Executive Board Meeting – January 5, 2022

Present: Mary Cook, Ellen Caswell, Carol Macknis, Dylan Burns, Lisa Ealley, Judy Blumenthal.

Discussion of 501(c)4 vs. 501(c)3 and Possibly Moving NCPCA to 501(c)3.

Carol stated a major difference between 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 is if anyone donates to a 501(c)3 organization, that individual can deduct the donation on his/her tax return whereas, for a 501(c)4 organization, the individual can’t deduct the donation. A 501(c)4 organization can make political endorsements while a 501(c)3 can’t. However, the NCPCA bylaws prohibit political endorsements. Carol noted it can cost about $275 (paid to the IRS) to get 501(c)3 status with this being information she’s seen for 2018. It’s is also possible a lawyer would be needed to help with the effort. There is an organization “Google for non-profits” which has some benefits NCPCA might want to use but 501(c)3 status is required.

Mary said County Councilmember Tom Dernoga told her he could get NCPCA money (probably for a North College Park Community Center) if NCPCA were 501(c)3. Concern was expressed as to what NCPCA would do with the money. Mary said more information is needed on this. She’ll talk to Alaina about this since Alaina works with non-profit organizations as part of her job. Possibly have Mary, Alaina, and another member work on this.

Files on a CD from Larry Bleau.

Carol reported she found a CD from Larry Bleau with the Treasurer information she got from Jordan Schakner, the former Treasurer. There are many files of early NCPCA correspondence on the CD which probably should be put on the website – most likely on a separate webpage with a link to it on the main correspondence webpage. In addition, Carol stated the main correspondence webpage probably should be split to put older information on a separate webpage with a link to that second page on the main correspondence webpage. This would make it easier to view older information if desired and not have to do a lot of scrolling.

Website Items: Paid vs. Free, Design Concerns, etc.

Currently the NCPCA website is a free website, hosted on the WordPress hosting system (wordpress.com). Current charges include $20/year for registration of “myncpca.org” domain with Domains Priced Right and $13/year with WordPress (wordpress.com) for domain mapping. The domain registration fee is a fixed fee. The domain mapping fee is a result of how the website was developed. Initially the domain was “ncpcatest.wordpress.com”. When it was decided to have the domain “myncpca.org”, the decision was made to pay WordPress (wordpress.com) for domain mapping: map all references to “ncpcatest.wordpress.com” to “myncpca.org” and avoid having to change all “ncpcatest.wordpress.com” references on all existing webpages.

Because of cost concerns, a suggestion was made to try to use members or local individuals (possibly teenagers) for any effort to move to a paid website. Teenagers possibly could earn community hours. Dylan mentioned his impression of the website was as presenting facts, it was fine. However, the website does feel a “little out of date”. The font size is a little small for some folks but there are web browser functions which can help. The background is “blah”. Mary will talk to Carol, and Alaina about this.

Status of Bylaws Update Effort.

Ellen stated she is behind in getting the changes agreed to incorporated into the draft bylaws update. The last meeting among Ellen, Carol, and Carissa Janis was in October. The intent is to provide a separate file noting the changes in the updated draft from the current file. One major change is moving the specific officer tasks to a separate file to make it easier to make changes as needed. Most of the changes deal with semantics, grammar, and changing areas mentioning providing information via mail to providing the information via email. There are some significant changes in the section dealing with officer duties. Presenting the updates to the membership should require only one meeting.

Property Tax Assessments.

Judy brought up concerns about the recent residential property assessments. She related her experience in appealing her last residential property assessment. Carol said it would be helpful to understand how the assessments are done. Mary will talk to County Councilmember Dernoga to find out how NCPCA should handle this issue.

Problems with Fireworks and Drag Racing.

Many have expressed concerns about how problems with fireworks and drag racing should be handled – both by the county and city. Mary said she would talk to County Councilmember Dernoga and have him address this when he meets with NCPCA.

New NCPCA Meeting Signs.

Mary said she was working on what the wording should be on new meeting signs. Listing the NCPCA website (myncpca.org) should be included. Mary has been talking with a local company on this. The company recycles old signs: campaign, meetings, etc. She plans on getting 10 signs and felt the cost would be reasonable.

Having an NCPCA Ad in the “Here and Now” Newspaper.

Mary presented information about possibly putting an NCPCA ad in the local newspaper (“Here and Now”). The main purpose was for recruiting new members. Agreement was that the ad would appear in the printed edition, not the on-line edition. She provided cost information. There was discussion about possibly putting an ad in other newspapers. Another possibility was to have fliers vice a newspaper ad. Agreement was that any ad or fliers should be done in the March time frame since the NCPCA membership year starts in June. No decision was made regarding a newspaper ad or fliers.

Setting NCPCA Priorities.

Mary said NCPCA really should set priorities about what issues members felt should be covered. Agreement was to have this as an agenda item at a future meeting.

Documenting Executive Board Meetings.

Carol brought up the need to document the Executive Board meetings. That will be helpful for current and future Executive Board members as well as NCPCA members. Dylan sad he would be generating minutes for this meeting as part of the Secretary’s job.

 

Minutes written by Carol Macknis, NCPCA Treasurer.