Wisconsin EMS Association
Board of Directors Meeting
October 10, 2004 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 

Present: Allen, Bennett, Covelli, Hunjadi, McCarrier, Meeker, Schilder, TeStroete, Teale, Werner. Dr. Mike Abernethy

Notified Absent: Merrill

Called to order by President Meeker at 12:00 PM. Introductions of board members were completed including introduction of the new Association Medical Director/Advisor, Dr. Abernethy.

Motion by Schilder second by TeStroete to approve the July 2004 minutes as written. All in favor. None opposed. Motion carried.

President:  Nothing

Vice President: Nothing

Secretary/Treasurer:  Nothing

Executive Director: Hunjadi reported on the hiring of the Association’s third full-time employee. Mike Schneider has been hired in the position of Executive Assistant. He is a recent college graduate with a BS in business with an emphasis in marketing. He started on October 1, 2004 with a six month contract as a probationary period. He is contracted at $2,000/month. His duties are wide and varied. With the additional staff member Hunjadi has started holding weekly staff meetings for the three full-time and two part-time employees. Most staff meetings will be completed via telephone conference call from each employee’s own office. Hunjadi gave a brief update of the Wisconsin EMS Cruise including an update on pre-cruise bookings. Finally he mentioned that the new 8 mega pixel digital camera has already been used quite a bit including on both the current and November-December EMS Professionals magazine covers and on the conference brochure cover.

Sales/Public Relations Director: Covelli handed out information on membership growth and talked about magazine advertising sales. A total of 42 new Service and Corporate members have joined during the first nine months of 2004 compared to a total of 51 during 2003. He is completing contact with each of the emergency ambulance providers in Wisconsin who are not members and anticipates as many as 25 more services may join by the end of the year. Magazine sales will top $50,000 for 2004. The result may be a net cost of zero to produce the magazine for the first time in the Association’s history. As a result of additional advertising sales, the magazine will publish 3 of 6 issues for 2004 at 48 pages.

Conference: Meeker provided a general update for the up-coming conference. He has appointed a personnel director for dealing with nearly 60 staff and volunteer positions for the conference. Staffing issues were a large problem for the previous conference. Board members should be prepared to hear from the personnel director shortly and return their staffing requests and information. Hunjadi reported on brochure distribution. A total of 35,000 brochures were printed with approximately 27,000 of them being mailed throughout a five state area. A direct mail list for Illinois EMTs was never obtained from their state EMS office. Alternative plans for distribution are underway. Covelli reported on current exhibitor contracts and sponsors which include a total of 14 corporate sponsors. Meeker briefly commented on the 2006 conference which will be the 20th anniversary for Working Together. Meeker has already slated several speakers and hopes to have a line up of the best and most popular presenters from over the past ten years. He hopes to have much of the lineup completed to be announced at the 2005 conference.

OLD BUSINESS

Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs: Meeker and Covelli reported on the recent meeting with representatives from the Wisconsin State Fire Chief’s Association. The Chief’s Association has a large interest in pursuing multiple ways to work together with WEMSA in both the near and long term future. The most immediate opportunity is through a program they have ran for some time titled “Chiefing 101”. Their Board of Directors has voted to move this event to part of the Working Together conference for 2006. Complete details are yet to be worked out. The thought is to have the Fire Chief’s Association handle the program and the Wisconsin EMS Association include it as part of the conference as well as provide marketing and registration. From the WEMSA standpoint it would be much like any other pre-conference offering with the potential to provide EMS specific portions to the program. Motion by TeStroete second by Allen to have the Wisconsin State Fire Chief’s Chiefing 101 at the Working Together 2006 conference. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. Their association is further interested in continuing discussions for possible infrastructure duties moving to the Wisconsin EMS Association as well as the potential to publish their information within our magazine and on an even longer term basis to consider combining their summer conference within our January conference instead of holding two separate events. These ideas are only preliminary at this point.  Meeker is looking for direction on how to proceed. Motion by Allen that the Executive Board continue discussions with the Wisconsin State Fire Chief’s Association to pursue infrastructure, publication and conference partner initiatives for the future. Second by TeStroete. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Group Buying Changes: Hunjadi recapped the changes to the Group Buying program already published in the current edition of EMS Professionals. Covelli reports that the AED program ends in February 2005. Total defibrillators purchased through the Group Buying Program are approximately 75 with the large majority being ZOLL machines. He will be working on re-bidding these contracts shortly. Board members were surveyed for their interested in additional items. These include the potential for full service defibrillators, batteries and medical/ambulance billing companies. He further brought forth the idea for potential bulk buys that could be completed in a short time frame but not included as part of the overall Group Buying program. Discussion was held regarding these ideas. Board members had the most interest in defibrillators and batteries with concerns on the billing companies and bulk buys. Motion by Bennett second by McCarrier to pursue group buying contracts for full service defibrillators (base models) and any and all batteries related to emergency services. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Bylaw Changes Committee: Blaine Werner reported that the recently-appointed bylaws committee failed to meet due to scheduling problems. A short discussion was held regarding the next steps for the committee including how it might change following the latest strategic planning session. Werner stated he would like to withdraw from the bylaws committee pending potential changes to his status on the board. Motion by Werner second by Schilder to disband the committee in favor of considering a wider-scope committee at a future date. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Annual Membership Meeting: Hunjadi reported that the annual membership meeting has been scheduled for April 16, 2005 at the Kalahari Resort and Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells. A $99 room rate for Friday night will include four waterpark passes good through 3:00 PM on Saturday. The plan is to have Service leaders and Association members attend with their families. While they attend the meetings on Saturday, their families can enjoy the waterpark. Three areas are planned for the day. The first is to provide details on how members can better use Wisconsin EMS Association membership benefits and services including the Group Buying Program, Resource Kit CD, consulting services and other programs. The second area is to conduct the annual membership meeting. The final goal of the day will be to obtain input and information from members on their needs, future goals they would like to see for the association, future legislation the association should pursue and to receive other general and specific information from the membership. The regular quarterly board meeting will be held the following day.

2005 Premium Item: Covelli provided samples of the license plate holder being suggested for the 2005 membership premium item. Some board members suggested that the item may not be at the level of other recent premium items. A license plate holder was given away at the 1995 annual conference with good success. Several board members observed that it continues to be difficult to identify items that are in budget, able to be easily mailed, and are useful to members. Other than repeating the lapel pin from five years ago, no other suggestions for alternate items were provided.  Motion by TeStroete second by McCarrier to use a license plate holder as the 2005 premium item. Eight in favor, one opposed. Motion carried. The holders will be blue with white lettering. Wisconsin EMS Association will appear on the bottom of the holder with the words “Emergency Services Responder” at the top

NEW BUSINESS

Board of Directors Open Positions:  The resume and information regarding board applicant Cal Lintz was previously provided to all board members. Discussion was held regarding appointing Lintz to serve an unexpired board term that expires March 31, 2007. Motion by Werner, second by Teale to appoint Cal Lintz to fill an un-expired two year term of a board position. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Future Association Headquarters: Discussion was held regarding the newly created number one strategic planning goal of obtaining a new headquarters office for the Wisconsin EMS Association. Currently all employees are working from their own offices including using separate telephone lines, broadband connections, computers, office equipment, etc. Supplies, records, merchandise, and all other assets of the organization are stored at multiple locations including a rental storage facility. The main office is no longer able to meet current demands of the Association and is clearly unable to support any future demands. Prior to the strategic planning session the Executive Director completed a feasibility and research study on office space options. The Board of Directors spent a large amount of time discussing the options including identifying potential positives and negatives. Board members agreed that the most prudent course of action is to obtain land and build a facility to directly meet our needs. Such a facility should be able to meet both short and long term needs. Unused space can be rented for additional income. The building is seen by board members as an investment that will appreciate in value and return equity to the Association rather than expending money on rent or a lease with no return in equity. Motion by Bennett to move forward with researching the building project with total expenditures not to exceed $5,000 at this time. Second by Schilder. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. Hunjadi will continue to work on building plans with an architect and will continue to identify land along the State Highway 36 corridor in the area near the Milwaukee, Waukesha and Racine County line boarders. Tentative time table includes potential board approval to begin construction by spring 2005.

National Scope of Practice Document: Board members were previously provided with information on the National Scope of Practice Document including a draft position statement/reply from the Association. The state EMS Advisory Board is also working on a similar position/reply. Hunjadi suggests attempting to work with EMS Advisory Board to complete a joint statement. Motion by Werner to support the draft document in concept, to work with the State of Wisconsin EMS Advisory Board to complete a joint statement, and to communicate the information with our members including a potential guideline to help them format their individual responses. Second by McCarrier. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Items From Strategic Planning Session: There were no additional items from the strategic planning session needing immediate action.

2005 Meeting Schedule: Board members set dates for the 2005 quarterly board meetings. Location cities were named for all but the October meeting which will be named at a later time pending potential progress on building construction and/or new location for the Association headquarters. All meeting times are 12:00 noon. Meetings are set as follows 

Other New Business: Additional discussion was held regarding efforts to look at Association bylaws, policies, procedures, board member responsibilities, job descriptions etc. Board members feel that a committee should be appointed to look at not only the bylaws but the points listed in number five of the new strategic plan relating to Association items. President Meeker appointed Mindy Allen as chair of the new committee and Larry TeStroete and Mary Schilder as committee members. No other board members were interested in appointment. The exact title for the committee will be determined after the written strategic plan is received. The committee’s charge will be to address tactical implementation of the number five priority in the new strategic plan.

Motion by Werner second by Allen to adjourn the meeting. All in favor, none opposed. Meeting adjourned at 3:12 PM.