Board of Directors Meeting - January 6, 2008

Wisconsin EMS Association
Board of Directors Meeting
January 6, 2008

Present: Allen, Averbeck, Barker, Carey, Hood, Hunjadi, McCarrier, Meeker, Schilder, Schindler, Teale, Van Buren

Notified Absent:

Guests Present: Klis

Meeting called to order by President Meeker at 10:00 AM

Motion by Schilder second by McCarrier to approve the meeting minutes from October 2007. All in favor none opposed. Motion carried.

President: Nothing at this time.

Vice President: Nothing

Secretary/Treasurer: Nothing

Executive Director: Hunjadi provided board members with the 2007 year end report. Membership ended at 7,202 with 360 Service/Corporate members. Expenses were up for a variety of reasons including paying for both 2007 and 2008 premium items in the same year. Total gross income was $692,743 which is down approximately $60,000 from 2006 at $752,592. Contributing to the decline was conference attendance following the 20^th anniversary conference that produced record attendance, and less revenue from advertising sales. The association struggled in 2007 to rebuild following sub performance from the previous Director of Sales and Customer Service. A sample of the Hot Sheets redesign was presented. The new design will begin with the first issue for 2008. Membership Benefits Brochures have been printed to be included with membership materials at time of renewal or application. Coupons and discount information from Midwest Airlines, Dell Computer, Marcus Movie Theaters and other partners are included. The brochure and information is also included in the members’ only section on the web site.

Sales and Customer Service: Michael Hood provided information on the sales outlook for 2008. He strongly believes he can return the magazine sales to no less than $70,000 and has already signed in excess of 10 new advertisers since starting in September. Membership renewals and sales should also again begin to increase throughout the year as he works specifically on this goal. He states that he is about half way done with making telephone contact with each of our 360 Service/Corporate members. He then announced that he has been working on several group buying program projects including a brand new ambulance rebate of up to $3,000. More information on this topic will come under new business.

Conference: Meeker reported on the 2008 conference progress. Registrations continue to arrive later and later each year with the anticipation that the office will receive over 100 applications each day this week through the price increase deadline on the 10^th. That amounts to nearly 40% of applications arriving in about a ten day period. Staffing for the conference is probably the strongest it has been in many years due to the restructuring that took place last year. Board members were reminded of their obligations and duties at the conference and expected participation. Meeker also announced that the association in partnership with ZOLL Medical will be hosting a special VIP event with food and drinks on Friday from 5-7 PM. Invitations are being distributed both by ZOLL and WEMSA. Board members are requested to be in attendance and wearing the new Board of Directors shirts.

2009 Cruise: Hunjadi provided updated information on the 5^th Wisconsin EMS Cruise. The cruise itinerary and rates have been set for a Western Caribbean cruise including at least one and perhaps two brand new ports of call departing from Miami. Following some customer service issues with Magic Carpet Travel after Katie left, Hunjadi strongly suggests that the initial promotions and booking be brought in house to the Wisconsin EMS Association staff. In exchange, the Association would keep most of the initial $25 deposit and perform all of the initial duties at association expense and then turn the bookings over to Magic Carpet for final processing. This will hopefully keep the level of customer service in line with other Association events and operations. Motion by Allen to accept the Miami itinerary of March 15, 2009 with the requirement of Magic Carpet to increase customer service or allow WEMSA to complete the initial bookings and operations. Second by Van Buren. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Hunjadi also announced that a proposal has been made to the Iowa EMS Association to provide them with complete access to the EMS Cruise for their organization. Plans are to provide all of the marketing materials and infrastructure and perform all of the booking duties. Free cruises on a 15:1 basis will be provided to Iowa EMS for their use. Acceptance of the proposal is expected.

Meeting was postponed at 11:40 for lunch.

Meeting returned to order at 12:35

OLD BUSINESS

State EMS Office/EMS Board: Meeker reported on our first formal meeting with Section Chief Brian Litza following his appointment approximately eight months ago. These meetings will continue as they have with previous chiefs. The meeting focused on a wide variety of topics including concern from everyone in attendance with the amount of finalized tasks and work coming from both the EMS Advisory Board and the Physician Advisory Committee. It strongly appears that the amount of accomplishments over the past three or four years has been substantially less than previous years. Motion by Schindler second by VanBuren to request a listing of accomplishments over the past three years from the State EMS Advisory Board and the Physician Advisory Committee. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. In related information, there is a move to have a legislative council study convened to look at funding issues within EMS. A ledge council study was completed in 1992 and resulted in creation of the EMS Advisory Board, PAC, State Medical Director and new skills. Motion by VanBuren, second by Barker that the Wisconsin EMS Association support and advocate the naming of a legislative council study on EMS. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Driver Training & Position Statement: Hunjadi reported that other than some concerns and criticism from members of the EMS Advisory Board, there was not a large amount of feedback following release of the emergency vehicle position statement released by WEMSA. Hunjadi has been working and meeting with representatives from Volunteer Fire Insurance Services (VFIS) and Laub and Horton insurance in an effort to offer training courses to help local services implement driver training within their organization. Unfortunately we have been met with several stumbling blocks related to the ability and willingness of VFIS to allow WEMSA to teach their curriculum and use their program. They have offered to provide the training for us. However, costs associated with this method would be very prohibitive. The other option would be to have WEMSA instructors teach the actual training course to local services. Discussion was held for potential options to provide training. This included looking at the national safety council for their programs. Motion by Schilder second by Carey that WEMSA create, support and offer driver training. Motion Carried.

Board Member Shirts: A variety of five potential dress shirts were provided for review by the members of the board. Each board member will be provided with a shirt to use for official association projects and business. Board members agreed to the brighter blue Teflon shirt with WEMSA logo and “Board of Directors” below it. Shirt sizes are needed from all members in order to place the order in time for delivery by the conference.

Job Protection Legislation: Hunjadi provided an update to the job protection bill being pursued by WEMSA along with the Fire Chiefs and State Fire Fighters. The bill is currently in drafting and is expected within the next two weeks. State Rep. Scott Gunderson agreed to sponsor the bill and have it drafted. There will be limited time in which to push the bill through for passage. The goal at this time is to test the waters in preparation for very early introduction into the 2009-2010 legislative session.

Certified Training Center: Karen Barker reported on her progress in gathering information to submit an operational plan for the Wisconsin EMS Association to become a certified training center at the EMT-Basic and First Responder levels. She is moving forward and hopes to have a draft or near draft available for the April meeting.

Office Building Construction: President Meeker requested the board to again re-establish support for office building construction. The project was initially approved and financially approved for a land purchase in 2005. Plans were completed and initial bids were obtained. However, with significant changes within the structure and personnel of the organization, the plans were placed on hold. With longer term contracts now in place and a stable line up of staff members, both Meeker and Hunjadi believe WEMSA should again move toward construction in 2008. Motion by VanBuren, second by Averbeck to move forward with the construction of the office. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS

Board of Directors Election: Hunjadi reported that there were only three candidates completing the nomination process for the four open board of director’s positions. Therefore no election was held. Both Tom McCarrier and Karen Barker are re-elected for three year terms. Justin Klis is elected for his initial three year term. One full term remains open on the board. Sitting members are asked to provide any nominations or referrals for potential candidates to Meeker for possible approval and appointment at the April meeting. Motion by Schilder second by Averbeck to ratify a unanimous ballot for the BOD election. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

2008 Operating Budget: Hunjadi provided board members with the complete operational budget proposal for the association for 2008. The conference budget is separate and will be approved in April. He walked the board members through the line item changes and answered questions. Proposed budget gross income is set at $413,700. The expense budget is proposed at $333,270. Motion by Schilder second by McCarrier to approve the budget as presented. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Group Buying Program:

Ambulance Rebates: Michael Hood presented the proposal for ambulance vehicle rebates to the members of the board. RFPs were requested in December with two manufactures responding. Both MedTec and Road Rescue have agreed to offer rebates of between $1,000 and $3,000 depending on the ambulance model purchased. The rebates will be paid directly from the Wisconsin EMS Association to the Service/Corporate member. Reimbursement to WEMSA will come from the manufacturer. Motion by VanBuren, second by Schindler to approve Foster Coach and Road Rescue for Group Buying in the category of ambulance vehicles.

Batteries and Accessories: Hood reported that there were essentially no responses to the battery RFP. This was previously held by Alpha Source although they did not fulfill their requirements through the end of the contract period. Hood notes that we already do have batteries within the medical supplies group buying contracts. He suggests that due to these reasons, we drop the battery category at this time. Motion by VanBuren, second by Teale to remove the Battery Group Buying section, and instead place it inside of the medical supplies category. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Ambulance Billing: RFPs had been previously sent by Toni Ihler but not followed up on during the first part of 2007. Hood re-submitted the RFPs to various billing companies and received a total of three responses. Unfortunately, each agency presented a vastly different method for discounts including a percentage off on fees based on volume, free billing for a certain period, etc. Given these proposals, it is difficult to ascertain the better offer and very difficult to be able to demonstrate a true savings to members. Motion by Teale, second by McCarrier that based on the proposals received the association will not start a category and name suppliers for billing services at this time. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Annual Meeting: Discussion was held regarding what to do with the annual meeting for 2008. Attendance during the past three years has been diminishing. Hunjadi believes that we need to revamp the educational part of the day in order to both avoid repeating information from pervious years and to attract a wider audience to the meeting. He also would like to see the meeting moved from April to the Fall of the year with Chula Vista being considered for the location. Board members agreed that the annual meeting should be moved to Fall and that WEMSA should hold a four hour management training session along with the annual meeting.

2008 Meeting Dates and Locations: Board members discussed dates and locations for the next four board meetings. Consensus was rather than moving the meetings to different locations that a single location, conducive to the majority of board member locations, be established. Motion by Averbeck second by Schilder to hold the 2008 meetings on April 13, July 13, Oct 12, and Jan 11 (2009) at a location somewhere between Pewaukee and Madison along Interstate-94. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.

Board Member Appreciation: President Meeker thanked Steve Teale for his many years of service to the Wisconsin EMS Association as a member of the board of directors. Teale held board positions for many years starting in the late 1970s and 1980s. After a break he again returned to the Board in the 1990s for twelve more years to complete four, three-year terms. Teale has recently retired from his position with VOTEC and did not seek re-election to the WEMSA Board. All board members provided congratulations and best wishes to Steve in his retirement.

Motion to adjourn made by Teale, second by McCarrier. All in favor, none opposed. Meeting adjourned at 3:17 PM.