Board Meeting December 4, 2024
Marietta Noon Lions Board Meeting Minutes
7:00 p.m. Lafayette Hotel
Lions in Attendance: B. Byers, S. Stormes, B. Burnworth, R. Burnworth, K. Boersma, C. Archer, S. Camacho, K. Burnworth, J. Greene, Sh. Stormes, G. Ingram, B. Hadfield, P. Byers & via Zoom: O. Cartmell, T. Davis
Secretary Report: Lion K. Burnworth
The minutes from the November board meeting were emailed to the club. Lion S. Camacho made a motion to accept. Lion B. Burnworth seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: Lion B. Byers
The treasurer’s figures were emailed prior to the board meeting with the Activity Fund at $45,544.66 & Admin Fund at $3,643.39. Lion B. Byers said we said have $12,780.00 turned in so far for roses (which means $720 is still not turned in) and all dues are current. He also said the 990 is done and turned in and we’ll have a bill of $310 to have that filed and that they did the search on unclaimed funds.
Service Chair Report: Lion Sh. Stormes
My Very Own Blanket District Project – Lion Sh. Stormes said the 100 blankets are in and she had 40 of them at the meeting to distribute and to coordinate with her for blankets to tie. There is no deadline for the finished blankets and they do stay local for kids in foster care.
Christmas Card Signing for Nursing Home & Veterans: Lion B. Burnworth had 240 cards with him at the board meeting that were passed around and signed by everyone there for the veterans. He was going to take them home and add Lions stickers to the envelopes and get them to his contact to be distributed to the Armed Forces Retirement Homes. Lion Sh. Stormes will have cards for the Nursing Home at Friday’s lunch.
Lion S. Camacho said she came up with an idea to make birthday cake kits for the food pantry in honor of our 100th anniversary since cakes aren’t something they can usually get at the pantry. She made a motion for $500 to make 100 cake kits (pan, mix, frosting). Lion Sh. Stormes seconded the motion and the motion passed.
2nd VP Report: Lion B. Hadfield
Bridge of Heroes Update: Lion B. Hadfield said there would be a post on facebook about gifting Bridge of Heroes Flag sponsorships for Christmas. An email went out from St. Stormes to previous flag sponsors letting them know they could give them as Christmas gifts and for B. Byers to keep an eye out in the mail and let him know if any come in.
1st VP Report: Lion P. Byers
Sight saving 4 Applications, 3 approved , 0 denied, 0 referred & 1 pending.
President’s Report: Lion J. Greene – no report
LCIF Coordinator: Lion O. Cartmell said he had no report. Lion K. Burnworth said Lion G. Randolph is selling squares for $10 each toward a chance to win a Melvin Jones Fellowship. He’ll be selling the 100 squares through the District Convention if anyone is interested.
Community & Youth: Lion B. Burnworth
Lion B. Burnworth apologized for dropping the ball on the Christmas Parade and said he’d purchased the veteran’s cards out of his own pocket to make up for the $40 we spent on the parade entry that wasn’t used. He said he’s talked to Brittany at the schools and they’re going to have the 6th graders write the Citizenship Essays for the contest. He also said he’s finally ready to call a meeting of the Visibility Committee and is looking to Tuesday/Thursday of next week for that. He also said to make sure you forward any C&Y requests to him and put that in the subject line so he can filter it out as important for review.
Membership (50) Lion J. Greene said that she has no report and we’ll need to put together a Christmas party and if anyone wants to be in charge of that, great, but she’ll do it if no one else does. (I think we all agreed she can just do it again. J)
Publicity: Lion S. Camacho said she continues to post updates to Facebook and did order a special sign for our tree in the park, albeit a slightly larger one than was intended.
Scholarship: Lion B. Ferguson was not present. No report.
Old Business:
Citizenship Essay Contest: Lion B. Burnworth covered under C&Y
New Ideas /Visibility Committee: Lion B. Burnworth covered under C&Y
Shirt Order Update: Lion S. Camacho said she’d be doing a survey to find out what kind of items people wanted and ther will be a special 100th Anniversary Tee option.
Zone Meeting Recap: Lion J. Greene said it was hosted by Scenic Hills and that Lion B. Johnson had a nice activity for us to start with and that the chili was a little rough but the meeting was good.
New Business:
Rose Sale/Tases Compliance Discussion – Lion J. Greene had forwarded emails and the Lions Legal Considerations Ohio Sales Tax documents prior to the meeting and shared that she’d reached out to our District and State tax compliance contacts for Lions as a follow up to our previous conversations about taxes and our rose sale fundraiser. David Risen , the Chairperson for the State Compliance Committee, agreed that our rose sale qualifies as one where we are required to charge and pay taxes for the fundraiser and that we would need to 1) obtain a vendor’s license, 2) collect sales tax, 3) keep proper records, and 4) file returns and submit tax. This is the same information that was presented on a call that IPDG S. Camacho had attended where people from the Attorney General and Secretary of State offices reviewed Lions Club’s tax liabilities for fundraisers that she’d brought up to the club last year. Discussion then ensued. Lion B. Byers said it was the vendor’s responsibility to charge us tax if we didn’t provide an exemption certificate or vendor license but the rebuttal was that, because we are not selling the roses at a wholesale price, we become the vendor and are responsible for charging and collecting the tax from our customers. Lion G. Ingram agreed and said it’s similar to their selling of eyeglass frames—because their vendor isn’t the end of the sale chain, the vendor doesn’t charge Eye Care tax on the item but Eye Care has to charge their customer and report/pay taxes on it. Lion T. Davis said she is not comfortable chairing the rose sale if we aren’t compliant with state law. There was also some discussion as to whether or not we would “eat” the profit loss and not raise the price to the customer or we raise the price we charge to make up for the difference. It was also mentioned that if we were to be reviewed by the state tax commission, they could pull up our rose sale advertisements on Facebook and verify our previous sales and find that we didn’t report/pay taxes. Lion K. Burnworth asked if the current information we collect (how many dozen sold, how much per dozen, and how much collected) was all that was required for the proper record keeping and Lion B. Byers confirmed that it was and that he was also familiar with paying online in the Ohio Business Gateway, it’s just a lot of extra work on the treasurer. Lion S. Camacho said we should consider it a wash for the 2024 sale but become compliant in 2025 and made a motion to address it in January by applying for a vendor’s license and collecting sales tax on next year’s sale with the proper paperwork and reporting. Lion R. Burnworth seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Lion B. Byers said he was reviewing expenses from this time last year and brought up gift cards for the Lafayette. He made a motion to spend $150 in gift cards for the Lafayette staff. Lion Sh. Stormes seconded the motion and the motion passed. Lion B. Byers will handle purchasing the gift cards.
We did Good of the order and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted, Secretary Lion K. Burnworth