Board Meeting Minutes
Alpha Omicron Chapter
Epsilon Sigma Phi
April 5, 2007

Conference call began at 9:30 a.m. when all had signed on: Fred Davis, Karen Vines, Rich Stup, Jeff Myers, and Vicki Lewis.

Fred asked Vicki for a review/summary of the minutes, which were discussed, corrected and approved.

The following changes in meetings were noted: March 8 meeting was cancelled (since we were in Valley Forge together and handled many items of business there); June 14 conference call moved to June 20; August 16 face-to-face meeting changed to August 15, plans to be announced later (likely a dinner meeting in State College). October 11 conference call remains as planned.

Fred asked Vicki for a report on the status of the spring edition of the state newsletter. It is being written and will be completed following today's meeting. Fred will do an article from the President and send to Karen. Vicki is responsible for duplicating and mailing to members who require postal mail. Vicki also reported that she had gotten an article from Mary Alice Gettings on the Diversity Workshop to submit to the April edition of Communique.

Karen reported that the list of standing committee chairmen and co-chairmen is still under construction. Fred made some suggestions and Karen will submit the list to National.

Fred indicated that PA will support a second Vice President nominee from New York or Maryland, rather than ask for a nomination from PA. Motion to approve and seconded. Motion passed.

Annual Meeting issues:

Annual Extension conference will be held October 18 with the joint dinner and auction to be held that night, and ESP Business meeting over lunch from noon to 3 on Friday the 19th.

Karen reviewed the matter of our professional development session being in conflict with other association business and board meetings. After some discussion, it was decided that no professional development activity will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting on October 19th but may be presented as a possibility as part of the Extension program on the 18th or as a stand-a-lone program on a future date.

Karen noted that some ad hoc committees are listed in the constitution and that these need to be removed. Karen will make changes.

Rich reported that he has record of 65 paid members with 5 new lifetime members. The last paid list indicated a membership of 78 paid members. Rich will send the complete list of paid and unpaid members so we can make personal contact to encourage folks to pay dues. Fred stated that we can accept dues up to May 1 for purposes of allocating voting delegates at the National meeting. Karen and Rich will work with Marilyn Corbin to send a note to the listserv to encourage them to rejoin. Rich agreed to report to Fred weekly so his Achievement and Chapter Member Recognition Report will be as accurate as possible as of May 1, 2007.

Financial Report: Expenses were $1,842; Income was $1,968,50, which includes extension extended. Current checking account balance is $5,525.96 and savings $5,348.41. Rich is pursuing the investment account changes mentioned in the minutes. Dues have been sent to National. The books are balanced, and as far as we know, the audit was conducted on December 8. He expressed concern that National dues are increasing from $30 to $40 in 2008, so we will need to increase our dues also. Jeff as membership chairman needs to recommend the increase and our dues will be $60.00.

For the President's report, Fred stated that he and Beth Raney have been involved in planning the Annual meeting. At the joint banquet on the 18th, ESP will most likely present the Staff Assistant, Friend of Extension, and the JCEP Forgivable Loan Awards. It is also planned that one of the associations will collect all registration fees and the treasurers will reconcile following the meeting. Chairmen of committees are responsible to see that certificates are presented.

Fred also reported that Karen, Vicki, and himself attended the JCEP Regional Meeting in Valley Forge. After several false starts, none of us could attend PILD, so the budgeted amount of $500 to apply to that conference will be a carryover in the new budget year.

With regard to National Committee representation, Fred reported that PA has nominees for five out of six committees, with Public Issues being the one with no nominee. Otherwise, PA members whose names have been submitted are: Professional Development: Karen Vines; Resource Development: Jeff Myers; Global Relations: Duane Stevenson; Member Services: Deb Gregory; Member Recruitment: Faye Strickler. We will wait until the National Spring Board meeting to see which members get final appointment.

Award submissions included:
Jan Scholl for Diversity Recognition Team; Christy Bartley for Distinguished Mid Career; and Duane Miller for Distinguished Early Career. Voted to recommend these submissions for Regional consideration along with other non-PA nominees for other recognition awards. Fred will forward them on to National.

In the Chapter Report, our scores looked really positive, with the only place where we had no score was on attendance at PILD. Otherwise, our score was much higher this year because of our representation at the national meeting. Because of the 24 people who attended, our total score for this report is 67.

Discussion about dates for submission for Distinguished Service Award. Vicki agreed to contact Janice Stoudnour to get out a note from her committee to encourage DSA nominees. These need to be submitted through Janice to Fred by April 23.

No action was taken on the issue of archiving old records.

Fred indicated that ESP will not participate in the money exchange which has been traditional with PA professional associations. All associations are questioning whether or not to participate.

There being no further business, the call ended at 11:00.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicki Lewis, Secretary