Minnstf board meeting, Saturday July 21, at the picnic at noon, Minnehaha Park. == Approve previous minutes == Approved! == TODO list == * (2017-12) Aaron will shepherd along the latest Vanguard form. -- E-mail requesting notary meeting has gone out. Still trying to get seven signatures all notarized: everyone who's authorized for our bank and Vanguard. They don't have to be notarized all at the same time, but it's more expensive the more times we have to secure a notary. Aaron is going to, in parallel, move the money into Vanguard. Until all these signatures are done, money can only only be withdrawn online by Aaron. Carol and Irene will be able to withdraw money by phone. (There's no place to walk into.) * (2017-05) Scott will sort out our PO Box online account. Not done, but also not causing a problem. We currently get an e-mail and then we pay by check. Matt proposes that Scott can work on this if he wants, but that it is dropped from the TODO list. Approved. * (2018-04) Scott will call ASCAP about the bogus 2013 bill. Still on Scott's plate. * (2018-04) Scott will ask Carol for a report of our finances to help guide us on the Minicon 54 profit target. (Minicon 53 profit target is/was $2100.) Provided. We have recurring expenses that add up to just about $3000/year: * Meeting stipends: $75/regular meeting + $200 pool party (+$196.76 room rental) + $100 picnic (+ $161.66 rental) + $93 each time we have a meeting in the GPS space * PO box: $236/year * GPS: $200/year * Domain registration: $34.40/year * ASCAP: $130.21/year Total: $2991 with two meetings every month, four being at GPS (the maximum the board set a few meetings ago). Also we let the fallcon lose $200. We also know that we typically make about $200 of purchases when people ask the board to buy things. We also are thinking of contributing to DD-B's photo project. Let's budget $500 for that, or some collection of similar things. So that adds up to $3900. We are using this both to set the Minicon profit target and to decide how much of our money we should move to Vanguard. Profit target for Minicon 53 was $2100, and it appears that it was achieved. Discussion ensues about whether to assume we will be earning interest from Vanguard. On 2017-03-18, we agreed we'd assume 6%. If we put $30000 in, that's $1800. Scott proposes we set the Minicon 54 at $2900, as though we are not making any interest, and then we can possibly lower the target in January if we have actually put money in Vanguard and it actually makes money. Matt doesn't like this approach, but everyone else does. Approved. ==> The Minicon 54 profit target is $2900 <== Matt proposes that we put an even $30k into Vanguard. All agree. * (2018-05) Scott will send a note back about the request for a ban saying the board is considering the issue. Done. Received an acknowledgment. * (2018-05) Scott will consult with Carol about implementation of managing money for DD-B's photo project. Carol says that her inclination is that if it is only a few transactions per month, it does not need a separate account. We'd like Carol and DD-B to talk to each other about it. DONE: * (2018-05) Scott will tell Ann of our new rule on virtual meetings. * (2018-04) Matt will see if Terry can come talk about quartermastering/inventory/storage locker/renting out stuff at an upcoming board meeting. == Quartermaster == Terry reports, "We have stuff." Since Minicon, Terry and Patricia inventoried everything in the storage locker (except for the kids programming bins, which Bonnie had already inventoried). There's a master list, it just needs to be put into a spreadsheet. The locker is quite full. We still have the fridge. We don't use it in the current Minicon hotel, but we might if we switch hotels again. We (again) discuss the possibility of loaning out equipment to other fannish groups, like our popcorn machine, projectors, etc. Terry's going to think about this and get back to us. We tentatively will try to have Terry at our October meeting. [At this point, we recess so that Scott can drive Irene home and so that everyone can go to the bathroom.] [Reconvened at 2:15pm] == Review recurring task list == We review. Scott will start soliciting people to run Minicon 55 and fallcon in 2019 (and any other cons that people might want to run). == Quartermaster again == Terry asks if we are planning to buy more AV equipment for Minicon that will need to be stored in the locker. (We are using more of our own equipment for the new hotel because they allow that and it saves money.) Emily and Terry discuss buying AV equipment and asking the board to pay for it as a capital expenditure. The board asks them to come back to the board with a concrete proposal if they want to. == State of the Mnstf presidency == We discuss whether we are having enough meetings (parties). Also there is confusion about who is supposed to run the business meetings. We talk to DD-B about his running of business meetings. This was our scheme because Ann agreed to schedule, but can't make a lot of the meetings. DD-B is happy to run the meetings, it just hasn't worked out yet. He'll run today's meeting. Anna will check in with Ann about the presidency. We also discuss whether it is really more difficult to find hosts now than it used to be. == Beyond Conventions (maybe with DD-B) == They owe us $952 out of an original $1265, which is $2 shy of being up-to-date on $25 monthly payments through May 1. The board has a brief discussion. == Do we ban people who probably aren't coming? == No, we decide that if we have no reason to think that someone is going to come to Minicon (or our other events), we will not consider banning them. We don't want to get in the business of curating a lengthy blacklist. We will certainly continue to be receptive to specific concerns that people may have about problematic people who may actually attend. Scott will send this decision on to the requester. == Shall we make Midwestside Story Creative Commons? == Denny Lien suggested to us that we get Midwestside Story posted at fanac.org. The board approves releasing it under a Creative Commons license so that that's easy and it can be readily copied around further, too. == Conventions == * Decongestant 3 It's happening. All the department heads are filled. There's currently no Saturday night organized dinner, but that's ok. No one is designated as teen room head, and Matt thinks that probably the teens can just organize themselves. * Minicon 53 Only a few small items left on the finances. Hotel has been paid. It appears that it has gotten in slightly above the profit target. * Minicon 54 Set the profit target (see above). There's GoH, there's a hotel. There's no programming head yet. It's proceeding apace. * Minicon 55 Emily notes that she is not interested in running M55. * Minneapolis in 2073 Nothing has happened. == Next meeting == Aug 26, 2pm, Aaron's. == New TODO list == * (2017-12) Aaron will shepherd along the latest Vanguard form. * (2018-07) Scott will get Carol and DD-B to talk to each another about financial arrangements for DD-B's photo project. * (2018-04) Scott will call ASCAP about the bogus 2013 bill. * (2018-07) Scott will e-mail the person who requested the ban with our decision. * (2018-07) Matt will communicate that Midwestside Story is now Creative Commons. * (2018-07) Anna will check in with Ann about the presidency.