Board Meeting
Rowe Camp and Conference Center
February 12, 2006
The meeting was held by conference call because of blizzard conditions.
In attendance : Fred Schoeps, Zack Leven, Granger Macy, Simon Delekta, Holly Thompson, Ilana Greenstein, Doug Wilson Felicity Pickett, Cathy Perkins
Minutes from last meeting were accepted. (Motion by Fred, second by Zack.)
Treasurer’s report (Fred)
We’re in solid position for the first five months of this fiscal year. The bottom line is we made more income and we held our expenses below what our budget was. We made an income of 59k. Our income may change over the year as we incur additional expenses, but we have a good start. Some of the detail line items were under budget and some were over. The cost of fuel has caused some extra expenses so we’re looking at how to best maintain that. We want to thank the staff for the work they’re doing at maintaining costs.
Staff salaries went up January 1st.
Fred is making a donation to be put into a brokerage account. In order to setup that account, the board needs to pass a set of resolutions. Those resolutions come from two documents. The first is the general document saying who the organization is, etc. The second is a document that states the relationship the brokerage firm has with the organization and outlines the terms and conditions of the relationship. It calls for the secretary or a designated other executive.
Fred moves that the board accept the resolutions that were sent to them. Cathy seconds.
Motion carries unanimously
A summary was given in our investment management history. In 1998 the board put in place a program called the capital endowment fund with the intention of building up 200k in assets with funds in the securities market. At that time an investment committee was put in place to supervise the investments. The source of the funds would come through $5 conference fees. First that money went to an emergency fund, and once that was filled, it was to be put in the endowment fund. The purpose was to use the earnings for maintenance and other improvements. We’ve put in 116k, all from these $5 fees in addition to other donations.
Executive director’s report:
We printed the catalog. We have put together a very strong program. The conference center seems to be in good shape. The fall was a little rocky, but things are looking good.
Director’s report:
Things have been very busy. Attendance had been around the ten year average, but into March there is a 12 percent increase. There is a problem with where to hold programs. We’ve been using the gathering room in the Farm House because the Brook House is too small for the second conference. We hired a new associate chef. Andy was a summer cook two years ago and has been hired to take Cade’s place. This was his first weekend and the food was great. Johno has been doing housekeeping work and has been doing a wonderful job. We had some difficulties over the fall having to do with workstudy interns. One had to do with a mental health crisis and the other with a sexual harassment complaint.. We called in Michael Gigante, a psychologist and the staff consultant, to help us with the process. We’ve been reviewing our harassment policy and will be making some revisions.
We have hired Peter Hogan as Co-Director for Kindred Spirits. The interviewing process involved a lot of mediating due to past issues with the hiring process.
Greg Glassman was hired for Transitions Camp Co-Director. He’s a former Jr. High camp person, which should help in resolving the transition issues from one camp to the next.
We completed early enrollment for Camps. YPC and SR. High girls are full. A few spots are still available for T-camp and Jr. High. There is a trend toward under enrollment of boys. Zack suggested coming to photograph the camps for the catalogue.
Rowe received a $5000 gift for the Chapel that came about from Jane Gilbert’s family’s foundation. The Weinstein cabin is moving forward. We have an architectural plan and are negotiating the donation.
Long Range Planning Committee: (Holly)
Four people have agreed to facilitate focus groups for our long range planning. We are rescheduling the meeting for March.
Stewardship committee (Guy):
The Stewardship Committee as been dormant since last meeting. We would like to send an email reminding everyone that we need to do our annual assessment. Often that happens over work week.
June 2-4 is Kim Klein. Board is urged to participate in the workshop.
Ilana and Zack have agreed to talk about marketing.
The 4th annual Woodside Benefit in New York City is slated for Saturday, April 29.
Meeting adjourned.