[nfbmi-talk] Minutes, December 16, 2010 8:30 P.M.

Tue Jan 4 05:07:33 UTC 2011

Thank you for posting the minutes from the last conference call. I wanted to see how other people understood my proposal for Washington Seminar. Based on the minutes of this meeting, it appears as though my proposal was misunderstood. Therefore, I would like to try to explain it again so that everyone can understand what I was trying to say.

My proposal did not include the state affiliate to pay for anything more or less than what was already agreed upon in a previous motion made on December 2, 2010. This motion states that the state affiliate would sponsor two rooms for Washington Seminar. One female room and one male room.

However, the night before our last conference call I learned that I was the only female who responded to JJ’s email about attending Washington Seminar. I also heard that Melinda was interested in arriving to Washington a day earlier to do some more sightseeing with the youth, but was not sure if she would have the money to afford an extra night in the hotel room. 

Knowing these two things, I asked Melinda if there would be any room for me to stay in the youth room, and if so, then perhaps the state affiliate could sponsor the room as the female room which would give Melinda the ability to afford an extra night in the hotel room. If agreed upon, the state affiliate would have paid for the three nights as stated in the motion, and the youth fund would have paid for the extra night in the hotel room.

However, this proposal only seems to have confused all parties involved. It seems as though most people thought I was advocating for the state affiliate to pay for only one room when this was not the case. Since it appears as though no one understood my proposal, nor was a decision made about this proposal, that the state affiliate goes back to the original motion and sponsor two rooms for Washington Seminar. And since there were no stipulations on how many people needed to be in the room in order for the state affiliate to sponsor the rooms, I believe the state affiliate should sponsor both of these rooms regardless of how many people stay in the room.

I hope this clarifies what I was trying to say during the conference call, and does not leave anyone confused about what is going on in regards to Washington Seminar. I am sure that I could say more about this issue, but I am choosing to take the high road here. It is my hope that others will do the same when discussing this issue.

Respectfully,
Elizabeth

> From: trising at sbcglobal.net
> To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 21:43:12 -0500
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Minutes, December 16, 2010 8:30 P.M.
> 
> Minutes, December 16, 2010 8:30 P.M.
> 
> Quorum yes Larry Posont, Terri Wilcox, Marcus Simmons, Donna Posont, Mary Wurtzel, Matt McCubbin, Michael Powell, Dave Robinson, 
> Melinda Latham.
> 
> Secretary's Report. Terri Wilcox. Mary Wurtzel moved that the Secretary's Report be adopted. Donna seconded the motion. The 
> Secretary's report was approved.
> 
> Treasurer's Report, Mary Wurtzel. $2500 is presently in our Treasury. We sent $500 to the National office. This was half of the 
> bequest we received.
> 
> Introduction of participating Members.
> 
> A discussion ensued about the lawsuit.
> 
> We have paid down our bill.
> 
> Washington Seminar, The affiliate is paying for one room for men and one for women. The room for women may not be needed. A long 
> discussion occurred about what should be done with the money that would have been used for the extra room.
> 
> Dave Robinson suggests making a budget for us to approve for Washington Seminar.
> 
> Training of Staff. Larry Posont and Joe Sibley gave a proposal to the Commission Board concerning Staff Training. The training 
> Committee should contain one National Federation of the Blind member, one American Council of the Blind member, one Commission Board 
> member and one staff member. After talking with Larry Posont, Jo Ann Pilarski told Pat Cannon to make the committee smaller. Larry 
> Posont wrote an email about System Seven's malfunction. The email was sent to all Commission staff. This malfunction frustrates 
> staff and is a violation under Rsa. Jo Ann Pilarski called Larry Posont concerning this email. According to Heibeck, the staff is 
> working even though the training center is not open. They are renting two large rooms at the hotel for rehabilitation training. Even 
> the phone system at the center is not being answered or forwarded to the hotel.
> 
> Summer 2011 National Convention Transportation. Air fares are around $215.
> 
> The quarterly Board Meeting will be held at the Sparrow Professional Building, on February 12, from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
> 
> Update Discussion of December 10 Commission Board Meeting. The equipment for the deaf blind at the meeting was not accessible. The 
> commission board is dependent on Pat Cannon. On Thursday, Jo Ann Pilarski tried to facilitate discussion from the audience. 
> Consumers do not feel that their views are regarded seriously. Rehabilitation training is primarily available for vocational 
> training. The Commission Board used our objective of requiring the agency to comply with various aspects of the Monitoring Report by 
> specific dates. Our training objective was not adopted.. Neither was the consumer involvement objective. Jo Ann Pilarski has asked 
> for more meetings from Andy Levin. A motion was passed concerning compliance with the Monitoring Report about not requiring 
> individuals to use Social Security for maintenance for college. People said they would defy it.
> 
> There was a long discussion about the RSA monitoring report.
> 
> Individuals on Social Security are not required to contribute money to their rehabilitation. Three commissioners did not have good 
> dialog. Jo Ann Pilarski said that one group supported Margaret Wolf and Mike Gino, but the other group did not.
> 
> The Newsline contract is being perused by the National office. Once they look at it, Mary Wurtzel will sign it and the service will 
> be turned on.
> 
> Nature's Finest Bounty Report. We could put Nature's Finest Bounty on Ebay.
> 
> Web Page There was an email concerning the web page.
> 
> Monitoring Report? There should be deadlines concerning complying with the Monitoring Report for Cannon but we suspect they will not 
> be met.
> 
> A long discussion occurred about the violations of the Monitoring Report.
> 
> New Business: The next board meeting is Thursday, January 6. There should be visibility of blind people at the inauguration. Fred 
> Wurtzel wrote a resolution of us to consider at the next meeting. An individual would like assistance interpreting a spread sheet 
> concerning the Business Enterprise Program.
> 
> Old Business: An inquiry was made concerning whether Cannon answered the rest of our questions.
> 
> Adjourn at 9-48 P.M.
> 
> Thank you for helping change what it means to be blind in Michigan.
> 
> 
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