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 National Council Meeting Minutes - October 21, 2008Mario Morales, Vice President called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm. Mario officiated the meeting due to Luis Hernandez absence. Roll call was taken and quorum established. Note: National Council-7 members required for a quorum Present
Guests Reporting:Amanda Hasemeier, Irma Hernández, Carmen Ortiz, Gilbert Guerrero AbsentLuis Hernandez (excused absence) Changes to the Agenda: Agenda item VI On going Business D. Student Committee Update given by Gilbert Guerrero was moved to VI On going Business A. Agenda was modified and no additional items were added. Astrid Martinez made a motion to approve changes made to the agenda. Cresencio Pérez seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. Approval of Minutes: Mario Morales discussed the September draft minutes and asked the council if there was anything that needed to be changed or added. Amanda Hasemeier stated she wanted to make a correction on the draft September 16th minutes under the 2009 Conference Update Report regarding the Four Season Hotel. The Four Seasons was "limited on rooms and very expensive on their food prices" to "limited on meeting rooms and very expensive on their food prices." Eileen M. Vale made a motion to make changes to the minutes. Jazelle Jusino seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. Treasury Report: Jorge Camacho presented the treasury report for October. He presented the council with the current in the NRCS Federal Credit Union and Wells Fargo. Please see treasury report below.
The question was asked when where we going to transfer the CD's from Wells Fargo to the NRCS Federal Credit Union. Jorge replied Gocha Rodríguez is waiting for the CD's to mature before transferring them over to NRCS Federal Credit Union. Astrid Martínez made a motion to approve the Treasurer's report. Ted Lucero seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. VI. Ongoing Business A. Student Committee Update: Mario Morales asked Gilbert Guerrero to briefly summarize his proposal to consolidate the Student Financial Scholarship Committee and Student Travel Committee. One of the concerns the council had was the 5-year commitment for student committee members. Roney Gutierrez stated a 3 to 4 year commitment might help promote participation with the members. Gilbert stated the reason why he chose a 5 year commitment "plan" was he wanted to make sure everyone serving on the committee understood the whole process. Gilbert wants to make sure the Chairperson will understand the full aspect on how NOPHNRCSE works as an organization by committing him/herself as member of the proposed consolidated Student Scholarship committee for 5 years. Furthermore, they will have a chance to grow and learn from one other within this 5 year commitment. Gilbert proceeded to explain the importance of working a good relationship with these universities and colleges. He reiterated the importance to inform them about what NOPHNRCSE and NRCS can offer their students, such as scholarships and job opportunities. Mario Morales stated that he liked Gilbert's proposal on the consolidation of the Student Financial and Travel Committees, but changes will need to be made to the By Laws. Currently, NOPHNRCSE does not have a Committee Chairperson for Constitution and Bylaws. Pat Connor is no longer with the agency and therefore, he is no longer the chairperson for the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Mario explained that we need to fill the Constitution & By-Laws vacancy before we propose any changes to the By-Laws. Gilbert stated that he would like to see this consolidation take place as soon as possible. Amanda Hasemeier stated that she has already sent out scholarship applications to colleges and universities and been receiving inquiries about our scholarships. Amanda stated that she wanted to remind everyone on the council that the student scholarship committee works with large sums of money. It can be overwhelming at times and therefore it is very important for everyone on the committee, especially the Chairperson to fully understand the process. Mario will visit with Luis Hernández regarding the proposal of consolidating the student financial and travel committees and chairperson of the By-Laws committee vacancy. This issue regarding the chairperson vacancy on the Constitution and By-Laws committee will be tabled for next month's teleconference. Gilbert Guerrero's Report on Texas A & M Kingsville: Gilbert stated he had a great turn out at the Texas A&M Kingsville Career Fair. Here are his results: visited 10 classes, met with 253 students, 32 students were interviewed and three students were offered positions in Oklahoma. NOPHNRCSE sponsored a hot dog/hamburger social on Monday night with the University chapters if MANRRS, Wildlife Society and Plant ID Team. 40 students attended this event. Gilbert stated that he was able to socialize with students in a more casual manner. This resulted in more students asking questions and taking an interest on what NRCS has to offer as a Federal agency. B. Ismael Matos to Represent the Caribbean Area: This agenda item will be tabled to November 18, 2008 teleconference meeting. C. 2009 Conference Update Report: Amanda Hasemeier reported that she, Irma Hernández, Astrid Martínez and Luis Hernández held a teleconference regarding the 2009 conference. Amanda stated they would like to have the conference in a hotel that was located in center city Philadelphia. She would prefer to have a hotel that would stay within our budget for food costs, meeting rooms, and necessary needed equipment etc. Amanda proceeded to inform the national council that the 2009 planning committee had their first teleconference meeting on October 8, 2008. The main purpose of the meeting was to start to get all committees organized with a plan of action and to start brain storming on a theme for the conference. Amanda stated that the planning committee will be meeting again on the 12th of November and try to meet the second Tuesday of every month until the 2009 conference. The goal of the November 12th meeting is to have a set budget in place for the 2009 conference. Amanda said that they have finally decided on the hotel to host the 2009 conference. The Radisson Warwick seems to be the best choice. The Radisson guarantees 250 rooms at the government rate. Amanda informed the council that they have reasonable food prices and have been very cooperative. The dates for the 2009 Conference will be held on August 4th, 5th, & 6th of 2009. Amanda stated that there will be room available for NEDS Training. One concern brought forth from the council was if we are going to see if the SEPMs were still interested in hosting a joint conference with us. Amanda stated that Luis told her it was important to move forward with the 2009 conference and we can no longer to afford to waste anymore time. Amanda asked who would be the person to sign the final contract with the hotel. Mario stated that it would be someone that is not affiliated with the government-NRCS. He said Gocha Rodríquez was appointed financial advisor for NOPHNRCSE when he retired from the NRCS. Therefore, Gocha can sign the contract agreement for the 2009 conference. D. Website Update: Mario Morales updated the National Council on what he has accomplished with the new website. He stated that he has been communicating with Cody DeRusha of ComRush Company. Mario emailed a link to the council that displayed a draft version of what the new NOPHNRCSE website would look like. Mario said the website would have a content management system. Therefore, committee chairs can update their portion of the website by simply logging in with a password. He also said that the $1600.00 package or proposal from ComRush according to the verbal agreement would include all required forms, on site elections, photos and presentations, etc. Mario then proceeded to inform the National Council that he talked with the communications chair Lori Valadez and that she agrees with what Mario explained to her as to what ComRush has done so far. Carmen Ortiz questioned the fact that we do not have a written, signed contract with this company. Mario Morales stated that NOPHNRCSE does not have a written contract with Com Rush, only a verbal agreement and that in Texas that is good enough. Carmen said that from the very beginning she asked ComRush to produce a written contract and they said they did not work that way. Carmen said that this was the first clue that this company was not at the professional level she is used to dealing with and about her hesitancy regarding what they can deliver. She said she has all the email messages of her contact with ComRush. Carmen Ortiz also said that Mario did not have a mandate from the NC to begin the work with ComRush. Mario then read the minutes from the May 2008 National Council Meeting regarding the new website. He wanted to reassure the National Council that NOPHNRCSE President, Carlos Suarez did give him permission to proceed in the steps required to establish the new NOPHNRCSE website. Carmen said that the minutes only say that the NC approved the motion to hire this company at the lowest level. She also said that Luis Hernandez, when he became the new president, asked her to take charge of getting the website redesign going. She said she tried to contact Mario via phone and email and he never answered her messages. She then proceeded to contact ComRush two weeks after the conference in Madison in July. She mentioned that the designer assigned to the project never mentioned Mario or whether he had already begun the project with them. Carmen questioned Mario as to when he began working with ComRush. Mario answered "about 2 or 3 weeks ago". Carmen said that it is evident this company was getting different orders from Mario versus what Carmen was trying to do. Carmen question Mario as to why he never informed the NC about the status of this project and why never called her to even talk about the project. Carmen also said that it is curious how Jessica Carter (designer with ComRush) never mentioned Mario had been in contact with them and of the work they were doing. Carmen stated her concerns regarding the new website. Based on her interactions with Com Rush, she was not impressed with the company. She said that the company was unprofessional and found their work to be below average. Carmen Ortiz has been NOPHNRCSE's Webmaster for many years now. She has the technical expertise regarding websites. Carmen expressed how she should have been involved in this project from the start because she has the expertise to get it done. Astrid Martínez stated her concern why Carmen Ortiz has never consulted throughout the process of creating the new website? Mario said that "I cannot answer that question". Then he said that Carmen was approached by email in May to ask for her recommendation on the monthly cost of the new website. Carmen stated that Mario had sent her only one email asking her opinion about the proposal from ComRush and that she responded asking him more questions about the quote because she considered lacking enough information to make a decision, but that from what was on the one-page proposal, she would recommend going with the conversion for initial cost of $1600 and the basic monthly plan to host the website. She stated that Mario never responded with any more information or asked any other questions about it. Carmen clarified to the NC that the $1600 proposed "package" did not include all the extras such as: the required programming for setup online elections/ballot forms, forms for paying registration, capability to post photos, power point presentations and so forth. The $1600 would only include the initial conversion of the current website. Mario said that the agreement does cover those items for that price, at which Carmen reposted that we did not have a written agreement to verify that assertion. Mario then said Carmen was out of order because her time to speak was over. Eileen M. Vale asked Mario if we decided not to use Com Rush, what NOPHNRCSE would have to lose. Mario stated that Com Rush would then charge us $800.00. Mario then explained the $800.00 charge is for the work ComRush has done in producing the draft website. Carmen Ortiz said that what they have done is not worth $800 and that she could have done a better job than that for free. Heather Medina expressed her opinion on the draft website. She stated the website looked unprofessional and too simple and that it could have been done by a second grader. She did not think the work ComRush has done in creating the draft website was worth charging NOPHNRCSE $800.00. Roney Gutierrez stated that the parties involved in the new website need to work together and keep the lines of communication open. Roney proposed that Carmen Ortiz, Mario Morales and Lori Valadez work together with ComRush in the decision making process of the new website. Carmen suggested that someone present an amendment to Roney's motion requiring ComRush to give us a written, detailed contract for the NC to consider. The contract agreement needs to state what ComRush will agree to deliver for $1600.00. Astrid Martinez added that if the proposed contract agreement does not meet our needs, the National Council can decide whether the organization will continue working with this company. No future development will be made on the website until the proposed contract agreement is presented to the National Council. Heather Medina seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. E. Advisory Committee Proposal: Roney Gutierrez stated that the NOPHNRCSE Organizational Climate Survey only takes 3 minutes to fill out. The idea is to communicate to past and present members to receive feedback on their experience with NOPHNRCSE. This will help inform us on what we need to improve or change as a professional organization. Roney Gutierrez made a motion to approve the development and follow up of the Organizational Climate Survey. Ted Lucero seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. F. Membership Drive Proposal: Ted Lucero went over his and Tim Garrahan's proposal on the membership drive. The main goal is to increase NOPHNRCSE membership with new and former members. Action 1 is to have a membership drive February 1st through March 31st 2009. One winner will be awarded from each Region. The winner must be an active member of NOPHNRCSE. The winner will receive a 50% discount on the 2009 NOPHNRCSE Conference Registration fee. If the winner is a GS-12 or above or lifetime, they will give their discount to one or split with new members recruited. They will also receive a windbreaker. If the winner is a GS-11 or below, they can use the discounts on themselves. Action 2 new members will receive $100 discount to attend the 2009 NOPHNRCSE Conference, if membership dues are paid. Astrid Martinez stated she had a concern with the 50% discount and $100 discount on registration fees. She stated there might be a conflict of interest since NRCS (usually) is paying for the registration fees. The member would not benefit. The state paying for the registration fees would. Astrid Martinez stated that she will contact her state SAO in regards to this issue. Mario Morales stated he liked the idea Ted and Tim came up with. However, there might be a conflict with the cash award amounts since we will be recruiting mostly during work hours. He stated that we can’t go over $20-25 per day or $50 per year in cash awards amounts. Astrid stated she will contact her state SAO regarding these situations. G. Standing Committees Chairs Update: Mario Morales stated that most of the committee chairs are in place with the exception of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Finance Committee, and Recruitment and Career Development Committees. Rosa Beth Sais-Garcia has shown some interest in becoming the chairperson for the Finance Committee. Mario stated that he will be contacting Luis Hernandez in regards to the current committee chairperson vacancies. H. Regional Representatives:
VII. Other Business Proposal to have a National Council Net Meeting: Astrid Martinez was not able to discuss her proposal to have a net meeting due to her having to leave the teleconference NC meeting a little early. This proposal will be tabled for November 18th NC Teleconference Meeting. VIII. Adjournment Roney Gutierrez made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ted seconded the motion, no more discussion, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:44 pm CST. Luis Hernández, President
< Back to Minutes of the National Organization of Professional Hispanic NRCS Employees |
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