NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
February 12, 2013
CALL TO ORDER:
The February 12th Board Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 1095 Dempster/Thacker, Des Plaines, IL. The meeting was called to order at 6:38 PM by NWCS board president Penny Perles. The following board members were present:
David Hitch Penny Perles
Noreen LaValle John Schindler
David Martin Diane Szuberla
Mary Jane Matecki Ruta Veitmanis
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director, and Dick Knepler, a guest.
Penny announced that our April concert is listed in the Des Plaines Arts Council schedule of events and that our June concert is listed as a ‘save the date’.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the January 15 board meeting were reviewed and two corrections were needed:
Under Corresponding Secretary’s Report, the sentence should read: “Noreen, Mary Jane, Diane Szuberla and Penny wrote thank you notes to members…”
In the third bullet under the Treasurer’s Report, the last sentence should read: “We have spent 55% of the expected annual expenditure of $28,280.00.
Noreen LaValle made a motion to accept the corrected minutes. The motion was seconded by Diane Szuberla. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen presented the treasurer’s report for January. Cash disbursements totaled $2,119.74. Cash receipts totaled $2,072.80. Our regular account balance was $17,036.56. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $20,108.56. Mary Jane Matecki made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. David Hitch seconded the motion. The motion passed.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY’S REPORT:
Martha Moss will help write thank you letters to our donors and advertisers.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
Alan Wellman stated that Requiem for the World’s Unwanted Children composer Daniel Salotti will come to three of our rehearsals, March 5th, 9th and 12th, but he will not direct us at the concert.
Since attendance of the 2014 World Choir Games in Latvia is not very realistic due to distance and cost, Alan looked into some possible concert venues for us here in the U.S. Group Tour Planners presented two proposals: a 5 day/4 night motorcoach/Amtrak trip to New York City for about $1,000.00 and a 3 day/2 night motorcoach trip to St. Louis for about $500.00. The trips are totally planned by the company and include a concert(s) by us and sightseeing, entertainment and several meals. This would be for the spring/summer 2014. Our 2012 trip to the WCGs in Cincinnati was an enjoyable and bonding experience for all those who attended.
PROMOTIONS:
Geoffrey Green has completed the postcards and posters for our April concert. We will print 50 large and 50 small size posters.
ADVERTISING COMMITTEE:
Geoff is also working on the new envelopes for donations, which we will insert into our April concert program books.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
Mary Jane introduced us to Dick Knepler, who recently retired from marketing and is willing to help us with our recruitment of donors and corporate sponsors. He has degrees in journalism and arts/advertising. We will give him needed material so that he can familiarize himself with our group. His e-mail address: wrknepler@yahoo.com.
PUBLICITY:
Our press release for the April concert will be sent out around February 23rd.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE:
Flowers were sent to Noella Schutt upon the death of her husband.
OLD BUSINESS:
In our Handbook, the section titled Member Support for Chorus Activities, several changes were made. Under some headings there were no or just minor changes. Here are some of the more important changes:
◦ The previous heading Ads/Contributions is now separated into two headings:
▪ Ads: The sentence which started with “Each member is encouraged…” is replaced with the sentence: “NWCS primarily relies on its members to sell these ads.”
▪ Financial contributions: This section begins with the sentence, “Each member is expected to make a financial contribution to the Annual Giving Fund.”
◦ Under the heading Ticket Sales, a sentence has been added to the end of the paragraph: “Each member is responsible for selling or purchasing at least one ticket for each of the three main concerts during the season”.
The full wording for this Member Support section is attached to the end of these minutes. Approval for changes by the full membership for this section of the Handbook is not needed.
At our January board meeting we set up rules concerning the handling of unforeseen financial expenditures between board meetings. The authority to do this is stated in Appendix B of our By-Laws. “The (executive) committee is usually given decision-making authority for urgent business during the periods between board meetings.” The members of the executive committee are: “President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Artistic Director. In addition, the chairs of the Development, Promotion, Marketing, Membership and Facilities Committees and others as appointed by the President will serve on this committee.”
NEW BUSINESS:
At our Saturday rehearsal, the board will provide a light lunch – salads, vegetables, fruit, appetizers, etc. Mary Jane will help coordinate the lunch.
At the April concert we want to recognize our donors with perhaps a flower and ribbon, plus our button. David Hitch will help identify the donors.
Des Plaines will again hold its arts festival in its public library October 11th and 12th. They will try to limit the amount of activities since last year too many activities were scheduled too close together.
We donated two concert tickets to the Des Plaines Arts Council’s basket for the District 62 Foundation Benefit.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be March 12, 6:30 PM, before rehearsal at St. Martin’s.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 7:17 PM by a motion from Noreen and a second from Diane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society