Executive Council Meeting
Silver Legacy, Reno, Nevada
Respectfully Submitted by Terri Eckel
April 12, 2014
Call to Order: 10:40
PRESENT: Jack Edwards, Kevin Jensen, Frank Green, Barbara Bickett, Kay Soltis, Oscar Verduzco, Mindy
Bergeron, Sun Ow, Nichole Doering, Terri Eckel, Monique Theriault, Ed Wagner, Suzet Petersen,
Roxanne Merle, Ashley Munro, Adam hatch, Laura Hughes, John Bender, Leonard Walker, Abril hunt,
Ashley Salisbury, Melissa Moser
Frank welcomed the visitors – incoming 1415 EC
Voting changes :
Phong is not here, Ashley Munro will vote for Alaska
Adam will be voting for Cathy Bio for Pacific Islands
Wendy Olson is not present due to a family emergency
Reminded everyone that we are doing consent agenda
Review of TO DO’s
Ashley to research Survey Monkey capabilities so that FP can vote on whether we should purchase
another Survey Monkey report. DONE – voted in FP and we will purchase two
Strategic Planning – Jack
References Measures tracking tool which incorporates end of year reports. Jack still needs to continue
to update because some of the data isn’t available – SDBSI and conference. Then Frank will have
tracking tool to manage for 1415 year. Jack said we are in very good shape financially.
Jack asked where training manual is – Adam said it’s nearly done and Sue is working on it. Jack said once
updated, it needs to come to EC for approval and then it is posted to the website. It’s goal 1a on
Measures Tracking Tool. Should be brought and voted on at June EC meeting.
TO DO: Adam and Sue to update training manual and have available to vote on at June EC meeting.
Ashley Munro had update – Goal 5c – should be updated to 8 highlights. Jack asked if Ashley has more
blog postings to include in her report. Ashley will send to Jack. Ashley S. asked if Jack needs a final
update on web stuff – Jack said yes.
TO DO: Ashley to send Jack some updates for Measures Tracking Tool.
Frank commended Jack for how well he managed SP this year. Jack thanked everyone for putting their
info into End of Year reports. He said to put anything in the report….whether we think it’s relevant or
not.
Fiscal Planning – Mindy
Having our books reviewed and Wayne Mahoney from CASFAA and Scott Nielsen from NV will be
reviewing for us. Also secured Tracy Corta to do 2013 taxes. Ours aren’t due until 5/15. He did a great
job last year and we’ll use him again.
Balanced 2014 budget – She referenced budget vs actual 2013 & 2014 that she sent out.
Investments – operating fund we now have $130K, but we generally keep 3 months of expenses or
$64K. We also have $ in maximizer accounts. She can transfer from operating to maximizer when
necessary.
We have two other accounts with Vanguard and we also have account with Charles Schwab with
NASFAA. That account is doing well. We’ve made almost $26K off of $400K investment. We are
concerned about FDIC insurance and we still need to research that. She and Wendy will work on that.
Frank said that it’s nice to see that we’re making a profit. We used to be in the red and only within the
last few years has it been positive. Jack said that the Schwab account was doing poorly at first as well,
but that’s looking better. Mindy serves on NASFAA’s investment advisory board and they give a lot of
detail in those meetings.
Insurance policies – Mindy and Wendy investigated. We were paying for one extra policy that was
costing us $356 a year, but needs to be canceled. Insurance is VP’s responsibility.
We will have 2 Survey Monkey accounts: one for Nominations and Elections and another for other
surveys such as training, membership surveys, etc.
Financial Statements – included a line for a liability in our financials for contract cancelations. Mindy
decided it should be reflected as a footnote in our financial statements and not as a line item.
LCD Projectors – We’re going to buy 5 new projectors that are more compact and easy to travel with.
We have over a million dollars in our account now, so we can spend some money on things that we
haven’t been able to in the past. New EC should consider their needs.
Mindy asked Sandi how much she thinks the conference will cost – about $30K.
Frank said that spending our $ should be Kevin’s priority in his year.
We have $35K credit limit collectively between Presidents, Treasurer and Travel Coordinator. Mindy
asked Sandi if she needs a higher limit. Sandi said she rarely reaches a limit between the 2 cards she
uses.
Pat recommends that we have more in person meetings for committee work as a way of spending some
of our money. Kay agrees. Frank said that in person meetings is the ideal, but expensive.
Sandi asked if we are using reserves regularly, Mindy said no.
Fund Development – Sun Ow
23 vendors several new including: AK commission, Credit union, Financial Aid packaging group
We had one vendor pay for a break. She looked at CASFAA website and WACUBO sites to see about
their sponsors and gleaned some idea from that.
Kevin said that for FY14, in Fund Development we already have 80% of the budgeted revenue. He
commended Sun for a job well done.
Site Selection-Leonard Walker
June EC meeting with SI is only thing booked and it’s cheap in Reno.
Quotes from hotels are too high right now.
MLI – he was looking at Coeur d’Alene – too expensive. We may go back to Handlery hotel in San Diego.
Next conference is in SD and that’s reasonable. If anyone knows of great locations, let Leonard know. It’s
good to pair up meetings.
Kevin had observation that we’ve been ultra conservative over the last few years and Leonard has done
a great job. We still need to look for cheap locations. EC meetings need to cost us about $55K a year.
Jack asked when CASFAA conference is 11/1 – 11/4. Should we piggy back on that for an EC?
At next year’s conference in San Diego, conference hotel is hour from airport, but we’ll have buses to
transport people.
Federal Regulations – Pat Hurley
Pat said one of this year’s charges was to draft a policy on how to handle positions that not everyone
agrees on. They checked with other regional associations and CASFAA. Proposal was handed out to EC.
Reason to have policy, it’s rare that we unanimously agree on an issue. Pros and cons are proposed by
other associations, but that’s not as strong as proposing a definite position.
Kevin asked for some clarification. Barbara said that we’d explain in our letter and be specific about
whether we had some consent, unanimous or how many dissent.
Motion by Nichole- To approve the proposed Advocacy Position, Action and non-consensus policy by
Federal Relations Committee
Adam second
Discussion: Pat didn’t want to dictate 50% +1, but there is precedent set. Kevin said simple majority
should suffice.
All in favor
Kevin asked if there’s a recommendation from Fed Relations as to where it should live in P&P’s. Barbara
suggested adding a section for Advocacy. Jack suggested another appendix.
TO DO - Kevin will make recommendation for where advocacy section should reside in P & P’s.
Bylaws/Policies & Procedures – Kevin
Most recently updated pp’s are on website. Bylaws will be published soon now that recent bylaws
change has been approved by voting members. Terri confirmed that vote had passed. 95 ayes and 2
nays.
Consent Agenda:
President’s group: Kay Soltis
Auction Items – we have about 50 items and more that are being brought. Lots of GREAT items. Jack will
be MC. They will rotate tables for bidding.
Sandi asked if we had come up with specific dollar amount or percentage that will be donated to charity.
Ashley M said that we did come up with a figure and that EC would determine that amount at each
conference.
State President Reports:
Alaska – nothing to add – incoming president – Cindy Baldwin
Arizona – nothing to add – incoming president – Diana Mateer
California – nothing to add-incoming president – Lynne Garcia
Idaho – nothing to add – incoming president-Laura Hughes
Nevada – nothing to add – incoming president – Tawny Crum
Oregon – nothing to add – incoming president – Helen Faith
Pacific Islands – nothing to add – incoming president – Adam Hatch
Washington – nothing to add – incoming president – Abril Hunt
Reps at Large
Nothing to add
Committee Reports
Awards and Scholarships – Laura has certificates and awards for conference
Communication Committee – nothing to add
Federal Relations - One pending issue – for leadership conference, House of Rep aids were available,
but Senate aids were not available so they are setting up conference calls. Jack asked if we have a list of
people who will be at leadership conference.
Membership – John said his report is not done. Probably be best to submit report after May 1st since
many will register for conference and membership will go up. Adam asked about membership year. Abril
said it was decided to be February. John asked about rolling lifetime members every year. Can we just
set a date that is far out so that we don’t have to update every year. Dates have repopulated even
though Abril removed them all. Frank suggested that John get together with Ashley S to see what ATAC
is doing with those date fields.
TO DO: John and Ashley S. need to check with ATAC about the above.
Nominations and Elections – nothing to add
SDBSI – Nichole reported there are currently 30 registrants. CORE is interesting – they are really testing
memory, not so much knowledge. Faculty has to pass the test in order to teach and provide credentials.
Tests are difficult. Abril took the pre-test and she failed.
Kevin said that if NASFAA isn’t soliciting feedback, we need to give it to them. He thinks credentialing is
important for our profession. Nichole said she’do her best to document what her faculty are
experiencing. Jack wonders if CORE is different than NASFAA University. Ashley Munro’s concern is that
participants may not pass the test and may not think SDBSI was worth their while.
229 have taken the test and of those only 143 passed.
Frank said that NASFAA isn’t all that pleased with how CORE testing is going.
Laura reported again that media blitz for scholarships/awards will happen after conference.
Training – nothing to ad
Volunteer Development – Abril encourages committee chairs to utilize volunteers.
Lunch break
President’s Reports:
President – Jack
Nothing to add. It’s been a great year – very enlightening and an educational experience. He has one last
commitment – Strategic Plan wrap up. He will attend the last NASFAA board meeting.
President Elect – Kevin
Nothing more to add. He’s excited to meet with his EC tomorrow. Big picture – mostly excited about the
fact that we have a wonderful group of volunteers. Extended his thanks to his EC
VP – no reports from VP, not present
President – Frank
Extended thanks as well. Explained that he didn’t want to spend too much during his presidency. He said
he made changes to keep expenses down. We spent $18k less over last year. He implemented consent
agenda and a one night stay for EC meetings. He encouraged people to pursue WASFAA presidency.
Jack commented that we do well compared to other regional associations.
No new business.
Adjourned at 1:58