Minutes – PVS ExCom Meeting – August 20, 2013

MEETING ATTENDEES:  The meeting was held telephonically.  On line were Nancy McKinley, John Holt, Dick Laeser, Carolyn DeVilbiss, Louann Eadie, Liz Warren-Boulton, Jane Dealy, Bob Knopes, MaryAnn Rozzell, Rosemary Schwartzbard, Ray McKinley, Dave Warthen, Dave Lerner, and Ellie Thayer.  President, Nancy McKinley, chaired the meeting.   

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  Secretary, Ellie Thayer, submitted the minutes of the June 25, 2013 ExCom meeting electronically.  The minutes were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Treasurer, Dick Laeser, submitted the Treasurer’s Report and the PVS VA State Corporation Commission Annual Report electronically.  The Treasurer’s Report was amended to show that three people attended the BRSC meeting, not four.  That correction did not change the amount of the disbursement.  The reports were filed.  Dick noted that the Treasurer’s Report covered eight weeks because there was no meeting in July and pointed out the amount of dues that had been received.  Dave Warthen said that he had more dues checks to send to Dick.  

MEMBERSHIP RECORDS REPORT:  Membership chair, Dave Warthen, submitted the Membership Report electronically.  The report was filed.  There are now 182 PVS members, including 41 new members from CGS.  There was discussion about the 27 PVS members who have not sent in their biennial dues.  Dave reported that he sends 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day overdue notices to those in arrears.  Per the by-laws, after 120 days, a nonpaying member is dropped from the rolls.  ExCom discussed whether or not any extraordinary effort should be made to personally contact those in arrears in mid-October before the 120-day period expires.  Nothing firm was decided except a suggestion that the sponsors of the non-payers could contact them in mid-October. 

EVENTS AND MEETINGS REPORT:  Events and meetings chair, Ray McKinley, gave a status report on upcoming events and meetings, noting that we have a lot of activities. August 25 – Blob’s Park – John Holt, who is leading this event, reported that 10 people had committed.  Dave W. was asked to send out another email reminder. September 7 – Ft. Myer dinner and dancing organized by Joe Jevcak. September 17 – monthly meeting at Barb Leonhardt’s house. September 24 – ExCom meeting at Ellie’s house.  Louann and Jane have offered to host future meetings. October 15 – monthly meeting at John and Gisela Storm’s house.  Ray said that Maureen McGee from Snowshoe would be a guest speaker at the meeting. October 17 - Chesapeake Bay cruise led by Barb Leonhardt. October 29 – tentative date for a Culinaire lunch.  Ellie’s contact at Culinaire will confirm or reject the date soon. November 2 – tour of Fredericksburg organized by Melissa FitzGerald.  Nancy said that members could go by Amtrak if they wished.  Ray said that he and Melissa had been working on an updated flyer for the TOOT. November 19 – PVS meeting at the Ski Center of Washington (tentatively scheduled). November 26 – ExCom, likely a conference call as it is right before Thanksgiving.  Several people advised that they would not be able to participate. December 17 – monthly meeting/holiday party – TBA  

SKI TRIP COMMITTEE REPORT:  Chair, Rosemary Schwartzbard, responded to a question about the Best of Times Ski Club.  She said that a loose arrangement was in place and that the club did not need to take further action.  Rosemary reported that all four PVS ski trips were thriving.  Carolyn said that Snowmass had 25 participants.  Vail has 20 – 25; Alyeska has 15; and Cortina has an unknown number.  It was advised to call Dick or email Dick and Betty to obtain specific information.     

TOOT REPORT:  TOOT coordinator, Ellie Thayer, reported that Dave is the September TOOT editor.      

OLD BUSINESS:  Nancy reported that the effort to welcome CGSers to PVS has been successful.  

NEW BUSINESS:  

There were two items of new business, i.e., PVS website access and assignment of members to write articles for the TOOT.  

PVS Website Access:  Nancy raised the perennial question whether the club should make it easier to access the secure portion of our website, including issues of the TOOT and ExCom minutes.  Nancy noted that there were many complaints about the difficulty of access and the cumbersome username and password system.  Our Webmaster, Dave Lerner, participated in the conference call.  Dave offered several solutions  (1) the club could eliminate the secure portion and make the entire website open to the public, (2) the club could issue a universal username and universal password, or (3) the club could migrate to a commercial system where each member would use his or her email as a username and create a personal password.  Nancy noted that every club that she reviewed had a members-only section.  The idea of eliminating the secure portion of the website was rejected.  Dave said that the second option would very easy and the third option more time consuming and difficult to implement.  There was an extended discussion about the issue, but a consensus formed that the club should issue a universal username and a universal password.  It was decided that “member,” “Member,” or “MEMBER” would be acceptable forms of the username and that “TOOT” would be the password.  Dave reminded ExCom that the present username and password system would continue to work also.  Carolyn moved to authorize the Webmaster to create a generic or universal username and password.  Bob Knopes seconded the motion.  All present voted aye.  An announcement will be in the September TOOT.  

Assignment of Members to Write Articles:  Ellie explained that the September 27, 2011 ExCom minutes stated that the club vice-president was responsible for finding a member willing to write an article about a meeting or event for the TOOT.  (As a humorous aside, Bob Knopes said that when Ellie had asked him to do that when he was VP, he thought she was kidding.) (As a serious response, she notes that he carried out his duties anyway).  Discussion ensued about the difficulties of finding a volunteer and how the system would work if the VP were not present.  John, the present VP, said that he often penned the article himself because it was the easiest thing to do.  Ellie and Nancy pointed out that it would be better if a variety of members wrote articles.  Eventually a consensus formed that the VP, if present at a meeting or event, would try to find a volunteer author.  If the VP were not going to be present, he would send an email to the ExCom list and ask for someone else to assume the responsibility of finding an author.  Finally, Nancy suggested that, to ensure this process is known in the future, she would include a description in the letter that the President sends to new ExCom members.                

ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting was adjourned.                                                                         

Minutes submitted by Ellie Thayer, secretary.