Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- May 19, 2019

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 2:30 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Secretary John McGarey (by Zoom), Treasurer Penny Chambers (by Zoom), Lia Nelson and Kim Pillsbury (by Zoom from Vienna). Robert McGarey (Executive Director), Jim Ryan, and Zach Taylor were also present at the meeting.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were not yet ready, and thus were skipped.

Executive Director's Report

Solar Panels. From Mar 15 - May 17. the solar panels added energy to the city. The March and April electric bill was a lot less than last year, April payment for electricity was negative, that is, we got money back from the city towards our bill. Our payment for the panels is $179/month.

Fundraisers. Lia talked about fundraisers. Our nonprofit consultants suggest that we have four fundraisers each year. So Lia is proposing fundraisers to help pay off the solar panels. She said that once upon a time, there were charts with pyramids and thermometers to show how close we were to our goal. Having fundraisers makes us more visible to community and we will get closer to paying off the solar panels. It was suggested that we have fundraisers at the Homecoming party or other events as a Silent Auction. Bob praised Lia's energy for the Playfulness Promotion Committee.

Renters. Bob said that it's delightful having Devin, Lia and JR on campus. Sammm has been renting the Blossom Room temporarily, but we have no active prospects for that space. There are two hot prospects for the garage apartment.

Creativity Promotion Committee. The energy expressed in the new committees is refreshing because the Center cannot be effective if only Bob and Lia are doing things. Having those committees helps cultivate that energy.

Finances. We spent about $18k on art barn and about $2k on upgrading the garage apartment. Bingo has helped us make i t through. We currently have less than our goal of $10k in the bank (~$3k), and Bob and Lia have not deposited some of their pay checks to help the Center have enough money to pay its bills.

Art Barn The board made it clear that even though it's exciting having a new space in which many things could happen, creative endeavors have our top priority. After that we can consider using it in ways that benefit the center.

Beautification. Board spoke about beautification of the back porch. The hot tub is listed on Austin Recycle. There were various administrative discussions of how to make the porch prettier, and agreed that making the porch look good was valuable to center.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at around 3:42 pm.

Minutes submitted by John McGarey, Secretary, May 19, 2019.