UNA General Assembly votes to stay the course on fiscal responsibility (12/12/99)

UNA General Assembly votes to stay the course on fiscal responsibility

by Roma Hadzewycz

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - The first regular annual meeting of the Ukrainian National Association's General Assembly since the fraternal organization's May 1998 convention took place here at the UNA resort, Soyuzivka, on Friday, December 3, through Sunday, December 5.

The three-day meeting heard reports of General Assembly members for the period from May 1998 through November 1999; reviewed fraternal activities such as UNA publications, Soyuzivka and scholarships; approved a budget for 2000 after reviewing the financial report for 1998 and the first nine months of the current year; and discussed the proposed referendum on a new corporate structure for the UNA.

The principal decisions of the 1999 meeting were:

to fund operations of the UNA's Kyiv Press Bureau;
to support the UNA's two official publications, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly;
to support and to seek funding for Soyuzivka's continued development;
to hold the next UNA convention in Chicago.

General Assembly members also:

established a By-Laws Subcommittee that will prepare, with the assistance of the General Assembly and input from the UNA membership, a referendum question regarding the implementation of a corporate structure for the UNA's policy-making and executive authorities; and
approved the budget for the year 2000, as prepared by Treasurer Stefan Kaczaraj and reviewed by the Financial Committee, which foresees continued improvement in the UNA's financial status.

It was reported to the General Assembly - the fraternal organization's highest decision-making body between quadrennial conventions - that insurance authorities of the state of New Jersey had informed the UNA that, at this time, mergers of the Ukrainian National Aid Association of America and the Ukrainian Fraternal Association with the UNA have been put on hold.

The annual meeting's sessions were chaired by the UNA president, Ulana Diachuk, Participating were:

First Vice-President Stefko Kuropas, Second Vice-President Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, Director for Canada the Rev. Myron Stasiw, National Secretary Martha Lysko, Treasurer Stefan Kaczaraj;
Auditors William Pastuszek, Stefan Hawrysz, Dr. Alexander Serafyn, Yaroslav Zaviysky (who left the sessions on Friday due to illness) and Myron Groch; and
Advisors Taras Szmagala Jr., Alex Chudolij, Tekla Moroz, Wasyl Szeremeta, Vasyl Luchkiv, Stephanie Hawryluk, Andre Worobec, Eugene Oscislawski, Barbara Bachynsky, Andrij Skyba and Al Kachkowski. (Nick Diakiwsky and Halyna Kolessa were unable to attend.)

Also present were honorary members of the General Assembly: Joseph Lesawyer, Anne Chopek, Mary Dushnyck, Walter Sochan, Myron B. Kuropas, Anna Haras and Taras Szmagala Sr. (who, along with Helen Olek Scott, became an honorary member as a result of an amendment to the UNA By-Laws passed at the last convention), as well as the editors-in-chief of Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, respectively, Raissa Galechko and Roma Hadzewycz. Soyuzivka Manager John A. Flis delivered a report before the assembly.

The annual meeting opened with a wreath-laying ceremony at Soyuzivka's monument to Taras Shevchenko, patron of the UNA. The ceremonies then moved inside, into the Main House library, where the American, Canadian and Ukrainian national anthems were played, and Mrs. Moroz read a text about Shevchenko, which was followed by a musical rendition of his "Testament" (Zapovit).

Mrs. Diachuk convened the proceedings with a historical perspective: "Our institution was founded back in the 19th century, it developed, grew and flourished in the 20th century. Crossing into the 21st century, we must adapt our institution to new conditions within our Ukrainian community as well as in the insurance business." (The full text of the president's remarks appears on the left.)

A prayer for the success of the deliberations was offered by the Rev. Stasiw, and a moment of silence was observed in memory of UNA activists who had passed away since the last meeting of the General Assembly, most notably UNA Advisor Walter Korchynsky, hailed as a true fraternalist who was well-respected in his community in western New York state; and longtime former UNA Auditor Iwan Wynnyk, a dedicated UNA leader in New York City, as well as many UNA branch secretaries.

After approval of the agenda and acceptance of the minutes from the previous session of the General Assembly the special meeting convened in November 1998, six months after the 34th Regular Convention of the UNA Executive Committee members delivered their reports.

Leading off the reports of UNA officers - all of which were submitted in printed form - was President Diachuk who focused her remarks on efforts to cut expenses at the UNA, introduction of a new administrative system at the Home Office and retraining of personnel, as well the what she described as "tremendous regulatory pressure" exerted on all fraternals by insurance authorities in both the United States and Canada.

Mrs. Diachuk noted also that in Canada the atmosphere is such that U.S. fraternals are getting out of the country and Canadian insurance authorities are urging American fraternals to merge with other fraternal societies in Canada. The UNA, she said, is being advised to merge with another similar organization in order to decrease costs of doing business in Canada. Until December of last year, the UNA had a sales office in the Toronto area, but that office was closed down and its personnel laid off because the office was unprofitable.

The UNA president touched on the finances of the organization's fraternal operations, such as its two weekly newspaper and its upstate New York resort (a detailed report on their status was delivered by the UNA treasurer), and noted that marketing efforts continue to promote the newspapers, while at Soyuzivka consultants are being asked to advise how to make the resort profitable, or at least less of a drain on the UNA's finances.

First Vice-President Kuropas focused his remarks on the decisions of the three members of the Executive Committee who are employed full-time at the Home Office. He pointed to a decision about UNA investments that was made by the entire six-member executive, but then implemented in a different manner by the three in-house officers. He also pointed to the decision to close the Toronto Press Bureau of The Ukrainian Weekly, which was made by those three executives and not the entire committee.

His remarks on that issue were echoed by Second Vice-President Dydyk-Petrenko and the Rev. Stasiw, director for Canada, who both noted that they were not consulted on various matters, among them the closing of the Toronto Press Bureau. Ms. Dydyk observed that quite often she finds out about Executive Committee decisions from reading the press. She called on the three full-time executives to remember that there are three other members of the UNA Executive Committee who also were elected by the UNA convention.

National Secretary Martha Lysko's oral report to the General Assembly highlighted the issue of direct billing, whereby UNA members receive statements from the Home Office without branch secretaries acting as intermediaries. She said that thus far 25 branches had opted for this method of billing. She also reiterated her longstanding request that secretaries provide the Home Office with the current addresses of their members so that the UNA's files are updated.

Finally, Mrs. Lysko spoke of the new rate books that have been prepared for the UNA's revised and updated insurance policies. She explained that sales of these products, though they have already been approved by insurance authorities, have been put on hold until such time as New Jersey's state insurance authorities review the financial impact of the new products.

Treasurer Kaczaraj prefaced his report by commenting that it was a tough year for the UNA - due to downsizing, staff layoffs, reductions of expenses, elimination of the Toronto sales office - but that the decline in surplus that had been observed since 1989 had been slowed down.

He emphasized that the UNA had made great progress in the nine-month period of January through September 1999 when compared to 1998 and prior years. The decline in surplus for the first nine months of 1999 was $145,000, whereas in 1998 that decline was $1,521,000, and in the period of 1989 to 1997 it was an average of $2 million per year.

More than half of the losses for 1989-1997, Mr. Kaczaraj continued, were generated by Soyuzivka, Svoboda and The Weekly. The publications' net loss for the nine months of 1999 was $187,000 ($151,000 of that The Weekly's and $36,000 Svoboda's), whereas the total for 1998 was $640,000.

Addenda to written reports were delivered also by advisors and auditors, as well as the editors of Svoboda and The Weekly. The manager of Soyuzivka delivered an oral report

According to Ms. Galechko, for the first time in 25 years the decline in readership of Svoboda has been reversed. She also stated that the paper's budget for the first nine months of 1999 was the lowest in its history. She emphasized that advertising income had increased and that Svoboda can become financially independent in the next few years. The editor-in-chief, who has been at the helm of Svoboda since September 1998, noted that she is increasingly using materials off the Internet and that articles submitted to the paper are, of necessity, being shortened to fit the needs of a weekly publication.

Ms. Hadzewycz reported that The Weekly had been compelled to lay off its Toronto editor and to make other reductions in expenses. She also noted that at the same time the newspaper has appealed for donations to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund and that the initial response from readers was very positive (whereas donations in all of 1997 totaled $387 and in 1998 $2,400, in 1999 they are expected to reach $12,000). The Weekly staff is working with the publications' administrator and advertising manager to continue increasing income from advertising, and is preparing a two-volume book dubbed "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000" that will feature the most significant articles published during the history of The Ukrainian Weekly. Volume 1 will cover the 1930s through the 1960s, while Volume 2 will encompass the 1970s through the 1990s.

Mr. Flis reported that the resort experienced a downturn in business during spring 1999 due to the previous year's convention resolution, which indicated that Soyuzivka would be open only from June 1 through September 15, and that the summer, too, was less busy. Thus, income for the first nine months of 1999 was down $100,000 from the previous year, and expenses were up by $150,000. As of October 30, 1999, the resort has a deficit of $358,000 for this year. The manager pointed out that UNA executives and the resort's management are now talking to hotel consultants to see how Soyuzivka's financial picture can be improved. In addition, he reported that he is now working on packages to attract non-Ukrainian business in an effort to increase income.

Discussions of the reports focused on diverse topics, from budgeting and investments, to direct billing, donations from the Ukrainian National Foundation, community perceptions of the UNA, the organization's decision-making mechanism, the UNA's future in Canada, and publication of minutes from UNA General Assembly meetings and conventions.

Once discussion of all reports was completed, Auditing Committee Chairman Pastuszek proposed a vote of confidence for the UNA Executive Committee, pointing out that the executive officers did their utmost to make the UNA more financially sound while keeping it on a fraternal footing. The motion was passed.

By-laws issues

In accordance with a resolution adopted at the last convention, General Assembly members discussed amendments to the UNA Charter and By-Laws that would provide for altering the UNA's governance structure to an 11-member board of trustees. The purpose of the discussion was to fine-tune the proposed by-laws changes that will be presented in a referendum via mail to delegates to the 34th Convention.

If approved, the changes would allow delegates to the 35th Convention, scheduled for May 2002, to elect an 11-member board, instead of a 25-person General Assembly consisting of six executive officers, five auditors and 14 advisors. The board, which is to meet at least once per quarter, would then hire executive officers to run the day-to-day business of the UNA.

The by-laws changes and the ramifications of this corporate structure were discussed in detail on Saturday evening through Sunday morning, with Advisor Szmagala, who heads the Standing Committee on the UNA By-Laws, leading the proceedings. However, point-by-point review was not concluded. The General Assembly authorized a specially called By-Laws Subcommittee to continue this process. Elected to the committee were: Honorary Members Kuropas and Szmagala, Advisors Szeremeta, Chudolij, Luchkiv and Kachkowski, as well as members of the Executive Committee.

The General Assembly adopted the following approximate timetable and procedures for the by-laws review and referendum: within the next 90 days the proposed changes to the by-laws are to be printed in both official publications of the UNA in their respective languages and mailed to delegates of the past convention with a request for comments and suggestions; comments are to be sent to the Home Office and then are to be published in both papers by September 1, 2000; the By-Laws Subcommittee is then directed to look over all comments and suggestions, and present a final draft of the referendum question (as it will be posed to convention delegates) to the General Assembly for approval at its next meeting in December 2000; once approved, the draft of the amendments is to be published in the newspapers again and mailed to convention delegates; a discussion of the final draft can then be held on the pages of both newspapers, as well as at various UNA meetings; voting on the referendum is to be completed by July 1, 2001.

Committee meetings and a banquet

Only two committees met during the 1999 annual meeting of the General Assembly: the Standing Committee on Soyuzivka, whose meeting took place on Friday evening, and the Financial Committee, which convened on early Sunday morning.

Members of the Financial Committee were: Treasurer Kaczaraj (chair), First Vice-President Kuropas, Auditor Pastuszek, Advisors Luchkiv and Skyba, and Honorary Member of the General Assembly Lesawyer. The major task of that committee was to review the budget prepared by Mr. Kaczaraj before its presentation to the full assembly.

The Standing Committee on Soyuzivka, chaired by the first vice-president, focused its deliberations on the future development of the UNA resort and on the question of whether Soyuzivka could host the next convention of the UNA scheduled for 2002. After much discussion of the logistics with Soyuzivka Manager Flis, the committee concluded that, at present, the facilities at Soyuzivka could not conveniently accommodate conventioneers and that the costs and arrangements required to transport delegates to the resort from various airports are prohibitive. Members of Standing Committee on Soyuzivka are: Advisors Chudolij, Skyba, Kachkowski, Szmagala, Luchkiv, Szeremeta and Hawryluk (Ms. Hawryluk could not be present at the meeting).

On Saturday evening, a special liturgy was celebrated for General Assembly members in the Main House lobby by the Rev. Stasiw.

The banquet that evening, which was preceded by a cocktail hour, featured a selection of Ukrainian and Italian works performed by tenor Roman Tsymbala with piano accompaniment by his wife. The master of ceremonies for the evening was Dr. Kuropas, who also provided comedic interludes during the evening. During the banquet General Assembly members also had an occasion to celebrate the birthday of Oksana Trytjak, the UNA's special activities coordinator, who was present at the annual session in the capacity of recorder of the minutes.

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The next annual meeting of the UNA General Assembly will take place at Soyuzivka on December 1-3, 2000.

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