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MSO at 2008 House of Delegates

A special thanks to the MSO delegation for their valiant efforts in wearing the big scarlet M to effectively in the end again set the bar for leadership standards.  The MSO delegation this year in Denver was composed of: Chair Steve Marshall, Vice Chair Jackie Miller, Babette Cohen, Mike Hipp, John Kanyusik, Brent Larson, Keith Levin and alternate delegates Paula Harre, Deb Lien and Steve Litton.  Thanks as well to Keith Levin who eloquently and efficiently chaired Reference Committee 1 and Babette Cohen who well-served MSO on Reference Committee 2.

Highlights of the AAO House of Delegates prior to actual resolution discussion included:

•  MSO member Dave Musich of Illinois was announced as the 2009 AAO Brophy Award winner.

•  MSO’s current Trustee Lee Graber of Illinois was installed as the 2008-2009 AAO Secretary/Treasurer.

•  MSO member Cecile Yoon-Tarlie of Illinois was recognized for her service to the Council on New and Younger Members upon her retiring from the Council.

•  Annual Session registrations was announced to be 13,000 in total with 3,600 doctors attending.

MSO-specific resolution results were:

MSO 24 – Withdrawn - Constituent Organization Option to Require Mandatory Component Membership:  SAO 16 for mandatory component membership was also withdrawn based on encouragement from AAO BOT leaders regarding the development of a federation agreement. While this agreement may not specifically address required or optional component membership the document may clarify the legal relationship between the AAO, constituents and components.

MSO 19 – Adopted on consent agenda as presented – Bylaws Amendment Article III, Membership, B. Eligibility, 5. Student Members, a.. Education - Recognition by a National Affiliate Organization of the WFO.

MSO 22 – Withdrawn – Impact of the AAO-related Entities Providing Association Management Services to Constituents and Components – The process of information sharing and discussion was beneficial toward MSO accomplishing their goal of providing more transparency and communication dialogue.  The AAO BOT working with AAOSI will continue to monitor the program and report back to the BOT and HOD. For further details, contact Chair Steve Marshall on his continued follow-up with AAO regarding this issue.

MSO 21 – Withdrawn – Reporting of Membership and Demographic Information to Constituent and Component Organization:  AAO staff indicated this would be forthcoming without the need for a resolution.

MSO 23 – Withdrawn – Registration Process at the AAO Annual Session:  While later individual comments from delegates indicated some mutual concerns, in general there did not seem to be enough support at the time to continue with this resolution this year.

Former 07 BT S1-MSO from last year’s House which was referred to COMJEC and came back as 35-08 COMJEC was substituted by the Reference Committee 2 to 40-08 RC regarding the Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct to address regarding what is allowed immediately after or adjacent to their names.

13 S1 MSO – Adopted - International Dues Payment: MSO proposed an amendment to a resolution to secure adoption which enables international members the option to pay in one lump sum for a three-year period. This should improve the retention of international members and mirrors the dues structure for the WFO

While AAO should be submitting more details to members about the final House outcomes, some of the additional AAO House highlights included:

06 DSC and 07 DSC – ABO director selection and qualifications were accepted on the consent agenda. A special thanks to MSO’s John Kanyusik for his leadership in helping the taskforce locate mutual agreement.

14 COMJEC – Components should note AAO changed the membership termination date in their bylaws to December 15 incase it impacts their component bylaws needing to be amended accordingly.

34 BT – The bylaws requirement for ADA membership remains the same as the resolution to change to ADA membership only being required at the time of application was narrowly defeated.

10 BT – The House adopted a resolution to further encourage all resolutions, regardless of budgetary implication, to be presented 30 days in advance.

A number of resolutions, discussion and referrals involved the AAO Strategic Plan, Principles of Ethics, advertising, promoted titles and promotion of technique or course certifications.

3 COC– The resolution was adopted for an assessment in FY 08-09, 09-10 and 10-11 for the purpose of continuing a Public Awareness Campaign.

38 RC – The assessment will be funded to the level of $2,320,000. The annual assessment will remain at $550 and the rest will come out of reserves.

12 BT – Funding for augmentation of junior faculty salaries was already in the proposed budget and passed.

36 BT- Additional funding of $600,000 for Full-time Faculty Teaching Fellowship Program for 08-09 was approved.

30-SWSO (S1 BT) - COMJEC will develop payment plan options for dues and/or assessments and present to the February BOT and reported to the 09 HOD.

02 BT – Dues were approved to remain the same as last year ($745 active member) with the addition taken from the reserves to balance the budget (active member dues of $1139 would have been needed to balance the budget without taking funds from the reserves).

If you have specific questions about the House of Delegates, feel free to contact the MSO Trustee Lee Graber or Delegation Chair Steve Marshall for details.