EASY DOES IT
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors
September 20, 2001

Minutes taken by Joel W. Bryant

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Present:

Rose Acampora
Leslie
John
Peter
Denise
Dan
Jessie
Winston Ching (by telephone)
Hale (late)
Jonah Markowitz (late)

Absent:

Susan
?

Public Comments:

The NCILC is trying to help with a fundraiser for the New York and New Jersey CIL's. It is estimated that there will be approximately 2,500 new clients as a result of the recent terrorist activity. Both attendants and ASL interpreters are needed. EDI has set up a donation bucket. Contributions can also be made by credit card.

There was some discussion of whether EDI should contribute jointly with the Center for Independent Living. It was thought that a separate donation would lead to more name recognition for Easy Does It.

It was stated by Leslie that the ADAPT organization was preparing to hold a demonstration about health care in San Francisco from October 21 through October 24. It was felt that EDI should participate in this demonstration. There should be a focus on keeping people out of institutions. It was felt that EDI should talk to its clients about how they feel about their attendants being arrested. Patrick) felt that EDI should not be officially involved at all. This is something to look into but EDI should not take the heat directly at all.

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Question: Does EDI have a press relationship? There was discussion about whether EDI should obtain a permanent banner rather than rely on computer printouts.

It was decided to table the reading and approval of the minutes of the last Board of Director's meeting since Susan was gone. By then the minutes of the August 8 meeting of Board should also be available. A motion was made and approved that the organization should wait for final approval on both sets of meeting minutes.

There was discussion about moving the election time for the Board of Directors in order to allow Hale and Jonah to be present. It was decided to hold off on the election of the Board until no later than 8:45 p.m.

It was noted that it would take four (4) votes to be elected assuming there were seven (7) people present

President's Report:

It was noted that the quality of attendants was more important than the number.

It was reported that Nick signed the severance package and agreed to say nothing. Some other employees may be suing.

Someone mentioned that it would be nice if some people with real (serious) disabilities were working as leaders in the community.

Peter moved that Daniel be affirmed to the Board. The motion was seconded and approved. Daniel was affirmed to the Board.

Executive Director's Report:

It was noted that the "How Berkeley Can You Be?" event was coming up. A suggestion was made that EDI have a banner for outreach events.

Rose was to be taking classes under the auspices of the Office of Emergency Services (OES), but these had been postponed.

Three (3) female employees are had been hired.

There was discussion as to whether B & G was over-charging EDI for its dispatch services. Rose stated that she had compared B & G's billings against their own (B & G's) log sheets and found significant discrepancies in their own records. It was noted that B & G used a hand transcription method and had no computers. The August billing from

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B & G had not yet been paid and that the September billing would not be paid. Any overcharge would be a credit for EDI and that EDI would pay only after this credit was exhausted. However, it was thought more verification was needed before EDI could move ahead. It was decided to inquire into B & G's methods of calculation since billings did not show this.

Budget:

There was a discussion about the budget. The salary for the Executive Director was set at $ 50,000. There was no opposition to this from the City of Berkeley. It was decided to send copies of the job announcement to the appropriate people in the City.

AB 524 was discussed. AB 524 which contained an amendment allowing attendants to perform certain paramedical activities. If this is approved by the Governor a non-profit could provide a bowel program to those persons receiving IHSS (in-home supportive services). The bill is now on the Governor's desk. There was discussion of how this bill, when in effect, would affect EDI's policies and protocols. Question: "How many EDI clients are on IHSS?"

There was discussion of the average percentage of time spent by attendants performing client services. This was in conjunction with planned pay raises Employment Opportunities. Should this apply to attendants who were merely on call or only to the time spent performing services?

Commission on Disabilities:

It was mentioned that a letter of conciliation was sent to the Commission on Disabilities but that no physical appearance had yet been made. Scheduling of meetings was still ongoing.

It was noted that there were shelves (or pigeon-holes) for the members.

This concluded the Executive Director's report.

Secretary's Report (made by Jonah):

The by-laws had been updated.

There was no report from the Executive Committee be cause the Committee had not yet met.

There was discussion of the organization's Mission Statement.
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It was stated that there would be an orientation for the new board members including explanations of their roles and responsibilities.

There was a motion regarding the wording of modifiers to the Conflict of Interest section of the by-laws. Should it be "potential" conflict of interest, or "perceived" conflict of interest? "Perceived" was chosen.

Vote for Board of Directors:

The vote for members of the Board of Directors was as follows:

NAME VOTES

Peter 7
Leslie 7
Jonathan 7
Hale 6
Jonah 3
Todd 5
Willard 1
Winston 5
Dina 6
Daniel 5

Jonah stated that he would be willing to stay on as Secretary until a suitable replacement could be found for Susan. He thought she might leave. There was discussion as to whether this was permitted according to the by-laws. It was decided that Jessie would talk to Susan.

The next meeting of the Board of Director's will be on the fourth Thursday of October (10/25/01).

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.