MHCB Board Minutes

August 28, 2014

Recorded by Christine Mitchell, Board Secretary

Attendees:

  • Paul Peronard – President
  • Vernon Vail – Treasurer
  • Christine Mitchell – Secretary
  • Bruce Thron-Weber – Business Manager
  • Roger Oram – Board Member
  • David Cooke – Board Member
  • Karen Larson – Board Member
  • Cooper Watts – Board Member
  • Rick Mongrain - Director

The meeting was called to order at 8:39pm by Board President, Paul Peronard.

Minutes of Previous Meetings

  • Discussion and action to approve
    • Minutes from the last three meetings were approved via email by the board members
    • Roger will post the minutes on the MHCB website

Directors’ Reports:

  • Mike Lucas
    • Not in attendance
  • Rick Mongrain
    • Getting restarted after the break
    • Intermediate band currently has 5 members but anticipate a total of 10 students
    • Combonians have a gig on Sept 6 and 7 for the Arvada Harvest Festival
    • Rick will be taking a vacation day on Oct 9.  The Combonians can still meet on Oct 9 but not sure if we want to look for a temporary director or cancel the intermediate band rehearsal that day.

Officers’ Reports:

  • President: Paul Peronard
    • Paul has received lots of feedback especially from the Jazz band regarding the quality of the music print outs.  He will need to discuss this feedback with Mike Lucas.
    • Paul received an inquiry from the SCFD regarding our concert attendance.  He has recently been more conservative with our numbers but not sure if this is the correct direction.  Board members decided to table the discussion regarding who we include in our audience numbers when performing for large festivals until a future meeting.  Need to discuss prior to our application renewal in January.
  • Vice-President: Open
    • No update
  • Secretary: Christine Mitchell
    • Confirmed that Roger will be posting the previous meeting minutes to the website
    • Requested a soft copy of the By-laws from Paul
  • Treasurer: Vern Vail
    • Vern has invoices that need to be paid but still needs to make an appointment to have the treasurer’s records transferred
    • Roger paid the North High insurance with the debit card
    • Paul sent an email to Angela
    • Per the By-laws two members of the board must sign the checks.  It was discussed that we should have two additional board members be allowed to sign checks in case Paul and Roger were not available.  Cooper and Karen volunteered to be added to the account.
    • Roger, Paul, Vern, Cooper and Karen will meet at the bank on Friday, Sept 5 at 12:15pm to have the authorizations changed over.

Other Reports:

  • Operations Manager: Bruce Thron-Weber
    • The collection process for dues is going well
    • The calendar on the website has been updated.  He still requires the details regarding the Edgewater senior center gig in December in order to add to the calendar.
    • All the old music has been moved to the storage room at the Denver Musicians Association.  He found the store room to be a mess and requested to meet Roger at the DMA to review the mess.
    • Some legal sized file cabinets are available for usage.

Old Business:

  • Proposed By-law changes
    • Karen and Dave were not able to receive copies of the by-laws prior to the meeting.  Therefore we will table the proposed by-law changes until our next meeting.  In the meantime, each board member will review the by-laws and add any comments or questions they have regarding the proposed by-law changes to Paul. He will then compile this feedback and the board will review at our next meeting. 
  • President/Vice-President/Scholarship Coordinator slots
    • Scholarship Coordinator: the board has moved, seconded and passed the election of Cooper Watts to the Scholarship Coordinator position.  Cooper will need to talk with Leslie (previous Scholarship Coordinator) to obtain any past scholarship information.
    • Vice-Present: the board has moved, seconded and passed the election of Paul Peronard to the Vice-President position.
    • President: the board has moved, seconded and passed the election of David Cooke to the President position.
  • Invoice Schedule
    • Bruce has received requests from members of the band for monthly invoices versus the term invoices.  He has talked with the Accountant and it is possible to invoice band members monthly if desired.  The board has moved, seconded and passed the option for band members to receive invoices on specified terms (per term or monthly)
  • Dues Holiday
    • The board has recommended providing a one month holiday for this upcoming term.  Since the invoices for this upcoming term have not yet been sent, Bruce will talk with the Accountant and have her adjust the invoices to be $35 less than the standard term cost (similar to the summer term).  The board has moved, seconded and passed the approval for the one month dues holiday.

New Business:

  • Rehearsal Location
    • Compiled a list of pros and cons regarding keeping North High as a rehearsal space.  The pros did outweigh the cons therefore we have opted to stay with North High.
    • Recommended that we attempt to rebuild the relationships we once had with North High.  The board opted to table this discussion until our next meeting.
    • Recommended inviting high school students to join the MHCB free of cost to help promote the organization and to help build the relation with the high school.  Further discussions have been tabled until the board’s next meeting.
  • Increasing Performance Opportunities
    • Recommended that the bands gather a standard repertoire for optional gigs.
    • Received complaints from band members that we spend 3-4 months learning a piece of music for only one concert.  Members would like the ability to do multiple performances once a piece has been learned.
    • It has been difficult to organize enough band members for short notice gigs.
    • Recommended that the board ask each band group to determine if they would be interested in performing in more gigs.  And if so, find a band member within each group that would be interested in assisting with finding and booking future gigs.
    • The board will need to discuss with Mike Lucas whether he would be interested in additional gigs.  Due to his activity within the DMB, his schedule is limited during the summer months.  Recommended asking if there are members within the bands who would be interested in guest conducting (if the reason for not performing in multiple gigs is due to a lack of a conductor).
    • Dave mentioned that in January there is a convention held in which local organizations/companies look for talent for future gigs.  Apex is an example of one organization that buys their talent through this annual convention.
  • Tracking/Approving Scholarships
    • Tabled until our next meeting
  • Updating Business Practices
    • Tabled until our next meeting
  • Update from Roger
    • Roger has promotional videos available that need to be reviewed and discussed.  He will send these out to all board members.  The video producer, Ann Banister, has charged Red Rocks Community College ~$600 so far for her work.   The Board tabled a discussion on the value of these videos to us for presenting our organization to clients and what our financial obligations for the videos may be until the board members have been able to review them.

Future Engagements:

  • Arvada Harvest Festival – Sept 6 and 7
  • Red Rocks – November?
  • Others?
    • Edgewater Senior Center on Dec 4 for all groups

Suggestions for Next Meeting:

  • SCFD audience count
  • Tracking/Approving Scholarships
  • Updating Business Practices
  • Proposed By-law changes
  • Rebuilding the relationship with North High School

Meeting adjournment time 9:59pm