Our PA Public Purchasing Association (PAPPA) Chapter meeting, hosted by Bucks County at The First Service Union Bank in Doylestown PA was called to order by Chapter President Mary Ann Ramey at 10:15 am.

Attending were Mary Ann Ramey, Whitehall Township; Steve Suder, DRPA; Maureen McIlvaine and Bill Lyle, Bucks County; George Nader and Ann Wertman, Lehigh County; Christine Parnau, Northampton County, Scott Brodt, Diane McKenzie and Angela Marino, City of Allentown; Lenore Horos, South Whitehall Township; Price Morris, Lancaster City Housing Authority; Barry Hitchcock and Kelly Laubach, Lancaster County.

Minutes from our July 23, 2001 meeting were read. Members were asked if there were any changes, additions or deletions to be made to the 7-23-01 minutes. The following changes were made to 7-23-01 minutes:

Minutes:

Add as last sentence: "It was also agreed that the minutes would continue to be read at the meetings."

Committee Reports:

Awards committee: Add as last sentence "Mary Ann indicated that she has some new information from NIGP on awards that she will e-mail to Maureen, Barry, Mary Jo and Price."

Financial: Remove the double HE and change second sentence to read, "...report that he prepared under the Strategic Plan. Change last two sentences to read, "George Nader said that if it becomes a problem for any member the chapter should either reimburse the agency or pay for the expense up front. As long as your employer doesn't have a problem, we will leave things as they are.

Membership committee: Change in second sentence the ne to new. Add as last sentence: There are three(3) new members currently in the works.

Operations Guide: Change second sentence to read, "Diane is working on changes required by the Strategic Plan and will include in the Guide. Add as fourth sentence, "Diane will e-mail suggested changes within a week. These changes must be submitted within two-weeks before it can be voted on. It will go to the board by the end of August to vote on.

Strategic Planning committee: Delete first two sentences. Change third sentence to read, "Scott Brodt submitted his 'Financial Analysis' report for the last few years to the committee to accept and approve at their next committee meeting." Change the fourth sentence to read, "This report was part of the Strategic Plan." Change the seventh sentence to read, "Mary Ann stated that this cannot be done until the final 'Job Duties and Responsibilities' has been approved and revised in the Operations Guide." Add as last sentence, "It was also agreed that Marketing and Membership are separate committees."

Old Business:

State Conference: Change "hel" to "held" in first sentence.

A Motion to approve the July 23, 2001 meeting minutes as amended by above changes was made by George Nader, second by Chris Parnau., and those present approved it.

Minutes from our September 21, 2001 Joint meeting were read. Members were asked if there were any changes, additions or deletions to be made to the 9-21-01 minutes. A Motion to approve the September 21, 2001 meeting minutes as read was made by Price, second by Maureen, and all those present approved.

Treasurer's Report - Scott Brodt submitted September and October 2001Treasurer's report for approval. Bill made a motion to approve the September and October Treasurer's Report as presented, second by Maureen, and those present approved it.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Awards - Maureen McIlvaine chairs this committee. No report.

By-laws - Diane McKenize chairs this committee. Sent out changes to members. Changes were underlined and deletions were xxxxx out. Discussed some minor changes - Under Finance section on everything that is underlined, leave last and first sentence in and take out everything in between. Under awards sections page 4, Delete the 'Public' from both titles. Based upon these revisions a motion was made by Bill to approve changes with a second by Price and all those present agreed. 

Education - Price Morris chairs this committee. E-mailed out a survey. He has received some responses and is still waiting for more. Price will e-mail everyone again on the survey to get some more responses. He will then compile a report on the Survey and come out with a list of classes in December 2001.

Financial - Scott Brodt chairs this committee. Scott will check on liability insurance and find our paperwork from a 1999 payment we made for insurance. Scott is unsure on 'Budget' and what to do. Mary Ann will bring this up later to discuss. Scott asked on reimbursements that are submitted to him, if we need a procedure to pay these receipts or prior approval. It was stated that all expenditures need to be approved at the board meeting. As long as they are approved at board meeting, this is the only prior approval needed to get reimbursement. Credit Cards: Approved at Board meeting and applications signed. We will get two cards, one for Scott and one for Maryann. Checking Account: Changed to an interest bearing account that was approved at the board meeting. Expenses: Judy Coles' Ohio forum expenses in the amount of $225.60 was approved at the board meeting. Dues Invoices: Scott asked when these should be sent out for the 2002 calendar year. He suggested the first week in December. Maureen stated that as long as the invoice states that this is for 'January 2002 to December 2002 dues'.

Legislative - Ann Wertman chairs this committee. Ann had available for handouts some Bill's that are still at committee. No action yet on these bills.

Liason with Chapters - Price Morris reported that the 'Delaware NIGP Region I Conference' was held on October 25, 2001. Price attended and said everything went well. Price reported that it looks like the Region I conference in 2002 will be held in Maryland.

Liason with NIGP - Stan Richart chairs this committee. Stan absent - no report.

Library - No longer a library committee. This is now part of the Operations Guide. 

Marketing - There is no news to report as of yet.

Membership - Mary Jo Reed chairs this committee. Mary Jo absent so Mary Ann reported for her. There was only one membership application sent out.

Newsletter - Mary Ann Ramey chairs this committee. Mary Ann reported she has made no progress with this, if you have any articles you would like to contribute to the newsletter contact her.

Ohio Forum - Mary Ann reported that she has not gotten anything together yet. Maybe she can get together a summary newsletter of the year recapping the year and get it out in January 2002. If anyone has any ideas, please get them to Mary Ann.

Operations Guide - Diane McKenzie chairs this committee. Diane reported that the Job Duties and Responsibilities were approved at the Board meeting. A yearly guide will be sent out once a year as well as a letter form Mary Ann on the committees and commitments from members on duties. Mary Ann discussed a letter that she prepared requesting commitments from members on the committees. She will send out requesting responses back from members.

Stategic Planning - Nothing to report.

Web-site - Price Morris and Kevin Sharp are in charge of PAPPA'S web-site. Price reported nothing new to web-site at this time. If anyone has any problems with the links, please contact the webmaster.

OLD BUSINESS:

Fed Tax ID: Discussed at Board, still don't have yet.

PA ID: Discussed at Board, still don't have yet.

Ohio Conference: Reference manual was given out on all the classes that were at the 2001 Forum.

Mary Ann has a copy if anyone is interested in looking at.

Letter on Job Descriptions: Mary Ann discussed this under Operations Guide.

State Conference: A lot of new state contracts out. See the PA web site to get a list or copy of a state contract. Also, see Mary Ann's e-mail of 10-25-01 to members on these contracts. US Communities contracts are only for counties.

L3P: There conference was held on 9-13-01 in State College. There is nothing in writing yet for the local municipalities to use the 'US Communities' contracts. L3P has joined NIGP. L3P plans on a regional conference rather than just the state one, when information is available on this, it will be sent out. Contact Hope Potter for more information. 

Region I conference: Was discussed earlier.

Reminders: Committee reports are due two-weeks prior to General meetings.

CMR: Chapter Membership Rep Program - used to facilitate communication between Chapter and National and assist in recruiting new NIGP members.

NEW BUSINESS:

Annual Conference Committee: Mary Ann asked if anyone is interested in having a PAPPA annual conference. Mary Ann suggested a two or two-and-a-half day conference. Some discussion but not too much interest. Mary Ann will put out a letter to the membership on any suggestions or ideas to have an annual conference.

Committee Chairs Budget: Chairs need to submit a budget to Scott for 2002 year. Chairs are to review the Financial Report that Scott submitted. Scott will send his Financial report to Committee Chairs by the first week of December with a two-week deadline.

LUNCH:

Broke for lunch at 12:05 pm.

SPEAKER:

Mr. Kurt Fenstermacher, Lehigh County's Solid Waste & Recycling Manager/Topic: Fluorescent 

NEW BUSINESS (continued):

Oregon's 2002 Forum: Sent us a letter requesting funds for the 2002 forum. The chapter decided to table the request for now. If when the Forum gets closer and Oregon asks for money again because they are in dire need of money, we will reconsider.

Purchasing Month: March 2002 is Purchasing Month. Mary Ann is looking for someone to coordinate passing out information to promote Public Purchasing. Tabled until next meeting.

2002 MEETING SCHEDULE:

January 28, 2002 - City of Allentown
March 18, 2002 - Lehigh County
May 20, 2002 - Lancaster County
July 22, 2002 - South Whitehall Township
September 23, 2002 - Whitehall Township
November 18, 2002 - Bucks County or City of Reading

Question: Barry asked if anyone has heard of a contract for vehicles for the City of Harrisburg. No one at the meeting had. George asked if anyone was using the State Contract for heating oil with Petroleum Traders. They are adding a NORA (National Oilheat Research) fee on their invoices. The State says we do not have to pay this fee because it was not included in their state bid response.

George Nader made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Second by Chris and all those present approved.