Board Meeting Minutes

August 27, 2002

TIME: 11:30 A.M.
PLACE: Cooley Godward LLP, University City
PRESENT: Tracey Pardo, President; Sushila Selness, Vice-President; Sheila
Corman, Secretary; Owen Smith, Treasurer; Mary Garcia, Past
President

The meeting was called to order at 11:35 A.M.

Treasurer's Report
Owen Smith presented the Treasurer's Report. The current balance is $11,844.47. He said that the amount has steadily grown since he took office and asked if we should think of putting at least some of the money in an interest bearing account.

The Board discussed this and decided that Owen should explore this further and report back to the Board at its next meeting.

Membership renewals are due by August 31st. So far, 37 people have paid and 59 have not yet renewed. It was decided that Owen should send an e-mail reminder to all members reminding them to pay their dues. Owen will create a spreadsheet of people who haven't renewed, so they can be contacted. He will also talk to Carol Hyne to have a reminder on the Web Site.

Town Hall Meeting Results

Sushila provided the Board with a synopsis of the discussion at the Town Hall meeting held on August 8, 2002.

The first discussion was about the potential revisions of the By-Laws. Mary Garcia said the issue of who may run for office was a time-critical issue to address because if there is to be a change in the by-laws regarding that issue, it needs to be voted upon by the membership in time to help the Nominations Committee who begins its work in February. Sushila suggested having the By-Laws Committee head, Amy Hale Janeke, create a time line with when things need to be done. A brief review indicated that the by-law on who may run for office needs to be voted on by the membership in late November and needs to be sent to the Board Secretary by September 19th, for timely notification to the membership. Sheila said she would talk to Amy to let her know about the time line for the by-law revisions.

The second topic to be discussed was whether or not to try to have an AALL Annual Meeting in San Diego. Sushila said we put in an application when we became a chapter. She will check with Margaret McDonald to see if there is a copy of the application in the Archives. Mary Garcia said that Hawaii is a contender for the meeting, but there is a concern about attendance at that location by AALL because of the distance. Sushila suggested we ask John Adkins to chair a committee to explore and put together our application to be the site for 2008 annual meeting as well as a PR package for the San Diego site.

The subject of workshops and having members to outreach to non-law librarians and raise our profile in the community was discussed next. This is something that needs to be explored and would begin next fall. Further discussion will follow in the coming months.

The Chapter's reserve was the next topic of discussion. The Board thought that $10,000 was a good amount for a reserve, but should be something that we work toward. Tracey suggested putting some away now and adding to it each year for the next few years until we reach our goal. The Board decided to create the reserve in this manner and that after the reserve is reached, it should be possible to fund more grants. This past year, not all the grants budgeted for were given because of lack of applications.

The subject of a dues increase was talked about and the Board voted unanimously not to increase the dues.

The Board decided to have another Town Hall meeting to discuss Long-Range Planning later in the year if it is needed.

Joint Institute

Tracey will forward the information to Sushila that she has received from other chapters. Representatives from the three chapters are planning a site visit and the Board voted to fund Sushila's participation as part of the committee. They are still deciding on a theme and subject for the Institute.

Brown Bag Lunches

Sushila said she has the fall schedule in place. The lunches are as follows:
September 10th - Disaster preparedness
October -- Getting organized
November 8th -- Estate planning
December -- Holiday party

Other programs for the spring include Technical Services, International Resources, Medical resources, the Spring social and vendor showcase.

Sushila asked about funding for the October meeting since the presenters will charge a fee. The Board voted to fund the October meeting and that this could be done once a year, but not on a regular basis.

The Board also discussed opening up the October meeting to non-members and charging $10. The Board approved that suggestion.

Sushila also discussed whether or not to have meetings with MCLE credit. Sheila said since this involves approval from the State Bar to be an approved provider, we should hold off for the time being. The Board agreed and the idea was tabled.

Sushila brought up the idea of having a silent auction as part of the Spring Social. Members would donate items either bought, home-cooked or hand-made. The proceeds would fund grants to future Institutes and workshops. The Board asked her to proceed with the idea and report back to them

Letter to the Governor

Tracey shared with the Board the letter she had sent to the Governor in support of a veto of AB 2648. The Board had approved the sending of that letter earlier.

The next board meeting will be held at the San Diego County Public Law Library on September 19, 2002 at noon.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Corman
SANDALL Secretary