NAMHSA - December 16-31, 2012 News

News & Updates

NAMHSA News for the period of December 16-31, 2012 based on the minutes compiled by Jackie Arns, Recording Secretary.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The lateness of this report is solely the responsibility of Pauline Entin, interim PR. This is why NAMHSA has solicited for a new PR person!

DECEMBER 16
-- Jackie Moore (Region 6 Representative) asked if there was anyone from the original Bylaws committee (1994) who could be asked what had been intended by the wording “limited to a three year term” with reference to appointed NAMHSA Board positions. Jackie Arns-Rossi (Recording Secretary) replied that it was possible that the wording had been taken from another source. She also cited several examples of people who had served multiple, consecutive, three year appointed terms on the BOD. Jackie said her understanding was that the Bylaws do not state that a person cannot serve multiple terms, but that each term is limited to three years. Lyn Norbury (Region 5 Representative) offered to ask Sue Stewart (member of the Bylaws committee, and NAMHSA's first President) for clarification.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted the December 1-15 minutes for approval. These were approved by Teresa Buzzell (President) the following day.

-- Lynn Weber (Website Manager) asked if the Board had reached consensus to accept the results for Rosebud Live submitted by an entrant. Jackie Arns-Rossi replied that Representatives from regions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 9 were in favor, and that was a majority. Representatives from regions 3, 7, 8, 10 and 11 had not yet chimed in.

-- Pauline Entin (Region 3 Representative and interim PR) posted a draft response to an inquiry from a hobbyist who had applied for a NAMHSA appointed position. Teresa Buzzell asked Lynn Weber to confirm that the position solicitation had been advertised on the NAMHSA website and blog. Lynn confirmed it had been advertised on the website (with a link to the page posted on Facebook on October 1), but not the blog. The blog was likely overlooked due to its newness at the time.

DECEMBER 17
-- Representatives from Regions 8, 10 and 11 also said they were in favor of accepting the Rosebud Live results.

-- Lyn Norbury posted an email from Sue Stewart about the intention behind the Bylaws statement that appointed positions were “limited to a three year term.” Sue answered specifically about the Treasurer position. She said that at the time the term length was set, the consensus discussion was that an individual could serve more than one 3-year term. The point of the Bylaws statement was that the person would be subject to reconsideration every three years. She agreed that the wording was not very clear. She said if the intention had been to limit a person to one 3-year term, the Bylaws would read “limited to a single 3-year term.”

-- Chris Wallbruch (Region 8 Representative) confirmed that she served two consecutive terms as Recording Secretary.

-- Carmen Robertson (Treasurer) uploaded the November financial report.

NAMHSA November 2012 Treasurer Report
Prepared ad submitted by Carmen Robertson, Treasurer December 11, 2012

11/1/2012 through 11/30/2012

TOTAL INCOME $549.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $-839.39

Balance in BOA checking as of 11/30/2012: $68,504.53
Balance in PayPal as of 11/30/2012: $388.06
Balance in NAMHSA accounts as of 11/30/2012: $68,892.59

-- Teresa Buzzell advised the Board that today was the deadline for insurance quotes for the Fundraiser Coordinator post, and if anyone had any information, to post it by December 18 at 5pm. She asked Pauline Entin to post the most recent draft of the solicitation for the position. She stated that if there were no quotes, the solicitation would go out immediately after approval, without mention of bonding.

-- Amy Peck (Show Secretary) asked when the results of the December 11 ballot (NAN card extension and Bylaws wording change for searchable results) would be posted publicly. Teresa Buzzell replied that she had asked Pauline Entin to create a draft post but that she may be busy with end of year things, and that she (Teresa) would work on it.

-- Lyn Norbury forwarded a post from NAMHSA-Discussion asking why NAMHSA financial reports were not in the NAMHSA News from July 2012 forward.

-- Lynn Weber explained that she uploaded financial reports to the website/blog/Facebook when the NAMHSA News goes out. However, the July through October reports were not in the Minutes or News. The reports were available in the files, so Lynn pasted them into the email.

--Lyn Norbury replied that she was asking about the summary that typically went into the Minutes/News. Lynn Weber said that this was exactly what she had just posted. She suggested that theses reports had not been posted previously because the reports had to be pulled out of the files section, and Jackie Arns-Rossi had probably not been aware that she needed to do that. When someone uploads a file, the group receives an email that the file has been uploaded but the contents of the file are not included in the email.

-- Eleanor Harvey (Parliamentarian) pointed out that all NAMHSA financial statements were on the public NAMHSA.org site under the “Financials” section. This included quarterly reports, annual reports, NAN reports, NAN auction reports, and NAMHSA's tax returns. NAMHSA's books are also reviewed by a licensed CPA who prepares the tax return. Lyn Norbury replied that this was not in question and asked what was supposed to be in the Minutes/News. Jackie Moore advised that this information had already been posted by Lynn Weber. When Lyn Norbury asked where, Lynn Weber forwarded the report post already listed above.

-- Pat Coulter (Region 9 Representative) also posted a summary of the financial postings. She said that financial information through the third quarter of 2012 was in fact on the (public) website, and that report covers July to Sept. She further pointed out that the only information that was not yet public was the October report, and presumably the November report was not yet finished. Pat also reminded the Board that it was the VP's job to approve financial reports. She said that the July report was definitely approved, but it was not clear if former VP Lindsey Hall had approved the August, September, and October reports.

-- Carmen Robertson advised the November report would be done soon.

-- Amy Peck (Show Member Secretary) posted the newest list of approved NAMHSA Member shows (which can be found at www.namhsa.org).

-- Lyn Norbury posted that she believed Jackie Arns-Rossi should recuse herself from running the VP election, citing “total animosity” and what she felt was a one sided representation in an official announcement. She also stated that no one told her before that she should not have posted her candidate bio on her own, and that is should have been up to the Recording Secretary to inform all candidates of the SOP without them having to ask. She further stated that she would not feel comfortable with Jackie counting votes. She wanted someone else to handle the election process, including creating a new announcement and have “ballots prepared and posted (and mailed) by someone else, and counted by someone else.” If Jackie chose not to recuse herself, then the BOD should discuss it and a formal decision made. She suggested Pauline Entin as the person to handle the election, with a party from Region 4 and Region 5 as election monitors.

--Stacy Faraci (Region 7 Representative) pointed out that having monitors from R4 and R5 would seem to make the process as biased as Lyn was accusing Jackie of being. “Unless we hire a third party company there is no way to be POSITIVE it is fair and that as far as I know breaks bylaw procedure.”

DECEMBER 18
-- Chris Wallbruch (Region 8 Representative) posted that the discussion about ballot/voting integrity reminded her of an incident that occurred when she was the recording secretary. A person who was running for VP at the time requested that Chris prove her honesty in vote counting by videotaping herself counting the ballots, or doing it with another person. Chris said that she had been very offended by the implicit attack on her integrity. She recalled that the NAMHSA Board at that time refused to consider the request. She said further that since there was no evidence that Jackie (Arns-Rossi) had ever been less than professional in RS duties, she hoped that the organization would not consider the current request, either. Several board members said they agreed with Chris's sentiments.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi confirmed that leaving the monthly financial reports out of the minutes had been an oversight and would be corrected in the future.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi advised that she would not be recusing herself from running the VP election.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted a draft of the reply to a hobbyist who had inquired about term limits for appointed Board members.

DECEMBER 20
-- Amy Peck posted a correction to the approved Member Show list. The correction involved a formatting snafu that had caused a mistake in two show listings.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi forwarded an email from a hobbyist who inquired about monthly financial reports. Jackie also posted her reply to the hobbyist saying that the financial reports would be provided soon. Jackie requested that the Board post an addendum to the NAMHSA News with the requested financial summaries, assuming those numbers had been reviewed and approved by the acting finance committee. Teresa Buzzell felt this was a reasonable request and asked Pauline Entin to draft a post.

-- Teresa Buzzell reminded the Board that the deadline for posting quotes for insurance for the Fundraising Coordinator position was past, and no quotes had been posted. She said she would draw up a final draft for the Fundraising Coordinator position and get that out later in the day.

-- Lyn Norbury posted reasons why Jackie Arns-Rossi should not be allowed to run the VP election. Teresa Buzzell replied telling Lyn that since every other voting member of the Board disagreed with her, the VP election was going to go forward as planned. Teresa then asked Jackie to post the ballot wording for the VP election to the Board for approval, noting this was not typical procedure. The previously posted bios were to be used. Everyone would be allowed to comment on the ballot wording, but Teresa would have final say. The period for input would end at noon Central time on Sunday, and ballots would need to be returned within 2 weeks. She did not expect the ballot to be released on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

--Teresa also requested that everyone get back to the work of the Board. Further distractions would not be tolerated. She then re-posted the current agenda:

I. New/Waiting to Get To:
A. NAN Auction/Raffle - yes/no/maybe?
B. MA Ideas - on hold, tentatively slated for February
C. MSOTY - Year Round Solicitation for Shows/Year Round Coordinator Discussion
D. Show Results – Delinquent show results list Teresa said she believed that all 4 of these items could be finished before the demands of the 2013 NAN took over the Board's focus.

-- Teresa Buzzell told the Board that a raffle and auction were legal to pursue for the 2013 NAN. She asked that reps reply back with thoughts (beyond a simple yes/no for the idea) starting December 26.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted the ‘final' draft solicitation for the Fundraising Coordinator. The application deadline was set at Jan 31, 2013.

-- Teresa Buzzell also posted a draft of the response to the hobbyist who inquired about term limits for appointed Board members.

DECEMBER 21
-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted a draft of the NAMHSA VP ballot.

DECEMBER 22
-- Jackie Arns-Rossi specifically asked Lyn Norbury if she had any input on the ballot wording.

DECEMBER 23
-- Lyn Norbury stated she did not understand what editing could be done to the VP ballot done since candidate bios could not be changed per Teresa. She maintained her request that the procedure for the election be changed (in short, running it through a third party) and that the ballot wording would need changes based on any procedural change made. Lyn also requested that a poll be run to see if voters wanted a change in the voting procedure. Jackie Arns-Rossi pointed out that change to voting procedure would require a Bylaws change as the Bylaws specify proctoring elections as one of the duties of the recording secretary. Jackie also outlined the chain of events for a voting procedure change to happen. Lyn insisted that no Bylaws change would be needed and cited several procedural errors (in her view) and a perceived double standard. She also insisted that the recording secretary position be neutral as it was a non-voting position.

-- Chris Wallbruch expressed confidence that the election would be fair. Carra McClelland also expressed confidence in the Recording Secretary.

-- Pauine Entin asked why Teresa Buzzell was not allowing the candidates to correct typos in their bios. Teresa replied “I do not want any accusations of impropriety for those getting the ballots that these bios do not match what they have already seen.”

-- Lyn Norbury asked if the return date on the ballot meant that it would be going out on December 27th. Jackie Arns-Rossi confirmed that the ballot would go out on “Wednesday” (which was actually December 26th).

-- Eleanor Harvey advised that there would be no deviation from normal procedure for the VP election, and it would be run by the Recording Secretary as per NAMHSA Bylaws.

-- Teresa Buzzell repeated that the election would be run as Eleanor Harvey described. She further stated that Board members with issues about the Board should address their comments to the Board, not NAMHSA Discussion or regional lists. She expected mutual respect from Board members and wanted the Board to focus on items that needed to be discussed after Christmas. She advised that if there was any further bickering the following day, the individuals involved would be put on moderation.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi asked Teresa Buzzell to confirm that the version of the ballot posted was the final one. Teresa confirmed the ballot wording on December 24.

DECEMBER 24
-- Teresa Buzzell stated that she was putting two Board members on moderation for violating policy. She said the moderation period would be one month. She reminded all Board members that bickering and unprofessional comments would lead to moderation.

DECEMBER 26
-- Pauline Entin posted a draft of the November 16-30 NAMHSA News. This was later approved by Teresa Buzzell.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi advised that due to the holiday and her work schedule, the ballot was not going to be ready to go out that day as initially planned. She also asked if a post with the financial reports from the past few months had gone out yet, if the latest treasurer report had been approved, and asked Regional reps to post their monthly reports as these had not been collected for the first half of the month.

--Teresa Buzzell reminded Pauline Entin to draft a post with the financial information. Lynn Weber repeated the post she had previously written with the information, and added the November monthly financial report.

--Pauline Entin suggested that in the future Carmen Robertson cut and paste the financial summary into a Board email when she uploads the information, to make this data easier for the Recording Secretary to retrieve.

-- Teresa Buzzell advised she would be sending the response to the hobbyist who inquired about term limits for appointed Board members, with a cc to the hobbyist's regional representative. She later reported the email had been sent.

-- Teresa Buzzell drafted an announcement for the NAN card extension ballot results.

-- Teresa Buzzell asked Lynn Weber to add a section on the website about news of NAMHSA involvement in hobby programs that were not necessarily initiated by NAMHSA. This was not to be confused with the NAMHSA News, which is a summary of the BOD's minutes. Examples of items to include would be the new show program from Breyer, and the article about NAN in the JAH year end magazine. She also asked about interviewing Sommer Prosser, who is heading up Breyer's new live show program, for the NAMHSA Blog.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted another draft of the solicitation for a Fundraising Coordinator.

--Tom Dean suggested having the initial term for this position expire at NAN 2015, and the term to be 2 years thereafter, to stay consistent with elected officer terms. He also suggested adding the wording "term is two years, position is eligible for re-appointment".

-- Teresa Buzzell requested comments on an auction and/or raffle for NAN 2013.

DECEMBER 27
-- Pauline Entin suggested adding details as to the specific years on the NAN card extension announcement (for example, cards that had expired in 2012 are now good until 2014).

-- Discussion began about a potential auction and/or raffle in conjunction with NAN 2013. Reps participating in the discussion were generally in favor of having such an event provided a person who was trustworthy could be identified to run it in a legal manner. Online bidding was recommended. There were concerns that the time frame to create things for an auction/raffle was too short. Elements from the 2010 auction were also discussed ($1 vs $5 raffle tickets, regional baskets, etc.) Teresa Buzzell offered some specific recommendations based on her experience with the 2011 Tucson raffle: Raffle donations should be 100% as the bookkeeping on them otherwise is difficult. Receipts MUST be given out, and meticulous record keeping is vital. Raffle items should be ready to go to encourage online ticket sales. Having an assistant to help run the raffle was important, especially if the person working the raffle intended to show.

-- Discussion also continued on the Fundraising Coordinator solicitation. Lynn Weber suggesting making the term of the position to start/end at some point after NAN, rather than from March to March (which would be when the position is likely to be busiest). The original plan for this position had been to start in January, to allow for easier quarterly tracking per Teresa Buzzell. Teresa was open to changing that start/end point.

-- Carmen Robertson offered to post her financial summaries in an email to the BOD as well as uploading them to the files section.

-- Teresa Buzzell advised that the financial reports do not get uploaded until they are approved.

-- Pauline Entin posted a draft of the December 1-15 NAMHSA News.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi advised that the Vice Presidential ballots had gone out.

-- Lynn Weber came up with a list of potential names for a NAMHSA in the news section for the website as suggested by Teresa Buzzell on December 26.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted in response to a concern expressed by a moderated Board member that she would approve posts when she was on line, generally once per day. She added that she would not take either individual off moderation until the originally specified 30 days had passed.

DECEMBER 28
-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted a list of bounced email addresses from the ballot and requested updated ones. She also advised she would be dealing with Individual Members with ballot issues directly with Danielle Miller (Individual Membership Secretary) to protect the privacy of potential voters.

-- Eleanor Harvey posted comments on the standard procedures for NAMHSA elections. She said that in general, candidates had used regional lists and other electronic outlets to receive and answer questions during the 2 week window for voting. However, “politicking” was not standard and not encouraged.

-- There was continued discussion on a 2013 NAN Auction and/or raffle. Tracy Eilers suggested asking Shallon at Auction Barn for a NAMHSA category for year round fundraising. Lyn Norbury was not in favor of having only 100% donations for a proposed raffle, and suggested having a BOD member as part of a potential raffle committee for the 2013 NAN.

DECEMBER 29
-- Teresa Buzzell approved the December 1-15 NAMHSA News for posting.

-- Danielle Miller asked representatives to double check on the current bounced email list. Bounced emails could occur for 3 reasons--applications are currently handwritten, and a transcription error could occur, people may change an email address and not notify the Individual Membership Secretary, or an application was never sent in the first place. She suggested that the process be done online to avoid at least the first problem in the future.

-- Eleanor Harvey asked Danielle Miller to review the protocol as to when voting rights start for Individual members. There was also a question as to when Show Membership voting rights start (at the show date, timed to show year as an IM, or when the application is submitted/approved). Danielle advised that she could not speak for show holders, as this fell under the Show Secretary's area, and then reviewed the protocol used for IMs. Individuals can join any time in a given year, but their membership begins on May 1 of that given year, and then expires 2 years later on April 30. The idea is to ensure that members receive 2 calendar years' worth of benefits. Danielle provided examples. If an individual joins on April 25, 2012, his/her membership will begin May 1, 2012. Likewise, if an individual joins on November 25, 2012, his/her membership will be backdated to May 1, 2012. Each of these members would have an expiration date of April 30, 2014. The backdating applies to voting rights. So, if someone joined on 12/29/2012, his/her membership is backdated to May 1, 2012 and therefore he or she would be eligible for a ballot now. This person's membership would expire on April 30, 2014. HOWEVER, if that same person waited until January 1, 2013 to join, his/her membership would not begin until May 1, 2013 and so that person would NOT be eligible for a ballot now. This person's membership would expire on April 30, 2015. In short, an individual membership ALWAYS beings on May 1 of the year of joining, and ALWAYS ends on April 30th two years later. Danielle noted that she had received several requests to join at the end of this December from people wanting a VP ballot. She suggested that in the future, ballots include a statement similar to “to participate in a current ballot you must be a current individual member with a valid and up to date membership that will be verified by the individual membership secretary and recording secretary. Any questions regarding the status of your membership should be directed to the individual membership secretary." Danielle added that these issues come up every year but have yet to be resolved. She suggested this topic be on the agenda.

-- Several Board members noted that Yahoogroups was delivering emails out of order.

DECEMBER 30
-- Amy Peck asked permission to post an announcement to NAMHSA-Discussion regarding the NAN card validity extension protocol. In short, Amy wanted to make sure that showers did not cross out qualifying dates on NAN cards. This post was prompted by a query on NAMHSA-Discussion about re-marking NAN cards with the new extended dates. A formal announcement about the extension had not gone out yet, but the information was in NAMHSA News.

-- Lyn Norbury forwarded an email to the Board from a hobbyist in her region (5). The hobbyist had asked that her message regarding availability for NAMHSA volunteer work be passed on to the Board. Stacy Faraci suggested that this hobbyist might consider the Sponsorship Coordinator position.

DECEMBER 31
-- Teresa Buzzell posted a draft for the Fundraising Coordinator position.

-- Stacy Faraci forwarded an email she had received from a hobbyist who did not have a good experience at NAN 2012. The hobbyist cited problems with finding the show hall (even with the map) and parking lot. The hobbyist noted that the name of the place was not on the outside – the hall is attached to a building of other things. The hobbyist did not go with anyone and felt isolated. No one did anything to be welcoming. The hobbyist suggested having a “newbie section” or a special welcome packet for first-time showers. The hobbyist commented that the process (of NAN) was very hard to understand. The hobbyist felt the show packet provided very little explanation. In light of this email, Stacy suggested that it may be time to have a designated person act as a “liaison/question gal” at NAN to assist future new showers at NAN.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted a draft for the NAN card extension announcement. This draft included the comments that Amy Peck had suggested.

-- Teresa Buzzell forwarded an email she had received in response from the Wednesday December 26 email sent to a hobbyist with concerns about the NAMHSA position appointment process. This concern stemmed from the appointment of incumbent Carmen Robertson to another term as NAMHSA Treasurer. The hobbyist felt that Eleanor Harvey's interpretation of the NAMHSA Bylaws with respect to “limited to a three year term” was incorrect. The hobbyist suggested having a lawyer look at the wording, and noted that as a member of NAMHSA, (s)he could sue the organization for not following the Bylaws. Some discussion followed about past appointed positions where the same person served more than one term consecutively. Teresa Buzzell noted that should the member choose to file suit, NAMHSA would likely counter sue for damages to reputation and loss of production/time.

-- Amy Peck posted an email exchange between herself and a member show holder. The show holder noted that her application for a member show was a few days late (of the 60 day deadline), and asked if that was a problem. Amy had replied that the 60 day rule was not flexible, and asked if the show holder could reschedule the show, or if a refund of show fees was preferred. The show holder asked if a late fee was possible, noting that the few days late was due to the holidays (this occurred at the end of December – i.e., shortly after Christmas). Amy replied that she did not have the authority to make an exception. She noted that the Regional Rep involved (cc'ed on the most recent correspondence) and she would bring the issue to the NAMHSA Board. She noted for the Regional Rep that the application was received on 12/27/12 for a show intended to be held on 2/23/13.

Amy asked the Board to confirm that the show did not meet the 60 day requirement. This was confirmed by Lyn Norbury. Lyn asked if the submission date was the postmark date since mail delivery rate was beyond the show holder's control. Lynn Weber pointed out that the show application was sent as an email attachment and Paypal was available to pay the member show fees. So, the postal service delivery rate was not relevant. Carra McClelland advised that leeway on late submissions had never been granted as far as she knew. Amy Peck confirmed that postmarks were used for shows sent via USPS, but for electronic submissions it was the date on the email and Paypal, since the deadline for both the application and the fee was 60 days prior to the show.

Posted by Pauline Entin, Region 3 Rep and negligent Interim PR 3/1/2013

Last updated on March 3, 2013