LAKE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Board Meeting, Saturday February 7, 2015 10am
Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum
Officers & Directors present: Voris Brumfield, John Parker, Kevin Ness, Bonnie Skee, Coleen Blakey, Nick Voegtly, Kimberly Haynie, Phil Smoley & Ruby Glebe.
Committee Chairs & Guests present: Greg Dills, Vonn Fuqua, Kevin Engle & Tony Marchese.
President Voris Brumfield called the meeting to order at 10:05am and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes: The minutes of the 12/13/14 board meeting & the 10/11/14 board meeting along with the minutes of the 11/16/14 general meeting were opened for discussion. John moved to accept as written, Nick 2nd and all were approved.
Treasurers Report: Coleen reported that the balance in our checking account is $12,651.30. December expenses were $1722.07 of which $438 was propane for Ely. The bills received from Bit Sculptor for 2014 for $681.16 were determined to be mostly from Ely. Voris requested the bill be paid but feels we should manage our own website.
Coleen will email the treasurers report.
Scholarships: Tony asked how many scholarships the HS will approve this year. Last year we had $700 in the scholarship fund and the HS added $300 to make up the difference of the one $1000 scholarship that we gave. Since Floraine Chalk resigned as District Director last year we have not had anyone take on the job of an Opportunity Drawing which the proceeds were going to the scholarship fund. We did have a $1000 donation for that fund last year after we had approved the $1000, therefore we have $1000 in that fund. Tony advised we will not be receiving that donation this year.
John moved to offer a $1000 scholarship, Bonnie suggested $500. Kimberly and others agreed. John revised his motion to $500 for the next 2 years, Kimberly 2nd and the motion was approved. We all feel a need for fund raising. I believe Coleen offered to make a basket for a drawing but I am not sure.
Membership: Nick said he had not had many responses from District Directors regarding expired members. Nick received a letter from the Wisconsin HS stating they were previous members and want to re-join. They also asked for all Pomo Bulletin’s back to 2010 be mailed to them at their expense. Nick is trying to locate those.
Past Perfect has not been used for membership as was originally planned but it is being used by John to catalog items.
Online Photos: Our current policy is using Smug Mug to purchase photos from our website. Nick receives information from Smug Mug & Pay Pal and Coleen has received payment from Pay Pal. Some of the photos do not have a watermark, so they can be printed without charge. The Museum has our photos and they do not charge for them.
2015 Events & Meetings: Voris went over the list of events that she had previously sent to us. John & Kevin E will be our speakers for the March 22nd meeting at the Lakeport Museum.
Our picnic this year will again be at Ely Stage Stop and we will have the dedication of the Randy Ridgel memorial. Pat Ridgel will be our speaker and he will discuss the Cable Car.
It was suggested that we try to have meetings in different locations. In fact there is a possibility the September meeting may be moved to Anderson Marsh.
Ely Stage Stop: Bill Lane, a docent at Ely, located a cargo container for $1000. With the transport and set up the cost is estimated to be up to $2000. Kimberly moved to purchase the cargo container and set up not to exceed $2000, Phil 2nd and all were in agreement. Coleen suggested we use the money from our working account instead of from the investment account, which will be reimbursed from the investment account after the March dividend.
Ruby Glebe will be at Ely on February 28th to give a report on electricity coming to Lake County.
The Fiddlers Jam has been a huge success. It was suggested we ask for a donation to attend. Vonn and others were against that. Voris suggested possibly getting sponsorship from a local business for each Fiddlers Jam. That business would get a plug for their business in exchange for a donation. Greg liked that idea and said he would work on that. The current donations are split with the Fiddlers group. Voris would prefer a check be written to them instead of giving cash. John & Pam Hendricks will work on tracking expenses and income.
Greg and other volunteers are starting on the Blacksmith Shop. He also spoke to the County about building a bathroom down near the barns. We are in need of internet Wi-Fi at Ely which would cost $1000 for the hardware. I believe he said the County would pay the monthly bill for that. We are going to invite Matt Perry from the County office to visit soon and also make sure he and others are invited to our June picnic.
Nick is working on an injury & illness prevention plan. Also a business plan is in the works.
Greg has been rebuilding the trailer he owns and uses at Ely for hay rides. Since it belongs to Greg, Voris didn’t think it would be appropriate to pay for the repairs but suggested other ideas. He could sell it to LCHS with Greg & his son having lifetime use. Or we could rent it from him. Greg will decide what he and his son want to do. Greg said he has had many donations but didn’t elaborate.
Phil was approached by a local church about renting the chuck wagon for $100 to use on their premises. John moved to set up an agreement to utilize HS equipment off site with appropriate insurance, Bonnie 2nd and it was approved.
Gibson Museum: First of all, please visit Gibson on facebook. Gibson’s 1st anniversary will be Sunday May 3, 2015 at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown.
The meeting was moved upstairs at 12:15pm where Kevin E showed his “Lake County Historic & Pre-historic Cultural Resources” presentation. Suggestions were made to condense the presentation, but it was very interesting.
Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Skee