Minutes – PVS ExCom Meeting – December 9, 2014

MEETING ATTENDEES: The meeting was held telephonically. On the call were Nancy McKinley, John Holt, Bob Knopes, Marianne Soponis, Maryann Rozzell, Inge Lesjak, Dave Warthen, Ray McKinley, Jan Marx, and Ellie Thayer. Marianne Soponis was unavailable for the beginning of the call, but joined in for all the substantive discussion. President, Nancy McKinley, chaired the meeting.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Secretary, Ellie Thayer, submitted the minutes of the October 28, 2014 meeting electronically. The minutes were approved and filed.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer, Dick Laeser, submitted the Treasurer’s Report electronically. The report was filed. The Treasury amount is $15,901.01. Nancy reminded the group that the club’s biennial dues would be coming in next summer and that the Treasury amount would receive a resulting boost.

MEMBERSHIP RECORDS REPORT: Membership chair, Dave Warthen, submitted the Membership Records Report electronically. The report was filed. Dave noted that there was nothing new to emphasize. Inge said that three people going on her Austria trip from the Best of Times ski club in New Jersey might apply for membership due to the BRSC requirement that participants in BRSC trips be a member of a club within BRSC.

EVENTS AND MEETINGS REPORT: Events and meetings chair, Ray McKinley, gave a status report on upcoming events and meetings.

December 16 – monthly meeting/holiday party to be hosted by Hotalings at 7:30PM.

January 9, 2015 – Ski Center of Washington’s Demo Day at Whitetail Resort.

January 11, 2015 – monthly meeting to be hosted by Jannes Gibson at 2:00PM.

January 27, 2015 – ExCom to be hosted by Ellie Thayer at 7:30PM.

February 15, 2015 – monthly meeting to be hosted by Maryann Rozzell at 2:00PM.

SKI TRIP COMMITTEE REPORT: Ski Trip Committee Chair, Rosemary Schwartzbard, was not in attendance. Nancy reported on her behalf that the three 2015 ski trips were on track. Marianne Soponis reported that the Snowmass trip had 35 participants. She expects to distribute lift tickets at the December meeting and said that she was hosting a pre-trip brunch on January 10 from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Inge Lesjak reported that the Austria trip has 31 participants with many going on the pre-trip and post-trip extensions. BRSC has now announced the side tours for the Austria trip.

TOOT REPORT: TOOT Coordinator, Ellie Thayer, reported that the mid-month reminder would be sent out in a week. Jan Marx is the January layout editor. If the ski trip leaders plan to have pre-trip gatherings, then the dates and times for those will be added to the TOOT calendar.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There were two items of new business.

Request for approval of the proposal for the venue and catering for PVS 50^th Anniversary Gala:

The chair of the anniversary event committee, Rosemary Schwartzbard, electronically submitted a proposal for the venue and catering of the event. She also electronically submitted an estimated budget analysis prepared by Nancy McKinley.

Nancy gave a short review of the proposal. The proposed venue is Top of the Town in Rosslyn, a party room with spectacular views of Washington. The event would be black tie optional to be held on November 1, 2015 from 6:00 to 10:00PM with directed parking. To Your Taste Catering is the proposed caterer, which would offer passed hors d’oeuvres and prepare a buffet dinner with a choice of beef or salmon. PVS would be able to provide its own alcohol. The preliminary budget broke out the cost of the event if 100, 80, 70, or 130 attended. In accordance with an earlier consensus decision by ExCom, the proposal included PVS subsidizing the event by approximately $8,000.00 to offset the cost to the individual members. The result, with slight variances for the different number of attendees, was a cost of $75.00 per attendee plus the PVS subsidy. Nancy asked for approval of the proposal for the venue and the caterer and for the 50^th Anniversary Celebration Committee to proceed as outlined in the proposal.

There was a general discussion among ExCom members on a variety of topics. First, the group unanimously praised the work of the committee and the thoroughness of the proposal and budget analysis. The cost of $75.00 was generally agreed upon as responsible. Some expressed that it might cause some not to attend. The committee had suggested that former members pay more to attend, but others thought that they should pay the same in view of their past contributions to the club. Inge asked if we could add a band. Nancy said she believed that a DJ would cost about $800.00. The group discussed the possibility of too many or too few attendees. No one was sure how many attended the 45^th Gala five years ago. (I looked it up after the meeting and it was 65 according to the final bill from the Bolger Center.) Nancy said she had little concern that the number would be too high or too low to affect a decision by ExCom to proceed with authorizing the signing of the contracts at this time.

Following the discussion, Marianne Soponis moved to authorize the committee to commit to the Top of the Town venue and to To Your Taste Catering, to authorize the Treasurer to make the appropriate payments to proceed, and to authorize the committee to proceed as outlined in the proposal (the motion was formulated by Nancy). John Holt seconded. Nancy called for individual votes and John Holt, Marianne Soponis, Bob Knopes, Maryann Rozzell, Inge Lesjak, Nancy McKinley, and Ellie Thayer all voted aye.

Meeting survey results: Nancy electronically submitted a spreadsheet of the results of the meeting survey that revolved around whether the club should have more, fewer, or the same number of weekend afternoon meetings. Nancy accurately summarized that there was no clear consensus among club members and the results were almost evenly split between more afternoon meetings and maintaining the status quo. Nonetheless, Nancy expressed that there was a strong feeling among a lot of members that there be more afternoon meetings. The group discussed the options and agreed that one more weekend afternoon meeting should be added to the January, February, and March afternoon meetings already scheduled. The pros and cons of making the April or October meeting an afternoon meeting resulted in a decision to have the October meeting a weekend afternoon meeting.

Other topics: Inge advanced the notion of using a telephone tree to notify club members of carpooling opportunities, determining the number of meeting attendees, and sharing other information. That system was used by the Capital Golden Skiers and worked well. Inge volunteered to consult with Paul Levy and to prepare a report for ExCom.

Jan Marx asked whether a former CGS member would volunteer to be on the 50^th anniversary committee. Succumbing to peer pressure, Marianne Soponis and Inge agreed that one or both of them would try to attend meetings or be part of the email exchanges.

ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30PM.

Minutes submitted by the secretary, Ellie Thayer.