18 May 2006 Waynet Board Meeting Minutes

Waynet Executive Board Meeting
May 18, 2006

Present:

Misty Hollis, President (Wayne County Visioning)
Jim Buckler, Secretary (WorkOne)
Jane Holman, Executive Director, Ex Officio, (WayNet.org)
Randy Baker (Richmond Power & Light)
Dudley Fetzer (First Richmond)
Robin Henry (West End Bank)
Jodi Johnson (Western Wayne Schools)
Bill Pendley (Potter’s Wheel Bed & Breakfast)
Valerie Biggs (Richmond Community Schools)

Call to Order
President Misty Hollis called the meeting to order at 12:03 PM in the large conference room at Richmond Power & Light. There was a quorum.

Minutes for the March meeting were reviewed. Jodi Johnson made the motion to approve; Dudley Fetzer seconded the motion. March minutes were approved.

Old Business
A fee waiver was presented for SPUR, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding walking/biking trails in Richmond. Robin Henry made the motion to approve; Bill Pendley seconded the motion. The motion to waive the fee was approved.

The financial balance sheet for January through April was reviewed. The balance at the end of April was $10,300.13. Balance was improved in April compared to March with the receipt of Sponsor and Business level member payments. Robin Henry made the motion to approve the financial report; Jodi Johnson seconded. The financial statement through April 2006 was approved.

Status of WayNet changing from a 501 (c)(4) to (c)(3) was again discussed. Form 1023 Information Request contains 23 items of information needed in preparation for the filing of the status change. Jane, with the help of Robin, will gather this information. Two other documents related to the conversion were reviewed. A “Gift-in-Kind Donation Approval Application Acceptance Policy/Form” was reviewed. Jodi Johnson moved to approve the document as presented; Dudley Fetzer seconded. The motion was approved. The second document was a “Conflict of Interest Disclosure” document for board members. Bill Pendley moved to approve this document; Randy Baker seconded. The motion was approved. Board members were instructed to either complete the “Conflict of Interest” form today or bring it back to the next meeting. A tentative special meeting will need to be scheduled for June to revise by-laws. If filing for status occurs after July 1st the fee increases from $500 to $900 which is a substantial difference.

There has been no further work completed on the Community Calendaring Project through Summersault. Jane has worked with Hayes Arboretum to develop their calendar which automatically mergers with WayNet’s calendar, similar to the Chamber calendar.

New Business
A policy clarification was requested regarding linking to blogs and non-official groups similar to Richmond Open Source Community without paying for membership. The general feeling of the board was negative to allowing linking to these types of web sites without membership for that specific web site. It was recommended to do more research regarding membership level and guidelines especially in regard to ramifications of converting to 501 (c)(3).

Robin Henry presented the report from the Marketing Committee. Gary Arndts and the marketing Committee developed a marketing plan including letters and postcards to be mailed to prospective Wayne County businesses that have web sites but are not currently a member. Jane developed a spreadsheet listing 300 potential businesses. She also ranked them indicating the top 60 with a rank of 1, 2 or 3 as the most likely candidates. A marketing letter with two postcards will be mailed to all 300. Robin Henry did a short training for board members to help them with a process and script to help when calling selected prospects from the top 60. Each board member will be asked to follow-up after the initial letter with a personal call for 5-6 businesses from this list. About two weeks after the phone call another WayNet postcard would be mailed with a personal handwritten note.

Executive Director’s Report
Jane reviewed the Executive Director’s report. Kicks96 was added as a Gold Member, Beacon Chiropractic as a Business Member and G101.3 was removed as a Business Member. Photo usage rights were sold to EDC of Wayne County and Convention and Tourism Bureau. Hayes Arboretum paid a set-up fee for their calendar.

Advertising was done in the Palladium-Item Progress insert in April. WayNet postcards were distributed at Morrison-Reeves Library and the City Building.

Meetings were held with John Zetzel of Gillman & Zetzel to discuss conversion to 501(c) (3). Dan Diercks was invited to join Flickr Wayne County group to include his photographs. Activity related to marketing included attending committee meetings, creating and ordering postcards and developing a database of local businesses and organizations for potential membership. Typical computer and website maintenance was also performed. Log analysis showed a sharp increase in March which was explained by an anomaly in the Talk of the Town program. April usage approached normal expectation but was still high. Jane is monitoring this issue.

Adjournment
As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM. A special board meeting to make changes to the by-laws is tentatively scheduled for June 15th at noon, Richmond Power & Light. The next regular board meeting will be July 20th, 2006 at noon, Richmond Power & Light.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Buckler
Secretary

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