Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- May 5, 2007

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 1:05 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: Vice President and Treasurer Pam Chambers and Secretary Kathy Lee. The following director was absent: President Pam Latham (Oceanna). Robert McGarey (Executive Director) and Leslie Harvey were also present at the meeting. Pam volunteered to take the minutes because Kathy was not feeling very well.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting and the December 15, 2006 meeting were read aloud and approved.

Executive Director's Report

New Purchases. The Center has sorely needed a new computer, and we were able to purchase a Mac Mini (1.42 GHz, 80 GB) this month for just $300. We had spent two months without a computer backup, and now we've got daily backups again. We also purchased a new outside A/C compressor unit for $2450, and purchased an ad for $395 that is now printed on thousands of People's Pharmacy bags.

Other Updates. Bob announced that the donation for the Oprah project that Sherry Lund promised hasn't materialized yet, and that the volunteers for mowing the lawn, helping with the Oprah project and helping out with office work haven't materialized either.

Finances. Bob reported that bingo so far this year has been much better, providing us with a cushion capable of covering us for a full 6 months of no bingo income at all, if necessary. That means that we can start paying down our line of credit and credit cards, which we used last year to cover last year's shortfalls from bingo.

Bob went on to explain that we currently have $1,600 in monthly expenses that we can count on, and $1,100 in income that we can count on, leaving us with a $500 deficit that is normally made up primarily by Bob's Personal Growth Sessions. However, if we covered that $500 deficit in other ways, we'd be able to use the Personal Growth Session income for redoing the back porch, painting the buildings, advertising, etc.

One great example of bringing in this income in other ways is that we just received our first check from the sale of a GoodwheelChairs scooter. It was for $600, and Bob noted that even just getting one check like that a month would significantly change the financial situation here at the Center. Rebekah is excited about doing more work on both GoodwheelChairs and Randall's, and so Bob will set up a meeting with her and Liz Sifuentes to go over the information they received while at the state health fair, which went extremely well and provided a wealth of new information and contacts.

Mortgage. Bob found out that the small office building at the corner of Bert and Manchaca (4016 Manchaca) is up for sale at an asking price of $549k, and that the buildings directly across Bert Avenue from the Center are up for sale at an asking price of $780k for 3/4 of an acre. So if our finances look solid, it may be fairly easy to refinance our 1.3 acres for $300k.

Membership Policy. Bob said that he has been rethinking our membership structures, and that he may make some recommendations soon about restructuring them.

Artist in Residence. JP Smith, our artist in residence, will be moving to California on August 6th to attend school at UCLA in theater. Consequently, the space we've been renting to him at a reduced cost will be vacant, and it would be good for us to find a new use for the space. It was suggested that we post a request for other nonprofits on CraigsList, and check a list of nonprofits that Tommie Reeves has for ideas.

New Associate. Bob recommended that the board approve Robert Gardner as an associate. After some discussion, it was unanimously

RESOLVED, that we approve Robert Gardner as a new associate.

Improvements to the Center. Bob led an exercise about ways to help improve the Center, and he asked board members to save their written answers in their board notebooks so we can review them at future board meetings. In response to the exercise, Leslie Harvey tentatively agreed to help spruce up the Center with what is known as a "shabby chic" motif.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:44 pm.

Minutes submitted by Pam Chambers, Acting Secretary, May 5, 2007.