[nfbmi-talk] National Federation of the Blind of Michigan Board MeetingJune 9, 2011 Minutes, 8:30 P.M.

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National Federation of the Blind of Michigan Board 

Meeting

June 9, 2011 Minutes, 8:30 P.M.

Quorum Larry Posont, Terri Wilcox, Marcus Simmons, 

        matt McCubbin, Donna Posont, Mary Wurtzel, Dave Robinson, Mike Powell. 

Secretary's Report, Terri Wilcox. Donna Posont moved to adopt the Secretary's Report.  Marcus Simmons seconded the Motion. The Secretary's Report was approved.

Treasurer's Report, Mary Wurtzel. 1,061 for plane tickets for Melinda Latham and three youth to attend National Convention. $3,466.20 in the Affiliate Account. Donna Posont made a motion to adopt the Treasurer's Report. Mike Powell seconded the motion. The Treasurer's Report was approved. 

Introduction of participating Members

August Board Meeting. The Quarterly Board Meeting will be in Kalamazoo on August 6. Lunch costs $12. Mike Powell made a motion for the Affiliate to cover the rest of lunch after each person pays $5. Terri Wilcox seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 

National and State Convention. The Banquet for State Convention is $30. Choices are Chicken Marsala or Encrusted Beef Prime Rib! If you leave the hotel early they will charge $25. Begin to start publicizing and write up preregistration information. 

National Convention State Caucus July 3, 8:00 P.m. Wekiwa room. Coffee will be shipped to the hotel. Checks need to be written for $100 for the Jernigan, White Cane, and Imagination funds.

Braille-a-thon is June 21. We will have a table for Newsline.

Newsline will stop August 1 if we do not find funding. We would like to try to amend the State Plan in order to fund Newsline. RSA pays for Newsline in DC. 

Camp Tuhsmeheta. We need a budget for our three Nfb Camps. We will purchase supplies, except food. 616-606-0682 is the number for Camp Tuhsmeheta. Culinary Camp needs volunteers. We will complete the schedule this week end. We will specialize in George Foreman grills and will buy a big one for people to use. Students will each receive their own small George Foreman Grill. Students will be divided into groups according to cooking experience. Fred Wurtzel and Christine Boone are in charge of science Camp. It is July 24 through August 1. 

Commission for the Blind Board Meeting June 16 Discussion. Jo Ann Pilarski is giving Joe Sibley equal votes in the training on June 16. Larry Posont is going to make a motion against this at the Commission Board meeting. This is training for the Board. The public is invited but not equal. This is a direct attempt to divide Nfb and Acb. The budget training is also occurring on June 16. 

Discussion on Commission for the Blind Presentation at the June 17 Commission Meeting. Mike Powell, Dave Robinson, Terri Wilcox. Larry Posont left the meeting at this point. We have nine important issues that need to be read in forty-five minutes. We need to express the problem and a solution. 

Discussion on the State Plan of the Commission for the Blind. Rsa runs Rehabilitation in Dc and they pay for Newsline. If we go to the State Plan meetings, we can get Newsline into the state plan. Newsline money can come from Independent Living and older Blind. We need to go to all of the hearings and have the State Plan amended. The Commission for the Blind violates RSA because the person writing the Minutes must not be part of the Commission staff. There is a conflict of interest if staff directs the hearings for their plan. All comments made by the public are supposed to be documented. The meetings need to be open forums. 

Grand Rapids, June 16 There is a conflict here, because this is the first day that the Commission Board meets. They cannot be in two places at once. By law, a Commission Board member must be at each State Plan meeting. We need Newsline subscribers to ask that Newsline be put in the State Plan. As a Commission Board member, Larry Posont plans to make a motion to stop the State Plan meetings until they are more organized and more accessible to the public.

Escanaba, June 20

Detroit, June 23

Appointments to the Commission for the Blind Board. There will not be an appointment before the next meeting. 

Monitoring Report. The monitoring report was discussed. There has to be a plan of correction for each violation the Commission for the Blind is cited for.

Blast Conference Nashville Tennessee, September 2011. Room rates are $113. Registration before August 15 is $150. The conference is September 20-24. The emphasis is on blind people running businesses. The cost is $4,600 for a bus.

Old Business: Grants for Newsline have been denied.

Adjourn at 10-08.


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