S.E. GA. WOODWORKERS’ GUILD

November 14, 2006 —Meeting Minutes

Our regular General Membership monthly meeting was held at the shop of Tom Trahan at 7:30pm .  Russell Christmas, President, opened the meeting at 7:45pm .  10 persons attending (Russell Christmas, Allen Kuhl , Judy Kuhl , Mike Hanna, Roy Millsaps , Tom Trahan, Sandra Meyer, Curt Johnson, Pat Clark, and Zach McKibbin ).

Officers:  Russell Christmas—President,

                Allen Kuhl —Secretary/Treasurer

Opening:

1.  The “Pledge of Allegiance” was conducted.

2.  Secretary’s Report was read and approved.

3.  Treasurer’s Report was read and approved, with $752.76 in account.

4.  Membership report:  None to report.   

5.  V/P Minute:  Russell Christmas stated how well our booths at the  Festivals have been received by onlookers.  Our raffle item project was a great success and will continue, and we had a lot of new member signups and interested prospects.  A newly appointed Raffle Committee was made by Russell at this meeting, to be headed by Sandra Meyer.

6. Turners’ meeting report:  Russell reported there has been good turnout for meetings, and hands-on work projects are on-going.  Beginning in the new calendar year we will again be offering beginning techniques instruction.  (For any new members who attend our meetings, we will provide instruction and safety precautions commensurate with their abilities).  Possibilities for guest speakers/instructors was brought up and discussed.

Old Business:

1.  Dues of $20 ./ year per family are due in August each year, to begin a new year.  Dues are prorated for those new persons joining in mid-year.

2.  “Guild Directory” --gives each active member’s name, address, phone #’s, and type of woodworking expertise/knowledge.  This is a means of contacting you (via e-mail, phone, address, etc), so be sure we have correct information. You can also verify info (through Curt Johnson) on the guild website.  Curt would like to have an individual’s  picture next to their name for identification.

New Business:

1.  Election of an interim Vice-President:

Nominations and acceptances were presented for the position of Vice-President—John Herald is the new Vice-President.  Congratulations JOHN !

2.  Projects:

 “Christmas” project—Mike Rietveld previously suggested we design/make children’s pull toys as gifts (such as for “Toys-For-Tots”).  We could get together and make a production-line assembly style of several toy types, making a hundred or more possible turnout.  The St. Mary’s Police Department has said they are willing to pass out toys for us.     

For our meeting in December/Christmas Party:  Our December get-together will be at Mike Rietveld’s home on Saturday, Dec 9, which will also be a “working-on-our-Christmas-project” day.  A “Southern style” (low-county boil) potluck dinner was suggested and approved.  Meet at 9:00am to begin working.  It was motioned and approved that the breakfast snacks and lunch will be provided from Guild funds.   

3.  Mike Hanna brought up some interesting comments about how to improve member participation:

     a.  Establish a “phone tree”—so that members can inform each other and keep updated with all members and prospects, and events of the guild.  Setup reminder calls for meetings, etc.  A motion was made and approved to accept Mike’s phone tree, and give it a trial run on Saturday ( 11/18/06 ).

     b.  Have a “new member liaison” (sponsor) to indoctrinate and get interest from new members.  We have 2 new members at this meeting (Pat Clark, and Zach McKibbin ), and Roy Millsaps was appointed as New Member Liaison.

4.  Roy Millsaps suggested having a meeting for the Guild at Woodcraft store in Jacksonville , maybe around Feb 2007, and class training—Steve Boily will check further on this.

5.  Smoking Policy:

Complaints from some members were mentioned about smoking at meetings and other Guild activities.  We need to have a written policy about “NO SMOKING” during meetings, and maybe a designated “Smoking Area” for smokers before/after meetings.

It was motioned and approved to have a policy established.  Mike Hanna said he would write up a written policy by January 2007 meeting.

6.  Dues:

Roy Millsaps mentioned that by raising dues to $30.00 we could establish a “Building Fund” with the extra $10.00 generated.  More on this later.

(Russell Christmas adjourned the business meeting at 8:45pm ).

Show & Tell:

1.  Russell Christmas:  Exotic Wood.

2.  Roy Millsaps :  Marketry ( ie . “Gilbert”).  

Safety Video / Demo :  None.

Next GUILD meetings:

1)  Guild Meeting—Saturday, Dec 9th, at 9:00 am at Mike Rietveld’s shop.

2)  Guild general business meeting--Tuesday, Jan 9th, at 7:30pm .  Location to be determined.

(Submitted by Allen Kuhl, Secretary)