Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- May 19, 2013

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 2:30 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Vice President Tamara Vogt, Secretary Pam Chambers and Treasurer Penny Chambers (by phone). The following directors were absent: Laine Morales. Robert McGarey (Executive Director) was also present at the meeting.

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 were read aloud. The following changes were suggested: The minutes were then approved as amended.

Executive Director's Report

Mortgage. The first order of business is refinancing the mortgage. It was unanimously

RESOLVED, that the Executive Director is authorized to submit a application to BBVA Compass Bank for refinancing our mortgage and other debt. The application should be for around $275,000 and will be co-signed by Lucy (Lia) Nelson, William (Bill) Edelbrock, and John B. McGarey.

Electricity Usage. Bob wants to transition the new mini mac before the summer starts. He wants to get the energy usage down from 300 watts down to 35 watts per computer. We have three 300 watt computers at the moment and we want to have one computer instead of 3 to do the work of the Center. Bob will talk to Chris Jamison about working on the transition. Also talk to Preston for other volunteers to transition the new mini mac.

Volunteers. We have two work study students. They are fair. One speaks Spanish and that really helps with wheelchair sales. The Brain Trust is still happening on Mondays at 5:30.

We hired two new practicum students. He is working on something to give them that will let them know what is expected of them. Oceanna will be working with them too. Samantha will be back in the fall.

Bob and Natsu are working on the 990s, which are due August 15th.

Insulation. We recently sold a chair for $4,200 and were able to have insulation put into the attic in the Center and also in the cottage house. Bob worked for 5 days taking out the old insulation which was 50 or so years old. They were charging by the foot to remove it so Bob decided to do as much of that himself as he could. Then he had some guys come and get the rest out. They got most of it out, which cost $1,100 and then Bob went up and got the rest out that they couldn't remove.

Then the insulation people came and put the new non-allergenic fiberglass in at $2,400. We will be getting $500 back in rebate from the city. The R factor upstairs was 6 , now it is 50. We can already tell that there is a difference in the coolness of the air in the Center. If we keep our demand usage below 10 kW in any 15 minute period, we will get the very expensive demand-rate electric rate reduced at the end of the summer.

Facebook. Pam is starting to do the Facebook Human Potential Center Page daily. When everyone tried to go to the page to see what was new, they could only get the group page. This says that we need to get rid of the group page that seems to be interfering with the home page. Pam will send out an email within the next few weeks. Once the members of the page understand the new position of the group, then will be the time to get rid of the group.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:10 pm.

Minutes submitted by Pam Chambers, Secretary, May 19, 2013.