CALL TO ORDER Chair Geoff Sargent called the meeting to order at 11:00 AM on Saturday January 13, 2018 at the Marriott Hotel Board Room, The Great 48, Bakersfield, CA.
ROLL CALL
Board Members Present: David Brace, Yennie Brecheisen, Bruce Campbell, Mikki Feeney, Dave Gooding, Mark Hogan, Larry Phegley, Geoffrey Sargent Board Members participating via conference phone: Jessica Furui, Brandon Godman, Chuck Hurd
Board Members Absent: none
Officers and Coordinators Present: Stan Allen, Darby Brandli, Valerie Cornejo, Ron Dale, John Erwin, Jim Fissori, Colleen Hogan, Randy January, Ted Kuster, Jack Pierce, Charlene Sims, Kim Smith, Lucy Smith
Members Present: Marion Adeney, Bruno Brandli, Nina Brilliant, Patrick Campbell, TJ Carskadon, Mahati Chintapalli, Claire Conrad, Bert Daniel, Paul Figueroa, John Hettinger, Max Ignamius, Kara Kundert, Matt Lauer, Andy Likuski, Hideaki Mizuno, Loraine Nichols, Bob P., Pat Palmer, Jeremy Pollock, Jody Richardson, Emily Riddell, Niki Savage, Slim Sims, James Touzel
SETTING OF THE AGENDA
The agenda was approved with two changes.
APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING MINUTES
The minutes of the November 18, 2017 minutes were approved with one correction.
PERSONS DESIRING TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON UNAGENDIZED ITEMS
–John Erwin asked the board to have the FDF Ticket Form in the Bluegrass Breakdown corrected. It no longer requires a self-addressed-stamped envelope.
–Mark Hogan introduced Patrick Campbell from Sonoma County. Patrick has taken over running the Sebastopol jam.
–Kim Smith reported that the OldTime campout has been moved from Lake Sonoma to the Sycamore Ranch Campground east of Marysville.
OLD BUSINESS
Area Activities Vice Presidents:
Statewide Activities VP Ted Kuster announced that there is an Area Activities meeting after the board meeting. He introduced Jim Fissori, the new AAVP for the Central Coast and Ron Dale, who is taking over the Sacramento area from John Hettinger.
Year-Round Appointments:
–Dave Gooding has not been able to get hold of Steve and Kathy West but believes they are no longer acting as Membership Recruitment Coordinators. –Charlene Sims has agreed to handle the instrument raffle one more year.
–The Mercantile Coordinator position is open. Whoever takes over must be able to tow and store the mercantile trailer.
Grass Valley Appointments:
FDF Director David Brace announced that he’s looking for a Safety & Hospitality Coordinator, a Gate Coordinator and a Transportation Coordinator.
Outstanding FDF Retrospective Reports:
The FDF Reports still aren’t complete. We need to develop a better way to collect and compile the coordinator reports before the 2018 festival.
FDF promotion:
Yennie Brecheisen handed out “Come to Daddy” buttons to promote FDF 2018. Brandon Godman donated the cost of producing the buttons.
Great 48 Youth Bands:
The Blue J’s & Friends are substituting for Crying Uncle at the concert tonight in the hotel ballroom. The other bands are Gilly Girls and Golden Grass. Darby Brandli introduced Ida Winfee, the CBA’s Youth Ambassador.
NEW BUSINESS
2018 FDF Prospective:
David Brace announced that everything is on track except for filling a few key positions for the festival. A specific contract discussion was moved to Closed Session.
Pride Parade:
Kara Kundert presented a summary of the Pride Parade 2017. Bluegrass Pride is asking for the same support from the CBA in 2018, including use of CBA branding and insurance coverage. After lengthy discussion, the board agreed to provide support with the additional provision that the board will have oversite of all public-facing communications under the CBA name. In addition, a motion was approved insuring that all excess funds raised with be donated back to the CBA’s general fund to provide support for other outreach efforts such as a St. Patrick’s Day parade at the Alameda 4th of July parade.
Morgan Stanley Account:
The board authorized Montie Elston to continue as administrator of the CBA’s Morgan Stanley account.
Debit Card Authorization:
The board authorized adding Geoff Sargent to the Wells Fargo accounts in his capacity as new Chair.
Vegas Strong Fundraiser:
The board authorized a donation to the Las Vegas Victims Fund in response to a request from Southern Nevada Bluegrass Music Society to collectively match their donation. The fund was established to help the families of victims of shootings at an outdoor music event in Las Vegas in October 2017.
Great 48 Update:
Jack Pierce, the Area Activities VP for the So. San Joaquin Area, gave a preliminary update on the Great 48. The event made the front page of the Bakersfield paper plus other news outlets. The Friday night concert was a success.
REPORTS
Executive Committee:
The Executive Committee approved a 10% discount to music camp participants to entice them to stay for the festival. The discount is for 4-day tickets only and cannot be combined with other offers.
Membership:
Membership Coordinator Larry Phegley reported that as of January 1 there were 2601 members. Yennie Brecheisen agreed to take over the job of sending letters to people with expired memberships.
Treasurer’s: Valerie Cornejo reported that she is still finalizing year-end adjustments to the financial reports and will present the final budget at the February meeting. The board agreed to drop the Wells Fargo Merchant Account and purchase new equipment to transition to Go Payment for credit card transactions.
Music Camp:
Geoff Sargent announced that Music Camp registration opens on 2/7/18. Almost all faculty contracts have been signed and returned.
Youth Program:
–Youth Program Coordinator Darby Brandli reported that IBMA will handle the application process for KOB at IBMA. There will be an article in the next Bluegrass Breakdown.
–The Scholarship Fund has surpassed the $8,000 goal and is now at $9,500.
Area Activities VP’s:
Kim Smith (Nevada County) –The board approved Kim’s request to give FDF comp tickets to several people who help hang FDF flyers all over Nevada County, up to Tahoe and other parts of the Sierra.
Mark Hogan (North Bay) – Mark has been in discussion with the California State Old Time Fiddlers’ Association about possibly moving the State Championship from Oroville to Cloverdale in 2019. He will have more information at future meetings.
Bruce Campbell (Contra Costa) – Bruce is looking for ways to expand the bluegrass presence in Contra Costa county in the future and is looking forward to the AAVP meeting later this afternoon to hear more about what other people are doing in their areas.
Larry Phegley (South Bay/Monterey Bay) –AJ Lee is planning a CD release party at Music on Main in Soquel. Rita Hosking is playing in South San Jose on 1/27 and Special Consensus has a house concert on 1/23. Phil’s Fish Market has bluegrass every Monday & Tuesday night and Volume 5 will be at Night at the Grange on 2/24 in Morgan Hill.
Jim Fissori (Central Coast) – Jim is one of the newest AAVPs. He will be wearing dual hats since he is also involved with BMSCC (Bluegrass Music Society of the Central Coast) that puts on the Parkfield Festival on Mother’s Day weekend in May
Ron Dale (Sacramento) – Ron is taking over from John Hettinger in a very active area. John still plans to hold house concerts at the “Folsom Opry House.”
Marcos Alvira (Stanislaus/Merced/Mariposa) –Marcos announced that there may be a new 1-day bluegrass festival starting in his area. The location of one of the regular jams in his area may be changing due to a change of ownership.
Ted Kuster (San Francisco) –Ted reported that the SFBOT was a “qualified success”, and he feels they will do it again next Fall. The CBA sponsored the Women’s Showcase at the event.
Stan Allen (Central San Joaquin) – The monthly jam in Stan’s area that is going well. Bluegrass in the Park will start in May and runs every weekend from Mother’s Day to Labor Day.
President’s Report:
Darby Brandli stated she had nothing additional to report.
Chairman’s Report:
Geoff Sargent had nothing additional to report.
CONFIRM TIME AND PLACE FOR THE NEXT BOARD MEETING
The next meeting is 10:00 AM on Saturday February 10, 2018 at the Brandli home in Oakland.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:10 pm.