Business Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2019

November 13, 2019, 10am-2pm

Location:  St. John Lutheran Church Conference Center

2477 W. Washington St., Springfield, IL 62702

Welcome:

  • Illinois VOAD Chair, Charlotte Hazel, opened the meeting and thanked the Lutheran Church for the use of their Conference Center.

Safety Briefing:

  • A safety briefing was given by Joy Medrano of LSSI.
  • This briefing included the location of exit doors, restrooms, tornado shelter down stairs and an available AED.

Introductions:

  • All partners and guests present at this meeting introduced themselves including what organization they represented.

Minutes:

  • The minutes from the last meeting were summarized by David Butler and were approved by a voice vote.

Treasurer’s Report:

  • Was given by Roger Dart – Illinois VOAD Treasurer
  • All VOAD funds have been moved to US Bank who will not charge us a monthly fee if our balance is low.
  • As of our meeting, the organization has a checking account balance of $2,300.63 and is current with paying all invoices.
  • 31 organizations have paid their Annual Dues for membership in the Illinois VOAD out of a possible 70 members. Dues are $50.00 per year. W9 forms are available if needed. 
  • A motion to approve the financial report was put forward by Joe Butkavich and seconded by Joe Miller. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Actions Since Last Meeting:

  • We are trying to strengthen local COADs. We have about 12 and we are in need of leadership.
  • DeKalb is beginning a new COAD. Encourage VOAD members who live/work near to support once up and running.
  • The benefits for being a VOAD member will be added to the VOAD web site.

Vice Chair Report:

  • Ron Bottrell reported that some filling in for the Chair occurred.
  • Ron advised groups dealing with the Taylorville tornado. This is a small town with long term recovery that poses difficult problems. Taylorville used Missions for Taylorville as a pre-existing organization that could raise funds and aid with recovery. They solicited grants etc.
  • A quick start guide would have been useful in Taylorville as well as an effort to bring in civil authorities.
  • Florida is notable for their VOAD organization. Oklahoma VOAD is another good example. They were formed after the Murray Center bombing. They are conducting a two-day training for responding to floods and long term recovery (LTR).
  • Ron would like to see committees formed within our VOAD for LTR and another for distribution of information. A membership committee would also be valuable.

Mass Care Exercise:

  • Those participating were assigned to various tasks such as sheltering and reunification. The Southern Baptists had their feeding crew there. Red Cross and Salvation Army along with a host of partner observers participated and provided great feedback. 
  • There was great collaboration among agencies.
  • Operation Barbeque mentioned that their eyes were opened to see other ways they can be prepared.
  • A draft of the exercise after action report was positive.
  • The exercise was run from FEMA headquarters.

Chair Report:

  • Web site is up and running. (https://ilvoad.communityos.org) Links are made whenever a disaster occurs. 
  • A new COAD was organized for DeKalb County. Please support once up and running.
  • Many MARCs were stood up this year. They served 1,700 families.
  • Long term recovery is still a big need in the southern portions of the state. IA/PA declarations were requested but only received PA.  We will be asked to support when, where, and however needed. Stay tuned. 
  • COADs and VOAD are coming together. Availability to serve is paramount.

Meeting Changes:

  • Chair Charlotte Hazel proposed that we hold 4 meetings per year.
    • Article IV – Meetings (Current)
      • Section A Meeting Schedule: Regular Meetings:  There will be two (2) regular business meetings per calendar year. The Fall Meeting will be the annual meeting.
    • *Proposed Change: Section A   Meeting Schedule
      • Regular Meetings: There will be four (4) regular business meetings per calendar year. Two business meetings will be conducted via teleconference in February and August and two business meetings will be held in person in the months of May and November. The annual meeting will be held each November.
  • A motion to approve adding the additional two teleconference meetings was made by Tom Smith and seconded by Lorena Garza.
  • The motion carried by a voice vote.
  • The Secretary will amend the Bylaws and send out via email along with the minutes and post on the ILVOAD web site.

Election of Officers:

  • Chair Charlotte Hazel requested a motion to nominate James Zinn of LDS Charities to serve as secretary/treasurer for a term not to exceed two years.
    • Thurman Stewart made a motion to approve the nomination and Joe Buckavic seconded the nomination.
  • Chair Charlotte Hazel requested a motion to nominate Beverly Laechelt of Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief to serve as Vice Chair for a term not to exceed two years.
    • Roger Dart made a motion to approve the nomination and Joy Medrano seconded the nomination.
    • A count of voting members was made and both nominations were approved with no negative votes.
  • Chair Charlotte Hazel requested a motion to nominate Butch Porter of Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief to serve as interim Chair for a term not to exceed March 31st. 
    • Sara Brown made a motion to approve the nomination of interim Chair for a term not to exceed March 31st and Joe Miller seconded the nomination. 
    • A count of voting members was made, and the nomination was approved with no negative votes.
  • Chair Charlotte Hazel made a motion that ILVOAD select Ron Bottrell of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to serve as chair of a long-term recovery committee. This will help us to support the communities in need of LTR expertise when facing clean-up and recovery from a disaster.
    • The motion was seconded by David Butler. The motion passed by voice vote. 

Guest Speaker:

  • Scott Swinford Deputy Director of IEMA was introduced as the guest speaker.
  • Update on the flooding in Western Illinois.
    • The area was over 500 miles long.
    • The area was declared a Federal Disaster Area.
    • The state made 2000 resource requests.
  • Recovery
    • First infrastructure then personal.
    • $70 million in damages was estimated
    • 1416 Homes were damaged.
    • FEMA now has an office in our state with over 250 people here.
    • There have been 384 applicants for assistance in 32 counties.
    • There are well over 1000 projects.
    • The recovery capacity is growing.
    • Recovery can also be an improvement to help prevent future disaster.

Partner Updates:

  • There will be an IEMA conference in September.
  • Exercises are being posted on the web site. Please check it often.

Adjournment:

  • The meeting was adjourned at 1:36 PM

Minutes Submitted by:

David Butler IVOAD Secretary

Attendees:

Charlotte Hazel – Illinois VOAD President / American Red Cross

Roger Dart – Illinois VOAD Treasurer / United Church of Christ Disaster Response

David Butler – Illinois VOAD Secretary / LDS Welfare

American Baptist Disaster Relief = Terry Maurizio

Anglican Charities Diocese of Quincy = Phil Fleming

Catholic Charities Diocese of Joliet = Lorena Garza

CHUG = Tom Smith

FEMA = Jeannie Moran Gardner

Illinois Great Rivers Conference – United Methodist Church = Sara Brown

Illinois Mennonite Disaster Services = Mahlon Householter / Leonard Kennell

Hope Chicago = Shay Jacobson

Hope AACR = Connie Peterson

LaSalle County MRC = Bethanie Albrecht

LDS Charities = James Zinn / Audia Wells 

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois = Joy Medrano

Mount Prospect EMA = Jim Miller 

Operation Barbecue = Jerry Michel

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance = Ron Bottrell

Rotary Disaster Response = Debbie Miller / Joe Miller, Jr. / Wayne Gerlock

Salvation Army = Greg Lara / Roseann Rustia / Robert Hempsfeld

Serve Illinois Commission = Michelle Hanneken

Society of St. Vincent de Paul = Joe Butkovich

Southern Baptist Convention = Butch Porter / Bev Laechelt / Wayne Laechelt / Carol Stewart / Thurman Stewart  / Jim Weickersheimmer

United Way = Cathy Vaisvil 

Walking the Road to Emmaus NFP = Jeff Mikyska / Gail Mikyska

2019-11-13-Illinois-VOAD-Business-Meeting-Minutes
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