MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CONFERENCE-CALLS MEETING

HELD ON SATURDAY, 05 AUGUST & SUNDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2006

Present:

Kwame Asamoah (Dr.)

Kwame Anochie

Charles Appiah

Eric Asa (Dr.)

Fred Twum-Acheampong (Major Rtd.)

Yaw Asare-Takyi

Eric Asiamah

Ben Awuah

Henry Debrah

Martha Nyinaku  

1.         Draft Constitution

2.         Registration Status
3.         Article of Incorporation
4.         Post Office Box Rental
5.         Financial Issues
6.         Other Matters
     6.1             Welfare of Members / Regular Financial Support For OPASS
     6.2             Registration Fee/Monthly Dues
     6.3             Reunion DVDs

 1.      Draft Constitution

 Mr Charles Appiah read the draft constitution and asked for comments, amendments or suggestions.  The committee made a few amendments to the document.  The amended version would be made available to members in due course for perusal.

 2.      Registration

Major Twum-Acheampong briefed the committee on the status of our registration process. According to his report, registration was electronically filed on 8/24/06 with NJ State Dept of Treasury and has since received our Certificate of Inc. as a Non-Profit organization. Filing fee was $75.00. The next thing to do was to file IRS Tax Exempt Application Form 501(c).  This was contingent upon the completion of the constitution and the Article of Incorporation; copies of both documents must be submitted with the application.

The executives unanimously agreed that Mr. Ben Awuah and Mr. Takyi should come up with a projected budget for the association; another requirement for the filing of Form 501(c).

  3.      Article of Incorporation

 The committee deliberated and produced the first draft of the association’s Article of Incorporation.  The document outlines the mission and intent of the association.  It was to be presented to members at the next general meeting to be voted upon and adopted.

  4.      Post Office Box Rental

 The committee discussed the need to rent a post office box for the association to eliminate the use of personal or home addresses for official activities such as the remittance of dues and donations.  The annual fee for the rental would be $52.00. The Financial Secretary (Mr. Asiamah) was authorized to secure a box in Florida.  At our meeting on September 10, it was confirmed that a rental box had been secured in the name of the association.  The mailing address is noted below:

OPASS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA
P O BOX 540598
OPA LOCKA, FL 33054

 a.      Bank Account

After some deliberation the Committee agreed that since members reside all over the country, it was important to find a bank that has branches nationwide to allow easy operations whenever there were changes in responsibilities and positions.  Consequently, Bank of America was chosen and Maj. Twum-Acheampong volunteered to visit the branch in NJ to obtain the necessary documentations for the committees review and approval.  The following officers were designated as signatories to the account: Mr. Ben Awuah, Mr. Yaw Asare-Takyi, Ms. Martha Nyinaku and Maj. Twum-Acheampong.  The account had since been opened and the pertinent information is:

            ·        Bank Info: Bank of America, 500 Centennial Blvd. Voorhees, NJ 08043,
            ·   Account Type: Business Economy Checking
            ·   Acct Name: OPASS Alumni Assoc. of North America
            ·   Initial Deposit - $4,400.00

b.     Book-Keeping Software

 Mr. Asiamah was also given the go ahead to obtain the necessary book keeping software (QuickBooks) to enable the association track all transactions and be able to provide legitimate donation records to members for tax purposes. He has since purchased the software at a cost of $220.90 and the treasurer was to reimburse him.

 6.      Other Matters

 6.1.      Welfare of Members and Regular Financial Support for OPASS

 The current goal of the Executive Committee was to find ways to build a strong and self-supported association, which could cater for the welfare of its members and also, ultimately to provide financial assistance to OPASS on a regular basis, if possible.

 
Mr. Henry Debrah suggested that solicitation of funds, which was also restricted to members only, be reviewed.  He further explained that money needed to sustain the association may not be adequate if we fail to solicit funds from donor agencies.  He recommended that the association extends its fund-raising efforts by reaching out to several donor organizations.

           6.2       Registration Fees and Monthly Dues

It was proposed and agreed upon that each member would pay a one-time registration fee of $25.00 and monthly membership dues of $10, effective from June 2006.  

OPA LOCKA, FL 33054