Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- April 5, 2008

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 1:32 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Treasurer Pam Chambers. and Robert Gardner (via telephone). The following directors were absent: Vice President and Secretary Leslie Harvey. Robert McGarey (Executive Director) and Kathryn Ehlert were also present at the meeting.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud. The following changes were suggested: The minutes were then approved as amended.

Executive Director's Report

Conflict of Interest Form. Bob said that we need to have Board members read and/or sign the Conflict of Interest form each year.

Block Party. Bob said that at we can't do a block party in the spring because there's not enough time to plan it.

Repairs. A number of minor repairs have been done around the campus: the back screen door has been fixed, re-screened and re-painted; glass has been installed in the windows in the Art Barn and sun-screens installed; new faucets have been installed in two of the bathrooms; a new door was installed on the shed, a wooden patch was applied to the front of the house to keep out mice; and two motion-detector lights have installed on the garage apartment.

A significant number of major repairs need to be done: the back porch needs to be re-roofed to stop water leaking into the house, and we need a deck and ramp there too; we need to keep water away from the base of the garage apartment, probably by installing a concrete slab in front of it to redirect the rain water; we need to re-roof the cottage and the garage (Pat Sconci will pay half of the cost for the cottage); build a door to the new office from the Activity Room; the gutter on the Imaginary Room needs replacing due to water damage; repaint the buildings; fill the old septic tank, which is slowly sinking. It would also be great if we could place solar panels on the top of the Art Barn; get better insulation upstairs; and add better air conditioning to the Activity Room and the new office. Bob is researching the A/C situation with our A/C vendors, and they've suggested a "mini-split" which would do a great job, but would cost $6K.

Volunteer Manager. Bob has assigned Robert Gardner to act as Volunteer Manager, and hopefully be able to coordinate doing a lot of these repairs, as well as other important tasks here at the Center.

New Associate. Kathryn Ehlert described her interest in being an Associate at the Center, and the Board unanimously approved the idea. Welcome, Kathryn!

Pay Rate. Bob proposed that we raise Pam Chambers' monthly salary from $100 to $250. He said that at the Center's current rate of $10/hour that we normally pay for contract labor, $250 would mean that we would be paying her for about 1 hour of work per day, which she clearly already does. The motion passed unanimously, with Pam abstaining.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at around 3 pm.