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NEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

April 28, 2000, DoubleTree Hotel, Lowell, MA

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order by President Berry at 1:05 p.m. Present were Kathryn Hammond Baker, Diana Barnard, Jean Berry, Dan Daily, Ed Desrochers, Aimee Felker, Joan Krizack, Daniel McCormack, Peter Nelson, Beth Patkus, Susan von Salis, Mark Savolis, Rick Stattler, and Jane Ward.
Minutes of the February 4, 2000 Board meeting (Appendix A):
Berry noted that the February minutes were approved by email vote in March.
Nominating Committee report:
Desrochers reported that the winners of the election were Bill Ross, Vice President/President-Elect; Diana Smith, Secretary; Cally Gurley, Representative at Large; and Rick Stattler, Representative at Large.
Secretary’s report (Appendix B):
Patkus reported that the NEA Board voted on five issues via email between the February and April Board meetings:

To approve the minutes of the February 4, 2000 Executive Board meeting, with the following amendment to the report of the Fall 2000 program committee: "Berry presented Daria D’Arienzo’s written report. At the meeting it was noticed that the one non-NEA speaker was listed at $100. When Berry inquired, as follow-up, D’Arienzo noted that the standard $200 was offered, but the speaker chose to accept only $100 as a professional courtesy."

To co-sponsor the Essex National Heritage Commission's upcoming conference, "The Road to Success: Preserving the Historical Records in Essex County," to be held on May 15, 2000, at Salem State College, by providing $25.00, for which NEA's name will appear in the conference program and NEA will have a table to display informational materials.

To provide a set of NEA mailing labels at no charge to the Essex National Heritage Commission for their May 15, 2000 program.

To approve Mark Young as chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for the NEA meeting in Newport, Spring 2002.

To approve using not more than $500 from the "other board expenses" allotment ($250 for 1999, $250 for 2000) for computer screen sweepers, as a millennial gift to those attending the Lowell meeting and as a continuing promotional item for new members.

MOTION: On a motion by Desrochers, seconded by Krizack, the Board voted to approve the secretary’s report of votes taken by email between the February and April Board meetings.

Patkus also asked for approval of her revisions to the Secretary’s job description, reflecting procedural changes made as a result of the Web site redesign and increased use of email for NEA business.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Desrochers, the Board voted to approve the Secretary job description as amended.
Treasurer’s report (Appendix C):
Berry presented the report on behalf of MaryAnn Campbell. The Haas Award account is now being maintained by Citizens Bank, and Campbell has been unable to get in touch with the ARMA representative to find out the new account number and PIN number. As of March 31, 2000, NEA’s American Funds have shown an increase of $131.35.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Felker, the Board voted to accept the Treasurer’s report.
Old Business:
Felker requested that the discussion of NEA scholarships for students to attend NEA’s joint meeting with MARAC in Fall 2002 be postponed until the July meeting, when she will have more information.
New Business:
1. Change of renewal time from winter to fall:
  The Board discussed changing the membership renewal time from winter to fall, since the elections currently take place at the lowest point of membership in the year. This year the end of year (1999) membership was 653, but ballots were sent only to the 418 members who had renewed their membership for 2000 by the February renewal deadline. Only about 180 members voted. Sending out the renewal forms earlier might increase the number of people eligible to vote in the election. It was noted that the renewal reminders would need to go out before December 1 to avoid the holiday rush, and it was noted that renewals and meeting announcements should also be sent to those whose membership expired two years ago.
  
  The consensus of the Board was that sending out renewal notices earlier should be tried for a year to see whether it makes a difference in the number of people who vote in the election. The Board agreed that it would be best to include the renewal form with the Fall meeting registration form, and then to send out a couple of reminders to those who do not renew. It was noted that the form must be highly visible to be effective, such as a separate postcard or colored sheet of paper in the envelope with the meeting announcement. An announcement will be made about the change in the Newsletter.
  
  MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Ward, the Board voted to send out dues renewal notices with the Fall meeting announcement, to be followed up by reminder notices in November and January for those who have not yet renewed; and to charge the membership secretary to work with the Local Arrangements committee and the Newsletter editors to facilitate this process.
  
  Berry will follow up on this issue with the membership secretary.
2. NEA endorsement of Dartmouth’s NHPRC proposal (Appendix D):
  Dan Daily asked the Board to consider writing a letter of support to the NHPRC for Dartmouth College’s proposal to addresses the archival education needs of records caretakers outside the community of professional archivists and manuscript curators. The project calls for Dartmouth to collaborate with various New Hampshire organizations that have an interest in the preservation of local historical records to provide preservation workshops to municipal clerks, historical society volunteers, and public library staff, and to provide consulting services to some institutions. After a brief discussion, the Board decided to vote on this issue at the July meeting to give Board members a chance to read the full proposal.
Vice President’s report (Appendix E):
Felker reported that NEA’s new banner is at the registration table. Since the cost was lower than expected, there is a podium banner as well. She also reported that for the Spring 2002 meeting in Newport, both Ronald Potvin and Evelyn Cherpak needed to rescind their commitment to serve as co-chairs of the Local Arrangements Committee; Mark Young has agreed to chair instead. There are no new developments regarding the joint meeting with MARAC in Fall 2002; an update on plans will be provided at the July meeting.

Felker proposed that NEA adopt a policy of sending meeting mailings to sub-regional archival organizations (such as CT River Archives Group, NH Archives Group, Society of ME Archivists, etc.) when an NEA meeting will be held in that geographic area, at no charge to the sub-regional organization. The cost would be incorporated into the Local Arrangements budget. After some discussion of logistical issues, the Board agreed that this was a good idea. Felker will work with the Local Arrangements committees for upcoming meetings to determine the best procedures, and changes will be made to the Local Arrangements committee job description once procedures have been finalized.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Daily, the Board voted to adopt a policy to send meeting mailings to members of sub-regional and sub-topical archival organizations when an NEA meeting is to be held in that organization’s geographic area.
Meetings:
1. Spring 2000 (Appendix F):
  Ward reported that as of Friday, there were 165 registrants for the meeting, some of whom were attending only the Friday workshops. The Board discussed the small turnout briefly. It was noted that the membership secretary should insure that the meeting announcement goes to both the current membership and those whose membership has lapsed in the last two years.
  
  Ward also noted that the registrar had recommended getting rid of the late registration fee due to logistical problems. The Board disagreed, noting that the fee is an incentive to register early. The Board felt that without the fee, members might leave their decision to attend until the last minute, lowering attendance and making local arrangements more difficult.
2. Fall 2000 Local Arrangements (Appendix G):
  Savolis presented the committee’s budget for discussion. For the July meeting, when the Board must vote on the budget, he will include mailing/printing costs and separate workshop from meeting costs.
3. Fall 2000 Program (Appendix H):
  Nelson presented the committee’s report on the program. He strongly recommended that program committee members be located close enough geographically that they can meet easily; this was a great advantage to the Fall 2000 program committee. He also stressed the importance of communication between the program committees of different meetings, to insure that a variety of session topics and formats is provided at successive meetings. The Board will keep this in mind as the Board and committees continue to adapt to the new schedule of appointing program and local arrangements committees several years ahead.
4. Spring 2001 Local Arrangements:
  Daily reported on behalf of Phil Cronenwett and Anne Ostendarp that the committee will sit down formally soon.
5. Spring 2001 Program (Appendix I):
  Barnard presented the report. Several Board members suggested moving the business meeting from first thing in the morning to mid-morning, after the first session, since this might bring higher attendance. It was suggested that the committee devise two more non-arts sessions, so that each time slot could have four sessions, with one being a non-arts session. Announcements for the meeting will be sent to non-NEA arts organizations in addition to the regular recipients. Barnard will also look into what performances are being held at the Dartmouth Hopkins Center that weekend.
6. Fall 2001 Meeting (Appendix J):
  Berry presented Diane Kaplan’s written report. A date has been set for the meeting: October 26-27, 2001. The Board suggested that a number of hotels in different price ranges be recommended by the committee.
Newsletter Editors report (Appendix K):
Nelson presented the report. He noted that the April issue of the Newsletter featured a new font that is easier to read and will make more efficient use of space. He asked for a sense of the Board on whether printing excerpts from the keynote address should be a regular Newsletter feature. The Board felt that this should be kept informal and done only when appropriate.
Development Coordinator report (Appendix L):
Berry presented Ron Patkus’ written report. A new vendor, Conservation Resources, will be present at the Spring 2000 meeting. Planning is underway for vendor representation at the Fall 2000 meeting. Two vendors requested a set of mailing labels, which were sent out for a fee. Von Salis noted that whenever labels are sent out, they should be accompanied by a letter that sets out NEA’s policy for one-time use of the labels. It was suggested that vendors should be required to sign an agreement letter to insure that they do not enter NEA’s database information into their own databases.
Public Relations Coordinator report (Appendix M):
McCormack reported that press releases for the Spring meeting were sent and the announcement was posted to the Archives listserv. He plans to send a mailing to other organizations soon that includes the dates for NEA’s next several meetings and the Web site address, hopefully on a rolodex card so that recipients can keep them in their files.
Print Coordinator report (Appendix N):
Berry presented Diana Yount’s written report. It was noted that the print coordinator will need to budget adequately for increased printing and postage costs for the membership renewal mailings and the mailings to sub-regional archives organizations discussed earlier in the meeting.
Web Committee report (Appendix O):
Berry presented the committee’s written report. Maintenance and updating of information on the Web site is continuing. An online Newsletter index is in progress. Berry raised the issue of archiving the Web site, which might involve printing out all pages of the site once per year. Berry also noted that Lisa Plato will be resigning as Web Coordinator and a replacement will be needed. This is an information-gathering rather than a technical position. Suggestions of anyone who might be interested are welcome.
President’s report (Appendix P):
Berry reported that she did not receive a response to her invitation to William Galvin, MA Secretary of State, to attend the Spring 2000 meeting. She recommended that Felker contact him again to invite him to the Fall 2000 meeting.

She recommended postponing discussion of a policy statement for NEA co-sponsorships (of meetings, workshops, etc.) until a sample policy is drawn up for discussion. She will draw up such a policy and the Board will discuss it via email.
Education Committee (Appendix Q):
Berry presented Maureen Melton’s written report. Both the finding aid workshop and the arrangement and description workshop will take place at the Spring 2000 meeting. The SAA preservation workshop was canceled because of low registration. Melton is attending the NFACE (National Forum on Archival Continuing Education) meeting in Georgia at the end of April and will report on it at the July meeting. The education committee will meet in the late spring or summer to plan workshops for the Fall meeting.
Membership Secretary (Appendix R):
Anne Sauer’s written report gave the total current membership at 465.
Membership Committee (Appendix S):
Berry presented Sheri Kelley’s written report. The committee is working on redesigning the NEA brochure to more closely match the style and font of the Web site. Kelley will forward a copy of the new design to the Board for review when it is ready. She requested that the Board approve Leah Weisse as co-chair of the membership committee.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Ward, the Board voted to approve the appointment of Leah Weisse as co-chair of the membership committee.
Outreach Committee (Appendix T):
Von Salis reported that the speakers bureau project is continuing; a few inquiries have been received. The committee has also been working on redesigning the Outreach section of the Web site. The committee is also planning an "archives roadshow" project, probably for the Fall, that would "piggyback" on an event such as a local history or genealogy meeting. Archivists would talk to people about the historical significance of their materials, and informational handouts would include a list of appraisers (not endorsed by NEA), a list of regional archival repositories, a list of related organizations, etc.
Awards:
1. Hale Award (Appendix U):
  Jean Berry presented Jim O’Toole’s report on the Hale Award Campaign. Contributions to date total $1525, from 14 separate donors. They have been acknowledged and thanked. To date, attention has been focused on life members, officers and board members, and previous winners of the award. The next phase of the campaign will focus on the membership as a whole and on non-NEA donors. It was noted that the Hale Award Campaign coordinators should work with the development coordinator regarding solicitation of vendors for donations.
  
  Since Jane Ward is leaving the Board, chairmanship of the Hale Award committee will pass to Kathryn Hammond Baker.
2. Haas Award:
  Berry reported that Stephen Cohen, NEA’s representative to the Haas Award committee, has had trouble establishing communication with ARMA’s representative. As noted in her report, MaryAnn Campbell has also been unable to find out the new account number and PIN for the new Haas Award account. Berry will follow up on this and try to resolve the problem.
3. Distinguished Service Award:
  The Board discussed two potential candidates for the Distinguished Service Award. A decision will be made at the July Board meeting.
Next Executive Board meeting:
The next meeting of the Executive Board will be held on Monday, July 31, 2000, at the Lowell Public Library from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
There being no further business, Berry adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m.