Board
of Directors’ meeting minutes
Directors present:
Sue Fluri, Richard Long, Rob Wall Emerson, Gerald Rickert, Tom Coyne,
Frank Wolf, Tom Vance, Scott Ford (by telephone), John Boes and Sherry Gordon
Boes called the meeting to order. A quorum was present at this meeting.
Treasurer’s report. Although Hulsebus was not present today, the
Board unanimously approved the treasurer’s report which Hulsebus distributed by
e-mail to all Board members.
Boes reported that Hulsebus had received word from Mrs.
Elliott at Gilmore, indicating our match had been approved for the $5000. That is good!
Long read the funding request for adult goalball for the
Long also read the projected goalball budget, which is
$10,525 for the year. Bowling projected
budget is $4500, which includes $2900 for travel to tournaments and $1600 for
new rails. The SEC proposed budget is
approximately $21,000. The total
projected budget is $36,025 for these 3 sports alone.
Ford commented on a question which had arisen at our last
meeting. Ford said that the SEC has
never needed to turn away athletes who have indicated interest in attending
SEC. The only reason an athlete may need
to be turned away would be due to the fact that the SEC would not be prepared
to accommodate that athlete’s disability.
Ford noted that last year there was an athlete who was deafblind; an
interpreter was obtained and the deafblind student participated in SEC.
Noted was that we thought we had about $31,000 as available
money this year, which does not include cash on hand as of December 2009’s cash
report. No one had a copy of the cash
report on hand; therefore, this figure is coming from memory. We also thought that we did include the
potential $5000 match which we hopefully will obtain from the Michigan Braille
Transcribing Fund in this $31,000 estimate.
Ford wondered if MBAA had previously considered the
development of an endowment, thinking that perhaps our donors may desire to
contribute toward the endowment. Noted
was that a minimum of $50,000 is needed, in order to start an endowment through
the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. We
likely would not have that large an amount of “extra” funds available. Wolf noted that he questioned as to whether
our donors would choose to contribute toward an endowment; they might rather
contribute toward our annual operating costs.
Discussion was heard regarding the Fund 24 account within
the BLS Department. Question was raised
as to whether the MBAA needed to keep $2000 in the Fund 24 account in order to
keep the account active. Gordon
commented that per Mary Lou’s comment a few months ago, currently the Fund 24
account is in inactive status. Long
indicated he remembered Mary Lou making that statement. Gordon raised the question that if housing
and food costs for the SEC—the highest costs incurred for SEC—were going to be
paid directly to WMU through Carol, is it necessary to keep $2000 in the Fund
24 account? Ford noted that there would
soon be copying, printing and mailing costs involved with the SEC—for the
mailings to potential athletes. It would
be easier to have those costs charged to the Fund 24 account. Gordon noted that last year, it was difficult
for Ford to obtain the correct documentation/receipts when money was used for
copying and mailing costs from the Fund 24 account for SEC.
Boes asked where we were at, in terms of deciding on a
budget. Wolf noted he could come up with
available money of about $30,800.
Anticipated costs are about $36,400.
Boes noted that if these costs are correct, we will need to make
financial decisions.
Gordon noted there should be approximately $1200 coming to
MBAA from the tandem bike which was destroyed.
Gordon recommended that a new tandem bike not be purchased. Noted was that the approximately $1200 would
just go into the general operating fund.
Further discussion ensued regarding how much money we should
keep “in reserve”—to keep MBAA going in case other costs came about during the
year. Long suggested a minimum of $2000
might be considered.
Gordon asked that once a budget has been determined and once
a sport knows how much money has been allotted to that sport, does that sport
need to have a funding request approved each time they have an event which
needs MBAA sponsorship? Discussed ensued
in that if funding requests for each expenditure were not required, there could
be one report submitted to the MBAA following each event. The organizer of each sporting event would
know how much money has been allotted and could spend that money as the sports
group felt appropriate. If we utilized
such a system, potentially the MBAA would not need to meet every month; Vance
noted that potentially we might meet just quarterly. Rickert suggested that although we may not
need to meet monthly to discuss budget issues, he felt that MBAA might still
meet monthly to discuss fund raising possibilities and how to generate more funds.
Wolf suggested the possibility of creating
some sub-groups which might address issues like fund raising.
Coyne noted that if this type of a system were implemented,
it would mean that the budgetary control would be given up by MBAA. Coyne asked the Board if they really wanted
to do this. Wall Emerson indicated that
at this point, the Board is not ready to decide this yet. Wall Emerson suggested that we consider the
Coyne brought up that we had not yet acted on the
Rickert suggested the possibility that athletes from each
sport be required to contribute a minimum percentage of the total cost. Noted was that in our current by-laws,
athletes are required to contribute a minimum of 20 percent of the total cost
of an event. Rickert suggested that if
our funding continues to be reduced, we might look at altering this 20 percent
figure and raising it so athletes have more responsibility for the funding. Noted was that athletes from each sport may be
able to contribute different amounts.
Rickert noted that he is aware of a person in Kazoo who would love to
bowl; however this person is not able to afford the $10 charge per week to
bowl. Boes and Gordon noted that we used
to provide scholarships of this type so that persons who are in financial need
could also participate. Wolf noted that
it may also be a matter that the bowlers who can support the weekly cost be
sponsored at a lower funding level so that others can participate.
Boes suggested that he feels we will need to have more
conversation about all of this at our February 10 meeting. Everyone agreed.
Boes announced that effective at the February 10 meeting, he
was retiring from the MBAA Board. Boes
has been on the MBAA Board for 25 years.
Many thanks to Boes for his leadership for all these years!
Vance distributed most of the MBAA’s annual report. Vance noted he is missing the budget page
with revenues and expenses. Vance also
noted he had not yet added Ford’s summary on SEC. Vance indicated he would have the annual
report completed by the next Board meeting.
Wolf noted that this annual report was going to be the best ever—in that
it was going to include the budget expenses and revenue and this is what should
be in the annual report. Good job Vance
and Coyne! Wolf noted that in next
year’s annual report, we also need to include how many persons we served, who
those folks were, etc. in order to make the report better yet. Boes asked Vance that once the annual report
is completed—to be sure to mail it to Gilmore, Upjohn and MBTF. Vance indicated he would be sure to do
that. Vance was also asked to e-mail the
report to MBAA Board members.
Gordon asked about the renewal of Board members’
positions. Fluri, Merren and Wolf’s
positions all expired in September 2009.
Boes’ position also expired; however since he is retiring, his position
will not be renewed at this time. The
Board voted unanimously to renew these three positions for three year terms,
which began September 2009. Gordon noted
that we had talked about these renewals at our October 2009 Board meeting;
however we did not have a quorum present and just forgot to vote on this until
today’s meeting. Noted was that Ford’s
term began September 2009 so his term will run through
September 2012.
Ford again reiterated the importance of maintaining the Fund
24 account since the account does afford the SEC a way to charge things at WMU
and to obtain the needed contracts for facilities rental. Right now we are relying on the “good will”
of folks at WMU. Coyne noted that there
are two different issues here. First,
the Fund 24 account is a BLS Departmental account. Then there is MBAA which is not related to
WMU. Happenings related to the Fund 24
account are a BLS Department function and not an MBAA function. Coyne indicated the BLS Department needs to
decide how they will manage that account.
The simplest thing for MBAA to do would be to make a contribution to
WMU’s Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies. This money could be put into the Fund 24
account and then this money would be used to pay bills which came about related
to SEC. Long noted in the past there
were two different problems. One was
that the “back up” account was the BLS operating account for the BLS
Department. This was not good since WMU
cannot put the operating account at risk.
The other issue was the administrative requirements related to managing
Fund 24. Long feels both of these
concerns are solvable if it is determined that having the Fund 24 account is to
our advantage. Coyne raised the
question—would it be advantageous to the University’s Department to have MBAA
make a direct payment to the Department?
Long indicated he does not know at this point. Coyne suggested that this be discussed at
WMU. Mary Lou Brooks and Paul Ponchillia
and their expertise definitely need to be part of this discussion. Both Paul and Mary Lou will be encouraged to
attend the February 10 meeting.
The next MBAA Board meeting will be held on Wednesday,
February 10 at
Respectfully submitted,
Sherry Gordon, MBAA Secretary