September 2007 Committee Meeting Summary
The Association Services Committee
2007 Fall Conference
Denver, Colorado
Draft Minutes
The Association Services Committee met to review the association's member services activities and benefits issues since the last meeting at the Annual Meting in Orlando, Fla. and to preview activities for the coming months.
Committee Members in Attendance:
Bill Salsman, Grand River Mutual Telephone Corp. Princeton, Mo.
Edwin Dale Smith, Bulloch Telephone Cooperative, Statesboro, Ga.
Christy Berger, Nelson Telephone Cooperative, Durand, Wis.
Dick Leis, Pulaski-White Rural Telephone Cooperative, Star City, Ind.
Kay Bilyeu, Canby Telephone Association, Canby, Ore.
Eddie Ritenour, Wilkes Telephone Membership Corp., Wilkesboro, N.C.
John Downey, Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative, Pikesville, Tenn.
Dave Armstrong, Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company, Ponca, Neb.
Ron Laqua, Halstad Telephone Co., Halstad, Minn.
Arvin Larson, Northwest Communications Cooperative, Ray, N.D.
Scott Hart, South Plains Telephone, Lubbock, Texas
Bobbie Barnett, West Kentucky Rural, Kentucky
Louie Witte, Consolidated Telcom, Dickinson, N.D.
Frank Brungardt, Rural Telephone Service Co., Lenora, Kans.
Robert Pierson, Rice Belt Telephone, Weiner, Ark.
David Grahn, Wabash Telephone Cooperative, Louisville, Ill.
Dale Samp, Chariton Valley Telephone, Buckland, Mo.
Loy D. Cowart, Jr., Pineland Telephone Co-op, Twin City, Ga.
Don Jackson, Tri-County Telephone Association, Basin, Wy.
Members not in Attendance:
Mike Conrad, The Champaign Telephone Co., Urbana, Ohio
Brent Kennedy, Hopi Telecommunications, Flagstaff, Ariz.
The meeting convened at 9:00 a.m. The committee dispensed with the reading of the notice of meeting and the minutes and approved the minutes and the agenda. No new business was added to the agenda. Reports were given in the following areas.
Meetings: Noni Nicolaou, Director of Meetings, provided attendance figures for the 2007 Fall Conference. She reported that the department was preparing for the 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. She noted that the city was better than ever and ready for business. She did expect a decline in attendance from Orlando. She then reviewed the 2008 Regional Meetings, answered questions about hotel registration and encouraged attendance at the 2008 Fall Conference in Palm Springs, Calif.
Membership: Ann Savoy, Membership Relations Manager, gave the Membership Activity report which included new members, terminations and the net growth for the association's membership. She also discussed the directory, the Merchandise Mart and the E-store. Finally, she informed the committee that the Member-get-a-Member campaign netted thirteen new members. She also identified the winners and the prizes that they had won which included a trip to San Francisco, a flat screen TV and luggage.
Communications: Wendy Mann, Director of Communications, reviewed the upcoming Fall PRNet Workshop, the editorial calendar for the Rural Telecommunications magazine, updates to the website, plans for the fall Marketing Committee meeting, the Rural Coalition, the newsletter service and finally, the Marketing Benchmark Survey.
Education: Ron Precourt introduced Sandi Redman, NTCA's new Education Manager. She presented DCC awards to board members from Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative in Tennessee. Then Sandi reviewed the concurrent sessions at the Fall Conference, reported on the recently completed Finance and Accounting Conference held in Boston and promoted the upcoming Legal Seminar in Phoenix. Finally, she reported that the department will present six more seminars at the last two regional meetings in October and deliver four Board Development programs in November.
Field Services Report: Mike Brunner, NTCA's CEO, gave an update on the progress being made to fill Shirley Bloomfield's position. At this point, Tom Wacker has been appointed to the position of VP of Government Affairs and a search is underway to fill the position of VP of Association Services. He then updated the committee about the activities of the field staff and gave an overview of SMC products and services.
Human Resources: Jennifer Jushchuk, Human Resources Manager, informed the group about the Managers and Key Employee Search services, the HR Toolkit, the Compensation and Benefits Survey and on-site training programs.
The meeting concluded at 12:00 noon.