Minutes of the 2015 Spring Business Meeting April 17, 2015 Corporate Offices of HealthPartners HMO System, Bloomington, MN Executive Committee: Guang‐Pei Chen Past President Mike Kowalok President (1‐year term ending after 2015 Spring Meeting) Sugata Tripathi President Elect Tony Murphy Board Representative (3‐year term ending end of calendar year 2016) Wes Culberson Secretary / Treasurer (2‐year term ending after 2016 Spring Meeting) Presiding: Mike Kowalok, NCCAAPM President 1. Introduction Mike Kowalok opened the meeting at 13:05. 2. Minutes from the 2014 Autumn meeting were approved without modification. 3. Old Business a. Results of online poll about meeting‐day preference Chapter members were asked to respond to the electronic polling question “On which day do you prefer to have chapter meetings; Friday or Saturday?” 71% of the respondents preferred Friday; 29% preferred Saturday. There were 77 total responses. Hence, it was decided to continue Friday meetings. b. Documentation of chapter rules from previous meetings A discussion at the last business meeting sought to clarify chapter policies for waiver of registration fees and reimbursement of travel for invited speakers at chapter meetings. Mike Kowalok had suggested that NCC adopt current policies of the national AAPM for such matters. Bruce Thomadsen suggested that the chapter should first review minutes from previous business meetings to look for rules that may have already been made on the matter. He suggested that a student be paid $200 to conduct such a review. Mike Kowalok reported that a student hired by Wes Culberson had completed a review of the previous 12 years of meeting minutes. The student found a discussion in 2007 that endorsed the use of chapter funds to sponsor national speakers at a chapter meeting once a year. No resolutions were found, however, that addressed whether to reimburse invited speakers who were also chapter members. Mike Kowalok made a motion that EXCOM be tasked with writing an updated policy for when it is OK to waive registration and reimburse travel. The policy would be discussed and voted on as a new rule or bylaw at the next business meeting. The motion was seconded and carried by majority vote. Jason Rownd suggested that any such guidance be tied to the chapter budget and whether or not funds are available for travel. He suggested that a new budget item be added. Wes Culberson mentioned that a new budget item of $200 was added to the proposed 2015 budget. Corrinne Dallas suggested that chapter meetings be broadcast as a webinar, thereby enabling more members to attend, with increased revenue collected through registration fees. Wes Culberson cautioned that vendor support would likely decrease if fewer people came to a meeting because of a webcast option. In addition, Mark Towsley pointed out that technology necessary for webcasts was both expensive and not uniformly available at all meeting sites. Jennifer Smilowitz suggested querying other chapters to find out how they deal with reimbursing speakers. Wes Culberson agreed to follow up on this. 4. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report a. Financial Report Wes Culberson reported that Chapter finances were healthy for 2014, with revenues exceeding expenses by $1,559.06. Corporate sponsorships were the greatest source of revenue, followed by member dues and meeting registration fees. Corporate sponsorships have increases in each of the past three years. Corporate donations also enabled a successful “Nite Out” at the Autumn meeting in La Crosse. The Chapter had cash assets of $22,433.27 as of January 1 2015, with no liabilities. b. Budget Proposal Wes Culberson presented a budget for 2015 which predicted a deficit of $255 for the year. The main reasons for the projected deficit are an expected increase in travel expenses for the chapter’s board representative, and an expected increase in meeting expenses. Lynne Fairobent suggested that it may be unnecessary to budget for travel expenses for the board representative, as she thought the national AAPM may cover such expenses. Jennifer Smilowitz requested that time be taken at the next business meeting to consider a chapter donation to the AAPM Education and Research Fund to help fund the AAPM Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program (SUFP) and Diversity Recruitment through Education and Mentoring (DREAM) Program. She mentioned that it would be possible to make the donation with the stipulation that the funded fellowship take place at an institution within the North Central Chapter. She also noted that several other chapters are participating in this program. A motion was made by Wes Culberson to approve the 2015 budget. It was seconded and approved by a majority. 5. Audit Committee Report Mark Towsley reported that he and Walter Tang had audited the Chapter’s financial statements and that all records were in good order. He promised to provide a written document, signed by Walter and himself, reporting this result. 6. AAPM Board Representative Report Tony Murphy provided a Board Representative Report. For the sake of brevity, he indicated that much of what he had to say had already been covered by Lynne Fairobent in her morning talk. He mentioned that the AAPM was working to increase the number of available residency positions to better match the number of applicants, and that the AAPM Treasurer indicated that AAPM finances were healthy. Lynne Fairobent mentioned that the AAPM had recently completed the purchase of a building for its new national headquarters. 7. New Business a. Election Results Mike Kowalok reported that Casey Abing has been elected President‐Elect. Wes Culberson noted that this election was the first time the chapter used the AAPM electronic election process and that it went smoothly. He believes the chapter should utilize this system exclusively in the future. b. Fall 2015 Meeting Details (date, location) The Autumn chapter meeting will be held in Madison, WI. Larry DeWerd and Jennifer Smilowitz volunteered to act as the local arrangements committee. Date to be determined. Lynne Fairobent suggested that the meeting program director look to invite a representative from NorthStar Medical and/or Shine Medical to speak about the challenges and solutions for domestic production of medical isotopes. c. Handoff to new President Mike Kowalok recognized Sugata Tripathi as the new Chapter President. 8. Adjourn The business meeting was adjourned at 1:45 PM by Mike Kowalok.