Minutes of the EDIDA Board Meeting
1/26/06 (January)

Board Attendees: Hale, Jonah (by speakerphone), Winston, Leslie, John, Charles, Aydan, Mark

Other Attendees: Gina and Rose, EDIDA Executive Directors, Karla (Voicer for Hale), Don (Voicer for Winston and Minute taker), Belinda Stradley (Presenting to the Board her work on grant writing for EDIDA.)

The meeting came to order at 6:45 P.M. Hale asked Mark to Chair the meeting.

Public Comment

Jonah tried and did not succeed to get someone to sponsor the invasive care bill. There was no response from Loni's office.

Approval of Minutes from October 27, 2005 and December 8, 2005

The minutes were unanimously approved without correction. (10/27 - Winston moved, Aydan seconded, 12/8 - Jonah moved Winston seconded) Approval of 12/13 minutes put off until Executive Session

Approval of Agenda

Jonah wanted the election of the Board officers moved up, the 'pregnancy policy' issue removed, and committee assignments made.

Hale raised the issue of postponing the elections until Leslie could take over as President, but the Board as a whole did not agree. Hale's proposal to make the ED job descriptions the first action item was approved.

Winston moved, John seconded and it was passed unanimously that elections take place immediately after setting the agenda.

There was general agreement to remove the 'pregnancy policy' issue from the agenda.

Winston moved to approve the amended agenda, Aydan seconded, and it passed unanimously.

Officer Elections

There was no competition for any Board office. It was agreed by all that Leslie would become President and because of her schedule would start after February. In the meantime the Vice-President would act in her stead.

Mark was made Vice-President.

Winston is to continue as Secretary.

Hale took over his old position as Treasurer.

Committee Assignments

Gina brought up the idea of forming a Newsletter Committee. John moved that the Fundraising Committee become the Fundraising/Outreach/Newsletter Committee. Winston seconded, and it passed unanimously.

Jonah had to leave the meeting, so he informed the Board that his committee preferences were SUS, Fundraising, Invasive Care, and Executive.

The Executive Committee was set with the President, the Treasurer, the two ED's (as one vote), and Charles and Mark as the two others.

The Fundraising/Outreach/Newsletter Committee was set with Gina, Rose, Jonah, John, and Aydan.

The Personnel/Judicial Committee was set with Mark, Hale, Winston, and Leslie.

The By-law Modification Committee was set with Winston and Charles from the Board and a suggestion that Blane Beckwith, Scott Luebking, and Stephanie May would be interested in participating.

The SUS Committee was set with Jonah, Gina, Hale, and Aydan. It was agreed that one of the things they would work on was an overall triage policy. Rose said she would help.

The Invasive Care Committee was set with John, Jonah, and Gina from EDIDA, and suggestion that Susie Janda, Alana Theirault, Willard Harris, Steve Mantz, and Steve Olson would also participate.

A Consultant Search Committee to search for consultant support from the community was formed with Charles, Mark, Aydan, Rose, Gina, and John from EDI, a likelihood that Steve Olson would participate, and also that Jan Garrett and Ed Gold might help either on the committee or as a resource.

President's Report

The Board was informed that Blane Beckwith was willing to get on the Board, but that it was unsure when he would get in his application.

Executive Directors' Report

Since November four attendants have been hired and three have left.

In November there were 383 attendant calls, 64 transportation calls, and four repair calls. In December there were 387 attendant calls, 76 transportation calls, and nine repair calls. There were 40 green vouchers collected in November and 47 in December.

There were three client complaints about EDIDA's services and staff since November.

In November a list of priority clients who can go no more than two hours without electricity was sent to Assistant Fire Chief Gil Dong at the OES. Staff volunteers are in the process of obtaining City ID badges to enable them to enter buildings and assist clients in the event of an emergency. Gina reported the state of EDIDA's disaster planning at a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council.

There was a transfer training seminar at the December staff meeting and a sensitivity training at the January staff meeting.

The ED's attended their Labor Lawyer's breakfast on January 17th and learned about changes in labor law.

Mayor Tom Bates was due to drop in to the EDIDA office to get acquainted and the Board members were invited on February 8th at 2:00 P.M.

In November, EDIDA caught the attention of national radio shows on 99.7, 101.3, and the Quake at 960. The Co-ED's were interviewed by radio talk show hosts.

The benefit concert was held on January 18 with Annie and the Vets and Country Joe at Freight and Salvage. It was largely a big success, the ED's learned more about what works and what doesn't, the seeds of a volunteer program were strewn, and EDIDA netted about $320.00.

The Workers' Compensation rate has been lowered about 15%.

Finally, Belinda Stradley was introduced to give a presentation to the Board regarding the work she has been doing with the Executive Directors to obtain a new van for EDIDA from CalTrans. Belinda said that EDIDA would get the van in next year's application if EDIDA did the things she had outlined in an e-mail that had been sent to the Board before the meeting. Hale had reservations. Belinda said she felt it was a golden opportunity to bring EDIDA to the next level. She also highlighted other things as potential fundraising devices and events.

Secretary's Report

Winston commented that the Board had been having a lot of meetings and that things were coming together now.

Treasurer's Report

Mark asked the Board to review the financial reporting format and let him know what they thought. Leslie said that she found it confusing and asked Mark to meet with her, to which he agreed.

Because it was time to close the meeting, two small action item were taken up:

Winston moved that the Board go back to meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center for the remainder of its winter hiatus from the office. Leslie seconded. After brief discussion, the motion passed 3-1.

Charles moved and Winston seconded that EDIDA pay the fee for the CompassPoint workshop to which Aydan had signed up. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting closed at 9:35 P.M.