Board of Directors

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.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved as read.

Executive Director's Report

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:

  1. "Creativity Cove floor Mold" was important and Kathy is going to investigate who to hire to come look at this for an estimate.
  2. "Better insulation" could save money on heating and cooling bills. Our current insulation is blown in and we have already had a rebate in the past.
  3. We are now paying $240/month for a cleaning service for the center so that doesn't need to be on the list anymore.
  4. fixing the leak above Lia's closet was unanimously considered important
  5. "Quieter Air filters" would be valuable. The cleaners damaged one filter and Bob and Lia will ask the Cleaners about their insurance replacing it.
  6. Path enlarged in front yard
  7. Repairing the Leather Couch Cushion would be valuable.
  8. final plumbing work is to fix a leak in the sewer lines and should be $2,500 to $4,000
  9. Mini Split heater would be really valuable for the main room in the center

There was more discussion but Bob prioritized the list as we went and the board decided to get estimates on two priority items:

  1. final sewer plumbing work: the board decided to get an estimate and probably pursue it. Bob believes it will be more like $2,500.
  2. The leak over Lia's closet: the board decided to get an estimate and if its less than $500 get that job done.
  3. and to get estimates on the creativity cove floor mold

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.