Minutes – November 4, 2013

Pine Valley Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 1:35-3:10pm

Present: Liz McLellan (President)*; Bill Schuhle (T-Bill) (Secretary/Treasurer)*; Rev. Bill Shields (R-Bill)*; Steve White*; Celinda Miller*;  Larry Miller, Ruai Gregory   (* indicates Board Member)

Minutes: Liz asked if there were any objections to the minutes as sent out via email. Celinda indicated she had offered a correction to Bill via email which he said he had fixed. As there were no objections, the minutes were adopted.

Finance Report. T-Bill passed out copies of both the main finance report and an updated accounting of how the Ford Family Foundation grant for the MainStreet Stage had been spent. He indicated that next month’s report should show approximately $1,086.00 more in the checking account when funds spent for Stage equipment would be reimbursed to us by the Hells Canyon Chamber.

The bottom line on the Ford accounting sheet indicated about $156 as yet unspent. Bill asked for suggested items/materials for the stage that could be purchased with this money so that he could contact Ford for appropriate permissions and an extension of the purchasing deadline which had already passed. Liz asked that R-Bill and others interested draw up a list of needed items to give to T-Bill and that he present those to Ford for approval. Ruai stressed that Ford appreciates photographs in a final grant report, especially where a building is involved.

T-Bill indicated he’d like to follow up on Liz’s suggestion of purchasing some accounting training time from local CPA Kelly Higgins. R-Bill indicated this might be an expensive proposition. Alternatives were discussed with the bottom line being that T-Bill was voted permission to spend up to $200 (a price he said he had found online) for a copy of QuickBooks Nonprofit which is accounting software designed both structurally and terminology-wise to fit the needs of non-profit organizations. Ruai also suggested former UCP treasurer Zella Sly as someone who would likely be willing to help out with accounting questions. T-Bill said he would contact her. R-Bill pointed out that Veryl Waldron uses QuickBooks and could be a source of advice as well.

Record-keeping Discussion: Liz reiterated her position that all money going out of UCP needs to have records that account for it. R-Bill felt that we have not made it clear to grant recipients exactly what the expectations are and that therefore after-the-fact requests for detailed receipts have met with some resistance. A clear, up-front policy and signed agreement could prevent these problems. T-Bill and Liz agreed to put together draft agreement, simple and to the point, to present to the group.

T-Bill talked about the year 2000-era computer he had received from Sue Forrester which contained many files related to the early days of UCP and the forestry project plus the Granite Peaks assisted living facility project. Bill said he could provide a more complete inventory next month of what was there and a determination could be made about what to print and file. Liz suggested that anything having to do with finances should probably be saved.

Ruai said it would be really nice to have brief summaries of the results of all the various projects that UCP has supported/been involved in over the years and indicated that this has not been something that has been done nearly enough. She agreed to see about getting something written up on the Pine Eagle Education Foundation and the Pre-School in particular.

Liz will request a paragraph about the recycling project from Linda Collier if we no not have one. She will also update the web site with these reports and add a means for online donations to the pre-school project.

The existing timeline chart of UCP accomplishments up through 2008 needs to be brought current.

Bylaws and Voting Discussion. It was clarified that, per the bylaws, a quorum for making decisions consists of three board members present (60% of the five-member board). R-Bill contended that the consensus/voting section of the bylaws is cumbersome and is influenced by the definition of “member” which is strange. He said that at the recent training in Baker, it was suggested that non-profits not even have members, but simply a board that is responsible for decision-making within the organization. He suggested that consensus be defined as “unanimous minus one”. Steve pointed out that with only board members voting, and a quorum requirement of three, two members could make decisions. Other options, such as re-defining “membership”, were discussed and this included the possibility of a signed membership agreement, a set membership term, loss of membership for non-attendance, and charging an annual membership fee. Celinda recommended that a quorum of the board consist of all five members. R-Bill pointed out that this could preclude needed action in a deadline-driven situation. T-Bill suggested a necessary minimum of three affirmative votes of the five board members to make a decision which was re-stated by R-Bill as “a majority of the board” as opposed to “a majority of a quorum”. Liz suggested that a committee of interested members address the issue and R-Bill and Celinda agreed to head up such an effort.

Ford Leadership Program Update. R-Bill suggested that UCP keep the list of community projects that has been compiled at the Ford training as possible projects for UCP to consider. So far, the training group has whittled an original field of 30 suggested projects down to four: 1) a timebank; 2) a re-building of Lions Park in Halfway and a similar venue in Richland with playground equipment, etc.; 3) a youth after-school activities program; and 4) an area history project involving the local museum.

Liz indicated that, either via the local investing program underway at NEOEDD, or independently of that program, a timebank may be in the works even if it is not chosen as the Ford group project.

Open Discussion. Ruai said we still haven’t heard back from Sally Andrews about what’s happening with the oral history project that UCP contributed to and that was to be carried out by Sally and her daughter Vicki Johnson.

Ruai also reported that Cindy Delcurto, new parent representative member of the pre-school board, is out actively soliciting funds for the pre-school. The issue was raised of the use by the pre-school (and other organizations) of UCP’s 501(c)(3) status for fund-raising without adequate accountability for the funds so raised. R-Bill made the point that funds given to a 501(c)(3) are in the public domain and if passed to a non-501(c)(3) which subsequently fails, the funds must be returned to the donating 501(c)(3) or passed on to another 501(c)(3) so as to remain in the public domain. He also made it clear that any donations made to take advantage of our 501(c)(3) status need to be made to us directly and there needs to be a signed contract with the receiving organization (pre-school, etc.) as to how the funds are to be spent and what kind of reporting is required. Ruai said she will let Cindy know how she needs to proceed in her fund-raising efforts based on these considerations. Ruai will also give us a report at our next meeting of what’s happening at the pre-school and how funds raised through UCP have been spent.

Meeting adjourned at 3:10pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Schuhle, Secretary/Treasurer