GDUI Board Meeting Minutes
September 27, 2014
In attendance:
Penny Reeder, President; Maria Hansen, Second Vice President; Sarah Calhoun, Secretary; Lynn
Merrill, Treasurer & Laurie Mehta, Immediate Past President.
Directors:
Bob Acosta, Vickie Curley, Betsy Grenevitch and Jane Sheehan
Nolan Crabb, Paw Tracks Editor & Debbie Grubb, Affiliate Liaison.
Excused absence: Will Burley, First Vice President; Ann Chiappetta, Director and Pat Hill, Guide
Dog School Liaison.
Facilitator and guest: Pat Sheehan
President Penny Reeder opened the meeting with welcoming remarks.
The roll call was taken by Sarah Calhoun.
Agenda item:
The meeting agenda was approved without further additions or corrections.
Agenda item: Appointment of Dixie Sanderson.
President Reeder proposed to appoint Dixie Sanderson to fill the vacant director position on the
board of GDUI.
Sarah Calhoun made a motion to approve Dixie Sanderson as director. Lynn Merrill seconded
the motion. Prior to voting by roll call, discussion took place.
Yes votes: Penny Reeder, Maria Hanson, Lynn Merrill, Bob Acosta, Vickie Curley, Betsy
Grenevitch, Jane Sheehan and Sarah Calhoun.
No vote: Laurie Mehta.
Motion carried with eight yes votes and one no vote. Motion carried.
Agenda item: Approval of minutes.
Sarah Calhoun made a motion to accept the September 10, 2014 special board meeting
minutes. Bob Acosta seconded the motion. Prior to voting by acclamation, discussion
took place. Motion carried.
Agenda item: Treasurer’s report.
Lynn Merrill, GDUI treasurer gave the following report:
GDUI Treasurer’s Report September 27, 2014
As we settle in with the new Administration, our transition with matters surrounding GDUI
finances has been relatively smooth. This is in part due to the commitment of our Office
Manager, Director Jane Sheehan, and our Chairperson of the Finance and Budget Committee,
2nd Vice President Maria Hansen.
Jane is employing her meticulous attention to detail skills at maintaining the income and
expense sheets while working with Maria and me to ensure we are keeping expenses within the
2014 budget. We have had to bring to the Board a couple of issues that required Board
approval in order to amend the 2014 Budget.
One critical amendment dealt with the website development process. We were able to
decrease the product purchase line item by $3,000.00 and the Life Membership Appreciation
line item by $500.00 to create a line item for the new website which had a cost of $3,500.00.
Our account balances as of this date are:
Chase Bank
Savings account balance:
$ 1022.50
Checking account balance:
$ 7927.42
Total:
$ 8949.92
Carrollton Bank
Checking account balance:
First Georgetown
$2538.06
$103,999.00
Total:
$115,486.98
The First Georgetown Investment Account saw a decrease of $2,312 since the end of August,
due to the market losses over the past week.
Income and expense sheets are available for anyone’s review should you wish to see details of
the activities.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Merrill, Treasurer, GDUI
Betsy Grenevitch made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report with the following addendum.
Prior to all board meetings, Lynn Merrill will send the income and expense report to the board
members. During the board meetings, one of the board members who use braille will read the
income and expense report.
Bob Acosta seconded the motion. Prior to voting by acclamation, discussion took place. Motion
carried.
Agenda item: Budget & Finance Report
Maria Hansen, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee gave the following report.
The Budget and Finance Committee discussed two proposals, one from Webtrax and the other
from VotaIT. The proposal from Webtrax was missing a lot of information and incomplete.
The committee voted to suggest to the board approval of the VotaIT proposal, which would
cover web site redesign, hosting, maintenance, etc. The original quote was for $5,000.00,
VotaIT gave us a 30 percent discount bringing this onetime cost to $3,500.00,
We accomplished the funding by moving money in our current 2014 budget. We took $3,000.00
from the product purchase line item and $500.00 from the life member appreciation line item,
totaling the $3,500.00.
During the September 10, 2014, special board meeting, the proposal from VotaIT of $3,500.00
was approved. VotaIT has been paid in full. It will take approximately six weeks to transition
into the new web site.
The second issue the committee addressed was web hosting. We chose a package for $1,200.00
per year.
In the 2014 budget we already had appropriated $1,000.00 for web hosting. We need to come
up with the additional $200.00. This was approved by the board and payment has been made.
The $3,500.00 was paid from the Chase account and the $1,200.00 paid from our Carrollton
account, because we wanted to keep our minimum balances intact so we wouldn’t incur
additional charges.
Will Burley will contact Pair Net about a partial refund for hosting.
The committee discussed closing the two accounts with Chase Bank and open a business cash
back account with Capitol One. Maria Hansen has been approved by the board as acting
secretary for 90 days and will handle closing and opening the accounts.
The board has not decided if we will keep the Carrollton Bank or move it. Carrollton Bank is in
Missouri and near Sarah Calhoun. If we decide to move the account we will ask the board to
approve giving Sarah signing authority and transfer the funds.
Maria Hansen made a motion to close the two accounts (checking and savings) at Chase Bank
and transfer the funds to a business cash back checking account at Capitol One. Lynn Merrill
and Jane Sheehan will have debit cards. Motion seconded by Bob Acosta. Prior to a roll call
vote, discussion took place.
Yes votes: Penny Reeder, Maria Hansen, Lynn Merrill, Bob Acosta, Vickie Curley, Dixie
Sanderson, Jane Sheehan, Betsy Grenevitch & Sarah Calhoun
Abstention: Laurie Mehta.
Motion carried with 9 yes and 1 abstention.
Maria Hansen made a motion to give Sarah Calhoun signing authority on the Carrollton Bank
account. If the board decides to move the account to either a Key Bank or Capitol One, Sarah
will be able to close the Carrollton Bank account and transfer funds.
Bob Acosta seconded the motion. Prior to voting by acclamation, discussion took place.
Motion carried with one abstention.
Agenda item: Office Manager
Jane Sheehan, office manager explained there have been several orders for harness signs,
pouches and people have joined GDUI. She will be depositing membership dues when the
Capitol One account is opened.
At the end of each month Jane has updated the 2014 budget and has made it available to the
board.
Jane Sheehan will check with Pay Pal about credit card processing.
Motion carried accepting the office manager report.
Agenda item: Affiliate Liaison
Debbie Grubb, Affiliate Liaison gave the following report.
The GDUI affiliates met for the first time during the Penny Reeder administration on Thursday,
September 18, at 11-00 AM and 9-00 PM eastern time. All affiliated state guide dog users
groups were represented.
Ginger Kutch, Chair, GDUI Legislative Committee, presented the 2015 committee goals and
invited affiliates to bring forward their own legislative, administrative or education based goals
for committee prepared position papers.
The affiliates agreed upon items for discussion at upcoming meetings that will promote
stronger, more involved groups. These items cover: creating interesting and necessary
programming, selecting meeting locations, gaining commitment and buy-in from members,
meeting successfully via teleconference, encouraging a sense of community, working to
educate and legislate. The group decided the subject for discussion at the next meeting to be
held on November 20 will be the fraudulent service dog issue.
As soon as the GDUI website issues are resolved, each affiliate president will be invited to
subscribe up to six members to what will be a new and innovative GDUI Leaders' List. This will
provide yet another forum for meaningful discussion and the exchange of ideas and mutually
enriching sharing between the affiliates.
For more details about the September 2014 affiliate meetings, check out the meeting summary.
You may request it from your affiliate president or from Debbie Grubb at
debbiecg@verizon.net.
Motion carried accepting the affiliate liaison report.
Jane Sheehan will research various ways in processing credit cards and submit her findings to
the board.
Margie Donovan is donating a cash box with keys to GDUI.
Jane Sheehan made a motion to purchase 20 bells at a cost of up to $4.00 each for Top Dog
(2015). There is still money in the 2014 budget for products. Sarah Calhoun seconded the
motion. Prior to voting by acclamation, discussion took place. Motion carried.
Agenda item: Paw Tracks
Nolan Crabb, Paw Tracks editor gave the following report.
The fall magazine is done, but the narration isn't finished. I need to do some polishing.
This issue is shorter than previous ones, but future issues will be longer. This is a quick first
effort in getting something out to indicate we are moving forward.
I want to thank all of you who wrote for this issue. Your work is stellar stuff, and there are
some great things in here that I'm going to enjoy narrating. The MP3 files and table of contents
will include reading times for all articles.
The RTF version is pretty simple. I've not engaged in lots of stylized formatting things. If our
target audience includes places wherein the magazine will be printed and displayed, I may need
to rethink some of that.
For now, I've kept it simple. Asterisks separate articles; plus signs separate sections within
articles.
The deadline for articles to be submitted for the next edition is November 15, 2014.
Motion carried accepting the Paw Tracks report.
Agenda item: Convention Program Committee Report
Lillian Scaife, chair of the Convention Program Committee gave the following report.
The 2015 ACB Convention will be held in Dallas, Texas. GDUI’s activities will begin on July 5th
through July 8, 2015.
The Louisville Ladies will be at the convention to assist us. We will have a 1,800 square feet
parlor with two connecting bedrooms. One bedroom will be for the Louisville Ladies and the
other bedroom for Penny Reeder.
Jane Sheehan will be running the parlor and selling products. The parlor will be a place for
members to come in and visit. We will have our auction items in the parlor along with a vet
tech to trim the dog’s nails and clean ears.
Other items we are working on:
• Breakfast Club.
• We have been in touch with the Veterinary University in Dallas.
• Janine Stanley is working with Scoop Master’s regarding the relief area.
• We want ideas for a theme.
• T-shirts.
Motion carried accepting the convention program report.
Agenda item: Constitution and bylaws.
Maria Hansen, chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee gave the following report.
Members of this Committee are Lynn Merrill (who chaired this Committee when the
Constitution was revised in 2012), John McCann, Ellen Telker and Rick Roderick.
We had a strategy meeting to discuss how to approach the revision of our Constitution/Bylaws.
We wish to retain much of the current document and limit most of the proposed changes to
provisions that are required under the DC Nonprofit Code.
The election process will precede according to our 2012 Constitution and its required time lines.
We will solicit input and suggestions from the membership. Watch for a formal announcement
in October on the Announce list. There will also be information in the December issue of Paw
Tracks as well as on the new website.
We will highlight the proposed changes, additions or deletions and their consequences and cite
relevant Code provisions. Finally, the election will not be an up or down vote on the entire
document.
Maria Hansen, Chair, Constitution and Bylaws Committee
Motion carried accepting the Constitution and Bylaws report.
Agenda item: Public Relations
President Reeder gave the Public Relations report on behalf of Will Burley, chair of PR
Committee.
The PR committee wrote a news release regarding GDUI. Due to a donation from Bob Acosta
with Helping Hands, it was possible to widely circulate the release. Two newspapers picked the
news release up and Kim Charlson; President of ACB included GDUI’s news release on the ACB
web site.
Concerning GDUI’s new web site, President Reeder signed the contract. GDUI’s new Web
Master, Ted, is beginning to work on our new web site. The old site should be taken down
within the next week. There will be a notice posted saying the web site is under construction. It
will take about 6 weeks for the new web site to be up and working correctly.
Will Burley will redo the Email addresses and shorten some of them.
President Reeder has tried to contact Mary Beth Randall several times to get the access
information to GDUI’s Twitter and Face Book account. Mary Beth Randall does not respond to
any of the phone calls.
President Reeder finds it unbelievable that the former GDUI president Laurie Mehta maintains
she does not have the administration information we need to get control of GDUI’s Twitter and
Face Book accounts.
Melanie Brunson with ACB will give Michael Malver the name of a person who works in the ACB
office that can help him gain control of GDUI’s Twitter and Face Book accounts.
Motion carried accepting the Public Relations report.
Agenda item: Publications
Michael Malver, co-chair gave the following report.
Publications Committee Report
Compiled By co-chairs Annie Chiappetta and Michael Malver
Members: Dixie Sanderson and Ken Metz
September 27, 2014
1. GDUI lists hosted on the ACB.org server: both the board and chat lists are doing well
with little moderation or technical issues. The announcement list had a few issues but
they were minor and resolved quickly, mostly due to bouncing. Currently the chat list
has 123 members. The announce list has 431 members. Now that GDUWS has reaffiliated, I’m sure we will increase the numbers on the chat list.
2. The GDUI leadership list has been set up for affiliate leaders. However, we may want to
wait on this if the website and the new gdui.org email lists are just around the corner.
We think it is a burden to the membership and the moderators to subscribe to the
acb.org list only to switch over a few weeks later to the new GDUI.org list. It is our
recommendation to hold off on launching the leadership acb.org list if the wait isn’t
more than a few weeks.
3. We are recruiting writers to assist in revising the gdui.org informational pamphlets and
web content. If interested in taking on part of this long-term project, please contact
Annie at dungarees@optonline.net.
4. We are finishing the publications policy to the board of directors and will hopefully
present a document at the next board meeting.
5. We assisted Ginger and the Legislative Committee with the fake service dog position
paper and now have a .pdf on our letterhead for distribution.
Motion carried accepting the Publications report.
Agenda item: Membership
Betsy Grenevitch, chair of the Membership Committee gave the following report.
GDUI Membership Committee Update
September, 2014
We held our September meeting on Thursday, September 11, 2014. All members of the
committee were present and came with enthusiasm. These are not the minutes but just an
explanation of our major project which has several projects inside of it.
We are going to be working on membership packets. There may be a few differences in the
ones sent to people inquiring about GDUI, those for new members who have joined, and those
for members who are renewing their membership.
We have just completed the letter for new members. Four of us from the committee began
working on this and once we had it to the point where it was almost completed I shared it with
the rest of the members who gave their input. The final edit was completed by Anne
Chiappetta who is chair of publications for GDUI.
The second project that is being worked on is a letter that will be sent to companies asking if
they would consider giving GDUI members a discount. We still need to work out all of the
details about what the member would need to show the company that they are a current
member of GDUI.
The third project that is being worked on by one of our committee members is designing a
business card that will have the contact information for GDUI on it as well as the web address
for ADA information. We are hoping to have the cards in Braille as well as print.
Stay tuned for the November update.
Submitted by,
Betsy Grenevitch
Chair of the GDUI Membership Committee
Motion carried accepting the Membership Committee report.
Agenda item: Legislative
Ginger Kutsch, chair of the Legislative Committee submitted the following report.
Position Statement on Misrepresentation of Pets as Service Animals
The first step for the legislative committee was to draft a position statement on
misrepresentation. The statement has been completed and approved by the board. An article will
appear in the next issue of Paw Tracks explaining what the position statement is and what
members can do to learn more. One of the recommendations in the position statement is for
states to pass laws that make it a criminal offense to misrepresent a pet as a service animal. The
committee is currently compiling a list of important elements that should be included in an
effective misrepresentation law. Another recommendation is to educate businesses about their
rights and responsibilities. The committee has identified the attached DOJ flyer as an excellent
resource for members to share with their local area businesses.
Beware of "Religious Freedom" Acts
A representative from the legislative committee participated in one of the recent affiliate
conference calls held by Debbie Grubb. Affiliates were asked to share legislative concerns with
the committee. GDUI's Georgia affiliate reported concerns over a "religious freedom" bill that is
likely to come up again in Georgia's next legislative session. The bill is expected to exempt
people and businesses from any government action or legal preceding that "directly or indirectly
constrains, inhibits, curtails, or denies the exercise of religion by any person or that directly or
indirectly pressures any person to engage in any action contrary to that person's exercise of
religion."
According to some news reports, this type of legislation has become the "latest conservative rage
all around the country." Similar "religious freedom" bills have been introduced in Kansas,
Tennessee, Oklahoma and other states. The campaign is motivated by two or three isolated cases
that have been well-publicized in right-wing circles in which businesses were sued for refusing
to sell their services or products to gay couples.
The Georgia affiliate is concerned that if Georgia or any other state enacts a "religious freedom"
law, Muslim cab drivers and others will be allowed to refuse service to disabled people who are
accompanied by service animals.
Iowa to Pursue Legislation against Attacks & Interference
GDUI Legislative Committee member Hava Hegenbarth from Iowa plans to once again ask her
state senator to sponsor a bill to protect service animals against attacks and interference by other
dogs. Iowa state residents wishing to learn more about Hava's efforts may contact her at
hrockyh55@aol.com
Motion carried accepting the Legislative report.
Agenda item: Advocacy
A Note from GDUI's Advocacy Committee
By Becky Barnes Davidson, Chair
The Advocacy Committee held an organizational meeting on August 27, 2014. Our members
are: Pat Hill from Massachusetts, Sharon Howerton from Illinois, Ken Metz from California,
Alice Ritchhart from Georgia and yours truly from New York. Also joining us is Ginger Kutsch
from New Jersey in her capacity as chair of the Legislative Committee. As you can imagine there
is a great deal our two committees share in common and we plan to work together for the
benefit of all of us.
There are a number of "hot-button" issues that impact all of us and though there are laws in
place that address these issues it seems they are rarely enforced effectively. Denial of access
still persists in public places, transportation and housing. And now we are dealing with the
impact of people misrepresenting their pets as service animals. As you can tell our two
committees have our work cut out for us and there is nothing to do but dive right in.
We plan to write an article for an upcoming issue of Paw Tracks on self-advocacy and finding
resources to help us insure that our rights are respected while keeping our dignity intact.
If you have an advocacy issue or question you may call the GDUI toll-free number, 866-7998436, and let the office manager know which region of the country you are in so we can refer
you to someone from your region. If you'd rather email us send your note to me at
beckyb1120@gmail.com
I am looking forward to working with the committee and with all of you as we strive to insure
GDUI's strong and positive impact for guide dog handlers everywhere.
Motion carried accepting the Advocacy report.
Agenda item: Special Concerns
Vickie Curley, chair of the Special Concerns Committee gave the following report.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to drop in and give an update as to what we on the Special
Concerns committee have been up to. First of all, I have a wonderful team of committee
members who really share a heart for the well-being of blind and visually impaired dog guide
handlers. Although there was another project we discussed, our main goal is to get the
empathizer committee up and running. We do realize that we will have to look at a different
Way of accomplishing this as we do have a different phone system now. Jane joined our
meeting and we discussed asking the board to approve funding for another phone line
specifically set up as the empathizer line. In the past, empathizers served for a three year term.
We would have one from each time zone. Unfortunately, with the new phone service this is not
going to be practical as the charges would be quite expensive to ask for a phone line for each
time zone. We believe that a term of four months for each committee member would be the
best way to get things accomplished. We have folks in all time zones and we can set up the
rotation to keep the time zone of the empathizer alternating as well. As this would put all
incoming calls to one person our feeling was that it is best to keep an individual's term to a four
month period of time. Jane shared with us that another phone line would be $16 a month as
well as a charge per minute for each call. In discussing this concept with the other committee
members we discussed ways that we might cut back on the minute charge for each call.
Everyone on the committee is willing to call people back on their own phone lines to cut down
the amount of minutes that would be used on that second GDUI line. It is understood that often
times these types of calls can go on for quite a while. We certainly are cognizant of this issue
and want to do all we can to keep costs down for GDUI, but we all do value this service and
want to do the best possible job we can. I am
Certainly open to other board members ideas with regard to this matter.
Submitted by, Vickie Curley, chair of Special Concerns
Motion carried accepting the Special Concerns report.
Agenda item: Fund Raising
Bob Acosta, chair of the Fund Raising Committee made a motion that the board of directors of
Guide Dog User’s, Incorporated; approve the establishment of a summer 2015 drawing to be
held at the site of the GDUI luncheon at the ACB 2015 Convention in Dallas, Texas.
The motion was seconded by Sarah Calhoun. Prior to voting by roll call, discussion took place.
Bob Acosta explained we will accept a donation in the amount of $10.00 for each chance. The
drawing would begin on December 1, 2014. We will submit the information to be published in
Paw Tracks, along with the information attached to the membership renewal applications. We
are getting 1,000 flyers donated to handout.
All the money, cash, check or credit card, will be handled by Jane Sheehan. Periodically, Jane
will send Bob a report of who made a contribution and he will send them an acknowledgment
either by USPS mail or Email.
All prizes to be given away will be donated to GDUI. The organization will not spend any GDUI
funds on the project, only sponsor the event.
Yes votes: Penny Reeder, Maria Hansen, Lynn Merrill, Bob Acosta, Vickie Curley, Betsy
Grenevitch, Dixie Sanderson, Jane Sheehan and Sarah Calhoun.
Motion carried.
Bob Acosta made a motion for the board of directors of Guide Dog Users, Incorporated, to
approve the Silpada Jewelry party proposed by Vickie Curley. All profits will go to GDUI.
Vickie Curley seconded the motion. Prior to voting by acclamation, discussion took place.
Vickie Curley will hold a Silpada Jewelry party at her home on November 23, 2014. In addition,
people will be able to order jewelry On-Line. All proceeds from Vickie’s home party and the OnLine orders will go to GDUI. If anyone needs help in placing an order, Vickie and her Silpada
Jewelry field representative will be glad to help. The party will run for two months. An
announcement will be emailed to GDUI members, plus an article will be in Paw Tracks.
President Reeder made a friendly motion. The board approves the Silpada Jewelry party
concept and we will make a final vote, either On-Line or have a special meeting once it is
verified the Silpada Jewelry web site is accessible in processing orders.
The friendly motion was accepted by Bob Acosta.
Motion carried with one abstention.
Agenda item: Emergency Disaster Financial Assistance (EDFA)
Sarah Calhoun, chair of the EDFA Committee gave the following report.
I’m happy to announce the members on the Emergency Disaster Financial Assistance (EDFA)
Committee are: Lynn Merrill, Ann Chiappetta, Ken Metz, Bob Acosta and Sarah Calhoun, chair.
If anyone is interested in joining the EDFA committee, please send me an Email at:
Sc-tico@att.net.
Program description:
In response to recent natural disasters which affected many and led all of us to look for
ways to help our fellow citizens coped with the devastation of wild fires, floods and other
catastrophic events, and because we know that adversity can befall any one of us,
unbidden, leaving us with few resources and even fewer places to turn for help, GDUI
convened a taskforce to develop policies for offering financial assistance to guide dog
teams who are struggling to cope with disaster.
The EDFA committee will meet on October 15, 2014, to review and update program details.
The committee will discuss revising the name of the program. In addition, we will devise a
system to handle financial requests, compile program information to be placed on GDUI’s web
site, post the EDFA program information via chat and/or announce list plus discuss other topics.
In 2012, Bob Acosta with Helping Hands donated $1,000.00 to the EDFA fund, which is still in
GDUI’s budget.
We hope that no one finds themselves in a catastrophic situation, but if the unfortunate
happens GDUI is here to help.
Motion carried accepting the Emergency Disaster Financial report.
Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Calhoun, GDUI Secretary