Oklahoma Council of the Blind
Board Meeting
November 22, 2003
 
President Randy Howard called the meeting 
to order at 9:00 AM. This meeting was 
conducted through a teleconference. A 
quorum was established with the following 
board Members present: Vicky Golightly, 
Jeannie Meyer, Julie Brantley, Elaine Boykin,
Joe Fallin, Judy Hansen, Tommy Robertson, 
Also attending, Cathy Holloway, Rob Brown, 
Ray Jones and Jean Jones.
 
Paul Miller joined later in the meeting.
 
Minutes were approved as distributed by 
Secretary, Elaine Boykin
 
Treasurer’s report was approved as 
distributed by Treasurer, Paul Miller.
 
Presidents Report: President Howard 
stated that he has been busy determining the 
chairs for various committees. He has 
selected Jeri Cooper to chair the convention 
committee and is working with her and the 
Tulsa Chamber to select a hotel. They are 
very pleased that the Tulsa Chamber wants 
to be involved in our convention activities.
 
The Leroy Saunders Award committee will 
be chaired by Marilyn Sanders. Randy has 
asked her to put together some guidelines for
 this award, which had been approved during 
the 2002 convention. She will select 
members of this committee as needed.
 
Technology Committee: They are still 
being over seen by Roger and Jeannie. 
Robert Vaughn will be responsible for the 
website. Jeannie stated that they will be 
looking at possible ways to reorganize the 
site.
 
Randy Howard has talked with Vicky Golightly 
about developing a committee to deal with the
 ever ending battle of the "Free Matter for the 
Blind" rules and regulations.
 
Randy is still considering who will be 
appointed to chair the Legislative committee.
 
DRS Committee will continue to be Ray 
Jones, Tommy Robertson and Joe Fallin.
 
New Business: The board discussed the 
FY2003-2004 proposed budget, which has 
been sent to board members and read on this
 date by Julie. Randy stated that some of the
 budget items, such as the car donations are 
a predicted amount. Other items such as the 
web site are known figures. The phone which 
is running around 200 a year is pretty stable. 
 The amount of income generated is a serious 
issue that we really need to look at. Jean 
requested that funds be developed for the 
legislative line items. Randy stated that some 
of these funds will come from the crossover 
from other line items such as printing, 
postage and the presidents discretionary. 
Vicky moved, Judy seconded and the board 
approved that the presidents discretionary 
line item be increased to 750.00. Vicky 
moved, Elaine seconded and the board 
approved to accept the FY 2003-2004 
budget.
 
Randy then stated that he would like to 
schedule the upcoming 2004 OCB board 
meetings. They are as follows:
 
Saturday, March 27, 2004, Tulsa
 
Saturday, June 5, 2004, OLBPH OKC
 
The final meeting will occur two weeks before 
the convention and will probably be a 
conference call. The March meeting is being 
moved to March 27th in order to coincide with 
the upcoming fundraiser that the Tulsa 
chapter is promoting. Ray Price will be 
performing and the proceeds will be going to 
the Education Services Department of the 
Oklahoma Library for the Blind. Randy stated 
that he thinks there will be a reception in 
order to meet with Ray Price and then attend 
the show. Ray Jones stated that the OCB 
convention committee needs to be informed 
that the BEP training conference has been 
scheduled for September 10-11.
 
Discussion was held concerning OCB taking 
out an advertisement in the program that is 
being developed for the Ray Price show. 
Vicky moved, Tommy seconded and the 
board approved that OCB take out a 100.00 
ad.
 
Judy asked the board to consider the 
possibility of applying for a grant from ACB. 
Randy will have the membership committee 
explore this possibility and put a figure 
together. Judy stated that she would be more 
than happy to assist with this.
 
Vicky informed the board that there was an 
inquiry from a visually impaired consumer. 
This concerns obtaining a state ID and the 
primary and secondary information that is 
required. She stated that the Oklahoma 
Department of Safety will not accept another 
states Identification license as one of these 
forms of Identification. This individual was 
wondering if OCB might have information as 
to the reason for this mandate. Joe stated 
that it is probably a regulatory issue and that 
the statue does not address this. It is 
possible that all states may not do the state 
ID. He said that we probably will need to talk 
with the Dept of Safety to find out why this is 
being done. Randy asked Jeanne if she will 
see if there is anything out on the internet 
concerning this matter. He asked Vicky to 
contact this individual to say that OCB will 
check in to the reason for this action. Jean 
asked that OCB develop a letter to send to 
the Commissioner of Public Safety inquiring 
about this matter. Randy will write the letter 
and provide it to the secretary for mailing.
 
Discussion was then held concerning the 
recent dispute about a car that was donated 
in OCB's name. It appears that a car was 
donated in April and beginning in September 
the individual that donated the car was 
informed that it was impounded and would be 
sold to cover the impound fees. He then 
received a letter from the Oklahoma City 
police department stating that since he was 
the last owner they were informing him that 
the car had been involved in a hit-and-run 
accident. He wanted us to be aware of this 
as we might have some involvement as our 
name is on the donation. Randy stated that 
the car was sold in May which absolves OCB 
of any responsibility. It appears that who ever 
bought the car at auction did not change the 
title. That information was provided to the 
OKC Police Department.
 
Next discussion was held on the possibility of 
developing board retreats. It appears that 
some ACB affiliates are developing 
teambuilding activities among the board 
through retreats. They use this activity to 
develop their strategic plan to determine the 
future of their organization. Randy stated that 
It is best to bring in an outside individual to 
facilitate this retreat which will entail a certain 
cost to this activity. It was also pointed out 
that we would probably have additional cost 
as we would need clerical help before and 
after to deal with the paperwork generated 
through this. Randy will check to see if this 
can be done through working with other affiliates. 
 
Old Business: None at this time
 
Randy then called for committee reports:
 
DRS report: Ray stated that Joe is working 
with the Department of Rehabilitation 
Services. He stated that they have selected 
Mark Kinnison as the new Field Coordinator. 
At this point it appears that the program 
manager’s position for the BEP program has 
not been announced. The BEP program is 
taking a hard look at their internal and 
external issues. He stated that we are still 
having the continuing battle of various 
facilities wanting to take over their own 
vending sites. Some of these that wish us 
out are OU Medical Center, Tinker, FAA and 
Fort Sill. Jean provided the board with an 
update concerning the present look at issues 
concerning the BEP program on the national 
level. She stated that they are watching 
congress closely to determine what BEP 
issues are being imbedded in various bills. 
Ray stated that he went to Dallas to attend a 
meeting which included the BEP programs 
within the six regions. He stated that he was 
glad to have the opportunity to learn of the 
many differences between the states BEP 
programs. Joe stated that at this time there 
is no immediate threat for DRS.
 
Legislative Committee: In addition to the 
vendors issue. We have the Medicare drug 
reform bill that passed the house after only 
being files for 12 hours. The next stop is the 
Senate. At this time DDCB, the largest 
coalition is against this bill as they feel that it 
moves towards privatization of Medicare. 
They see that in the end individuals with 
disabilities will not have the services that are 
needed.
 
Convention Committee:  Jeri is meeting 
with Tulsa chamber of Commerce. We will 
capitalize on their enthusiasm and willingness 
to work with our group. There was a quick 
review of the convention evaluations from 
memory and ideas will be considered for this 
year’s convention. Elaine provided info on 
the 2004 Pennsylvania Council of the Blind 
Expo.
 
Technology Committee: Randy stated that 
he is not aware of any major issues 
concerning the OCB website. It was 
suggested that we put the information about 
the vehicle donations on the website. Paul 
stated that he could get the information for 
the donation contact.
 
Judy suggested that we print up a short flyer 
about the vehicle donation with their contact 
information. Paul stated that periodically they 
send out marketing information which would 
be good to use. Cathy said that she would 
check with some of the BEP vendors to see if 
we can put these out. Randy asked if we 
could expand our advertising all over the 
state. There is one that is being done for 
Heritage for the Blind, which Randy has 
determined is a legitimate group. We need 
to find out if we can contact the media to see 
if they are getting free advertising. Randy 
asked for volunteers to look into this Ray 
Jones and Cathy Holloway are going to do 
some checking.
 
Membership Committee: Jeri has been in 
contact with individuals from OSB to see 
about building membership through the 
students. Vicky is working with OSU.
 
ACB report: A lot going on with the 
resignation of Charles Crawford, ACB 
Executive Director. This is due to differences 
between Charley and the leadership of ACB. 
Many feel that the ACB media has been 
muzzled. The board feels that at this time we 
take a wait and see attitude. ACB midwinter 
conference is February 13-16. Randy plans 
to attend and he plans to attend the ACB 
convention July 3-10 in Birmingham.
 
Foundation Report: The foundation along 
with the Tulsa chapter are sponsoring the 
fund raiser concert on March 26 with Ray 
Price. They once again have called for grant 
applications and have allocated 3,000 for 
these mini grants. The deadline was October 
31 and they received 12 applicants.
 
OLB Report: Randy stated that once again 
they have had a busy but very good year. As 
of September 30 they have 9 million in sales. 
This is up from this time last year. They 
completed the strategic plan which is their 
five year road map. They are hoping to 
Increase the number of jobs, expanding the 
areas of jobs, such as the mail center at the 
IRS facility. They are looking at expanding 
their switch board jobs to include the IRS. 
The service job area is growing and they feel 
that is where the most growth will take place. 
Filling out the board they will be looking at 3 
or 4 new board members and they are 
expanding the coverage of the board filling in 
with individuals from other parts of the state. 
They are hoping to become more active in 
Tulsa and are looking at a couple of 
contracts.
 
Affiliates: Jeanne would like to update the 
affiliate information on the websites. She is 
asking them to send in changes as soon as 
they can.
 
Elaine reminded them that they also need to 
provide this information to Cheryl McCarroll in 
order to have the updates posted on the 
Older Blind Information Line.
 
Heartland Council: Will have their meeting 
on December 6. This will be their Christmas 
party and election of officers.
 
Muskogee Council: Will have their next 
meeting on December 2, this will be their 
Christmas party.
 
Tulsa Council: Will hold their next meeting 
on December 2, this will be their Christmas 
party. They will have a jazz ensemble play. 
Officer elections will be held during this 
meeting. Joe Fallin will be running for 
president. They are working on getting some 
the new members involved in TCB.
 
Meeting adjourned at 11:10
 
Elaine Boykin
Secretary
 

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