Finance Committee Meeting Minutes: April 17, 2019

Attendance: Matt Lillard, Eric Palola, Brian Williams,Andrew Snow, Meg Hourihan, Meg Schultz,Geordie Hall, Matthew Milan, Eric Palola, Deb Steines, Annika Holtan, Leigh Michl, John Tobin

The meeting was brought to order at 8:00 AM by Matthew Milan, MRG Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair.

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Approved April 2019 minutes

March Reports and Cash Flow Review:

Balance Sheet:

• In a good cash position, up just under 190K relative to the same time last year.
• Early seasons pass sales have been positive, more heavily weighted towards new people purchasing passes.
• New 2019 passes to date around 56K, budget for April pass sales is 60K.
• Sold approximately 200 passes in March, approximately 140 buyers planned to use them this spring.

March P&L:

• Overall a great month, not as good at March 18, but revenue targets were beaten six weeks in a row following Presidents week.
• Matt Lillard indicated that profit margin increases over the month were based on focusing on creating efficiencies across the operation.
• There are still opportunities to further improve efficiencies in food costs, base box labor costs and ski school labor costs.
• Rental shop is very a strong performer in terms of efficiency.
• Retail margins are good, revenue is down slightly from last year.

Year to Date P&L:

• NOI is over budget by 67K and up 291K over last year.
• Expecting a positive NOI of approximately 155K over the summer.
• Continuing to look for opportunities to save money over the summer
• Planning to join a large local fuel buying group to further reduce fuel costs.
• Pond skim event drew large numbers, definitely considering running it again for next year.

Preserve our Paradise Campaign:

• Annika Holtan indicated that the campaign has topped 5MM as of this week
• Geordie Hall asked how much of the contributions were cash, Annika indicated that the majority of gifts were in cash, and the majority of the cash is expected in 2020 and 2021.

Cash Flow:

• Looking to achieve a 165K line of credit draw this summer.
• John Tobin asked about the status the employee bonus program, Matt Lillard indicated that it was triggered by an NOI over 200K, which we are not expected to hit this year.
• John Tobin asked about retail revenue being flat and commented that there was very little visibility of the retail store on the website homepage – this is opportunity for us to explore.
• A third of the co-op’s revenue is now realized through online sales: passes, retail, etc.

Open Discussion: “2019-2020 FinCom Focus” – what can we do to support the co-op and management in 2019-2020? Where can the FinCom provide value, and what resources and capabilities do we have? “.

• Matthew Milan updated on Finance Committee process, reconnecting with past and present members to get input into future focus and direction of the Finance Committee.
• Goal is to put a proposal in front of the board in June for the operations and focus of the Finance Committee over the next year.
• Geordie Hall asked about the Finance Committee mission statement and Matt Lillard referenced the current version on the website.
• Eric Palola indicated that the primary role of the Finance Committee should continue to be the provision of oversight, with a secondary role of exploring longer term revenue opportunities.
• Brian Williams suggested that evaluating project opportunities could be a role for the committee.
• Meg Hourihan suggested that the Finance Committee should look to make strategic recommendations to the board as part of its role, supporting the board’s long term work.
• Geordie Hall suggested that we focus on revisiting the mission statement as a lead-in to more activity-focused planning.,

Open Discussion: FinCom membership and participation for 2019-2020″ – we currently have over 20 “members” on the Finance Committee roster, and additional shareholders have expressed interest in joining the committee. What does a “right-sized” Finance Committee look like? What are our expectations for participation in the Committee?

• Matthew Milan asked what expectations we should have around participation going forward.
• Eric Palola suggested we should focus on setting expectations that convey a clear baseline for member participation.
• John Tobin suggested we need to move the committee towards a more structured governance model and make membership more formal.
• Meg Hourihan shared the recent work the Facilities Committee went through in terms of structured governance, including board approval of committee members.
• Geordie Hall suggested that it would be useful for us to share our skill sets with each other.
• Matthew Milan asked current committee members to put together a short one or two paragraph bio to share on Slack by April 30th.

9:05 am – Meeting adjourned

Submitted:

Matthew Milan, Treasurer