1-8-98

Dear Dorothy,

It was gracious of you to tell me not to "sweat the small stuff" when I called to apologize yesterday but I want to restate my apology. I promised Eileen that I would vote for you for Treasurer and I voted for George Balach instead. I reneged on my promise and I’m sorry. As I’ve explained I was distracted. I realized what I’d done while Pat Flattery was counting the votes and had the most awful sinking feeling. You probably didn’t see me cringe because I am reasonably poised, but through the rest of the meeting it was hard for me to focus on the agenda because I was agonizing about how to explain my betrayal to all of you.

I’ve already told George I voted for him by mistake. Since George already thinks I’m a doofus this can’t help but reinforce his opinion. I explained it to him humorously, as a joke on myself, but I wanted to let him know that my intention is to make the new Board members part of the decision making process. He understands that. George in particular and some of the other old Board members are as nervous about the new Board members as some of you are about them. I’m an optimist and I think we are going to have a tremendous year ahead of us. It will certainly help if I can do a better job of keeping my wits about me than I did on my inaugural meeting as Board Chair!

I will be appointing you to the Human Resources Committee as you have requested. Coincidentally, George is the only other board member to request that committee assignment. In practice, most of the members who sit on the Business Committee also sit through the HR Committee agenda as both meetings convene back to back. We have also had the practice of treating any Board member in attendance as an equal during the committee meetings no matter which Committee they are formally assigned.

I will look forward to serving with you on the School Board for the next two years, and who knows, maybe even longer.

Sincerely,

Harry Welty