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Shareholder Relations Committee: December 11, 2001

MEETING MINUTES HISTORIC ARCHIVE

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Shareholder Relations Committee Minutes

Dec 11th 2001 

 

Present were the following: Rich Aiken, Vivian and Fritz Branschofsky, Bill Heinzerling, Ave Haviland, Deri and Suzanne Meier, Rick Moulton, Jim Vann, owner liaison Andrew Snow, and the committees two co-chairs Rocky Bleier and Lu Putnam. Mr. Bleier and Mr. Moulton kept the minutes.

 

The meeting was called to order by Ms. Putnam shortly after 6PM.

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES

 

The committee reviewed the minutes from the Oct. 6, 2001 committee meeting. There was some discussion regarding the MRG Board of Trustee decision to review all committee minutes before they are posted on the web. Although the committee had divergent opinions on the merit of the Boards recent decision, the consensus was to go along with the status quo and move on to more pressing business.

 

The committee reviewed disseminating the owner survey results and heard a brief update from Mr. Snow on his analysis and presentation of said results on the MRG web site.

After a little more discussion the October committee minutes were unanimously approved.

 

BYLAW CHANGES

The committee reviewed the recent Trustees vote not to accept the committees recommendation for bylaw changes sect. 2.7 and 5.7 (which deal with an owner¹s suspension and/or expulsion from the coop). Mr. Bleier reminded the committee that although the trustees had voted not to have the owners vote on these revisions, the bylaws allow 3 Board members or a petition of 10% of the owners to bring the issue to the owners for a vote at the annual meeting. Mr. Meier spoke in favor of avoiding a conflict that would split the coop. Ms. Meier concurred. Several other committee members including both Mr. and Ms. Branschofsky and Mr. Bleier took a divergent position maintaining that the coop has already been split by the Board¹s previous actions and that a vote of the owners was the best way to settle the issue of owner discipline and expulsion. After more discussion, the committee took no further action.

 

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

The committee decided that since committee member Sarah Haviland was absent, and she being the author of a current draft being circulated, not to discuss the document. It was also felt that the scheduled meeting on December 28 would better serve for a broader spectrum of owner opinion to be heard in the discussion on this very important philosophical and guiding statement.

 

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

 

The committee discussed several avenues of communication within the coop:

…Suggestion Box Mr. Snow informed the committee that the mountain planned to have 2 suggestion boxes at the mountain this year; one at the ticket window area and one at the same spot as last year- as one entered the Basebox main floor. In addition, there are plans to have an online suggestion box for owners at the web site. There ensued some discussion of the workings or lack thereof of the suggestion box in previous years. Also covered were whose responsibility the suggestion box should be. There emerged a consensus that the new management team was up to the task and that they were starting with a clean slate.

 

Mr. Bleier made and Mr. Moulton seconded

 

The motion: That a summary of the suggestions be posted on the bulletin board at the mountain and online at the web site on a regular basis utilizing a spreadsheet format. The motion was passed unanimously.

 

…Bulletin Boards Mr. Snow informed the committee that he would be responsible for coordinating the various information that is to be posted on the bulletin boards. There was considerable discussion on what should be posted, where and when on the bulletin boards.

 

The committee was unanimously voted that: The “official” Mad River Glen bulletin board should be the one that is located as one enters the main floor of the Basebox, and that this would be the place for Coop and Mountain news, events, and information. A new bulletin board would be created downstairs for “community” postings such as local events and personal items for sale, etc.

 

…Letters and e-mails The committee discussed letters that are sent to the Board. It was unanimously voted that the Board should include any letter or e-mail in the Board packet that is addressed to the Board or an individual Board member in an official capacity. Where an individual or the board felt appropriate, there should be a response.

 

…Newsletters and Shareholder mailings There was a lengthy discussion concerning the various mailings generated by the coop. Many committee members were confused as to which publication had what title and what the target audience is. There were many opinions offered as what the best vehicle is for reaching both the owners and the skiing public at large. It was agreed that there should be an owner¹s only publication which should include dissenting opinions (if any) from management or Board policy. It was agreed that it is too late to make any changes for this year, but that the committee would like to try to have more input for next year.

 

…Communication to the Board and committees There was a short discussion on how best to let our owners know who is on the Board and its committees as well as the top management and department heads. It was the general consensus that in order to facilitate better communication there be a listing on the web site of said persons. Additionally it was suggested that the Echo (i.e. owner¹s paper) have a masthead listing of said persons in the future.

 

PATRONAGE REBATE

The committee discussed the fact that the patronage rebate remains a very confusing issue for most owners. The committee members feel that educating the owners about the rebate is an important issue. The need for owners to understand why the tracking of their sales (via the purchase of mad money) is important also was discussed. How much of a percentage that the owners contribute to the gross sales of the mountain is still somewhat unclear. Mad money is currently the best way to do so, although many on the committee feel that the owners are unaware of why it would make a difference to them (aside from the rebate issue).

 

After noting that the next meeting of the committee is on December 28th during the busy holiday vacation week, the committee adjourned at approximately 8:30 PM.