Unirondack Board Meeting – October 12, 2019
commenced at 9:38am
Members: Jon G, Joy, Emma Simpson, Lynne, Mike, Naomi+Becca (youth reps)
Staff: Lauren, Elizabeth, Kris
Visitors: Caryn Hadley, Cheryl Fattibene (interested in getting more involved, former
board member), Devin Hollands
Minutes
Mike moves to accept minutes from September 8, 2019 as read by Secretary with
amendment of changing the writers retreat from Fall to Spring. Joy seconds. No
discussion. All in favor.
Mike gave an overview for new Board Members of our relations with neighbors on the
lake. Our neighbors have discussed the idea of forming a homeowner’s association on
the lake.
Connor Martini has submitted his resignation to Board President before this meeting
and is no longer a Board Member.
Director’s Report
Director + Camp Manager’s Report included in minutes by reference:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SIyhLTrcQtMwAehAxmzIlvCboOo4KmgO2GxIz5
Z-aZ0/edit?usp=sharing
This summer was one of our lower ones – more similar to 2015-2016. The following
years (2017-2018) were larger. A lot of campers aged out from 2018 to 2019, but we
stuck with our normal policy of not recruiting heavily for Ballou since it is normally full.
Parker was larger than in the past, which should cause larger Ballou registration this
year.
Kris will send Board info packet on how to talk to parents about camp.
This year we did not hire someone to solely manage evening program, we had cut it for
budget reasons and relied on more senior program staff, which worked out well. Our art
shop director was able to help with this as well.
Kris reiterated how successful the triathlon at Family Camp was as a fundraising and
engagement activity.
We received approval from the Health Department to move the pressure tank, but since
Camp cannot be in session when we make the switch we will be doing it in the Spring
when Camp re-opens.
Leining/EMT was a split position, but in future we need someone dedicated to that role.
We increased staff recruitment budget line and asked staff if anyone would like to get
certified as an EMT.
We had a second health inspection. The department has been understaffed which
caused delays in projects we needed approval for, but they are now fully staffed which
should make things faster in future.
The vehicle situation on camp is great right now and maintenance costs have
decreased.
Kris is looking into getting professional training for staff on working with campers with
autism, various mental health support needs, youth in crisis, youth with disabilities, and
other things staff may not be familiar with. Joy (Board VP and Social Worker) and Lynne
(Board Member and LMSW) have offered to come up and assist with training.
Camp has hit a critical mass with volunteers, and should have a manual in future on
how to get up to speed.
Only 2 out of 9 leadership staff were women this year, which is the lowest it has been in
a long time. This was noticeable in some situations, and is something to focus on
improving for next summer.
Elizabeth and Kris are working on getting brochure out earlier this year.
Looking into having camp road leveled for the Spring. We have put 6 tons of gravel
down but it is still not in good shape.
Camp Manager’s Report
Numbers for fall programming in report
Could see Adult Sleepaway Camp continue to grow
Ithaca Leasing Group at max capacity- have to turn people away
Kingston was at 55 people
Main Memorial up to 60 people
Watertown’s UU Board Meeting hosted here
Rochester up to 70
Young Summer
Time to raise rates on fall/spring leasing groups! Everyone is commenting on how clean
and lovely camp is looking. Pete’s work has been noticed. So people would be
understanding of rate increasing
-Mike made a point about cost analysis
Young adults increasing at each weekend.
Need more increased regs for the weekends
Discussion of fees for leasing weekends and whether it’s a loss leader for recruiting
campers. We charged $31 per person per night.
Having leasing groups of increased size has impacted camp in terms of facilities
upkeep, since we do not have supervision to take care of everything. Elizabeth wants to
provide more documentation on camp facilities and appliances.
Some groups have asked about Camp providing staff to supervise their children.
Work weekend was rainy, mostly did indoor projects.
Planning to put adult camping trips in the Adirondacks in the brochure this year. Lauren
will look into insurance. We have not looked into non-Adirondacks trips yet though it
was suggested by the board in a previous meeting.
Adding a Spring writers retreat. Camp might be too buggy in the Spring for a yoga
retreat.
We have a quote from an arborist to look around camp but it is very expensive ($7000-
8000).
We have a $2500 quote to fix the pylons on the boat house, and it is unlikely that the
people who installed it would fix it under warranty. We need to look into any written
warranties we have and who is around that originally worked on it.
There is a break on our 220V line to Chadwick and the shop but it is very expensive to
repair (approx. $6000).
The plan for the art shop is to build a wood ramp to make it fully accessible.
There are no available leasing weekends right now but we do have weekdays available.
The board president expressed appreciation and thankfulness for the great job being
done by Lauren, Elizabeth, and Kris.
Executive Director’s Report
The board reviewed budgets and financial statements as presented by the Executive
Director.
Summer staff salary has increased due to an accounting error. Some staff (Director,
Camp Manager) salaries have been given reimbursements (from Board meeting back in
January) for health insurance as part of their compensation.
Exec Dir has corrected and has reminders to check on insurance payments. We are
getting reimbursed on insurance overpayments. Need to check on asset allocation for
staff shirts.
Lauren is taking vehicles off the road this weekend so that we don’t get charged for
insurance for the full year, which was a mistake last year.
Food budget is over, especially considering decreased registrations. A small portion of
this is due to accommodating increased dietary restrictions among campers.
There was a request to add a new line item for the 2020 budget to specifically account
for campership donations from Camp store.
Kris is looking into a better camp store system that would give Lauren more insight into
it.
Planning for brochure to go out at end of November and to switch back to mailing it
ourselves.
Sept 30, 2018 $163k in endowment and now at $165k.
Sept 30, 2018 Foundation is $448k and now is $492k. We have not yet done a bulk
transfer from other accounts.
Raised approx $13k less in total donations in 2019 compared to 2018, a chunk of this
was from not doing an annual dinner/fundraiser last year.
There was a proposal to scan in warranty and major appliance or capital expenditure
contracts and documents.
The board discussed potential fundraising activities to do over the course of the
weekend.
Agenda for afternoon board meeting
Committee Reports
Capital expense allocations
Nov. 2 Fundraiser
Election of Board Officers
Meeting/CC Schedule For Year
Elizabeth as signer
Budget approval
Vaccination policy
New Business
Closed session to discuss employee review/etc
Annual Meeting Agenda:
Welcome Remarks
Roll Call
Introductions
Reading of the Minutes
Camp Manager’s Report
Camp Director’s Report
Executive Director’s Report
Board President Report
Sliding Scale Fee Report
Bylaw amendments
Nomination of New Board Members
Archive committee
Floor Open For Discussion.
Joy moves to adjourn the meeting at 12:28pm. Becca seconds. All in favor.
Unirondack Board Meeting pt 2 – October 12, 2019
commenced at 5:10pm
Members: Jon G, Joy, Emma Simpson, Lynne, Mike, Caryn Hadley, Jeff Deacon,
Naomi+Becca (youth reps)
Staff: Lauren, Kris
Election of Board Officers
Jon G motions to nominate Emma Simpson as Treasurer. Joy seconds. No discussion.
All in favor.
Joy motions to nominate Jon Gottfried as President. Jeff seconds.
Caryn motions to nominate Joy as Vice President. Jeff seconds.
Joy motions to nominate Caryn as Secretary. Becca seconds.
Board voted all in favor of the slate of nominations.
Send board conflict of interest, manual, whistleblower, and bylaws
Board Calendar
December 1, 2019 @ 3pm – conf call
January 25, 2020 – Winter meeting
March 8, 2020 @ 3pm – conf call
May 3, 2020 @ 3pm – conf call
May 8-10, 2020 – Board Retreat at Camp
June 14, 2020 @ 3pm – conf call
July 31-Aug 2, 2020 – Board meeting at camp
Sept 13, 2020 @ 3pm – conf call
October 9-12, 2020 – Annual Meeting
Joy moves to adjourn the meeting at 6:03pm. Becca seconds. All in favor.
Agenda for afternoon board meeting
Capital expense allocations
Nov. 2 Fundraiser
Giving Tuesday
Budget approval
Vaccination policy
Elizabeth as signer
Closed session to discuss employee review/etc
Committee Reports/heads
New Business
The board decided not to remove funds from the endowment so as not to try to guess
the market since there is not an immediate need for the cash.
Jeff asked about promotion strategy for Giving Tuesday.
Review of 2020 Budget
Lauren decided to give Kris and Elizabeth a 4% cost of living raise and herself 2%.
Caryn motions to adjust the campership fee to $825 which includes $25 of camp store
funds. Joy seconds.
Joy moves to table the motion until going over the full budget. Jon seconds.
There was a $4000 clerical error with summer staff payments in 2019, that is solved for
the coming year by changing staff to be paid by week rather than in lump for the
summer.
There is a note to look into EMT certification costs for future budget revisions.
Jon motions to accept budget as presented with amendments to 5030 Undirected
Donations to change budget to $1,000 and to change 5061 Direct Donations to
Foundation budget to be $11,000. Caryn seconds.
There was additional discussion of Spring/Fall program revenue and whether to be
more conservative with our budget. Elizabeth does not predict a decrease in budget.
Emma moves to amend the motion to request that Lauren adds a line item for Adult
Sleepaway Camp Food separate from Summer Food. Becca seconds. Motion
amendment accepted by Jon.
Amended motion to accept budget as presented with amendments to 5030 Undirected
Donations to change budget to $1,000 and to change 5061 Direct Donations to
Foundation budget to be $11,000 and to request that Lauren adds a line item for Adult
Sleepaway Camp Food separate from Summer Food. All in favor.
Jon motions to assign Jonathan Gottfried, Emma Simpson, Caryn Hadley, and Lauren
Hunt as the sole signers on the Secure the Legacy account. Joy seconds. All in favor.
Jon motions to assign Jonathan Gottfried, Emma Simpson, Kris Fiore, Lauren Hunt, and
Elizabeth Bashur as the sole signers on the Key Bank checking account. Lynne
seconds.
Jeff requested clarification on signing maximums for the checking account.
Vaccination Policy
Camp does not currently have a vaccination policy. There is not state law requiring
camps to have a certain vaccination policy. The health department did require us to
come up with a measles recognition and containment plan.
It was noted that Camp likely has more immune-compromised campers/staff than
unvaccinated staff, but that a small number (0-5) campers or staff might no longer be
able to attend if we implement a strict policy. Any outbreak at camp would be difficult to
contain and deal with and dangerous for camp and campers.
Caryn motions to require MMR vaccine for anyone (campers, staff, volunteers, etc) on
camp during the time we are under our summer operations permit. Jon seconds.
Jon motions to amend Caryn’s motion to require MMR vaccine for anyone (campers,
staff, volunteers, etc) on camp without a medical exemption during the time we are
under our summer operations permit with the exception of visitors who are on camp for
fewer than 24 hours. Caryn seconds and accepts amendment. Jeff abstains. All in favor.
Jon motions to decrease the campership fee to $825 which includes $25 of camp store
funds after a previous motion to increase fees to $835 was not implemented. Becca +
Naomi second. Emma Simpson abstains. All in favor.
Jon motions to adjourn the meeting at 8:57pm. Becca + Naomi second. All in favor.