NLPES Site Map
2001 Annual Meeting
National Legislative Program Evaluation Society
Meeting Minutes
Executive Committee, August 11 || Annual
Business Meeting, August 14
Executive Committee Minutes, August 15
Executive Committee Minutes
August 11, 2001
San Antonio, TX
The executive committee met on Saturday, August 11, 2001, in San Antonio,
TX. 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, Shan Hays, Craig Kinton, Rob Krell, Wade Melton,
Heather Moritz, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade. Also present were Ethel Detch
(TN), Ken Levine (TX), Heather Moss (WA), Tim Osterstock (UT), Jeanne Jarrett
(MO), and Bob Boerner (NCSL).
Committee Meetings
From 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m., committee chairs met with their respective
committees to discuss committee business.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by James Barber, Chair, at 2:20 p.m.
Fall Training Conference
Jeanne Jarrett (MO) reported on planning for the fall training conference,
jointly hosted by the Kansas and Missouri offices, Sept. 5-8, in Kansas
City, MO. She reported that all the plans have been made for the conference,
including the meeting program and the social events. There is some concern
that registration may be running low. The budget is based on 140 attendees,
and at latest count we had far fewer than that. However, many who plan
to attend have not yet registered. We agreed to encourage our liaisons
to attend, and also to call our key contacts on the 20th or
when we are back in our offices, to encourage attendance. Those who used
the web registration reported that it was very easy.
James asked for comments on the electronically approved minutes for
the March meeting in Costa Mesa and there were none.
Committee Reports
Joel Alter reported for the Communications and Technology Committee.
He distributed data on NLPES web site hits that showed the numbers down
during the most recent period, but we don't have enough historical data
at this point to know if this might be seasonal. He noted that there was
heavy use of the Internet version of the newsletter and of the fall conference
information. We will keep tracking the use of our site.
Joel then distributed a report on participation in the question of the
month. The total number of contributors is now greater than 50 people representing
23 offices. Joel is pleased with the breadth of participation over time.
He said that the NCSL legislative audits database is an ongoing concern.
NCSL reports that it is currently working on adding a date field and expanding
the number of hits you can get in response to a query (now 100, but since
many are irrelevant there is need to review more if feasible). Joel reported
that Listserv enrollment was 264 in April 2001 and is now up to 281. Our
current goal is to reach 300. Cards for listserv sign up will be available
at all of our sessions at this conference. James Barber has now assumed
editorship of the newsletter. There were several positive comments about
the articles in the last issue. A question was raised about not being able
to "go direct" to the NLPES website without going through the NCSL password
screen. Several of our members can go directly to our site while several
others cannot. Joel said that he would look into this situation and see
if the option to bypass NCSL might be open to all. In conclusion, it was
mentioned that a "key contact" cited the question of the month as the most
valuable thing NLPES has ever done.
Shan Hays reported for the training committee. Kansas and Missouri will
do a debriefing paper on issues associated with two states co-hosting the
training conference. Shan noted that a number of details for the conference
have come together in recent weeks, and also noted that moderator guidelines
developed by the executive committee have been distributed. There will
be a moderators' meeting at the end of the executive committee meeting
in Kansas City prior to the start of the conference. Shan reported on the
planning for the 2002 conference in Arizona. The hotel (Chaparral Suites)
in Scottsdale has been procured. The local evaluators' organization AzENet
has made an agreement to participate. They will schedule all of the sessions
of primary interest to their members on one day, and will receive a reduced
registration rate. The theme of the conference will be the Changing Climate
of Evaluation. Michigan is scheduled to host the conference in 2003. They
already have proposals for hotels. The conference will be in East Lansing
in October that year. The 2004 conference will be in Florida. The issue
was raised that Florida will not know the dates that it can have the conference
until January 2004 when the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) releases its
football schedule for that year. Bob Boerner said that it would be a problem
for NCSL not to have the dates sooner than that. We discussed some possibilities,
including arranging for a contingency contract on the rooms, but agreed
to continue to consider this issue and revisit it later. For the 2005 conference,
Phil Durgin of Pennsylvania has expressed a positive interest in hosting.
Ethel Detch also mentioned that Nashville might be a possible site. We
will continue to talk about this conference site.
Jane Thesing reported for the awards committee. She announced this year's
winners, Utah for excellence and Virginia for methodology. Both of these
awards had three submissions. There are sixteen impact certificates to
be awarded. All of those who submitted applications met the criteria. James
Barber announced that Mary Noble would receive the outstanding achievement
award. Jane then asked the committee members to consider revisiting the
criteria. A particular issue that arose in this year's awards was the unclear
wording of the criteria for the excellence award. Because there are so
many "ors" in the criteria, an office could submit a single report that
had impact or was excellent, and meet the criteria. We need to consider
what we are trying to recognize with this award and how it is distinguished
from the impact criteria. We discussed the fact that the former excellence
criteria gave weight to the historical contributions of an office. Rob
Krell said that he liked the old criteria better because it gave weight
to an office's contributions to its own legislature. James pointed out
that one of the objectives in changing the criteria to the current criteria
was to get rid of the "paper drill," in which the award might be awarded
on the basis of who could assemble the best notebook. They wanted to make
it easier to apply and open it up to more offices, including those that
might not have a long history of involvement. We also discussed that the
concept of doing "innovative" work was also problematic. Must the work
be innovative for the profession or just for the office who submits it?
Other issues were raised about other awards. Martha Carter pointed out
that the requirements for receiving an impact certificate are very low
and that we might want to be more selective. It was agreed that we will
invite feedback on the awards and consider revisions for the coming year's
awards.
Heather Moritz reported for the annual meeting committee. She distributed
the NLPES annual meeting agenda and thanked everyone who had helped with
the program. Evaluation forms will be distributed at all of our sessions,
and we will also have cards (pink) available for Listserv sign up at all
of the sessions.
Rick Coleman reported for the professional liaison committee. All of
our liaison positions are now filled. Craig Kinton will be the liaison
for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Dorothy Turner of the
Texas Auditors' Office will be the liaison for the Association of Government
Accountants.
The elections committee reported that as a result of our spring elections,
three new members will be joining the committee, Ethel Detch (TN), Heather
Moss (WA), and Ken Levine (TX).
Emerging Issues Task Force
Joel Alter reported on the best practices survey conducted this spring
in response to recommendations of the emerging issues task force. We had
a goal that 15-20 of our offices would respond to the survey; this goal
was surpassed as 28 responses were received, all via Internet. Joel said
that the responses were very useful and he will soon be posting the responses
on the NLPES website. We will plan to do a survey again next year. James
Barber said that respondents to the survey asked for more "skills based"
articles in the NLPES newsletter. As editor, he would like ideas for these
articles so that we can respond to this interest. Joel also reported that
a summary of the responses to questions relating to training had been distributed
to the training committee for use in carrying out NLPES training initiatives.
He reported that NCSL has made $1200 available for NLPES to carry out a
project to develop CD-ROM-based training. Joel had solicited proposals
for this project from the NLPES membership, and one proposal was received
from Florida's OPPAGA. He distributed Florida's proposal to do a pilot
project with CD-ROM training. The proposal calls for OPPAGA to work through
the process of designing a CD-ROM course, documenting and evaluating all
aspects of this process. The project will assess the viability of this
mode of training for our offices. Joel moved the approval of Florida's
proposal. Heather Moritz seconded the motion and it was unanimously agreed
to. We plan to discuss the project again at our September executive committee
meeting. Wade Melton and Rob Krell reported on follow-up of the peer review
issue addressed by the emerging issues task force. They distributed a draft
format for the NLPES website to provide information about states that have
experienced "alternative" (not NSAA) forms of peer review. They also presented
other options that NLPES could pursue, such as surveying members about
interest in developing an alternative peer review process, and if interest
warranted, implementing this process. After some discussion, it was decided
that they would flesh out the information from states that have participated
in alternative peer reviews and put the information on the website. This
will be a good starting point for interested offices. On a final aspect
of the emerging issues task force, Joel reported that we now have links
on our website to all of the ASI committee websites, although three of
the committees do not have recent meeting summaries posted on their sites.
This is as much as we can accomplish at this point.
New Business
There was no new business. At 4:10 p.m. the meeting was adjourned and
a group photo was taken.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Thesing, Secretary
Annual Business Meeting Minutes
August 14, 2001
James Barber, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m. He introduced
the members of the 2000-2001 NLPES executive committee and thanked them
for their service. He also introduced three new executive committee members
that begin their service with this conference.
James then reported on NLPES activities and accomplishments of the past
year, including the fall training conference, activities of the various
committees, and the emerging issues task force.
Jane Thesing, chair of the awards committee then presented the NLPES
awards. The winner of the Excellence in Program Evaluation award was the
Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General, Wayne L. Welsh, Legislative
Auditor General. The Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission,
Philip Leone, Director, was awarded the Excellence in Research Methods
Award. Sixteen states were awarded certificates in recognition of impact.
James Barber then presented Mary Noble, California State Auditor, retired,
with this year's Outstanding Achievement Award.
Joel Alter, incoming chair of NLPES, presented James Barber with a plaque
in recognition of his year of service as NLPES chair. Joel also commented
on plans for the ongoing work of NLPES in the coming year and solicited
ideas from the membership for ways to make NLPES more useful. Max Arinder
(MI) reported that his term on the NCSL executive committee has been completed
and that Craig Kinton (TX) has been elected to the NCSL executive committee.
NCSL staff officers then visited the meeting. Diane Bolender (IA), current
NCSL staff chair, and incoming staff chair Ramona Kenady (OR) made remarks
about NCSL's legislative staff agenda. Gary Olson (MI), incoming staff
vice-chair, was also introduced.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Thesing, Secretary
Executive Committee Minutes
August 15, 2001
The executive committee met on Wednesday, August 15, 2001, in San Antonio,
TX. 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, Heather Moss, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade. Bob Boerner of NCSL
was also present.
Call to Order
Joel Alter called the meeting to order at 1:51 p.m. Joel thanked James
Barber for his leadership over the past year. He also thanked Heather Moritz
and members of the Annual Meeting Committee for the good sessions at the
meeting.
Introduction of New Members
Joel introduced the new members of the committee: Ethel Detch, Ken Levine,
and Heather Moss.
Elections
Joel opened the floor for nominations for the position of vice chair.
Martha Carter nominated Heather Moritz and Wade Melton seconded the nomination.
Heather was elected unanimously on a voice vote. Joel opened nominations
for secretary. Wade Melton nominated Martha Carter and Heather Moritz seconded
the nomination. Martha was elected unanimously on a voice vote. Joel thanked
Jane Thesing for serving as secretary for more than a year.
Committee Assignments and Charges
Joel distributed committee assignments and a list of committee charges.
The committee charges outline the priorities for each committee and will
be used at the end of the year to measure the activities of each committee.
Joel noted that several of the executive committee's ongoing responsibilities
are running smoothly including administration of the NLPES website, management
and preparation of the newsletter, and planning for the 2002 training conference.
Since these areas aren't in need of immediate attention from the executive
committee, Joel suggested we have an opportunity to focus on other things
this year. He asked executive committee members to contact him if they
have ideas for issues the executive committee should consider.
Discussion of Key Dates for 2001-02
Joel distributed an NLPES Calendar of Activities for the coming year.
The next executive committee meeting will be in Kansas City, Missouri on
Wednesday, September 5, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The spring meeting
will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana in April, 2002. (The date for this
meeting will be available at the September meeting.)
Other Business
Wade Melton informed the committee that when his office called the Kansas
City Marriott to make reservations for the fall training conference, they
were told that the conference rate was not available for Tuesday, September
4. Members of the executive committee will need to arrive on Tuesday night
because of the Wednesday morning meeting. Bob Boerner indicated that he
would check into this.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Carter, Secretary
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