Potsdam Humane Society
Special Board Meeting
2/27/2014
Attendees: (Board Member) B. Boyd, K. McAllister, T. Beane, A. Lindsey, I. Hargrave, S. Smith, L. Caamano, R. Jewett, C. Tuttle, M. Proulx (by phone)
Guests: Hilary Oak
Staff: J. Slapper, A. Maynard
C. Tuttle called the meeting to order at 5:43 p.m. The purpose of the special meeting is to discuss a potential proposal to take on the Best Friends Thrift Store under the operation and control of the Potsdam Humane Society.
B. Boyd reported out that she has a proposal to operate the Thrift Store for 7 months as a trial period. She has spoken with the landlord, waste service provider and determined that the rent will be $1000/month, insurance will be $300/month, trash will be $980 for 7 month period. Total expenses would be $8,280 for seven months. This assumes that the thrift store would be managed and staffed entirely by volunteers. Utilities are included in the rent. B. Boyd has offered to make up any difference in expenses and profits if there is a shortfall.
H. Oak has facilitated a meeting to solicit volunteers to staff the Thrift Store and has offered to oversee the management of the store until a more permanent long-term solution can be implemented. H. Oak reported that there are 9 volunteers that have offered to staff the Thrift Store. H. Oak’s has experience working for a non-profit, the SLC Arts Council. She further reiterated the PHS Board’s previously mentioned concern that there needs to be a single person that will manage the thrift store and the volunteers. To address the concern about having a strong management concept and consistent oversight for the thrift store, she has proposed a concept of hiring her DBA “Cheerful Strength” to manage the store. A written conceptual proposal outline was presented to board members that detailed the services that could be provided at a flat fee of “$100 per week for an average of 5 hours per week.” The BF store is currently open 25 hours per week. Payroll expenses were approximately $1000 per month. H. Oak mentioned that she could foresee doing this for a few years.
Board members questioned with only 5 hours per week, how would there be controls over the merchandise, theft, etc.
T. Connolly had previously volunteered to provide 3 hours per week to provide assistance.
C. Tuttle provided a summary of concerns that J. Parcell relayed to her in a conversation this afternoon. A summary of the issues was presented to the board. There are some tax implications that need to be researched further.
H. Oak relayed that there may be some advantage of keeping the business in the same location to maintain foot traffic. She suggested that a possible avenue the board could take would be to take a month to research the issue further, recruit volunteers, establish a management structure, and determine whether we can operate the store under the auspices of Potsdam Humane Society.
B. Boyd volunteered to be the board member that would oversee the transition process. H. Oak volunteered to identify a schedule of volunteers. Some of the questions that need to be answered are:
– Who will manage the store and oversee the volunteers?
– Who/how will the bills be paid for the thrift store?
– Who/how will sales tax be managed?
– Who/how will donations be tracked?
– Who will take care of the bookkeeping and how will transactions be accounted for?
– What controls will be put in place to minimize theft?
– Who will price the merchandise?
– How do we schedule the volunteers?
– Board would like more detail about the level of effort that will be provided for “management services” with “Cheerful Strength”.
The Board agreed to authorize B. Boyd to develop a detailed business plan that shows how the thrift store will be run. The Plan will be presented at the March 18, 2014 meeting.
A. Maynard will reach out to Bows and Bandanas regarding their offer of space and let them know of our process.
C. Tuttle will contact T. Booker of the Watertown Daily Times regarding the current status of the PHS efforts to “do due diligence” through this process to ensure we follow the proper protocols in protecting our 501 c 3 status and address the “critical need for reliable volunteers”.
H. Oak will comment to interested parties on Facebook – FoPHS & Best Friends Page.
A. Maynard said that we need to like and share the First Class Service page b/c they will donate HVAC services with 1000 likes.