Board Meeting Minutes


3/11/2016

PAPRS Board Meeting

March 11, 2016

 

Attendance-David Young, Mary Kay Tuohy, Beth Ricker, Elisha Coffey, Joseph Martin, Kathy Ann Corl, Kim MacDonald-Wilson, Kim Maldonado, Rita Kraus, Donna Duffy-Bell, Angelo Stamoolis, Anna Trout, Susan Poznar, Emily Raymond, Maureen Walsh, Allyson Simpson, Lisa Kramer, Gwen DeYoung, Darla Dodds, Janice Aspey, Ellwyn Andres, Arlene Solomon, Heidi Eastman, Brad Eastman, Scott Heller, Jen McLaughlin, Ginny Dikeman, Rich Calhoun (via phone)

 

Call to Order- David Young called the meeting to order. 

 

Items to Agenda- Beth have an update from OMHSAS to add.  Elisha also has a policy update.  Rich would like to add some information that he needs for structured interview for his internship.

 

Approval of Minutes- Clarified the CPRP voucher will be included as a new member basket raffle item.  There is a typo in the minutes where it states money will be donated to AMAZON this should be changed to PAPRS.

 

Darla motioned to approve with amendment.  Elisha seconded.

 

Treasurer’s Report- We need to elect a treasurer as this position is vacant.  Duties include working with Scott and Connie Walker to review the information provided by Connie.  Connie prepares the financial report and it is sent to Scott and the treasurer.  The treasurer reviews the report and its contents and works with the finance committee to share this information with the board and review expenses.  The treasurer serves as the chair of the Finance Committee.  There are regular meetings to attend via Web Ex.  Connie Walker is authorized to sign up to $2500.   Bills above $2500 require a second signature and there are several designees.  The treasurer also participates in the Officer Meetings.  We would like to look at improvements within the report to make it more of a business management document such as a year to date report.

 

Susan Poznar volunteered and the Board unanimously approved her nomination.  She will assume the treasurer position effective immediately.

 

As of January 2016, we are at net funds of  $161,399.  As of February 2016, the net funds balance was at $164,442.  There is anticipated growth through March and April due to seminar fees coming in.  Our funds balance tends to remain stable over the course of the year with periodic losses and gains depending on the time of year.  Our current budget year has been impacted by the state budget to some extent.  Our training revenue appears to have been reduced by this issue as we have had to cancel trainings due to poor registration.  This is new and likely attributed to the state budget limbo.  We are hopeful that we will make up these shortfalls as time goes on particularly with the conference.  We have also done some personnel shifts this year with Brad taking over Janice’s role and Janice changing to an independent training contractor with contracts for training, technical assistance and this year’s conference. We are working to streamline several of our processes for time and cost effectiveness.  It is possible that we will be running a deficit this year depending on the next nine months. 

 

It was suggested that we reformat the report to show the month from the year previous, the current month and then the year to date. This can give us a better opportunity to compare our progress and growth.  The Finance Committee can meet to determine the best ways to use this report as a tool.

 

Investments have lost $861 currently including losses and fees.  Scott will confirm the fee is yearly and not quarterly.  We are currently paying a 0.5% fee on the investment, which was negotiated down from 1%.

 

OMHSAS Update- Guidance form CMS lead to the opportunity to expand the limits for ages for PSS and PR.  OHMSAS established two work groups around this and to explore options.  They looked at Idaho, Kansas, Maryland for PR and California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Oklahoma for PSS.  The workgroups ran from October to January monthly.  In January, these workgroups were changed into policy and formatting to crosswalk with current regulations.  OMHSAS executives will review this after completion.  It is expected that they will go to regulation in 2016 at some point.  Berks, Bucks and Washington are already working through the Healthy Transition Grant pilot.  We expect the initiative will expand to the 14 years and older population. 

 

Training and TA will be key in implementing this change.  Linda Groff is piloting this in a Clubhouse format and will be speaking at PAPRS seminar.  There is also a three hour institute at the conference for TAY.  Our training committee may want to determine how they can support this group.  Arlene Solomon also has a youth program at Horizon House with an emphasis on those experiencing their initial psychotic episode.  Kathy Ann proposed we put together a TAY meeting for these new changes.  Elisha and Darla will help put it together with Kathy Ann.  This could be Wednesday 4:30-6:00.  We should be thinking about whether there should be two 12 Hour Orientation options or if the course should be rewritten to include TAY.  We should also consider the 18 hour training requirement and how that should be separated out with the TAY and traditional PR trainings.

 

We should add these things to the next Board agenda for further discussion.  Brad will also help us utilize SLACK to have this discussion.

 

Elisha attended a conference in which the consensus was that this is an opportunity to again advocate for PR to be in plan.  The Policy Sub Committee will meet after the seminar to discuss this and identify and address barriers.  Kim suggested that we not only have testimonials as well as outcome data.  Kim suggested looking at the other states that fund PR and the adjustments made in the plan to support that.

 

Organizational Assessment- Environment, Motivation and Capacity will be measured by Rich as he puts together this piece for this internship.  Rich will need to work with board member to accomplish this.  Scott and Rich will discuss what PAPRS does and what the strengths are.  We focus on membership, seminar and training/TA as hallmarks of our organization.  Rich is also working on how to add value to our membership.  Rich would like to meet with a few committee members to review a structured interview and complete a SWOT analysis.  Rich is looking at the interview taking about 30-45 minutes and he will provide materials beforehand.  He is focusing on membership, communication and strengths currently within this.  Heidi and Donna are willing to meet with Rich to complete this activity.  Rich can also come to the Membership Committee meetings to gather further information and insight.  Elisha also volunteered the Policy committee and Rich will work with them as well. 

 

Brad’s Technical Assistance- Brad has completed Free VOIP, PAPRS Calendar, Polling, and Google Drive.  He also has Recovery Stories, Job Postings, Board FAQ, Workshop Bios, Workshop Info and Board minutes on the website.  Brad is still working on data clean-up, reporting, and forum.  These things will wait until after the conference so the website does not experience any upsets prior to it.

 

Brad reviewed how to access the different pieces added to the website. 

 

The Links and Shortcuts contain info on Slack and other things.  We also added Uberconference through Slack.  You can also click on committee members to create an e-mail.

 

Brad also provided Slack training.  He would like us to try it on our own but is available for further technical assistance as needed.

 

Brad would like to purchase Microsoft Project and this will enable us to track progress on the different goals we set for ourselves.  Brad or another designated member will be able to help us manage our deadlines and progress.  He can also pick up the extra pieces when necessary.  It could be helpful to clearly set up a work plan that could be accessed and reported on regularly.  Rita would like to meet with the Committee Chairs to work towards this goal and Dave will help.  We support accountability but the Board is unsure about the expense. In the meantime, Dave and Rita will work on the list in an organized manner until we can make a determination.

 

It was recommended that we put expense discussions through the Business Committee or Executive Committee and then determine what we can do.  We also need to determine the boundaries of the paid employees so that they have the opportunity to make decisions within their scope.

 

Brad is also working on helping with the Organizational members with adding/subtracting members within the orgs.  The org administrator should be able to do this but if now Brad can help.

 

Training & Technical Assistance:  All 2016 trainings are open for registration.  We had to cancel two this year so far.  We are low for our May numbers as well.  We believe this may be due to the budget and the many training vendors available.  There are talks about additional trainings to be developed including ethics.  We are also looking into Web Based training. 

 

We are continuing to work with BH-TEN to develop their on-line training curriculum for PR. 

 

Membership- We will be doing two baskets for our new member reception.  This will be for new organizational members and one will have a gift card and one will have the CPRP voucher.

 

We had one request for neurolinguistics training, which is really how to support folks in more positive way.

 

There is still a lag between when folks are renewing and when they will appear on the list.

 

We are reaching out to new orgs from April 2014 onward for the new member reception as well as the potential for the new member spotlight on the website or recovery stories.

 

Elisha sent us a list of 89 licensed PR programs but there are actually 141. The list is on line for the DHS website.  We are asking Rich to crosswalk this list with the org member list and we will then conduct outreach to those folks.

 

Communication- Brad has taken over the website and its improvements.

 

Heidi attempted paid advertising for the conference ad.  We got 1600 views for this.  

 

Brad asked if we wanted to scrape e-mails but the Board is not sure if they are comfortable with this.  This warrants further discussion.

 

Conference- Maureen reported that the basket assembly is going well.  Please let Maureen know if you intend to ask for her assistance.  Each board member is requested to bring one with a value of around $50.  Please include a card with the basket contents.

 

For awards, we received nominations for Outstanding Program which will be going to Skills PR in Philipsburg.  Rusty Dodds is receiving the advocate award.

 

Moderators- Please pick up your packets for Tuesday either Monday night or Tuesday morning at registration desk.  All moderator packets will be there for pick up on Wednesday and Thursday as well.

 

Hospitality Suite will be open throughout.

 

Penn Stater is sold out and Sleep Inn has a few openings.

 

Sponsorships are up by around $7,000 from the last seminar.  YAY!

 

Scholarships- Kathy Ann and the group developed a goal for the committee to help guide their work.  In March all scholarships had been awarded but we don’t know how they fall geographically yet.  Kathy Ann converted all stuff to Slack.  Kathy Ann requested from Brad that he look into whether all scholarship recipients attend workshops this year.  We also need to determine who the point people are to get scholarship info out and gather geographical data.  Elisha can do this by county.  They will be asking scholarship recipients how they received the info as well as talking with OMHSAS about what agencies or areas may be in need of scholarships.  They are also brainstorming ways to increase donations for scholarships each year as well in addition to the basket monies.  Jeannine is chairing the committee now so Kathy Ann will pass that info on to her.  They would also like to debrief on the scholarship process to prepare for next year. 

 

We also need to determine what to do with our CPRP vouchers.  They are not time limited but we should start thinking of what we would like to do with them.

 

PRA Update-   We have not signed our chapter agreement yet but we have requested a one year agreement to allow flexibility and determine a costs-benefits analysis.  PRA has denied this request and wants a 3-5 year agreement. PRA to allow us a one year agreement would then request that we would let them know by July 1, 2016 if we do not intend to renew.  PAPRS would agree to forfeit chapter rebates for third and fourth quarter.  A confidentiality clause will also be included.  If we do not notify by July 1 of our intent to renew or terminate then the agreement would be extended to five years.  If renewed by July 1 then it would be renewed for three years. 

 

We had issues with the MOU for trainings by PRF.  We also wanted the first opportunity for TA In PA.  This prompted some of our requests.  The MOU ended in December and thus opens the door for PRF to do any training they want in PA.

 

We are interested in determining how the PRA/PAPRS relationship can co-exist and benefit PAPRS.  This stemmed from PRA/PRF not truly honoring their MOU.

 

Executive Board will work on this at next week’s call.  (March 16 at 11:00).

 

MOTION: We would like to connect the MOU renewal and implemented as it was previously state and then we can sign the three year chapter renewal agreement.

 

Beth motioned for this, Darla seconded, Rita thirded and all in favor.

 

Meeting with Harvey Rosenthal:  He is from NYAPRS which is the largest affiliate chapter of PRA.  They have the largest chapter in the U.S.  Harvey will be our keynote speaker at PAPRS.  He offered to meet with Board member on Thursday to help us in any way they can.  Board members will be notified of the time and place.

 

Next Meeting:  April 12 from 5:30-6:30 at the conference!