In 1998, ‘Olelo’s Board of Directors recommended the formation of the Access Services Advisory Committee (ASAC). ASAC was created (by the board) to address producer and client concerns and was established to serve in an advisory capacity to the Program Committee. Members of ASAC were elected by their (client) peers and served in a volunteer capacity.

Since its initial formation six years ago ASAC members, Program Committee members and staff have shown great commitment and interest in making ASAC effective. (In reality, staff & Program Committee have done all in their power to keep ASAC from being effective, including shutting it down for 9 months in 2002 and for 11 months and counting in 2004. Many issues ASAC was addressing have now been completed by staff in spite of ASAC suggestions and recommendations.) Over time, however, the group gradually shifted from advising on operational issues to board governance and policy issues (ASAC was working on governance issues & procedures for itself while still working on operational issues. The reality here is that the staff and board did not want the committee to abide by "sunshine" law or the board's bylaws, so to avoid being "fair, open and impartial" board and staff are making ASAC even less effective.).

Recognizing the value of revisiting ASAC’s purpose and structure, at the June 22, 2004 Board Meeting, the Board instructed staff to consider ‘Olelo’s current operational needs and make a recommendation on how to move forward with ASAC. (In reality, per the June 22, 2004 Board Minutes:  "Rochelle asked staff to draft purpose statements for the Finance and Program Committees to be presented at the next Board meeting. Rochelle also asked staff to be prepared to discuss the roles of Client Services, the Program Committee and the Access Services Advisory Committee." This "Proposal" was prepared the day of the November 10 BOD meeting without even ASAC members seeing it in advance of the BOD meeting)

Staff recommends the following:

1.    ASAC serve in an advisory capacity to staff, under the direction of the Chief Operations Officer (of which there is none yet and they say it will not be filled till possibly February. I predict it will be a female with the name of Angela or Miki), and no longer be advisory to the Program Committee. (so now there will be no board member present to hear the issues first hand, and if staff decides not to take ASAC's "advice", only ASAC and the staff will know. In other words the board will only know what 'Olelo wants them to, keeping them deaf, dumb and blind monkeys.)

2.    Staff revise the purpose of ASAC to specify the types of issues appropriate for the advisory committee. (Total staff control of issues that will be allowed).

3.    Staff revise and document the operational structure of ASAC to specify how the group operates, including membership, frequency of meetings and meeting and decision making methods. ('Olelo will essentially trash all the prior work by ASAC on governance issues and come up with, mark my word, more hoops to jump through and broad restrictions designed to stifle Free Speech).

4.    Current ASAC members’ terms continue in the interim. (keeping in the shills, ex-employees and staff wannabees to design a venue for client input) Staff will consult ASAC on the development of the new ASAC structure. (After 'Olelo drafts it and decides what can not be changed) Staff will also seek input from the broader client base, as well. (an equal opportunity for all clients to have input? Don't hold your breath! It will probably be done in a mediated forum with speech restrictions).