SONS IN RETRIREMENT
TWAIN HARTE BRANCH NO.172
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: February 26, 2007 Place: Papa’s New Roost
Big Sir Roy Sweeney opened the meeting at 7:56AM. Ass’t Secretary Dick Feaster reported that a quorum was present (see attached attendance report). Big Sir Roy Sweeney welcomed two visitors: New Area Governor Bill Andrews and Sonora Big SIR Will Reich. Sweeney asked for self-introductions. The minutes of the January 26, 2006 BEC meeting were approved based on the Email review (Smith, Piercy).
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Earl Nelson has resigned his position as Treasurer to take up the chairmanship of our new travel activity. Ass’t. Treasurer Rich Brandau has agreed to move up to take the position of Treasurer and Richard Robinson will become Ass’t Treasurer. A motion was made to approve this change (Sweeney, Pfoutz). Rich Brandau reported a beginning balance of $3467.07 and an ending balance of $3346.49 for the month of February. The report was approved (Pfoutz, Denhard). Five members have not paid their $20 donation as of this date. (Note to Dan Mohn: The Treas. Report was handed to the Area Governor and will not have to be mailed to him.)
ATTENDANCE:
SIR Herb Spierling reported that the new answering system is working well. So far 29 members have called in to advise that they would not be attending next Thursday’s luncheon meeting. Sir Bill Bamford reported that he is expecting eight visitors – including the speaker- at the meeting.
MEMBERSHIP:
SIR Lee Piercey reported that Bob Schollert has resigned his inactive status because he has moved out of the area. Also, the following seven applications for membership have been received: John Geritz, Ronnie Long (Transfer from Branch #136), Richard Chimenti, Gerry Fountain, Scott Gray, Volker Norpchen, Richard Knisely (Transfer from Branch #136). Approved (Smith, Pfoutz). At this time we have 150 active members (the limit), 5 inactive and 13 men waiting for a slot.
Because of the long waiting list, there was a motion to not include our phone number in subsequent announcements of Branch 172 meetings in the newspapers. (Sweeney, Spierling).
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:
LUNCHEON:
In the absence of Sir Henry Beltran who is snowed in up at Mi Wuk, Big SIR Roy Sweeney reported we expect 130 for lunch on Thursday. The meeting will again be held at the Sonora Elk’s Club.
PROGRAM:
Little Sir Don Denhard reported that our speaker at the next meeting will be John Buckley, Executive Directory of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center. He will talk about the Center and its impact on environmental concerns.
COMPUTER USER’S GROUP:
SIR Rich Froisness reported that there would be no CUG meeting in March.
WEB PAGE:
Sir Don Denahrd reported that the web page is up to date. If people are having trouble reading the minutes, they should press the "refresh" icon on their browser.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP:
Sir Ray Pfoutz announced that there would be no meeting in March.
GOLF: No report
BULLETIN: The deadline for inputs into the next bulletin is March 8th. Sir Ed Nissen will be gone for the month of May and Sir Don Denhard has agreed to handle it for him.
PUBLICITY: Sir Gil Wesson reported that an announcement was posted in the Sonora paper, but he had not seen the Sierra Mt. Times issue yet.
TRAVEL: Sir Earl Nelson was out of town, but he will be our new chairman for this activity.
RV: No report
MOVIE: Sir Gil Wesson will host the movie group for March. He requested approval for the event. Lunch will be at the Back Street Bar and Grill just prior to the movie. (Feaster, Pfoutz)
THEATER: Sir Joe Smith reported that he has sold out and has a waiting list for the March play "Thoroughly Modern Millie". He told us that 72 people have paid for the play and 53 people for dinner after the play. This is a record turnout! Dinner will be at the Peppery. Approved (Feaster, Pfoutz)
HIKING: Sir Jerry Jensen was absent, but asked Sweeney to announce that the next hike will be to the Red Hills area, overlooking Lake Don Pedro. It is a 4.5 mile hike on generally level ground. The date will be either March 13th or 15th, depending on weather. Approved (Sweeney, Pfoutz).
BOWLING: No report
FISHING: No Report
OLD BUSINESS:
Discussion on attendance issues was tabled until Dan Mohn returns from vacation.
NEW BUSINESS:
Sir Sweeney announced that our next meeting would be held at the Elk’s Club in Sonora because of water damage at the Twain Harte Golf Course. A discussion followed about the problems we have been having at the Clubhouse: running out of food, pushing the serving/steam tables into the dining area, going to long tables instead of round tables, threatening to raise prices, no advance menu, making commitments and then not following them, etc. SIR Sweeney noted the advantages of having our luncheon meetings at the Elk’s Club: more space, better chef and better prices, option to expand the membership beyond our 150-man limit, etc. SIR Sweeney then proposed a motion to hold ALL future meetings at the Elk’s Club until such time as the new Black Oak Casino’s banquet facility was completed and becomes a possible alternative. Approved by the board (Sweeney, Smith).
A motion was then made (Sweeney, Smith) to brief the membership at our next luncheon on all the issues, tell them that the board had voted to recommend a move to the Elk’s club and ask all BEC members if they would agree. This was approved by a show of hands.
Because of head count issues at lunch, it was moved to require all members to advise SIR Bill Bamford by the Sunday preceding a meeting that they will be bringing a guest. Approved (Sweeney, Smith).
Sir Bill Andrews, the new Area Governor said that they would like to have a volunteer to be the Area Governor in Ken Edward’s Region as there is not one who resides in the area who wants to take it on. He also talked about the advantages of having a State organization that gives us by laws and an umbrella under which we can operate. He also complimented our branch on its excellent operation.
SirWill Reich (Sonora Big Sir) announced that his branch would be hosting a training meeting for Area Branches. The purpose of the meeting is for all activity chairmen to get together and share information on how they operate. For example, all Branches do not have a live theater group (as does Branch 172) and our theater chairman can explain how he operates it and what procedures one needs to set it in place. In a like manor, the Sonora Branch has an excellent travel group and their chairman can advise our new travel chairman how one can go about setting up trips.
Dick Feaster, Ass’t Secretary
Sign In For Board Meeting
February 26, 2007