Surety Association of Ohio
1st Quarter Meeting Minutes
March 23, 2005

• Marc Oravecz, President, opened the meeting at noon to welcome approximately 68 people in attendance at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dublin , Ohio .

• Marc touched based on a few brief topics before introducing the lunchtime speakers – these topics included:

-Member dues – only about 50% have paid so far.
-Warranty/Spec Alerts – If not receiving, contact Gayle McClellan, Membership Chairwoman
-ODOT Bridge Painters – Information has been received, but has not been disseminated.
-Ohio Development Bond Guarantee – No movement on this program.
-Applications for the Surety Association Scholarship are due March 31st
-The Annual Surety Association Golf Outing will be June 16 th at Westfield.
-The SAO recently received the Gold Award from the SAA, SIO and NASBP.

• Marc introduced Bob Biehl and David Bodiford, both CPA’s from GBQ Partners, a large locally owned accounting and consulting firm in Central Ohio . They gave a presentation on Forensic Auditing – Fraudulent Activities in Construction Accounting.
  
• After their presentation, Marc thanked everyone for attending, and reminded the audience to register for the upcoming golf outing.
  
• Subsequent to the luncheon, Marc Oravecz, Jack Kehl - Vice President, George Siegler - Secretary, Eric Schmidt - Government Relations Chairman, Chuck Teter- Education Chairman, Jackie Christensen – Meeting/Social Chairwoman, and Gayle McClellan – Membership Chairwoman met to discuss several topics.
  
• Marc provided some details about the upcoming golf outing and the board agreed upon the following– lunch box to be offered, prizes will be donated for long drive/closest to pin contests, format would be play your own ball, cost of $130 with a cash bar except offering beer keg and apart of the proceeds would go to SAO Scholarship.
  
• Marc then discussed the large number of members who are not paying dues. Gayle will provide a list of those not current on dues and follow for payment, updating the register to only include active participants.
  
• Eric recently met with the Ohio Roofing Association. At this point just shared/exchanged information – no significant progress.
  
• Marc announced he will be attending the Surety Federation of Ohio meeting in April at which time he would present a $2,500 check to our lobbyist, Keith McNamara.
  
• Jack inquired as to whether any formal “white papers” had been prepared previously on long term warranties, and if so, could we use it as a template to prepare one related to the recent roofing warranties in particular, in an attempt to help mitigate bonded warranty exposure. Marc thought Rob Duke, the Director of Underwriting at the SAA, had prepared one related to ODOT Warranties. Jack was to pursue further.
  
• Chuck Teter will draft a new form for the Gold Award and send it out to members and was looking to put on some presentations.
  
• Marc closed the meeting with some long-term planning ideas on when to hold the SAO Christmas party – the thought process was to have it follow the Ohio Contractors Association Winter Meetings like in years past at the same location as last year. Jackie will look into holding the hotel in December as well as a hotel for the 3rd Quarter meeting. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 2:30PM. The next meeting will be at the annual golf outing on June 16 th.