Present: Meeker, Hunjadi, TeStroete, Schilder, Blount, Madigan, McCarrier, Weir, Teale, Allen, Playman, Merrill
Notified Absent: None
Absent Without 48-Hour Notice: None
Called to order by President Meeker at 12:37 PM following lunch
Motion by TeStroete, second by Schilder to approve the January meeting minutes as printed. All in favor, motion carried.
President Items: None
Vice President: None
Secretary/Treasurer: None
Executive Manager: Hunjadi briefly reported on the EMS Best Practices article that featured a cover story on the association. A copy was sent to all Wisconsin ambulance services.
Hunjadi reported on the current financial status of the association. There are additional funds available to invest. With the current volatility of the stock market, Hunjadi recommends we not increase our mutual fund holdings at this time. He has identified a Certificate of Deposit for a 1 year term providing 6.7% APR, 6 months paying 6.5% APR. Motion by Schilder, Second by Madigan to convert $150,000 from Money Market savings funds to Certificates of Deposit now and to Mutual funds when timing allows in the future, with no less than $100,000 going to CDs. All in favor, none opposed. Motion Carried.
Conference: Meeker reported on the death of the Four Point Sheraton's General Manager this past week. Meeker went on to report on the January 2000 conference. The majority of complaints centered around food, wait staff, and lack of hot water. Discussions have started with the Midwest Express Center in downtown Milwaukee. The conference committee leadership has also talked with Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. It appears they are not large enough to accommodate the size of our conference. The Midwest Express Center is making a proposal for January 2002. Costs are expected to be significantly higher than we are currently paying. A review of the conference financial information was presented to the board members. The 2001 conference will again run four days. Hotel negotiations with the Four Points were completed last year with the same rates remaining for rooms and banquet. The conference committee will discuss the possibility of making lunch optional for the 2001 conference at their next meeting. This change is supported by Meeker and Hunjadi. Hunjadi presented the 2001 conference budget proposal. Minor adjustments from the 2000 budget were discussed. Motion by Madigan, second by Blount to approve the 2001 budget as presented.
Lobbyist: Hunjadi reported on the latest political occurrences. The regular session is essentially complete. Of the four objectives identified by the association, three of them, Public Access Defibrillation, First Responder Certification, and the Length of Service Awards Program have all been passed. In addition the Death in the line of duty school tuition bill passed. The only objective still unmet is the rule change to allow flexible staffing at the paramedic level.
Publication: Hunjadi reported that the magazine will begin printing all pages in full color beginning with the next issue. Hunjadi re-bids the magazine every few years to be certain the association is getting value for the printing dollar. Marek Litho, located in Muskego, about ten minutes from the association office, has recently purchased an eight color press which will allow them to print all pages in color for less than we are currently paying. The last issue cost $5,800 for 4,000 copies at 32 pages with 20 pages in full color. The new quote is for $4,400 for the same amount of pages and copies but with all 32 pages in full color. The rate has been bid for six issues.
OLD BUSINESS
Association Cruise: 250 cabins with 510 people have been sold for the cruise. This amount is significantly higher than anyone anticipated. With the additional cabins sold, there will also be more cruise conductor cabins and berthings than anticipated. Motion by TeStroete to present the three advisors to the association (Medical Director, Attorney, Lobbyist) and our association secretary, with one free cruise/air each. Second by McCarrier. All in favor, none opposed. All four will need to have someone to share a room with paid at regular fare, or shared with another single cruiser. The cruise line would only reserve 20 additional cabins (270 total) at the current rate. Magic Carpet anticipates the rate will increase after these are sold.
EMS Rules/One Paramedic: No further action has taken place on the proposed rule changes.
First Responders: The First Responder bill has yet to be signed by the governor. There are no indications that he will not sign it. However, DHFS has announced that they may refuse to implement the law due to a lack of staff. Lengthy discussion followed regarding this possibility and WEMSA's response to it. Motion by Madigan, second by Merrill that the Wisconsin EMS Association, aggressively support, by any legal means necessary, the implementation of the First Responder Law (AB 521) by holding the EMS Bureau of the Department of Health of Family Services accountable for its implementation. All in favor. None opposed. Motion Carried.
Templates Project: Meeker reported on the current status of the project. We are not as far along in this project as we had hoped we would be. Mike Wellner has not had the response from services willing to supply documents that he had anticipated. Wellner has created, on CD ROM, some of the documents that were provided. Several options were discussed on how to move along and complete the project. Motion by TeStroete second by Teale that we return the templates project from Wellner back to the association. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. Upon return of the information, current association staff will complete the project and present it to the board members and, as appropriate, our attorney for review.
Association Awards: Discussion was held on the annual awards presented by the association. There is concern over the lack of qualified candidates that are nominated especially for the EMT of the Year and Educator of the Year. Less than four candidates were nominated for either category this year. Some board members feel we should drop the awards altogether. Others felt we should continue with the EMS Service of the Year, but expand it to additional service categories such as level of service or volunteer/full-time paid. Additional awards, such as medical director and hospital ED were discussed. Laid on the table for the July meeting.
NAEMT Affiliation: After approaching us to become an affiliate and offering to waive their requirements that the governor from our state be a member of NAEMT for one year, they have informed us this requirement cannot be waived. They further informed us that we have no board members that are members of NAEMT. Teale, Blount, and Weir all announced that they are current members of NAEMT. Hunjadi stated that the names of these three board member were presented to NAEMT. Concern was voiced that NAEMT doesn't even know who their members are. Further concern was made about the apparent lack of organization within NAEMT and what, if anything, affiliation will bring to WEMSA versus what WEMSA will bring to NAEMT. It was pointed out that WEMSA already has a larger conference attendance and much larger magazine than NAEMT. Motion by Schilder, second by TeStroete that we withdraw our application for affiliation of membership. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.
New Employee: Members of the Executive Board have talked with several potential employees. Others have called the office in response to the paragraph in EMS Professionals. Currently no interested candidates who are qualified have been identified. Several other names were presented to be followed up with. Discussion included a consensus to research advertising for the position in a PR trade journal. Board members also agreed to begin first interviews with the remaining individuals identified as potential candidates.
NEW BUSINESS
Executive Mangers Annual Review: Motion by Schilder second by Madigan to move into closed session to discuss Executive Management
Motion by Schilder second by Madigan to move into open session.
Motion by Madigan second by Playman to offer, in accordance with the Executive Management contract, the choice of a bonus of $4,000 or a bonus of $3,000 and an additional free cruise. Eleven in favor one abstain. Motion carried.
Legislative Initiatives: Discussion was held regarding potential items we wish to work on during the 2001-2002 legislative session. 1. Playman would like to see worker compensation changes to include non-EMTs who operate on ambulance services. 2. Monitor FAP funds as well as other sources of funding for EMS. Consider altering FAP funds to include First Responder and EMT-Intermediate training and refresher training. 3. Practicing to level of licensure. 4. Increasing the amount of money allowed for EMTs who hold public office. 5. CLIA waivers for services who test blood on the ambulance. Motion by McCarrier second by Playman to prioritize these issues, and share them with other organizations and make our final determination in July. All in favor, Motion Carried
Testimony/Attendance in legislative issues: Discussion on the need for the association to be able to quickly mobilize a group of individuals willing to assemble at the State Capitol to rally in support of Association initiatives. The group would primarily reside in and around the Madison area and be available on short notice during weekdays. Discussion on the difficulties of finding such individuals. Discussion of a potential leader for this group with Mindy Allen being considered. Consensus that this be one of the items we work on for the next legislative session.
Election of Executive Officers: Nominations were opened for Secretary/Treasurer. TeStroete was the only candidate nominated and accepting. Motion by Teale, second by McCarrier to cast a unanimous ballot for Larry TeStroete. All in favor, none opposed. Nominations were opened for Vice-President. Madigan was the only candidate nominated and accepting. Motion by McCarrier second by Playman to cast a unanimous ballot for Madigan. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carried. Nominations were opened for President. Meeker was the only candidate nominated and accepting. Motion by TeStroete second by Blount to cast unanimous ballot for Meeker. All in favor one abstain. Motion Carried.
FAP Grants: Discussion brought by Allen regarding opposition to the new FAP grants. Concern that ambulance services will not take the time to apply for the grants and that each service is losing $75 each to create the grant pot. Further concern that if DHFS claims they are understaffed that the time expended for a grant process appears to be wasteful. Potential for WEMSA to rally grass roots opposition to the new grants. WEMSA to survey members and ambulance services to see if opposition is wide-spread with the potential to lobby to stop the grants and return $75 to each service.
EMS Buying Co-op: Meeker brought discussion of the recently created five state co-op buying group. The program appears to be what WEMSA plans to create for service/corporate members. Discussion of potential to merge with the co-op for group buying purposes only. Meeker to contact their president to begin discussions.
Motion by Playman second by Blount to adjourn. All in favor, none opposed. Meeting adjured at 4:11 PM.
Action Items: