October 6, 2012

Minutes of Harvest Moon Folk Society meeting Sat Oct 6 2012 Present: Tamara, Steve, Ben, Marty, Pamela, Sean, Todd, June, Marenda; Pamela proxy for Keith, Sean proxy for Jennifer; Dale observing Meeting started at 3:15pm Old Business: Tamara said we have a lease for the River Falls Lodge now, thanks to Wayne and Keith; lease runs for one year, signed by Scott. Old Minutes: June mentioned one correction to the old minutes – June would like to revise the part about making announcements asking for new board members; rather than say that we should not ask too often, it should say “Board members should especially announce for need for new board members at the Friday Night Advanced Dance.” We also need to make the announcement more positive when we ask for new board members rather than talk about the possibility of having less dances without new board members. Tamara said we should alter the minutes and the approve them next time. Treasurer’s Report: Steve said we have $26,703.96 in one checking account and $800.00 in another account for a total of $27,503.96. We have a roughly $70 credit card bill to pay and maybe some utilities, but otherwise we are paid off – October dance rent is covered, mowing is paid. Steve is going to talk to the accountant about the paperwork still needed for the Society’s nonprofit status for taxes. Tamara said she heard this paperwork is usually handled by accountants for non-profit agencies and wondered why our current accountant was not taking care of this. Tamara has been speaking with June’s daughter, who is a CPA, about handling our accounts, and perhaps she would do this paperwork for us as part of that. Tamara announced Steve is stepping down as treasurer. Since this job is so demanding, board members had agreed to split the job into two parts, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable. For now, Wayne will handle dance reports and handling dance payments and deposits, while Marenda will pay bills. It is assumed Wayne would take over handling Society accounts in Quicken. Tamara said the board needs to vote on the new appointments, and that Wayne needs authority to write checks for the Society. In line with this, Marenda made a motion to grant Wayne check writing authority. Marenda seconded. The motion passed with no opposition. No votes were taken on the new appointments. Governance – Steve had no report. Nominating – Marenda had nothing new to say; no new applications were received. Tamara reminded the board that all of us should encourage folks to consider serving on the board. Folks who are interested but hesitant should be encouraged to shadow a host or volunteer, to see what is involved. Volunteer – June said we have had several volunteers and shadows in the last month. She encouraged board members to have potential volunteers contact June. Tamara said we should include this announcement when hosting. Also, hosts needs to make sure the water is turned off and all power and breakers are turned off, and to always lock the gate, regardless of whether anyone is camping. Facilities Maintenance – Marty asked when we should put up the plastic for the winter. It was decided that we could put it up the morning of MoonDance, but that we should wait and see what the weather is like, and if the weather is still warm, to postpone this work until November. Marty also would like to schedule a work day for November. We need a list of work to do, but one item to work on is rebuilding the frame for the mosquito mesh. Marty, June and Ben will compare calendars and schedule a work day for November. In the meantime, Ben will look at the plumbing leaks, and Steve will set up Marty with a credit card so he can easily purchase supplies for the facility maintenance. Band and Callers – Tamara is looking for bands and callers for January. Bands are booked through the rest of this year, as are callers except for one day in November, which no one wants to call for. Tamara would also like feedback on callers and bands, and whether there are any types of music we are not booking enough of, or too much of. Host Scheduling – Tamara wants to give this job to someone else; Pamela took it over. Tamara said Keith would like board members to email Keith if they can host bands and callers and how many bedrooms they have available. Keith also wants the board to know the next Caller Collective meeting will be in the spring. Sound – Marty said Weogo is looking for a new amp, and is waiting for it to be available. The board had already approved the money for this (roughly $600). PR/Outreach – Tamara has been doing some of this and would like other members to take the work. Todd agreed to update the OFB web page with our dance schedule. Sean agreed to create Facebook events for the Landmark Hall dances, the Sunday River Falls dances, and MonsterMash. At this point the group took a short break. Dale left. City Dance – Marenda said we had a good turnout the past two times, and we were able to pay more than the minimum shares. A discussion followed about possibly having HMFS take a percentage of the money to help cover the rent. Tamara said she would like to see more than two months of good receipts before changing the current payment formula for this dance. Members then discussed having name tags for the City Dance. It was decided to try using name tags with plastic sleeves and clips. Marty said regulars could make their own name tags and use them each week; tags would be laid out at start of the dance, and then left in a box at end of the dance. Name tags could easily be recycled by changing out the paper insert. Tamara said it was important to build a community, and name tags helped dancers feel welcome. No formal motion was made to start the use of name tags, but there was general consensus to try this at the CityDance. It would not be done at River Falls dances. MonsterMash – June will send emails to the committee to schedule a meeting to plan decorations and food. Board members should help at the dance as much as possible. New Business Moon Dance – Marenda said we made $189. There was a discussion of having scaffolding available. Wayne has scaffolding but not the boards and casters. Marty made a motion to authorize $500 for Wayne to purchase supplies to create a complete working set of scaffolding for use at MoonDance. Ben seconded and the motion carried with no opposition. Web Site – Hank quit as webmaster, so Steve has started doing this. Tamara is talking with John Bryson about taking this over. Marty volunteered to do the Moon Dance web site for 2013. Curt is looking into updating the web site to a new Joomla system; Marty and Tamara would like Curt to also look at other ISPs and tools that might make it easier to update the web site. Dance Support – David White requested support for a benefit dance for an autistic group home in North Carolina. June couldn’t find the policy on HMFS donations but said the web site has a policy on special dances. She wanted board members to read the policy. Tamara said David has supported the HMFS in many ways over several years and that we should help him; she suggested making a donation to cover logistical support for the dance (band and/or sound), as opposed to donating to the group home. Ben made a motion that in order to pursue the HMFS mission of promoting contra dance and folks music in the region, the HMFS should provide $200 for logistical support for this dance. June seconded and it passed without opposition. Support for Fire Dept – at MoonDance, a dancer told Tamara the HMFS should assist the volunteer fire dept with repairing their roof. The department has responded to medical emergencies at dances in the past. Members discussed this request but nothing was decided. Old Appraisal – the old appraisal of the River Falls property is of dubious value and does not have any comps. Scott is willing to split the cost of a new appraisal. Sat Night Dance Quality – June said she felt the Saturday night dance was no longer diverse in terms of age, dancer experience, gender, or culture. She made a motion to set up an ad hoc committee to improve the quality of the Saturday night dance. Someone seconded it, and it passed with no opposition. The meeting adjourned at about 5:45 pm. Minutes taken by Todd Pierce.