Sons in Retirement
Branch 146 Walnut Creek Area
Devoted to the promotion of Independence and the Dignity of Retirement
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Sons in RetirementBranch 146 Walnut Creek AreaDevoted to the promotion of Independence and the Dignity of Retirement |
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Minutes of the Branch Executive Committee Meeting
June 10, 2010
CALL TO ORDER
Little Sir Pete Gates, filling in for the travelling Big Sir Dennis Hallett, called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. He welcomed the 14 visitors including Committee Chairmen (see Attendance Roster attached).
BEC ROLE CALL/QUORUM
Secretary Jim Burk announced that a quorum was achieved with 9 of the 12 members of the BEC present. Dennis Hallett, Joe Fuchs, and Bob Schroeder were not present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Secretary Burk indicated that the minutes from the April 8, 2010 meeting had been distributed electronically to all members of the 2010 BEC. He asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes. Being none the minutes were approved as written.
BIG SIR’S REPORT (given by Pete Gates)
Announcements
-Jim Stedman has been elected Vice President of SIR and wishes to thank the BEC for supporting his candidacy. Congratulations to Jim on his new assignment.
- Emergency Evacuation Plan Drill – Pete indicated that the Evacuation Plan from our luncheon facility will be tested today following the speaker under the direction of Don Del Bene.
Nominating Committee Report – Garth Cummings presented the list of members nominated to fill officers and directors on the BEC for 2011 (see copy of Nominees provided by Sir Cummings). He thanked his committee which was comprised of Jack Calloway, Don Nunn, and Ray Kan for their assistance. Garth indicated that an article regarding the nominations will appear in the July Sir Call produced by Big Sir Dennis Hallett. Pete will check to see if Dennis will be back from his trip in time to meet that deadline. If not, Pete will take steps to see that the article is written.
Branch Website Plan – Jeff Baily
The Sir Branch 146 – Website Enhancement plan has been distributed by Big Sir Dennis Hallett to the BEC for their comments. Jeff Baily indicted that he did not have any additional remarks or comments to present at this time and was hopeful that the BEC would adopt the plan and thereby allocate the necessary money to fund the expenses as outlined in the plan. Treasurer Ron de Golia stated that the new Voluntary Donation amount has been set at $25 per member with the thought that it should generate sufficient total dollars to cover the approximately $1,000 which has been projected as the requirement to fund the Website Enhancement Plan (actual amount identified in the plan is $935). The question was raised as to where things stand with the so called “Sir Call” expense issue. That issue will be discussed at the July BEC meeting, but again regardless there should be sufficient money generated by the voluntary donations to cover the money needed for the Website Enhancement Plan. If we subsequently take steps to modify our approach to the distribution of the Sir Call such that it reduces the expense required, then the funding issues in general will be eased and future levels of the voluntary donation might well be modified. An additional question was raised as to whether the BEC members have received questions from the members as to where the donation money is going. The answer was that Ron was not aware of any and that the material written to date and explanations given seem to have adequately responded to those possible questions. The money is already coming in and Ron expects to receive considerable money today at the luncheon. One BEC member stated that he has, in fact, received questions as to why the donation “keeps going up.” Ron reminded the BEC that this is only the second year that we have asked for the voluntary donation and we continue to try to establish the amount at an appropriate level. Pete suggested that Ron give consideration to a Sir Call article, once again explaining where the money received is allocated. Comments from Jim Meehan reminded the BEC members that there is not a lot of money to spare and Ron reiterated that our objective is to “break even,” and not to make money. Pete again offered that the discussion regarding the future handling of the Sir Call will most certainly take place before the next cycle of establishing the amount of the voluntary donation for 2011-12, which was not the case in the most recent setting of the 2010-11 amount of $25. There simply was not time to adequately cover the Sir Call discussion before the voluntary donation amount needed to be established. A question of clarification was raised as to whether we had already purchased some software for the website. Jeff indicated that, yes we had purchased some software, but that was purchased using a donation made a couple of years ago specifically designated for the website and not to be confused with the voluntary donation currently being discussed. Jeff had been asked by the BEC to not purchase anything additional until the Enhancement Plan was officially approved, and he has followed that directive. At this point, Pete asked for a motion to approve the Website Enhancement Plan. Ron de Golia made a motion to approve the plan as proposed and documented by Jeff Baily. MSP
New State Membership Recruitment Directive – Jim Burk
Big Sir Hallett had asked Jim to review the Resolution 1-2010 – SIR New Member Recruitment Directive that was adopted by the State Board on April 6, 2010, for the benefit of the Branch Executive Committee. Jim reviewed the background and reasons for this resolution and spelled out the goal, directives, and reports that are associated (see copy of report presented). Essentially, this Resolution calls for (1) a goal of inducting new members at the rate of a least 10% of branch membership at the end of the previous year for all SIR branches; (2) directs all branch Big Sirs to report membership statistics monthly on a new form created for this purpose [Form 27 – Monthly Branch Membership Report]; (3) directs all Branch Big Sirs to present written reports quarterly in which there are descriptions of why or why not their branches are inducting new members at the annual rate of 10%; and (4) directs that there should be a permanent BEC Agenda item for the monthly review of Form 27. Our Membership Chairman will be responsible for producing the Form 27 and providing it to the Big Sir for incorporating into his report.
Data Base Backup – Jim Meehan
Big Sir Hallett had asked Assistant Secretary Jim Meehan to provide his thoughts on what the Branch should be doing with regard to matters of data base backup. Jim indicated that he has met with a group of people to discuss this subject, but has not had sufficient time to put together a complete plan as of this date. He thus characterized what he was about to say as perhaps best described as a “stream of consciousness.” Jim referenced the disparate groups of programs we are currently using. He feels that some programs probably don’t warrant being backed up, but obviously we should focus on those that do. Thus, prioritization of our programs is very important. For example, those that are critical such as membership, Sir Call, and attendance definitely need some form of back-up. What form that might take is yet to be determined. Jim is aware that individuals are backing up their Branch related material when they back up their own personal material on their home computer and that it is being done in a variety of ways. The question being begged is do we need to spend money to back up all the programs. This question will be answered as the work of Jim’s group progresses. Whether we wind up doing something or nothing is also yet to be determined, but Jim felt that it would not be a bad idea to document where we are and why we decided to do one thing or another.
Branch Sponsorship Award Program – Bob Yolland/Jack Calloway
Jack Calloway began the discussion by reminding the BEC that we have identified a couple of recognition programs to date. One is providing certificates for those members who have been members for 20 years, and the other is a Sponsor Recognition program where members are recognized for sponsoring 5 and above new members. Bob Yolland then addressed these two programs in more detail. First, the group has determined that certificates will be awarded to our 20 year members beginning with our meeting in January, 2011. Bob showed the BEC an example of what the certificate would look like for a prospective recipient. It is projected that we will have approximately 20 members to be awarded. Secondly, Bob referenced a Sponsor Recognition Honor Roll for those sponsoring 5 or more new members. Currently there are 13 members who would be so recognized and the plan is to have these members recognized at our August meeting. The members would be pictured on a plaque. This plaque needs to be flexible in that the Honor Roll will be increasing as more members achieve the entry level of 5 sponsored new members. Jeff Baily suggested that we could also place the names and pictures on the website for further recognition. The BEC liked what is being proposed and asked that Bob and his team proceed with the implementation of these two programs as outlined.
[In light of Treasurer de Golia needing to assist with luncheon check-in the order of the agenda was changed to accommodate and his report was covered next.]
TREASURER’S REPORT
Treasurer Ron de Golia had previously distributed both the “Treasurer’s Report – April 2010” and the April and May 2010 “Branch 146 Form 28 “Monthly Cash Report” to the BEC via e-mail (see attached reports). His report shows that the Branch started the month of May with a cash balance of $5,514.10 and ended the month with a balance of $5,766.88 or a Net Gain of $252.78.
2010/2011 Voluntary Annual Donation
Treasurer de Golia indicated that the “early returns” with respect to the Voluntary Annual Donations are 29 or 11.51%. [Subsequent to the June 10 meeting, Ron reported that numerous checks had come in at the luncheon and the results were now vastly improved to 179 or 71.03% of the membership. That leaves 73 members in the “yet to be received” column.
Pete noted and it was confirmed by Ron that we made in excess of $500 on the Ladies Day luncheon in May. These monies will be used to cover Branch expenses.
LITTLE SIR’S REPORT (see attached report)
Little Sir Pete Gates reported that our speaker for today’s luncheon is Paul Kingsman. Paul is a motivational speaker and executive coach. His topic is Defeating Distractions. He helps clients conquer daily distractions which seem urgent, but are more often inconsequential, so they can achieve the success they want in their business and personal lives. Paul knows the importance of keeping focused. He trained for thirteen years to swim a 2 minute backstroke race at the 1988 Olympics and won a medal by only four one-hundreths of a second. After retiring from competitive swimming, Paul applied the same success habits he had developed in sport to business, going on to achieve big results with some the world’s best know companies, both in his native country of New Zealand and here in his adopted home of the United States.
In July we will have a speaker from CourseCo (the golf course management company for Boundary Oak) who will describe plans for the golf course and Clubhouse. The name of speaker has not yet been provided.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Secretary Jim Burk had nothing further to report.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership – Chair Steve Sprague
Form 27 –Monthly Branch Membership Report – Steve gave out some copies of the new Form 27 he had completed and which was referenced earlier by Jim Burk (see Form 27 attached). The report shows that we have brought in 10 members, but unfortunately have lost 17. Steve’s completed Form 27 covered the first 6 months of 2010. Steve game an overview of the key components of the document. This form will replace Form 28 in 2011. Until that time both Forms will be completed.
Approval/Induct New Member - Steve’s report included a proposal to the BEC to approve the induction of Chester “Chuck” Sesata sponsored by Jack Calloway at today’s luncheon. MSP
Steve also reported that 5 members are to be removed from the Active Roster.
Kent Tyler has asked to be placed on the inactive roster.
Chuck Clark, David Johnson, and Rob McSpadden have resigned.
Jim Keegan is deceased.
This activity will result in a Branch membership of 252.
Steve also addressed the fact that we have 15 Inactive members at the present time and that we need to follow up with them as our guidelines reference. Each inactive member should be followed up with after two years to determine if they wish to resign or continue as inactive. Steve will be calling the inactive members in the days ahead and will have a report next month to apprise us of the results of his calls.
Recruitment and Retention – Chair Jack Calloway opened his remarks by re-emphasizing the numbers from the Membership Report, “10 in, 17 out.” Jack indicated that we are going to need a strong effort in the second half of the year to achieve our goal. Jack reminded that in addition to growing the branch by 10%, we also have a goal of replacing those who have left, so that will add significantly to our challenge for this year. We need to have more guests at our luncheons. He challenged the BEC to reinforce these goals with our members, because it is clear that if we do not get guests at our luncheons we have no one to induct. He is preparing a six month report and will present it at our meeting in July.
Jack also mentioned that today we will have the drawing for a free lunch from among those members who have sponsored 5 or more new members.
Attendance/Luncheon – Chair Bob Lyman reported that the estimated count for the luncheon would be 188. He reported that out of 256 members, 73 were excused; and there would be one (1) inductee; three (3) guests; and one (1) speaker (see attached report). He has guaranteed 175 to Boundary Oak.
Bob also referenced that he has 6 members who are ill and who are currently included in the “excused” category, but the caution is that they may resign their membership if their current health status does not change.
As an aside, Bob Yolland shared a story about how one of the guests at our luncheon today happened to learn about us as he observed the fun that was occurring at the Spring dinner-dance. It looked to him like so much fun he wanted to be a part of our organization. Pete immediately referenced that perhaps we should have more dances.
Activities Coordinator – Chair Steve Dawkins was absent from the meeting and thus there was no report.
Travel – Chair Bob Spellman was on the Greece trip and asked Jim Burk to seek approval, in his absence, for two proposed events:
-August 19, 2010 – Trip to visit the Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Marine Mammal Center $38 per person MSP
-September 23, 2010 – Theatre Party “The Hairy Ape” at the Village Theatre in Danville $25 per person.
Form 53 – Request for Approval of Branch Travel Event was prepared for both events (see attached Form 53s) MSP
Dinner/Dance – Chair Vince Rettew informed that the Dinner/Dance for the Fall is scheduled for October 6, or October 13, 2010 depending upon other events. The preferred date is 10/6 and Vince will check the website to determine what conflicts there might be and set the date accordingly.
Other Chairman Reports – None were forthcoming.
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
A question was asked if the list of Nominees for the BEC in 2011 that was passed out earlier was confidential. Garth answered that is was not. The list is due to the Big Sir by June 30, and it is to be published in the Sir Call in July.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned by Little Sir Gates at 10:46 a.m. The next meeting of the BEC is scheduled currently for July 8, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. in the Lakeview Room at the Clubhouse at Boundary Oak.
Jim Burk, Secretary
Attachments:
(8) Branch Travel Event Form 53’s (2 in number)
-Trip to the Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Marine Mammal Center August 19, 2010 (Bob Spellman)
-Theatre Party “The Hairy Ape” Danville Theatre September 23, 2010 (Bob Spellman)