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06-19-03 Conrad Mansion MinutesCONRAD MANSION BOARD MEETING MINUTES JUNE 19, 2003 CONRAD MANSION TnE NEXT MEETING WILL BE THURSDAY, AUGUST 7TH AT 8:OOAM AT THE MANSION Present: Norb Donahue, Rick Champoux, Betty Norem, Tia Robbin, Shirley Miller, Everit Sliter, Rita Fitzsimmons and Gayle Vidal - Board Members; Teri Florman and Chris Prior - Mansion Staff Rita opened the meeting at 8:00am. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as written. Rita reported that the TIIP Grant check has been received. When the roofing project is completed we must submit a final report summing up the project. Rita will contact the Inter Lake to try to arrange publicity about the grant award. Flathead Roofing Contractors were selected to complete the project. Of the $75,000 original bid $10,000 is being donated by the contractor and $2,000 was donated by Western Building Center, leaving a total cost of $63,000, minus the additional cost of gutters and vine removal. Teri will get bids from tree care experts to determine the cost of the vine removal. The four week project is scheduled for September and early October. We have already ordered cedar shakes as we were advised the price was going up and we needed to lock in the lower price. Teri reported that Plum Creek awarded us a $3,000 grant to pay for a traveling trunk and a new computer. Teri was authorized to purchase computer equipment immediately so we can begin communicating with potential customers via our Website. Rita and Teri noted we are having trouble getting Miriam to follow through with planting. She didn't come when scheduled. When she did plant, the plantings were sparse compared to last year. She promised to return with more but hasn't been back for a week. Miriam asked to store plants out of the sun on the veranda. She left them there more than a week and the drainage warped the boards. Repairing or replacing the veranda boards will be costly. Rita talked with Donna Carr, but Donna does not know if Miriam is bonded or insured. Betty and Tia recommended we report the damage to our insurance agent, Robin Boon, and that Robin be asked to follow up with Miriam. Because this is the third costly incident at the Mansion in two years (the first two involved damage to our irrigation system), it was agreed that the Personnel Committee should notify Miriam that after this season she will not be returning to work in the Mansion gardens. Rita will investigate whether Miriam's employment is linked with the Bibler donation of spring plants. Teri reported that Mike Kelley is working hard on the gardens. He has been off the job for more than a week because his wife was hospitalized but he will return soon. Teri reported that attendance is down but that the Flathead Free Days was a huge success. School tours have been popular and no one has complained about student admission prices being raised from $.50 to $1.00. Rita noted that planning is underway for the October Bazaar. We will have some new vendors who will be juried by Mansion staff. Rita will help jury if needed. Teri asked the Board's approval to enter the carriage in the July 4th parade and to put together an old fashioned 4th public celebration at the Mansion with ice cream, living history displays, croquet and more. The Board asked her to investigate event insurance with Robin to protect the carriage from damage from the horses. (continued on back) PAGE 2 CONRAD MANSION BOARD MEETING MINUTES JUNE 19, 2003 CONRAD MANSION The Board rejected a proposal from our neighbor to collaborate on a bed and breakfast venture. Rita asked Board members to voice their top concerns about what the future direction of the Mansion needs to be. Maintenance is, of course, ongoing. The garden and rock wall will be massive and continuing issues. Ways to outreach to the community were discussed. Several Board members believe we need to develop a structure to attract the support of woman's groups and other community organizations. Others described the importance of creating living history events at the Mansion to create stronger community ownership and pride in our Museum. Ev suggested we consider establishing a Friend of the Mansion membership group which could mail circulars to the thousands of people who have visited the Mansion. Creating a relationship with the schools, especially the VO AG and history departments, was discussed. The importance of learning and doing more to protect our collections was acknowledged. Norb suggested that we focus more exclusively on attracting tourists by providing incentives to motels to promote visits to the Mansion. Others believe we need to spruce up our image with locals as well as project a regional presence. Rita asked for volunteers to help synthesize some ideas to bring back to the Board. Shirley, Betty and Rita volunteered to serve. Rita may call upon others to help. Rita announced that she will be taking part in a retreat the 3rd week of July to discusss community project ideas for the coming year. She asked that those with ideas about specific needs at the manion to contact her. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, August 7th at 8:00am at the Mansion: The group moved to the Great Hall for a Board photograph. The meeting was adjourned at 10:25am ,jury--i r-., bUW5 11 :b1 AM DESIGNWORKS 406 752 6445 P. 01 Conrad Mansion Board Meeting Agenda for June 19, 2003, 8:00 a.m. Board portrait will be taken at 9:00; casual dress Item I ApprovaYcorrections of last meeting's minutes Item 2 Report from Rita re; 1. TIPP grant money tweived 2. Roof report & Met and retained Flathead Roofing � b, Ordered ettingles before price increase��-"iJY�5 c. Good catch by Teri on gutterst — h diCL-C +�t�AC/J� c� -Ir�Y► �C�L w� �2e 3. Grant given for new computer W � 1; p 4. $2W check received from N Reeale Johnson for gardens Item 3 Household update from Teri 1. Garden/gardener update 1. Porch damage 3. Attendence so far this season/gift shop sales 4. Bazaar vendor letter Item 4 Discussion on generating additional funds4he foundation/materials donors —ZmL`1Zn 1. Outline of needs 2. Ideas on attainment 3, Implementation Old/new business Adjournment BOARD MEETING JUNE 2003 Updates: Would like Board's opinion on taking carriage out and putting it on trailer for 4th of July Parade. 1.) Take out and have drawn by horse w/ a written release from Mansion to carriage company releasing them from any responsibility, since it is an antique. 2.) Take out and strap it to a trailer pulled by truck. Still a chance at damage, but limited. Bibler Garden Tours: Chris and Teri answered phones for 2 weeks. 70 hrs. for Chris, 12 hrs.. for Teri which added up to be a gross total of $899.50 in payroll that the Mansion paid us. Money we received from proceeds from tours equaled $ 1,275.00, so we actually made $375.00. Shrub removal, ( see bid copy) These shrubs are infested with spiders and misc. bugs. The shrubs themselves have seen better days. I know that this is not top priority, but would like board to think about this and evaluate for the fall. Mansion was approached by owners of Carriage House. The son came to the mansion, with a proposition. His mother is physically unable to take care of the house any longer, and he can't seem to sell it. Has approached City on making it a Bed & Breakfast and Tea House. He wants us to be involved because of historical significance to the Mansion. His idea is to partner with us to send them people for tea, and night stays, being that our visitors might find enjoy the historically and architecturally interesting. For this we could work out some sort of "kick back" the Mansion would receive. This man has many ideas, but I felt Board had to be involved in partnering with this issue. Proposal for the Board of Directors As Director, I would like things to run efficiently for the benefit of the Mansion and the Board of Directors. For that reason I have compiled a list that consists of a few subjects that I feel need attention at one time or another. - In my attempts to compile the information needed for the Board, I have found it very difficult to do because of our computer equipment. Our computer is now no longer operational at the mansion, all computer work is done on our home computers(Mine & Chris'). Is it possible to go ahead and get needed equipment, then reimburse when grant arrives? Reasons so important: -Everything is so Internet related and we are so far behind technically, we cannot begin to take advantage of available tourism business via website, E-mail etc... -90% of businesses we are trying to link with want to link via websites, we do not have an updated or user friendly site, and without E-mail at the Mansion, it is impossible to be competitive or efficient. -An example of this is the Chamber of Commerce website receives 30,000 hits a week, if we were able to take advantage of a link to their site it could drastically raise our visibility and/or visitors. -Another area I have become aware of in many ways, is not having a signatory on the premises. Below I have included the examples I have had to deal with and scenarios that I may have to deal with. I am leaving it up to Board how they want to handle this, but I will say it becomes difficult at times. Examples: -Cannot accept COD -Credit applications to new companies for Gift Shop Inventories -Special orders to get special pricing -To cover day to day expenses that may exceed petty cash -Emergency expenses -Payroll when Everit or Rita is not available -To alleviate having to bother Everit and Rita for daily operations -Final pay if ever necessary -I Have been using my personal checks to cover expenses, then waiting to be reimbursed. Example Sprinkler repair. If I had not used my check to cover this, planting would have been delayed even longer due to breaks in sprinkler. There was not enough petty cash to cover, it was the end of a 2 week period. -Issue stop pays The last subject I would like to address, is items we need here at the Mansion that I haven't felt we have had the money for. I will leave it to the Board's discretion on how we handle this. (Management allowed to ask for donations or if Board would like to donate or solicit for these items) But, it would be nice to acquire them. Items include: Tea and Tour and School Tour Items: 3 Folding Tables 12 Folding Chairs Tablecloths and accessories for tables Landscaping items: New mower that is user friendly, perhaps a riding mower that cuts time in 1/2. Rakes Shed that matches house so we have space for storage of needed items. Office items: Fans, it is becoming too hot for visitors in house. Better phones that won't cut out or hang up when you move. Finally, I would like you all to know how important I feel all of the above mentioned items are to the daily operation and success of the Mansion, these are only a few of the ideas and improvements I would like to implement. I am trying to be conservative and many other issues can be on the "back burner" for now. I would like to encourage all of you to be more involved with our day to day operations and continue to keep our lines of communication open. S ncere ��.y, �" G eri R. lorman a"� Half Interest in a Silver Dollar books were printed, they are now in stock. Display case at Outlaw was fully set up just in time for a convention on travel at end of May. Fam Tours- Had a great reception from different properties in Kalispell. Three dozen people attended. First Tea & Tour was June 5th. Vivienne's catered it and we did the tea. People loved it. Have had such a response that I have booked another for the month of June. Ordered doggie mitts and dispensers, are in and will be out by next week. Karen Weyer lined up to take photo at Board Meeting today. Banners along Main Street will be going up in next week or so. It is on the city's work order of to do's. Look for them they are great! Put ad in Interlake Thanking Leadership Flathead. (copy attached) The ad was a full page ad and it was paid for from funds earned at Death by Chocolate. Linking with different properties for mailings & websites, to make our dollars go further with more effectiveness. FCVB asked us to be on the Board to represent the Museums in our area. Chris accepted for the Mansion. This will help us immensely because we will hear of all happenings in advance so we can jump on things early. Display on 3rd floor, photo's displayed this year along with more historical items. Displays throughout house have been changed a bit with great reception to the changes. Flathead Free Days that all 3 museums ran the week of June 9th through June 13th. Overwhelming response to this. Created a lot of goodwill to people who will send guests or have original items to donate back to house. This was a hectic week, but I feel it opened up a lot of minds and allowed people to experience the Mansion. Our numbers for tours were: 395 (adults and children), Hockaday: 190 and Central School: 275. 512781 CONRAO MANSION 6X2+ - Page 1 " Composite �fne Co�nad �1Ula�nsio�n �Uluseu�rn � 4ouPd Ue to Makk Skeaden kp Tatkad Gass o� 2002 r Y,on Coondthatm Tl eath by ekocovate II to Tam Any ton Aamlon l .00�. The Conrad Mansion & Leadership Flathead would like to LnL [lie following Pusinesses and Volunteers for all of their support! Room Sponsors .�Ait?`Wof?ks ks ti T I7 F First 19interstate B' MOUNTAIN WEST BANK of 1cal�spn4 rvn M AAA of Montana Ainvorks, Inc. Bee Broadcmting Bianchi Catering Big Mountain Tire Big R Ranch & 1 come Supply Big Sky Brewery Bone Health Awareness Brendan louse Buffalo Hills Golf Course Chloe Sports City Brew/City Vineyard City Service Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Colter Coffee Roasting Country Cupboard Creviers School of Cosmetology Crossroads Motors Crossroads Automohon Solutions Crossroads Golf Qorfors Daily interLake KOFI Paint, Metal & Mud Artists' Dalen Dental Clinic Kalispell Chamber of Cooperative Edwards Jet Center Commerce Pepsi Cola Bottling First Citizens Bank Kalispell Grand Hotel & Spa Rocky Mountain Textile Flowers by Hansen Kalispell Regional Medical Conservation Fun Beverage Center Sane Solutions by Dru Glacier Bank Karen Weyer Scarff Buick Pontiac GNIC (lacier Park Boat Company Let Them Eat Cake Shamrock Catering Glacier Wholesale Legacy Pottery Soucie Soucie Great Northern Whitewater Lonesome Dove Guest Ranch Strawberry Patch Resort Mann Mortgage Sykes Grocery Hampton Inn Massage Therapy The Soft Scissor Pet Car Hats by Katy Meadow Lake Golf Course Center Herberger's Midway Rental Universal Athletic Ron I terron Molly Montana Pets Video Library I looper's Montana Tom's Chocolate WestCoast Hotels International Design Factory Western Building Center Jan Davidson, Ph.D. Mountain West Bank Wheat Montana Bakery JCCS, P.C. Carrie Nelson Deli Job Service Angela Nock Whitefish Kawanis KAJ TV Northridge Lutheran Church Windhorse Center KCFW TV Northwest Automotive I)cr�urmr�rs Jim Andler Plia Cronk Roberta Diegel Al Downey. Dave & Linda Ensign Flank Garner lour Police Chief) Tom Gunn A,kd (asl Litt uol 1c.tsl... Leah Linsday Bruce & Jan Fredrickson Art Olsen Karl Martell Ike Gustafson Tom Sloan Tom Marx Dawn Jackson Ralph Turley Carol O'Brien Alvena Lyford Gabriel Skibsrud rLVD Tana 4Vatne To ALL of the volunteers who gave their lime and Eric Wood talents to make this evening a success, we thwik,you! I �J. A,� TEA AND TOUR AT THE CONR4D MANSION For JULY Will Be field On Saturdayo July 12'h After your Independence Day Celebration, Be sure to make your reservations for our Tea & Tour of the Mansion Arrive by 1 PM for a Tour.of the Mansion. Experience the Elegance.when life was at a slower pace. Tea in the Music Room follows your tour. Along with tea,. you will enjoy finger sandwiches, tarts, and scones (courtesy of VIVIENNE'S FIFTH STREET CAFE) All of this pleasure and enjoyment for only $18.00 per person. RESERVATIONS ARE DEFINITELY REQUIRED! Limit of 12 guests per tea, So be sure to make your reservations early. Period dress and hats are welcome. For more information and to make reservations please call: 755-2166 IDEAS FOR MONEY MAKERS Raffle tickets for romantic dinner for 2 at the Mansion, or a group theme party at the mansion. Example: Buffalo or something with music, wine etc.. Membership of some kind and produce a newsletter every 6 months. Ice cream socials with barbershop quartet or some other entertainment. Herb garden off back porch, sell herbs etc.. through gift shop. Garden sales in summer. Plant sale on lawns. Hold concert in mansion, 1st floor only. Christmas, children's choir or any other ideas. Open limited rooms for photo sessions. Charge $ to have photo's taken here. (1st floor only) Theater at the mansion, get Whitefish Theater to do something here. When gardens are in great shape, have historical tours of our grounds and discuss the plants etc ... or establish a walking tour again. Auction, Auctioneer has agreed to donate his time to auction anything we come up with. (Idea something like the "chairity" auction Central School had) Candlelight tours for special groups. Increase our exposure by participating in parades, 1st night, Art walk etc.. Increase our grounds rentals for weddings: Now $350 for all, easily could charge $500. Hold antique show on grounds. Hold a history camp for children in summer. Charge a tuition for this and help children to experience "hands on" what this era was like. This would also be great for a High School on the job program. Open in winter for limited hours. To try to bring in some funds in our winter months. Theater at the Mansion. Get Whitefish Theater to do something at the Mansion. Go to city to request funds. Article on Feb. 16, 2003 broke down what tax increment revenue was used for between 1979 and 2002. Central School received $2.5 million and Hockaday received $535,000. Would it be possible for us to receive some city funds since we are city owned? Hire a living history actor to come in for a planned function. Like Teddy Roosevelt. Travel Trunk: Not only is this a good teaching tool for schools, this could become something we could charge people to borrow. Christmas: Use decorations that can be left up without fear of fire starting, so that we can hold some Christmas functions like concerts. We could also have house open for special Christmas tours or something along those lines. Christmas was so big in Conrad history it would be neat to incorporate somehow to be able to make money along with the bazaar. MANSION MUSEUM June 5th, 2003 Dear Christmas Bazaar Vendors, As we enter the current season at the Conrad Mansion Museum, we are also beginning initial preparation for the 20th Annual Christmas Bazaar. As the new manager of the Museum, I want to introduce myself, Teri Florman, and my assistant manager, Chris Prior, in case you haven't met us yet. I also want to review some changes and vendor guidelines the Museum has established for the 2003 Bazaar. One of the main concerns we have as a historical museum is the need for protection and conservation of our antiquities and furnishings. In our initial strategy meeting, it was determined that we need to avoid moving fragile pieces into storage on different floors —or down to the basement —if at all possible. This decision means, in the interest of preservation, a very limited amount of former vendor space will no longer be available for use during the Bazaar. We hope to combine some vendors together in order to help with this space issue, and in one or two cases, we'll need to reduce the vendor's room size. If you are affected in any way, there will be an attached letter. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to call me at the Mansion. Some guidelines that I want to remind you about are as follows: 1. If 15% of commission does not add up to $150.00 or more, we have to let that particular vendor go. 2. At this time, all items must continue to be crafted by hand. No purchased items are allowed. 3. Vendor items must be unique, locally made, and not widely available. 4. No open potpourri, candles, or scented items to be offered for sale without being covered or bagged. 5. No cameras in the house for use by vendors, helpers, or customers. As usual, we will review these and all the other rules at our regular vendor meeting in September. I would like to let you know how excited I am for all the new things happening here at the Mansion, and I hope you will be, too. Please let me know if you plan to return to the Bazaar this year, and please send room rent to confirm your placement by July 1, 2003. Thank you for the creativity and time you share with the Mansion through your participation in our annual fundraiser... it is appreciated so much} dffimb (0114 OA Teri Florman, Manager, Conrad Mansion Museum P.O. Box 1041, KALISPELL, MT 59903 ■ PHONE: 406-755-2166 The Conrad Mansion was built in 1895 as the home of C.E. Conrad, Montana pioneer, Missouri River trader, freighter, and founder of the city of Kalispell. Restored to its original elegance, it is placed on the National Historic Register and open to visitors from May to October. Garden/Gardener update: Disappointed in performance, sjill not done planting and what planting has been done is sparse, in my opinion. It looks like they planted less than last year. Have had complaints of frequent visitors that are gardens are not what they usually are. Miriam asked if she could store the plants needed for our gardens on the veranda for a couple of days while she planted. I agreed with the understanding that they had to be planted ASAP and a walk way had to be left open for visitors to be able to enjoy the veranda. Miriam shows up with flats of flowers to store on porch. There were more than I realized. But I remained quiet because we had understanding that they would be planted immediately. no one to plant but 2 ladies, barely made a dent in planting. Then I had weekend off. I returned on June 9th to a mess. Veranda had an inch of water all over, hoses stored in walk ways, mud everywhere. I spoke with Miriam. I demanded she got a crew to the Mansion immediately and finish planting. I told her to remove all plants off porch and clean thoroughly. That what I found was totally unacceptable and that we had a wedding scheduled on June 10th. She removed the bulk of the plants stored at Mansion, which leads me to believe she was using our veranda as a storage place for all her plants, not just ours. She had crew planting the next 2 days. On June 12th I went outside to access veranda I found all was gone except some empty containers they had left. But I found the damage at that time. It had been covered by flats of plants until then. It is substantial. I have requested a bid from a contractor Rita referred, have not received it back yet. But he did say it will look like a Band-Aid without re -doing whole porch. I have not talked to her of this issue yet, I wanted to inform Board first. I have called several times to see when she will finish planting, and when she'll pick up left items, but the only one I reach is a man who has no idea when she'll be in. Attendance: May 15th - 31 st: June 1st - 15th: Door $2,245.00 GS $1,060.00 - (had not ordered much inventory due to funds) Door $2,600.00 GS $1,119.00 - (have ordered new merchandise receiving daily) (Within this 2 week period, we had 353 paying adults, plus 395 free adults and children.) School Tours: 1,126 children