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CLA Assembly Meeting Minutes, 11/17/08
President Barbara Roberts called the meeting to order at 2:03 pm. Hilary Theyer was appointed to take the minutes.
Present: Barbara Roberts, President; Ken Haycock Vice President/President Elect (arrived at 2:36pm); Monique le Conge, Past President; Annette Milliron Debacker, Treasurer; Stephanie Beverage; Keri Botello; Donna Corbeil; Anthony Costa; David Dodd; Deborah Doyle; Elaine Franco; Ellen Fusco; Darla Gunning; Patty Hector; Sigrid Hudson; Susan Kantor Horning; Susan Lynn; Paymaneh Maghsoudi; Louise Mazerov; David McFadden; Cindy Mediaville; Julie Moore; Greg Mullen; Heather Pizzuto; Lynne Price; Barbara Quarton; Cathy Sanford; Hillary Thayer; Kit Willis.
Absent: Alan Bern; Julie Passalacqua; Mark Smith; Merry Luskin; Penny Peck; Les Kong; Lisa Rosenblum;
Guests: Sandra Vella; Linda Wilson.
Announcements:
Barbara Roberts advised that Claudia Foutz, the Interim Executive Director, could not be at the meeting today. She stated that many of the members had met Ms. Foutz at other Governance meetings and other meetings throughout the conference. Claudia has been hired to maintain office management and to conduct a Business Assessment of the Organization and make recommendations to the board on whether to maintain in house staffing and at what level, or to consider obtaining staff support from an Association Management firm. Roberts mentioned that CSLA recently completed a review of their operations and had chosen to contract with an Association Management firm.
Adoption of Agenda:
Item 6.1 was removed from the agenda, having been accomplished at the 2008 Assembly meeting on Friday.
MSC: Agenda adopted as corrected (L. Price, S. Beverage)
Reports
President Barbara Roberts announced that this will be a transitional year for CLA as they implement the new bylaw changes. The new bylaws created a "Leadership Development Committee" and Board of Directors. Sections and Roundtables can become interest groups under this new organizational structure. All are encouraged to do so. Roberts announced that she has created two task force groups to help lead the transition; a Transition Task Force, who will develop a transition tool kit for becoming an interest group, and an Information Technology Task force to help identify the technology infrastructure needed to help make CLA more virtual, relevant and exciting for members. Over the next 60 days Sections and Roundtables should contact her with any questions or suggestions concerning the transition.
Past President Monique le Conge commented that she was getting very good feedback on the relevance and quality of this year's program. She mentioned that she has appointed a task force that will work on the idea of an ROI calculator for California and will continue the project throughout this next year. She was asked to try to complete the project in time to use the information on Legislative Day.
Treasurer Annette Milliron-Debacker reported on the 2008-09 budget noting that there will be significant transition costs this year which will be reported as a footnote in future budget displays. She commented that CLA reserves are strong so that these expenditures can be easily covered. The finance committee will meet in December to review the complete portfolio with the CLA financial advisor to determine how best to cover these expenses. The conference is well attended and every indication from pre-registration and on-site registration shows that we have had a strong turnout and will meet projected attendance.
Les Kong was not present to provide an ALA report but had provided it to the 2008 Assembly on November 14, 2008.
Haley Motiey, 2008 Conference Chair, was not present to provide a conference report.
President Barbara Roberts advised the assembly that this will be a transitional year for them and reviewed the By-laws changes which provide for a Board of Directors consisting of officers and 6 - 10 members elected by the membership and Standing Committees: Leadership Development, Finance and Working Committees that are appointed by the Board. The major role of the current Assembly is to assist roundtables and sections to transition to interest groups. The Assembly will meet for the last time on April 13th, the day before the Legislative Day and should report on their efforts.
She advised that Sections and Roundtables should work toward becoming interest groups under the new governance by-laws and participate in the forum on the CLA website. Interest groups provide for the vehicle to network and continue the work members do for CLA for their personal and professional development. Interest groups may have a formal structure if they choose or non-traditional informal groups with an identified leader for purposes to continue services to members and CLA or your organization of choice. She encouraged new interest groups as well, such as a Diversity Group. A task force has been selected to prepare an “Interest group” tool kit to help transition from a formal Section/Roundtable. The tool kit will be available within the next two months.
The Leadership Development Committee will consist of the immediate past president and 9 other members. The committee shall be appointed by the President and reflect the association’s geography, diversity and interest groups. The purpose of the committee is to maintain and promote a pool of potential leaders and provide mentoring and leadership development activities and make recommendations to the Board of Directors of members to serve on committees, task forces and other work groups.
Members questioned whether there should be some concerted effort to reconcile or offer a merger opportunity to CSLA, CARL and other library groups. Barbara advised that in addition to appointing two task forces, that she will call a Summit and invite library organization leaders to explore collaboration and coalition opportunities to help develop a platform of unity and support for libraries throughout California.
Concern was raised about holding the 2009 Conference over Halloween weekend. Barbara will look into whether there is any possibility to move this date. Many dates are set to obtain better hotel rates for attendees and we compete with other events for Convention Center space.
Ken Haycock encouraged members to strongly get behind the transitional plan and provide leadership to the library community to work more closely together. He believes a strong Strategic Planning process will help add structure and direction to CLA and provide for a platform to bring library organizations in California to the forefront and infuse excitement in supporting organized library constituents.
There were vibrant discussions about the way CLA charges for membership and whether they are due to conduct a complete review of the membership structure. There was discussion about whether lobbying was permitted by a 501c3 and members were advised that paying a portion of dues for lobbying activity is permitted under California Law. If, however, CLA were to get behind a major initiative, they would need to form a PAC to support those activities.
There were no items requiring action.
There was no unfinished business.
New Business
Barbara encouraged members to get involved in the transition. Ken Haycock re-emphasized the creation of a strong strategic plan. Members were encouraged to contact Natalie Cole to get involved in the Spring Fling project which will bring visibility of CLA to the community. She also emphasized that planning in the next year will also look at developing an integrated Public Relations plan into CLA activities which will raise community and statewide awareness of the services libraries contribute to the well being of the community.
The last meeting of the 2009 Assembly will be April 14th, in Sacramento, the day before Legislative Day.
Minutes prepared by Hillary Theyer, November 25, 2008
Posted on December 16, 2008 9:53 AM | Permalink