New England Archivists - Minutes

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NEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

June 24, 2002, NEDCC, Andover, MA

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President Joan Krizack, at 11:30 am.

Present: Liz Andrews (Treasurer), Barbara Austen (Fall 2002 Program Committee), Jeannette Bastian (Spring 2003 Local Arrangements Committee), Paul Carnahan (Representative-at-Large), Bridget Carr (Representative-at-Large), Glynn Edwards (Web-Master), Kathryn Hammond Baker (Spring 2003 Program Committee), Tim Hughes (Web Coordinator), Tara Hurt (Secretary), Joan Krizack (President), Dan McCormack (Public Relations Coordinator), Peter Nelson (Fall 2002 Local Arrangements Committee), Peter Parker (Representative-at-Large), Bill Ross (Immediate Past President), Susan von Salis (Outreach Committee), Jessica Steyler (Outreach Committee Chair), Jane Ward (Development Coordinator) and Diana Yount (Print Coordinator).

Absent (Voting Members): Cally Gurley (Representative-at-Large) and Rutherford Witthus (Vice President).

2. President's Report (Appendix A)

Krizack reported all of the significant correspondence she has had since the last March 22, 2002 meeting. Andrea Sheehan was approved as an Outreach Committee member and Krizack reviewed and signed the contract with SAA for the workshop, 'Copyright: The Archivist and the Law' (Fall 2002 Meeting). The President's Newsletter column has been submitted.

3. Secretary's Report (Appendix B)

The Board approved all of the Secretary's recommendations, which the NEA Archivist, the current Secretary and the current President discussed.

4. Immediate Past President (Appendix C)

Immediate past president Ross presented a list of names for the Nominating Committee.

The Board expressed their approval of the list and expressed their pleasure with the fact that the names listed represent the New England geography well. The Board voted to approve the list and all board members voted in favor of the list.

Ross announced two names (Bruce Stark and Patty Stark) for the Distinguished Service Award. Ross suggested the awards be given at the Spring 2003 meeting. The board discussed the steps that are needed in order to give the award to the two nominated individuals. All board members voted in favor of a Spring 2003 announcement of the award.

Ross announced one name (Deborah L. Markowitz / Vermont Secretary of State) for the Archival Advocacy Award. The award will be given at the Fall 2002 Meeting. All board members voted in favor of a Fall 2002 award and the name of the recipient.

Ross submitted a list of names for the Task Force on Meetings.

A MOTION was made to approve the Task Force Membership, Carnahan MOVED the motion, Andrews SECONDED, discussion followed about adding another member (Paul Carnahan), a MOTION was made to add another member, Carr SECONDED the motion. All board members voted in favor of the submitted names.

Ross announced that the meeting of the Task Force on Meetings, was postponed until later this summer.

5. Outreach Committee Report (Appendix D)

Outreach Committee Chair Jessica Steyler reviewed her submitted report. The discussion centered around several issues. Krizack asked to TABLE budget issues until the group heard the Treasurers report. 'Archives on the Road' events were discussed and Edwards asked to be informed of any press releases that were generated for the event. Krizack raised the issue of how many bookmarks would be printed and what the cost would be for the bookmarks.

ACTION Steyler will report to Krizack, the new costs for bookmarks. Krizack also requested that bookmark designs be shared with the board for review, before they are printed.

ACTION Steyler will be sure to pass all bookmarks drafts by the board. The Chair announced that all SHRAB representatives will be distributing bookmarks, that all board members can distribute bookmarks and the Membership Committee should also have a supply to distribute. Krizack asked that the bookmarks more clearly represent the New England Archivist name. Krizack suggested more generic bookmarks be printed. von Salis let Krizack know that to date they are made to mark specific events. Krizack then suggested having one side more generic while the other side be more specific with Archives events listed. Steyler let Krizack know that all her suggestions were noted and they would be taken into account at the next printing (next printing 2003).

6. Web Committee Report (Appendix E)

Glynn Edwards reviewed her Web Committee report. Edwards reported that in addition to updating and maintaining the site, the committee is soliciting images for the homepage. Ross questioned how we could get quicker updates to the page. Discussions took place on ways to make quicker updates and all the issues that surround more timely updates. Krizack let Edwards know that she would help by sending the President's column directly to Edwards, making the updates occur more quickly.

7. Print Coordinator Report (Appendix F)

Diana Yount reported that she was working on cost reduction attempts in regards to mailings. Her report outlined the July 1, 2002 postal fee increase and the report highlighted alternate ways to decrease the cost of mailings. Yount has been successful at reformatting the registration mailing so that it is under one ounce. She asked the Board to approve dropping pages of local information from the registration mailings so that it can meet the under one ounce requirement. Krizack suggested if local information pages are dropped that URL's to local information be listed in the mailing. Yount confirmed that this would be possible. A suggestion was made to send registration announcements out by post cards and after discussion the board decided to pursue this at a later date if the member survey showed members were in favor of this.

The topic of creating a more concise, easy to enter registration form was raised. A suggestion was made to mount the form on line in a PDF format. Edwards reported that NEA does not have PDF software at this time so Edwards will look into cost of software.

ACTION Edwards will pursue the cost of software and report this to Krizack.

All board members agreed to give Diane the approval to reformat the information so the mailing can be less than one ounce and that the mailing will go first class. This decision will affect the Spring 2002 Meeting mailing.

Carnahan MOVED to ask the Print Coordinator to keep registration mailings under one ounce and the first place to trim information is local arrangements material. All board members voted in favor of a less than one ounce registration mailing.

ACTION The issue of a less than once ounce mailing will be addressed again by the Board once a survey has been completed and the board has input about members feelings in regards to mailing cost.

Yount raised the issue that she feels the Print Coordinator job description needs some minor revisions. ACTION Yount will revise the section related to maintaining stationery to reflect current practice. Yount will send the revisions along to Krizack and Krizack will share the revision with the board.

8. Treasurer's Report (Appendix G)

Treasurer Liz Andrews reported that all the income for the 2001/2002 Budget has been deposited and that there is a considerable deficit in the budget (numbers vary depending upon what aspects are taking into account; expenses, incomes, projected income, etc.).

A very lengthy discussion took place about the budget and overall ways to start to work in a direction that is going to take the group to a place where money is not being lost on a yearly basis. The following questions arose during the discussion:

Q1: Does NEA need to adjust its meeting fees to better reflect cost (Andrews)?
Q2: Does the board need to proceed so that they can close the lose gap to be at least less than $5,000.00 for this budget year (Krizack)?
Q3: Why did the Spring Meeting come out with such a large loss (Board)?
A3: Andrew's budget assessments are based only on expenses not expense vs. income. All board members agreed that there needs to be a focus on the issue of overall expenses at NEA meetings.
Q4: Can we all focus on discussing ways to stop deficits so that NEA can be on a more "level footing" (Krizack)?
A4: Lets brainstorm on how we can reduce costs of conference.

The suggestion that came form all of the questions / answers are as follows.

S1: Board needs to look at the budget from an income verses expense outlook.
S2: ACTION In the next Presidents column (Newsletter) Krizack will write about the trend that low meeting registration costs are affecting NEA's ability to cover costs for conferences.
S3: Board liked the suggestion of Krizack to let all committee know they should "move forward in a way that is fiscally responsible."
S4: Suggestion of Krizack to look for conference sites that are at non-profit organizations and have low or no use charges, was well received.
S5: There was a suggestion to increase meeting registrtaion fees.

The following were results from the question, answers and suggestions.

ACTION: Carnahan will look into the procedures for raising dues, possibly in the Spring of 2004. He will get all the details for who is in charge of changing dues, the process of changing by laws, publishing changes in the newsletter, etc. Carnahan will recruit help as needed.

ACTION: Carnahan and Hurt will research the last dues increase in order to ascertain the date of the last increase and what steps were taken in order to put the increase into affect.

ACTION: Krizack will write a short piece about the raising of dues and how that action will help the organization.

ACTION: Krizack will talk to the Membership Committee about surveying lapsed NEA members in order to ascertain their reasons for leaving the group.

ACTION: Krizack will let the Newsletter Committee know the Board would like to see the survey included in the upcoming newsletter.

Budget shortcomings and planning was TABLED for the Fall 2002 meeting.

All board members agreed to the following statement made by president Krizack that will be sent to all committee chairs, "Please consider having meetings in locations that are more likely to be less costly and get as much institutional support as possible."

NOTE: Any members who need assistance with finding institutions that support NEA administrative needs (copying, mailing, faxing, etc) should contact either Krizack, Carr or Steyler.

9. Education Committee Report (Appendix H)

The Education Committee has planned two workshops for the Fall 2002 meeting in Poughkeepsie and MARAC has planned three workshops for the Fall 2002 conference. Communication with MARAC is going well. Karen Spicher and Elizabeth Slomba will both be taking part in the New England Municipal Clerks Association's annual meeting in the Fall of 2003. Planning for the Spring 2003 and Fall 2003 workshops is under way.

10. Public Relations Coordinator Report (Appendix I)

Dan McCormack submitted the summer Public Relations Report. The Board discussed the opportunity for NEA to secure booth space at the Massachusetts Town Clerk's Association meeting. All board members agreed with the suggestion of Outreach Chair Steyler that NEA will focus on the New England Town Clerk's Association as opposed to concentrating on MA.

ACTION The Out reach Committee will pursue what is available with the New England Town Clerk circuit and be sure to report back to the Public Relations Committee.

McCormack also reported that in order to pursue a more proactive and cheaper approach to mailing, the committee will be sending public relations information to a smaller number of publications and will also pursue the use of electronic addresses in order to send out PR messages.

11. Newsletter Report (Appendix J)

Krizack reported on behalf of Joan Gearin. The budget for the newsletter is on track; the remaining balance will more than sustain two more printings.

12. Membership Committee Report (Appendix K)

Krizack reported on behalf of Elizabeth Carroll-Horrocks. The report highlighted the newest arrangement of the committee and the success of the NEA Membership table at the Spring 2002 meeting. Krizack discussed the issue of the upcoming cost for a new brochure.

ACTION Krizack will notify the committee about the discussion about raising dues so that printing of the membership form can coincide with a possible dues increase.

13. Membership Secretary Report (Appendix L)

Krizack reported on behalf of Deborah Richards. The report highlighted membership statistics for the period ending May 17, 2002: 565 members (including 23 life members and 15 newsletter exchanges. ACTION Krizack will further pursue some of the current life time members who are not individuals but institutions.

14. Haas Award Report (Appendix M)

Krizack reported on behalf of Lois Hamill. The Haas Award Committee made a decision to fund (2 @ $250.00) both applications that were received. The board discussed this allocation and all board members agreed to rotating the giving if the award between ARMA (in Boston) and NEA. ACTION Krizack will contact Hamill to decide which group will give each award and at what date.

15. Hale Award Report

Krizack reported for the Hale Award Committee. The group is looking into the past activity and the applications that have been received prior to 2002. Andrews noted that the money in the bank for the awards ($300.00) is short so an award is to be given out, additional money would be needed. Due to the fact that no applications have been filed all board members agreed that the issue could be addressed in next years budget.

16. Vice President's Report (Appendix N)

Krizack reported on behalf of Rutherford Witthus.

Witthus is currently looking into locations for the Fall 2003 Meeting. The board made the following location suggestions; Amherst, MA / Bedford, New Hampshire / St. Augustine, MA / Bridgewater, MA / Bates College, Maine.

The issue was raised as to whether we would like to combine the Fall 2004 NEA Meeting with the SAA meeting the first week in August (August 2-4, 2004). ACTION Krizack will let Witthus know that the Board is taking this into consideration. Ross said he will bring this issue to the Task Force on Meetings.

All board members agreed that it was a nice idea to have a joint social hour with MARAC in Birmington, during the upcoming SAA meeting and that Witthus should seek $500.00 funding from Simmons GSLIS (Dan Matarazzo).

17. Spring 2002 Meeting Report (Appendix O)

Jane Ward submitted a final report for the meeting, budget analysis and evaluation analysis. Overall the meeting was a success according to our members. Ward let the board know that she has continued to work on a Local Arrangements Guidelines Book, which she will share with the board as soon as a draft is complete. Ward also reported that she has been in contact with Bastian on the local arrangements for the Spring 2003 meeting in Boston and will remain available for any questions the committee may have.

18. Fall 2002 Program Committee Report (Appendix P)

Barbara Austen submitted an excellent draft of the program that highlights all 16 sessions, which are scheduled over the conference time frame (October 24-26, 2002). Austen informed the group that the AA Award would be given at the lunch. The board let Austen know she should have the AA Award read as "Archival Advocacy Award," and Krizack confirmed that no special arrangements had to be made for individual committee meetings; if committees wanted to meet at the conference the chairs could arrange that among the members. Austen will contact the Membership Committee to see if the committee would like to organize a New Members Orientation session.

19. Fall 2002 Local Arrangements Report / Budget (Appendix Q)

Austen distributed the MARAC 2003 Fall Meeting Budget spreadsheet. On receiving the Budget, all board members reviewed the budget along with the registration fee section of the Registration Form.

In regards to the registration form within the packets, Krizack suggested changing the placement of the lunch on the form because NEA members are used to lunch being included in the price and at this joint meeting lunch is a separate fee.

In regards to the MARAC Budget spreadsheet Krizack questioned the cost of lunch for MARAC Steering Committee.

ACTION Krizack asked Austen to clarify who the lunch fee was paying for and if NEA Board Members are included in that total (will this be a fee MARAC and NEA will be sharing). NEA does not wish to share the cost of lunch for MARAC's Steering Committee.

All board members agreed that the next NEA Board Meeting would be on October 25, 2002 from 8:00-11:30. A meeting location will be announced at a later date. [Austen will secure a room for the Board Meeting.]

ACTION In order to have an abbreviated board meeting the members will do as much business by email and Krizack and Andrews will prepare a Board Budget to be reviewed before the meeting.

A MOTION was made to adopt the registrations fees scheduled for the joint MARAC/NEA meeting. Krizack SECONDED the motion. All board members voted in favor of the registration fees.

20. Spring 2003 Program Committee Report (Appendix R)

Chair Kathryn Hammond Baker reported that the program sessions were progressing well and that the committee was currently assessing the total number of speakers who may need a honorarium. Baker will report back these numbers as soon as the committee is aware of who is willing to speak and who would need a honorarium. Andrews cleared up who should get paid for speaking and who should not (practicing archivist in New England and/or NEA members are not eligible for honorarium). Andrews also clarified who pays registration fees and who does not. No keynote speaker has been slotted yet but work is in progress to secure a keynote speaker. The President of Simmons College will give an introduction. Baker will be sure to clear up if the NEDCC workshop on digital preservation will be offered. Massachusetts Historical Society will be paying $800.00 - $900.00 for beer wine, soda, and bar staff, for the Friday reception. ACTION Baker requested that an invoice be sent to the President of Simmons, dated July 1, 2002, so that he can process the $500.00 donation to NEA.

21. Spring 2003 Local Arrangement Report

Jeannette Bastian reported that Simmons will not be charging any site costs, AV costs, or classroom cost. The group has reserved as many classrooms as they can at this point and after renovations this summer the group will reassess rooms and book any additional rooms that are needed. Parking is an issue the group is still pursuing. There is a parking garage three blocks away from the school that has a $6.00 a day charge. There is a possibility of hiring a shuttle from Simmons to Mass. Historical Society for the reception. All board members agreed that the group should pursue the shuttle route for the reception.

The Dean's Assistant has offered to help with registration so the registrar for the meeting will be on site at Simmons. Bastian is going to price out food cost for light hors d'oeuvre and for heavy hors d'oeuvre. Bastian will report back to the board on total cost for the food, based on 125 participants.

The group is pursuing having local area shops donate items so the local arrangement scan have a free raffle. The group is also pursuing recognizing long time members of NEA in order to bring home the 30th Anniversary theme. ACTION Krizack will add recognition of members onto the Annual Meeting Agenda and the Local Arrangements Committee will plan on how to best recognize members.

All board members agreed to let the committee pursue the scheduling of several planned tours. Two to three tours will be chosen from the following: New Buildings on campus, Big Dig in Boston, Arboretum, Duck Tours, Fenway Park, MIT, Garden Museum. All board members agreed to let the committee block a set of rooms at Mid Town Hotel for a discounted rate of $99.00 per night.

22. 2003 Fall Meeting

Rutherford Witthus is exploring available sites for the meeting.

23. Development Coordinators Report (Appendix S)

Jane Ward reported on the July newsletter and on the October NEA/MARAC meeting. Ward also reported that a client in England had contacted her about doing a demo at the upcoming Fall meeting. Ward has approached MARAC about this and MARAC has expressed that they feel it is too late to offer a room to this company and the only participation should be at a vendor table. Ward raised the issue of whether NEA can offer MARAC the option to rent a room and have flyers at the conference announcing their demo. A discussion followed on creating a policy on how to handle vendors who want to do more than have a table and hand out flyers. All board members agreed that due to MARAC's involvement we will need to let the client know that for the Fall meeting the only option is a vendor table.

A MOTION was made to add expanded vendor services at future meetings (Spring 2003 and beyond). Andrews SECONDED the motion. All board members voted in favor of providing vendors additional space/equipment as long as it is accompanied by a higher fee for participation.

All members voted in favor of the reappointment of Jane Ward as the Development Coordinator.

24. Old Business / Survey Task Force Charge

Peter Nelson reported for the Survey Task Force. The task force met and discussed their level of communication with NEA members and also how NEA communicates with members and how NEA responds to members.

The task force will be doing a survey this Fall and the task force will report to the board in the Spring of 2003. The Task Force would like to distribute the survey in four ways; direct mailing, flyer in the NEA registration packet, email to members and a tear out in the Fall Newsletter. All board members approved to handle the Task Forces suggestion for distribution as follows:

Direct Mailing - Only to lapsed members (two years or less),
Flyer in NEA Packet - Yes, proceed,
Email sent to members with Email - Yes, proceed if someone is willing to enter all addresses,
Tear Out Form in Fall Newsletter - Yes, for all current members, best way to get to the largest number of people.

The surveys have a spot for members to sign but a signature is not needed so that members can answer anonymously if desired.

Krizack asked how the task force planned to follow up on the survey. Nelson let Krizack know that he would pass her concern about evaluation to the group and that the group planned on sending out the initial surveys and if the initial response was low they would re-assess how to reach more members. von Salis asked a follow up question, 'was the task force charged to perform further action after this survey has been completed' and Nelson let von Salis know that there is no mention in the charge of further action after the survey is complete.

Discussion followed about whether the task force should get input from other chairs who may have pressing questions to ask the membership but all board members agreed that the task force should be allowed to proceed with a survey that focuses on connectivity and electronic access.

A MOTION was made that the "Survey Task Force do a short focused survey on electronic communication issues in the upcoming October Newsletter and other committees get involved to decide if an additional survey is needed." Hurt SECONDED the motion. All board members voted in favor of the above stated motion.

A MOTION was made to "Approve the charge of the Survey Task Force highlighted in the June 10, 2002 minutes." Carnahan SECONDED the motion. All board members voted in favor of approving the charge.

25. Old Business / Volunteer Web Page Development (Appendix T)

Paul Carnahan reported on the current status of the Volunteer Web Page. The board clarified that Hughes is the person to contact for feeding information to the Web Committee. von Salis requested that a link be made on the Volunteer Page to the Membership Committee and Carnahan said the link would be added. Also the group discussed adding a special projects section so the group will work to add that additional link as well. All board members agreed to adding a link to the page that links to our contributing vendors web pages.

ACTION Carnahan will work on the wording of this "vendor link" and share with the board before making the addition to the web page.

26. New Business / NELINET Sponsorship (Appendix U)

The group discussed a NELINET Sponsorship ($100.00 - $125.00) and the issue will be TABLED until Krizack can get further clarification on how it is NELINET would like NEA to take part in their Digital Reality Conference.

27. New Business / NEA Budget

Andrews brought up the budget issue again in order to get some clarification on where NEA is heading with an estimated $8,500 deficit. The upcoming Fall meeting has been allocated $8,000.00 in the budget so Andrews is concerned that current spending levels may place the NEA Budget in even further constraints. In order to address Andrews concerns Krizack stated the following:

Krizack will email all those with line item in the NEA budget to try not to spend all of the money that has been allocated to them.
Over the past three years NEA has seen a decrease in assets so anyone who is submitting budgets to the board, please submit two budgets, a "Best Case Budget" and a "Bare Bones Budget."
Krizack proposed that the board start via email to go back and review the current budget and begin to list out options on cost savings measures.
All board members agreed that planning needs to be adjusted within the budgeting process.
Andrews will photocopy the Treasurer's Reports over the last three years and send them to all NEA Board Members.
von Salis will look at the Treasurer's Reports for the last three years to document income money, expense money and the net value for NEA.
The board will review the work of Andrews and von Salis at a later date to see if the group can work together to create a budget system/ planning system that in the words of Krizack, "optimizes cost savings measures."

28. The next Executive Board meeting will take place on October 25, 2002 at the Fall 2002 NEA/MARAC joint meeting (Poughkeepsie, NY). The location of the meeting will be posted at a later date.

29. Adjournment

On a MOTION by Joan Krizack, seconded by Hurt, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.