KCB Board Meeting – April, 2013

The monthly meeting of the Kentucky Council of the Blind Board of Directors was held via conference call on Thursday, April 18, 2013. President Deb Lewis called the meeting to order at 9:07 PM eastern time. Members present were Deb Lewis, Deb Trevino, Joey Couch, Rick Boggess, Carla Ruschival, Bill Deatherage, Patti Cox, Debbie Deatherage, Frances Gregory, Jim Shaw, Cisco Slusher, Adam Ruschival, Donnie Parrett, Gerry Slusher, and Bill Wright. Member Vurah Berry was absent. Guests Elaine Weisbard and David Cox were also present.

President Deb Lewis called for reading of the minutes from the March 21 meeting. Since a copy had been e-mailed to board members prior to the meeting, she asked if anyone needed the minutes read. Joey Couch moved to dispense with the reading of the minutes and for their approval. Carla Ruschival seconded the motion which was unanimously approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Carla Ruschival presented the treasurer’s report for the period ending March 31.
Carla pointed out that the stock is up because the market was up in March. She also indicated that the balance will be somewhat different at the end of April since that statement will reflect payments related to the crossroads conference, as well as payments to Clear Channel and ACB. Debbie Deatherage moved that the treasurer’s report be approved. The motion was seconded by Cisco Slusher and unanimously approved by the board.

Chapter Reports

Eastern Kentucky Christian Council: Joey Couch reported that the chapter had been unable to get together due to scheduling conflicts. However, they hope to have some sort of activity next month. He will post updated information to the list.

Donnie Parrett reported that there have not been any formal meetings in his area. However, he has had four or five contacts given to him. He hopes to get some activities going in his region before the end of summer.

Northern Kentucky Council: Gerry Slusher reported that the chapter did not have a formal meeting. However, about 15 people (including several people who had not attended recent meetings) went to the Greyhound Tavern last month. It is hoped that some of these individuals will choose to become actively involved with the chapter in the future.

Greater Louisville Council: Since Bill Wright was late checking into the meeting, Carla Ruschival reported on activities at the Greater Louisville Council. On April 13, the chapter had its annual meeting and election of officers. The new officers are Debbie Deatherage, president; Bill Wright, first vice president; Natalie Beyers, second vice president; Libby Koch, secretary; and Jim Shaw, treasurer. Ben Wright was also elected as director to replace Natalie Beyers who was selected second vice president. GLCB President Debbie Deatherage has also filled three committee positions. Elaine Weisbard will chair the advocacy committee, Jim Shaw will head up fundraising and Patti Cox will oversee the activities committee. Carla also reported that about 20 people have signed up to play bingo at KSB tomorrow. She also indicated that 12 or 13 people have already signed up to attend the Derby party at KSB on Derby Day. In July bingo will be combined with an activity by the Guide Dog Users of Kentucky. Elaine Weisbard’s advocacy committee is also going to try a new series of two hour workshops (combined with a box lunch) which will be held on the first Saturday in August and October.

Tri-state Library Users Group: Adam Ruschival reported that 12 people participated in the chapter’s conference call on the first Tuesday in April. While they had hoped that people from around the state would participate in this activity, all those present were from the Louisville area. They will try a conference call again on the first Tuesday in June with the hope that people from around the state will participate. On May 7, the chapter will be meeting from 6-8 PM at the KSB library. Heather Davis, KSB librarian, will conduct a tour of the library and explain some of the ongoing programs at the library. Food will be brought in and it is hoped that some KSB students will have an opportunity to participate in this activity.

Guide Dog Users of Kentucky: Deb Trevino reported that the walk planned for this weekend at Seneca Park has been cancelled due to difficulty getting people together. However, it is hoped that this activity can be rescheduled at some future date.
Deb also reported that annual eye exams for guide dogs will be held at KSB on May 17. Although the exams do not officially begin until 3:30, the vet would like for people to get there at 3:00 so she can dilate the dogs’ eyes. It was pointed out that people must register in advance to take advantage of these free exams. The web address for guide dog registration will be reposted to the list. Once people have registered and been given a number, they should contact Deb Lewis, rather than the vet, to set up the appointment. President Deb Lewis indicated that 11 dogs have been registered for exams at this point. It was further noted that the vet is doing these exams on her day off and that we are very appreciative of the fact that she is willing to come to a convenient location at KSB to perform these exams.

The chapter also held a bake sale fundraiser in conjunction with the annual GLCB meeting last week and raised $110. The chapter is aware that pies and muffins seem to be especially popular and will take this into account when planning for the future.

Committee Reports

Cross Roads Committee: President Deb Lewis reported that the Crossroads Leadership Conference committee held a final conference call. The committee agreed that the workshop was a huge success and shared ideas for possible future workshops. It is hoped that another conference will be held in the future.

Old Business

Due to some concerns related to the late ending time of our board meeting, the board devoted time to discussing options for changing our meeting date and time. After discussing the pros and cons for a variety of dates and times, Adam Ruschival moved that the Board change its meeting to the third Monday of each month at 8 PM Eastern Time. The motion was seconded by Joey Couch and unanimously approved by the board. The next meeting will be held on Monday May 20 at 8 PM Eastern Time.

Nomination to SRC: Joey Couch stated that he has posted resumes on the KCB Board list for everyone who has expressed interest in the open SRC positions. In response to an inquiry from Gerry Slusher regarding the KCB board nominee, Adam Ruschival pointed out that the KCB Board unanimously voted to support Carla Ruschival at its February meeting. Donnie Parrett stated that he was honored to have been encouraged to seek one of the SRC positions. However, he indicated that he just had too many things going on to seek a position at this time. Since Board positions rotate, Carla Ruschival reminded KCB Board members to constantly monitor upcoming openings and consider seeking appointment as positions open up in the future. Joey Couch indicated that the upcoming openings are for two AT Large positions and one Business and Labor position. He further clarified that all the posted resumes were for people seeking the AT Large positions. Those interested in seeking appointment can get an application from Jennifer Wright and must submit the application along with a resume. Adam Ruschival stated that, although individuals may seek appointment to the SRC, the final decision on who gets appointed is pretty much controlled by the Office for the Blind and ultimately the governor. It was also noted that there have been several instances where board members were determined ineligible for reappointment when they should have been eligible for consideration for an additional term.

Carla Ruschival reminded the board that they had provided pastries for the last SRC board meeting and asked if the board was interested in supplying them again for the upcoming SRC meeting. Since the idea was positively received, Carla Ruschival made a motion that the KCB board spend up to $50 for doughnuts or other snacks for the upcoming SRC board meeting. Bill Wright seconded the motion which was unanimously approved.

Adam Ruschival reported that Richard Nesbitt, who has worked with the Office for the Blind vending program for many years, will be retiring at the end of April. Given that he is a KCB member who has always been supportive, Adam made a motion that KCB spend approximately $50 to purchase two travel mugs (one with the Belle of Louisville and the other with Churchill Downs) for Richard and his wife since they plan to do some traveling after his retirement. The motion was seconded by Patti Cox. In subsequent discussion, Patti stated that she thought it might be a good idea to purchase ceramic mugs with these pictures since they look better. However, it was decided that the travel mugs would be more appropriate since Richard has indicated that they plan to do some travel. The motion was unanimously approved by the board.

Sound Prints: Carla Ruschival updated the board on her findings related to Sound Prints. She stated that we only need to provide two weeks notice to Clear Channel should we desire to cancel the contract. Carla reported that she and Adam were well received by Ken Washington when they visited the KSB radio station area on Tuesday. The station area consists of two rooms—one room containing the broadcast area with a control board and phone and a second soundproof room which is always locked. Given the low frequency of the station, KCB has no interest in using the room where the broadcasting equipment is located. However, the soundproof area could be used to produce Sound Prints and KCB’s equipment could remain in that area since it is always locked with no student access. Since the students are only on the air until 4:30 or 5:00 Monday through Thursday, the Sound Prints broadcast could begin as early as 5:00 or 5:15 and be completed much earlier. Producing the show at KSB would also mean that the show will no longer be live and will not be broadcast over the Internet. Since there will be no commercial breaks, shows produced at KSB would expand from 52 to 60 minutes a week. Although KSB will not charge for use of the space, KCB would probably consider making periodic contributions to help with the KSB radio station which would be much cheaper than producing the show on commercial radio. In addition, KSB students could benefit from this move as they could gain experience as reporters and would have an opportunity to learn interview techniques. Carla stated that discussions with Clear Channel reveal that they are giving us a very good rate ($180 a week plus $300 annually for webpage banners.) In fact, if KCB cancels the current contract it would cost $350 to $375 weekly should we want to negotiate a similar contract in the future. Therefore, once the contract is voided, it will be fiscally impossible for us to consider having a live show on Clear Channel in the future. Carla also observed that, if KCB decides to discontinue the arrangement with Clear Channel, it would be nice to begin producing the new show at KSB on May 15 since that would mark the beginning of the twelfth year for the show. Carla informed the board that there would be some initial hardware/software costs associated with producing Sound Prints at KSB. She indicated that President Deb Lewis is working on a conference call for Monday night at 8:00 PM which will include Larry Turnbull from ACB Radio and all interested parties. During this call, Larry will use his experience from ACB Radio to help put together a list of hardware/software needs and interested parties will have the opportunity to explore their possible roles with the program. Once this meeting has been held, we should have a better handle on our needs and the potential cost. Although Carla indicated that she hoped the Initial one time cost would not exceed $1000-2000, it was pointed out that spending more would still result in long term savings since airing the show on Clear Channel costs approximately $9500 annually. In addition to the initial setup cost, Carla stated there will be a small recurring expense to produce the show on CD for those who normally listen to the show on radio and who do not have internet access. Basically, this cost would involve postage, the CD, CD cover and envelope. Carla and Adam already have a machine on which they can copy 3 CDs at a time. Carla further pointed out that we could incur some additional cost should we decide to put the program on Newsline and/or BARD since we would have to produce copies in Daisy format and we do not currently have the expertise to produce these files ourselves. Deb Trevino indicated she would love to learn to do this since she needs to know how to produce Daisy files for another project. Patti Cox made a motion that KCB allocate up to $3000 to cover the initial cost for acquiring hardware and software for production of Sound Prints at KSB and for the distribution of the program. Furthermore, the motion stipulated that KCB give Clear Channel the appropriate two week notice for terminating the current Sound Prints contract with a target date of May 15. Deb Trevino seconded the motion which was unanimously approved by the board.

President Deb Lewis reminded the board that we had approved a $100 stipend for KCB members planning to attend the ACB convention in Columbus, Ohio. She stated that we should continue to remind people about this by putting out announcements in April, May and June.

President Deb Lewis asked Adam Ruschival if he had checked on van transportation options for the ACB convention in Columbus. He indicated he had not yet checked.

New Business

President Deb Lewis asked for ideas on our contribution to the ACB convention this summer. Carla Ruschival indicated that in past years we have given $800-1000 in some form to the convention. After discussing several ideas, Adam Ruschival made a motion that KCB contribute $1000 ($500 for a memorial page in honor of “Lula” Dotson, $100 for ACB Braille Forum tickets, $200 for the walk, and $200 for the auction.) Bill Wright seconded the motion which was unanimously approved by the board.

Announcements

Adam Ruschival informed the board that the vendor’s quarterly committee meeting will be held at 9 AM on April 27 in Frankfort.

Adam also stated that the KSB Founder’s Day will be in early May (probably May 8 or 9.)

Adam also informed the board that APH will be hosting a historic walk on Frankfort Avenue this Saturday.

Carla Ruschival reported that the KSB Alumni Association is working with Mike Hudson at the APH museum for a special tour during the upcoming alumni meeting. Participants in this tour will be permitted to touch some museum items (including the piano used by Stevie Wonder for practice at the Michigan School for the Blind.)

Carla asked Rick Boggess for an update on the status of support group meetings in Owensboro. Rick reported that the group hopes to meet again in early May (possibly May 9) at Wing Avenue Baptist Church in Owensboro. The meeting will include demonstrations of ScripTalk and the i.d. mate from Envision America. Rick also intends to specifically highlight and discuss a few of the resources included on a list which was provided to participants at the February meeting.

Since there was no further business, Cisco Slusher moved that the meeting be adjourned. The motion was seconded and the board unanimously voted to adjourn at 10:37 PM.

Submitted by Rick Boggess, KCB Secretary

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