Attending: Brenda Richard-Montgomery, Chairperson, Nancy Haney (Lubbock, TX), Ned Handy (Cambridge, MA), Al Faella (Elizabeth, NJ), Karen D. Bradford (Dallas, TX), Todd Steelman (Lubbock, TX), Bernadette Mitchell (Waco, TX), Karla Gomez-Meyer (Denver, CO), Vicki Watson and Chandra Western.

A regularly scheduled meeting of the NCDA Membership Services Committee was held on Wednesday, January 27, 1999, at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 1999 Winter Meeting. Brenda Richard-Montgomery, Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m.

The entire meeting of the Membership Services Committee focused on the expansion of NCDA's membership. In this regard, the committee discussed the following: (1) who should NCDA offer membership to, (2) the category for membership, (3) membership services provided, and (4) the dues structure. The chairperson began the dialogue with a brief history of the issue. During the NCDA Annual Meeting last June, the Membership Services Committee was charged with the task of researching the issue of expanding NCDA's membership and bringing forth a recommendation to the Board of Directors. As a result, the committee sought input from NCDA members, staff conducted a survey of comparable agencies' membership structure and policy, and staff, at the committee's request, reviewed current membership services to discuss the impact of a greater demand on the present organization structure.

During the discussion at the January 27 meeting, committee members agreed that NCDA was missing valuable opportunities by not pursuing an increase in the number of non-entitlement members (cities with populations less than 50,000). As "small cities," usually of the more rural nature, a host of congressional lawmakers, mayors, and other persons of support were being "left out" of the advocacy equation. Committee members recognized that these cities could they add their voice in assisting NCDA in its advocacy of the CDBG and HOME programs.

By voice vote, the committee approved a recommendation to the Board that the membership fees for the non-entitlement members be reduced from $550 to $375, the same as the "subscriber member" category. The committee further recommended that these small cities be offered a six-month free trial membership to entice them to become members.

The committee then discussed the request of some state agencies to join NCDA. Staff explained that representatives from certain state agencies had approached them with requests to join NCDA. Specifically, they noted their appreciation for the timely and comprehensive information that is made available to the membership and their interest in receiving the same. The committee chair also mentioned that she had been approached by some state agencies that had expressed an interest in joining NCDA. Following a discussion of what NCDA could offer state agencies and how they could fit into the organization, the committee approved by voice vote a recommendation to the board for the creation of a new Affiliate Member category for state organizations. The new Affiliate Member would receive all of the services of an active member, except: (1) they could not vote within the association, (2) they could not hold office, and (3) NCDA would not advocate on behalf of states. It was recommended that this new category be charged $2,500 annually. The reason that $2,500 would be charged is because this category would not be required to pay the full fees of a comparable active member but, would be asked to pay their fair share for those services available to them. The committee felt $2,500 was a fair dues structure.

It was agreed that the committee chair would present these recommendations to the Board at their meeting on January 27. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.