Minutes of
Full Council Meeting
Columbia Pacific RC & EDD
January 6, 2010
Pacific County Courthouse Annex
South Bend, WA
Present:
Karen Bertroch, Appelo Archive Center Matt Matayoshi, EDC of Mason County
Jim Neva, Port of Ilwaco Roger Milliman, Grays Harbor EDC
Doug Smith, GH PUD Jesse Cardenas, ColPac
Jane Zepp, ColPac Cindy Burton, USDA NRCS
Mary DeLong, Port of Peninsula Vicki Cummings, GH Council of Governments
Chris Crew, Small Business Owner (Visitor) Via Phone: Cathy Russ, Pacific County EDC
Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 10:07am by Vice-President (2009), Karen Bertroch.
Minutes:
Jim Neva moved that the meeting minutes of December 2, 2009 be accepted as presented. Roger Milliman seconded. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report, Matt Matayoshi:
· Review of Treasurer’s Report as submitted. Profit and Loss Report submitted to compare previous year 2009 actual to 2010 budget. Roger commented that the Profit and Loss Report looks great. ColPac is in the black and Jesse is bringing in income to ColPac.
· Jesse gave the board information regarding one of the items of the EDA guidelines of their grant contract is that ColPac would be required to have a full financial audit completed within a year from now. Jesse talked to Terry Sanders from Aiken & Sanders Inc., PS., a certified public accountant for a quote and that quote will be approximately $5,000.00.
· The financial review of year ending December 31, 2008 financials which also consists principally of inquiries of RC&EDD personnel and analytical procedures applied to financial data conducted by Aiken & Sanders Inc., PS in November is complete and based on their review they find ColPac to be in conformity with the cash basis of accounting. No further action or change in procedures is required.
· ColPac is consistently maintaining a sizeable balance in the checking account and therefore Jesse recommends that the board discuss at the March meeting of moving a portion of those funds to a Money Market or Certificate of Deposit in order to invest in a high yielding interest than the checking account provides. This will be an action item at the March 3rd, 2010 meeting.
· The board has reviewed and approved the Treasurer’s Report as submitted.
Nominations for the Executive Board Members:
· Karen has resigned as At-Large RC&D Representative, with one year remaining on her term, due to health issues and conflict of interest, yet will remain a member of ColPac. The board thanks Karen for her years of service. Cathy is also thanked for her years of service as President, moved by Doug Smith and seconded by Matt Matayoshi, Motion passed.
· No nominations for the At-Large RC&D Representative. The position is now vacant. Doug points out that if someone is appointed to the position during this year they will be filling this position for the remainder of Karen’s three year term, which is this current year.
· No nominations for the Tribal Representative. The position remains vacant.
Nominations for the Executive Board Officers: (From the current Board Members)
· Matt nominates Roger Milliman as President.
· Matt nominates Jim Neva as Vice-President.
· Doug nominates Matt Matayoshi as Treasurer.
· Matt nominates Vicki Cummings as Secretary.
Election of the Executive Board Officers:
· Karen moved that the slate of Officers be elected as nominated and therefore by unanimous vote the motion was passed with no opposition.
· Roger Milliman is President.
· Jim Neva is Vice-President.
· Matt Matayoshi is Treasurer.
· Vicki Cummings is Secretary.
RC&D Coordinator’s Report, Cindy Burton:
· Review of RC&D Coordinator’s Report and RC&D Committee Report as submitted.
· Update and progress on Small Farms Course, specifically the Civil Rights Compliance for Deaf/Hearing Impaired. Cindy will continue research to find a suitable and affordable option so that an individual who is deaf can take the Small Farms Course which begins in February 2010. Technological equipment that is available today for the deaf/hearing impaired to comprehensively participate in the class is unsatisfactory for this course structure (e.g. In order to use a voice recognition software system all twelve speakers would need to be trained to this software including specific vocabulary training, with the meeting being in February there would not be enough time to train all the speakers. Also, others that have used this software reported that other noise in a classroom environment interferes therefore invalid text could be passed on to the deaf individual). In another option, two interpreters would be required for the individual to comprehensively participate in this class as it is structured at a premium price would be unaffordable to the organization at this time.
Chris Crew may know of some options that will work and be affordable and will research and get that information to Cindy as soon as possible. The board welcomes further input on this subject.
· Action is needed for Cindy to continue with the Quinault Lake Watershed Knotweed Group Start-up Project: the Board discussed the project and Cindy pointed out that this project could spin into a larger project benefiting the council as more acres treated. Jim Neva moved the council to approve the Knotweed Project. Seconded by Vicki Cummings. Motion Passed.
· Action is needed if the council is okay to act as project sponsor of the Cooperative Conservation Partners Initiative (CCPI) Program, working in conjunction with the farm fish passage program. Roger asked Cindy to go back to her supervision for clarification on who would be the fiscal agent and what would the ColPac organization’s responsibility would be and what would Cindy’s responsibility be in regard to the money handling of this project before the council responds to this action request.
RC&EDD Director’s Report, Jesse Cardenas:
· Review of RC&EDD Director’s Report as submitted.
· Regional Quest for Success Project – focus to be on job retention and expansion providing resources, toolkits, marketing skills training and access to up-to-date technology together with information developed from the Economic Recovery Phase II Project and new resources throughout the ColPac district. Jesse is proposing a $350,000 total grant to EDA, consisting of asking for $265,000 and ColPac match $85,000. The EDC’s would be contracted for services of the grant throughout the region. Match would be $17,500 from each EDC in the ColPac district, including the Lower Columbia EDC matching $5,000 and ColPac matching $30,000. Matches can consist of In-Kind, Membership Dues collected, and Staff. Match does not have to be cash.
· Matt offered ideas of training businesses to survive and sustain such as Lean Manufacturing, Lean Office, Entrepreneurs that have patents, how to take your product to market. As well as other trainings (e.g. Matt knows of a consultant that does training for The Department of Defense on project management and organizational management trainings).
· A motion was moved by Jim Neva and seconded by Doug Smith regarding the Regional Quest for Success Project, Jesse is allowed to meet with a sub-committee of Vicki and the district EDCs to further discuss the project via conference call on January 12th from 8:30am to 10:30am pertaining to development of the project and finalize data for the proposal so that Jesse will be able to move forward with the proposal of the grant following that meeting, the grant application deadline of January 31st. Motion Passed.
Old Business:
· A list of past and present members is requested and will be issued to the board by Jane.
Good for the Order:
· The board agrees to set a goal to encourage existing members to be involved by coming to the meetings.
· Packets are well organized. Meeting minutes and agenda to be issued as soon as possible.
Adjourned: The meeting adjourned at 12:12pm.
Next Meeting: The next Executive Board Meeting will be held at the Pacific County Annex Building on February 3rd, 2010, and the next Full Council Meeting which will also be the Annual Meeting will be April 7th, 2010 details to follow.
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Roger Milliman, President