Minutes – PVS Excom Meeting – March 23, 2010

The meeting was held at the home of Cara and Bob Jablon. Present were Mary Beale, Marvin Hass, Cara Jablon, Dick Laeser, Sue Lyon, Jan Marx, John Seabold, Ellie Thayer, Dottie Villers, and Liz Warren-Boulton.

Minutes from the February 23^rd Excom meeting were approved as corrected.

Dick Laeser distributed the current Treasurer’s Report. “We have less money than we had last time,” said Dick. The Club submitted a $900 deposit to the Bolger Center in anticipation of its 45^th anniversary celebration on November 6^th. The overall checking and savings account balance comes to $13,917.40.

Membership: Dave Warthen who is chair of the Membership Committee has asked Excom to review Jim Wingrove’s membership status. Jim did not renew his membership for 2009-2011 by the October 31^st deadline. He received several reminder emails from Dave. Recently Jim asked to renew his membership. Due to the lapse, Dave suggested that he become an applicant member. Jim said that he had been a member of PVS since 1968. He did not want to go through the applicant process. He’s willing to pay his dues. Dottie asked for comments. Several Excom members were familiar with the situation. Jim had had some health problems. For that reason as well as his many years of membership, Excom favored reinstatement. Asked if there have been other members in similar situations, Jan Marx said “yes, we’ve always let them back in.” Marvin suggested that Excom approve the reinstatement but not view it as setting a precedent. Dottie agreed. “We vote on each as an individual member.” A vote was taken. The reinstatement was unanimously approved.

Dave Warthen and Carolyn DeVilbiss have been reviewing the list of applicant members to see who might be eligible for full membership. Traditionally applicant members who have met the qualifications for membership are voted upon at the annual meeting. Current applicants are Donna Diewald, Jannes Gibson, Toni Govier, John and Barbara Holt, Jack Sloan, and Elizabeth Stephens. Applying the criteria set forth in the Club By-Laws, only two applicants are currently eligible to become members: Donna Diewald and John Holt. Carolyn has pointed out that there are some gray areas in the By-Laws with respect to the conditions an applicant must meet. For example what constitutes a “PVS event” and/or a “PVS function”? Would pre- and post- trip parties qualify? Cara suggested that we apply a wide definition to the terms “event” and “function”. Dick suggested that an applicant who goes on a PVS ski trip be eligible for full membership. “You’ve lived with them for a week,” said Dick. Applicant member Jack Sloan went on the Jackson Hole trip in February but he has not met the full criteria for membership as set forth in the current By-Laws. Dottie pointed out that our interpretation of the By-Laws requirements is changing because of the need for new members. Dottie read the Membership section of the By-Laws aloud. When she was done, Dick said that he could understand why the Club might be described as “exclusive”. Liz suggested that the current guidelines reflect a different period in the Club. Someone asked if one applicant member’s winter sports activity was sufficient to provide membership status for a couple. “Yes,” said Jan. “That’s been so for a long time - a nonskiing spouse.”Such would apply to John Holt’s wife, Barbara who no longer skies.

Carolyn has recommended that the club be more forgiving and inclusive in its criteria for membership. Currently if an individual attends a meeting and later submits an application, the earlier meeting attendance does not count towards his/her membership eligibility. Dick suggested that the current Excom make a recommendation to the new Excom to simplify and liberalize the requirements for membership. “The list is entirely too long,” said Dick. Someone suggested asking Carolyn and Dave to work on new wording that could lead to a change in the By-Laws.

A motion was made to view pre- and post-trip parties as PVS functions. The motion was passed unanimously. Dottie will ask Carolyn and Dave if inclusion of the parties changes the eligibility of the remaining applicants.

A motion was also made to approve John and Barbara Holt and Donna Diewald for membership at the annual meeting. It was approved unanimously.

Events & Meetings:

March 24 – Hexagon Show (Villers)

April 20 – Annual Meeting (Heitchue)

April 27 – Excom (Seabold)

April 30 – Ski Trip Expo in Rockville

Dottie said that only two people in addition to herself have RSVP’d for the Hexagon Show.

Ski Trip Committee: Rosemary was not able to attend tonight’s meeting. She sent information via Dottie and in an email to Excom. In the email, she thanked Dottie and Marty Rine for “running an excellent trip to Jackson Hole”. The trip evaluations praised them for their leadership and handling of crises.

The only definite ski trip for 2011 is Snowmass (with Carolyn DeVilbiss and Sharon Mulholland as co-leaders). There are no volunteers for the BRSC trips.”Think about participating or leading a ski trip,” said Dottie. Rosemary’s email referred to the fact that fewer Club members are skiing and fewer are willing or able to run trips.

This year’s Ski Trip Expo will take place on April 30^th at the Hilton Hotel in Rockville from 6:30-9:30 pm. Please let Rosemary know if you wish to attend. She will keep the list and submit it to the people in charge.

TOOT: Marvin Hass will be guest editor of the April TOOT. The deadline for submissions is March 29^th. Sue Lyon will oversee the snail mail. Jan Marx will be guest editor in June and Barbara Leonhardt will do the snail mail. A May editor has not been named.

Other Business:

Donation to charity for Nat Seeman: For some time Excom has been making contributions to designated charities of members who have passed away. This has been done on an individual basis. The Club does not have a set policy. After a brief discussion, Excom recommended donating $100 in memory of Nat Seeman to a charity chosen by the family. Nat died in March. He had been a PVS member from 1992 to 2009. Let the record show that Excom feels that $100 should be the standard donation in the future.

Capital Golden Skiers (CGS) Joint Participation: Several members of CGS went on the PVS Snowmass trip this year. Some are interested in joining PVS. The idea of having joint activities involving both CGS and PVS has emerged. CGS has about 100 members, twenty-five of whom are skiers. An individual doesn’t have to ski to become a member of CGS. While CGS doesn’t have monthly meetings, it has regular events (e.g. museum and garden tours, bridge games, hikes, dining at restaurants, etc.) It holds the same ski trips each year (Sun Valley, Aspen, and Vail). CGS is willing to open its events and ski trips to other people. Dottie and Carolyn DeVilbiss attended one of their meetings recently. They returned enthusiastic about the possibility of PVS reciprocating by opening PVS events and trips to CGS. The CGS president will be coming to the next Excom meeting and possibly a general monthly meeting. As Dottie presented this information, there were questions about CGS trips in general and how they were run. Dick said that with the decline in membership and activity, PVS was reaching a crossroads. He cautioned that even if the two clubs joined, the trends could continue. Ellie noted the fact that young people just aren’t joining ski clubs. Liz asked not to write us off. She suggested that the Club try to do both, i.e. collaborate with CGS and try to attract young members. Cara thought that the Club could advertise its trips more. With respect to sharing activities with CGS, Dick suggested that PVS submit a page for the CGS newsletter and vice versa. The CGS newsletter is printed on its club’s website (www.capitalgoldenskiers.com). This raised some privacy concerns among Excom members. Marvin assists PVS and other organizations on Web related matters. Marvin said that he follows a policy of not putting addresses, telephone numbers, or real email addresses in his writing on the Internet. Excom was concerned about the potential of having members’ personal information appear on a website that is not password protected. It was also noted that both the PVS Aspen (Snowmass) trip and the CGS Aspen trip are scheduled for January 2011. Dottie said that she would talk with Rosemary about unintended competition over trips and with the CGS president about various privacy issues.

Time Capsule: Jan said that she has a PVS time capsule in her basement. It was created in 2000 to be opened in 2020. Jan wondered if it might be opened at the 45^th anniversary celebration. Admittedly on unfamiliar ground, Excom advised against opening it in 2010. Jan was asked to bring the subject up again in another 5 years.

Recycling TOOT pieces: Dave Warthen has been scanning issues of TOOT going back to 1965. Dave Lerner is putting them on the Club website. A Club member has made a suggestion (to Dave Warthen) to electronically distribute an old issue (60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, etc.) of TOOT to the membership once in a while. Dave feels that doing this would also help bring attention to the fact that old issues are available on the website for all to read. Excom thought that this was a great idea.

Minutes submitted by Mary Beale, secretary