Executive Board Meeting Minutes
September 13, 1996 at KVTC

Members Present: Jane Kimball Foley, Carol Brush, Lindy Duval, Rick Hogan, Bridget Mullen.

Called to order by Jane at 10:30 AM.

Old Business:

Secretary's Report: Jane pointed out a few mistakes in the last minutes. Bridget Mullen was the person that Jane spoke to about the Bowdoin UB public policy events, not Helen Pelletier. Sorry Helen! Jane also pointed out a typo in the MEEOA Conference section with regards to Dr. Arnold Mitchem. Motion to accept the minutes by Bridget. Seconded by Carol. Passed unanimously.

Treasurer's Report: There was no official report from the treasurer. The last report on 5/13 showed that there was $648.19 in the checking account and $3,237.11 in the savings account.

NEAEOPP Liaison Report: ACTION ALERT: TRIO appropriations have been cut by the Senate. President Clinton's budget asked for $500 million dollars for TRIO, but the Senate slashed this figure to $477 million. The Democrats have introduced the Harkin Amendment to reinstate the original funding, but the Republicans have countered with the Lott Amendment, which would keep the figure at $477 million. This means that no new TRIO programs would be funded in the upcoming fiscal year. You can help by calling the White House at 202-456- 1111 and urging President Clinton to stick by his $500 million proposal and by voicing your concerns to Republican Senators through the Alliance to Save Student Aid Hotline at 1-800-547-4243.

Liaisons have been appointed to several of the Congressional offices in Maine in order to keep these politicians apprised of new developments regarding TRIO and funding. The assignments are: Carol Brush to Congressman Longley, Helen Pelletier to Senator Snowe, and Kristi Pierce to Congressman Baldacci. NEAEOPP is also looking for representatives to serve on the Fundraising/Development Committee. Maine has been asked to host the 1997 TRIO Days Celebration in February. Lynn Ploof-Davis at UMF UB is heading the committee. Anyone wishing to help should contact Lynn at 778-7297 or via email, lynnp@maine.maine.edu. The next NEAEOPP Board Meeting will be held the first week of October.

Fundraising: The notepaper project has been completed! Lindy Duval has agreed to package the cards and handle the record keeping. Lindy can be contacted at 768-9620 or via email, duval@polaris.umpi.maine.edu. Pricing information is included on a flyer that was mailed out with the minutes.

1997 MEEOA Conference: The conference has been scheduled for January 8,9, and 10 (W, Th, F) at the Atlantic Oaks by the Sea in Bar Harbor. Both John Jenkins and Fr. Jim Nadeau are being considered as possible keynote speakers. The committee has concentrated on making sure that much of the content for the conference is not program specific. We would really like to see all the programs come together at this conference rather than splitting into our specialty areas. Sessions that are being looked at include long-range strategic planning for MEEOA, the Career Wheel, services for disabled students, employee assistance programs, financial aid update, and the Internet. Where the Internet piece has been done before we are asking members to fill out the enclosed poll and let us know what you would like to see. Do you need more introductory information on using the Internet? Would you like to see an advanced workshop? How to access educational and financial aid resources? Commercial aspects? Have you had enough? Let us know! Contact Carol Brush at 1-800-528-5882 x5020 with any questions or concerns.

Other Old business: The issue surrounding the clarification of professional and associate members was brought up. It was proposed that having some type of forum at the next conference might be the best way to hear the concerns of the entire membership and generate some ideas, especially now that there has been some time for everyone to consider the issue. Lindy also mentioned that we need to amend the constitution so that program memberships are addressed. Currently there is no mention of them in any of the articles.

New Business:

Nominations for 1997 Executive Board: At this time the only two definite vacancies will be the president-elect and the secretary. The Board is still discussing when nomination forms should go out. It was mentioned that we might want to think about distributing nomination forms at the conference rather than mailing them to the membership. It would save on paper and postage.

Other New Business: MEEOA is now the first state organization in the country to have its own web site!!! The address is:

http://trio.ume.maine.edu/~meeoa/meeoa.html

The site has information about board members, program locations, past board meeting minutes, and conference updates! If you have any comments, problems, or suggestions for improvement contact Rick Hogan at 581-2522 or via email, rhogan51@maine.maine.edu. Bridget and Lindy asked if it was possible to set up a file for the email addresses of the all the members so that news or events that needed immediate attention could be distributed more quickly. Rick agreed to try and compile a list.

Future Meeting Dates: 10/11 @ KVTC, 11/8 @ KVTC

Meeting adjourned at 1 PM.

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