METROEAST CHAPTER OF CREDIT UNIONS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
November 3, 2011

The regular meeting of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the METROEAST CHAPTER OF CREDIT UNIONS was called to order by Drema Isaac at 9:06 a.m. at Michigan Schools and Government Credit Union.

PRESENT:  
Drema Isaac, Lisa Burroughs, Marty Winiarski, Jim Safian, Gail Hernalsteen, Jan Rose and Fran Pierce

COMMITTEE MEMBERS EXCUSED:
Carolyn Edwards, Gary Sylvester, Kathie Trembath,  Patty Campbell  and Vicki McIntosh,

GUEST PRESENT:
Crystal Gracz,  Jenny Bulgrien, Lauren Vance, Donna Siejutt and Ron Martin.

PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES:
Motion was made by Marty and seconded by Jim to approve the minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting held on October 6, 2011.  Motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
The Treasurer’s Report for October was presented.  A motion to approve the report was made by Marty and seconded by Gail.  Motion carried.

PROGRAM AND EVENTS:
We are ready to start with our Facebook page.  There are 82 registered for the Home Ownership Seminar. Our Holiday Party will be on December 1 at Andiamo’s.  Jan made a motion to approve up to $3,000 for a speaker for the event, Gail seconded and the motion carried.  

GOVERNMENT & POLITICAL FORUM REPRESENTATIVE:
We reviewed the PAC fundraising report.  The Legislative Breakfast was a success.

CU DIFFERENCE CAMPAIGN:
Lauren reviewed the written report.  She said that there will be a meeting next week to further discuss the formulas for the Detroit DMA next week.  Lauren will let us know what is decided.  

MCUL REPRESENTATIVE:
Ron Martin reviewed the written report to the Committee.  He discussed the attendance at recent League events. He reported that next year the MCUL is planning for 100 webinars/audio conferences as compared to this year when there were 56.  The minutes of the MCUL’s meetings with OFIR and the NCUA are on Infosite.   Ron reviewed the staff movement within MCUL and discussed Bank Transfer Day.  

Ron will arrange for Martha to attend our Holiday Luncheon to present the Chapter Effectiveness Award and the Young Credit Union Professional Award.  

MCUL DIRECTOR:
Lisa reported that the MCUL board had a telephonic meeting to discuss budget and strategic plan for 2012.  No action items were brought before the board.  Lisa reported that Vicki suggested to the board that we lower dues by 50% for 2012 – there was not support from the other Directors, so it is likely that dues will remain at their 2011 level with a 35% reduction.

CHARITY COMMITTEE:
Crystal discussed the written report.  We discussed that there are additional funds still available for distribution to our charities.  Fran is going to check everything over to be sure that the accounting is correct and then we will plan to distribute the funds among the charities that we supported this year.

Volunteers are needed on December 6 from 6 – 8 p.m. to work sorting food at the Macomb Food Program.  Please let Gail know if you are interested in helping.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
Drema reminded the group that we still have one position open on the Executive Committee and that she plans to work with Ron to reach out to CEOs within the chapter to gauge their interest in serving on the Committee.

Drema also reminded all Committees that all funds dispersed to any group on behalf of the Chapter need to be done through our Treasurer, Fran.

OLD BUSINESS:
Last month we discussed having the Chapter make a contribution to the PAC online auction.  This is not allowed by PAC fundraising rules as a contribution from the Chapter would be considered Corporate funds.  

NEW BUSINESS:
Fran made a motion to donate $1,000 to the Michigan Credit Union Foundation (MCUF) with a challenge to Credit Unions to match that $1,000.  Since the Chapter’s Credit Unions have already contributed over $1,000 to the MCUF this year our match is already met and we will contribute $2,000.  Marty seconded the motion and the motion passed.  Next year we would like to send out the challenge to Chapter Credit Unions early in the year.  

PLANNING SESSION:
We held our Annual Planning Session to discuss plans for 2012.  Here are the main topics of conversation:

• Constant Contact with the League – we decided that we should move forward with implementing Constant Contact even if there is a fee.  We believe that it is worth it to get our message out in a more professional way.  We also talked about sending press releases for our events and charities beyond just the trade press.  We should be sending the press releases to local media to try and get some good PR for Credit Unions.  

• We talked about having an orientation for new CEOs – it could be a lunch or dinner with several of us.  Everyone seemed to like the idea and we will move forward as we have the opportunity.  After discussion we thought that it could also just be a meeting with Drema and Ron.

• We talked about our Grassroots Lobbying efforts and we feel that we are doing a good job with our current level of involvement.  We do not feel as though we need to increase our Legislative Breakfasts.  We should continue to actively participate in opportunities as they arise.  

• We talked about the need to revive the ME GAC Committee to attract younger people to the Chapter and to political activism. Patty is looking for someone to possibly lead that Committee. If you are interested, please let Patty or Drema know.

• We discussed the need to get closer to our PAC goals.  Currently we need slightly more than $600 to meet our Stat PAC goal for 2011.  The Committee members said that they believed that Credit Unions still had money to contribute, but it is not sent in yet.  We had some discussion about possibly doing a Chili Cook-off next year to raise money for the PAC.  We could have representatives from each Credit Union prepare Chili and then people could vote with a contribution to the PAC.    

• We decided that for 2012 we would allocate $11,000 to the Charity Budget.  Crystal reviewed the Charities that the Committee is recommending and all agreed that we would support these Charities.

NEXT MEETING:
The November 1 meeting will be at Andiamo’s  at 11:00 a.m. immediately before the Holiday Luncheon.

ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.

Minutes prepared by Lisa Pionk, Secretary