MASWCD
MINUTES
Conference
Call
November
24, 2008
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Present Fred Feldmann,
President Steve Oetting, Past
President Bruce Biermann, Area I Steve Radcliff, Area II |
Not Present |
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Kenny Lovelace, Area
III Beverly Dometrorch,
Area IV |
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George Engelbach, Area
V Marie Iiams, Area VI Sharon Gifford, Area
VII |
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Harry Robbins, Area
VIII Peggy Lemons, Executive
Director |
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President Fred Feldmann
welcomed everyone to the call at 8:00 p.m. and established a quorum. This is a special meeting called to discuss
the letter from the parliamentarian and legal representation at Tan-Tar-A. A motion was made by Steve Oetting to approve
the agenda. George Engelbach seconded
the motion. Vote was 9-0 by roll call
with President Feldmann not voting.
The letter received from
the parliamentarian indicated reservations about the proposed bylaw changes and
the need to do a complete revision.
Steve Radcliff stated he had talked with Ms. Margason on Friday and
there seemed to be no problem with taking the proposed changes to the full
body. He stated her concerns seemed to
deal more with representation and the ability of the president to vote. The last paragraph of the letter states the
need to look at a complete revision of the bylaws.
A motion was made by
Steve Radcliff to present the proposed bylaw changes as mailed out. Kenny Lovelace seconded the motion. Vote on the motion was 6 yes and 3 no from
roll call vote as follows with President Feldmann not voting: Bruce Biermann – yes, Steve Radcliff – yes,
Kenny Lovelace – yes, Beverly Dometrorch – yes, George Engelbach – no, Marie
Iiams – no, Sharon Gifford – yes, Steve Huber – yes, Steve Oetting – no.
A motion was made by
George Engelbach to put the parliamentarian’s letter in front of the body at
some tie as proposal is discussed by Ms. Margason. Marie Iiams seconded this motion. Motion carried with a unanimous vote by roll
call with President Feldmann not voting.
Legal representation for
the Business Meeting was discussed.
Since there were so many changes proposed some felt it was needed to
keep the Association from running contrary to state statute. Beverly Dometrorch asked if copies of the
state statutes would be available for the attendees. Steve Radcliff asked who the attorney they
had in mind is. George Engelbach
responded with
Steve Oetting stated he
felt we needed a plan to solve the split in the Board and he needed approval to
do this and needed legal counsel to help.
It was questioned what is the total cost. His response was what is the Association
worth. Steve Radcliff stated he felt the
split came when everyone lost trust in Bill Foster. He stated he asked a question about the
amount of the reserve fund and felt he was not told a truthful answer when Bill
Foster responded with $34,000 instead of $34 million. Beverly Dometrorch stated she felt he didn’t
like to be questioned and when questioned would get loud and change the
subject. She stated it didn’t seem to
matter what we think.
Fred Feldmann stated the
entire Board needed to support the decision of the Board. Marie Iiams made a motion to take Steve
Oetting’s suggestion and have legal representation at Tan-Tar-A. George Engelbach seconded the motion. Bruce Biermann stated he saw nothing wrong
with having an attorney there, but there a lot of legal counsels out there and
trying to find one who somebody doesn’t know would be difficult. He indicated maybe we could get an opinion
and even a second opinion if necessary.
Sharon Gifford stated it would be very seldom to find two attorneys that
agreed. George Engelbach indicated this
attorney had made a commitment for 2 days at the conference and it was a little
late to find someone else.
Sharon Gifford asked
Steve Oetting if he planned to meet with the attorney prior to the
conference. He indicated possibly. Marie Iiams stated she wanted to amend her
motion to include the cost for pre-conference work. George Engelbach agreed. Bruce Biermann asked if everyone would feel
more comfortable to set a maximum amount of $1000. Marie Iiams and George Engelbach both agreed
to include that in the motion. Vote on
the motion failed with a vote of 4 yes and 5 no from roll call vote with President
Feldmann not voting. Bruce Biermann –
yes, Steve Radcliff – no, Kenny Lovelace – no, Beverly Dometrorch – no, George
Engelbach – yes, Marie Iiams – yes, Sharon Gifford – no, Steve Huber – no,
Steve Oetting – yes.
President Feldmann stated
he wanted to make an executive decision to have the legal counsel present. Steve Radcliff stated he couldn’t make an
executive decision. Steve Oetting asked
if any of the Board had an objection to him contacting an attorney for advice
if no funds from MASWCD were used.
Sharon Gifford and Steve Radcliff both responded that they had an
objection to that.
It was decided there was
a need for the Board to have more meeting time at the conference and would plan
to meet Monday evening following the Opening Session.
Motion for adjournment
made by George Engelbach. Conference
call adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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Peggy Lemons, Executive
Director |
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Fred Feldmann,
President |
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