SoCalGRS Board Meeting Minutes
March 3, 2012 9:30 AM at the Tomlinson Residence
Board Members in Attendance:
Wendell Hanks, Ron Deisler, Fred Tomlinson, Ed Stringham, Jay Kelly
Items of business:
1) SoCalGRS Leadership: We briefly discussed Mike Zelenak’s retirement from the board. No action was taken on a possible replacement.
2) Membership status. Current membership roster has 71 members for 2012, and a few late renewals are still trickling in. This is down from 83 members at the close of 2011. About 15 recalcitrant members from 2011 received reminder e-mails or letters and stamped return envelopes. Two e-mail responders said they would renew, and two others are dropping their memberships. We expect to have around 75 members this year.
3) Treasurer’s report: Ron reported the SoCalGRS treasury balance at $4435. The current balance includes a donation from Mission Viejo for $800 in recognition of our Christmas Village public display in December 2011. No other outstanding debts were reported.
4) Open Houses. Jay reported that the Clarkson’s open house schedule is available, and will be printed in the newsletter. Jay also reported that John Polen’s layout might be an open house candidate for later in the year- he is actively working on it now. Ron Goodman was also suggested as a candidate- he held an open house some years ago that was memorable. We discussed a variety of options to increase member open houses, and decided to offer a financial incentive for 2012. Any member who hosts an open house will receive a restaurant or pre-paid credit card in the amount of $50. Actions assigned:
- Wendell to write an article for the next newsletter about the open house policy
- Jay to contact Joy about the new material
5) Upcoming 2012 Railroading Events:
- South Coast Plaza Garden Show April 25-29
- Railroad Days in Fullerton May 5 & 6
- Big Train Show at Ontario Convention Center June 2 & 3
- San Diego garden RR tours July 6 – 8
- Knott’s Dinner Train (Ron D. to check on next dates)
6) Newsletters. Joy continues her excellent job as editor. We are always looking for more material. Thanks to the Tomlinsons for their recent submittal of an article on the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar. We discussed the costs of printing and mailing our newsletter. (Cost estimate for 2012 is approximately $1000). Jay mentioned that other garden railway clubs are shifting to e-mail distribution of their newsletters as a way to save money and be more eco-friendly. Jay agreed to write a notice in the newsletter to survey member interest in electronic delivery of their newsletters. We could do both in parallel for a while.
7) SoCalGRS Business cards. No board members in attendance need cards at this time
8) New Business.
- Flight Path Museum tour for the club. Fred and Jay will draft a notice for the general membership to see about interest in touring this facility at LAX. There are dozens of model aircraft and memorabilia from all of the passenger carriers that served LAX.
- New qualification process for door prizes at our annual meeting. Jay presented an idea from Mike Z. that would alter our door prize procedures. Mike feels that members need to earn the right to enter the drawing by participating in a club event, such as hosting an open house or supporting one of our public display events. Jay noted that 8 of the 23 members who attended our last annual meeting would not have qualified for the door prize drawing if such a policy were in place. The general feeling was that the club has had an open door prize policy for many years, and it would be detrimental to attendance if we changed. It was also noted that a qualification process would involve some bookkeeping by the board. Other options for door prizes were discussed including fewer prizes but higher quality items. It was also mentioned that we should emphasize member contributions during the annual meeting; e.g., summarize open houses and name all members who came out to support our public displays. No formal action to modify our door prize policy was taken.
Meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.