Board Meeting Minutes - January 18, 2011

Posted by Will Fastie, January 19, 2011 12:00pm

January 18, 2011
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Roswell Visual Arts Center

 President Tom Hoffmann called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM in the Visual Arts Center. Those in attendance were: Tom Hoffmann, Jeff Frankel, Maury Kalnitz, Jim Pettit, Eric Paulding, Mark Walter, Ted Fisher, and Scott MacInnis.

Tom presented the agenda topics as follows:

• Review Financial Details from 2010
• 2011 Budget Discussion and Approval
• Board Roles and Responsibilities
• 2011 Calendar
• Email announcements (who prepares, who sends, should we use a service)
• Spring Members Exhibit
• Field Trips (in preparation for Roswell Heritage Show)
  • Bullock Hall
  • Smith Plantation
• Summer Seminar

BUDGET DISCUSSION

Jim reviewed the 2010 budget and stated that every event/show RPS sponsored lost money in 2010. Tom reviewed the bylaws which states that every event/show must break-even or produce a very small profit. Jim also noted that we need a process to ensure print sales are handled in a way where the club and the artist receive monies owed and this needs to occur in a timely manner. Further discussion is required.

Jim then reviewed the 2011 budget. For 2011, Jim will add the following categories to the chart of accounts to provide visibility to specific items which are currently comingled as follows:

Show Expense

• Awards (Ribbons and Certificates)
• Prizes (Cash Awards for Places in shows)
• Supplies
• Food
• Judges

Meeting Expense

• Rent
• Food
• Speakers/Judges
• Supplies
• Holiday Party

Jim discussed the past practice of the use of Petty Cash or cash advances on Procurement Cards. This practice will no longer be permitted in 2011. Small Petty Cash will be used for events on an as needed basis. The current Petty Cash amount should be approximately $50. Jim will verify.

ACP was discussed due to a high expenditure, a financial loss in 2010 and no direct identifiable benefit to RPS. Jeff will be reviewing the costs involved and benefits received by RPS and report back to the board.

Discussion around our financial inability to upgrade the software in our computer lab to provide the capability to offer more classes was discussed as part of the 2011 budget. The group consensus was to develop an action plan to increase courses and use the revenue from the classes specifically to upgrade our software. A suggestion was made by Ted to offer classes and have the students bring their laptop with the latest software installed such as CS5 or Lightroom 3 as a trial offering to see if we can generate interest. In addition, discussion took place that we need to significantly increase the number of workshops in 2011 to drive some revenue for software upgrades. Further discussion with Stan needs to take place on how to increase our workshops this year.

To tighten and control our costs and to comply with the bylaws the following motion was presented and unanimously approved as follows:

Maury Kalnitz moved and Ted Fisher seconded that each event shall be operated following a budget submitted by the event committee to the board for approval at least one week in advance of the event with a post event review of the budgeted plan vs. actual income and expenses at the first board meeting following the event.

The board further agreed that this goes into effect immediately and a budget is to be submitted for the Expressions of Light event.

Maury Kalnitz moved and Ted Fisher seconded that the budget presented for 2011 by Jim Pettit dated 1/1/2011 for the total proposal of $21,100 be approved. The motion was unanimously approved.

It was noted that this is a budget only, subject to change, and all significant expenditures must be approved by the board per the bylaws, as well as the motion approved above requiring budgets for each event.

BOARD ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Tom began this discussion topic by reading the roles and responsibilities for each of the officers from the bylaws (President, VP of Programming, VP of Services, Treasurer and Secretary). A decision was made to have similar roles and responsibilities for the following board positions: Director of Marketing, Director of Education, Director of Membership, Director of Web and Director of Social Media).

For the board members currently not included in the bylaws each board member, or joint board members when more than one exists, will develop their respective roles and responsibilities. The roles and responsibilities are due at the next board meeting February 28^th with final approval at the board meeting on March 28^th. The roles and responsibilities will contain enough detail to convey to the reader all activities the position entails. This is a critical item which will help the board operate more efficiently and effectively.

A discussion took place regarding term limits for the board positions not currently defined in the bylaws. Concerns were expressed regarding consistency and the ability for someone new to fill some of these positions. Discussion took place that with detailed roles and responsibilities for the positions not in the current bylaws, term limits could be put in place. Maury proposed that an Advisory Board be established to provide the ability for consistency keeping the knowledge and experience of our current serving members. The members on the Advisory Board will attend regular board meetings and participate in all discussions but would not have any voting rights. This item will be revisited once the new roles and responsibilities have been approved at the March 28^th board meeting.

CALENDAR

Based on reviewing the roles and responsibilities in the bylaws for the VP’s of Programming, it was decided that the VP’s of Programming will be responsible for the RPS annual calendar for 2011 and going forward. Debbie and Gittel are responsible to finalize the 2011 calendar. Once the calendar is finalized it will be submitted to Ted and Scott. Ted and Scott will review the calendar for accuracy and completeness and if they approve, they will submit the calendar to the entire board for approval. Once board approval takes place (this can be accomplished via e-mail) Ted and Scott will work with Mark and Eric to have the calendar uploaded to our web site and social media portal.

E-MAIL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mark presented a tool he researched called Campaign Monitor. The tool has the capability to enable RPS to send mass e-mails, maintain membership lists, various free templates for mailings, membership database, and the ability to produce various reports. For example: those members who have made annual donations. The database can also be customized to add specific fields we may need for tracking. Mark offered to develop a sample mass e-mail that will be sent to the board to demonstrate the tools capabilities by the next board meeting on February 28^th. At the February board meeting we will discuss and determine if we want to invest in the tool. The current pricing for unlimited e-mail campaigns is $15 per month or $180 annually. If the board approves the use of the tool and the corresponding expenditure, the VP’s of Services will be responsible for mass e-mails for all meetings, events and shows working with Mark for distribution.

Until the tool can be evaluated, Jeff will write-up the next meeting announcement once the speaker has been finalized. Jeff will  provide the February announcement to Tom for mass e-mailing no later than January 31^st.

SPRING MEMBERS EXHIBIT

Jeff stated that he has confirmed that we have permission to be at the church on Feb 7^th at 5:00 PM with Nancy Turner. Refreshments will be set up starting at 6:00 pm. Eric will get the RPS laptop from the VAC and set it up for checking in Expression of Light submissions. Jeff also stated that he updated the laptop to be current with software updates. The laptop is in a brown briefcase and is the Dell XPS. The other laptop does not have an HDMI connection for the new projector.

FIELD TRIPS AND SUMMER SEMINAR

A brief discussion took place regarding the Feb. 27^th Bullock Hall and Mar. 6^th Smith Plantation field trips. These items will be incorporated into the 2011 calendar and mass e-mails will be developed to remind the membership. The event committee’s for each of these events along with the Spring Members Exhibit and the Summer Seminar will develop the corresponding announcements and provide to Jeff for final approval and distribution.

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Maury and was seconded by Scott. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jeff Frankel
(On behalf of Lynn Kahn, RPS Secretary)