Subject: ADS BOARD MEETING MINUTES, AUGUST 7, 2011
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Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 13:35:16 -0400 (EDT)

AUGUST DERLETH SOCIETY BOARD MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 7, 2011       KAY PRICE'S HOUSE        11:30 A.M.

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. was a social time with Sandy Winters, many photographs taken, pizza and cupcakes served. Perry Huntoon's birthday.

PRESENT:  Kay Price, David and Mary Schweitzer, James P. Roberts, Ken Grant, Perry Huntoon, Pat and Henry Russell, Tracy Heron, Rodney Schroeter, Karen Nelson, Jim Kirchstein, Dr. George Vanderburgh, John Haefele.

ABSENT:  Barb Meyer, Fred and Julie Roelke.

GUESTS:  Sandy Winters, Char Olson.

Due to Ken Grant's efficiency, the meeting started at 12:45 p.m.

MINUTES:  Perry Huntoon moved to adopt the minutes of the April 10, 2011 board meeting.  Pat Russell seconded.  Approved.

AGENDA:  Mary Schweitzer moved to adopt the agenda of the board meeting.  Rodney Schroeter seconded.  Approved.

TREASURER'S REPORT:  Mary Schweitzer noted discrepancy in payment to the Sauk Prairie Foundation which provides the prize for the Sauk Prairie High School writers (motion was made by Ken at the June 7, 2009 meeting to raise the prize from $100 to $250.  Mary Schweitzer seconded and motion was approved.) John Haefele made a motion to have Perry write a check for the difference and send it to the student.  Tracy Heron seconded.  Approved.  Mary Schweitzer has the student's address.  Also, Mary noted the amount listed under "Petty Cash" -- $30.00 -- was for the birthday cake and not for the food at the April 10th meeting.

Perry:  We have 2 sizeable CD's on hand, recommend looking at alternative ways to invest: Vanguard/Ginnie Mae.  Annual yield has ranged from 5.29% to 6.94%, lowest yield in ten years was 2.49%.  There is a risk factor, however.
Mary S:  Government has been pouring money into Ginnie Mae, but if subsidy ends, it could be a problem.
Rodney: [Better off buying an ingot of gold and keeping it under Kay's bed!]
John: Protecting our funds should be paramount, rather than growing by meager interest rates.  Focus on growing membership to keep steady revenue and reduce loss.
Perry: Have been conservative with money but haven't grown.
Dr. George: Steward the money and protect the capital.  Take the best guaranteed rate available.
Ken: Perhaps think about a policy that reflects the amount of risks we are taking.  Form a group to pursue how we handle our finances. Falls under the Accountability Committee guidelines.
Ken: Investing in projects rather than stocks.
Karen:  The ADS board has always been careful with money.
Char: Sauk Prairie Chamber of Commerce will have new building; perhaps outlet for ADS brochures, maps, etc.

John Haefele made the motion to recommend Accountability to look at cash accounts in light of Mission Statement and to consider other sources of income (e.g. membership drive).  Tracy Heron seconded.  Approved.  Report to be made to board.

JIM KIRCHSTEIN EQUIPMENT PURCHASE:  Web Hosting is done through GoDaddy.  Derleth blog is handled by Web Gator?
Merrimac.com provides website gratis.  Has needed some upgrades to software.  Some monitors went down (storm?), do have insurance through Meyer Insurance.  Security system monitors back room and main Derleth Room at Library 24/7.  Some equipment costs have been charged through credit card. Tripp Museum has been providing good Derleth material.  Large blow-ups now part of Derleth Room display.

Jim Kirchstein and Dan Boulden have been in contact re: Derleth electronic books.  Dan has been working 80-hour weeks at company.  Current status on project is: wait.

LEGACY COMMITTEE:  Mary Schweitzer gave report.  Dave Schweitzer has written a piece to go into the ADS Newsletter.  Some questions on purpose of Legacy group.  Ken:  Legacy committee is somewhat hard to define, but it's a start and we can develop from there.

(Kay Price has been busy with Sandy Winters and company, thus her voice has not been heard to this point.)

Ken:  Walden West:  President's Hammer of Justice:  "Kay will tell us what to do and we will DO it!"

(Interregnuum)  John Haefele made a presentation that had "nothing to do with anything".  He noted how the way Derleth's output is categorized has been bothersome.  He took all AD books known to exist and re-grouped and sub-grouped them.  Made a list of the titles under new designation and handed out copies. Let him know if there's a mistake or other things need to be known. (John then had to leave early.)

WALDEN WEST SCHEDULE: OCTOBER 7TH - 8TH - 9TH

Friday, October 7th:  Join for dinner at 6:00 p.m. at Old Feed Mill in Mazomanie.
                               Kay will get keys to Railroad Museum for short tour.
                               Need to let Kay know if will be there.

Saturday, October 8th:  JR and Henry to put up signs on Saturday morning.
                                   Meet for lunch at Black Hawk Restaurant at 11:00 a.m.
                                   Meet at Park Hall at 1:00 p.m.
                                   (Note: JR has reserved Park Hall for both Saturday and Sunday
                                   from 1-4 p.m.  Susan Larkin had changed her phone number, so
                                   JR went up to Sauk City on a Sunday morning when the Free
                                   Thinkers had their service and talked to Susan.)
                                   Rodney and Tracy to set up chairs for Sunday program.

                                   Board Meeting at Park Hall           1:00 - 1:45 p.m.
                                   Rodney new President, John Haefele new VP,
                                   JR still beleaguered Secretary, Perry still honored Treasurer.

                                   Car Caravan                                  2:00 p.m.
                                   Henry Russell to plan route and lead car caravan.
                                   JR to provide more flyswatters as car flags.

                                   Ski-Hi                                            3:00 p.m.
                                   Ken to call Ski-Hi and arrange for apple pies.

                                   Library                                          5:00 p.m.
                                   JR to provide DVD of new H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society film
                                   "The Whisperer in Darkness" (Note: the film is not yet
                                   commercially available, but I have pre-ordered a copy.  If the film
                                   does not arrive in time, we now have the Night Gallery episodes of
                                   Derleth's stories on DVD and can re-show them)

                                   Leystra's                                        6:45 p.m.

                                   Cemetery                                      8:00 p.m.
                                   Dan Boulden/Dr. George (a.k.a. The Flaming Pumpkins) to
                                   provide atmosphere at the cemetery.  Much discussion of difficulty
                                   in directing traffic into cemetery.  Tracy Heron at 1st driveway,
                                   Perry at 2nd driveway.  Rodney to be "dead body".

                                   Kay's Party                                         ?

Sunday, October 9th:  Meet at Blue Spoon at 11:00 a.m. for lunch.

                                 Meet at Park Hall at 1:00 p.m.
                                 JR to handle book sales.
                                 Char will call and arrange for apple crisp and cinnamon ice cream.

                                 Program:  Introductory Remarks (Kay)

                                                  Jack Koblas talks about Derleth and Donald Wandrei.

                                                  David Schweitzer to work with Ron Hill on Derleth presentation?

                                                  Ron Hill and guest performer?

                                                  Book sales and social time.

                                 Green Acres:  Kay to call Green Acres for Sunday night dinner.

SEPTEMBER 11TH BOARD MEETING: MEET AT NOON AT KEN'S NEW
DIGS IN NEW LISBON, WISCONSIN ... DIRECTIONS TO FOLLOW SOON!

ADS Newsletter:  Electronic version?  Kay and Ken met: conclusion was that the majority of members prefer the print version.
Rodney: Give incentives to save money.  Mary S: Who prepares the electronic version?  Rodney: easy to do: save as pdf. or html. or doc. format.  Copyright issues?  Do we still have permission from Derleth estate now that April is gone?  Decision to proceed as usual unless notified differently.
ADS Brochure: Not sure on how to proceed with brochure.
Young Writer's Program: JR reported that the YWP seems to be in a state of flux at present time.  May's program was rather hodge-podge, but better hodge-podge than none at all.
Membership and Recruitment:  Pat Russell reports 212 current members, up from last year.  Suggestion was made to swap ads with WRWA and other organizations, put in an ad in regional Wisconsin Trails or People & Ideas.  Char is willing to check into printing costs for brochures, plain versus glossy (Thank you, Char!). Print 2000 on cheap paper or glossy for different areas of distribution.  Need a membership plan: for Promotions Committee.  Char:  a committee of 2 or 3 to go around S.P. businesses.  Char willing to advise on process.  Ken: seek sponsorship, have businesses advertised or mentioned in brochure.  Ken suggested Tracy Heron join Promotions Committee.  Ken needs to finish AD biography!  Some talk about Derleth biographical film.

PUBLICATIONS:  Rodney: Anytime someone sends electronic document to Board, be aware that Windows7, Microword saves item with "docx', which some systems are unable to open.  Save in older format: save as :doc".  Excel: save in older version as "Excels".
                            JR:  JR, Rodney and John met and went through Paul Schwartz collection donation and began the process of creating a "definitive" Derleth book collection using Alison Wilson's bibliography as a template.  JR has incorporated other donations into main collection, including Hugo Schwenker's donation.  When this material is re-catalogued, should have 95% of entire Derleth collection on hand.

Much discussion about Dr. George and publishing Derleth books.  Much confusion.  Many questions that were never answered between ADS and Dr. George.  JR has apologized for any miscommunications or misinterpretations and will continue to handle book orders as directed by the Board.

At April 10th meeting, Tracy Heron had put forward a proposal for a moratorium on purchasing any further AD books until we could decide which were best books to continue publishing.  This was missed or not noted by the Secretary at the April meeting.

Rodney: neither over-ordering books or not ordering books are tenable for ADS.
Ken: Both Dan Boulden and Dr. George have recently printed AD books (Dan: Elegy On A Flake Of Snow.  Dr. George: Dragnet Solar Pons, Comics In America)

(Derleth Society and Dr. George have permission to publish AD books.  Kay produced signed contract from April, dated September 2010)

Char:  perhaps contact businesses; if they buy books, give to kids free of charge, but Rodney has seen such books by others in used bookstores soon after.

Henry: Books are printed differently these days.  Still have a lot of books in inventory, need to reduce by new means. (Note: JR took copies of Remembering Derleth and A Derleth Collection, as well as Wisconsin Writers and Writing to WRWA Spring Conference, offering free copies of Remembering Derleth or A Derleth Collection to anyone who became an ADS member; also, Wisconsin Writers and Writing was offered for $5.00  There were no sales and no new memberships, but, as Rodney said, it was a poory attended conference.)

Ken (having the final say): We are working on looking at new publications, but there is no decision yet on who publishes or what gets published. Publication Committee to make a recommendation on what to publish.  Dr. George states "at this time no Derleth publications will be printed by him for the ADS".

Archives:  Website: Twitter and Facebook pages have been set aside.  Too many problems with people not authoring correctly on social media.  Eventually will put links on journal and blog that will ultimately go to Facebook.  Blog has a lot of spam mail, about 70%.  No single negative blog yet on site.  Preservation:  went too fast to be noted while Secretary was suffering from a hand cramp.

Perry Huntoon made the motion to adjourn.  Char Olson seconded.  Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.