Executive Committee Meeting January 19, 2022 A meeting of the FCB Executive Committee was held on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Those in attendance were: President, Sheila Young; 1st Vice-President, Mikey Wiseman; 2nd Vice-President, Cassandra Jessie; Treasurer, Mark Lear;, Recording Secretary, Mary Tyson; Membership Secretary, Sally Benjamin; Immediate Past President, Jim Kracht; and guests Kati Lear and Debbie Grubb. The meeting began at 7:00 PM. Mikey asked if we could table approval of the minutes of the September 30, meeting as he had not had the opportunity to read them. Approval of the minutes was tabled. Debbie Grubb spoke about the D.C. Leadership Meetings. They will be virtual again this year. Debbie and Anthony Corona have set up three training sessions to prepare those who will be attending. 1. On Sunday Edition Anthony will discuss the four legislative imperatives. 2. On VISAbilities Terri Pacheco and Debbie Grubb will discuss how to schedule appointments with the legislators. 3. On Tuesday Topics there will be role playing and instruction on how to tell your story in the most effective way. These sessions will be put into one podcast. Anyone wishing to participate is required to listen to these sessions or to the podcast. All of these sessions will be on Zoom. The meetings with the legislators will be on Zoom as well. The three sessions will be held in February prior to the ACB community calls. Dates have not been firmed up but they will be in the message that Debbie sends out on FCB-L. Debbie asked that people who wish to participate be able to connect to Zoom, that they commit to attending the meetings and that they fill out the forms at the completion of the meetings. Mikey said that she should feel free to set up whatever guidelines for participation that she deems appropriate having learned from last year’s experience. Debbie thanked everyone for allowing FCB to use their personal Zoom rooms, but as they are all set up differently, we did have some glitches. Since we spent no money last year and will have no out of pocket expenses this year, it is requested that FCB purchase a second Zoom account. It can be used for the June convention and other events if required. Sheila asked what it would cost to get a Zoom account for two months as it was not felt that we would need the account for a full year. Kati said that she believed the cost was around $13.00 per month. Mikey made a motion that we get the Zoom account for the month of March. Motion was seconded by Mary and it passed. Sheila is now the Officer Liaison for CALM. Miami Beach has been changed to Jim Kracht. FCB and ACB Auction Donations – Mikey has shipped the purses we purchased to Leslie Spoone, so both auctions are taken care of regarding FCB donations. Executive Assistant – Sheila and Nancy Folsom met with Kati and she is happy with the job description of her duties and responsibilities and her salary. Voting Task Force – Sheila has as yet not heard from Paul Edwards about this and Mary is to send her the list of people who were to be on the Task Force. As soon as she gets the list she will call Paul. The task force was to address the issue of virtual voting at convention as it is believed to make that sort of change, it must be voted on by the membership in attendance and in person. It has to be voted on by the membership, it cannot be a Board decision so people will not be able to vote over Zoom this year. Brochures - Sheila had a meeting with Nancy Folsom, Chairman of Project Insight and Shelley Sawyer, Chairman of the Publications and Publicity Committee to talk about updating the FCB brochures. They came to the consensus that FCB does not need two brochures. As the Project Insight information is actually on the FCB brochure, they asked if it would be acceptable to consolidate them. It was suggested that they be invited to the next EC meeting and make a report. It can be passed at that time. Donation Idea - Sheila attends presidents meetings for ACB and it has been recommended that we put a donation link on our home page. She asked Mark to check into this possibility and he said that it is a good idea, but if donations go through PayPal that they will get a portion of the donation. Sheila asked Mark to check with Nancy Becker and Earlene to find out what would be the best way to do this while incurring the least cost. He will look into the other third party apps such as CashApp. Webmaster and Book keeper salaries – Earlene has been FCB webmaster since 2009; she was initially paid $250 per month and that is still what she is paid. Pam Keezel was paid $200 and is now paid $250. Mark feels that they should be paid the same amount, whatever is decided. Mary made a motion that the two salaries be raised to $400 per month. Motion was seconded by Sally. Mikey said that he thinks that Earlene should get a $50 raise to $300 per month. Mikey recommended that Sheila talk with Earlene about the possibility of a raise and negotiate. Mary withdrew her motion and this will be discussed at the next meeting when we have a report from Sheila. Mark suggested that no increase be given until the next budget meeting. Donation in memory of Bill Spoone – Sheila asked if we could donate to the Bill Spoone scholarship being established at Valentia College in his memory. Mikey made a motion to donate $100 and the motion was seconded by Mary. After some discussion the motion passed and $100 will be donated to the Bill and Pat Spoone scholarship fund at Valencia College. Chapter Status – Greater Miami - The chapter is going to be dissolving soon. Mikey is keeping tabs on this and will keep us informed. Tampa – Jim Kracht and Mikey will contact Jim Warth and explain that they must bring the chapter into compliance or we will be forced to dissolve it. Kati mentioned that Dianne Bobrowski was listed as the president of Tampa chapter. Sheila wants to draft an addition to the Policy Manual explaining which documents go to which officer every year and the dates that they are due. Cassandra said that the Membership Committee would write it up. Mikey suggested this be a one page PDF that can be printed or emailed out as a checklist. Sheila ask when Training sessions for membership secretaries were scheduled and Sally advised that they are on January 20, at 7:00 PM and January 22, at 11:00 AM. Individual training is available if assistance is needed for JAWS or other speech software. Sheila will advise Nancy Becker that Mark will be in attendance. Democracy Live – Leslie Spoone had a conversation with them as they are sponsoring convention for $2,500 and they want to show her their newly available products. It was felt that this conversation should be had with Jim Kracht and the Access Committee. Sheila said that she believed that for that level of sponsorship they were entitled to have a table, to speak a few minutes at a banquet or opening session and a one hour workshop. They are very concerned about voting machines that have not been certified. Estate – Jim Kracht has spoken with the lawyer for the Agnes Capeto estate and they have an extension to close the estate until the end of March. Jim Woolyhand is retiring as head of the Braille and Talking Books Library at the end of February. Motion to adjourn was made by Mikey and seconded by Cassandra. Meeting was adjourned at 8:28 PM. Respectfully submitted by, Mary Tyson FCB Recording Secretary