serious look at cutting some of our expenses in an effort to have more of a balanced budget. We asked our accountant, Jerry Nickels, to take a look at our expenses and give us some suggestions. The budget and finance committee met with Jerry this past Tuesday and went over some of his recommendations. We presented some of those proposals to the board and here is the outcome.
The ACB grant will remain at $20,000.00 but individuals will be limited to receiving $500.00 each. The past two years there were only 20 people attending the ACB convention and each person received $1,000.00. If only 20 people attend the ACB convention this year that would mean a savings of $10,000.00 for MCB.
The committee also asked the board to increase the rate attendees would pay for summer camp. They had asked for a $25.00 across the board increase but that was modified to a $10.00 increase covering the next two years and a $15.00 increase in 2018. The rate for those attending summer camp will begin this year and are as follows.
Adults for the week long camp will be $85.00 for 2016 and 2017.
Children under the age of 18 will be $70.00 for both of those years.
The weekend camp will be $60.00 for 2016 and 2017.
In 2018 the week long camp will be $100.00 for adults and $85.00 for children under 18.
The extended weekend camp will be $75.00.
The committee has recommended that we do away with the in-person board meetings in April. The committee felt that this was unnecessary at this time and the board agreed. Our by-laws do state that the board meet two times apart from the pre-convention meeting in October but it does not state that these meetings should be an in-person meeting as opposed to teleconference calls. It is estimated that this will save MCB approximately $9,000.00 annually... The 2016 April board meeting is under contract so this will begin in 2017.
The budget and finance committee also recommended that an affiliate requesting a visit from a staff member, board member with the exception of the president, or a committee chair be responsibility for the expense of that visit. The board voted to approve this.
The board approved the recommendation from the committee that we eliminate all donations with the exception to the following three organizations...
Power-Up, (Missouri Assistive Technology).
Mind's Eye Radio
Kansas Audio Reading Service.
Each one of these organizations will have a line item in the budget of $2,000.00 each.
This will be a savings of $4,000.00 each year.
As an addition to the accounting and financial policy, the board added one sentence which says, the executive director shall approve the president’s expenses and the president shall approve the executive director's expenses. This was done for checks and balances and for transparency.
In other business conducted the board approved three new chair people.
Resource and Development - Kim Vaughn
Emergency Preparedness - Merle Long
Special Services - Joe Dobbs.
The board approved a recommendation from the low vision chaired by Jeff La Montia to adopt the font policy used by the American Council of the Blind. Basically it says that we use Aerial Black, 18 point as the font and use 1 1/2 line spacing. Only the headings will be bolded. Of course, should an individual need a font different this they can always request it from the office.
A modification was made to the public relations guidelines that when working with an affiliate that this be done via postal mail, email or teleconference call.
A proposal was made to the board from the Act Now council to create a publications committee. After a presentation by Ruthie Clark and much discussion the motion was defeated.
In closed session the board approved the new personnel manual and a new job description for the executive director. Both of these documents are available from the office upon request
