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Minutes of June 17, 1999 Annual Business Meeting Followed by Minutes of the regular Board Meeting President Sandra Loebs called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.. A motion was made, seconded and approved to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the Annual Business meeting of June 1998. Sandra gave a brief overview of the President’s Report to the Society ( copies of the annual report to Chapter Members were distributed at each table). She stated that she believes that we are in contention for the Society’s President’s Award. Sandra briefly covered the Treasurer report emphasizing that we have $38,000 in reserve but that we still have some bills to pay. Next year the reserve will be brought down when we award some scholarships. Sandra recognized the following members for their contribution during the past year: Josephine Battisti, Lilly Cowan, Cynthnia Gantz, Clint Gillespie, Larry Gross, Jim Jones, Anne Kopanski, Rick Lee, Kristin McCuen, Christina McGarrigle, Pete Palestina, Maria Perez-Freeman, Rich Ventura, Mary Ann Ryan, Val Ullman-Katz, Rina Williams and Cindy Wolkiewicz. The Chapter President’s Award was given to the New Designee Committee consisting of Lilly Cowan, Mary Ann Ryan, Cristen McCuen and Christina McGarrigle. Sandra introduced Don Dudey, Society National Director, for the presentation and swearing in of the new officers and directors. Don took a few minutes to explain the Society’s realignment that will take place after the Boston convention. In October Regional Directors will be replaced by a Regional Governor and that Pat Whippel will be our new Regional Governor. Don introduced the new officers: Peter Palestina, President; Valerie Ullman-Katz 1st Vice President; Ann Myhr, 2nd Vice President; Clint Gillespie, Secretary; Rick Lee, Treasurer; and the following directors Arthur Hanebury, Cindy Wolkiewicz, James Jones, Josephine Battisti, Kathleen Frenzel, and Rina Williams. All of the new officers were sworn in. Sandra Loebs was introduced Ex-Offico Past President. Sandra passed the Gavel to Pete. After the gavel was passed new President Palestina mentioned that Sandra was the first President since 1953 to have become a chapter President after having served only four years as a Board member and congratulated her for a job well done, especially with the role she played in getting the new designees involved. Pete’s theme for next year is "We have got to get back to the basics". Technology is great but we must not loose sight of the fact that we are a service industry and need to maintain that personal people touch and communication. On the agenda for the next years meetings are: In September a panel of insurance company CEO’s or Presidents will present a "View From the Top; In October a "View From the Middle" by a panel of agents and brokers and in November we will get a "View From the Bottom" (our Customers for want of a better term). Pete adjourned the Business Meeting at 9:45. Please note that the October meeting is in conflict with the Annual Meeting in Boston and will be scheduled for later in that month.
In attendance: Officer and Directors: Jo Battisti, Pete Palestina, Sandra Loebs, Val Ullman-Katz, Rina Williams, and Jim Jones. Others: Art Hanebury, Kathleen Frenzel, Ann Myhr and Clint Gillespie (incoming Directors & Officers), Lilly Cowan, Mary Ann Ryan and Terry Macko. The meeting was called to order by president Sandra Loebs at 10:05 A.M. Sandra asked that we suspend the normal business procedures since we had a guest at our meeting and wanted her to be first on the agenda. This was approved by the board. Sandra introduced Terri Macko, President of the Insurance Society of Philadelphia (ISOP) for the purpose of discussing a letter sent to our chapter regarding the costs involved in the preparation of Philly I-Day. Terri advised expenses for management of I-Day are being absorbed by ISOP and that her Board of Directors has requested us and the Independent Agent’s Association to share in those expenses. She stated the $5,000 would be for a management fee of I-Day for ISOP or other outside sources. Val stated that all services that ISOP performs should be reimbursed. But she has serious concerns about some member services being paid for while others are not. She feels this could create problems with the volunteers. Pete reviewed ISOP’s letter to him dated May 24th pointing out the event coordinator would continue to expense $3,200 in addition to the new proposed $5,000 item in question. He stated that Rick Lee is opposed to the cost and feels that we can handle the I-Day event on our own for less money. He also shared with the board some costs/profits from past I-Day events when the chapter had control. In particular he went over the years from 1977-79. This brought up a round table discussion with Art stating "If it pays for itself - then it is worth doing. The general feeling was that maybe we ought to postpone further discussion until Pete had an opportunity to further discuss with the Independent Agent’s. Val was concerned with the time frames involved and wants us to do something now for 1999 and move to appointing a committee for the 2000 event. Pete put a motion on the table: "We agree, for this coming I-Day only, to compensate ISOP to a maximum management fee up to, but not to exceed, $5,000 per the letter of May 24th, subject to the ratification of the other parties involved. This fee is only to be paid to the extent that there are profits available after all other expenses are deducted (i.e. $1,000 available – ISOP recoups $1,000, $5,000 available – ISOP recoups $5,000)". After a lengthy discussion the motion was seconded and approved. The date for this "I" day is December 8th. A copy of the Treasurer’s Report was given out along with a letter from IRS stating they were not going to charge us with a late filing fee. A motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s Report, seconded and approved. Copies of the minutes of the May board meeting were passed out and a motion was made, seconded and passed, to approve the May minutes. A discussion was held regarding minutes from previous months. Sandra went over ISOP awards banquet on June 23rd and the Satellite Broadcast on June 10th. She noted that we had 19 attendee’s and thanked Lilly Cowan for her assistance. She also thanked Val for submitting the Candidate Development awards. Rina Williams wants to know how we handle mailings to people outside our area. Sandra proposed adding an adjunct mailing list. There was no further discussion on this subject. Pete passed out copies of the following documents:
Pete went over the Organization Chart and what was expected from the various committees and board members. He asked the board to review the drafts and structure and submit comments or corrections. A discussion was held on the season tickets (breakfast meeting) and the cost of the individual tickets. It was felt that the hotel may be raising their prices. However, the view of the board was to leave the prices where they are. Open Item: The October meeting date conflicts with the Annual Meeting and may need to be reset. A motion was made, seconded and approved to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m. by Sandra. |
