JULY 2003 MINUTES

July 21, 2003 Minutes

Members in Attendance:

Maureen McIlvaine, Bucks County
Maura Sullivan, Bucks County
Chris Parnau, Northampton County
George Nader, Lehigh County
April Lenhart, Berks County
Mary Ann Ramey, Whitehall Township
Robert Dopira, Montgomery County
Lenore Horos, South Whitehall Township
Pete Navarro, Chester County
Scott Brodt, City of Allentown
Renee Carpenter, Berks County
Diane Cowan, University Area Joint Authority, State College
Stephen Suder, Delaware River Port Authority
Kevin Sharp, City of Reading
Kelly Laubach, Lancaster County
Barry Hitchcock, Lancaster County

Meeting Location: Lehigh County Government Center, Allentown, PA

Meeting Host: George Nader

President George Nader called the meeting to order.

George presented Mary Ann Ramey with a plaque recognizing her for her outstanding dedication and hard work as PAPPA President from 2000-2002.

The Minutes from the May 19th General Meeting were approved with the correction of “downloaded” to “picked up” in the 4th line of the second bullet under “Roundtable Discussions.” Motion to accept the amended minutes was made by Kevin Sharp and seconded by Barry Hitchcock.

George noted the May 19th Minutes from the Board Meeting were approved with the change of “order” to “ordered” under the 4th bullet in Old Business.

Treasurer Chris Parnau distributed her June 5, 2003 and July 5, 2003 Reconciliation Detail Sheets. Chris pointed out that on June 5, 2003, the balance of $12,750.63 was for cleared transactions and the balance of $3,255.07 was for uncleared transactions. On July 5, 2003, the balance of $3,525.39 was for cleared transactions and the balance of $8,161.40 was for uncleared transactions. Maura Sullivan made a motion to approve the June 5, 2003 and July 5, 2003 Reconciliation Summaries; followed with a second by Mary Ann. Chris will modify the report further to include as much transaction detail as possible.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Awards - April Lenhart, Committee Chair, explained the draft Membership Recognition and Achievement Award Programs revised by the Board of Directors. The final programs will be presented for final approval by the Board prior to the next meeting. April also reported that no one has submitted Scholarship, Buyer of the Year or Manager of the Year Award applications; the deadline for submissions is October 1, 2003. Go to the PAPPA website for more information.

Finance - In Committee Chair Judy Cole’s absence, George presented the status of the 501C3 paperwork. Chip Watkins provided information that documents his July 12, 2002 submittal to the IRS, PAPPA’s 501C3 paperwork to be added to the NIPG National’s Group exemption status using the effective date of PAPPA’s incorporation. George will pass this information on to Bill Lund to verify with the IRS and get a 501 letter and send Pennsylvania State Tax Exempt paperwork to the State.

Legislative - In Committee Chair Ann Wertman’s absence, George presented the July 21, 2003 Legislative Report. Barry noted Senate Bill 712 addresses using the Internet for advertising in lieu of using newspapers. Also discussed were House Bill 1684 that includes bidding for private attorney contracts on the Commonwealth level; House Bill 1688 which includes the prohibition of accepting gratuities and Senate Bill 818 which amends the Prevailing Wage Act. Barry offered a special “thank you” to Ann for providing him with revisions to PA Title 62 regarding piggyback information. He noted that Part I of Title 62 does not apply to local governments, but Chapter 19, which is in Part I, implies the piggybacking ability.

Marketing - Mary Ann, Committee Chair, had nothing new to report. Region I Conference updates will be reported under Marketing in the future.

Membership - Steve Suder, Committee Chair, reported that we have two new members: Kim Rockwell from Lycoming County and Kathy Boyd from Penn Hills (the Pittsburgh area). The new member certificate glitches have been fixed and any certificates due to new members will be mailed out soon. Only one dues renewal is outstanding and Steve will contact that member.

Operations Guide - In Committee Chair Diane McKenzie’s absence, George reported that all new members have been sent the Ops Guide. Diane and George have been working on a PDF Format of the Guide so the updated version can be e-mailed to all members. Renee Carpenter asked if the PDF Ops Guide could be uploaded on the web site instead of mailing it out. Kevin will look into it.

ProD - Committee Chair Price Morris was unable to attend. George reported that Price received an 18% response rate on the Education Survey. All members are urged to check their budget and calendars to see if they can attend any of the chapter’s sponsored seminars as follows:

Sept 8-10: Intermediate Public Purchasing, Morgantown, PA

Sept 23-25: Advanced Public Purchasing, Pittsburgh, PA

Oct 6-7: Competitive Sealed Proposals/Negotiations, Morgantown, PA

Oct 22: Bullet-Proofing your RFP’s, Pittsburgh, PA

Nov 3: Contracting for General Construction Services, Morgantown, PA

Nov 10-12: Advanced Public Procurement, Morgantown, PA

Nov 19: How to Process and Evaluate Bids, Pittsburgh, PA

An attempt will be made to schedule a CPPB Review class after the September 8-10th seminar.

Website - Kevin, Committee Chair, reported the website has had approximately 3200 hits. The new Member Spotlight is Hope Potter from L3P. The July 2003 edition of the PAPPA Connection newsletter is also posted.

By-Laws - Diane, Committee Chair, had no update to offer.

Chapter Liaison - George introduced Maura Sullivan, Buyer for Bucks County Purchasing, who will be taking over for Price as the new Chapter Liaison. In Price’s absence, George reported on the progress of the Joint Meeting with the South Jersey, Delaware and PAPPA chapters, approximately 30 people. The members in attendance decided on September 22nd for the meeting to be held on the Spirit of Philadelphia. Price will check on the other chapters’ availability. The lunch cruise boards at 11:30, sails from 12:00 to 2:00 and will cost each member $27.00. Steve will look into whether there will be a meeting room available in his building for either a Board of Directors and/or General Meeting before the joint meeting.

NIGP Liaison - In the absence of Bill Irish, George reported that he has received a draft of the Chapter Mentoring Program from Bill. George will review the draft with Bill before presenting the program to the Board for review.

Newsletter - April reported the July 2003 edition is available on the web featuring Kimberly Sangster from the School District of Philadelphia in the spotlight.

Strategic Plan - George reported that he is still waiting to hear from one committee member and will submit his updates to the committee when he receives this missing information.

Region 1 Conference - Mary Ann, Committee Chair, reported that the sub-committees have been established. The committee is looking at holding the conference in mid-May 2004, using a half-day, full-day, half-day format with possibly a one-day seminar to follow immediately. The first half-day would be a “Pennsylvania Day” with information geared toward Pennsylvania agencies. Heading the speakers “wish list” are Governor Rendell and State Deputy Procurement Secretary Yarkin. The site sub-committee is working on hotel and conference facilities with proposals due to them by July 31, 2003. Mary Ann is still looking for volunteers to help out; please contact her if you are interested.

OLD BUSINESS:

The PAPPA Connection has yet to appear in the L3P newsletter as was promised. George will check with Hope Potter to see when this will happen.

All PAPPA shirts have been received and distributed.

George learned from Stan Richart that the Department of General Services has hired a consultant to review their contracts prior to being bid. The results of this study will take up to six months. Renee asked if the chapter has ever gotten involved in lobbying initiatives with L3P so that our concerns can be addressed with the Legislators. Bill Irish had talked about this at one point and Renee will contact Bill for more information.

George again asked Stan about the State hosting a Chapter meeting. There is nothing new to report at this time.

Barry reported his surplus items recently circulated with the Chapter minutes are still available. He had received one request for information that unfortunately did not result in a sale of the goods.

NEW BUSINESS:

Steve has chapter pins for the Nashville Forum and will distribute them there. Please contact Steve if you will be attending the Forum so that he will have a sufficient supply.

The PAPPA Educational Seminar Schedule has been put in NAPM’s Pittsburgh edition of “The Purchaser.”

At the July Chapter meeting the question was asked if we ever have “fun” get-togethers. George asked for volunteers to organize such an event. Maura and Renee volunteered to help, but no one came forward to lead the effort. Members interested in helping or leading this effort should contact George.

George recently asked if any Forum participants were interested in running a PAPPA table at the Share Fare. Receiving no volunteers, he told National that PAPPA would not be participating this year.

George received a suggestion from Tom Youngs (Allegheny County) about holding a joint meeting with NAPM (now ISM) in the Reading area. He will get the ISM contact and ask Renee to follow through with them to see if a joint meeting is of interest.

Brochures for the National Forum, August 16-20 in Nashville, Tennessee, were available at the meeting. It was noted that it is not too late to register if you find you are able to attend.

The following additional handouts were also available. Interested members should contact Ann Wertman for copies.

*Procurement Professional
*Chapter Networker
*May Pulse Poll Identified Most Critical Challenges
*Webinar on “Procurement Cards: the Preferred Method of Payment”
*Purchasing From International Suppliers – June Pulse Poll
*Sicommnet and Kenneth Tollefson
*NIGP Press Releases:

- P-Cards are Latest Offering from US Communities
- UPPCC Adopts Examination Cancellation Policy
- 17 NIGP Chapters Contribute to LEAP Program
- NIGP Announces On-Line Courses
- Great Time to License the NIGP Code
- Silent Auction at 2003 Forum to Support LES Foundation
- UPPCC Seeks Fully Certified Agencies
- Top Level Seminars Offered Through the Executive Leadership Series
- Outstanding Agency Accreditation Achievement Award Networking Session
- Buffington Elected to NIGP Board in 2004
- Central Gulf Coast Becomes NIGP’s Newest Chapter

George announced that Kevin Sharp has received his CPPB Certification and offered congratulations on behalf of the Chapter.

The meeting was now opened to “Round Table” and included discussion as follows:

Renee announced that Berks County has marble for sale. For additional information go to their website at www.berks.co.pa.us.

Maureen announced that Bucks County has surplus #9 envelopes for sale. Contact Maureen if interested.

Renee asked if anyone has an easy way to find updates on a state contract without having to read through all the change orders. Maura suggested opening the original document and clicking on the binoculars to search the entire file.

Renee asked if anyone buys books exempt from the bidding process. After discussion, some agencies do but they still get quotes. George said Waldenbooks has given them discounted pricing.

George asked how everyone buys Natural Gas that is excluded from bidding as an energy source. Some agencies use their regulated service provider; Barry did an RFQ.

George asked if anyone has heard of the State’s Energy Saving’s Contract. Barry stated this is a form of an ITQ contract and that 17 companies are certified by the state to provide “green” energy and will offer quotes and negotiate your contract. The vendor will come in and evaluate your utilities and usage and recommend changes to save energy. While the selected vendor may purchase supplies and install them; you will only pay the vendor with the savings you realize.

Our speaker for the day was unable to attend.

Maura made a motion to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Kevin.

NOTE: reports or attachments referred to and not included with these minutes may be obtained by contacting the Secretary.