OPEG Meeting Minutes

OPEG Board of Trustees Meeting, October 1, 2004, 10:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Maryhaven, Columbus, Ohio

Present: Steve Albanese, Tim Champney, Mina Chang, Debbie Crawford, Robin Fenn, Sandy Lock, Jennie Nickel

Absent: Rosemary Chaudry, Bob Fine, Rob Fischer

Minutes of the 8/6/04 Board of Trustees meeting and minutes of the 6/4/04 General Membership Meeting of the Evaluators Exchange submitted by Rosemary were approved without revision.

Treasurer’s Report: Sandy provided the end-of-year Treasurer’s Report, noting that our 8/31 checking account balance was $3,387.90 and our 8/31 CD balance was $6,869.70. A total of $9,417 was generated in revenues and $6,387 in expenses was incurred, yielding a net profit for the year of $3,030. Sandy noted that, because revenues had exceeded $5,000, submission of a IRS Form 990 to the Ohio Department of Taxation will be required. Steve noted that OPEG generated a 50% profit during the last fiscal year, allowing safety funds to be replenished to the desired level to provide a risk shelter for activities such as paying to obtain out-of-state speakers at OPEG events.

Sandy also presented a preliminary budget for the fiscal year 9/1/04 – 8/31/05. Only one event was included in this budget. Steve requested revision of the preliminary budget to separate the annual budget from the budget for two planned events. The revised draft is to be reviewed at the next Board meeting. Because the decision by the Cleveland Foundation on co-sponsorship of the November Evaluation Basics Workshop had not yet been received (reported later in the afternoon as denied), the Board voted that the budget for this event could include a loss capped at $500. Tim and Sandy will work together on the budget for the November event.

Tim proposed acceptance of the Treasurer’s Report, with the motion seconded by Debby and approved by unanimous vote of the Board. Appreciation was expressed to Sandy for her excellent work in monitoring OPEG’s finances.

Steve noted that a periodic financial review is required for the organization. Steve and Mina plan to review the financial books immediately after the next Board meeting.

American Evaluation Association. Tim received an AEA survey for affiliate members in September and completed the survey with review and comments from other Board members. Tim and Rob plan to attend the AEA annual conference November 3-6, 2004, in Atlanta. Tim will take membership and workshop brochures to display at the affiliate table. Tim requested that Sandy send an electronic copy of the membership brochure to him. AEA is developing a Technical Assistance Toolbox for use by new affiliate groups. Ohio contributed a ‘To Do’ list for planning and conducting conferences to the Toolbox.

Membership Committee. Debbie and Sandy reported that current membership stands at 115 individuals. Tim proposed a membership goal to beat Michigan’s enrollment of 135 members. The Board agreed to seek to enroll 140 members by January 1, 2005. A range of possible initiatives of submitting press releases and announcements to related organizations with e-mail lists was discussed (e.g., Ohio Association of Non-Profit Organizations, Ohio Public Health Association Newsletter), with all Board members charged to seek to work to meet the membership goal. Debbie will develop and maintain lists of contacts, articles, and available mailing lists.

Sandy noted that 5 of the 8 November workshop registrations received to date were non-members paying the $105 total and not all had checked the box indicating their wish to be considered a member. After much discussion of how to consider the membership of these individuals, Tim suggested that a ‘non-member’ indicator be added to the membership spreadsheet so that these individuals not checking the membership box could continue to receive mailings but would not be listed in the membership directory. Debbie pointed out that they would receive mailings without this; we will restrict the membership spreadsheet to persons who are current or recent past members.

Individuals joining OPEG at the November workshop will be enrolled as members for the 2005 calendar year. The January 2005 directory will add the new members joining at the November workshop. The directory will be sent by e-mail, with hard-copy mailings to members without e-mail addresses.

Website. Current e-mails to members are sent through Jennie’s home e-mail. The Board requested that Rosemary check with Randall about e-mailing communications to members through the OPEG.ORG domain name and extension. Also, the question of ownership of our current Website should be explored in case a different web master should some day be required.

Updates are needed for some sections of the website. The site currently includes

• Hot Items – the November conference brochure
• Board Members – still need to add a couple of pictures and information for some members. Board members should send information to Rosemary.
• Employment Section – a link to the AEA Job Bank has been added. This site lists various evaluation positions throughout the U.S. and the AEA plans to add search capabilities in January 2005 to limit searches to specific states. Members can submit resumes through this site.
• Consultant Section – This links to a new AEA site where AEA members can list themselves as consultants. They must have a website address. Tim is listing himself on this site and received the support of the Board on this, with no evidence of conflict of interest identified by Board members.
• Because of the requirement for a website address for the consultant listing, the possibility of OPEG’s allowing the construction of mini-websites for OPEG members as extensions of the OPEG website was discussed. Issues of endorsing and vetting caused some concerns and further discussion was deferred until the next meeting. In the meantime, the Board requested that Rosemary and Randall check into information related to this possibility.

Program Committee. Tim reported that the November workshop presenters had participated in a conference call in late September with presenters from all four sessions represented. A ‘to do’ list emanating from this conference was shared with the Board by e-mail following this meeting. Sandy will handle the badges and registration. Tim will e-mail Board members if additional assistance is needed.

Back-up plans for the November conference were discussed in case the Cleveland Foundation did not approve the grant for co-sponsorship submitted by Rob and Tim. There was concern by the Foundation about the conference site being in Columbus rather than in the Cleveland area. Tim will do a ‘low-cost’ budget in case funding does not come through (funding reported after the meeting as denied). The costs of the social hour were discussed by the Board and approval granted for a budget incorporating a $500 loss (maximum) as discussed earlier in the Treasurer’s Report.

Board members expressed appreciation to Rob and Tim for their work in writing and submitting the grant proposal to the Columbus Foundation.

Mina suggested that a laptop computer be set up at the social hour with connection to the OPEG website so that members could explore this site. Debbie requested a ‘debriefing’ session following the November Workshop so that plans for subsequent workshops can be based on what is learned. Tim noted that the social hour was added in response to member requests received at the earlier workshop.

Debbie shared information on a free CDC publication on evaluation that she and her co-presenters plan to distribute to all members in their session. The publication is titled

‘Guide to Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Prevention of Work Injuries’

(NIOSH Publication 2001-119) and is available by phoning 1-800-356-4674.

Jennie is to send out an e-mail reminder regarding the November Workshop, including also information about the website enhancements and the job position recently distributed by Mina.

Scheduled Meetings.

The Spring Exchange date was set for May 20, 2005 (first choice) or June 10, 2005 (second choice). Tim will explore alternative sites for this exchange.

The next OPEG Board of Trustees meeting was set for Friday, October 29^th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, at Maryhaven, Columbus.

Minutes submitted by Jennie Nickel