|
|
|
APPROVED: MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN MENSA COMMITTEE March 19, 2005 Columbus, Ohio (Containing ASIE 2005-001 – 2005-019) BECKER called the meeting to order, and thanked the Columbus Area Mensa for their hospitality. She noted that this is the last meeting together for this AMC. CALL TO ORDER Present:: Chairman DR. JEAN K. BECKER 1st Vice-Chairman RUSS BAKKE 2nd Vice-Chairman DAN BURG Secretary JUDY VASILIAUSKAS Treasurer JIM WERDELL Region 1 Vice-Chairman MARGHRETTA MCBEAN Region 2 Vice-Chairman EDWARD GORDON Region 3 Vice-Chairman CHARLIE BRUCE Region 4 Vice-Chairman CYNDI KUYPER Region 5 Vice-Chairman MICHAEL SEIGLER Region 6 Vice-Chairman DAN WILTERDING Region 7 Vice-Chairman TONY JACKOWSKI Region 8 Vice-Chairman SCOTT RAINEY Region 9 Vice-Chairman PAT COONTZ * Past Chairman BOB BEATTY Past Chairman DAVE REMINE Development Officer GABE WERBA Director of Science & Education GREG TIMMERS Membership Officer JOANNA SOPER Communications Officer: ROBIN CRAWFORD Executive Director Pamela Donahoo *Region 10 RVC Elissa Rudolph: Absent
In the audience and signing the attendance register were: Jim Blackmore, National Office Eldon Romney, Utah Mensa John Massura, Chicago Area Mensa Marc Lederman, Metropolitan Washington Mensa Alan Baltis, Cleveland Area Mensa John DiLiberto, Greater New York Mensa Maggie Truelove, Central Florida Mensa De Freshwater, Cleveland Area Mensa Kevin Kasday, Cleveland Area Mensa Maria Sawczuk, Delaware Mensa Nancy Heller, Cleveland Area Mensa Robert Osterman, Cleveland Area Mensa Jeff Wolfe, Columbus Area Mensa Jeff Klein, Columbus Area Mensa Rick Magnus, Cincinnati Area Mensa Sky Wavrek, Columbus Area Mensa Raejean “Red” Bellamy, Columbus Area Mensa Glenn Sutton, Columbus Area Mensa Dean Soltesz, Columbus Area Mensa Julia Ashley, Columbus Area Mensa
1. REPORT OF ACTIONS BETWEEN MEETINGS See Executive Committee Report 2. AGENDA CHANGES BAKKE requested the first item in Good and Welfare.
CONSENT AGENDA (Items 3 through 14) 3. OFFICERS’ REPORTS {Secretary’s Note: Officers submitted written reports for this meeting, with the exception of those listed in the section “NO REPORT RECEIVED”} 4. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT {Secretary’s Note: The Executive Director submitted a written report for this meeting.}
5. APPOINTEES’ & COMMITTEE REPORTS {Secretary’s Note: Most appointees and committee chairs submitted written reports for this meeting; others are reported in the section “NO REPORT RECEIVED”}
APPOINTMENTS 6. Moved BECKER, seconded COONTZ and SEIGLER to appoint Michael Beetham as Project Inkslinger Coordinator. ASIE 2005-001
7. Moved ExComm, to accept the resignation of Jim and Barbara McIntyre as MIL 60th Anniversary liaisons. ROUTINE MATTERS 8. Moved BAKKE seconded BURG: The Chairman is authorized to accept resignations from AMC members, appointees, and committee members. ASIE 2005-002
9. Moved FINANCE COMMITTEE: To appoint Langan Associates as the auditor for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. This action will supersede ASIE 2003-006 ASIE 2005-003
10. Moved FINANCE COMMITTEE: Amend ASIE 1996-012 as follows: Change: 3. b. The allocation of funds to sub accounts within each Area of Responsibility may be adjusted by the responsible Budgetary Officer except for travel sub accounts or other sub accounts designated as frozen by the AMC. Exceptions may be approved only by the Executive Committee. to 3. b. The allocation of funds to sub accounts within each Area of Responsibility may be adjusted by the responsible Budgetary Officer except for the following: travel sub accounts or other sub accounts designated as frozen by the AMC may only be adjusted by transfers to or from the miscellaneous sub account. Exceptions to the above may be approved by the Executive Committee. {Secretary’s Note: See Attachment A for amended Appendix 20} ASIE 2005-004
11. Moved WERBA seconded VASILIAUSKAS that new inductees to the Mensa Hall of Fame shall be chosen by a judging panel comprising 11 members, including the Development Officer who shall chair the panel. Each RVC may nominate one member of the panel from his/her Region. Should an RVC fail to make such a nomination by the first-quarter AMC meeting, the Development Officer may either leave vacant representation from that Region or fill the vacancy himself/herself. Service on the judging panel shall end with the announcement of the year's induction list. This motion shall supersede ASIE 2002-176 14-Dec-2002. ASIE 2005-005
12. Moved Executive Committee that the following members be added to the Planning and Review Committee: Bakke, Beatty, Remine and Werba. ASIE 2005-006
13. Moved Communications Committee to adopt the following policy regarding the definition, administration, and requisition of Internet-based Communications Services: Internet-based Communications Services include elists, chat, threaded discussion groups and private newsgroups. Official services are defined as those that are officer-, committee- or program-based. These services will typically have a member administrator whose function it is to maintain a process of communication between the members of the communication service and to ensure that the content and or discussion follows the appropriate use policy defined for that particular service. Each will also have a National Office staff administrator (appointed by the Executive Director), responsible for verifying and maintaining membership and addressing technical and configuration issues. Services for regions, Local Groups, and Special Interest Groups will be provided upon request based on available resources and approval of the pertinent RVC, Local Secretary, or national SIGs Officer. Regions and groups will be responsible for maintaining these services once established, provided that they adhere to the Minimum Standards. Additional services based on member interests may be created upon request of individual members. These services will be approved by the Communications Officer or designee based on overall need, value to the membership and available resources. Each of these services will be required to adhere to the Minimum Standards. AML reserves the right to revoke services for violation of established Minimum Standards. It is expected that the administrators at the national, local group, and SIG levels will notify OnlineAbuse@americanmensa.org of any violations of the Minimum Standards so that steps can be taken to investigate the allegations and revoke service if appropriate. The Minimum Standards for AML Internet-based Communications Services are: 1) Services must comply with all relevant federal laws, plus applicable local and state laws, including regulations regarding copyrights, obscenity, marketing scams, etc. 2) Users may not post or distribute any confidential information or information that would infringe upon the proprietary, privacy, or personal rights of others. 3) Use of the Mensa name and logo must adhere to the current standard for Name and Logo Use. 4) The following disclaimer must be prominent for members agreeing to use these services. In the case of elists or newsgroups, this disclaimer should be posted at least quarterly: American Mensa, Ltd. accepts no responsibility for the opinions and information posted via its Internet-based communications services by its members or guests. Additionally, American Mensa is not liable for damages resulting from information transmitted via these services. 5) Opinions and information posted via chat, discussion boards or elists remain the property of the poster. Content from national or regional Web sites remains the property of the national organization and content from group Web sites remains the property of the pertinent group, unless otherwise noted. ASIE 2005-007
14. Moved Communications Committee to adopt the following policy regarding assignment of administration responsibilities for official Internet-based Communications Services: For all official Internet-based Communications Services, a Member Administrator will be designated by the Communications Officer with the input and guidance of the AMC; staff administrators will be assigned by the Executive Director and a list of those administrators will be made available wherever appropriate. Member Administrators will initially be designated by association or office as follows: List Name Officer Title (Staff Administrators to be assigned by ED)
AMC Executive Director & AMC Chair amc-announce Executive Director & AMC Chair amc-archive * amc-counsel Executive Director & AMC Chair AMLNewsFlash Communications Officer Areacoordinators Second Vice Chair Brightkids Gifted Children Program Coordinator ComComm Communications Officer Commserv Community Service Committee Chair Content Communications Officer Cqwrite CultureQuest Chair Editors Communications Officer editors-talk Communications Officer ElectionComm Election Committee Chair excomm Executive Director & AMC Chair Gcadmin Gifted Children Program Coordinator gcc-announce Gifted Children Program Coordinator gcc-talk Gifted Children Program Coordinator GCPteam Gifted Children Program Coordinator intelleventsComm-talk Intellectual Events Chair Leadershipdev Leadership Development Committee Chair LicensingComm Licensing Committee Chair Locsecs 1st Vice Chair Memcom Membership Officer Mindgames MindGames Chair MktComm Marketing Committee Chair mktgroup Marketing Committee Chair Monet Membership Officer NamelogoComm Name and Logo Committee Chair NomComm Nominating Committee Chair Ombuds Ombudsman Prcoordinators Marketing Committee Chair proctor-announce * proctor-talk * Researchreview Research Review Committee Chair Riskmgmt Executive Director & Risk Mgmt. Committee Chair SalnyawardCommittee Salny Award Committee Chairsigcoord-announce SIG Officer sigcoord-talk SIG Officer sight-announce SIGHT Coordinator sight-talk SIGHT Coordinator sigsadvisoryCommittee SIG Officer Sigteam SIG Officer Siteselection Site Selection Committee Chair webcontacts-announce Communications Officer Webmasters Communications Officer
ASIE 2004-008
Chair’s Note: This is the end of the Consent Agenda.
15. Moved BECKER seconded VASILIAUSKAS: That the Consent Agenda reports are received and motions 6 through 14 are approved. {Chair’s Note: This motion includes receiving the reports and adopting the motions in the consent agenda section as a block, with no discussion necessary. The Consent Agenda is intended to minimize the time required for handling non-controversial matters and permit additional time for decisions that require more discussion.} Approved 20-0.
16. Moved VASILIAUSKAS seconded BURG that the Minutes of the AMC meeting of December 4 are approved. Approved 18-0-2 (REMINE and TIMMERS abstained) ASIE 2005-009
17. REPORT: AML and MIL photo contest RAINEY RAINEY said that a number of judges have volunteered, rules for the contest have been circulated, and there have been no objections.
18. DISCUSSION: How should MensaWorld be delivered to AML officers? BEATTY BEATTY noted that MensaWorld it is distributed electronically to the Chairman of each country, where it is then printed and distributed. He would like to know the most effective way to provide it to all interested parties in the United States. He suggested including MensaWorld in InterLoc. MensaWorld is published four times a year. CRAWFORD said that, based on the size of the current issue, the cost to distribute 400 copies, four times a year, would be $1,200. If it were to be included in InterLoc, 2000 copies, the extra cost would be a little over $6,000. WERDELL said the publication will be available on the MIL website. He said he likes the format as it is, and it would have to be changed to make it fit into InterLoc. Donahoo said that hard copy will be furnished by the national office upon request of any member. {Secretary’s Note: The following motion appears as it was revised by mover and seconders before consideration of the motion} 19. Moved MCBEAN, seconded KUYPER and RAINEY that budgeted Regional Vice Chairmen funds be considered as a general pool. Ninety percent of this pool will be divided equally among the ten RVCs. The remaining ten percent shall be placed in an account called the RVC Reserve Pool. Disbursements from the Pool shall be directed by a simple majority vote of the ten RVCs. DISCUSSION: MCBEAN said she headed the RVC funding committee with KUYPER and WERBA; they could not come up with a new way of funding RVCs. One concern of RVCs was that at the end of the year, there is money left over from some RVCs budgeted discretionary funds and some RVCs are short of funds. What this motion attempts to do is allocate everyone the same amount; then if an RVC spends his budgeted amount, he only has to go to his peers instead of the Executive Committee to request more money. RAINEY said that this allows flexibility. WERDELL said he supports this motion; he said that we would still use the same formula to determine the total amount for the fund, considering number of groups, number of members, etc. There would be no budget impact. JACKOWSKI spoke against the motion. He said it should be divided up equally, and each RVC should be asked to better manage his/her budget. SEIGLER said more money is needed for RVC discretionary funds. WERDELL asked if we are giving RVCs good direction in how they should be spending that money. BEATTY said that when he was RVC, he believed it was expected that an RVC attend every RG in his/her region. REMINE said he is disturbed by the perception that the RVCs have to control the reserve pool We have an ExComm, four members of which have been RVCs. He does not see the problem with the ExComm continuing to approve funding for any officer for any jobs that need to be done. We are in this as a team. WILTERDING said to keep in mind this is merely a simple, voluntary reallocation of currently allocated funds. WILTERDING asked to call the question. Vote to call the question: Failed 13-6-1 (BAKKE, REMINE, WERBA, VASILIAUSKAS, BURG, and TIMMERS opposed, BECKER abstained) {Secretary’s Note: BAKKE noted that this needed 14 votes to pass} Discussion continued. KUYPER said that when the ExComm gets involved in disbursement of funds for RVCs, that is for an additional amount. This motion is concerned with the same amount that we started with in the first place and just disbursing it in a different way.
Vote on the motion: Approved 14-2-4 (JACKOWSKI and VASILIAUSKAS opposed; REMINE, BAKKE, BURG AND BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-010
20. Moved MCBEAN seconded KUYPER AND RAINEY that RVC funds remaining in the general pool at the end of the fiscal year be carried over to the next fiscal year. DISCUSSION: KUYPER said that with the equity given by the last motion, she is not as adamant in support of this motion. RAINEY said this is the eternal conflict between “use it or lose it” budgeting. WERDELL spoke against this motion, as it erodes the budgetary process that we have in place; there is no other item on the budget that rolls over from one year to the next, and this would set a dangerous precedent. He said that we have been reallocating leftover funds for the new budget and he would rather that the RVCs use the present procedure in place, which allows any budgetary officer to come before the Finance Committee and request funding in the next budget year. The committee would then look at it as any other budget item or request. BRUCE also spoke against this motion, pointing out that AML would not lose the money if the RVCs don’t spend it. Motion Failed 2-16-2 (RAINEY and MCBEAN in favor, KUYPER and BECKER abstained)
21. Moved Finance Committee that the proposed budget for FY 2005-2006 is adopted. The Budget is included in this Agenda as Attachment B. DISCUSSION: WERDELL thanked the Finance Committee, Pam Donahoo and National Office senior staff for an exemplary job. This year, discretionary funding was added for Executive Committee officers. Additionally, funding has been added for the appointed officers, to use as they wish, including travel. Although the break-even budget may appear surprising given the dues increase, there was a grace period before the dues increase went into effect, multiple-year dues plans will not contribute to the increase until later years and this is a big election year with costs of about $40,000. The five-year forecast shows that the next budget year should have about a $55,000 surplus. At this point, we are still migrating towards the self sufficiency we talked about five years ago, where increases in membership and investment income are sufficient to cover increases in normal expenses. BEATTY read an email from a member who expressed great concern about reducing InterLoc from ten issues to six per year. WERDELL said that the InterLoc budget was developed by the Finance Committee from input received from the Communications Officer; there was no intent on the part of the Finance Committee to establish InterLoc policy. WERDELL said that there is a total amount of $3,000 included in the funding for Executive Committee discretionary expenses; the ExComm will vote as to its distribution. RAINEY asked about the 18% reduction in the Gifted Children program. WERDELL said the budget for Gifted Children was the one requested by the GC Coordinator. She decided to reduce the request because she did not need the additional funding. There is a minor flaw in the five-year projection that actually reduces it year over year; there was no intent to do that. In normal procedures we would use next year's funding and project that over the next five years, unless we had some information to the contrary. WERBA reminded the AMC that the Finance Committee does not set policy; AMC sets the policy and the Finance Committee translates that policy. Approved 19-0-1 (BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-011
22. Moved WILTERDING seconded BURG: ASIE 2003-030 is rescinded. EXPLANATION: Although an admirable goal, execution of this ASIE has not proven to be practical or possible; this in spite of the best efforts of the RVCs and all others concerned. Approved: 19-0-1 (BECKER abstained) 2003-030 05-Jul-2003 That AMC adopt the following guidelines under which the Site Selection Committee shall operate in selecting sites for AGs.
A general announcement is made and any group who wants to bid on the other gatherings the following year is assigned National Office staff (and possibly volunteers) to help them prepare a good bid.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
23. GATHERINGS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Maria Sawczuk Maria Sawczuk was invited to the table for this discussion. Ms. Sawczuk has been an attorney for about twelve years, and is licensed in three states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware). She is the Local Secretary of Delaware Mensa. For two years she has been Corporate Counsel for Mensa. Her primary work in this position is to review contracts for gatherings. She emphasized that Mensa is not like other groups and most hotels are not familiar with Mensa. Hospitality is a big issue. Hotels are wary about allowing groups to bring in or cook food because of food safety, fire and health issues. Price (room rates, meeting room charges, etc.) is also a contract negotiation issue. Those are the kind of things she looks for and comments on when reviewing contracts, such as “Are you aware you are not to bring in hot food to hospitality?”, or “Can you meet the minimum attendee numbers?”, or “Are you aware that we aren’t getting any free rooms here?”. She urges groups planning a gathering to use her services. The National Office has her email address and she is glad to review a pending contract. She can usually turn it around in a day or two. She noted that she is here as a volunteer to provide a free service to the local groups. She also reviews contracts for the National Office, Site Selection Committee, and others. This is a resource that any local group can use before signing contracts, and she encouraged RVCs to get the word out that she is available. COONTZ said that Ms. Sawczuk will be speaking at the Annual Gathering at the Leadership Development Workshop. There will also be an article in InterLoc regarding the services offered by Ms. Sawczuk in reviewing contracts.
24. Moved Site Selection Committee: The following is adopted as the form Host Contract for AGs hosted by one or more local groups of American Mensa, replacing the current form Host Contract: [see Attachment C] EXPLANATION: All differences from the current form contract are marked in the attachment. Most of the changes are merely housekeeping; the only substantive change is that the proposed form contract explicitly addresses the situation in which two or more local groups jointly host an AG. DISCUSSION: SEIGLER expressed concern about subsection 4, where a 21-day turnaround on the contract the local group sends to the National Office is specified. He would like a 7- or 14-day turnaround. His second concern was that subsection 9 states that “the host group will repay the seed money 60 days prior to the start of …”. SEIGLER suggests we say “60 days after the start of …” . BRUCE said that a 21-day turnaround should be sufficient, as this is a year or more ahead of the event. Ms. Donahoo said that on the contract turnaround time, a 21-day turnaround is an outside limit; it does need thorough review, however, as it is a large contract involving what could be a $200,000 liability to the organization. The review rarely takes more than 10-12 days. On the second concern, Ms. Donahoo noted that for the last AG, there was $100,000 in the AG account 60 days before the AG, because that is when the bulk of the money is there. The idea is that since the $1,000 is seed money, it should be repaid first. BURG noted that both of SEIGLER’s points are unchanged from the current contract. WERDELL said the seed money is considered a loan and should be so treated. Approved 18-0-2 (SEIGLER and BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-012
25. Moved Site Selection Committee: The following is adopted as the form Host Contract for AGs hosted by one or more Special Interest Groups of American Mensa: [see Attachment D] EXPLANATION: This is mostly the same as the proposed form Host Contract for AGs hosted by local groups (see motion 19). The differences from that proposed form contract to this one are noted in the attachment. The only substantive difference between the two is in the area of AML having the right to withhold the local host's monthly check if the local host doesn't submit the final AG report on time; as SIGs do not receive monthly checks from AML, this clause is deleted in this proposed form contract.
DISCUSSION: Ms. Donahoo said that we have made Special Interest Groups a member benefit, and this contract treats them just like a Local Group, and gives them money back as a result of the Annual Gathering if they host it. We are now proposing a contract with an entity that is a very different entity than we’ve ever done contracts with before. BAKKE said we allow a profit to a local group for putting it on because of the large number of volunteer hours put into it; he has no problem with a SIG getting the same profit that a local group would get. MCBEAN questioned whether a SIG is a legal entity that can sign a contract; most SIGs don’t have treasuries. BECKER said the contract is signed by the chair of AMC. The concern is losses, not profit. Maria Sawczuk, when questioned, said what matters is the level of responsibility that the SIG may feel. A SIG can disband if the person who formed it quits. They are not then signed on the contract, so if the host SIG disbands (and can at the will of one member), that leaves the AMC with a contract with no corporate entity, no partnership. WERDELL said that it would tend to be a particular, fairly large group of people. Even if the leader of a large SIG leaves, there would be someone to replace him/her. It is the same thing with a Local Group or a consortium. BURG said it would be up to this body to award the AG; we would not award it to a SIG in which we did not have confidence. The Las Vegas bid was originally put together by a consortium of individuals. A model contract is better than not having anything in advance. SEIGLER said ultimately a SIG is simply a subdivision of American Mensa, and they can enter into any contract for which we give them authority; these contracts are subsequently binding on American Mensa. REMINE pointed out we are discussing in this motion a draft contract, not a specific contract which would be approved later in the process. RAINEY said he still could not support this motion if we are supporting a contract that is not enforceable; we should call this a “model contract”. BURG pointed out that this is a “form contract”, which is the same as a “model contract”. Ms. Sawczuk said as to whether the entity is bound to the contract or not is a little murky with a SIG as opposed to a consortium of individuals. These are, however, models, and the AMC just needs to realize that those issues exist. Approved 14-3-3 (RAINEY, MCBEAN and JACKOWSKI opposed; COONTZ, VASILIAUSKAS and BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-013
26. Moved Site Selection Committee: The following is adopted as the form Host Contract for AGs hosted by one or more consortiums of individuals: [see Attachment E] EXPLANATION: This is mostly the same as the proposed form Host Contract for AGs hosted by local groups (see motion 19). The differences from that proposed form contract to this one are noted in the attachment. The only substantive differences between the two are: (1) in the area of AML having the right to withhold the local host's monthly check if the local host doesn't submit the final AG report on time, consortiums of individuals do not receive monthly checks from AML, so this clause is deleted in this proposed form contract; and (2) in the area of profits and losses from the AG, AML receives all profits and is responsible for all losses, as anything else would seem to require payments to or from individuals. Approved: 14-3-3 (RAINEY, MCBEAN, SEIGLER opposed; COONTZ, VASILIAUSKAS and BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-014
27. PLANNING DAY UPDATES BECKER Six items that were considered the top priorities from the planning day in September were updated. Progress was reported as follows: 1. “Orphan” scholarships. TIMMERS said that all of the recent donations came with specific restrictions on them, geographic and/or educational. The “Orphan” program as conceptualized is contrary to this, as that would open it up to less restriction. One of the major factors that the local groups and the members want is the ability to put restrictions on where those scholarship funds are granted. There is substantial support for a new type of scholarship restricted to Mensa members and their dependents. This new program will hopefully be implemented for the 2005-2006 cycle, with applicants applying electronically from any location, and judged nationally. This can be handled under the existing system. The scholarship committee and the Foundation believe that the ultimate solution is to have all of our local groups participate in the national scholarship program. There is a secondary issue, which is some regulatory things coming to the forefront that are basically causing us to question whether there needs to be local registration with the states, under the charity laws. It is likely that the Mensa Foundation is going to have to be registered in every state. BAKKE asked TIMMERS about the present unequal treatment and if a regional method of judging could be established for judging “orphan” entries, to make more applicants eligible for the scholarships. TIMMERS said that by participating in the Foundation scholarship program, there is funding for the local group for some of their expenses, and incentive for the local groups to participate. Setting up regional judging would give the groups the opportunity to participate without having to do the judging. It would make it harder to find local judges for local judging panels. 2. Create a better formula for AMC funding. DONE 3. Deal w/risk management in a more systematic way: This is the next item on today’s agenda 4. National event bid process – DONE 5. Define the scope of national services: Contact Information; what services the National Office provides. This is in the AMC handbook and on the web site. 6. Restructure the AMC: potentially requiring a change in bylaws. BEATTY said there has been discussion between himself, REMINE and some other AMC members. A possible proposal is being discussed to reduce the AMC to an eleven-person board composed of the Chair, First Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Five Regional Vice Chairs, a Past Chair (to be selected from one of the four prior Chairs with approval of the board), the President of MERF or his representative as appointed by MERF. SEIGLER pointed out that MERF is a separate corporation and we need to protect not just MERF but AML; if boards interlock too much or there is too much control, the court would see this as not two organizations but one. BECKER said that the current situation is that the MERF chair or his designee is a voting member of this board, while the AMC Chair attends MERF meetings, represents, but does not vote. BEATTY said there is still a lot to discuss.
REPORT UPDATES
28. DISCUSSION: Risk Management Committee Chair John DiLiberto led a discussion reviewing what has been accomplished in this area so far this term and what remains to be done. Mr. DiLiberto said risk management involves identifying risk and working with others to manage that risk. There were 125 areas of risk originally identified in a fairly extensive document in a Risk Assessment report. Ten months after the 2003 Risk Assessment report, the top three area of risk were identified as: participation of minors at Mensa events, SIGs, and local groups as a broad function of Mensa, with subsets being the serving of alcohol, preparation of food, activities conducted by local groups, and issues of authority and control between local groups and AML. The result was that SIGs have been addressed satisfactorily, minors to some extent, and local groups in the area of food preparation and service. The committee also engaged in a review of our insurance program. In addition the committee has addressed on an ad hoc basis issues such as ride sharing and roommate matching. Mr. DiLiberto has written an article for InterLoc on risk management and will be speaking in a session at the AG. Mr. DiLiberto spoke specifically regarding ride sharing and roommate matching. He noted that Mensa is a fairly substantial organization with a high profile, assets, and insurance, which makes it a target. In a catastrophic event, deep pockets are sought. It is impossible to predict the probability of a lawsuit. If it only happens once in a generation, it would be significant. One solution is to avoid liability completely. Quite often, that is not a viable alternative. If a risk cannot be avoided, a way to manage it should be found. One way is to distance Mensa from liability to the farthest extent possible. Mensa can attempt to insulate itself by using waivers and disclaimers, but they are subject to local law, and might protect Mensa in one jurisdiction but not another. Disclosures (“we take no responsibility”, etc.) are another way to minimize risk. This may not have legal standing, but is a deterrent. A general message board for communications among members, without specifying what would be accomplished there, would distance Mensa from the risk. Mr. DiLiberto emphasized that the role of the Risk Management committee is to identify risk, quantify it to the extent possible, to suggest what management techniques might be employed, and then for this body to select among them. It was noted that the AMC passed an internet policy today saying that the content of chats belongs primarily to the people who post it, as long as they don’t violate Mensa’s name and logo rules. Mr. DiLiberto was asked if there is a difference in relation to risk between people finding each other on a chat room that happens to be hosted on the Mensa web site, as opposed to having some official person, connected with the event, make the match between the ride sharers or the room sharers. He said that to have a generic facility where people come together to communicate about a variety of things, with a disclaimer, is a favorable way to approach this. This is an emerging area of the law. It was noted that if Mensa actually does the matching, there is an expectation of some level of due diligence being performed on the part of Mensa (such as in ride sharing assuring that the driver is licensed and insured; in the case of roommate matching assuring that the person is not a convicted felon, has not been convicted of crimes of any kind, etc.). Various specific possible scenarios were brought up in a lengthy discussion. Mr. DiLiberto continued to emphasize that the closer Mensa is involved, the greater the liability.
{Secretary’s Note: The following motion is shown as revised prior to discussion by the mover and seconder, and as amended and voted on.} 29. Moved COONTZ seconded REMINE: Given the inability of American Mensa to ascertain the background and characteristics of any individual who might want to participate in activities such as carpooling or ridesharing or roommate matching, organizers of Mensa events shall not actively arrange such activities for their events. DISCUSSION: MCBEAN asked if we could be more general as to activities. BURG offered a friendly amendment to add “activities such as” after “participate”. This was accepted by the mover and seconder. BRUCE asked if we have gotten a dollar value on increasing insurance to cover this risk. Mr. DiLiberto said most likely we would have insurance coverage available for something that occurs along these lines, but if a claim does occur, future coverage would be questionable. Companies simply won’t want to write us as an entity because of claims history or activities. BRUCE said that other organizations, such as Boy Scouts, do this type of thing; what do groups such as that do? Ms. Donahoo noted that the Optimists sponsor a lot of ballgames around the country; they are charged $7.00 per member for liability insurance to cover those ball fields and liabilities thereof. REMINE said that just because other organizations want to take the risk, doesn’t mean Mensa should. VASILIAUSKAS asked the liability difference between roommate matching or a member harmed by someone they met responding to a BULLETIN “personals” ad. Ms. Donahoo said we have a clear disclaimer in the BULLETIN. In response to the question of the impacts of lawsuits on our ability to get insurance, Ms. Donahoo said that when we had lawsuits pending following the National Office move to Texas from New York, due to some staff problems, we were unable to get insurance that would allow us to hire staff until all of those suits were settled. SOPER asked if Mensa would be liable if an individual member starts a Ride Sharing SIG. Mr. DiLiberto said that if the reason the SIG exists is to arrange ride sharing, Mensa would be liable. SEIGLER said that we are now covered under our insurance policy; until there is an issue with coverage, he said we do not need to stop ride sharing. He said we are trying to stop activities that have not yet resulted in any liability; we are only talking about managing risk, and this risk for the moment is managed. Approved: 11-9-0 ASIE 2005-015 {Secretary's Note: It was announced at the meeting that the count, taken from a show of hands, was 10 in favor, 9 opposed. The Chair then exercised her option to vote and voted in favor of this motion. It was announced that the motion passed, 11-9-0. Several people around the table agreed with the count and there was no request for a roll call vote. Several days after the meeting, upon review of the written and recorded record of voting on this motion, a different count was found to be 10-10-0 as follows: Voting in favor were BAKKE, BURG, WERDELL, GORDON, JACKOWSKI, COONTZ, REMINE, WERBA, TIMMERS and BECKER . Opposed were CRAWFORD, RAINEY, KUYPER, BRUCE, WILTERDING, SEIGLER, SOPER, MCBEAN, VASILIAUSKAS and BEATTY. Because of this discrepancy, BECKER has directed that no action be taken to implement this motion until after the next AMC has a chance to review this policy.}
30. DISCUSSION: Mensa's agreement with the American Arbitration Association regarding hearings. REMINE Background: The recent hearing which involved the AAA was not conducted as expected. The AAA rules allow for counter charges and material non-related to the charge from the Hearing Committee to be introduced and are structured more to reach a "middle-of-the-road" agreement acceptable to both parties. I expect that out of this discussion one or two motions will arise, one being to reconsider the original action (rescind the agreement) or; two a motion to change the agreement to one more in line with Mensa's procedures. A proposed agreement is being worked on by the Hearings Committee and AAA at this time. {Secretary’s Note: This discussion item was moved to right after agenda Item 36; the motion arising from this discussion is reported there.}
31. DISCUSSION: New ballot format BEATTY Beatty distributed the new ballots to be used in the next Mensa national election. BEATTY reported that each region will receive its own ballot. If it is one of the regions which has an unopposed candidate, it will just say “elected” by the name of the elected person. This ballot is identical to the last ballot two years ago, with the exception that it now says “Written Consent Ballot” at the top and in the next section, and a signature is required. These are changes recommended by counsel, to comply with how a legal ballot in New York State (where we are incorporated) must be structured. If the ballot is not signed, the vote will not be counted. RVCs are encouraged to remind the members to sign their ballots.
32. DISCUSSION: Nominating Committee change recommendations. BEATTY BEATTY referred to the explanation below the following motion.
33. Moved BEATTY, seconded SEIGLER to modify the following ASIEs which relate to the Nominating Committee procedures. ASIE 1999-115a: No later than the deadline for the November Mensa Bulletin, in the year preceding nominations, the Nominating Committee chairman shall submit for publication an article detailing the structure and procedures of the Nominating Committee. This article shall include a request for representatives, and the procedure for submitting the potential representative’s name to the chairman. Change “November Mensa Bulletin” to “October Mensa Bulletin” ASIE 1999-115c: No later than the deadline for the last Mensa Change “December Mensa Bulletin” to “the last Mensa Bulletin before December 31” ASIE 1999-116b: No later than July 30 in the year preceding an election, all potential Nominating Committee candidates must have submitted a Candidate Information Form (CIF) to the Nominating Committee chairman, listing: the office for which s/he is running, background information, a brief campaign statement, and a signed statement affirming the candidate’s willingness to run for and serve in the office listed. Change “July 30” to “July 31” ASIE 1999-117a: No later than August 10 in the year preceding an election, the Nominating Committee chairman shall make available to all relevant Mensa-related communication channels the names of all Nominating Committee candidates and the offices sought. In the same article, the chairman shall request information regarding the candidates’ reputations and habits, as pertains to the office sought. Insert phrase: “except the Mensa Bulletin” after the word “channels”
ASIE 1999-118a: The Nominating Committee chairman shall attend the Annual Gathering, and conduct a meeting of the available Nominating Committee representatives to clarify the procedures and mission of the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee also shall, at this time, formulate a list of potential questions to ask of the candidates during the Meet the Candidates session. Drop the second sentence. Replace it with: “The Nominating Committee shall discuss prior to this meeting a list of potential questions to ask of the candidates during the Meet the Candidates session, and these questions will be distributed to all members before the meeting. This meeting should be open to the public but for their observation only, in order for the business of the meeting to be conducted in an orderly manner. Only members of the Nominating Committee or the candidate whose turn it is to speak will be permitted to speak during the meeting. The Chairperson should appoint a sergeant-at-arms and a parliamentarian to insure that the meeting is conducted correctly and without incident.” ASIE 1999-118b: The Nominating Committee chairman shall distribute a detailed written report of this session to all of the Nominating Committee representatives. Change to: “The Nominating Committee chairman shall provide a written summary of this session to all of the Nominating Committee representatives, using the most practical means available for distribution. A copy of this summary shall be filed with the National Office for further distribution as requested.”
ASIE 1999-119c: The Nominating Committee chairman shall distribute a detailed written report of this session to all the Nominating Committee representatives, and shall file a copy with the National Office for further distribution as requested. Drop. This has been combined with ASIE1999-118b. ASIE 1999-119b: The candidates will be given a period of time during which they may speak extemporaneously, followed by a brief question and answer period. ______________ Add: “Any candidates that are not present at the AG will be given an opportunity to answer the same questions.”
ASIE 1999-121a: A member of the Nominating Committee may be removed from the committee for gross violation of the rules of procedure adopted by the committee. In this event, the representative’s Local Group may choose to replace that representative with an agreed-upon alternate within fifteen (15) calendar days. Such removal shall require a two-thirds vote of the entire committee upon a complaint brought by any committee member, which vote shall be by written ballot mailed to and tabulated by the national ombudsman. Change last sentence to: “The chairman of the committee can remove a member from the committee with the majority consent of the committee members.” EXPLANATION: Based on the experience of the last Nominating Committee, these are modifications or corrections to the ASIEs relating to the Nominating Committee which will make the ASIEs more accurately reflect the actual functioning of the Nominating Committee. These were all recommended changes made by our Nominating Committee Chairman, Barbara “Stormie” Kullman.
Approved 19-0-1 (BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-016
34. Moved BEATTY, seconded unanimously, to thank and dismiss the Nominating Committee, with sincere appreciation for their fine efforts in successfully nominating an excellent set of candidates, and also for following through as a committee with recommendations for betterment of the procedure for the people that come after them. Approved by unanimous second.
NO REPORT RECEIVED 35. BECKER asked SEIGLER about follow-up on planned activities for the Mensa WorldConnect program. SEIGLER said he would do the follow-up. WERBA, for Mind Games®, noted that the entry fee for games was increased this year, which will be helpful to our budget. There are now 27 approved entries, which is 6 ahead of last year at the same time. WERBA recognized the Marketing Director’s efforts in securing Microsoft Search sponsorship. Mensa has also renegotiated the Workman contract (Dr. Salny’s books). We’ve also had great success with six columns appearing in the American Airlines magazine. A lot of work goes into licensing and all these things which impact our budget positively and help keep the dues down. There was a round of applause for Jim Blackmore, Marketing Director. WILTERDING, RVC 6, reported that last weekend there was a successful LDW in Houston hosted by Gulf Coast Mensa. REMINE, Past Past Chairman, said there was nothing of note to report. SEIGLER reported for the Community Service Committee that Vera Lawson is promoting community service right now in Birmingham; her projected program for Mensa groups to participate in nationally is “Make a Difference” day which comes up in October. This is a day where different organizations and people get together and pick what they want to do in their own community that makes a difference. SEIGLER, for Project Inkslinger: Today Michael Beetham was appointed Project Inkslinger Coordinator, and Michael is very well qualified and enthusiastic about this program. REMINE reported that there has been a Hearing held; the conduct and results will be discussed in closed session. The Ombudsman said that his report will be covered in closed session. WILTERDING for the Site Selection Committee said that its report will be covered later on this agenda. TIMMERS congratulated SOPER on the recent Colloquium. SOPER said there were about 140 attendees; it was opened to the public to register two weeks before the event. It was mentioned on National Public Radio, and on the University of Arizona e-list. As a result, about 31 non-Mensans attended. One recommendation that will be made to future Colloquiums is to set the dates for members to register; after that date, open registration should be available to the public at a higher fee. BECKER said there are now three different groups wishing to put on a colloquium. COONTZ pointed out that Borderline Mensa has approximately 71 members and they did an amazing job. SOPER mentioned the higher level of involvement of the National Office staff and said that without their help Borderline couldn’t have done it as well as they did. A full report will be completed soon, when all the figures are received.
URGENT ISSUES 36. DISCUSSION: AMC meeting schedule for 2006 WILTERDING WILTERDING said we currently we have a bid from Piedmont Area Mensa, South Carolina, for spring 2006, April 28-30. Last night at the committee meeting those dates were determined to be unacceptable due to budget constraints. A counterproposal is being sought for March 31-Apr 2 or March 24-26. A bid was for September 22-24 or October 13-15, 2006 was received from Rhode Island Mensa. WILTERDING noted that the AMC has not yet determined when it wants its meetings to be held in 2006, but that some change from the usual March-July-September-December schedule would be in order because of the World Gathering in August of that year.
{Secretary’s Note: The following motion appears as it was amended and voted on.} Moved BAKKE, seconded KUYPER, BRUCE and JACKOWSKI that the AMC express its desire to hold the 2006 meetings in March, August, October, and December/January. DISCUSSION: In the original motion, the dates were given as “the end of March, any time in June, at the AG2006 in August, and in November. BURG offered a friendly amendment to state the dates as “March, August, October, and December/January”. A straw poll was conducted and the majority of the AMC agreed with this change, which was then accepted by the mover and seconders. Approved 18-0-2 (BECKER and REMINE abstained) ASIE 2005-017
37. DISCUSSION: Recent Ad Hoc Funding requests ExComm Note: there will be a motion to go into closed session to discuss personal and legal matters. Moved REMINE, seconded unanimously (WILTERDING was out of the room) to go into closed session to discuss personal and legal matters. The Ombudsman and counsel were asked to remain. The AMC went into Executive Session at 2:50 p.m. At 5:00 p.m. the AMC came out of Executive Session. BECKER announced that the AMC met in closed session to discuss personal and legal issues. One motion came out of this meeting: Moved BAKKE seconded COONTZ: In the Policies and Rules Governing the Conduct of National Hearings, Rule 7 (B) is deleted. Rule 7 (A) is renumbered to Rule 7. Rules 12, 13, and 15 are amended to remove all references to an arbitrator. The motion was approved, with REMINE, BEATTY, WILTERDING AND BECKER wished to be recorded as abstaining. ASIE 2005-018
STRATEGIC ISSUES 38. DISCUSSION: AML Structure BECKER This was discussed in closed session.
39. DISCUSSION: Testing and Admissions DONAHOO Ms. Donahoo discussed critical issues regarding our testing program. She will give a similar presentation at the Annual Gathering in New Orleans.
40. DISCUSSION: Saturation of the Internet IQ market SOPER SOPER pointed out that the internet is saturated with offers of free so-called “IQ tests”. Mensa has a four-year membership drive coming up, and will need to have the proctors and testing in place. The Gifted Children Program has looked at the possibility of finding some way of qualifying (not testing) gifted children. MSN will have past questions from CultureQuest® on their search engine within 2 weeks. Mensa needs to gear up and be ready for an influx of prospects from this. Ms. Donahoo noted that when you type “Mensa” into Google, Mensa pops up at the top spot. The rest of our online advertising at this point is for National Testing Day. SOPER said AMC should consider whether Mensa wants to have any sort of affiliation with any of the other High IQ sites.
41. DISCUSSION: Bylaw Amendments (AML & MIL) BECKER, BAKKE, and BURG BAKKE said that there are six proposed Bylaw amendments to American Mensa’s bylaws on the AML ballot in the upcoming election. Most are minor and deal with date changes in the election process. One would allow us to have the 2006 Annual Business Meeting (ABM) at the Orlando World Gathering. One goes along with that which says the new AMC will take office on July 1, instead of after the ABM. If the ABM amendment doesn’t pass, we can’t have the ABM at the AG in World Gathering in Orlando. We could have one in late June in Arlington, Texas, open it and immediately recess to the August AG. The other option is to have the ABM in late June in Arlington and have a summary given at the AG in Orlando. BURG spoke about the international proposed amendments regarding the new constitution of Mensa. There have been articles in the February and March issues of the International Journal (IJ) and in the February edition of InterLoc. Question 1 is mainly regarding important housekeeping items; it defines Mensa International, Ltd. (MIL) as a corporate affiliate of Mensa, it cleans up some terminology where we were using one term to mean two different things; it adopts some recommendations from the International Election Committee regarding dates. At the international level, there would be questions to candidates, such as we have in American Mensa. The IBD passed 26 motions regarding proposed amendments, and almost all of that material is in Question 1. Any items that were controversial are in Questions 2-5. The Constitution Committee, of which BURG is a member, strongly recommends passage of Question 1. Questions 2 through 5 are a little different; each is a proposal in a specific area. Question 2 is to add a new class of membership known as Guest Memberships. Question 3 has to do with international officers having an experience requirement of service on the IBD. Question 4 has to do with who sets the election rules. Question 5 has to do with creating a new international officer position to represent smaller national Mensas. Ms. Donahoo added that Question 1 includes expansion of the rule that now requires every ballot to be via mail ballot, and opens the door to more efficient voting procedures via electronic voting.
GOOD AND WELFARE (Matters Arising)
42. Moved BAKKE seconded unanimously that the AMC extends its concern and best wishes for speedy recovery to Steve Slepner and Dick Hodgson. Approved by unanimous second.
43. Moved WILTERDING, seconded BURG that ASIE 1999-100 is amended by adding the words “and from SIGs” after “from local groups” in the third sentence of part A. EXPLANATION: We currently have an ASIE on the books that talks about the timing of AG bids. This adds the words “and from SIGs” since we just accepted a model contract for SIG hosts. Approved 18-1-1 (JACKOWSKI opposed; BECKER abstained) ASIE 2005-019
44. WILTERDING said he just heard from Piedmont Area Mensa, and they have agreed to host the AMC March 24-26, 2006 or March 31 – April 2, as the AMC wishes. BAKKE pointed out that the second date flops into the next fiscal quarter. A straw poll indicated that the AMC preferred the dates of March 24-26, 2006.
45. Moved BRUCE, seconded unanimously, to thank Rajean “Red” Bellamy and Sky Wavrek for doing the hospitality and pulling this together, along with Jeff Wolfe, LocSec of Columbus Area Mensa. Approved by unanimous second. COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD REMINE thanked the board for granting to him the honor of receiving the Margot award. He said it has been a pleasure to serve with on this AMC. He said it is hard after 30+ years of service to this organization not to develop a parental attitude about the “child” he has served. He asked the AMC to please take good care of Mensa. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE Maggie Truelove noted that the 2006 World Gathering is hosted by American Mensa, not by Region 10. She asked members with good speakers in mind to get in touch with her. She would like speakers from all over the country and the world. Volunteers are needed for hospitality, security, and many other positions. Jeff Wolfe thanked the AMC for coming to Columbus and invited everyone to attend the Columbus RG. ADJOURNMENT Moved unanimously to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. |
|