The California Progress Inc. Board of Directors met for its regular monthly meeting Dec. 14, electing the latest slate of officers for the group and discussing a potential promotion to benefit the Latham Memorial Family Park project.
The board voted to approve the new slate of officers as of Jan. 1, 2021, which are as follows: Pam Green, president; Jeff Korte, vice president; Jeannie Marsh, treasurer; and Kate Rollins, secretary. The new members of the group will officially begin their work next month. In the meantime, all of CPI's officers are being added to the organization's bank accounts.
The potential park promotion is a beard contest; participants could submit photos once per week, within a possible time frame for the contest of six to eight weeks, in a number of categories. Then, members of the community could vote for their favorite entries for $1 per vote, with all of the money from votes going toward funding the park project.
The group plans to discuss the idea more at its next regular meeting in January, but the hope would be to start the contest in January or February. Board members agreed it would be a good idea to open the contest to anyone who wishes to participate, not just members of the immediate community, for a $10 or $20 entry fee that could go toward the contest's grand prize.
To keep things impartial as far as judging goes, the group discussed asking staff at Chrome Cutz in Sedalia to serve as judges for the event, another factor that will be fleshed out more between the December and January board meetings.
In other business, CPI's ongoing website redesign work continues from last meeting, with hopes to see revision drafts within the next couple of weeks. CPI Executive Director Resa Dudley asked the board if CPI should purchase the californiaprogressinc.com web address that is currently available since CPI only has the .org address right now. The cost per month, as with the current web address, would be $144 for each; the board voted to table that discussion until the January meeting.
CPI is currently in the process of auctioning items; some have been displayed in the Moniteau County Library's front windows and were set to be sold to their final bidders as of yesterday. More items are set to go up for bid in the coming week.
The board also addressed its ongoing discussions about the plantings at Smith-Burke Park. In the past month, CPI has committed $500 to the city to help with new plantings at that space, which Dudley said the city wants CPI to honor in the spring.
Finally, work in and around Latham Family Memorial Park continues. The project committee will meet again Jan. 19, while work on the nearby mural commemorating the history of Latham Sanitarium will pause until spring as the weather gets too cold.
CPI's next regular board meeting is set at 6 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Moniteau County Library.