BOD Minutes – Jan 15, 2023
CTSS BOD ZOOM MEETING MINUTES 1-15-2023
Attendees: Louise DesJardins (Host), Bill Dexter, David Sizemore, Bob Smith, Jacqui Kuzmik, David Daniels, Charles (Duck) Unitas, Norman Ward and Leah Dexter
Meeting called to order at 7:30PM
Jacqui read this letter of Leave of Absence for the Board of Directors:
Notice of Leave of Absence 1-15-23
Dear Board of Directors,
As you all know, last November I fell and broke the wrist on my dominant hand. The break was severe enough to require surgery and the insertion of a plate and 3 pins. While my recovery is progressing nicely, the fine motor skills needed to do my job as secretary is far from the requirements. For this reason, I am taking a leave of absence as Secretary of CTSS. Louise has graciously volunteered to help with correspondence meeting minutes. As you can tell by your copy of the November BOD meeting minutes, she did a really good job. Please give her your support in this endeavor.
Sincerely,
Jacqui
Duck asked if there was a replacement in order. Jacqui responded that it is a leave of absence. Norm stated if we didn’t have a volunteer then perhaps we should consider hiring from outside someone to take over the minutes if Louise could not do it. Dave Sizemore said we should give Jacqui as much time she needs and assess at a later date. Louise asked if anyone objected to her volunteering and no one objected.
Bill Dexter thanked David Sizemore for doing the Workshop. Bill also wanted to get the agenda set for the year. He wanted to have the Board of Director’s meeting every other month as well as a General Membership meeting every other month opposite the Board of Directors. Dave suggested we move the meetings to Sundays instead of Fridays. He suggested the 3rd Sunday of each month. Bill mentioned that George Martin’s event at the Cape is May 5 th to 7th and we should keep these dates in mind when planning our activities so people can attend each event.
Jacqui suggested that all the Board of Directors meetings should be Zoom meetings since everyone lives in different parts of the state. Dave agreed. He also said that Covid is high right now and March would be too soon for an in-person Membership meeting. The first in person meeting should be in April. In deciding the agenda for year, the first General Membership meeting would be February 19th by Zoom.
March meeting would be a Board of Director’s meeting on March 19th . Bill was suggesting 2 options. The meeting could be at his house in his garage relaxed atmosphere. Louise questioned the fact of it being a Board meeting only. Bill suggested that possibly it could be a General Membership meeting and the Board meet about an hour before that meeting then invite the membership to come later. Bill also explained that he could get his Grange Hall free. The meetings for March could be held there. The hall as a large room, a stage and a commercial kitchen that could be used. Because he and Marty did a visit there, payment would be the use of the Hall if needed. This way if we have the March General Membership meeting there (he realized it is breaking the schedule we were trying to implement), then everyone could see if that hall would be feasible for our Fall workshop, He asked if anyone objected.
Bill again was concerned about the April in person meeting, travel time to the Grange Hall could be about an hour or hour and half for some people. He thought possibly if people were going to the Cape in May they would not want to come to the April meeting. It was pointed out that that meeting would be probably April 15th or 16th Saturday or Sunday. It is well before the Cape Cod event and should not interfere.
Dave Daniels was concerned about new members wanting to come and applications for new membership. He thought it was too long after membership enrollment to hold an in person meeting. Jacqui explained we always have membership applications at every event. Even the workshop in October they had new members apply, they paid their dues for 2023 and we didn’t charge them for the remainder of 2022. We let members join at any time and there are always applications available. It is not limited to just January to enroll as a new member. Dave also asked if the new members have been contacted to welcome them to our organization, yes, Jane sends each new member a letter welcoming them to our organization.
April 15th was set to be for General Admission meeting. Bill will confirm if he can arrange for the Grange Hall for that weekend.
The yearly meeting agenda is as follows:
February 19 th – Zoom General Membership Meeting 7:00pm
March 19 th – Zoom Board of Directors meeting 7:00pm
April 15 th – General Membership – in person meeting TBD
May 21 st – Zoom Board of Director’s Meeting 7:00pm
June 10 or 11 – General Membership meeting in person TBD
July 16 th – Zoom Board of Director’s meeting 7:00pm
August 19 th – Picnic TBD
Sept 17 th – Zoom Board of Director’s meeting 7:00pm
October 14 th – Workshop TBD
November 5 th – Zoom – Board of Director’s meeting 7:00pm
Jacqui asked Bob to confirm dates for all our events we need volunteers for:
Sept 8, 9, and 10 th – Bethlehem Fair
October 7th and 8th – Garlic Festival
Nov 11th and 12th – Photos with Santa weekend. (Bob will reach out to Terry to confirm)
December 2 – Bethlehem Christmas Town Festival
Dave Sizemore said we need a location for our June Membership meeting. He will take the initiative to find a place. Bill said that Jacqui since she won the last drawing was in charge of finding a place. Jacqui said all her places she was looking at no longer have separate rooms for meetings. Bill suggested Ciao again. Norm said there was a place in Portland he would check out.
Dave Daniels – Newsletter Chairman
Asked if the agenda could go into the newsletter. It was decided it could but specify it is a tentative list in dates as well as locations. Dave also asked if there could be some early tentative planning for the workshop so some basic information could be put into the June newsletter. This way people can plan for the weekend and possibly join in to help. We have a good group of talented people and so much to offer to the weekend. He also suggested that we try and reserve the school as a backup venue for the workshop. Bill reminded all that the Grange hall was free even though it was not as central a location as the school. Dave also asked that the membership list be sent to him so that he could make a map of demographics as to where our members live for future planning and communication. It can be updated annually. Dave also asked if it is possible to get pictures to him with different events to share information with other members.
Bob Smith – Treasurer Report
Annual dues of $225.00 need to be paid to the Chamber of Commerce. Bill motioned to accept this to be paid and Norm 2 nd the motion. Vote was all in favor and no one opposed.
Balance in checkbook is $12,362.80
Balance in PayPal $ 1,483.69
Bob and Duck discussed the buttons to pay dues with PayPal. When a member pays their dues with PayPal, the application does not immediately go to Jane. Jane sends a letter to everyone who paid their dues whether through PayPal or by check. It was asked if there is a way to set up the application to automatically go to Jane and Duck verified it is not possible. They can either download the application, fill it out and send it by email or print the application and mail it to Bob.
Bob suggested that since our money is in a non-interest bearing account, we ladder our money into 6 month CD accounts; beginning in January in $1000.00 increments. He found Edward Jones would pay 4 to 4.5% interest and is FDIC insured. Dave Sizemore asked if there are any fees since we are a non- profit organization. Bob said he would check all the information out before he made a decision. Bill, Dave Sizemore and Jacqui all agreed it would be worth it. Interest alone could possibly be used toward rental for any facilities we may be using. Dave made a motion to deposit the $1000 in January, Feb and March. Jacqui 2nd the motion. The term would be 6 months Bob would look into the difference bank to see which bank pays best. Approval was all in favor of this motion. Bob also said there is still membership dues coming in and some Santa Cares Food Drive donations that have to be mailed out to difference organizations. Those checks are about $1100 in total.
Bob also stated our four yearly donations of $250.00 each were made this year to TEEG (Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group); Town of Morris Social Services; Operation Elf; and Torrington Christmas Village.
Bob received Thank You notes from the following:
America the Beautiful Country Store in New Hartford for an event that Leah Dexter and Marty Landgrebe did. America the Beautiful Country Store also sent a $200 donation to our organization.
Ed and Judy Dorsett sent a donation in memory of Ray Erickson who passed away on December 1, 2022. He will take photos of these cards and send it to Duck for our Website.
Norm questioned if we received Thank You notes from Bread of Life and Portland Youth Services for donations. Bread of Life was from Lake Compounce in joint with NESS this past July and Portland Youth Services was last years donations. Bob confirmed we did receive them and they were scanned to Duck and put onto our website.
Duck Unitas – Website
Duck and Bob got a QR code to be used for Santa Cares Food Drives for people who want to make donations. Leah mentioned that the QR code doesn’t work. She did research and found out that PayPal is the parent company of Venmo. If you are a non- profit with PayPal, you can get a Venmo account. Most non-profit organizations use Venmo. Duck will look into this more and report back to the Board.
Duck also tried to implement specific dollar amount buttons for donations and dues. He tried to do both a $20 and or a $30 button. He could not do both it was either or. He tried to download a plug in for our website but received a message that he needs our Merchant ID code to implement this plug in. He asked Bob to email this information. Bob did this immediately so now Duck can proceed to work on this. Bob said he needed to update something regarding taxes. Once he does this then the percentage they take out will be less because we are a non-profit.
In answer to linking online payments for members and making it easier for Bob and Jane, there is no easy way to do this. When people make a deposit to PayPal it should have an account holder name. Duck suggested we put a disclaimer saying that if you are a member and your information has not changed this past year then there is no need to fill out an application. If you are a new member or you have changed your information then a new form must be filled out. You would download a PDF form, fill it out and email it to Jane. If the person is not savvy enough to do this then they can print the form, fill it out and mail it to Jane. Dave Sizemore said another option is print it , fill it out, take a photo of it and email it like that to Jane as well.
There is an option that allows online payments but there is a charge for it. Some of the options cost between $40 and $80. Duck is looking for something that is free. PayPal takes their share so this. At some point this spring, Duck will shut down the website for a day or two. He will work on streamlining it to be more seamless and less work for Jane. He will wait until after membership renewal to do this. Dave Sizemore thanked him for all his work. He mentioned that he knows someone who may be able to assist him but Duck also has someone to help. He is just trying to find the right app that fills our needs on both the public and private side of our website without having to pay a monthly subscription. If he can find something that fills 80% of what we need, he can find a way to work in the other 20%. When it is shut down, people will get a message stating that the system is undergoing testing. When he first implemented our website, he was getting unauthorized signers from Russia. He caught this and was able to squash it. He also has to be on the lookout for this again once the website is revamped. Duck also mentioned that he wants to make the Resource section of the member’s page more interactive. In the next newsletter he wants to reach out to members and ask them to recommend websites or tutorials that would be helpful to Santas.
Louise – Minutes
Norm pointed out that his name was not listed as attending. He was there and he even made motions on the minutes. Louise told him she would revise the minutes to include his name. Dave Sizemore mentioned the time on the minutes for this meeting said 7:30 which is why he was confused for this meeting when it was changed to 7:00PM. Jacqui explained that was back in November and since then the meeting was changed to 7:00. It was not reflected in those minutes. Norm mentioned that there were no follow ups from previous meetings and Jacqui always had follow ups. Louise said in reviewing the recording all the Follow Ups were all resolved as of at that last meeting. Norm made a motion to accept the minutes and Jacqui 2 nd the motion. All were in favor.
Duck mentioned he is looking for a new place for his Studio in the North West area of the state. He said the new space could possibly be used the Photo Weekend. The space he needs would be a minimum of 1000 sq feet. Depending on the Price 1500 to 2000 sq ft would be ideal. High ceilings of approximately 12 ft. Retail and Office space is plentiful however warehouse or industrial spaces are harder to come by. Bob suggested contacting the Chamber of Commerce since we belong to it as a group. Norm suggested contacting both the Town Planner and the Department of Economic Development. The next Zoom Board of Directors meeting will be on March 19th at 7:00pm. Norm made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Bill 2 nd the motion. Everyone was in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:47PM
