FICRA & FICRA BUILDING TRUST BOARDS MEETING MINUTES 6-11-2020

JOINT MEETING OF FICRA & THE FICRA BUILDING TRUST BOARDS 
VIDEO/TELECONFERENCE MEETING MINUTES 
Thursday, June 11, 2020, 6:30PM

TRUST Board Attendees: Jim Braden, Hal Goodell, Naomi Grant, and Howard Stapleton in attendance.  Gina Olson excused.

FICRA Board Attendees: Pia Beetham, Hal Goodell, Miguel Martinez, Howard Stapleton and Candy Wawro in attendance.

Additional Attendees: Joan Broughton, Karen Kretschmer and Ray Kittelberger.

The Zoom Meeting started at 6:30pm and there was a brief waiting period to allow everyone to join. The meeting date is the normally scheduled Board meeting date with a 6:30PM start time.

The Joint Special Meeting was officially called to order at 6:36pm.

Presidents’ Comments:  Miguel thanked everyone for staying involved/engaged in these trying times & all of their effort in continuing to meet & handle business, including Hal’s work in keeping the financial records in order.  He also extended thanks to all for continuing to promote FICRA and keep our island residents safe & informed.

Minutes from the FICRA Annual Member Meeting, FICRA Board Meeting, and FICRA Trust Board Meeting from March 12, 2020 were unanimously approved with no abstentions.  Motion by Naomi Grant with second by Jim Braden.

FICRA Building Trust Annual Meeting: The Trust Board voted unanimously to approve the date, time and ballot as proposed by the Nominating Committee for FICRA Building Trust Annual Meeting and Election of the Board of Directors.  The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Nichols Community Center on Sunday, June 21, 2020, Noon to 1:00PM.  The Nominating Committee has recommended the following candidates for election:

Treasurer’s Report: Hal Goodell

Document sharing was enabled for Hal to display the financial reports.  The following information was provided:

FICRA Checking: Apr 1: $ 14,145.55 Apr 30: Cleared Balance: $ 14,145.55

FICRA Money Market: Apr 1: $ 30,984.56 Apr 30: Cleared Balance: $ 30,995.09

FICRA PayPal: Apr 1: $ 23.97 Apr 30: Balance: $ 23.97

Trust Checking account: Apr 1 Balance: $ 25,427.59, Apr 30 Balance: $ 17,587.56

Trust Capital Checking: Apr 1 Balance: $ 3,925.45, Apr 30 Balance: $ 3,925.45

Trust Reserve Checking: Apr 1 Balance: $ 1,541.00, Apr 30 Balance: $ 1,541.00

Trust Money Market:  Apr 1 Balance: $ 184,895.16, Apr 30 Balance: $ 184,997.23

Trust Savings: Apr 1 Balance: $ 226.94, Apr 30 Balance $ 268.00

Trust PayPal: Apr 1 Balance: $ 24.28, Apr 30 Balance $ 24.28

Membership is currently at 373.  There has been very little activity for both FICRA and the Trust.  There were a couple of checks issued for large payments for property taxes and insurance. We are getting increased interest from the Money Market account and over $41 from Amazon Smile for Trust Savings.  Jim asked about revenues for Citizens’ Patrol on the Trust P&L.  Their revenues are down & we need to get some idea where we will be at end of year.  He would like to work with Hal on an end of year projection for all revenues/expenses based on COVID19.  Hal noted that up to $600 per couple can be deducted from your income without itemizing deductions under the CARES act for 2020.  We need to get something out in the Newsletter about this; we can send out an E‑Flash almost immediately.  Miguel suggested that we do something on social media channels as well.  Hal has filed IRS Form 990 for FICRA.

FICRA Publicity Committee Report:  Miguelreportedthat as of this morning there was a 67% open rate on 352 new addresses since January and 50% open rate on 1301 previous addresses for the E-Flash.  We are converting to Mailchimp from Constant Contact, which will save money (around $400 annually) and improve usability.  We have been trying to determine how effective our Facebook and Instagram are.  One of the ways to increase engagement with audiences and get them to notice our content is to engage in their content.  He will be getting together with Cheryl, Candy & Karen to come up with a campaign to comment/share/like other people’s posts from the island (we have over 167 Facebook followers).  We will want to stay away from controversial posts & focus on the fun stuff.  Karen asked if Mailchimp will have comparable analytics; Candy indicated it would.  Hal & Jim noted have seen favorable comments on the new E‑Flash format.

NCC Maintenance & Facility Improvements:  Jim has received around a dozen responses on scraping the building.  He is getting ready to rent scaffolding & get started (this is weather dependent).  He is also working on an “escape hatch” for the second (west) exit from the NCC basement.  The goals have been rebuilt for the sports field.  Jim discussed two requests we have received for outdoor use of the NCC, for a wedding reception with up to 25 participants and outdoor yoga.  The wedding reception is included under the faith-based guidelines.  The consensus is that we should be able to accommodate some outdoor events if they are allowed under the State and County guidelines, and we are satisfied that the risk is manageable after discussing it with our insurance carrier.

FICRA Building Trust Board Resolution 2020‑001: Resolution 2020-001 designating Project Management Responsibilities for the Building & Grounds Committee (attached) was introduced.  There was a motion to approve by Naomi, second by Hal and unanimous approval by Trust Board Members present.  Howard will be contacting Gina Olson to obtain her vote in absentia on the Resolution.  On 6/22/2020, Gina Olson responded via EMail approving the project management responsibilities.

Status of Planning for the 2020 FICRA Fair:  Hal still believes that it’s possible that we could be in Stage 4 by the end of July.  He is in the process of sending letters out to vendors and music is arranged.  Jim has had conversations with two epidemiologists on the island and expressed concern with making commitments at this time.  He believes that protecting seniors (and other high risk individuals) though social distancing will be difficult to do at this type of functions.  He is concerned about the Trust having responsibility in some way for losing folks and would like to hear more opinions and discussion.  There was an extended discussion by several meeting participants on the potential issues associated with the event & consensus that we should confer with our insurance carrier, collect more input and have contingency plans in place.  Hal noted that we will not have any inside activities.  Miguel also expressed concern with the safety of our residents & believes we should continue planning at this time.  Pia talked about the community getting back to the “new normal”, the unfortunate limitations for seniors and high risk population until there is a vaccine, and the risk of letting down the younger population on the island.  She believes we should move forward.  Jim is comfortable with proceeding, given the limitations and measures (no indoor activities, increased spacing between booths, more spacing and area for picnic tables, hand sanitizing stations, etc.) described by Hal, but wants us to be very thoughtful and ensure that people understand up front the potential risk.  Howard would like to see the language we use in our communications and agreements with the vendors and musicians.  All participants believe we should discuss the implications with our insurance carrier; Jim will initiate this discussion with them.  Ray noted that the shuttlebus would be difficult as well.  Jim noted that Gina Olson is moving forward with T‑Shirts and we may need to consider options if the Fair is cancelled.

Meeting Adjournment:  Howard asked if there were any other items before adjournment.  Hearing none, the meeting officially adjourned at 7:32pm.

Next Meetings: The next FICRA and FICRA Trust Board Meetings are scheduled for Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 6:30pm via video/teleconference.  The meeting notice and instructions for receiving the Zoom meeting invitation are posted on the website event calendar.

Respectfully submitted by Howard Stapleton for Gina Olson, Secretary