CHCA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Dixon House, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Thursday, November 8, 2007

MINUTES

(revised 1/10/08)

Executive Committee Members Present: Lou Aiello (At-Large), Jane Becker (At-Large),
Dina Hitchcock (VP Operations), Anne McNally (At-Large), Jane Piotrowski (VP Social Division), Kristina Sullivan (Secretary), and Tolis Vardakis (President)

Executive Committee Members Excused: Ed Berg (At-Large), Moss Disston (Treasurer),
Tom Fleming (At-Large), Jeremy Heep (VP Physical Division), and Ron Recko
(Immediate Past President)

Board Members Present: Jim Foster, Virginia Mallery, Meredith Sonderskov, Ann Spaeth,
and Jonathan Sternberg

Others Present: Ed Feldman, Pete Mazzaccaro (CH Local Editor), Martha Sharkey (Community
Manager), and Noreen Spota (Administrative Coordinator)

Tolis Vardakis called the meeting to order at 7:32 PM. Noreen Spota conducted the roll call.

Approval of Minutes. There was a motion to approve the Executive Committee meeting minutes from October 11, 2007. Kristina Sullivan and Tolis Vardakis offered revisions. Then Ann Spaeth distributed copies of the following statement:

“Requested Amendment to the October 2007 Executive Committee Minutes:
Page 3 Paragraph 3: Replace existing paragraph with the following:
Oversight Committee/Banking Issue

Ann Spaeth, referring to the October 11 Executive meeting minutes [see Noreen’s note on page 2*], expressed her concern that the statements by Dina Hitchcock recorded in those minutes imply that Jim Foster as Chair of the Oversight Committee was not authorized to seek information from the bank regarding the CHCA’s line-of-credit since he did not provide the bank with written authorization from an officer of the Association. Such an implication is incorrect. The Oversight Committee was authorized by the CHCA Board to seek out all necessary information to inform the Board of the CHCA’s financial situation.

Mr. Foster acted entirely within his province in this matter. If the bank needed such written authorization it should have requested such of Mr. Foster, and the appropriate officers would have signed such authorization. Denial of such authorization by an officer or officers would have been a violation of the Board’s charge to the Committee and of their own obligation as officers to honor Board decisions.”

Dina Hitchcock explained that it is the bank that needed proper authorization from the CHCA before providing Jim Foster access to the financial records. Jim Foster described the procedure he followed with officers at National Penn Bank (a series of telephone calls) in order to obtain access.

Since the meeting minutes in question were not on hand, it could not be verified which meeting Ann was referring to. Therefore discussion of this matter, and approval of the October 11, 2007 Executive Committee meeting minutes, was postponed until next month’s meeting.

* [Note: After the meeting I was able to determine that Ann Spaeth was actually referring to the August 9, 2007 Executive Committee minutes, which stated the following at the bottom of page 2 (discussion of audits):

“Regarding the ‘$300,000 line of credit’ cited by Ron Recko, Dina Hitchcock produced documentation that this was a typographical error (referring to an actual $30,000 line of credit) that appeared in an audit several years ago and was copied into the 2006 audit prepared by Mr. Jebran. Dina also stated that Jim Foster, Oversight Committee Chair, did not obtain proper authorization from the CHCA officers prior to examining the bank records (the banks have been apologetic regarding this breach of security).”]

Review of CHCA Memberships and Local Subscriptions. Tolis distributed copies of his report containing various tables and graphs showing CHCA membership income and Local subscription/ newsstand income since 2001-02 (based on financial reports), and CHCA/Local profit and loss since 1995 (based on audits). The report also contained plans for new pricing for membership dues (including the subscription) and single copies of the Local along with projected revenues for the three different plans. Tolis pointed out that membership dues and subscription rates have not been increased for many years, but costs (for example, postage rates) have risen significantly. Jim Foster stated that the figures in the 12-year profit/loss history are inaccurate and that the Local’s advertising rates are low compared to similar publications, such as the Mt. Airy Times. Pete Mazzaccaro noted that until about 2002, the Local would give $35,000 per year to the CHCA whether or not it made a profit in any given year, which may explain many of the deficits. Jim added that we need an accurate assessment of the current financial status of the Local. Martha Sharkey pointed out that in her survey of membership dues for similar associations, many charge $40 for a family/household. She added that as we consider increasing the dues, we need to demonstrate more clearly the value of membership in the Association. Pete stated that according to other publishers, an increase in the single copy and subscriber rates would not result in a loss of subscribers, but we need to retain the option of having a lower, non-member subscriber rate. There was further discussion about various ways to market the Local.

Report from Treasurer. Due to the absence of Moss Disston and the fact that the financial statements as of 10/31/07 for the CHCA/Local and Fund were not yet prepared, there was no Treasurer’s report.

Report from Vice President of Social Division. Jane Piotrowski reported on plans for the upcoming CHCA Blood Drive (November 12) and Holiday House Tour (December 8).

Report from Vice President of Physical Division. Dina Hitchcock read Jeremy Heep’s report in his absence and copies were distributed. The following topics were addressed: 1) The Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee approved a zoning variance for 8623 Germantown Avenue, following the Board’s conditional approval last month. 2) The Traffic, Transportation, and Parking Committee held its first meeting on November 5 and will meet again on December 3 at 7:30 PM in Town Hall. Future meetings will be held on the first Monday of each month. 3) Proposals are being reviewed for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Corridor Study so that CHCA can submit its recommendation by November 9.

Report from Vice President of Operations. Dina Hitchcock reported that the Fund Drive kickoff held on October 26 was successful and that a letter from the Fund Drive co-chairs will be mailed to CHCA members in the next week or so.

Report from Community Manager. Martha Sharkey distributed and reviewed her report, which covered the following topics: 1) membership database; 2) CHCA block in the Local; 3) CHCA Blood Drive; 4) Holiday House Tour and Fund Drive; 5) new office telephone system; 6) employee health benefits renewal for 2008; and 7) community relations. Martha also announced that on Friday, November 16 there will be a party for new CHCA members at Laurel Hill Gardens.

New Business. Jane Becker distributed a flier about “A Taste of Chestnut Hill,” a fundraiser for Teenagers, Inc. that will be held on Sunday, November 18. Ed Feldman complained about the “foul language” directed at him at the last Board meeting. Dina noted this incident occurred after the meeting was adjourned and therefore should not be considered an official exchange. Anne McNally mentioned that the holiday tree lights along Germantown Avenue are being done differently this year and will be an improvement over the lights put up last year.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Kristina Sullivan
CHCA Secretary

Minutes prepared by Noreen Spota, CHCA Administrative Coordinator. Originally approved by the Executive Committee on 12/13/07, then approved again as revised on 1/10/08.