By  Barbara Kaufman

On Feb. 19, your Advisory Council met for the first time. Their meeting began with a few words from me about how I envision this important body. This Council is important to you and to the Federation if we are to remain true to our grassroots beginnings and the hopes and interests of our members.

Here’s what I said:

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to be here this morning and to greet you as the first official Advisory Council of the Minnesota Senior Federation.

We’ve been a long time getting to this point. There have been hours and hours of planning, struggling over finances and brooding over bylaws. I don’t have to tell you. You were a major part of this transition.

In October you elected a brand new Board of Directors, seven people from throughout Minnesota. I want to tell you just how dedicated these folks have been. Because of the workload in putting a new organizational structure in place, we have been meeting twice a month since October. This has meant a lot of driving for many and lots of telephone meetings. Everyone has taken the responsibility seriously and has worked hard to help our Federation grow and prosper.

So here we all are. For this very first meeting of the Advisory Council, we thought all the board members should be here. The question of who, if any, board members ought to attend future Council meetings lies, I think, in your hands.

Let me begin by talking about my vision of the Advisory Council and its relationship to the Board of Directors.

I’m assuming each one of you has been selected by your region or constituent group to represent it. It’s important that each “region,” or whatever you choose to call yourselves, be officially recognized by the state board. That’s particularly important in the Metro Region, where Gil Kiekenapp is working hard to develop more cohesive and coherent constituent groups. It may become important in other regions.

The board will not, of course, officially approve delegates. That’s the business of individual regional groups.

The work of the Advisory Council is supremely important to the life of the Minnesota Senior Federation. First, you carry the ideas and opinions of the membership to the board. That’s how we keep in touch with what’s happening in the real world and make decisions about how to address those issues and questions. I envision a delegation from the Advisory Council sitting with the Board and making a formal report about Council and membership thoughts and suggestions.

Second, you carry the ideas and opinions of the board directly back to our membership. This is essential communication if the Federation is to be viable.

Third, you discuss and debate ideas and programs at the request of the Board. There are a number of questions that, I think, need broad input before the board makes any decision about them:

• What do we want to call our “regions” or “constituent groups”?
• What do we want to call our organization? Is “Senior Federation still the name we want?
• Should a member of the Board attend Advisory Council meetings?
• Where should Council and Board meetings be held? Should we try to meet around the state?
  

I’m sure you and I will both think of other topics and questions that need discussion by the Advisory Council.

One of those topics is strategic planning. I have asked Lee Johnson to have a beginning draft plan for the Board. In moving ahead we need to decide where “ahead” is. We need to examine:

• our purpose and goals
• our vision of where we should be headed
• our specific mileposts
• our environment, our opportunities, our challenges
• our needs and our resources
  

It is my belief that we should undertake this planning sooner rather than later. I also believe that the task force to do the strategic plan must contain representation from the Advisory Council. Perhaps you should consider this your first request for input.

It’s important that we share expectations about the purpose and functions for the Advisory Council. The Board welcomes and encourages suggestions from the Council. But that does not mean that the Board will be a “rubber stamp” for every suggestion. I can promise you that the Board will consider your input and your ideas.