May 2021

The May 4, 2021 meeting was called to order at 8:15 pm, via Zoom, by President Elizabeth Lachowicz.

Present: Trustees: Todd Dennison, Lois DeRitter, Joe Guzzo, Pamela Zave, Evelyn McNally, Diane Polledri, Allan Kugel; Officers: Elizabeth Lachowicz, Paul Fisher, Peggy Karr, Jeff Canter; Committees: Mark Schaffer, Jay Wilensky, Gary Pratt, Mike Agranoff, George Otto, John Mahon, Leigh Walker, Lindsey Meyer, Evelyn Maurer, Sandie Reilly, Nancy Beyer Absent: Bob McNally, Jean Scully

MOTIONS MADE

• • Motion to accept April Minutes. Motion passed unanimously.

  • Motion to accept April Special Meeting Minutes. Motion passed unanimously.

  • Motion made by Gary Pratt that committee reports be sent only to voting members of the board. The motion resulted in a tie vote 9-9. The tie was broken by President Elizabeth Lachowicz who decided to not limit committee reports to voting board members - reports should be sent to "Boardplus".

  • Motion proposed by Vice President Paul Fisher to donate $500 to the Pro Bono Partnership to thank them for all the work they have done for FP. Motion passed unanimously.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

Treasurer's Report: (written report) Treasurer Peggy Karr reported an anonymous donation of $5000 to the general fund. Separately, Mike Agranoff requested that Peggy do an analysis of the overhead expenses, and determine if the normal income can cover the expenses, or if the venues need to be assessed to cover overhead expenses. See attached (Mike Request).

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Newsletter: (written report)

Shuttered Venues Operators' Grant (SVOG) Ad Hoc Committee: President Elizabeth Lachowicz reported that the application requires the applicant to have least one employee. FP has no employees, which currently bars us from applying. The committee has reached out to our elected officials to determine whether or not we can still apply with a possible exemption, or alternatively, to get the SBA to rectify the information provided by the eligibility guidelines which does not require employees, with the application which does.

Membership: Chair Gary Pratt reported that he has obtained a free one month trial membership to the Join It cloud platform. Additionally, Mike Agranoff has agreed to to convert the membership list from FileMaker to Excel.

Streaming: Chair Gary Pratt reported that FP originally agreed to place an ad for each concert on Facebook to build an audience for the performer. However, after a year, there is no longer a need to place ads, as the performers are doing their own promotions, and a recurring audience has been established.

Horses Sing None Of It:

Special Events: (written report) Chair Mark Schaffer reported that New Jersey and CDC guidelines allow him to hold his home concert without requiring masks and physical distancing (which would remain optional for the individual participant) when every person in the home is fully vaccinated. He also reported that we are applying for a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation grant for $3000 which would be used to defray the cost of the upcoming Tom Paxton concert.

Troubadour Staffing:

Event Hosting: (written report)

Publicity/Web:

Sound Reinforcement:

Archives:

Open Stage: (written report)

Troubadour Booking: (written report)

Community Services:

Swingin’ Tern:

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

July 4th Picnic. Chair Jay Wilensky reported that he expected that the picnic will take place, and that he was going ahead with the preparations.

Pro Bono Partnership Donation. See Motions Made.

By-Laws and Board Size The addition of the Streaming Committee brings the total number of Board Elected Directors (committee chairs) to 14, which violates the bylaws limit of 13. The bylaws are not being violated now as the Membership and Streaming Committees are chaired by the same person (Gary Pratt). There was considerable discussion about how to add a separate Streaming Committee chair without violating the bylaws, including the possibility of combining committees, changing some committee chairs to non-voting status, or amending the bylaws. The board decided to form an ad hoc committee led by Trustee Pamela Zave to interpret the bylaws and determine an accepted set of facts that would allow the Board to use going forward.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Next month’s meeting is Tuesday, June 1, at 8:15 p.m in cyberspace via Zoom.