Agenda & Minutes
RVGS Board of Directors (View All)
RVGS Board Meeting
Minutes
Monday, May 09, 2022
Society Board Meeting Minutes
Date: May 9, 2022 via Zoom
CALL TO ORDER
The regular RVGS Board meeting was called to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:30 a.m.; a quorum was declared. Those present were: Kim Thurman, Katie Haugse, Loretta Barker, Marijo Medcraft, Lynne Hunter, Pat Jenkins, Barbara Halvorsen, and Rich Miles.
REVIEW OF MINUTES/CORRESPONDENCE
The regular RVGS Board meeting was called to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:30 a.m.; a quorum was declared. Those present were: Kim Thurman, Katie Haugse, Loretta Barker, Marijo Medcraft, Lynne Hunter, Pat Jenkins, Barbara Halvorsen, and Rich Miles.
REVIEW OF MINUTES/CORRESPONDENCE
Motion 2022-20. Katie Haugse moved that we approve the April 11, 2022, Board minutes as presented. Anne Billeter seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft submitted the Treasurer’s Report for the period ended March 31, 2022.
Statement of Activity
General Income $ 789.26
Program Income 885.93
Total Income 1,675.19
General Expenses $ 1,858.56
Program Expenses 2,430.99
Total Expenses -2,614.36
Interest 1.61
Rewards Income 1.00
Net Income $ -2,611.75
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft noted that 18 memberships were paid in April, six of which were new; two rejoins; and 10 renewals. Two high expenses this past month were for EBSCO (My Heritage) at $1,675 and Library World at $495. Kim Thurman noted that although our balance was in the minus column, when you look at the budget (budget vs. actuals), we are still in good shape.
Motion 2022-21. Rich Miles moved that we approve the Treasurer’s Report as submitted. Anne Billeter seconded. Motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Great Lakes Interest Group joint with Genealogical Forum of Oregon
Kim Thurman was approached by Laurel Smith, GFO’s Acting President, to let her know that they do not have a member to act as facilitator of the GFO interest group and they will now suggest their members join our interest group. Kim said there are 23 people signed up for this group which begins meeting in June. Laurel asked about collaborating as partners for this interest group. Kim believes this would be a positive partnership. Barbara Halvorsen said she thinks this is a good idea to merge the two groups. Because Kim Thurman is a member of both groups, GFO is happy about merging the groups. Facilitators of merged interest groups should be a member of both RVGS and GFO. Anne Billeter suggested using co-leaders to share the responsibility. There is a lot of potential in joining forces.
Great Lakes Interest Group joint with Genealogical Forum of Oregon
Kim Thurman was approached by Laurel Smith, GFO’s Acting President, to let her know that they do not have a member to act as facilitator of the GFO interest group and they will now suggest their members join our interest group. Kim said there are 23 people signed up for this group which begins meeting in June. Laurel asked about collaborating as partners for this interest group. Kim believes this would be a positive partnership. Barbara Halvorsen said she thinks this is a good idea to merge the two groups. Because Kim Thurman is a member of both groups, GFO is happy about merging the groups. Facilitators of merged interest groups should be a member of both RVGS and GFO. Anne Billeter suggested using co-leaders to share the responsibility. There is a lot of potential in joining forces.
Motion 2022-22. Rich Miles moved that we go forward with the Great Lakes Interest Group joining with GFO’s Great Lakes group. Lynne Hunter seconded. Motion passed.
July Board Meeting
There was a discussion as to whether we needed to have our July Board meeting or not. Many of our board members will be traveling at that time.
There was a discussion as to whether we needed to have our July Board meeting or not. Many of our board members will be traveling at that time.
Motion 2022-23. Katie Haugse moved that we cancel the July 12, 2022, Board Meeting. Lynne Hunter seconded. Motion carried.
September Library Anniversary celebrations
Barbara Halvorsen said that the Education Committee is planning to have a meeting on this subject in June. Katie Haugse, Dorothy Cotton, Barbara Halvorsen, Ruth Wade, Ann Baraker, and Anne Billeter will meet and come up with a plan for this celebration in September; Anne Baraker has suggested an ice cream social at the library. They also need to plan to do this outdoors if there is another COVID outbreak; that decision will come in August. They will need a budget for the ice cream social or whatever is finally decided upon. Question: Could this be done virtually if fires and/or COVID are raging? The committee will present a history of our library. They will have virtual and in-person plans.
Library of Congress class on September 7.
The beginning plans are to use the library meeting room and Zoom. Hopefully we will get the people who cannot/do not use Zoom into the library for a class. The instructor will be remote. Katie Haugse said she could help facilitate this. They need to decide upon the registration process since some people will be coming into the library for the class and others will not. Our Education Committee has arranged for this class and we are not being charged a fee. The class is on September 7 from 10:30 to 12:00. Anne Billeter brought up the fact that we will need a librarian at the library to monitor the beginning because some people are notorious for coming late to class. The Education Committee will draft a proposal and bring it back to the Board about having hybrid classes with a virtual instructor. They will submit this proposal to the Board in June. Having hybrid classes might help us bring people back into our library; after the class they could stay and do research. Katie Haugse, Barbara Halvorsen, Pat Jenkins, and Anne Billeter will bring this proposal to the Board in June.
Salt Lake City research trip
Kim Thurman said that Ann Baraker recommended that this trip be postponed until next year. She sent an email to 12 people and only received seven responses. She wanted to know if there were any major events scheduled during February or March that she should avoid when scheduling the trip; so far nothing is on our calendar. We are waiting for OLLI to return to in-person instruction. Kim will let Ann know what we discussed.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Research Request Pricing
Chris Galligan requested that this be delayed until the June Board meeting.
REPORTS
A. Executive
Barbara Halvorsen said that the Education Committee is planning to have a meeting on this subject in June. Katie Haugse, Dorothy Cotton, Barbara Halvorsen, Ruth Wade, Ann Baraker, and Anne Billeter will meet and come up with a plan for this celebration in September; Anne Baraker has suggested an ice cream social at the library. They also need to plan to do this outdoors if there is another COVID outbreak; that decision will come in August. They will need a budget for the ice cream social or whatever is finally decided upon. Question: Could this be done virtually if fires and/or COVID are raging? The committee will present a history of our library. They will have virtual and in-person plans.
Library of Congress class on September 7.
The beginning plans are to use the library meeting room and Zoom. Hopefully we will get the people who cannot/do not use Zoom into the library for a class. The instructor will be remote. Katie Haugse said she could help facilitate this. They need to decide upon the registration process since some people will be coming into the library for the class and others will not. Our Education Committee has arranged for this class and we are not being charged a fee. The class is on September 7 from 10:30 to 12:00. Anne Billeter brought up the fact that we will need a librarian at the library to monitor the beginning because some people are notorious for coming late to class. The Education Committee will draft a proposal and bring it back to the Board about having hybrid classes with a virtual instructor. They will submit this proposal to the Board in June. Having hybrid classes might help us bring people back into our library; after the class they could stay and do research. Katie Haugse, Barbara Halvorsen, Pat Jenkins, and Anne Billeter will bring this proposal to the Board in June.
Salt Lake City research trip
Kim Thurman said that Ann Baraker recommended that this trip be postponed until next year. She sent an email to 12 people and only received seven responses. She wanted to know if there were any major events scheduled during February or March that she should avoid when scheduling the trip; so far nothing is on our calendar. We are waiting for OLLI to return to in-person instruction. Kim will let Ann know what we discussed.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Research Request Pricing
Chris Galligan requested that this be delayed until the June Board meeting.
REPORTS
A. Executive
- President—Kim Thurman reported that the Oregon Heritage Conference was held in April. Kim hosted a brown bag genealogy group and only two people attended; although she did make a connection with a couple of people. Kim is still working on getting a door for the Society office.
- Vice President—No additional report
- Trustee—Lynne has submitted her report but she questions the number of individual members because that number has been static for a couple of months.
- Past President—No additional report.
B. Directors
- Finance—vacant.
- Volunteer—vacant. Volunteer hours for April as reported by Rene Forncrook are: Total April hours--616; Board member hours—178.5; number of volunteers--95; Total hours for 2022—2,681.
- Library—Since we have reopened we have experienced more book donations. Linda Henningfield donated three boxes and Sue Schmidt, Calista Bailey’s daughter, brought in 36 books. These donations are similar to what we experienced before the pandemic. Anne would like to consider an in-person book sale. It would be good to do this when we have higher library traffic—it’s something to think about. There have been some problems with our eBay book sales. Some books are selling for so little that we earn nothing from them after paying the postage to mail them to the buyer. We need to consider a minimum price for any book placed for sale on eBay; shipping costs us $3.99. It was decided by the Board that no book should sell for less than $10; that way our shipping costs will be covered and we will receive something. Kim will let Barbara Northrop know that we have established a minimum price of $10 and that any book selling for less than that should be pulled off the market.
- Education—The Education Committee needs to come up with ideas for their page on our website.
- Membership—No report submitted. Margaret advised Kim that she and her husband are ill with COVID. It appears that membership renewal reminder letters are getting out late. Kim Thurman and Katie Haugse will meet at the library this coming Wednesday and send out membership renewal letters. Kim will check with Margaret and find out when the letters stopped going out. A number of Board members whose memberships were up for renewal did not receive their letters.
- Technology—Report submitted. Rich noted that there have been troubles signing in the FindMyPast and American Ancestors at the library. He said to use the website credentials to log in. Rich noted that putting videos on our website is a lot of work and few people look at them. Regarding our rebranding, Diane West and Teresa Lewis will submit designs with two different concepts. Rich said he has worked on our problem log. Regarding the electronics sign out front, Rich has emailed SignsNow to request that they come and check it out. We need to determine what the problem with this sign is. Regarding SharePoint, Jeff is working on this. He had a couple of conversations regarding how it is set up.
C. Committee Reports
- Publicity—Pam Sasseen sent an email saying that she needs to focus on the things in her life that she needs to do right now. Rich Miles said we need to make sure we have a copy of her distribution list. Katie Haugse said she has information from 2018, The Ashland and Medford Chambers have been actively posting our information. Katie will try to gather contacts.
- Maintenance—No report. Kim Thurman noted that her roommate worked on the plumbing problem we had recently. We really need to find a handyman.
- NGS Delegate—Nothing to report. Katie noted that the NGS Conference is too expensive and she is not going to attend.
- Editors
eNews—Deadline is the 20th of the month. Rich noted that he will be out of town September 28-October 10. He will do the eNews very early
The Rogue Digger—Suspended until a new Editor can be found.
The Rogue Digger—Suspended until a new Editor can be found.
D. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The next Board Meeting is scheduled for June 13, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., at the library.
Program & Member Meeting is May 17, 2022, at 1:30 p.m., via Zoom.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:38 a.m.
Loretta Barker, Secretary
