Last Updated: 1/17/2019
2018-19 Board of Directors
January 10, 2019 Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Walt Meyer, Matt Adams, Brena Anderson, Glen Brigham, Susie Hanner, Kathi Hoffer, Steve Hutchinson, Sarah Mellgren, Nancy Meyer, Patric Miller, Leslie Parker, Debbie Snow, Ted Stevens and Chris Waugh.
Guests Present: Laura Abruzzini, Amanda Adams, Karen Fretwell, John Pfanner and Ron Sticka.
1. Call to Order: President Walt Meyer called the meeting to order at 5:40 PM.
2. Minutes of November Board Meeting: It was moved by Glen Brigham and carried (with Susie Hanner and Sarah Mellgren abstaining) to approve the Minutes of the November 2018 Board meeting.
3. Financial Report: Walt Meyer presented highlights of the Financial Report distributed in advance of the meeting by Scott Wilber, Treasurer. He stated that spending is “reasonably on track” with the approved budget. He also reported that the District will award a small literacy grant to the Club for the purchase of OBOB books. No formal action was taken on the Financial Report.
4. Club Training: Ron Sticka, Club Training Officer, addressed the Board. He expressed his intent to be proactive in this role. To this end, he stated his intention to schedule training for the incoming Board and Officers in May, 2019. He also shared his plan to develop and maintain training records for Officers and Board members. Regarding immediate issues, he expressed three concerns:
• Board members need to know that they are liable if they approve things that are unlawful.
• Photographs of Youth Exchange and Head Start students may not be posted on social media or included in print documents that are available to the public.
• The Club may not have enough members who have been vetted by the US State Department to work with our Youth Exchange students. On this point, Debbie Snow stated that ten current members are vetted. Ron was pleased. He asked for their names. He also reminded the Board that District 5110 can provide support on working with children.
5. Membership Report: Nancy Meyer, Recording Secretary, reported that she is working to get the RI and DACdb databases on our Club’s membership in sync. Concerning current membership, she shared that the Club has 101 active and honorary members. As a follow-up on an item discussed at the November Board meeting, Walt Meyer asked for a motion to authorize the Club President to direct the Treasurer to write off uncollectable past due Club members’ dues, with the understanding that all reasonable efforts will be made to collect these dues. Ted Stevens made this motion. It passed unanimously.
6. Items for Consideration from the Auction Committee: Pat Miller and Matt Adams presented two items to the Board for consideration, as follows:
a. Re-establish the Auction Committee as the Fundraising Committee: Pat reported that the recent solicitation for requests to be a beneficiary of the upcoming paddle raise at the Speak Easy fundraiser produced a number of viableproposals. In total requested was $32,000, which is well beyond the anticipated results of the paddle raise. Given this
need, Pat wants the Auction Committee to work year-round and to offer more fundraising opportunities. To this end, he asked that the Auction Committee be re-branded as the Fundraising Committee and allowed to pursue fundraising opportunities throughout the year. Ted Stevens provided history on the work of the Committee and reminded Board
members that the purpose of creating one big fundraiser each year was to get away from “nickle and diming” members throughout the year. Pat responded that he wants the Committee to focus any additional events/opportunities on generating needed funds from people other than Club members. Given this assurance, it was moved by Ted Stevens and carried unanimously to re-brand the Auction Committee as the Fundraising Committee and allow it to pursue fundraising opportunities throughout the year.
b. Authorize the Fundraising Committee to Give Out Paul Harris Points for Donations to the Speak Easy: Matt pointed out that the Club has a bank of 28,000 Paul Harris points that could, potentially, be used as incentives to produce donations to the upcoming fundraiser. He asked for the Board to allow the Fundraising Committee to use Paul Harris points in this way. Kathi Hoffer questioned whether this approach is doable, given that Paul Harris points are controlled by The Rotary Foundation and that the mechanisms for transferring them to individual Rotarians is cumbersome. After considerable discussion, Pat Miller moved to table consideration of this matter until the February Board meeting. This motion passed with Matt Adams, Glen Brigham and Debbie Snow voting “no.” Walt Meyer committed to researching Board Minutes this matter in advance of the February meeting.
7. Board Composition: Walt Meyer reported that some Board members suggested that the newly elected Officers and Board members begin functioning in their new roles now, rather than waiting until July 1, 2019. After considerable discussion, including the exploration of what may be necessary to secure Club authorization for these changes, it was
decided to drop this proposal, with the understanding that newly elected officers and members are encouraged to shadow the current occupants in the positions they will inherit on July 1.
8. Great Rotary Duck Race/Raffle: John Pfanner addressed the Board. He shared that “…the future of the Duck Race is in our hands.” He provided background to support this assessment, including the negative impact of shifting from an actual duck race to an electronic raffle. In sum, he shared that revenues from ticket sales are down, participation by Rotarians is down and, as a result, the United Rotary Clubs of Lane County (the private non-profit organization created by the local clubs to run the event) has had to take funds from its reserves for the last two year in order to honor its commitments to the five human services agencies that are the event’s recipients. He also mentioned that the Rotarians on the URC Board are getting tired and want relief. Following this background, John reported that Walt and the other local club presidents will be meeting soon to discuss the future of the event. Discussion followed. The consensus of the group was that the passion of the cause (preventing and addressing child abuse in Lane County) continues, but that the method for raising the money to support the cause is going away. To memorialize this sentiment, it was moved by Debbie Snow and carried unanimously to ask Walt to carry the following message to the upcoming club presidents’ meeting: “keep the mission, but look for new method(s) for raising the
needed funds.”
9. Focus Group to Explore Relationship between the Club and the Southtowne Rotary Foundation: Walt Meyer reported that an ad hoc group of Club members met recently to talk about the relationship between the Club and the Southtowne Foundation. He shared that this group asked him to appoint a focus group composed of members from both boards to discuss this matter and, hopefully, develop recommendations to better align their respective work. He stated that he is supportive of this request. To this end, he appointed the following Club members to sit on this group: Glen Brigham, Susie Hanner, Kathi Hoffer and Scott Wilber. He asked Steve Hutchinson, SRF President, to appoint a like number of SRF Board members to this group. Steve replied that he would take this matter to the Foundation Board at its meeting on January 15. He also commented that a cooperation agreement currently exists between these entities and, as a consequence, reviewing it should be the starting point for the work of this group. Walt concurred with this
recommendation and stated that he will develop the charge for this ad hoc committee.
10. Additional Item – Request for the Southtowne Rotary Foundation to Release Funds to Two International Service Projects, one in South Africa and one in Peru: Kathi Hoffer reported that a Club member has been assisting in fundraising for two international service projects that she became acquainted with due to participation in Rotary Friendship Exchanges. One is a global grant in South Africa. The other is a small project being spearheaded by a Rotary Club in Peru. To date, $1,200 has been collected from individuals and local Rotary Clubs. These funds were deposited in the Southtowne Rotary Foundation checking account last fall and are now ready for release to the sponsors of these projects. Kathi asked the Club Board to direct the Foundation Board to issue these checks. This request prompted several questions, including whether these projects were in the Club’s World Community Services Committee current year budget. When the answer was “no,” it was asked whether the WCS Committee is supportive of them. Kathi volunteered to take this question back to the WCS Committee for an answer. While several Board members commented that the way these projects were being handled was highly irregular, there seemed to be a consensus that if the WCS Committee approved of them, that the Board should ask the Foundation to release the funds.
11. Adjournment: There being no further business, President Walt adjourned the meeting at 7:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Stevens, Recording Secretary