June 7 2011 – Board of Directors Minutes

PROBUS CLUB VANCOUVER

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Probus Club of Vancouver held at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, 1630 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. on June 7, 2011 at the hour of 9:30am.

PRESENT:
Bill Sexsmith – President
Don Newman – Vice-President
Wayne Audette – Treasurer
Doug Lambert – House Committee Chairman
Conrad Rademaker – Membership Committee Chairman
Bill Robertson – Activities Committee Chairman
Jon Collins – Membership Services Committee Chairman
Roy Williams – Newsletter Editor
Brian Wasson –Secretary(part time)
Gordon Thom – Historian and Archivist

1. Calling Meeting to Order
President, Bill Sexsmith called the meeting to order at 9:30 am.
Jon Collins acted as Secretary, followed by Brian Wasson.
A quorum of members being present, the Chairman declared the meeting properly constituted for the transaction of business.

2. Minutes of Meeting of February 1, 2011
ON MOTION DULY MADE AND SECONDED AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
the Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting of April 5, 2011 were approved as circulated.

3. Business arising from the Minutes of April 5, 2011
.1 Strategic Planning Committee Report
Wayne Audette suggested Don Newman present a summary of the Planning Committee Recommendations at the June meeting and also have the summary published in the Newsletter. It was left that Bill Sexsmith will announce that a summary of the Recommendations will be included in the July Newsletter.

.2 Proposed 2011-2012 Management Slate
Bill Sexsmith tabled the proposed Management Slate(attached) for election at the September meeting.

.3 Centralized Administration Services
A wide ranging discussion took place under the direction of Don Newman on the centralizing of administrative services with an outside agency for a perceived benefit of
continuity and reliability potentially for house activities, website, newsletter, treasury function, archives, etc. It is obvious that there is a trade off between reliability and cost.
Conrad Rademaker estimates that the cost for outside services is in the range of $20.00 a year per member if the club goes this route. Also discussed were the concept of the loss of volunteerism and member participation. To better understand these issues,
UPON MOTION by Don Newman, SECONDED by Doug Lambert , a committee was struck to make recommendations in August for the employment of an outside agency for specific services at identified costs. The committee members appointed are
Wayne Audette, Chairman
Doug Lambert
Roy Williams
Jon Collins
Bill Robertson

The President recommended that every effort be made to complete the recommendations for presentation at the monthly management meeting.

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

.4 Evaluation of alternate meeting locations.
Wayne Audette reported that after canvassing alternatives, VLTBC remained the most attractive venue for Management Meetings. Informally, consensus was to stay the course.

4. Programs

.1 Speakers
Bill Sexsmith reported for David Scott and distributed a speakers list. It was agreed that future speakers be noted in the Newsletter, in this case August, September and October as there is a gap for November.
Wayne Audette will thank the June speaker. Bill Sexsmith will introduce the August speaker and Don Newman will thank him.

.2 Activities
Bill Robertson advised that North Shore Mens Probus is having a tour of the Boeing Plant in Everett on June 15 at a cost of $75.00 and has space available. It was an extremely popular trip for our club for those who missed it..

There are two openings left on the Vancouver Community College tour.
The Britannia Mines Tour was very successful and appears to have resulted in $215.80 surplus.
In September there will be a Mt. Seymour trip and possibly a tour of BC Place Stadium
There has been increased interest in planned activities from the publicity from event newssheets and follow up descriptions in the Newsletter. The committee will meet next in August.

The Chairman observed that Activities is on fire and doing a superlative job.

.3 Membership
Conrad Rademaker distributed a Membership Report. There are 24 applicants on the waiting list which with accepting three new members at each meeting is remaining fairly constant.
After consideration it has been decided to keep track of deceased members in the archives.

Conrad pointed out that contrary to popular belief attendance is actually increasing. Don Newman pointed out that when there is a particularly drawing speaker we have plenty of warning to secure the Music School hall if required.

.4 Finance
Wayne Audette distributed ten month statements to May 31, 2011 and reviewed highlights. Monthly meeting costs are increasing for a number of reasons and the monthly fee or consolidated membership fee will have to take these increases into account. Cash on hand is $11,000, sufficient for the year, and most budget items are on track.
He then reviewed budget projections for the upcoming year based on annual membership dues of $75.00 and 85.00 and a membership level of 325-350-375-400. From his point of view an annual fee of $95.00 would be ideal. Bill Sexsmith asked each section to estimate its financial requirements so that the budget can be finalized in August. For the purposes of the budget, an annual membership fee of $85.00 is to be used.

.5 Membership Services
Jon Collins described changes to the website to make it more user-friendly for the membership by segregating areas of coverage. It is questionable if meeting minutes need be reported when they are available in the monthly Newsletter. Bill Sexsmith suggested that further refinements be postponed until Support Services has some input.

.6 Rendezvous 2011
Bill Sexsmith reported that signed attendance is now 80 out of a revised total of 150.
The hotel has agreed to a lower commitment. There is a positive feeling in the Committee that the targets will be reached. For Probus Vancouver’s next meeting the Greeters will distribute the program summary with an attached application as there is no measurable response to the publicity in the Newsletter.

5. Air Time Requirements
Gordon Thom requested time to award Bridge Club trophies.
Wayne Audette will report ten month results
Bill Robertson will discuss forthcoming activities
Norm Leach will introduce three new members..

6. Newsletter
It was agreed that the timing of publishing the Newsletter some two weeks before a meeting was ideal. The cutoff for the June Newsletter is June 24.

7. Adjournment
The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 at The Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club at 9:30 am.

There being no further business the meeting terminated.

_______________________________
Bill Sexsmith, President
_______________________________
Brian Wasson, Secretary

Matters to be followed up:

-2011-2012 Budget
-Committee report on outside administrative services
-Publication of Strategic Plan recommendations in the July Newsletter

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