September 16, 2014 Meeting Minutes

President Joan Smith called the meeting to order via telephone at 9:10 a.m. Also present via telephone were Steward Amanda Brozana and Assistant Steward Austin Miller. Present in the 10th floor Saunders Library of the National Grange Building in Washington, DC were Lady Assistant Steward Jessie Cope, Flora Stephanie Wilkins, Chaplain Grace Boatright, Secretary Richard Weiss, National Grange Controller Andrew Sampson and National Grange Legislative Director Burton Eller.

The minutes from the July 17, 2014 meeting were read and approved as corrected to reflect that T-shirts for the Youth Drill Team will be given by June and Mary Justi, not to them.

Treasurer’s Report

While the current operating account balance is not available at this time, Andrew Sampson did report the following:

  • $85.00 in new member dues has been deposited to the Operating Account.
  • $87.00 for 2nd quarter dues has been paid to the National Grange.
  • $10.25 is owed to the National Grange store and will be paid the week of September 22.

As of 8/31/2014 the Kile Fund balance at PNC Bank was $40,388.91.

There seems to be some confusion regarding the Kile Fund 2013 990 as we have two letters from the IRS, the first stating that a filing extension has been granted and a later one denying it. Andrew will meet with our new CPA on September 24 to straighten things out.

Old Business

The National Arboretum has notified Samantha Johnson that an alternative naming opportunity exists for the $3,500.00 Potomac Grange contributed in 2012 for a “Solar Demonstration Kiosk” that the Arboretum later decided not to build. Potomac Grange has asked for suitable alternatives or the money back. This issue will be taken up at the next meeting when Samantha is back.

There still is no formal estimate for the Grange Building kitchen renovation. It was decided to defer this issue to February, as the status of the Grange Building is uncertain at this time.

New Business

Before moving to old business, there was discussion regarding Potomac Grange representation at the National Convention. There was consensus that Dick Weiss be the Potomac representative with Grace Boatright as a possible co-representative. Weiss expressed some concern about being cast into the role of 2016 convention coordinator. After some discussion, it was decided that Dick, Joan and Jessie will work together on the coordination task. Accordingly the following will take place:

  • Jessie will figure out a time and place at the convention to hold the 2016 convention committee meeting.
  • Weiss will notify the State Masters of the sponsoring states of the meeting and ask that they have representatives present.
  • The three of us will meet to determine what tasks need to be performed and what each state might do.

We will check with Leroy to determine if the Potomac Grange Operating Account or the Kile Fund pays representatives expenses.

It was decided that Potomac Grange’s convention holiday gift would be a candy bar with a Potomac Grange message labeled on it, perhaps something about the 2016 convention. Amanda Brozana will be asked to work up a design.

Other New Business

There was consensus to hold the Potomac Grange holiday event on Tuesday, January 13, 2013 and have it catered in the Grange Building. President Smith will arrange an educational presentation by One Country Connected, an organization supporting the extension of broad band communication throughout rural America.

Jessie Cope informed us that the Maryland State Grange invited Potomac Grange members to join them on a tour of Gettysburg on Saturday, September 19.

The National Grange sent a letter to all Granges asking members to contribute $10.00 each to National to defray legal costs arising from trade mark issues and the California situation.

There was no further business and the meeting adjourned at 10:40 a.m.

The next meeting will be October 21, 2014.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Richard B. Weiss, Secretary
Potomac Grange #1