Agenda & Minutes
RVGS Board of Directors (View All)
RVGS Board Meeting
Minutes
Monday, January 10, 2022
Rogue Valley Genealogical Society Board Meeting Minutes
January 10, 2022 via Zoom
CALL TO ORDER
The regular RVGS Board meeting was called to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:36 a.m.; a quorum was declared. Those present were: Kim Thurman, Katie Haugse, Loretta Barker, Marijo Medcraft, Lynne Hunter, Pat Jenkins, Barbara Halvorsen, Anne Billeter, and Rich Miles. Guest present was Barbara Shrewsberry.
REVIEW OF MINUTES/CORRESPONDENCE
The regular RVGS Board meeting was called to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:36 a.m.; a quorum was declared. Those present were: Kim Thurman, Katie Haugse, Loretta Barker, Marijo Medcraft, Lynne Hunter, Pat Jenkins, Barbara Halvorsen, Anne Billeter, and Rich Miles. Guest present was Barbara Shrewsberry.
REVIEW OF MINUTES/CORRESPONDENCE
Motion 2022-01. Pat Jenkins moved that we approve the December 6, 2021, Board minutes with the correction of the Total Income figure in the Treasurer’s report from $666.57 to $2,666.57. Katie Haugse seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft submitted the Treasurer’s Report for the period ended December 3, 2021.
Statement of Activity
General Income 7,110.00
Program Income 362.42
Total Income 7,472.42
General Expenses 2,495.24
Program Expenses 3,377.41
Total Expenses 5,872.65
Interest 1.67
Life Memberships 1,000.00
Net Income $ -2,601.44
Marijo noted that we renewed ProQuest subscriptions. Fold 3 for $1,548.61, Ancestry for $,1,038.22 and OR Newspapers for $590.01. An additional $375 was paid to Cramer and Associates for preparation of tax-exempt annual report due to initial invoice being incorrect.
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft submitted the Treasurer’s Report for the period ended December 3, 2021.
Statement of Activity
General Income 7,110.00
Program Income 362.42
Total Income 7,472.42
General Expenses 2,495.24
Program Expenses 3,377.41
Total Expenses 5,872.65
Interest 1.67
Life Memberships 1,000.00
Net Income $ -2,601.44
Marijo noted that we renewed ProQuest subscriptions. Fold 3 for $1,548.61, Ancestry for $,1,038.22 and OR Newspapers for $590.01. An additional $375 was paid to Cramer and Associates for preparation of tax-exempt annual report due to initial invoice being incorrect.
Motion 2022-02. Katie Haugse moved that we approve the Treasurer’s Report as submitted. Pat Jenkins seconded. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9:52 a.m. to go into Executive Session.
Meeting was called back to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:54 a.m.
NEW BUSINESS
Officer Approval of Directors and Past President Appointees
Kim Thurman presented her slate of directors to the Board noting that we still have no one to fill the Finance and Volunteer positions. They are: Past President: Anne Billeter; Education: Pat Jenkins and Barbara Halvorsen; Membership: Margaret Clark-Mayfield (Katie Haugse standing in for Margaret); Library: Anne Billeter; and Technology and Data Management: Rich Miles. Kim read the oath of office and each individually agreed. She then presented these appointees to the Board, who voted unanimously to accept them.
Conflict of Interest Statements
Kim thanked those who had already forwarded their signed forms to her. Only three, Barbara Halvorson, Katie Haugse, and Pat Jenkins need to complete this. Kim asked that if they were having trouble emailing it to her that they copy it and mail it in.
New Board Member Packet content
Rich Miles reviewed the New Member Packet that he has put together. It is up-to-date and has links to all pertinent information on our website. Anne Billeter has submitted some edits to Rich. It was suggested that we define the Rogue Digger and the eNews in the packet as some new board members might not be knowledgeable about them.
RVGS/JCGL Business Name discussion
It has been brought to our attention that there is some confusion about our name; people thinking that it might be a Jackson County entity. The question arose as to whether or not we should think about changing our name. There was a discussion about rebranding ourselves going forward
to become more nationally known
Meeting was called back to order by President Kim Thurman at 9:54 a.m.
NEW BUSINESS
Officer Approval of Directors and Past President Appointees
Kim Thurman presented her slate of directors to the Board noting that we still have no one to fill the Finance and Volunteer positions. They are: Past President: Anne Billeter; Education: Pat Jenkins and Barbara Halvorsen; Membership: Margaret Clark-Mayfield (Katie Haugse standing in for Margaret); Library: Anne Billeter; and Technology and Data Management: Rich Miles. Kim read the oath of office and each individually agreed. She then presented these appointees to the Board, who voted unanimously to accept them.
Conflict of Interest Statements
Kim thanked those who had already forwarded their signed forms to her. Only three, Barbara Halvorson, Katie Haugse, and Pat Jenkins need to complete this. Kim asked that if they were having trouble emailing it to her that they copy it and mail it in.
New Board Member Packet content
Rich Miles reviewed the New Member Packet that he has put together. It is up-to-date and has links to all pertinent information on our website. Anne Billeter has submitted some edits to Rich. It was suggested that we define the Rogue Digger and the eNews in the packet as some new board members might not be knowledgeable about them.
RVGS/JCGL Business Name discussion
It has been brought to our attention that there is some confusion about our name; people thinking that it might be a Jackson County entity. The question arose as to whether or not we should think about changing our name. There was a discussion about rebranding ourselves going forward
to become more nationally known
Motion 2022=03. Rich Miles moved that the Board explore the effort required to change our name. Katie Haugse seconded. Motion passed.
President Kim will gather a task force to review this matter. Pat Jenkins said she could agree to changing our name if it does not change the focus of our Society. She stated that she believed it would not be as difficult of a process as we might think. Kim will appoint members to serve on this task force.
Special Interest Group (SIG) attendee policy, affiliate with another society?
Kim Thurman told the Board that the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO) is also having trouble getting leaders for their groups. GFO groups are open to anyone, and they plan to stay virtual. The present policy of RVGS is that members are free and guests pay $5 for each visit to the group. At the time this policy was established we were meeting in person and it was easy to identify non-members and have them pay. Now, meeting virtually, this is almost impossible to do. We have an opportunity to pick up members when they visit our interest groups and then find out the extent of our offerings. Question: Should our SIG groups be free to all? Barbara Halvorsen stated that she doesn’t know if many visitors are actually paying because once they visit an interest group, the host then sends them the link for the meetings. Kim Thurman doesn’t believe we have received any payments for interest groups. It would be helpful to groups such as our DNA groups if they could connect with other groups. There are ways we could be helpful to each other’s groups bycross promoting our activities.
Motion: 2022-04. Rich Miles moved that we remove the $5 fee for non-members to attend our Special Interest Groups. Anne Billeter seconded. Motion carried.
Special Interest Group (SIG) attendee policy, affiliate with another society?
Kim Thurman told the Board that the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO) is also having trouble getting leaders for their groups. GFO groups are open to anyone, and they plan to stay virtual. The present policy of RVGS is that members are free and guests pay $5 for each visit to the group. At the time this policy was established we were meeting in person and it was easy to identify non-members and have them pay. Now, meeting virtually, this is almost impossible to do. We have an opportunity to pick up members when they visit our interest groups and then find out the extent of our offerings. Question: Should our SIG groups be free to all? Barbara Halvorsen stated that she doesn’t know if many visitors are actually paying because once they visit an interest group, the host then sends them the link for the meetings. Kim Thurman doesn’t believe we have received any payments for interest groups. It would be helpful to groups such as our DNA groups if they could connect with other groups. There are ways we could be helpful to each other’s groups bycross promoting our activities.
Motion: 2022-04. Rich Miles moved that we remove the $5 fee for non-members to attend our Special Interest Groups. Anne Billeter seconded. Motion carried.
Kim Thurman will advise the leaders of these groups of this change.
Library Inventory Preliminary Report
Anne Billeter noted that we have over 23,000 cataloged items in our library. Her final report will be presented next month. Out of all these items there are only four that are missing!
Proposed Revisions to Library Closure Policy
Anne Billeter reviewed the proposed changes with the Board. The only difficult one is the 4th of July holiday. It was suggested that we close the library on Friday if the 4th falls on Saturday and close on Monday if the 4th falls on Sunday. Anne will bring this back to the Board in February for approval.
Speaker Contract revision requested by the Education Committee
Barbara Halvorsen stated that the Education Committee has concerns about contracts for our classes. They have taken the Seminar contract and changed it to meet class requirements. They also need to change the speaker agreement because it is not applicable for our virtual meetings and workshops. Should they add changes for hybrid classes? Barbara will send her draft to Rich Miles and he will review it. The form needs to be fillable online. Katie Haugse noted that we need 100 days on either side of these contracts for changes. The Education Committee will bring these forms back to the board once they are in a reviewable form.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
REPORTS – Approved without discussion unless action is noted below.
A. Executive
- President—Kim Thurman and Katie Haugse have been working on the asset inventory of our library. It has become obvious that we need a better method; we need code tags on our assets and equipment. Our Amazon book selling account is set up under some person’s personal phone number that we cannot access. We need to purchase a cell phone in the name of the library to fix this problem. Does someone have a newer phone that we can use as a library phone? We also need a policy of what goes on the asset list. Kim will write an article for the February eNews listing how valuable our $40 membership fee is. The Society pays $8,114.78 for subscriptions and it takes 200 members just to pay for these subscriptions.
- Vice President—No additional report
- Trustee—Report submitted. Lynne noted that the December report had been completed by Barbara Northrop and she will be doing January’s report. It was noted that we are not doing Tutorial Tuesdays anymore—this line could be removed. It was decided to leave it in as a placeholder as this might start up again. A line is needed for our Newbie interest group and one for the Great Lakes group.Rich will modify the spreadsheet and move it to Google Sheets for easier access and corrections.
- Past President—Anne Billeter will begin filling this position next month. Thank you, Anne.
B. Directors
- Finance—vacant.
- Volunteer—vacant. Volunteer hours as reported by Rene Forncrook are: Total December hours--568; Board member hours—218; number of volunteers--94; Total hours for 2021—7,658
- Library—Anne Billeter has submitted her report. She also noted that My Heritage was not used that much in December. She also submitted a list of librarians and the hours they served in 2021.
- Education—Pat Jenkins noted that there are three classes scheduled for January; two of which are writing classes by Dina Carson. Seminars have been secured for the year. January’s member meeting program will be provided by Barbara Northrop outlining her path to obtaining her certification. A book study group will begin in March. A Great Lakes study group will be starting in the spring also. Ann Baraker will be teaching a Jewish class which may become an Interest Group. A beginner’s boot camp will run from March 28—April 1. This will be five one-hour classes. All new members from October 2021 through January 2022 will receive an invitation to the Boot Camp. The Education Committee has reset their meetings that would have conflicted with holidays in 2022. The Education Committee may now talk to presenters about recording their presentations.
- Membership—No report submitted.
- Technology—Rich Miles reviewed his submitted report with the Board. He noted that the 2022 Budget is available on our website under the About menu, then Governance.
C. Committee Reports
- Publicity—No report
- Maintenance—No update from Jack. The fan in the Ladies’ restroom is still waiting for repair/replacement.
- NGS Delegate- No report. Katie has a meeting on February 22, 2022.
- Editors
- eNews—Deadline is the 20th of the month. Rich noted that the December eNews was a little thin. It would be nice to have members submit articles to him for publication. Kim Thurman noted that the current Oregon History Quarterly has some great articles about southern Oregon.
- The Rogue Digger—Publication of the Rogue Digger has been suspended until an editor can be found.
D. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The next Board Meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., via zoom.
- Program & Member Meeting is January 18, 2022, at 1:30 p.m., via Zoom. Installation of Directors will take place at this meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:08 p.m.
Loretta Barker, Secretary