CHA Meeting Minutes 2009

Cairo Historical Association

2009


Cairo Historical Association
Minutes December 17, 2009

By Sylvia Hasenkopf 

Members Present: Robert Uzzilia, John Gallagher, Sylvia Hasenkopf, Robert Rose 

Robert Uzzilia is the sole officer attending the meeting. 

1.     Further to Article II of the By-Laws of the Cairo Historical Association, Inc. (CHA) and recognizing the need to have a functioning Board of Directors, the following actions were taken, effective immediately: 

-Removal of Alice Tunison as President of the CHA, further to her email, dated
              December 9, 2009

- Removal of Debra Sommers as Treasurer of the CHA. Her last attendance at a
              CHA meeting was in February 2009 

2.     After consulting the by laws, Robert Uzzilia, as the only incumbent officer at the meeting, appointed the following individuals to take on these roles until the next election in June 2010: 

Robert Uzzilia, President
            John Gallagher, Treasurer
            Sylvia Hasenkopf, VP and Secretary 

3.     Robert Uzzilia will speak with Deborah and obtain all the treasurer’s books, bank statements, cheque books and any other records in her possession and transfer them to John Gallagher, who will provide an up to date Treasurer’s Report at our next meeting.

4.     John Gallagher mentioned that he has not been paid for the rental of the hall for the last two quarters, $45 per quarter. A commitment was made to pay him before December 31, 2009.

5.     Sylvia Hasenkopf will send out dues notifications to our current membership by January 1, 2010.  The dues will remain at $10 per person.

6.     A lively discussion ensued regarding initiatives to increase membership, recognizing that dues are a significant revenue source for the CHA. It was agreed that:

- Sylvia will approach Carrie, John Coyne’s secretary to include the CHA meeting
  dates in the upcoming scheduling calendar.

- Sylvia will approach the webmaster for the Town of Cairo website to request the
   inclusion of a page for the CHA which will have membership information,
   meeting dates and location, a backgrounder on the CHA and highlights of our
   initiatives.

7.     John Gallagher undertook an internet search in order to identify our incorporation status. It was discovered that we are not incorporated. It appears that Tal Rappelyea, the Town Attorney, did not submit our application to the State. It was decided that Robert Uzzilia would approach Mike Esselie to see if he would assist us in this matter. It is recognized that it is crucial that we expedite this, as we would like to utilize the appropriate wording of the group on our logos, signage, letterhead etc.

8.     A discussion regarding tax exempt status ensued. John advised that as a 501C3 non profit organization we would not pay tax on items we bought, and also not charge tax on items we sold. However, in order to accomplish this we will need to obtain our incorporation from the State, apply for the 501C3 through the IRS and then reapply to the State for the waiver of paying or collecting state taxes.

9.     Per Alice Tunison’s email of December 9, 2009, we still have no word on the refund of our deposit, from Mike Warner. Robert Uzzilia will reach out to him.

10.  John Gallagher will speak with Don Bouton regarding the creation of our logo. John suggested he also speak with Linda Curry, who worked on previous Town of Cairo logos. A discussion regarding the use of the Cairo Task Force logo occurred, however no decision made.

11.  Robert Uzzilia plans to create a temporary roof for the Susquehannah Marker on the next reasonably mild day.

12.  An update on the Cairo Historical Walking Tour was presented by Robert Uzzilia. Robert and Sylvia had prepared a mock-up of one of the proposed signs (School District #1), which Robert presented to the Cairo Town Meeting. Very positive comments received from the Town Board and John Coyne, Cairo Town Supervisor, suggested that there might be grant money available through the Greenway Grant. The members of the CHA reviewed the mock-up and Robert and Sylvia advised that 4 of the 14 signs are written up. Work is underway to complete the rest, hopefully by next meeting. Sylvia advised that she spoke with Nancy Petramale of Greene County Economic Development, Tourism & Planning. Nancy advised that there may be funds in the 2010 budget for the printing of the Walking Tour guide. Typically a printing of 5000 brochures costs btw $800 and $1000.

-   Sylvia to reach out to John Coyne regarding the use of the Town grant writer to secure funding for this project.

-   Sylvia to write a letter to Greene County Economic Development, Tourism & Planning requesting funding support

13.  A brief discussion regarding the establishment of a website for the CHA ensued. Sylvia Hasenkopf, who runs the Tracing your Roots in Greene County website (sites.rootsweb.com/~nygreen2), offered to establish a partition within her website for the CHA. It was agreed that this was a good idea, as Tracing your Roots in Greene County already has a wide readership/following. Sylvia will be posting a membership notice on the website and meeting minutes, initiatives, pics etc will be hosted in the partition. Sylvia has agreed to do the webmastering for this initiative.
 

14.  Robert Uzzilia presented a letter from the Cairo Library, who is seeking support for the new Library building. Although the CHA is in no position to offer financial support, we do support the expansion and establishment of a new facility. Robert will write a letter of support to them. We hope to see a dedicated area within the new Library for Cairo History and genealogy.

15.  John Gallagher discussed the open mike night, currently underway at Gallagher’s Banquet Hall. It is a great vehicle for the CHA to get the word out about our initiatives and presence. We need to develop innovative and creative ways to market ourselves. We all agreed that this would be a priority in 2010.


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