WASFAA 2011-12 Fiscal Planning Committee Quarterly Meeting
June 9, 2011
Wingate Hotel, Spokane, Washington
Present: Adam Hatch, Sun Ow, Kay Soltis, Jack Edwards, Sandi Guidry, Ashley Munro, Peter Miller, Tami
Sato, Renee Davis, Mary San Agustin, Leonard Walker, Jim White, Steve Herndon, Wendy Olson
Not Present: Mindy Bergeron, and those represented by other co-chair - Nichole Doering, Tracey
Lehman
Call to order: A quarterly meeting of WASFAA’s Fiscal Planning Committee was held at the Wingate
Hotel, in Spokane, Washington on June 9, 2011. The meeting convened at 9:37 with co-chair Steve
Herndon presiding and Wendy Olson as co-chair and secretary.
MOTION
The motion to approve the agenda was made by Sandi Guidry and Peter Miller seconded it. MOTION
APPROVED.
The roster of committee members was reviewed. Added to the roster: Adam Hatch or Nichole Doering,
Jim White, Mary San Agustin or Tracey Lehman, Laura Hughes, Mindy Bergeron, Tami Sato
MOTION
TO DO
MOTION
Approval of minutes: A motion was made by Peter Miller and seconded by Sandi Guidry to approve the
minutes of the April 16, 2011 meeting. MOTION CARRIED.
To Do Review - The Southwest Airlines Visa card process has begun. It will be through Chase Bank. The
company card option did not fit WASFAA’s model. The only way to get a corporate card is to meet with a
Chase banker, so the meeting took place on June 8 here in Spokane. Peter Miller will be the primary
person on the account and then others can be added as needed. Peter Miller and Sandi Guidry will each
have cards. Kay Soltis will continue to rely on her Alaska Mileage Visa card. For the Alaska Mileage Visa
card, Peter, Sandi and Kay all have access.
Kay will need to sign a signature card for our WASFAA bank account. Her signature is required for checks
greater than $5000. We try to use credit cards as much as possible. Sun Ow asked if we have looked into
a Diner’s Club card, Capitol One or hotel cards. The Southwest and Alaska Visa cards seem to be the
most beneficial as most travel is on these two airlines. We can use the Alaska Visa card for Delta flights.
The Alaska Visa card limit is $35,000. The Southwest card will help prevent hitting this limit as often.
Review Goal Set – The committee reviewed last year’s goals and recommendations from the transition
meeting. The proposed goals for this year were presented. The idea of providing a FA101 training
opportunity came from the transition meeting. The committee will continue to monitor WASFAA’s core
activities. A handout was provided. Goals 1-8 are from the Strategic Plan. FA101 will be considered by
the SDBSI and Training Committees.
Peter Miller made the motion to approve the proposed goal set for 2011-12 and Jack Edwards seconded
it. MOTION APPROVED.
Treasurer’s Report Overview – Cash outstanding is a $25,000 bill for the conference itself. On the table is
a bill for the Hilton Hawaiian Village attrition fee which could be between $15,000 and $24,000.
Payments are coming in from SDBSI. An $8000 deposit was just paid to Whitworth University, site of
SDBSI, this month. Vanguard accounts continue to go up. The balance sheet is positive. The budget of
$248,050 is based on decisions made at our last EC meeting. Survey Monkey costs of $200; this cost now
resides under Electronic Services. The QuickBooks software was upgraded for $335. Our annual
conference income is higher than anticipated by $9,000. The treasurer’s report shows scholarship and
EC transportation details.
The conference came in $9,000 higher than projected, but there still needs to be a review of the actual
expenses. There could be the attrition fee of $22,375 for our room block shortage. Costs may be
$76,232, so the subsidy will be about $7,000-$15,000 depending on what happens with the attrition fee.
The committee did a good job staying within budget. The attrition was well beyond their control. There
are still some outstanding invoices. We should plan on the $15,000 subsidy for now.
The Fund Development Committee had more income last year than anticipated. The JRSMLI expenses
on the report need to be reviewed and the EC amount adjusted. These items will be corrected with the
next report. SDBSI income looks positive. General administration costs were adjusted so now it is at
$6,600 for current expenses.
TO DO
TO DO
TO DO
Adjustments to Budget - Adjustments to the budget were requested of each committee.
 Fund Development deobligated $5,500 because there were no drayage expenses for the
conference hotel.
 A site visit will be needed for the next SDBSI; Jim will be able to use the current budget of
$650. He will probably be looking in the Los Angeles area at Loyola Marymount and
Occidental. If SDBSI takes place in Los Angeles, the EC costs are higher, but drawing from
that area for participants may increase the number of participants. EC could stay on campus
to save costs.
 The cost for the bags purchased for SDBSI (only enough were purchased for SDBSI) will need
to go under the member gift line item. The company that produced the bags was easy to
work with and the bag itself is generic for future use at other events.
 Bags for conference Ashley Munro will decide the number of bags to order for our future needs. We do not need
to buy any more bags for this calendar year. We just need to add $500 to WASFAA Member
Gifts to make the new total $4000.
 LanyardsWe will order lanyards in 2012 for the conference and recycle what we have for JRSMLI.
 The secretary’s laptop needs to be replaced as 1/3 of the screen is a not functioning. Luihui
Whitebear’s IT department said it would cost more to replace the screen than to purchase a
new one, but Peter will look further into it. The warrantee has expired.
We will look into purchasing a new computer in 2012.
 We will adjust the budget for conference expenses from $50,000 up to $60,000.
 We will adjust the budget for conference income to $70,000.
 Asset reserves will be adjusted down by $5000.
 The JRSMLI expenses were $12,270.69 with a net income of $5900. $300 will be added to
make the expenses be $12,300.
 We will reduce EDAC expenses by $300.
 Fund development income is increased to $24000. Fund Development income was above
our projection by $4600 last year so it is a reasonable adjustment.
 $61,750 is being used from our asset reserves.
TO DO
TO DO
TO DO
TO DO
TO DO
TO DO
MOTION
Superweek Savings - Transition meeting costs are all a part of the EC expenses and not separated out.
We will see if we saved money by making it a part of the Superweek (JRSMLI, transition and quarterly EC
meetings all took place during the same week at the same place). It seems likely that it saved us up to
$10,000, but we won’t know until the end of the year.
Investment Collaboration with NASFAA - Documents are being collected and will be submitted. An IRS
letter confirming our 501c3 status (Peter Miller has never seen a copy of this for WASFAA) and our
Articles of Incorporation (which is on the state of California’s website) are required. These required
documents might be missing.
Sandi has been looking for them in the storage unit. She will look further.
Peter will contact the IRS to get a duplicate IRS letter.
We will send NASFAA all that we have to get things going. Peter Miller will send a PDF to Justin of
Articles of Incorporation.
Asset Inventory Review – Policies and Procedures requires the Fiscal Planning Committee to review the
Historical Archives Committee’s asset inventory. The main assets in inventory are bags and badges. We
have binders from SDBSI for 2008 that were imprinted with logo for that year. We could slap a sticker
over the imprint. There are 48 of these binders. The EC for 2012-13 could use these binders. There are
still 26 plush vests. They could be used for JRSMLI or for raffles. They are all the same size, large.
The new WASFAA banner was $284 and will be added to the asset inventory. It is at SDBSI and will be
shipped back to storage. We can keep the banner and table cloth together. The banner did not come in
a cylinder as anticipated but rather a simple cardboard box. The first aid box will be disposed of since it
is out of date. We could sell some of our leftover logo items etc., but there really is not that much left so
there is no point.
Unfinished Business:
Attrition expenses for Hawaii – The room block was adjusted from 1540 to 790. We had the room block
up to the required level until 48 hours before the conference, then people canceled their rooms just
before the 24 hour cancelation deadline. The hotel dropped the attrition fee by 25% which brings it to
$22,375. The hotel staff has been helpful, but the corporate offices are not willing to make further
adjustments. Leonard Walker looked into seeing if it could be reduced if we used a Hilton site again in
the future. The contracted room nights for Portland will be less, based on this experience. IMN Solutions
wants us to appoint them for our conference negotiations in Portland, but Leonard thinks that we
should not use them again. If we can get the attrition fee down to $18,000, we should just pay it and
move on. It could have been as high as $68,000. There are no contracts on the books currently. The
$22,375 is already a sunk cost. By paying this, it will close our liability with the Hilton. We don’t need to
work anymore with IMN Solutions. IMN was brought in when we had groups over 500 and the contracts
were complicated. We don’t really need their assistance now that we have smaller gatherings and we do
not have any outstanding agreements with them.
Leonard will respond to IMN Solutions letter requesting a new contract. Mary San Agustin reminded us
that as we negotiate we don’t want to ruin our reputation by nickel and diming. Once Frank Green’s
negotiations are completed with the Hilton Hawaiian Village, we will pay the remaining balance owed to
Hilton.
Jim White moved and Wendy Olson seconded that we pay the attrition rate as soon as it is finalized by
Leonard, Frank and Hilton. MOTION PASSED.
New Business:
Meeting Time - The Fiscal Planning Committee meets regularly before EC meetings. It was proposed and
approved that in the future Fiscal Planning will meet from 8-10:30 including time for breakfast, and that
will give more preparation time for Fiscal Planning prior to the start of the EC meeting. The time of
10:45-11:45 will be reserved for the Strategic Planning Committee to meet.
Site Selection – A site visit to the Benson Hotel & Embassy Suites in Portland took place. Embassy Suites
would be a great place to go except the general session room is too small. We would not be able to
serve lunch there. The Benson Hotel would charge less than the average rate of $139 per room night.
They are not concerned about our promising to have a smaller room block. The Benson Hotel would give
us the entire hotel. The Lloyd Center DoubleTree might be worth looking at. Kay Soltis reviewed the
numbers for Portland’s Embassy Suite and the Benson Hotel – Embassy Suites came in lower with
assumption of 279 attending with 50 commuters. The Embassy Suites is now off the table though
because of the small size of the main meeting room. The Benson Hotel is a fine boutique hotel that is
right downtown and with the train nearby is easy to get to. To be responsible, we should look at more
than just the Benson Hotel and so we should contact two or three other downtown properties that
could accommodate us. We need to make the decision soon. The dates to avoid would be the first two
weeks of April due to Easter; so after Easter would be best – April 21-25. We will bring it to council and
ask them how we should proceed.
MOTION
Sandi Guidry moved, and Ashley Munro seconded, that the meeting be adjourned. MOTION PASSED.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:56 a.m.
_______________________________________ ____________________________
Secretary of WASFAA
Date of approval