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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/31/2016 - Minutes RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 1 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 Attending: Laura Clawson, Antoin Johnson, Stefanie McIrvin, Jordann McKay, Betsy Prather, Elizabeth P. Stewart, Kim Sweet, and Vinod Waghamare. Absent: Alice Stenstrom, Lisa Wivag, and Vicki Jo Utterstrom Call to Order President Stefanie McIrvin called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Artifact of the Month This month's artifact was presented by Stefanie McIrvin. In the process of remodeling, she found some documents in between the wall of her home! Her house was built ca. 1966 and passed down till 2001. Found a penny ca. 1966 as well! Oral Communications Liz Stewart spent 4 days in Washington DC @ America Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting. Conference is a good opportunity to find out new ideas and make contacts for the museum. Liz brought helpful documentation for the strategic plan (brochures for high level information), "How to be good advocates for museums." She has a Museum Assessment scheduled in Alaska (non-disclosed location) and met with a museum staffer. Kim Sweet has notified Board that this is her last meeting before moving to Alaska. She has started a blog called alaskajourney.org, as a public journal of her journey. Public is able to respond to her entries. Antoin Johnson has created a monthly event #IngressFS (First Saturday). First event was held May 7th, 2016 here at the Renton Museum; with 2 days of marketing, the event brought 24 participants! Second event is scheduled June 4th, 2016 for the Kent Historical Museum in Kent, WA. rentonhm@gmail.com is the official communications email; fsroadshow@gmail.com is the main page for sharing photos, event news, and etc. Correspondence Theresa Clymer’s husband Stephen is ill. Trustees signed a "Get well" card. Consent Agenda (President) Action Item A quorum was present.  MOTION: Laura Clawson moved to approve the Consent Agenda, Kim Sweet seconded. Motion passed, none opposed, none abstaining. RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 2 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 Old Business Action Items____ (1) 2016 fundraiser: Stefanie McIrvin shared a sponsor solicitation sheet developed by her, Betsy Prather, and Jordann McKay, based on Chairs for Charity event. Goal is to have 9 tables filled with people per the board membership network. We need to get the word out ~mid -June. Trustees talked about possibly doing a "Cocktail Hour" before the event for the Board, sponsors, and City Council members. Access to the room (Renton Senior Center) begins @ 3pm; will need to check with Lisa for access to any other room available. Official date is September 28, 2016. Title is "Doers and Makers." (2) Board recruitment: Alexis Madison proposed that each trustee bring names to next meeting to develop list of 20 prospective Board members. Committee will interview Don Hunsaker III on Thurs., June 2, new to the area, has been on the board of a historical society before in San Diego. Liz has organized quarterly "Get to Know You” Event at Museum in the past, but needs list of people to invite. Stefanie proposed a staff member’s husband as a possible candidate. Trustees discussed possible conflicts of interest; currently there is no precedence for this and no by-laws opposed or for. Alexis Madison volunteered to draft a personnel policy that might address possible conflicts. Discussion Action Items____ (1) Nomination of new Board officers: Trustees voted on slate of Board officers.  MOTION: Stefanie McIrvin moved to nominate Alexis Madison as Board President; Kim Sweet seconded. Motion passed; none opposed, none abstaining.  MOTION: Antoin Johnson nominated himself as Secretary; Alexis Madison seconded. Motion passed; none opposed, none abstaining.  MOTION: Kim Sweet nominated Betsy Prather for Vice President; Stefanie McIrvin seconded. Motion passed; none opposed, none abstaining. (2) Annual Meeting: Liz reviewed the agenda for the Renton Historical Society Annual Meeting, scheduled for Weds., June 8, 6 – 8 pm. (3) Endowment Update: Treasurer Laura Clawson reviewed recommendations made by Shane Klingenstein for rebalancing the Endowment portfolio, given the increasing likelihood of a market correction. The Finance Committee agreed to his proposal to move $900K to American Funds and $250K to Advisory Solutions. Advisory Solutions would be a new fund for us; it involves a fee of 1.35%, but gives us the advantage of extra fund managers. This proposal moves funds out of MFS ($450K) and Franklin Templeton ($750K), slightly increasing Income funds (from 28% of the portfolio to 36.55%) and reducing Growth (from 13& to 2.18%). This is RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 3 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 the first substantial change in our portfolio since 2012. (See attached Finance Committee report, Appendix I.) (4) Renton River Days: Liz reviewed plans for the Renton River Days booth and circulated a sign-up sheet, asking each Board member to sign up for at least one shift. (5) Personnel issue: Liz reported that Public Engagement Coordinator Mark Mulder is resigning, effective June 25. Because of family health issues he and his family are relocating back to Michigan. Mark has been with the Museum since last October. Liz will be looking at rearranging job duties a bit, in order to minimize impacts on volunteers if staff members continue to cycle through this position fairly quickly. Mission Moment Liz talked about the Museum’s new exhibit, Frozen in Time, based on a rare collection of glass plate slides of Renton residences and businesses from 1909. Museum staff are very proud of this extensively researched exhibit, which took Sarah and Liz eight years to complete. They are planning a speaking tour about this exhibit, as well as a possible self-published book. She asked Board members to recommend places they might speak about the exhibit. Adjournment _____ MOTION: Kim Sweet moved to adjourn; Betsy Prather seconded. The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at 7:02 pm. Antoin Johnson, Temporary Secretary Member, Board of Trustees, Renton Historical Society RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 4 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 APPENDIX I Finance Committee Meeting May 24, 2016 Laura Clawson, Chair Attended: Stefanie McIrvin, Kim Sweet, Laura Clawson and Shane Klingenstein our Edward Jones Financial Advisor We met at Vino’s and Shane kindly provided appetizers. Shane has previously described stock market fluctuations in terms of a clock: when the market is high we’re at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock is low or a recession. At the current time we are at 12 o’clock and a correction is past due. There hasn’t been a 20% correction in 8 years, and historically it occurs every 5.8 years on average. This provides both an opportunity (to sell high) and a necessity (to move from Growth to Value managers.) We have not made a change to our portfolio since 2012, only small tweaks. In times of downturn or correction, to mitigate possible losses, it is prudent to shore up Income investments with Value managers and to reduce Growth investments. In Shane’s proposal he moves Income from 28% to 36.55%, and reduces Growth from 13% to 2.18%. Please refer to the Portfolio Analysis – Proposed, page 2. The pyramid now has a more solid base, a strategic change, but is still within our investment strategy parameters. The proposal moves $900K to American Funds and $250K to Advisory Solutions. American Funds are Value focused which Shane believes is a strategic move at this time and they charge no fees to RHS. Advisory Solutions balance the portfolio with additional managers and has an annual fee of 1.35%. It’s a new fund for us so we will watch its performance this year. The proposal moves funds out of MFS ($450K) and out of Franklin Templeton ($750.) MFS is a Growth focused money manager; Franklin Templeton is both Growth and Value focused. In the packet provided by Shane is information about our current portfolio status, the proposed portfolio and other information pertinent to investing, the funds and historical trends. RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 5 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 MUSEUM REPORT April 2016 Compiled by Elizabeth P. Stewart, Director Sarah Samson, Collection Manager Mark Mulder, Public Engagement Coordinator Nichole Jones, Museum Office Aide Operations Visitors in April: 159 Visitor numbers reflect members and researchers as well as paying visitors. There were no tours in April. Administration Lobby renovation: As of mid-May the lobby renovation has been pushed back again; currently the start date is uncertain. The contract was caught up in mid-April carry forwards so that by the time Forma Construction began ordering cabinets, subcontractors were too busy with summer school construction projects to complete our small order in a timely fashion. I will continue working with the Facilities Division in hopes that we can complete the project before the end of the summer. Staff workplan: At the end of April Museum staff finalized their workplan for 2016 – 2017, based on the February retreat. Staff evaluated accomplishments from their last workplan, which is based in the Museum Master Plan, and outlined goals for the next 12 – 18 months, which include continuing to work on revitalizing the volunteer program and improving our communication with the public, particularly in the area of marketing exhibits and programs. Membership drive: As a first step toward a membership drive, Museum Office Aide Nichole Jones pulled lists of 95 recently and long-lapsed members and sent them letters asking them to renew. From that number we have received about 20 renewals, some of whom also upgraded to higher membership levels. Training: Staff have taken advantage of a number of trainings in the past couple months to learn new skills and keep them fresh. Collection Manager Sarah Samson took two webinars offered by the American Institute for Conservation in April and May, one on mannequin -making and another on hazardous materials in museum collections. Liz participated in two training seminars offered by the City of Renton, one a Poverty Simulation designed to help staff RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 6 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 understand the difficulties people face below the poverty line and another TED talk by Peter Kageyama, author of For the Love of Cities. Public Engagement Coordinator Mark Mulder attended a South King County Cultural Coalition meeting on “Outreach or Enga gement?”. Exhibits Frozen in Time: This exhibit showcasing our collection of 1909 glass plate photographic negatives is ready to be hung at the end of May; it will open to the public officially on Tues., May 31, although we will also be open to the public briefly on Memorial Day. Frozen in Time explores both the residences and businesses depicted in these rare early photos of Renton, as well as the process of researching the photos. Mark Mulder worked with Sarah to develop an exhibit-related calendar of events that will help attendees think about how they might research their own buildings. Sarah and Liz have also discussed working on a self - published book based in the collection. MUS524 class: After hearing about two possible exhibit projects on Sat., A pril 2, a group of four students from the UW Museology Program’s Exhibits selected Renton in 100 Objects as their project. The idea for the exhibit came from a highly popular BBC Radio program History of the World in 100 Objects, which later became a book and exhibit; a similar book has been done for American history. Students have met here twice with Sarah to explore the collection and begin to discuss what their themes might be. The students will develop an object and photo list, themes, design ideas, and a script during their class, and we hope at least some of them will return in spring 2017 to create and install the exhibit. Programs and Outreach Ingress First Saturday: Liz and Mark worked with Trustee Antoin Johnson on organizing a Renton “Ingress First Saturday,” a regular meet-up of players of the online game Ingress. Antoin made most of the arrangements—marketing it, obtaining prizes, purchasing snacks and coffee, and recruiting volunteers—and staff ensured that the museum was ready RHSMinutes_05312016 Page 7 of 7 RENTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES May 31, 2016 , 2005 , 2005 , 2002 Custer residence, 118 Wells Ave N, 1963. for the players. About 22 players came on Sat., May 7 to use the Museum as their base of operations for competing for portals around the city, mainly clustered at the Museum, Library, and up and down 2nd and 3rd Sts. Most had never been to the Museum before, and seemed to enjoy it. They were in and out between 10 am and 2 pm. All in all it was a successful way to introduce the Museum to a new audience and to use the Museum space on a slow Saturday. Renton High School Wall of Honor Ceremony: On April 23 Liz and Sarah attended the third Renton High School Wall of Honor ceremony, at which Liz accepted Ethel Telban’s award as a Distinguished Alum. The Wall of Honor nomination process provides Museum staff the opportunity to help alums recognize fellow achievers, by assisting with research and the names of likely candidates. Collections Internships: UW Museology student Maria Robinson and Sarah together completed the cataloguing of the Custer- Lewis Collection in mid-May, a project funded by multiple 4Culture grants and lasting about 15 years. Completing the project represents a signal achievement in the life of the Renton Historical Society, making the personal effects of this pioneering Renton family accessible to help tell Renton stories. George Custer and his wife Annie Lewis Custer were community leaders in the first half of the 20th century; George was a carpenter who constructed many homes and businesses in downtown Renton and North Renton, as well as Taylor, Barneston, Kerriston, and Black Diamond. Their son Charles L. Custer left the Renton Historical Society the family home and its contents, as well as a commercial property; the sale of the real estate served as the foundation of our Endowment and the collection now helps us tell the story of one important Renton family. Volunteers Volunteer Hours and Activities: In April 14 volunteers contributed 69 hours of service on work that included facilities improvement, Board service, outreach activities, greeting visitors, office work, and working on collections projects.