Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum

Board of Trustees

Minutes

A regular meeting of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum Board of Trustees was held on October 18, 2017 in the Planetarium Lobby, Centerport, New York.

The following were in attendance: Ron Beattie – President Gretchen Oldrin Mones – 1st Vice President Jack DeMasi – 2nd Vice President Terry Pearsall – Trustee Dr. Steven Gittelman – Trustee James Kelly – Secretary Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan – Associate Director Sue Madlinger – Director of Development Ann Marie Pastore - Stenographer

Absent: Betsy Cambria – Treasurer Michael Mule – Trustee Thomas Glascock – Trustee Clara Macri – Trustee Kathleen Giamo – Trustee Michelle Gegwich – Trustee Anthony Guarnischelli – Trustee Stephen Melore – Trustee

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(Mr. Beattie called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.)

MR. BEATTIE: Although we do not have a quorum, we’ll get started any way. Welcome to the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium October 2017 meeting. We will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

{SALUTE TO THE FLAG}

I would ask in this Halloween season if there are any ghosts who would like to address the Board?

{LAUGHTER}

We won’t ask for a motion for the previous meeting minutes because we can’t vote on them.

Everybody, just so you know, Lance is ill at home so he is absent today. We wish him the best. I saw him today and although he didn’t look terrible he was not feeling well. He is a trooper.

We will begin with committee reports. For the Development Committee, we have standing in for Kathy Giamo, right hander in from the bull pen, Sue.

MS. MADLINGER: Okay, I only have one message from Kathy, which is that Kathy now has the photos of the bell tower. She has submitted them for renderings. That will help with the funding needs analysis, so she can take them forward.

Other developments, I guess you all know about the Veterans Salute on November 10, 11 and 12.

The tree lighting is scheduled for November 25 from 4 pm to 6 pm.

The Holiday Dinner, which is almost sold out – it’s unbelievable. We think it will be sold out by the end of this week. We only have 15 seats left for each seating. That’s on December 2.

We finally wrapped up the Lobster Fest net revenue, which was just shy of $40,000.

MR. BEATTIE: That’s great.

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MS. OLDRIN MONES: Wow, that’s great.

MS. MADLINGER: The in-kind donations were great also this year, which were $6,500. We did pretty well. It’s a good step to the next level.

MR. BEATTIE: Very good. Thank you, Sue.

MS. MADLINGER: These are the flyers, which I will hand out later. These are for Veterans Day.

MR. BEATTIE: I will point out that Sue asked me if I could find my Coast Guard uniform. I told her I could find it, but that’s about as far as it’s going to go.

{LAUGHTER}

Let’s move on to the Finance and Treasurer’s Report. In for Betsy Cambria is Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Does everyone have their copies in front of them? This will be fairly quick. All is in line. Lance and I spoke about this earlier this evening. With two exceptions – if you take a look at August under “Site Use,” we have $83,019 and that additional income is due to Gotham, which was wonderful.

Under “Donations and Gifts” right here in August, as well, the Reichert Fund donation came in that month. Everything else is exactly in line. Does anyone have any questions?

MR. BEATTIE: Very good. Thank you.

On to Education and Exhibits, Gretchen.

MS. OLDRIN MONES: The mansion tour numbers remain robust, although less than last year’s numbers. There were 1,665 tours in September of 2016 as compared to 1,062 this year. In analyzing the numbers, it was remembered that last year we hosted an unusually high number of bus tour groups.

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Stephanie is in the process of tallying the mansion tour numbers for the last almost 20 years. She’s even doing it according to weather. It will be quite a trove of information.

As some of us saw earlier, the mansion is decorated in the new masquerade theme for Halloween. Stephanie worked on masquerade history for mansion staff and visitors. She donated clothes and masks. Sue and Lorraine loaned the museum Venetian masks, so thank you.

The mansion is decorated as if Willie K is throwing a Halloween party on his yacht, the Alva.

While we were touring, Stephanie asked to bring up the idea that maybe we will have Halloween tours similar to the candle light tours. I guess Lance will discuss it with Elizabeth.

Also, they want to find out if they can get the staff to work it. It would be the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, which is actually Halloween.

They already – Stephanie created a hand-out with background of masquerade parties that Willie K would have been involved in. On the back, some of the masks – there are at least two dozen different masks around the rooms. It’s very tastefully and very subtlety done. And in the dark, it’s kind of creepy.

I will pass this around. This is something that Stephanie made. It’s very informational.

MR. BEATTIE: Can I interject?

MS. OLDRIN MONES: Sure.

MR. BEATTIE: One other thing that we’re thinking of doing to make sure that people are engaged is to have them count up the number of masks that they see. It’s very subtle. It’s nicely done. Maybe we’ll have a drawing for all the people who got the correct number of masks and have some kind of award for them, just to make sure that they’re engaged.

MS. OLDRIN MONES:

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Looking forward to reaccreditation, Stephanie is doing an inventory and an evaluation of the emergency kits. She is replacing the UV bulb filters in the Memorial Wing.

Cataloguing, inventory, condition reports and stabilization of the book collection in the library continues with one volunteer.

New larger filing cabinets were installed in the archives office. They replaced old ones that had rusted through. Stephanie and staff have removed and replaced all files and are reorganizing and labeling them, as well.

Additionally, there is a new computer in the archives.

All of this undoubtedly helps in the many archival requests that Stephanie has received.

Work on restoring the exhibit space continues on the second floor of the Marine Museum. Stephanie put together a fabulous team to restore the hall of Fishes. I have a picture of one of the team members, Amanda, working on restoring specimens.

Stephanie and staff have spent considerable time and effort carefully preserving artifacts as they move them to accommodate film shoots at various locations at the Vanderbilt.

The last show to film here, “Gotham” used numerous indoor and outdoor settings. I will pass around a photo of one of the scary characters standing in the invertebrate room.

Less scary but still spooky are the Halloween Fun for Children Workshops being offered. Beth has put together a description of them. They have these really cool owls that the student participants will make.

There are three workshops. One of them is at night. It’s Mr. Vanderbilt’s Spooky Science Lab, which goes from 6 pm to 8 pm on Friday, October 20, which is this Friday. Then there are two others that are during the day time.

Depression glass is selling well in the gift shop. Stephanie has restocked with glass that’s colored in fall colors.

Last month I reported that one of our volunteers, Ellen Mason, borrowed suffragette clothing and marched in a parade celebrating the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage Amendment. This poster, which Stephanie

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gave me, lists Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum as a participant in the rally and in the parade.

Dave attended a planetarium conference in St. Louis. He took a look at some new shows, he networked, he shared ideas and looked for strategies and materials that may translate well into the programs that we have here.

We’re looking forward to Dave sharing specifics at next month’s committee meeting.

The two new lobby exhibits that are being funded by Eric and Laura Gerde will greatly enhance visitor experience. They are both hands-on, interactive and appropriate for all ages.

One will be a kiosk that demonstrates centripetal force, and the other will be a display of stars where visitors can illuminate constellations and learn about them.

Lance and Elizabeth are working on funding for the third planetarium lobby exhibit that has to do with gravity and guessing your weight on other worlds.

Stephanie and staff are putting together a two page back-to-back patriotic handout of what the Vanderbilts did for the government and the war effort. I guess, Sue, you’re working on that as well.

MS. MADLINGER: Yes.

MS. OLDRIN MONES: The brochure will be available for the big Veteran’s Day celebration, but it could be made available any time during the year.

The DAR contributed $100 for publication of the brochure, and they will have their logo and chapter name included.

Kathy Dulanto arranged an October 11 meeting between Bethpage Superintendent, Terry Clark, and Beth, our Education Manager. Terry was recommended by Eric and Laura Gerde because he is known for his innovation and technology, STEM and STEAM programs in his district.

Mr. Clark arrived with an impressive five-person team who immediately engaged with Beth and discussed preliminary ideas for the education center, which as you know as the Carriage House.

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It was heartening that they appreciated the history and eclectic nature of the one-time garage and saw ways to work with not only the industrial look of the garage but also the stage that’s in there for the Carriage House players. Beth was admirably efficient and professional in describing our programs and mission.

While touring the grounds, Mr. Clark’s team popped in on Lorraine in the planetarium as she was teaching a customized Earth Science Program to students from Mt. Sinai School District.

As a next step, Superintendent Clark was going to have his architect look over the Carriage House. In fact, Sue has just been informed that the architect, John Grillo, is going to be here on October 26 at 9:30 a.m. to take a look at the Carriage House and see what can be done to enhance it as an educational site.

Superintendent Clark also invited any of us to two upcoming events at Bethpage. I think these will be at the high school. One is on November 3, and it is astronoval, which is a carnival of astronomy. The other date is November 7, which is staff development day for them where Bethpage teachers will show off their STEM/STEAM programs.

Finally to address the fall off in attendance by Pre-K and camps, Beth arranged to purchase a mailing list from Lorraine Greggory and identify the schools to include in a new mailing. Pat is working on designing the brochure with updated program information from Lorraine and Beth.

Camp brochures will be mailed in December now to give camps timely opportunities to book. A follow-up mailing by email was discussed.

The last item I have is a social media review given to me by Stephanie. It says, “So glad I finally got to visit the Vanderbilt. I had an amazing time at this property. My best friend and I are somewhat on a mansion tour throughout Long Island and this is the second one we had visited, Oheka Castle being the first. IMO,” and I’m not sure what that means, “this one is better than Oheka even though Oheka is grander and opulent.”

“There is a lot to see here. First we roamed the beautiful Spanish style property full of beautiful gardens. Then we took the 45 minute mansion tour, which was awesome. We got to see the inside of Mr. Vanderbilt’s estate and the rooms were preserved as they were back in the day. Following this, we went to the planetarium for a nice show about the stars.”

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“Overall the staff here is wonderful, knowledgeable and the property itself is beautiful. This is a really great place to spend the day with kids, loved ones or friends.” So that pretty much includes everybody. That’s the end of the report, unless someone has questions.

MR. BEATTIE: Thank you, Gretchen. I would also like to add on to that, especially with some of the discussion that goes on about the Vanderbilt. We finished the tour earlier and I was looking at the guest book. In terms of the variety of places that people come from, and we’re constantly dealing with the perception that this is a north west Suffolk County pork barrel project. If you look at the guest book, we saw people from Indiana, from Georgia, from all parts of the island –

MS. OLDRIN MONES: Italy.

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, Italy.

MS. OLDRIN MONES: Germany.

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, we had international guests, as well. I’m beginning to think we should probably take that log book and document it somehow and maybe put a map and show where everybody comes from when they visit the Vanderbilt. We’re having a constant perception problem.

MR. KELLY: And photocopy a couple of pages and bring them with you to Hauppauge.

MR. PEARSALL: Absolutely.

MR. BEATTIE: Okay, thank you, Gretchen. Buildings and Grounds, Mr. Pearsall.

MR. PEARSALL: This past Friday on the 23rd, we met -- Ron, Lance, Elizabeth and myself – we met with the Presiding Officer’s, his staff, Legislative Counsel and a representative from Budget Review. We made the case for getting the half of million dollars out of the endowment so that we can do in-house repairs, as needed.

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There was some hesitation on the Presiding Officer to ask that we come up with more specific costs on these projects and so forth. We pointed out in the second half that the problems we’re having with getting jobs done by Public Works and the delays and so forth.

The Presiding Officer asked his staff to set up a meeting with the Commissioner of Public Works, which today has been set up for next Tuesday at three o’clock in the Presiding Officer’s conference room. We will make our case then.

Otherwise, I looked at today’s list – not today’s list but I looked today at the list of the 34 items that we submitted to the Board in June, and it’s amazing how many things have been accomplished by Peter and his staff.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Yes, and the restoration team.

MR. PEARSALL: I was amazed to see how much was done. If we give them the hands and the supply money, we could get a lot more done.

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, and that key word that I emphasized with the Presiding Officer, is we have to get out of repair mode and get into restore mode.

MR. PEARSALL: Preventative maintenance.

MR. BEATTIE: And we need to get to the point that we can go under a preventative maintenance program and not wind up in the same position that we’re in.

Very good. Is that all, Terry?

MR. PEARSALL: Yes, that’s it.

MR. BEATTIE: Thank you. Are there any questions for Terry?

MR. PEARSALL: Hopefully, we’ll have good news in November.

MR. BEATTIE:

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One thing that I think on the Buildings and Grounds side that we kind of talked about in a couple of different meetings is that we should try to be creative as an initiative, a recycling program for the campus. It’s almost embarrassing that we don’t do that.

I always think, what would Willie do? I think Willie would be embracing the alternative energies, etc., recycling and save the planet. Look at his interest in life sciences, etc. If we could start that program somehow, that would be great. Do we need to talk to the County about that?

MR. PEARSALL: I don’t see the need to talk to the County about that. We can do it, as long as we can get the – who picks up the garbage?

MR. BEATTIE: I don’t know.

MR. PEARSALL: We’ll have to find all that out.

MR. BEATTIE: Okay, great.

MR. KELLY: Do you guys know who picks up our trash? Is it a contractor or someone from the County?

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: It is a contractor. I know that we had a contract with Winters, but the name recently changed.

MR. BEATTIE: Okay, we’ll investigate. It’s not something we have to do tomorrow but we should be looking to save tomorrow.

So now on to the Executive Director’s Report, another sub, Elizabeth.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: First off, I’d like to say on behalf of all of the staff, thank you very much to all the Board for Staff Appreciation Day. Everyone had a wonderful time. They loved the food. It was a great time for everybody to come together to spend some time with each other and to enjoy the day. It was greatly appreciated.

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Since the last meeting, we had the Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center Fundraiser here. That was a successful event.

Then we had the Centerport Yacht Club here, as well, and that is something that they come here every year. They are already booking for next year.

The generated revenue on that this year was $5,200. That’s their annual Vanderbilt Cup Race Party.

On October 7, we had 500 girl scouts here on the property. It was a very busy day. It took a lot of organization on the staff. We had 300 girl scouts travel through the mansion. They all had mini mansion tours, in addition to our five tours for the day open to the public. We were open to the public that day. That was very successful.

We had almost all of our shows sold out. All the girl scouts came to the shows. It was a very successful day. That happened to be the same day that the Centerport Yacht Club was here, as well, so it was very, very busy.

That generated about $5,000 in revenue. That was a successful event, very busy day.

The Carriage House Theater, formerly known as The Arena Players, are rehearsing for a new season. They have three plays that will be in our carriage house. “The Woman in Black,” will be October 13 through 22. The next one is “I Ought to be Pictures,” which is November 10 through 19. Finally, “Jacob Manley’s Christmas Carroll,” which is December 8 through 17. We’re so excited about that.

I’m sure everyone has noticed that we have a new guardrail behind the planetarium. This went up very, very quickly. Peter assembled that within a week, which was terrific, because there was a potential danger of a 30 foot drop right there.

Also, I’m sure that everyone has noticed our front wall. Ninety percent of it is completed. The front and back is painted. It looks outstanding. Neighbors have commented on it. Visitors have commented on it. It’s just beautiful when you drive up to the property. It’s noticed by many.

Our restoration team has started working on the retaining wall behind the museum. That’s just starting so we’ll be able to report more at the November Board Meeting.

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Also, we purchased a new 2015 club maintenance cart for $5,000, which is substantially less than a new one would have cost us. I think they’re around $15,000 for a new one. We’re excited to have that new cart here for our staff.

Then we also have the Neal Stewart Band. They are a Johnny Maestro Band. We had them here last Sunday evening. We sold 52 tickets. We generally like to sell at least 100 tickets to any of the bands that come in here in the planetarium. So we probably won’t have them back here again, but I did hear that the music was very nice. It just wasn’t a big seller.

Our capital projects, we have three that are progressing currently. Terry, just jump in here any time you want.

MR. PEARSALL: Okay.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: We have the Normandy roof project, which is progressing for the spring. Also, the planetarium roof, they plan to reuse the tiles. We are getting more tiles from the same manufacturer, so everything will be the same.

The other project is the front doors of the planetarium should be replaced sometime between now and before the spring. That’s what we’re looking at.

One last thing I wanted to mention. I forgot to mention this before with the Treasurer’s Report, but our endowment, the total market value of the account as of October 18 is $13,649,029.50. That is the total between the main account and also the income account, those two accounts. So that’s good news.

I don’t know if everyone has seen, just a final note here, that Pat Keefe, our Communications Director, prepared this Vanderbilt media clips packet. This is all that has occurred from May through October. Does anyone have any questions?

MR. DEMASI: Yes, Elizabeth, how is band -- were they working on a split gate or do we have to pay them up front?

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Yes, split gate.

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MR. DEMASI: Okay, so we didn’t make a lot of money that night.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: No, we didn’t. We could speak with Lance and Dave and see if we want to try them another time.

MR. DEMASI: It could have just been a bad night.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: It could have been.

MR. PEARSALL: How big is the email blast for announcing this show?

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: For a show like this, I would have to check with Pat, but I know that he does an email blast, and I think it could be up to about 10,000 emails that we have collected in our system.

MR. BEATTIE: Is that through ALTRU?

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: No, that is through MailCheck. He does the email blast through MailCheck

MR. BEATTIE: Do we send another mailer to our members?

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: He does do a blast to the members, as well, yes.

MR. PEARSALL: It’s surprising with that amount of broadcast that you only had 50 some odd people here.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Fifty-two. We were surprised as well. Maybe it’s something to look into and think about and try it another time and see.

MR. BEATTIE: And this was in the planetarium?

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MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Yes, last Sunday evening.

MS. MADLINGER: I know Kathy Dulanto had run some radio ads through four stations, two AM stations and two FM stations. Don’t ask me what the stations were, but they did run a series of ads.

MR. KELLY: I have a question. I’m the new kid on the block. Right now the stock market is going nuts. Sooner or later it’s going to peak and who knows how seriously it’s going to decline thereafter. What is our ability to move money around in the endowment on short notice?

MR. BEATTIE: It’s very difficult.

MR. PEARSALL: Yes, it’s difficult.

MR. BEATTIE: It’s an act of Congress almost, literally.

MR. PEARSALL: In 2008 when it dropped to $8.3 million, Steve was on the phone with the Presiding Officer and Budget Review and myself. We were watching the market, and the fast decision we made to call the managers of the fund and tell them to put it all in money markets.

I think that’s something we should set a goal that if it drops more than 10 percent or 20 percent, that it automatically goes into a money market.

MR. BEATTIE: Steve?

DR. GITTELMAN: It’s not when it drops that you have to watch out for it. I learned this the hard way. It’s what happens after you put it into money markets, the market goes back up. We couldn’t get them out of money markets and get them reinvested for 18 months. We would have been better off if we had just left it where it was and let it ride. So taking it out – we couldn’t get it back in. Live and learn.

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MR. PEARSALL: We have a different manager from that point. I don’t know what their policy is.

MR. BEATTIE: We should probably talk to the Legislature about putting rules in that we can say, “At this point, don’t let it get below this.” So maybe we’ll form a subcommittee of the Finance Committee to come up with what those rules should be.

MR. PEARSALL: Fine.

MR. BEATTIE: Good.

MR. PEARSALL: We should have goals where we can go into very conservative funds.

MR. BEATTIE: And the other way around.

MR. PEARSALL: Yes, when it’s good.

MR. BEATTIE: Were we, at that time, also selecting a new firm? Because if so, that’s probably what complicated it, too. That was my recollection of that.

DR. GITTELMAN: Yes, that was –

MR. BEATTIE: It was a long RFP process.

DR. GITTELMAN: It was the bewitching hour in the transition to a new firm, and they took almost 18 months to get the new firm going. Everything sat there.

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, a year to select them.

MR. PEARSALL: Yes. There was politics behind that.

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MR. BEATTIE: Really, what a shocker.

{LAUGHTER}

Okay, the President’s Report, let me just tell you a little bit briefly, Lance, as I mentioned before, did a great job, even not feeling well. The key thing with the Parks Committee today, they were having an Operating Budget Meeting. He made a good sale for why we should continue to get the Hotel/Motel Tax at its current rate. It seemed to have a good audience.

Interestingly enough, Legislator Kennedy was on the committee and she talked about the Burn Center event that she was hosting, and she thought it was just such a great job that we did over here. That’s an issue that was near and dear to her heart.

Without getting into specifics, I happen to be here the day that their anticipated guest list was dramatically lower than they were anticipating. We cut them a deal to make sure that they were going to be able to make a profit on their event.

MR. KELLY: Was it here or in the tent?

MR. BEATTIE: I believe it was in the tent.

All these things that we do, it might seem like it’s just another event that we do, but the outreach that we have for every event means something.

The two mantras that I think we as a Board need to be looking at, as I mentioned before, is restoring and not just repairing.

The other thing is visitor experience, as we talked about in the Education and Exhibits Meeting -- visitor experience and how we can improve each visitor’s experience so that they come back. It’s the repeat business that we’re looking for, and it’s through those two.

Obviously, visitor experience and having our infrastructure crumbling in front of their eyes is not a good thing. We have had comments about that. They are intertwined.

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That’s why we’re having a lot of success with our committee meetings and having like a cross pollination between Development Committee and Education and Exhibits. We had people from Development Committee going to those meetings. We can do the same thing with Buildings and Grounds because all these things are inter-dependent. Okay, so that was Parks Committee.

The Staff and Volunteer Appreciation Day, I wanted to say a few words mostly to thank Gretchen because Gretchen did such a marvelous job coordinating it. I’m usually a seat of the pants kind of guy coordinating it. Gretchen noticed that and volunteered to step in and she did a great job.

MS. OLDRIN MONES: Can we also thank Sue and Elizabeth who did a tremendous job setting up?

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, of course.

MS. OLDRIN MONES: The tables looked awesome with the tablecloths. I really want to thank you very much, Sue.

Also, we had every Trustee contribute. We had ten Trustees, some with their wives, show up to participate in the event and celebrate the staff.

The new food was unbelievable. Add that to the old favorites, and we had quite a feast going on here.

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, we had a lot of extras. By the way, we’re going to use that for the Veteran’s Day event, all the extra food.

MS. WAYLAND-MORGAN: Yes.

MR. BEATTIE: Ironically, at that event for Staff Appreciation Day, we had a quorum, and we don’t have one tonight. We had ten Trustees attend, so that’s 71 percent.

We’re informal and I guess we won’t do it today, but we were going to revisit the ESP. Or do you want to have an informal discussion about it?

DR. GITTELMAN:

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Well, I suggested this to you. You know, my feeling is that the folks who aren’t here are very important. They haven’t seen it. They haven’t been involved in the discussion, and you don’t want to do it twice, unless you want to do it twice.

MR. BEATTIE: I don’t mind. What I’m saying is if we want to have an informal discussion on it now and not have a whole presentation – everybody was emailed a copy of it. Take the month to review it and we’ll do it in November.

DR. GITTELMAN: I think it’s so important. I think you need everybody to be on board and informed.

MR. BEATTIE: Right. Just looking at the list of people who aren’t here, there are only two Board Members who aren’t here who weren’t here for that. Everybody else was either here or has seen it before.

You all have a copy. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. I think the most important point in the ESP – and I believe it’s on the first page – is our problems are big and our solutions have to be big to meet them. Just read it with that in the back of your mind.

Does anybody have any old business to discuss? Any new business?

Let me point out that AVZ -- I sent along a copy of the audit for 2016. I don’t know why lately being President, I feel the need to get graded on things and accolades, I don’t know why that is.

{LAUGHTER}

We got good grades, though. We continue to really – and it’s really through Lance’s leadership – and let him know I said that – that we have the budgetary controls.

Every year we get even better and fewer things they can criticize us about. Virtually, there is nothing in it. It’s great reading. I recommend it to everybody.

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The only other new business, unless anybody has a question on the audit, is that Lance has been invited to – and we don’t need a vote on it and we don’t have a quorum anyway, but just so that everybody is aware, there is an annual gala for Huntington Hospital. It’s honoring Charles and Helen Reichert.

It’s a little pricy. It’s $395 per ticket, but I think – and I just want everybody to know – I told him that it was okay for him to buy two tickets for him and Maria to go to that. I hope nobody has an objection. People can yell at me at the next meeting, if they want.

Obviously, what we get from Helen and Charles Reichert is important. Their name is on the building here.

DR. GITTELMAN: I just want to weigh in on something you just said. I was going to let it go by, but I just can’t. You said that you like to get grades on things. I want everybody to understand – and I could have just said this next time, but I’m going to say it this time – being President is a big job. It takes a lot of time.

After you’ve been President for a year or two or ten or eleven, and in my case–

MR. BEATTIE: Or fifteen.

DR. GITTELMAN: Yes, or fifteen, you start to say, “Why did I do so much? Why did I invest so much? Is it worthwhile? Am I making a difference? Will it make a difference in the longevity of the institution? Will it make a difference in how my colleagues perceive me?”

What I’m saying to you is that it does make a difference. I do understand the need to be graded. It’s wonderful to get positive grades. You deserve positive grades.

MR. BEATTIE: Thank you. I wasn’t fishing. I was just trying to make a political comment. I felt the need to do a comb-over, as well; I don’t know why.

{LAUGHTER}

DR. GITTELMAN:

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I said to you when we met that I have given my adult life to this place, twenty-eight years. If I couldn’t feel that I had a positive sense out of it – I’m going to tell you a story. I stepped down as President and I got a phone call. I won’t tell you who the phone call was from. The guy said to me, “I’ve got something I want to read to you.” I said, “What do you want to read to me?” He said, “It’s something really special. Are you up for it?” I said, Sure.” And then he read me my obituary. It was very positive and I felt good about it.

{LAUGHTER}

You don’t know where it’s going to come from, but you should get positive feedback. I want to give you, as past President, positive feedback. I want you to understand that I see you growing with this job. I see you getting invested in this job. I see you getting committees working. I never got committees working. I see you going to the Legislature and being our advocate. I applaud your efforts. I want to be supportive of that. I want you to know that. I don’t throw around compliments. You know me. I will throw darts as easily as compliments.

{LAUGHTER}

MR. BEATTIE: I think you’ve thrown some cell phones, too.

{LAUGHTER}

DR. GITTELMAN: I just want you to understand that I understand that feeling. I hope the rest of the Board also understands that you need positive support.

One of the things that you should consider in the future is the Board experience, as well. Not just the public experience. Often what the public experiences is reflected by the staff who reflects the Board. We have to have an experience that makes us feel valued and thought well of.

Just put it in the back when you have a few extra hundred hours to think about it. Thank you.

MR. BEATTIE: Thank you, Steve. We can’t really vote on closing the meeting without a quorum.

MR. KELLY:

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Can I make a suggestion?

MR. BEATTIE: Yes.

MR. KELLY: That we just close the meeting.

MR. PEARSALL: Just one second before we close the meeting. Could we get an update of the many suits that are pending against the museum?

MR. BEATTIE: We’ll close the meeting first and then we can discuss that.

MR. PEARSALL: I thought maybe we could even wait until November when more people are here. Now that another six or seven people have joined that --

MR. BEATTIE: Yes, let’s adjourn the meeting.

MR. KELLY: So moved.

MR. BEATTIE: Okay, we stand adjourned.

(Mr. Beattie adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m.)

RB:ap Attachments

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