Plain Monthly Meeting
February 7, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 7:37 p.m. by Gwyneth Butera.
Attendees: Gwyneth Butera, president; Nicky Rosenbluth, immediate past president; Candy Howland, vice president; Mary Stuckey, treasurer; Linda Orgain, secretary; Greg Creech, Pam Heiges, Cree Sechrist, Elizabeth Shields, and Veronica Wright.
The minutes for the December 5, 2007, meeting were submitted, reviewed, corrections made, and were accepted.
Treasurer’s Report: Mary submitted the December and January Treasury Report. Mary reported that she had made the following deposits: $176 to the Tree Fund; $212 to the Playground Fund; and $225 and $823 into PLAIN general account.
Mary’s new work e-mail is HYPERLINK “mailto:Mary.Stuckey@turner.com” Mary.Stuckey@turner.com.
Pam Heiges asked whether we are breaking even for the monthly breakfast. Nicky said that currently we are making a small amount over actual expenses. She said that the goal of the breakfast is to cover the costs of printing PLAINTalk. Now that we have someone routinely collecting the breakfast charges at the door, we are doing better.
Old Business:
Christmas Activities. The cost of the new Santa suit to PLAIN was $70; the city paid 75 towards the suit. After it is dry cleaned, it will be stored at Gwyneth’s house.
Non-Profit Status. Nicky reported that she and K.C. Wildmoon have been diligently following up with our 501C3 paperwork. This was sent in. All of the past years have been recouped except for 2006 and 2007. We receive a form on annually from the IRS, and only need to fill out the information on gains and surpluses. Gwyneth now has a copy of the PLAIN charter, tax I.D., etc. PLAIN was incorporated in 1996, but received nonprofit status in 2002.
Membership List. Candy Howland has an excel file that has the membership list, however she asked for assistance with reviewing it against previous lists. Elizabeth Shield may be able to provide assistance. Mary will send the old membership list, and Candy will combine it with the list she has. Mary reported that we have been getting new members at each Pancake Breakfast.
Group e-mail List. Nicky – too often the list became a venue for discussion. Should only be used to notify people about PL events. Blind carbon copies so everyone cannot see all of the people on the list. Should not be used for marketing goods and services. If people want to promote their business, they can purchase an ad in PLAIN Talk.
PLAIN Talk. The February newsletter was delivered to City Hall on Tuesday. Candy called Pat Holcomb and asked that it be delivered to Cree’s house instead of City Hall. Because Cree is leaving town on Saturday, it needs to be delivered to her quickly. There is an insert this month, which is another source of income. The current fee is $25 for a PLAIN Talk insert. Mary said that she has not received the payment for this month’s insert.
Nicky asked whether we could find out (e.g., through polling residents) how many people would like to receive PLAIN Talk electronically by e-mail and how many people would like to receive a hard copy delivered to their homes. Or, she said that perhaps we could only make it available at a box outside City Hall and other locations. If more people opted for electronic delivery, this could vastly reduce our copying costs. Veronica says we could advertise this in PT a few times. However, she noted that if we decide on electronic delivery, we will have to be very consistent to have signs available well in advance of our events.
Playground Committee. The committee is applying for Kaboom Grant. To put in the grant, we will need a census of children in the city. Gwyneth said that she has written a letter of support from PLAIN for the Kaboom grant.
New Business:
Chili Cook Off. The Chili Cook Off is scheduled for Saturday evening, February 23, at the Beach House beginning at 5 p.m. Candy volunteered to make the signs for this event, which will be posted by the Wednesday preceding the event. Pam volunteered to make corn bread to go with the soup and chile. Pam and Cree will purchase the other needed supplies, including sour cream, toppings, etc. Mary will make tent cards to label the various dishes. Nicky suggested sending reminder e-mails and putting the rules of this content on the PLAIN Web site. The e-mail will stress participation.
Cree volunteered to buy the prizes. We will award 1st , 2nd and 3rd place prizes for both the chiles and the soups. Greg said in the past we have given a “golden spoon award,” where we have painted a spoon and put a ribbon on it. Candy said she will come up with 6 prizes, including 2 special prizes. Greg has a template for award certificates. People can either bring a dish for the competition and attend free of charge, or pay $5 to offset costs of the event. Everyone brings their muffin cups or small cups for the tasting. We also will need a score sheet. The PLAIN officers will set up the large tables (Cree will call Phil Howland the Wednesday before the event to ensure these tables are at the Beach House) and clean up after the event. We use the electric skills and a power strip to power and keep things hot.
Mary noted that a couple of the small card tables are missing. Nicky knows which tables were missing for the breakfast last weekend.
Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Egg Hunt is scheduled for Saturday morning, March 22. Gwyneth noted that she will be out of town until just before that event. Planning was deferred to the March meeting.
Annual Meeting. This is normally held in June. Nominations are made in May, and the officers are effective in June. People serve for 1 year terms.
Dates of all PLAIN sponsored events for the next year are set towards the end of each year.
Breakfast Crew Recognition. At the last meeting, Nicky said that she would like the PLAIN board to take these individuals out for dinner and drinks. The proposed location is Sangrias in Tucker. She is looking at either March 1 or March 8 for the dinner. Nicky will send an e-mail to see which date is best. She said that the Rosenbluths will buy the crew’s drinks.
Leadership Roundtable. Gwyneth reported that she has attended the Pine Lake Leadership Roundtable. There was discussion on how to recruit more volunteers for these organizations. An idea was to set up Pine Lake organization tables for each organization at the May Fest to describe the various organizations and recruit volunteers.
Nicky said that in the past, surveys have been done where we asked people what their needs were. Specific areas were given, such as arts and entertainment, kids activities, teens activities. We received feedback that there was a need for more adult and senior events, but when we provided activities for seniors, very few attended.
Welcome Kit. Greg Creech has been responsible for coordinating this with other volunteers. Gwyneth reported that Edie at the city office is out of the kit.
May Meeting Conflict. Gwyneth has a conflict with the May 1 meeting, and there is a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 8 PLAIN. A decision needs to be made about the date of the May PLAIN meeting. If it is changed, this needs to be put into the PLAIN Talk newsletter and communicated to the city.
Board Member Liability Insurance. Gwyneth asked whether we have board member insurance for our events. Elizabeth Shields said that we have had waivers in the past. We could store liability waiver forms on the Web site. These would be available to be signed by families/participants before the event begins. However, Elizabeth said that she has never been to a Pine Lake community event where people have signed waivers. Nicky thinks that we are covered under the city’s insurance plan. This question should be directed to Phil Howland, city manager.
Time for Socializing. Nicky said that we have talked in the past about having some time during some of the monthly PLAIN for socializing and snacks. For instance, during summer, we could provide watermelon and have time for games. It was discussed that we could have a Bingo night some time during the summer and target our seniors. Cree has bought the bingo games.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27.