April ExComm Minutes
Rhode Island Mensa Executive Committee Meeting, April 25,
2003 at Eileen Darling's Restaurant. The meeting was called to order by Mona at 8:28 p.m.
Attending:
Voting members: Mona, Joan, Carol, Peter & Margie.
Non-voting: Alex, Laure, Lori, Ron, Tom, Arlene, Lee.
Reports
- Treasurer: Joan reported a current balance
of $1,888.23. (Checking - $1,258.77; postage account - $36.95; "shares" -
$592.51.)
- Editor: Dave was not present.
- Publisher: Arlene expressed hope that using
NetPost will eliminate the need for the Publisher position. We are waiting to view the May
issue of M'Ocean which is the first to use this method.
- Membership: Carol reported that we
currently have over 240 members. The count was 237 at the end of February. (We realize
that this number includes those who may not renew their memberships, so it may drop at the
end of April.)
- Testing: Peter reported that there were
testing sessions on Feb. 8 (Tom) and on March 8 (Carol and Mona). Seven of the eight
people tested in March were accepted by Mensa.
- Sunshine: Arlene stated there was nothing
to report.
- Programming/Young Adults: Denise was not
present.
- Gifted Children: Laure had nothing to
report.
- Webmaster: Margie reported that the
password-protected section has been restored on the web site. Margie was contacted by
Cathy of Boston Mensa, concerning a free event they were sponsoring in Woonsocket, RI on
March 29. (This was subsequently announced on the web site and added to our web calendar
of events.) We had a brief discussion of the possibility of coordinating more events with
the Boston Mensa group. It was mentioned that the YAMs are coordinating their activities.
Margie requested updated information for the web pages -- particularly from the Book
Discussion group, Gifted Children coordinator and Proctor.
Old Business
- Since there were no petition candidates, the slate presented
by the Nominating Committee was approved. The newly elected Executive Board is:
| Local Secretary |
Tom |
| Executive Officer |
Margie |
| Treasurer |
Joan |
| Membership Officer |
Carol |
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm
The meeting was re-convened by Tom, new Local Secretary, at
8:41 p.m.
Attending:
Voting members: Joan, Tom, Carol, Margie.
Non-voting: Mona, Alex, Laure, Lori, Ron, Lee.
The first order of business was a unanimous vote of thanks
to last year's Executive Committee.
New Business
- Tom proposed the following slate of appointed officers.
| Editor |
Dave |
| Proctor |
Lori |
| Programming |
Denise |
| Webmaster |
Margie |
| Sunshine |
pending |
| Publisher |
pending* |
| Gifted Children |
Laure (with Andrea as an
assistant) |
| *wait to see if we
need one if we use NetPost |
The slate was approved, following a brief discussion of
some of the positions. Mona will notify American Mensa of the change in officers. It was
noted that the SIGHT coordinator is appointed by National Mensa, and Barbara will retain
that position.
- RI Mensa does not have an Ombudsman. It was suggested that
the Mensa "minimum bylaws" may require that we fill that position. Lori will
look into this issue for us.
- Staples sent a check for $117 to our Editor as part of their
"Business Rewards" program. It is to be spent only at Staples, by June 30. We
discussed two options:
- If the NetPost issue does not meet our standards, we will go
back to using Staples. We could print one more issue at Staples, regardless, in order to
use the money. (Tom volunteered to be Publisher for the one issue.)
- If the Staples "dollars" can be used on something
other than copy fees, it was agreed that it could be spent on software, which would be
used by the Editor and/or the Webmaster. Another suggestion was to spend it on stationery
or mailers for corresponding with our members.
This issue will be resolved via e-mail before our next
Executive Board meeting.
- Lee suggested that we "poll" our lapsed members to
determine their reason for not renewing. This could be done by post card.
The meeting adjourned at 9:05.
Respectfully Submitted,
Margie, Executive Officer