OKIAAI Board Minutes 3/26/20

Date: March 26, 2020
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Conducted by phone conference

Call To Order By President

Made by President Bill Hollander

Roll Call

Present at Meeting: Bill Hollander (Pres.), Chris Woodall (1st VP), Jeremy Robbins (3rd Yr.), Todd DeSmet (2nd Yr.), Jonathan Wilk (1st Yr.), Renee Southerland (Secretary) Neal Moore (Treasurer), David VanBuskirk (Past Pres.), Ashley Stephens (2nd VP), Fred Henderson (3rd Yr.), Tim Reeves (2nd Yr.)

Absent: Jim Wilhelm (1st Yr.)

Reading And Approval Of Minutes

Chris made Motion to forego reading of February minutes, seconded by Jonathan Wilk, Motion carried and approved.

Membership

Duane Helmberger, Midwest City Fire Department, approved membership unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report

The balance was currently $14,133.85. Jeremy Robbins made the Motion to accept the amount. Tim Reeves seconded the Motion, the Motion carried and approved. Neal Moore is sending Renee a check for reimbursement of funeral flowers for B.W. Scott’s wife.

The following checks will be sent by Renee Southerland to Neal Moore for depositing:

City of Seminole – $185.00 – Bryant Baker did not attend the conference, but Jeremy Robbins texted him and Bryant said to keep the check as a donation.

$20.00 for dues from Michael Hall, Berryhill Fire Protection District $300.00 from Rimkus as vendor payment.

CFI

None to report.

Website

David VanBuskirk still needs to get Dan pictures of the last conference to put on the website.

Annual Conference

Chris Woodall stated he is still waiting on speaker information and is trying to get the speakers nailed down.
The Blast has not yet been sent due to the COVID-19 issues. The plan is to send it in May for electrical vehicle fire investigation and information concerning 921/1033 changes.
Jonathan Wilk advised that Bob Howard would provide an electric vehicle to be on display.
Bill Hollander advised that Albano will speak again this year for mental health. Chris Woodall stated he ran into him recently and they talked for about an hour and Albano said he enjoyed the last conference and would love to come back.
Jeremy Robbins will check with IAA about getting a burned electric vehicle to be on display as well.
Jonathan Wilk will be getting Bill Cathcart information about the 921/1033 changes.
Chris Woodall has also tried to get information from the Hilton Hotel about room rates and blocking rooms, but he has not yet heard back. Apparently, he saw Cullen Fowler recently and Cullen will put a bug in Sonnie Maughan’s ear.
David VanBuskirk is still in communication with the International concerning our fees being collected by them for the Conference. Everything is on hold at this point.

Old Business

Renee Southerland advised that Mike Parham advised he received the burn camp check proceeds and he was very grateful. He will be taking a photograph of the check with his staff and send us a picture. He will be adding that information on their website as well.
Jonathan Wilk called Van Fleet who stated it is possible to run the conference fees through them without being a Charter member. This will be verified.
As for the 501c3, Chris Woodall spoke with his wife’s office and is waiting on a response from the IRS if we are good to be reinstated. It may not happen before this year’s conference, however.
As for the legal opinion, Neal Moore stated that the way he reads it, he has to currently be employed in fire investigation or cannot be an active member or hold office.
Ashley Stephens had a discussion about the “retired” status and would propose to amend the by-laws to add “retired” people to still be active on the Board, but this would require a majority vote by the members.
Neal Moore stated the changes would have to be initiated and a vote on by the members.
Ashley Stephens stated he would work on this and get with Bill Cathcart regarding his opinion.
Neal Moore stated he agreed he could not continue as Treasurer but requested each Board member to be able to identify if we are all involved in investigation or prosecution of such fire investigations.
Jeremy Robbins stated if we want to change the by-laws before the next annual meeting, it has to be sent out to the membership 60 to 90 days prior to the conference.
Ashley Stephens stated the International uses Survey Monkey to vote on Board and By-law changes and we could do it with Survey Monkey and then do a blast.
David VanBuskirk stated the By-laws stated that changes may be amended at “monthly meetings” or “the conference”.
Jeremy Robbins and Fred Henderson would rather the “members” vote and if we could leave things the way they are with Neal in place until the next conference, then we need another meeting with Bill Cathcart.
At this time Bill Cathcart was conferenced in by phone on the Board meeting concerning his legal opinion of when a Board member retires that they are no longer an active member of the Board. He stated our Board does not fall under the Open Meeting Act and stated the Oklahoma Chapter did not have a retired clause. It was asked if the Board could make a By-law change and Bill Cathcart advised it would have to be proposed before the annual meeting and voted on at the next annual meeting.
Ashley Stephens advised that the National sent out an outline vote and wanted to know if we could do that for our Chapter and Bill Cathcart stated he would check on that.
Bill Cathcart stated in determining if Neal Moore is involved in fire investigation, you can delay a vote to remove him.
Todd DeSmet stated that in the By-laws it states you have to be involved in suppression or administration of justice and stated he and Renee fall under that definition.
Ashley Stephens made the Motion to delay on removing Neal Moore indefinitely, seconded by Fred Henderson, until we have a By-laws change. Motion carried and approved. Neal Moore did agree to wait.
As for changing banks, Bill Hollander suggested RCB or Arvest and Neal Moore was okay with either. Bill Hollander made a Motion to use Arvest, seconded by Tim Reeves, Motion carried and approved.
Neal Moore stated he wanted another person on the account and wanted Renee Southerland to be that person. Renee Southerland did not want to be that person but agreed to do it temporarily for this year until a new person could be added after the conference. Bill Hollander requested it to be temporary until Ashley Stephens fell off as 2nd Vice President.
Jeremy Robbins suggested just a card for Renee to sign.
David VanBuskirk advised that the By-laws had already been modified last year to only have the Treasurer on the account and the definition language was amended for both Secretary and Treasurer. A new By-law change would be needed.
Jeremy Robbins stated we may need a new revision as the old revision last year was not voted on by the members.
Chris Woodall stated we needed another scheduled call with Bill Cathcart.
Neal Moore stated the current credit card he has does not expire until May 2020.
and Neal will set up an account at Arvest and will get Arvest to sign the account.

New Business

Todd DeSmet announced that Travis Rider was informed by the National that he got an award for his photograph and it will be put in the next magazine. Also, the International Conference for April/May has been cancelled.

Next Meeting

We are delaying the scheduling of the next meeting until we hear from Bill Cathcart. David VanBuskirk made a Motion to delay the scheduling of the meeting, seconded by Jonathan Wilk, Motion carried and approved.