Minutes – PVS Excom Meeting – December 8, 2009

The meeting was held at the home of Ellie Thayer. Present were Mary Beale, Cara Jablon, Sue Lyon, Jan Marx, Ray McKinley, Rosemary Schwartzbard, and Dottie Villers

The minutes of the October 27th meeting were approved as corrected.

Dottie summarized the 12-08-09 Treasurer’s Report submitted by Dick Laeser. There was a $200 downward correction of the 10-27-09 report. An additional $755 representing membership dues has been collected but not deposited. The current (12-08-09) combined checking and savings account balance is $14,082.70. Dick told Dottie that he had spoken with an MIT board member about the prospect of PVS soliciting Washington area alumni to go on PVS ski trips. Dick had suggested at the September Excom meeting that PVS partner with local alumni clubs on certain ski trips. To get the ball rolling he offered to approach his own local alumni club. The MIT board member was receptive to the idea. The initiative would begin next year.

The Membership Report was provided electronically by Dave Warthen. Dave made the suggestion that the 2010 issues of TOOT be designated “XLVa” to represent the Club’s 45^th year. Due to an error in the Roman numeral date in 2005, the 2009 TOOTs were designated “XLV” or 45. Cara suggested simplifying things by omitting the Roman numerals entirely and just using “45”. Dottie asked if there were any legal reasons why this shouldn’t be done. Cara said that there weren’t. A motion was made to correct the numbering system so that the 2010 TOOTs would bear the number “45” beginning with the January issue. The motion was approved. Dave also offered to produce electronic pdf versions of TOOT dating from 1965 to 2004. This would involve the scanning of hard copies. The aim would be to have a “complete electronic TOOT archive”. Jan confirmed that she had saved the back issues and could make them available. The question Excom debated was whether the Club would want to tie up its web site with the backlog of issues. The consensus was “no”. Several members suggested downloading the TOOTs to a CD if Dave was willing to take on such a project.

Events & Meetings:

December 15 – Holiday Party (McKennas) January 30 – Jackson Hole pre-trip party

December 22 – Ski Liberty (Huggins) February 23 – Excom (conference call)

January 3 – Snowmass pre-trip party February 28 – monthly meeting (Holts)

January 24 – monthly meeting (Villers) August 26-29 – Finger Lakes (Paynes)

January 26 – Excom (conference call) November - 45^th Anniversary celebration

The January and February monthly meetings are being held on Sunday afternoons at 2 pm again this year. The daytime schedule accommodates members who prefer not to drive at night.

Ski Trip Committee: Rosemary said that she would like to promote local skiing. She has conferred with Dave Warthen who will send an email to the Club’s database if Cara or other members want to go skiing locally. Cara said that she was happy to lead local ski events. She usually waits to see how the snow is and may make a quick decision. “Whitetail is the only place I’ll go,” said Cara. Rosemary is going to put a notice in TOOT suggesting that members let Cara know of their potential interest. Rosemary continues to talk with people about trips for next year. She hopes to have some mini proposals by February or March.

TOOT: Mike Strand will be guest editor for the January and February issues of TOOT. Sue Lyon volunteered once again to handle the snail mail duties. Jan said that she would be editor in April and May. Dottie will look for someone to edit the March issue.

Excom will make a Club donation ($50) in memory of Marty McNeill to Marty’s church. Marty passed away in October. She and her husband Bob have been longtime members of PVS.

Concerns have been raised at earlier Excom meetings about the relevance of the Club website. Tonight Dottie said “we need to just in general examine the whole website thing”. Some have found certain information on the website “off-putting”. Dottie proposed forming a committee to evaluate the website. Excom agreed. She will approach a few members to see if they would be interested in serving.

Minutes submitted by Mary Beale, secretary