BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: President Doug Releford, Vice-President Andra Watterson, Treasurer Sandy Wilmer, Sergeant-at-arms Wallace Ross, Jr., Website Manager Calvin Sneed, Ozine Bly, Shelia Leeper, Van Dobbins, Jr., Pam Sensabaugh, Virginia Hankins, Judy Phillips, Lillian Leeper, James Bly.
QUORUM MET
OLD BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS: Board Sets A Reunion Expense Budget of $10,000.
NEW BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS: Alumni Association to Participate in Kohl's Employees-In-Action Program And Will Get Donation.. Board Votes to Amend By-Laws to Change Time for New Alumni Board Officer Selection..
INVOCATION BY LILLIAN LEEPER
Reading of previous meeting minutes.
Motion by Calvin Sneed to approve previous minutes, seconded by Pam Sensabaugh.. MOTION CARRIED.
Financial Report: Current Balance: $6,262.64. Since last meeting, treasurer Sandy Wilmer deposited $1,037.00 ($885.00 checks, $152.00 cash) into Douglass account. Scholarship Account: Sandy deposited $250 from alumni Samuel Floyd Perry in the name of "Calvin Sneed." Total balance $1.822.71. Wallace Ross questioned whether receipts for alumni payments can be mailed out by treasurer Sandy..Sandy said the plan is to save the postage by putting receipts in the alumni's folders when they arrive, and the receipts for ads will be mailed to the people who took them out. Wallace said he's heard from someone out of them who wants their receipts. He did not want to give their names, so Sandy is giving their receipts to Wallace and he will be responsible for getting it to them.
Motion to accept the Financial Report by Virginia Hankins, seconded by James Blye. MOTION CARRIED.
OLD BUSINESS:
Andra Watterson reports 40 Douglass Alumni mugs left, 4 medium tee-shirts, 6 extra large, one 4-X, one 2-X, and 2 large left from previous sales.
Ozine Bly wanted to get a reading on the board's expenditures for the Reunion, weighed against what the treasurer is taking in, to see what the break-even point is. The board will owe the D-J $500.00 after the down payment of $100.00, and will owe Rick Hancock and Latech Solutions $1,200.00 after the down payment of $200.00.. The balance of paying for Meadowview facilities will not be known until the day the Reunion starts, but based on two years ago, the final payment was around $5,500.00. Renting the tent for Field Day was around $150.00. The cost of 200 ink pens will be figured in when the board hears from Louetta Hall, who was absent from the meeting, and money was paid to Van Dobbins for various items. Doug suggested a donation also to St. Mark's for the use of the Fellowship Hall for meetings. 2 years ago, the Board spent around $9608.00.
Motion by Ozine Bly to set a 2009 Reunion budget of $10,000.00, seconded by Pam Sensabaugh. MOTION CARRIED.
Wallace Ross wanted to know how many people had paid their registration and dues, and treasurer Sandy Wilmer said about 40 alumni so far.
Wallace also suggested he be given a list of vendors so he can take a proper count for Field Day. He will be provided a final list on that day..
So far, no one has registered as a vendor. The fee is $25.00.
Sandy has 2 ads to be given to Ricky.. she gave them to Calvin to send to Rick Hancock, as Linda Bly was absent from the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
Virginia Hankins told the Board of a program from Kohl's Stores, that if they get 5 of their employees to donate 3 hours to a non-profit organization, the Douglass Alumni Association would receive a $500 dollar donation from the company. The Board can apply for the program as many times a year as it wants to. For example, since the Board uses St. Mark's Methodist Church occasionally for meetings, the kids could come in and clean the church, on behalf of the Alumni Association. The work could include clean-up, planting flowers, pick up trash. Each time the work is performed by the Kohl's employees, the Alumni would receive a donation of 500 dollars. Virginia says the program has been quite successful for New Vision Youth, Weed & Seed and others. She has talked with Michelle Hankins at Kohl's, to get the ball rolling for the Board. All we need is a date for the employees to work. The Board was enthusiastic about the program, perhaps an October participation.
Lillian Leeper suggested some guidelines be studied, for prospective Douglass Memorial scholarship applicants to be held to, when they send in their requests. She proposed that the Scholarship Committee meet to set down rules, and then report back to the Board what the rules would be. The Board had previously voted to allocate 500 dollars per scholarship applicant. Virginia also proposed that the Board revisit a previous suggestion that scholarships be awared in "off years"--years there is no Reunion, to be fair. She suggested the Kohl's program be directed towards awarding scholarship money in those off years.
In the absence of Souvenir Book Committee chairperson Linda Bly from the meeting, Doug asked committee member Shelia Leeper how the book was coming along. Shelia said Linda told her that she was picking out pictures. James Bly said she was emailing things to Rick Hancock to be in the book using his computer because hers was not working.
Wallace suggested that in the future, the Douglass Alumni Association have a computer in its new office in the renovated V.O. Dobbins Community Center, to speed things along. He was told that matter had already been discussed and decided last year.
Doug asked the Board about the possibility of having a general Business Meeting of the Board on Saturday, July 4th for the selection of new officers. Virginia reminded board members of previous processes, where the new officers were earlier elected among themselves, and then, just presented during the Business Meeting.
Motion by Virginia Hankins to amend the Alumni Association by-laws (Article 5, Section 2) to allow the election of new officers by the existing board members prior to the Reunion within the Body of the Board itself, and then present the new officers to the Alumni at the Memorial Service on Sunday, seconded by Pam Sensabaugh. MOTION CARRIED, Wallace Ross abstained.
The Nomination Committee for new officers will be Judy Phillips, Andra Watterson, Pam Sensabaugh and Van Dobbins, Jr. Their report will be presented at the June 27th meeting.
Calvin reported that, after discussions for a story, he has learned that the Douglass Ball Field will be open for Field Day, despite the heavy construction work that will be going on at the V.O. Dobbins Community Center next door.
Motion by Virginia Hankins to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Shelia Leeper. MOTION CARRIED.
NEXT MEETINGS: FRIDAY, JUNE 19TH 6 PM, AT BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH
SATURDAY, JUNE 27TH, 1 PM, AT BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH
