Board Meeting Minutes April 4 2020

Officers: President: Orin Rehorst '73; Vice-President: Connor Bostedt ’16; Treasurer: Jake Winters ‘15; Secretary: Zak DeRoo '19

Board: Terry Austin '69, Jake Batusich '19; John Bokum '72; Connor Bostedt ’16; Vic Caricato ’78; Zak DeRoo '19; Chuck Hvala ’73; Ed Kelly ’72; Orin Rehorst ‘73; Tom Stern ’72; and Jake Winters ‘15

Alumni Present for Teleconference: all board members, active chapter 2020 president Connor Bowels, and house grad student Sam Shehata

  

TOPIC	DISCUSSION	ACTION/FOLLOW-UP
	⦁ The meeting was called to order by Orin Rehorst at 1:07 pm.  ⦁ All 11 board members attended plus Connor Bowles and Sam Shehata.   ⦁ Thanks to Jake Winters for providing the Zoom teleconferencing system.	The next board meeting will be held when issues dictate, likely using Zoom.
President’s Report by Orin	⦁ Presented state of the fraternity report. Orin said he is proud of our alumni board for getting "ahead of the game" on our two big issues: very low rushing numbers for the last two semesters, and the pandemic.  ⦁ Connor Bostedt will be taking over president this year.  ⦁ Connor Bostedt is optimistic that classes will be open in the fall.	Zak will send out an email to alumni about our new house letters and 2020 Reunion rescheduling
Reunion	Concerns about attendance and COVID-19. Connor Bostedt is a director at a hospital. Connor said the situation is very serious and likely will continue for months.	⦁ Motion to postpone reunion   ⦁ A super majority approved the reunion be postponed until further notice
Scholarship report  by Vic Caricato	⦁ Vic talked about reducing the scholarship fund to $1,000.  ⦁ Talked about maybe taking the other $1,000 to incentivize recruitment for new members.	⦁ Tom motioned to reduce scholarship fund to $1,000.   ⦁ A super majority approved the reduction on the scholarship fund to $1,000 due to circumstances.
Finance Report  by Jacob Winters	⦁ Overall financial position is in good shape for now.  ⦁ Worked out deal with insurance company to reduce down payment to 25% of total premium.  ⦁ Vanguard account is not doing well due to market decline with COVID-19.  ⦁ Scholarship check of $2,000 was sent into WIU but hasn’t been posted yet.
House Report  by Terry Austin	⦁ Six brothers are currently living in house. Apartments 3 and 7 are vacant.  ⦁ Look into appealing the property taxes.  ⦁ To reduce expenses, we should turn off internet that is not being used.  ⦁ We are in the process of changing our loan to interest only payments for 6 months in order to preserve cash.  ⦁ Clothes dryer situation is getting worse. Talking with a new contractor to get driers fixed.	⦁ Jake Winters and Terry will work on appealing to the state for lower property taxes.  ⦁ Sam will talk to actives to maybe free up some internet charges and double up on networks  ⦁ We talked of "deep cleaning" the house for the virus. ⦁ Refinancing: John Bokum, Ed Kelly, and Terry Austin will investigate options to refinance the house to save money.
Recruitment Team – John Bokum	⦁ Went to Macomb and attended a chapter meeting. Gave a presentation about recruiting. Going to start using move in crew again to help gain freshman interest. Volunteer to do the WIU open house.   ⦁ Rush is the last week of August  ⦁ Nationals said 1 in 6 have students deciding to not go to school next fall.   ⦁ Plans to target school clubs such as ROTC and sports clubs.   ⦁ Lake Linda will be available for recruitment events.   ⦁ Nationals might send a field rep for help with recruitment.  ⦁ John reminded us to keep news and photos flowing to The Rattle.	⦁ Idea: Set up rewards for brothers that recruit the most pledges.  ⦁ Send a picture of the house with new letters to The Rattle
Active chapter president report by Connor Bowles	⦁ Connor Bowles says old bylaw states that actives must join at least two clubs. A job counts as a club  ⦁ Actives have started giving tours for Discover Western.   ⦁ Historian is giving a bigger presence on social media	Continue to gather names for potential new members.
Parents of Actives	Recommendation: send out mail about our concerns and how Theta Chi is dealing with COVID-19 to active parents.	Connor Bostedt is drafting a letter. This will be a "Letter of Confidence" to actives' parents. We will express our concerns about the virus and explain  how Theta Chi is dealing with COVID-19.
Memorabilia	Recommended an appeal to the brotherhood. Please forward any composite pictures, trophies, or other fraternity belongings to the house for display.	Suggest a letter be drafted to retrieve relics and composites.
For the Good of the Fraternity	Alumni Dick Ecklof '71 and John Paychek '71 made sizable contributions to our alumni fund.
End of Minutes	Meeting adjourned 2:23 PM

  

Alumni Board Meeting December 8 2019

Officers: President: Orin Rehorst '73; Vice-President: Vic Caricato ’78; Treasurer: Chuck Hvala ‘73

Board: Connor Bostedt ’16; Vic Caricato ’78; Chuck Hvala ’73; Ed Kelly ’72; Randy Moore ‘13; Orin Rehorst ‘73; Tom Stern ’72; and Jake Winters ‘15

Alumni Present: Vic Caricato ’78, Chuck Hvala ‘73, Tom Stern ’72; Ed Kelly ’72 Terry Austin '69, Jake Winters ’15,  Orin Rehorst ‘73

Alumni Present via Teleconference: Jake Winters ’15, Connor Bostedt '16, and active chapter 2020 president Connor Bowels

TOPIC	DISCUSSION	ACTION/FOLLOW-UP
	The meeting was called to order by Orin Rehorst at 12:04 pm. Thanks to Tom and Micki Stern for their wonderful hospitality and lunch! The next board meeting will be held in Macomb this Spring.	Connor Bostedt will work on scheduling the next board meeting.
Presidents Report	Conner Bostedt announced he is moving back to Illinois from Texas.
Scholarship report by Vic Caricato	Vic encouraged the board to maintain the scholarship program.	The board approved $2,000 for scholarships.
Finance Report by Chuck Hvala	Chuck reported we are in decent financial shape. Chuck noted that maintenance costs for the house were twice what was budgeted. Terry said that that spending level will likely continue for the intermediate future. Vic recommended we raise additional funds by creating alumni dues. We might make this part of the resolute man program. We will see how national views that.	We will look into increasing rent for brothers living in the house. This would start for the 2021/2022 school year.
House Report by Terry Austin	Terry noticed clothes washing machine income was down. Bowles reported a problem with the dryers. Terry discussed many issues with 1580 Riverview and the plans to deal with them.	Terry and crew will address the clothes dryer problem.
Reunion 2020	Connor Bostedt mentioned we hadn't had a reunion in 2 and 1/2 years.	A motion passed to hold a reunion next summer. Tom Stern and Connor Bostedt offered to  be work on the project Connor Bowles said the fraternity has about 70 alumni who graduated since the re-installation. We will work hard to get these alumni to attend the reunion. It was mentioned that a past reunion had amenities for children and was a hit. We should consider those to attract younger alumni.
Active chapter president Connor Bowles report	Our fall pledge class is small. With few brothers living now in the dorms, we are changing our recruitment tactics. Steph Galinsky is said to be heading recruitment and is experienced. Connor is confident our future pledge classes will be of sufficient size.
Board elections	Congratulations to the board election winners: Vic Caricato John Bokum Jake Batusich Board officers were elected: President: Orin Rehorst VP: Connor Bostedt Treasurer: Jake Winters Secretary: Zak DeRoo Terry Austin was elected to the board. Board member Randy Moore has stepped down. Thanks to Randy for his service! Brother Zak DeRoo was elected new board member and secretary of the board.	A motion was approved to increase the board member count to 11. Terry Austin was elected to the addition spot. A super majority approved both motions.
Resolute Man	Ed Kelly reported that the Resolute Man program for alumni consists being a donor to the national.
Email list	Orin reported that 11 emails bounced when the last email blast was sent out.	Tom Stern offered to get updated email addresses.
A Call To Brothers	An appeal is going out to the brotherhood. Please forward any composite pictures, trophies, or other fraternity belongings to the house for display.
End of Minutes	Meeting adjourned 2:43 PM