Spring Business Conference

Communication Connectors
2010 Spring Business Conference Recap
The Spring Business Conference was held at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum Washington last
Wednesday through Friday. Communication Connectors highlights the conference to help
you communicate to your members what happened at the committee meetings and at the
Board of Directors meeting.
Board of Directors Meeting
The Directors elected new officers, approved the funding and business plan for a homeowners
club concept, approved a motion regarding General Counsel, and approved the reorganization
plan for the Education Department.
2011 Elections:
President-elect – Faye Nelson, Tri City Association
Treasurer-elect – Vickie Crook, North Puget Sound Association
Vp-elect of Association Operations – Lori Brady, Mason Co. Association
Vp-elect of Business Practices – Kitty Wallace, Kittitas Co. Association
Vp-elect of Education – Ray Spooner, Mid-Columbia Association
Vp-elect of Government Affairs – Paul Chrylser, Snohomish Co-Camano Association
Vp-elect of Information Systems – Tom Cantwell, Sequim Association
The Board approved a motion to establish a club for homeowners.
The club has yet to be named, but it will be a for-profit subsidiary, that will provide non-dues
revenue to Washington REALTORS®. The club will create an enterprise that extends the
relationship between REALTORS® and homeowners in meaningful ways beyond the closing of
a sale and improve and extend the reputation of the REALTOR® brand in Washington state.
The Board also authorized $300,000 to be disbursed from the Issues Fund to the club, and
$250,000 will be disbursed to the subsidiary on January 3, 2011.
The Board of Directors approved an Education Committee restructure
This restructure will allow the business to move more quickly and make decisions more
rapidly. There will be a smaller Board of Trustees and four new standing subcommittees that
meet regularly that include: faculty, curriculum, marketing and designations. These new
subcommittees will focus more directly on the issues at hand. This restructure is a bylaw
change that must be approved in September.
Financial Motions
The Board approved a motion to return $165,000 back to the Issues Fund out of $250,000 that
was allocated for the Housing Education and Marketing Program last April.
The Board voted to rescind the motion passed by the Board of Directors on April 24, 2009
which allocated up to $400,000 from the Issues Fund for the tax credit monetization program.
The money will be released back to the Issues Fund since it was not allowed by the IRS.
Litigation Motion Passes
Since last summer the Executive Committee and Legal Affairs Committee have worked on
establishing litigation management procedure policies for inclusion into the WR Policy
Manual, and the Board of Directors gave their final approval to the policies at this Board
meeting.
The newly adopted procedures will require notice to the President, Executive Committee, and
Legal Affairs Committee if either (1) Washington REALTORS® is sued or is notified that it is
under investigation by a government agency, or (2) if the association files litigation relating to
the operation or management of the association.
The approved policy allows the Executive Committee to establish a Litigation Management
Committee, and provides notification and approval provisions relating to legal settlements.
The Litigation Management Committee will be convened by the Executive Committee, and
can consist of 5 or 7 members, plus the CEO. The members will be selected by the Executive
Committee, must include members from the Legal Affairs Committee, and may include other
individuals who have education or expertise relevant to the pending legal matter. The
Executive Committee establishes the specific role and scope of authority of the Litigation
Management Team.
The Board of Directors will be notified of legal settlements above $25,000, and the Executive
Committee will have authority to settle any legal matter in which the settlement amount is
less than $1 million.
REALTOR® Awards
At the 2010 Awards Luncheon, we announced the winners of the 2009 REALTOR® Awards:
REALTOR® OF THE YEAR
Terry Reynolds – North Puget Sound Association
REALTOR® ACHIEVEMENT
Tom Hormel – Spokane Association
COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Randy Hunzeker – Clark County Association
PARTNER OF THE YEAR
Barbara Harns – The Exchange, Spokane
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
Aaron Reardon – Snohomish County Executive
AFFILIATE OF THE YEAR
Dean Hayes – Security First Financial
FRANK NARDO GRI SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Curtis Miller
EDDY AWARD
Steve Klaniecki
HUGH HAWKINS AWARD
Pili Meyer
Government Affairs
2010 Legislative Session: Update
The Legislative Steering Committee met to review the remarkable accomplishments of the
recently-ended 2010 Legislative Session. No sales tax on services was passed and the real
estate excise tax (REET) was not increased. REALTORS® helped pass a bill to regulate appraisal
management companies and halted an attempt to divert REET revenue away from the roads,
water and sewer projects needed for homes and businesses. A new law to provide a
Commercial Seller Disclosure form passed and we stopped unnecessary environmental
regulations that would have burdened our industry while passing others that will protect
property and streamline permitting.
The Committee discussed the battle REALTORS® fought throughout the entire state budget
process to exclude REALTORS® from a B&O tax increase; despite exemptions proposed several
times, in the final days of the Special Session the B&O tax on business services, including real
estate brokers and agents, was raised by .3%.
REALTORS® PAC Trustees Approve Early Endorsements for U.S. Congress
RPAC Trustees considered and concurred with local association recommendations for early
candidate endorsements for the U.S. Congress. Those early endorsements include Reps. Jay
Inslee (District-1), Dave Reichert (District-8), Jim McDermott (District-7) and Adam Smith
(District-9).
Thousands of Dollars Raised to Elect REALTOR® Candidates
Thank you to all who attended the REALTOR® PAC Auction. There were many special items to
bid on from tickets to the Ellensburg rodeo to a Bucket of Champagne autographed by a state
legislator with the message, “REALTORS® Rock!” NAR’s first VP for 2011 Gary Thomas was the
Special Speaker for the event. The Auction was a huge success, raising $10,000 for RPAC.
Missed out of the Auction? Please make your investment here!

http://warealtor.org/government/political_affairs.asp

The Education Core Committee
The committee heard reports from the forum, GRI Governors, DOL, and education staff. The
committee continued its progress of developing the subcommittees. Steve Klaniecki shared
the results of the member survey.
Association Operations Core Committee
The Committee approved recertification of the Thurston County REALTORS® Association as
meeting the NAR Organizational Standards.
The Committee recommended a previously approved change in NAR Director qualifications
be added to the WR Policy Manual.
Spring Conference for 2012 will be held at Semiahmoo in Blaine, WA
Business Practices Core Committee
Annie Fitzsimmons provided the committee with a Legal Hotline update.
Tech Helpline statistics were provided to the committee.
The committee previewed several new membership marketing tools.
The committee shared feedback on the recent Open House event.
Information Systems Core Committee
The Information System Core Committee is going paperless! Each member received a
memory stick loaded with documents, minutes, research and business plans. Future agendas
and supporting documents will be emailed and committee members will be asked to bring
the information on their laptops or mobile devices.
Committee members reviewed the 2010 Washington REALTOR® communication survey and
also participated in a webinar with the Olympia office to review the refreshed website design.
We reviewed the facebook page and the proposed online usage policy. The awards
committee discussed the format of the awards and formed a new committee for next year.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 3:18 pm and is filed under goverment, news.