NHAVA
Membership Meeting
Business Meeting Minutes
President, David Poisson called the meeting to order at 9:35 AM.
The following guests were introduced: Cheryl Scanlon, AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, working with Merrimack County RSVP; Heidi Savoy, NH Hospital; Amy Mitchell, the Society for the Protection of NH Forests and Jessica from the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum.
David gave a brief explanation of the structure of this meeting and the importance of having ample time to fully discuss the proposed amendments to the bylaws.
Motion made and seconded to accept the minutes of the July 13, 2005 Membership meeting. Minutes were unanimously accepted.
Treasurer’s report - Don Hayes
Don was not present. Donna Wright received information by email that the current treasury balance is $2959.54. Don reports there has been very little activity since the last report to the Board in September.
Old Business:
Rookie Award – David stated that one nomination came in for this award during the past year. David Coombs was prepared to make this presentation at the July membership meeting but the recipient was not present.
David Poisson announced that he and Bob Bussey will present this award in person to Jodi Lakeway of the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover in the near future. David read the nomination letter from Elizabeth Fourar-Laidi, praising Jodi’s work.
New Business:
Donna announced that three members of this committee will meet after
the membership meeting to plan the programs for the 2006 meetings.
Anyone interested was encouraged to attend.
Another member is being sought to take over as the hospitality committee person since Nora Sutton can no longer continue to serve in that capacity. Donna explained that this person is responsible for refreshments and door prizes at meetings. Jean Desany suggested putting a request for door prizes in the newsletter.
David asked about the Annual Meeting location. Donna reported that The Common Man, The Red Blazer and The Cat’N Fiddle have been contacted. Information is being sent regarding prices, cancellation policies, booking both January 11th and 25th, etc. The Cat’N Fiddle has been tentatively booked. Donna welcomed new ideas.
Suggestions from members: The Barley House across from the capitol building and the Philbrook Hospital on the NH Hospital grounds. She reminded everyone that a facility/restaurant must be willing to book both dates and some are reluctant to do so.
Membership Committee – Susan Kuhn, Chair
Susan reported that current membership stands at 68 with a clear
potential for 71. This committee still needs support – the North
Country is still not represented. A couple of responses were received
from the letters sent to Governor’s Conference attendees.
Communications Committee – Lois Meredith, Chair
Lois thanked all contributors to the October newsletter. She called for articles about organizations, reminding everyone that the committee will send someone out to do an interview and then will write the article.
Members may contact Jean Desany. Jean added that some organizations have a canned piece that is ready for publishing – just send it to her.
Public Relations Committee – Cyndi Paulin, Chair
Cyndi requested information about the Rookie Award winner so a
piece could be written and sent out.
Legislative Committee – Judith Lonergan, Chair
Judith reported there is not much activity with this committee. Real life
touched professional lives with the loss of Dave Coombs. David
Poisson stated how deeply so many NHAVA members felt this loss.
David Poisson provided a brief explanation about the reason for the
need to review and change the NHAVA bylaws. After the weather and
the communication problems encountered during January 2005, a
suggestion was made to change the annual meeting to the month of
October. It was soon obvious that making one change started a ripple
effect that led to the realization that a complete review of the current
bylaws was necessary. An Ad Hoc Committee was formed and Lois
Meredith and Donna Wright volunteered to do the work. Over several
months, proposed changes were made and all members received a
letter along with these proposed changes in late September. Today
the membership will review the work done thus far and a final draft will
be sent to the membership prior to the annual meeting in January. The
membership will then vote on these proposed changes.
AD HOC COMMITTEES
Bylaws Committee – Donna Wright and Lois Meredith
Donna provided a brief history of the NHAVA bylaws stating that some of the people present had a hand in putting them together. The ripple effect that one change started gave the board the opportunity to review the bylaws from different perspectives. Lois stated that the only recent change to the bylaws had been the Conflict of Interest Policy added in March, 2004.
Lois continued - membership eligibility is one area that must be addressed. For instance, we grant honorary memberships but there is nothing in the bylaws about it. How should honorary members participate? Should we admit individuals into NHAVA if they are not volunteer managers but are heavily invested in volunteerism, i.e. AmeriCorps members? Associate memberships were discussed.
Deb Cheever – stated that Carolyn Gargasz came to NHAVA through extension groups and has advocated for volunteerism. As Article III now reads, she cannot be a member and we wouldn’t want to lose her. Carolyn might fit into an honorary or associate membership.
Letty Barton – we could broaden the term “administration.”
Donna – “administration” is a broad term. In Article III, Section 1, remove the second sentence which reads, “Membership may be granted to any person empowered to have major and continuing responsibility for the administration of volunteer services within an organization.” Suggested different categories be described, i.e. Associate, Honorary, Student, etc.
Cyndi Paulin – Judith Lonergan’s and Carolyn Gargasz’s talents should not be limited.
Martha Richards – why limit membership at all? Anyone interested should be able to join.
Judith Lonergan – we don’t want to lose the focus of the purpose of NHAVA. We need to keep in mind why we exist and strengthen that purpose. NHAVA came about when the Governor’s Office supporting volunteerism was dissolved in 1997.
Donna – Volunteer NH! is supportive of volunteerism with paid and unpaid administrators.
A question arose about volunteers joining since networking is part of our purpose.
Carolyn Gargasz – an associate membership might support that.
Donna explained more about the history of NHAVA.
Lynne DeVivo – we are an organization of professionals.
Judith – I want to pay full dues and be a contributing member.
Jean Desany – suggested the first sentence of Article III, Section 1 read: “Membership shall be open to any persons, paid or unpaid, responsible for or advocates for the administration of volunteer services” and completely remove the next sentence.
Motion made to accept as amended. Motion seconded and unanimously accepted.
Cyndi Paulin – Student Membership for AmeriCorps and VISTA volunteers.
Jean Desany – we have a lot to gain by including both but many can’t afford the $35.00 dues. Might they be invited to join gratis?
Donna Wright – Section 4, Amount of Dues, could handle this issue.
Jean Desany – an Associate Membership might be for short term members.
A suggestion was made to include a statement to address dues, for instance, they might be prorated at the discretion of the board and no one would be turned away because of inability to pay.
Cova Greig – how about supporting students by allowing them to attend meetings without privileges?
Jean Desany – students wish to join as they need the membership on their resumes.
The question of a scholarship fund was raised. Discussion followed regarding how this had been addressed in the past.
Lois Meredith – all of this falls under Article V, Section 4 where we could add the following: “At the discretion of the board of directors, no qualified applicant to NHAVA will be denied membership due to his/her inability to pay the annual dues.”
A motion was made to accept the addition of this sentence to Section 4, Amount of Dues.
Donna Wright pointed out that many unpaid volunteer coordinators were nominated for the Governor’s award. These coordinators may not be able to afford dues and NHAVA should be supporting them.
Judith Lonergan called a previous question – vote on current motion denied.
The sentence was re-read: “At the discretion of the board of directors, dues for a member may be waived or reduced due to their inability to pay.”
Motion made to accept as amended. Motion seconded and unanimously accepted.
Donna Wright – clean up proposed addition of new Section 2: Honorary Membership, to read: “Upon the signed recommendation of one member, seconded by another member and by a three-fourths vote at the annual meeting, honorary life membership may be conferred on any person who has rendered notable service to the organization. An honorary member shall have none of the obligations of membership in the organization but shall be entitled to all the privileges except that of holding office.”
Motion made to accept as amended. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Section 3: Frequency and Term of Dues – date of the end of the fiscal year should be changed to September 30.
Motion made to accept this change. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
A brief discussion followed regarding the due date of dues and how dues collected from new members apply to the current fiscal year.
Section 5: Voting Privileges of Members – brief discussion ensued about the phrase “in good standing.” Suggestion was made to omit it and therefore omit the need to define it. Section 5 would read: “Every current member has voting privileges at the meetings of the Association.”
Motion made to accept revision. Motion seconded and accepted with one member voting no.
Section 6: Transfer of Membership – accepted as amended.
Article IV, Section 1 – discussion ensued regarding the term “Membership Meetings.” Several members agreed it was confusing, especially to new members and that the meetings were really “general.” Motion made to change the title of Section 1 to “General Meetings.” Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Section 2: Annual Meeting – revised to read as follows: “The annual meeting shall take place in October and will serve the purpose of electing the board of directors and officers and delivering the annual report to the membership.”
Motion made to accept this revision. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Section 4: Quorum – motion made to accept as amended. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Article V, Section 4: The Secretary – motion made to accept as amended. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Martha Richards raised a question regarding Section 5: The Treasurer.
Should there be an audit and should this be included in this section.
Deb Cheever – would like to see a written financial report from the treasurer at every meeting. She suggested adding the word “written.”
Discussion followed regarding who might do an audit and when. Addition of the following sentence was proposed: “A board designated independent audit will be presented in writing at the annual meeting.”
Motion made to accept these additions to Section 5. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Article VI, Section 1: Composition of the Board – following a brief discussion, this section was revised to read: “The board of directors shall consist of the officers of the association, chairs of the standing committees and a maximum of 6 members at large. The board of directors shall have no fewer than ten and no more than fifteen members.”
Motion made to accept this revision. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Section 2: Board Role, Size, and Compensation – due to the revisions made to Section 1, the title of this section will change to: “Board Role and Compensation. The board of directors is responsible for the overall policy and direction of the association. The board of directors receives no compensation.”
New Section 5: Quorum – motion made to accept proposed change. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Cyndi Paulin expressed concern that no statement about how or when board members would be notified about special meetings is included in Section 4. After some discussion, the following sentence was proposed: “Special meetings of the board of directors may be called by the president and a good faith effort must be made to notify all board members.”
Motion made to accept this addition. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Section 6: Elections – brief discussion followed by the decision to move the second sentence to Section 7: Term. The following sentence will become A. of Section 7: “The term of the elected board of directors and officers shall begin November 1st.
Motion made to accept these revisions. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
NOTE: With the above addition, Section 7 now lists A. to E.
Article VII, Section 7: The Legislative Committee. After a brief discussion, addition of the following sentence was proposed: “It shall educate the membership on risk management for volunteer programs.”
Article VIII, Amendments of Bylaws – brief discussion led to only one change in the last sentence – Article 4 should read Article IV.
Motion made to accept proposed change to Article VIII. Motion seconded and accepted unanimously.
Nominating Committee – Don Hayes, Chair
Don Hayes was no present. David Poisson announced that Board
Member Bob Bussey has been nominated Treasurer. Nancy Evans
and Audrey Eisenhauer will be nominated to the Board. A call was
made for additional Board nominations.
David suggested that the summer (July) meeting was generally not
well attended. Lois Meredith disagreed, sighting the last meeting as
an example with over 20 members present. Judith Lonergan agreed,
stating that dropping that meeting would create too much time between
meetings. She also added that the fall is too busy to try and squeeze in
an additional meeting.
Awards Committee – David Poisson reminded members that the
Lonergan Award Nominations are due December 15, 2005.
Next NHAVA Membership Meeting will be on January 11, 2006.
Location to be announced.
Business meeting adjourned at 12:15 PM.
Lynne Saltonstall, Secretary