RHYTHM
OF THE RAILS
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
October 12, 2004
CALL TO ORDER: Vice
President Darlene Hendrickson called the meeting to order at 6:49 p.m. It was determined that a quorum existed. Present were Executive Director Jody Crowe,
and Board Members Dave Anderson, Donna Benson, Judy Sorenson, and
CONSENT AGENDA
Agenda:
3 Items Added Under New Business:
- Batcher Block Opera House request
- Approval of Contract request for Executive Producer
- Itineraries
Bus
Donna Benson moved to accept additions to the Agenda. Judy Sorenson seconded. Motion carried.
Secretary’s Report: Judy Sorenson moved to approve the September minutes. Dave Anderson seconded. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report: No report.
OLD BUSINESS
Board Members:
Lisa Walters has agreed to accept the nomination to the
board.
Lum Locomotive (Dinky): Dinky is safe for now and will stay in Brainerd. Jody reports meeting with the Brainerd City Council, and they are supportive of Rhythm of the Rails being a participant in saving Dinky.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Nominating Committee: Done for this year.
Facilities Committee: Dave Anderson reported that the first order of business is considered to be putting on a show next summer. To accomplish this, the Facilities Committee would like to request $3,500 per building to build four (4) movable buildings, for a total of $14,000. These buildings will be temporary buildings, on skids so they are movable, but would be up to code requirements. They would not have plumbing, but could have electricity.
Mike will be moving our locomotive into one of the buildings. We also have to move all of the supplies from one trailer to another.
The Facilities Committee has begun designing the main buildings. They are requesting input from the other committees to find out the needs and wants to include in the design.
Motion by Dave and seconded by Judy, to direct the Executive Director to enter into a relationship with an architect for no beginning money, to gather design ideas and begin the process. Motion carried.
Finance Committee: See attached copy of report.
Judy reviewed the outstanding bills - $1,052 currently outstanding to Audio Systems and Communications Company. This includes $500 for rental of the equipment and $552 for purchasing the microphones. We are in possession of the mikes. Audio Systems and Communications was given a full page ad in the 2004 program valued at $700. Dave reported that the mikes are worth $200, but are being sold to us for $60 apiece. They are very good quality and will work for years. Dave will talk to Mark to work out either a payment schedule, and if not, it may need to be paid with credit card. Motion by Judy, seconded Mary, that we purchase the microphones. Motion passed.
$359 for trail9or rentals is due to date to TCBX. This includes $143 per month rent until the trailers are combined, and it will then cost $50 per month for two trailers.
The Finance Committee recommends that the board enter into a $3,000 per month contract with JAC productions to direct the project planning full time. Motion by Judy, seconded by Dave, that the Executive Committee is given the power to enter into the contract when the first money becomes available. Motion passed.
Jill Brodmarkle and Jody will put together a budget for the next year.
Next meeting of the Finance Committee will be November 1st.
Events Committee: See attached report. Recommendation received from the committee that we again do the radio show again over Thanksgiving. It will not be broadcast live, but rather be performed live for the audience, and recorded for broadcast later. The whole cast will be invited to participate. The show will be Saturday evening at Franklin Auditorium, and Sunday in Staples at the Butcher Block Opera House, hopefully.
The Butcher Block Opera House in Staples – They had requested our troupe perform for their 24-hour street dance scheduled to begin November 6th to raise $30,000. However, this is a for-profit business and while a response of support will be sent, we are not set up at this time to do this type of show.
Dave moved and Judy seconded that the Board set up a committee to do the Radio Show and budget and report to the next board meeting. Motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Executive Directors Report: Jody reports he has met with Jeff Halser of the city to put into place the Phase I and Phase II studies. He has also met with the Soil and Water Conservation board and while a wetland exemption has not been given at this time, it is still a possibility.
Jody presented a draft timeline of major items that need to be accomplished in the next year. Motion made by Dave seconded by Judy to approve sending a $5,000 grant request to US Bank. Motion passed.
Motion made by Mary, seconded by Donna to send the $25 fee to the Minnesota Attorney General’s office to register Rhythm of the Rails as a non-profit with a budget of more than $25,000. Motion passed.
Itineraries
are next week in
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Next meeting Tuesday, November 9 at the office.
Respectfully submitted,
Rhythm of the Rails
Finance Committee Meeting
October 7, 2004
Members Present:
Jill Brodmarkle
Judy Sorenson
Jody Crowe, Executive Director
We reviewed outstanding invoices from the summer production:
- There is an invoice from Audio Systems & Communications for $1,052. $542 of it is for the rental of amps and equipment and the remaining is the cost of purchasing the microphones. The board needs to make a decision on whether we want to purchase the microphones. At this time, we do not have funds to pay this invoice, so we can arrange to pay them from the next fundraiser or pay the balance using our crdit card now. We also need to take into consideration the fact that Audio Systems got a free full-page ad that is worth $700.
- There is no minimum payment due on our Capitol One card as we have paid enough ahead.
- We owe TCBX $359 for traler rental to date. The monthly rental will be $143 until we get the trailers moved around. It will then be $50/month.
Now that we know we will be getting the land for the Rhythm of the Rails project, we recommend that the board raise the money to provide a contract to JAC Productions for $3,000/month to guide the project to completion. We believe that the Executive Director needs to focus on the project full time in order to meet the timelines established for the park and next summer’s production. If the board agrees, we need to look at options for paying this contract.
To help make the decision, we asked Jody to present to the board two timelines for the project – one with a monthly contract for JAC Productions and one without the contract.
We discussed fund raising and potential donors. Jody may need one or more board members to go with him to show Rhythm of the Rails support when he meets with prospective donors.
Jill B. and Jody will put together a budget that reflects the whole project by the November board meeting. We will submit this budget when applying for grants such as Blandin, etc. Within this budget will be the production budget for next year.
The next Finance meeting will be November 1 at 5:30.
Judy Sorenson,
Finance Committee Chairman
Event Committee
October 1, 2004
Those present – Jody Crow, Jill Evans, Mike
Lundien, Darlene
Hendrickson. Not present – Randy
Cousins
We decided to have the radio show again
this year, on Thanksgiving weekend. It
will not be a live broadcast. It will be
like the first radio show. The whole
cast will be invited to participate. One
show will be at
We are also thinking of doing a
kick off family event, now that the Railroad has donated the land, to keep
Rhythm of the Rails in the spotlight.
Rick Cole and Heather Maine may
join our committee.
Our next meeting will be at the
North Winds grill on Friday, November 5, 2004, at 7:00 a.m.