PACA Board Meeting, Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 5:30pm
Chewelah City Hall, Council Chambers, 301 E. Clay St. Chewelah, WA 99109

Board Members
President - Sharon Ludwig (Present)
Vice-president - Jessica Sety (Absent)
Secretary - Dave Ferre (Present)
Treasurer - Louise Glenn (Present)
Buildings and Grounds - Joe Wulczynski (Present)
Fund Raising - Bud Evans (Present)
Production - Tracey Rice (Present)
Volunteers - Kathy Childs (Absent)

Others
Executive Director: Don McLaughlin
Architect: Tom Bristol
Audience: Kay and Chris from Chewelah Art Guild

Proceedings
Meeting called to order at 5:30pm by President, Sharon Ludwig

Agenda Additions, Deletions, Changes
None

Audience Comments
None

Mail Received and Announcements
Sharon and Tracey reported on their visit to the Cutter Theatre in Metaline Falls, in support of establishing an area network of performance spaces, theatre groups, music groups, and all things cultural. This association uses the name A Community Theatre Integral Networking Group (ACTING). Plans for ACTING include the sharing of e-mail lists, conducting workshops, sharing staging and costumes, and ticket swaps to attend each other's events, plus ideas for handouts, brochures, and so forth. ACTING meetings will be held at different locales, the next being in Newport, WA (scheduled for April, 2009).

Mail received includes a mailing from ACTING showing different brochure ideas, news handouts, and a newspaper-like handout showing events for the members of ACTING. Also, our checks from AmericanWest Bank arrived.

Current Events to have a PACA representative
It was noted that there are two theatrical events in November where PACA should (and will) have a table setup to illuminate the theatre-goers that PACA is very much moving forward. Tracey has an idea for a brochure to handout. Dave agreed to set up the PACA display for both the Park Avenue Players production and the Jenkins High School production. Looking ahead, there is a StageTime production in December 12, 13, and 14 where the PACA display will be present.

Consent Agenda for minutes
Approved.

Committee Report - Financial Report
Louise reported a bank balance of $6,534, with $4,000 currently in an interest-producing CD (AmericanWest Bank). The board was reminded that there will be a 501(c)(3) filing of $750, plus another $20 for a separate Washington State filing. Kathy Childs will contact Sharon is a few days for checks.

Committee Report - Buildings and Grounds
Joe mentioned that wishlist items received are not currently being stored in the Community Celebrations Building because this building is being used for a Halloween production and we want to make sure our items are kept separate. Also, we are thinking of creating a Letter of Introduction when soliciting donated wishlist items, plus some kind of form to provide as to the value of donated items. These will come into play when we receive our non-profit status.

Tom Bristol presented his latest version of the PACA building Design Drawings, receiving considerable praise and deep appreciation from the board. This updated Phase 1 drawing shows the "everything" version with a cost estimate of $906,400, and then a "scaled back" version with a cost estimate $480,400. Audience member Kay said we should think big and do everything possible to realize the "everything" version. The board agreed, but a lively discussion took place of just what can we expect for raising funds at a time on economic uncertainties. And then if we have to scale back the "scaled back" version, will we have a viable center? Tom warns that a poor presentation of a building will have lasting negative connotations for the community and it would be better to delay the building work a year or even longer until we can create something that can be heated, used in comfort, and meet the myriad of codes that apply to public buildings to gain the Certificate of Occupancy. Tom estimates to do the construction work for the "scaled back" version, to allow 5 months. For example, if the work started in April, 2009, the center would be ready for use in September, 2009. (In previous meetings we suggested a Grand Opening target date of October, 2009.)

Lastly, we noted there is no date when PACA will actually take over the building because the City of Chewelah must find or create a new garage space for city vehicles first. While we estimate Spring, 2009, this is not certain. Don proposed we think about buying the building from the city instead of renting at low cost. It was decided that in the months to come, there will be more clarity.

Committee Report - Production
Tracey had nothing to report for production, other than it is hard to make plans when we're not sure of occupancy dates for the PACA Liz Riley Theatre.

Committee Report - Fund Drive
Bud had nothing to report for the fund drive, other than a mention that some of the donors we hope will step forward are experiencing financial loss at the current time, as it everyone, and our fund drive, scheduled for early 2009 may be impacted more or less depending on the general economy.

Committee Report - Volunteers
The board was informed (because Kathy was visiting her aged parents in Colorado) that the only volunteer work at the moment was to help out with the 501c3 application.

Executive Directors Report
Don presented a "Proposed Annual Operating Budget July 1009 through June 2010" where items were identified in expense categories Building and Grounds, Production, Lobby Display, Volunteers, Educational Program Cost, and income categories from the box office, advertising, sponsorship, and so forth. Click Here for a PDF copy of this budget.

Don presented an "Executive Director's Report" that discussed budgets and propositions to raise money to keep the PACA Center in good financial health. He discussed the importance of grants, and that a smooth running center depends on money to pay for an Executive Director and Technical Director (possibly the same person), that an all-volunteer staffed center often does not meet processional standards. Click Here for a PDF copy of this report.

Old Business - 501c3 and Incorporation
David produced the completed 501c3 application that Kathy had prepared. It numbered approximately 50 pages total and included 15 attachments. Previous board meetings and separate finance meetings had discussed the application except for Part IX Financial Data, which was now brought to the board.

There was a lively discussion of how to present the Financial Data. There are many scenarios of what the next several years may bring for the PACA Center, from everything to delays because the city continued to occupy the building, or fund raising fell short of goals such that we could not prepare even a scaled-back viable building, or even a possibility that a major grant that would allow PACA to do the "everything" version for Phase 1.

It was decided to pick the middle road of what would be most likely and reasonably achievable with modest fund raising of $100,000, added to the Unusual Grant of $120,000 from the estate of Liz Riley, which could most likely meet the bare minimums for the building. This, will an all-volunteer staff, and modest expectations for building use and so forth resulted in a set of figures for the projected future two years of operation. It was proposed and seconded to accept this middle road version of Part IX Financial Data as the version to send to the IRS.

New Business - PACA Center Visualization

Don, using the latest design drawings from Tom, took the board "through" the PACA building, walking about the meeting room and pointing out all the salient features of Tom's latest design: stage here, seating there, bathrooms over here and so forth. This brought clarity to the direction we are now taking for the PACA design.

Audience Comments
None.

Adjournment
The board meeting was adjourned at 6:55pm by President, Sharon Ludwig. The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 25th.

Minutes submitted by Secretary, David Ferré, Wednesday, October 29, 2008.