Membership Meeting Feb 3, 2018

[Russell Albright]

Minutes of General Membership Meeting
Greetings. Following lunch, Trever called the meeting to order at 12:55 PM and welcomed those in attendance. A total of 59 people were in attendance including Santas, Mrs. Clauses, an Elf/ Fairy Princess, and other friends of NORPAC.

Meal Blessing. Gene Sanders asked God’s blessing on the meal we’d just enjoyed, and on the meeting that we were just beginning.

Santa Claus Oath was led by Trever. Mrs. Claus Oath was led by Kirby Taylor who Trever noted is the first Mrs. Claus to be featured on the NORPAC website. Elf Oath was led by Aimee Hague.

Introductions. Trever asked for new or first-time attendees to introduce themselves. These included: Santa Fred & Vickie Gower (Silverdale); Fairy Princess (and Elf) Aimee Hague (Everett); Santa R. Kent & Rocio DeWitt (Shelton and Copala, Sinaloa, Mexico); Santa Mike Slavin (Poulsbo); Santa Tony & Laurie Christian (Chehalis); Santa Ralph Hammersborg (Seattle); and Santa Mark DeMonbrun (Yakima). NORPAC welcomes all of you and we hope you’ll return for future NORPAC meetings.

Minutes. Dale explained that minutes from all NORPAC minutes are available to members on the NORPAC website. He encouraged anyone interested to take a look at the minutes posted for our more recent meetings including both a board meeting and general membership meeting on Aug. 7th, a board meeting on Oct. 21st, and the Northwest Santa Workshop at the GWL on Nov. 2-4, 2017. Minutes from today’s two meetings will be sent to Trever within a couple days and he will add them to the website as well. The minutes are not formally approved at subsequent meetings, but rather are sent to the chairman who reviews them for accuracy before posting.

Upcoming Santa Gatherings. IBRBS International Santa Gathering,
Denver, Apr. 18-22
Tacoma Rainiers game, July 22
Seattle Mariners game, TBD
Tim Connaghan’s “School4Santas,”
Seattle, TBD
9th Annual Northwest Santa Work-
Shop, Great Wolf Lodge, TBD

Treasurer’s Report. Dennis Gorley made his end-of-year report for 2017and noted the following:
• In 2017 the board elected to utilize PayPal for online transactions on a one year trial to evaluate costs of the transactions. We are 5 months into the trial. Determining whether service costs can be absorbed by general fund or if we should raise fee to cover service.
• Membership has increased significantly since advertising the 2017 Workshop and through word of mouth. Up to 68 members as of this date. In February 2017 we had 47 members. 2016 we had 42 members.
• 25 Tickets have been purchased for Tacoma Rainiers Game. Game on Sunday, July 22nd. Price of each ticket is $15.00 which includes ticket, hotdog, chips and water and a $2.00 NORPAC charity donation.
• 2018 Membership dues are due now. A BGC is required; however if you are a current member with a BGC you can elect to have the BGC done in September so that it is valid for the 90 days before Christmas 2018.
• Washington State Department of Revenue report for 2017 has been filed.
• IRS Form 990 – Non-profit filing requirement for 2017 completed and filed.
• Proposed 2017 Budget presented to officers in January and approved.
Dennis also shared that the proposed 2018 has been reviewed by the board and unanimously approved as presented at the board meeting earlier today. He encouraged anyone with questions to contact him.

Discussion of Date for this Year’s Conference at GWL. Trever shared the 3 possible dates that are available for NORPAC’s annual fall conference, Sept. 13-15, Oct. 4-6, or Nov. 1-3. Discussion followed. While not many favored Sept., the number preferring Oct. was about the same as the number favoring Nov. Randy offered to send out a quick electronic survey so that those not at today’s meeting could also express their opinions. The board will take a look at the results from that survey and report back to the general membership.

Elections. Bob Partlow chaired the election of candidates to serve as members of the NORPAC Executive Board for the next two years. The slate included:
Chairman-Trever Waltos Vice Chair-Gene Sanders Past Chair-Dennis Simpson
Secretary-Dale Scott Treasurer-Dennis Gorley
At Large-Ron Kearns At Large-Jerry Galland At Large-Randy Cook.
Mark DeMonbrun moved that the slate be approved as presented (several 2nded). The voice vote was unanimous. Per NORPAC bylaws, the next election of board members will be two years from now (February, 2020).

Old Business.
Ordering Nametags or Jackets. Dennis Gorley shared that if there is sufficient interest, he could place another order for the magnetic name tags, and/or another order for the red NORPAC jackets. Please let Dennis know if you have an interest in ordering either of these items.

New Business & Sharing.
Santa True. Randy shared that the board had decided to do a survey to determine the level of interest in NORPAC sponsoring a 2-day workshop by Santa True, likely in late July or early August. The survey will go out soon and NORPAC members are encouraged to share their thoughts with the board through that instrument.

“Caught Being Good” Cards. Gus Hall shared an attractive Santa Caught Me Being Good! card that he uses. These are available from http://www.SpanglePrinting.com.

Formal Charity Arm. Deanna Partlow (who along with husband Bob coordinated the “go fund me” site to help raise funds that were donated to Texas and Florida) suggested that NORPAC might want to establish a formal charity arm to help with disaster relief or special needs. No action was taken.

Rates of Pay. A wide-ranging discussion took place concerning rates of pay for Santa work, how individuals set their rates, etc. There weren’t specific conclusions that resulted from the discussion, but the advice from several of the experienced Santas seemed to be that there is a lot of Santa work available and that we need to be careful not to undervalue or undersell our services.

Santa Chairs for Sale. Jerry Galland builds and sells Santa chairs. He brought a miniature model of the chair he builds. Please contact Jerry for further information.

Secret Sleigh Project. Mark DeMonbrun spoke highly of the Secret Sleigh Project that brings Santa visits to medically fragile or homebound kids. Trever said he’d put a link to this project on NORPAC’s website for those who’d like more information.

50/50 Drawing. Dennis G. reported that $258 had been collected for today’s drawing. Half of this amount ($129) will remain in NORPAC’s treasury; the other half was won by Santa Russ Long who’d bought the winning raffle ticket. Thanks to all who participated.

Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM.

Upcoming meetings: April 7, location to be announced
June 2, location to be announced
Aug. 4, Santa Ernie & Ginny’s home, Lakewood

Respectfully submitted,
Dale Scott, Secretary

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