May 9, 2009 AER Quarterly Meeting Minutes
Oregon Commission for the Blind Salem Office (David & Erin Rumer called in to the
meeting)
Present: Mary Bjornskov, Jane Johnson, Jackie Bryan, Nathan Tierney, David Rumer &
Erin Rumer
Absent: Caroline Briggs
Start time: 11:00
Ending time: Jackie motioned and Erin seconded that we adjourn and all were in
favor. Mtg adjourned at 12:57.
Last Meeting Minutes:
The meeting minutes from last meeting (the annual meeting at the conference luncheon)
were reviewed. A correction was made as Jackie gave the treasurer’s report that Jane had
prepared. The meeting minutes from the last meeting received a motion to be
passed; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer’s report will be given to the president from now on and the minutes will be
emailed to all board members. The president will keep a record of all treasurer’s reports.
Jackie moved to accept the treasurer’s report. All agreed.
Joint OR/WA Conference:
Jackie will be emailing a spreadsheet from the conference. There will be a credit from
the conference. Also, the Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle made a sponsorship which
will generate a second check from PNW AER.
Newsletter:
There has been discussion over what the frequency of the newsletter should be. The
ideas have been either having it bi-annually, three times a year or quarterly. Most people
are in favor for twice a year. AER said that it would be cheaper for us to do the
newsletter twice a year if we use their services vs. having it more frequently. David
motioned and Nathan seconded (all agreed) to have National AER put together the
newsletter and for the frequency to be twice a year.
Website & Committees:
Everyone agreed that it looks good. We need nominations & membership and archives
committee descriptions. David said that he would email out the archives committee.
The grant committee and archives committee also need to be put on the website.
There was a discussion on the importance or lack of importance of having a membership
committee. Jackie mentioned that we have 66 members (used to have over 70 members)
that are current and about 20 members that have lapsed. Nathan read a description of
what the membership committee’s duties are. The debate was that currently the whole
board has been functioning as the membership committee. Jane made a motion and
Jackie seconded it that the current President be in charge of nominations and that there be
no nominations committee.
There are 8 committees total. At least one board member should be on each committee
and the board member should encourage people who are not on the board to help with the
committee.
Request for funds from National AER:
National AER is asking the chapters for financial assistance. John Kelley was asking all
of the chapters on the listserve to give back to AER, possibly giving back quarterly
rebates or quarterly fixed dollar amount. We get about $1500 in rebates a year from
National AER. Nathan motioned and Erin seconded that AER Oregon will give back
to AER National that we will give back two quarters of rebates back to National
AER. The motion passed unanimously. Jane will write a letter to AER National
saying what we will donate and that letter will be put on the Oregon AER website.
Elections:
Jane said that she will run again for treasurer. It was mentioned that no one else has yet
expressed interest in being the treasurer. Kevin in the Eugene office of OCB said that he
would run for one of the member-at-large positions and Nathan will re-run for one of the
member-at-large.
The positions that will be elected are:
2 yr member at large (Nathan’s current position)
1 yr member at large open
Other people who may have a possible interest for either the above positions or future
positions were discussed.
Next year’s elections will include the Secretary (David’s current position), member-atlarge (Erin’s current position) and pres-elect.
Old and new business:
Blue Bickford asked that we write a letter of support to PSU asking for the continuation
of their program. Also, we were asked to write a letter to the state board of education
supporting the continuation of OSB. A motion was made by Mary, seconded by
Jackie and unanimously agreed upon that AER will write a letter of support to both
PSU and OSB. David will write the letters which Mary will place on the website.
Additionally, Mary will give David talking points for the letters.
Policies and Procedures:
There are still questions as to how we will reimburse members for travel to meetings if it
is requested. The consensus was that people could call into meetings vs. getting
reimbursement for travel if reimbursement is requested by anyone. There was also a
discussion as to how many meetings should be face to face vs. conference calls. The
consensus was to not put a requirement on how many face to face meetings should
be required as this could be an annual decision.
Also, there is a question about how it should work for membership reimbursement for
board members. Ideas have been to reimburse membership while on the board (which
was not favored), paying membership 4 years after leaving board (paying for the fourth
year, not all four years) or paying 1 yr if requested after serving full board term and
finishing board duty (paying for the year after leaving the board). The last option was the
consensus, although there was no motion made and there was no vote.
The current verbiage for sending officers to leadership conferences is being changed
to board members and allowing the conferences to be any AER conference, not just
leadership conferences (as AER National is not currently doing AER Lift).
Grants: It was unanimously disagreed upon that that board members should not be
able to apply for grants.
It is in agreement that someone should have been a member for a year to apply for a
grant.
Take out that someone cannot apply after receiving a grant for two years and say
instead that new applications (new meaning applications from people who have not
been awarded the grant in the last two years) will receive first priority for two years.
There was a debate about whether in-state conferences should be eligible for grant
funding. The eventual consensus was that the door will be left open for someone to
apply for a grant in state, but the grant limits and approved applications will be
selected by the grant committee.
Jane mentioned that when she was at AER Lift they talked about having insurance in case
if there are ever problems with a chapter treasurer. Jane remembered the premiums being
something like $1,000 per year. The discussion leaned towards the idea that we do not
need such insurance right now.
Membership committee—2 members (one officer and preferably one member)
Grant—(President, Treasurer and one other interested board member)
Buget—Committee mentioned, but not the people who would be on the committee
Conference—(Usually shared by president elect)
Directory—(Semi-annual responsibility)
Website—Committee mentioned but not the people who would be on the committee
Archives—(Keep them on the website; someone could also volunteer to back up the files)
P&P—(Nathan and Chris are currently on that committee)
Jane has a packet with information on every board position and parliamentary
procedures. This information from Jane will be placed on the website.
Nathan will talk with Chris and work on making the changes for a final draft.
At the next meeting we will vote on the P&Ps (the new board will also be at the next
meeting)
Next Meeting:
First tentative date for our next mtg is Sunday, July 19th at 9:30 Salem Commission
for the Blind
Second tentative mtg is July 26th is the second tentative date