A meeting of the Menotomy Bird Club Steering Committee was held at 7:00PM at the home of Marj. In attendance were Stephen Baker, Debora Diggins, Karsten Hartel, Ann Perkins, Oakes Plimpton, and Committee Chair Marj. Rines.

Committee Composition

It was agreed that it was desirable to get some new blood on the Steering Committee. There was some discussion of having term limits for Committee Members, but it was agreed that this was not desirable at this point.

Decision: the size and composition of the Committee should be flexible, although 12 seemed to be a maximum number to keep in mind. We agreed to invite three new members. Members suggested names and a vote was held, and it was decided to invite Renee LaFontaine, Joe Sutherland, and Eric Smith to serve. Marj will call all of them to invite them.

Sub-Committee Members

Retired Steering Committee members can serve on subcommittees (e.g. Trips, Programs), and will continue to receive and participate in the Steering Committee listserv. Other members of the club who are willing to serve on subcommittees may do so without being members of the Steering Committee.

Sibley Meeting Promotion

Stephen will write something to insert into the calendar in the Arlington Advocate (and associated local papers). Debora will write a news release (article) to be sent to the Advocate, talking about the club and David Sibley’s appearance. Marj will post an announcement to Massbird. Oakes will post it to the Arlington listserv.

Upcoming Meetings

The April meeting will be members’ photos, and Stephen has asked Eric Smith to organize this. It was agreed that the program would not exceed 1-1/4 hours.

Stephen mentioned that Clair Walker Leslie would be giving a program at the May meeting on field sketching. Debora, Karsten, and Marj felt it would better as a workshop, but then Stephen explained that the program would be similar to a workshop format, and that pencils and paper will be distributed.

Marj requested that Stephen keep the Steering Committee informed about upcoming programs so everyone would know what was going on. Stephen reminded everyone that all of the program ideas had been discussed at the last Steering Committee meeting in August.

Miscellaneous

Stephen suggested that we conduct more club business at meetings (such as the election of officers), as a way to give club members a way to feel more engaged. There was general discussion resulting in the conclusion that elections were probably not practical at this point, but a number of suggestions were made for ways to involve people more, and it was agreed that this could be done at the beginning of meetings. In addition to asking for new members to introduce themselves, suggestions included asking if people have posted in the past week (“we’d like to see what you look like!”), asking for suggestions to the Steering Committee, and asking specific questions (“The Steering Committee has been talking about X and is wondering how you, the members, feel about it.”).

We agreed that Marj would actively solicit new members for the Refreshment Committee at the next meeting, and that there would be a sign-up sheet there. It was also agreed that there would be no refreshments at the Sibley meeting.