Smoky Mountain Blues Society

Board of Directors Meeting Notes

5/17/09

 

 

The meeting was held at Barleys at 4 p.m. on Sunday 5/17/09

 

Board members in attendance were:

 

John McCormack
        Sharon Kniffin

Michael Feeback

Ron Keasler  

Steve Michel
       
Dave Mills
       
Randy Ross
       
Robert Higginbotham

Charles LaLoggia

 

        Louis Kittrell was unable to attend

 

This was a ‘working’ meeting with the goal of reviewing the Charter (also known as Articles of Incorporation) and other items in preparation for the May 31 General Meeting.

 

  1. Review of Charter

 

Higginbotham presented a draft charter.  It was written to be the equivalent of Tennessee state form SS-418 (Rev. 9/04) Charter (Non Profit Corporation).  The state form is only ‘fillable’ on line and can be printed but cannot be saved electronically.  The equivalent charter is allowed by the State. 

 

There was much discussion concerning whether the Society will have ‘members’ (item 2c) as defined by law.   It was decided that we will not.  We will have a membership in the eyes of the Society which will have voting rights.  This will be defined in our by laws.  However in the eyes of the law we will not have members.  This was recommended by many sources to allow the society to operate in a less encumbered manner and to avoid wasting time and money with legal issues.

 

There was also much discussion about ‘conducting business’ as a non profit corporation.  For instance should the Society be in the business of selling t-shirts, or should we partner with a for-profit company to do all the work in trade for a charitable donation.  The law allows the society to have revenue and reasonable expenses but in discussing the details it was realized that none of us are lawyers and none of us really knew.  Charles LaLoggia volunteered to meet with a tax attorney and report back.

 

  1. Other items to prepare for 5/31/09 General Meeting

 

2a.       Mike Feeback has procured a P.O. Box for the Society.  Our address is now:

 

            Smoky Mountain Blues Society

            P.O. Box 7180

            Marvyille, TN  37802

 

Feeback and Higginbotham will each have a key.  If more keys are needed we can get them but at extra cost.

 

2b.       Management of Corporate documents

 

it was agreed that the Society should keep these in a safety deposit box, with an inventory of its contents available on the website.  Higginbotham agreed to find out costs on this.

 

 

2b.       Items that the Board should budget for

 

            P.O. Box

            Safety Deposit Box

            Corporate Seal and set of Books

            Independent Accountant for Annual Review of financials

            Fees to Blues Foundation

            Budget to send band(s) to the annual International Blues Competition (IBC) in Memphis

            Incidentals (copying, printing, postage, etc)

 

2c.       Annual Membership rate structure

 

            Dave Mills reported the following decisions of the membership committee

 

            Student with a valid I.D.          $15 annual

            Single Member                        $25 annual

            Family Member                       $40 annual (two or more at same address)

            Each of the above memberships would receive one vote at annual and special meetings

 

The membership committee is still developing rates for other categories such as band, corporate, etc.  It is anticipated that if a member decides to upgrade from a current category to one established in the future (i.e. Single Member to life time member) then monies already paid would be pro-rated towards the upgraded membership.

 

There was also discussion about what our ‘product’ is.  What are members and (in the future) corporate sponsors, bands getting for their money ??  It was clear that more work needs to be done in this area.

 

2d.       By laws – Higginbotham agreed to draft a set of by laws for initial review

 

2e.       Terms – as agreed to in a  previous general membership meeting, officers will serve two year terms with half serving a one year term this year, the other half serving a two year term.  Using a randomizing method here are the results:

 

            1 year -  John McCormack, Mike Feeback, Louis Kittrell, Dave Mills, Robert Higginbotham

            2 year – Sharon Kniffin, Ron Keasler, Steve Michel, Randy Ross, Charles LaLoggia

 

            It was proposed that any officer with a 33% unexcused absence rate will be removed.  A majority vote of the board will be used to fill the slot until next election

 

2f.        Term schedule

 

            It was proposed that officers serve a term of June 1st  through May 31st.  The Annual Membership meeting (when new board members are voted in) would take place annually at the April Meeting. This will give a month’s transition period for old members to work with new members.

 

 

3.                  Miscellaneous

 

One more volunteer is needed to help at Larry McCray show

Higginbotham has wristbands and raffle tickets left over from Knoxville Blues Society

It was suggested that we raffle off a autographed McCray CD or two at the show for members

Fundraising – currently the two sources are the membership and entertainment committees.  There was mention of establishing a fund raising committee to raise funds through other sources (i.e. grants, etc).

 

 

The meeting ended at approximately 6:30 p.m.