Director Norton:

Dick, in response to several of your questions here is a copy of the memo that I gave to the Executive Committee at its September 29, 2012 meeting.

Clearly, my estimate of $10,000 in additional cost plus staff travel and accommodation expenses was low. I had not done a detailed comparison of line-item costs and had assumed that they would be comparable in the two cities given that the Northeast is reputedly a high-cost area. I also had not factored in the additional attendance by spouses. In any case my purpose in preparing the memo was not to second-guess the Board’s decision to meet in New Orleans but to offer the Executive Committee some options that were consistent with the Board’s decision as well as a heads-up that meeting in New Orleans was going to be more costly, particularly if the hotel was in the tourist area which seemed to be the expectation of a number of Board members.

Board members have developed certain expectations for meals, breaks, and other facilities that are supportive of a Board meeting. Those expectations can be adjusted, as was done at the initiation of the A&F Committee a few years ago when the open bar prior to and during dinners was replaced with a cash bar, but I must respectfully suggest that it cannot fall to staff to do so.

Regarding the sound system, some years ago we had a Board member who was a professional audio engineer for a broadcast network. He offered to put together a system using donated hardware. It never quite came together. I have not yet asked about using our own sound system at the two Marriott hotels we are planning to use for our 2014 Board meetings, but could do so. We would need to include the hardware acquisition in the capital budget and also would need to identify staff to do the installation, operation and removal of the equipment.

73,

Dave Sumner, K1ZZ