The meeting was held at the home of Mary Beale.
Present were David Abraham, Mary Beale, Suzanne Boisclair, Charlotte Eddy, Marvin Hass, Charlie and Sara Huggins, Ray Jones, Dick Laeser, Betty Lawrence, David Lerner, Burr Schuler, Dick Schwartzbard, and Mike Strand. The minutes of the June27th meeting were approved as corrected.
Upcoming events were reviewed. Betty Lawrence will again host the annual Crab Feast scheduled for September 2nd. David and Rachel are organizing a group to attend the National Philharmonic Concert at Strathmore on September 16th. A golf outing is planned for September 29th. Betty Lawrence will host a fall foliage weekend at her home in Blue Knob October 6th – 8th.
Mike Strand told of progress in planning for non-ski activities. The club may try group dining at a restaurant again. Some have found that when accommodating a large group, restaurants prefer a fixed menu and a single payer. Mike has asked Dottie Villers to co-manage the non-ski activities with him and Dottie has accepted. She will be organizing the Frank Shelbourne hike that will be held in October. Mike has been talking to Wilma Sharer who planned the very successful bus trip to Radio City Music Hall in 2004. David has learned that the Leonhardts and Sharon Mulholland would like to host an event in November. It will have a progressive format - beginning with a reception at Barbara’s and Fred’s, followed by a walk through Kentlands, then dinner at a local restaurant, and a wrap up at Sharon’s. The McKinleys will be having their annual Chili Hike in November as well.
Returning to the controversy over the ideal number of ski trips for PVS, David said that he had gone back and reread the ski trip guidelines. With respect to the number of trips, the guidelines clearly endorse 3 to 4 trips a year, with a recommendation not to exceed 5. At this time David feels there are two options: 1) have a subcommittee work in concert with the ski trip committee (STC) to review the current guidelines and possibly arrive at some new suggestions or 2) have the STC review the guidelines and recommend changes if necessary. David pointed out that there is no urgency in deciding. The topic of trip number won’t come up again until February-April of 2007. Bob Marx and several PVS members will be critical to the discussion. Dave Lerner suggested leaving the decision entirely with the STC. David’s final advice was for the STC to review the guidelines. If there are strong feelings that changes should be made, the committee should bring these suggestions to ExCom. Otherwise the STC should follow the current guidelines. Members can access the guidelines on the PVS web site.
David acknowledged receiving a long email from the McKinleys strongly supporting the practice of trip leaders proposing trip destinations.
An update on changes underway on the PVS website was provided by Dave Lerner. When the club web site was first created, it was done so with the assistance of a company known as Homestead. Initially there was no fee involved. Currently the annual fee is about $100. The web site is lightly password protected. Dave envisions an eventual web site which will serve two main purposes. One will be to inform visitors and potential members about the club. The other will be to keep members abreast of activities, opportunities, changes, and decisions within the club. Privacy concerns would necessitate password protection of this component. Dave would also like to see TOOT accessible through the web site. This would carry several advantages. Issues would be automatically archived. Members would be able to easily refer to present and past issues to retrieve information. Since TOOT contains not only names of members but in some cases addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses, security is a priority. Dave has found a company that provides tighter security than Homestead for about $16 less a year. He anticipates a shift to individual password protection. Currently TOOT avoids search engine notice by avoiding key words that would allow it to be picked up. Search engines apparently refrain from picking up anything that’s in a password protected area. Dave requested authorization to pay the fees for the new company. The request was approved by ExCom.
Dick Laeser mentioned that he had not yet received a copy of the club’s bylaws. Marvin confirmed that the bylaws are available on the club web site, although the most recent revision has not been posted. Dick asked about the possibility of maintaining a roster of club members on the web site. In certain organizations, individuals are even able to update their personal information on the web. Marvin has felt that the club’s password protection has been too light to consider this in the past. Moreover some members would prefer not to have their information on the web. David feels that membership changes are too small to warrant this use of the web site.
With Ray Jones present, David thanked him for his years as club Treasurer. Ray and Judy are moving to Sarasota, Florida where Ray is beginning a new job. He foresees a simpler life style. “Think Telluride at the beach”, says Ray. Dick Laeser has agreed to become the club’s new Treasurer. Ray reports that the CD ($3659.77) that matured at Sandy Spring Bank has been added to the checking account. Transfer of the entire account to Cardinal Bank in Virginia awaits receipt of the Virginia incorporation papers. An attorney is working on this but, as Ray points out, the matter involves more than simply allowing the DC incorporation papers to lapse. The aim was to transfer the club’s non-profit status from DC to Virginia. Ray is going to ask the attorney for assistance as the club’s DC incorporation status expires in September. David suggested obtaining application papers from Cardinal Bank so that everything will be ready for the transfer when the Virginia incorporation papers arrive.
Dick Schwartzbard moved to adjourn at 9:30 pm.
Minutes submitted by Mary Beale, Secretary