Executive Committee Meeting May 9, 2022

A meeting of the FCB Executive Committee was held on Monday, May 9, 2022 via Zoom.  Those in attendance were: Sheila Young, President; Mikey Wiseman, 1st Vice-President; Cassandra Jessie, 2nd Vice-President; Mark Lear, Treasurer; Sally Benjamin, Membership Secretary; Mary Tyson, Recording Secretary and Jim Kracht, Immediate Past President.  Also in attendance as  Guest was Kati Lear.

Update on Greater Miami -  Regarding the letter which the EC had requested Cassandra to write, as she is the Membership Committee Chair. Cassandra advised that in the past, such letters were written by and signed by the FCB President.  She believes that the president should write the letter to Greater Miami for the sake of consistency with past procedure.  Jim Kracht suggested that Cassandra draft the letter, with his assistance if she wishes, for Sheila’s signature as she has an excessive amount of responsibilities at this time. Cassandra was not in favor of this suggestion and indicated that there would only be a very few words to change from previous letters. Sheila said that she would forward the letter to Jim and he said that he would take a look at it.

Update on Bequest  from Estate - Jim reported that he had sent an email to Sheila and Mark regarding the Agnes Capetto estate. They are forwarding paperwork and a check and Jim advised that he would sign the forms in his position as FCB’s attorney and Immediate Past President.   

Mikey asked if anyone on the EC was aware of gift cards for the Get UP and Get Moving campaign’s scavenger hunt.  No one was aware of this except that Sheila had heard that they had been requested from the Get Up and Get Moving budget and were to be given out.   

Rehab Council – Sheila reported that at the most recent meeting of the Rehab Council  someone was there representing themselves as speaking for Florida Council of the Blind.  Mikey advised that he had received a call from an individual who wanted clarification that the person was not speaking on behalf of FCB.  They were assured that this was the case. Mikey will be speaking with this individual  in person and while we are proud of our members, it is important that they do not place themselves in the position of speaking on behalf of FCB. It was noted that this has become a pattern and it will be addressed in person at convention.

Sally advised that the CALM chapter had requested two tables in the exhibit hall and that they planned to sell popcorn. Wanda Stokley advised them that it was her belief that we were not permitted to sell food in the hotel.  Kati  had responded as convention committee chair that the hotel did not like it when food was sold, and if they chose to do so, if the hotel asked them to stop then they must do so.  Further, people who purchase popcorn should be asked not to open it while in the exhibit hall.  Jim suggested that a policy addressing this topic be adopted by the convention committee to apply in future years.  It was felt that this was the appropriate path to take.

Sally reported that 25-30 people were currently registered for each banquet but that she had many more registrations to tally.

Sheila spoke regarding the email she had received from Tony Stephens of ACB Media indicating that Rick Moran was not going to be coming to assist us at convention. She advised that Rick had called her today, May 9,    indicating that he was having some significant personal and medical issues that would preclude him from attending. He said that he was the one who had made the decision not to travel to Orlando and apologized for the late notice. Further, he said he would do his best to assist remotely.  He said that the reason ACB had not mentioned this to us was that they were protecting Rick and his privacy. Rick advised that he would help in whatever way we need and he believes that Ryan is capable of handling any issues onsite.

While Mikey is sympathetic and empathetic to Rick’s personal  concerns; he feels that we need clarification on where FCB stands in its relationship with ACB.     He feels that there commitment in this particular situation has been wishy-washy and does not feel that ACB as a parent organization is responding adequately to the needs of FCB and its’ members.  He is concerned  about individual members who have reached out to ACB and have received no response.  As FCB is the conduit between our members and ACB, he feels he is no longer able to provide them information regarding the untimely responses they receive from ACB if they receive a response at all.

He suggested that the Executive Committee write a letter to the ACB President and the Board of Directors outlining questions that we would like answered in order for us to find out what we could do better in order to get responses to the concerns of our members.  To whom should questions be addressed?  If a response is not received in a timely manner, what is required to follow up? 

There was some concern about these issues disrupting the upcoming convention.  It was felt that the convention would go well but that it was important to address these concerns with ACB.  If we did not do so, that we would not be best serving our members.

Jim moved that we draft a letter addressed to Dan Spoone, Eric Bridges, Tony Stevens and the ACB Board of Directors delineating the concerns discussed at this meeting. Further, that we prepare a resolution to take to the Resolutions Committee outlining that we will provide no financial support to the ACB convention for the year 2022.  Mikey seconded the motion for the purpose of discussion. 

Mikey asked if the resolution could be prepared with the withholding of funds pending a response to our letter. Jim said that we did not have time to await their response prior to convention.  He said that the proposed resolution was only for 2022 and did not prohibit funding in future years.

Mary recommended that should Jim’s motion pass, the $500 which usually goes to ACB Media be given to Ryan since he will be working on his own. 

Sheila restated Jim’s motion; that we write a letter to ACB and that we draft a resolution to abstain from any monetary support of ACB this year, 2022.     Motion carried.

Cassandra made a motion that the $500 which would have gone to ACB Media  go to Ryan.  Jim seconded the motion.  Jim asked how much we were paying Ryan.  He is getting $250, plus hotel, both banquets and $100 to rent his camera.    Mikey made a friendly amendment  that we split the $500 between Ryan and John Richards.  Cassandra accepted this friendly amendment.  Motion passed.

Mikey and Jim will write the proposed letter to ACB. Sheila said that if she did not approve of the letter that Mikey would have to sign it.   Mikey agreed.  

The meeting ended at 8:30 PM	

Respectfully submitted by,

Mary Tyson,
FCB Recording Secretary