Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Board Meeting
Rowe Camp and Conference Center
Board Meeting: 11/13/2005

Attending: Doug Wilson, Felicity Pickett, Simon Delekta, Holly Thompson, Illana Greenstein, Zack Leven, Joan Lager, Fred Schoeps, Cathy Perkins

Minutes: approved

Treasurer’s report - Fred

An accountant will be performing a 990. Until we receive the final end of the year data, we won’t have our final budget. Total development, we have brought in 20k, compared to 14k last year. Fees are up at 170k, compared to 166k. There has been a large increase in rentals. More group rentals, up 3k. The total income is at 243k compared to 232k.

Salaries and related expenses are at about 55k, only up slightly from last year. General expenses are at 106K, was at 104k last year. The net income is at 46k.

There is more cash in operating, less in savings and short term investment, because we have been spending on things like staff housing.

Investment committee report

Fred moves to hire a financial advisor to Rowe Camp and Conference Center

Simon seconds

Simon reports that he (and two others) met with the finance committee and came away from the meeting with some concerns about the way money is being invested. An investment policy was developed that maintained the committee and hiring an advisor. There is concern, however, that the advisor and the committee would step on each other’s toes. But it’s a good idea to keep an investment committee because we need to know that there are people who understand investments with the organization down the road. The financial advisor will manage the investments. We need a financial advisor who is accountable to Rowe for performance. And an investment committee that evaluates. The cost of a financial advisor is presently unknown.

Discussion

There is a concern about making this transition in a smoother manner that doesn’t strain current relationships with the investment committee.

Guy moves to table the motion to discuss this further with the finance committee.

Simon seconds.

Unanimous.

Doug requests that the finance committee report to the board with a proposal on hiring a financial advisor.

Cathy moves to execute attached loan services agreement.

Unanimous.

Executive Director’s Report - Doug

Things are well, staff is strong, and there are a lot of talented work study people who have been here. CUC2 was here, and it went very well. There have been a couple of deaths in the Rowe family, John Delby, who served on the board, and Fred Katz, who was a maintenance person.

Doug was impressed with Fred’s funeral, and is suggesting the idea of possibly burying people at Rowe.

Regarding finding a new Executive Director, we should begin thinking about a new person, for when that change takes places, down the road.

Director’s report - Felicity

We have had a busy fall season with lot’s of midweek events, including a Joanna Macy week. Also a number of rentals. The biggest news is that Diane is leaving from the facilities department. She’ll be leaving Thanksgiving week.  No decisions have been made about her replacement.

We want to hire another maintenance person. In the short term, Felicity will serve as the acting Facilities Manager.

Work week was productive. 39 people attended. We put a roof over the handicapped access over the back porch on the Farm House, and a ceiling over the front porch. A kitchenette at Felicity’s, stone stairs at Fromson, and we’ve been tearing things out under Orchard Guest House for a frost wall.

Cade left in the kitchen, and we have not hired a new associate chef.

Camps – looking at hiring new directors. We are looking for new Kindred Spirits director. We would like someone from the board to form a committee looking for a new person. At present there are no candidates.

T-Camp director is stepping down, and we’re looking for a replacement. Current directors must re-apply.

Holly volunteers for T-Camp committee search

Cathy volunteers for KS search.

Development - Felicity

Felicity is working on the annual report. Last year’s report was seven pages. We are now at 16 pages. Felicity is also working on a Rowe Zone.

We have signed a contract for putting a new roof on the chapel. It won’t be done until the spring.

We have been approached by Greg Weinstein who would like to build a cabin in his father’s name. His father was the driving force in buying the Farm House. Jim Schipskey is designing the plans. A preliminary architectural program is available.

Nominations - Holly

Holly would like to get new people on the board, but it’s not easy. She would like suggestions from others, and is writing up a blurb in the Rowe Zone. Holly would like to identify the meaning of being a board member, what do we expect, and be more intentional about putting this out to the world.

Since we didn’t do orientation during the retreat, board mentors are assigned for new members.

Bylaws committee - Simon

We had 527 yes votes. 6 abstentions. 3 no. And 13 unconfirmed phone votes because they were unnecessary.

The next step is to file our new bylaws with the state of Massachusetts.

Stewardship committee - Guy

We asked people to become the steward of a building. Cabins are lumped together. We asked them to do an assessment of a building, organize the vital statistics, and then do an inspection to determine what needed to be done. We contacted a number of people and we got someone to sponsor everything except the Rec Hall, which Diane and Deb and Johno did an assessment on. The various people presented their reports. We organized all our capital projects that had been proposed and voted on them. The stewardship is an advisory committee. The ultimate discretion is left to the director and executive director.

Cabins need to have piers repaired on them.

We need to replace the septic system in Fromson house.

We need to correct water infiltration into the basement under the Rec Hall, and get better air circulation under there.

We need a pickup truck for maintenance people.

Comments about retreat –

Fred:
High priorities of small groups as opposed to groups as a whole. We did get stuff going though. A lot of time on the front end segment. It did provide us with the opportunity to interact in a new way. It was nice having staff there.

Joan:
Glad to be able to participate.

Guy:
Front end offered perspective from other board members and also from staff. Good to hear from staff. Back end seemed not “ripe.” Cathy had great feedback.

Holly:
Enjoyed hearing from staff. Overall, the energy came in the late afternoon and evening. Could have started at 4pm. Could have had more discussion about agenda.

Illana:
Enjoyed morning. Same feelings as Holly. Nice to get to know the staff and everyone as a whole. Afternoon and evening seemed exciting, but rushed. Not enough discussion. Not sure if she should be doing marketing.

Simon:
Wants to thank Cathy. She has the ability to facilitate long ranged planning discussion. We were pretty much on all the same page already – we’ve talked about this before.

Zack:
Thinks we did it very well, and the beginning part was clarifying. We seemed to lose focus in the second part. The questions felt like the wrong questions. Some of the things that got put up were not big picture board things.

Doug:
Agrees with Felicity. Morning was fun. Lost track in the afternoon. Final results seemed incoherent. Facilitators probably didn’t understand our organization.

Cathy:
Those of who come from camps are already familiar with this process. Cathy was more impressed, not coming from that background. Learned something more about Rowe. Proposes to possibly discuss the results of the retreat one topic at a time. Open to suggestions.

We will continue to discuss and be prepared to do something the next meeting.

Simon moves to adjourn. Holly seconds.

Unanimous.