Florida Association of Code Enforcement, Inc.

Board of Directors Meeting

Minutes

Friday August 8, 20141:05 PM – 5:29 PM

Saturday, August 9, 20148:31 AM – 10:19AM

Institute of Government at UCF12443 Research Pkwy #402.

Orlando, FL 32826(407) 882-3960

1. Call to Order

2. Roll Call

President, R. Sam Sullivan

1st Vice President, Cindy Drake

2nd Vice President, Joanne Naumann (Excused)

3rd Vice President, Leslie Banta

Sergeant-at-Arms, Danny Thompson

Treasurer, James Acosta

Secretary, Lori Troxel

Immediate Past President, Michael Titmuss

Also present: Marilyn Crotty, IOG Bob Hamilton, Attorney

Donna Wisniewski- Historian Mark Caskie – Webmaster

3. Approval of Agenda

Motion to approve the agenda:

James Acosta Second: Cindy Drake

Motion carried unanimously

4. Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve minutes for the June Meetings

James Acosta Second: Danny Thompson

Motion carried unanimously

5. Welcome Visiting Members – No visiting members

6. Opening Comments – President R. Sam Sullivan thanked the Board for the participation in the

strategic planning session, he felt it went well.

7. Membership Issues

A. Heather Mulligan, recertification – Marilyn Crotty explained the situation and

requested clarification on whether monies owed for classes/exams hinders a members

ability to recertify. Discussion between Board members and webmaster Mark Caskie.

F.A.C.E. bylaws Article 2, Section 8, Subsection C under membership are clear for

financial obligations, Danny Thompson to make contact with member advise all monies

due F.A.C.E. will be paid or membership will be terminated for non-payment of exam

retake. Bob suggested the IOG start a form letter to all members in default of payment for

ninety days advising membership is suspended until they are paid in full, thereby

eliminating the need to involve the Board in non-payment matters. Follow-up provided

from Danny Thompson who spoke with Sgt. Heather Mulligan via telephone, Ms.

Mulligan advised Danny she would pay the monies owed on Wednesday August 13,

2014. Danny advised Ms. Mulligan if she pays the past due amount her membership will

not be affected, if not her membership will be terminated. If the payment is not received

on Wednesday, August 13, 2014, Danny will draft a letter on Thursday, August 14, 2014;

advising her membership has been terminated.

8. Reports

A. Webmaster- Mark Caskie (8/8/14)

a. FACE-Lift – Mark indicated he hoped we were all able to test out our mobile

friendly site, as this is the FACE-Lift. It is live now, if we find any issues let the

committee know. The committee members received some training already and

Michelle and Susan will be receiving training this coming Tuesday.

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b. Members - Renewal – This will be discussed with a demonstration during the

teleconference.

c. Admin System (F.A.C.E. 2.0) – The system is being worked on now, and should be

complete mid to end of the month. Susan is holding work to test the system when

complete. Mark explained some questions were presented based on the changes,

concerning who is going to handle the money, manual credit card entries, etc. James

previously explained the IOG will continue to handle all monetary transactions; the

only difference will be the transactions are going to be completed on the F.A.C.E.

admin system as opposed to being entered into the IOG system. Mark explained the

payment program we are setting up on our system will accept any payment we create

an invoice for, but at this time we are only working on membership payments. Once

this system is up and running a batch education email will be sent out to our

membership. A new page was developed for bulk member registration, where one

person will be given administrative rights to register everyone in their jurisdiction.

d. F.A.C.E. - I.O.G.: Policy discussion relative to Membership and Admin changes-

Charter membership was discussed; the Charter membership exists by tradition and

not by by-law and Mark wants to know if the Board wants to continue this

designation in the new system. Discussion took place and it was decided to notate this

need to change charter agency in the bylaws to charter member, and at the next by

law change done this subject will be included. Leslie Banta will be assisting Mark

Caskie with addressing the agency names in the system.

e. Website Committee – Mark advised one of the best decisions he made was that he

asked for a website committee. The committee is only on the member side, and does

not have passwords to the admin site. We have forty two pages on our website. JB

does the chapter pages, and Liana helps with the other pages.

f. Chapters – Mark advised the Board our Chapters are slow getting on board with their

pages, but now that he has a dedicated committee member these on getting done. Any

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Chapter can email cjeanbaptiste@broward.org and carbon copy Mark at

mcaskie@ci.brooksville.fl.us and you can place most anything on your chapter page.

g. FACE or F.A.C.E. - acronym standard – Questions were asked of Mark

referencing whether we are going to use FACE or F.A.C.E. but not both. Bob advised

this does not matter, however discussion took place that our bylaws shows F.A.C.E.

therefore for clarification all official items will be shown as F.A.C.E. for

standardization and consistency, to include our Website, correspondence, and all legal

documentation.

Motion to clarify the Florida Association of Code Enforcement official acronym

is as follows F.A.C.E.

Leslie Banta Second: Michael Titmuss

Motion carried unanimously

h. E-Polk Go-To-Meeting presentation (Time certain 2pm on 8/8) Teleconference w/

Mike Kingham of e-Polk took place where a demonstration of the system was given

to the Board.

B. Historian- Donna Wisniewski (8/8/14)

a. Historical Page Online – Donna asked the Board what they thought about adding

more historical information on our website History page. The Board advised this was

a great idea. Mark Caskie advised Donna to send the information to Liana for

incorporation onto the website. Mark advised Liana is currently working on building

up the History page as well as the conference pages at this time. Once Donna sends

Liana items to place on the website the Board will receive a link to the page to review

prior to making it live.

C. Treasurer – James Acosta (8/8/14)

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a. Current Budget - James Acosta supplied the Board with the following documentation:

Recap Report, fiscal year budget report, income/expenses by month report, as well as

copies of reconciliation reports and statements from the bank, for the record. James

advised he now has a file on his computer that memos exactly what an amount is should

anyone question a certain amount contained in the expense forms. James indicated he

purchased 300 business checks for $340 dollars and decided to take a trial run on a new

concept of “e checks” and if these take off we will be able to save money in the future on

the cost of business checks. James advised he bought 50 e checks for $30. He has tried

one already, with one of our vendors and there was no issue with the check.

b. 2014 Conference Budget – This budget is not yet complete until Marilyn gives us the

finalized reports. Marilyn indicated she has the preliminary report today. Marilyn asked

about several charges that exceeded the budgeted amount. A short discussion took place

about the thumb drives and why were they $1000.00 more than anticipated. R. Sam

Sullivan advised the cost of thumb drives went up. The Board discussed how to bring

this cost down for the next conference.

c. 2015 Conference Budget – James went over the 2015 Conference budget and indicated

several items were removed that we have not used for a while. A short discussion took

place on the funding for next year’s conference.

d. How to properly mark receipts – James went over how to properly mark receipts in

order for the charges to be placed in the right budget line.

D. President – Sam Sullivan (8/8/14)

a. General Comments – Sam went over the Strategic Plan goals and emphasized Leslie

was given the hardest goal to define the value of F.A.C.E. membership and wants to

ensure the Board provides the input expected as a shared priority. Marilyn suggested

Sam provide a line item on the agenda for the goals dually assigned to a Board

member and the Board so that action steps and strategies can be shared, also those

Board members assigned a priority should have an agenda line so their progress can

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be updated at each meeting. She feels this will continue the effort to keep the strategic

plan relevant each year. Sam advised this will become a standard agenda item.

b. Scheduling of Board Meetings – Board meetings were scheduled as follows:

December 12-13, 2014 Location to be determined, February 6-7, 2015 in Orlando,

and May 8-9, 2015 at the Comfort Suites in Orlando.

c. Committee interest form- now that committees are full – Sam advised the

committee form has been very successful and that he also mentioned it in his

InterFace article. Now that the committees are full he wants to make sure there is a

database kept for future Boards use. Lori advised when she gets an application she

sends them a response that the form was received and that it was being forward to the

chairperson for response. It is up to each chair to advise the applicant of their status.

Lori asked if the application is going to be placed in the conference folders each year.

The Board advised this will take place as it was very successful last year.

d. FLGC 2014 Annual Meeting - Sam recapped his experience at the Conference. He

also advised he found an excellent speaker during this meeting and that he forwarded

the speakers information to Cindy for our own possible use at our conference.

e. Florida League of Cities Meeting – Sam reminded the Board this meeting will be on

August 13th through the 16th and he and Mike will be in attendance. Mark also

requested they send him a picture and a short blurb so this can be placed on the

website. A short discussion referencing purchasing enough items as giveaways when

the first vice orders items for our conferences so the bulk discount can be applied.

f. Public Servant with a Story – Sam explained the request from the Florida League of

Cities referencing a public servant with a story and wanted to know if this was shared

with other F.A.C.E. members. He also advised Mike has input on this subject. Mike

explained that he sent out the information to David Crook and Ron Giddings who are

two of the best story tellers he knows and received a story back from Ron Giddings.

Mike stated that he will email the story to the Board for review. He feels this is a

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great story Ron shared with him. Marilyn stated it is very important for F.A.C.E. to

participate in this. Mark requested the story be sent to him to post on the Website.

E. IOG – Marilyn Crotty/Michelle Gardner (8/8/14)

a. 2014 Conference Evaluations - Marilyn advised the 2014 evaluations were emailed

out and stated this was the best evaluations she has seen in quite some time, the

complaints were minimal. She further stated we only had a few failed speakers but

our F.A.C.E. speakers did very well. Marilyn went over the preliminary financial

report for the 2014 Annual Education & Training conference, and explained a few of

the line items. She will provide the final report at our next Board meeting. The

sponsors/exhibitors were some of the best this year. Marilyn indicated we just need to

work on getting more of our members to the conference; our member participation

was 268 down from 294 last year. Marilyn is concerned that we will be challenged on

getting members to Naples as we draw more members when the conference is held in

the center of the state.

b. 2015 Conference – Deferred to Cindy Drake

c. 2016 Conference Location Preference – The board will look for conference

locations in Orlando and Amelia Island. Our preferred dates are the third week of

June the 14th-17th, 2016. Marilyn will look at Amelia Island first and determine if they

can accommodate our group and then move into the Orlando area, and have RFP’s

sent out and get back with the Board at which time we will tour several locations and

make a choice.

d. FCCMA Invitation to FLGC to submit a Workshop for 2015 Conference Royal

Pacific Universal Studios Orlando – May27-30? (75 Minutes) – A short discussion

took place and the Board was advised we were selected to present at this conference.

Marilyn suggested the Board pick a lead to determine the speaker and ensure it runs

smoothly. Sam read an email he received on July 31st advising we were selected to

present at their conference. Marilyn expressed how pleased she was that F.A.C.E.

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was selected to present. A short discussion took place about F.A.C.E. being a vendor

at this conference.

F. 1st Vice President – Cindy Drake (8/9/14)

a. 2015 Conference Update – Cindy advised her committee had their first meeting and

set their meeting dates to be October 17, January 17 or 23 rd, and April 17. The

committee would like their theme to be “Make Every Connection Matter” with the

logo being a three ring Venn diagram symbolizing the links between the F.A.C.E.

Membership, Public, and Government connected through Technology. The board

discussed the links symbolizing the four topics and wants the word Public changed to

Communities and decided the theme appropriate to use.

Cindy then went over the education topics chosen for the 2015 Education Conference.

The Board discussed the topics giving details on some of the classes; one class was

discussed due to the length of the class. Marilyn stated after she received the email

advising the class cannot be held during the two hour time slot, she thought about the

situation and suggested the class be held as a stand-alone class on Thursday, and fill

the two hour slot with another topic. Marilyn advised this class can then be opened to

other non-conference attendees as well. The Board agreed with Marilyn finding the

class relevant and approving the SERT (State Emergency Response Training) 8 hour

training class to be held on Thursday for those interested in taking the damage

assessment class and becoming certified. Cindy shared with the Board a class her

Chapter took concerning Hoarding, and wants to incorporate this into the conference.

Mike suggesting setting this up like a panel, finding this subject to be valuable

training. Cindy will look into this and get back to the Board. The Board also

requested the committee change the name of the Officer Safety Class, to Defensive

Tactics to differentiate from our certification class. Cindy shared one of the

committees suggested topics of having a class on Strategic Planning. The Board

discussed the idea and Lori explained why she suggested the class, hoping to get the

Board and the members on the same page with their priorities and goals. The Board

discussed not attending this class and that Board members get with other past Board

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members and ask them to not attend allowing this class to be just members giving

their own input on their vision of F.A.C.E. The Board felt the committee has brought

back some of the good from last year and incorporating new classes for a nice mix.

Marilyn explained Karen Matches is going to provide the stand alone class for

Secretaries however; F.A.C.E. will need to pay Karen due to her retirement criteria

not allowing her to be paid by an entity involved in the Florida Retirement System.

Cindy discussed entertainment ideas for the Presidents Reception, and the Banquet.

She would like to try some icebreakers to create participation on our member’s part to

interact and introduce themselves to each other. Leslie and Marilyn also provided

Cindy with more ideas on using Icebreakers during the conference. Cindy shared her

personal favorite conference entertainment and advised she is interested in having a

casino night for the Banquet. Mike stated he would forward the casino information he

was able to get to her for researching. The other idea Cindy had was a Murder

Mystery Night and shared some information on what this entails. She advised she is

going to contact some groups down in the Naples area for information on this idea.

The committee is going to bring back the treasure chest since it went over so well

with the attendees last year with the key’s, the committee discussed different gift

ideas but had not yet picked one.

Cindy shared an email received from a committee member concerning F.A.C.E.

members who will be presenting at the conference and their request to have their

conference registration and board paid for. Marilyn stated we do not generally pay

F.A.C.E. trainers who present at the conference, further advising if they have to travel

we have provided them a room for the night. A discussion took place, on where they

are coming from and what time frame are they teaching. Marilyn suggested offering a

room for the early morning class presenter but no more than that would be offered.

Cindy advised she will respond this has not been the policy in the past, and that we

can offer one night for George. Mike suggested recommending they apply for a

scholarship.

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Cindy advised the Board her Committee voted down doing the advertising booklet at

the 2015 conference opting to work more on relevant sponsors/exhibitors rather than

local advertising opportunities. A short discussion took place from the Board

discussing last years and the previous years’ experience with Cindy advising the

committee just doesn’t want to deal with it.

The prospectus packet is being worked on and will be ready shortly for disbursement.

The sponsor levels were discussed at Diamond at $5000, Platinum at $3000, Gold at

$2000, Silver $1500, and Bronze at $1000. The exhibitor table is now going to be

$500. A short discussion referencing what they get for sponsorship per level was

discussed. The prospectus includes add on sponsorship levels to include lanyards,

flash drives, etc. Cindy advised we are working on this so we can get this out early

and get it on the website. Lori requested the last five years of sponsor spreadsheets

from Susan to be forwarded to us for incorporation into our new sponsor contact

spreadsheet. Marilyn will get with Susan when she returns.

Cindy requested the vendor information for Past Presidents Pins and Gold Cards be

shared with her. Donna said she shared that information with Sam last year, he

requested she resend that information to him. Ribbons and lanyards were discussed

and will be ordered this year. Mike indicated Code Man can donate lanyards this year

for the conference.

Cindy advised the committee wants to use the F.A.C.E. standup banners and display

boards at this year’s conference. Discussion on location of these items took place and

will be made available for the conference.

The Huskey Award was discussed so it could be ordered. The Board was advised the

program committee wants to reach out to the Chapter Presidents to encourage them to

speak with their members early to have them think about selectees early on.

A photographer was discussed for conference. The Board discussed that we have

many members who may have photography skills as a hobby and suggested putting it

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out there we are looking for a conference photographer. Lori reminded the Board that

one of our past Boards had voted on a photographer always being present at our

conferences in order to preserve our history. Mike advised these pictures should

always be incorporated on our website to include good photographs of our sponsors

to encourage more participation.

Marilyn stated the committee also discussed a conference app for this year. The

Board shared their experiences and ideas. Cindy explained the committee discussion

and Michelle advising we needed to have several tweeters and monitors. Lori stated

the committee suggested seeking out twitter volunteers from each Chapter to

participate in tweeting at this year’s conference using the account Sam created last

year. Lori also advised Michelle did not think our association was ready for the

conference app. Sam explained the process of twitter monitors, and people who are

keeping an eye on tweets so if anyone asks questions it is answered. Cindy would like

the twitter buzz to start a few months prior to the conference start date. The Board

consensus was this will be a good experience. The Board had a short discussion on

Facebook being one of our priority goals this year.

G. 2nd Vice President – Joanne Naumann via R. Sam Sullivan (8/9/14)

a. Certification Committee Update – Joanne Naumann was not able to attend this

meeting but provided an email update which was passed out to the Board. Her

committee will meet at the end of this month and will begin work on this year’s goals

and objectives. The email also updated the Board on Frank Cassidy’s subcommittee.

The subcommittee met and began working on their goals Phase I Evaluate, Debate,

and Discuss the continuing education hour’s process and Phase II Researching

Alternative Training Methods. Once Joanne and her committee have had a chance to

review their progress the Board will hear recommendations. Marilyn advised she was

concerned with one suggestion on the Education and Certification Committee

reviewing all CEH approvals, indicating the amount of requests are numerous and

this will create a burden on the committee. Marilyn advised they always send any

questionable request to the committee for review.

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Several topics on CEH’s were discussed such as the active shooter training and

FEMA courses. It was noted that the active shooter training was denied by the

committee, the Board advised this should have been approved. Several board

members indicated this is an officer safety issue on how to react if this happens in the

workplace ultimately providing the attendee of the training with information that

could save their lives. It was noted by several Board members that Joanne and her

committee has not had an opportunity to review the information Frank’s committee

went over and we can table this and let Joanne update the Board at our next meeting.

Marilyn advised the Board that Bob has reviewed level three and PTI will need to be

contacted for possible changes.

H. 3rd Vice President – Leslie Banta (8/8/14)

a. Membership Committee Update – Leslie updated the Board on our membership we

are currently at 1,816 members. She stated her committee is in place working on

some items from last year and some new items they want to work on. Cindy asked

about some of the Chapters that are in turmoil. Leslie advised she has been in touch

with several people who are working on getting these Chapters back up and running

smoothly. Leslie also stated she is going to run the membership drive again. Cindy

brought up the Treasure Coast Chapter wanted to reform and get active. She further

indicated her Chapter is helping them resubmit their incorporation paperwork.

I. Sergeant-at-Arms - Danny Thompson (8/8/14)

a. Language for minimum standards – Danny went over the Animal Control language

and that his committee is working on revising the language in our legislation which

will be modeled after F.A.C.A. Danny advised if stuff comes in from his committee

that is different he will get that to the Board as it comes in. Once the language is

rewritten he will have it sent out to the Board for review. Discussion took place on

language change over time, Danny explained the language has been tweaked over the

years to gain support dependent on who is in office. Marilyn advised this is an

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election year, and Danny went over a list of candidates they are expecting support

from on our bill. Danny stated they had one other item come up referencing a Mobile

Home Park legislation from a few years ago. Danny stated we were asked for support

to bring this back up and possibly support making a few changes in the legislation to

support Code Enforcement.

J. Secretary – Lori Troxel (8/8/14)

a. Document Retention Process/Program – Lori stated the document retention process

will be an ongoing project for every secretary. She then went over the file system

established on the F.A.C.E. secretary computer for document retention. Each

committee and Board member has a folder on the computer and that some items have

come in from last year’s committees and are already available for future use. Lori

explained this process is designed to ensure each year the elected Board member is

provided with the information from the previous year. This should promote a smooth

transition year to year. This will also hopefully cut down on lost or dropped projects

from the last year.

b. Current Projects Update – Lori explained she has been using the Adobe Acrobat X

program to update the Board manual pdf binder file she created last year. She hopes

to create what is called a pdf portfolio. This will essentially break the pdf binder file

up into separate files which will then be combined separately into one pdf portfolio.

Hyperlinks will then be added to areas within the documents for quick access to

sections the user came to the document for.

Lori also stated she has begun working on the minutes book she advised at our last

meeting will be this year’s new project. She stated all the minutes from the last

twenty five years have been compiled and are now ready to be incorporated into one

document. She explained her vision of what the minute’s book will accomplish for

the Board. The minute’s book will combine all the minutes from previous years with

the motions and policies file. Once they are combined each motion will be 13

hyperlinked to the section of minutes where the motion was discussed in order for an

accurate interpretation or reason for the motion, if clarification is ever required during

future reference and research.

Lori advised the Board that during the incorporation of minutes she found a whole

year of minutes are missing. She stated there are documents recorded for that year but

those documents are committee minutes and not Board minutes. She explained she

has two sets of tapes for two meetings but they are not on paper. Bob explained we

are not subject to public records laws and to make a note that we have no hard copies

for this year but we have tape recordings for these meetings. Bob also advised these

tapes need to be kept for anyone wishing to review them, until such time as they

deteriorate beyond use.

K. Immediate Past President – Michael Titmuss (8/8/14)

a. Nomination Committee Update – Mike advised he sent out a nomination committee

request email to all the past presidents for nominations for upcoming available Board

seats. Mike requested the Board to consider running for other positions in order to

ensure we have replacements, and to start looking at individuals on your committees

to groom for the seats.

b. Administrative Contract Evaluation Committee Update – Mike updated the Board

on his subcommittee meeting and they are at the information gathering point in order

to provide the Board with a PowerPoint presentation to review services current and

potential services we may need in the future. He stated they got a good start and will

continue to move forward.

Motion to recesses meeting at 5:26 PM on August 8, 2014

Danny Thompson Second: Michael Titmuss

Motion carried unanimously

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Meeting reconvened at 8:31 AM on August 9, 2014 (Meeting content was Item 8 Reports F 1st

Vice, G. 2nd Vice, and Items 9 Old Business and 10 New Business)

Roll Call

President, R. Sam Sullivan

1st Vice President, Cindy Drake

2nd Vice President, Joanne Naumann (Excused)

3rd Vice President, Leslie Banta

Sergeant-at-Arms, Danny Thompson

Treasurer, James Acosta

Secretary, Lori Troxel

Immediate Past President, Michael Titmuss

Also present: Marilyn Crotty, IOG Donna Wisniewski- Historian

9. Old Business – James Acosta advised that yesterday we discussed the entertainment issues and

whether or not the Distinguished Men of Brass had been properly paid. James indicated he

located the information and found the receipt came in and was paid under the photography so the

payment was placed in the miscellaneous column reiterating the need to mark the receipts

properly. Mike wanted to make sure we all got the story that was emailed yesterday, some of the

Board members indicated they already read it and felt it was very compelling. Sam reminded the

Board to review the story and get back with him on submittal so we can meet the deadline.

Marilyn discussed the InterFace deadline and wanted to make sure everyone turned in their

article.

10. New Business

A. NAMFS Conference, September 3-5, 2014 – Lori explained she was asked to present a

breakout session at their conference on the Decontamination of Illegal Manufacturing

Sites and wanted to know if any of the other Board members wanted to join her. She

indicated this is a good opportunity to meet other organizations in order to network and

possibly solicit sponsors/exhibitors for our own conference in 2015. A short discussion 15

on what NAMFS is about and who attends this conference. Lori advised it is being held

in Orlando and that her presentation is 45 minutes to an hour. Lori explained the different

vendors that participate in their conference. Mike Titmuss indicated he will check his

schedule and see if he will be able to attend this with Lori.

Motion to recesses meeting at 10:19 AM on August 9, 2014

James Acosta Second: Cindy Drake

Motion carried unanimously

The next meeting dates will be December 12th and 13th, 2014; Location to be determined.

Attest: Approved:

Florida Association of Code Enforcement

_____________________ ____________________

Respectfully submitted by R. Sam Sullivan, President

Lori L. Troxel, Secretary

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