Board Meeting Recap June 2022

The meeting started with a review of consent items, including the April 2022 meeting minutes, approval of preliminary April and May 2022 financial reports, and approval of the Executive Committee meeting agenda from May 2022.

The meeting shifted to Discussion / Action items, starting with an update on the 2022 Strategic Action Plan Goals from responsible parties. President Scott Catlett noted the significant progress made towards the goals so far in the year.

The subsequent report resulted from collaboration and thorough research from a joint Administration, Finance, and Membership subcommittee. The recommendation considered two items: 1) A revised benefits matrix, originally presented to the Board in April, to establish a price differential and distinction in benefits for members compared to non-members, and 2) A proposed dues structure analysis to differentiate dues for CSMFO by role in their organization. The Board approved the benefits matrix, and the dues structure will return to the Board in August for final approval.

Nick Kurns, the Chair of the Career Development Committee, then provided an update on the 2022 Weekend Training contract and related budget adjustment. The Westin Long Beach will host the 2022 Weekend Training, which rotates between Southern and Northern California. The cost will be $575 for the full registration and $500 for commuter registration, including food and hotel.

Scott Catlett and Janet Salvetti discussed the 2022 Final CSMFO Conference Report. There were 1,224 conference attendees and 311 virtual attendees, which was a great outcome considering a surge of the COVID virus near the conference time that impacted projected attendance. Overall, the conference was successful, especially considering the circumstances.

Finally, the Board discussed the process of sharing two CPFO scholarships received from GFOA. GFOA has redesigned the exam structure and content of the CPFO program and exam. To encourage involvement with other state agencies, GFOA has offered two scholarships to CSMFO per year. More information will be available through CSMFO News in the upcoming months.

The meeting then moved to Committee Reports:

• Administration – The Committee is reviewing a potential website redesign and costs related to expiring contracts. In addition, Glorian Sasser shared that the learning management system will kick off in July.
• Career Development – Upcoming webinars include Bamboozled: Frauds and Schemes Against California Governments on June 23rd, Introduction to Accounting on June 22nd and 23rd, and Accounting for Capital Assets on August 4th.
• Communications – Will Fuentes provided a recap of May’s CSMFO News content and upcoming June features.
• Membership – Jennifer Wakeman shared that the Committee is reviewing the benefits matrix and dues structure, working on engagement with new agencies, facilitating Cohort meetings, and coordinating virtual engagement for desk guessing on social media.
• Professional Standards – Jason Al-Imam noted that CSMFO News published a GASB 87 lease article. GASB has issued three new statements, which a committee highlight will discuss later in June. There is also a new compliance supplement for ARPA-related programs, which includes an alternative approach for agencies that would usually not reach single audit limit but could fall under an alternative audit requirement.
• Program – The Committee is waiting for calls for sessions to come in and starting to review pre-conference sessions.
• Recognition – The Committee is working on consolidating documents and resources on the website and preparing to open the Awards Season on July 1st.
• Student Engagement – The Committee completed spring presentations to schools at “meet the firms” type events and is reviewing how to keep in contact with schools as those events will dwindle over the summer. Amber Johnson noted the Committee is brainstorming ideas for involvement and succession planning.
• Finance – The new Committee is primarily working on the strategic plan updates while also starting to work with auditors.

The following CSMFO Chapters provided updates to the Board:

• North Coast Chapter – Chapter Chair Dan Buffalo shared that Steve Yu from UCLA presented “Public Speaking for the Finance Professional” at the May chapter meeting. Dan is focusing on encouraging involvement from other agencies in the Chapter to help members with networking.
• Orange County Chapter – Chapter Chair Michelle Bannigan shared that the Chapter held the first in-person Orange County Chapter meeting since February 2020 and had some takeaways to share with other Chapter Chairs at the next chair meeting.

The meeting concluded with reports from the CSMFO President, Past-President, and President-elect before adjourning. The next CSMFO Board of Directors meeting is on August 18th, 2022, in Newport Beach.

If you want to look at any of the items and reports in more detail, check out the CMSFO Board Agendas here.