The Ardnamurchan Club Annual Meeting

March 7, 2004

Harold Starr, president, called the 2004 annual meeting of the Ardnamurchan Club to order at 10 AM at the Forsgate Country Club in Jamesburg, New Jersey on Sunday, March 7, 2004 pursuant to a notice mailed to all adult members and associate members.

The following members were present in person: Vidal Clay, Jim Cox, Michael Cox, Ted Cox Jr., Sandra Cox, Ted III and Carole Cox, Ruth Crocker, Marjorie DeVries, Darrel Jodrey, Christine Knox, Davis Platt, William R. Platt, Ben and Huntley Platt, Shannon and Carolyn Smith, Harold and Emmy Starr, Edith Starr, Molly Ware and Anne and Howard Wood.

Represented at the meeting by proxy were: Allyson Cox, Sascha Deniau, Jill DeVries, Mark Feighn, Alan Frank, Carol Lustenader, Nancy Nicholas, Martha Potter, Andy and Virginia Smith, Page Starr, Kathleen Starr, Judy Walker, Molly Ware, Wis Wood III, and Urko and Lori Wood.

Based on the foregoing, Harold declared that a quorum was present at the meeting.

Harold introduced and welcomed Huntley Eikenburg Platt, wife of Ben Platt, Carolyn Bran Smith, wife of Shannon Smith, and Carole Ingram Cox, wife of Ted Cox III to their first Club meeting, having become members by marriage since the 2003 meeting.

Approval of the Minutes The minutes of the 2003 Annual Meeting were approved in the form circulated with one correction. On page 5 of the minutes it was reported that Martu Potter had proposed that the 2004 meeting be held at 10 AM followed by lunch. The member who made this suggestion was Molly Ware.

Changes in Membership. Harold circulated a list of changes in membership that had been reported to him since the last Annual Meeting, a corrected and updated copy of which is attached to these minutes.

The members observed a minute of silence for the following members who had died since the 2003 meeting:

Hans Peter Koenig, husband of Gabriella Molden Koenig, who died on April 2, 2003

Marion Este Hand, who died on April 28, 2003.

Harold noted that the following members would be attaining significant birthdays prior to the 2005 meeting:

Members Attaining Age 85 Birthday

Michael Clark June 27, 2004

Evelyn York September 5, 2004

Martha Potter February 3, 2005

Members Attaining Age 80

William Platt March 8, 2004

Anne Wood April 9, 2004

Report of the President. Harold reported very high occupancy during the 2003 season with a Clay party in early July, a Getman house party in August and the Shannon Smith-Carolyn Bran wedding in September. But occupancy was sporadic, ranging from as low as two and as high as 43. This put a lot of strain on the staffãand on the members and guests, but the kitchen and pantry equipment held up well.

Harold reported the following improvements and repairs at the Club in 2003:

∑ Bruce installed new foam flotation for the raft which greatly improved its stability.

∑ The mosquito magnet unit purchased in 2002 and which was such a success broke down in the middle of the 2003 season. The manufacturer replaced the unit for free after the season was over.

∑ Bruce has a new riding mower which has a vacuum attachment that sucks up the cut grass. This has greatly reduced the volume of grass cuttings tracked into the house.

∑ New curtains were installed on the bedroom doors to the corridors and the French doors to the second floor porch.

∑ The railing on the second floor porch has rotted. A new railing is being worked on and will be in place by the beginning of the 2004 season.

A bad storm the first week of August resulted in severe leaks in Rooms 11, 12 and 13. This means that we cannot postpone re-shingling the ocean side of the roof any longer. This work, which will include replacing leaking windows and frames on the ocean side on the third floor, will be done this spring.

Harold also reported news as reported from Bruce in a recent telephone conversation:

Southeastern Nova Scotia had a cold winter ≠so cold that Pubnico Bay and several of the smaller bays froze over. At the very end of the season a norπeaster dumped 30≤ of snow. Bruce was snowed in at East Point for three days.

A wind turbine farm is under construction at St Anneπs Point at the end of the Pubnico peninsula. The farm will eventually have 17 turbines.

Harold suggested that many of the chairs on the porch need to be replaced since the rush seats have worn out and there seems to be no one in the community who is willing to repair the seats. But Darrel Jodrey reported that she thinks that there is someone who can do this work. Darrel will pursue this.

Harold noted that last year he distributed the post-meeting materials including the minutes and attachments and the address list as attachments e-mail messages sent to the 78 of the 118 addressees who have e-mail software capable of opening attachments. This greatly reduced the time and cost of the distribution. It was suggested that the materials be put on the web site. The attachments take a long time to download using a standard phone line connection. This year the materials will be posted to the Clubπs web site which will make it easier for members to access them. Those with no e-mail addresses will be sent the materials by regular mail.

Report of the Vice President Darrel Jodrey reported that Anne Boudreau would return to cook this summer. In addition, she will be serving as the manager of the house. Indoor labor costs were much higher last year than the year before in part due to a large increase in person-days. It is difficult to adjust the size of staff to match up to large swings in occupancy. In the future, the staff should perform additional cleaning projects when the Club is not at capacity. A lack of staff training last summer was also noted. For 2004 the Club will hire one or two women with motel housekeeping experience to do the cleaning and bed making with younger people being hired for cleaning when needed and for serving duty.

Edith Starr handles reservations until the season begins. Once the Club has opened the family member in charge handles the reservations. When staying at the Club, it is important for changes in meals and reservations to be made in advance.

There are information sheets at the Club for members and guests to read when they arrive. The 2004 billing sheet will have a comments and a suggestion section. The family member in charge has a folder that comments should be written in. These are helpful to the next family member in charge and to the officers.

Club Centennial. Darrel noted that the centennial of the Club is approaching. The Club was first occupied in 1909 and organized as a corporation in 1910. What year should we select? Darrel suggested that the Club set up a centennial committee in 2005. Howard Wood indicated that he is interested in writing a Club history. He noted that Mary Cammann has already produced written material on some of the Penates.

Future Officers. In addition to thinking about a successor to Andy Smith as Treasurer, Harold noted that the Club needs to think about future officers of the Club. Harold has been the president since 1985. Emmy Starr suggested the Club have an additional vice-president for matters pertaining to the outside of the Club. Darryl is responsible for matters pertaining to the inside. Howard Wood should be contacted with nominations for this new office.

Reservations Report. Edith Starr spoke about the reservations for the summer 2003. Edith felt the limit for people at the Club at one time should be 34. Last summer, due to last minute changes in plans, Edith allowed a couple of last minute reservations which increased the occupancy to over 40. At one point some people had to stay at a local bed and breakfast. Anne Wood brought to the Clubπs attention a house for rent by Vassar alum as an additional suggestion for handling overflow. If the Club allows alternate sleeping arrangements, perhaps the Club needs a ≥use fee≤.

The 2004 reservations will be posted on the Clubπs web site and kept current at least through the end of June.

Bill Platt noted that the number of person-days are not growing at the same rate as the growth in members. He suggested that a communication to members who have not come up to the Club recently inviting them to consider coming up to the Club might produce results. Ben and Bill Platt offered to send an e-mail questionnaire.

Report of the Treasurer Harold discussed the following items of Andy Smithπs treasurerπs report for 2003:

∑ The number of person-days in 2003 was the highest since 2000ãbut still there were some weeks when occupancy was very light.

∑ The endowment income was down 10.9% compared to 2002 because the exchange rate was down 10.8%

∑ Food expenses were up 47% compared to 2002, in line with the 47% increase in person-days.

∑ Indoor wages were up 68.7% -- an increase greater than the increase in person-days. This shows that we need to work on appropriate staffing.

∑ The Club had an $11,543 (Can) surplus for 2003 but its cash at year-end was down $6119 (Can). As a result we had to make a -$17,661 (Can) adjustment. How can this be? The answer is that the financial statements assume a fixed exchange rate equal to what it was in the middle of the year. Most of the Clubπs US dollars were exchanged for Canadian dollars after the middle of the year when the exchange rate was much lower. We received about 16,000 fewer Canadian dollars for our US dollars than we would have received if the exchange rate had not dropped. These Canadian dollars we did not receive would have been almost enough to pay for the re-shingling of the roof and the new windows. Thanks to Annual Giving contributions in early 2004 we may have enough Canadian dollars to pay for the re-shingling and windows without having to dip into the endowment. This assumes that the down payments received on Club reservations for this season will be sufficient to pay the Clubπs pre-opening costs, which include insurance, Bruceπs salary starting May 1 and Anneπs salary.

Report of the Trustees Harold discussed the following items of relating to the endowment:

∑ Basil Cox gave one share of Cox and Co. common stock to the endowment in the 1980πs. In 2003 Cox and Co.πs Employee Stock Ownership Plan purchased our one share of stock for $9500. Many thanks to Basil!

∑ Three bond holdings having a face value of $110,000 matured or were called in 2003. As a result we had to reinvest this sum. Because of the drop in interest rates it was impossible to purchase bonds of the same quality having the same return. So the endowment turned to quality equity investments designed to provide returns higher than those currently obtainable from bonds, $25,000 was reinvested in a preferred stock issue yielding slightly more than the money market rate. In March of 2004 $74,245 was invested in a closed end global dividend income fund. leaving $10,000 to be reinvested.

∑ The equity portion of the endowment increased 28% to $370,272 US, in line with the recovery of the stock market. Good as this is, the total return of two of the mutual funds held by the endowment was less than the median return of the mutual funds in their categories.

∑ Overall, the value of the endowment increased by 10.5% in 2003 to $772,238 US.

Family Contribution Report Emmy Starr circulated a report of family contributions made since the date of the 2003 annual meeting, an updated version of which is attached to these minutes. She thanked all donors for their generosity.

Rates for Families of Associate Members Molly Ware made a motion in favor of possibility #1 in Haroldπs memorandum attached to the Agenda for the 2004 meeting, namely that members of the family of an associate member who are not themselves associate members be charged the guest rate. Bill and Ben Platt felt that #3 was the best solution, namely that the spouse and children 18 and under of an associate member be charged the family rate and everyone else in the family be charged the guest rate unless they themselves are associate members. Mollyπs motion was seconded and put to a vote and voted down. A motion was then made to adopt possibility #3. This motion passed.

Club Rates for 2003 The members approved Haroldπs proposal set forth in the notice of the meeting that the Club rates be raised 10%. This is less than the 10.8% decline in the exchange rate in 2003. The rates for the 2004 season will be:

Members & Associate Members Age Rate/day ($ US )

their spouses and children 55+ 77

18 and under 40-54 59

14-39 50

6-13 33

1-5 19

<1 8

Guests: as above, plus 15%

Report of Nominating Committee/Election of Officers and Trustees Howard Wood as the sole member of the Nominating Committee nominated the following persons as officers and trustees of the Club for the coming year:

President Harold P. Starr

Vice President Darrel Cox Jodrey

Treasurer Andy Smith

Secretary Christine Knox

Membership Trustee Wistar Wood III

Certificate Holders Trustee Jim Cox [for a two-year

term expiring in 2006]

Howard noted that Tim Huston, the second Certificate Holders Trustee, is not up for reelection, as his term does not expire until 2005.

Harold asked if there were any additional nominations. There being none, he directed the secretary to cast a unanimous ballot a) on behalf of the members, to elect the persons so nominated (other than Jim Cox) to the positions for which they were nominated; and b) on behalf of the certificate holders, to elect Jim Cox as a certificate holders trustee. He then declared the nominees to be duly elected.

New Business

∑ Vidal Starr and Molly Ware recommended a book, The Big House by George Howe Colt, which deals with the joys and travails of a family with a large summer house similar to Clubπs house.

∑ Jim Cox showed the members a copy of Lord of the Marshes, a book about the Cox family in the 1780πs in Granada which he is contributing to the Club library.

∑ Shannon Smith and Bill Platt recommended that the two sailboats be repaired. Bill Platt will submit a proposal to the president concerning their repair.

∑ Jim Cox reported that there was no change in the status of the litigation to clear title to the Clubπs and the Cox Estateπs islands from claims of the Crown. The Club and the Estate are claiming that they have title by adverse possession. It was suggested that members continue to log all trips and activities concerning the islands in the log book at the Club as this will help establish title by adverse possession.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:20 PM.

Christine Knox

Secretary