Annual Board and Membership Meeting -- March 30, 2014
The Board of Directors held its annual 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, Treasurer Penny Chambers (by phone) and Lesleigh Ellinger. The following director was absent: Laine Morales. Robert McGarey (Executive Director) was also present at the meeting.
Of the 18 current voting members, six were present (the above Directors plus Robert McGarey), constituting more than a 10% quorum. The members unanimously re-elected Tamara Vogt to Place 1 of the Board of Directors. Laine Morales, who had held Place 2, has submitted a letter asking not to be considered for re-election due to the demands of her burgeoning business, leaving Place 2 vacant. Since there was no further business, the annual membership meeting was adjourned and the Annual Board recommenced.
The Mission Statement was read aloud. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved as read.
The Board unanimously re-elected Kathy as President, Tamara as Vice President, Pam as Secretary and Penny as Treasurer.
Conflict of Interest Policy
The Conflict of Interest Policy was read aloud. All board members were given an opportunity to disclose any conflicts. The only potential conflict of interest was Lesleigh's. Since she lives in the Garage Apartment, she will abstain from any votes taken on any motions related to the Garage Apartment.
Bingo Chairperson. Robert McGarey was re-elected to the position.
New Workshops. Bob talks about how excited he is about the new Healthy Connections series. It has renewed some substantial energy among current members. The conversations we had at the workshop were fun and we ought to do more of that.
Advertising. Bob talks about the info board and how Pam's keeping it up to date. Penny suggests that we take photos of the board and put it on the Facebook page every week or whenever something changes. There was talk about regularly posting our events on our Facebook page. Pam stupidly volunters to post the workshops when she posts them on the Campus Board. Woe is me!
Finances. We have some new bookkeeping volunteers who have almost caught the records up.
Dr. Gladys' lecture. It attracted a sold-out crowd of about 100 people in the smallish-auditorium (which we rented for only $75), and it brought in a nice small amount. After expenses and after we split the remainder 50/50 as agreed, we made about $750. Gunay, our volunteer who took care of the talk, did a great job. We got visibility for the Center from the lecture because Bob did the introduction to the lecture and talked about the Center. What If It Really Works.com did the videotaping for free, and has put her talk and an interview with her on the web, which should provide extra visibility and web traffic (indirectly) for us.
Cottage Rental. Dr. Keenan moved out before the normal end of his lease, which leaves the cottage un-rented. Dr. Keenan also quit his schooling at AOMA mid-term. We have a woman who can rent the cottage on May 1st. This means that we need to figure out how to make the mortgage money in April, some other way to bring in extra income. There was some group discussion about the cottage and how rents in Austin are increasing.
Calendar. Bob had asked Kathy to help with the calendar. She and Pam will work together to add more exciting events to the calendar listings, including more events from other people instead of having Bob present most of them.
Hot tub. Bob talked to Matthew Riley about his offer to donate a hot tub. Matthew's info is that it is heavy, it needs electricity and we need to figure how to get it here. The debate at the Board is how much would it cost, and whether its usefulness as a benefit to members would offset the additional cost. Given the kind of workshops we do, we could hold some of them in the hot tub as a way of allowing people to get more relaxed and share more honestly with each other. The hot tub doesn't sound very difficult to take care of. And if it doesn't work out, we can sell it. The only remaining concern seems to be the electric usage. If Bob can figure that out, the Board voted to accept the donation.
Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.
Minutes submitted by Pam Chambers, Secretary, March 30, 2014.