Minutes of the EDIDA Board Meeting
6/22/06 (June)

Board Attendees: Hale, Jonah, Winston, Leslie, Charles, Mark, Blane

Other Attendees: Gina and Rose, EDIDA Executive Directors, Emily (Voicer for Leslie), Karla (Voicer for Hale), Don (Voicer for Winston and Minute taker).

The meeting came to order at 6:40 P.M.

Public Comment

There was no Public Comment.

Approval of Minutes from May 25, 2006

Jonah moved, Leslie seconded, and the minutes were unanimously approved.

Approval of Agenda

Item 6-A concerning term limits for Board members was postponed until the next meeting.

Charles added an item to give Patti Byrne and Mordecai Ettinger 10 minutes when they arrived.

Jonah moved Item 6-F to raise Don's pay to be Item 6-C

Item 6-D concerning the search for a disabled lawyer was postponed until the next meeting and Charles agreed to take over the search.

Item 9 was eliminated because the Executive Committee had not met.

The Client Handbook was added to the Agenda.

The Belief Statement was added to the Agenda.

The original Item 6-C concerning the handling of Executive Session minutes was postponed until the next meeting.

Jonah moved, Leslie seconded, and the amended Agenda was passed unanimously.

President's Report

Leslie said that it had been a great retreat. She thanked Aydan for her work on the Client Handbook. She said that she had questions about the ED evaluation and it was determined that Charles and Leslie would get together to discuss the procedure for the ED Review.

Executive Directors' Report

Two female attendants were hired and one was terminated.

One client has been making continual complaints.

In May, there were 307 attendant calls, 52 transportation calls, 6 repair calls, and 60 demand response calls.

The staff meeting reviewed the last fiscal year.

EDI was awarded a four-year contract by the City Council on June 20th. An EDI client spoke and thanked the Council.

Ayanna and Gina went to a conference on Emergency Response Planning in San Francisco.

Postings of the Development and Outreach Director position were made with a deadline of June 26th.

Copies of a financial report for FY 05-06 were provided.

Charles proposed that EDI have a financial audit. Rose said that she would try and get some details on what/whom other organizations do/use.

Patti Byrne discusses EDI Workshops

Patti said that she has used EDI. She noted that Charles had distributed her credentials but that she has worked in non-profits for twenty years and that she is currently working with a rape crisis center. She said that she works with Mordecai Ettinger to conduct workshops. She asked the Board to introduce themselves.

After the Board introductions, Patti described Mordecai's and her thinking about the workshops. First, she said that they were planning 45-minute one-on-one conversations with the Board members and the EDs. She said that they were using the techniques of "Appreciative Inquiry" to find out what was working at EDI and what different people wanted to see happen at the workshops regarding communication and conflict resolution. Then the workshops would be scheduled in August and September.

Jonah wanted to know what Patti meant by consensus, because everyone will not always agree. Patti concurred and said that their intention was to show the Board how to work toward agreement and that "unity building" might be a better way of expressing that rather than consensus.

Gina asked what Patti and Mordecai did with the information they collect and Patti replied that once they understand the organization's dynamic they can adjust the template to advance unity building, and that the workshops would establish the groundwork for EDI's future work with consultants.

Patti said that Mordecai and she were thinking about a three-hour workshop with a break. Prospective dates were discussed.

Rose suggested that 3-5 staff be included in the process but Patti said that their process had been designed around a specific group, the Board and the EDs, and that should be the plan for now, but that at a later date staff could be brought into the process.

Patti read samples of questions that would be asked in the one-on-one interviews. Patti sent a signup sheet around for people to schedule their interviews. Patti said that she was privileged to be associated with EDI.

Charles thanked Patti for coming.

Habitual User Policy

Rose said that the current draft was included in the Client Handbook. Leslie suggested two months to define habitual use rather than three. Hale said that it should be defined as four times out of two months, rather than consecutive. Rose suggested skipping the numbers and leaving it more open-ended - a pattern of use repeated over an extended period. Hale said that would be more subjective and open to more interpretation, but Rose said the patterns were clear cut and that it would be a tough argument to prove otherwise.

Blane said that he was concerned that the handbook did not mention seniors. Hale said that he had a hard-nosed attitude and that if you weren't disabled you didn't need EDI's services. Blane said that some seniors weren't comfortable calling themselves disabled and that the Board shouldn't tell them what to call themselves. Hale noted that the handbook was not being discussed at this point.

Winston asked what the penalty was for habitual use, and read from the draft handbook. Rose said that she would like to limit the attendant to a habitual user to being pulled after one hour rather than two.

Hale said there was a question of raising the co-pay for EDI attendants now that IHSS was raising their wage. Rose said that EDI would need a compelling argument to raise the issue with the City and that she would not advise it at this time.

Raising Don's pay to $12 per hour

Charles moved, Winston seconded, and it passed unanimously to raise Don's pay to $12 per hour.

COB Invasive Care Policy

Rose said that she wasn't sure she wanted to bring up the issue during contract negotiations. Rose said she also wasn't happy about bowel and bladder care being listed under the Scope of Services in the Client Handbook. It was determined this item would be removed from the Agenda and that the issue about what is said in the Handbook about bowel and bladder care would be added to the Agenda for the next Board meeting.