Meeting Minutes
Blind Information Technology Specialists
Annual Membership Meeting Minutes for 2017
June 14, 2017 – 08:36 PM EDT
The first item of business was greetings, and rollcall of membership present.
Members present:
Karyn Campbell
Ray Campbell
Tim Cumings
James Denham
Betsey Doane
Janelle Edwards
Lynn Hedl
Earlene Hughes
Tyler Kavanaugh
Larry Krejci
Martin Kuhn
John McCann
Betty Novell
Ann Parsons
Penelope Reeder
Robert Rogers
Jim Stanga
David Tanner
Larry Turnbull
Richard Villa
Frank Welte
Ron Woelfel
Vita Zavoli
Renee Zelickson
A quorum of members was present for the meeting.
The next item of business was approval of the proposed agenda for the meeting. The agenda was approved with the addition of a discussion of a resolution to be submitted to the resolutions committee at the convention calling for anti virous software to be more accessible.
The next item of business was approval of the minutes of the 2015 annual meeting minutes. The minutes were approved by the membership with the correction of the name Richard Villa as treasurer instead of secretary.
The next item of business was the treasurer’s report. The report was approved as submitted by the membership. The treasurer will submit an annual treasurer’s report at the end of June.
The next item of business was the president’s report.
The president spent some time mentioning a number of areas in which BITS has grown a lot in membership, the ability to grow the treasury by over $2,000 in the past four years while he was president.
A vote was taken to approve the changing of the officers who will be responsible for signing on all bank accounts and credit cards since there will be a new president after this meeting. The motion passed by the membership.
The president reported that BITS had certified 95 members as of March 2017, which was a good improvement from the 79 members certified in 2016.
The president announced that Richard Villa will be our delegate to the national convention, Martin Kuhn
will be the alternate delegate to the national convention, and Andrea Pitsenbarger would represent BITS at the nominating committee meeting.
The president announced that the winner of the Kelly Cannon Scholarship was Michael Fulton.
The president reported that BITS will be donating a Amazon Fire tablet for the auction at the national convention, and a second Amazon Fire tablet will be given as the door prize at the BITS Luncheon.
The next item of business was committee reports.
Program committee report: The BITS Vendor Showcase will be on Saturday morning, there will be a presentation about advances with Narrator on Saturday afternoon. The BITS Luncheon will be on Monday afternoon with a speaker from Microsoft, After the luncheon there will be a joint meeting with the blind hams group.
Bylaws Committee Report: President John McCann reported on the amendments being recommended for changes in the bylaws and constitution and briefly explained what recommended changes are being voted on this year.
In summary the following items were covered by the proposed amendment changes being recommended by the committee.
- Eliminate the word when referring to members. The word member will be assumed to mean that the person is a full member unless it is designated as a student or life member.
- Eliminating the membership category of organizational member.
- Create a life membership in BITS with a one-time dues payment of $250.
- Clarifies who qualifies as a student member. Also, clearly indicates that BITS reserves the right to request proof that the person is actually a student at a university, college, or vocational training program.
- Changes requirements for calling a special called board meeting. Now requires a one-day notice for the meeting, and that at least five board members must be able to attend the meeting to make a quorum.
- Shorten the time for introducing constitution and bylaw amendments from 60 days to 30 days.
- Changes acceptance of changes in bylaws from a two thirds favorable vote to a simple majority vote, but keeps the requirement for passing a change in the constitution to two thirds majority of favorable votes.
- Amendment 3.2 is reworded to eliminate a statement of the applicant for membership to submit a statement of their qualifications to be a member of BITS. And, adds a statement that payments made for dues after April 30 will grant membership in BITS for the next BITS year starting on July 1 and going thru June 30 of the next year. After some discussion Richard Villa offered a friendly motion to amend article 3.2 to indicate that a member must be legally blind, and David Tanner seconded the motion. The motion was approved by the membership.
- Article 6.2 will add the wording that student members may not be elected as president or vice president.
Richard Villa moved that all of the above items be voted on as one block. The motion was seconded by Betsy Doane. The membership approved the motion to approve all of the above amendments as presented with the changed wording approved by the membership during the discussion of each article above.
Nominating committee report: James Denham reported that the committee is recommending the following persons:
- Tom Jones – President
- Earlene Hughes – vice president
- David Tanner – secretary
- Richard Villa – treasurer
- Tim Cummings director.
The next item of business was the election of officers and one director.
There were no other nominees for the office of president and Tom Jones was elected president.
There were no other nominees for vice president and Earlene Hughes was elected vice president.
There were no other nominees for the office of secretary, and David Tanner was elected as secretary.
There were no other nominees for treasurer and Richard Villa was elected as treasurer for his final term.
There were no other nominees for the board director position, and Tim Cummings was elected for the one open director position on the board.
The next item of business was adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 10:10 PM EDT
Respectfully Submitted
David Tanner, secretary