Untitled Document

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Nancy Creevan; Rick Feldmann; Richard Bailey, Mary Alice Sargent, Mary Ann Waite, Diane Miller; Kenneth Caldwell

OTHERS PRESENT: Terry Vidal - LCS Office Administrator. Roger Borg – Treasurer; Lynn Bishop – Recording Secretary; Sherry Butler – Director, LCS Audit Committee; Becca Thomas - Website

Moved by Rick Feldmann, seconded by Richard Bailey minutes of the November Board meeting be accepted as previously distributed by e-mail. Motion Approved.

Treasurer, Roger Borg, distributed copies of November financial reports and a Management Chart Profit & Loss Statement for all programs. During review of the Management Chart Roger noted the following:

Purpose of the Management Chart is to track where the money is, where it is coming from and how it is spent;
Membership is the major operation and The Wilkes Education Center and Student Aid Program are the next two major operations;
Money from skin cancer testing goes to students;
The managers and e-mail addresses for each operation were reviewed to ensure that Roger has correct information for sending individual operation financial reports. The LCS Board should show as the manager for membership as there are other operations such as building and grounds operating under that category. These should be separated out in the future.

Diane Brisse and Curly Lieberman are the coordinators for the Spanish program which is under Mary Alice Sargent, as are the Student Aid and Wilkes Education Center.
Financial reports for the Medical Program should be provided to both Gil Silverman and Sue Griffin.
Anyone depositing money in the box should be very specific about where the money is to go. There is a specific area on the deposit list for listing donations. If a donation is received with membership payment a separate receipt should be written for the donation.

Action: M. Sargent to move $300,000 from Bancomer to Lloyds and have an on-line account set up. T. Vidal will provide a letter for N. Creevan’s signature in order to add himself to the accounts.

Roger reviewed the remaining financial reports and explained how he has set them up.

Moved by Mary Alice Sargent; seconded by Mary AnnWaite the financial report be accepted and that this is the direction the Board wishes to move in. Motion Approved

D. Miller explained the steps she is taking to determine any members who might not be “in good standing” due to outstanding books/fines.

Moved by Rick Feldmann; seconded by Richard Bailey an Internal Audit Committee, independent of the Board of Directors, be established with Sherry Butler as the first chairperson. Motion Approved

Sherry Butler was introduced as the new chairperson of the LCS Audit Committee. Other committee members are Janet Reichert, Russell Kveton, Tyler Marshall and Mark Niederman.
The Committee will do a short presentation to the December annual membership meeting to let them know who they are.
Name tags, in a different color than the others so they stand out, will be provided to the committee members to wear whenever they are on the LCS grounds.
Two important points for committee members are that they don’t get involved in discussions at the Dec. 11 meeting as they must stand out as being independent of the Board, and they should not post on Chapala.com. No committee member can discuss anything until it has been approved.
The Audit Committee will operate the same as an internal Audit Committee which makes recommendations for changes to the Board. If the Board doesn’t do anything then the committee can make the information public.
Committee members are still working on exactly how the committee will be structured. Initially the committee will meet more often and there might be certain individuals put in charge of specific areas.
Any member of the Audit Committee can come in and look at any records at any time.
If committee members need to be replaced the chairperson will make the decision on the replacement.

Terry Vidal provided a chart that shows a pattern of when membership money is coming in. Unfortunately, with the way the database is set up, a member’s previous data are overwritten as soon as an update is made. Thus, information such as original year a member joined, is lost. The database needs to be revised or replaced in order to retain more information and make it easier to use.
The chart does provide information that tells us how long we should have two people at the membership table. October and November are the biggest months for memberships.
Depending on how the figures are looked at, different membership totals are arrived at. N. Creevan noted that it is important to have accurate figures for the Dec. 11 meeting.
K. Caldwell stated that by Dec. 11 the Board will be able to see how many people are eligible to vote because they were member in 2008. The number of members that are for only 2009 only will also be known.
Discussion followed regarding who is eligible to vote. Voters must be valid members in 2008 and need not have renewed for 2009 as yet.

Becca Thomas was then introduced to the Board. She will be assisting Kenee with the website. The Communications team is talking about redoing the entire website for 2009. The target date for the new website is Spring 2009. Becca will help in this effort.

According to the motion made and approved on November 7, 2007 the back gate was to be locked permanently. This has not been done. Circumstances that made the original motion necessary back in the end of 2007 have changed. We are no longer experiencing plants and outdoor furniture disappearing, for example.

Moved by Mary Alice Sargent; seconded by Mary Ann Waite the back gate be open during the day and locked at 2:00 pm.

Moved by Ken Caldwell; seconded by Richard Bailey that the motion be amended to read the motion of November 7, 2007 be rescinded and a new policy be put in place that the back gate will be locked between 2:00 pm and 8:00 am every day. Motion Approved.

Diane Miller has received letters of intent from five (5) travel companies. One letter was not accepted. She suggested that each company be allowed to rent a location one day a week in order to promote their various travel packages. The LCS Travel Club no longer exists and she suggested that the name be changed to LCS Travel Resources.
R. Feldmann suggested that a director be appointed for this operation and that person can then decide how it will be set up. Further discussion should be tabled until a director is appointed.

Moved by Rick Feldmann; seconded by Mary Alice Sargent an advertisement be posted in the Classified section of the website for a Director of Travel Resources. Motion Approved.

A meeting will be held on Friday with the printer to go over the ads for the directory and finalize the cost of production. The blue pages are complete but Mary Ann should see if the country of origin figures can be changed. The white pages will be up-to-date in the next day or two. Once complete they will be put out to the membership for review before going to print.

Action: Information regarding members coming in to proof their directory information should be put on the front page of the website.

Ads will not be printed unless they have been paid for and the artwork is complete.
A price for printing the directory will be negotiated based on the number of pages and the number of books to be printed.
Discussion followed regarding how many books to have printed. Each advertiser receives a free copy as does each family or individual member of LCS.
Mary Alice Sargent recommended that when the directories are delivered they go to Terry so he can verify the total number delivered and control distribution. They should not be given out until he authorizes it.
Rick Feldmann recommended that the discussion be tabled until Friday. Terry noted that part of the decision should be based on what number provides a price break in addition to the other factors, such as number of family and individual memberships and number of advertisers this year

Diane Miller reported that the general day to day operations of the library are being run by a committee. Another committee has been set up that will look at selecting books to buy. It has been split into two groups – one for non-fiction and one for fiction.
The Book Selection Committee will meet on their own and will submit a list of books in order of priority.
Bob McKeown wants to start a Sci-Fi book club and he is willing to donate books to start it.
Robert Kleffel has arranged for a 10-15% discount for ordering books through Gatherings and they will be delivered within 10-15 days.
An account has been set up with Powell’s Books and we can also use Pay Pal there.
Discussion followed regarding some of the library computer problems and the fact that it needs to be networked as soon as possible to make transfer of records from one computer to another for new books unnecessary.

Action: Mary Alice Sargent to ask Maria to check at the Guadalajara Book Fair to see if there are any companies in Guadalajara that sell library supplies.

A luncheon and training session will be held for library volunteers on December 6 from 2-4.

A request has been received to use the LCS grounds for a MAS fund raiser in January.
It was suggested that a basic rate schedule be drawn up for charitable and non-charitable groups to use the LCS grounds so that individual decisions need not be made any longer.

Moved by Mary Ann Waite; seconded by Richard Bailey Michael Warren be given approval to use the LCS grounds in January for a MAS fund raiser play reading, for a donation of $500.00 pesos. Motion Approved

Action: Diane Miller to bring forward a proposal for a general fee structure for use of the LCS grounds by various types of groups and for various kinds of events.

It is only fair that the people that are being targeted are allowed to speak. At the meeting speakers for and against the recall petition will alternate, pro-recall speaker going first.
During the 30 minutes between the meetings the procedures for voting will be outlined.
It was suggested that a handout be provided to all members attending the meeting. Concern was expressed regarding the cost of doing this as the numbers of members present could reach into the hundreds.
It was suggested that when members in good standing register they be given a colored paper to hold up to vote in order to make it easier to count.

Action: Mary Ann Waite to talk over procedures with the tellers at a meeting Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 2:15pm.

Overall the proposed agenda is fair to the petitioners, the people being recalled, and to the members.
The proposed agenda and procedures should be posted on the website and in various locations on the grounds.
The definition of “member in good standing” from the constitution should also be posted.
If someone is listed on the list of members not in good standing when they go to register and they disagree with the reason for this, they will be given a “provisional ballot”. These ballots will only be counted in the event the results of the voting are very close.
It was suggested that people who are going to be given a provisional ballot be sent to a different person who can provide them with information on why they are being given the provisional ballot. This will allow for smoother flow at check in.
Length of time required to process everyone was discussed and it was suggested that if there are still people in line waiting to register at the end of the 30 minute recess it is possible to reconvene the meeting after the mandatory recess and then immediately call for another recess to process those waiting.

Action: Diane Miller to provide a list of those that can be verified as not being in good standing due to video or library issues.

Around The Table
Richard Bailey: Nothing
Mary Ann Waite: The office has been out of ”forever” stamps for the past week. It is possible to order postage stamps and have them sent to Laredo. There is also a service where you can have a certain number of stamps delivered automatically each month. The LCS makes money on stamps so it makes sense to have them on hand. Mary Ann is going to going to place an order immediately in this way to ensure a supply of “forever” stamps.
Ken Caldwell: Terry and Rich have both offered to lend equipment in order to get the Network and WI-For for members operational now. Terry indicated that it will be necessary for him to have at least one conversation with the technical director. When everything is working Ken and Terry will report back to the board.
Rick Feldmann: Nothing
Sherry Butler: People may have questions regarding how the members of the Audit Committee were selected. Rick stated that there was an advertisement on the website asking for volunteers for the committee. She will mention this in her report Thursday.
Diane Miller: Nothing
Mary Alice Sargent: Since the copier was moved from LCR it needs to be repaired again. The copier is capable of doing the newsletter but it will require having one person do it. The copier is also capable of doing large projects such as the ballots.
Action: Mary Ann Waite to have a prototype ballot ready for the meeting after the recess.
Nancy Creevan: The Newcomers Seminars will begin on January 16 with Barbara Madren organizing them. ACA’s donated fridge has been delivered to the patio and their vegetables will be kept in there in the future.

The meeting went into closed session at 4:15 pm and the recording secretary retired from the meeting.

On returning from closed session, Rick Feldmann made a motion that the employees of LCS be given 6% COLA raises for 2009, with the exceptions of 1) the two part-time employees at WEC who will be given 5% COLA raises, and 2) the new Office Administrator who will be evaluated for a salary increase at the end of March per his offer letter. The motion was seconded by Ken Caldwell and it carried unanimously.

Rick Feldmann then moved that the meeting be recessed until Tuesday, December 9 when the board could return to executive session with the LCS lawyers concerning letters received from an outside lawyer representing Larry Reeves, Ann Heath, and Tee Falcon. Rick Bailey seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

The meeting returned back into session on Tuesday, December 9, 2:05pm at the offices of the LCS attorneys at 41 Colon, Ajijic. Nancy Creevan then announced a closed session to discuss the letters received from Larry Reeves, Ann Heath and Tee Falcon with the LCS attorneys. The meeting returned from closed session at 2:35 and the attorneys left the office for the Board to conclude its meeting. Board members then discussed procedures based on Robert’s Rules of Order for conducting the membership meeting on December 11. No actions needed to be taken and no motions were made.