National Guard Association of the United States July 17-19, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Transcription

1 National Guard Association of the United States July 17-19, 2009 Meeting Minutes "The following is a re-cap of key discussion points and motions passed by the Board of Directors. Officially transcribed minutes are available for review by any member of the Association at One Massachusetts Ave, Washington DC." Members Present: Maj Gen Tod Bunting MG Martin Umbarger MG Jessica Wright Maj Gen Cynthia Kirkland Brig Gen (Ret) Kenneth Ross COL Al Faber Gen Vavala COL Deborah Ashenhurst Brig Gen Hugh Broomall Gen Gus Hargett COL Steve Joyce Col Murray Hansen Gen Dubie LTC Cathy Corkery Capt Nicole Ivers MG Wofford COL Altebaumer Lt Col Tony DeJesus MAJ Eric Leckel Col Gunther Neumann MG Edward Wright COL Raymond Jardine Brig. Gen. Daniel O'Hollaren CPT Charles Brown COL (Ret) Don Deering Col (Ret) Ray Magill CW5 (Ret) Larry Massey Capt Shelia Neidigh Members Absent: MG Larry Shellito COL (Ret) Tom Kirkpatrick MG Wyatt Others Present: 1

2 SMSgt Roger Hagan for (CSM Frank Lever) (EANGUS President) Lt Col (Ret) Joseph Stone (NGEDA President) Colonel Malen Dowse Brig Gen (Ret) Stephen Koper Ms. Loretta Fills MG (Ret) Ronald Harrison LTC Wayne Hunt Ms. Hazell Booker Ms. Bonnie Carter CPT John Brownell Gen Bunting called the meeting to order at 1215 and thanked the members for attending. Gen Kirkland gave the invocation. Gen J. Wright led the Pledge of Allegiance. COL Faber called the roll and reported a quorum was presented. Gen Bunting called for approval of the March meeting minutes. COL Joyce made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted. Col Neumann seconded. Motion carried Chief Massey asked to have a correction the spelling for Chief Pishdad s name. Gen Bunting moved immediately to Executive Session at Gen Bunting called the meeting back to order at Conference Update COL Don Deering COL Deering reported: Working hard on preparations for the conference; progressing well If all pledged commitments come in fundraising will be okay Sheet passed out with corrected dates Conference Date September 2009 Have blocked more rooms than in the history of the conference and picked up 200 additional rooms at NGEDA They are out of rooms; now providing information for overflow hotels in the immediate Opryland area He said the states have claimed about 52% of their rooms to date He said about 1000 rooms that the states have until August 10 before they lose their deposits and rooms Waiting to see if the states will turn back any rooms as they do historically Need to move up the deadline for states to register for rooms at NGEDA in the future Arrivals to the International and Military airport on Wednesday and Thursday there will be transportation at no charge (9/9 and 9/10) Departing transportation to those airports will also be provided free (9/14) NGUAS Golf scramble on (9/10) at Hermitage Golf Course; transportation provided at the Delta Portico at 0600; start time 0730 TAG sponsor reception on General Jackson Showboat 2

3 Company Grade/Warrant Officer mixer (09/10) Thursday at the Wild Horse Saloon; bus loading at the Delta Portico at 1830; ticketed event Wild Horse Saloon will be open to everyone from 1100 to 0200; bus transportation for $7 Fun Run (09/11) Friday at 0630; load at the Presidential Portico Still working on laying out the course Friday, 09/11 is opening session; welcome by Gen Hargett; Charlie Daniels will entertain Friday, 09/11 Governors Reception will be in the Ryman Exhibit Hall; start 1830; first time for holding conference in the Exhibit Hall Have finalized the menu; working that Jazz bands will be playing in both areas 09/12, Spouse luncheon; 1100 in Governors Ballroom 09/12, Company luncheon; Warrant Officers luncheon; Retiree luncheon 09/12, Hospitality night starting at 1800 in the suites Tickets available online for attending the Opry 09/13, Sunday morning, Protestant and Catholic services in the Governors Ballroom C & D 09/13, Sunday, Army and Air Breakout sessions 09/13, Sunday evening, no host cocktail reception; doors open at 1800 Attire for the States Dinner is casual western suggested Gen Umbarger asked about the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. COL Deering said that is a NGAUS event. Gen Bunting said he wanted the Board members to show up for that. COL Deering said there would be a band there also. No big issues other than accommodating attendees for room over flow Gen Bunting said he would like to confirm some appointments. Gen Koper asked for a delay until he could review that with Gen Bunting and get some handouts ready for the Board on vacant and upcoming vacancies. Gen Koper said this is a very continuous time for the Guard and the military in general. He said that as of this morning we have exceeded 59,000 messages. He said Rich Green has set a target of 54,000 and we have exceeded that. He said we need to mobilize our members. Gen Koper commented on the brochure that was handed out with the works of Mr. Andrew Chernak. Mr. Chernak has done many sculptures for this organization. He said his work is impressive. Gen Koper said Mr. Chernak was in town for a dedication of one of his pieces. He is interested in sculpting a memorial for NGAUS. Gen Koper said he is going to tell the Board about openings that the Chairman will have to have ready for January to be confirmed at the November meeting. 3

4 Those positions are as follows, but not an all inclusive list: (Any rank eligible) By-Laws; Area I, Area IV Awards; Major Stroud s term will expire Audit: Major Leckel (will serve again) Membership; Tracy Settle resigned; Joe Jacobson is filling in; also Area III, Area IV Finance; Pete Reneghan s term expires in December; Gen Dutko was filling an unexpired term that will expire in December; Area IV Craig Jones term expires Company Grade; have caucus selections at the conference Committee on General Conference; COL Jardine s and Chief Massey s terms expire; CAP Chair Gen Koper said Col Ray Magill has offered to chair the Rules and Credentials Committee. Area III and Area IV election Caucuses will need a monitor. Company Grade needs an election monitor Warrant Officer Caucus needs a monitor Chief Massey said he had talked to the Chairman about his choice to be the Warrant Officer monitor. Col Magill said on the By-Laws committee Gen Burchstead and LTC Guyton and Gen Tarbet terms have expired. COL Joyce asked to have the Resolutions Study Team as well as the Resolutions Committee to the list of new appointees. Gen Bunting Chairman s Report Gen Bunting said the Tennessee conference preparers, (COL Deering) have been flexible in trying out the Governors Reception in the Exhibit Hall. He thanked them for their efforts in getting that accomplished. He tasked the Board to walk through the Exhibit Hall and tell the vendors thanks for their support. Gen Bunting said that during First Session all Board members will be introduced. He wants a distinct name tag so they can be recognized as a member of the Board. He said the bad news to that is he will tell the attendees that anyone with that name tag can be conferred with about issues dealing with NGAUS including Resolutions and the Strategic Plan. Gen Bunting wants help with the open offices and to encourage people to run for election or for re-election. Gen Bunting said they had a great trip to Normandy. He encouraged anyone who had not been there that it is worth the trip and they would never be more proud to be in the National Guard and see that Monument at Verrville. He has asked Jonathan to write an article for the magazine to trace how this Board had the foresight 40 years ago to build that Monument. He said there had been some challenges with the wreaths that were paid for were delivered to the wrong place. The 129 th loaned them wreaths for the ceremony. 4

5 Gen Koper said Pam transmitted the money to the Mayor of Verrville this afternoon to clear our accounts there. Gen Bunting said he will pass on tips to the person who will be chairman in five years on how to handle the mayor of Verrville. Gen J. Wright Vice Chair, Army Gen Wright thanked Gen Koper and NGAUS for allowing her to go to Normandy. She said it was truly a trip of a life time. Gen Wright reported they have invited some speakers for the Army Breakout. She thanked John Goheen for his help with the speakers. The invited Gen Dunwoody and Gen Thurman they have both sent regrets. She is waiting for a response from Congressman Murphy from Pennsylvania who is an Iraqi Veteran. She is expecting Gen Carpenter/Taluto. Gen Wolf, the safety inspector, will also be there. She said her intent with the difference in the agenda guidance, if Congressman Murphy is there and the Director of the Army Guard, she would like to present the award so those two will have a part to play. She said the unit who receives the award would be pleased to receive it from the Director or a Congressman. Gen Wright said General Chiarelle may be in attendance as he will be the speaker for the next day in the Third Session. Gen Wright report on what is happening at the ARFPC. They will be briefed in a couple of days on GSC proposed topics: Recruiting and retention Focus: efforts to date and any policy issues regarding Accessions and Cadet Command Medical management process of post deployed soldiers Focus: process, delays and disposition instructions of medical evaluations of postdeployed soldiers Suicide prevention (Phase I and II) Focus: tracking mechanisms and efforts to support the ACP for Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention Conditions for the Operational Force Focus: premobilization and contiguous mob: Adjutants General would like to have the authority to do and not ask for it ARNG Force Structure Focus: current initiatives in balancing end strength with force structure allowance and generation force changes IAW TAA Container Retrograde from theater Focus: how the reset: Colonel McKeithen will give a briefing to the ARFPC She will give the update and decisions on the outcome at the next meeting. QDR update Focus: progress on what is happening with the QDR 5

6 Gen Wright said the Adjutants General received a paper listing hot topics and were asked to contact their senators and support these. She said the majority of the has done that and hopefully these will be a success story on the Senate of the next few days. Gen Wright said there have been changes in some of the Task Force Chairs. MG (Ret) King Sidwell asked to step down from the Fire Support Task Force and BG Glen Hammond was selected to replace him. She is trying to get the names of all the Task Forces to put on the website so everyone can see exactly who is on them. She hopes to have that by next meeting. Gen Wright said some of the Task Forces had sent her some of the things they are working on and those will be turned into resolutions within our process. Gen Wright said the Combat Support Task Force, chaired by Gen Washburn, said they believe there needs to be transparency and accountability so they know where the equipment goes. Gen Bunting said the target acquisition radars is a new development because at Industry Day that was not in anyone s long term vision. He asked COL Altebaumer if he had any comment on that. COL Altebaumer said part of it is the modularity of field artillery brigade is going to a virus brigade and now you are picking up a tab battery and the radars are not there. Gen Bunting said that question was asked at Industry Day and they said no one had found that to be a big enough issue to bring forward. He asked Gen Wright if now that is considered a big enough issue to. Gen Wright said yes it is one of their top issues. Gen Wright said the number one priority of the Vehicle Task Force is they want the same tank that the active component gets. They want to establish a second Stryker brigade within the Army. She said the Army is looking at bringing more Stryker brigades into the Army and come to the Army National Guard. There are several states that have said they want a Stryker brigade and or a portion of it. She said active component heavy brigades are getting Stryker medical vehicles instead of the 113s. They believe if that is happening in the active component then they need to outfit the National Guard heavy brigade with the same. Gen Wright reported on the hot issues for the Aviation Task Force. The three F models in last budget that are supposed to go eastern aviation training fight, but nobody has seen them. The procurement of the f models needs to be increased. We remain short on the delta model 47. The U8 60s remain short on all the aircraft as well as the M models. Gen Wofford commented there is a looming problem; the Army wants to stand up another combat aviation brigade. The current plan is to take it out of the Guard, even though the Army said they would not do that. He said that issue is still out there and they have to be alert to what may develop from that. Gen Wright said they are watching that issue as well as the Task Forces. 6

7 Gen Wright said the special mission equipment is for the counter-drug fleet, none has been put on the equipment. They need to get that moving so the counter drug fleet can start using the 72 s. Gen Wright said the mark that she received on the JCA yesterday on the house side, eight aircrafts were put in under the Air Force not the Army, so right now it is moving down the pike that the Army will not get any JCA s like they talked. She said if the turn in the 23 s they will need the JCA. Gen Wofford said it appears that no one at the DoD level is going to address JCA and it is all going to the Air Force (which means the Air Guard). He said the bed-down plan is where the will be placed. He said they were counting on 38. He said what it looks like is the JCA is coming to the Air Force, Sherpa s are going away and will not have funding fy11, and they think C12 s are on their way out also. He said there is a big fight looming. Gen Wright said the Task Forces and the TAG s are aware of it, and once they give up the 12 s and 23 s the TAG s won t have any way to get around doing their business. COL Jardine said the G-3 has been outsourcing their mobilization/demobilization augmentation hiring contractors to provide that for them. He said that is not happening on the Guard side but the money is going to the Active Army for their support. He said G-4 reset and maintain equipment is being outsourced as well. The Army also uses contractors to maintain their vehicles. Gen Wright said she will look into that. She said the Guard Bureau asked them to give a list of all the contracts in lieu of soldier related. COL Altebaumer said he received an yesterday relating to equipment that was purchased after mob station with GWOT dollars NGB is trying to get a track on that. They are afraid that when equipment comes back through mob stations they will strip the equipment for the units. Gen Koper commented that included with the Board call letter there is a card requesting issues to be discussed with NGB. He said that response has been very spotty. He asked the members to send those cards so that they can ask the hard questions. Gen Koper offered a word of caution about the NDAA in that it is very fluid. He asked members to make sure that the issues they support are in line with those of NGAUS and AGAUS. He asked them to call us if there is any doubt about any issue that they have a question about. Gen Ken Ross Treasurers Report Gen Ross reported: We are doing well under the circumstances Investments are doing better than in January (up about 10%) He said we have adequate reserves and are okay where we are today 7

8 when we adopt the budget tomorrow we will adopt a deficit budget because of the recommendation to continue to support the states rebate program without an increase in dues based on forecasted revenue as long as our Insurance rebates come in like they have in the last few years The building is doing great with one lease renewal coming up for August Building nets about $500,000 after expenses about $1million before which is building its reserves as well as building the fund to pay off the mortgage balloon payment. we are on track to pay off the building in 10 years Until the market fell we could have paid it off in 7 or 8 years We are still okay Insurance Trust netted about $1.2 Million, about $1 million of that goes to NGAUS Continue to work on NGEF which runs a deficit of about $389,000 which takes in less than 25% of what it takes to operate it NGAUS budget is running about $174,000 deficit Projected budget is about $13.5 in revenue and about $12.9 in expenses with all entities With about a $600,000 surplus with consideration of all cash flows with the projected insurance rebates coming in Gen Ross said he got pretty beat up at the Finance Committee meeting for being partial to the move to continue paying the dues rebate. He said the money coming in from dues has not gone up substantially and the amount of money we pay out is over $200,000 going out in that 25% dues rebate. He said the Finance Committee thinks we are dumb and should be all about raising revenues. He said the Finance Committee is looking after your money, but he would be less than honest if he did not tell them that some on the Finance Committee thinks he is tactically incorrect in supporting at the Board level continuing to send that money back to the states. He said sending that money back to the states is costing us money instead of bring in money to us. He said he thinks we can do it based on what we see now, but the decision to continue to do it is for the Board to decide. COL Ashenhurst commented in self defense, a member of the Finance Committee, if it is a good will gesture and it is what we are doing to facilitate good will with the state associations, that s great, but you have to give it to the Finance Committee there are ways to budget for it. She said it was approved without having a budget to support it and that s why they will be presented a deficit budget tomorrow. She said if you want to do this, it s great, but budget for it. She said it was thrown at them as a done deal with no money to support it as it had not been built into the budget. Col Magill commented that if we are losing money but getting an increase in membership it would be a positive. He said if that happens he could live with spending the money. Gen Bunting said if you could project it out and someday stop offering the rebate and those same people stay members then the overall membership is up. He said it all a calculated formula for what is your priority. 8

9 Gen Ross commented that the dues rebate offer is a done deal for 2009 as approved at the last meeting. He said they should be looking to the November when the 2010 budget is presented. COL Faber said one of the taskers that went out to the Membership Committee last time was to give a detailed analysis on the impact the program had on the members. Gen Koper said unfortunately, it was off cycle, because it required a response from them as a result of their six month program when all the data will be in. He said they will still be off cycle when they have to make another decision in November about the 2010 budget because they will not have the final results on this one. COL Faber said you won t know the whole picture but you will have a pretty good picture. OPD Report MG J. Wright Gen Wright reported: Thanked Gen Bunting for going to bat with NGB leadership in getting the word out to the states way in advance Agenda for the three days blessed by NGB Day One- shooting for 6 hours- everyone will get 5.5 hrs. OPD Will start the day with facts about NGAUS and the conference Will count Exhibit Hall time as OPD; will encourage them to visit all exhibitors Company Grades will have lunch with General McKinley First General Session will get 3 hrs OPD Second Day-Warrant Officer Caucus and luncheon; Company Grades will meet with the Army and Air Guard Will see if other attendees will attend some of the Task Force meetings Third Day-will attend Break-out sessions One hour OPD for the Business Sessions; one hour tactical level information just for the Company Grades The First Day the first hour is from 0830 to 0930 and the Area Caucuses start at 0900 to 11 She said that often the caucuses don t need all the allotted time and asked if the time could be adjusted to start at 0930 to 1100 Gen Koper said they would like to suggest they start at 0800 and release early. Gen Wright said that follows the Company Grade mixer the night before. COL Deering asked if the Company Grade Luncheon is open to everyone. Gen Wright said it is for all the Company Grades as well as the Warrant Officers luncheon is for all Warrant Officers. She said anyone who does not fit in those two specific groups will buy lunch on their own and no OPD credit for that time. Gen Bunting asked the Area leaders present if they need two hours for caucuses. Gen Dubie said Area I does not need two hours. 9

10 Col DeJesus said Area IV does not need two hours and would be content with or even 1000 to Gen Koper said that is an opportunity to use that extra hour to conduct Association business if the Area Caucuses aren t going to conduct any business. He pointed out that is an ideal time to have some meaningful discussion. COL Corkery commented that Area I do meet and it is worthwhile for about an hour. COL Deering added that the advantage this year opposed to other years everything is all under one roof and people who normally do not come to Area meetings will do so this year. Gen Ross commented that on election years it is a totally different area environment than on nonelection years. COL Jardine said in Area VI for the last couple years that have had standing room only at the caucus meeting. He said the usual time is about an hour and a half. Col Magill asked COL Corkery how much time is usually spent on elections. She said anywhere from five to fifteen minutes unless there are lot of contenders. COL Joyce said the biggest issue is that the wrong people show up and the delegate who is supposed to vote is not there and they have to go to Bonnie to get it changed. Col Magill said the person who is running that Area Caucus has the names and if the person from that state is not there, they just don t get to vote. Gen Koper said the Area Caucus is an opportunity to talk about issues from their leadership. Gen Ross suggested offering the 8-10 block for Area Caucuses and let them schedule their own time. Gen Dubie said 8-10 is not practical, and suggested 0830 to Gen Wright said that will really screw them up. CAPT Brown is the biggest concern is having the Company Grades and other OPD people to actually attend these caucuses to see how they are running certain things. COL Corkery said another issue is the Fun Run is also on that morning and not being able to participate and then get back to where they need to be which is why they are looking for just a half an hour. COL Corkery made a motion to change the Area Caucuses from 0900 to 0930 to Major Leckel seconded. Col Magill said no motion was needed for that action. 10

11 Gen Koper said the start time will be adjusted to 0930 and he challenged the areas to put on a good show. Gen Wright said that is part of the NGAUS 101 they will be briefed on and it is important for their voices to be heard and that is the way to do so. Gen Bunting thanked that committee for all their hard work getting the OPD agenda together. Gen Kirkland- General Conference Update Gen Kirkland reported: Thanked the committee for attending the meeting Issue for upcoming conference is availability of lodging for the exhibitors In the SOP we don t address opening a block of rooms for the exhibitors and why that is not included in our conference planning COL Deering said they did provide a block of rooms for them, they were gone very fast. Col Magill said they always set aside a block of rooms for exhibitor. Pam said the exhibitors get whatever is left after the states have selected their rooms. She said the problem is most of them want to be in the hotel that state select, so they are getting the leftovers. She said the exhibitors go out and get their own rooms at the hotels they choose, because they don t want the leftovers. She said it then puts most of the states in a predicament of attrition. Gen Kirkland said the problem now is the rooms that are blocked at Opryland Hotel for the conference period The hotel is out of rooms and the exhibitors are complaining because there are no rooms. They have asked COL Hunt and COL Deering to try to provide some information about available rooms. She said there is an anxiety building among the exhibitors that NGAUS is not concerned or taking care of them or it is perceived that way and that could potentially have long term impacts on exhibitor participation She said we need to do whatever we can to help the exhibitors find reasonable accommodations Gen Bunting asked Hazell if she needed any help from the Board on that issue as she would be the one getting the angry phone calls. She said she has sent out a memo to all the corporate members explaining with a list of alternate hotels and suggested the make their own arrangements. She said her memo only went out to corporate members and she did not know about the other exhibitors. Gen Kirkland asked that the information be posted on the website COL Deering said they blocked 328 rooms for exhibitors and sponsors. He said they planned for them. He said Harvey has exceeded the sales on the booths and it just blew them out of the water. She said we need to get better control on how many exhibitors are coming so that an appropriate number of rooms are blocked. 11

12 Gen Hargett said there is a difference in the number of vendors this year and he read that there are 180 or 190 vendors this year than last year. COL Hunt said there are a lot of exhibitors registered who don t have booths. He said right now we are about where we were in Baltimore last year. He said that Puerto Rico was way down due to location. He said there is a potential to sell 121 more booths. Gen Kirkland said the committee will address that and work it into the rewrite of the SOP The function of the Conference Committee is to make sure the SOP is up to date and so that everyone is clear of their responsibility Waiting for the draft to include the inputs that was sent to COL Hunt Will get response from some individuals who have worked a recent conference of have one coming up. Will get that SOP out before the next conference Reviewed Strategic Plan to make sure they are comfortable with their goals Working with staff to get copies of the last surveys that were done at conferences. Have not done a survey in about five or six years; will get one this year to see how we can improve Will work with Hazell to address the things we can do to improve things from the exhibitors perspective Had a conference update from COL Deering CAP Chairman, BG Mike Squier briefed them on their issues, primarily focusing on lodging availability Host states are not sending their AAR s and according to Pam that s not happening. That might be the reason we don t have the good numbers needed for attendance and cost and other things in order for the upcoming states to properly plan for their conferences Gen Umbarger suggested holding a portion of the state s share of the revenue until they submit their reports. Gen Kirkland suggested putting that in the SOP. Gen Koper suggested caution and that they think about adding that to the SOP as there are not a lot of people lined up who are willing to host a conference. He said it will make his successor s job more difficult. Gen Kirkland said it does not have to be presented as a threat, but be presented in the SOP that these are the required reports. She said it can be done in a positive manner. She said Pam has never received the AAR from Nevada. She said it is very important for a future host state to have that information and trends to properly prepare for a conference. Discussed the problem that date for the states to submit their registration information is pushed so late that it gives the host state very little time to react if they have a huge block of rooms that didn t get sold, what to do with them and what penalties will the incur. They want to push the report date from states to the host state earlier. Cut out the last report date which is August and make the July report date the final report after which time the host state has the ability to release all those excess rooms to the exhibitors or to anyone who wants rooms. 12

13 Gen Bunting recessed the meeting at Saturday, July 18, 2009 Gen Bunting called the meeting to order at Col Gunther Neumann- Audit Committee Report Col Neuman reported: Have new Audit Firm, Thompson & Greenspon Transition was from previous to current audit firm went smoothly Introduced Auditors; Mr. Richard Castro who will present the audit report Auditors Report Mr. Castro reported: Partner in Thompson/ Greenspon With him is Natalie Anslon who is manager on the job Audit went very well Thanked the Audit committee and the Finance Department for their help Got an unqualified opinion this year which means there are no problems Financial statements are fairly stated in association with gaps Met with the Audit Committee yesterday They put together a letter for NGAUS that management would like to look at Suggest they keep the general ledger up to date throughout the year quarterly which will give a better reflection of the internal statements and will work with Pam to get that done. After looking at most of the accounts they needed to get some reconciliation on to make sure they are being reported to the Board Looked at the artifacts and they thought we need to get a complete inventory and costing which is in progress Standard 157 which is a response to people with investments portfolios on their books; which is a way to report fair value rather than historical cost. This is a reporting requirement that you have to tell the reader how you are valuing your investment There is very little difference this year than last year as far as disclosures. New FDIC disclosure where they moved up the insured limit to $250,000 through Added new disclosure that requires you tell the reader what your risk is in the cash accounts Non-profits have different kinds of restrictions; board based restriction or a donor based restriction. They reclassified the temporarily restricted to unrestricted and made an entry that said it was a board restriction. He said it makes the Foundation look stronger. Key results is the loss in the investments due to market change There was an increase in the utilities (pg 5) and in the real estate taxes. Overall there is not much change from last audit year Net cash provided by operating activities is positive at $2.4M slightly down from next year. 13

14 The tax benefit will run out at the end of 2009 and they are working on the 990 s and work on some tax planning with management and report back in November Col Neumann said they were in contact with the auditors throughout the drafting of the report. He said the report shows we are in pretty good shape and comparable to how we operated last year minus the affects of the economy. He said we need to get a plan in place for the upcoming tax payment. Col Neumann said they will provide a written response to the management letter so there will be documentation that management and they do concur. He said the process that will take the most time is the Artifact cataloguing evaluation. Col Neumann moved to accept the audit report. Gen Ross seconded. Gen Bunting said we are not excited about the investments, but for an organization to remain this healthy it is the testimony to a lot of great decision that were made years and the great work we do now. The action was voted on and the motion carried. Vice Chair Air Gen Cindy Kirkland Gen Kirkland reported: In the NDAA on fighter recapitalization, the number on NGAUS priority for the Air side of the house, both Senate and House added mark-ups to fund additional F-22 procurement opposed by the President Need to work that issue on the Hill for continued support to push that through; does not have strong support $209M was removed from the President s proposed budget for the C-130 Amp; not an acceptable trade off Will work that effort with NGAUS Gen Koper commented there is a Legislative Alert on the website on the C-130 Amp issue asking for full support. He said losing the funds was based on an administrative screw up. Has a call in to Senator Reid s office who has a great deal of influence Could not find any other provisions specifically addressing the Air issues that we listed as NGAUS priorities Col Hansen commented that they have taken back the money, $1.2B, projected for the JSTARS re-engining. They are fighting on that issue, but it is not looking good. Another issue that affects the Guard, an initiative through the Department of Interior and the Forest Service, to purchase a block of C-130J models that will be equipped with the MAPPs capability. They have partnered with DoD that the Air Force will control, manage, and operate that equipment and assign it across the states. Their primary mission when needed will be wild fires. This issue has strong support on the Hill. 14

15 Four Task Forces on the Air side; Mobility, chaired by BG Reddell Gen Koper comment Gen Reddell was named TAG in New Hampshire and they will be looking for a replacement for him. Combat Air Forces Task Force, chaired by Gen Johnson, DC Guard; received his update Combat Support, chaired by Col Ed Hull, received no update from him yet Mission Support, chaired by Lt Col Oxner, received no update from him yet For the Air Breakout at the conference Gen Wyatt should be there for an hour briefing; Have 45 minutes during the breakout for awards Great opportunity for the new Air Guard Command Chief Muncy to address the body at the Breakout session Gen Koper commented that Chief Muncy is in the process of undergoing some surgery at the present time. Gen Kirkland suggested an alternative if he is not available would be Gen Wyatt s Air Guard representative with the QDR to give them an update. Col Hansen commented that there is a scheduling conflict with the November Board meeting and the Senior Leader conference. Gen Bunting said they are aware of that and working on it diligently. Finance Committee Report Col Peter Reneghan Col Reneghan reported on the changes on the Mid-Year reveiw: Revenues: Membership: Increased annual dues by $13,000; life dues by $1500; state dues by $1600; and associate corporate dues by $30,000; decreased associate annual dues by $200, and associate life dues increased $100 Insurance Trust: royalties by $33,000 Gen Ross explained the budgeting process to the new members. He said these numbers are recommended changes to the already approved 2009 budget they will be asked to vote on. Magazine: advertising increased $25,000 Marketing: increased General Conference $20,500; decreased Industry Day $7000 General Operations: decreased interested by $5,000; dividends decreased $6000; rental miscellaneous decreased $18,000 Invested Reserves: increased $12,000; capital reserves funding increased $35,000 Overall adjustment: $135, 500 on the revenue side Expenses: Operating: employee salary and related expenses increased $40,200 because of the overlap with the new President; communications increased $2100, furniture/equipment increased $28,000; business expenses decreased $2000; professional fees decreased $15,000; invested/capital reserves decreased $45,000 Association headquarters: general administrative increased $6150; travel decreased $7000; staff expense accounts increased $

16 Departments: membership state support increased $240,000 due to the extension of the 25% rebate approved at the last Board meeting; legislation increased $13,500; magazine increased $5000; public relations decreased $1800; Board of Directors increased $55,000 due to the Normandy trip; committees decreased $12,500 Total Expense Increase: $307,700 (three largest items that make that up are the overlap of the President, the 25% rebate program and the Normandy trip) The deficit increased by $172,200. He said originally a balanced budget was presented for the year, but with the recommendation that the Finance Committee would look at the 25% rebate on the midyear review. He said they have to do something to cover that because they can t go forward with a deficit budget. Col Reneghan requested that the Board approve a transfer from the invested reserves to cover the shortfall in the budget. Col Reneghan reported on the recommendations from the Finance Committee. COLA- the Board asked them to look at this because it was so large last year (5.8%) They went back ten years and took an average with came out to 3.0% although last year was an abnormally. They use the COLA as a budgeting item, but it is up to the President if he wants to include that in the annual raises along with any other situation that can increase a salary. He said going forward if the cost of living increases by 4% between now and the time the COLA is issued we will be back at zero. Tasked to look at the 25% rebate. It was originally passed hoping that it would be a net zero cost to the organization and the increase in dues would more than cover the expense. He said as it turned out there was an increase of $48,000, and a cost of $277,000, but $180,000 of that $277,000 went to the states who were already at 100%. He said membership is so vital to this organization and we have doing everything to increase membership. He asked if the Board wanted to increase the program. Recommend they extend the Pro-Media contract for another of year. He said he has asked Pam to present to the Finance Committee a list of all outstanding contracts so they don t have to ask for one year extensions for multiyear contracts. He asked the Board to take action on that recommendation. Gen Ross made a motion that they authorize a one year contract for Pro-Media under the same terms and conditions currently contracted during which time they will prepare a RFP for next year. COL Jardine seconded. Col Dejesus commented that many of the contracts were discussed at the November meeting. The action on the floor was voted and the motion carried. Finance Committee was asked to recommend a change in the policy that the NGAUS Directors be able to up to a limit of $ on budgeted items only, without going through the normal process. He said presently the budgeted item expense is $500. He asked for Board action on this item. 16

17 Gen Ross moved that the NGAUS staff recommendation to increase the Director authority for budgeted purchases up to $ Gen Ross explained that the Directors wanted some relief on how they execute their budgets. Budgeted purchases of products, supplies, and equipment up to and including $1, per single order may be executed by a designated Director without a written purchase order or prior approval. Budgeted purchases from $2,000 up to and including $4, per single order may be executed by a designated Director and shall be submitted to Financial Operations to ensure availability of funds. No funds shall be obligated prior to approval by the Director of Financial Operations or his/her designated representative and assignment of a purchase order number. Solicitation of three (3) written or certified telephonic quotations is required and must be forwarded with the purchase order request Col Neumann seconded the motion. Motion carried. Gen Ross moved we adopt the recommended changes to the mid-year review as submitted by the Finance Committee Chairman. Gen Wofford seconded. Motion carries. Gen Ross moved that the Board approve the financial operations enter into a contract with Opryland Hotel for two contracts that exceed $50,000. One budgeted for $229,000 for food and beverage and one budgeted$120,000 for audio/video, due to the fact they won t know the specific amount at this time. Col Jardine seconded. Motion carried. Gen Ross moved the approval of financial operations enter into a contract for copiers for a three year period up to the budgeted amount of $60,000. Col Neumann seconded. Motion carried. Gen Ross commented on the 25% rebate program which is a done deal for He said when they do budgeting in November they will be looking at if they want to continue the program for He said the Membership Department was tasked to ask the states what they are using that money for, just for informational purposes. Gen Koper asked about the other recommended items on the Finance Committee report. He wanted to know the Boards intent for the other items not discussed. He made reference to the sentence If the 25% rebate program is to be continued following the 2009 fiscal year the Board of Directors should acknowledge that deficit budgets will be the result. He said the Finance Committee was asking the Board to affirm what their intent was and acknowledge the deficit budget will continue it will make life simpler to deal with the entire budget. He said the intent should be made clear on all the recommendations from the Finance Committee for future clarification. Gen Bunting asked for discussion. 17

18 Col DeJesus asked Gen Ross about the 25% rebate proposal. Gen Ross said the Board passed in 2007 on the dues paid in 2008 and in March 2009 they approved a rebate for the dues paid in 2009 not finished yet. Col DeJesus said at NGEDA they said they liked getting that money. Gen Ross said if they agree to continue the 25% rebate, they will not build their reserves as fast and will have a deficit. COL Deering asked if when they approved the budget they agreed to move funds from the reserves to fund the deficit. The answer is yes. Col Reneghan said the Finance Committee will meet prior to the November Board meeting. Gen Ross pointed out that we often project a deficit, but make up that deficit when we get our insurance proceeds which is the big thing. He said if we have a good year we will have more than our projected budget and that money normally go into surplus. Col Reneghan added that on the insurance check we, for budgeting purposes, they only budget 75% of a ten year rolling average. If the check comes in above average they have 25% more to deal with against any budget deficits we may have. Gen Bunting commented said we are still adding to the reserves, but at a slower rate. He said it is one on the things we do is to support the state associations, but it does come as a cost and you have to weigh that philosophically. Gen Ross asked what the pleasure of the Board is about how the want the 25% rebate deficit shown in the budget. Gen Umbarger commented that there does not have to be a deficit budget. He said they could give guidance to the Finance Committee to find those gains to make sure there is no deficit. Col Reneghan said one of the real problems they had in presenting a deficit budget is that they had already fixed the budget for the year. He said if they are asked at the beginning of the year they will do whatever is necessary to present a balanced budget. He said this happened at a midyear review; they had no choice and no way to cover it. Gen Ross said they don t accept the budget proposal as the bottom line of the process. He said they divide into sub-committees that break down revenue and expenses. He said they scrub each line item. He said the staff has been very support on when they can make cuts on items. He said he does not think we can balance the budget by cuts. He does have confidence we can fund it if that s the pleasure. Gen Ed Wright said even if they have to take from reserves he recommends they go in with a balanced budget presentation. Gen Ross said he wants them to know that they are spending more than the designated budgeted amount and they will take it out of reserves. He said in the last few years they have not had to do 18

19 that and they have been putting that into the reserves. He said another factor coming up is taxes. He said they will discuss the upcoming taxes at their next Finance Committee meeting is to start forecasting those payments. Gen Ross suggested someone make a motion as to whether the Board wanted the 25% rebate deficit shown in the budget or not. Col Hansen made a motion they include the 25% rebated rebate deficit to the proposed budget and show it as such. COL Deering seconded. COL Altebaumer said if we start putting this in the budget and then decide to not include he is worried about the precedence we are setting with the state associations. He said then what impacts will that have on the states that have begun to look at this rebate money as income. Gen Bunting commented this is the type of discussion that the Board needs to have to talk about these difficult situations. COL Faber said that initially he was for it, but now what was the initial intent of the program; was it to reward states who have historically high achiever in terms of membership. Or was the intent to increase membership in states and to increase membership nationwide. He said that data is not available to show what the program has actually done to increase membership. He said you have to call it what it is because they need to be able to articulate the purpose of the program. He said if it is a temporary and not a permanent program you should show it as a budget deficit to clearly show what it is costing us. He said if you don t show it as a deficit it will likely become the accepted business practice of the organization and you will almost need to undo that practice at some later point. He said that would be a dangerous thing. He said if it is not increasing membership it simply rewards those states who have always reported strong membership and did it accomplish anything and that is the new practice. He said if in the future we have financial problems how do you undo and take back the money that the states have become accustomed too. He said some states are putting that money into long term projects and if we take back that money that would cause insurrection in the states. COL Deering commented that the rebate program started out after a call for a reduction in dues and that is how they got to this. He said they were in hopes that it would help the burden in the state associations in collecting dues. He said if we discontinue the program we will probably here from the states about a dues reduction. COL Jardine said that a motion was made about two years ago to have a public relations company to come in to help us develop the membership plan. He said an off-set was to go to the rebate program. He said the intent was always to increase membership and not to give money to the state associations. He said with that intent membership has not increased and the only ones taking advantage are the states who are doing well anyway. He suggested we find professional help to work to increase membership. Col Magill asked if the bulk of the dues come in by mid-year. He said if we go back and look at the membership roll in 2007, before the rebate, then look at 2008 first year of the rebate, then 19

20 look at it in June 2009, and if the membership total has not gone up, it is obviously that the dues rebate did not affect that. He said that is information that Bonnie can get right very shortly. He said that would give us some idea membership is increasing. Gen Hargett said the first thing to look at is where is the money coming from that we are sending back to the states. He said the guys who get all the money back are also the ones who put all the money in. He said you have to look that. He said his state has returned the bulk of their rebate money to the junior officers. Col DeJesus said he feels as the representative for his area he should find out from Texas and Missouri to see what NGAUS can do for their states to improve membership. He said he does not see why we can t take that $170,000 and buy memberships for some people that really want members or get more marketing for NGAUS. He said he is not pro or con on the rebate program, but what a Board should democratically do. Gen Ed Wright said we are talking about two things, the program itself and how we handle it fiscally. He said on the fiscal side it is inconceivable to him that they will be asked to approve a deficit budget that they may or may not have to use reserve funds. He said you do not set precedents in budgets and if you have to use reserves to fund your budget it should be abundantly clear that you have a problem that in time you have to deal with. He suggest we put caveats to explain that this may or may not be a continuous program. Gen Bunting said when you dip into the reserves it cause things to slide to the right and we have to understand what our priorities are. Col Reneghan commented when they look at things way ahead of the fiscal responsibility. He said there are some rental vacancies coming in the next few years that could cost us multimillions of dollars to support rents that we will not be receiving. He said, secondly, while we still have a mortgage, we have a $10M balloon payment commitment coming in 2019 that they are budgeting for today ten years early. He said this glitch in the system will affect many years of budgeting down the road. Gen Koper commented on the one year 25% rebate program with the caveat that the Board would look at that program and then make a decision whether or not that was the approach to solve issue of increasing membership or not. He said whatever the desire was it was to increase membership. He suggested they broke their own guidelines when they jumped the gun without having this discussion before they took action in March. He said that 2009 is history, but he is asking they strongly consider taking a hiatus for a year, continue to discuss options, but don t lock themselves down for the 2010 year and evaluate it in depth. He suggested they take the time to get the facts before they decide to do this again. COL Faber agreed. He also said Gen Hargett made a great point. He recommended the membership make some of those big checks and present them at the conference to the states who got the rebate checks. He said other states would be surprised how much money some states are getting. 20