In Case You Missed It - Board Meeting and 1st Tuesday Updates

Here are some notes from the Board meeting on July 27th, and our First Tuesday update on August 3rd.

At the Board meeting, as always, the Board received a financial update (we came out of the fiscal year in good shape, but as we all know by now the end of the DOJ grant means we'll start dipping into the reserves we've built up,) and a report from Anne (this month covering guidelines for preventing fraud coming out of LSC, and our loss of three staff people, more on that below.)

The staff presentation this month was from Marty and Ken who gave an overview of the work we are doing in the landlord/tenant area.  Marty then presented on research he has done into what services we might take on in the area of foreclosures.  Marty has been researching what services are available in Utah, and where the funding for those services comes from.  The Board looks at priorities during their November meeting and will consider any changes at that time. 

Finally, some new client eligible board members are being vetted, Howard Lundgren will assume the presidency of the Board at the next meeting, taking that chair over after three years of service from Thom Roberts, and a Vice President (who is President-elect) will be elected. 

That next meeting is a retreat planned for September 28 from 5:00 to 7:00pm.  Staff will be involved, so if you are interested in participating please let Eric know. 

On our First Tuesday call we thanked both Brenda and Patti for their excellent service and wished them well.  The hiring process for their positions, as well as the staff attorney position in St. George is well underway and we have many, many applicants. 

Our funding update pointed out that there is talk of a small increase in LSC funding, but that good news is again offset by the end of the DOJ grant, the low interest rates affecting our Bar Foundation funding and changes coming in United Way of Salt Lake that don't look positive for us.  (Anne and Eric have been involved in the "change process" at United Way, which so far just means we can tell you first-hand it doesn't look good.)  For the immediate future however, we have built up reserves again and are carefully tracking spending as we move forward.  We'll also be applying for the DOJ funding again and should know by Fall of 2011 if we are successful. 

Finally, a reminder that evaluations are taking place over the coming month, and there will be merit compensation attached this year, likely in the same reduced range as the $200/$500 that was used last year.

And that's what you missed.  If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please let Eric know.