District 6780 College of Governors Meeting January 9, 2016 Cherokee Country Club Knoxville TN

Transcription

1 District 6780 College of Governors Meeting January 9, 2016 Cherokee Country Club Knoxville TN Call to order Pledge of Allegiance Invocation Welcome and Introductions Attendees: DG Beth Stubbs, Presiding RID Karen Wentz DGE Fred Heitman DGN Deborah Alexander-Davis IPDG Jerry Wear PDG Jack Bailey, Jr PDG Jim Buckner PDG Bobby Davis DG Beth Stubbs PDG Bobby Davis PDG Ray Knowis DG Beth Stubbs PDG Jim Devin PDG Harry Fields PDG Carol Foster PDG Ray Knowis PDG Frank Rothermel PDG Robin Textor District Foundation Chair Jim Roxlo District Treasurer Jenifer Campbell District Secretary Greg Maciolek Secretary s Report: Greg Maciolek, District Secretary DG Beth Stubbs made a motion to amend the portion of the minutes pertaining to the Finance Committee meeting minutes from April 23, 2015 to include the ex-officio members. The motion was seconded by Fred Heitman. Motion passed to approve the minutes as corrected. Treasurer s Report Jenifer Campbell, District Treasurer Note: The following Financial Statements were distributed electronically: 1. Balance Sheet as of December 31, Statement of Receipts and Disbursements as of June 30, Statement of Receipts and Disbursements as of December 31, 2015 College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 1 January 9, 2016

2 Campbell reported a healthy balance sheet with $226,978 in total assets. A Certificate of Deposit comes due in April, Bobby Davis expressed concerned about the process of reinvesting the funds when a CD expires. The process last time seemed to be in a vacuum. Jerry Wear recommended that the treasurer and Finance Committee make a decision on what is the best place for our funds. Seconded by Frank Rothermel. Motion carried. Discussion arose about the Bomar Scholarships being carried over until this Rotary Year. This is an annual occurrence, because of the time it takes a student to get accepted to school, and then get the scholarship applied. District Treasurer Campbell requested that the Finance Committee chair approve the carryover this year, and plan for it for future years. The amount of $1,785 has been deposited as a holding place for the Rotary License project which has to accumulate to $35,000 before the license plate is created. There is a $2, offset for the President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) costs, which is addressed in DGE Fred Heitman s budget. Dues revenue to be collected is $76,464 based on membership numbers of November 30, This is about $1,000 less than budgeted due to loss of members. Line item 6350 Pre-PETS - The treasurer is concerned about the PETS invoice. It was higher than in previous years. Bobby Davis, the Operations Manager for Mid-South PETS, addressed the reason. It was decided by the PETS Operating Committee that $300/PE was closer to the actual cost of training the PE. The second invoice should be lower this year so the budget should cover it. Bobby also disclosed that PETS will be moving to Chattanooga in 2017 and meetings will take place at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Total costs should be reduced. RID Karen Wentz asked about line item 6015 on the budget for Zone Institute training for the DGN. She said that the District has an obligation to cover the cost of travel and expenses for the DGN. She said that Zone Institute registration, hotel and travel expenses be reimbursed fully for the leadership team. She suggested that the Finance Committee look for ways to cover the $700-$800 expenses that DGN Deborah Alexander- Davis paid out of pocket to attend the Zone Institute in Baton Rouge in September And for next year, the entire Governor s teams expenses should be budgeted to cover all expenses. The Finance Chair will address it with the committee with other items that have arisen. Additionally the cost for the tri-annual Council on Legislation training was left out of the budget this year. It appears to be an oversight. A couple of members thought that RI covered the cost of the COL training. Wentz indicated it didn t and that this year s COL representatives should be reimbursed for their registration fee. Campbell next focused on line item 6242 Emerging Leader Training at the Zone Institute. The budgeted amount of $1,000 was not spent as a result of Greg Maciolek attending the training. Greg is the RPIC for the Zone and had to be there anyway so he covered the costs out of his Zone budget. Line item 6400 District Governor Designate Funds not sufficient and being corrected in the budget. College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 2 January 9, 2016

3 Rotary International Director Report Karen Wentz, Zone RI Director Karen Wentz is honored to serve as an RI Director for Zones She also chairs the RI Districting Committee. She indicated that she is very impressed with the projects that are being accomplished around the world. She says she travels constantly and has been in 13 of the 26 districts this year and has the rest of the districts scheduled. She also attended 3 Centennial club celebrations. Membership is a key concern for RI. Almost all the districts in Zone are on the positive side. Programs have been instituted to help increase membership. For instance, the Membership Growth Opportunities at the Success Seminars is one example. Strategic Plan: For the first time, Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation are entering into a joint strategic plan in Council on Legislation: Both Wentz and Harry Fields are attending the COL in April. Many proposals concerning club flexibility in structure, attendance and meetings are on the table. Also proposals affecting Interact and Rotaract are noteworthy. Polio: The Rotary Foundation is looking at the end game communications strategy to ensure that Rotary gets all the credit it deserves for eradicating polio. The fight to end polio is transitioning to injectable polio vaccine. Type 2 polio has been officially declared eradicated last September, which means the need to inoculate against Type 2 polio is eliminated. It is important because the vaccine can cause polio, which it did 23 times last year (2015). This is in addition to the 70 cases that occurred last year. There is a lot of discussion about the strategy around the ending of polio Zone Institute: It will take place in Cincinnati on October It will be a different Institute this year. There will be a lot of celebrating. One reason is because The Rotary Foundation celebrates its 100 th anniversary. Another is the anticipated end of polio in the world. The third is celebrating the RI Peace Centers. Arch Klumpf Society Members: District 6780 leads the way in Arch Klumpf members. In October, six members were inducted. The Rotary Foundation Report Jim Roxlo, The Rotary Foundation Chair Contributions: Last year s contributions were up significantly. The Annual Fund was almost $500,000 and the overall giving was at $840,000. The highest levels since which brought in $501,000. Forty-nine Star Clubs, 19 clubs averaging over $150/member and 3 clubs averaging over $300/member. We have 121 Paul Harris Society members. We are on track this year to exceed last year s totals. Spending Priorities: The effort is to provide maximum funding to District Grants. This year it is $113,000. Next is Global Grants and that will be about $78,000 this year. That includes $15,000 for a Global Scholar this year. The scholar s name is Valerie King and she is at the University of Oxford. PolioPlus gets 20% of our District Designated Funds (DDF) and this year that came to $41,000. Peace Fellows is usually the fourth priority but no money was assigned to that category last year or this year. Part of the reason is due to the amount of monies College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 3 January 9, 2016

4 being spent in the other categories. Hopefully next year will see a return to giving to the Peace programs. Grant requests are coming in for Money will be tight as there is only $109,000 for DDF grants next year. Global Grants are expanding and 10 are favorable for approval before July 1 st. There are 8 more that are probable, but they won t be approved because of lack of funding. There are 11 Global Grants on which we are obligated to report. Roxlo identified a concern about the length of time to initiate a Global Grant request and the time in which it is finally approved. District and RI Foundation teams need to figure out how to make it happen faster District Budget PDG Carol Foster, Finance Committee Chair Finance Committee Chair Foster met with DGE Fred Heitman several times to discuss his budget for The Finance Committee met on October 23, 2015 to discuss and approve his budget request. Heitman will now go over his budget and be aware that there are several changes between this year s budget and next year s budget that will probably raise questions. DGE Fred Heitman: Funding for PETS: The biggest change approved was the funding for PETS. The input from the small clubs was the amount that it cost a large amount for a club to fund a PE to attend PETS.. After reviewing several scenarios and discussion between Carol Foster and Fred Heitman, an option was chosen. So the budget allows a rebate of $300 to clubs less than 30; clubs in the 30s will received a $200 rebate; and clubs in the 40s will receive a $100 rebate; clubs 50 or higher should be financially able to pay the PETS costs. The rebates are being funded out of the District surplus excess. The surplus excess is those funds that exceed the highest expense year out of the last three years. That would be RY at $126,497. See Finance Committee Exhibit A.) The District has a surplus of $226,978. So that means there is an excess of $100,000 above the required reserve funds using 100% of the highest year in the last three years. The Finance Committee thought it would be wise to use a small portion of that excess to help fund the PETS Rebate. That turns out to be $10,800. Heitman continued to review the other items in the budget where change occurred. See Finance Committee Exhibit C for details. They are identified in green font. Questions: from RID Wentz first. The COG has been asking about the Reserve excess and have been asking the Finance Committee to come up with a plan to deal with the excess. She is not in favor of an ad hoc use of the excess funds without an overall plan, because it is fairly arbitrary and a one-time item. She thinks an analysis should take place to discover how the excess was created in the first place. She also said historically before Mid-South PETS, the District would fund the PETS and AGI. Even when Mid-South PETS started, the District contributed to cover the costs. A couple of years ago, she relates, there was a spirited discussion about how to fund PETS, and a vote was taken to return to the per capita basis, but it was never done. She also related that she was the last one to raise dues. However, it turns out that Jerry Wear raised dues a couple of dollars a couple of years ago. She also indicated that the largest budget item is funding for the District Conference ($12,000). She believes that perhaps half of that could be spent for PETS funding since that affects more people than the number of people who attend the District Conference. She again reiterated that the budget process needs to be revisited because of these inequalities, and budget for the priorities that we all College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 4 January 9, 2016

5 agree should be funded. Wentz also had a question about the Hunters for the Hungry. She opposed the budget line item because the District would be making donations to the Hunters for the Hungry. DG Beth stepped in to make a few points about the process. She said that one of the challenges is that there is a new governor every year, and he or she has to take on the budget process and try to accomplish goals that make sense to them. Additionally, the Finance Committee Chair rotates every year which further complicates the process because of lack of continuity. Bobby Davis inserted that the DGE proposes a budget to the Finance Committee and works with the committee to get a budget approved, but it is the Finance Committee that actually approves the budget and should present it. Since Finance Committee members serve three years, they should have some knowledge about the continuity of items and why they were approved or denied. The items of concerned should be identified to the Finance Committee, and the committee can handle them at their meeting. Wentz identified line item 6011 as perhaps mislabeled. Perhaps it should be included in line items 6014 and Bobby Davis returned to the discussion of the excess reserve funds and why it may have occurred. PDG Rothermel supported the need for a balanced budget, and if it is necessary, the DG should be able to go to the Finance Committee to justify an over budget item. Bobby Davis then concurred that the excess reserve funds need to be handled in a holistic manner rather than using funds next year for the PETS rebate. Davis then referred to line item 6310 regarding the Assistant Governor Institute. The funds for the AGI and PETS are two separate events and should not be rolled into one. He also raised concern about spending District funds on Hunters for the Hungry. PDG Jim Devlin said that part of the excess funds reserve was due to three years of successful conference fundraising efforts. So it isn t just from accumulated dues and other appropriations of money. He supports the DG starting off with $12,000 in conference funds to be sure the governor is comfortable with executing a successful conference. PDG Jerry Wear supports the need for an overall plan for the reserve fund. He offered a solution that any excess reserve funds be donated to the Annual Fund which would result in a larger return three years later, since the funds we collect should be used for humanitarian purposes. He also supported the $12,000 in conference budget item. Heitman considered pulling out of PETS because of the costs, but it was too late since you would need a twoyear notice to do so. He feels that the move to Chattanooga will lower costs and make it sustainable. PDG Harry Fields questioned the sustainability of PETS when we are considering subsidizing three-fourths of our clubs and are we gaining value from attending PETS. PDG Jack Bailey also supported the comments of Jerry Wear about having the Finance Committee make recommendations for the excess reserve funds. Bailey indicated that the budget process every year is the same. The DGE works out a budget with the Finance Committee, and then it comes to the COG, and gets changed, when,, in fact,, the Finance Committee has already approved it. Why not allow the budget to go through without all of these changes? If Heitman wants to use funds from the excess reserves, let him. College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 5 January 9, 2016

6 Rothermel indicated that it seems that subsidizing the small clubs is rewarding them for their low numbers. He suggests that we come up with a way to say, we ll pay for half of your PETS registration fee but you have to come up with four new members, or some other type incentive. Knowis supported Bailey s comments in that the Finance Committee did a lot of analysis, and he applauded them for looking at the funding of PETS in a new way and thanked them for their efforts. He also said that the PEs gain valuable information at PETS, and that we should continue to attend the PETS. James L Bomar Jr Interact Scholarship Foundation Inc. Jenifer Y. Campbell, District Treasurer Campbell reviewed the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, Net Assets for the Bomar Foundation. The biggest challenge that Campbell has encountered is getting access to the Wells Fargo account. She has never had access to that account. It was decided to put Knowis, Rothermel and Bobby Davis on the account. Campbell has tried three times to submit paperwork to Wells Fargo and they keep losing the paperwork. She believes that it was finally received. The office is in St. Louis. Once the paperwork is in place, she will transfer the money to the Raymond James account. So, overall, the Bomar Foundation looks great. The account has lost $5, since June 30, 2015 to December 31, 2015 mostly due to the stock market drop and one scholarship was paid. Devlin asked what was the difference in value of the Raymond James asset from June 2014 to June 2015? The difference was a loss of $5,428 although that included paying some scholarships. Devlin suggested that we only do one year Certificates of Deposit, instead of three year CDs. Nominations Committee Report PDG Bobby Davis, Chair The District Governor Nominations Committee will meet after lunch to interview the one candidate that has been suggested. The committee will also be selecting a Vice DG. Resolutions Committee Report PDG Bobby Davis, Chair So far the committee has only one resolution to consider which is the one held over last year from the business meeting at the District Conference concerning the ex-officio members of the Finance Committee. Additionally, the committee is going to provide rationale for the regular resolution so that members can make a more informed decision as to whether to adopt them. Special resolutions normally don t require such rationale. State of the District District Governor Beth Stubbs Beth Stubbs gave an overview of what she has been emphasizing in the District. Top item is increased membership. This has been combined with the direction of RI regarding the RI Strategic Plan. She asked the clubs to tell their stories to their communities, so that they become an attractive organization to join. Club members need to be always working on their membership. What Beth has found is that many clubs do not have a structure for the club. That means no foundation chair, no membership chair, no public relations chair, College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 6 January 9, 2016

7 nor a president-elect, until the last minute. She has been recommending that clubs do that to better function as a viable club. She has placed new emphasis on awards, and a new awards committee has been formed. There will be a lot of emphasis on awards at the District Conference. We want to celebrate the clubs. This is the 100 th year of the District, so if you have anything in your history you want to tell about, send it to Beth. Lots of emphasis on leadership development. She has tried to create the largest District Leadership Academy ever, but the effort fell short despite inviting many people to attend. The Rotary Foundation contributions remain strong. The training for Future Vision is paying off, as many more clubs now want to get a District Grant or participate in a Global Grant. We revamped the District website to make it easier to get around, and changed some terminology that made more sense to the club members and leaders. There has also been a lot of emphasis on using the website and DACdb. Comments from the District Governor-elect Fred Heitman Things are hectic, as you can imagine. The PETS Executive Committee has a webinar this week on PETS. Next week Kathy and Fred head to the International Assembly. At the end of January is the District Team Training Seminar. Fred is already working on the District Conference for It will take place in Chattanooga, and it will be a four-district conference. RI President John Germ and RI Director Karen Wentz will be there. Fred is expecting about 600 attendees. The House of Friendship will be greatly enlarged and will resemble the International Convention House of Friendship. Comments from the District Governor-elect Nominee Deborah Alexander-Davis The attendance report is still not sufficient, despite reminder s to do their monthly reporting. A lot of emphasis has been placed on the new Rotary Brand. The Why Rotary video has exceeded 14,000 views and has been rebranded for many districts and clubs. Club websites and Facebook pages aren t always up-to-date, and the communications committee is working on that. Regarding membership, the Membership Chair, Shelly Christian, has set up an list of club membership chairs to send them helpful information from RI, the Zone, or other membership information to help increase membership. New Business RID Wentz recommended Judith Roney be named District Secretary Emeritus. Roney did a great job as District Secretary, and with the short notice at last year s College of Governor s meeting, there wasn t time to recognize her then. Knowis seconded the idea and related how well Roney supported him during his year as DG. PDG Jim Buckner made a motion to name Judith Roney as Paul Harris Fellow for her service. Knowis seconded the motion. Wentz suggested it be given at the District Conference. Stubbs added that she would present her with a plaque as well in recognition for her service. This would be in addition to Roney being named Secretary Emeritus. College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 7 January 9, 2016

8 Buckner make a motion to name Judith Roney District Secretary Emeritus, a Paul Harris Fellow and have a plaque and resolution presented at this year s District Conference. Seconded by Knowis. The motion was approved. Meeting was adjourned. College of Governors Meeting Minutes Page 8 January 9, 2016