ATTENDANCE

• Present: Bob Barr, Tom Creager, George Kuhn, Frank Root, Jeff Siebenthaler, Jack Singerman, Stuart Weinberg
• Guests: Mike Parks, Dayton YMCA CEO; Greg Love, Dayton YMCA V.P., Finances

CALL TO ORDER

• The meeting was called to order at 4:10 PM. Stuart thanked everyone for the excellent attendance record that Board members have maintained.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF OCTOBER, 1996 MINUTES

• Stuart mentioned a typo under the "FINANCIAL REVIEW THROUGH SECOND QUARTER '96", 2nd paragraph, which should read "1996 donors to date" instead of "1997 donors to date".

  MOTION to accept the minutes as corrected, made by Siebenthaler, seconded by Barr. Motion carried unanimously.

FINANCIAL REVIEW THROUGH FIRST QUARTER '97

• Stuart distributed a spreadsheet of estimated Fund activity for 1997 and actual donations to date. $575 in donations were received in the 1st quarter; $25 so far in the 2nd quarter. A petty cash request of $1,500 is coming out of the 2nd quarter, as is the annual distribution of $3,900. A list of donors to date was also distributed with some background on several of the donors.

  Stuart then distributed a preview of a plaque he wanted to have made for Mary Kuhn Sigel, who became a Heritage Member in 1996, representing total contributions to the Fund exceeding $10,000. The Board agreed with the wording and Stuart will proceed to have the plaque made, in time for this summer's Strawberries and Ice Cream Dinner (with the date of the dinner on the plaque).

  Stuart asked for a motion to continue the current 6.5% distribution percentage. MOTION to continue the current 6.5% distribution percentage, made by Singerman, seconded by Creager. Motion carried unanimously.

  Stuart then distributed a Petty Cash Account report, detailing all petty cash deposits and expenses from 1992 to date. 1996 expenses totaled $1,750. Our petty cash yearly allotment is currently $1,500. Next year's expenses will depend in part on the activities of the next Advisory Board Chair. The balance at the end of 1996 was $353.00; the Annual Report printing this year was a little over $700 and the postage was about $320. Tom asked whether bulk mailing would be preferable. Bob pointed out the extra effort necessary to sort and prepare bulk mailings. Stuart also mentioned the forwarding and address corrections of 1st-class mail as an additional benefit to the current procedure, but perhaps this was only necessary once a year or every couple of years.

  Stuart mentioned that in early 1996 John Fiely had made an offer for camp to contribute to the Fund to cover some operating expenses, thereby defraying some of the petty cash expenses, but this has yet to materialize.

ADDRESS SHARING WITH CAMP KERN

• Stuart brought everyone up-to-date on events since the last meeting. After the last meeting, Stuart, Jack, Mike, and Greg sat down to discuss multiple issues, including working out a cooperative arrangement for address-sharing between The Carl B. Kern Fund and the Dayton YMCA. Stuart agreed to reinstall camper information on the Dayton Y's computer downtown, provide addresses of Jack Singerman's staff from the Kern Fund mailing list for a direct mailing; and provide addresses of all other alumni on the Kern Fund list after a year-end mailing notifying everyone that this would be done. All of these tasks were completed. Mike and Greg agreed to provide addresses to The Carl B. Kern Fund in a timely fashion as specified by the Address Sharing Agreement. This task was not completed, as evidenced by addresses which were to have been sent to the Kern Fund by December 31st and were still not ready by mid-February when the Annual Report preparation was nearly complete. Stuart expressed that this has been a persistent problem - one that he was not going to deal with anymore.

  Stuart asked if anyone had any questions or wanted to provide any additional information. There was no response.

  After a long pause, Jack asked Stuart to explain his comment about not dealing with it anymore. Stuart stated that he has prepared a current Kern Fund address list and diskette for the next Chair, from which future mailings and dealings with the Dayton Y can be maintained.

  Stuart asked if there were any problems with the Address-Sharing Agreement, or if there was anything unclear. None were mentioned.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERSHIP AND CHAIR

• According to the By-Laws, both the Initial Donor of the Fund and the Kern family representative can stay on the Board for an unlimited number of terms. Otherwise, there is a limit of three 3-year terms, and Jack has reached that limit. Stuart thanked Jack for his 9 years of dedicated service to the Board, and Stuart also proposed that Jack be appointed to the Board as a non-voting Honorary Member, as defined in the By-Laws.

  MOTION to appoint Jack Singerman to the Kern Fund Advisory Board as an Honorary Member, made by Root, seconded by Creager. Motion carried unanimously.

  Stuart also reminded the Board that other members will be reaching their term limits in the next 2 years, so that looking for new members should be considered.

  George agreed to stay on for another term. Bob asked Stuart if he was "comfortable" staying on the Board for another term - a recent letter from Stuart had been misinterpreted by some to be a resignation from the Board instead of the Chairmanship. Bob and others were concerned about Stuart's effectiveness on the Board given his current feelings towards Camp Kern and the Dayton YMCA. Thus followed a very long discussion concerning the mission of the Fund, the mission of the YMCA, commitments to camping, and Stuart's perceived problems at Camp Kern.

• Stuart distributed a list of Advisory Board Chair responsibilities. Bob Barr agreed to offer to pick up the duties as Chair, succeeding Stuart Weinberg, effective immediately. The Board voted unanimously to appoint Bob as Chair.

OTHER OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS

• Bob mentioned the electronic mailing list being maintained by Stuart for the Kern Fund. Stuart noted there are currently about 75 subscribers to the list, including 4 current camp staff (John Fiely, Dave Trowbridge, Dave Whitesell, and Roger Rose. Cost is $50/yr but this may increase in a couple of years (to perhaps ~$200/yr); this cost is currently underwritten by The Carl B. Kern Fund.

  Bob presented Stuart with a plaque thanking him for his years of leadership as Chair of the Advisory Board.

ADJOURNMENT AND NEXT MEETING

• Meeting was adjourned at 5:30 pm. The next meeting will be at the discretion of the new Chair.

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