SMCT Board Meeting – July 16, 2011

Present: Carol Mauro, Bob Hollis, Dennis, Mary Jo, Emily & Michelle Chretien, Artie Robillard, Laura Giorgianni, Jake & Zach Farnum, Steve & Leslie Carter, Andy Affleck, Jake & Brian Wolf-Jensen, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Kaila Rubin

Quorum vs. Working caucus;  With 11 Board members we must have 7.66 board members at a meeting to make a Quorum.  With fewer we have only a working caucus & can’t vote.  4 members were not present & a separate voting meeting was suggested for 7/21 @ Woody Lowden @ 7:30 PM.   Issues needing a vote include, 1) Appoint Jayne Lear as Asst. Executive Director.  2) Change names on all bank accounts to Laura G. {Finance Director}.  3) Close current credit card & reopen as SwampMeadow Community Theatre, Inc.

Chris B-J will remain the co-signor.  He, Laura G. & Lori Vincent will need to go to the bank together to sign paperwork for changes.  Will need to check & see if this can be done at any branch or only the one the acct was opened in.  Bob states he will act as courier to get receipts, cash, bills, checks, whatever to Laura as needed.  Laura will try to be available to collect when possible.   Laura will look into alternative Investment or Savings ideas for SMCT funds.  SMCT letter head approved.  Chris will look into getting SMCT on the United Way listing for employee contributions.  Grants Coordinator still needed.

SMCT season starts June 1st of each year (not July 1st).

Will start Jan 1st (2012) to have annual playbill ready to go & discount ad’s until the next full year starts for seasonal purchases.  Too late this year.  Will see what kinds of ad’s we get for the summer vs. seasonal decision.  Artie will make the decision about the Playbill covers if Directors don’t get him what they want in time for him to place an order.  Linda Resnick has volunteered to work on getting our SMCT store up & running.

New Box Office Phone Number:  Line 2 option allows call in, leave message in appropriate box (Line 1 for Toad, Line 2 for Golf Tournament, for instance).  A person could be assigned to check for phone or website messages for example.  Not easy to get a human.  Approx. $16.95/mo, includes the phone number.  Need to update messages.  Will need to vote.

 

Facilities:   Corner of Rte 6/94 is having trouble getting funding.  Are we still interested?  Things Made Wonderful has closed.  Bob H. has the name & address of the owners (ACD Business) & is trying to make contact.  Different people live behind it.

Sept. & beyond..  Where will we be for Romeo & Juliet?  Still don’t know.  School Board has not responded.  We seem to be viewed as a good organization that takes up too much of their time.  Could we use as rehearsal space, except on Mondays?  Former Coventry Middle School on Flat River Rd wants $25/hour to use their space (per Town Manager).  May need to appeal to their elected counsel.  A non-profit brings something to the community.  If the Senior Center moves there & brings us with, we may end up using the space for free.

Technology:  Steve Carter needs a distribution list for the Technology Group (current members will be Dennis C., Artie R., Eric D., Chris B-J., Kaila R., Andy A.).  Kaila will send him these email addresses & send out a general email to see if anyone else is interested in this group.  Annual budget of $8000.  Need a new Sound/Audio Board & a laptop.  Steve wants to run decisions by the committee about when to buy for long-term vs. less expensive short-term items.   Database: need to map out levels of access for different positions {individuals}.  Can do text emails/color fonts, but not HTML.  Costs around $50 for one person to have an HTML attachment & probably more to add others.  Many people can be signed up to use the Database, but only licensed to have 10 people actively using it at any one time.  Current list includes Bob H., Carol M., Dennis C., Zach F., Kaila R., Liz & Eric D., & Jayne Lear needs to be added.  Bob, Dennis & Zach will meet to discuss levels of access.   Website: Eric is working to get a calendar set up for viewing or to be linked with your own Outlook or other web calendar.

Zach F. will try to find a Box Office Coordinator, Sales/Corp Sponsor, Fund-raising, Grants, Newsletter/Brochure Coordinators by Jan. 1, 2012.  Also, need Producers.  Leslie Carter has volunteered to run Box Office for Mr. Toad.  Someone may have indicated an interest in Grant-writing on a Mr. Toad volunteer sign-up sheet.

Hope to have SMCT Board members at Old Home Days as good neighbors.

Bob H. asks for 2 changes to current SMCT by-laws.

1) Current by-laws state a minimum of 5 Board members & maximum of 9 members.  Bob would like the max. raised to 15.  We currently have 13.

2) President & Vice-President are three year terms & Bob asks to have the Creative Director also made a 3 year term to run at the same time.  Would like to see them form a unified Team.

Point of order raised as the current by-laws say a max. of 9 members therefore, we have a quorum here today & can vote rather than meeting on July 21st.  Discussion & this seemed correct.  Vote taken & Jayne L. appointed Vice President.  Vote taken & changes are to be made on the names on bank accounts.  Vote taken to have Dennis C. set-up Line 2 option, if under $20/month (estimated at $149.50/year).  Vote taken to allow Laura to open an SMCT, Inc. credit card.  Vote taken to allow by-law change to minimum of 5 & maximum of 15 to take effect on 7/17/2011.   More discussion needed on the change of term lengths.

Toad progressing well.  Aug. 6th is moving day.  Need set-painting & organizer.   Old Home Days needs volunteers for Booth.  Raffle tickets need to be sold.  Zach will send an email.  Bob will send an email for help to set-up on 7/25 from 4 PM until ?  Need a tarp to cover our booth.  Do we need a permit to hand a banner?

Fund-raising meeting on 7/21 at Laurie Murphy’s house, 4 PM.

Youth Report:  Julia Arnold will be a Junior in H.S. this year & needs to resign as Youth Rep.  Jake Farnum continuing.  Ages for Reps vs. Leaders?  Min. = 12.  The committee could choose the leaders.  Need one male & one female mentor to be at each meeting.  Currently Laurie Murphy & Andy Affleck  are mentors.  A meeting is needed to set criteria for spending  Youth money.  $740 is budgeted & they should be able to earn $480 selling candy at rehearsals, etc.  Must budget the money spent.  Ideas sought for education/training with youth.  Contact Andy with your ideas.  Suggestions include Hogwarts School for Theater, Improv group, Scenes group.  Need anyone interested in being a Youth Rep. to come to the next meeting & present their reasons for wanting to fill this opening.

10 Year celebration;  SMCT started in Sept. 2002, but first production was in Jan. 2003.  Five Year celebration was held in Jan. 2008 & 10 year may be in Jan. 2013.

Can’t meet on the third Sat. in Aug. as Mr. Toad will be in production & 2 shows scheduled.  Meeting will be on Aug. 27th, instead.