UNA General Assembly meets at first post-convention session (11/15/98)

UNA General Assembly meets at first post-convention session

by Roma Hadzewycz

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - The Ukrainian National Association's General Assembly, newly elected at the fraternal organization's 34th Regular Convention in May, held its first meeting here at the UNA resort, Soyuzivka, on November 7-8.

As this was a special meeting of the 25-member General Assembly, the agenda included only three items: review of UNA operations for 1998, approval of the 1999 budget, and review of organizing results for 1998 and plans for the coming year. (During convention years, regular annual meetings of the General Assembly are not held; the next annual meeting will take place in November 1999.)

In attendance were the following members of the UNA General Assembly:

Executive Committee members - President Ulana Diachuk, First Vice-President Stefko Kuropas, Second Vice-President Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, Director for Canada the Rev. Myron Stasiw, National Secretary Martha Lysko and Treasurer Stefan Kaczaraj;

Auditing Committee members - William Pastuszek, Stefan Hawrysz, Alexander Serafyn, Yaroslav Zaviysky and Myron Groch;

Advisors - Taras Szmagala Jr., Tekla Moroz, Halyna Kolessa, Nick Diakiwsky, Walter Korchynsky, Wasyl Szeremeta, Vasyl Luchkiv, Stephanie Hawryluk, Andre Worobec, Eugene Oscislawski, Barbara Bachynsky, Andrij Skyba and Al Kachkowski. (Alex Chudolij was unable to attend.)

Also present were: The Ukrainian Weekly Editor-in-Chief Roma Hadzewycz and Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Raissa Galechko, as well as honorary members of the General Assembly Walter Sochan and Joseph Lesawyer. Soyuzivka Manager John A. Flis was present during a session at which Soyuzivka operations were discussed.

The meeting was called to order and chaired by the UNA president. After the Rev. Stasiw delivered the invocation seeking God's intercession to ensure that General Assembly members work for the good of the UNA and its membership, a moment of silence was declared in memory of Dr. Jaroslaw Padoch, longtime UNA supreme secretary.

Leading off the discussion about UNA operations, Mrs. Diachuk focused on the UNA's publications, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, noting that expenses had been reduced by $141,780 during the first nine months of the year, while income also was down by $162,877, mostly due to a decline in subscription income from Svoboda, which was a daily through the end of June and with its transformation to a weekly lowered its subscription prices. Subscription income increased for The Weekly, however.

As regards the number of subscribers to the UNA's weeklies, Mrs. Diachuk reported that both have now gained subscribers in the period of July through September, after losing readers during the first half of the year.

When Svoboda became a weekly in July, Serhiy Myroniuk was tapped as the acting editor-in-chief. The UNA president reported that the new editor took charge of Svoboda in early September and that Ms. Galechko will soon be signed to a two-year contract.

Ms. Galechko was introduced to the assembly and given an opportunity to share her plans for Svoboda. She noted that "what is most important is for the paper to be interesting because then it will attract readers," and went on to report that she is seeking news and commentary from Ukraine, as well as shorter articles from local communities in the diaspora.

Acknowledging that she had been told to decrease expenses, Ms. Galechko said that she as editor can organize work more effectively and use materials that are available over the Internet. "This will allow us to decrease costs and to cut personnel, since the paper is now a weekly," she said.

Mrs. Diachuk continued her report by pointing to the creation of a special marketing group composed of editors, Svoboda Press administration personnel, the UNA's marketing/advertising consultant and herself, which is now working to expand circulation of the UNA's publications by trying to attract former subscribers and offering discounts for subscribers as a pre-Christmas promotion.

A review of Soyuzivka operations showed that income was up during the first nine months of 1998 by $118,645 when compared to the same period in the previous year. Expenses were down by $35,465. Nonetheless, Soyuzivka's net loss thus far this year is $233,654.

Mrs. Diachuk shared with General Assembly members suggestions that a Club Soyuzivka be created whereby an annual membership could be bought for a set amount that would provide members with certain, as yet undetermined, benefits. She stated that the resort needs to attract mid-week business, and that it must advertise in Russian and Polish newspapers in order to attract newly arrived immigrants from Ukraine. She also emphasized, "We must make Soyuzivka self-sustaining within two years, no matter what."

Assembly members offered various suggestions of how to assist Soyuzivka during these difficult financial times; these ranged from approaching former employees to make donations to the resort and setting up a Soyuzivka endowment fund, to organizing volunteer groups to help upkeep the resort and having district committees adopt individual buildings at the resort which they would help maintain.

Advisor Skyba suggested contacting professional travel agents to organize tours to Soyuzivka that would take advantage of the many recreational and historical offerings in the region.

On the suggestion of Advisor Szmagala, a new Standing Committee on Soyuzivka was organized. Its members are: Messrs. Korchynsky, Skyba and Szmagala, Prof. Luchkiv, Dr. Szeremeta, Ms. Hawryluk and Ms. Kolessa; Vice-President Kuropas will chair the committee.

National Secretary Lysko spoke about the UNA's Scholarship Program and suggested a simplification of procedures, including a less demanding application process and pre-determined scholarship grants to be awarded to students based on whether they are freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors, with the amounts being lowest for freshmen and highest for seniors.

The advantages of such a procedure, Mrs. Lysko argued, are that red tape is eliminated, all members are given equal treatment, and administrative costs are decreased.

She explained, however, that requirements for special scholarships awarded by the UNA on the basis of merit or field of study, would not change.

A discussion arose over the amounts to be awarded by the Scholarship Program with some General Assembly members questioning whether these are scholarships at all, or simply grants or stipends. After some debate it was decided to continue calling these "scholarships." Auditor Hawrysz suggested that the UNA could appeal to former scholarship recipients for donations to the UNA Scholarship Program.

A special three-person committee, composed of an advisor, an auditor and the UNA treasurer, was created to review the applications for special scholarships; its members are Prof. Luchkiv, Mr. Pastuszek and Mr. Kaczaraj.

The national secretary also briefed General Assembly members about upcoming changes to be put into effect once the Home Office's new computer system is fully functional. The changes are to be detailed in a letter to secretaries and will be published to notify the membership.

Treasurer Kaczaraj reported that the UNA's assets as of September 30 stood at $69,865,000, but that this is a 2.15 percent loss from January's figure of $71,404,000.

Turning to financial results of the first nine months of 1998, Mr. Kaczaraj pointed to losses of $876,000 (cash basis, adjusted for certain expenses like depreciation, adjustment of reserve for life certificates, etc.): $286,000 on Soyuzivka, $274,000 on publications, $173,000 on the Toronto sales office and $143,000 on UNA operations. He added, however, that losses had decreased from the same nine-month period in the previous year when they totaled $1,537,000: $444,000 on Soyuzivka, $307,000 on publications, $309,000 on the Toronto office and $377,000 on UNA operations). Thus, losses decreased by almost one-half since last year, he underlined.

The treasurer noted that downsizing and reorganization will soon be put into effect at the Home Office. As well, the UNA will decrease the amount of space it occupies in its corporate headquarters, thus making more rental space available and increasing income.

Next Mr. Kaczaraj provided a quick overview of the UNA's budget for 1999, which foresees income of $6,187,433, disbursements of $6,123,429 and a net profit of $64,004. Certain expenses were not included in the budget provided, he explained.

The treasurer forecast a loss on the UNA resort's operations of $311,747 and emphasized that "Soyuzivka will have to save some more money." Regarding the UNA's publications, he stated that the convention had decided the UNA subsidy to its publications should be $100,000, and added, "We have to stick to that."

As presented, the budget had allocated $25,000 for the UNA Scholarship Program in 1999. However, after General Assembly members voiced concern about such a low figure, the sum was upped to $35,000.

Another point of concern was the amount budgeted for salaries of employees (not including executive or publications personnel), which was listed at $512,000, down from the previous year's level of $1 million.

Among other issues discussed were losses on the UNA's Toronto sales office and the UNA's investments.

The budget proposal was passed by a vote of 13 for and eight against (abstentions were not counted).

Mrs. Lysko returned to the podium the next day to discuss the UNA Home Office's plans for the future, including new insurance products. She pointed to improvements in current products, such as preferred ratings for non-smokers, lower prices on 10-year term policies and higher age limits on life insurance policies, and the elimination of some policies, such as annual renewable term and decreasing 30-year term.

She also reported that the UNA would be discontinuing its endowment policies, which account for 12 percent of the UNA policies sold, because most fraternals no longer sell these products since their annual growth (cash value) is now taxed. That proposal elicited a lengthy discussion in which all advisors and auditors speaking said they would like to keep the endowment policies as they do sell well to a specific market, for example to grandparents who purchase these as gifts for their grandchildren, are a product geared for children and can be sold by any secretary as it does not require an insurance license.

Ultimately, UNA officers agreed to keep the endowment policies for the time being and to review the success of a new combination of products that is meant to replace them before doing away with all or some endowment certificates.

Mrs. Lysko also reported that the UNA is now negotiating with an independent contractor who will find brokers to sell UNA insurance products. In addition, via a special arrangement with a brokerage firm, the UNA is able to obtain insurance coverage from over 200 insurance companies for products that the UNA does not have in its own portfolio of offerings. The UNA receives only overrides on such referrals.

The 1999 Organzing Plan, she reported, calls for enrolling 1,250 members covered for a total of $20 million of life insurance.

At the conclusion of the Sunday session, Advisor Szeremeta asked the UNA president to review progress made on implementing the resolutions and recommendations passed by the 34th Convention in May.

Dr. Szeremeta also voiced concern that there had not been sufficient time to examine the figures presented by Mr. Kaczaraj to the General Assembly. Dr. Szeremeta moved to have budget figures and other pertinent information sent to General Assembly members at least one week before their meetings so that members have time to review them in preparation for their deliberations. The motion was seconded by Advisor Kachkowski and unanimously approved.

At the conclusion of the session, President Diachuk thanked all General Assembly members for their constructive input "given for the good of our organization and in an effort to solve our problems." She added, "May we return next year with fewer problems."

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