Board of Directors Meeting
National Guard Association of Arkansas, Inc.

June 2010 minutes

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order, and a quorum was verified.  Guests and new board members were recognized and welcomed.   Colonel Merritt said this was his first meeting as president of the board of directors.  He welcomed everyone and stressed the importance of everybody’s participation and attendance at the board meetings.  He noted that his vision and goals are much the same as those of the past and include four very important things:  (1) membership, (2) financial stability, (3) legislative efforts, and (4) the corporate member program.  He said at the next board meeting in August we will make our first attempt at appointing committee chairpersons and will be in contact with everyone about that through e-mail very soon.  He noted that a lot of progress has been made over the last few years to include a four-star representing the National Guard, pay raises in the Guard, more and better equipment, and much more. 

Minutes of the 5 January 2010 board meeting were reviewed.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the minutes as written.

New Business

Colonel Merritt introduced SMSgt Michael Lenahan, EAANG president.  Sergeant Lenahan said he is looking forward to working with NGAA this year and invited anyone with questions pertaining to the EAANG to contact him or any of the EAANG board members.

This meeting being the first since annual conference at which several new representatives were appointed, all present were asked to introduce themselves. 

Board Representative Actions
Board members were asked to approve the following board representative changes:

MAJ Clement Papineau to fill the position of MAJ Regina Allen representing Joint Force Headquarters through April 2012

CPT Lorne Kelley to fill the unexpired term of CPT Brent Pounders representing 777th ASB through April 2011

A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the appointments.

Colonel Merritt presented a request from the National Guard Professional Education Center (PEC) commandant, Colonel Jack Frost, to re-establish the Title 10 position on the NGAA board of directors.  He noted that the executive committee has discussed this and talked about both the negatives and positives of such action.  Many Title 10 personnel attend both the state and national conferences and consistently participate in the conference exhibits shows.  Their participation level is good, and a Title 10 representative will bring more paying members into the association.  These will be Title 10 officers affiliated with the Arkansas National Guard.  Following a brief discussion, a motion was made, seconded and approved to re-establish the Title 10 position on the NGAA board of directors. 

In anticipation of the Title 10 position being approved, Colonel Frost had also nominated an individual to fill the position.  Colonel Merritt asked the board to consider Major David Harrison as Title 10 representative on the board of directors.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve this appointment.

Board of Directors Orientation
Colonel Merritt provided a brief orientation for the benefit of the new representatives on the board of directors and offered a copy of the orientation in a PowerPoint presentation to those interested (contact Judy Shere in the NGAA office for that). This information will be placed on the NGAA website at a later date. 

Members were asked to review and update/correct their contact information on the member roster provided in their meeting folders.  Colonel Merritt said that later in the year, members will be asked to update their unit rosters with NGAA for 100 percent unit membership purposes. 

Finance and Insurance, Maj (Ret) James Lamb
A question was asked as to whether the amount of the NGAA group term life insurance could be changed (the maximum amount now offered is $50,000).  Major Lamb will pose this question to the carrier insurance company and report back with an answer at the next board meeting.  

Major Lamb then briefly explained a new agreement between NGAA and Aflac.  It provides two new policies under a group plan: Group Critical Illness Policy and Accident Plan.  He said the four Aflac policies under the previous agreement (Cancer, Specified Health Event, Hospitalization Indemnity Policy and Dental) are still available; however, the new products provide better coverage to our soldiers/airmen and their families.   The Critical Illness policy includes several diseases including cancer, and the amount paid out in claims will be explained by the agents when the policies are presented. The Accident Plan is the one with which most people are familiar.  It is the one talked about in the Aflac television commercials. It will normally pay if you get injured and cannot work.  Neither of these contains a war clause, and  since they are under a group plan, their rates should be down from the policies previously offered.

Colonel Merritt asked what mechanism is in place to get this new information out to the members.  The response was that this will be communicated by the NGAA staff at SRP’s and PHA’s, and that is the only avenue available at this time.  Asked how popular the Aflac insurance has been up to now, Major Lamb responded was that it has been good, with approximately 1500 policies currently in force.  He added that it should get even better with the new group policies being offered.  General Swan suggested that the board may want to take a look at trying to improve access to unit personnel by the NGAA insurance staff at SRP’s and PHA’s.  He said a committee might be appointed to look into that.  Major Lamb suggested that NGAA needs to get on the checklist at PHA’s if at all possible.  General Swan said the PHA’s are really maxed out for time, so that may be a problem.  Colonel Merritt said a committee will be appointed to take a look at this because the NGAA insurance is a great benefit to the soldiers.

Major Lamb presented the finance and insurance reports as of 30 April 2010.  He said the association continues to stay within budget and is currently under budget.  Following brief discussion, a motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the reports.  He indicated that information copies of the NGAA insurance trusts financial reports were included in the member packets, adding that the trusts are managed by a separate board.  Questions as to the control of this board generated a discussion that resulted in an invitation to all board members to review the trust agreements and by-laws that are available in the NGAA office.  Additionally, LTC Treece will be asked to brief the board of directors on the trusts. 

Major Lamb presented the 2011 budget for approval.  Two areas that increased were insurance travel expense because of more PHA’s scheduled at Fort Chaffee and website expense because of plans to make on-line membership dues payments possible and other upgrades during the year.  NGAA is looking for the least expensive computer company to do this.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the 2011 budget.

Bank Resolutions and Transfer of Taxable Funds, Maj (Ret) James Lamb
Major Lamb asked the board to consider approval of bank resolutions for the upcoming year, explaining that this will allow the association staff to coordinate any necessary bank signature card changes generated by changes of staff members and/or elected officers.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve this action.

Major Lamb asked for authority to transfer taxable monies into the association set aside non-taxable account if such funds are identified by the auditor.  This authority will allow the association staff to move those funds into the non-taxable account; however, any money that needs to be taken out of the non-taxable account would have to be approved by the board of directors.  This action has never been necessary but there is a set aside account in place to receive such funds in the event it is needed.  A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve this action.

2011 General Conference
The 2011 general conference is set for 8-10 April 2011 in Hot Springs at the Hot Springs Convention Center, Austin Hotel and Embassy Suites.  All hospitality suites will be on one floor in the same hotel.  This year’s conference will not be linked to the adjutant general’s leadership conference as it was last year.  The board does need to consider whether we want a joint conference with the Enlisted Association.   EAANG does not have a time and place established for its 2011 conference, and the presidents of both associations agreed to present the joint conference proposal to their board members.  We need to provide our decision to the EAANG president by the end of next week.  If the board members do not want to make a decision here today, it will be necessary to take an e-mail vote before the end of next week.  If a joint conference is the decision, we will most likely have to get the Arlington Hotel involved in order to take care of everybody.  Following a lengthy discussion, a motion was made to approve a joint NGAA/EAANG conference in 2011 with the stipulation that NGAA will not incur any significant additional costs for EAANG events; i.e., they will be responsible for their own meeting rooms, etc.  The motion was seconded and approved.

2012 General Conference
The 2012 general conference will be in Little Rock.  The elected officers have met with the Peabody Hotel, but no contract has been signed yet. 

NGAUS Conference
The 132nd NGAUS general conference is scheduled 20-23 August 2010 in Austin, Texas.  Colonel Merritt encouraged everyone to attend.  He said Arkansas and all the SEC states except Alabama and Kentucky have rented a sports bar and restaurant on hospitality night for the entire evening where each state will display their state’s sports themes.  In addition, the Governor’s reception includes a Texas rodeo at the state fairgrounds, and the states’ dinner will be an informal affair with western attire suggested.  NGAA will provide shirts and trading pins for the Arkansas delegation.  This will be a super event.  The final date NGAA can accept registration forms and ensure assignment to one of the reserved rooms for Arkansas attendees is 25 June 2010.  After that, attendees will have to make their own hotel reservations. 

Other Comments
Asked if NGAA is verifying whether scholarship recipients actually attend school after receiving their scholarship payments, the answer was no.  A motion was made that the scholarship program be amended to put such verification process in place.  Following some discussion, the motion was amended to present a request to the NGAA Trusts Board that verification process of attendance at school by scholarship recipients be put in place.  This motion was seconded and approved. 

A board representative had been asked to report his unit’s overwhelming negative response to the gate guards posted outside the hospitality suite area at last year’s conference.  Colonel Merritt responded that the point was well taken and said if a similar situation presents again, that issue will be taken into consideration.

Next Meeting

The next scheduled board of directors meeting is Tuesday, 3 August 2010, in the NGAA conference room.  Dinner will be served at 5:00 p.m., and the meeting will start at 5:45 p.m.  A reminder will be sent prior to the meeting date.

Adjournment

There was no further business, and the meeting adjourned.

Minutes recorded by Judy Shere

DISTRIBUTION: NGAA Board Mbrs, BG Swan, Maj (Ret) James Lamb, NGAA Auditor