DRAFT Minutes – PVS ExCom Meeting – April 22, 2014

MEETING ATTENDEES: The meeting was held at the home of Nancy and Ray McKinley. In attendance were: Nancy McKinley, John Holt, Maryann Rozzell, Marianne Soponis, Ellie Thayer, Jan Marx, and Ray McKinley. President, Nancy McKinley, chaired the meeting.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Secretary, Ellie Thayer, submitted the minutes of the March 25, 2014 meeting electronically. The minutes were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer, Dick Laeser, submitted the Treasurer’s Report electronically. The Treasury balance is $16,544.68. The Treasurer’s Report was filed.

MEMBERSHIP RECORDS REPORT: Membership chair, Dave Warthen, submitted the Membership Records Report electronically. The Report was filed. PVS now has 182 active members. Honorary Member, Julie King, asked to be removed from the membership rolls in a gracious note to Dave. Her request was granted.

EVENTS AND MEETINGS REPORT: Events and meetings chair, Ray McKinley, gave a status report on upcoming events and meetings.

April 26 – McKinleys have organized an outing to Ford’s Theater to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

May 2 – annual DC Ski Travel Show at Tysons.

May 3 – spring BRSC meeting at Maggiano’s Restaurant at Tysons.

May 20 – May meeting at Bob Kramer’s house. Nancy asked for a member of ExCom to volunteer to lead the meeting because she will be traveling. It was agreed that Maryann Rozzell and Marianne Soponis would co-chair the meeting.

May 27 – ExCom meeting to be held electronically.

June 17 – June meeting. Ray has two volunteers to host, i.e., John Hotaling and John Holt. John Holt requested that Ray conform with John Hotaling first.

June 21 - Celia Chen is holding a Chinese dumpling class. Nancy, Ray, and Ellie noted that they had signed up as has Rosemary Schwartzbard. Ray expressed his appreciation to Celia for initiating this idea.

June 24 – ExCom TBA.

July 26 – Summerfest at Reg Heitchue’s party room.

August 2 – Chesapeake Bay cruise and BBQ. Barb Leonhardt is organizing a cruise out of Annapolis and Reg is hosting a BBQ at his Annapolis home on the Bay after the cruise.

August 16 – Steak and Swim at the Hines’ Delaplane, VA home.

October 9 – Ruth Healey is leading a hike in Great Seneca Park.


Traditionally, there has been no ExCom meeting in July and only if necessary in August.


Marianne Soponis queried whether a wine tasting would be a good event. Ray responded enthusiastically and the date of September 20 from 4:00 – 6:00PM was discussed as a possibility. Marianne will look into it.


SKI TRIP COMMITTEE REPORT: Ski Trip Committee Chair, Rosemary Schwartzbard, submitted her report electronically. The club has approved two ski trip proposals, i.e., Snowmass led by Marianne Soponis in January 2015 and Mayrhofen led by Inge Lesjak in March 2015. Rosemary is searching for a trip for February. The February BRSC trip to Mt. Bachelor has been greeted with limited enthusiasm. Nancy reported that Paul Levy was looking into being the liaison with Best of Times for a March trip to Aspen. Nancy noted that such a trip would overlap with the Mayrhofen dates. John Holt said he might be interested in leading a trip to Big Sky in 2016, but would not be available to do so in 2015. Rosemary, Nancy, and Dick Comerford will be representing PVS at the May 2 BRSC spring meeting.


TOOT REPORT: TOOT coordinator, Ellie Thayer, reported that Jan Marx is the editor for the April TOOT and that Marsha Warthen would take over the final review responsibilities for Ellie, who will be leaving on a trip on April 29. Dave Warthen will be the June editor.


OLD BUSINESS: There were two items of old business.


Nametags for PVS Members: Marianne Soponis submitted a report about nametags electronically. Her research found two options: (1) metal badges (similar to those used by CGS) costing approximately $8.00/each attached with a pin or magnetically and (2) nametags in plastic attached to lanyards or with a clip costing approximately $3.00/each. There was a wide-ranging discussion regarding nametags. Marianne said that they worked well for CGS. Jan Marx and Ray McKinley opined that the present system works well and is inexpensive. Others said the present tags fall off easily. Ellie noted that nametags might not be essential for the many members who do not go to meetings or events. Questions raised: could they be optional, would the club subsidize some of the cost, and would members forget to wear them or lose them. It was ultimately decided that we should ponder the issue more and wait to see how many members we have after June 30 when 50 former CGS members have to decide whether to continue with the club.


Results of the Survey on Meeting Times: Nancy reported the results of the written survey taken at the April annual meeting regarding whether to continue the club’s present meeting schedule (Sunday afternoons in January, February, March and Summerfest and Tuesday evenings for the remaining meetings) or whether to schedule more meetings on weekend afternoons. The results:

12 – no change

6 – more weekend meetings

6 – did not have a preference.

Some of those surveyed commented that an afternoon meeting in December would be a good change. However, John noted that, for many, December weekends are full. In summary, Nancy said that there was no overwhelming groundswell for a change.


NEW BUSINESS: There were four items of new business.


Retaining Newly Added CGS Members: The group was very desirous of retaining the 50 new members coming from CGS after July 2014 when their pro-rated dues are assessed. Marianne offered to write an article for the TOOT, from the viewpoint of her new-member status, encouraging continuing membership. Her offer was enthusiastically accepted. Nancy will contact Carolyn DeVilbiss about organizing a telephone campaign to reach each of the 50 individuals.


Advertising for New Members: Charles Huggins in a letter to Nancy suggested that the club leave brochures in places like Leisure World. The consensus was that no advertising action was indicated at this time because the club was nearing its full complement of 200 members.


ExCom Meeting Default: Nancy desired a default rule about whether ExCom meetings should be mostly telephonic or in homes. Her view was that telephonic should be the default. After some pro-and-con discussion, the decision was to leave the system as is – to decide on a case-by-case basis.


PVS 50th Anniversary Gala: The club’s 50th anniversary is in November 2015 and it is time to be thinking about a committee, a venue, etc. There were a few negative comments about the Bolger Center, where the 45th Gala was held. Ray will look into the details about holding it at the Cosmos Club.


Finally, Nancy asked the group if anyone regularly checked the club’s website and suggested that, as ExCom members, officers, and committee chairs, we should do so occasionally.


ADJOURNMENT: Ellie moved to adjourn, Maryann seconded the motion, all voted aye, and the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Ellie Thayer, secretary.