RMRYLA Board Meeting 11/19/11

 

In Attendance: Kevin Farrell, Bill Manning, Bill Rubin, Norm Lyster, Heather Amen, Junior Weed-Ziegler, Jim Hoops, Curt Harris, Bev Stewart, Craig Essex, Patricia Fiskes, Marion Trummer, Lloyd Thomas , Rolo Cuadrado, Joni Van Sickle

 

Conference Call: Emily O’Boyle, Dave Amen, Stan DeVore

 

Introductions

Kevin passed out documents showing the url of the Board Documents page of the website

 

25th Celebration Report – Kevin

·       The board approved the concept of the 25th anniversary a year ago, should be easy to put together.

·       Kevin recruited Murph and Doug to help with this anniversary.

·       Bill Manning was recruited as MC and many more things, and Bill said yes if he gets to have Heather Amen as the co-MC.

·       The majority of the event was the work product of Bill and Heather

·       Everyone was recognized, huge presence from people from the past, amazing!

·       Kevin asked for $5,000 and received it for the event.

·       Net cost of the event was $1,500 with the small fee charged for attendance

·       All 5 founding fathers attended, incredible

·       There were 70 attendees not counting the current year’s counselors.

 

Treasurer’s Report - Kevin

·       The report is on the website.

·       Kevin passed around a summary of all the cash accounts from yesterday, balance sheets for June 30, 2011 and October 31, 2011, and a Statement of Activities.

·       For any club that does not donate their refund, it is kept as a credit for the following year. This year it was a little bit higher (12-14 credits).

·       Refund requests for slot payments are due by June 15th. Dave Amen has the chance to negotiate with clubs after that point, or can try to fill the slot with another conferee. If the conferee does not show the day of, the club will not receive a credit.

·       Young RYLA essentially broke even this year and RYLA had an excess of $17,294.

·       Overall Kevin believes (especially with the new fees coming in next year) that the organization is in excellent financial shape.

 

Registrar Report – Dave Amen

·       Every student is called before RYLA and Young RYLA to make sure they will show. This seems to work in 98% of cases.

·       There has been discussion about the wording the in JC Application Letter to say that conferees must have a recommendation to be considered.

·       Currently there are 59 applicants for JC positions.

·       All Chairs and Head JCs will have access to all the applications this week.

·       Emily O’Boyle is going to train all the Head JCs and Chairs on use of the website.

·       SC applications are available year round, though we typically ask for applications starting on January 1st.

·       The website for SC applications is for new Rotarians to RYLA, we should not have people reapply. The newest applicants are marked “new applicant” on the website.

·       Dave is unable to send mass emails at the moment, the ISP he was using went bankrupt. He is looking for an alternative.

·       Dave will have a way to handle two Young RYLAs in the system by January 31st.

·       Dave will need many assistants this year to help with all the new work. He would like the Head JCs to keep this in mind when they are interviewing potential JCs. Dave and Emily will email them a note on this so they are all on the same page.

 

RYLA Report – Curt and Emily

·       Emily O’Boyle and Darian Finley-Garcia have been chosen as the 2 Head JCs. Jade Bain has been invited as the side-kick.

·       9 of the 11 eligible returning JCs have indicated their intent to return.

·       On January 4th all of the Head JCs and Chairs are meeting to pick JCs teams.

·       In the past, the last Chair has come back as the Assistant Chair. Kelly is unavailable this year, but Curt may have a side-kick.

·       15 SCs have expressed an interest in returning.

·       Curt is working on sending more Evergreen Rotarians as SCs for YRYLA.

·       There is one speaker slot available, all others have confirmed. Sunny is the current choice to fill that slot.

·       Training is tentatively scheduled for June 15-17. Dave Boon has confirmed that the Boys and Girls Club is willing to host RYLA again.

·       Emily – “RYLA really taught me how to be a true leader and embody that. It taught me to connect with very different types of people and tackle much bigger projects due to my increased self-confidence. I’m excited to be a part of the planning to help 400 other conferees receive the same gift I did.”

 

Governance Committee – Bill Rubin

·       One change to the governance committee report, the program committee (focused on the objectives of the conference, oversight of the program activities) is not listed.

·       This committee came from the visioning event, the board wanted to grow the organization, so the governance committee was born to assist in that effort.

·       The committee has met a few times in the last year. Rolo was the original leader, but with his appointment as Chair of Young RYLA, Joni and Bill R. took it on.

·       The governance committee requests changes to the bylaws to support several standing committees to help with the governance of the organization and allow for more transparencies. They include: executive, finance, program, communication/outreach/marketing, development, and governance.

·       The next step for the board will be to ratify these, put a board member as Chair of every committee, they are in charge to populating their committee. It is not entirely necessary to have a board member be Chair, but for example, the governance committee should have a board member as Chair.

·       There should be a focus on succession, as well as a potential discussion on expanding the board.

·       Rolo brought up that training should be an element of every committee, rather than having a separate training committee, i.e. the governance committee does board member training, the program committee does counselor training etc.

·       The governance committee also took a look at the JC selection process. Suggestions include creating a rubric and allowing all Chairs and Head JCs collaboratively choose their teams. The Chairs will oversee the process though the Head JCs run the actual process.

·       Whatever is done this year will be recorded for the board and kept for a guideline for future years to tweak.

 

Chair Position – Curt

·       A mentor, and perhaps somebody to guide them on their trek, but giving them responsibility to do what they like

·       Provide historical context to various decisions.

·       Give the Head JCs as much latitude as they want and as Curt is willing to give.

·       He still reports to the board and is responsible for the conference. He has oversight over the entire conference, but will not simply shoot down ideas, only if they are headed down a very wrong path.

·       Rolo – “This is also a leadership opportunity for all of the Head JCs, and I want to be careful not to take away opportunities from the Head JCs, even if that means a glitch or two.”

·       Emily – “I appreciate the mentorship of our Chair. There was a communication issue already, which was taken care of, and Curt gave a suggestion for how to avoid that in the future, it was great. I feel really comfortable with the Chair we have, letting us make our mistakes but helping guide us along the way.”

·       Stan – “The relationship that we’re building between RYLA and YRLA is very important and I’m so glad we’re communicating. We do absolutely need to include the Chairs, to have someone to check with. We’ll email stuff back and forth between us and then send it along to June for her opinion. We’re all here to work together and that will work out for the best.”

·       Ruben – “I’m definitely appreciating the way that all three conferences are working together. I’m also taking a lot from Michelle and Jessica from last year, learning from their mistakes to fix them this year. Making sure everyone is board is what we’re trying to do, and I think our Chairs should be carbon copied on all our conversations so we are a team. There is nothing that I would change about our communication.”

 

YRYLA Week 2 – Stan

·       Lots of discussion along the lines of linking all activities together so the conferees get a very cohesive experience. There should be a focus on all activities relating to the main objectives.

·       Four things that really need to be connected include Four Way Test, Core Values, Choices, and Call to Action.

·       Global Stations, Star Prep, Service Project, and Brainwise will also be improved.

·       Training will be July 6-8.

 

YRYLA Week 1 – Ruben, Alex, Rolo

·       The two weeks will differ in terms of program, though the objectives will be the same.

·       They are considering bringing back JCs for a 3rd year to have enough experienced JCs to add to the team dynamic.

·       The biggest adjustment is working with our chosen speakers.

·       Training will be June 22-24 at the Boys and Girls club.

·       They have worked with Ponderosa to leave materials between the two YRYLA conferences so move in and out will be shared.

·       They are meeting by phone every Sunday morning which has been wonderful.

·       There was a lot of discussion about holding training together, but June and Rolo realized it might be more effective for team building.

·       Recommendation letters are important for JC selection, but they are not willing to throw out an applicant because they are lacking a letter.

 

President’s Notes - Jim

·       Everybody’s experiences at RYLA and Young RYLA are very different, and we all have different perspectives.

·       Asking the board to be willing to be influenced as well as sharing ideas.

·       The organization has a wonderful governance committee, many of Kevin’s great records; we are in great shape to go forward as an organization.

·       Thanks to Kevin and Heather for history work to be able to move forward purposefully.

·       We need to be able to demonstrate that we are a solid organization with a solidified structure, in order to receive funding that’s essential!

·       By focusing on governance and our past policies and procedures, we are setting ourselves up for success.

·       What about training for board members?

·       Each year the team (Chairs and Head JCs) need to have these conversations again about how to work together and design their year.

·       Jim maintains that a JC does not have a “right” to come back the next year. They need to have a transparent evaluation so they know how to be successful and earn that second year. This will also be important for SCs. Maybe that conversation belongs in the JC selections process discussion.

·       Performance evaluations for JCs, SCs, and board members so we have specific reasons that they are not being asked back.

 

Action Proposals:

·       Rolo moved that the board ratifies the governance committee’s suggestions adding training into all the committees. Norm was interested in the governance group to tighten up everything and vote in January. Rolo amended that the board votes for the governance committee to move forward in this process. Bev seconded. Craig asked that the committee will tighten up the language and begin the process of forming these committees. Bill suggested that the board votes for in the next x amount of time, the committees will be integrated into the bylaws, the committees will be formed, and each committee will present a charter. Kevin suggested all members look through the policies before voting on this motion. It was agreed that this will be talked about at the next board meeting. Jim suggested that several of these committees be put together ad-hoc until they are made into standing committees. Jim recommends that the executive and program committees are formed ad-hoc right now. Kevin would also like a finance committee. Rolo amended his motion that the board encourages the governance committee to continue their work and present something at the next meeting for adoption. Bill Manning seconded. The motion passed. Bill M recommended that the material is published before the next board meeting for review.

·       The board moved that an ad-hoc committee be created for the executive and program committees.

·       Bev moved that the reports given today be accepted. Junior seconded. The motion passed.

·       Jim moved that we adjourn for lunch.

 

Director Notebooks:

·       Please cycle yours to your successor.

·       Everything will also be available on the website.