PLAIN Monthly Meeting
June 5, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 7:43 p.m. by Gwyneth Butera.
Attendees: Gwyneth Butera, president; Nicky Rosenbluth, immediate past president; Candy Howland, vice president; Linda Orgain, secretary; Kathie deNobriga, James Schwarzlose, Ella Johanaber, and Lalah Manly.
The minutes for the May 7, 2008, meeting were submitted, reviewed, corrections made, and were accepted.
Treasurer’s Report. Mary submitted the treasurer’s report for May, and also provided a report on the deposits. There were additional funds deposited for PLAIN, the Tree Fund, and the Playground Committee. The treasurer was commended on providing a complete report noting all the deposits.
Old Business:
Non-Profit (501c3) Status Update. All of the files related to the 501c3 status have been provided to K.C. Wildmoon so she can finish her work on this.
Memorial Day Parade and Cookout. Several members expressed that the parade could have been better organized with more participation by children. It was thought that changing the parade’s route might be helpful, perhaps starting the parade in the level area in front of the Clubhouse. Kathie noted that the former parade route was straight down from the Clubhouse, it looped around Lakeshore Drive so that people could see all of the children. Kathie also suggested that the route be shortened, and that the people who are walking/riding bikes, etc. should go first, followed by the vehicles. A band would also be a welcome addition.
Ice Cream Social: This part of the day’s events was very successful Kathie deN bought the ice cream and Faye Ridling and her family (daughter Melissa and grandson Tyler) set everything up.
Volunteer Fair. Kathie says she got a good number of prospective volunteer from the recruitment Fair, including someone who wants to work on signs. She will bring some Volunteer Recruitment Forms to the next PLAIN breakfast on June 1.
Nicky mentioned had been previous volunteer surveys and that she has kept the results and will share these with Kathie. Ella J. said that she is willing to make some telephone calls to recruit people. She asked if anyone is interested in doing an article for PLAIN Talk on volunteering in the city. Candy says that she has developed one for the June issue, and it’s ready. Ella suggested advertising for volunteer, e.g. have a volunteer wanted notice with the job description with fake benefits in the PLAIN Talk. The group agreed that a generic “Help Wanted” Ad would be fun. Nicky recommended that it be clearly understood what the specific volunteer jobs are, and include some opportunities for people to volunteer that involve a minimal amount of work. She said that PLAIN only tends to recruit for events. Kathie says she thinks we have a fairly comprehensive list of what we need. Nicky also noted that we need to formally recognize the people who volunteer in the city. In the past, we have given out PLAIN T-shirts; she said that she has a half a box left. Kathie says the Labor Day festivities seem like a good time to acknowledge our volunteers. For instance, PLAIN could have a marguerita table at the upcoming Labor Day event just for volunteers.
Announcement Board. There are currently 176 people who are participating in the announcement list serve. Kathie says that she’s heard that some people have responded positively when there is an ongoing conversation stream. The rule of the announcement list serve is to provide only text with no attachments.
Membership Drive. Gwyneth reported that the membership drive begins this Saturday at the PLAIN breakfast. She has sent out e-mail reminders on the Membership Drive. There also will be a notice in the July plain talk. Everyone must renew their annual membership during June. People can pay at breakfast (and eat for free that month), or send their renewal payment to the PLAIN P.O. Box. Kathie is making a sign for the breakfast. She will also have volunteer forms available on the table at the June breakfast.
Election of Officers. The Nominating Committee for 2008 is comprised of Melanie Hammett, Nicky Rosenbluth, and Rob Butera. Lalah Manley was nominated for PLAIN vice president to replace the current outgoing vice president, Candy Howland, who has served for the past 2 years. Gwyneth Butera has agreed to continue as president, Linda Orgain as secretary, and Mary Stuckey as treasurer. Kathie moved that the slate be accepted as presented. Nickie made a motion that Lalah Manly be nominated for vice president of the 2008-09 PLAIN board. Ella J. seconded this motion, and the slate passed unanimously. Nicky said to give a big hand of thanks to Candy for her service as V.P. The current slate of officers has been serving in various positions for several years.
PLAIN Talk. Ella has been temporarily handling the advertising, which she would like to pass to someone else who can devote more time into this function. There was an advertising check from the Kingfisher that had not yet been cashed, and it was agreed that we would now consider this a dead debt. Kathie asked how much we make on ads in the PLAIN Talk; we currently have not been making anything. Kathie said will look at whether there are any prospective volunteers who said they were interested in this type of activity. We also need to find someone who would like to sell ads for the PLAIN Talk. Ella will put together a fact sheet for advertisers on what they receive for their ads, the benefits, specifications for copy sizes, cost, average reach of PLAIN Talk, deadlines, suggested quarterly deadlines. Nicky said that she had something similar and will look for it.
Paperless Availability and Delivery Problems. Apparently, some people have not been receiving PLAIN Talk at their homes. The newsletter is supposed to be delivered to Cree Sechrist who then takes it to the delivery people. It is important that we the city staff and Pat Holcomb know that it is Cree who does this. There was discussion about how to ask people whether they still want to receive a print copy. Kathy said that if we elect ask people to download it themselves from the PLAIN internet site, this needs to be a process that will take a couple of month. An article should be written for PLAIN Talk that makes it very clear that this is the last hard copy a person will receive unless you call someone and request that hard copies continue to be delivered. Gwyneth said that people could call her if they still want it delivered to their house. Kathie suggested seeing how this process unfolds so that people won’t feel left out. Nicky said that if we go paperless, there should be 2 spots where people can pick up a copy, e.g., at City Hall, the Pancake Breakfast/Beach House. If an individual is “shut in,” we will continue to deliver it. We also will leave some copies at the apartment complexes. Other organizations have boxes situated around a city where people can pick up newsletters. We could print 100 copies and if we run out, print another 50. We can send an e-mail reminder about this new process. Therefore, the plan is to write a major article for the July PLAIN Talk on the push to go paperless. Ella asked for a rough draft that would include how this would work, where hard copies will be available, etc. In the August issue, this should be the cover story — this is your last hard copy unless you call Gwyneth and request that you continue to receive delivery, if you want to continue to have PLAIN Talk delivered at home. We will ask Erica if the real estate stands would work for holding PLAIN Talk.
PLAIN Monthly Breakfast – Becoming Greener. We will skip discussion of this item because none of the breakfast crew are present at this evening’s meeting. Nicky said that it was possible to become greener on some items, but this was probably not possible for the food products. She said that we buy locally because sometimes in the middle of breakfast, we run out of supplies and the crew must run out. Kathie mentioned that Dwayne Marcus on Allgood Road has a farm with organic produce. He sends an e-mail each week to a few subscribers, letting them know what is available, and the produce is available on Wednesday. Kathie said that perhaps in a few months, they may have enough supplies for our breakfast. Also, Gywneth said we should encourage people to bring their own mugs. Kathie suggested having a Polaroid and making mug shots of people with their mugs. Gywneth said that there are biodegradable plates available, and that would be a first step. We could use up the current supplies of Styrofoam cups and then move to purchasing paper cups. There are supplies left over from Memorial Day that can be used this weekend at breakfast.
Watershed Fund. The Watershed will cash out their money per a letter sent by Tommy Conlon, a former PL resident. These funds will be cashed out to the city since the remaining money will be used for this purpose by the city. It was noted that the Watershed Alliance no longer exists, and PLAIN has been holding money for them. Gwyneth will check with Greg Creech about cashing out these funds. The money will be used for dredging the lake; the city will be responsible for coordinating this work. The cost of dredging the lake is projected at about $250,000.
Committee Funds. Gwyneth says she has most of the information for who is the contact person for each of the funds that PLAIN is holding, with the exception of the Playground Committee. Veronica Wright is the responsible party for the Tree Fund.
Officers’ Duties. Gwyneth said that she would like to develop a list of the specific duties/responsibilities of each officer position. Those that are provided in the bylaws are very general. Each officer will be responsible for developing a description of their duties. We will compile these and make recommendations for the officers’ respective duties.
New Business:
Future Events. Kathie said that the City is not doing anything formal over the Independence Day (July 4th) holiday. It was discussed whether PLAIN could sponsor a movie night at the Beach either then or at some future date during the summer. It costs $150 to provide a movie, which is the lowest level of professional license available. We would not be able to advertise these formally, but could promote this through signs within the city. Nicky says that she has been able to get a license to show a movie for $75. PLAIN does have a license specifically for outdoor showing. Mike Tarnower has the equipment to show movies. Nicky suggested that we could show the movie free-of-charge, but then charge for popcorn, soda, etc. It was also noted that Julie Austin would like to give more concerts in Pine Lake.
October Lakefest. This will be a 2-day event. There will be a concert at 6 p.m. and a movie after dark on Saturday night. An art show, children’s area, and performance by clowns also are being planned.
Labor Day. This year, Labor Day is Monday, Sept 1. There are plans for a concert and potluck dinner.
Nicki mentioned the upcoming Auction to benefit the new PL playground. Tickets can still be purchased for $20 at the June breakfast. Gwyneth said that she has purchased a large supply of plastic yard flamingos. The idea is to purchase a flamingo for the benefit of the PL playground ($5 each) and decorate it. We will have a flamingo parade at some point in the future, and people will be able to purchase a flamingo that they like to further benefit the Playground Fund.
Cooperation in Soliciting from Local Businesses. There was a discussion about the various PL groups getting together to discuss upcoming activities and needs, and which local organizations they were interested in soliciting for supplies, etc. The PL Leadership Team has recommended that we share information about this before requests for donation are made, so that our local businesses do not receive multiple requests from PL groups close together; then people are more inclined to give.
Kathie said that she is currently soliciting supplies for the PL summer camp that will begin next week. She is going to our local grocery stores and requesting donations. Nicky recommended that we say what we are going to do for them. We could provide them with pictures of kids and activities, and say that these activities have been provided thanks to (the funder). We can also approach Whole Foods.
It was suggested that we develop a standard form for what the sponsor will get for making a donation, “We would like to do our annual ask for…” We could approach businesses such as Big Lots, Ingalls, Publix, and Kroger, in this way. It was noted that there is a Walmart grant available on an annual basis.
Kathie said that she will bring this issue up at the next Pine Lake Leadership Council meeting.
Back to School Event. Kathie suggested we consider sponsoring some type of back to school event. She asked whether it was possible to do something the week before school starts. For instance, Walmart donates backpack to children. This could be done in conjunction with the KaBOOM! playground build, which could happen as early as August.
Office depot has new green bags, $1. Our local office depot may be willing to donate a “Back to School” pack with the green bags. Nicky could ask Office Depot about donating school supplies, if we have an event. Staples has a 1-cent price on packs of pencils.
Julie Austin could play a set and Elise Witt could also play a set at a “Back to School” concert.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:14 p.m.