Present: Doug Kurtze, Peggy Leiby, Chloe Maher, Joanna Reiner (Outgoing), Melissa Running

GCD Board Minutes Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Chloe Maher at Dave’s house at 7:10 p.m. .

Present: Sandy Rotenberg, Cameron Higby-Naquin, Eileen Serxner, Chloe Maher, Scott Higgs, Leah Wald, David Rupp

Absent: None

1. Minutes approval. The minutes of the January 13, 2009 meeting were approved.

2. Treasurer. There is a balance of $17,776 in the PNC account and E-trade has a balance of $722.01. These balances include payments received by the demo teams, 12th night and a recent special anonymous donation of $500. This $500 is to be used to aide people who may not be able to afford to attend GCD dances and events. The current payment schedule was distributed and it was agreed not to change any payments or fees at this time. Cameron distributed the preliminary budget showing actual year to date totals. There is a pending distribution to members of the Colonial demo team that still needs to be settled. Cameron will take care of this distribution by the next board meeting. Also, happily the Saturday dance is earning more income than originally budgeted. Publicity seems to be over budget. There is a need for a strong publicity team. It is hoped that we can create a publicity team that will pump up attendance. Eileen suggested that we hire a professional or that we use members who have special experience and compensate them. Scott expressed concern that the Saturday dancers with nationally known leaders were not attracting a full house like the February fling. Scott thought that something should be done to position these dances as special to encourage dancers to attend. Cameron reported that doing the preliminary budget was very helpful in that it helped him to get on track. Chloe asked how we felt about supporting links to other dance organizations on our website. The board agreed that if the publicity team felt it was a good idea, this could be beneficial if it was reciprocal. We are budgeted for a $100 camp scholarship. It was agreed to select someone who the board felt would most benefit from the experience. A discussion followed as to who should be the candidates for the scholarship. We also can recommend a candidate for the limited enrollment CDSS workshops.

3. Liaison Reports. Leah – Community Dance. Ellie will be out of the community next year and a replacement is needed. Angela is not comfortable scheduling the musicians and callers. Ruthanne is calling the dance in April and hopefully this will result in Ruthanne’s taking a more active part in Community Dance. The community dance will also need a sound engineer next year. Jane Austen event. Leah will thank Rachel for her excellent work in making these events happen and ask her if she would like to be in charge of more Jane Austen events in the future. Leah presented the wording of the “donation” sheet and Chloe will match the wording to the existing wording for sponsoring a Wednesday night dance so that members are not confused with these two different types of donations. GCD Board Minutes Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Leah will call Joanna to get an update on the website revision and find out if she plans to move forward with this project. Dave. Dave read Liz’s response to Rich’s email about Musical Chairs and it was decided that this event be tabled for a year or so. The music committee will decide when and if they wish to reinstate musical chairs. Sandy. Sandy talked about the callers meeting and that the general membership will be invited to attend in order to learn more about what goes into planning the Wednesday night dances. Sandy reported that Peggy heard from WHYY and that the video is almost ready. They will let us know when it is. Sandy also distributed Rich’s latest Wednesday attendance report. Chloe stated that last year’s average attendance was 28.5. We are averaging slightly more than that this year and that February traditionally is not a good month. Sandy also reported that the Garland group is busy rehearsing for the May Day program.

4. Other Reports. Ball. Cameron will check if the contract for St. Thomas was sent to Peggy. Fund Raising Dinners. Eileen reported that the first 3 dinners were sold out but she still has not collected all the money promised. She presented Cameron with $377 of the $750 still due. Eileen hopes to raise $1000 when all the dinners have been completed. Nominating Committee. Chloe asked the board to be thinking of candidates for various positions or to think of positions that they themselves would like to take on. Wednesday dance. There was a discussion as to how to attract more members and community people in general to the Wednesday night dance. Scott, Sandy and Leah will develop a set of questions that will help the board find answers to this very important issue. These questions will be asked to several of our members. Volunteer Appreciation night. Dave reported on his plans for the night and made sure that everyone knew their assignment. Carnations, kisses, baked goods, iced tea, posters and recognition of the volunteers are to highlight the evening.

5. Next two meetings. The May meeting will be held at Scott’s home on May 12th. The members’ meeting is set for May 27th at 6:45. Chloe asked that we think of topics for the meeting.

6. The meeting was adjourned at 10:15.

ACTION ITEMS

All board members will contact their assigned committee heads and ask them if there are any budget changes that have to be incorporated into the budget and agreed to get back to Cameron with any new information. The Board will also think of topics they wish to have discussed at the members’ meeting . GCD Board Minutes Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Chloe will present the scholarships for the CDSS camp. She will also let the members know of the option of making a donation that is different than sponsoring a Wednesday night dance.

Sandy will help to develop questions regarding the Wednesday dance.

Cameron will distribute the outstanding payments to the performance teams. He will make sure that the address of the treasurer on the bank statements is changed and will find someone to reconcile the bank statements. He will send the draft of the budget to the board members before the next meeting. He will also check if St. Thomas sent the contract for next year’s ball to Peggy.

Eileen will check on the travel allowance for Saturday from the minutes of a previous board meeting.

David will implement volunteer night.

Scott will help develop questions regarding the Wednesday night dance.

Leah will talk to Rachel about additional Jane Austen events. She will speak to Joanna about the updating of the website. She will also help to develop questions about the Wednesday dance.