Board of Directors’ meeting minutes
Directors
present: John Hulsebus, Sue Fluri, Tom Vance, Gerald Rickert,
Frank Wolf, Tom Coyne, Richard Long, John Boes, Mary
Lou Brooks and Sherry Gordon
Guests present: Scott Ford (by telephone)
Boes
called the meeting to order. Minutes
from the September 2009 MBAA Board meeting were approved as distributed.
Treasurer’s report. At the end of the
month (September 2009), we had $9115.43 cash on hand. We currently have, as of
Announcement
was made that Sue Ponchillia’s memorial service will
be held on Saturday, October 24 at
Vance
suggested that the MBAA donate $100 to the Scholarship Fund in the BLS
Department. Discussion ensued and Board
members agreed that this donation, from the MBAA, would be appropriate
utilization of our money. Motion was
passed unanimously to donate $100 to the Scholarship Fund at WMU.
Boes
announced that we have received a grant from the Ann Arbor Track Club, in the
amount of approximately $5800. Boes also indicated that today, he had received
confirmation from the Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund for $10,000. We are very pleased with these donations!
Scott Ford,
co-director of the Sports Ed Camp, joined us by telephone conference. Scott expressed that the Fund 24 account,
within the BLS Department, was vital to the SEC and goalball tournament getting
facilities rental, and possibly room and board costs, at a reduced cost. Scott indicated the dissolution of the Fund
24 account has put the SEC in “kind of a bind”.
Gordon indicated Paul had said the discounted rate for facilities rental
was not related to the Fund 24 account; rather it was a convenient way to
invoice MBAA for facilities rental.
However, MBAA could be invoiced directly for facilities rental
costs. Brooks indicated the discounted
rate is available since the BLS Department is part of WMU and since the BLS
Department representative (Paul Ponchillia)—when signing the contract—said that
he/the BLS Department took responsibility for making sure these costs got
paid. Long indicated he had spoken
earlier this morning with Jim Leja regarding this
issue. Leja
and Long are both very supportive of the SEC continuing to be sponsored, in
part, by WMU. Long feels all of this can
be worked out, although there are currently some challenges which need to be
worked through. Brooks noted that when
facilities rental costs come due, those costs could be paid by a check from the
MBAA; the Fund 24 account is not needed for getting the costs paid. MBAA could be directly invoiced for these
costs.
Noted was
that soon, there would be costs for copying and mailing—that would be needed
for SEC mailings. Hulsebus indicated the
SEC directors might choose to come up with a projected amount for the cost of
the mass mailing that usually goes out in January. This could be handled as a separate funding
request from the entire SEC budget—when money is needed for an aspect of the
SEC—before the entire SEC budget is known.
If the amount of the entire SEC budget is not enough, the SEC directors
would need to come back to the MBAA Board with a revised budget, asking the
MBAA for additional funding; MBAA could approve this revised budget request, if
MBAA has the money.
Brooks
noted the money which was in the Fund 24 account (believed to be between $1500
and about $1800) was originally put into that account by Paul Ponchillia. The money was originally there as a “nest
egg” for SEC costs. About 1.5 years ago,
Richard Hodges had asked that the approximately $1500 be paid to the MBAA,
therefore liquidating the Fund 24 account.
The other thing that happened this year was that the $2000 for the Low
Incidence Outreach (LIO) program did not go into that account until after all
SEC costs had been paid. Hulsebus noted
that the MBAA, in essence, had paid for the entire cost of the SEC.
Boes
asked if the Fund 24 account could be re-activated. Long indicated that at this point, he is not
prepared to make a commitment like that, if that is what is needed; however it
is one possibility. Long suggested that Leja, Gayla Dennis, Brooks and
Long need to sit down and talk about how to address this situation. Scott indicated that was great if the
facilities rentals could be handled that way.
His concern still is that there be someplace
where the LIO money can be sent to—that being an educational institution—like
the Fund 24 account. Brooks suggested
the possibility that the electronic fund transfer from LIO may be able to go
directly to housing at WMU.
In the
past, there has been a graduate student/student assistant who has always been
designated to assist Paul with the SEC duties.
The cost of this student assistant is around $2000. This cost will need to be figured into the
SEC costs for the 2010 camp. Rickert asked if the number of athletes has stayed the
same, increased or decreased. Scott
indicated that for a few years, the number of athletes was down. However, this past year, there were around 40
athletes.
Gordon
handed Hulsebus the check which liquidated the Fund 24 account. Boes asked that
Hulsebus hold onto that check but not cash it right now. Hulsebus noted this check is dated September
16 and is non-negotiable after 120 days.
Coyne asked
if we knew the actual costs of the SEC, taking into account the cost of the
student assistant which, in the past, has been an “in kind:” contribution from
the BLS Department. This is really
important to know since the SEC is the major expenditure of the MBAA.
Another
discussion involved the cost of the SEC—in that if the cost of the SEC is
quoted as being $20,000 and if the MBAA agreed to fund $17,000 and then there
was money coming in for the SEC from the Ann Arbor Track Club, in the amount of
$4000, then the MBAA contribution would be only $16,000. However if the SEC decided to have their own
treasurer and asked the MBAA for $20,000 for funding the SEC, then any
contributions which were donated to the SEC would be their money. The thought is that the money from the Ann
Arbor Track Club is here now; however the question was raised—would it be there
next year or in future years? Hal Wolf
is a great supporter of the SEC and his effort to give money to the SEC is
greatly appreciated!
Suggestion
was that for the goalball athletes as well as for the bowling athletes, there is
one “focal” person—who makes sure all invoices and receipts are turned in to
Hulsebus. This makes the accounting for
these two events very “clean”. Whereas
with the SEC, in the past, there have been several people who turn in invoices
and who are looking to be reimbursed for costs.
This appears to be very confusing.
The suggestion was that the SEC consider having
such a “focal” person who would manage the invoices and reimbursements.
Gordon
presented a funding request for the Youth National Goalball Tournament, being
held
Our next
meeting would usually be held on the second Wednesday of November, that being
November 11. However, that is a
holiday. Therefore we will hold our next
MBAA Board meeting on Wednesday, November 18.
Respectfully
submitted,