NCACAA General Membership Meeting
Minutes
June 24, 1999
Burlington, NC
The meeting was called to order by Rett Davis.
Brenda Morris of the NC Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences presented information about their national meeting to be held in Greensboro, NC at the Koury Convention Center, October 31-November 4, 1999. She asked for help from ag agents in several areas - manning the computer lab, serving at the tour desk, getting attendees from one place to another, assisting with various events such as the officers' reception, the friendship event, and the welcome event. Any help would be appreciated. Sign-up sheets were distributed.
Secretary's Report and Minutes
Marjorie Rayburn indicated that the minutes of all NCACAA meetings, including board meetings were posted on the NCACAA web site. She thanked John Dorner for doing that. Now any member can go to the web site and find out what is happening in the association. The minutes from the 1998 Annual Meeting are in the annual report that was handed out at annual conference.
The minutes from the special meeting held at annual conference were also posted on the web site. The purpose of the special meeting was to select a representative from North Carolina to serve as NACAA Southern Region Vice-Director for 2 years and then move up to serve as Director for 2 years. The voting results were: George Stancil - 48 votes, Fred Miller - 64, one abstention. Fred Miller will represent North Carolina as Southern Region Vice-Director/Director of NACAA. The other agenda item for the special meeting involved redistricting with the members present voting to realign NCACAA Districts with the new Extension Administrative Districts. Voting results - in favor of this change (realignment) - 91, Against (NCACAA districts remain as they were) - 19, 2 abstentions, 1 other (5 districts). The policy committee is charged with determining how that will take place.
Other actions of the Board this past year included: clarifying that the past president is considered an officer for the purposes of receiving financial support to attend the national meeting. Also travel reimbursement for board members to attend meetings was increased from .14 a mile to 24 cents a mile. A $2000.00 contribution (over a 2 year period) was made to the Family and Consumer Science Agents in support of their national meeting. A $200 contribution was given to the State Secretary's Association in support of their state meeting.
Milton Parker moved that the minutes from 1998 and secretary's report be approved. The motion was seconded and passed.
Treasurer's Report
Nancy Keith handed out information for the Treasurer's report. The yearly report for 1998 (1/1/98 - 12/31/98) indicated a balance in the checking account from 12/31/97 of $3,890.61 and income during the year of $27,502.53. Expenses were $23,197.29 giving an ending balance of $8,195.85. At the end of the year there were outstanding checks of $228.20, giving a bank statement balance of $8,424.05.
The report for January 1, 1999 through June 15, 1999 indicates a beginning balance of $8,195.85. Income from membership dues and scholarship contributions was $12,247.00. Total expenses for this time period were $13,899.32. Current checkbook balance is $6,543.53. There are $356.00 in outstanding checks and a deposit of $23.00 which was not included in the bank statement giving a bank statement balance of $6,876.53.
The membership report for 1999 indicates 2 less members than last year for a total of 253 members. There was an additional membership fee sent in, but that individual was not eligible for membership, so that was sent back and shows up as an expense - Western District - reimbursement of excess dues.
It was moved and seconded that the treasurer's report be accepted. The motion passed. (Note: The treasurer's report had been audited with no problems found.)
Rett thanked Nancy and Marjorie for the jobs they do for the association.
Trust Fund Report
Everett Davis gave an update on the Trust Fund Accounts. He mentioned that the trust fund committee includes the three immediate past presidents NCACAA. Everett serves as coordinator. There are two trust fund accounts. One is the Charlotte "88 Trust Fund which consists of investments of the surplus funds from the Charlotte '88 national meeting. The other fund consists of Board Savings which have accumulated from various sources over the years. The two funds are managed independently.
Information was provided on the value and earnings of the funds in 1998 and their present value as of 5/28/99. The Charlotte '88 funds (securities and money market) were valued at $157,617.45 on 12/31/97, increased to $184,287.36 on 12/31/98, and are now worth $190,995.86 (as of 5/28/99). 1998 securities investment performance was 23.74%. The NCACAA Board Funds (securities and money market) were worth $17,486.17 on 12/31/97, increased to $43,315.64 on 12/31/98, and were valued at $47,310.15 as of 5/28/99. (See Trust Fund Committee Report for additional details.). The only activity during the year was a transfer of $9,570.99 in August of 1998 from the Charlotte '88 Funds to NCACAA checking account for the awards program. Even though the stock market went down for a time last year, it did rebound fairly well. Our investments have increased in value over time. There were no questions for Everett. Billy Dunham moved that we accept the Trust Fund report. The motion was seconded. It passed. Rett commended Everett on the excellent job he has done as chairman of the Trust Fund Committee.
Fund Raising - 1999 State Meeting
James Cochran gave a report on fund raising efforts. He emphasized that what we do this year will affect the fund raising efforts for next year's meeting in Fayetteville. He has developed a list of sponsors for this year's meeting and encouraged members to write thank you notes to them. This year we had about 34-35 repeat sponsors from previous years and about that many more new sponsors. We want to do what we can to keep them for next year and add to the list. James has provided stamped envelopes addressed to each sponsor with a "fill in letter" provided along with a sample thank you message, including things we might like to highlight about this NCACAA meeting and its importance to us. James encouraged each member to pick up one related to our subject area or geographic area and also to pick up a mailing list so we can send additional notes to other sponsors.
There are also two NACAA brochures available - telling about NACAA for sponsors, and providing information on the value of NACAA for members.
James would appreciate our help in thanking sponsors (for over $13,000.00 worth of support). Rett appreciated James's efforts in fund raising, especially in bringing in new sponsors this year.
Nominating Committee
Ronnie Thompson presented the report. The committee is made up of chairmen of the nominating committees of each district. They met over e-mail to come up with a slate of officers for the coming year: President - Rett Davis, President Elect - James Cochran, Vice President - Johnny Hensley, Secretary - Marjorie Rayburn, Treasurer - Nancy Keith, and Past-President - Billy Dunham.
A motion was made by Milton Parker to accept the recommendation of the nominating committee for officers. It was seconded by Gerda Rhodes. The motion carried.
National NACAA Report
After entertaining the group with some humorous stories, Austin Tilton (from northeast Florida), Southern Region Director brought greetings from the NACAA National Board. He saluted NCACAA for our large number of award entries and congratulated the national award winners, including Matt Miller, winner in 2 categories - crops and livestock.
He shared information in a handout from the National Association. The National Board, after some study has decided not to redistrict, but to leave the regions as they are. There has been some nominations from the states in the Northeastern and Western regions for directors and vice-directors which has solved some leadership problems in those areas. In reviewing the NACAA budget, Austin Tilton pointed out that NACAA has total assets of a about $350,000, not too much more than NCACAA. He commended us on management of our financial assets. Regarding scholarship funds, the NACAA scholarship goal of $500,000 was achieved last year in Texas with about $517,000 in the education (scholarship) foundation. About $25,000 worth of scholarships was awarded last year. A new goal of one million dollars was established for the year 2025, which should not be a problem to meet.
A report from Gary Hall, NACAA President, highlighted the National meeting in Nebraska in September. All the meeting information is in the latest issue of the County Agent Magazine. There should be lots of activities. Good speakers are lined up.
A diagram on the new committee structure was included. Sometimes there is a struggle to fill all the new council chairs and committee assignments, but things look good for this year. As a result there are more professional development opportunities available.
Thirty five states are now using the data base access software which makes things much easier. North Carolina is using it.
The futuring committee will be looking at the direction of NACAA in future years. This committee will be revisiting the report from 1994 to see if we need to go in a new direction
Regional meetings of the future will be restructured to provide more training for presidents and secretaries and less emphasis on information from Washington.
The proposed by-laws change to deal with short service on the national board. The change would be that if there were less than 6 months remaining of a director's term, the vice director would step up. If there were more than 6 months remaining, the state would have the opportunity to reappoint someone to serve in that position.
Another issue is the proposal to hold a Galaxy II conference in 2003 which would include all 4 professional associations. The first Galaxy was in Cincinnati. NACAA did not officially participate, but some members did attend. There was concern about NACAA ability to maintain sponsors if we participated in Galaxy and the ability of NACAA to maintain their programs at the meeting. After the NACAA National meeting in Texas, the board drew up a list of activities that it considered essential to maintain the integrity of the NACAA national meeting. That list was presented to the JCEP (Joint Council of Extension Professionals) committee by NACAA President, Gary Hall. (NACAA has 3 votes out of 12 on that committee.) The board voted to recommend that NACAA not to participate unless JCEP would allow us to carry on most of our programs. JCEP met in June and acknowledged the importance of the NACAA national meeting components and that those components would be reflected in Galaxy II. The board, in a conference call recommended participation in Galaxy II. This will be decided by voting delegates at Omaha. An information packet will be provided. Cities being considered for Galaxy II include Salt Lake City, New Orleans, and Minneapolis. The date is October of 2003. The other associations will not hold an annual meeting in 2003.
Austin outlined his activities as Southern Region Director, including attending the national meeting in Texas and visiting state meetings in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. He also indicated he thought the North Carolina meeting was outstanding. Appointed members of the futuring committee from the Southern region include Bob Williams (Tennessee), Jack Hunter (Texas), Dan Brown (Georgia), and John Oxner (South Carolina). They will meet in Omaha.
The executive assistant position was financed through existing funds (no dues increase) for one year as decided in Texas. NACAA contracted with Greendell Publishing with Scott Hawbaker to serve as executive assistant. Some of Scott Hawbaker's activity reports were shared. In addition to providing NACAA with a permanent address, he also serves as record-keeper and helps with awards and recognition programs and manages the mailing list. He is developing a packet for new potential donors and sponsors. Anyone who comes up with a new sponsor for the national meeting will get their registration paid.
The scholarship fund (educational foundation) total as of February 1999 was $517,817. Any profits from the annual meeting are put into the NACAA scholarship fund. The lifetime benefit has increased from $1000 to $2000 with the required contribution now set at $40 instead of $20.
Austin Tilton reviewed membership directives and board actions. The proposed dues increase and bylaw changes to disallow nominations from the floor were defeated at the NACAA meeting in Texas. Credit cards can be used to register for the NACAA meeting. The NACAA data base information is available to interested people - can be sold at the direction of the board. Duane Duncan is working on a 1988-2000 NACAA history. Austin reminded us that dues are due January 1st (not March 15th).
Austin encouraged everyone to attend the national meeting in Omaha. The only officer nominee at this time is Eddie Hollins from Texas for vice president. Mike Fitzsimmons (secretary) can serve 2 more years as secretary if re-elected. Mark Beeler can serve one more year as treasurer if elected.
Austin shared information on submitting articles to the County Agent Magazine, national meeting dates, director rotation schedules, national officers, various e-mail addresses, sponsors of last year's meeting, and a copy of the contract and job description for the executive assistant.
In response to questions, Austin indicated that Missouri and Indiana will be submitting bids for the national meeting in 2003, but will move it back one year if NACAA votes to support the Galaxy II conference. He noted that the registration fee for the Galaxy (I) conference was high, about $300, and was a concern of the board. They need some sponsors to help offset the cost, otherwise it will be difficult to sell. If NACAA votes to participate, registration fees will have to be keep low. A question was raised about how there will be time to do everything we normally do at the NACAA meeting in the Galaxy format. Austin replied that each association may have their own headquarters hotel for their own programs and just come together for certain activities. Registration profits from the previous Galaxy conference were split among the participating organizations - giving each group about $25,000.
Rett Davis initiated discussion about hosting another national meeting. It takes 6-8 years to prepare, a bid has to be submitted. Dalton Dockery indicated he was all for it. About 1/2 the members present have been through it. Some may be retired by then. The year considered for the meeting would be 2008 or 2009 if we go with Galaxy II. Fred Miller moved that the Executive Board establish an exploratory committee to investigate the possibility of North Carolina submitting a bid to host the 2008 NACAA national meeting. The duties of this committee include identification of possible sites, establishment of an appropriate timetable for submitting the bid, contact with current and immediate past meeting chairs, and any other duties to be determined by the executive board. This committee should report back to the members as soon as possible, but no later than next year's annual meeting. Bill Skelton seconded the motion. Billy Dunham reflected that Charlotte '88 was what helped him get involved in NCACAA. He met agents all over the state and saw a lot of dedication and teamwork. We have a strong association. The majority of agents here now should still be here in 2008 and will make a strong team. He supports the feasibility study. Another agent commented that he has heard wonderful things about that meeting. There were probably many agents who planned the meeting in '88 who had not been through planning a national meeting before. We need to give the younger agents a chance to prove themselves with the leadership from the agents who were here in 1988. We can put on a meeting with the quality and caliber of Charlotte '88. The motion passed.
President's Report
Billy Dunham thanked us for the opportunity to serve NCACAA over the past 3 years - as vice president, president elect, and president. It was enjoyable. The age of the group is a lot younger, which is good. This event is well worth the time spent. You get to meet and visit with fellow agents throughout the state. Milton Coleman encouraged Billy to be a part of the association as a young agent, but Billy was more involved with subject matter. County directors should encourage their agents to be a part of the association and go to county managers to get funds to support them. Billy reflected on Charlotte '88. A national meeting is a commitment, involving lots of time, and lots of people working together - much like a district hosting a state meeting. Billy has been to six national conferences since Charlotte '88. They were very enjoyable and worthwhile. He has been on a study tour, serve as treasurer for 2 years, and vice president and president elect. He encouraged all agents, especially young agents to become involved. We need to give them a chance - volunteer to take an assignment. Billy again thanked the members for an opportunity to serve as state president.
Rett thanked Billy for a job well done.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Association Policy
Bill Skelton shared the association policy report and recommendations. The big issue was redistricting, how to go from eight districts to seven. The officer and meeting rotation will stay pretty much as it is, just dropping the Northern Piedmont district out of the rotation. This means that next year's meeting will be in the south central district, then the west. Beginning in 2000-2001 the president will be coming from the SC district followed by the west, NC, NE, NW, SW, SE. That is the current rotation, just dropping the Northern Piedmont out. The district the president elect is from will be the district to host the state annual meeting.
There are other changes with redistricting. We typically send a delegation of 10 to the national meeting, nine voting delegates and 1 alternate In the past, we have sent the eight district vice-directors and the president as the 9th voting delegate and the president elect as the alternate. The suggestion is to go with the seven district vice-directors now and president and president elect as delegates with the vice president as the alternate.
Going from eight to seven district treasuries has generated the most discussion. The fairest way to do that is to divide each treasury on a per capita basis and send that amount to the new district for each of the members going to that district.
AA and DSA awards are grandfathered in based on the old districts since awards are submitted this year, but not recognized until next year. The correct rotation will be in the annual report which is handed out at annual conference - just dropping the Northern Piedmont out of the rotation. The motion to accept the report and recommendations of the policy committee was made and seconded. The motion carried.
Communications
Dalton Dockery gave the report. He indicated that he really enjoyed being the communications chair and appreciated everyone's support. North Carolina had the highest number of entries in the Southern Region with 85 entries out of a total of 511. Texas had 78. We recognized fellow agents for the job that they did this morning at the awards breakfast. The awards submitted were outstanding and of the highest quality.
AT&T provides the financing to support the communications awards - $30,000 a year. We need to let them know we value their support.
There are some questions about the category of a power point presentation. It would probably fall into the category of slide set, but Dalton will check on that.
Wayne Batten appreciated the comments made by the judges this year. He had submitted entries for the communications awards in the past and received no comments whatever on them. Comments help improve for next year. Dalton did not judge, but got unbiased judges and asked specifically that they give comments so agents can learn from the feedback. Dalton welcomes suggestions for any way to improve. A motion was made by Milton Parker to accept the report. It was seconded and passed.
Nominations
Ronnie Thompson recommended that we keep the officer rotation and state meeting location system in place and follow it. With the change in alignment, going from 8 districts to 7, the state meeting will come back to a district a year sooner than it had previously. Also the Vice president nomination is on a rotational basis. This year the west district submitted a nomination for vice president and the next year Norman Harrell and the north central's nominating committee will recommend someone for state vice president from their district. After that the northeast and so on. A motion was made and seconded to accept the report. The motion passed.
Extension Programs
Roger Cobb gave the report indicating that there were ten entries this year which was the same level as last year. There were some changes over last year. The excellence in forestry category was dropped. Also, Dow Elanco was lost as the sponsor of the livestock production category, but NACAA picked up the sponsorship. Roger commended Matt Miller for being a national finalist in two categories and Marjorie for being a national finalist in one. He thanked all the committee for helping out. A motion was made to accept the report. It was seconded and passed.
Benevolence
Minton Small gave the benevolence report. The NCACAA remembered and honored the following members who died during the past year: James Stephenson, Gary Warren, John Carroll, Ben Jenkins, Charlie Lockhart,.
The members stood as Minton gave a prayer for the departed members. A motion was made and seconded to accept the report. The motion passed.
Constitution and Bylaws
Jackie Nix presented the report for Alan Harper and highlighted the proposed changes. These proposed changes were sent out to the members 30 days before the meeting as required.
Proposed changes to the Constitution included: removing "if approved" regarding membership qualifications, replacing "state officers and directors" with "executive board" since previously "executive board" had been so defined, clarifying that "election of officers shall be by ballot of the entire association at its annual meeting" does not mean district directors and vice-directors, "all committees except the Executive Committee and the Life members committee shall be appointed by the President," and adding electronic mail as an approved means of communication.
Proposed changes to the bylaws included: district committees, except the life member committee are to be elected or appointed by the district, with the life member committee being composed of an active life member from each district; and a clarification about the treasurer's reports including an annual report and a current year report and reports being included in the annual report made available to each member by December following the annual meeting. A recommendation was made to add a section on the Charlotte '88 Trust Fund to the article on financial matters. Also, electronic mail was added as an approved method of communication.
A question was raised about approving the treasurer's report before an audit was made. If this happened the treasurer's report could be in error and still be approved. So the treasurer's report should only be accepted upon audit. As a matter of clarification, Billy Dunham indicated that at the board meeting it was reported that the treasurer's report was audited, before this meeting, even though it was not mentioned when the treasurer's report was given today. An audit is done each year before the annual meeting. Billy also commented that the requirement of the annual report being available by December was included in case there is not an annual conference one year - the report would still be distributed to members.
The audit this year was done by Lenny Rogers with assistance from others. It is done within the membership. There are no "professional auditors" hired. It used to be policy in the past that 3 agents would be selected to do the audit.
Billy Dunham also clarified that it was never put in writing that there would be 2 treasurer's reports. That has been done since we needed a calendar report (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31) for income tax filing. So we now have that report as well as the report for the current year (Jan. 1 - time of the state meeting).
A comment was made that Nancy did a good job of accounting for every penny. A Quicken software program was used for record-keeping and balanced every month. This was checked against bank statements with outstanding checks considered.
Another reason for the change in Article IV was that it originally said that a copy of the annual report should be "mailed" to each member and we wanted to make sure that we didn't have to pay all that postage, so it was changed to "made available."
Some questions about approval for membership were raised. There have been individuals not accepted for membership. They may not have met the definition of agricultural agent and been denied membership on that basis. It was pointed out that qualifications for membership are covered in another section, and we have not denied membership to any agricultural agent. We have denied some Vo-Ag teachers membership, but not agents. The wording that defines who is eligible to be a member is in a totally different section. There is also no approval process for members. When dues are sent in for a new agent, they automatically become a new member.
A vote on proposed constitution and bylaw changes can be taken on each individual change separately, or the whole package. A motion was made to approve all the recommended changes. It was seconded. Further discussion and questions were called for.
Fred Miller brought up that we had just elected our officers a few minutes ago and it should be done by ballot - is that a major issue? Are we in violation of our constitution?
(A definition of who is eligible for membership was shared - Bylaws, Article I, Section 1, - "Membership in the North Carolina Association of County Agricultural Agents shall be made up of County Extension Agents and Area Agricultural Subject Matter Specialists.")
Do we need to change Article V, Section 1 of the Constitution to read election of officers shall be "by vote" instead of "by ballot"? Some discussion followed.
Rett indicated that we needed to deal with the motion on the floor to approve the changes to the constitution and bylaws, then come back and deal with the question about the previous election of officers. Bill Skelton asked, if there is no contest, doesn't Roberts Rules of Order allow us to accept the slate of officers?
A vote was taken on the motion to accept the proposed constitution and bylaws changes. It passed.
We returned to the issue of election of officers which was supposed to be done by ballot. Robert's Rules of Order allows us to approve the proposed slate of officers by acclamation if there is no contest. A question was raised about the need to suspend the by-laws by a 2/3 or 3/4 vote of those present to go back to the election of officers.
A motion was made to accept the slate by acclamation. Can we do that now? Billy Dunham indicated that the floor should have been opened up for nominations from the floor. If there are nominations from the floor, then you go by ballot. If none, then you can go by acclamation.
Can you correct it with a point of order? When we made a motion to accept the slate of officers, the word "acclamation" was not in the motion. Donald Breedlove now moved we accept Ronnie Thompson's nominating committee report as made earlier - by acclamation. The motion was seconded. Jim Daughtry asked if we need to amend the motion to include suspending the bylaws in order to do this (again). Do we need to suspend the bylaws first in order to do this. Jim Daughtry moved we table the motion (on election of officers) until we can suspend the bylaws to deal with it. It was seconded and approved. A motion was made to suspend the bylaws. It was seconded and passed. (There was some question as to whether we could bring a tabled motion back in the current business session or if we would have to adjourn and re-convene. Johnny Hensley indicated that we could take the motion from the table at any time, unless the motion to put it on the table specified that it was to come off the table at the next meeting or some other time.) It was moved that we take the motion to approve the recommendation of the nominating committee by acclamation from the table. It was seconded and passed. The motion is now on the floor - to accept the slate of officers by acclamation. It was approved.
4-H and Youth - no report
Membership Services
The report was handed out and given by Jim Daughtry indicating a correction in item #5 - that dues should be sent by the District Treasurer to the state treasurer by January 1st of each year and are past due to the national treasurer after March 15th. Item number 11 (from last year) that said the red book should be pursued is no longer on the list. It is still being pursued, but we haven't had results. It can be put back on if needed. It was moved and seconded that this report be accepted. Motion passed.
Professional Training
Marjorie Rayburn gave the report for Al Wood. There was only one entry for the Applied Science and Technology Seminar - Fred May. He was the state winner. Al Wood outlined some concerns of his committee in the report - that it was not addressing enough of the different program areas in which we work. A motion was made to accept this report. It was seconded and passed.
Resource and Program Development
Milton Parker gave the report. He recognized Bruce Williams who is national chair. Milton will be serving as state chair and would like to meet with those interested in serving on this committee from the districts. He encourages those who submitted entries this year to resubmit those entries for next year. He would like to see an increase in entries next year. It was moved and seconded that we accept this report. The motion passed.
Awards and Recognition
Johnny Hensley gave the report. The Awards and Recognition Committee met during annual conference to review all the nominations for DSA (Distinguished Service Award), AA (Achievement Award), Service to Agriculture Award, and Young Agent Scholarship Award. DSAs selected will be recognized tonight and in Omaha, Nebraska - Fred May, John V. Hall, C. Wayne Batten, Lewis W. Smith, and Mark Tucker. The three AA winners to be recognized tonight and in Omaha are Taylor Williams, Bryant Spivey, and Curtis Ross Young. The checks they receive are provided by the Extension Foundation. The Service to Agriculture winner is M. Scott Whitford from Pamlico County. Dalton Dockery is the Young Agent Scholarship recipient who plans to use the money to attend the national meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Funds are provided by an endowment fund from retired agents managed by the Ag Foundation. There was one entry for the Purcell Pinnacle Award - Russell Sykes. Award nominations for the year 2000 are due by July 1st. A motion was made and seconded to accept the report. Motion passed.
Scholarship
Bob Edwards reviewed the goals shared by Austin Tilton - to give out $25,000 in scholarships. There were no entries form North Carolina this year. Bob has a list of $40 contributors to the scholarship fund. He encouraged participation. A motion was made to accept this report. It was seconded ad passed.
Life Member
Victor Lynn gave the committee report. He enjoyed his year as committee chair without much activity. It is important to include retired agents and give them the opportunity to participate. Retired agents are NCACAA's best support group. A motion was made to accept the report. It was seconded and passed.
2000 State Meeting Update
The meeting will be in Fayetteville, June 21-22, 2000. Golf tournaments and other activities are planned. It will be at the Holiday Inn off the Interstate, exit 49.
In other business, Billy Dunham indicated that Wake County is the storage place for our associations records. There may be several years of records that are missing. He suggested that the state board look into the situation at their next meeting and get it corrected. A motion was made in support of that effort. It was seconded and passed.
Meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by Marjorie Rayburn, NCACAA Secretary