Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- July 16, 2017

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 2:30 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Secretary John McGarey (by phone), Lia Nelson and Kim Pillsbury (by phone). The following directors were absent: Treasurer Penny Chambers. Robert McGarey (Executive Director) and Michelle D'arcy were also present at the meeting.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved as read.

Executive Director's Report

Bingo. Because the bingo hall did not have a profit for a few quarters, the Bingo Commission came close to taking our licenses away, but we had a meeting this week and everything is OK because our hall manager has implemented changes that will likely be bringing in more income for us.

Meetup. We now have over 800 members on Meetup.

Board Meetings. We decided to have meetings every other month starting in July unless something comes up in which case we will call a special meeting. Things are a bit slow right now, and so John mentioned the economic power of keeping occupied 80% rather than 100% of the time. The board agreed.

Finances. We have $13K in the bank and are doing better than we ever have. So how shall we use this money? Bob mentioned 5 possible uses: 1) A cushion in the bank. 2) Renovate the Art Barn, which might cost $10k and for which we don't have a budget or a solid layout or construction plan. 3) Mini-split, which would cost about $2,200, but Bob is having trouble getting Wansley Refrigeration to schedule it. 4) Redo the Chimney, which would cost about $3k. 5) Pay down the mortgage, which if we paid $2k right now extra, would result at the end of the term in about 13 years in us paying $6,500 less at that time, a savings of $4,500.

After extensive discussion, it seemed clear that we need to make some smart decisions on this, which means we would need to have Penny involved. We need to have a solid estimate of how much it will cost to refurbish the Art Barn first, and then Kathy agreed to schedule a committee meeting with Bob and John and Penny. They will assess the situation and report back to the board with their recommendations.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at around 4:15 pm.

Minutes submitted by John McGarey, Secretary, July 16, 2017.