Annual Meeting - 2018 | Stjohnsburyband

Annual Meeting - 2018

The St. Johnsbury Band held its annual dinner and business meeting on November 26, 2018. This year was a potluck dinner held at South Church Hall on the St. Johnsbury Academy campus. Band members and spouses, family and friends all turned out. There was ample, delicious food supplied by the attendees.

The business meeting followed the dinner. The first order of business was a review of the minutes from last years meeting. Copies were distributed to each table for review. The minutes were accepted without change.

The Manager's report came next, presented by Dave Hare, the Band Manager. Highlights were $450 from the Sunset Home Music Fund was used to purchase new music and $2000 was given to the St. Johnsbury History & Heritage Center for the permanent Band exhibit. At this time, it isn't known if more funds will be needed to complete the exhibit. The exhibit is expected to be open by next summer.

Cheryl Gove, Treasurer, presented the Bands finances. With a couple of extra gigs this past season, the Band had a good year. Total income was $5,403 and total expenses were $4,889 so the Band finished the season in the black.

Electing the new slate of officers followed the Treasurer's report. Dianne Wyllie was heartily thanked for serving as Secretary since 2007. Bobby-Ann Fearon presented the nominations. New officers were elected to the positions of Assistant Director, Assistant Manager, and the 3-year Trustee. Cheryl Gove agreed to take on the Secretary duties while continuing as Treasurer. The full slate of officers is listed on the Contact Us page.

The next portion of the meeting dealt with the various awards the Band presents.

Jim McGregor read through the current list of Lifetime Members. There were two Lifetime Memberships this year. Announcement of the recipients and presentation of the award was delayed until the first rehearsal in Janury 2019 since neither recipient was at the annual meeting. Jane Labun was the first recipient. A long time member of the Band, she was recognized for her support at most of the Bands concerts and parades. Her support makes it possible for the Band to take part in these events. Scott Labun was the second recipient. Like his wife, Jane, Scott is a constant presence at concerts, parades, and rehearsals. Scott has also provided the Band with sound advice in managing the Bands investments.

Gary Aubin presented a scholarship to Kaci Cochran. Kaci has been an very talented and invaluable member of the percussion section for several years. She graduates from the St. Johnsbury Academy next June and will head off to college. She will be sorely missed and the Band wishes her well.

Dave Have presented the final award for the evening — the Youth Award. This award is meant to recognize and encourage young players to join the Band. The award was presented to trombonist Kate Mori. Kate joined the Band in late summer 2017 and returned this past summer. She also played in several other local groups this past summer. An excellent musician, she is a sophomore at Ithaca College and was unable to attend the dinner.

Some time was then spent discussing future possibilities for the Band. Topics included:

Concert ads in the newspaper are expensive and the Band will cut back on these, relying more on press releases.

Donations from the last summer concert for the past several years have been donated to the Melissa Jenkins Scholarship Fund. The Band feels it may be time to explore supporting other causes.

The State of Vermont provides the Band with rent-free rehearsal and storage space. The United Community Church provides free performance space for our fall concerts. There was discussion about recognizing this support and possibly holding a fund raising concert for the benefit of these entities. Nola Forbes suggested that the Band should recognize the support from the State of Vermont during each of our summer concerts.

Jim McGregor will continue to lead the New Music committee. Jim encouraged Band members to suggest pieces to purchase or pull from the library to play. Several Band members have made suggestions to the committee for next season.

Dave Hare urged Band members to make the effort to come to early season rehearsals in January and February. This is when the Band reviews new music purchases as well as pieces from the music library. The board has discussed some schedule changes for January and February to help cope with winter weather. Starting rehearsals earlier at 6:30pm and only going for 1 1/2 hours are being considered. The schedule would switch back to normal in March as the weather improves. This would also help student members with their school schedules. The board will discuss this some more and bring a proposal to the Band by the end of the year.

Dave Askren suggested the Band consider having the Veteran's Day Concert and Holiday Concert at South Church next season. Reasons include: better acoustics, the smaller hall brings the audience closer to the Band, easier and better setup for the Band, and better parking. Dave gave a quick tour of the hall to interested members after the meeting adjourned.

Dave Hare concluded the meeting by thanking Tom Frackleton for all his help at rehearsals and concerts and thanking the Band members for all the assistance they give, which makes his job as Manager easier. The meeting then adjourned.