Board of Trustees Minutes: January 9, 2016

MRG Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
Saturday January 9, 2016

 

 

5:00 PMCall to order

In attendance: Board – John Stetson, Eric Palola, Meg Hourihan, Ron Shems, John Tobin, and John Eberlein

Absent: Jon Anderson, Russ Bowen, Annika Holtan

 

Also present were President Jamey Wimble and approximately 20 shareholders.

 

5:02 PM

Welcome & shareholder comments

• No shareholder comments

 

5:02 PM

Review & approve minutes of December 12th, 2015 (Action). 

• Motion by Meg; seconded by John E. 
• Passed unanimously

 

5:03PM 

Management report (Jamey)*

• Report on 1st day of skiing – snowmaking progress report
• Party for employees rescheduled (potentially weekend of 16th)
• Ski school report from last weekend
• Ski team has been training on other mountains
• Good vibe during Christmas week
• Sold 1 share in December sold 8 shares ytd and 1 hardship request approved
• Poor Dec financials net operating income down $100k for Dec.
• *complete management report included at the end of minutes.

 

5:05 PM

Finance Committee report (John T)

• Finance committee update and report
• Jim Elkind, Bruce Button, and Deb Steines working on Campaign policies and procedures

 

5:06 PM

Fund Raising Committee report (Annika away)

• Bob Demont updated meeting on progress of Campaign in Annika’s absence
• Summary numbers for audience
• Tracking higher than $6.5 MM based on advanced gifts
• Income from endowment will be unrestricted
• Three challenges
  • Slower in getting pledges than expected (6 months behind); but cash flow ahead of schedule
  • Working with SMF relationship to manage workflow
  • Campaign based on priorities established by the Board

â–ª       Most of money unrestricted

â–ª       Birdcage exception (cost est. at $125K)  — estimated will raise $200K above that will be available unrestricted

• Discussion of quiet vs. public campaign (change in fall with kickoff)
  • Aiming for $4 MM in advance of kickoff
• Challenge match is in limbo/policy prohibits combining gifts for naming opportunity/complications
• Penny Parsons (SMF) report on endowment with VCF; funded campaign projects (e.g., new double warming hut); new snow gun; pending grant applications that will be funded in the next two months
• John Stetson thanks Campaign Cabinet and all the volunteers

 

5:25 PM

Board Development (Ron)

• 3 openings (2 in state,  Meg and Eric will run in-state; 1 candidate committed for out-of-state position)
• Website has info on candidacy

 

5:28 PMFacilities – Birdcage (Jamey/John)

• Report on list of Birdcage projects
• Hope to have action plan in place this spring/summer, but project unlikely to move forward this summer.
• Comment: keep safety issues a high priority and focus on the entrance
• We will be reactivating the Facilities Committee
• Lars comment:  in quiet phase, talked to 25 people so far, original statement of need had something for everybody, but this may not line up with the 25 people’s key concerns; Birdcage identified as a new priority for lead donors ($1MM from 12 people).

 

5:40 PM

Consider increase to D&O insurance coverage (Jamey)

• Presentation by Jamey
• Comments by John Eberlein
• Motion by John Eberlein to approve increase in D&O coverage to $5MM for 3-A and $2 MM for 3-C to take effect immediately. Second by Eric Palola. Jamey to contact Jon Jamieson as soon as possible to bind coverage.
• Question from John Ayers re: coverage for Ski Patrol; Jamey responded that patrollers are covered under General Liability policy.
• Comments from Meg and John Stetson on relative size of coverage to overall insurance bill.
• Motion carried unanimously.

 

5:50 PM

Meg to provide the Board with information and instructions on a new application to be used by the Board to improve document management and team communications. The application is called Slack. www.slack.com

 

5:52 PM

Action item review

• SMF grants – being handled by sub-committee of Finance Committee
• Coverage of insurance completed by Jamey
• Financial trends – Jamey will look into the trends between departments

 

5:55 PM         

Adjourn

 

By John Eberlein seconded by Ron Shems carried unanimously.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jon Anderson

Secretary

 

 

 

Management report

Mad River Glen

January 9, 2016

 

Operations:

 

 

Will have the Practice Slope open for kids programs Saturday the 9th.

 

Snowmaking has been moved to main mountain heading to Birdcage. Water has become an issue already so it will slow us down some.

 

Until we get the main mountain open we will run practice slope weekends only and shut down everything midweek to conserve cash.

 

For a little moral boost we are looking at a small party for employees Sunday the 10th after skiing. We had a generous donation given from an anonymous home owner to do something for the employees.

 

Ski School did a great job keeping the kids programs going with no lifts running. Jim Komarmi has done a great job finding space at other mountains for the race team to train.

 

All the staff did a good job over the Christmas week making lemonade where they could and keeping a positive attitude. Saturday January second was a nice scene in the bar.

 

 Share Sales:

 

One share was sold against a budget of 4. We have sold 8 shares YTD. Executive Committee granted one hardship request.

 

 

 

Financials:

December financials were very poor due to no snow at all.