TRUSTEE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
August 23, 2007
1) Call to Order/Introductions: Jessica called the meeting to order at 3:55pm. Trustees present were: Jessica Grinberg, Sara Spring, Margaret Iacuaniello, Tom Hudson, Wendy Roberts, Pamela Graham, Judy Minkus, Deena Zarlin and Carolyn Carleton. Also present was Ray Alarcon and Mark Oatney, our new K-8 Art Teacher who was introduced to all present.
2) Minutes: (MSC Sara/Judy) to approve the minutes of 8/2/07) All ayes on the vote.
3) Open Forum for Public Comment: no comments.
4) Financial Report: Sara Spring presented a current bank account report with balances reconciled through 7/31/07: Car Account is $17,662.89 and our General Fund Account has a balance of $99,826.79. She is still working on a full financial report and needs to reconcile records with previous treasurers before finalizing our records. She presented expense reports for Digging Dog, Rummage Sale and Fun Fair events but because they only summarized activities from 4/1/07 through 7/31/07, the income totals are not indicative of actual event totals as sponsor and ticket sales before April 1, 2007 are not reflected in those reports. Sara will be away for our September meeting but will get the monthly financial report to Jessica in time.
A $5000 donation to our Endowment Fund came in from the trust of George and Fay Saul. Wendy suggested that when the funds are sent from our account to the Community Foundation, a thank you letter should be forwarded to the trust asking for permission for public notification of the donation from the donors. As no system in yet in place, Wendy will forward a draft letter for Sara to use. Sara added that all donations $5,000 and up must be listed individually on IRS tax forms.
5) Correspondence: Carolyn is correcting the mailing list as returns come back from our raffle postcard mailing, 12 last month and 15 more this month.
Carolyn showed the August 9th Mendocino Beacon1/4 page thank you ad for all our sponsors and donors for the 2006-07 school year fundraising events.
Catherine Stone would like a rewording in our August 2nd meeting minutes regarding the school district’s dealing with the Park and Rec Dept regarding the lease for Friendship Park to read: “The change from a 50-year lease agreement between MUSD and Parks Dept. for Friendship Park to a year-to-year lease was due to requirements in the School Bond passed earlier this year.”
6) Committee Reports:
(a) Car Raffle: Ticket sales are slow. A mailing of 401 postcards and a cover letter written by Wendy to Peggy Merrill’s clients was stamped and labeled by the Board members during the meeting. Sara reported that about 100 tickets have been mailed to requests from our earlier postcard mailer. The Jeep will be at the Great Day in Elk August 25 , Paul Bunyan Days on Labor Day and at the Boonville Fair Sept. 14-16. Harvest Market has agreed to have the jeep parked at both the Fort Bragg and Mendocino stores and will handle ticket sales at both locations.
Jessica is meeting with Mina Cohen tomorrow to draft a letter to the arts community supporting MUSE’s work fundraising for arts in the school and Prentice Gallery has agreed to make a mailer to their clients.
Deena reported that an announcement was made to the MGS staff regarding our raffle and stressed the need for class parent liaisons to facilitate raffle ticket sales through parents. Discussion followed regarding the most effective method to reach parents as potential MUSE volunteers through the many Back-To-School Nights: MMS’s is Thursday August 30th, where Wendy will join Ray and Helena at 6:00 PM to sell raffle tickets and distribute tickets to parents for selling, MGS’s is Sept 5 where Jessica and Sara will be at the 6:00PM parent welcome and Helena and Tom available in quad for ticket distribution and sales and Sept 12th is MHS’s and MCHS’s. 150 tickets were distributed to parents at the MMS class registration last week. Sara and Helena will collect $ from parent sales as well as the MMS office.
Judy Minkus presented a $1,000 check from the K-12 teachers for 30 raffle tickets and Pamela Graham bought $1,000 of tickets as gifts.
(b) By-Laws Revisions: report in the future.
(c) Expense Reporting: report in the future.
(d) Friendship Park Management: Friendship Park is in the Little League Board’s hands with no MUSE involvement. Emphasis will be on baseball/soccer events and not so many large community events that make greater wear and tear on the field. Friendship Park Board is still in the process of disbanding. Park use fees for Fun Fair could be higher so maybe better to pursue other school property like the high school fields with use of the kitchen. Parks and Rec Dept. appreciated MUSE’s presence at the Aug 15th public meeting and the Little League Board is very enthusiastic regarding the future of Friendship Park. Jessica will forward a letter to our Advisory Board updating them on the Friendship Park management progress.
(e) September 21 Community Dinner: The K-8 Dance program with Evo Bluestein involves about 350 students but the Community Barn Dance for students and parents at the end of the week is being held at night so attendance estimates are unknown. Jessica suggested this spaghetti dinner at the MMS gym could be a good opportunity for new parent involvement. We could hold a $5 dinner prior to the dance or just put out a donation jar. We can purchase food from Harvest Market for only $10% over cost and Jessica will speak to Penny Honer/Josita/Margaret Fox about purchases for a dinner for 600 maximum. (MSC Tom/Judy) to approve funds up to $1500 for spaghetti dinner expenses for a donation-only dinner on Sept. 21st.
(f) Margy Crowningshield Oct 20th Concert: Carolyn relayed Margy’s plan to play music with current and previous music students of the high school. Decision was made to keep concessions sales to benefit MUSE. Depending on raffle ticket sales, the jeep raffle may be delayed to the Halloween Crown Hall event instead of October 21st concert. Kathy O’Grady will be MC and John Bush, whose father, Chuck Bush, founded the Community School, one of the musicians.
7) Events Calendar: To be deferred to next meeting.
8) MUSE grant proposal requirements: To be deferred to next meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15 PM.
Next Meeting is Thursday, September 27th at MMS Library at 3:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Carolyn Carleton, Secretary