OWA Annual Business Meeting Summary by Judith Rodden Our October General Meeting was a combined Steering Committee and business meeting to update our membership on what the Steering Committee members have been working on and more importantly to finalize our meetings and speakers for Calendar year 2009. We have over twenty people attended the meeting and the discussion was very lively and enthusiastic. I. OWA House Keeping : A. Margaret presented several important issues for the OWA to address as a legal non-profit organization. They are: 1. The requirement to produce an Annual Report 2. The requirement to act like a "Corporation" which entails following the By-laws, having regular meetings, and officially electing members of the Steering Committee (SC) which will then act as the Board of Directors and the voting for SC members during the Holiday Party by sending out the slate of candidates 10 days in advance. 3. The requirement to purchase liability insurance. B. The group discussed the role of bank records - Mui confirmed that all bank accounts have at least two to three members' names. Suzanne disagreed on the suggestion of setting up new accounts with every new SC change. She said it is impractical. Traditionally, all OWA bank accounts and records are open for OWA members to view. Stacy requested and, all agreed, that the retreat bank account and records should also be available for all to see. The retreat account and the health plan account are also under more than one member's name on the signature card. On the issue of producing the annual financial statement as part of an annual report, Darlene volunteered to take on this task. C. We talked about present and future donations to the OWA and the need to provide letters to donors for tax purposes. D. The idea of producing an Operations Handbook that could ore closely define the role and responsibilities of SC . Leslie, Margaret and Caoline have agreed to take on this task. E. One clarification : the OWA general membership has approved in 1996 the paying of SC members to attend the Annual Retreat once during their service on the committee. II. 2009 Meeting schedule : 17 Feb: Presentation on real estate and architecture by Candace Wang: Mui to coordinate. 21 Apr: Presentation of Health Plan by Ann Jakemiec: Judith to coordinate. 16 Jun: Tour of Federal Building: Kathleen to coordinate. 18 Aug: Panel discussion: Stacy to coordinate. Sept: Annual Retreat in Westebeke. 20 Oct: Speaker on landscaping: Leslie to coordinate. 15 Dec: Christmas Giving Party III. Upcoming AIA Convention - April 30 to May 2009 A. The topic of the OWA's participation at the 2009 AIA convention being held in San Francisco was presented to retreat attendee’s and was met with enthusiasm. We talked about the possibility of a both which may or may not be possible. B. Darlene suggested a reception to be held at City College that could be catered by the college. We could solicit our membership to submit their work and present it in an ongoing slide show. We could have OWA business cards produced and an updated handout and group picture. We might also have special exhibits such as Inge Horton's historical work on women architects. IV. Miscellaneous A. The Holiday party will be held at Darlene's office, Barcelona Jang at 351 Bay Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco on December 7th at 4 pm. Several parking options are available which will be announced to the membership. B. Judith suggested that the OWA apply to the AIA to become an AIA/CES provider in order to provide the benefit of LU's (Learning Units) to the membership for our various lectures and tours. However, maintaining the paperwork necessary for this may be too labor intensive for SC. V. Steering Committee Discussion on keeping the SC to a small number of five, which is a more workable number and proved to be very efficient in the past. Judith, Larissa, Margaret and Suzanne will go off the SC this December and Caroline will go off mid 2009. Carolyn Orizi has agreed to come on board January 2009 and Mary Anne Perkowski mid 2009. Margaret stays on as our Archivist. |
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Newsletter | Nov/Dec 2008