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NLPES Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes
Minutes
NCSL National Legislative Program Evaluation Society (NLPES)
July 20, 2000
The executive committee met on Thursday, July 20, 2000, in Chicago, IL. 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, Rick Coleman, David Greer, Shan Hays, Craig Kinton, Rob Krell, Wade Melton, Heather Moritz, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade. Also present were Joe Lawhon, Kansas, and Bob Boerner from NCSL.
Call to Order
James Barber, chair, called the meeting to order at 7:45 a.m. James thanked Craig Kinton for his leadership over the past year and thanked the annual meeting committee for the good sessions at the NCSL annual meeting. James then introduced the new members on the executive committee, Kate Wade and Wade Melton, and distributed a list of committee names and addresses. James also distributed the committee assignments for 2000-2001. Each member is on two committees.
Elections
James opened the floor for nominations for the position of vice-chair. Jane Thesing nominated Joel Alter and Wade Melton seconded the nomination. Joel was elected unanimously on a voice vote. James opened nominations for secretary. Wade Melton nominated Jane Thesing, and this nomination was seconded by Joel Alter. Jane was elected unanimously on a voice vote.
Committee Charges
James distributed a list of committee charges. He stated that he had revised some of the committee charges based on member comments. We will continue to use the committee charges to measure and report on the activities of the committees. The new members of the committees should let James know if additional changes in the charges are needed.
Suggestions for Improvement
James stated that he sent out 50 letters and made a posting on the Listserv requesting comments about the future of NLPES and suggestions for NLPES activities. He distributed a synthesis arranged topically of the comments he received. Some of the suggestions included a longer time frame for consideration of impact awards, expand the newsletter and increase its frequency, enhance the website, offer expanded training opportunities, start an NLPES "war college," conduct a training "needs" inventory, develop a peer review process, and offer more benefits to the rank and file members.
Key Dates for 2000-2001
James distributed an NLPES Calendar of Activities for the coming year. The next executive committee meeting will be in Austin, Texas on Friday, September 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Craig Kinton reported that they have clarified that the conference hotel rate will be available for Thursday night preceding the meeting. James said that we should think about the time and location of the spring executive committee meeting. The spring ASI meeting will be in Costa Mesa, California, from March 22-25. We will discuss the spring meeting at the Austin meeting. James also distributed a copy of the current NLPES bylaws.
Strategic Planning
James summarized the executive committee's history in considering strategic planning. There is an issue of how much strategic planning we need. He would like to work within the structure of committee charges to deal with this issue. NLPES needs a mission statement. Article I of the NLPES by-laws lists purposes of NLPES, but does not contain an explicit mission statement. Craig Kinton pointed out that the organization has changed and will continue to change. We need a beacon/focal point that a mission statement would provide. James suggested an ad hoc committee to draft a mission statement, and appointed Joel Alter, Shan Hays, and Rob Krell to this committee. James encouraged everyone to submit their ideas for the mission statement to the committee. The draft mission statement may need to be revisited after our "futures" work in Austin.
James then discussed the need for an ad hoc committee on emerging issues. This committee would identify global long term issues that we need to monitor. He suggested that the committee might report by mid-November and could include members from NLPES offices who are not on the executive committee. There was discussion of this idea. Craig suggested that the fall conference track 3 will provide input for emerging issues. He also mentioned that the Southwest Intergovernmental Audit Forum and NSAA have emerging issues committees. Joel suggested that the comments received from James' solicitation about the future of NLPES could also be used. James said that by the time of the Austin meeting, he will set up an ad hoc committee on emerging issues. Executive committee members are to let James know of potential members of the committee.
Going back to the strategic planning, James suggested that the committee charges need to be consistent with the mission and then the committees need to come up with performance measures for their areas. For example, the training committee could focus on marketing the fall training conference. James suggested that any performance measures should not be person-specific and do not need to be complex. For example, we know how many people attend the fall conference. Rick Coleman cautioned that we shouldn't start with performance measures, but develop them after the mission statement and committee goals.
Rob Krell raised an area of concern about the scheduling of the NCSL annual meeting in conjunction with our fall training conference. The two events are close this year and next year will be separated by only a few weeks. Although next year is already set, future planning efforts should take this into account. The liaison organizations also need to be consulted about their conferences.
Solicitation of Funds
James reviewed our earlier discussion of this issue. He suggested first determining whether there was sentiment for an outright prohibition on solicitation of funds or whether we needed to consider parameters, etc. There was some discussion and no one expressed support for a prohibition. It was mentioned that even such actions such as having a corporate speaker when the corporation paid the speaker's travel expenses is a form of outside support. Several members expressed a need for more information and suggested that we could have a permissive policy with guidelines and parameters. Wade Melton suggested we develop a list of parameters and get feedback on them. Another issue mentioned was the fact that when we co-sponsor a meeting (such as the Austin meeting with RACSS), the other organization could have a different view/policy than we do. We agreed that it is primarily an issue for the host state of a conference. Other issues mentioned included a need for information on the experience of our previous conferences and consideration of the trade-offs, what is given to donors in return. James asked Craig Kinton to draft some parameters and e-mail them to the executive committee in advance of the Austin meeting. Committee members should discuss them with other staff and e-mail reactions to Craig. We will take this up as an agenda item in Austin. We are looking for something to give guidance that would be permissive, not mandated.
Other Items
James said that Marion Higa (HI) had mentioned to him that there are 7 slots that will come open on the NCSL executive committee (3 year terms). Max Arinder is going off, so it would be important for NLPES to have a nominee to give us a presence on the committee. James described the nomination process (competitive interviews, letters of reference, etc.) and asked that committee members try to think of potential nominees and encourage them to run.
James recapped the actions that we will take prior to the Austin meeting. The mission statement committee will draft a mission statement, suggestions will be forwarded for the emerging issues committee, we will consider the solicitation of funds issue and look at the committee charges to determine whether they need revision. Also, we will look at the futures materials and get ideas to James as soon as possible.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Thesing, Secretary
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