The meeting was held at the Strand’s home. Present were Mary Beale, Dick Comerford, David DeVilbiss, Dick Laeser, Dave Lerner, Jan and Bob Marx, Carolyn Mauer, Ray McKinley, Eloise and Mike Strand, and David Warthen.
The minutes from the August 28th conference call meeting were approved as corrected.
Dick Laeser reports that there have been 17 more dues checks (for a total of $805) deposited in the PVS account at Cardinal Bank. In addition the $928 unclaimed ski trip partial refund will be deposited in the savings account. (To recap, a member who had originally signed up for the 2007 Snowmass trip withdrew at the last minute. Carolyn Mauer and David DeVilbiss, co-leaders of the trip, mailed him a reimbursement check in February 2007. When no action was taken, Carolyn talked with the member by phone. He did not recollect seeing the check. Carolyn put a stop on the first check. She issued a second one which she hand delivered to the desk at the member’s apartment building. Still no action was taken. Carolyn has put a stop on the second check. In order to close the Snowmass account, Carolyn is depositing the amount ($928 after deducting the stop payment fees) in the PVS treasury. She has written to the member explaining this development. In the letter the member is asked to contact Carolyn or Dick Laeser, Treasurer, if there are specific ways in which he would like the money to be used including returning it to him.)
Mike felt that the money should be set aside for possible later club use. A motion was made to maintain the money in the Treasury with the intention of making it available for future Club purposes as determined by Excom. All were in favor.
Membership Reports David Warthen has received 160 membership renewals. These include 9 applicants and 4 associates. He knows of 18 members who are not renewing. There are still 21 members who have not responded. David provided a list of the individuals along with their phone numbers. Excom members are volunteering to call each of them. The third and final email reminder for renewing membership will go out on October 1st. Meanwhile the annual version of the PVS roster will be included in the November TOOT, with an MS-Excel electronic copy going to Dave Lerner. Electronic quarterly updates are planned for 2-1-08, 5-1-08, and 8-1-08. David is accumulating information from the renewal applications regarding ski site preferences as well as the names of potential leaders for local and major ski trips, event coordinators, meeting hosts, and TOOT contributors. He will share the information with interested Excom members (e.g. Ray re willing hosts and event coordinators and the Marx’s re ski trip ideas and TOOT scribes).
Procedures: Carolyn reports that the Membership Committee (Carolyn, David DeVilbiss, and David Warthen) has designed a sign-in packet (pens, name tags, and loose leaf sign-in sheets) for registration at monthly meetings. The packet can be hand delivered or mailed to upcoming hosts. When present, she and/or David DeVilbiss will count the money submitted, record the amount, and give it to the host. If absent, someone preferably from Excom would stand in. Carolyn will do this for a year but if someone else would like to assume the responsibility that would be okay.
The format for non-meeting activities has been fairly relaxed in the past. However with the change in the Club By-Laws to include attendance at PVS functions among the qualifications for membership, attendance records have a new importance. Excom deliberated the merits of applicant sponsors, function hosts, and the applicants themselves maintaining a record of attendance. The consensus was that the function hosts would be in the best position to keep an RSVP/attendance list. This in turn would be passed on to David Warthen who would enter the applicant information into his database.
Excom feels that money collection at non-meeting activities is the host’s responsibility.
Mike, Jan, and Dick Laeser asked to receive reporting information (attendance data, money collected) on a monthly basis.
David Abraham analyzed attendance figures provided by Sara Huggins last spring and found that meeting attendance was falling. Carolyn said that at the September 2007 meeting at the Waddick’s there had been 24 members and 1 guest. One year earlier, there had been 35 members, I applicant, and 4 guests in attendance.
Events and Meetings Ray ran down the calendar for the upcoming months. Betty Lawrence is hostessing a fall weekend at her Blue Knob home October 5-8. The monthly meeting on October 16th is at the Jablon’s. On October 17th Sally Finan will lead the Frank Shelburne Memorial hike. Carolyn and David will host the October 23rd Excom. The annual Octoberfest will be at the home of Sally Finan and George Welty on October 27th.
The Ski Center will be the venue for the November 20th monthly meeting. Brian Eardley will give his signature presentation on new ski equipment. Details regarding food and beverages still need to be worked out. Ruth Powers will be in charge of money collection. Ray points out that the situation provides an opportunity for members to serve as hosts but outside their home. A request for volunteer host(s) will be put in TOOT.
Ski Trip Status The Snowmass trip (Jan 17-25) still has room for a single male. The Sun Valley trip (Feb 9-16) is up to 19 travelers. This month is the cutoff for the Balkans trip (Mar 2-13).
BRSC etc. With the idea of becoming more involved with BRSC, Mike would like to invite current President Judy Burlbaugh to our next monthly meeting. Charlie Huggins suggested this. Judy could speak about ski safety and helmets. Mike also suggests inviting the Capital Golden Skiers to our November 20th meeting at the Ski Center. They are a potential source for new members. Charlie Huggins, Bob Marx, and Dave Lerner will attend BRSC’s September 29th meeting as PVS’s three voting members.
The TOOT deadline is this week. Jan needs more details about the Shelburne hike and a volunteer to write up the very well attended crabfest held at Betty Lawrence’s home on September 8th.
National Ski Club Newsletter Mike received an invitation to participate in the National Ski Club Newsletter, the national trade journal for ski club officers. The Newsletter is supported by industry advertising and represents 2200 ski clubs. The Newsletter would like permission to reprint articles from TOOT. Ray says that the Club has done that before. “There was no bad fallout.” The publication comes out monthly. In addition to the Ski Trip Officer (Bob) and TOOT Editor (Jan), Ray would also like to receive issues. There may be material for The Knee.
Ski Expo Two years ago Ray attended the National Ski Expo at Dulles. He met a lot of 40 and 50 something people interested in skiing. Inquiring about the cost of a booth, he was first told $1200, then $125, then free if manned for the entire show. It will take place again 11/9-11/11/07. It’s an opportunity to attract new members. A signup sheet was passed around for 3-hour time slots covering each of the three days. The PVS banner can be hung across the booth. Copies of TOOT and the trip fliers can be made available.
Meeting dates In a departure from the usual schedule, Ray is planning for the monthly meetings in January and February to be held on Sunday afternoons – either the third or fourth Sundays of the month. The earlier time would be easier on drivers.
The November Excom meeting will be at the Marx’s. Mike is considering a combined Dec/Jan Excom meeting via conference call. He received a lot of positive feedback from the first conference call in August.
Submitted by Mary Beale, Secretary