January 17 2023 Nor-Pac Board Meeting

[Santa Chuck]

NOR-PAC BOARD MEETING

By Zoom January 17, 2023

On the call:

Dennis Gorley, Russell Albright, Gene Sanders, Jim Beidle, Bob Partlow

Board Membership

The meeting began at 6 p.m. with a discussion of filling the officer spots, President, Vice President and Treasurer.

After letting all members know via email they could apply until January 15, one person each has applied for each position – Gene Sanders for President, Bob Partlow for Vice President and current Treasurer Dennis Gorley for Treasurer.

The Board decided that a election would occur by those present at the February 4 membership meeting at Billy McHale’s in Federal Way. The new officers would take over after the vote. The Board also decided we would not have Zoom availability for membership meetings; Russell said it was difficult to manage logistically.

A notice of the meeting will be sent to all members listing those nominated and letting members know the vote would be the first order of business (after new members introduce themselves). An agenda for each membership meeting, previously available at those meetings, will now be sent out before each meeting so people can see what we will be discussing.

The Board includes three at-large members appointed by the by the elected Board members. Gene and Ernie Walker fill two of those roles. Jim Beidle has been the International Brotherhood of Real Beard Santas representative in an unofficial at-large position. He will be an official at-large Board member, leaving two spots open, assuming Gene is elected President.

Following Santa True’s advice that Santa organizations need to diversify, it was decided we would actively seek to recruit a Mrs. Claus to be an at-large Board member. The recruitment would begin with the notice of the February 4 meeting, letting members know we are seeking a Mrs. Claus.

Website

Russell, who has done a great job building and maintaining the website, said the number of potential jobs coming through the site had decreased this year.

Bob suggested we may want to look at simplifying the site, so those seeking a Santa/Mrs. Claus and the members themselves can navigate it easily. Bob and Russell will talk after the February 4 meeting.

Training

The issue of providing training for members at the membership meetings came up. After a lengthy discussion, the Board agreed we should set aside a maximum of 45 minutes to discuss a specific topic at each meeting.

We will ask members who attend the February 4 meeting to fill out a card or piece of paper listing what items they would like to discuss for training purposes at each meeting. It was agreed to do it this way to minimize discussion becoming lengthy. It also will give us a sense of what items would be most popular among the members for training.

Also, we will likely have more suggestions than we can accommodate at the three remaining membership meetings in 2023, so asking for member input will provide us with a list of items we could use for possible training at the state conference.

When the agenda is sent out, it will include the link to Santa True’s training from the table discussions at the last conference and the Board can also discuss how to use the cards Santa True sold with lots of valuable information about all aspects of being Santa.

Upcoming events

IBRBS

Jim discussed the national IBRBS conference, which will be held in Memphis April 24-28, 2024. He will brief members February 4.

A brief discussion occurred about Nor-Pac hosting a national conference as IBRBS had made an inquiry several years ago. It was decided then, and now, that we could not do it. But it was suggested if we worked with the Santa organizations in Oregon and British Columbia, we might be able to do it.

Christmas In July

The date for Mariners’ Christmas In July event at T-Mobile field has been set for July 17. Bob will seek Santas who would like to participate again this year. The group also discussed reaching out to other sports teams, Seahawks, Kraken, Seattle Storm to partner with them as we do with the Mariners.

We will bring the issue up at the February 4 meeting to see if anyone has contacts with any of those teams. Bob will also reach out to Heather Jones with Toys For Kids, who puts on the Christmas In July event.

The membership meetings for this year will be held April 1, June 3 and the picnic on August 5.

State Conference

The group began an initial discussion of a state conference. It was decided that planning for the conference could stay with the Board, although we would reach out to the membership to see if anyone wants to help.

The planning meetings would be held via Zoom, probably following an initial in-person meeting. Jim has a Zoom business license so he can host the meetings.

Other Items

Santas who are retiring often bring items to the meetings to sell or give away. When the meetings end, items not sold or given away are often left behind. We need to remind Santas to take their items with them.

The February meeting typically includes Santas sharing stories from their season. It was decided we would do that at the February meeting but limit the discussion to 10 minutes at the end of the meeting.

Dennis will provide a Treasurer’s Report and do the 50/50 raffle again.

The agenda for the February 4 meeting will be sent out by Dennis and include:

Election of officers

Recruitment of Mrs. Claus for at-large Board position

Training discussion and collection of training ideas

IBRBS Report

Upcoming Meeting Dates/Christmas in July

Conference update for members and request for anyone who would like to help

 

Submitted by Bob Partlow

Filling in for Secretary Chuck Parrish2022 Conference Financial Report Final 2022 Revenue Report Final  Treasurers Report 12-31-2022

[Ron Highfill]

3 emails and still no meeting time announced, and its not on our calendar!

Santaron Highfill’s iPad

On Feb 7, 2023, at 7:35 AM, Norpac Santas, webmaster <norpac.santas.emails@gmail.com> wrote:



[Russell Albright II]

I apologize that everyone received this email more than once. The
reply system is designed so that when people reply to the emails
EVERYONE but the requestor gets an email notifying them of the
replies. I am working with Santa Ron Highfill to let him know of
this goof, as he replied 7 times.

Santa Russell

[Russell Albright II]

I apologize that everyone received this email more than once. The
reply system is designed so that when people reply to the emails
EVERYONE but the requestor gets an email notifying them of the
replies. I am working with Santa Ron Highfill to let him know of
this goof, as he replied 7 times.

Santa Russell

[Author]

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