AZ AER Board Meeting Minutes
May 12, 2014
The May 12, 2014 meeting of the AZ AER Board members was called to order at 4:38 p.m.
In attendance:
Tamara Bishop-Amavilah, Becky Hole, Anna Miller, DeEtte Snyder, Ruth Parsons, Jenny Wheeler, Diane Shifflett, Rajiv Panikkar, Sandra Stirnweis.
Not present: Colleen Oakes, Lenetta Lefko
Anna Miller made a motion to approve the Minutes from the April meeting, Ruth Parsons seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The next AZ AER Board meeting will be held June 9 at 4:30 p.m.
For the Fall Conference, Sandra, Jenny and Diane might go to Sedona. Date is not yet determined, and could be contingent upon when the contract needs to be signed. Current deadline is May 28, 2014. Rajiv Pannikar joined the meeting. Discussion on if the current hotel (Poco Diablo Resort) can accommodate another full day (Friday) for a presentation by Frances Mary D’Andrea on the new Unified English Braille code. Discussion ensued as to how to charge people attending two full day sessions or one and a half day. Rajiv said if the hotel is not available, the point is moot. He left the conference call to make an enquiry of Jill at Poco Diablo. He returned to the conference call to say he had left a message.
Rajiv said he would rather have Frances Mary come out to Arizona another time and have other agencies sponsor the event.
Tamara said there was a list of discussion items for the Fall Conference.
Ruth is waiting for an updated JOT form for potential vendors for the conference. It was suggested that she send it to the 50 vendors on her list as a “BCC” so that the names are hidden. Rajiv encouraged it to go out at the earliest possible date to accommodate vendors from out of state. DeEtte cautioned that it would be best to wait until the hotel information has been confirmed in case there is a need to change the venue.
The Call for Papers deadline for the Fall Conference is August 1, 2014.
Tamara will send an invitation for the call for papers, and an email to tell people about the call for papers. She will ask the National organization to send the request out nationally.
Committee Reports:
Rajiv is the chair of the Nominating Committee for Board members. He said that all of the current officers and board members indicated a willingness to accept a second two-year term. This includes Colleen, Jenny, Becky, Anna and Diane. He said the committee would get information out to the membership if anyone else wants to serve a term on the board.
Becky Hole discussed a possible fundraiser involving T-shirts. Discussion regarding logo artwork, possible contest for T-shirt design, when to ask members to get involved in designing or ordering t-shirts. Sandra S. suggested that the T-shirt project be in conjunction with the upcoming 50th Anniversary of AZ AER (2015) and that the t-shirts use the existing AZ AER logo with the saguaro with an additional message such as “Celebrating 50 years.” The T-shirts could be designed by ASD students at the ASDB campus, and ready to sell at the Fall 2014 conference in anticipation of a year of celebration starting in January 2015. Diane agreed to work up a few “samples” of what this could look like, and share those with the board members for a vote.
Scholarship Committee: Diane S. asked about possible scholarships for students to attend the National Braille Challenge Finals. Sandra said the Consumer Grant would be appropriate, and all information is on the website, including the application.
Sandra and Tamara discussed an email they received about hours served on a committee or a board. Sandra will follow up on the email.
Tamara entertained a motion to adjourn, seconded by Becky.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Diane Shifflett