Board of Directors Minutes – July 16, 2011, Campbill Hill, Ohio

Highpointers Board of Directors 2011-12
Minutes of Highpointers Board of Directors
July 16, 2011 – Submitted By Roger Rowlett

The Highpointers Club Board of Directors met on Saturday, July 16, 2011 from 2 PM to 4 PM at the Hi-Point Career Center, in Bellefontaine, Ohio during the 2011 Highpointers Club Convention. The meeting was presided by President Tim Webb.

Board members attending:
Kamell Abdenour; Marion Bauman; Jerry Cobleigh; Mark Comstock; Mick Dunn; Charlie Feris; Don Holmes; Will Mokszycki; Craig Noland; Roger Rowlett; Gary Szelc; Steve Urbanski; Tim Webb

Board members absent:
Steve Gamble; Tom Karchesy

Ex-officio members attending:
John Mitchler (Newsletter and 2012 Annual Convention Chairperson); Jim Sutton
(immediate past president)

Ex-officio member not attending:
Bill Urbanski (2011 Annual Convention Chairperson)

Members attending:
Wendy Comstock; Nikki Hemphill, Eric Lichtenstein; Kathy Mitchler; Jack Parsell; Penn Watson

Old Business

Roger Rowlett presented minutes of the email yahoogroups session between the October 9, 2010 meeting in Alabama and the July 16, 2011 meeting in Ohio. The minutes were unanimously approved subject to verifying attendance in the March 17, 2011 executive and adding a list of committee appointments made by president Tim Webb.

Roger Rowlett said he would like to post the minutes to highpointers.org and would like to go back and recreate missing electronic minutes for the past five years. No formal vote was taken however discussion about posting the minutes and recreating the record was favorable.

Don Holmes presented the treasurers report.

New Business

Don Holmes said that the budget is working well. He said he would prefer not to post the budget information where non-members can see it. People interested in the budget can contact him.

Don also presented drafts and officer and chairman procedures. He urged all committee chairman to write them.

John Mitchler requested a clarification on the bylaws regarding term limits. This arose because Mark Comstock, who was initially appointed to fill out a vacant term has gone on to be elected twice. Term limits in section 2.7 say that a person can serve only two consecutive terms. Board discussion indicated that the intent of term limits was in regards to elected positions and that
appointments to unexpired terms should not count. The board unanimously directed the bylaws chairman Don Holmes to change the bylaws indicating this.

Tim Webb raised a discussion clarifying section 3.1 which says for a director to serve as an officer they “must have served at least one (l) year” on the board. Tim who earlier served on the board was elected current president in his first year after returning to the board. Board discussion indicated that there was no requirement that you be on the board for the year preceding your appointment but
just had to have been on the board at some time. No further action was required.

Craig Noland presented a list of 87 honorary members (who are required by section 1.3D to approved by the board). The members are either landowners or are associated with the functioning of a highpoint. Honrary members receive the newsletter without charge. Two new honorary members were added to the list. One was Bob Brown, son of the Woodall Mountain owner (also named Bob Brown). The
elder Mr. Brown died on July 4, 2011. The younger Mr. Brown had attended the 2010 convention and dedication of the summit rock. The other was Don Jaumzemis from the Hi Point Career Center who “has the keys to the Ohio highpoint” and helped the 2011 convention in many ways. The honorary members were approved unanimously.

Eric Lichtenstein made a presentation to the board detailing insurance costs if the club wished to have interim events. Board members indicated a reluctance to have formal interim events and hikes because of continued liability concerns and because of difficulties in finding anybody to lead the interim events. Interim
events can still occur if an individual wishes to organize them but they will not be considered an official function. Eric’s well researched presentation included insurance estimates however board members were troubled by insurance requirements that would have required event organizers to be formally first aid certified and have minimum trip requirements. No formal vote was taken.

Eric also made a presentation proposing the board survey its members to determine the “club characterization” Eric suggested using online
surveymonkey.com. Eric presented a list of 20 sample questions. The board said they might be interested in the survey but no formal motion or vote was taken. Tim Webb suggested Eric work with Craig Noland on creating a survey that could be sent on the e-bulletin or newsletter.

Convention’ Oversight Committee Chairperson Nikki Hemphill said the venues and contracts for the 2012 convention have been established. She is awaiting the final report from Bill Urbanski for 2011.

Newsletter Chairperson John Mitchler said that delivery of the newsletter which taken three weeks from production to delivery via the postal service had initially been reduced to one week on the first issue of 2011. However he said the last issue took two weeks. John also said there is substantial cost to having a standalone ballot in the newsletter. He suggested using just a page in the newsletter. The board took no formal action but some members said they felt it was important that the ballots be continued to be offered.

Webmaster Roger Rowlett said that a calendar of events has been added to the webpage; and that number of Facebook friends has increase from 500 at last meeting to about 600 currently. Roger has indicated a desire to put board minutes on the website. He noted that many of the minutes before 2005 were lost when the webhost Vizaweb went out of business with the minutes being housed in
the postman program at the website. He will continue to look through emails and ask others to try and reconstruct the information.

Membership chairman Craig Noland reported that membership is stable.

Merc Chairman Jean Trousdale noted the Merc had been down for a month in the Spring because of a technology glitch in the wordpress e-commerce plug in.

Foundation liaison Will Moksycki noted that Stony Burk had been elected to be a member of the Highpointers Foundation Board. In serving as liaison chairman for the Club Stony should provide some synergies where the Foudadtion can move more nimbly on issues regarding highpoints where money could help solve a problem.
In particular he noted that a rock was erected recently on Hoosier Hill. The Foundation could have contributed money to make a better presentation on Indiana. Nobody on the board objected to a request by Foundation chairman Dave Covill to have a fund raising auction during the Saturday banquet for two nights at Timberline Lodge at the Oregon 2012 convention. Bill Urbanski conducted the
auction during the evening and Al Dempsey won the spirited bid for a symbolic $2,012 — considerably higher than what had been speculated on during the meeting.

Election Chairman Mark Comstock said only 61 out of 3,000 members voted in the board election (with another 11 votes coming after the deadline). Mark said having a clearly defined dates on deadlines would eliminate some fuzzy areas. Mark suggested considering electronic voting. Some board members including Don Holmes noted that giving the membership an opportunity to vote is very important
— even if they don’t exercise it. Discussion also noted that lack of interest in actual voting may be a sign that membership is satisfied with the current practices and does not see a need to change anything. Board members took no formal action.

Longacre Glade Chairman Tim Webb reported that somebody had bought property on the Taum Sauk (west) side of the Glade and was wanting to build a house there. Tim said that as part of the process the Ozark Mountain Trail access parking area would be moved to the Glade access parking area and that the new landowner would pay to gravel the Glade parking area and enlarge it. Tim said that Club is considering the possibility of donating the Glade to a government or
non-profit entity provided that the plaque and access to the Glade remain unchanged. Some board members have expressed financial concerns over the Club’s continued paying liability insurance for the Glade (the premium is equivalent to 100 club member annual dues). Roger Rowlett said it was important that Lori Longacre (Jakk’s daughter) be included in the discussion of any donations since she had donated the land.

Following adjournment club members walked to the Campbell Hill summit for a group photo which Wendy Comstock took using several board member cameras.

2011-12 Highpointers Club Board of Directors on Campbell Hill (from left to right) Steve Urbanski, Mark Comstock, Mick Dunn, Marion Bauman, Will Mokszycki, Kamell Abdenour, Craig Noland, Don Holmes, Tim Webb, Jerry Cobleigh, Charlie Feris, Roger Rowlett, Gary Szelc Not pictured: Steve Gamble, Tom Karchesy

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