HUMAN RESOURCES ASSOCIATION – GREATER CONCORD, NH PROGRAM YEAR 2003-2004 BOARD MEETING MINUTES – FEBRUARY 10, 2004 THE CONCORD MONITOR     Board Members Present:   Doug Chamberlain, Anna-Marie Sparks, Peg Flint, Tracie Wajer, Deb Laushine, Sandra Platt, Kim Saucier, Paul Wilson, Jen Iacopino.   Board Members Absent:   Maria Manus Painchaud, Angela Finney, Gayle Troy   Committee Members Present:   Kim Freese, Kim York and Lori Shackford, plus Laurie Methven     The President of the Association, Tracie Wajer, called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m.   January 7, 2004 Board Meeting Minutes               Upon motion made by Doug and seconded by Peg, the minutes of the January 7, 2004 Board meeting were accepted as submitted.   Treasurer’s Report   Peg Flint distributed the Treasurer’s Report, briefly commenting on two items.  First, she noted that Laurie Methven had been paid a fee of $1,000, which had been charged to the scholarship budget since Laurie’s work had been related to the Association’s educational program.  Peg also noted that as of January the mid-point of the program year had passed.  Henceforth, new members will pay half of the annual year dues.  As a result, some reimbursements had been required since some new members paid dues at the full-year rate.  Upon motion made by Peg and seconded by Doug, the Treasurer’s Report was accepted as submitted.               Peg presented a proposal to conduct an annual audit of the Association’s finances for a fee of $1,200, presented by Christine A. Flanders, CPA of Flanders & Beauchesne, P.L.L.C. of Chichester, New Hampshire.  The Board discussed whether the quote was reasonable given the Association’s resources, the need for an independent examination of its books and other factors.  The various levels of examination available (i.e., review, compilation and audit) were also discussed.  After some further discussion, it was decided that Board would investigate as to whether SHRM recommends any particular practice in this regard.  Ms. Flanders will be asked to confirm that her proposal does in fact refer to a full audit of the Association’s books, and she will also be asked whether a review or compilation would be appropriate and available at somewhat lesser cost and whether she would be willing to conduct a periodic audit (e.g., once every three years) and a review or compilation during the intervening years.    Membership               Upon motion made by Jen and seconded by Doug, the Board approved the renewal of five professional members and one associate member (the former including Marion Stanton, whose application was conditionally approved at the January 7, 2004 Board meeting, her credentials having been found to be in order), as well as four proposed new professional members and one new associate member.  Jen reported that another applicant for associate membership, who was not an SHRM member, would again be told that in order to join the Association as an associate member SHRM membership is required under the Association’s bylaws.  Peg Flint noted that total Association membership now numbers 132.    Program               Deb Laushine reported that the February 19 evening meeting, featuring Robert Skladany, was set and that meeting notices had been sent out via e-mail that morning.  There was a brief discussion of the menu for the meeting, and Doug reported that he would be delivering the legal update in lieu of Jeanine Poole.  Sandy Platt distributed the evaluation summary for the January 15, 2004 meeting, which received uniformly high marks from those attending.   Certification               In the absence of Maria Manus Painchaud, no report was submitted on this subject.   Sponsorship               Paul Wilson and Kim York reported that the sponsor for the February 19 meeting, The Survey Group, had been confirmed.  Paul spoke briefly concerning Association sponsorship of the Granite State Conference.  In the past the Association had co-sponsored the conference luncheon but that this and all sponsorship opportunities have already been spoken for.  There was discussion of a suggestion that a chapter table be organized (with brochures, etc.), to be staffed on a cooperative basis by representatives of the eight New Hampshire chapters.  The cost of this sponsorship would be relatively minimal, since the $650.00 table fee would be shared by the participating chapters.  Paul also solicited others ideas for conference sponsorships, such as offering a World at Work scholarship as a door prize.  These proposals will be considered at the next Board meeting in March.     Website               Kim Saucier noted that the website still indicated that the Association had been awarded a SHRM 2001 Merit Award.  It was noted that an official notice of the 2002 Merit Award had been received, and Kim was advised to check with Angela Finney concerning this matter.  Kim noted that the website still carried a notice of the November, 2003 World at Work course, and that this item should be updated to reflect the spring 2004 course.  Kim was advised to contact Connie Roy-Czyzowski in this regard.  It was also noted that the World at Work scholarship winner should be notified and the winner announced at the February 19 Association meeting.  It was suggested that an item concerning the New Journeys Program be included on the website for the purpose of publicizing the Association’s involvement in this project and recruiting volunteers for the program.  Kim asked Doug to forward the text of his legal update to her as an e-mail word attachment so that the update could also be put on the website.  Kim expressed some concern about the website maintenance costs being incurred; however, it was the Board’s consensus that these costs were lower than they had been in the past years (due to more efficient forwarding of information to the website maintenance personnel), that the costs were not excessive and in any event the timely maintenance and upkeep of the website was an important priority for the Association.  Finally, Kim noted that the website’s link to the Granite State Conference still appeared to lead to the 2002 Conference site.  Paul Wilson indicated that he believed that this issue had been addressed recently.   Recognition               Anna-Marie noted that she would be absent from the February meeting, and Tracie and Lori volunteered to distribute new member welcome packets in her place.  Jen offered to pick up the packets and any new member certificates prepared by Anna-Marie prior to her departure at Anna-Marie’s office and bring them to the February 19 meeting.   Student Liaison               Lori Shackford reported that she was in the process of coordinating upcoming classroom visits at Plymouth State College and Southern New Hampshire University, and that a fact sheet for distribution to students had been prepared in connection with these planned visits.   By-Laws               In the absence of Gayle Troy, no report was submitted on this subject.   Supervisor Training Program               Laurie Methven discussed the response she had received to a recent survey designed to assess member interest in this program.  She indicated that a number of members had responded, indicating an interest in sending supervisors to a program of this sort.  It was noted that the program would be staffed primarily by volunteers and would use donated facilities, so that the principal cost would be for reproduction of course materials and other incidental expenses, so that the cost can be kept as low as possible.  The topics of greatest interest to potential attendees appear to be performance management, communications skills and employment law issues.  Laurie indicated that the program would consist of several three hour modules, each to be held in the morning at mid-week.  New modules could be presented on a monthly basis, or each module could be presented twice, to accommodate individual schedules and in recognition that some businesses might not be able to send all of their supervisors to a single session.  An enrollment limit of approximately 25 attendees per session was discussed, in order to facilitate discussion among the participants.  Depending upon the level of interest, a per-company limit on attendees might also be instituted.  After some discussion, it was the sense of the Board that Laurie should continue to work to develop the content of each module, with a view to presenting the first module in April and/or May, with additional modules to follow in the fall of 2004 as volunteer presenters are recruited and course materials developed.   Salary Survey               There was a brief discussion of an e-mail exchange between Connie and Frank Sadowski concerning Mr. Sadowski’s salary survey.  Board members noted that they and their firms already participated in a number of these surveys, and the participation can be costly, intrusive and burdensome.  Since Connie had requested discussion on this topic and she was absent from the meeting, this item was tabled for the present.   Brochure               While Vickie L’Heureux was absent from the meeting, Kim York distributed a draft of a proposed brochure for review and comment.  Board members were asked to e-mail their comments to Kim so that a revised brochure could be produced for the March Board meeting, with a view to finalizing the brochure for distribution at the May program.   Leadership Development Task Force               In the absence of Maria Manus Painchaud, Peg Flint noted that the Task Force is scheduled to meet on February 11.  Four two-person teams are scheduled to present draft reports to the Task Force concerning (1) the structure of Association committees, (2)  the Board member job description, (3) the Board member orientation program and (4) the member profile.  Maria would be charged with synthesizing these reports into a Task Force report for presentation at the March Board meeting.   New Business               Peg Flint noted that continuing education certificates with respect to programs produced by the Association were not being distributed in a timely manner.  For example, certificates with respect to the March 2003 half-day program had not yet been distributed.  Maria is responsible for certification program but Board members stated their belief that the delay was due to SHRM or HRCI, and that delays apparently can arise if the certification request is not submitted prior to the program.  Peg noted that since the Association would be shortly offering its 2004 half-day program it would be helpful if the certificates could be produced more quickly.                There being no further business to come before the Board, upon motion duly made and seconded the meeting was adjourned at 9:35 a.m.   THE NEXT BOARD MEETING WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2004 AT 2:30 P.M. AT THE CONCORD MONITOR.                                                                                       Respectfully submitted,                                                                                           Douglas R. Chamberlain, Secretary   DRC/sy