September 6, 1996, Washington, DC

September 6, 1996
Grand Hyatt Hotel
Washington, DC

I. Welcome, Introductions, Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by President Tanakeyowma (AT) at 3:55 pm

II. Roll Call
Members present: Connie Baker, Troy Barker, Allan Bee, Denise Benton, Irv Coin, Darlene Conwell, Nate Easley, Vickie Gomez, Sergio Lopez, Munyiga Lumumba, Ron Muriera, Lilia Powell, Joe Ramirez, Marianne Roccaforte, Adrian Tanakeyowma, Leonard Woods

Members excused: Diana Banuelos, Tony Germino, Hazel Ralston

Member un excused: Bill Sullivan

Recognized Guests: Ping Chan, Susan Madrid-Simon, José Martínez Saldaña, Maria Elena Riddle

*This was a special meeting called to address budget issues only. There were no other agenda items. Unapproved minutes from August 16-17 meeting were distributed to present board members and guests.

III. Treasurer's Report Leonard Woods

Woods presented a revised WESTOP budget for 1996-97. Highlights are as follows:

Net income:

'96 Conference net was $13,332, which includes the $4,380 donation to NCEOA. Revised '96 Income figure is $69,383.

Expenditures:

BOD members are cautioned to submit claims for Board travel by no later than December 31 ($300 maximum)

Baker asked if proposed $22,000 expenditure for '97 Conference was a pro-rated share since it is less than the budget approved at the last meeting or was it a new total the committee had to deal with. Woods responded that it was only the amount that was to be expended through the remainder of 1996.

WESTOP contingency find of $9,000 is eliminated in order to cover expected costs.

Action Item 1: Motion to adopt revised budget as presented
Motion: Powell
Second: Easley
Discussion:
Conwell stated that she didn't understand how we could discuss a '97 budget when we don't have closure on '96 Conference.

AT: We cannot bring closure to it when we don't have receipts.

Powell: The '96 Conference neu income of $13,332 is an actual amount that we can rely on.

Conwell: Did the treasurer get receipts for this amount?

Woods: I have receipts for 2 deposits totaling $8,953, and we know $4,380 went to NCEOA.

Conwell: How do we know that more bills might not show up that would affect this budget?

Lopez: We can't.

Lumumba: We need to set a date for when we will receive all the required documentation.

Woods: We've done that and we received a report that wasn't accepted. I doubt we will receive any more.

Muriera: We are still hoping to receive the requested information prior to the November Board meeting.

Baker: I just want to emphasize the fiduciary responsibility this organization has. When we are audited, we have to have receipts.

Easley: We know how much money we have in our bank account. We don't know if any more bills will appear. We need to move on and plan for our next conference. Fiscal Affairs is working to obtain receipts, we can move on. I don't see that we need to pursue this any longer. We are volunteers and we all make mistakes. We shouldn't sink to personal attacks. We should make sure this doesn't happen again.

Powell: I think we can approve the budget at this time. If there are any more receipts or debts we can revise the budget at that time.

Conwell: Why should we operate in the blind? Why can't we, why don't we have the receipts as they were processed?

Powell: On a parliamentary note, we can approve the '97 budget without approving the '96 Conference Report.

Lumumba: Since there is a profit listed form the '96 Conference, it is problematic since we don't know if the figure is reliable. There has been more than ample time to put closure to this issue. Passing this on isn't a satisfactory solution. I am comfortable with giving Bill a deadline and then asking him to leave the board if he doesn't meet it.

Roccaforte: If you refer to the last minutes [unapproved as of 9/6/96] Bill said all receipts are in and all debts are paid.

Easley: I don't see the '96 Conference issue as germane to this discussion. We know that the checking account is closed so we need to move on so we don't jeopardize services to the members by waiting any longer to go forward with conference planning. The fiscal affairs committee is doing everything in their power to resolve this issue and we should let them do their job. We are seeking to approve a '96-'97 WESTOP budget, we can't spend more time on this issue.

Benton: I'd like to make two comments. First, as past president, I've never been asked for anything. I'd like to know what it is the fiscal affairs committee is asking for because no one ever asked me. Second, I'd like to know if it is the policy of this organization, this is a question because I don't know, to always have receipts? If so, as far as I'm concerned there are still some issues from the Phoenix Conference that are still unresolved. Because if it is, I'm just taking my lead from past presidents and I don't know what was asked for. Bill is taking his lead and was taking his lead from those of us who sat on the board last year.

AT: It most certainly should be within anyone's policy that you have receipts in order to file a tax return, so they have to be in.

Baker: You can see [Woods] in the WESTOP checkbook what the income to date and the expenditures to date are. Therefore, we can rely on this budget and make revisions in the future if need be.

Muriera: To answer Denise we [fiscal affairs] have been working with the conference chair, Dr. Sullivan, to obtain an accurate accounting and receipts from the '96 Conference. Since he was the chair we felt he was the best source of information, that is why we didn't come to you to ask for your help.

Powell: Call the question

Vote: Passed with two abstentions

IV. Other Business

Guests were asked to introduce themselves at this time and did so.

Martínez-Saldaña asked to address the board. He stated that his project still hasn't received receipts from the '96 Conference and stated that he wasn't the only one.

Baker: I have been told that all electronic and hard copy files have been lost.

Martínez-Saldaña: We pre-registered and they couldn't find our records so we also had to pay on-site.

Baker and Benton who also work at CSU campuses volunteered strategies Martínez-Saldaña might use to get his expenses cleared.

Lumumba: We need to come up with a plan to bring resolution to this.

Benton: I want to be on record that I want all concerns to come to me. I am not resigning. I want to be included as part of the solution.

AT: Since the purpose of this meeting was to approve the budget and we did that, we need to bring closure to this. Anyone who has other issues they'd like the board to consider can call another meeting.

XIX. Adjournment

Adjourned 4:35 p.m.

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