BQPA/PIONEERS
Barbershop
Quartet
Preservation Association
BQPA /
Pioneers Board Meeting, 9/8/2011
Minutes of the April, 2011 membership meeting in Tempe were read by Ed
Simons, amended and accepted by acclamation.
Jim Gallagher gave financial report: after Tempe, we had $500 more in
the treasury than before, even thought the beer funds came up a bit
short. Balance is about $5500.00. There are 31 new registrations,
including the Tempe festival and since!
Regarding shirts: Raymond Schwartzkopf suggested that a laptop computer
be used at registration for ordering shirts over the internet, via the
link in our website. The board will discuss this; Raymond will try it
out. Jim said that, even so, he may bring a few shirts to Tempe. The
sense of the meeting was that, although a number of colors are
available, along with various other clothing items with our logo, the
“official” color for the shirt is the dark royal blue.
It was mentioned that we would not draw the attention of the IRS until
we have a treasury balance of more than $50,000.00.
Gerry Carroll provided a Chicago festival organization report. He had
determined a few months ago that the restaurant at the Ramada was NOT
going to re-open without an expenditure of more than $200,000.00. He
therefore approached J.C. to move the festival to the Best Western (same
management.) Negotiations included getting them to house all of us in
the same wing, to avoid disturbing their other guests with our singing
after hours. It’s expected that there will be coupons for free
breakfasts for Friday and Saturday, and the management is providing the
beer free this festival, as an indication of their wish to keep us
coming to their properties. Gerry was asked to draft a letter of
appreciation for board approval. He will arrange to reserve the Best
Western for the same weekend next year.
There’s a hope that we will garner some additional members during the
memorial for Lynn Hauldren planned for Saturday at 2:00 PM in our
meeting room (The Lafayette).
Frank Fliszar reported that we have on the order of 256 members on the
register at present.
Raymond had been asked by Gerry to organize the entertainments, and he
reported that Tom Neal is slated to be the MC for the Friday evening
quartet contest, and Don Reed is a possible MC for the Saturday night
show, with Raymond as backup. Both events are scheduled for 7:30 PM.
Raymond reported that his talent search started with notes to more than
50 quartets; 27 were invited. 3 accepted, 7 were “working on it”, and
some had not answered. (After Hours cannot attend, as they are sing at a
wedding downstate…) He wants to be involved in the talent search for the
Chicago festival in 2012.
It was emphasized that the donation bucket is to be displayed in a
prominent spot in the entryway for the Saturday show; the show is not
“Free”!
Our web presence was discussed at some length. Jim Milner noted that our
domain name was not owned by ADDR.COM, which hosts our website, but we
were able to get a reduction to $60.00 a year from the owner,
GODADDY.COM. Raymond has volunteered to back up Jim in administering the
website.
Discussion of the lyrics sheets resulted in Tom Noble agreeing to have
Rosie’s cleaned up lyrics pages copied Friday morning so they are
available to members.
Jim Gallagher will order 200 new BQPA pins, the supply of which is
nearly exhausted.
A discussion of our bylaws resulted in an agreement to add a clause that
permits the board to elect officers as needed, since continuity is
important to the organization. Shel Rosenthal will propose language at
the next festival in Tempe. Jack Martin still wants to resign from the
presidency, but wants to be assured that his successor is a good guy…
Gerry Carroll brought up the need for a new supply of quartet contest
medals, as the old ones are in short supply. Two proposed designs for
new medals were presented. The #1 proposed design was selected by
agreement, rather than the #2 design, and the medals will be the same
for both festivals. Gerry and Jim Gallagher will look into locating a
supplier for 100 new medals.
“Montana” Jack Fitzgerald emphasized that the organization needs to have
a long term plan in mind, including the possibility of expanding to one
or two more festivals per year, and planning festivals in more venues,
such as the east coast, to draw more members from that area. This was
taken under advisement for discussion by the board…
There being no more business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Noble