MID YEAR ANNUAL BUSINESS
MEETING
RADISSON HOTEL,
I. Meeting
Called to Order at
II. Establishment of Quorum
Secretary Susan Fulton declared a quorum present.
III. Introduction
of Head Table
President Rogers introduced the Executive Committee members seated at the head table.
IV. President’s
Remarks – Fred Rogers
The status of dues paid was
discussed. As of
The Board of Directors took action last night to allow one month for correspondence to be sent to the county that has not yet paid at all providing them with an opportunity to reconsider and offering to meet with the board members. There is no indication that the county is displeased with MCSSA.
President Rogers read Article VIII, Section 4 of the bylaws:
Section 4. If a county has not paid its dues
in full by January 31 the county may be considered not in good standing upon
action by the Board of Directors. A county not in good standing shall lose all
membership privileges, including affiliate membership until current year’s dues
are paid and the county shall be so notified. A county which has paid its dues
in full by January 31 is in good standing and is entitled to membership
privileges and to participate in all Association activities.
President Rogers addressed the need for committee participation. With the state travel restrictions tightening we need to be innovative in the way we conduct our meetings.
Our President-Elect is not here today, but Mark Stevens is expected to take the helm of MCSSA at the summer conference annual business meeting. The next traditional candidate for President-Elect would be a board member. If you are a board member please consider office within MCSSA.
President Rogers expressed his appreciation for being able to serve.
V. Executive Director’s Remarks – Mel Haga
Mel thanked everyone for making the effort to attend this conference.
Some of you may not be aware of a
new council within MCSSA, the
The group will be identifying issues and concerns affecting the field and communicating those concerns, along with possible solutions, to central office. The council also hopes to increase county director interest and participation within MCSSA. Recognizing the dual county arrangements we realize that participation is difficult. One of the first efforts of the council is the drafting of a letter to the editor for publication in the Lansing State Journal, which was delivered to the paper yesterday. The letter addresses the death of a child and Mel read the letter.
A couple of years ago we had the “Hats Off” project that added some revenue to our budget. We have another opportunity now with Kate Hanley of Adoption services with Kate having asked MCSSA for a bid to coordinate four one-day conferences.
Mel has attended a number of legislative hearings, sometimes with Fritz sometimes without. It will be interesting to see who is willing to step across the line between revenue enhancement and no tax increases.
We continue to work on HB 4140 which revises the child custody act which currently is permissive in allowing a parent convicted of sexual conduct against one of the children to eventually regain custody of that child. We have secured introduction of a bill by Rep. Rick Jones that removes the permissive language from the act. Mel and Fritz have been in contact with Rep. Brenda Clack as the bill has been assigned to her committee.
Mel thanked the membership for the privilege of serving as Executive Director.
VI. Presentation
of Legislative Priorities
Before beginning the formal
presentation of priorities, Sue Hoffman noted that the four board members
serving on the MCSSA
Susan Bailey-Carman thanked Sue for her kind words and expression of gratitude.
Susan noted a recent e-mail conversation with another county director about our legislative process in MCSSA and our legislative consultant, Fritz Benson. One of the items that arises often in MCSSA budget discussions is the suggestion to cut Fritz from the budget to save money. Fritz is an integral, very important part of our legislative process and involvement. Until you are active as an officer within MCSSA it is difficult to have a full understanding of the benefits of Fritz acting on our behalf. Just as one example, Fritz was instrumental in securing the children’s clothing allowance.
Some of you may wonder how long we are going to keep discussing the clothing allowance, but you must think about how important this is to the families we serve. Our clients have not had a grant increase in many, many years. It’s very difficult to “raise welfare standards” but providing something for children is palatable and even desirable.
Fritz is a very successful legislative consultant with a large number of other clients including McDonalds, several telecommunications companies, banks, and utility companies. Often he will be talking about a bill on utilities when he is provided the opportunity to discuss MCSSA priorities.
Just recently Fritz was at a hearing, talking to a lawmaker about another issue. Something about human services came up and the lawmaker indicated that he knew nothing about human services and Fritz said, “let me help you”.
Call Mel or Fritz and ask for guidance in talking with your lawmakers. Take advantage of Fritz’s expertise.
The “pretty in pink” priorities package will be given to our lawmakers this evening.
In terms of the tax on services, the point was raised that many of our clients are self-employed and would have to begin charging, tracking, and remitting this tax. However, many of those self-employed already have sales tax on the products they provide; i.e., the hair care products from the hair stylist, the parts from the furnace repairperson, etc.
The additional point was made that the only true tax is an income tax.
Jan Baszler noted that years ago she was a family services worker and as the prevention programming dwindled, the protective services cases increased. A return to prevention services would seem to be cost effective not to mention the benefit of preventing trauma to a child or family.
VII. Legislative Consultant’s Remarks – Fritz Benson
Fritz noted the importance of talking with legislators. You are the experts in the field of human services. He noted the recent closing of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and the newly announced moving of Comerica Bank.
The time is right to address child abuse and prevention. Fritz planned to talk further in the afternoon about the value of lobbying at the local level.
VIII. Meeting Adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Shelley Jipson-Lomax
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mid year ABM minutes