August 2015

August 2015 Board Meeting Minutes

Motions this Month

There were NO motions at the August meeting.

Opening

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM on August 4th, at the home of Grover Kemble. There was a quorum.

Roll Call

Present this month were Officers: President Barrett Wilson, Vice President Elizabeth Lachowicz, Treasurer Chris Riemer, Secretary Andrew Hines; Trustees: Joanne Cronin, Lois DeRitter, Deborah Graham, Grover Kemble, Allan Kugel, Bob McNally Lindsey Meyer, Barrett Wilson, Jay Wilensky; Committee Chairs: Barrett Wilson, Pat Brangs, Christine DeLeon, Mike Del Vecchio, Lori Falco, Paul Fisher, George Otto, Mark Schaffer, Robin Schaffer, Leigh Walker; Guests: Jean Scully and Dave Heistand.

Not present were Mike Agranoff, Scooter Ferguson and Ken Brody.

Minutes Review

Lindsey Meyer asked that the June minutes be clarified to reflect that the votes against Deborah Graham’s appointment as Membership Co-Chairperson were NOT any reflection on Deborah. Rather, they were all a statement that 5 board members were against keeping a dual Chairpersonship. All present agreed with this restatement of the prior meeting. Minutes accepted as amended

July minutes accepted, as submitted by Chris Riemer in the absence of Andrew Hines.

President’s Report

Nothing in addition to the report was presented. Items covered in Barrett’s report ranged from: Folk Project 40^th Anniversary weekend, Return of Mark & Robin to the Getaway management, Opening discussion regarding Venue autonomy vs. Board oversight, finances and moving forward. Training of the secretary and such was also covered. Newsletter Summary Minutes will be sent to Barrett and Chris Riemer for review prior to publication.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris had nothing particular to add to his written report. Our cash total on hand as of July 30 totaled just over $42,000. And in the first half we have posted a profit of about $5,500, which is a nice change from last year. In July, he graduated two more Board Members in the series of QuickBooks Online Tutorials, Andrew and Deborah. Lois also sat in again. There were also discussions about depreciation and the manner in which the Vanguard monies are reported.

BUSINESS ITEMS

OLD BUSINESS:

Andrew reported that 40th Anniversary commemorative Tee Shirts were designed by Deborah Graham and printed locally by Mr. Tees of Boonton. Everyone loved the design. Sold at the Minstrel and at the 40^th Concert, the project was a success for the Folk Project. There are still some shirts available that are SIGNED by Tom Paxton. Contact Andrew if interested at secretary@folkproject.org. Profit to the Folk Project was about $600, on an expenditure of $814. There are still 8, or so, remaining shirts that have been SIGNED by Tom Paxton.

NEW BUSINESS:

Barrett announced that FP needs a “Champion” to organize & run the upcoming Halloween show on Friday October 30^th at the Minstrel. If there is anyone interested, please contact Christine, Barrett or any Board member. Discussion also centered on what committee should be responsible for the Halloween Show. Internal Affairs will probably be the choice. (An update to the discussion yields the information that Deborah Graham has volunteered to run the event. Mark Schaffer will closely guide the effort.) Discussion down the road will also cover all of the “community” concert programs. Many comments were offered regarding who should run the Halloween event…should it be Minstrel, and so forth. These topics will be listed on next months agenda.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Getaway Robin and Mark will remain as chairpersons. Preparations are proceeding towards another amazing weekend. Within two weeks all but five openings have been filled for the Fall Getaway. See report.

Minstrel Booking Michael not present due to unfortunate fall resulting in a broken collarbone. At the time of this writing (8/15), I spoke to Michael…and he is rapidly improving and feeling much better. The report contains subjects such as: 40^th Anniversary weekend, Birthday show, Minstrel attendance, new sound gear and upcoming bookings.

Special Concerts Scooter was not present. Uke Fest has about 40 registrants. The report covered items such as: New bookings surveys…and more importantly, the fact that he will not be handling Open Stage in the future. This will take place in the near term.

There followed a considerable discussion on Scooters replacement. Should it be rotating? Should it be Michael Agranoff? Where should we draw from? Mark shared the history of hosts, and what type of person could take it on…and what skill sets might be needed. Paul suggested that Scooter be asked to write up a synopsis of the job.

Swingin’ Tern Leigh says things are going OK…and experiencing its usual slow summertime. Also covered in his report are some notes on future dances.

Horses Sing None of It Ken not present. Read his report to learn more about past and future tapings…including one taping that was cancelled due to poor communication due to an emergency.

Electronic Communications Lori reports that all is well. Tee shirt sales used constant contact successfully. Not much more in the report.

Internal Affairs Christine discussed Evening of Music issues including the December Holiday event, and if anyone recalled the prior arrangements at Judy Hagen’s house. Please contact Christine if you do. The report covered other items.

Publicity Paul is seeking new volunteers from the membership. Jean reports that our “Twitter Followers” numbers are up. We need a replacement for Cathy Ballard. Paul’s report shares information on articles, online items, and more. John’s report adds information regarding the website and the internet.

Newsletter George says that we are printing less newsletters, resulting in savings. The report elaborates somewhat more and George thanks his loyal workers.

Community Services Our musicians continue to play for Memory Café. Diane Perry will be performing at the new Morristown Whole Foods on Thursday 8/27 from 5-8 PM. See report.

Minstrel Staffing Barrett is always looking to expand our volunteer pool. He is also streamlining tasks where possible. Barrett is considering revamping the jobs of “door” and “head staff”. Watch for details near the end of the year. There was some discussion regarding different rewards for those tasks as well, although not well supported. There is consensus that Barrett’s effort will bear fruit that will be sweet and welcome.

Membership Eddie Roffman reports that he and Deborah are working towards effective Co-Chair management. The report yields that we have 564 enrolled under 365 memberships.

Sound Reinforcement Mike says to watch for MUF sound improvement announcements coming soon. The report shares more details regarding our new equipment and the planned MUF improvements. This included discussions about other items such as the acoustics and the acoustical treatments. There was also discussion regarding noise issues outside.

Trade Marking The Board continues to review Trademarking issues, and there will be more discussion at the September meeting. George Otto presented a hand out, and described the contents. It was basically a presentation of many, or all, of the logos that may have been used by the FP over the years. Liz Pagan assisted George in this effort.

Presidential Announcement

Barrett gladly announced that Mark & Robin are officially back on board managing future Getaways. There was great applause and compliments for Barrett for working hard to orchestrate this.

CLOSING: The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 PM.

The next meeting will be held at the home of Allan Kugel & Cecelia Rowedder in Highland Park. The address is: 511 So. First Ave Highland Park, NJ 08904.