National Council Meeting Minutes - April 22, 2008

Carlos Suárez, President called the meeting to order at 6:06 PM CST

Roll call was taken and quorum established.

Present

Carlos Suárez, President; Irma Hernández, Secretary; Heather Medina, Reg Rep - MW; Mario Morales, Vice-President; Jazelle Jusino, Reg Rep - SE; Roney Gutiérrez, Reg Rep - W; Rick Tafoya, Treasurer; Herman García, Reg Rep - NP

Absent

María Collazo, Reg Rep - E; Tony Reséndez, Executive VP;  Cresencio Pérez, Reg Rep – SC; Carlos Morganti, Reg Rep -C

Note: National Council-7 members required for a quorum

Visitors reporting: Astrid Martínez, Arturo Carvajal and Rocemi Morales

Changes to the Agenda: One change was made to move Astrid Martínez report to after the Treasurer’s report. Carlos Suárez requested a motion to approve the meeting agenda with the changes. Herman García motioned to approve the agenda, Jazelle Jusino seconded the motion. No more discussion, motion carried.

Approval of minutes: Irma Hernández discussed the March meeting draft minutes. Carlos Suárez requested a motion to approve the minutes. Rick Tafoya made a motion to approve the minutes. Jazelle Jusino seconded the motion. No more discussion, motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Rick Tafoya presented the April Treasurer’s report. He reported to the Council that a duplicate payment was made by mistake for the deposit for Humor Potential. Humor Potential is one of speaker’s for the conference. This mistake will result in a payment in full to the speaker instead of a deposit. This situation arises due to multiple people making payments. He explained the issues this causes having two people cutting checks and using the credit card to make payments. This situation is also much more difficult in terms of accountability and book keeping for the Organization. Carlos agreed that this deficiency needs to be addressed ASAP and agreed to contact the financial advisor to request he turn in credit card and check book. Irma Hernández expressed her concern of making a payment in full before we receive the services. If something goes wrong it will make it very difficult to recover the money already paid. She asked if it’s possible to void one of the checks. Astrid Martínez will contact Humor Potential and request the check be sent back. If it’s has been cashed then she will request a receipt and a copy of the contract. Carlos Suárez requested a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Herman García made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Roney Gutiérrez seconded the motion. No more discussion, motion carried.

2008 NOPHNRCSE National Conference: Astrid Martínez reported that the Program is now final and has been sent out to our members. The planning committee is actively confirming the participation of the Presenters.

Astrid Martínez requested the Council to vote to allow the financial advisor to have a complimentary room, reimbursement for the conference registration and mileage. Carlos Suárez explained the need of having a none-NRCS member at the conference that can handle money. It is against agency ethics policies to allow NRCS employees to collect membership dues or any other kind of cash during the conference. Carlos Suárez requested a motion to approve the request for a complimentary room, reimbursement for the conference registration and mileage. Roney Gutiérrez made the motion to approve the request for a complimentary room, reimbursement for the conference registration and mileage with the least costs. Heather Media seconded the motion. Rick Tafoya abstained from voting. No more discussion, motion carried.

Change of the Organization's Financial Institution: Rick Tafoya discussed the bank’s comparison. Rick Tafoya and Herman García worked on this analysis and comparison. He discussed the differences between Wells Fargo, NRCS Federal Credit Union and Iowa Saving Bank. The intention of this comparison is to determine which bank is the best to protect the finances of the organization by saving unnecessary fees and still maintain quality banking services. The council discussed the pros and cons of the three banks and decided to transfer NOPHNRCSE accounts to NRCS Credit Union. Carlos Suárez requested a motion to approve change to the NRCS-CU. Roney Gutiérrez made the motion to switch banks and have NRCS-CU as the new financial institution. Rick pointed out that the checking and saving accounts could occur as soon as possible; however, transferring the two CD’s will take place when the CD’s mature. CD’s mature in July and August 2008. Roney Gutiérrez amended the motion to move the checking and saving accounts first and the two CD’s at a later time when the terms of the CD’s are satisfied. Mario Morales seconded the motion. No more discussion, motion carried.

Membership Committee Update: Rocemi Morales presented a report of actives members. She reported; 13 new members, 125 paid members with 69 as standards deductions members and 66 check mail, two new lifetime members and one member that rejoined the organization.

Rocemi proposed to the council that Ruben Perez maintain the membership ACCESS database. The committee discussed this proposal and support that Ruben Perez be a ongoing member of the Membership Committee to maintain the integrity and continuity of the database. The committee agreed but did note vote on this matter. Each Membership Committee Chair has the prerogative to choose their committee. Ruben Perez is not compromised in any way to maintain the database. He has volunteered to offer his time and expertise with the program to maintain the organization membership database.

Website: Mario Morales reported for Stella Santos. Mario mentioned that everyone has seen the three quotes or packets that Stella put together. Irma asked Mario to forward the quotes to her. Carlos Suárez expressed his goal of having the website up and running before the Conference. Carlos asked Mario to present the information to Carmen Ortiz, IT Specialist for review and then submit to Irma. Irma will forward the information to the Council and compile the votes. Because of the limitation in time a decision was made to not wait until the next meeting and instead do an action in between meetings. 

Rick Tafoya asked some questions and requested the subcommittee consider. Questions were:

• Are the web development proposals one year or multi year contracts?
• Is there any contractual agreement or obligation? Who will sign?
• He recommended that NOPHNRCSE purchase the domain name instead of the website development company in order avoid problems in the future.

Carlos asked Mario to report to the Council with the Website information by April 29. Herman recommended sending the information to the secretary so she can keep count of the votes and report back to the Council.

Nomination Elections: Carlos Hernández submitted a plan to Mario Morales. Carlos Suárez explained that it is the same plan as last year. Carlos explained how the process works. The nomination form is posted on the website. All NOPHNRCSE members in good standing can nominate a candidate for President, Executive Vice-President and Secretary. This year we will be voting for the Regional Representatives for the Northern Plains, Northeast, Midwest and the Caribbean Area. Members from each specific region can nominate and vote only for the regional representative in their respective region. Nomination Form must be submitted to the Nominations Committee Chair by May 16, 2008. The goal is to select the new officers by June 15.

Natural Resources Committee Update: Arturo Carvajal, Natural Resources Committee Chair, reported the progress and concerns that he has due to the budget problems that the agency is facing. He reported to the Council that some members that were planning to submit abstracts are now not going to the conference due to the limited travel budget in their state. He asked the Council for financial assistance for those members that are approved to attend at their own expenses. Carlos Suárez explained that we are not allowed to pay for an employee to go to the conference even on their own time. Carlos Suárez asked Arturo to promote the need for abstracts on a flyer. He suggested Arturo send the Secretary a flyer to be distributed among the members. Irma Hernández explained that last year we had a similar situation and the Memberships Committee Chair sent out a request for assistants for our members to attend the conference. Members were willing to donate Frequent Flyer miles and even share their rooms.

Regional Representative Reports

Jazelle Jusino, SE - Jazelle has forwarded job announcements to members.  She has encourage members in her region to participate in the presentation of Technical papers and posters She called all HEPM in her region to inquire about who is planning to attend the conference. She reported the following results of her pool: Virginia (0), Alabama (0), Kentucky (?) Instead of  North Dakota  should be North Carolina (1), Instead of South Dakota should be South Carolina (2 or 3), Tennessee (1), Georgia (1), Mississippi (1), Florida (7).  Please note that this is a preliminary count.  This numbers could change at any time.  This is an estimate from the HEPM's of possible members attending the conference from the southeast region.

María Collazo, NE - Irma Hernández reported for María. María has sent information via email to members.  She has forwarded positions available to members and will be contacting HEPM’s in her region to find out who will be attending the conference. She will encourage participation for the Technical Presentations.

Heaher Medina, MW - Heather contacted Gilbert for a list of HEPM’s so she can contact them to find out if they will be attending the conference.  She has contacted students in Wisconsin to invite them to the conference.

Next Meeting in May 20 2008.
Time: 6:00PM CST

Carlos Suárez requested a motion to adjourn.  Herman García made a motion to adjourn. Jazelle Jusino seconded the motion.

Meeting adjourned at 7:37 PM CST.

Carlos Suárez, President
Irma Hernández, Secretary

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