Winter 2000 p. 6

VASTA BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Collin County Community College—Plano Texas
November 6th & 7th 1999
Compiled by Phil Thompson, VASTA Secretary

Present at the meeting were Lisa Wilson (LW), Kate Ufema (KU), Janet Rodgers (JR), Betty Ann Leeseberg-Lange (BALL), Mandy Reese (MR), Dorothy Runk Mennen (DRM), Barbara Acker (BA), Rocco Dal Vera (RDV), Karen Ryker (KR), Anne Scrimger (AS), Kate Burke (KB), Craig Ferre (CF), and Phil Thompson (PT).
Saturday, November 6, 9:00 A.M
The board welcomed new members, Karen Ryker and (in absentia) Deena Burke.

KU MOVED THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JULY 1,1999 MEETING. DRM SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED WITH 5 VOTES IN ITS FAVOR AND ONE ABSTENTION.

JR announced that our next board meeting will take place on August 5, 2000 at George Mason University in Washington D.C. MR presented proposed revisions to the VASTA by-laws. These changes had been worked on primarily by MR and DRM with contributions by KU, JR, and BALL. The document showing suggested changes was organized into three sections, A, B, and C. Each section was voted up or down as a whole after discussion and further editing. The board plans to post the revised by-laws on the VASTA website at http://www.vasta.org.

A. *Quickies* Five small changes were made to the language of the by-laws for the sake of clarity and consistency. In addition, the list of appointed officers was be updated to include the Director of Special Conferences, Newsletter Editor, and.Journal Editor.
In section 7.3., QUALIFICATIONS OF OFFICERS, to the sentence, “Anyone who has been a member in good standing for at least two (2) years is eligible to be appointed as an officer,” the following phrase will be added: “with the exception of assistant positions which require one (1) year of membership.”
BALL MOVED ACCEPTANCE OF THE ABOVE CHANGES. KU SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. *Items needing more discussion* A statement in section 7.5 regarding length of terms and term limits was changed to read as follows: “Appointed officers shall serve a term of two (2) years. The board may reappoint officers.” The title “Assistant Director of Annual Conferences” was changed to “Associate Director of Annual Conferences.” Section 7.6 was updated to include the following descriptions: “L. The Newsletter
Editor shall be responsible for the publication of the newsletter. M. The Journal Editor shall be responsible for the publication of the journal.” In section 8.2, STANDING COMMITTEES: item “B. ADVOCACY COMMITTEE” was removed.
KU MOVED ACCEPTANCE OF THE ABOVE CHANGES. KR SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. *Questions and Ideas from Board Members* Three small changes were made to the language of the by-laws for the sake of clarity and consistency. A new section, numbered 7.6, will be added as follows: “7.6 REMOVAL FROM OFFICE. In the event that an appointed officer or committee chair is deemed by two-thirds vote of the Board to have demonstrated a lack of activity or a lack of compliance with organizational by-laws, said person can be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the Board.”
BALL MOVED ACCEPTANCE OF THE ABOVE CHANGES. DRM SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

BA reported on current plans and proposed budget for the 2000 VASTA Conference. LW gave the Budget Report. AS gave the ATHE Conference Planning Report. KB gave the ATHE Representative’s Report.

An ad hoc committee of DRM, BALL and KR was constituted to begin a conversation about levels of membership and qualifications and to begin a dialogue with NATS and ASHA. RDV presented a report on the Voice and Speech Review. The report listed the organizational departments of the journal and the associate and, if applicable, assistant editors of those departments.
MR MADE THE FOLLOWING MOTION: “THE LOGO IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS THE
LETTERS VASTA ABOVE THE ‘SWIMMING BAR’ AKA ‘THE PROGRESSIVELY FLOWING SINE WAVE’. COLOR IS NOT MANDATED FOR THE JOURNAL, BUT PREFERRED FOR ALL OTHER PUBLICATIONS.” DRM SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
We then moved on to a discussion of the proposed budget. JR proposed a contingency for the President’s travel.
KU MOVED THE FOLLOWING: “THAT A LINE ITEM BE ADDED TO OUR ANNUAL BUDGET, PROVIDING $1000 OF DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FOR THE USE OF THE PRESIDENT OVER THE TERM OF THE PRESIDENCY. BALL OFFERED A FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO THE EFFECT THAT “THE PRESIDENT WILL REPORT ON THE USE OF THESE FUNDS AT EACH BOARD MEETING, THIS REPORT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE PUBLISHED MINUTES.” MR SECONDED THE MOTION AS AMENDED. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

KU MOVED THE FOLLOWING: “THAT $1000 BE ADDED TO THE PUBLICATIONS LINE OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET TO PROVIDE FOR REVISIONS TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY”.
BALL SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

LW presented a revised budget as follows:

This leaves a shortfall of $8,725
BALL MOVED THAT THE BUDGET BE ADOPTED AS AMENDED. MR SECONDED THE MOTION WHICH PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

CF gave the Newsletter Editor’s report. BALL MOVED THAT WE ADJOURN. KR SECONDED. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

An unedited copy of the minutes may be obtained by contacting Phil Thompson (contact information on page 5).

© Copyright 1987-2001 Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.