Executive Board Meeting Number 99-4, 19 July 1999

Meeting called to order at 11:15am. In attendance: Jeffrey Apana, Rene Barge, Leslie Bahler, Holly Ballard, Randy Singer, and Guy Scafati.

Minutes of 5/26/99 meeting read and approved. New member applications read and approved.

Treasurer's Report: FPO Escrow account now has about $23,000 in it. With the added expenses of the PR consultant for the FPO and the increase in the Life Insurance premium, the budget now shows a surplus of only about $10,000, which is $5000 short of the amount required for the FPO escrow account. The revised budget for FY2000 shows the same figures. The following members request waiver of 1999 annual dues in light of the fact that they resigned or transferred membership this year: Tom Wilson, Alfredo Munar, Conti Milano, Elaine Boda, and Paul Voltaire. The Board unanimously decided to grant these waivers under the condition that if they transfer or reinstate they will first be required to clear their account of these charges. MCS is 2-14 months delinquent in forwarding Work Dues (the amount totals approximately $1200). They have been notified repeatedly.

President's and VP's Reports: no reports due the absence of the President and VP (they are in attendance at the AFM Convention).

Scale Committee: They have had 3 long meetings and have compared our scales to the scales of other Locals across the country. They are nearing completion. Scafati noted that we should create a scale for rehearsal bands and Singer noted that the scale booklet needs to be clearer and that it would also be nice to have a summary demystifying recording scales.

New Business: Board unanimously approved a $50/day per diem for the ICSOM Conference delegate. The Board unanimously approved reimbursement of Lisa Fox's travel expenses to the AFM Convention. The Board unanimously voted to bring the MCS up on charges for failure to transmit work dues in a timely fashion. The Board unanimously voted to recommend that President Graves approach Neal Smith regarding his failure to make Pension fund contributions for his sidemen and encourage him to make these contributions for future engagements. The Board unanimously voted to recommend encouraging the formation of an Advisory Board to get musician input for the upcoming PTG CBA negotiation and also recommends encouraging musician input in the upcoming MCS CBA negotiation. In light of the hiring of a PR consultant for the FPO, the Board unanimously recommends formation of a Local 655 PR committee to assist. The Board recommends asking William Thompson about the possibility of doing PR seminars/workshops for our members as this would help other organizations such as the BPO and PBO.

Bylaw amendments we presented and discussed. The Board unanimously voted to amend the amendment to Article VI to read that the increase in Annual Dues shall read "$115 plus the Life Insurance Assessment" (rather than $150) for Regular members and "$65 plus the Life Insurance Assessment" (rather than $100) for Life Members. On the matter of eliminating the Life Insurance Benefit and lowering the Annual Dues, the Board recommendations were as follows: one Undecided (Singer), For the amendment (Apana, Bahler, Ballard), and Against the amendment (Barge, Scafati). The Board unanimously recommended adoption of all of the remaining amendments.

Singer noted that Geico would give our members an additional 10% discount if we endorse Geico in our Newsletter. The Board asked that Singer get more details from Geico and that Apana investigate any legal ramifications of endorsing an Insurance company. Singer also mentioned that we should lower the classified ad rate for the newsletter to a $10 minimum (for 3 lines) and also print a clip-out form for members to submit classified ads on. The Board unanimously recommended approval of these policies.

Meeting was adjourned at 1:10pm.