"Promoting Humanist Values and Critical Thinking on the South Coast"

Humanist Society of Santa Barbara

Minutes of the Board Meeting of April 11th, 2017

Home of Mary Wilk   Host: Neal Faught

 

 

Board members present: Roger Schlueter, David Echols, Suzanne Spillman, Neal Faught, Colin Gordon, Diane Krohn, Pat Ward, Wayne Beckman, Mary Wilk

 

Board members absent: None

Visitors: Clover Brodhead Gowing, Nan Cisney

 

  1. Call to Order: Roger called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

 

  1. Secretary’s Report: Suzanne Spillman and Pat Ward
    1. The March minutes will be amended and resent by Pat Ward.

 

  1. Treasurer’s Report: Neal Faught
    1. Neal reported that our account took in $1,207 for the previous month and $936 was spent for a net gain of $271.
    2. Neal reported that the YTD accounting shows that program expenditures are over budget. Action Item: Neal will identify the program expenditures that have caused the overage and clarify the error.
    3. Our checking account has a balance of $15,022 as of April 11, 2017.
    4. Neal signed up for a debit card to do an electronic funds transfer with our April speaker, Dr. Ali Rizvi. The debit card has Neal’s name on it.
    5. The air fare and transaction fee for Dr. Rizvi was $532.65.
    6. The Program Committee now includes Pat Ward, Jean Olsen, Clover Brodhead and Roger Schlueter. The committee met to discuss the meeting speakers for July through September.
    7. Roger stated that there are now options for many more speakers than there are meeting slots.
    8. Meredith McMinn has agreed to produce another Meeting of Minds in September 2017.
    9. Roger has got a commitment from a constitutional lawyer from Loyola to speak sometime next fiscal year.
    10. For Saturday’s meeting, Roger suggested that we have two sign up tables (one for each door to the Faulkner Gallery) due to the number of attendees expected.
    11. David, Neal, Nan and Barsky’s will be at the sign-in tables
    12. Chaucer’s will be handling the sales of the speaker’s books at the Faulkner Gallery.
    13. We have the room from 1:30 until 5:30 and complete departure by 5:30 is mandatory.
    14. Roger suggested that it would be nice if one or more patrons could join the speaker for Saturday brunch.
    15. Roger will check into the sound system at the Faulkner gallery and attempt to have the T-

4.     Programs: Pat Ward

   Coil system activated for the talk.

  1. Roger requested a couple of police officers drop by the Faulkner Gallery around 3:00 p.m.      to make sure there are not problems.  
  2. David said that KCLU and KCBX need 14 day advance notice to present public service

 

  1. Social: ______________________
    1. Judy has reserved Stow Grove for the solstice picnic in July. However, we are in need of volunteers to take care of all other duties to successfully put on the picnic. Action Item: Roger will contact Anne to see if she will be the organizer for the picnic.
    2. Roger noted that there are positions open on our Board.

 

  1. Membership: Mary Wilk
    1. Membership holding steady with drop-outs equaling new member sign ups.
    2. David offered to help Mary with her duties in the event she is not able to return to full time membership duties due to her health.

 

  1. Newsletter: Diane Krohn
    1. We are in need of a newsletter editor to replace Diane when she retires from this position after the June 2017 newsletter.   Action Item: Roger will go to SBCC journalism department to see if we could get a student to volunteer to do our newsletter. It was noted that continuity would be a problem with this type of help once the student finished his/her school term.
    2. Diane will start posting more information on our Facebook page and will consider also starting a blog.
    3. It was discussed that we might offer to pay someone to do our newsletter, although the costs could be prohibitive.
    4. Diane said that she spends 8 – 10 hours each month on the newsletter.
    5. Running an ad in Craig’s list for newsletter editor was discussed.
    6. This discussion will be continued at our May meeting.

 

  1. Webmaster: Wayne Beckman
    1. No report

 

  1. President’s Comments: Roger Schlueter
    1. HSSB positions for fiscal year 2017 – 2018 were discussed.
      1. Clover Brodhead has agreed to be on the Board
      2. Members that have agreed to remain on the Board: Neal, Diane, Wayne, David, Mary,

   Suzanne, Roger

  1. Members that are stepping down from the Board: Pat, Colin
  2. Roger will be sending out electronic ballots again this year.
  1. There was a discussion about the possibility of having co-presidents. Pat mentioned that is being done by the League of Women Voters. She will talk to someone in the League to gain more details. There was also a discussion about having a Vice-President.
  2. Mary Wilk said that Judy Flattery had called her to say she was interested in helping out on the Board. Roger will contact her to discuss.
  3. Roger was on conference call with American Atheists. They would like involvement from local affiliates and roger volunteered our group as a “guinea pig” to help with our “infrastructure”.

 

  1.  Old Business:
    1. Pat will order 50 Thank You note cards from Bill’s Copy at a cost of 50 cents each. She

   will bring a sample to our next meeting.

  1. Colin said that he thought the House Committee was “under control”.   Dick Cousineau

   previously provided a list of things to be taken care of to Richard Kennally. Roger said we

     need at least three people that know how to set up the audio system.

  1. Roger wrote a letter to Lazlo on the residents council at Vista Del Monte. He is

     waiting for a response.

  1. Suzanne filed the annual Statement of Information with the Secretary of State and

     submitted a reimbursement request for $20 to Neal.

  1. Roger said it would be nice to have an archivist again. Action Item: Mary will contact

   Syd Smith for the archival items that Hope Smith has been maintaining.

 

  1.  New Business:
  2.    Roger would like to buy a new projector to improve our projection system. Neal said we

         could get a free trial piece of equipment from Best Buy and take advantage of their 30-day

           return and exchange policy..

  1.    A motion was made by Suzanne for Roger to spend up to $1,000 to purchase a projector to

         try out for Saturday’s meeting. Motion passed.

 

  1.  Adjournment:
    1. The meeting was adjourned at 7:17 p.m.
    2. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. at the home of Mary
    4. The host will be “Potluck”

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Spillman, HSSB Secretary

April 20, 2017