Potomac Chapter National Railway Historical Society, Inc.
| Zoom video conference with participation by: | |
Gordy Bjoraker, President |
Stephen Sery, Director at Large |
| Not participating: | |
| Rick Davidson, National Representative | Bob Dixon-Gumm, Director at Large Penny Dixon-Gumm, Director at Large |
Gordy called the meeting to order about 8:08 p.m.
Bill made minutes of previous meeting available.
Jay reported that he is trying to resolve a small discrepancy before finalizing the year-end financial reports. Once he resolves the issue he will distribute the reports via email. He said the chapter's deficit for the year was about $8,000. The operational deficit was about $3,000. The other $5,000 can be attributed to our donation to the excursion train celebrating the 150th anniversary of the B&O. Metropolitan Branch.
Directors discussed the small grants program. Jay recently mailed a $750 check for the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society acknowledged our $750 donation. The situation with the historic South Side Depot in Petersburg is uncertain, so it didn't seem like a good candidate for a grant.
Board members discussed recent membership meetings. Stephen and John reported that they had trouble with the Zoom recording for the August program and were unable to make it available on YouTube. Bill said he had the Zoom recording for October meeting and would share it with John and Stephen.
Directors discussed recent membership meetings. Renting the EOB cafeteria for the holiday social cost $300, which is high. John suggested that we consider the Silver Spring Station as an alternative. We will discuss further at the next meeting.
Directors discussed future meetings. Bill has reserved the COB Lecture Hall for March, May, July, and September. Because Bill will be in Europe for the June meeting, directors thought the chapter should pursue getting its own Zoom account, using the chapter's Gmail account. Bill will investigate the cost. (Post-meeting information: Bill's Pro plan costs $150 annually. A 50% discount is available for non-profits, but it might not be worth the hassle.)
There is an issue with Zoom recordings, when Bill both runs and records the meeting. The small gallery view in the upper right hand corner appears in the recording, which isn't ideal. Maybe a setting can change that. If Bill has advance notice, he can try recording the meeting on his laptop, while running the meeting on his desktop.
Jay reported the membership is down to approximately 55 with the most recent round of renewals. That's down from about 70 last year. Jay will distribute a roster to the board. Gordy said that the Perryville Chapter has been very successful using Facebook to promote membership.
Board members discussed sponsoring a RailCamp attendee. RailCamp East is scheduled June 23-29. It will be headquartered at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. Tuition in 2023 was $1,575. The application deadline is April 1.
Directors approved a motion to ask the membership to authorize up $1,750 to sponsor a 2024 RailCamp attendee, providing that the board can find a suitable candidate.
Directors briefly discussed a banquet, but reached no conclusion.
The next board meeting is scheduled for May 14. We may need to reschedule the August 13 meeting.
The meeting adjourned about 9:15 p.m.
On January 9, 2024 directors passed a motion to schedule in-person membership meetings in March, May, July, September, and December 2024.
Voting in favor were Jay Creswell, Bill Holdsworth, Bob Dixon-Gumm, Gordy Bjoraker, Chuck Greene, Rick Davidson, and Penny Dixon-Gumm.
