The meeting was held at the Marx’s home. Present were Mary Beale, Dick Comerford, Dave DeVilbiss, Dick Laeser, David Lerner, Jan and Bob Marx, Carolyn Maurer, Ray McKinley, Ruth Powers, and David Warthen.
The October 23rd minutes were approved as corrected. Ray questioned Excom’s decision to have the words “PVS Ski Club” on the decals that are being ordered. “We’ve always just been PVS.” Mary said that she might have misunderstood and would check with Mike on the wording.
David Lerner asked if anyone consulted Excom minutes on the PVS website. No one present had. Ray reasoned that the minutes wouldn’t necessarily be useful in the short term. Their value would be as a future reference.
Dick Laeser gave the Treasurer’s Report. The club’s combined checking ($2058.51) and savings ($11,593.87) accounts come to $13,652.38. Dick explained that there has been a spike in deposits because of membership dues coming in. In general the club is spending at a rate consistent with the money coming in. “There are no weird trends in expenses.”
David Warthen provided the latest numbers on membership renewal. To date there are 172 definite members. This includes 13 applicants and 4 associates. The latter do not count towards the club’s 200 member ceiling. Twenty-nine individuals chose not to renew. As many as 3 more applicants are in the pipeline. Nat Seeman has not renewed but Carolyn Maurer has learned from fellow member Marianne Cook that he would like to. Carolyn and Dave DeVilbiss plan to offer Nat a ride to an upcoming meeting. If Nat accepts, they will help him complete an application. “We want to do whatever is necessary to make him feel comfortable,” said David Lerner.
Ray said that the new figures show that membership in the club is the lowest it has been in quite a while. However, there is a tendency for membership to decline at renewal time and then build back up.
Dick Comerford has noticed that the SCWDC charges $35 for non-members going on ski trips – which is similar to the fee to join SCWDC. If people are paying dues, they are more likely to come to meetings.
Anticipating April when applicants may be voted in, Carolyn suggested reviewing the group to see if requirements are being met. Some may need to be nudged to increase meeting attendance. Ray emphasized the importance of getting to know the applicants while they are in the process of fulfilling the requirements. Carolyn asked if hosting a meeting counted as extra credit. (According to the club By-Laws, hosting a meeting is equivalent to attending 2 club meetings or 2 PVS functions.)
Carolyn thanked Ray for his revisions to the Sign-in Packet Instructions. The new wording is more host friendly. Treatment of expenses was further clarified. Carolyn plans to call the meeting hosts and have a discussion with them in advance of the meeting. She’ll suggest that they read the Packet Instructions.
Ruth Powers was thanked for helping with the sign-in at the Ski Center. The November meeting featuring Brian Eardley’s discussion of the latest ski equipment drew 33 members, 2 applicants, and 1 guest. Although the Capital Golden Skiers were invited, none were able to attend. It was the first time that PVS had held a meeting at the Ski Center. Ray commented that there were a lot fewer present than normally attend a Brian Eardley event. Carolyn quoted recent statistics:
Date Location Attendance *
2006 Finan/Welty 27M, 1A, 1G
2005 Monaghan 31M, 3A, 1G
2004 Finan/Welty/Villers 41M, 1A, 1G
2003 Strands 45M, 5A, 1G
2002 Powers/Blockwick 50M, 4A, 1G
2001 Powers 45M, 4A, 2G
*Member = M, Applicant = A, Guest = G
Bob Marx asked if a Chair for the nominating committee had been selected. One is generally in place by December. Dick Comerford said that he would check with Mike.
Ray did a run down of upcoming events. There will be a PVS evening at Blob’s Park on Saturday, December 15th. The site features German style food, live music and dancing. If interested, email Liz Warren-Boulton. The December 18th holiday meeting will be at the home of applicant members Sherri and Tom McKenna. A combined December/January Excom meeting will be held by teleconference on January 15th. Those who are in Snowmass can use the 800 number to call in. January and February monthly meetings will buck tradition and be held on Sunday afternoons.
With respect to ski trips, the Snowmass contingent still has room for a single male. If anyone wants to stay two extra days, David Lerner has a room. The Snowmass trip usually includes a fair number of “land only” people. This makes leader compensation more of a problem. To alleviate the situation, a $20 surcharge is being added to the regular fee of the land only participants. Ray feels that he could probably still add people to the Sun Valley (2/9-16) trip.
Jan would like to get TOOT out by December 1st.
Ray asked for feedback from those who helped man the PVS booth at the Dulles Ski Expo 11/9-11. David Lerner said that considering the manpower involved, if no applicants emerged, it wouldn’t be worthwhile to do again. There was general disappointment in the scope of the show itself.
Minutes submitted by Mary Beale, Secretary.