The meeting for April 2007 was called to order April 7th by Club Vice President Mike Cleveland at 10:40.
The minutes for March 2007 were presented; a motion was made by Neal Locke and seconded by Mike Ross to accept the minutes as read. The motion passed.
The Treasurer’s report for March 2007 was submitted. Neal Locke made a motion to eliminate the reading of report and open it for questions from the floor. Howard Bell seconded and the motion passed. Member purchases listed in the report as income and expenses were related to the purchase of club shirts.
Betty Neill reviewed the membership roster by scale breakdown. These numbers were accurately reflected in the March minutes.
Old Business
Betty mentioned the utility bill and a fuel credit. Ed Neill explained that the club is classified as a commercial customer.
The club offered its condolences to the Orcutt family. Kent Orcutt passed away and a $50 memorial was made to the Memorial Baptist Church of Temple, Texas.
Club member Frank Harlan’s son also passed away and a sympathy card was sent.
Joe Teakell is still working on a draft policy for publishing content to the web site.
The Board of Directors appointed a committee to review the club bylaws and constitution. The committee consists of Dan Ladd, Ed Neill, and Wiley Starnes with Bill Lancaster serving as Chairman.
New Business
Ed Neill introduced a new club member, Bill Jones. Bill is the mayor of Temple and models in S Scale. Earl Blanchette and Wylie Starnes will mentor. Welcome aboard!
Mike Cleveland asked Dan Ladd and Neil Locke to form a train show celebration committee. They met after the last meeting to discuss options and agreed to pursue two possibilities for the 25th anniversary celebration.
The first idea was to refurbish the club’s two award-winning modules, put them together as a layout, and display them at the Train Show. They asked for Ed Neill’s help and he was able to identify one of the modules but not the other. He said he would check at the Katy depot in case it was inadvertently stored there.
The second idea was to have a “banquet” at the Moody depot the Saturday night of the train show instead of the usual reception. There could be as many as 150 attendees including all members, vendors, and any special guests. It would need to be a buffet banquet and some people would probably have to eat standing up because of a shortage of space. If the weather is good, there should be no problems with overcrowding. Mike and Dan had spoken about several possible caterers and will look into it. Dan spoke to Susan Fawcett (the Christmas party caterer) and she assured him that she could serve a group of that size.
Club members were asked to think about how vendors and supporters might be recognized. Some of those that might be recognized are: those who have been at every show (if any?); the most tables purchased; Extraco bank for supporting the raffle layout; Amtrak for donating tickets; the city of Temple for depot lease, roof, and $2000 advertising. If you have any thoughts, let Dan know.
There is some concern if there will be a carnival in the depot parking lot the Saturday night of the train show. Mike Cleveland said he had been contacted by a hotel to see if the club needed any banquet space.
Joe Pyland made a motion for Dan to pursue a banquet and the ideas presented. JC Fischer seconded and the motion passed.
21 vendors have pre-registered for 112 tables. 53 letters will be going out this week to those vendors in the database.
Letters have gone out to the proposed layout participants. Every layout participant was visited last month at the WGH Show in Fort Worth. They were also given questionnaires about their layouts. Seven layouts will display at this year’s show.
Jim Bush sent notices to magazines to get the show listed in their calendars.
Betty Neill had a change to make to the train show chair listing. There are eleven people who have been train show chairs. Mike Cleveland proposed that we recognize these people at the banquet with a plaque. Betty had investigated plaque pricing and said plaques with the club logo were $9-11 each. Joe Pyland made a motion for Mike and Betty to pursue some kind of recognition for past train show chairs. Bill Jones seconded and the motion passed.
Bill Lancaster has put up new shelving for the Library’s Periodical Collection.
April 14th and 15th is the Blooming Temple Festival. Several members had volunteered to open for the festival. It was mentioned that several items were stolen when the club was open for last year’s festival. Kennedy Gauger make a motion to not open for the festival this year. Keith Nonnemacher seconded and the motion passed.
Kennedy Gauger had club shirts for those that had purchased them and showed a ball cap with the club logo on it. These are available for $12 if anyone is interested. Thanks again to Kennedy for all of his work to get this done.
Dan Ladd said more volunteers are needed to help with hand cars. Dan will provide the dates for when hand cars need to be run so it can be added to the club calendar on the website.
Two weeks ago, visitors from a company came to visit. They would like the club to open for them when they have a function at the Santa Fe station from 6-7 PM on April 24th. Ed Neill also mentioned that a supper club might be interested in visiting for a brown bag lunch event.
Betty and Ed Neill visited the depot last week and found the kiddie layout still turned on. Please be sure that everything is turned off when you leave the depot.
The meeting adjourned at 11:44.