On Friday, June 5, 2020, the ELGL Board of Directors meeting included some big decisions affecting all ELGL members. Here’s an overview of the minutes with the information you need to know:
#CityHallSelfie Day
#CityHallSelfie day will be observed on August 14, 2020. (Annually, the big day is on August 15, but since that falls on a Saturday, we’ll observe this special day of local government pride on the adjacent Friday).
While reopening in states and counties will vary, and while some participants may still be working from home, we want to continue this uplifting tradition with the recognition that we might be wearing masks, or taking our selfies six feet apart, or engaging our communities in new ways this year than in years past. More information coming soon on best practices, awards categories, engagement tools, and more.
Save the date, and start thinking about the creative ways you can celebrate the joy and excitement of a local government career on #CityHallSelfie day on August 14, 2020!
#ELGL20
The Board of Directors unanimously approved a decision to move #ELGL20 to a virtual conference, held October 12-16, 2020. The planning committee is regrouping to create a conference experience that mimics the authentic connections and quality content from a live event, into an online experience.
To combat Zoom fatigue, the conference will be spread over five days. Re-registration, registration, and pricing information will be shared in the coming weeks.
Save the date and join us for virtual #ELGL20 on October 12-16, 2020!
FY 2021 Budget Adoption
The Board of Directors also adopted a budget for fiscal year 2021 (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021). It is a very lean budget that reflects the realities of a COVID-19 work environment for our members. The key items for the Board when adopting the budget included: affordability of membership and events for members; scrappy operational costs with an emphasis on digital communications; and supporting existing staffing levels. Here are the highlights:
Revenues
Unanimously adopted anticipated revenues of $301,000. This amount represents 49% from membership dues, 16% from program costs, 21% from ticket sales, and 14% from sponsors.
Personnel
Adopted a personnel budget of $214,000 for four permanent employees and one temporary employee, representing 2.5 FTE positions. Permanent employees received a two percent cost of living adjustment.
(Note, Board Member Kent Wyatt abstains from personnel decisions to avoid conflict of interest because he’s married to Executive Director Kirsten Wyatt).
Expenditures
Unanimously adopted a general expense budget of $57,000. Of this amount, 48% includes the cost of hosting events, and 53% is the cost of managing ELGL including digital services and organization costs.
Reserves
Unanimously adopted a five percent strategic reserve policy, representing $14,000 (or approximately one month of payroll). This strategic decision is the start of a multi-year policy to increase ELGL’s reserves to a sustainable level.
Fees
Unanimously adopted a new fee policy to give the option for members to pay service fees for membership and tickets to save ELGL this substantial operational cost. This strategic decision was made to potentially minimize this cost to the organization.
Please let us know if you have any questions about these decisions and actions by the ELGL Board of Directors. We welcome your comments and questions about ELGL’s operations!