Easy
Does It
Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes for May 22, 2003
Directors Present: Peter Trier, Jesse Townley, Hale Zukas, Leslie
Gordon, Winston Ching, Jonathan Gold, Karyn Hernandez, Jonah Markowitz,
Dina Valicenti (phone)
Staff Present: Felix Knauth
On Leave (Not in attendance): Todd Groves
Minutes by Jesse Townley
Meeting started at: 6:30pm; Peter Trier, President
Public Comment:
- Superfest is Saturday June 7th and Sunday June 8th. Films about and
by people with disabilities. The PAS Crisis Team film will be shown
Sunday 2:05 PM. There will be a Thank You Dinner for the PAS Crisis
Team June 16th. Contact Jonah Markowitz for more information.
- Monday, Peter Trier’s attendant couldn’t work, made a
call to our emergency service line at 5:30pm. The dispatcher said that
only one attendant was on, no one else would be available until 8pm.
A tight budget means there’s no other choice. When we squeeze
the schedule, there’s less choice, less availability.
- Jesse Townley has been appointed to the Disaster Council (a City
Commission) by Council member Dona Spring.
Approval of Minutes:
3-27-03 minutes approved (Jonah motioned/Winston seconded/Motion passed,
Jonathan abstained)
4-21-03 minutes approved as amended (Jonah motioned/Winston seconded/Motion
passed, Jonathan abstained)
Consent Calendar:
The following items were pulled from the Executive Directors report.
Office Move, Telecommunications, E.C. Funding Priorities, Staff member
raise (Executive Session) (Peter motioned/Jonah seconded/Motion passed).
Agenda:
Agenda passed as amended (Peter motioned/Jonah seconded/Motion passed).
Consent Calendar Clarification:
Passed with amendment (“a.k.a.” changed to “i.e.”)
(Peter motioned/Jonah seconded/Motion passed).
President’s Report:
- Organizational changes are going well, these are tough times for
all.
- The well-being and survival of EDI depends on 4 groups: clients,
non-management staff, management staff, and the Board. We must have
self-control and have confidence in the motives of our co-workers.
- Kyle Eminger has resigned from the Board as of 5-21-03.
- Discussion ensued about replacing Kyle with another staff member.
Peter asks that we discuss Staff member idea with others, including
Dina, the Chair of the Board Recruitment Committee. Peter asked Felix
to not mention this to the staff yet.
- We must have as fair and unbiased judgement as board members. We
must not let personal relationships or personal dislikes affect our
decisions.
- Dina is in charge of the Board Recruitment Committee. We mentioned
Denise Glagau.
Executive Director’s Report
1. EDIDA’s Measure E transportation services beginning July 1,
2003 will be as follows: 5pm to 11pm 7 days a week. Currently Saturdays
and Sundays are 10am to Midnight. Measure B funds will cover weekdays
before 5pm. Discussion followed.
- If a genuine emergency call comes in outside of the Measure E or
Measure B hours, the County of Alameda’s transportation services
will be used.
- We are supposed to use driver/attendants on weekends, thereby extending
the flexibility of the service.
- We must be prepared for an emergency, even though the number of emergency
calls is low.
- Proposal will be made next meeting that EDIDA send our clients to
the Alameda County transportation services as a last resort.
2. Budget question. “Reprogramming” means switching funds
from underspent line items to overspent line items.
3. Board member Karyn Hernandez is a volunteer in the office.
4. Michai Freeman is resigning a month early (she was due to resign
June 30th).
5. Office Move. We intend on renting the space in the Lutheran Church
next door. The length of the contract will be 1 year, we’ll be
saving a lot of money, approximately $14,000 a year. The Property Committee
and the Church Board of Directors want us to move in. They will knock
down one wall and create a second accessible bathroom.
a. The office will be open 6am-4pm, and the 4th Thursday of every month
we will be able to hold Board meetings 6:30pm-10pm. The Board was concerned
that we should have the ability to have longer office hours.
b. We intend to rent 3 spaces. 3 offices and ¼ of the janitor’s
closet. All 3 rooms are secure and solely for our use, our locks, etc.
The Church is building one ramp and electrifying the front street door.
c. One of the halls in the Church is used as a shelter for homeless
women and children 8pm-8am, 4 months of the year. Dispatchers and possibly
other employees would have minimal contact with shelter clients.
d. We’re using Louie Lock’s services for cleaning and for
part of the move. We intend to move June 20, 21, 22.
e. The office will be fully accessible, and we can use commercial storage
space for archives. It is unclear what will happen with the wheelchair
parts.
f. At the May 12th Safety Meeting, the staff was informed that the
office was moving. It is clearly the Board’s decision to make.
When asked about this, Felix Knauth replied that since he had fulfilled
the Board’s request for a space with accessibility and one other
item he felt that his notification of staff was appropriate. The Board
informed Felix that this was incorrect.
g. The following proposal was passed (Peter motioned, Jonah seconded,
Motion passed, Dina abstained). The President and/or the Vice-President
will arrange more times for the Board to view the space. We will add “when
reasonable, we can add more evening meetings” to the lease. The
lease shall be for at most 1 year long. We will not be limited into
a strict closing time of 4pm for the office, we wish to have a larger
window of possible office use. The Executive Director and the President
can sign the contract if they both decide it meets the standards of
the Board.
6. Telecommunications. We authorized the President and the Executive
Director to sign a lease with Intertel. Up to a 2 year contract, though
the Board prefers a 1 year contract (Jesse motioned, Jonah seconded,
Motion passed, Dina abstained).
Executive Session
- The Board went into Executive Session (Jonah motioned, Jesse seconded,
Motion passed).
- The Board left Executive Session (Jonah motioned, Peter seconded,
Motion passed).
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned (Jonah motioned, Peter seconded, motion passed).