July 2013 - Lnc-business - Moellman Enterprises Email

Draft minutes of the EC meeting on Jan. 28
by James Lark 17 Jun '14

17 Jun '14

Dear colleagues: I hope all is well with you. I have enclosed below the draft minutes of the Executive Committee meeting that took place last night (Monday, Jan. 28). Please let me know whether you have any proposed changes. I have also enclosed below the language of the Policy Manual concerning approval of EC meeting minutes. Section 1.02.06 includes the following statement: Absent objection from an Executive Committee member who attended the meeting, the minutes shall be deemed to be approved 14 days after their distribution. Thus, if no such objection is raised as of 3:25 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 12, the draft minutes will become the official minutes of the meeting. As always, thanks for your work for liberty. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments regarding this matter. Take care, Jim James W. Lark, III Advisor, The Liberty Coalition University of Virginia Region 5S Representative Secretary Pro Tem Libertarian National Committee ----- LNC Executive Committee meeting Libertarian National Committee January 28, 2013 Draft minutes (version 1) Submitted:Jan. 28, 2013 Mr. Neale called the meeting to order at 9:55 p.m. (EST). Executive Committee members in attendance:Geoff Neale (chair), Lee Wrights (vice chair), Jim Lark (secretary pro tem and Region 5S representative), Tim Hagan (treasurer), Bill Redpath (at-large representative), and Dan Wiener (Region 4 representative). Mark Hinkle (at-large representative), Vicki Kirkland (Region 2 representative), Dianna Visek (Region 6 representative), Paul Frankel (Region 7 alternate representative), and LNC general counsel Gary Sinawski were present. Mr. Neale and Mr. Wrights provided some background concerning an issue associated with the situation in Oregon.After discussion, Mr. Wrights moved that Mr. Sinawski prepare and issue a "cease and desist" order to those involved with the organization incorporated as the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc.The motion failed to receive a second. After discussion, Mr. Wiener moved the following: */That Mr. Sinawski draft an appropriate letter for review by the Executive Committee that asserts the LNC's right to protect the trademark "Libertarian Party" regarding the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc./* *//* After discussion, Mr. Hagan moved to amend the motion so that it would read as follows: */That Mr. Sinawski draft an appropriate letter for review by the Executive Committee that asserts the LNC's right to protect the trademark "Libertarian Party" regarding the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc.The Chair will seek the counsel of the Executive Committee before the letter is issued./* The motion to amend was approved without objection.The motion as amended was approved without objection. Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 10:27 p.m. (EST). Submitted by:Jim Lark James W. Lark, III Secretary Pro Tem Region 5S Representative Libertarian National Committee ----- ----- From the LNC Policy Manual: Section 1.02 MEETINGS 6) Meeting Minutes <SNIP> Meeting minutes for Executive Committee meetings may be promoted from draft status to official during the time between Executive Committee meetings as follows: . Draft minutes for Executive Committee meetings shall be emailed to all LNC Members not more than 7 days after each meeting. (Endnote 24) . Absent objection from an Executive Committee member who attended the meeting, the minutes shall be deemed to be approved 14 days after their distribution. (Endnote 25) . Executive Committee minutes shall be distributed to all LNC Members and alternates within 7 days of such approval. . The Secretary shall send an official copy of meeting minutes to staff within 7 days of the promotion of those minutes from draft to official status.

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Minutes of the Jan. 28 EC meeting
by James Lark 13 Jan '14

13 Jan '14

Dear Chairman Neale: I hope all is well with you. I am writing to mention that as of 3:25 p.m. EST on Tuesday (Feb. 12), I did not receive any proposed changes to the draft minutes of the Executive Committee meeting on Jan. 28, 2013. Thus, according to the procedure specified in the Policy Manual (specifically, Section 1.02.06), those draft minutes now stand approved as the minutes of the meeting. I have enclosed the minutes below, as well as Section 1.02.06 of the Policy Manual; please note that I am sending a copy of this message to the LNC-Business list to provide our colleagues with a copy of the minutes. In a separate message I shall send the minutes to the LPHQ staff for inclusion on the LP.org website. As always, thanks for your work for liberty. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments regarding this matter. Take care, Jim James W. Lark, III Advisor, The Liberty Coalition University of Virginia Region 5S Representative Secretary Pro Tem Libertarian National Committee ----- LNC Executive Committee meeting Libertarian National Committee January 28, 2013 Minutes (Date of approval: Feb. 12, 2013) Mr. Neale called the meeting to order at 9:55 p.m. (EST). Executive Committee members in attendance:Geoff Neale (chair), Lee Wrights (vice chair), Jim Lark (secretary pro tem and Region 5S representative), Tim Hagan (treasurer), Bill Redpath (at-large representative), and Dan Wiener (Region 4 representative). Mark Hinkle (at-large representative), Vicki Kirkland (Region 2 representative), Dianna Visek (Region 6 representative), Paul Frankel (Region 7 alternate representative), and LNC general counsel Gary Sinawski were present. Mr. Neale and Mr. Wrights provided some background concerning an issue associated with the situation in Oregon.After discussion, Mr. Wrights moved that Mr. Sinawski prepare and issue a "cease and desist" order to those involved with the organization incorporated as the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc.The motion failed to receive a second. After discussion, Mr. Wiener moved the following: */That Mr. Sinawski draft an appropriate letter for review by the Executive Committee that asserts the LNC's right to protect the trademark "Libertarian Party" regarding the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc./* After discussion, Mr. Hagan moved to amend the motion so that it would read as follows: */That Mr. Sinawski draft an appropriate letter for review by the Executive Committee that asserts the LNC's right to protect the trademark "Libertarian Party" regarding the Libertarian Party of Oregon, Inc.The Chair will seek the counsel of the Executive Committee before the letter is issued./* The motion to amend was approved without objection.The motion as amended was approved without objection. Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 10:27 p.m. (EST). Submitted by:Jim Lark James W. Lark, III Secretary Pro Tem Region 5S Representative Libertarian National Committee ----- ----- From the LNC Policy Manual: Section 1.02 MEETINGS 6) Meeting Minutes <SNIP> Meeting minutes for Executive Committee meetings may be promoted from draft status to official during the time between Executive Committee meetings as follows: . Draft minutes for Executive Committee meetings shall be emailed to all LNC Members not more than 7 days after each meeting. (Endnote 24) . Absent objection from an Executive Committee member who attended the meeting, the minutes shall be deemed to be approved 14 days after their distribution. (Endnote 25) . Executive Committee minutes shall be distributed to all LNC Members and alternates within 7 days of such approval. . The Secretary shall send an official copy of meeting minutes to staff within 7 days of the promotion of those minutes from draft to official status.

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Email ballot 2013-17: Audit proposal re related party reporting
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Email ballot 2013-16: Audit proposal re contracts
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Email ballot 2013-15: Audit proposal re inventories
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Email ballot 2013-14: Audit proposal re time sheets and expense allocation
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Email ballot 2013-13: Audit proposal re fixed assets
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Email ballot 2013-12: Audit proposal re credit cards and receipts
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

16 16

Email ballot 2013-11: Audit proposal re Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual
by David E. Blau, Esq. 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

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Chairs official response to: Proposed Policy Manual Changes from the Audit Committee
by Geoffrey Neale 28 Jul '13

28 Jul '13

This is my official response to your recommendations. I also have copied the entire LNC on this response. I have read and considered your recommendations, and am overall in support of your recommendations, but I find that several proposals could be worded better. I will address my concerns individually with each motion below. However, I would kindly ask each and every one of you, especially the LNC, to realize that some of these changes require costs - which may NOT be in the budget. Some may also require staff time, which means that other things will get dropped, delayed or compressed. I will not be directing staff to put the implementation of these policies above our normal daily activities, such as fundraising. What I am going to do is direct staff to tell me how long it will take to implement these proposals, and at what cost. With that information in hand, we can work constructively to addressing these recommendations. As a Board, we should consider exactly what the implications are of what we direct, and make informed decisions. Geoffrey Neale Insert Section 3.03.3: SPECIFIC STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES: Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual The Operations Director in consultation with the Treasurer and the Audit Committee shall review the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual at least annually and update as needed. My proposal would be "The Operations Director in consultation with the Treasurer and the Audit Committee shall review the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual as part of the annual audit. Staff shall make contemporaneous changes to this manual as needed to ensure that the manual always represents current policies and procedures." My reasoning: This manual is very important, and should not be driven just by review. Staff needs to keep this permanently accurate. To me, the purpose and need for this review is oversight, and secondarily for suggestions of modifications. However, there are two scenarios I want to avoid here - first is that staff have a conflicting chain of command. If staff is required to make changes to their procedures, I do not want to introduce more bosses in the chain of command. We have enough in our command structure, but certainly could use more oversight. Second is that I do not want to have a permanent audit. Audits are necessary, but they do create conflicts for resources. The best way to accommodate this conflict is by scheduling the oversight concurrent with the primary function of the Audit Committee. Section 2.03.5: Financial Matters: Credit Cards and Expense Reimbursements All expenditures shall be evidenced by receipts. The Chair or Treasurer shall be required to approve (and evidence by signing or initialing) all expenses and expense account reimbursements in excess of $200 made to the Executive Director or LNC members prior to payment or within thirty days of payment if the expenditure is incurred with a Party issued credit card. No advance shall be made. No officer shall approve his or her own expenses. Travel expenses incurred by officers for the explicit purpose of conducting Party business (excluding those incurred for the purpose of attending LNC meetings) may be reimbursed. Business travel expenses not pre-authorized by the LNC must be deemed necessary and approved in writing by the Chair to qualify for reimbursement. All travel expense reports are to be audited by the Treasurer, and approved by the Treasurer and the Chair. My feedback: this sounds good, but the devil is in the details. I have too many questions here. There are currently budget lines that encompass some of the travel scenarios noted above. Is a budget line considered pre-authorization for travel? Or will the LNC have to vote on whether or not I can use the LNC credit card to travel to speak on a panel at an upcoming C-PAC conference in St. Louis? If I buy lunch at McDonalds ($6.43) on an LNC credit card, is the date, time, merchant and amount listed on the credit card statement considered a receipt? If the machine that I pay for parking with on an LNC credit card gives me a receipt with no printing (it's happened to me before), will I have to reimburse the LNC? I would change the language to be more specific. Also, for the record, I have never worked for a client or for a company that required receipts for all expenditures. They most usually required DOCUMENTATION for all expenditures, and receipts for expenditures in excess of some threshold. My last employer set their threshold at $60. Additionally, what I see missing here is any requirement for documentation of meals and entertainment. I think that every such expense should require who was at the meal, and the purpose of the meal. While auditing the books in Texas, I noted in my report that getting a $135 receipt for sushi with the notation "meal with donor" to be not only suspect, but woefully inadequate. If the meal was for three staff members and a whale of a donor, I'd probably be more favorably inclined than if it was for three staff members that were also supporting members. And why exactly was this meal necessary? If you were soliciting a big donation for a special project, and he wrote a $5K check, it would go a long way to justifying the expense to our board and members. I like the intent, but it DEFINITELY needs some crafting in order for me to get behind it. Insert Section 2.03.6: FINANCIAL MATTERS: Fixed Assets Staff shall maintain a listing of fixed assets and update it monthly to record any additions or disposals. Depreciation shall be recorded monthly on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the related assets. My feedback: I am a HUGE fan of this - in principle, for different reasons. An asset register is not only valuable, it ought to be considered essential and mandatory. First, it serves the need to have an inventory of our properties, for insurance purposes. If something is stolen, or lost, or destroyed, a good asset register will have recorded the item, manufacturer, model, serial number, purchase price, purchase date, etc. Second, this information is essential to proper recording of depreciation. Third, if you are in a tax authority that requires property tax on assets (like in DC), you have to know what your assets are for that purpose too, and be able to defend your numbers. I am concerned with all of these purposes, not just the accounting and depreciation. I performed an actual physical inventory of everything in the office more than fifteen years ago. I tagged and recorded everything. I bought the tags, and left a few hundred for future use, and staff just took what I did and threw it away by not keeping it current. You can probably still find my tags on some of the older furniture. In order to do this properly, you have to have a solid procedure that is followed explicitly and contemporaneously. There can be no exceptions. However, you have to establish rules and thresholds. I once called the IRS and asked what had to be depreciated, and was told that everything that had a life expectancy over one year should be depreciated. I then asked if I was required to depreciate a stapler. Their answer was "I don't know". Rules need to be established, and they need to be followed. Most businesses (mine included) set a threshold between an item being expensed or considered an asset. $1000 per item is common. A $400 tablet would most likely be expensed, and not require depreciation. However, this same laptop should be entered into an asset register, and noted that it was expensed. To serve all of the purposes of an asset register, we need to record every asset. However, would we really log that stapler as an asset? No. If it was lost, we would not file an insurance claim - we'd buy another. The way this is written gets us half way to the proper solution. We need a fixed asset policy, of which this motion is only a part. Too much is being left to staff on a situational basis. I want to know what the policy is before I review whether or not staff is following it. Do we have a comprehensive written policy in place at this time? That's a question only staff can answer, I'm afraid. Insert Section 2.03.7: FINANCIAL MATTERS: Time Sheets and Expense Allocation Each employee shall submit a timesheet at least once per pay period to reflect the number of hours worked, allocating such time to corresponding categories specified in the annual budget. Time sheets shall be reviewed and approved prior to employee time being entered in the payroll system. Payroll costs for each employee shall be allocated to expense categories in proportion with approved time. Separate general ledger accounts shall be used for allocated payroll costs. Where appropriate, an expense shall be allocated to one category. Expenses that benefit more than one category or that are general administrative in nature shall be allocated to a general administrative account in the general ledger. Those expenses shall then be allocated on a monthly basis to expense categories in proportion to the allocation of payroll costs. Separate general ledger accounts shall be used for allocated general administrative costs. Monthly financial statements shall separately report allocations of payroll and overhead to corresponding categories. My feedback: We already know that Robert has expressed an opinion that is to be expected by some staff members. However, having spent most of my life recording my time for either clients or as an employee, I just see this as a fact of life. My last employer required even the CEO to record his time. The benefits are huge, and far outweigh the inconvenience to staff. Right now I cannot tell you how much staff time is involved with the production of LP News. Staff can only give us anecdotal information. Also, analyzing which skill sets we require more of is a lot easier when you can analyze where staff spends their time today. Also, we can give much better information to our members of what the real cost is of what we do. Right now, it goes in one huge bucket - staff. Caveats: I do not want anyone to be tracking time in less than one hour increments. I want staff to record sick time and vacation time used. How will we allocate that? How frequently? This should explicitly state that only direct reports can approve. Only the Chair can approve the ED reports. This is not something that we can turn on today. We have to choose the proper solution, both physically and with software. Then we have to implement it. This will take some time. Or we can pass this motion as written, and staff will be immediately in non-compliance with the Policy Manual. Then they will ask me which takes priority - the ongoing work, or compliance with the Policy Manual. Then I'm going to tell them to put a solution in place by 1/1/2014, and then I'll tell all of you that I'm ignoring the Policy Manual for the rest of the year. By the way - if we implement this say 9/1, then we will have four months of meaningful data, and eight months of meaningless data. For budget purposes, we'll have two months of meaningful data, which is not enough to extrapolate for budget purposes. Insert Section 2.03.8: FINANCIAL MATTERS: Inventories Staff shall maintain an inventory listing of promotional and other inventoried items, costing units on a first-in, first-out basis. The list shall be updated periodically and an inventory count shall at a minimum be conducted annually at year-end. The results of each count shall be reconciled to the general ledger and accounting entries shall be made to ensure accurate presentation of ending inventory on the financial statements. Feedback: I have no problem with this. 2.04 : Legal Matters: Contracts and Contract Approval All contracts or modifications thereto shall be in writing and shall document the nature of the products or services to be provided and the terms and conditions with respect to the amount of compensation/reimbursement or other consideration to be paid. The Chair shall approve any contract in excess of $7,500. All contracts of more than one year in duration or for more than $25,000 shall be reviewed and approved by General Counsel prior to signing by the Chair. No agreement involving a financial transaction with a related party shall be executed unless first approved by the LNC. Any such agreement shall be disclosed in a conflict of interest statement. Independent contractors doing business with the LNC are required to sign formal contracts that clearly set forth the parties' intention that they be treated as independent contractors. Each contract for director-level employment must be circulated to the LNC on a strictly confidential basis after it has been reviewed by Counsel and the EPCC. Feedback: I have no problem with this, but I wonder if everyone understands two implications: The LNC would be voting on whether or not Paulie's company can do business with us. What are the implications? Does every "contract" for BA work in any state have to be approved by the entire LNC first, or will the LNC approve an "agreement" that gives latitude to the "contracts"? I don't know. Dianna was paid for Ballot Access petitioning, at what I understand was the going rate. Would we have to approve this individually, or could we craft a section that explicitly gave the Chair or BA person the authority to do so without LNC approval specifically for petitioning? If it's not clear to me, perhaps the language should be clearer. Insert Section 2.03.9: FINANCIAL MATTERS: Related Party Reporting For each related party engaging in one or more financial transactions with the Party, all interim financial statements shall include a report of the status, nature and current and year-to-date amounts with respect to such transactions, including contributions, expenses, loans, commitments, guarantees or any other transaction. Feedback: I REALLY have no problem with this, but I wonder if everyone understands two implications: It will take longer for staff to prepare this information, although I do not know how much. This means that every financial statement will include a register of current and year-to-date contributions and pledges from every LNC member. I say it's about time. ======= Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.21380) http://www.pctools.com/ =======

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