MCPP Board of Directors Meeting April 2024 Minutes

In-Person Meeting, Sunday, April 28, 2024, 9am – 10:30am

Present: David Freiband, Eve Avrin, Tamra Frei, Shil Sengupta, Karen Weber, Marissa Keep, Miriam Lorrain, Michele Rivette, Lisa Larson

President: D. Freiband

• Freiband motioned to accept Sengupta’s March 2024 minutes with suggested revisions. Frei

     seconded the motion. Board approved unanimously.

Treasurer: Tamra Frei

• Frei highlighted a number of withdrawals this month: several speakers including their

     honorarium and travel expenses.

• We discussed how, for the spreadsheet, deposits and withdrawals could be listed under checking” (for the sake of clarity). 

     Frei agreed to implement this change.

•  Freiband is trying to move the $10,000 we added to the Schwab account to the investment account, from the cash investment to the 

     market value account.

Vice President of Programs: Miriam Lorrain

•  Asked Board for feedback with respect to one in-person meetings that would be of greater length than the current two-hour format.

     Board considered whether people who normally attend meetings would be interested in coming to programs of this length.

•  Lorrain has three potential speakers in mind for this aforementioned meeting type. She will resend us bios of these individuals so that

     Board Members can individually provide rank order votes which Lorrain will subsequently tally.

•  The deadline for Board Members to submit their tally is May 12, 2024.

Membership Co-Vice President: Lisa Larson

•  Membership has increased to 83.
•  We continue to get non-members paying to attend meetings for CEUs.

     Larson asked for names of people who sign up for events (but who aren’t members) so she can follow up with them about becoming members.

     Weber offered to provide Larson with this information.

•  There are over 50 attendees for current day’s meeting Committee Reports:

Website: Karen Weber

•  Explored with the Board ways to clearly distinguish titles such as “certified psychoanalyst” on the website when person is signing up for a program.
•  She asked that there be a place on the website where these titles are clearly defined, to prevent people from signing up with an incorrect title.
•  Frei offered to help Weber problem solve this issue prior to the next meeting 
• The Board will follow up about the price charged for these  titles/designations insofar asthese are connected to the sign-up process.

Social Liaison: Eve Avrin

•  Member appreciation banquet will be held on Saturday, June 8, from 6-9pm at “The Venue by 4M” in Ann Arbor.
•  This is more costly than prior banquets and will cost $60 per person.
•  Avrin will send out a link to register for this event in subsequent weeks.
•  She is also considering adding “fun” components to the banquet such as a raffle for prizes.
•  Avrin was interested in exploring future options for social gatherings: outings that are socially, but also psychologically oriented

     i.e., psychologically relevant movie night,

Motion and Vote via Email Regarding By-Law Changes:

•  Motion and vote took place via email to revise by-laws to allow Co-VPs. We need to formalize that vote.
•  In the vote that took place by email between the two Board meetings, Freiband made the motion, Waeiss seconded the motion.

     Majority approved: 8 approve, 2 abstain. Motion passed and the vote was passed to membership, who also approved: (27 Yeas, no nays).

•  Freiband moved to make the following modifications to the by-laws approved by email and that the membership has voted on (generally to have

     Co-VPs for various positions).

•  The vote refers to the following section in the By-Laws: (proposed modifications underlined).
•  Article III, Section 2. The officers of the Board shall consist of a President, President-Elect, Past President,

     Vice President for Certification, Vice President for Education and Training, Vice President for Programs, Vice

     President for Membership, Secretary, and Treasurer. At the discretion of the Board of Directors, an additional

     person can be added as a Co-Vice President for each position that has a Vice President currently. The

     additional person in each role will share the title with the existing person such that both become Co-Vice

     Presidents. The Board also has the discretion and responsibility to temporarily fill any elected position that is

     vacated. These Board appointments end with the next MCPP election, at which time membership votes to fill

     vacant positions. The President, President-Elect, Past President, Secretary, and each of the Vice-Presidents and

     Co-Vice Presidents will hold two-year terms of office; the Treasurer will hold a three-year term of office. The President shall assume office

     after two years as President-Elect and shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Council; the President-Elect or Past President may serve

     in place of the President in the event of the President's unavailability.

•  Freiband made the motion to formally approve these changes to the bylaws. Frei seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Psychology CEUs: Miriam Lorrain

•  Is following up to confirm and clarify with LARA, that MCPP is approved by the American Psychological Association as an organization that

     can sponsor continuing education credits.

•  Lorrain will provide an update to the Board as she gathers more input from the State with respect to her query.

Social Work CEUs: Tamra Frei

•  Paid the renewal to NASW

New and Continuing Business

•  We are in the process of adding period of time that people are serving in their role (recently voted on) to the website (so we have a way of tracking this).

     This will help us understand for subsequent election cycles, which positions are up for election.

•  An issue to be addressed for a later meeting is that of implementing staggered elections, in order to prevent the situation that most/all positions are

     up for re-election at once.

•  Follow up on discussion about Zoom-meister backup: Keep will assist Young as backup, especially because the running of the meetings is so critical.
•  Lorrain will train/communicate with Keep over email, particularly with respect to hybrid meetings.
•  Lorrain suggested that Keep co-host current day’s (April’s) and May’s zoom meeting in order to gain practice and fluency in her role.
•  Lorrain also suggested that Keep treat next month’s meeting as a trial run: Keep would send out Board meeting invitation and Zoom-host the board

     meeting; Keep would also “co-host” presentation and help with admitting attendees. Lorrain and Keep will discuss this amongst themselves prior to the

     next meeting and sync up with Young to make sure she is in the loop.

•  Listserv advertising issue: Freiband was approached by clinical director regarding supervisory positions (for pay) that he would like to advertise.

     Freiband asked the Board whether they considered a proposal like this to meet the guidelines of our listserv.

•  Sengupta brought up the issue that “transactional” requests, for the purpose of providing a service for money, is a potential slippery slope that does

     not necessarily align with list-serv principles (though this does not preclude these services being potentially helpful to those in the community).

•  33 people voted in the most recent election and all nominees were elected to the Board.

• Freiband made motion to adjourn the meeting, Larson seconded the motion. The Board approved unanimously. Next meeting to be held

     virtually in May.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Shil Sengupta, Recorder.