Attending were:   Mary Ann Ramey, Whitehall Township; Maureen McIlvaine, Bucks County; George Nader and Ann Wertman, Lehigh County; Bill Irish and Christine Parnau, Northampton County, Scott Brodt, Diane McKenzie and Angela Marino, City of Allentown;  Barry Hitchcock and Kelly Laubach, Lancaster County; Stephen Suder, Delaware River Port Authority; Pete Navarro, County of Chester; Price Morris, Lancaster City Housing Authority.

Minutes from our January 28, 2002 meeting were read by Secretary.  Members were asked if there were any changes, additions or deletions to be made to the 1-28-02 minutes. 

- Under members attending: Change Mary Jo Reed to City of Bethlehem.

A Motion to approve the January 28, 2002 meeting minutes as amended by above changes was made by Bill Irish, second by Price Morris, and all those present approved.  A note was made that as soon as prior minutes are changed and have been approved, they may get put on the Web-site.

Treasurer’s Report: Scott Brodt submitted January, February and March 2002 to date for approval.  As of March 18, 2002, Checking account balance is $12,097.52.  Maureen made a motion to approve the January, February and March to date Treasurer’s Report as presented, second by George, and all  those present approved.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Awards committee - Maureen McIlvaine chairs this committee.  Application for ‘Small Chapter of the Year’ was presented and discussed at the Board meeting.  Maureen will be contacting members on Chapter buyer of the Year.

By-laws - Diane McKenize chairs this committee.  Nothing new to report.

Education - Price Morris chairs this committee.  All 2002 PAPPA sponsored classes are listed on the web-site.   Price scheduled two(2) Core classes and four(4) Technical classes.   So far four(4) have registered for the RFP class in May.  We need twenty(20) to hold a class.  Tom Youngs from Allegheny County is interested in holding an Intermediate class in the Fall.  Mary Ann made a motion to give each PAPPA member $50 on a NIGP course that PAPPA is sponsoring.  Need to come up with a voucher form for $50 credit.  Mary Ann and Price will work on this voucher and get back to Scott.

Financial - Scott Brodt chairs this committee.  Scott now has approval from the Board to issue the two(2) credit cards that were obtained.  The board approved up to $200 can be spent to obtain/buy some sort-of Financial/Bookkeeping Software package for the Treasurer to use.  We need some volunteers for the Financial committee.

Legislative - Ann Wertman chairs this committee.   Ann handed out an updated ‘ PAPPA Legislative Report’ that she prepared of all the current bills in the works as of 3-7-2002.  Ann handed out copies of some Bills in the House Senate for distribution to any members interested.  Maureen submitted copies of the most recent ‘PA Local Government Commission newsletters’ on acts signed into law by the governor.  Bill Irish stressed the importance of continuing to obtain all of the above information.

Liaison with Chapters - Price Morris: ‘Region I’ conference will be held in Atlantic City and hosted by Southern New Jersey.  Will be sometime in September of 2002.  Bill Irish will contact Maryland to see if in fact they will host the 2003 conference.  Hope Potter sent an e-mail (see copy) on the ‘L3P Conference’ to be held on November 6, 7 and 8 of 2002.

Liaison with NIGP - Bill Irish will now chair this committee with the help of Chris Parnau.  Stan will no longer  chair this committee.

Membership -  Mary Jo Reed chairs this committee.  In Mary Jo’s absence, Mary Ann reported that there have been three(3) new applications sent in of which have not been approved yet.  As soon as applicants have paid their dues, the new members information will be forwarded to members.

Marketing committee - No chair on this committee.  Need volunteers on this committee, contact MaryAnn.

Newsletter committee - Mary Ann chairs this committee.  Mary Ann reported she has made no progress with this.  She would like to start something later on in the year to possibly have a newsletter ready for distribution in December.  If you have any articles you would like to contribute to the newsletter contact her.

Operations Guide committee - Diane McKenzie chairs this committee.  Diane did not get a chance to mail copies to those members that were not present in January’s meeting.  Diane did distribute some better copies that didn’t come clear on last handout.

Strategic Planning committee - Mary Ann chairs this committee.  Mary Ann will have a separate meeting because she did not have a chance to hold this meeting today as planned.  She will discuss with committee members as to a date in the next couple of weeks to meet and discuss issues.  Mary Ann needs signed forms back from officers and committee chairs and members.  Mary Ann needs to discuss at next Strategic Plan meeting who is exactly the chair and member on each of the committees.

Web-site - Price Morris and Kevin Sharp are in charge of PAPPA'S web-site.  Currently to date we have had a littler over 1300 visitors to the site since we have been on in March of 2001.  Purchasing Month is now on our web-site as well as a new member spotlight that changes from month-to-month.

LUNCH: Broke for lunch at 12:30pm to 1:30pm.

SPEAKER: At 1:30pm. Mr. William B. Irish, CPPO, CPM, Purchasing Agent for Northampton County.  The Topic: ‘Emotional Intelligence’.

OLD BUSINESS:

PA Tax Exemption ID/501/50C3:  Discussed at Board and George gave Scott the name of an attorney in Allentown to contact.  Scott will make arrangements to set-up an appointment with this attorney to discuss our tax issues.

PAPPA Officer/Committee Member Responsibilities/Duty Commitment: Letter sent by Mary Ann.  Results not yet complied by Mary Ann.  Please submit to Mary Ann if you haven’t already done so.  Mary Ann will compile this information and get a current list out to all PAPPA members as to who is on what committee.

Annual Conference committee: We will change to a ‘2003 Region 1 Conference’ of which will be held in September or October of 2003.  We will not hold an ‘Annual Conference’ because no one has the time right now to do this and we can’t get a chair for this committee.  Mary Ann volunteered to chair the committee on the ‘2003 Region 1 Conference’ and is looking for some volunteers to become members.

Purchasing Month: Diane received no information from Mary Ann.  Nothing has been done but Mary Ann would like this to become part of the Marketing committee.

2002 Budget Summary: Scott could not present because this was tabled at the Board Meeting until the Strategic Planning Committee can meet.

US Communities Contract: See Bill Irish if you would like information on this.

PAPPA shirts: MaryJo sent some samples of sizes for members to try on.  We will get final cost from Mary Jo and Diane will sent out e-mail as to the cost of shirt and where to send your orders to.

NIGP Forum: Will be held in Portland Oregon.  The end of March is the cut-off for early registration.  George and Maureen discussed Hotel options and the tours available (Gorge Tour, West Coast Tour, etc.).

Committee reports: Reminder that committee reports are due two(2) weeks prior to general meeting.

Ohio Forum Committee: George made a motion to disband this committee, second by Bill and all present approved.

NIGP e-mail: Maureen has a copy of NIGP’s ‘Management Operations Guide/Tips and Guidelines for Finance and Audit’ if anyone is interested.

NEW BUSINESS:

Volunteers: Volunteers needed for Finance and Marketing committees in both a chair person and members.  It was suggested to wait until we get lists from Mary Ann on who actually chairs each committee and its members.  George did volunteer to be the chair on the Finance Committee.  Mary Ann will ask members for volunteers after she distributes current list by the next general meeting.

NIGP Information:

- NIGP’s 4th Annual Diversity Essay Contest: Electronics submissions are due by May 31, 2002.

- Recognizing Buyer and Manager - Maureen taking care of this.

- Convention Cancellation Insurance - Per George you don’t need.

- 2001 PA NIGP Members handout.

L3P updates: See handout from Hope Potter.

Recertification: Do NIGP recert classes qualify for re-certs of CPM’s?  Bill Irish doesn’t think so - George has a message with Cindy Cooksey who will check with Rick Grimm.

Next meeting is May 20, hosted by Lancaster.

Maureen made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 12:20PM, Second by Price and all those present approved.