Minutes of TIRET Board meeting.
December 10th, 2008
Members present:- Ralph Garcia—President, Bob Gruber—VP, Israel Morales—Historian, Daryl Moss –Trip Director, Don & Lynn Stefan—Vigor, Tom Johnson –Membership, Lawson Cook— Webmaster. New 2009 chairs: Lonnie Buckner- Programs, Charles Slanina- Day trips.
Members absent: Tony Leigh-Treasurer, Susan Leigh – Rec. Sec.
The president, Ralph Garcia, opened the meeting at 9:15AM.
Previous Minutes:- Daryl (acting) read the minutes from the Nov. 19 board meeting. No comments or changes, so they were approved as read.
Treasurer’s report:- Ralph (acting) read the treasurer’s report submitted by Tony on Dec. 1 :
December 10th, 2008
HTA Account
Balance brought forward from Nov $ 1287.48
Income:- 2009 Dues 625.00
Expenditure:- 0.00
Total in HTA Account (as of Dec 10th, 2008) $ 1912.48
A lot of exchange as regards the available balance, the mix between 2008 and 2009 dues, and possible “donation to charity” of any surplus.
Vigor/eVigor:- Lynn acknowledged Daryl’s help in publishing the last Vigor. Lynn expressed a strong desire for the board members to send to her their respective contributions earlier, say within a week after the odd-months luncheons.
Daryl passed around a one-page document showing relative compression file sizes on each of the eVigors for 2008. Bottom line: an “office ready” pdf compressed file size is small enough to email as an attachment via dial up while retaining “quality” pictures.
Although a link to the Adobe website is on the TIRET homepage already, a link to the Adobe website (for downloading the free Adobe pdf Reader) should be placed in luncheon broadcast and the body of the email announcing the eVigor.
Questioned about e-mail, Ralph said 97 members have email;54 have none or have not listed one. 82 members are sent the eVigor. Noted, many of the new members from the November ‘membership drive’ luncheon only listed their TI email address.
Website:- Lawson stated that both the website’s VIGOR and JOIN NOW pages were updated in view of the last month’s new members information.
Day Trips:- Regarding the upcoming February 12th trip to the South Texas Project,Lawson(trip organizer)said the signup sheets and flyer(s) would be out today, and that 7 people had signed up already in response to the recent Vigor. Questions about routing and directions followed. A restroom stop in, say, Wharton, would also allow faraway members and guest to board the bus there (as a convenience to them), as long as they were on the roster and the driver was aware and agreed (which most do).
Bob had completed the downtown Houston Co-Cathedral day trip flyer (several of which he passed out and recollected), adding a “pizza party” lunch stop after the tour. He desired to hold off on promotion (except for brief mention today at the luncheon) as regards signups and table display(s) until January, believing a March trip was just too early to promote.
The previously suggested sewagetreatment plant trip, tentative for January, had not been pursued, and would have to be rescheduled for later since promotion time is too short.
“Membership Drive” Luncheon, Nov. 19th:- Bob (or Ralph) stated these statistics:
211 RSVPs (106 RSVPs previously for TI BBQ, plus all TIRET members invited this time)
106 paid (signed in)
20 new memberships for the club – 15 TI people for sure, many still working
22 new TI retirees (last fiscal yr) were sent a welcome letter and email&eVigor, and 2 of these
joined
Critique: generally poor sound from our microphone (speaker) system.
Membership:- Tom said he counted 19 ‘new’ memberships, but 2 were former (reinstated) members. The membership roster jumped from 131 to 150. Question about whether we should divide up among the board the remaining 20 non-joining TI retirees, and personally call with an invitation to join the TIRET. Bob made a motion to do just that; Charles seconded; the motion was passed by acclimation. Action: Ralph to create the list.
Historian:- Israel said his job is to record the club’s activities. In light of the November luncheon and its success, he has inserted already some relevant eVigor pictures from that luncheon (about 3 pages) in the club’s 3-ring scrapbook manual and he held it up for all the board to review.
Christmas Party:- Israel referred to his December 9th email titled “Christmas Party Program”. It contained a chronological listing of the planned highlights and members’ assignments. He desired that all board members read it carefully and ask questions if unclear. He said 68 were scheduled to attend so far (more than last year). He said a surprise or two was planned! The DJ cost $250 for 2 hours, but would stay slightly longer if need be (at no extra expense). Table service would start at 7:30 pm, seated or not. Two days remain for taking new reservations.
Calling Committee:- Ralph welcomed to the board Mary Lee Cameron, who will co-chair the committee with Beverly. He explained the “calling list” consisted of two parts, a) call for luncheon meeting, b) call for special events—latter needs some rework. He suggested the committee ask (and jot down) information from members called, such as ‘health problems’, ‘don’t drive’, etc.
Programs:- Ralph asked Lonnie if all was set for January. Apparently, Elizabeth Colvin from the Neighborhood Tax Centers will talk. Their goal is to prepare 15,000 income tax forms this tax year. Ralph says he has her picture from the internet.
Annual Budget Meeting:- For the benefit of newer chair present, Ralph explained the board’s annual planning and budget meeting, tentatively scheduled for Friday, Jan. 16, at Ralph’s home. Question about fundraiser, which led to Ralph’s request for all to write down ideas for the upcoming planning meeting: huge garage sale (Israel at Israel’s), flowers (poinsettias, Daryl), cookies…cakes….candy. Monies to be used for DLP projector & screen (suggested example).
Meeting adjourned at 10:49 am.
Respectively submitted,
Daryl Moss (acting) Rec. Sec. Pg 2