Laconia Putnam Fund

Laconia Putnam Fund Board of Trustees Meeting February 15, 2023 This meeting was called to order on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, at 9:03 a.m. held at 45 Beacon Street East, Laconia City Hall, Laconia, NH with the following in attendance: Joan Mercer, Linda Peary, Jim Rogato, Rich Landry, and Betty Ballantyne. MINUTES: Linda Peary made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted, Joan Mercier seconded it with all in favor. TREASURER’S REPORT: Total available funds for 2022 were $104,677.82. The carryover balance was $64,677.82 and allotted from the Trust of Trustee was $40,000.00 balancing the $104,677.82. Thus far we have spent $55,253.51 which includes $750 services rendered by Meredith Elliot for handling the social media for the Putnam Programs, though does not include the $2,000 due us from Julie Grant. Upon receipt of the monies our balance available will be $51,424.31. PROGRAMS: Author – David Brody will be lecturing on his latest novel, Templars, Nazis, and the Holy Grail. His fee is $1,000. Brenda Kean at the Taylor Community does have available Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Betty made a motion to approve the program, Linda seconded, discussion was had with all in favor. Gordon Belsher & Cynthia MacLeod: Celtic guitar and violin performers from Prince Edward Island have submitted a proposal for a program at the cost of $1,000 plus two rooms for one night. It was suggested we include a youth step dancing group to participate with a song on each set. Betty will research a local group. Linda made a motion to approve the show, Rich seconded it, discussion was had with all in favor. NEW BUSINESS: The Love Dogs: A blues band has been brought up in the past. Betty and Jim have seen them perform and believe they will put on a fantastic show. Jim will reach the Colonial for dates in November which for several years has been our blues month. He also will contact the group for their availability and expense to have them perform. If we were to guess the cost of the band, perhaps $3,500 and the Colonial’s expense could be $3,500. We shall wait and see. COLLEGE ACCAPELLA GROUPS: Joan did research in 2022. Discussion brought us to consider again sometime in December or March to put on a show. MOVIES: Betty had brought up a Winter Movie Series at the Colonial for next winter. Say a movie of the month for January, February & March. Consensus was good and liked the idea. Jim will reach out to the Colonial for their availability and potential costs and take it back to the board. Author Col. Terry Virts: An astronaut and motivational speaker. He was an international space station commander, space shuttle pilot and test/fighter pilot. His second book “How to Astronaut”, seven months in space and three space walks. While in space he took more than 300,000 photos. Betty will reach out to him and will report back to the board at the next meeting. Author Kathleen Marden: She authored a book based on a NH couple who were captured by aliens back in 1961. The book is titled “Captured”. It was a well-known fact to many on this board. We believe in knowing it occurred in NH, we could expect an interest in the community. Betty will reach out to the author. Author Michael Wejchert: He authored “Hidden Mountains”. Joanie read the book. A challenging book to read in knowledge of the parties involved. Along with interesting, it will also support education to climbing. Joanie will reach out to him to discuss our options. Mikaela Shiffrin – American World Club Skier from NH: Agreed she would be a wonderful guest. Though knowing she is competing this winter, we intend to reach out soon as a lecturer for the Putnam Program. Perhaps joining Mikaela could be Penny Pitou and Heidi Pruess, well- known names in skiing in the Lakes Region. MISCELLANEOUS: A discussion was had in providing an Author Series such as climbing, UFO - ufologist, and astronaut. Also, we did not hear from Julie, our agent, on any suggestions for this coming Fall’s agenda. A discussion was had to limit less than $15,000 per performance when chatting with Julie. In knowing of the expense of sound and lights at the Colonial along with overnight accommodations and promoting. Easily it will raise the total cost to more than $20,000 plus per show. Noted Two Divas and The Temptations were well below $15,000. Both programs filled the theater and were very well received. We need to continue to find this type of value for our audience. RICHARD LANDRY: It was noted in today’s meeting that Rich will be resigning his position with the board. We are all quite saddened by this news and voiced our opinions to him. We completely support and understand his position. We encouraged him to stay with us until his replacement has been approved by the city council. He will be greatly missed! BOARD OPENING: Rich’s position has not yet been advertised although Jim stated that a gentleman named Norman Soucy is a potential candidate. Jim stated an attorney on the board would be most helpful to us, especially while reviewing our contract agreements with the performers. Jim is to check the city requirements of being a Laconia resident or a non-resident who has a business local in Laconia. He will get back to the board with answers. SOCIAL MEDIA: Betty received a letter from Meredith Elliott who has been handling our Social Media page. She has for several months attempted to remove herself and sign on Shawnee onto our account without any success. It will be necessary to begin with a new FACEBOOK Page. The board agrees this is the best alternative so Meredith can resign, and Shawnee can proceed. We agreed collectively, in hopes we can kidnap much of our history onto the new account. Betty will have a few questions about how best we can transition to a new page with Meredith and Shawnee. NEXT MEETING: March 7, 2023, at 8:45 a.m. to be held at City Hall. With no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:32 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Betty Ballantyne, Putnam Board Member