William Penn House
Minutes of the Board of Director Meeting
April 29, 2014
Board members attending: Bill Flanagan, David Connell, Karen Hansen-Kuhn
Board members not attending: Karen Grisez, Anna & Clay Steinwinter. (Mo) Boyd, Judy Hubbard,
Martin Kraft, Keith Lind
Staff members attending: Jesse Farrar, Allison Guindon, Brad Ogilvie, Byron Sandford, Josh Wilson, Ana
Easterling.
The meeting began with silent worship and personal updates.
Members of the Myanmar delegation that is lodging at William Penn House presented several gifts to
staff members.
The minutes of the March 2014 meeting were not approved because there was not a quorum.
Executive Director’s Report:
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There was a 71% occupancy rate last month. That is an increase from recent months.
However revenue was down because there were more groups and their rate is less than
for individuals. It is likely the number of individual visitors was less as a result of the bad
weather.
Byron announced for the first time, WPH will be on the Capitol Hill House and Garden
Tour May 10th and 11th. The staff is prepping the house and grounds for the visitors.
Byron commented that the janitor is doing an outstanding job maintaining the property.
Regarding new work on the house, Byron stated that the Carriage House was rewired,
the dining room was redecorated and they will be replacing wood molding on the side
of the house.
Byron announced that we would schedule a dinner to honor Keith for his 25 years of
service as a member of the Board.
He said he is seeking bids for building insurance and workers compensation; the latter
went from $1500 to $7,000 in one year.
Byron commented that the hospitality work has the William Penn House in the black. It
is the programs side of operations that are a net negative financially. He said that we
need to figure out a way to increase revenue from the programs (and perhaps from
lodging as well).
Anna Easterling is leaving William Penn House in May. She has been a great asset to
the William Penn House and is going to run a camp that she founded in New Mexico.
She will be missed.
Program Director’s Report:
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A lot of program activity occurring in next few months: West Virginia and Jamaica
Workcamps in June, Pine Ridge Reservation workcamp in July and August. Also, this
summer there will be a two week period with a total of eight workcamps occurring.
The workcamp program is bearing fruit! We will be hosting an intern (workcamp alum)
from Sidwell Friends School during the month of May as part of Sidwell’s senior projects
program. In addition, we will be hiring two Sidwell Friends School graduates to work at
the house this summer. These students have attended multiple workcamps in the past.
Also, four SFS alums will be returning to join the West Virginia workcamp on their own
this summer.
Brad has posted extensive resources related to workcamping on the website. It was
suggested that perhaps William Penn House can get into consulting work around
workcamps.
Brad noted that Quaker Voluntary Service is getting back into sponsoring workcamps.
By Laws Discussion
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One important issue is how much advance notice board members should be given for
called meetings. Right now this time period is three days. Keith and others feel that this
should be changed to seven days.
The Board has had a problem making quorum this year. It is suggested that we follow
Quaker practice and have the Board members that do show up conduct business.
In the future, Monthly Meetings will be nominating Board members, not appointing
them.
A suggestion was made to reactivate the Nominating Committee. We will do this after
we reconcile the By-Laws.
Other Business
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There was a discussion about the possibility of raising group rates and/or having a
security deposit for groups to cover the cost of clean-up or breakage. There was a
related discussion about the difference in the level of support that staff provides to
groups that stay for one night versus longer staying groups.
William Penn House received a donation of seven bicycles as a result of their bike drive
through Bikes for the World.
The clerk adjourned the meeting with a moment of silence.
Respectfully submitted,
David Connell