Board Meeting Recap August 2022
Jean Rousseau, Executive Director, CSMFO
The CSMFO Board of Director’s convened an in-person meeting on August 18th in the City of Newport Beach. The CSMFO Board has met every other month in 2022 and has two Board meetings left for the calendar year.
The meeting started with the approval of standard consent items, including minutes from the June 2022 meeting, financial reports and check runs for the months of June and July 2022, and Executive Committee agendas for the months of June, July and August.
The meeting progressed to discussion/action items starting with an update of the 2022 Strategic Action Plan from the responsible committees. President Scott Catlett noted how pleased he was to see the significant progress made on all the goals.
The next item on the agenda was proposed changes to CSMFO’s Bylaws presented by President Catlett. An ad-hoc committee composed of the Executive Committee and five past presidents was assigned the goal of updating the Bylaws. The ad-hoc committee worked collaboratively to clarify contradictory or vague elements of the Bylaws and modernize language. A long and productive discussion took place over the proposed changes, particularly with modifications to the annual election process.
President Catlett put the subsequent item on the agenda to clarify that CSMFO was going to reimburse Board Directors, Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs along with Chapter Chairs and Vice Chairs for travel expenses incurred to attend Board of Directors’ in-person meetings. The item was necessary to re-confirm the intent of a Board action from the February Board meeting.
Membership Committee Vice Chair Debbie Rosales discussed the need to purchase new chapter banners for CSMFO’s 20 chapters for a total estimated cost of $4,400. At the 2022 Annual Conference Chapter Chair roundtable, it was determined that several chapters no longer had banners. There was also considerable interest in updating the imagery on the banners. The new banners will be 7 feet tall, use a “feather” banner design, provide the chapter name prominently on the top and use consistent images representing the diversity of attendees.
President Elect Rich Lee presented an item regarding various aspects of the upcoming 2023 Annual Conference in Sacramento. The first item was about his philanthropic goal of matching 10%, or $25,000 earmarked for three non-profit organizations in the Sacramento area. The Board agreed on $10,000 for the upcoming conference and to revisit this item next year for the 2024 Annual Conference. The Board also reaffirmed its desire to continue its relationship with its sister organizations in Oregon, Washington and Alaska as well as holding a virtual version of the 2023 Annual Conference.
Membership Committee Senior Advisor Steve Heide presented the next item on a change in membership rates for the 2023 calendar year. CSMFO membership dues will now be broken into two categories, Finance Directors/Mid-Level Management and Finance Professionals at $125 and $50, respectively. This update is the first change in membership rates in over 20 years. The change is recommended to make it extremely affordable for new entry level members to join CSMFO. Leadership spent a great deal of time discussing this item.
Due to time constraints, the proposed quarterly financial summary was quickly reviewed but tabled to the next Board of Director’s meeting at its annual Strategic Planning Retreat in October.
Professional Standards Committee Chair Jason Al-Iman discussed changes to Section XII of CSMFO’s Policy and Procedures Manual regarding future advocacy efforts. The change establishes Government Affairs Liaison Officers (current President and Executive Director) to head up CSMFO’s advocacy efforts. The modification doesn’t change CSMFO’s role in only advocating on issues of extraordinary importance to all members of CSMFO.
Finance Committee Chair Margaret Moggia provided an update on the upcoming lottery for two $600 GFOA Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) program scholarships to interested members. The Board decided to match the two GFOA scholarships with $1,200 to make a total of four $600 scholarships available.
President Scott Catlett presented the final discussion item to select Palm Springs as the location of the 2026 Annual Conference.
Due to the length of discussion on the Bylaws update and membership dues change, there was not enough time to allow updates from Committee and Chapter chairs.
Jean completed a distinguished 31-year career serving local government in California, starting as an Accountant II with Fresno County. He moved up the finance ladder to Chief Accountant before moving to the Assistant County Administrative Officer position in 2004. In 2007, he moved into the County’s top position (County Administrative Officer), serving Tulare and Fresno counties for 14 years until his retirement. He has served in several finance and accounting roles, including as Finance Director/Controller for the City of Fresno, Principal and Senior Accountant for Fresno County, and Staff Accountant for Sampson & Sampson CPAS.
