NAI Region VI Board of Directors Meeting

Sunday-Monday, October 7-8, 2007

Oklahoma City Zoo, OK

CALL TO ORDER

1:45 p.m.

Welcome and introductions, roll call

Present: Kelly Farrell, Sarah Keating, Dana Hoisington, John Miller, Cyndi Cogbill, Amy Stephens, Teresa Randall, Laura Motley

Absent: Jay Schneider, Jay Miller, Gay Brantley, Brian Underwood, Tara Tucker, Pam Tooley, Lisa Cole, Don Simons

REPORTS:

· director’s report – Kelly Farrell

o Touched on Tim Merriman and Lisa Brochu update. Mediation is coming up and should be resolved in the next couple of weeks. John Miller asked for specifics and Kelly related what she was able to share without breaking board confidentiality position. A personal relationship between the two has formed and they are engaged. This is a management/personnel issue (hence board keeping confidentiality as with any employee issue). Board does not generally have a problem with the relationship but with management/supervisory concerns. Tim is currently Lisa’s supervisor. Initial communication between staff and board did not go well and conflict occurred. Kelly is impressed with the mediator that board brought in. Kelly is confident that we have a strong region and NAI is strong. Discussed issues of mediation versus lawyers (cost, value). Discussion on the mediation meeting and what is going to happen to NAI and with Tim and Lisa.

o Neil Garrison recently stepped down as Oklahoma state coordinator. Kelly called him and asked Neil to come to our meeting and he could not. Kelly encouraged notes and calls to support him with the issues he has with budget reductions and overwhelming responsibilities. All except for Neil Garrison’s board position are filled.

o Gay Brantley, new Louisiana state coordinator could not attend but related that LA will do NAI regional workshop in 2009. She is rallying the troops to do it. Natchitoches, LA is a possible site for it. Jay Miller and John Morrow may help out with the committee. Gay has the big region notebook to get started with workshop.

· deputy director: review, adjust, approve agenda – Sarah Keating

o No additions to agenda. Approved.

· secretary: present and approve prior minutes – Dana Hoisington

o Minutes were read. John Miller motioned they be approved as read. Seconded by Cyndi Cogbill. Minutes approved.

Recess 2:30 p.m., rejoin 2:45 p.m.

· treasurer’s report – Kelly Farrell (in Jay Schneider’s absence)

o Jay regrets he can’t be here—he is taking apprenticeship to be kayak instructor trainer. R6 remains in good financial standing. We sold the Janus fund by motion of national board. All regions with excess funds sold investments per Tim Merriman recommendation. NAI was borrowing approximately $200,000 in line of credit annually which “rich” regions invested surpluses in outside accounts. Tim’s proposal was to instead invest in NAI and be paid market-value interest. NAI borrows from us and are paying less credit debt. No loss for us. If we want our money for something, we can access it no problem.

· 2008 workshop report – Laura Motley and Amy Stephens

o Plans are well underway. Regional workshop dates are Feb 22-25, 2008. Kelly asked about a break even number of people to attend and still make a profit. Laura is working that up. Laura will also check on bringing in food—most hotels won’t let you do it. Theme discussion “Land run, a place to save our place” portrays rich history trying to save our land in more ways than on. We may have a mini “Land Run” for lunches. Discussion about developing a post conference survey on line--Teresa has agreed to set one up. One-day registration option has to include prorated membership to NAI to get docents and students. The importance of having a clear cut off date for conference and sticking to it was discussed. Sarah mentioned we must make sure to forward 6-month NAI memberships to NAI national, some have not always gotten sent in, in the past. Make sure to get a not for profit status letter. Kelly congratulated Laura, and the committee for working so well on the conference.

· newsletter committee report – Kelly Farrell (in Pam Tooley & Lisa Cole’s absence)

o We are on track with newsletter mailings this year. Pam and Lisa suggest discussion of moving to e-newsletters—to be discussed later in meeting.

· membership report – Cyndi Cogbill

o This year 256 new member letters sent out. Jamie King and Cyndi working well to get things worked out. She is getting lists of new members, “need to renew,” and 6 month memberships. Just sending packets to new members. She tries to have her letter include info they cannot get on the website. TX biggest new member state. Kelly advises not to send to those that renew, just new members. Kelly thanked Cyndi for joining the board again.

· webmaster report – Teresa Randall

o Not a lot to report; has been able to find her own stuff to put on there some job announcements. Kelly is not sure we can post job announcements for free since national charges a fee—will check on this. Teresa mentioned a member sent her a Snapfish photo site of pictures of kids and individuals involved in interpretation. Checking on policy to use kids’ photos. We need more pictures of NAI members in action. Everyone thanked Teresa for keeping the website fresh and current.

· awards report – Laura Motley

o 2006 awards have been decided and she is getting ready to notify them. Discussion on when and how the awards will be presented. Sarah noted that if we announce ’06 awards at Wichita, it will not be a surprise at Tulsa. It was decided to do the awards at Tulsa for both ‘06 and ‘07.

o For 2007, deadline is Christmas (Dec. 25, 2007). Laura said she had some really excellent applicants last time. Teresa would like a category for graphics Can we change nominator to a non-member? Requires a member vote to change. Laura proposes we make this change at the Tulsa meeting. John Miller asked if we should announce winners ahead of time? Some people need to know for funding issues. Cyndi stated that when she was Awards Chair she did not notify winners beforehand—they found out when it was announced at the banquet. She sometimes did some creative maneuvering with their supervisors to get them to the workshop, but it was still a surprise to the person which is a neat experience. Amy inquired about sending letters to finalists letting them know they are in the running.

· scholarship report – Amy Stephens

o We are awarding 2 this year. Undergraduate is Martha Siler (UA-Ft. Smith). She will be at Wichita. The graduate winner was Teresa Randall, who declined since she also won a national scholarship. It was then awarded to Hanna Harder of Oklahoma City. She will be at Tulsa. Teresa would not have had to decline, but she chose to do so. The board commended her for this decision.

o For next year, application deadline is December 15, 2007.

· elections committee report – Kelly Farrell (in Don Simons’ absence)

o This was the first year for electronic elections and the process seems to be working well. Kelly and Jay are running again for director and treasurer.

· AMI chapter report -- John Miller & Dana Hoisington

o Successful AMI workshop. Treasury and budget have work. Next year workshop will be mid September in central MO. Next AMIgo newsletter in mid October. Kelly commented on the diversity of AMI and membership.

· 2007 NIW report – Kelly Farrell (for Pat Silovsky and Shea Lewis)

o Shea Lewis says registration is currently around 500…aiming for 700 break even. Keynotes and off site and field sessions are all set. In the future field trips and pre-workshops may be on the same day to shorten conference by a day (and lower costs for those who need lower costs). Should we do a variety of Region 6 name tag ribbon for Wichita? Yes. Kelly will order and distribute on site.

Recess for day 5 p.m. 10/7/07. Rejoin 8 a.m. 10/8/07.

ACTION ITEMS:

· none proposed

DISCUSSION ITEMS

· new board member: Kelly has some ideas for the Oklahoma board member to take over for Neil Garrison’s vacated position. Asked for other proposals.

· Business meeting items for regional meeting at the National Workshop in Wichita:

o How to go about awarding scholarships and awards at Wichita? Proposed hospitality sponsorship. It was decided to do a small presentation at Wichita. That would give us a chance to promote the Tulsa workshop. After much discussion it was decided that we would sponsor one night of the Hospitality Room and give us a chance to promote the Region 6 2008 meeting in Tulsa. John Miller made a motion “To sponsor one night of funding for the Region 6 Hospitality suite at $150.” Seconded by Sarah Keating. Motion passed. Amy will develop a train ticket type invitation for this.

o Each state will put together a basket of goodies relative to their state that Region 6 people can enter a drawing to win. There is no fee to enter this drawing but a donation will be accepted.

· Louisiana 2009 workshop: Louisiana representative Gay Brantley says that they are gearing up to host NAI Region 6 in 2009.

· free memberships: Kelly brought up that as the director she is able to award 2 free memberships per year and for this year we will award one to a Louisiana person and one to a person from Oklahoma. Next year we will award both to people from Louisiana.

· e-vote status: Don Simons via Kelly Farrell reports that the electronic balloting appears to be a big success. Other regions that have adopted it have had a marked increase in voter participation.

· e-newsletters: Pam Tooley and Lisa Cole have requested we explore electronic newsletters. Mailings are now costing more than we get back in rebate. We mail close to 600 each issue. The board agrees we should seriously consider this move. Need to check on rebate situation. There is less for email, but almost no production cost 9and no postage) for email either. Kelly noted that we cannot post the current newsletter issues on the internet without some password setup since getting the newsletter is a service members pay for. The old issues can be archived online. John Miller is current editor of AMI’s newsletter and has good insight on logistics and benefits of offering electronic newsletters. Kelly will discuss this with other regional directors at the upcoming RLC meeting and proposes we formally discuss this change at full regional board meting in February.

· strategic plan progress: The board worked on an updated draft with more specifics on assignments and deadlines as follows:

Improve communication:

· NAI Forum

§ Board agreed to turn OFF listserv. Kelly will send thank you to UALR and Melanie Thornton.

§ Comments made that NAI Forum is not user friendly and hard to get into. Kelly will create PowerPoint on how to use NAI Forum (she already has a similar one for their department’s Arkansas State Parks Forum—easily adapted for NAI use). If ready, show at regional meeting in Wichita. Kelly & Teresa do session at Tulsa on how to use.

Recruit and retain membership

· Change "white sheet" to simple brochure like AMI has – (John Miller will design)

· See if Paul Caputo can edit down the NAI testimonial video for shorter version to be placed on our website (John Miller will check with Paul Caputo).

· Ask Jay Schneider to move forward on developing mentor criteria. Have Jay contact Cyndi to discuss putting new members in touch with mentors if they want.

· As noted above, Kelly will follow through on providing two free memberships per year.

· Mini-meets: Try a few in the first year. They will likely be small; just opportunities for a few members to gather, network:

§ TBA: OK—OKC Zoo Snooze (date TBA)

§ April: AR—Crater of Diamonds (date TBA)

§ May: MO—Bennett Spring Kids Free Fishing day ( 5.3.2008)

Develop future leadership

· Kelly & Cyndi will reinstate leadership breakfast at Tulsa. Kelly and/or Cyndi will do invitations. Kelly will provide outline/job descriptions of board and committee positions.

· VIsions special edition this winter, right after Tulsa? before? (Sarah will work with Pam & Lisa to get this rolling).

ADJOURN:

Sarah Keating made motion to adjourn. Seconded by Cyndi Cogbill. Meeting adjourned October 8, 2007, 12:05 p.m.

NEXT BOARD MEETING:

February 22, 2008: Region 6 board meeting @ Tulsa Workshop, 3-7 p.m.