Minutes of August 1, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting

MINUTES OF THE HIGHPOINTERS CLUB BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNUAL MEETING
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Best Western at Hunt’s Landing, Matamoras, PA

Club President, Jim Sutton, called meeting to order at 2PM.
Board Members Attending:
Stony Burk, Mark Comstock, Bill Deitzer, Steve Gamble, Nikki Hemphill, Don Holmes, Robert hyman, Tom Karchesy, Olivier Kozlowski, Will Mokszycki, Craig Noland, Alan Ritter, Jim Sutton and Steve Urbanski.
Board Member not Attending: Kevin Baker.
Also Attending: John Mitchler, ex-officio.

Other members Attending: Dave Covill, Jean Trousdale, Roger Rowlett.

First Order of business
Introduction of all members.

Old Business
1. Review and approval of Minutes from Board email sessions; September 2008 through July 2009. (compiled by Jim Sutton & Stony Burk) Motion to approve as amended made by Alan Ritter and seconded by Tom Karchesy. Motion passed.

2. Treasurers report. (Kevin Baker) Treasurers report not available. Jim Sutton mentioned that there is $31,000 plus in club account and Kevin Baker would distribute email to Board at a later date with status. John Mitchler pointed out that in the past we [Board] haven’t approved the reports; they were just submitted.

3. Klub Kards and ‘What do we get for our dues?’ (Stony Burk & John Mitchler)were brought up from previous year’s discussions. Type of membership card, value and use were some reasons brought up. Further discussion recommended by Jim Sutton for Craig Noland, Stony Burk and Jean Trousdale from club Mercantile to follow up potential use and sale of club cards. Additional discussion by John Mitchler regarding ‘What do we get for our membership?’ and ‘How can cards be used?’ Further discussion looked at possible combination of membership form and club card concept. This was passed to Craig Noland and Bill Deitzer for further review.

4. Annual approval of Honorary Members. (Craig Noland) Craig noted that there are about eighty Honorary Members. After some discussion, questions and clarification a Motion was made to be approved as amended. Motion by Don Holmes and seconded by Olivier Kozlowski. Motion passed.

5. Follow up on club/convention host agreement and possible bylaws changes. (Jim Sutton, Nikki Hemphill and Don Holmes) Jim Sutton presented the history of a special committee of Robert Hyman, Will Mokszycki, Bill Deitzer, Jim Sutton and Nikki Hemphill that put together a Convention Host Agreement approved by the Board earlier in the year. Don Holmes suggests the Agreement needs to be referenced in the bylaws to lend official sanction and makes the following Motion: I move that a Convention Oversight Committee be authorized by the Board and added to the Bylaws as a Standing Committee with the changes to the Bylaws being as reflected in the attached “Proposed Bylaw Change to Add a Convention Oversight Committee-May 2, 2009” and, further, that the Board accept the attached “Highpointers Club Convention Host Policies and Procedures Agreement”. Motion seconded by Robert Hyman. Steve Urbanski moves the Motion to add plurality throughout the paragraph as a technical correction – Whereas (s), seconded by Tom Karchesy. Motion carries. Don Holmes’ Motion is called for a vote. Motion passes.

6. Status of primer to new Board Members on “Historical Topics and Discussions by Board Members on Various Issues” (Stony Burk and John Mitchler) The institutional memory as the Board turns over was discussed. An example was made that Club Life Memberships are discussed every few years and there is no official record of the previous discussions and decisions on why the Club does not offer this type of Membership. Don Holmes will cover the bylaws with John Mitchler, who will also compile minutes and pass along to Stony Burk for indexing and compilation.

7. Status of “Partners on the website” (Roger Rowlett) It was decided that this item be discussed this later in the meeting.

8. Report of status and feedback on HPC Hotline. (Craig Noland) Craig reported 17 new voicemails in the past three days along with emails for membership changes and milestones column and felt it was working well.

9. PowerPoint presentation on HPC-status, distribution etc. (Craig Noland) Bill Deitzer stated that 16 people have committed to putting on the presentation. Further discussion regarding changing the Director of Marketing title to conform to the Club’s marketing effort. Motion made by Alan Ritter and seconded by Mark Comstock to call it PR Marketing. Motion carried.

10. Budget approval process-how do we get from here to 2010? (Kevin Baker) Treasurer position and budget approval process discussed. Club has three main income and outgo funds that can be combined into one report for filing as non-profit to IRS. Currently Treasurers position must be filled by Board Member who has served at least one year. Nikki Hemphill mentioned that Fred Lobdell will volunteer to assist new treasurer and file next year if needed since this is Kevin Bakers last year to serve.

11. Requests for refunds for deceased members-how should the club deal with these? (Jim Sutton and Don Holmes) Discussion of recent request for Membership dues refund from a family member of a deceased club member. Policy statement regarding dues discussed. Tom Karchesy made a Policy Motion that club dues are non-refundable. Seconded by Nikki Hemphill. Motion carried.

12. Delay in adding emails to archives-should the Board be able to discuss issues in private? (Jim Sutton) Permanent record of Board meetings, electronic discussions, proposals, motions and minutes discussed. When are meetings considered open to public view? By laws support a closed meeting when required in the form of Executive Session. Dual electronic sites discussed, one for internal general discussion and one for minutes regarding official business that can be made available to public view. Suggestion made to have scheduled quarterly meetings one being the annual convention board meeting. The others could be conference calls to discuss multiple proposals or motions during the quarter. Also suggested are yahoo user groups and their usefulness. Jim Sutton suggested Roger Rowlett will look into user groups until Oct. 1st and Board will experiment with additional options.

Committee Reports
1. Conventions (Nikki Hemphill) NJ 2009 Convention in budget, well run and successful. MS 2010 Convention is on track with budget, registration forms and looks to be every bit as successful as reported by Nikki Hemphill.

2. Newsletter (John Mitchler) John reported that the editors will continue to put more info on HPs and HPers in nl.

3. Liaison (Stony Burk) Liaisons status discussed by Stony Burk. There are still a few slots to fill and there will be a short meeting with several Liaisons and the Deitzers regarding the PowerPoint presentation of the highpoints and how it can be utilized by the liaisons and helpers.

4. Website (Roger Rowlett) Club website discussion of adding links with other likeminded organizations. Robert Hyman makes a Motion to include the American Alpine Club to our club website page. Second by Mark Comstock. After some discussion regarding how to add links and who should be added a Motion was made to postpone the Motion indefinitely by Tom Karchesy. Seconded by Don Holmes. Motion failed. Motion to include the American Alpine Club to Club website called for vote. Motion Passes.

President calls for remainder of Committee reports.

5. Membership (Craig Noland) Reports we are still seeing new members signing up. 1300 paid with 80 honoraries. A total of 2950 members.

6. Mercantile (Jean Trousdale) Reported balance of $5900 in January. Purchased a computer in the second quarter. Balance of $3400 in third quarter. Inventory is done at end of year. A couple of new items will be available soon.

7. Bylaws (Don Holmes) Previously discussed.

8. Foundation (Will Mokszycki) Will reports the HPC also just had its meeting and discussed ways to continue to raise funds. Also stated that the online auction was going very well.

9. Budget (John Mitchler) Previously discussed.

10. Awards (Don Holmes) Reported the committee reviewed the member request for a chevron patch completion award was denied and deemed too costly to produce.

11. Longacre Memorial (Tim Webb) Tim reported that the project is complete. A couple of additional state distance signs had been finished and installed at the site. Paul and Faith Light are maintaining the kiosk, trail and memorial site.

12. Marketing (Bill Deitzer) Previously discussed.

New Business
1. Consideration of part-time accountant/bookkeeper for club (Jim Sutton, Kevin Baker and John Mitchler) Previously discussed.

2. Items from the floor. (Open)
President asks if there is any additional new business.
Move to adjourn and Seconded at 4:29 PM. Motion carries.

Respectfully,
Submitted by Stony Burk

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