Bemidji Curling Club Board Minutes - April 2007

Bemidji Curling Club
Board of Directors Meeting
April 17, 2007

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by President Rob Aitken.

Present: Dave Chandler, Bob Fenson, Keith Hunt, Mark LaFond, Dave Lundberg, Chase Schmitt, Mark Schmitt, Doug Underthun, and Randy Westhoff

Absent:

Guests: Kent Bahr and Mary Simon

Approve Prior Minutes: Dave Lundberg requested that the March minutes be amended to read $2,000 as the proceeds from the fish fry. A motion to approve was made by Dave Chandler. The motion was seconded by Dave Lundberg. The motion carried.

The February minutes had been not approved due to a lack of a quorum at the March meeting. The minutes were approved as written. A motion to approve was made by Randy. The motion was seconded by Mark Schmitt. The motion carried.

Presentations by Guests Kent Bahr expressed his concern about the viability of the community education program. His understanding was the Monday –Tuesday leagues for the next season would be limited to 12 teams at 6:30 and that any other teams that wanted to play would have to play in a later league with their own chairman. Bob suggested that leagues would have to be moved up to accommodate two leagues. Dave Chandler said he would not support the idea of capping any leagues. Kent mentioned that 2/3 of community ed. participants join leagues and it would not be worth holding the classes if there were no place to accommodate them. The consensus was that it is not fair to place all new curlers in a league without experienced teams to play against and mentor them. Bob said membership had increased to 320 compared with 275 the previous year due to an influx of new curlers from community education. Keith made a motion to direct Kent to run community education classes and continue to draw new curlers. The board will accommodate the influx of new curlers. Dave Chandler seconded the motion. The motion carried. Rob thanked Kent on behalf of the board for his dedication to community education.

Committee Reports

Finance: Dave handed out a summary of revenue and expenses. At present we have about $13,000 in checking. We have a few deposits yet to make. Compared to last year we have a bit more cash on hand. No capital improvements have been proposed at this time. Dave suggested the subject should be discussed over the summer. We have a $6,000 balance on our loan from the city. We usually make a $5,000 yearly payment. Dave suggested perhaps paying off the balance in full in the fall. Dave said that the Paul Bunyan bonspiel is not making money. Bob Seado works hard on the event and does all that he can but we need to somehow increase participation.
Dave asked about the Bemidji Secretarial situation. Bob said he had spoken to Wayne Ward and he would charge approximately $200-250 per month without preparing tax returns. Wayne wants to meet with the board to discuss what would be expected of him if he were to provide accounting services. A motion to approve the finance report was made by Mark Schmitt. The motion was seconded by Dave Chandler. The motion carried. Rob thanked Dave for his year of service as treasurer.

Bar: Chase spoke to Budweiser about installing a remote cooler for the beer kegs. The system would cost no more than $2,000 and accommodate three taps. Bernick’s can install a system also but we have no estimate yet. If Budweiser were to do the installation they would require that their product be installed in two of the lines. Dave Lundberg suggested that we get a written proposal from each vendor. Dave Chandler has called Dave Leitner three times about installing locks on the beer coolers and has had no response yet. Dave said that Jim Breyen will refinish the cabinets behind the bar this summer. The board appreciates his effort. Dave Chandler asked if the cash register could be utilized to keep track of bar sales. Mary and Chase said it is impractical because of the time required to key in the information and would be cumbersome during busy times such as bonspiels. Keith mentioned that it would be difficult to get league members to use it.

Juniors: Randy said that the junior committee has not met since the fish fry. The funds from Coke have been received by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. The junior board and the president will confer to decide how the money will be allocated.

President’s Report:

General Manager’s Report: Bob said we had a very good year with few problems. More groups have expressed an interest in using the facility. Bob read a letter from the Bemidji hockey boosters co-chairs thanking us for the use of the facility. Bob presented a list of issues for the board to consider:

1. We should investigate the source of condensation or roof leakage above sheets 1,5 and 6.
2. Should we bid for early ice again next year?
3. Some hacks need to be replaced, possibly half of them.
4. We should look into using Culligan as a source of de-ionized water. The Jet Ice water is getting prohibitively expensive due to shipping costs.
5. Bob will check on a new door for the west end of the lobby in order to secure the upstairs level.
6. The men’s restroom in the lobby needs a new exhaust fan.
7. The kitchen needs to have a handwashing sink installed.
   
Bob also mentioned some future upgrades to the club:

Bob also mentioned some future upgrades to the club:

1. The chairs upstairs need replacement.
2. The middle level could be made larger by removing the temporary wall on the north end. Picture frames need to be hung in this area and general cleanup.
3. The carpet on the home end of the arena should be replaced. It is saturated with sand.
4. The kitchen needs cleaning and some equipment needs to be thrown out. The grill and convection should be replaced.

Bob would like to refurbish the locker rooms. He presented plans for reconfiguring the rooms and replacing the lockers. The proposed new lockers would be laminate-covered wood. They would be six feet tall and deeper than the present lockers. The cost would be $160 each. Bob suggested that the members could pay for their lockers up front and not be charged rent for the next four years. After that they would revert to paying a yearly rental fee as in the past.

Old Business: The problem with online registrations has not been resolved yet.
Keith said Ben Hunt would be willing to help with website maintenance.
The ballots from the election were counted with the following results:

Ninety-nine ballots were cast.
Fourteen ballots contained write-in votes.
Five ballots were invalid.
Eighty-two ballots were marked for only the three listed candidates.

The new board members will be Mary Israelson, Chase Jackson and Aaron Stodgell.
A motion to approve the election results was made by Dave Chandler. The motion was seconded by Doug. The motion carried.

New Business:

A motion to adjourn was made by Mark Schmitt. The motion was seconded by Randy. The motion carried.

The next meeting will be the General Meeting to be held Tuesday, May 8th at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark LaFond