Board of Directors Minutes – July 20, 2013, Millenocket, Maine

2013-2014 Highpointers Board of Directors

Minutes of Highpointers Board of Directors Meeting
July 20, 2014

I. Introductions

The Highpointers Club Board of Directors met Saturday, July 20, 2013 , from 2:07 p.m. until 5:15 p.m. at the Katahdin Motor Inn in Millinocket , Maine , during the Highpointers 2013 Maine Convention. Minutes were prepared by Secretary Roger Rowlett.

13 of 15 Board members attended (Marion Bauman, Mark Comstock, Kathy Delsaso, Mick Dunn, Charlie Feris, Nikki Hemphill, Don Holmes, Eric Lichtenstein (attending via a Skype connection from Switzerland via a laptop computer in the room provided by John Mitchler), Ray Nelson, Roger Rowlett, Jim Sutton, Gary Szelc, Tim Webb. Not attending were Kamell Abdnour (who was climbing Gannett Peak ) and John Keator (who had a family emergency). Tim Webb moderated. In addition two ex-officio officers were present — John Mitchler (newsletter) and Todd Brown (2014 convention host). Among the non board members in the room were Roy Wallen, Gene and Lillian Elliott; Bill Guenther, Jan Nelson, Stony Burk and Penn Watson. Nikki & Mick who were involved left in the convention planning left at 3:40pm after the group photos. John Mitchler commented that the Agenda Item III.9 should be Records, not Budget.

II. Old Business

Board without opposition approved the minutes submitted by Roger Rowlett of the electronic Yahoo meeting between the Oregon convention and this convention ( June 9, 2012 to July 30, 2013 )

Board approved treasurer’s report.

Board without opposition approved a plan whereby new Club members would get a Highpoint Information card for each member of the family membership free upon joining. Existing members could buy the cards at the Merc. Stony suggested added 3 more (2-SC, 1-VA) to the current total of 89, which some Directors felt was too many.

Board tabled a motion on approving honorary memberships (almost all of which are sent to people associated with or are caretakers both public and private of state highpoints) until Stony Burk could re-review the list and cull it. The list has not been fully vetted for almost two years. In 2012 the 2011 list was approved without modification as there has been a membership Chairman change. Stony suggested added 3 more (2-SC, 1-VA) to the current total of 89, which some Directors felt was too many.

III. Committee Reports

Convention chair Nikki Hemphill reported that the 2013 and 2014 conventions are running smoothly. The 2014 convention will be July 25-26 in Gatlinburg at the Doubletree Hotel above the city.

Newsletter chair John Mitchler reported that Barnum Printing in Denver continues to print the newsletter; LK Mail in Wheat Ridge , Colorado mails the newsletter. John notes that there has been a smooth transition in the membership

operation from Craig Noland to the new committee of Jan and Ray Nelson and Charlie and Diane Winger. John also noted that the newsletter expense accounts for $14 of the $20 of each member’s club dues.

Liaison chair Stony Burk noted that Roy Wallen is the new South region coordinator. Stony showed the Board the new club brochure with updated elevations, membership and merc information which will replace the previous two color version.

Website chair Roger Rowlett noted there has been a fair amount of “under the hood” work involved with the changes required by the transfer of the Merc and Membership including new PayPal email accounts since PayPal is tied to an individual. The transfer also revealed some long standing broken items on the e-commerce functions of the Merc and Membership that have for the most part been fixed. A shorter questionnaire for the membership will probably be developed to meet the limits of what PayPal accepts. Currently the long questionnaire about highpoints and family members is too big for PayPal and thus creating a time consuming two-step process for applications that is aggravating for both customers and maintenance. Roger noted there are 998 people who like the club’s facebook page. Roger said he needs to find a volunteer to provide backup in case something happens to him.

Membership chair Ray Nelson noted that half the club memberships come online from PayPal. He noted 52% are 1 year and the remainder spread out among 2 and 3 year memberships. He said he would prefer people have longer memberships as it is less work.

Merc chair Bomber Brown said things were running smoothly since he and Nena Brown took over the Merc on June 1. He has been working with Roger Rowlett on changes to the Merc website.

Bylaws chair Don Holmes had nothing to report.

Foundation liaison Kathy Dalsaso had nothing to report.

Record chair John Mitchler said he keeps club information on a dedicated external hard drive. John reported that material continues to flow into the Club’s archives in a storage unit, and in my home, in Golden.

John Mitchler reported on behalf of Marketing Chair Bill Deitzer that 110 of the Powerpoint slideshows on highpointing were distributed in 2013-2014.

Longacre Memorial chair Tim Webb reported that the 9.44 acre property had formally been transferred to Tom Altwies . Altwies had bought Jakk Longacre’s other property.&nb sp; The club has a perpetual easement to the property and the Ozark Mountain Trail goes through the memorial with it formally being on the OMT maps and the trailhead for the Russell Mountain on the approach to Taum Sauk being at the former club entry to the memorial.

IV. New Business

Board approved a budget prepared by Don Holmes with no opposition. More than half the club expenses are incurred by the newsletter with the rest allocated among other club functions; 73 percent of the club’s income comes from membership dues with the Merc providing 24 percent.

Board with no opposition approved spending $1,000 for a paving stone with the club’s name on it to support the

Sassafras Mountain renovation project in South Carolina . The stone will say “Highpointers Club, Founded 1987 by

Jack Longacre to Promote Climbing and Preservation of the Fifty State Highpoints.”

Board with no opposition approved spending up to $1,000 for the Sterler Family and members of the Hawkeye

Foundation and members of the FFA who have worked on Hawkeye Point to be guests of the Club at the banquet if

the 2015 convention is held in Iowa . Funding would come from the $15,000 CD provided by the Merc.

Board approved with no opposition a plan to spend $50 for a paving stone at the Iowa highpoint with the inscription, “Highpointers Club.”

Board directed Jim Sutton to present a release form to the board once it is formally drafted. The form is intended to provide an inventory of club assets and provide a legal basis to recover those assets if the volunteer possessing them is unable to give them back to the club.

Board majority approved the renaming of the Vin Hoeman Award to the Marshall-Vin Hoeman Award. The renaming after discovery of a note from Jakk Longacre saying he had intended to name the award for Marshall but could not get the board to approve it. Nobody in the room including Don Holmes or Penn Watson remembered such a
discussion. Voting in Favor were Comstock, Dalsaso, Feris, Nelson, Rowlett, Sutton, Szelc, Webb. Voting Against wer Bauman,

Note: The matter was revoted in the electronic session after the Maine meeting to clear up a a point of order that a two-thirds majority was required. In that vote the proposal failed to gain the two-thirds vote necessary for change.

Agenda item put forth by John Mitchler on convention was withdrawn by John.

Agenda item put forth by John Mitchler on future of newsletter was withdrawn by John.

A group photo was taken. Members Dunn & Hemphill left to assist with the convention.

Proposal to reduce the Board size from 15 to 11 was defeated with only Eric Lichtenstein and Roger Rowlett voting in favor. Eric and Roger had argued that not everybody on the board does work and that the board is bigger than the governments of cities. Don Holmes said that in getting the club’s 501-c-7 status that the board’s size was stated in the application as well as the mission statement.

Board approved without opposition a request by Eric Lichtenstein to spend $100 on a SurveyMonkey survey of club members on various issues. Eric said the board needed to have a better feel for what club members want. Board members in paring down the original $250 request said that few people vote in the elections and few participate in any surveys. Roger said there’s a possibility it could be done online for nothing.

Board without opposition approved Roger Rowlett’s request to formally apply on behalf of the club for Google’s Street

View project where the club could borrow a Google 360 degree camera to map state highpoints. Roger Rowlett will report back.

Board rejected a proposal by Roger Rowlett to remove the sentence in the Bylaws that makes the immediate past president an ex-officio member of the Board. Jim Sutton said the bylaw was intended to provide continuance. Roger said the bylaw was not how any other government body was organized (e.g., outgoing President of the United States does not have official power). Roger also noted that outgoing presidents can continue to be elected to the board.

Board without opposition approved the spending of up to $500 for the shipment of convention items (e.g., signs, banners, name tag holders) from one host to the next host. Ship the material and submit a request for reimbursement to the Treasurer.

Eric Lichtenstein led a discussion for nearly an hour about special projects. Board agreed to name him Projects chair to pursue them further and attempt to find volunteers.

Marion Bauman had various questions about the financial reports. The Board said that he could work with Don Holmes on financials matter and perhaps provide backup for the treasurer. The Board approved creating a Financial Committee as a Special Committee.

The board went into a half hour executive session to discuss personnel issues raised by Don Holmes. No business was conducted.

The board came back into session and adjourned at 5:12 p.m.
I. Introductions

The Highpointers Club Board of Directors met Saturday, July 20, 2013 , from 2:07 p.m. until 5:15 p.m. at the Katahdin Motor Inn in Millinocket , Maine , during the Highpointers 2013 Maine Convention. Minutes were prepared by Secretary Roger Rowlett.

13 of 15 Board members attended (Marion Bauman, Mark Comstock, Kathy Delsaso, Mick Dunn, Charlie Feris, Nikki Hemphill, Don Holmes, Eric Lichtenstein (attending via a Skype connection from Switzerland via a laptop computer in the room provided by John Mitchler), Ray Nelson, Roger Rowlett, Jim Sutton, Gary Szelc, Tim Webb. Not attending were Kamell Abdnour (who was climbing Gannett Peak ) and John Keator (who had a family emergency). Tim Webb moderated. In addition two ex-officio officers were present — John Mitchler (newsletter) and Todd Brown (2014 convention host). Among the non board members in the room were Roy Wallen, Gene and Lillian Elliott; Bill Guenther, Jan Nelson, Stony Burk and Penn Watson. Nikki & Mick who were involved left in the convention planning left at 3:40pm after the group photos. John Mitchler commented that the Agenda Item III.9 should be Records, not Budget.

II. Old Business

Board without opposition approved the minutes submitted by Roger Rowlett of the electronic Yahoo meeting between the Oregon convention and this convention ( June 9, 2012 to July 30, 2013 )

Board approved treasurer’s report.

Board without opposition approved a plan whereby new Club members would get a Highpoint Information card for each member of the family membership free upon joining. Existing members could buy the cards at the Merc. Stony suggested added 3 more (2-SC, 1-VA) to the current total of 89, which some Directors felt was too many.

Board tabled a motion on approving honorary memberships (almost all of which are sent to people associated with or are caretakers both public and private of state highpoints) until Stony Burk could re-review the list and cull it. The list has not been fully vetted for almost two years. In 2012 the 2011 list was approved without modification as there has been a membership Chairman change. Stony suggested added 3 more (2-SC, 1-VA) to the current total of 89, which some Directors felt was too many.

III. Committee Reports

Convention chair Nikki Hemphill reported that the 2013 and 2014 conventions are running smoothly. The 2014 convention will be July 25-26 in Gatlinburg at the Doubletree Hotel above the city.

Newsletter chair John Mitchler reported that Barnum Printing in Denver continues to print the newsletter; LK Mail in Wheat Ridge , Colorado mails the newsletter. John notes that there has been a smooth transition in the membership

operation from Craig Noland to the new committee of Jan and Ray Nelson and Charlie and Diane Winger. John also noted that the newsletter expense accounts for $14 of the $20 of each member’s club dues.

Liaison chair Stony Burk noted that Roy Wallen is the new South region coordinator. Stony showed the Board the new club brochure with updated elevations, membership and merc information which will replace the previous two color version.

Website chair Roger Rowlett noted there has been a fair amount of “under the hood” work involved with the changes required by the transfer of the Merc and Membership including new PayPal email accounts since PayPal is tied to an individual. The transfer also revealed some long standing broken items on the e-commerce functions of the Merc and Membership that have for the most part been fixed. A shorter questionnaire for the membership will probably be developed to meet the limits of what PayPal accepts. Currently the long questionnaire about highpoints and family members is too big for PayPal and thus creating a time consuming two-step process for applications that is aggravating for both customers and maintenance. Roger noted there are 998 people who like the club’s facebook page. Roger said he needs to find a volunteer to provide backup in case something happens to him.

Membership chair Ray Nelson noted that half the club memberships come online from PayPal. He noted 52% are 1 year and the remainder spread out among 2 and 3 year memberships. He said he would prefer people have longer memberships as it is less work.

Merc chair Bomber Brown said things were running smoothly since he and Nena Brown took over the Merc on June 1. He has been working with Roger Rowlett on changes to the Merc website.

Bylaws chair Don Holmes had nothing to report.

Foundation liaison Kathy Dalsaso had nothing to report.

Record chair John Mitchler said he keeps club information on a dedicated external hard drive. John reported that material continues to flow into the Club’s archives in a storage unit, and in my home, in Golden.

John Mitchler reported on behalf of Marketing Chair Bill Deitzer that 110 of the Powerpoint slideshows on highpointing were distributed in 2013-2014.

Longacre Memorial chair Tim Webb reported that the 9.44 acre property had formally been transferred to Tom Altwies . Altwies had bought Jakk Longacre’s other property.&nb sp; The club has a perpetual easement to the property and the Ozark Mountain Trail goes through the memorial with it formally being on the OMT maps and the trailhead for the Russell Mountain on the approach to Taum Sauk being at the former club entry to the memorial.

IV. New Business

Board approved a budget prepared by Don Holmes with no opposition. More than half the club expenses are incurred by the newsletter with the rest allocated among other club functions; 73 percent of the club’s income comes from membership dues with the Merc providing 24 percent.

Board with no opposition approved spending $1,000 for a paving stone with the club’s name on it to support the

Sassafras Mountain renovation project in South Carolina . The stone will say “Highpointers Club, Founded 1987 by

Jack Longacre to Promote Climbing and Preservation of the Fifty State Highpoints.”

Board with no opposition approved spending up to $1,000 for the Sterler Family and members of the Hawkeye

Foundation and members of the FFA who have worked on Hawkeye Point to be guests of the Club at the banquet if

the 2015 convention is held in Iowa . Funding would come from the $15,000 CD provided by the Merc.

Board approved with no opposition a plan to spend $50 for a paving stone at the Iowa highpoint with the inscription, “Highpointers Club.”

Board directed Jim Sutton to present a release form to the board once it is formally drafted. The form is intended to provide an inventory of club assets and provide a legal basis to recover those assets if the volunteer possessing them is unable to give them back to the club.

Board majority approved the renaming of the Vin Hoeman Award to the Marshall-Vin Hoeman Award. The renaming after discovery of a note from Jakk Longacre saying he had intended to name the award for Marshall but could not get the board to approve it. Nobody in the room including Don Holmes or Penn Watson remembered such a
discussion. Voting in Favor were Comstock, Dalsaso, Feris, Nelson, Rowlett, Sutton, Szelc, Webb. Voting Against wer Bauman,

Note: The matter was revoted in the electronic session after the Maine meeting to clear up a a point of order that a two-thirds majority was required. In that vote the proposal failed to gain the two-thirds vote necessary for change.

Agenda item put forth by John Mitchler on convention was withdrawn by John.

Agenda item put forth by John Mitchler on future of newsletter was withdrawn by John.

A group photo was taken. Members Dunn & Hemphill left to assist with the convention.

Proposal to reduce the Board size from 15 to 11 was defeated with only Eric Lichtenstein and Roger Rowlett voting in favor. Eric and Roger had argued that not everybody on the board does work and that the board is bigger than the governments of cities. Don Holmes said that in getting the club’s 501-c-7 status that the board’s size was stated in the application as well as the mission statement.

Board approved without opposition a request by Eric Lichtenstein to spend $100 on a SurveyMonkey survey of club members on various issues. Eric said the board needed to have a better feel for what club members want. Board members in paring down the original $250 request said that few people vote in the elections and few participate in any surveys. Roger said there’s a possibility it could be done online for nothing.

Board without opposition approved Roger Rowlett’s request to formally apply on behalf of the club for Google’s Street

View project where the club could borrow a Google 360 degree camera to map state highpoints. Roger Rowlett will report back.

Board rejected a proposal by Roger Rowlett to remove the sentence in the Bylaws that makes the immediate past president an ex-officio member of the Board. Jim Sutton said the bylaw was intended to provide continuance. Roger said the bylaw was not how any other government body was organized (e.g., outgoing President of the United States does not have official power). Roger also noted that outgoing presidents can continue to be elected to the board.

Board without opposition approved the spending of up to $500 for the shipment of convention items (e.g., signs, banners, name tag holders) from one host to the next host. Ship the material and submit a request for reimbursement to the Treasurer.

Eric Lichtenstein led a discussion for nearly an hour about special projects. Board agreed to name him Projects chair to pursue them further and attempt to find volunteers.

Marion Bauman had various questions about the financial reports. The Board said that he could work with Don Holmes on financials matter and perhaps provide backup for the treasurer. The Board approved creating a Financial Committee as a Special Committee.

The board went into a half hour executive session to discuss personnel issues raised by Don Holmes. No business was conducted.

The board came back into session and adjourned at 5:12 p.m.

==Photo==
2013-2014 Board of Directors meeting at Millenocket, Maine on July 20, 2013.
Left to right: Gary Szelc, Jim Sutton, Don Holmes, Kathy Dalsaso, Roger Rowlett, Nikki Hemphill, Tim Webb, Marion Bauman, Eric Lichtenstein (skyping in from Switzerland), Mark Comstock, Mick Dunn, John Mitchler (ex-officio as newsletter editor), Todd Brown (ex-officio as convention host for 2014), Charlie Ferris, Ray Nelson. Not pictured: Kamell Abdenour and John Keator.

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