Present: Allen, Bennett, Covelli, Hunjadi, McCarrier, Meeker, Schilder, TeStroete, Teale, Merrill, Werner
Called to order by President Meeker at 12:07 PM.
Motion by TeStroete second by Werner to approve the January 2004 minutes as written. All in favor. None opposed. Motion carried.
President: Nothing
Vice President: Nothing
Secretary/Treasurer: Nothing
Executive Director: Hunjadi talked about the need to again examine how WEMSA is doing business. The membership is over 6,000 but we are still using the same methods and part-time employees to handle twice the amount of members. Hunjadi will expand on this issue later in the meeting but wanted to make the board aware of the need to potentially hire an additional full-time employee. Hunjadi asked board members for their opinion on membership cards. The existing supply of blank cards has nearly been depleted. He has investigated moving to a credit-type membership card which would require the purchase of a special printer to imprint member information. Board members felt that most members do not utilize the card and unless WEMSA could make use of the magnetic strip on a credit-type card, there was little reason to spend over $6,000 to move to such a system. Hunjadi will re-order the existing card type. The WEMSA digital camera is now more than six years old. Due to relatively low resolution it cannot be used for magazine covers or other larger shots. A brand new 8 mega pixel digital camera has been released by both Cannon and Nikon for $999. Hunjadi recommends we replace our camera with one of these models. Motion by Bennett second by McCarrier to purchase the digital camera for a cost not to exceed $1,000. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried.
Sales and Public Relations Director: Covelli reported that 12 new services have joined since the first of the year. Lake Country Fire Department and Cambridge Area EMS have expired with Lake Country unlikely to renew their membership. Group buying medical supplies are up for renewal. Some discussion ensued regarding the continued service problems from Matrx Medical. Joe is putting the medical supplies out to bid and will have them completed by the time the existing contracts expire. Covelli reported on the WEMSA booth held at the State Firefighter’s conference in Stevens Point. Approximately 350 people attended this event including many of the exhibitors that were at the WEMSA conference. He did sell several new magazine ads while at the conference, otherwise traffic was very slow. The State Fire Chief’s Association was not able to vote on exploring potential opportunities to work with WEMSA at their last meeting due to the lack of a quorum. They will take up the issue again at their next meeting.
Conference: Hunjadi provided Board members with data obtained from the January conference. He reports that JEMS had less people attend their conference than at Working Together which makes WEMSA the 3rd largest EMS conference in the United States based on attendance. Speaker rankings showed that Ken Bouiver, Mike Smith, Tim Sendelbach and the Human Cadaver Dissection were the most popular speakers/classes. Meeker outlined some of the changes being proposed for the 2005 conference. They included expanding the exhibit hall hours, keeping the skywalk system open longer, having at least one function take place at the Hyatt Hotel and potentially making changes to the Friday Night entertainment. Board members were asked what changes they believe should occur to improve the quality of the conference. Motion that a proposal be made for reimbursement for Board Members who go beyond basic responsibilities for the conference. All in Favor None Opposed. Motion Carried.
OLD BUSINESS
Association Cruise Update: Hunjadi reports that we have sold out of our initial block of 200 cabins and have obtained 50 more but at an increase of $50 per person. Pre-Cruise packages should be available by the next board meeting. The ship has set sail and over 200 photos are linked to the WEMSA web site.
Meeting with PFFW: Meeker, Schilder and Hunjadi reported on the meeting that recently took place with the board of Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin. They described the meeting cordial. They believe there is great misunderstanding within the PFFW board of what WEMSA is about, exists to accomplish and motives. Their board members clearly expressed frustration with WEMSA changing the single paramedic staffing requirements for existing (non-grandfathered) services. Despite this issue, both organizations did see common ground. No further contact has been initiated since the meeting, but it did end on a positive note so continued communication is hopeful.
Project USEMSA: Christian Callsen Austin-Travis County EMS was brought into the meeting via telephone conference call to discuss the efforts currently underway nationally to create a federal EMS administration. Callsen provided information on the plans, who is behind them and where they are at to date. Board members had the opportunity to ask questions. The telephone call with Callsen was then completed. Motion by Teale second by McCarrier, to support the concept of an independent, non-allied, federal agency charged with the support both financial and otherwise of EMS in the United States. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
Future Service of the Year Awards: Nine months ago the board discussed the potential to discontinue the annual awards process due to a lack of participation from EMS organizations, particularly in the full-time/career category. Several initiatives were completed in an attempt to increase participation for the 2004 awards. Unfortunately, less than a total of ten services participated in the awards. The concern continues that WEMSA is potentially not truly naming the best services in Wisconsin – only the best of those who have taken the time to apply for the award. Further concern lies with the potential to have to present an award to a service solely because they took the time to apply while other services did not. Motion by Werner second by Schilder to discontinue the EMS Service of the Year Awards due to the continued lack of response and participation in the awards. 8 in favor 2 opposed. Motion carried.
Association Medical Director: Currently only two candidates communicated their interest in becoming the next WEMSA Medical Director/Advisor. The Executive Board has concern that we have not done a good enough job informing potential candidates of this opening. Consensus of the board is to re-send the materials and solicit a larger pool of candidates to chose from and complete the selection at the July meeting.
Board of Directors Election: At the January meeting a lengthy discussion was held regarding the application of a candidate for the board of directors that would create more than three members from the same organization, in this case a teaching institution, which is prohibited by current bylaws. Following several contacts with the candidate, he has decided to withdraw his application – not due to the potential conflict but for other personal reasons that he asked not be disclosed at this time. He indicated he should have these issues resolved by this fall and may again seek election at that time. Meeker and TeStroete have been re-elected for three year terms. Two open positions remain on the board. Two members have communicated their interest in being appointed. Hunjadi will solicit additional candidates in the May-June edition of EMS Professionals. The board hopes to appoint two members to fill the unexpired terms and return the board to 12 members at the July meeting.
Zoll AED Giveaway: Covelli provided a box containing the names of all EMS organization who joined WEMSA as Service or Corporate members during the contest period. Twin Bridge Rescue was drawn as the winner of a Zoll AED. They will be contacted and presented with the AED in the near future.
Covelli Contract: Motion by Allen second by Schilder to move to closed session to discuss personnel issues. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried. Covelli was dismissed from the meeting.
Hunjadi Contract: Hunjadi was dismissed from the meeting. Motion by Allen second by Bennett to return to open session. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried. The meeting was returned to open session. Motion by Bennett that the Executive Director negotiates the final details of Joe Covelli’s contract under the direction obtained in closed session. Second by TeStroete. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. Motion by TeStroete to approve the Executive Director’s contract for a three year term as proposed at $68,000 for the first year, $70,000 for the second year and $72,000 for the third year. 9 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstain. Motion carried.
By Laws: It was brought to the attention of the members of the Board that the Association bylaws have not been reviewed or significantly updated for several years. Short discussion was completed regarding the need to review and potentially make recommendations for changes with the current bylaws. Merril, Werner and Meeker are appointed to review the bylaws and report back to the board.
NEW BUSINESS
Business Changes: Hunjadi discussion various areas of needed change for the Association. The significant increase in the scope of the annual conference, the nearly doubling of membership within the past three years, the vast increase in e-mail and telephone volume, technical support requests, etc. all necessitates evaluating changes for the infrastructure of WEMSA. Hunjadi has several ideas for which direction to take including hiring a full-time conference director, hiring a high level administrative assistant, moving the current secretary to a full-time position or hiring an additional secretary. Until he meets with current staff members and fully evaluates the situation he is unable to recommend which method might work best. He believes a suitable employee can be located for between $30,000 and $40,000. Motion by Allen second by Schilder to direct Hunjadi to research and develop a staffing plan and make recommendations for employment through the executive board and/or full board as necessary. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
DHFS Bureau of EMS Changes: Since the January meeting a lot has changed with the DHFS EMS Section. The bureau has been dissolved and moved to a newly-created bureau. Jon Morgan is no longer the bureau director having been replaced by Meg Taylor. President Meeker and Hunjadi have been very involved with the changes including meeting several times with high level officials within DHFS. The Association hosted an informational meeting at the beginning of March in Wisconsin Dells followed by a stakeholders meeting later that same day. Additional information was reported specific to the latest changes. No action was taken.
2005 Conference Budget: Hunjadi presented the proposed conference budget for the 2005 conference. All board members had previously been provided with a copy of the budget proposal. He briefly highlighted line items. The budget allows for expenditures of up to $270,000 for the conference. Motion by TeStroete second by Bennett to approve the conference budget as proposed. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried.
LOSA Board Re-appointment: Mindy Allen has been serving on the Length of Service Awards (LOSA) Board as a representative of the Wisconsin EMS Association. Her term is up for reappointment and she asks if she should reapply. Motion by Werner second by Teale that Allen reapply for appointment to the LOSA board. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried.
Officer Elections: Nominations were opened for the office of President. Richard Meeker was nominated with no other candidates being nominated from the floor. Motion by Teale second by McCarrier to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Meeker. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried. Nominations were opened for the office of Vice President. Larry TeStroete was nominated with no other candidates being nominated from the floor. Motion by Schilder second by Merrill to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for TeStroete. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried. Nominations were opened for the office of Secretary/Treasurer. Mary Schilder was nominated with no other candidates being nominated from the floor. Motion by McCarrier second by Teale to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Schilder. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried. Nominations were opened for the position of Past President (the past WEMSA president is no longer on the board). Mindy Allen was nominated with no other candidates being nominated from the floor. Motion by Bennett, second by Merrill to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Allen. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried.
Motion by TeStroete to adjourn second by Schilder. Motion carried with the meeting adjourned at 6:05 PM.