Roll Call: Hale Zukas – President, Dan McMullan, Winston Ching, Stephanie May - Secretary, Jonah Markowitz.

Public: Karla Thompson - interpreter, Don Brownell – interpreter, Charles Gary – candidate, John Benson – candidate, Bette Ingram – notetaker.

Staff: Gina Sasso (Co-Executive Director)

Minutes

1. Election of new board member(s)

Two applications were received from individuals running for open seats on the EDIDA Board. This issue was addressed first because the resignation of Board member and Vice President Charles Pappas reduced those serving below the minimum required for Board to function in the bylaws.

Charles Gary: I live in Berkeley and have spent most of my adult life here. I am married and have a daughter.

I have served on other local boards, most notably the Ecology Center and People’s Park. Through my involvement I have gained a lot of experience negotiating contracts and have gotten to know three or four council members. I have also worked with Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz. Currently I serve on the Board of the Ashby Flea Market as the representative for People’s Park.

John Benson: I have been an employee 1991, when this organization was known as “Last Call”. I have seen nine Executive Directors come and go. Until now I have been reluctant to join the Board because I was worried a political position would dilute my primary role— in a service capacity.

I am familiar with committee decision-making processes because I have been active in Co-ops since I was a student at UC Berkeley. I live cooperatively now and am currently in the process of incorporating my home in Oakland as a nonprofit.

Winston (to Charles): Do you know Assemblywoman Loni Hancock? What is your relationship?

Charles: I remember her when she was Mayor of Berkeley. I have no relationship now but I have experience working with the staff at City Hall.

Stephanie: What sort of role would you anticipate if elected? Would you be an active Board member, willing to volunteer for subcommittees and to work outside on the issues facing the organization?

Charles: I would consider it only right to serve on subcommittees.

John: I would be limited by the fact that I am also an employee and would not want to compromise client confidentiality or get involved in anything that might be a conflict of interest.

Stephanie: Yes, those concerns impact my role as well. It shouldn’t prevent you from being an actively involved Board member.

Jonah: What are your top five goals if elected to the Board?

John: I have an open mind. But I bring with me a lot of knowledge about what has been tried before in the history of this organization.

Charles: I have a long track record of working for the common good.

Both Charles Gary and John Benson were unanimously elected by roll-call vote of Board members present.

2. Public comment

Stephanie: The Center for Accessible Technology is starting a new online discussion forum for technology recommendations—modeled on the Berkeley Parent’s Network. They are calling it the “BAD Network”. I received an email. I will forward it to the list.

Stephanie: EDI attendants do not currently qualify for flu vaccines provided by the City of Berkeley because we have health insurance. These vaccines cost $30 through our health insurer. It is likely that many of our staff have opted not to get a vaccine. Considering the vulnerability of the population we serve to flu, this current policy seems unwise. We should insure that the City of Berkeley makes vaccinating our attendants a priority in future years.

Hale: I suggest you draft a letter to the Director of the Health Department for the City of Berkeley. I will sign it.

Stephanie: Ok, I will be in touch on that.

Jonah: Please RSVP for my 40th birthday party on February 20th.

3. Approval of minutes from December 8
A number of small changes were suggested to correct misspelled names and incorrect terminology.

Jonah: MOTION to accept the minutes as corrected.
Dan: SECONDS
Motion passes.

4. Agenda

Several items were added to the agenda. We will enter Executive Session to discuss two of them at 8:45 and we will discuss the future of the Demand-Response transportation program no later than 9:00.

Hale: MOTION to approve revised agenda.
Stephanie: SECONDS
Motion passes.

5. President’s Report

Hale: Concerns have been raised about inequalities in disciplining staff members. I will be addressing that.

It has come to the attention of the office staff that some clients are calling and asking for certain attendants regularly. It appears as if those clients are using EDI as if our attendands were their regular employees. Sometimes thise means that attendants are not available to assist other clients who have a real emergency. I propose that we develop a policy to limit that practice. It will be tricky because it will need to define the line between what is legitimate and what is not because of course people prefer those who are familiar with their routines….

Gina: Are you proposing we amend the Employee Handbook?

Hale: I am only informing so that people can object if they disagree.

Jonah: The spirit of EDI has always been to support client choice. People prefer to work with attendants they trust. If they are calling the staff when they are off duty or are asking for special favors, that is another matter. But we should make no policy that will limit client choice.

Stephanie (to Jonah): Does this mean you would like to be included in subsequent policy discussions?

Jonah: Yes.

Stephanie: MOTION to table this discussion until we can discuss concrete proposals.
Dan: SECONDS
Motion passes.

6. Executive Director’s Report

Gina: Unfortunately Rose couldn’t be here tonight. Please refer to the written report you received in the Board packets.

We terminated one male attendant. We hired two females (one worked for EDI about 2 years ago) and one male attendant with two plus years experience.

The office staff attended a CARD training in San Leandro about recruiting and managing volunteers in an emergency. We are planning to spend the $400 the Board authorized for disaster preparedness by conducting two training sessions with staff.

Stephanie: Disaster preparedness is a major part of our organizational mission. I am not sure it is being adequately addressed with staff trainings. Establishing contact with first responders and city agencies, as well as bringing our database online, should be our biggest priorities.

Gina: Our workers comp rates dropped slightly and our experience modification dropped from 1.62 % to 1.45%. This results in an over all savings of about 20%. From January to June EDI can expect to save $8,000 to $10,000 in the workers comp line item in our fiscal budget.

Hale: Actually, 20% is the annualized rate. We will only see a 10.5% reduction for the period from January to June. That means 10,000 in savings.

Gina: A Berkeley police officer will make a presentation at our February staff meeting on self-defense. This is in response to concerns about attendants being out at night alone in dangerous neighborhoods. We are also concerned that our attendants might be stopped and questioned by police, so we want to address the issue of profiling.

Our longstanding dispute with one client remains unresolved. Office staff has adopted a policy of complete openness and honesty. Renting a van while ours was being repaired cost $880. Hale approved this expense.

Stephanie and I attended an informational session about Federal Transportation Administration Section 5310 grants. These funds capital investments related to transportation. If we applied and were approved, we could buy a replacement van with the money.

7. Secretary’s Report

Stephanie: I need to make a correction to our proceedings last month. Before the vote about whether to send out the newsletter, Dan asked whether he could abstain, even though he had seconded the motion. He was told he had to vote. Actually, he could have abstained. His vote either way would not have changed the outcome of the vote.

Ayanna mailed the notes out on January 18. For next month our aim is to have them to you within two weeks of the meeting. Lewis added Bette to Board List so that she can keep up with our stream of consciousness between meetings. The following media outlets were notified of our upcoming board meeting: Berkeley Disabled List, Craigslist, East Bay Express Backpage (online version). I also tried notifying the City of Berkeley Community Calendar and the Berkeley Daily Planet, but received no response.

Peter and I began work on updating the bylaws. The copy I have has amendments up to May, 2001 appended at the end. These amendments need to be worked into the text. In order to do a thorough job, we will also have to comb through past minutes for changes past officers may have missed. Any contributions to this project are most welcome.

John: I would like to be involved with that.

Charles: I would also. It would give me the chance to familiarize myself….

Stephanie: I will notify you when we meet.

8. Fundraising Committee Report (Winston)

Winston: Two sets of minutes went out over the email list. There is not a lot of unified direction. People are planning on little concerts, etc. for the most part. Ayanna got us enrolled in a program to recycle cell phones and printer cartridges. Stephanie is getting us enrolled in eScrip. We have not mailed out or modified the fundraising letter that was passed out a while ago.

Gina: The concert has been rescheduled from mid May will to the first part of May. Several possible entertainers are being considered, including “Country Joe”, Barry Melton, and Peter Sears. We are considering People’s Park as the venue. Do we need Board approval for the benefit?

Dan: In my experience, concerts at People’s Park never make any money. Ashkenaz or Freight & Salvage wouldn’t be much better. Now that Charles Gary is on the Board, we should tap into his expertise in fundraising.

15. c. Future of demand-response transportation program (Hale)

Gina: We collected 20 green vouchers last month. The City of Berkeley reimburses us $35.00 per voucher.

Stephanie: What about the idea of extending the hours? 8:30 to 4:30 seems like an unnecessary restriction.

John: There seems to be a lot of confusion in the community about what the green vouchers are for. We should do more outreach.

Stephanie: Hale, is your concern that the Measure B contract is losing money, or just that it is not making money?

Hale: We entered into Measure B to cover a shortfall in the budget.

Stephanie: But there is no better way to make up the funds, right? So what is the point in canceling the program?

Hale: Canceling the program would mean reassigning or laying off a driver. Gina, do you know what where we stand with the budget for transportation?

Gina: There is no separate driver for Measure B.

Stephanie: We have one driver on staff eighteen hours of every day covering both emergency and demand-response calls. Are you saying we should cut the driving program altogether?

It seems to me the over-arching issue is that the voucher system is too complicated. Right now we have several city agencies competing for clients, all offering different types of vouchers for essentially the same service— through the same office! Better coordination is required.

Members discussed coordination with other city agencies and the complexities of voucher spending. Don did his best to explain the types of vouchers and how they are used to the group.

Hale: The bottom line is whether or not we can afford the program. And, I still don’t have an answer to that question.

Stephanie: The Board loses nothing by keeping Measure B. I am frustrated that we are running out of time and several pressing issues have not been addressed.

Charles: Well, what are they?

Stephanie: MOTION to compensate Don as Winston’s note-taker and interpreter at the rate determined by past precedent.
Charles: SECONDS.
Motion passes.

Charles: MOTION that Stephanie will chair future meetings.
Dan: SECONDS.
Motion passes.

Hale: There is no need to appoint a Vice President now.

Dan: A letter of interest regarding Ed Roberts had been drafted and would be presented to Jan Garrett, Executive Director of the Center for Independent Living on Monday, January 31, 2005 at 2 PM.

Stephanie: MOTION to table discussion on the future of the newsletter.
Hale: SECONDS.
Motion passes.

Stephanie: MOTION to approve the new cell phone policy submitted by Gina.
Dan: SECONDS.
Motion passes.

Stephanie: MOTION to adjourn.
John: SECONDS.
Motion passes, meeting ADJOURNED at 9:29 PM.

CREATED BY: Stephanie May
REVISED: 2-15-05 by Stephanie May