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NLPES Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes
September 5, 2001
Kansas City, MO
The executive committee met on Wednesday, September 5, 2001, in Kansas
City, MO. Copies of handouts discussed during the meeting are kept on file
with the NLPES secretary.
Members present at the meeting were Joel Alter, James Barber, Gary Brown,
Martha Carter, Ethel Detch, Shan Hays, Ken Levine, Wade Melton, Heather
Moritz, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade. Also present were Leo Hafner (KS),
Barb Hinton (KS), Steve Shiery (MO), and Bob Boerner and Kristin House,
both from NCSL.
Committee Meetings
From 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m., committee chairs met with their committees.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Joel Alter, Chair, at 9:45 a.m.
Minutes
Joel noted that the minutes from the Executive Committee's August meetings
were adopted via email and are available on the NLPES website.
Fall Training Conference
Leo Hafner (KS) reported on the training conference, jointly hosted
by the Kansas and Missouri offices. He thanked the Executive Committee
for its assistance in planning the conference and briefly described the
agenda for each day. Bob Boerner reviewed the number of people registered.
Joel Alter noted that although registration was slightly lower than expected,
the host states were able to economize and the conference is expected to
be within its budget. Joel thanked individuals from both offices for their
hard work on the conference.
Committee Reports
Heather Moritz reported for the Annual Meeting Committee. Heather
distributed a summary of the participant evaluations for the annual meeting
sessions. The responses were generally favorable, which reflected the committee's
feeling that sessions went well. Heather also indicated that summaries
of the NLPES sessions are available on the NLPES website. She asked people
to let her know if they have ideas for next year's sessions.
Jane Thesing reported for the Training Committee. Jane indicated
that the committee would work with Kansas and Missouri staff members to
be sure summaries from this year's conference are made available on the
NLPES website. She said preparations for the 2002 conference in Arizona
were underway and the committee will assist when possible. Jane asked members
of the Executive Committee to contact her with suggestions for keynote
speakers, and Shan Hays asked the committee to review the brochure Arizona
has prepared and make any suggestions for improvement.
Jane said the Training Committee is also looking at two issues raised
in the best practices survey conducted earlier this year. One suggestion
is to include skills development articles in the NLPES newsletter. Jane
said the committee thought it would be difficult to develop full-length
articles on skills development, and suggested including tips or hints instead.
The other suggestion is for more management and supervisory staff training
opportunities. Jane stated that the committee would consider a separate
track or a specific session at the next training conference to address
this need.
Jane also noted that the committee will be working with the hosts for
upcoming NLPES training conferences, including Michigan (2003) and Florida
(2004). She said the 2005 conference is likely to be in either Pennsylvania
or Tennessee.
Shan Hays reported for the Communications and Technology Committee.
Shan said the committee will be studying the NLPES website and making suggestions
for improvement. Anyone who has a suggestion for the site's improvement
should contact Shan. She noted that the committee would like to see the
state profiles on the site updated and that James Barber will be emailing
office directors to involve them in this process. Shan said the committee
will also evaluate the search capabilities on the NLPES site and make recommendations
about how to improve this function. If the committee finds other existing
search options are sufficient, it may recommend eliminating this function.
Shan asked for input from the Executive Committee on the idea of using
the NLPES listserve for discussions as well as for notifications, which
is its primary use currently. The Executive Committee discussed possible
pros and cons of using the listserve in this way. The committee decided
to try it for an upcoming question of the month and see how it works and
what kind of feedback it receives.
Martha Carter reported for the Awards Committee. Martha said
the committee is considering changes to the criteria for the Excellence
Award and the Certificate of Impact. She said several responses were received
to an email note soliciting suggestions from interested parties. The committee
will review those responses and make suggestions to the Executive Committee
this fall. She also noted that Bill Thompson (AZ) suggested giving each
office which applies for an NLPES award the opportunity to provide the
names of 5-6 people the office would like to have notified if it wins an
award-for example, the office's oversight committee, or key Legislators.
The committee was in favor of adopting this practice and the Executive
Committee concurred.
Kate Wade reported for the Professional Liaisons Committee. Kate
said members of the committee will be contacting the current liaison groups
to review the nature of each group and the opportunities for interaction
with NLPES. Kate said this review may lead to a short article on the overall
subject of liaisons as well as a series of articles on the individual liaison
groups.
James Barber reported for the Membership and Nominations Committee.
The committee is reviewing voting trends from past NLPES Executive Committee
elections. To date, the review has determined that approximately 30% of
the eligible NLPES members typically vote in each year's election. In the
most recent election, 440 members or 37% of the membership cast ballots.
The Committee will be developing strategies to encourage more members to
participate in the annual election process. One idea under consideration
is publicizing additional information about who voted in an election-not
reporting which individuals voted, but perhaps reporting the number of
NLPES members who voted in each state. James also raised a concern about
the accuracy of the NLPES membership list, which is used for voting. He
would like to double check and certify the list before it is used this
year. James will work with Bob to coordinate these efforts with the NCSL
staff member who maintains the list.
CD-ROM Project
Wade Melton reported on Florida's work to-date on developing a CD training
module. He ran a CD-presentation for the Executive Committee to give the
committee an idea of how the final product will work. Wade said OPPAGA
will use a $1,200 grant from NCSL towards purchase of the necessary hardware
and software to produce the CD. He indicated that the demonstration CD
will provide an actual training course and that OPPAGA will also document
the kind of time and resources necessary to create such a course. He said
copies of the CD will be made available to all NLPES offices and no special
hardware or software will be necessary to run it.
Moderator Training
Barbara Hinton (KS) and Steve Shiery (MO) joined the Executive Committee
for a half-hour training session for conference panel moderators. Shan
Hays said the idea had come out of the training committee to help people
address common problems that arise during sessions. Participants shared
ideas about common problems and how they've addressed them. Shan thanked
everyone who volunteered to moderate panels.
Fall Training Budget
Kristin House (NCSL) joined the committee to present information on
the financial status of the conference. Kristin said the overall financial
picture is good, and NCSL expects the conference to be within budget. She
reiterated that although the number of registrations were down, the reduced
revenue was offset by reduced expenditures in some areas, such as meals,
and other areas in which the host states had economized. Kristin indicated
that the final numbers on the conference won't be available until November,
but she expects to have a good estimate by mid-October.
Joel suggested the Executive Committee may again need to consider raising
the conference fees. James suggested that the committee needs to know what
host states are spending beyond what's in the NCSL budget in order to fully
assess conference costs.
New Business
Wade Melton reported that he and Rob Krell (WA) are finishing up their
work describing which evaluation and audit offices have undergone a non-NSAA
peer review. Wade expects to have a related question on the NLPES listserve
in the near future and to have the results of their work on the website
in November.
Date and Site for the Next NLPES Executive Committee Meeting
The NLPES Executive Committee spring meeting will be held in conjunction
with the NCSL Assembly on State Issues (ASI) meeting in New Orleans, LA.
The dates for the ASI meeting are April 19-21, 2002. The time of the Executive
Committee meeting had not yet been set.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Carter, Secretary
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