Attendees:

Tom Kashatus Francis Zaleski Carolyn Phillips Heidi Selecky Melissa Bova
Palmira Miller Linda Conner Stephen Phillips Mary Jo Evans Paul Jarecki
Bill Hourigan Mary Kashatus Sia Sager Carol Kuhn

President, Tom Kashatus called the meeting to order on the above date and time, and then proceeded to follow the order of business.

 

Secretary, Linda Conner read the minutes from the previous meeting of February 9th 2010.  President, Tom Kashatus took exception to statement that the president “proposed the following changes to the NTCO by-laws”.  The statement was corrected to “the nominating committee proposed the following changes to the NTCO by-laws”.  President, Tom Kashatus also corrected the omission of the Hospitality Committee, of which Sia Sager is chair, from the organizations’ committees discussed during the previous meeting.  With corrections noted, Mary Margaret Kashatus made a motion to accept the minutes as read and placed on file, seconded by Heidi Selecky; all voted in favor.

 

Treasurer, Francis Zaleski read and presented the treasurers report. (Written report of February 9th 2010 was given to the secretary)  Mary Jo Evans made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report as read and placed on file, seconded by Sia Sager, with all present voting in favor.

 

The Treasurer had no bills or communications to present at that time.

 

President, Tom Kashatus reports:

1.   2010 membership is at120 members.

2.   Leigh Bonczewski expressed interest on behalf of the Rotary Club in possibly becoming involved in the organizations’ clean up and recreation projects.

3.   The Summer Fun program will be chaired by Melissa Bova and co-chaired by Pat Bova respectively. Swimming and bowling were discussed as possible activities.

 

1st Vice President, Palmira Miller reports:

1.   The Great American Clean-up begins March 1st.   Activities will commence with the organizations’ participation in the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade to be held in Wilkes-Barre on March 14th, 2010.  JP Mascaro Inc. has committed a truck for the organizations’ use in the parade.

2.   Payment for the tee shirts ran over the allowable monies by $10.63 in shipping costs.  Carolyn Phillips made the motion for the organization to pay the overage, Carol Kuhn seconded; all voted in favor.

3.   Possible dates (April 12th thru 30th) were discussed for the Big Junk and Illegal Dumpsite clean-ups.

 

2nd Vice President, Bill Hourigan had no report at that time.

 

Committee Reports

Heidi Selecky

1.   The Fund Raising Committee reports that sales of the calendars, video discs and collectibles have slowed significantly with the calendars especially so.  With approximately 100 calendars left in inventory, Heidi has suggested possibly ordering fewer calendars (200 rather than 300) for sale next year.

2.   The possibility of historical picture book in the future was discussed.

 

Paul Jareck

1.   The Newport Township Recreation Board met and listed priorities for the coming spring/summer season:

·    Repairs to the tennis courts were discussed with the possibility of grant monies.

·    Murph Fletcher proposed activities for the Townships’ summer fun program.

·    John Grabowski proposed tee shirts to commemorate the re-opening of Coal Street Park; the commissioners turned this down due to lack of funding.

 

Unfinished business

  1. The updating of the Newport Township Community Organization by-laws continued:

·    President, Tom Kashatus presented to proposed changes:

Article IV – Section 4 [Voting] will have the sentence “Members must be in good standing in order to vote” added to the end of the statement.  Frances Zaleski made a motion to accept. Palmira Miller seconded the motion; all voted in favor.

Article VI – Section 6 [Committees] will have the sentence “Members of the community organization who are not board members of the corporation may be appointed to a committee” eliminated from the statement.

Linda Conner made a motion to accept; Carolyn Phillips seconded, all voted in favor.

Article VI [Board of Directors of the Corporation] will be amended to include a section on vacancies to state as follows: “The President shall fill vacancies within the Board of Directors, other than those due to expiration of term of office, with a member of good standing.  All appointments will be for the remainder of the annual year and that office will be open for election, for the duration of the normal term for that office, prior to the annual meeting of the corporation.  Palmira Miller made a motion to accept; Linda Conner seconded, all voted in favor.

In the interest of time, Frances Zaleski made a motion to table further amending of by-laws until the next meeting.  Paul Jarecki seconded the motion, which was put to the floor with 8 voting yes and 3 voting no.  The motion passed.

2.   President, Tom Kashatus announced that voting for the Board of Directors would commence:

·     To the 3-Year Term, Stephen Phillips and Russ Sager were recommended by the nominating committee.  Three times the President asked for other nominations. Three times there was no response.  Nomination was closed.

·     To the 2-Year Term, the nominating committee initially recommended Steven Masakowski and Thomas Kashatus.  Thomas Kashatus declined nomination and was replaced with Heidi Selecky.   Three times the President asked for other nominations. Three times there was no response.  Nomination was closed.

·     To the 1-Year Term, James Caley was recommended by the nominating committee and Carol Marcincavage was nominated from the floor.  With all present voting, 7 voted in favor of Carol Marcincavage, 6 in favor of James Caley.  Carol Marcincavage was declared winner.

 

New Business

  1. The Newport Township EMS asked for donations to the Chinese auction being held at their Breakfast Buffet on Sunday, March 21st.  Stephen Phillips made a motion for a group donation of $100 to the EMS; Carolyn Phillips seconded.  Bill Hourigan amended the motion to a $250 donation; seconded by Frances Zaleski, all voted in favor.
  2. A monetary donation for the Newport Township Little League was discussed.  Paul Jarecki made a motion for a group donation of $500 to be given and used for kids that cannot otherwise afford the expense of sign-up.  Bill Hourigan seconded the motion, all voted in favor.
  3. Palmira Miller received a telephone call from Cody Forgach on behalf of Gerald Mullery who wanted to speak to the organization regarding his candidacy for state representative.  After discussion from the floor, the decision was made to deny the request of Gerald Mullery concluding that as a non-political entity, the organization must remain impartial. The possibility of an open forum was discussed in which all candidates would be invited to speak their views.

 

Good of the Organization

  1. A letter was received from Bernadine Zglinicki Elick, a featured column writer for the Citizens Voice, expressing her enjoyment of our newsletter; calling it a “great job”!
  2. Heidi Selecky interviewed the owners of two, new businesses in the township, Busted Knuckles and JD Creations.  The article will appear in the newsletter.
  3. Bill Hourigan asked if there were any ads or articles for the March newsletter.

 

Adjournment

Frances Zaleski made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Bill Hourigan seconded the motion, with all voting in favor.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.

Submitted by:  Linda Conner