Attendees:

Jeff B., Secretary
Jennifer B., Treasurer
Nona C., Vice Chair
Felix E., Alt. Treasurer
Amelia L., Guidelines member
Mark M., Technology Chair
Susan R., Chair

Susan R., the Chair, called the meeting to order. Susan asked the attendees to introduce themselves.  The meeting opened with the Serenity Prayer.

Questions about Assembly minutes – Amelia L.

• Amelia asked Mark about whether he had a write-up on the website features. Mark stated that he did have such a write-up.
• Amelia asked our Treasurer, Jennifer, what she wanted covered in the minutes. Jennifer provided input to her about what to include.
• Susan stated that she has the meeting minutes hand-written from the 5/9 Board meeting and will type them up.

Chair report – Susan R.

• Susan provided a chair report. She stated that at the last Assembly there were 6 motions, 5 of which passed.
• Susan would like to see the motions presented on a separate sheet and on the ballot which Mark said could be done,
• Susan met with the Communications committee who is available for transcriptions and translations. The Committee asked if they could submit a budget as an ad hoc committee.
• After some discussion, the Board decided that the Budget and Elections will be held at the December Assembly on 12/16 which is already scheduled.

Vice Chair report – Nona C.

• Nona reported that she visited several ad hoc committee meetings including the Get Into Action (GIA} committee and the Special workers meeting (ICOAA)
• Nona had several comments about the GIA committee:
  • She mentioned that GIA was planning a Town hall on 10/7 but that this event was not on the calendar
  • Nona expressed concern over some of the topics being considered such as the difference between a meeting and a group and other topics
  • She was also concerned that the Committee was not welcoming to her.
• She also attended the Service workers meeting who was not friendly to her at all
• Nona was also asked to do some research on inactive service positions. She discovered that there is no standard way to handle this situation and that each service entity can decide how it will handle this situation.
• Nona discussed the issue of over expansion and the issue of communication so that we are not duplicating efforts. The question is: how do we get back to simplicity and fix some of our areas of opportunity?
• Nona presented an unbudgeted request for $260 for 1.5 hours for Spanish interpretation. Mark made a motion that the Board approve this unbudgeted request and Jeff seconded the motion.  Jennifer raised the issue of whether ASL interpretation should be included. There was no change to the motion and a vote was taken.  The motion passed unanimously.  Mark stated that he will prepare the unbudgeted request form for Jennifer.

Secretary Report – Jeff B.

No report.

Treasurers Report – Jennifer B., Treasurer

• Jennifer stated that she will be doing her reports in Excel going forward.
• Jennifer reported that in July there was a slight uptick in revenue to over $7,600 and mentioned several key expenses
• Jennifer mentioned the Contributions report and that here were 81 groups and people contributing to OIAA.
• Jennifer next reviewed the Balance sheet.
• She mentioned that at some point next year she would like to talk about the expenses for the International Convention.
• Susan suggested that the Board approve $500 for anyone on the Tech committee who would like to attend the NAATW. Mark made a motion to send up to 10 Committee members to attend the NAATW conference online for a total of $450. Nona seconded the motion. During discussion it was clarified that others can request one of the registration slots if the Tech committee does not utilize all 10.  The motion passed unanimously.

Technology Committee – Mark M., Chair

No report

Approval of Committee Charters

• The Charters for 3 Committee were up for approval: Unity, Guidelines and CPC.
• During the discussion, concerns were expressed that the CPC guidelines needed to include certain roles like the chair and the the Unity guidelines did not clearly separate the tasks from roles and responsibilities.
• A motion was made to postpone the approval of these Charters by Mark and seconded by Nona. The motion passed unanimously.

Guidelines Discussion

• Susan described some of the issues relating to the Guidelines committee and the 9/30 deadline. Gwen M., chair of the Guidelines committee, is very distraught because she will be away for most of September. Susan questioned whether the 9/30 deadline is feasible.
• She stated that most of the original 8 sections of the document are largely complete but have not been put into a single document yet. The sections have been reworked by different subcommittees and time will be required for the Communication committee to review the final document and provide a unified voice.
• There are also Bylaws changes which will be required and Susan has a call out to Alexandra Kilduff from Pro Bono Associates who helped us previously with the Bylaws to discuss these changes.
• Susan also mentioned the new Trustee section and if a Nominating committee similar to the one at the General Service Board would be required or whether these positions would be announced in the same fashion as the other Board positions.
• There was discussion about the points raised by Susan:
  • Jeff stated that he felt that the 9/30 deadline was still feasible and that most of the work has been done. He mentioned that there are some changes to the Bylaws that need to be made and that we have been keeping a list. In the past, there was discussion of forming an ad hoc Bylaws Revision committee to make those changes.
  • Nona stated that she reviewed the role of the Nominating committee in the US/Canada Service Manual and that the goal was to avoid a popularity contest for these positions. She expressed the importance of finding the right individuals for all our Officer and Trustee position as opposed to just filling these positions.
  • Jennifer stated that she is against Nominating committees. She believes that people should be able to express their desires to serve and their qualifications. Mark and Jeff agreed with Jennifer.

Trustee and Officer Position Discussion

• Susan stated that there was no mention of Trustees in the original Guideline document. However, the Board has expressed the desire to expand the Board with additional Trustees.
• A Trustees document has been prepared by the Guidelines committee with a description for an International-At-Large trustee and a General-Trustee-At-Large. These position descriptions would need to be voted on at the September Assembly so that these Trustees can be voted on in December.
• Jennifer mentioned that in the Alternate section there needs to be language that states the Alternate Officer can vote in the absence of the Officer. Amelia stated that she will bring this addition to the Guidelines committee.
• Amelia mentioned that the Guidelines committee is recommending that the line stating that the Vice chair is an ex-officio member of each committee be stricken which would require a Bylaw change,
• Nona asked whether the Trustee descriptions will be brought to the Membership as a Bylaws change. The response was that this would need to be done at the September Assembly.
• Mark made a motion that the description of the two Trustee positions be approved by the Board as presented by the Guidelines committee. Jennifer seconded the motion. In discussion, Amelia mentioned that the titles and descriptions have been changed with the changes to be voted on at tomorrow’s Guidelines meeting.  Amelia walked the Boiardo through the changes. The motion was withdrawn and a motion was made by Mark to postpone the approval of the Trustee names and descriptions until the 8/19 Combined Board meeting after the Trustee names and descriptions are finalized by the Guideline committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Motions Summary

The following motions were voted on and approved by the Board at this meeting:

1. Mark made a motion to send up to 10 Committee members to attend the NAATW conference online for a total of $450. Nona seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Mark made a motion that the Board approve an unbudgeted request for $260 for 1.5 hours for Spanish interpretation at the IGR Forum and Jeff seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
3. A motion was made to postpone the approval of the Charters of the Unity, CPC and Guidelines committees by Mark and seconded by Nona. The motion passed unanimously.
4. A motion was made by Mark to postpone the approval of the Trustee names and descriptions until the 8/19 Combined Board meeting after the Trustee names and descriptions are finalized by the Guideline committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Humbly submitted,
Jeff Bernknopf
OIAA Secretary