Onondaga Ski Club

Board Meeting Minutes

November 4, 2009

Present: Mark Bidwell, Tom Button, Mary Clay, Dave Devendorf , Christa Foster, Scott Foster, Garre Krayenhof, Marian LaPierre, Leo Naylor, Marvin Patnode, Neville Sachs, Allan Smith, Art Toll, John Tuttle, Bob Wiley, Marilyn Woyciesjes

Excused: Jack Lancette, Scott Severance, Mary Ann Zeppetello

Guest: Ken Robbins

The November OSC board meeting, held at DeWitt Library, was called to order at 7:02 pm by President Marv Patnode after determining that the required quorum was present.

Secretary’s Report: The October minutes were e-mailed to board members and posted on the OSC website. Scott made a motion to accept the minutes, Art seconded. Motion passed.

Communications: Distributed.

Committee Reports

Membership

Bob reported that current active membership is 698, up from 680 in October. Last year’s membership in November was 632. Renewals are coming in slowly. An invoice will be sent to all delinquent members by the end of November.

Finance

John reported on the club’s investment and checking account activities. Sugarbush tickets have been purchased and will be available for sale to all current members.

Lodge

Ken reported on the lodge work weekend held October 24-25. The lodge was thoroughly cleaned; the railing on the front porch was replaced to make it look much more attractive. A disconnected heating duct to the kitchen, men’s dorm, and rooms 6 and 7 was discovered in the basement and repaired. This should have a positive impact on fuel usage. All is ready for busy winter usage.

John’s October lodge occupancy report shows that bed occupancy was 60 in October, up from 49 for the same period in 2008.

Marketing

No report.

Trips

Leo reported that payments are coming in for the Mt Tremblant trip. At the October meeting he had encouraged people to consider becoming trip leaders but hasn’t had any response yet. He will develop a job list for running trips.

Unfinished Business

Finalizing 2009-2010 budget. Much was accomplished at the finance committee meeting held in October. The proposed budget was emailed to all board members and discussed at the board meeting. Attention was drawn to a new line item - #22: Transfer from Club Assets. It suggests that a budget deficit should be covered from the club’s liquid assets, consisting of the Vanguard fund, money market savings, and checking account funds (not including trip money). Neville motioned to approve the budget as presented, Art seconded. Motion carried and we have an approved budget for the fiscal year 2009/2010.

Approving finance strategy: The finance committee recommended that the club should have liquid assets (not including trip money) at approximately 1.5 to 2 times the operating budget, in order to remain financially healthy and to be able to meet any unforeseen future financial emergency. If at some point more money is needed than the liquid assets available, that possibility would determine the board’s decision to increase membership dues or lodge rates. A lengthy discussion followed, resulting in the finance committee being asked to outline more clearly principals 2 and 3 of their proposed OSC Financial Strategy. Marv will rewrite to clarify these issues before a vote is taken.

Status of lodge use sub-committee. Art volunteered to chair this new committee with assistance from John, Neville, and Tom. They will ask other members for assistance in the task of finding volunteers to lead weekend or week-long events at the lodge.

Status of club insurance. Marv expects to have a decision by December for board members to vote on and is at this point still pursuing different options that were pointed out to him. It may involve working with a lawyer to determine the best coverage for the club and the lodge.

New Business

· Ken asked about the status of club brochures that had been designed by Donna. Tom will make sure more are available for distribution.

· Garre suggested that some sections of the club’s by-laws have not been revisited in a long time and may be outdated. This would be a good time for all board members to take a closer look at our by-laws and bring to Garre’s attention any issues that may not be relevant anymore.

· Mark pointed out that many clubs or not for profit organizations invite their members to make a bequest to the club in their will. He volunteered to craft an article to this effect for the Boomer.

There being no further business to discuss, Dave moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Garre. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm. The December 1st board meeting will again be held at the DeWitt Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Christa Foster

Recording Secretary