Attending: Lee Gilmore, Steve Szablewski, Martha Perego, Kenny Howard, Julian Jackson, Isaiah Hugley, Jean Lord, Scot Wrighton, Janice Eidson, Steve Durden, Judy Kelley, Dave Wills and Paul Radford for first portion.
President Isaiah Hugley called the meeting to order and asked everyone to introduce themselves. President Hugley then asked if anyone had any additions to add to the agenda. With none being stated, President Hugley asked that the minutes from the November 12th meeting be reviewed and approved. Kenny Howard made a motion to accept and Julian Jackson seconded the motion and the Board unanimously approved the minutes of the November meeting.
Judy Kelley was asked to present the 2008-2009 financial statement and the 2009-2010 budget. Since this was the first financial statement prepared by GMA, there were a number of questions and clarifications. The Board requested that the scholarship budget be reduced to $4500 and that a separate line item be added for the internship program. The internship line item should show zero with a footnote that any funds left in the scholarship fund at the end of the fiscal year will be transferred to this line item. A $2000 Professional Services fee was also requested to make the payment to the attorney working on the 501c3 status for GCCMA. The Board also requested that the Professional Services Contract with GMA be a separate line item from the operating and administrative fees. Judy then requested that the Board consider changing the fiscal year to the calendar year, since the 501c3 status will require and annual audit and by changing the fiscal year to match GMA’s, the auditing fee could be much lower if done as part of the GMA audit process. Steve Szablewski made a motion to accept the Financial statement and proposed budget as amended and Lee Gilmore seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Lee Gilmore made a motion to notify the membership about the proposed change of fiscal year and that a vote be taken at the Fall meeting. Kenny Howard seconded and the Board approved unanimously.
Lee Gilmore requested a list of membership numbers for the past several years. GMA agreed to work with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to provide those numbers. Lee’s concern is that membership seems to be dropping. Janice Eidson asked if it was okay to send a blast email to all managers as a pre dues billing promotion. Board members agreed that this should be done. Lee then asked if GMA could send a list of non-members and slow payers to each district officer for followup. Janice agreed to provide this list.
Scot Wrighton provided a report on the Training and Conference Services Agreement. Lee Gilmore stated that he had reviewed and approved the agreement. Kenny Howard made a motion to accept the agreement and Lee Gilmore seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
President Hugley asked Martha Perego from ICMA to outline the ICMA Ethics Program. Martha also provided the Ethics procedures for two other state managers association. She told that group that they will handle any ethics complaints on any Georgia manager that is also a member of ICMA. The Board agreed that they also wanted a state program to address those complaints of non ICMA members. Martha made three suggestions: Look into Liability coverage for the Ethics committee, come up with a set of rules and decide who will manage the program. She stressed the need for all information on a complaint to be kept strictly confidential. Isaiah asked Janice Eidson if she could check on the Error and Omissions Liability coverage through GMA. Janice Eidson agreed to request info and also suggested that the group submit an application to become a GMA Certified Organization of Ethics. Lee Gilmore made a motion to submit for the GMA Certified Organization of Ethics and Julian Jackson seconded. Steve Szablewski requested that the Board also look into presenting to ACCG, if they had a similar Ethics program. Dave Wills reported that, at this time, they do not. Isaiah requested that Lee Gilmore put together a committee to continue work on this project.
Steve Szablewski presented the nominating committee report, nominating Alan Ours as the new Secretary/Treasurer and Stan Kelley of Lumpkin County as the new District Director for the Northwest Region. Steve presented the information in the form of a motion and Lee Gilmore seconded. The slate of officers was unanimously approved.
Kenny Howard presented the report on the scholarship committee on Joe Mosley’s behalf. The scholarship recommended two scholarships in the amount of $1500 to Terrence James and Emily Newkirk. One was a student at Valdosta State and one at the University of Georgia. Lee Gilmore made a motion to accept the recommendation and Steve Szablewski seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Kenny advised that the committee also wanted to consider adding an essay component to the application form. Isaiah asked that the scholarship committee make the decision on this and move forward.
Scot Wrighton then requested that the officers stay following the meeting to go over their presiding duties each day. He also announced that he is leaving the University of Georgia at the end of March to go to India.
Jean Lord announced that there were two options for the Spring meeting, March 24-26 at the Classic Center or March 17-19 at the Georgia Center. Jean stated that there were some space challenges at the Classic Center and the board agreed to ask the membership about a move back to the Georgia Center. Isaiah also stated that he would like for them to consider moving the spring meeting out of Athens to other cities, as they do the fall meeting.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.