NACDEP Board Meeting Minutes
June 10, 2005
Present
Kathy Tweeten - president
Rick Maurer - president-elect
Cindy Bigger
Hank Cothran
Steve Daniels
Michael Darger
Al Kowitz
Jeri Marxman
Emily Shaw
Julie Stewart
Welcome
Kathy Tweeten called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m.
Hank Cothran moved and Rick Maurer seconded to approve the minutes from the May 13, 2005, conference call as presented. Motion carried.
Treasurer's Report
Hank Cothran reported the following balance belonging to the Association
and currently in place at the Southern Rural Development Center and the
North Central Regional Center for Rural Development:
$15,933.11 - membership account (SRDC)
$10,953.08 - 2005 conference account (NCRCRD)
In addition, the following two awards from CSREES are still being processed and will be received at the Southern Rural Development Center on behalf of NACDEP:
$5,000 for 2006 conference
$5,000 for national CRED strategic plan
(PLEASE NOTE: Hank, I have a reference to leftover money from the NET 2004 conference being forwarded to NACDEP. I don't have any specific information on this though. Would it have been forwarded to NACDEP or to NET 2006?)
Hank Cothran moved and Al Kowitz seconded that the balance from the membership account at the SRDC and the conference account at the NCRCRD be transferred to the NACDEP bank account in Florida. Motion carried. The SRDC and the NCRCRD will be in touch with Hank to work out any details on transferring the funds. With the transfer of membership funds, Emily Shaw raised the question on who will be accepting that money now for new members.
Hank reported that he will be setting up a bank account. Three people
will be authorized to sign checks (Kathy Tweeten, Rick Maurer and Hank
Cothran), and two signatures will be required on any given check.
Old Business
Bonding Issue - Hank Cothran
Hank has received some information on this and there are two different issues to report on: 1) Officers and Members General Liability - this does not cover money issues, but rather if the association would be sued for an unusual situation. 2) Fiduciary Bond - this covers Hank as the treasurer. They are sending Hank additional information.2005 Conference Leftovers - Jeri Marxman and Julie Stewart
The accounts have been closed and all proceedings received to date are up on the web. Some additional work will be done on the conference web site to more prominently highlight the proceedings and archive other conference information.
New Business
2007 Conference Committee - Kathy Tweeten
The 2007 conference will be held in the Northeast region and Rod Howe (Cornell University and NERCRD) has agreed to serve as co-chair of that committee. The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development has also agreed to support this effort.Site Selection - Michael Darger
Michael Darger (University of Minnesota) has agreed to put together some guidelines to be used for site selection of future NACDEP conferences. He joined today's call in order to get some additional information before proceeding with this task.
- Ad hoc committee created to develop the policy for site selection - Michael Darger (chair), John Burton, Jeri Marxman, Cindy Bigger and Rick Maurer.
- Charge for this committee - develop policy or guidelines for selecting the site of future NACDEP conferences. The policy developed for BR&E was suggested as an example.
- The NACDEP conference will rotate by region with the respective Regional Rural Development Centers providing support. Current rotation: 2005 - Western region; 2006 - Southern region; 2007 - Northeast region; 2008 - North Central region (already set as Galaxy conference in Indianapolis).
- Site selection will be done two years in advance and most likely prior to a conference committee being in place. The Regional Rural Development Centers will serve as a clearinghouse for site selection within the region and work with the executive committee to collect the bids. The NACDEP board will make the final decision on the site of each conference.
- A sampling of components and requirements were discussed, including: number of sleeping rooms, size and number of meeting rooms, internet access, cost of travel, and additional attractions at that location. The board also discussed what time of year the conference would be held, and whether or not we want to stay with February. If so, would this limit holding the conference in colder climates?
- Timeline - Try to have draft guidelines to propose to Board by August or September. Would like Rod Howe to be able to announce site of 2007 conference at the 2006 conference in San Antonio.
Board Plan of Work for 2005 - Kathy Tweeten
- Committee Mission, Description/Duties, Committee Rosters and Plans of Work to Entire Board - Send this to the Emily Shaw as well to post on the web site. Committee chairs, please check to see if your information is complete. http://srdc.msstate.edu/nacdep/committees/committees.htm.
- District Representative Duties and Responsibilities - done. http://srdc.msstate.edu/nacdep/leadership/regreps.htm
- 2006 NACDEP Conference - in progress. See committee report below.
- 2007 NACDEP Conference - in progress. See new business above.
- Update By-laws and Create Amendments - in progress. See committee report below.
- Schedule for News Blasts from Marketing Committee - For now, a news blast will be distributed by the president following the monthly Board conference calls.
- National Strategic Plan - Kathy Tweeten and Deborah Tootle will sit in on that committee.
- Audit 2004 and 2005 Conference Records
- Accounting - The Board needs to determine if they want the association to be designated as a 501c3. Would allow people to give us contributions that are tax-deductible, and might make it easier to solicit grants. Is that important to us? There is a $600 to $700 cost and a lot of paperwork involved in the 501c3 designation. It takes about six months to complete. There are three different kinds of not-for-profit organizations. We are currently a 501c6 (I think).
- Nomination of 2006 Officers and Regional Representatives According to Amended By-Laws
- Develop RFP for Hiring Association Executive Manager - Kathy Tweeten will draft a job description for an association executive manager.
- Other Committee Plans of Work Items?
Cindy Bigger moved and Hank Cothran seconded to approve the 2005 plan of work. Motion carried. After removing the details, Emily will post to the NACDEP web site.
Committee Reports
2006 Conference
- Hotel Report - Monday, February 13 (evening) to Thursday, February 16. There will be time for most to travel in on Monday if they would like. Conference rate on sleeping rooms at the hotel is good for three days before and after the conference. Cindy, Rick and Emily made a site visit. Beautiful hotel. Very adequate space in the meeting rooms. Contract should be signed within two weeks.
- Greg Taylor has offered that Texas will take care of all equipment needs. Thank you!
- Conference Participation and Registration Fee - There was a great deal of discussion on whether or not the conference should be open to non-members and the structure of the registration fee.
- Cindy Bigger moved and Hank Cothran seconded that the NACDEP conference be open to anyone doing community development work, and that non-members be charged a higher registration fee equal to or higher than the annual membership dues. Discussion followed.
- One of the member benefits is attending the conference. Therefore, if open to non-members, they would need to pay a higher registration fee. Suggestions included $50 to $100 more.
- Is the conference open to non-members? General agreement that we want to be inclusive. However, the ability to be a member is limited. You have to be in a class of people (land-grant university extension) to be a member. So if we open the conference to non-members, don't want to set the fee too high. Don't want to send a signal in our pricing that we don't want them. Community development is all about building bridges and partnerships. Having non-members there is valuable for us. Membership Services committee will work on this.
- At the 2005 conference, we saw extension presentations that brought in partners. They were able to attend for a daily rate of $100. If we add another $100 to that rate for a non-member, they would likely not have come and the presentation would have suffered. Another aspect to consider.
- One reason the membership fee was included in the conference registration fee for 2005 is that some institutions will pay a membership fee if it is part of the conference registration fee. Perhaps set conference fee structure to allow for that. For those in extension and eligible to join, the conference fee and membership fee can be combined.
- How much interest do you think there will be outside of extension?
Motion carried.
- Role of Treasurer - All contracts handled through continuing education at Mississippi State University can be handled internally. The conference committee will be submitting an overall conference budget to the Board. Once approved, if within that budget, the conference committee can handle. If something above and beyond the budget comes up, then the conference committee needs to come back to the Board.
- Miscl. - 1) Looking for suggestions for a conference theme that connects to Texas. 2) Looking for suggestions for keynote speakers. 3) Requesting volunteers for tract committees. 4) RFP will be released soon. 5) Timeline will be a bit tight, but should work. 6) Allow time for committees to meet? 7) In the agenda, have extended the annual meeting time to 1.5 hours.
Marketing and Outreach
Kathy Tweeten reported that news blasts are being sent out from the president after the monthly Board conference calls.Membership Services
Steve Daniels will have his committee explore the affiliate membership issue and report back on a future conference call.Nominating
No report at this time.Resolution and Policy
Jeri Marxman distributed an e-mail on June 8 titled "suggested by-law changes." Discussion followed. Highlights include:
- Amendments - current by-laws state that this can be done by e-mail or fax. But can it be done at any time of the year? If so, do you want this done during the summer so it is complete in time for nominations and elections in the fall? Yes. And indicate in the proposed amendment that changes can be made at any time of the year by e-mail or fax.
- Term of Office - begin on January 1 or annual meeting?
- Term of Office - current by-laws state that regional representatives serve a one-year term. Proposed change to three-year terms on a rotating basis: 1890 and Western regional representatives terms end 2005 and re-elected for 3-year term. 1994 and Southern regional representatives terms end 2006 and re-elected for 3-year term. North Central and Northeast regional representatives terms end 2007 and re-elected for 3-year term. The concept needs to be in the by-laws (3-year terms on a staggered rotating cycle), but not the specific rotation schedule. Cindy Bigger and Al Kowitz agree with the proposal cycle. Kathy Tweeten will check with Walt, Ernie and Chris as well.
- Term of Office - Suggested rotation schedule for officers and additional details can be found in Jeri's attachment to the June 8 e-mail.
- Board Member Participation - Should attendance and participation in NACDEP Board conference calls and meetings be addressed in the by-laws? If a board member misses three meetings "without cause," then an inquiry will be made and the board member "may" be replaced by the president. Make sure that nominees know the requirements of serving as an officer or regional representative to NACDEP and determine at that time whether or not they can make the commitment and thus run for office. It is also important for the respective regions to know that their representative is serving them well.
- Policy Manual - The focus this year is on by-laws. Next year will focus more on policy. Hank Cothran will forward the policy statements that he received from other organizations.
- If you have any additional comments or suggestions, please send to Jeri before our July 8 conference call so we can discuss as a board. The Resolution and Policy committee is then scheduled to meet on July 11.
Audit
Al Kowitz recommended changing the name of the audit committee to finance to more accurately reflect its function. Emily will make the change on the web site. Al will also formally forward this recommendation to Jeri Marxman for a change in the by-laws.Recognition
No report at this time.2007 Conference
See report under new business.JCEP
No report at this time.
Task Force Reports
Database - Julie Stewart
On June 9, 2005, you received an e-mail from Julie Stewart titled "Question - NACDEP Membership," concerning current paid members that do not have an extension appointment at a land-grant university. Discussion followed. Highlights include:
- Confirmed that our partners at the Regional Rural Development Centers do have an extension appointment at their host institution.
- Check on when and how the individuals listed in the e-mail joined. Was it through a conference registration?
- Remove those not eligible for membership from the listserv.
- Discussed affiliate membership status. Steve Daniels and the membership services committee will look into this.
Web Page - Emily Shaw
Adjourn
The next conference call is scheduled for Friday, July 8, 2005, at 10 a.m. central time, (662) 325-8448. Please let Kathy Tweeten know ahead of time if you will not be able to participate.