Board of Directors Meeting
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| Members present: |
Catherine L. Blakley |
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| Members absent: |
Danita Francis Randy Dittmann |
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| Staff present: |
Jerry Hemry Trudy Pope |
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| Guests present: |
Owen L. Harper Kimes Branning Barry Schmulbach |
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Welcome: Catherine welcomed the members and guests, and the meeting was called to order at 1:26 pm. |
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| Minutes: The minutes were presented. | |
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Motion: Approve minutes as presented. The motion was made and seconded. Discussion: None Vote: Passed |
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Past President's Report: No report |
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President Elect's Report: — The Owners/Managers Meeting went well. We had an excellent turnout at the Legislative Reception (33 Representatives, 15 Senators and Lt Governor Jari Askins). The 2009 OLTA Annual convention will be held in mid April at the Skirvin Plaza in Oklahoma City. |
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Vice President's Report: No report |
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Treasurer's Report: The Treasurer's report was presented. |
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Motion: Approve report as presented. The motion was made and seconded. Discussion: None Vote: Passed Applications for two new Active members were presented: (1) Pioneer Abstract & Title in Harper County and (2) Old Republic National Title Insurance Company. Motion: Approve new member applications as presented. The motion was made and seconded. Discussion: None Vote: Passed |
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General Counsel's Report: No report |
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Executive Secretary's Report: — There are 121 registered for convention (that number includes CE only) and 28 registered to play golf. The DVDs for both the Basic Closing 101 and Advanced Closing schools are now available. — Leah Scoltz is the new CE coordinator at the Oklahoma Insurance Department. |
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Committee Reports: → Education — There is an updated affidavit to be used with DVD's CE. — The Basic Closing 101 School in Tulsa had a low turnout, but a DVD was made. In the future, the live school wonąt provide CE credits, but anyone wanting the education or the hours can rent the DVD. — 50 attended the Basic Abstractors School last week. 45 took the text (a new test and the first test offered by the Oklahoma Abstractors Board) with 41 passing. — There will be 12 hrs of CE available up at the convention. → Public Relations — We are continuing to work on the 101 Reasons (we are up to 90) and are continuing to deliver them to the legislators weekly. → Membership — At the suggestion of Barry Schmulbach, the Membership Committee will look at providing paid members with a certificate, suitable for framing. We discontinued providing plaques and strips for the plaques, but it was felt something should be provided that they can display to show they are a member of OLTA. Updated membership applications will be added to website. → Legislative — Chaney discussed the status of several bills that we have been tracking this session. Thursday April 3rd is the deadline for reporting House bills from Senate committees and the 17th is the deadline for reporting Senate bills from House committees. → Research — No report. → Long Range Planning — Catherine brought two items to be added to the Retention List. The board decided that vendor contracts and documents will be kept 10 years past their expiration. Legal proceedings will be kept 10 years. The need for backups of electronic data maintained by the Treasurer and Executive Secretary was discussed. It was decided that monthly backups are necessary. Each individual will backup their data to a flash drive and bring the backup to the monthly Board meeting. The current backups will be stored offsite by the President. The Treasurer and Executive Secretary will be given replacement drives to use for the next backup. Chaney will take care of purchasing four flash drives. → Uniformity Committee — There are no updates since the March membership letter. Emergency rules for Chapters 1 and 20 have been submitted to the Governor for approval. Chapter 10 emergency rules were previously approved. The OAB will work with the OLTA Uniformity Committee on developing permanent rules later this year. President's Report: — Several convention items were discussed. Laura and John will hand out door prize tickets on Thursday. Chaney, Sue Ann and Karen will do so on Friday. Mary Ann will host Nicole Hoff and Karen will host David Drake. — Catherine indicated that she had responded to a survey sent by Anne Anastasi of ALTA asking if our association would be interested in a national Professional Designation program. Catherine responded yes. — Catherine brought up an issue raised by a member. The member, and others, feels that the nominating process is inequitable. The Nominating Committee, made up of only past presidents, nominates a slate. Any other nominations require signatures by 5 voting members, no two of which can be from the same county. A review of the current Nominating Committee showed that no two were from the same county. It was decided that all 5 members of the Nominating Committee would also need to sign their report. — There is still no replacement for James Cox at ALTA. Catherine followed-up again with Ed Miller to find out who would be working with us. He said there was no one at this time. He did indicate he would contact Anne Anastasi as they have done an education program for their insurance department. He will also check on the status of the recent ALTA Regulatory Survey update and find out who in Oklahoma has a subscription. Anne called. They have developed a 2-hour class covering a file step by step through search, exam and into curative work. She would be happy to share the outline or even come out, as a member of the ALTA Board of Governors, to assist us. — We have had a request for the Abstractors Handbook Study Guide. We may agree to sell the guide for $15 if emailed and $25 if mailed. However, since it was designed specifically for the Abstractor's School, and we want to make clear that the Abstractors Handbook is what should be studied to take the abstractor's exam, Mary Ann and Catherine will work on a cover letter to accompany any that are sold. — We finally heard from Jennifer Burchett at the Insurance Department. Rule changes affecting Title would be found in Chapter 1 of the rules with some minor changes in Chapter 25. — Catherine asked if anyone remembered how the current logo was adopted, and if the Garamond font is the official font. No one can remember, as it's been several years. |
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Old Business: — None |
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New Business: None |
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Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 3:51 p.m. The next Board meeting will be during the convention on April 3rd at 4:30 in Suite 1506. Respectfully submitted, John Row, OLTA Secretary |
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