CITY CLUB OF EUGENE BOARD
Minutes for February 28, 2019, meeting starting at 5:30 pm
Pacific Cascade Federal Credit Union Board Room, 1075 Oak St Eugene Oregon
Board Members present: Robin Fletcher, Joel Korin, Lew Powell, Kyle Shavere, Paul Thompson
Board Members present via conference call: Sandra Bishop, Jess Ghiglieri, Eric Richardson, Katherine Schacht
Board Members absent: Joshua Burstein, Dr. Johnny Lake,
Others Present via conference call: Silver Mogart, Executive Director
President Joel Korin convened the meeting at 5:35.
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING – Approved – Robin, Jess, Joel, Lew, Kyle, Katherine, Paul – Yes. Sandra and Eric had not yet joined.
- TREASURER’S REPORT/DEVELOPMENT FUNDRAISING-MEMBERSHIP – Paul. Paul sent the financial reports to the Board by email earlier. For a fleeting moment on Monday, we exceeded $20,000 in our bank account. It didn’t last long, since there were bills to pay. It’s now around $18,000. The Board needs to be aware that we have large bills – insurance, Baker Center, etc. Peace Health has paid for their sponsorship, and the banner is being displayed. Pacific Source declined because they didn’t want to share advertising space with Kaiser Permanente. Katherine commended the work on gaining sponsors.
- Administration/Website Update — Robin. Robin reported Randy from Pac Info updated our WordPress theme and plugins. He moved our site to a new server with a newer version of PHP, because our events plugin will stop working on the old version. The IT Committee made several efforts to meet in the last week, but were thwarted by weather. We have a meeting scheduled later in March.
- Programming—Joel. Joel noted that we are scheduled through April. He will work to reschedule Friday’s Opioid program that was cancelled due to weather. He has met with the Wayne Morse Center, and Law School Dean Burke. The Wayne Morse Center will be contacting Joel in June with information about their slate of speakers.
- Community Spotlight—Jess. The Community Spotlight scheduled for last night was cancelled. We have a list of confirmed speakers for the upcoming months. Jess had posters made for the program last night that are very nice. We can re-use them.
- Executive Director Report—Silver. Silver emailed his report to the Board. He went over the attendance and profit/loss for recent programs, as well as new memberships and renewals at each meeting. See report. Paul asked about a lapsed Organization Membership, since he would like to contact them about renewing. Silver will find out which that is and let Paul know. Silver was approached by Key Bank, wanting to get the City Club’s business, but we’re not interested in making a change. He did suggest to them that Key Bank could become a sponsor.
- City of Eugene Proposal – Eric. Eric has been in conversation with Mayor Lucy Vinis about ways the City could support the City Club. City Club of Eugene performs an important role in civic discourse that the city benefits from. Eric reported that they discussed potentially offering the city a periodic program (i.e. quarterly) in exchange for stable funding, as a line item in the City budget. Paul asked that we not use the title “Sponsor” to cover this relationship, unless it is a sponsorship by our current definition. The Board discussed the idea, the potential funding, how this might impact the Program Committee, the possibility that this might threaten our 501c 3 designation, whether other nonprofit groups get funding this way, and considered the possibility of getting legal advice. Lucy Vinis suggested that we should approach City Manager Jon Ruiz, and it was suggested that Kitty Piercy might also be a good person to consult. Joel asked the Board if we want to further explore the idea. Those present all agreed that the idea deserved further investigation.
- President’s Report—Joel.
- Silver Annual Review– Joel and Paul met with Silver on 2/19 to review his performance after his first year as City Club of Eugene’s Executive Director. Joel shared input he received from board members. It was a positive discussion. Silver will provide a written response, and is excited to be in the position and is looking forward to the future. Sandra asked if there was a copy of the review for City Club records, or other documentation of the process. Joel has a personnel folder for Silver that he will pass to Eric, as incoming President.
- Turtles – Joel briefly visited the Turtles meeting on 2/19. He doesn’t know who they will nominate. Their report is due to us before our March board meeting.
- President/Emcee Coverage for Friday Forums 3/22 and 4/12: Joel will be out of town, and Eric will cover.
- Nominating Committee. Eric reported that the Nominating Committee had met, and has compiled a list of names. They’re still looking for more people who have the time and desire to contribute, and have consulted several civically active individuals to get ideas and suggestions. The Board discussed asking members and radio listeners if they would like to be considered. Silver will add that to the next Program email, and to the President’s script for upcoming meetings. Sandra asked when the next Nominating Committee meeting is. Eric responded that it is not yet scheduled. The Nominating Committee will present its list of candidates by April 15th for President Elect and the following board positions with terms ending in 2019:
- Lew Powell – termed out.
- Josh Burstein
- Katherine Schacht
- Dr. Johnny Lake
- Jess Ghiglieri – (who currently fills the seat vacated by Stefanie Harger).
- OLD BUSINESS.
- Policy Manual – Sandra. It is coming together slowly. Sandra and Katherine will meet next week to work on it. Sandra is very concerned that we don’t yet have a personnel manual.
- CCE Employee Manual. This is a project Josh has on his list.
- NEW BUSINESS.
- Nonprofit Website for Grants – Sandra asked if we’d updated the City Club entry on the Gold Star website, because she understands that it is critical for getting grants. It wasn’t something familiar to the rest of the board, so Sandra will email the site’s URL to the board for further information gathering.
- CCE Employee Manual – Josh designated this a later-in-2019 project.
- Next Board Meeting – We need to change the date or location for the next board meeting due to a conflict with the Pacific Cascade FCU Board meeting. We determined that 5:30, Tuesday, March 26 will work for most people. The executive committee will meet 3/25 at noon at the PCFCU board room.
- Staff Matters – Joel asked Silver to leave the call for a board-only discussion. He suggested that the board consider a $0.50 per hour raise for Silver, given his positive review. The board discussed the issue. Katherine moved to offer Silver the $0.50 per hour raise, and Kyle seconded. Approved – Sandra, Robin, Jess, Joel, Lew, Eric, Kyle, Katherine – Yes. Paul – abstained.
UPCOMING BOARD MEETINGS: 3/26, 4/25, 5/24.
Adjournment: Lew. Meeting was adjourned at 6:35pm.
