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May 20, 2004 - ACR Chapter Executive Update

May 21, 2004

ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE – Scroll down for the complete articles.

• What Is the ACR Chapter Executive Update?
• Councilor and Alternate Councilor Terms End This Month
• Please Help Continue the Work Begun on Capitol Hill Last Week
• Notification Sent of Chapter Members in Danger of Being Dropped for Nonpayment of Dues

What Is the ACR Chapter Executive Update?

Welcome new chapter officers! Spring is officer-changing season for many ACR chapters, making this a good time to welcome new readers. The ACR Chapter Executive Update is a bimonthly, electronic publication for chapter officers and administrators. It offers a timely way to share information about ACR events and deadlines. It is also a venue to share information about chapter activities. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Councilor and Alternate Councilor Terms End This Month

May 31 is the termination date for all councilors with terms ending in 2004 and all alternate councilors. As a reminder, councilors serve 3-year terms and are eligible to serve 2 consecutive terms. Alternate councilors serve a 1-year term and are eligible to serve an infinite number of consecutive terms.

Per the ACR bylaws, all councilor and alternate councilor terms begin and end in conjunction with the ACR annual meeting. For record-keeping purposes, staff in the Office of Chapter and Council Services use June 1 as a start date and May 31 as an end date for terms. Some people, particularly in chapters where elections are in the fall, find it helpful to think of councilor and alternate councilor terms in terms of meeting years. For example, a councilor is eligible to attend 3 consecutive ACR annual meetings in one term.

In the next few weeks, chapter administrators and secretaries or secretary/treasurers will receive detailed information about any councilor or alternate councilor vacancies resulting from term expirations at the end of this month. If you have questions about this, please contact Trina Madison at trinam@acr.org or (800) 227-5463, ext 4998.

Please Help Continue the Work Begun on Capitol Hill Last Week

A record number of your members, over 400, made visits to Capitol Hill last week in conjunction with the AMCLC. In order for the ACR Government Relations Department to follow up with congressional offices, please encourage your members to complete and submit a congressional response form for each meeting they attended and return it to Josh Cooper via fax at (703) 262-9312. Click here for an electronic copy of the form.

This year the ACR is offering a $200 stipend, paid to your chapter, for each form received by a member of your delegation. The deadline for submitting congressional response forms for a stipend is June 30, 2004.

This is the last year the ACR will offer a stipend as incentive to return the congressional response form. You may recall from a letter from Paul H. Ellenbogen, MD, ACR Council speaker, sent last February (click here to view a copy) to chapter presidents and administrators, stating that the ACR initially offered this stipend in 2003 to help offset costs of staying in Washington, DC, a day after the council meeting ended in order to make Capitol Hill visits. However, since the Council Steering Committee anticipates that Hill visits will continue to occur early in the AMCLC rather than after the meeting, the College will discontinue this funding after the 2004 meeting. This is in keeping with the Council's recommendation to achieve economy by combining the ACR State Chapter Leaders Meeting and the ACR Annual Meeting. There will not be a change to the policy regarding a $1,000 stipend paid to chapters who send a Carrier Advisory Committee member to the meeting. Chapters who sent a CAC representative to the 2004 meeting will receive the $1,000 stipend by the end of July in conjunction with any other stipends earned from the return of congressional response form.

Please contact Merry-Lynn Sheetz with any questions about completing the congressional response form or the stipend. You can reach her at merrylynns@acr.org or (800) 227-5463, ext. 4353.

Notification Sent of Chapter Members in Danger of Being Dropped for Nonpayment of Dues

On May 7, Marcia Hendershot, director of the ACR Membership Department, sent notification of chapter members in danger of being dropped from the ACR membership roster for nonpayment of chapter or ACR dues. Chapter presidents, administrators, and the person designated as the chapter money recipient received this notification, which was sent primarily via e-mail or by post if an e-mail address was not available.

In the notification was a list of members in danger of being dropped July 30, 2004, as well as talking points chapter leaders might consider using in efforts to retain these members. A copy of the notification cover letter and the talking points are available online, click here.

Chapter leaders may request from the Membership Department a list of members in danger of being dropped by contacting Barbara Quattrone at barbaraq@acr.org or (800) 347-7748.

The retention of members is a joint effort of the ACR and its chapters! The ACR is using a variety of communications to encourage the retention of members. Please consider using the materials available from the Membership Department to encourage membership retention in your chapter. In the next week, a 30-day drop notice will be sent to members who have not paid dues for 2004. Members who have not paid dues by July 1 will receive a letter notifying them of the cancellation of their membership.