Meeting Minutes
BITS Annual Business Meeting
Minutes Of the Teleconference Call Held June 22, 2016.
1. Greeting; introduction of members and guests; quorum check
The meeting was called to order by John McCann at approximately 09:05 PM., EDT.
Board Members Present:
President: John McCann, (second term)
Vice president: Andrea Pitsenbarger, (second term)
Secretary: Tom Jones, (final term)
Treasurer: Richard Villa, (second term)
Board member (2017): Earlene Hughes, (first term)
Board Member (2018): Amanda Lee, (final term)
Members present:
Jeff Bishop
Karyn Campbell,
Ray Campbell,
Tim Cumings,
Jim Denham,
Janelle Edwards,
Karen Eitel,
Terrell Jones,
Martin Kuhn,
Marcia Moses
Rob Rogers,
Terry-Ann Saurmann
Lillian Scaife
Lyle Sine
Kelly Stanfield
David Tanner
Larry Turnbull
Richard Villa
Frank Welte
Vita Zavoli
Renee Zelickson
There were 25 members present; hence, the quorum requirement was met.
moment of silence in memory of Steve Holmes
In recognition of the passing of Steve Holmes, a board member and website administrator, a moment of silence was observed along with the offering of positive comments remembering Steve from John and other board members.
2. Adoption of proposed agenda
Tom Jones moved to adopt the agenda as circulated, seconded by Ray Campbell, and the motion carried.
3. Consideration and adoption of the 2015 annual meeting draft minutes
Ray Campbell moved to adopt the 2015 minutes as circulated, seconded by Renee Zelickson, and the motion carried.
4. Treasurer’s report
Richard gave an interim treasurer’s report containing data from the first of June through the twenty-second as that was current to the day of the meeting:
The Checking account beginning balance, as of 06/01/2016, was $5,746.13, and with a PayPal deposit of $66.76, gave us a total deposits of $66.76.
As for expenses, there were two checks; one to reimburse Richard in the amount of $239.90, for the purchase of the two Amazon Echoes which were for the BITS luncheon drawing and the BITS convention auction contribution. The second check was to GoDaddy in the amount of $177.19 for the website move and hosting fee, giving us a total expenses of $417.90, yielding a checking account current balance as of the day of the meeting of $5,395.80. The PayPal balance was $0.00. The savings account balance, as of 06/01/2016, was $549.47, and as of the day of the meeting, the balance was $549.49, $0.02 interest. The Wells Fargo CD was $10.000.00, scheduled to mature in March, 2017. The total in all accounts was $15,945.29. This concluded his treasurer’s report. He did add that a BITS affiliate dues check in the amount of $320.00 had been erroneously sent to ACB’s former Arlington Virginia address. On April 29th, Nancy Becker in ACB’s Minneapolis office called president John McCann to apprise that the BITS dues check had not been received. The dues payment was hence made via BITS’ debit card with the understanding that the misdirected $320.00 check would be returned to BITS or destroyed at such time as it was received in ACB’s Alexandria office.
5. President’s report
John began his president’s report by acknowledging his joy in completing his migration from Virginia to Arizona, and his being able to conduct the 2016 BITS annual meeting from his new home’s office, which was a very different situation from last year’s annual meeting’s when he ran the meeting while sitting on the living room floor of his temporary lodgings with somewhat primitive communications capabilities. He continued his report as follows:
A. Transfer of website administrative functions to Earlene Hughes and related matters
He acknowledged that, with the passing of Steve Holmes, access to the website and to other critical information went with him, leaving us with the monumental task of reconstructing the website and preparing for this meeting, particularly assuring that our 2015-16 membership roster was up to date as that roster is used to notify members of the annual meeting. Earlene Hughes, an experienced website administrator, was asked to handle this task as best she could, and she performed this task better than anyone else among us could have done. He asked everyone on the call to join him in commending Earlene “in the strongest terms” for her efforts, which was met with an instantaneous approval. He then said that he had assigned The website administrator duties to Earlene, filling the position previously handled by Steve. He further related that, regarding the GoDaddy account mentioned By Richard in his treasurer’s report, it was more expedient to simply start a new one, which was done, and Earlene transferred everything over from the old account. He asked Earlene to expand on that. She started by pointing out that the website had to be moved both legally and technically. She explained that she had no identifying information or credentials to verify to GoDaddy that we were who we said we were, i.e., passwords, user names, etc. She said that she moved what data she could from the previous site to the new one in the time available to her, further indicating that the new site is stable and that all membership records are current. She said that the good news is that procedures are in place so that we will never experience this situation in the future. , .
B. Membership report
John said that we certified 78 members by March 31, and, although a few members had somehow fallen through the cracks”, they have been reinstated. He said that, after the convention, regular co-ordination procedures would be in place to avoid such issues in the future. In short, these procedures will be directed at maintaining an appropriate level of coordination among the three persons having a role in tracking memberships: i.e., Richard handles the receipt of dues payments, Earlene handles access to the “members only” area of our website and the “members only” email discussion list, and John handles the certification of BITS members in ACB’s Affiliate Membership Management System, (AMMS).
C. Announcement of official delegate, alternate delegate, and nominating committee representative to the ACB national convention
John announced that he would be primary delegate, Richard would be alternate delegate, and Andrea Pitsenbarger would attend the nominating committee meeting.
He said that, with respect to the elections to be conducted at the upcoming ACB convention, we were happily in the position of having six candidates running for the five available board positions, listing the names of the candidates known to him.
D. Announcement of the 2016 Kellie Cannon Scholarship award winner
John said that the 2016 Kelly Cannon scholarship winner was Jack Duffy-Pretentis, who, unfortunately would not be able to attend the convention, but that he would still receive a one-year free BITS Membership discussion list subscription as per our usual practice.
E. BITS to Donate an Amazon Tap to the ACB auction
John said that, as previously mentioned in the Treasurer’s report, BITS will be donating an Amazon Echo Tap to the convention auction, and another one will be offered as the BITS door prize, the eligibility for which requires purchase of the BITS package, and being present in the meeting room when the drawing is conducted, i.e., at the end of the BITS luncheon.
F. Participation in the Brenda Dillon memorial walk
John said that he had established “the BITS Hard-drivers” team for the Walk, and indicated that he would put the link up on the website for people to either donate, and/or register as either an actual or virtual walker. He acknowledge that the establishment and announcement of our walk team was later than desired, but better late than never.
G. BITS to provide an opportunity for Microsoft to showcase the next iteration of the narrator screen-reader in Windows 10
As regards this item, John explained that Microsoft, having contacted Jeff Bishop and Brian Charlson, expressed a strong interest in showcasing the improvements made in the soon-to-be released upgrade to Windows 10 with better Narrator / Screen reading functionality at a convention session dedicated to that specific purpose. He Noted that, with our business meeting now having been switched away from the convention, the former annual business meeting slot, (Tuesday between 2:45 and 4:00 PM), would be available for such a session. Hence, it was decided that the above-mentioned time slot would be reserved for a presentation by Kelly Ford demonstrating some of the new narrator features. Microsoft also expressed an interest in one-on-one activity in the BITS suite. He said that, because the information was just given to us, we need to get the word out on the BITS discussion and leadership lists as well as publicizing the sessions in the convention newspaper and on all available social media outlets. This results in a win-win situation for both Microsoft and BITS visibility.
H. Recording affiliate holiday greetings for use on ACB radio
In response to a call from ACB radio for affiliates to furnish holiday greetings for use during the month of December, BITS did provide a greeting done by BITS board members using our teleconference line last December. Quite obviously, this recording was not of the highest quality; hence, John suggested that this year we might want to record our holiday greeting in the BITS suite, perhaps during the BITS mixer.
I. Terrell Jones added to the BITS twitter team
John said that he received a call from Terrell about the procedure to become involved with the twitter team, and, as John was aware of a void created by lack of recent attention to the twitter account, he decided to add Terrell to the team. As he has already done some work with it, John noted that it was great to have someone volunteer to assist with our twitter presence who already has a feel for what’s involved with that activity.
J. Commentary on the BITS Saturday night chat sessions
John started by acknowledging the many informative chat sessions held during the past year, and noted that we’ve added a new feature with the advent of TeamTalk. He asked Tom to address this subject further. Tom said that so far, the chats have been open, but that he wants to start tutorials and presentations, soon. Some minor, but critical, details have to be ironed out, but he expects to be able to improve on what we’ve had up to this point. As we have discovered, some of the best information comes out at the later part of the chats. He concluded that everyone is welcome, and he looks forward to more improvements as we go through the coming year, adding that time would be made available during the convention for one-on-one assistance in downloading and installing the TeamTalk client on their computer or smart phone.
K. Special interest affiliate’s concerns about the new national convention format beginning in 2017
John pointed out that there were several specific concerns raised by the ad hoc “special interest affiliate concerns” committee: first, the new charges to be imposed for live internet streaming, and second, charges for any direct connections between recording equipment and hotel PA systems, together with charges for the monitoring of any program session if desired. We have historically avoided any issues in this area by placing a microphone in front of the PA speakers, and by not conducting any live streaming of our program sessions. More consequentially, John was notified at “Midyear”, by a person with the CCLVI affiliate, that a group might be getting together Saturday night at the convention to discuss the above-stated special interest affiliate concerns. He continued by saying that Paul Edwards had scheduled a conference call on June 11 which he asked Tom to attend as he would be celebrating his daughter’s nuptuals at that time. Out of this,, a letter, at least to Kim, National President, was sent denoting concerns about not just the shortening of the convention, but, the splitting of General sessions,, holding some in the morning and some in the afternoon. John said that he was more ready to support the shortening of the convention, but he was personally amenable to having the ACB board revisit the recommendation respecting the holding of general convention sessions in both the morning and afternoon.
L. Goals for 2017
At last year’s annual meeting, John had expressed the hope that the Constitution and Bylaws committee would be able to present further updates to our governing instruments, but as this did not happen, we will need to make that a priority for next year. The second goal was to improve website content, and we seem to have done better at that one, though we have yet to place tutorial recordings on our website as had been planned. Thirdly, as mentioned previously, we need to achieve better coordination and communication among those having a role in tracking memberships to assure that member benefits are conferred promptly and that our AMMS database is always current. He concluded his report by revealing that he would not seek a third term as BITS president, acknowledging that he has found it a challenge to successfully juggle the duties of being both BITS president and National second vice president. He stated that he couldn’t be more proud of the performance of the BITS board during the past two years, particularly during the past weeks when it was necessary to address the several crises created by Steve Holmes’ untimely passing.
6. BITS convention program committee report
In light of Andrea not being on the call, John continued with the convention program report by observing that, initially, the Sunday morning program was going to be on Social media client programs, but, with the advent of the remarkable new Braille displays announced at CSUN, it was decided to dedicate the Sunday morning session to a review of these devices. The traditional Sunday afternoon Vendors’ showcase would follow. This leads to Monday’s BITS/ACBRA combined affiliate presentation on Echolink and other repeater applications. At the end of that session, Tom would be available to assist anyone with downloading and installing TeamTalk for anyone interested. On Monday night, people could look forward to our traditional BITS mixer.
On Tuesday, we will have the BITS luncheon, with our luncheon speaker, Dan Roberts of the Low-Vis Guide app, after which would be the Windows 10 / narrator session as mentioned previously. Also, time would be made available on Tuesday morning and all day Wednesday for Microsoft to conduct one-on-one information gathering and demonstration sessions on the new Narrator improvements.
7. Old Business. None was raised.
8. New Business. None was raised.
9. Election
At this point we conducted our 2016 BITS election, beginning with the nominating committee report given by Tom, who put forward the nominating committee’s recommendation of Jim Denham for the one open board position.
John conducted the election, requesting any other nominations from the floor, at which point Larry Turnbull nominated David Tanner for the position, which was seconded by Renee Zelickson. Following the second and third requests for nominations from the floor, Karyn Campbell moved that nominations be closed, seconded by Renee Zelickson, and the motion carried.
After both candidates were given the chance to speak on their behalf, John asked Earlene Hughes to review the election procedures and to inform the membership of when she expected to place the ballot on the “members only” area of our website. Ray Campbell then made a motion that the polls close at 11:59 PM., EDT. on Tuesday, June 28, and that the annual meeting be reconvened on Wednesday, June 29 at 09:00 PM., EDT. for the purpose of announcing the election results. The motion was seconded by Karyn Campbell, and the motion carried.
Special note:
After the initial annual meeting was adjourned, and after the election had started, a situation arose which required that a special board meeting be convened and that a special announcement disclosing the action taken at that meeting be posted to the membership. As this was of major importance to the election process, the text of the e-mail announcement is provided here as context for all that occurred after June 23, 2016.
Hello Fellow BITS Members:
As you know, BITS is presently in the midst of an online election to fill one directorship position, term ending in 2019. Two candidates are competing for this position: Jim Denham, (Massachusetts), and David Tanner, (Minnesota). The polls opened at or about 10:30 pm EDT, Wednesday, June 22nd, 2016, shortly after the annual meeting was recessed.
At 6:23 am this past Thursday, Jim Denham posted a campaign email to the BITS discussion list. David Tanner followed with a campaign email at 7:15 pm that same day. (These times were taken from the time-date stamps associated with the emails I received.) To state the obvious, both emails were sent after the online polls had opened.
With campaign statements now having been promulgated during the pendency of an ongoing vote, serious questions have been raised about the legitimacy of this election. On Friday, June 24th, at 9:00 pm EDT, the BITS board held an emergency meeting to address these concerns. Those in attendance were:
John McCann
Tom Jones
Richard Villa
Earlene Hughes
Amanda Lee
Hence, with the presence of five board members, a quorum was present. In an attempt to address the situation with which we are now confronted, by consensus, the BITS board has decided to take the following actions:
1. Close the polls immediately upon the posting of this message;
2. Invalidate all votes cast thus far;
3. Reopen the polls at 12:00 am Sunday, June 26th, thereby restarting the election anew;
4. Close the polls at 11:59:59 pm, Tuesday, June 28th, in accordance with the motion adopted at the annual meeting.
5. expressly prohibit the posting of any further campaign statements on the BITS discussion list.
The board is acutely cognizant of the fact that, in adopting this course of action, it is altering that which was expressly adopted by the membership, but nevertheless considers that these steps are compelled in order to assure the integrity and fairness of the election process.
We apologize in advance for any confusion and/or inconvenience this alteration in the 2016 election process may cause. We will, as per the motion adopted at the close of Wednesday’s portion of the annual meeting, reconvene that meeting at 9:00 pm EDT to announce the election results.
John McCann
President: Blind Information Technology Specialists, Inc.