Regular Meeting -- January 24, 2010
The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 1:24 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Vice President Robert Gardner, Treasurer Pam Chambers, and Secretary Leslie Harvey. Robert McGarey (Executive Director), Carol Hintz and Richard Cowley were also present at the meeting.
The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the August special meeting and December 13th regular meeting were approved as read.
Community Shares of Texas. Because of the $500 expense of the required financial review, because we haven't done the required full 990 and used the 990-EZ instead, and because we're not sure how much income will be generated, we are not going to be part of Community Shares in 2011. We'll still have the income for this year and will see what kind of income comes in 2010.
Bingo. Bob went to the first meeting with the unit. They reported that since they'd moved/renovated the space last year they have not been making much money. They are finally at the place where they're starting to earn money again, and this is where we are coming in. We'll not see any money come in from bingo until April. It was approved by the unit that we can use our special sessions for bingo events that benefit the Center exclusively, so that means we'll still be able to host our own unique bingo games.
20% Off Sale. The sale was reasonably successful and helped us to make our mortgage, in contrast to what Bob reported last month.
Garage Apartment. Repairs continue to be made to the garage apartment.
Career Testing Workshop. Bob did a workshop yesterday that brought in $600.
Raffle. We're now selling tickets for a raffle at $5 each. First prize is a new 13" MacBook Laptop and second prize is a 32" Flat Screen TV. Drawing will be held Sat April 10th at 4pm. So far we've sold about $300 worth of tickets. This will be good income for the Center.
Honorary Memberships Proposal. Bob proposed that we award honorary memberships to everyone who works or volunteers more than 20 hours per week to the benefit of the Center. The membership will last as long as they continue this work in this manner. The board approved this without objection.
Garden. Six plots in the garden have been rented to Julia for a year, which includes a 6 month membership, for $150 total. We'll have to determine later what will be done if she chooses not to renew in 6 months. Dylan says there are other people (maybe 10) who are interested in renting plots as well.
Printers. The printer and copier machines were both down and had to be repaired by Bob.
Income. In the last 30 days we brought in $2900. What we need to bring in is $5k in the next 30 days. We need to be selling wheelchairs, raffle tickets, having workshops, and more.
Spring Fling. A Spring Fling event will be held on April 10th. There will be booths, activities, and fun. A committee meeting will be held next Saturday (and likely subsequent Saturdays) 1-3pm.
Nifty Thrift. Bob is negotiating a deal with the store Nifty Thrift such that we can put a scooter in front of their store and possibly sell them through their store.
Clean Up. We've been moving toward making things cleaner. The kitchen area is less cluttered and the living room was done nicely.
AHP Board Meeting. The meeting went well and we think that the Center has continued to impress the AHP. They're considering having their winter board meeting here again next year. They said they thought it was homey and comfortable and they were able to get a lot of work done.
Car Donation. Leslie has a car to donate to the Center. She will look into the CARs program and sign us up to make this happen.
Garden. Robert expressed concern that the plots that he has been working on for a long time were rented without consulting or communicating with him. There are a number of things to consider with the garden such as which plots are used by whom. We need to establish some guidelines and a person responsible for resolving conflicts should the need arise. Bob proposed that the board approve Dylan to rent up to five sets of plots to see how that goes, and that Robert be in charge of managing the day-to-day aspects of the garden. Before the board votes Robert will set up a meeting with himself, Dylan and Hannah to determine whether they can develop a working arrangement. Once done we will take a phone vote on Bob's proposal.
Board Reviews. Robert proposed that we do a board self-review and a review of the Executive Director. After much discussion it was decided that we will plan to have a board retreat in May (date to be determined). It will kick off with the reviews and go forward from there.
Shaklee. Kathy reported that the Center is now going to be a distributor for Shaklee products. There will be a link on the Center's website that will go to the Shaklee site. We will also keep products on hand for sale in person.
Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:48 pm.
Minutes submitted by Leslie Harvey, Secretary, January 24, 2010.