SWVEA Annual Meeting Review

Well, the annual meeting has come and gone. There was a decent group there. Could have been more but I don't think that the officers have made the members feel very welcome. They never visit other schools or programs. But I hope that will change.

I asked if any of the members present had received the proposed budget prior to the meeting as is called for in the constitution. Nobody had received it. The excuse was that it just hadn't been done in recent years. Many budget lines were questioned but it was difficult to understand the budget because it was hand written and there was no information on what was budgeted last year and what was actually spent. My strong sentiment is that the Negotiations Committee members certainly need to be given a stipend much higher than $175 a year.

I also asked if the yearly audit had been done as is called for in the constitution. The claim was that it was being worked on. There was no information on who was doing the audit. I find that this is hard to believe because there hasn't been an audit done in at least six years. Where is our money going??????

I was very relieved to hear that some (only some) of the Unit Representatives ran a proper vote. They ensured that only Association members voted and that the ballots were securely kept. That is not the case in all organizations and the EEE people and Plus/Step didn't get to vote at all.