Present: Sue Wilkins (President), Craig Drake (Vice President), Meg McCann (Treasurer), Walter Fowler (Secretary), Mike Tapp (Fire Chief), Cliff Carroll (At Large)

Sue updated us on the cost of the new “drop-in stove” that has been installed in the kitchen. The stove on sale that we had approved was not available so a different stove was installed for $1300. Sue was quite satisfied with the quality of the installation. Sue has also set dates for the upcoming Candidate Forum which will actually have to be separate “Meet and Greet” meetings for Democrats and Republicans since no date would allow all the candidates to come to a Forum.  The dates are Oct 7 for Democrats and Oct 14 for Republicans. Sue will send out an announcement that will ask for questions for candidates which will be reviewed and a set of questions will then be provided to candidates of each party so that they can provide their answers at their respective “Meet and Greet.”

Sue reviewed her preparations for the upcoming Breakfast (Sept 20). She has figured out sources and unit prices for all the items that will be provided. The main unknown is how many “plates” will be purchased and the working number that was chosen is 300 which is consistent with previous breakfasts. Prices were chosen as follows.  Reg “all you can eat” breakfast plate $7.50, Senior (over 65) or Child (12 or under) plate $5, plain biscuit $1, meat biscuit $1.50. Sue will coordinate volunteers for the Breakfast and all Board members are invited to help and to provide Sue with names of potential volunteers. Meg pointed out that several members indicated on their forms that they were willing to help with the breakfast and she will contact them. Since the Breakfast will run from 7am-11am and preparation will probably start at 6 am, 2 shifts of volunteers will be needed. Cliff suggested that one important job should be a “kitchen supervisor” who would keep things running efficiently and would need to handle any kitchen problem that came up. Mike says that the sign advertising the Breakfast will go up soon. Walter attached the Volunteer Schedule from the 2010 Breakfast to these minutes since different jobs are specified and some of the individuals might be willing to volunteer again this year.

Mike has reviewed the NHFD insurance policy and finds that there is no coverage for NHIA or its officers and Board members (except for the Turkey Run which is covered each year with a special rider). He is checking into adding coverage to the NHFD policy and the cost will need to be paid by the NHIA. If this is not possible the Board will need to look for coverage elsewhere. Walter suggested that we ask similar organizations where they get their liability coverage since there may be a national source for coverage of “neighborhood groups” like the NHIA. This is a priority item since we are planning several events.

The by-laws say that there needs to be an election of Board members each November and there has not been an election since 2011 (or so).  The by-laws also say that there needs to be a nominating committee to select candidates although “floor nominations” can also be made at the Nov meeting.  This is obviously an “unusual year” and all of the details of the election process may not be appropriate and modifications to the process may need to be voted on by the Board. Sue has offered to remain President for one more year “to maintain continuity” and the other officers have not made any definite plans – we’ll need to talk about how this will work since we want to allow other people to get involved. It was suggested that for this year the nominating committee should consist of the existing Board plus a few additional NHIA members to provide outside or independent input. Walter suggested Lindsay Carroll and Jim Worrell. We have set the nominating committee meeting for Tues Sept 30 at 7pm.

The date for the November Annual Meeting with election has not been set yet but should be set soon.