January 2017 Minutes

Board Meeting Minutes – 1-17-17

Meeting commenced around 7

Held at Sally’s house

Potluck with lots of yummy food

 

  1. Proposed Agenda – Approved
  2. Minutes from December – Approved
  3. Members Present:  Page, Kirsten, Linda, Anna, Wakean, Sally and Heather
  4. Treasurer Report: OHA’s Fiscal Year is Oct- Sept
    1. An in-depth summary of prior year budgeted and actual expenses was reviewed.
    2. In 2015-2016 we budgeted approximately $31K in expenses, actuals were $27K, income was $27K
    3. Page filed the 990N (Tax form with IRS)
    4. EBMUD has not confirmed the AGP yet, but we anticipate they will allow credits off our lease  of $9950 as follows: Tier 3 grazing rotation $2985, mowing weeds  $750 (25 hours @$30/hr) , and fence charger/battery for Plateau $400, and probably $840 for partial red barn repairs (with another $975 to be carried over to next year’s credits). The total credits would be 50% of our lease -the maximum allowed. The lease amount is less this year at $25 per AUM (animal unit month) based on June prices of cattle at market.
    5. The board walked through the expenses from last year, and reviewed and discussed projected amounts for some categories; Page will review, update and share a proposed 2016-2017 budget at the next meeting
    6. In discussing the budget the board looked at several proposed projects:
      1. Old Stall Rehab $600
      2. Chipper rental $500 We will look online for somewhere we can borrow a chipper or rent at a reduced cost to save money
      3. Hay Wheelbarrow $250
      4. PO Paddock (TB discussed further)
      5. Shelter and Split of the Back 40 (Cost needs to be further investigated)
    7. This would result in a shortage of approximately $2000 (still to be finalized), the board discussed how we could pay for the above items. A proposal was brought forth that we may consider raising dues for all three member categories, which would look something like this:
      1. Proprietary: $355 every 6 months (this would be a $25 increase per payment, $50 per year)
      2. Assoc. Partner: $100 Annually (this would be a $50 increase)
      3. Riding Partner: $50 Annually (This would be a $25 increase)
    8. Raising dues by these amounts would result in $2425 additional income per year, allowing us the funds to complete some much-needed maintenance and improvements that do not qualify for capital improvement credits.
  1. Membership Update
    1. The board would like to thank Cheryl for her efforts as the membership chair; she brought in four new members in the last year. She has resigned from this role, and the board has asked Eddie to take on this task.
    2. Sonny is approved as a proprietary member (no longer on probation). This will enable him to have a vote, and all the other rights and privileges of being a proprietary member.
    3. Julie gave up her space and the board will fill this space – she will become Anna’s Associate member.
    4. Lenny has also given up his space, but would like to visit the pasture. Given that his wife Georgia was a founding OHA member the board felt it appropriate to grant him honorary membership status, which allows him to visit the pasture as he likes.  The Board approved filling this space as well.
  1. Rules Update:
    1. Eddie reviewed all of the rules and procedures changes that were implemented by previous boards and added these to the Rules and Procedures document, which was last updated in 2011.   The revisions will be reviewed at the next meeting.
  1. Feeding: 
    1. Hay in the LP will run out on 1/26 or 27 so additional hay needs to be brought down – Kirsten will ask feeders to wheelbarrow down the hay for these last few days
    2. The herd is moving to the Pond on January 29 (both unfed and fed will join together and feeding will stop).
  1.      Website Renovation: The topic of the website was discussed and the items below were outlined as a “wish list” for the site.
    1. Forms – Applications, Liability releases, Emergency information all housed and able to be completed online (not replacing existing paper, just an alternative)
    2. Payments – Inserting a link to PayPal or other site could allow members to pay for items like hay, membership etc… online (again not replacing the ability to pay by check)
    3. Calendar of OHA events – The suggestion was that at the front landing page when members log in they would first see a calendar of events/dates that anyone could update/add to. This might include:
      1. Herd moves (with link to sign up)
      2. The feeding schedule
      3. Board and annual meeting schedules
      4. Vet clinics
      5. The ability for members to list when they are away.
      6. This would serve as an anchor to pull members onto the site to increase its value and usage.
    4. Mobile Device friendly – Members would be able to access/use the site easily form their mobile devices without losing form/functionality
    1. Challenges with current site:
    2. Users can’t reset passwords, and some members were given other members login information as a work around
    3. Security concerns about public access to member-only information.  The site uses https, not httpss
    4. Current site is out of date; the site is built using a free  software application, Drupal, and the site is running on version 5. The current version is 8.  The only way to upgrade this will be to migrate from 5 to 6, to 7 to 8 taking many hours of work.
    5. The board also discussed items/features that would be helpful to have on an upgraded or new website:
    6. Next Steps: Concern was expressed about the hours it would take to do the above.  Alison B. and Page volunteered to put together a few proposals that would estimate hours needed, and their recommendations on best next steps, for the next meeting. These may include; 1. Adding all of the above to the current site, 2. Migrating the site to new software 3. Electing to only do part/some or none of the above 4. Exploring other options and ideas
  2. Board communication – The board briefly discussed how it will continue to operate going forward and agreed when sensitive emails are being sent on behalf of the board to the club, that the board should have a chance to preview these. However, in urgent/emergent situations this will not be the case nor in day to day operations.
  1. Next Meeting: February  16 – Kirsten’s House 17 Middle Road, Lafayette 6:45 PM
  2. All members are welcome, meeting will be potluck
  3. Thank yous go out to:
  4. Eddie – For spending hours and hours trolling through old minutes to edit/update the Rules and Procedures, and also for taking on the membership chair
  5. Dave – for his work hauling several loads of hay with his ATV!
  6. Cheryl – for her hard work as membership chair, and for helping to bring in 4 new members
  7. Erica – For all the help keeping us at tier 3 grazing status
  8. Everyone we forgot – thank you for the help! So many little and big things are done to keep OHA going it is hard to capture it all. But your help is very much appreciated.

Board-Meeting-Minutes-v3-Jan.docx