Jan 23, 2008

 

OR 211 Board of Directors

 

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

 

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 4:30pm at the 211info office in Portland.

 

Attendance

Stephen Guntli, Susan G Komen for the Cure, Chair

Kathleen McHarg, Multnomah County Aging Services, Treasurer

Len Hockley, White Bird Clinic (Lane County)

Jeri Shumate, 211info (Portland Metro Area)

Vic Falgout, Umpqua Community Action Network (Douglas & Josephine Counties)

Jimi Smith, Community Action (Washington County), Secretary

Tom Page, OR211 Consultant

 

Previous Business:

  • Minutes from the Board Meetings on 8/22/07, 10/24/07 and 11/28/07 were approved as follows:
    • 8/22/07 minutes moved for approval by Kathleen and seconded by Stephen.
    • 10/24/07 minutes were moved for approval by Kathleen and seconded by Jeri.
    • 11/28/07 minutes were moved for approval as amended by Vic and seconded by Kathleen.

All passed unanimously.

 

Roles of Contracted Consultant and Board:

  • OR211 is contracting with 211info to pay Jeri for oversight of consultant.
  • Jeri will send copies of 1) the contract between OR211 and Tom Page, and 2) the contract between OR211 and 211info to all board members.
  • Travel Reimbursement Policy – Employees & Contractors was shared and discussed:
  1. Reimbursements for Tom ~ The Executive Committee will endorse expenditures, but travel from home to office will not be reimbursed. Jeri moved to adopt the policy. The motion was seconded by Vic and passed unanimously.
  2. Reimbursements for Board members ~ This portion of the policy will not be available until future funding is received – Jeri proposed an official letter to recognize travel as an unreimbursed business expense which could be used for a personal tax deduction. We were told a letter is not required, but we must document travel.

 

Goals for 2008:

  • We have received a timeline from Tom. And we have funding to pay for his services for the first half of the year.
  • Per Jeri, Pacific Source declined funding request for OR211.
  • The Board has self-identified the areas in which we will be working:
  1. Stephen and Mark will work in planning
  2. Jeri will work on outreach to NW counties
  3. Vic, Len, June will work on outreach to SW counties outreach
  4. Howard and Liesl will work on advocacy
  5. Jimi will work on the database selection
  6. Everyone will work on Board development. We will continue to discuss this at every meeting.

* If Tom meets a potential Board member, he will discuss the possibility with the person and pass their contact information to the executive committee.

  • Tom will join the next executive committee meeting to prioritize goals.

 

Fundraising Discussion:

State Government:

  • Stephen presented to and Tom will follow up with the House Women’s Committee on Wellness.
  • Can we get to Legislation by 2009? This will be an agenda item for next meeting: 2009 Legislative plan. Liesl & Howard will work to enable (include Mark and Julie?).

Other private or government:

  • A letter of support from OR211 endorsing the $70,000 requested from the City of Portland funding for 211info has been drafted. The money would support 211 and 311 in working together.
  • There’s not much chance the federal legislation will pass this year. The United Way of America wants each state to do an ask to any member of congress. Wyden may be our best option, or Patty Murray. Any earmark requested would be due the beginning of March and carries a low chance of return. Tom will spend four hours writing something tailored to the timber industry which could be submitted to Peter de Fazio.

 

Board Meeting Issues:

  • It was suggested we flip months for the board meetings. Our next meeting will be March 5th from 4:30 – 6:30pm. We will discuss the best time and structure for our meetings at the March 5th meeting.

 

Board Growth and Advisory Board:

  • Wendy has resigned and Julie may or may not be able to continue on the Board. Liesl Wendt has agreed to be on the Board. Len moved to waive the application process and immediately add Liesl to the Board, and Jeri seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
  • We discussed having an advisory board made up of organizations wanting to establish 211 in their community in addition to the OR211 Board. It was felt we are possibly a year away from this model, but with recent changes we can move in this direction. With this model the Board would have a government sector and a foundation sector who do not represent anyone involved in providing 211 service. (Jeri is feeling a conflict of interest.)
  • As we start looking at potential new board members, do we want to evolve to more legislative, advocates, and/or foundations who have the vision? Instead of bringing on anyone from an organization, should we be looking for persons with expertise in specific areas of interest. We need to add five new board members. This will be discussed at our next meeting.

 

Our next meeting will be March 5th from 4:30-6:30pm at 211info’s office in Portland.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:20pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jimi Smith, Secretary

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