THE FCB AUTUMN BOARD MEETING


SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, 2006
ORLANDO, FL


TABLE OF CONTENTS

CALL TO ORDER AND FIRST BUSINESS
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
COMMITTEE REPORTS
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS


CALL TO ORDER AND FIRST BUSINESS

President Debbie Grubb called the meeting to order at 2:04 PM. The usual opening ceremonies of invocation and flag salute were observed. Membership Secretary Linda Jacobson called the roll. A quorum was established. The minutes of last year's Fall Board meeting were read. Doug Hall moved for approval of these minutes. The motion was seconded by Mycell Armington and carried. Treasurer, Patti Land read her report and recommended approval of it. Robert Miller seconded the motion and it also carried.

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PRESIDENT'S REPORT

The next order of business was Debbie's President's Report. Debbie was proud to announce the very successful hosting of the ACB Convention. She talked about the ongoing projects that are our issues for further work. She talked about the Executive Committee meeting every month in the chat room and about the newly instituted monthly meeting of chapter presidents via skipe. Some of the projects that are uppermost on our list include: a seamless system of transportation for all transportation disadvantaged people in the state, pedestrian civil rights, and changing the Paratransit to door-to-door service instead of curb-to-curb. Debbie talked about how shabbily she was treated at the ADA Working Group meeting she recently attended. She said that Robert Miller and John Richards are scheduled to attend the Vision Caucus. We need to work to become part of this group. Although voting has improved there are still some issues to be worked out.


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COMMITTEE REPORTS

Because Membership Secretary Linda Jacobson needed to leave early, her report was the first one we heard.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE - Linda Jacobson
Linda reported that our membership is quite low. At this time, there are only 764 members. She announced that there is a group of people in the Ft. Myers area seeking to form a chapter. Linda said that the committee is continuing to come up with the FCB life membership criteria. She charged us all with trying to think of ways to increase membership.

We moved on to other committee reports. The next committee to report was the Access Committee.

ACCESS COMMITTEE - Doug Hall
Doug said that the State is supposed to have accessible voting equipment in place for next week's election. His committee is most concerned about the number of blind pedestrians who have recently been struck while crossing streets. His committee suggests that we need to contact the media about our plight. A resolution was proposed. We will try to talk with the Vision Caucus about the lack of pedestrian laws in Florida. Other issues for the committee include: fixed-route bus stops in inaccessible places, standards for animals in hurricane evacuation shelters and working with cruise lines to improve cruise experience for guide dog users.

ARCHIVES COMMITTEE - Sharon Youngs
Sharon reported that there are some physical problems with the Archives. The actual Archives have, until recently, been housed in a single file cabinet that was in Doug Hall's office at the Talking Book Library in Daytona Beach. Since Doug changed jobs, this cabinet was transported to his garage. It needs to find a permanent home. It was also observed that some materials are housed in the FCB Secretary's home in cartons. The Archives committee's duties, as outlined in the Policy Manual, need to be updated. We need to make chapters aware of William Alfred should be in their part of the Archives. Sharon is working on scanning minutes from 1987 to the present day onto discs. The paper hardcopy version of these minutes will not last forever.

AWARDS COMMITTEE - Sally Benjamin
Sally reported that the committee has not received many nominations as of now. She said the deadline for getting these nominations into her is December 31st, 2006.

BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE - Patti Land
The first thing Patti reported was that the ABLE Trust is discontinuing the endowment plan. FCB and the two chapters who are invested in this fund should have the funds returned to them by January 31st, 2007. FCB will need to invest this money carefully. Patti made a motion to move these funds into our Merrill Lynch account. Barbara Grill seconded the motion and is carried. We talked about our scholarships. Robert Miller made a motion to designate our $2,000 scholarship to continue to honor Terry Blessing, and our $1.500 scholarship to continue to honor Timothy Turpin. Barbara Grill seconded the motion and it carried.

Then Patti called upon William Benjamin to talk about the direct mail campaign that was recently undertaken on behalf of FCB. Although it has not borne fruit yet, our name has more recognition than before. We are planning an expanded campaign next year. Patti then outlined next year's budget. Certain line items were increased. Patti moved for adoption of the revised budget. Barbara Grill seconded this motion and it carried.

CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS COMMITTEE - Jim Kracht
Jim reported that the committee is working on changing the amount FCB reimburses per diem and travel. The will also clarify when committee members will be reimbursed. Jim said that the Clay County chapter has some changes to its constitution that the committee had reviewed. He also said that the Ft. Myers group has submitted a constitution but it needs some work. We are in hopes that they will be ready to receive a charter at the Convention in Tallahassee.

CONVENTION COMMITTEE - Sila Miller
Sila reported that the Convention is scheduled for May 17th - 20th, 2007 at the Ramada Inn Hotel. The address is 2400 N. Monroe Street. The program is varied and busy as usual. There is an old fashioned Bar-B-Q in the works for the Thursday evening festivities. The committee is aware of the possible transportation difficulties in traveling to Tallahassee. Sila said there are many restaurants in the vicinity of the hotel and she outlined the room rates.

EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE - Barbara Grill
Barbara spoke about the criteria for the Gayle Krause-Edwards Scholarship. She said that the recipient must have shown real leadership qualities, maintained a 3.0 GPA, and should have participated in extracurricular activities. Barbara made a motion that the recipients of our scholarship should be encouraged to join us at the banquet and, toward that end, FCB should pay for the recipient and one family to the banquet. Sila Miller seconded the motion and it carried. Jim Kracht then made a motion to pay for one night's stay in the hotel for the recipient. This motion was seconded by Lorean Henry and carried.

EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE - Mary Ellen Ottman
Mary Ellen reported that the 70-percent unemployment figure came from vision teachers and may not be accurate. The committee recommends an in-service for vision teachers. The committee has proposed that a column appears each time in the White Cane Bulletin about job opportunities. She said that DBS is working with parents about employment through its summer outreach program.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - Debbie Grubb
(No report given)

INSIGHT (PROJECT INSIGHT) COMMITTEE - Debbie Drylie
Debbie said the committee is looking into the cost of signature guides with the Project Insight information on them. The committee has new guidelines for volunteers. The committee recommends a resource list be published in the White Cane Bulletin. Debbie then made a motion to use $5,000 for a volunteer training session. Sila Miller seconded the motion and after some discussion, it carried.

PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE - Carl McCoy
Carl announced who would attend the legislative seminar in Washington this year. Debbie Grubb and Debbie Drylie will attend on our behalf. The problem with the lack of enforcement of the existing and the need for more laws concerning blind pedestrians was discussed. Also, there have been proposed Medicare laws that would provide reimbursement for CCTVs.

PUBLICITY & PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE - Sally Benjamin
Sally reported that her committee must approve all the content of submissions posted on our Website. She said that more people are submitting articles to the White Cane Bulletin but we always need more articles. If someone wants to put something into the White Cane Bulletin, they can contact the Editor and she will even write the article, using the information supplied. In conjunction with this, it was agreed that all items, not just blindness related items, might be posted in the Swap Shop column.

RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE - Jesus Garcia
Jesus reported that there were two resolutions proposed for our approval.

Resolution "Autumn 2006-1" spoke to the need for the DBS counselors to receive a pay increase. Jesus made a motion that this resolution be approved. John Richards seconded the motion and it carried.

Resolution "Autumn 2006-2" calls for more legislation concerning pedestrian safety. Again Jesus moved for approval of this resolution. Robert Miller seconded the motion and it also carried.

TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE - John Richards
John spoke about the committee's input on the Access to Electronic Information Taskforce. He said that any new product or improvement on an existing product since July 1st, 2006, must be accessible. He talked about the fact that the Executive Committee had approved the purchase of new computer equipment for the Project Insight office and for the FCB Secretary. The "retired" equipment may be refurbished and given to two chapters that do not have access to the Internet and the chat room. The committee also said that no internal hardware was never to be added to computers owned by FCB.


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UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Debbie then called for any Unfinished Business to be discussed. Nothing needed to be approved in this area. So we moved directly to New Business.


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NEW BUSINESS

Sila Miller spoke about her concern for the Alachua Chapter. No one from this group has been able to attend an FCB meeting for quite some time. The FCB liaison for this chapter was urged to make a visit as soon as possible. The liaison is to then report to the Executive Committee and that committee will make a decision about that chapter. Doug Hall then asked about the Brevard Chapter. Again, we need to look into this chapter also. They have no officers. The chapter members are now considered "at large" members.

ACB is holding a raffle. FCB had tickets to sell. There is one remaining. Robert Miller made a motion that FCB purchase the remaining ticket. The motion was seconded by Betty Dietz and carried.

Dory Bartell spoke about an access problem at the Post Office in Tampa. This problem was referred to the Access Committee.


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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sally Benjamin announced that the Tallahassee chapter has calendars for sale.

Because of certain technical problems, the previously announced program for tomorrow has been changed. There will be a short seminar about the use of the FCB Chat Room and how to use the Skype phone system instead.

Since there was no other business or announcements to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:38 PM.

Respectfully submitted,


Sharon K. Youngs, Secretary


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