June 22, 2005
Dear Everyone:
Tonight is Letter Night because tomorrow night is ARMA Night. The last one of the fiscal year. After tomorrow, I will no longer be the Treasurer of the Mt Diablo Chapter of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, International.
I’ll be the Vice President.
Yes, we’re still juggling the same group of “usual suspects” around. But this (next) year, we’ll have a new Treasurer and a new Secretary. And, possibly even more important, we’ll actually have a Director of Programs. This is the person who is responsible for finding interesting speakers for the monthly meetings. We haven’t had a Director of Programs in several years. This meant that, at the beginning of the year, each Board member would “volunteer” to find a speaker for a certain month.
We had limited success with this approach, which
accounts for why we had no program, and thus, no dinner meeting, in
December, January and March.
We’re hoping for better luck next year.
Better luck, not only because we have one person dedicated to
locating and coordinating with speakers, but because the
Pacific Region (of which
That should help.
Back in May, I sent out ballots to all 50 Chapter members to vote on the new Board of Directors. 25 came back. That’s a pretty good response rate, considering that one year only about six people responded. And while there is usually only one candidate for a position, someone could decide to start a write-in campaign.
So I realized earlier this evening that I really should actually open the envelopes and make sure the Board we sign in tomorrow night is the right one. 25 empty envelopes later, all Board positions were safe. Only one abstention regarding the Chapter President (and I know who and why, so there’s no problem) so we can go ahead and install the new Board. (Yeah.)
Another aspect of tomorrow night’s meeting is the annual Silent Auction. Chapter members and vendors are asked to donate items to the auction. Company always makes a contribution. In the past, this has taken the form of a pair of $50 earrings. But this year, our new supervisor wanted to “promote” Company (as if anyone wasn’t aware that Company has more employees in the Chapter than any other company); so we settled on promotional items featuring the new company hallmark: Four Quill pens (with hallmark), four insulated coffee “tumblers” (with hallmark) and one leather “pad folio” (with hallmark).
Our soon-to-be-new Director of Programs promised to bring something from her company. And some others may bring things in at the last minute. But for the most part, it has, in the past, fallen on the Chapter Treasurer to acquire items by purchasing them. Last month I officially requested the Board’s approval to spend “up to $150.00 for Auction Items”.
While I am never averse to spending other people’s money on things I’d like to have, this time I decided to let the soon-to-be-new Treasurer have some of the fun. So I gave her a check for half the amount and told her to look for “things you would like, or you think someone else would like.” And be sure to keep all of the receipts.
Normally, I just buy things and put them on my credit card. That way, I get the points. But our new Treasurer is a relatively new employee and may not have the disposable income to be able to spend $75 and then wait to be reimbursed for it.
As for the bidding, you can only bid with “Diablo Dollars”. These are fake money that you earn by participating in the Chapter. Come to a monthly meeting, earn $500. Wear your Chapter Pin, earn an additional $100. Donate something to the Silent Auction, earn $300 or more, depending on the value of the item. Because our supervisor pitched in nearly $100 in promotional merchandise, he gets $800.
Note: The Treasurers, who spend Chapter money on items do not get any Diablo Dollars for those items. However, they are free to donate anything they want. For instance, I bought two $8.00 Company Toy Cars and donated them. Together, they fit into the $10-$40 range, thus earning me another $300.
All through the year, whenever someone gave me something I didn’t particularly want, I’d put it in the “Silent Auction” box. If I bought something that didn’t work out for me, it would either go into the Silent Auction box, or the Community Assistance box, depending on its condition.
Other ways to earn Diablo Dollars are to chair a
committee. Since I
volunteered to be the Nominations Committee, I get extra Dollars for
that. Attending all of the
monthly meetings means bonus Dollars.
Our supervisor gave a presentation at another chapter (in
Last night, I sat down with the computer and worked out all of the bonus Dollars for everyone. Personally, I’m just shy of $5000. I’m pretty sure that’s twice as much as anyone else.
I’m really interested to see what our new Treasurer and the others will bring tomorrow. I may just find something I’ll want to outbid everyone on.
Love, as always,
Pete
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