Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Meeting Rules: One person speaks at a time. Respect one another – play nice.

Stay on topic. Turn cell phones off.

Items PENDING for next meeting’s agenda are highlighted in RED.

Council members in attendance: Sandi Stephens, Dave Ross, Jerry Gaspard, Albert Obbens, Jack Bute.

Functional Managers in attendance: Erin Ross, Daneisa Vergara.

Not in attendance:

Audience in attendance: Terry Zach, Jim & Char Pierce, Rhody Edwards.

Member Input:

Char Pierce gave an update on the Christmas Bazaar: 53 vendors have signed up. Not enough tables, but it is first come, first served and bring your own table after that. Char asks if the bar will be open on Nov. 25^th and Dec. 10^th. Jerry G. says he will be able to have the bar manned for those dates/times. If we send the BCP logo to Char, she can get a free advertisement from Visitante for promotion. Jack Bute suggested pushing the chairs in the theatre up against the stage and making room for more vendors or eating area. Daneisa and Char are working together to determine the best set-up.

Coffee Shop – Rhody: Distributed a proposal to open a coffee shop at the events centre for our perusal. He has not received an eager response from Maria at Café Ruiz so he wants to be able to give this proposal to possible coffee vendors. Discussion ensued. Many items were brought up that need further consideration and addressing.

• Minutes – Approval – the final version was approved.
• Summary of previous meeting:
• Items Pending
• President Update – Dave
  • Refile of Foundation Officers – Jerry G. preented us with our new original foundation’s officer changes. Removed: Stephanie Brockman, Jerry Hedrick, The VOCAL is noted as Sandra (Sandi) Lynn Stephens, but Rhody is the VOCAL, or intermediary or spokesperson, between Anayansi, our landlord and BCP.
  • Zen meditation group – Met for one week and now are meeting in a private home.
  • By-Law Revision –  Changing because the 2-year terms aren’t going over very well here in Boquete. Has re-written them to one-year terms and staggered the positions. Sandi to send msg Dec. 6 to members to vote on the by-law changes in order to meet the 10-day requirement notice. Discussion ensued regarding changing positions available or re-organizing. Dave will be leaving at end of March as President. President, secretary and treasurer positions will be available in April 2012. These positions are also available at this time: Open positions: Marketing and Operations. Creative director is now a functional position.
  • Security – Rhody to send us a checklist to be used each time the theatre or any space with the events centre needs to be opened and/or closed.

• Finances –Jerry Gaspard.

Current Status: Checking account   $ 2540.32; Savings account $ 8966.32; Building Fund $  3078.32

Major expenses outstanding:

Machine Register: $ 1400 +/-.     Anayansi: $1000 +/-    $ 635 = ½ rental fee.       Dana Applegate $ 500

Projected Income remainder of November:  “Enchanted April”  Budgeted $  2214.00     $1100 deposited pre sold tickets.  $1100  remaining tickets      $1000 Tuesday Markets  Total $ 2100

Machine and Taxes: IRS Register and machine is required to be in service by 1 December 2011.Must pay 7% of all income. That leaves 2 weeks to buy, have technician program for BCP needs and learn how to operate the machine. Once a day is okay for now. This is done at point of sale.

By January BCP will have to pay about $3000 in taxes. Discussion ensued as to how the amounts are recorded. Only taxed on the income to us. We may find we have to raise prices.

• Daniesa is not registered at SS. I have the requirements and will give at meeting.
• Check Signing Designates: should have Jerry Gaspard and Dave Ross, Jack Bute and Sandi Stephens. Vicky Phelps is a good back-up.
• Marketing – Albert Obbens
  • Has been attempting to get an auto show set up, but has encountered several obstacles beginning with getting the 2012 calendar availability from our theatre manager. Wants to take advantage of the Flower Fair and Jazz exhibit busy times. Mentioned our selling our parking spaces during these times.
  • Membership Status :     members
  • Advertising on Radio Chiriqui – has not had the kind of  response to his inquiries that he would expect. Will not be pursuing this form of marketing.
  • Publicity: November/December Events –

• Creative Director – Donna/Dana/Sandi
  • Enchanted April – Shirley has reported that everything is coming along nicely and smoothly.
  • Upcoming Special Events – Our Holiday Program: Boquettes singing, Olsen girls, Santa, clowns, face-painters. Dec. 17^th 1-4pm.
• Operations – Update –Daneisa
  • Changed & New Bookings: flamenco. Jan’y 14^th. This is during the fair. 2 shows. 4pm and 7pm. Awaiting contract.
  • Problems with events in past two weeks -
• Maintenance – Jack Bute

• Status of Roof Leaks: Rhody has tarred and they still leak.
• Status of Generator Hookup: needs to get with Rich Cacianti in order to discern how best to achieve results. The generator is ready for the show. There will be someone at each show familiar with the process of getting the generator put into use.
• Driveway entrance gravel – will put a fill in there.
• Ladies Room Toilet – both toilets are now working.

New/Other:

Meeting adjourned: 3:19pm

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Meeting Rules: One person speaks at a time. Respect one another – play nice.

Stay on topic. Turn cell phones off.

Items PENDING for next meeting’s agenda are highlighted in RED.

Council members in attendance:  Sandi Stephens, Albert Obbens, Dave Ross, Jack Bute, Jerry Gaspard

Functional Managers in attendance:  Erin Ross, Daneisa

Not in attendance: Donna O’Toole

Audience in attendance:  Robyn Cole, Char Pierce, Penny Ripple

OLD BUSINESS:

• Member input: Char Pierce: approached by vendors to ask BCP if possible to have 2 dates to have a Christmas sale. Like Tuesday Market. Friday, Novemeber 25 is a date they’ve chosen. Kind of like the after Thanksgiving day sale in states. A Black Friday sale. And  Christmas bazaar. They were asking if possible to pay the $5/table and perhaps have the bar open. Saturday would be good for the other date. The vendors suggest $5/table. It was suggested that BCP receive a minimum of $200. Suggested: $8/table with minimum $200. We all agree that it would be beneficial to have these big sales for the vendors. Discussion for cost ensued. 10-4 is suggested time. Saturday, December 10 is good for the second sale date. Yoga would need to be moved. Decision was Friday, November 25^th from 10-4. Vendors pay $5 per table and BCP will expect a minimum of $200. The second date is to be determined.
• Robyn Cole introduced herself. She is assisting Albert with marketing.
• Minutes – Approval – the final version was approved.
• Items Pending
  • Advertising on Radio Chiriqui: This item will be discussed at our next meeting, October 4^th.
  • Hex Room Sound Improvements: Jack B. – simple solution: to put up cubicle frames with padding & fabric. The issue is the glass and ceiling. This idea will help to diminish sound from the echo that is caused from the glass walls. In the interim, close the curtains. This should help quite a lot. Vicki will try this for Rotary.. UPDATE: Jack had some personal things to attend to so wasn’t able to try his idea regarding frames with sound absorbing material. He will make a couple of these frames and see if it helps in the coming weeks. We will then let Betty Gray know we’re working on rectifying the situation.

• Legal Items: Dave
  • Daneisa Contract: Dave met with lawyer, Eric Quintero. We already have a good contract from a previous employee and will make the changes for Daneisa’s contract. Eric will look this over prior to giving it to Daneisa.
  • Tuesday Market: On the question of whether or not BCP qualifies as a Private Club for tax purposes: Eric stated that we don’t qualify as a private club.
  • Dana Hire: Dana will direct BCP’s November’s show. Eric Quintero says this needs to be a private agreement between BCP and Dana. Dana is working with Dave and Penny to work out her proposal for November’s production. Penny notes there is $900 in advertising sales for this production. There will then be a $300 expense for publicity, leaving $600, which will allow us to pay her.
  • Improper Filing: Dave went to the tax board. They reported that we didn’t file something properly. We were unable to pay taxes this month. We have now done so. It was a mess but all is in order now.
  • Signatures for signing checks: Jeff Simon will been removed as legal representative; Dave Ross has been added. We will create an advisory board and those persons will then be the ones added to the bank’s signature list as able to sign checks. Then the legal process will be easier than the other way we were considering. On this advisory board: Vicki Phelps, Jack Bute, and Dave Ross. Once this is filed, Jerry Hedrick will no longer be on the list. This process will cover this. Jerry Hedrick has requested his removal for quite some time now. BCP needs to re-file with the government. Dave will do this this week. After discussion, we will not use Lane. She has expressed a desire to step back. The legal filing will cost approximately $450.

• Theatre Manager:
• Pricing Recommendations – Rhody:
  • Rhody discussed the new pricing with Jim Hatch. It is understood that Chiriqui Players may not be renting from BCP any longer.

• Finances –Jerry Gaspard.
  • Current Status: Savings account: $ 9439.04
    Building Fund: $ 3069.36
    Bank Balance: $ 1529.51
  • We have a new Panamanian accountant. Here is her information:
    Aris Elvira Caballero Guerra
    Contador Publico Autorizado
    Edificio Don Andres, Local #1 (Impresiones.com)
    Boquete, Calle Principal
    Celular 6530-9816    Fax 720-2560
    aecg@hotmail.com
  • New Law regarding The Machine: $36,000 income or more, we must buy the machine. We must have it up and working by the end of November. Machine will cost between $700 and $1400.  Jerry will remain in contact with Aris regarding this new law.
• Marketing –
  • Membership Status : Erin – 289 members.
  • Albert suggests we advertise membership a little more. Erin detailed how frequently we expose the members table to events and other forms of member recruiting.
  • Publicity: all is done through the end of the year.
  • Albert discussed ways of increasing income: 1.  Build a dressing room on the back of the stage to free up the Hex Room so that we can offer dinners prior to our performances  2. Hang advertisements around the Lobby Lounge. Penny noted that these would not always be welcome by people who rent the facility, and then would have to be removed and stored somewhere and put back up

• Penny mentioned projects she wanted to get done, but had never been able to:

1. Create a meeting planners’ kit and solicit the hotels in town to make BCP facility the official Conference Center for their business groups
2. Support the Vice President’s fundraising effort by painting the Sponsor’s Tree on the back of the sound room wall, and brass plaques on the back of seats. Vice President is in charge of fundraising, but marketing would handle plaques and artwork and publicity

• A couple of ideas for next year: wants to know if possible to organize more events. Car show. During fair is a good time. Tourist shows. Wedding show, school show. Penny agrees. Something should be going on each month.
• Creative Director – Donna/Dana
  • November Production: Auditions held yesterday. Dana was not available for an update, but we believe there is only one, maybe two, characters that still need to be found.  A read-through with the performers will be Thursday with rehearsals beginning the first week of October.
  • Upcoming Special Events: Octoberfest; report by Erin in Heather’s absence: German foods: bratwurst, etc. $12/person or $80/table. Bar open. Already have German kegs of beer in our possession. Oct. 16^th, Sunday afternoon. Start at 5pm; 6pm dinner is served. Table décor and costume competition. Yodel and polka dance contest. With prizes. CD music with help from Jim & Char. Heather has promotional logo for tickets and advertising. She will share this with Robyn for promotion of this event.
  • B4B requests we donate as we did last year. One offer of 4 tickets. Council approved.
  • Erin suggests: Tuesday November 1, after the council meeting at approximately 2:30pm, invite members, have champagne, introduce to members/council. A similar idea may have already begun to happen in coordination with Dana’s show. To be in the lobby. Robyn will gather photos and put to music an historic slideshow to be seen during anniversary party.
• Operations – Update – Daneisa
  • Changed & New Bookings: half of the Flamenco night tickets are sold. Many people have responded to opening their home to the Flamenco group. Still haven’t secured buses for transportation. Nikki chose to take this group under her wing and is going beyond her duty for a non BCP event.
  • Wedding prospect. Coming to look next week.
• Table to solicit donations: for children’s issue. A woman asked if she pays the $5 for a table at Tuesday’s Market, can she request donations to help pay for a child’s recovery. This woman showed up this morning at the Market, was allowed to purchase a table and beg donations from attendees. The majority of the council found no issue with this.
• Maintenance – Jack Bute: was called away during the last couple of weeks due to family issues and has nothing to report.
  • Status of Roof Leaks:
  • Generator: Will install system after Chiriqui Players show. Jack will have it installed within the next two weeks.
• New/Other: Rhody proposes a coffee shop in the lobby area with Cafe Ruiz. Wants wifi and nice furniture at end of lobby. He ran this by Miss Ruiz and she was jazzed about being able to provide something like that at BCP.  Just consider this. Not necessarily to discuss today. Coffee and pastries only. Nice music. Comfortable seating. Could be closed on Tuesdays. We could piggy-back on their advertising. They’re major national. 1^st step Do we approve. 2^nd step: is Anayansi okay with this? She would profit, too. This should be run by Anayansi before proceeding further. Further discussion at next meeting with update by Rhody.
• Jerry G. brought up music donation by Donna. Where are the hundreds of CD’s? Perhaps Rhody has these. Jerry G. will ask Rhody.
• Penny Ripple brought up the VAIO computer that she donated for record keeping. Albert and Robyn have a CD of almost every single thing ever done through Penny’s marketing position. Docs, logos. Marketing stuff. Penny will ensure this information also gets placed on the VAIO, located at Jerry G.’s house.

Meeting adjourned: 2:52pm

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Meeting Rules: One person speaks at a time. Respect one another – play nice.

Stay on topic. Turn cell phones off.

Items PENDING for next meeting’s agenda are highlighted in RED.

Council members in attendance: Sandi Stephens, Vicki Phelps, Jerry Gaspard, Jack Bute for Jerry Wager, Dave Ross.

Functional Managers in attendance:  Nikki Steele, Erin Ross.

Not in attendance: Donna O’Toole, Jerry Wager.

Audience in attendance:  Terry Zach, Clare Edmonds.

OLD BUSINESS:

• Member input: Terry Zach: does BCP have plans to obtain a new generator system? Told story of what happened opening night for Chiriqui Players Trip to Bountiful and for Serenades, Spaghetti & Sweets. This topic is addressed within these minutes.
• Minutes – Approval – the final version was approved.

o       Items Pending

§         Meetings with Chiriqui Players: Rhody and Donna to meet with Jim Hatch and Paul Day after their show ends. Chiriqui Players received new price structure and cannot afford to have shows in our theatre. We will set up a committee to discuss price re-structuring during this meeting which will be reflected within these minutes.

§         Lighting/Sound Training: training went well. Nikki, Dave, Lane and Dell Jacoby attended this training. Kevin Fisher and Marilyn & Fene are already trained. We have a new member who upon moving to Boquete is willing to assist in the sound/lighting booth.

§         Advertising on Radio Chiriqui: a report will be forthcoming once Albert returns.

§         Update on Danesa & Franc: Dave asked Danesa to contact Vicki. Over a week has passed and she hasn’t contacted her. Dave will call again and ask Danesa to contact Vicki. Franc: hasn’t shown an interest in this position but he will be contacted to discern if there are things he’s interested in doing.

§         Health Cards/Work Permits : Mort said he was able to get his health card. Originally, it was easy to obtain a health card, then difficult, now easy again. Chef Juan has now received his card, after a first difficult attempt. Vendors to require health cards is still on target for September 1^st. Vicki/Nikki will keep track of which vendors have received their cards, which haven’t and which are in the process of receiving. This document will then be turned over the the new Operations Director.

§         Hex Room Sound Improvements: Jack B. – simple solution: to put up cubicle frames with padding & fabric. The issue is the glass and ceiling. This idea will help to diminish sound from the echo that is caused from the glass walls. In the interim, close the curtains. This should help quite a lot. Vicki will try this for Rotary.

§         Albert Obbens: new council member. Let’s ease him into his position. Build up a level of trust. Will have a 90 day testing period which was agreed upon by both Albert and current BCP council members.

• Pricing Recommendations – Dave

o       Dave had lunch w/Paul Day. Price increase is too much for Chiriqui Players to continue renting from BCP. Dave reviewed a spreadsheet he created showing income of BCP and approximate income for CP (without deducting the unknown expenses) with 4 shows/8shows and with/without price increase. Intense discussion ensued. The pricing committee was divided as to what the new pricing structure should be. As to BCP costs, specific numbers were not provided. Just glanced over and seemingly randomly selected. A couple on the committee were in complete disagreement with the recommendations. Agniya is no longer available, so the new committee will re-address the pricing restructuring and will consist of Jerry Gaspard, Jack Bute, Nikki Steele, JERRY HEDRICK and Rhody Edwards. Jack will chair the committee. Erin contacted Rhody and Shirley during the meeting for confirmation of their participation on this committee.

• Finances –Jerry Gaspard.

o       Current Status: Savings: $2064.80 in the building fund; Regular Savings: $9425.18; Checking: $1231.89

o       New Law: Dave presented a thick document detailing a new law requiring businesses to log in sales into a device which the businesses must purchase. Dave spoke with Dixie, our accountant. Income must be reported at point of sale via a machine in order for the government to collect taxes. Machine costs run from $700 – $1400. Oteima is where you purchase them. Must have this device by September 30. Every sale must be registered. Half of the purchase price of the machine can be deducted.

o       Signature options: Dave Ross and Jack Bute can sign checks now. Jerry Hedrick wants to be removed. Dave will speak with our counsel, Eric Quintero, about this item either this week or next. These foundation changes are expensive. Suggestion: let’s name 5 people who have been on the board for a while and name them signatories. Then it won’t be necessary to change for years to come.

• Marketing –

o        Membership Status : 277 members; fluctuates monthly. Always people coming and going.

o        Publicity: upon Albert’s return, he will focus on the publicity for our show in November.

o        Special Events/Recommendations: this will be discussed at the next meeting on Tuesday, September 6th. The functional managers are to meet with Dave for a strategic planning meeting that the council members have already attended.

• Creative Director – Donna

o       Donna will continue for another 6 months. Erin mentioned that Heather Dyer has volunteered to assist this position now and will continue once the new person takes over the position.

o       Heather needs to be contacted by Donna re this!

o       November Production: Dana will do our November production for a percentage. $2/head up to $500. She has also volunteered to do the rest of our production schedule for the remaining 2012 year. Both parties will evaluate this decision after the November production. Perhaps we should change this to a paid functional manager position. Or put the cost in the budget of the production.  How to categorize her pay, or any others that may be approved, is a question to be brought up by Dave with Eric Quintero, our counsel and/or Dixie, our accountant.

• Operations – Update – Vicki.

o        Changed & New Bookings: Saturday, September 24^th for a birthday party. October 27 & 28, Thursday and Friday- a coffee fair. They want the theatre and hex room. 7am-6pm. Quoted $400 for 2 days. Can move Rotary and yoga for those days.

o        Request to use theater by Flamenco Group from PC – Nikki -. Supposedly they’re continuing to target September 17 and Nikki doesn’t see this happening as it should without a six week lead time on publicity. Still an issue with ticket pricing. The liaison for the Flamenco group says Panamanians won’t pay $15 for just music. They want appetizers and drinks. Also, the group is asking that we find places for the people in the group to stay. Looks like this won’t be happening. Nikki is to contact them so they don’t just show up on September 17^th.

• Maintenance – Jack Bute

o        Status of Roof Leaks: Jack’s been attempting to get them all. He continues to do so.

o        Generator: Dave trained Paul Day and John (bar volunteer) the evening the power went out during opening night of Chiriqui Players Trip to Bountiful. Rich was going to install a switch to turn on the generator. He and Jack discussed a better place to keep the generator and will proceed. Entails getting into electrical box and re-wiring. Will install system after Chirqui Players show. The cost will be approximately $200. The generator will still require being started but will not be a danger to those doing so.

• New/Other: Jerry G. asked that we stand by the 48 or 72 hour rule that requires us to allow a penciled in event to become permanent with a deposit when the same rental period is requested by another group for rental. It was explained there were extenuating circumstances due to the rental fee re-structuring. Nikki will contact the potential renters Jerry G. was referring to once the fee re-structuring has been accomplished to see if they can still be accommodated.

Meeting adjourned: 3:04pm