March 11, 2009
Meeting called to order at 6:10. In attendance are Mark Carnevale (president), Scott (vice president), Don Miller (vice president), Rick Irvine (treasurer), Dan Byrnes, Sara Grube (YMCA), Rex Moon, Spencer Raggio and Trish McCluskey.
Don motioned to accept minutes from February meeting and Scott seconded motion.
Financial report
Rick met with George to go over the programs and budget. Expenses were broken into “home” and “away” expenses for boats and regatta. There was much discussion about how to expense items like dinners and lunches, trophies, mugs, etc. All were put under “awards and gifts.” Rick will work with George to see if there is a better way to expense these items to more accurately reflect what the money was spend on. It was suggested that additional lines for banquet, registration fees, auction, etc. be created.
Rick will also follow up with George on the following: Will the sails be purchased with money from the designated fund? Are we using the 2008 actual money spent or the projected budget to use for 2009? Under which heading did the money from 2008 auction go?
Rex suggested $2000 from boat repair be put into budget for regatta travel. Rex made a motion to accept report and follow-up questions, Scott seconded motion.
Sailing dates need to be updated soon. There are a number of requests for learn-to-sail registrations. Sara will check on the July 19 / August 1 discrepancy and email Spencer.
The research questions that were emailed to board members were discussed. The questions were about expanding the program to include tennis, hiking, and other water activities. It was once again brought up that the charter and by-laws only include sailing as a Y-Knot activity. The majority of the members in attendance do not support the idea of expanding the program because it would be spreading not only the finances too thin, but the volunteers as well. It was agreed that it is a wonderful idea, but one that should be explored outside of the Y-Knot program.
Dan is going to look into getting fliers to bus drivers who transport handicapped clients, with hopes to get more participants. He also suggested that Y-Knot participants and volunteers make visits and presentations to local programs and/or group homes to increase participants. Rex will work on putting a PowerPoint presentation together for this purpose. Dan will contact Mike Peluso to see if he has contacts for a van to transport sailors to Lake George to participate.
Spencer emailed the board earlier in the month with regard to contacting volunteers that reach out to the program via website. Rick volunteered to make these contacts.
There was discussion about creating a database that matches a companion’s experience level to a participant’s experience level. George may be open to changing the way he manages database, Rex said he had explored this topic with George in the past.
Volunteer training day has consistently been on the same day as the final learn-to-sail day. However, this ties up volunteers who can teach the new recruits how to rig the boats. It was decided that the day would be changed to a Saturday, May 16, the day before the final learn-to-sail date.
Any volunteers who are Bank of America employees can get a $200 certificate for the program with a specified number of hours volunteered. Sara will look into posting a letter or flyer on the bulletin board of local branches.
Sails will be ordered after the start of the new fiscal year, April 1. In addition, one large sling ($139) will be ordered and tested. The numbers we have and the sizes will be inventoried during the April 25-26 work weekend. Don made a motion to accept and Rex seconded the motion.
Spencer is working on a written policy for out-of-town regattas, with regard to travel, expenses and boat lending.
Mark has been in contact with the Canadians to host a joint training weekend. While here for the ’08 regatta, the Canadians kindly offered to travel down and hold a training clinic for our participants and volunteers. Dates are being explored and Sara will check on the availability for accessible lodging.
Hats and visors have been discussed a number of times at past meeting. Do we really need these items? The website has a number of specific suggestions for items the participants should bring, with hats being one of them. We have run out of T-shirts for volunteers. Having a color that readily identifies a person as a volunteer is a good idea. Rick will look into pricing and printing shirts.
Dan suggested setting aside a couple of days for a race clinic. It was agreed this was a great idea. It was decided that the July 5 and 19 clinic days would be earmarked to have a couple sailors start before lunch with a mini-clinic and have a short two-boat practice race after lunch. We can always add another date if it works well.
Dan came across a potential funding source for Y-Knot. Craig H. Neilson may fund for changes in programs to help them increase the services they offer. The deadline for a proposal letter is March 31. Dan will write a two-paragraph brief on Y-Knot. He will forward it to George and board members once he is done. If the proposal is accepted, we will need a grant writer to write a formal grant proposal. Is this something that the YMCA grant writer can take on? Sara will check on this.
Meeting adjourned 8:05 pm. Minutes submitted by Trish McCluskey for Becky Bonn.