Business Meeting Minutes – May 25, 2022

Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM CDT

The regular business meeting of the Illinois VOAD was held on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at the St. John Lutheran Church Conference Center in Springfield, Illinois. Tony Lasher, Chair; Curt Franklin, Vice Chair; James Zinn, Secretary/Treasurer; and a quorum of members were present. Tony Lasher called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM CDT and those present introduced themselves.

Minutes for the March 30, 2022 business meeting were distributed to all members prior to the meeting. James Zinn asked for any corrections to the minutes as distributed. None were suggested and the minutes were accepted as drafted.

James Zinn provided the Treasurer’s Report. The new balance on hand is $5,313.95. Illinois VOAD has 46 full members and 34 associate members. Only 25 full members have paid their 2022 dues thus far. There are 13 COADs and Long-term Recovery Groups organized in the state. A new COAD was recently formed in Champaign County. Chantel Corrie made a motion to accept the report as read, which was seconded by Joy Medrano. The motion passed.

James Zinn attended the National VOAD conference in 2022 on behalf of Illinois VOAD. A discussion was held regarding whether Illinois VOAD should cover the costs for a representative to attend the National VOAD conference in person. Chantel Corrie made a motion to reimburse James Zinn up to $1,000 of out-of-pocket expenses incurred to attend the National VOAD conference, which was seconded by Christina Miller. The motion passed.

James Zinn presented the 2022 budget. A motion was made by Joy Medrano to accept the 2022 budget amended to include the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses for a representative of Illinois VOAD to attend the National VOAD conference, which was seconded by Roger Dart. The motion passed.

A discussion was held regarding increasing the Illinois VOAD membership dues to support the level of anticipated annual expenses with the number of members consistently paying dues. Chantel Corrie made a motion to increase Illinois VOAD membership dues for Full Members to $100 beginning in 2023 and to discount the first-year dues for new Full Members to $50, which was seconded by Roger Dart. The motion passed. A further motion was made by Chantel Corrie to increase the Illinois VOAD For-profit Associate Membership dues to $100 beginning in 2023, which was seconded by Christina Miller. The motion passed.

A discussion was held regarding creating materials that highlight the different types of Illinois VOAD memberships and the benefits of Full Membership. Joy Medrano said that such materials may exist in her files and she would share whatever she could locate as a starting point.

Tony Lasher discussed the need for an additional member of the Executive Committee. Our bylaws require a minimum of five members. Currently, we have as members of the Executive Committee: Tony Lasher, Curt Franklin, James Zinn, and Butch Porter. Tony explained that he intends to appoint someone to fill the remaining position until we hold elections in November and asked for any concerns or objections. None were raised.

Tony Lasher discussed the need for an updated capabilities matrix to build awareness of the response capabilities of Illinois VOAD members. After some discussion of what has been done previously, Tony Lasher said that Illinois VOAD leadership will send out a request for each VOAD member to provide updated information for their organization. The resulting information will be shared with our Partners with an agreement that we stress over-communication between Illinois VOAD leadership, Members, and Partners.

Tony Lasher raised the subject of two-way communication between Illinois VOAD members and how well the Illinois VOAD organization is meeting the expectations of its members. We will gather communication channels (e.g., e-mail and cell phone numbers) and preferences from members. A discussion of various communications options was held, specifically text messaging, group messaging apps (like GroupMe), the IEMA Siren platform, and asynchronous message apps (like Slack). A suggestion was made to trial one of these options with a smaller group before rolling out to the entire membership.

Tony Lasher raised the topic of how we best support the COADs. More counties in Illinois are not supported by a COAD than are supported. The University of Illinois Extension has created materials to help new COADs get started. Illinois VOAD leadership will become familiar with the materials available through University of Illinois.

Greg Nimmo and Michelle Hanneken from IEMA presented on the IEMA Recovery Division and the disaster recovery process in Illinois.

Members were invited to report on recent disaster responses:

• Salvation Army reported on their efforts around mentoring programs, social services, the Pathway of Hope program, and a new canteen for emergency services. As of July 1, the state of Illinois will be divided north-south into two divisions (down from three): Metro Division (north) and Midland Division (south).
• Mennonite Disaster Service reported on their efforts to support the Edwardsville tornado response.
• United Methodist Church reported on their efforts around donations management.
• Illinois Baptist State Association reported on organizational changes and their response to the Wabash flooding.
• American Baptist Disaster Relief reported on their chain saw team support for the tornados in Kentucky and some construction assistance.
• Team Rubicon reported on the recent opening of a physical location in Chicago.
• American Red Cross reported on an increase in multi-family fires and a project to install smoke detectors in 1,700 homes and their participation in several large-scale disaster drills.
• United Church of Christ reported on their seed grant program to help COADs get started.
• Latter-day Saint Charities reported on recent food deliveries to food banks throughout the state.

Partners were invited to report on any unmet needs:

• John Dwyer from Champaign County Emergency Management Agency reported on the successful launch of a Champaign County COAD.

The meeting adjourned at 3:08 PM CDT.

James D. Zinn, Secretary

May 25, 2022