Monthly Meeting Minutes

January 10, 2007
President Marianne Mussett opened the meeting with an announcement that she would be opening meetings on time, and she asked that members please wear nametags. We will collect $0.25 from members not wearing nametags which will go into our general fund.

Marianne proposed that we do the business meeting first and then the program. It was discussed with the members. Several objections were made about people, in the past, coming in late because they knew that the opening was just the business meeting. She would like to do the business meeting first for at least this month and next month. It was agreed that we will all think about the issue and make a more permanent decision later.
She also asked that chairmen contact her to let her know if there was not anything to report. Then we will just skip over that committee report to streamline our meetings.

Welcome Chairman Marilyn Freeman introduced two guests in attendance.
President Marianne Mussett put out our new EGA national information booklet for members to review.

Secretary Annette Hill made a copy of the December meeting minutes available for review. President Marianne Mussett asked members to note any corrections needed and that we would approve the minutes next month.

Treasurer Karlyn Thompson reported balances of $1510.72 in our checking account, $1688.74 in our savings account, and $2442.53 in our CD account, for a total of $5641.99. She also reported that for the year 2006, our expenses exceeded income by $1352.12. On average we have been spending about $2000 more per year than we have taken in. Karlyn suggests that we need to change our practice about spending. President Marianne Mussett agreed that we need to consider a policy change. The Treasurer’s report will be filed for audit.

Membership Chairman Donna Mohn reported that a few members have not paid their dues. She reports that we have about 85 members. Su Pelitieri added that we mail out 85 newsletters, but about a dozen are complimentary for exchange purposes. Four members did not renew because they felt that we were doing projects that were too advanced.

Education Committee had no report.

Outreach Committee had no report.

Library Committee had no report.

Newsletter Chairman Su Pelitieri offered extra newsletters to guests. She circulated a new roster and asked members to review their entry so that information is verified before it is printed out and distributed.

Resident Organization Council representative, Anna Kerlin, reported that Cindy De Saint Victor is the new volunteer coordinator of TBG. The new director of TBG is Janet Schroeder.

Great Lakes Region representative Caren Scarbrough reported that the annual Tea Cup Opportunity Drawing will be held at the regional meeting since there is no regional seminar this year, due to our region hosting the National Seminar. We will be receiving tickets to sell. Donations of prizes would be appreciated.

Show Committee Chairman, Diane Myers has nothing to report while we continue to discuss our options about our show.

New business: President Marianne Mussett presented the proposed new agreement with the Toledo Botanical Garden. They are now allowing us only 24 hours of facility use free of charge per year. When you exceed that, the organization will be charged ½ the rate of rental for a non-member organization. That means that our show would run up over $700.00 in rent charges. Workshops would also have to pay rent charges if we have them in the Terrace Room or the Stables. Volunteer hours only count toward the 24 hours of free room time.
Marianne presented three proposals: (1) spend the money for the show here this year at TBG (2) try to find another venue (3) not do the show
Officers are researching all three options. Discussion included the news that our volunteer hours during our own show don’t count toward our discount on rent. Therefore, we were charged $120.00 last year for room rental. TBG eliminated the "box lady" volunteer opportunity which is how we used to contribute our volunteer hours. It was suggested that we do the show every other year. [But] Several members noted that our annual show distinguishes us. It also brings in a lot of new members. It was suggested that we increase the show fees.
A vote was taken. A clear majority was in favor of investigating other venues.
Karlyn Thompson asked how many entries do we have each show? Su reports that we had about 150 entries this past year. Donna Mohn discussed our dues and where that money goes. $29 goes to national EGA, $10 to the NAGT, and $1 goes to the GLR.
Marianne will be discussing our situation directly with the Director of TBG. She will be investigating the terms for the use of the OI building lobby and the meeting rooms at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library. Su Pelitieri presented a motion that we increase show entry fees by $1.00 per entry. Marilyn Freeman seconded. The motion passed by a clear majority.

Marianne then introduced discussion regarding a policy shift to include all expenses, including teaching fees, in our fees to participants for workshops. It has been our policy to withdraw money from our education fund CD to cover the teaching fee portion.
For the upcoming Myrtis Justiniano class, her proposed cost of $68.00 includes the book and kit. A cost of $80.00 would also include rent fee. We will, as usual, charge an additional $10.00 fee for non-members. The board recommends that participating members begin to bear the whole class cost with no subsidy from our treasury. Treasurer Karlyn Thompson read a statement written when we established the Evelyn Goodeman Fund which stated that we would acquire 3 CDs with laddered maturity dates and spend $500 a year to be spent on a workshop and 3 group correspondence courses. Reaction is that we can no longer afford to do that. Discussion about selling items like other guilds to raise money concluded that it is not profitable for such labor intensive arts as embroidery.

It was announced that there is a Secret Stitcher gift on the back table. Marianne presented a brief summary of our programs for our guests. Jennifer Miller has more catalogs from a needlework vendor who contacted us on the back table.

Marianne announced that two scholarships are available through national EGA, and that she has further information for interested individuals.

Members took a five minute break before Ann Rorarius presented our program, a Canvaswork Needlecase. The meeting was then adjourned.