Communications Ad Hoc Committee Meeting
MINUTES
October 15, 2015

Members Present:   Lisa Byrd, Eric Chavis, Anna Cunningham, Crystal Foreman, Nessie Siler

Members Absent:  Michael Groves, Vicki Smith

Staff Present:  Steve Strom, JoAnn Toomey

The open meeting was held via tele-conference and members were welcomed by Crystal Foreman and Eric Chavis, chair and co-chair.  The main agenda for the meeting was to recommend nominees to the Executive Committee, for the Hefner and Riddle awards to be presented at the November Council meeting.

Members first reviewed and discussed at length the six nominations for the Helen C. “Holly” Riddle Distinguished Service Award that is presented to an outstanding North Carolina professional whose work has improved the quality of life for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. All agreed that all the nominations were worthy of this award but decided to bring forth the one nominee most deserving to the Executive Committee by the following motion:

MOTION:  Eric Chavis made a motion to recommend Mike Mayer as the 2015 recipient of the Helen C. “Holly” Riddle Distinguished Service Award.  Lisa Byrd and Nessie Siler seconded the motion.  The recommendation will be reviewed by the Executive Committee at their meeting on October 19, 2015.  The motion carried.

The members then reviewed and discussed the three nominations for the Jack B. Hefner Memorial Award that is presented to an outstanding North Carolina advocate whose actions have improved the quality of life for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.  All agreed that the three nominations were worthy of this award but made the decision to bring forth the one nominee that they felt was most deserving to the Executive Committee by the following motion:

MOTION:  Lisa Byrd made a motion to recommend Becky Garland Hopper as the 2015 recipient of the Jack B. Hefner Memorial Award.  Nessie Siler seconded the motion.  The recommendation will be reviewed by the Executive Committee at their meeting on October 19, 2015.  Anna Cunningham abstained from voting since she has a personal relationship with two of the nominees.  

The members wished that there had been more self-advocates nominated for both awards and agreed to discuss the potential of additional new awards after the November Council meeting.  

Meeting adjourned.  The next meeting of the Communications Ad Hoc will be scheduled after the November Council meeting.