Friends of Laurel Park Board Meeting -  April 10, 2024

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The meeting was called to order by Ed Mattern at 7pm at the Fleetwood Clubhouse. 

Other board members in attendance were Mike Erwin, Jim Wilson, Ann McFadden and Myra Watkins.  Deb Bridges, Town Council liaison to FLP was unable to attend. 

 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE    

Ed thanked Ann for the hard work on the survey and all that helped behind the scenes.

 

SECRETARY’S, TREASURER’S AND OPERATING BUDGET  REPORTS

All were accepted.

 

DATA COLLECTION - MYRA

No updates as of now.  

 

DONORS AND SPONSORS

Sponsors are trickling in; two sponsors will get updated this month with more commitments including First Bank on the way.  There are also a few new donors.

 

The tax donation letters will be sent by Ann and some volunteers to donors, along with the hand-written thank you notes, and Myra will send them to sponsors.

 

HCTDA gave us a grant for $4,000 with the same verbiage as last year.  The board approved and Jim will sign the contract and send it in.

 

ECUSTA TRAIL

Jim talked to the chair of the 501(c)3.  They are just now trying to figure out what amenities are needed along the trail and what level of sponsorship would be required for naming rights, etc.  Jim will call before our meeting on April 24th so we have more information and can make an informed decision about sponsorship.  Ed will contact Deb to see if the town is considering sponsoring also.

 

SURVEY AND VOLUNTEERS - ANN

Ann would like to have a volunteer coordinator.  The job would include going thru all the surveys, contacting those who want to volunteer and finding out more about what they would like to do. Myra agreed to input the info into a spreadsheet and Susan will start contacting folks and getting them together in groups once the spreadsheet is created. Ann will have copies of the survey available at future events.

 

 

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING APRIL 24TH

Space at Town Hall has been reserved from 1-5pm on the 24th but Ann and Myra are hoping the meeting won’t take more than about 2.5 hours.  Ed will lead, Myra will be timekeeper.  The agenda includes the following goals:

1. Review current mission and suggested proposed mission

2. Establish a plan for what the FLP will accomplish/sponsor for 2024-2025 and link the plan to the budget

3. Define the roles of the board members in support of achieving the goals and objectives of the plan

The agenda will be filled out a bit to help with staying on track.  Everyone was asked to take the time to go over the paperwork from the surveys and the proposed agenda.

 

DONOR LETTER

Ed will revise the current letter and email copies to all board members for approval in the next few weeks.

 

THANK YOUS – ANN

Ann has the printed cards with the FLP logo on the outside.  The tax donation letter can be folded and fit inside the card with hand-written thank you’s going to all donors.

 

SPRING BANNER

The Spring banner will go back up on Saturday.

 

WINTER MUSIC EVENT WRAP

Ed thought it went well.  Approximately 35 folks attended in addition to board members and although the numbers were small, everyone there seemed to enjoy it.  Myra enjoyed performing.

 

JOR CONCERT WRAP

Ed thought it went well, even though attendance was low.

 

SAVE THE DATE CARDS

In order to get more participation at events, the board decided to order “save the date” cards, expecting to send them out three times per year.  Ann will order them and work with Ilene on getting them together although she will wait until after the April 24th meeting so the activities for the next few months are more settled.

 

YOGA

Yoga at JOR will start up again in May.  The Town decided it would require some kind of record as to who was attending but agreed to allow Averee (or whoever was leading) to record by a show of hands how many attendees were residents and how many drove a car.

 

 

NEXT CONCERT – MAY 11TH

Super 60’s is the next band and they are ready to go.

 

JOR HALF MARATHON – MAY 11TH

Daphne has a banner she wants to put up for her event and plans to put it up on May 1st.  Ed asked her to include our concert in her banner and she agreed.  She has her own designer and will pay for it.  Ed will send out an email later this week to get volunteers; he thinks we need 20-25.

 

2024 BANDS

The September slot is still open.  Myra talked to Showboat  Band, they will charge $1,000 which is a bit higher than we usually pay.  All members of this ban however are vocalists and they play a wide variety of music including some beach music.  The band has put a hold on the September dates until we get back to them.  The board approved.

 

FOOD TRUCKS

Susan’s church has a food truck that is underutilized. She spoke with the church food coordinator and reported she is very interested in bringing the food truck to a concert at some point.  Ed will send Susan the information about setup, and, as we still need someone for the May concert, Susan will ask specifically for that date.

The Smashburger food truck did meet the minimum they had required us to guarantee and the owner was very happy.

 

SUMMER EVENTS

Ed reported that we would definitely schedule a History Tour for either July or August.  He asked for feedback for another summer event.  The board discussed a nature walk, but Mike thinks it might be better in May (it gets hot in July and August).  Other ideas were tabled for a later meeting.

 

FURRY FRIENDS EVENT – NOVEMBER

Ilene wants to be in charge of the event and the board agreed to hold it on November 2nd.

 

OTHER BUSINESS

Ann is looking for a historian as both Paul Hansen and Knox Crowell have health issues.   Paul Drake was suggested.  Ed will talk to Knox and get more information about Paul.  Hopefully we can try to get him involved in this summer’s History Tour.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35m.  The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at the Fleetwood Clubhouse. (Please note the change of day!)

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Susan Hileman, Secretary