CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS

Minutes of Board Meeting

 

Piccadilly Inn

Fresno, CA

April 22, 2006

9:15 am – 1:55 pm

 

Officers Present:

X Carol Ludlow, President

X Connette Blalock, Vice-President

X Annette Gomez, Secretary

    Treasurer, position vacant

 

Directors Present:

X Debbie Driver, Newsletter Chair

X Robin Wilson, Education Chair

X Connie Crockett, Fundraising Chair

X Moira Boyle, Public Relation

    Professional Standards, position vacant

   

Others Present:

X Cara Gould, Past Board Member

X Kathleen Mountjoy, Interim Professional Standards Chair

 

9:15 am Called to order by Carol Ludlow

 

Moira motioned to approve the minutes for the January 21, 2006 Board Meeting in Ontario. Connette seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Although Betty Cole submitted a report after her resignation, we did not get a financial report from our bookkeeper Alegria Davenport. Carol will get the treasurer’s report from Alegria next week and email to all board members during that same week.

 

Our first item for discussion was regarding the bids for the preparation of our brochures and questionnaires. Cara Gould was asked to leave the room; she complied prior to any further discussion. Before comparing bids we shared our thoughts on the brochures. Moira felt that the present brochures were too complicated for the average Pro Per. Everyone agreed that the brochures need to be simplified. Robin S. expressed the need to have a hard copy available. Several of the board members pointed out that many other members are frustrated printing the brochures, especially the bankruptcy brochure. We compared the bid received from Cara Gould to the bid previously received from Sandy McCarthy. Cara offered to prepare the brochures and questionnaires for $125.00 per set, not per year. Updates would be prepared for the same price on an “as needed” basis. Several members are offering to donate their time to help with the project. It was suggested that a separate person could be used to perform the technical aspect of uploading the information. After careful consideration, Connie feels that unless we lower or eliminate the costs of purchase, simplify the writing and printing, offer hard copies, we are defeating the purpose of educating the public. Connette pointed out that we need to see a sample of Cara’s work. There was discussion regarding the goal of the brochures, ie fundraising, avoiding UPL, or educating the public. It has been advised from our advisory board that the purpose of the brochures is to educate the public, not to avoid UPL, and that nothing else should be a higher priority. Once we shifted our focus, everyone agreed for the need to simplify them to make them easier for our customers and the common public to comprehend. We reviewed the list of brochures that we presently have available, what is needed, and what is needed immediately. Everyone felt that Cara’s bid was more cost effective for the organization. Everyone agreed that if we allowed Cara to do the job, we would first need to see one brochure. Cara was called back into the room for further clarification. She was asked if she could prepare the “Dissolution, Legal Separation and Annulment Proceedings” brochure for $75.00. Cara agreed and promised to have it available for us in two weeks or less.  Debbie moved to pay Cara $75.00 to prepare a sample brochure “Dissolution, Legal Separation and Annulment Proceedings” which would be available no later than 2 weeks. Robin S. seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

Connette motioned to pay Sandy $1468.75, for the preparation of brochures and questionnaires, as set forth on the invoice dated April 11, 2006, contingent upon production of the finished product and with CALDA having full rights and access therefore. Robin S. seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Since it is our job to educate the public, Moira wants to make the brochure “Legal Document Assistant or Paralegal – What is the Difference?” free and available to all CALDA members and the public through our website. Having the information available for free to the general public will help fuel the distribution of our message throughout CA. In addition it should be distributed to all court facilitators, court clerks, and clerk/recorder with a letter. Connie moved to take the current brochure entitled “Legal Document Assistant or Paralegal – What is the Difference?”, which is now subject to purchase on our website and make it available for free to all CALDA members and the general public and that we circulate it to the courts. Robin S. seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Kathleen Mountjoy was introduced and it was announced that she will be our new Professional Standards chair effective in July. Until then, Debbie Driver agreed to act as interim Professional Standards chair. Moira motioned to have Debbie Driver act as interim Professional Standards chair with Kathleen Mountjoy acting under her until Kathleen is able to take the job of Professional Standards Chair in July. Robin S. seconded. Everyone was in favor and the motion was carried.

Carol was unsure as to whether she could appoint Kimberlie Hall as conference chair without a vote.  However, Connie pointed out that the bylaws allow an appointment when there is a resignation and the prospective appointee has met the requirements. After it was cleared up, Carol announced that she was appointing Kimberlie Hall.

 

The next issue on the floor was regarding the pricing of brochures. The floor was turned over to Connette who relayed the advisory board’s opinions. It was suggested by the advisory board that the price of membership be increased and the brochures given freely to all members as a benefit. Comments included the fact that some of the members, especially new members cannot afford the cost of the brochures and offering chatroom educational opportunities as an added benefit to the membership to further justify the increased cost of membership. Robin S. advised us that 75% of the new members wanted to join for the brochures. Connie suggested a higher price for 1^st year of membership to offset the additional costs of getting the brochures/questionnaires (hard copies) with all the other new membership materials to the members. Robin W. suggested 2 tiers of membership depending on if they wanted brochures or not. Robin S. opposed the idea because logistically it would too difficult to implement. There was discussion about whether we raise the price of the membership or lower the cost of the brochures. Robin S. advised that about 50% of the members feel our membership price is too high. Others have heard the same complaint from prospective members. Everyone agreed that if we did charge for the brochures/questionnaires, that “newsletter members” should not get brochures available for purchase. Instead it was agreed by everyone that we should not have “newsletter members” but “newsletter subscribers” instead.  A cost analysis would be too difficult to determine what we should do, so a trial and error effort will be done. It was also pointed out that if we join NALDP that there would be even more benefits for our members to justify the price, such as having a lobbyist in Sacramento. To simplify the distribution and lower the time and cost of distributing the brochure/questionnaires, Connie suggested giving them to new members on a disk only. New members who are technology challenged could take the disk to Kinko’s for printing. This would also reduce time to track the purchases. Upon figuring that the cost would be no more than $3875.00 to pay someone to prepare our brochures/questionnaires, we discussed how much to increase our membership fees to just cover the cost, since we are a non-profit organization. There was a discussion about members having the option of making payments. Although another $20 in membership fees would cover the costs, additional money is needed to cover the much needed updates in the membership materials.  Debbie moved to raise the initial membership cost to $200.00, effective the next fiscal year, which would include all brochures/questionnaires and renewals. Moira seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried. After a brief discussion, Annette moved that as soon as the first brochures/questionnaires become available and payment is made to Sandy, we upload the information for all members at no cost. Debbie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried. Then Debbie moved to rescind the prior two motions and instead have an immediate upload of brochures/questionnaires and updates available to all current members and increase the membership dues to $200.00 effective June 1, 2006 and have a chatroom class once a month hosted by board members. Moira seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Since Carol’s “appointment” of Kimberlie Hall as conference chair, Connie looked at the bylaws and informed us that we do have to vote her in. Since the conference chair vacancy, Kimberlie Hall has been helping with the organization of the 2006 conference. Robin S. moved to appoint Kimberlie Hall as conference chair effective 4/27/2006 with Connette Blalock serving as interim chair until 4/27/2006. Moira seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

The next item for discussion was the proxy votes. We received 4 votes, all of which were in favor of approving the revised by-laws. Connette moved to approve the bylaws as revised in April 2006. Robin W. seconded. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Robin S. took the floor to discuss revising the new membership packets and bring things up to date. After doing a cost analysis, she thought it would be a good idea to have the cover page of the membership packet in color, the rest of the pages in black and white. The packet includes the bylaws, and the newsletter. There was discussion to have all membership materials available on a disk. There was a lot of excitement in bringing CALDA further up to date with the new technology and ideas. There would be two membership packets; one for inquiries, the other for actual membership. The CALDA logo will be on the CDs.

 

The next issue was regarding NALDP (National Association of Legal Document Preparers). Carol took the floor and shared about her attendance at NALDP’s conference. CALDA is being urged to join because the rest of the nation will one day have some type of LDA law, we shouldn’t be left out. NALDP has been negotiating with CALDA to become a NALDP member, and hopefully a state affiliate in the future. Originally the cost proposed was $1800.00 yearly, which was reduced to $1500.00, then most recently to $1000.00 yearly. Their proposal for an affiliation and Carol’s response is as follows: NALDP wants CALDA’s president to serve as a NALDP affiliate during their term. Carol advised that the president cannot serve as an affiliate during their term. NALDP to join CALDA as a non-voting member. Carol agrees to NALDP joining without voting powers. CALDA to provide NALDP with their membership list for solicitation. NALDP will acquire a list of all California registered LDAs to develop and pay for a solicitation mailing encouraging membership in CALDA and NALDP. Carol disagrees to give NALDP our membership list for privacy purposes. NALDP can obtain their own LDA list, which will include CALDA members. NALDP has offered to help sponsor our 2006 conference, work with a lobbyist in Sacramento to track any legislation impacting LDA business, work with the lobbyist to promote California LDAs in this state-develop a plan for promotion, including meetings with regulators, legislators, media, etc., NALDP will help assist CALDA with legislative & regulatory issues in DC and Sacramento, NALDP will help promote CALDA in the California press, NALDP will help CALDA in securing speakers for educational seminars and conferences and will work in coordination with CALDA to develop affinity programs that will benefit CALDA and its members.

The biggest concern of an affiliation is losing CALDA’s identity. It is important that CALDA does not become a branch of NALDP, but only an affiliate. However the board felt that the price of $1000.00 was reasonable and that having a lobbyist in Sacramento for that price alone was worth it. Also their sponsorship at the conference helps to justify the cost. The board also feels that it will help to increase our membership. The next part of the discussion was regarding the liaison. The board feels that the legislative chair, with his committee needs to be the liaison. It was brought up that since we are considering aligning ourselves with NALDP, we should also look at aligning ourselves with HALT.  The overall opinion of the board about this issue was positive. Connie moved to join NALDP pending confirmation that the board is able to make this motion without general membership approval. (we later learned that we do not need membership approval first). Robin S. seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion was carried.

 

The floor was turned over to Connette to discuss the 2006 conference.  The first issue was the amount of payment allowed for entertainment. There will be a live band for Saturday night. A band that has been considered will cost $500.00 to play contemporary/country/western. A discussion started regarding NALDP sponsoring the reception. Connette wants 3 classes per session, to allow room for advanced classes and new topics. She plans to have a financial planner discussing business issues, software companies teaching their programs, and some knowledge games complete with prizes. The classes will end early enough to allow time to enjoy the amenities at our new site, or for relaxing and napping.  There was a lot of discussion on how/when best to arrange the classes, speeches, raffles and entertainment for everyone’s benefit.

We next discussed the price of the conference for non-members. Since the membership price will be $325.00, it is agreed that $525.00 is a fair price for nonmembers. Carol wants to offer a discount to long term members. It was agreed that 10 year members without lapse should get a 50% discount, and 20 year members without lapse should attend for free. The board talked about having installment payments. Robin S. wants to coordinate with Connette to coordinate new membership packets with a flyer announcing the conference. Connette informed us that the price of the room including all food will be $289 double for Thursday through Sunday. The cost of a room will be $225.00 double for Friday – Sunday which includes all meals, including a breakfast buffet on Sunday.

 

            Conversations during lunch included revamping our website, and having advertising opportunities on the home page.

 

Moira made a final motion to change the preparation and distribution of the newsletter from bi-monthly to quarterly. Debbie seconded. All were in favor and the motion was carried.

 

Our next meeting is set for July 22, 2006 in Cupertino, CA.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:55 p.m.

 

Submitted by Annette Gomez