HAVILAND CLUB EXECUTIVE MEETING – DRAFT
Monday March 20, 2023
PRESENT:
Jamie Trainor, President
Irene MacArthur, Vice President
Stephen Yarrow, Secretary
Jane MacIsaac, Fundraising Chair
Laurent Beaulieu, Membership Chair
Helen Bernstein, Director at Large
Nelson Hagerman, Treasurer
Michael Cairns, House Chair
REGRETS:
Sue Stanger, Entertainment Chair
Doug Thompson, Chair of the Trustees
Scott Stevens, Pond Chair
1. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by President Jamie Trainor who welcomed the new House Chair Michael Cairns.
2. Adoption of the agenda was moved by Jane, seconded by Irene. Motion carried.
3. Approval of the last meeting’s (February 27, 2023) minutes was unanimous. The board discussed the mechanism for disseminating to all Club members the minutes of each board meeting and agreed that minutes should not be posted on the website where they can be viewed by the outside world but should be limited to the members only. Laurent committed to sharing the minutes going forward with the members via his group email list, used for sending out the weekly Updater.
4. Manager’s report – Susan MacDonald. In Susan’s absence, report given by Jamie.
• April is filling up quickly, including four weddings booked, reunions, birthdays, a Celebration of Life meeting, etc. More inquiries for rentals coming in.
• The March 3rd Friday music night (including oysters) with Jon Rehder’s group, was a big success.
• The snooker group fund raiser dinners have also been successful with $700 raised so far – fantastic.
• The subject of the wine selection list was raised again, and the board agreed that popular wine brands should be maintained, augmented with a rotation of select new brands, perhaps on a three-month rotation basis, recognizing that the Club is limited by the availability at the PEI Liquor Commission.
• Sue Stanger is actively looking for additional music evening opportunities.
• The Haviland Club passed a recent health inspection, and the license has been renewed.
• The license for the “socials on the lawn” needs to be restored and we are moving to make this permanent.
5. Committee Reports:
a. President’s Report – Jamie Trainer
• Mike Cairns has offered to take on the role of House Chair and the Executive voted unanimously to welcome Mike. The position will need to be made official by a vote at the next AGM. Meanwhile, Mike will take part in the Strategic Planning Committee, including of course the Farringford House building maintenance plan.
• Craig will be taking on more roles to augment the good work that Susan continues to manage.
• There is a proposal under consideration to have another “Military Dinner” in November, including a band. Last year’s was very successful and raised much needed funds to the Club.
b. Fundraising Report – Jane MacIsaac
• A couple of new opportunities to apply for funding for two additional student positions (high school level) to help Susan. This is over and above the funding applications for students (university level) already in play and discussed last month. Depending on the application host – Federal, Provincial, etc., there could be a cost sharing component with funds received by the Club for various projects, e.g., 90% fund plus 10% from the Haviland Club.
• PEI Community Foundation has started a separate program – funding available to us that we could potentially target some of the priority heritage work on the house structure itself. To be discussed by the Strategic Planning Committee.
• Goal of the end of March to finalize the Strategic Plan and the building reports.
• Will be meeting with the Volume 18 group again soon to complete their work.
• Anticipate a stand-alone meeting of the whole Club membership in May or June to present the Strategic Plan and Building Plan, in addition to finalize the 2022 financial report.
c. Membership Report – Laurent Beaulieu
• Membership grown to 195 members, as we aim for 200.
• Bert’s 90th birthday will be celebrated at the Club this upcoming Saturday. Important to recognize all that Bert has contributed over many years. Unanimous support to recognize Bert by making him a life member, after a motion from Laurent, seconded by Irene.
d. Vice-President Report – Irene MacArthur
• We have a Bridge fund raiser for the Haviland on Mar 26th. Guesstimate $500 plus to be raised for the Club.
• The Chase the Ace tickets can be bought by:
a) the bar $5 a ticket
b) acechaser.com $5.50 a ticket
c) Interac irene.macarthur.pei@gmail.com . Automatic deposit $5 a ticket.
• Chase the Ace is the only ongoing fund raiser at the Club, at present. We are asking that all our members participate by purchasing tickets, to drive the pot up. Once the pot becomes larger and the deck smaller, there will be a run on the ticket sales, which will benefit the Club.
• The Ace has raised more than $20,000 for the Club.
e. Treasurer’s Report – Nelson Hagerman
• At the September AGM the 2022 financial statements were not approved, and now after careful review, these can now proceed to be approved, first by the executive this evening, and later at an all-members meeting.
• However, it was noted that the 2021 numbers are not consistent in this report compared to the 2021 statement. Consistency is vital when sharing the Club’s numbers with funding bodies who review the Club’s finances several years back.
• Nelson will revisit the 2021 numbers and bring the statements back to the Executive at the next meeting.
• Comparative income and balance sheets were shared with the Executive for review.
• Further discussion will be required to increase revenue in light of Covid loan repayments due later this year, and options around establishing charitable status for the Club.
• Bottom line, the Club is not sustainable financially, hence the Strategic Plan and new approaches to revenues going forward.
• Executive will further consider the possibility of a loan to cover current deficits, however, appraisal of the property’s value is needed to approach any bank for a loan, and concurrently revisit insurance on the house to match its true value today.
• Also discussed is the current system for paying and reserving a seat at various events convened at the Club. Big improvement noted with colour coded folders recently implemented at the bar to track who has reserved and/or paid for what, but the system needs to be modernized and made more efficient to avoid piling too many requests on the House Manager.
All the reports were approved unanimously, notwithstanding the need to revisit the financial statements.
6. New business
• Need to set a target for the special all members meeting to discuss and approve the Strategic Plan, Building Plan and the 2022 end-of-year financial statements. Looking at the end of May, subject to some adjustment.
7. Next meeting: set for Monday April 17, 2023. The subsequent executive meeting will fall on Monday May 15, 2023, giving some preparation time for the special all members meeting.
8. Meeting adjourned at 6:52 pm.