Minutes-PVS Excom Meeting-December 9, 2008

The meeting was held at the home of Sue Lyon. Present were Mary Beale, David Callaway, Sue Lyon, Carolyn Maurer-DeVilbiss, Ray McKinley, Ruth Powers, Rosemary Schwartzbard, Mike Strand, Dottie Villers, and Dave Warthen.

The October 28^th minutes were approved.

Club Treasurer Dick Laeser was not able to attend the meeting. He submitted the Treasurer’s Report via Dottie Villers. Dick stated in the Report that he filed Form 990-N (aka the e-Postcard) with the IRS on November 13, 2008, two days shy of the deadline. This step coincides with recent federal legislation requiring small tax-exempt organizations with incomes of $25,000 or less to report annually to the IRS. The instructions specify that organizations convey the information electronically using form 990-N by the 15^th day of the fifth month after the close of the organization’s tax year. In the process of filing, Dick discovered that PVS was already in the IRS system and that its tax year ended on June 30^th. Both Dick and Mike thanked fellow Excom member Ruth Powers for having alerted the Club to the new IRS guidelines. Dick pointed out that his name and home address are now on record with 1) Cardinal Bank which maintains the Club’s checking and savings accounts, 2) the Virginia Corporation Commission, and 3) the IRS, for PVS-related communications. When Dick leaves office, contact information with the Commission and the IRS can be changed at the time of the respective annual filings. The Bank provides a form for the same purpose. The Club’s current Treasury balance is $11,713.52.

Membership Report: Dave Warthen sent out the annual updated pdf PVS roster electronically to 125 PVS members/couples and via USPS to 14 members on 1 November 2008. Excel versions were provided to Dave Lerner Marvin Hass, Carolyn Maurer-DeVilbiss, and the Marx’s by previous arrangement. Dave provided editing assistance to Dottie Villers who successfully rolled out the November and December issues of TOOT. Dave also provided a USPS TOOT Avery address labels document, a corresponding envelope address labels document, and a PVS logo document for envelopes to fellow member Barbara Leonhardt. Barbara had kindly volunteered to be in charge of mailing the November and December USPS TOOTs. Dave plans to compile suggestions about publishing TOOT to share with future TOOT editors “so as not to keep reinventing the wheel”. The December USPS TOOT weighed in at just over 1 oz which meant a higher mailing fee. Ray said that it costs 19 cents for an extra half ounce. “Not a big deal,” he added. Mike said that he feels strongly that TOOT should be as long as it needs to be rather than adhering to a predetermined number of pages.

Events and Meetings:

December 16 – Holiday party at Louann Eadie’s

January 25 – Sunday 2 pm monthly meeting at Dottie Villers’

January 27 – Excom conference call meeting, 7:30 pm

February 15 – Sunday 2 pm monthly meeting at the Waddick’s

Dave Warthen volunteered to host the March 24^th Excom meeting and Carolyn the April 28^th Excom meeting. The April 21^st Annual Meeting will be at the home of the McKenna’s.

Ski Trips: Ski trip plans are on schedule. Rosemary Schwartzbard asked how she could access the ski trip evaluation forms. Traditionally the forms are given to trip participants by the ski trip leaders. Completed forms are returned to the Ski Trip Committee for review. Carolyn believes that she may have an electronic version which she can forward to Rosemary. Rosemary distributed information on baggage fees currently charged by airlines. The Schwartzbard’s have found it convenient and economical to ship their skis out to their trip destination in advance. The cost of sending a double ski bag weighing 32 lb to Vail by USPS or FedEx is about $40 (one way) including insurance.

Carolyn asked for Excom’s opinion on how important it was to continue the Snowmass trip after 2009. Rosemary, Mike, and others felt it was very important. “It’s so user friendly.” “We should try to continue it as long as we possibly can.” Carolyn and husband David have led the Snowmass trip since 2006. They maintained the traditional Thursday to Thursday January schedule. Carolyn said that the days may need to be adjusted to avoid a conflict with mandatory meetings she must attend in Virginia as an appointee to a state commission.

Mike noted that the BRSC 2010 Lake Tahoe trip looked very interesting. (BRSC has chosen Lake Tahoe as its 2010 winter fest venue 2/20-2/27/10 and Bormio, Italy as the Euro fest venue 3/6-3/14/10.) Dottie said that she would be willing to co-lead a PVS contingent on the Lake Tahoe trip. Rosemary encouraged her to look into it further.

Plans for the Tahiti cruise are still on course. Twelve Club members have signed on.

“Members Corner”: Traditionally new email and/or postal addresses of members have been included in the body of TOOT. Marvin Hass has suggested expanding this practice to include information and selected photos from trips which members have taken. Although “The Knee” often touches on members’ excursions, Ray does not see any conflict. “We all like to travel,” said Mike. While he and Dave Warthen were driving to tonight’s meeting, Dave described the trip he and his wife recently made to Alaska. “I learned some things that will be helpful if I get to Alaska,” said Mike. Similarly Carolyn Maurer –DeVilbiss hiked in Bhutan during the month of October (2008) and has many photos from the trip. Excom agreed that these would be of general interest to the Club. “We should be more inclusive about people’s travels in TOOT (and other forums),” said Rosemary. Dave Warthen volunteered to oversee the “Members Corner” for TOOT. Dottie suggested that the information printed in TOOT about new applicants be expanded as well. Along with their names, a few sentences about their interests and activities could be added.

January TOOT deadline: It was agreed that the deadline for the January TOOT will be Monday, December 29th. Several Excom members have volunteered to serve as Editor in the months ahead: Kerry Hines (January and February), Mike Strand (March), and Dave Warthen (April). Dave Warthen will continue to distribute the monthly editions electronically for the foreseeable future.

Minutes submitted by Mary Beale, secretary