CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
Minutes of
Board Meeting
Doubletree Hotel
Ontario, CA
January 21, 2006
10:35 am – 2:55 pm
Officers Present:
X Carol Ludlow, President
X Connette Blalock,
Vice-President
X Annette Gomez, Secretary
X Betty Cole, Treasurer
Directors Present:
X Marcel Neumann, Technology
Chair
X Debbie Driver, Newsletter Chair
X Robin Wilson, Education Chair
X Nancy Newlin, Conference Chair
X Connie Crockett, Fundraising
Chair
X Moira Boyle, Public Relation
X Jeanne Wierson, Professional
Standards
Legislation Chair, Position
vacant
Others Present:
X Andrew Voller, very soon to be
Legislative Chair
10:35 am Called to order by Carol
Ludlow
Discussion
regarding approval of the minutes. Betty motioned to approve the minutes of the
October 23, 2005 Board Orientation Meeting. Connette seconded the motion. All
were in favor and the motion was carried. Jeanne moved to approved the minutes
of the November 12 chatroom meeting. Betty seconded the motion. All were in
favor and the motion was carried. Jeanne asked Annette to modify the 12/2/2005
minutes to reflect that she (Jeanne) offered to chair the committee for the
revision of the publications. Debbie motioned to approve the minutes as
corrected. Connie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was
carried.
The floor was
turned over to Betty. She told us about Alegria Davenport, CALDA’s new
bookkeeper. We have a new way of doing things. Income and Expenses will be
tracked differently and in more detail. For example, our workshop expenses will
go under Education. It will be Robin Wilson’s job to approve the expenses
before it goes to the Treasurer, otherwise we won’t get paid until after the
workshop. We can only be reimbursed for a budgeted amount. Anything over will
need prior approval. There will be no reimbursement for mileage. Because of
liability, we cannot hire anyone to help with our workshops. Reimbursement
checks are made on the 4th and 15th day of each month.
Only 1 signature is required for any amount under $500.00. The revised bylaws
will state that any donated items will be tax-deductible. There was discussion
on how we are to present items for reimbursement and what is tax deductible. It
was noted that food includes non-alcoholic beverages. 20% of income earned from
the money making committees will now automatically go into the general fund.
The Profit and
Loss statement and the proposed budget were reviewed. Betty explained how she
came up with the figures for the proposed budget. She used last year’s
information and increased the figures by 10%. The information from the prior
year was difficult to decipher and sketchy so it is anticipated that this
budget will be adjusted during the upcoming year probably more than once.
However, once we develop the budget and adopt the new way of doing things, we
will have more than enough accurate information next year.
Other items
pointed out were the cost for printing/copying the binder materials came under continuing
education but will now come under conference. Since we are having more one-day
workshops, the continuing education budget will need to be increased. There was
quite a bit of discussion about whether fundraising should include the income
and expenses from publications revisions. There was concern about tracking
income from the sale of the brochures. In the end it was decided that
publication revisions would go under Continuing Education. Last there was
discussion about whether the website should be under the technology budget. But
because technology is not a money making committee, it should be listed as an
expense only. It was pointed out that membership is our biggest revenue maker. Marcel
motioned to approve the proposed budget. Connette seconded the motion. All were
in favor and the motion was carried.
Next Connie
headed the discussion about the bylaw revisions. She explained the new color
coded by law revisions. She summarized the results of the ad-hoc executive
committee meeting which took place the night before. Some of the results were:
The new fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends September 30 to coincide with
the end of the conference. Section 5 regarding Elections would change to
reflect 2 year terms for all positions which would begin once the bylaws are
voted in. Those who didn’t want to serve an additional 2 years could resign. There
was concern that this would be in conflict with the Corporations Code. It does
not. There was concern that having all new board members at the same time could
be a problem. But it was pointed out that the President and Vice President
positions would only be filled by those who have served on the board already. She
asked that all comments be posted on our talklist prior to a tentative deadline
date of February 10, 2006. Connie will then post on the talklist the date for a
special meeting regarding bylaw revision.
Connie proposed
that the website contain the old bylaws and the new color coded revised bylaws.
After all members have had the opportunity to review, there will be a vote by
proxy. Connette motioned that members get a copy of the bylaws electronically.
Robin W seconded. Jeanne abstained. All others were in favor and the motion was
carried.
The next item
for discussion was the site of the 2006 conference. Connette prepared a list of
possible sites which compared costs and amenities to Asilomar. There was a
straw vote on whether the conference should be moved to Southern California. It
was favored to move the conference. Connette motioned to rescind the contract
with Asilomar. Connie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was
carried. Next, Debbie moved that we have the 2006 conference at Highland
Springs Resort in Cherry Valley during the September block of available time. Connie
seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried. Carol will
call Asilomar and tell them that we will not be there for the 2006 conference.
It was also asked that she get a copy of the contract with them as no one had a
completed copy. Connette’s husband, Fermin, will take pictures of Highland
Springs resort and put together a promotional website.
Nancy wants new classes and wants to make sure that certain classes don’t conflict with
others. It was suggested that another notary class (different speaker), process
serving, post judgment-collections would be good classes. Marcel thought it
important to bring back some of the older members (not older aged members) and
make them a part of the conference, especially as it is our 20 year anniversary
and they should be part of it. He suggested some type of panel, or mentoring
opportunity, or getting them involved in some type of long term project. It was
suggested that the National Notary Association would be a good vendor. Last, we
discussed how the instructors should be compensated for their time and effort. Moira
motioned that CALDA should offer a room for one night and 3 meals for the
speaker and a guest, or in the alternative a check for the equivalent cost.
Connie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.
Sandy McCarthy’s
contract was the next item for discussion. The revised bylaws will reflect
that the past president is an advisor only, and not a voting member of the
board. However, to remove any appearance of conflict, we will ask the
membership for bids for the contract for brochures and revisions. Jeanne
suggested that it must be clear that there will be penalties for
non-performance. Moira added that it must be a “Good faith effort”. It was
agreed by all that this is something we need to move on quickly and the bids
must be clearly stated by qualified individuals. Sandy will still be paid for
the work that she already performed as it has been previously agreed that she
would be paid for 50 hours, which she has exceeded. Connie motioned that we put
the bid out for brochures and revisions to the general membership. Betty
seconded. There was no opposition. No one abstained and the motion was carried.
Nancy suggested that Connie prepare the bid and that the executive committee
review the bids and make a recommendation to the board. Moira motioned that the
executive committee review the bids for brochures and revisions, give results
on how many responded, and how many were qualified, and make a recommendation to
the board. Debbie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was
carried.
We discussed the
brochure renewals. In the best interest of the membership Connie wants the
brochures and questionnaires sold as a set because so many questionnaires were
not sold and they are an important and integral part of the brochure. She wants
to appoint a special committee to decide how to sell brochures and
questionnaires and for what price. It was agreed by everyone that there is so
much to consider. Nancy suggested that Carol put together an ad-hoc committee
to make a brochure and renewal price recommendation to the board. As far as a
credit for the Bankruptcy brochure update to the people who recently paid $20,
there will be no credit as there has already been an update since the first
brochure was sold.
CALDA’s 20th
anniversary was next on the agenda. There was excitement about the
possibilities of what we could do and how it could benefit the organization. An
ad-hoc committee will be formed to present ideas to the board.
Fundraising.
Connie wants to just offer the plexi-glass brochure holders at the conference
only. It is too much of an inconvenience to ship them, etc. Annette had
previously suggested to Connie that fancy wood plaques to hang on the wall
showing that we are CALDA members might appeal to some of the members over a
paper certificate in a frame. Carol said her husband would be happy to make
something for us. It was agreed that having dvds available was not a good idea
because it could get us into trouble with UPL. The best idea at the table was
an LDA practice guide which is presently in the works by Diana Wade. It will be
a one of a kind in a 3 ring binder with county specific information. We would
like to have the practice guide debut at our next conference as a special 20th
anniversary item.
Connie moved that
Moira chair the 20th Anniversary committee. Betty seconded and all
were in favor. The motion was carried. Nancy reminded us that we should allow
for that expense in our budget.
Carol asked
Connette to chair an ad-hoc committee to put together an advisory board. We
need 2 people from the northern, 2 people from the central, 2 people from the
southern parts of CA and 2 people from anywhere in the state. We will be asking
the same people who have served to continue but we still have a vacancy.
Marcel asked for
everyone’s opinion about his Monday night forum. All feedback was positive. He
suggested that Carol do a “State of the Association” e-mail every 3 months or
so to keep the membership informed of what is going on.
Jeanne took the
floor and wanted to submit a proposal for form letters and a web page for CALDA
members to complain about non-conforming non CALDA members. This prompted a
discussion regarding what our stand should be in regards to non-conforming
LDAs. Marcel feels that if a complaint comes from a consumer, we can direct
them to the appropriate agency. However, if we put something on the website and
have a complaint from a member, we need to decide what we are to do about it
first. Some feel that we are not a policing agency. Connie feels that if we get
complaints about a non CALDA member that they get a copy of the B & P code
and notice that the next complaint will be forwarded to the District Attorney.
Jeanne wanted to
make sure that our present mail procedures are as efficient as possible. After
a brief discussion, it was decided that no changes needed to be made.
The last item
for discussion was regarding our advisory board. Presently we have seven
proposed advisory board members, but have space for one more. Carol asked
Connette to handle this.
Our next meeting
is set for April 22, 2006 in Fresno, CA.
The meeting was
adjourned at 2:55 p.m.
To Do:
Annette to modify the 12/2/2005
minutes
Carol to call Asilomar to get
copy of contract and cancel 2006 engagement
Connie to prepare proposal &
put out to membership for bids for publication revisions
Carol appoints ad-hoc committee
to make brochure prices & renewal prices recommendations
Carol (or Moira?) appoints
ad-hoc committee for CALDA 20th anniversary ideas
Connie to post date on talklist
for special meeting on bylaw revision
Connette’s husband, Fermin to
take pictures of the new conference site and put together a promotional website
