Regular Meeting -- September 19, 2021
The Board of Directors held its regular bi-monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704 starting at 2:30pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee (via Zoom), Secretary John McGarey (via Zoom), Treasurer Penny Chambers (via Zoom at 3:30pm), Kim Pillsbury (via Zoom), and Lia Nelson. Robert McGarey (Executive Director) was also present at the meeting.
The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved as read.
Bookkeeping. Kim, Sammm, and Earl have been doing bookkeeping and are caught up with August which is nice in advance of needing to do the 990's. We will have to file electronically which is concerning.
Celebrate Event. Tentatively it would be held outside with just bathroom use inside as necessary. Covid has interrupted plans for this though. Planning on 50-70 people maximum. People would come and go during the event. Tentatively it may be next March.
Katherine Ehlert's tree project. The city of Austin will take care of this so we don't have to.
finances. We still have around $13,000 in the bank which is a nice surprise. Bingo money has been helping. Sonny said that we would likely get $5,000 more from Bingo in the next month which will help us for the rest of the year. We have not been paying extra on the mortgage but Bob would like to. Income so far in 2021 is $70,000 plus $10,000 in bingo ($5,000 coming soon as previously mentioned). $2,900 came in from donations for the freezing. Bob said we are financially more stable than ever, but it seems like we've had less attendance than ever. He suggested Zoom fatigue.
Bathroom Repair. Part of the reason we have not been paying extra on the mortgage was concerns about the cost of bathroom repair. Bob did a walk through showing the board via zoom. There are walls and they described the vision for what it will look like. Primarily unfinished. The washer and dryer work, the sink doesn't work yet. The toilet is in there in a box and not hooked up. The tile is not on the floor but there is a floor.
Covid. Informal expectation is that individuals who are vaccinated may enter with no masks and have quick hugs. Virtually all of Bob's clients are currently online. Event expectations will have to be addressed when that happens. We don't have plans for events right now except for the tentative Celebrate event next March.
Discretionary Spending. There is about $3,000 in the bank beyond the $10,000 that the board decided to keep as an emergency fund. Board agreed to add $100 to the mortgage payment to add to principal. There was a consideration of hiring a bookkeeper, but Kim, Sam, and Earl have been doing a great job with that. Lia has the list of Huge, Big, and Small Items. The board discussed most of the items on the list and particularly noticed the following items:
There was more discussion but Bob prioritized the list as we went and the board decided to get estimates on two priority items:
Next Meeting. Board decided that at the next meeting we should speak about getting clarity around how a new tiny house and the community members and how that fit into the mission: basically to discuss the vision for our tenants.
Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm. Minutes submitted by John McGarey, Secretary, September 19, 2021.