Houston Hockey Booster Club, Inc.

Minutes for 7/22/04

A board of directors meeting of the Houston Hockey Booster Club, Inc. was held on Thursday, July 22, 2004 at the home of President, Tom Huber. Present at the meeting were President, Tom Huber; Vice President, Melanie Ogren; Secretary, Margaret Martin, Past President and Director, Ivan Kusjanovic; all five directors (Helen Brown, Barbara Pride, Dale Humphrey, Mark Strace, and Fred Trask); Webmaster, Patrick Humphrey; Scrapbook, Jean Strace; Charities, Erika Kusjanovic; Activities, Patty Gunning; and Stephanie Hayes. A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm.

Business

Tom stated that as of now and until further notice, he is to be the main contact with the Houston Aeros front office. To avoid communication problems, the President will be the official contact person with the front office. As committees firm up they will be allowed to contact the appropriate front office representative as required by their committee. The President will inform the committee chairs when they may communicate directly.

It was decided (by rules of the bylaws) that the person with the least amount of votes in the election would serve Tom Huber’s vacated seat and serve the remainder of his term (one year). Erika checked the votes and it was determined that Dale Humphrey would be the one to serve Tom’s seat.

The following people were nominated for the following chair committees: Table - Sharilyn Prideaux; Charities - Erika Kusjanovic; Activities - Patty Gunning; Scrapbook - Jean Strace; Webmaster - Patrick Humphrey; Banquet - Melanie Ogren; Membership - Jane Woodring. The following three chairs were left open - Newsletter, Sergeant of Arms, and Bylaws. It was suggested that we have Joel Konkel head up the bylaws committee because of his previous legal experience. Joel was not in attendance to agree, he will be asked at the next meeting. Tom Huber made a motion to approve the committee chairs. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. At that time Tom told the committee chairs that he wanted three to four members on each committee plus either one of the four elected board members or one of the six directors.

The question of what changes have been made to the bylaws was brought up and the response was no changes have been made at this time except for the incorporation of the club, it was amended to put other directors back in, and an assistant treasurer was added to put Tom, Melanie, and Erika on the checking account. Tom requested Melanie to be on the bylaws committee and she agreed.

The membership form was the next topic up for discussion. It was agreed upon that the form needs to be updated. It was also agreed upon that the members for last year will be offered a discounted rate for renewal at $15.00 for a single and $20.00 for the family. A letter will be sent out on the back of membership form to all of last years members with a deadline for the discounted rate by November 15, 2004. Which if not done by a date as of yet undetermined, that we will make follow up calls. Melanie Ogren made a motion to approve the discount, letter, and deadline. Motion was seconded and unanimously approved. A committee was then formed to handle the revision of the membership form and letter to members. The committee consists of Ivan Kusjanovic, Barbara Pride, Stephanie Hayes, and Jane Woodring. They agreed to meet on August 4, 2004 and are to have finalized the form and letter by the next board meeting. Erika stated she had two checks for membership that she received last year for membership. Asked if they were new or renewals and she is going to check on that.

We then discussed the benefits of being a member of the Booster Club and the following items were discussed and are being checked into: Bus Trips to San Antonio, Beaumont, and Lafayette, and Feed The Team. The price of the bus tickets was discussed and was decided that non-members could join us with a slightly higher price than members. It was also decided that the cost of the trip would be rounded to the highest dollar. We were told that Feed The Team was approved by the Front Office.

This year we would like to get the spouses, girlfriends, and families that are in town involved in some of the things that we do. The Front Office has voiced their approval on this.

We talked about having a picnic in September and involving the players and spouses in this. We discussed having it at Kids Unlimited and weather or not we could turn it into a benefit. Tom is going to check with the Front Office to see if they approve and if we can make it a charitable event. If approved we will set up a committee for this.

Melanie Ogren stated that the Feed The Office went over very well and would like to do another for them in August. She stated that due to the limited space at the office only two people were needed.

Tom Huber told us that we were going to be allowed to have announcements at the games this year and that the Booster Club will also be announced. He stated that we will need to get things to OJ soon enough to be announced.

The website was brought up and the fact that we need a new host. Fred Trask will be checking out the information and costs for a host. Ours expires on February 23, 2005. Stephanie Hayes brought up the fact that the website is not looked at enough because it doesn’t change and she would like to see the site more active. Message boards and chat boards were discussed. It was agreed upon that we would send a Thank You card to Greg for hosting our site. Stephanie also bought up the idea of having some type of membership directory so that people will know who to call for whatever reason. It was discussed that maybe we could put on the bottom of the membership a sort of permission slip if they wanted to be in the directory.

Mark Strace volunteered to be the interim committee chair person for the newsletter until the position is filled. We then discussed the first newsletter and that we want to put it out for the first game. Barbara Pride suggested that we print about 200 of them and pass them out at the first game. Tom will be checking to see if we are permitted to do so. Barbara stated that she would like to see in the first newsletter - player interviews, officers and board interviews, ways to contact board, a Club schedule (that is subject to change), and a membership form. Melanie Ogren asked Stephanie Hayes if she would accept the position of Newsletter Committee Chair and Stephanie said she would think about it and let us know.

Tom stated that the Aeros schedule would be out soon and after it’s out he will be sitting down with the Front Office and scheduling our meetings and events. Tom was told that we will not have a player at every meeting. But we could have couches, trainer, or equipment manager.

It was discussed whether or not we need a meeting every month and it was decided that we would have a meeting and/or activity per month. It was brought up that sometimes we have something that might need to be told to the members but without warranting a full meeting in which case we can have a short meeting and show a Hockey game or Hockey movie.

The next item was a garage sale to raise money for charities. The idea was liked by everyone but no date or place set as of yet. Mark Strace reminded everyone to save items for the Banquet Auction and to start thinking of ideas for items.

We were asked by Tom to think of which charities to help out this year and the following charities were mentioned: Kids Unlimited, Sheltering Arms, Kids at Crossroads, AT - Genetic Disease, Omega House, and Lance Armstrong Foundation. No final decision was made.

Barbara said that she would like to see the puck we give out to members changed to something new. We discussed items to give out. Helen is to get prices for items and let us know.

Tom said that he would like to see all board members take a shift at the Booster Club table. Objections were made. The statement was amended to everyone must participate in the table. Melanie stated that she wanted us to act as a Board and not to be reactive. Barbara stated that she would look into if we could leave the table during the game to watch the game but we must take the money and the scrapbook with us and be back at the table before intermission.

Barbara then bought up replacing our banner with a new one. Tom stated that at the next meeting he would like to hear our ideas for the new one. Barbara stated that OJ told her if we decide what we want that he would help us with it.

Tom suggested the next meeting take place on Thursday, August 19, 2004, at 7 pm, at his home again. It was agreed upon.

The suggestion was made that at any meeting and/or activity that we wear our jerseys or something Aeros.

Our first general event was set for Saturday, August 28, 2004, to be held at the Horses Races. Patty is checking into times and getting information for this event. A motion was made to make this our first general event. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Jean Strace brought up the subject of negativity at the Booster Table and said that it needs to stop. Everyone was in agreement on this.

Tom made a motion to close the meeting. It was seconded and unanimously approved. Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.