Minnstf board meeting Sun July 28, 2pm, at Diversicon. Attending board members: Scott Raun, Clay Harris, Aaron Vander Giessen, Eric Forste, Matt Strait (recording). Others attending: Emily Stewart == Approve last meeting's minutes == Approved! == Quartermaster == Emily gives her first quarterly report. She notes that her next report will be in October. She's been quartermaster for a week, so she hasn't re-done the inventory, of course. Emily says that Sharon has unearthed the old Minnstf paper cutter. We also have a new paper cutter (at Matt's apartment). We can't think of where else the older paper cutter should be besides the locker. Emily will see if it is still in good shape and will get it into the locker or a landfill, as appropriate. Emily's next goal is to get rid of the big refrigerator, which we don't need for Minicon anymore. It is also super old. It is in working order, though. Emily will look into what to do with it, with the worst case being Freecycle. People in Minnstf will get right of first refusal prior to that. Emily will verify with the current Minicon concom that we really don't want it. "Maybe we'll want it at another hotel in 5 years" is not a good reason. We could get a less bulky fridge later for that. Emily has Terry's inventory spreadsheet (on Google docs). There is further information on paper in the storage locker, as per Terry. Emily thinks that this is sufficient and she is not looking for any more information from Terry. == TODO == * (2019-06) Matt will communicate with Sharon about the idea of having a second pool party and not more than one GPS-space meeting -- They had some discussion. Matt will continue the discussion. * (2019-06) Matt will communicate with Emily about quartermaster -- Matt sent her an e-mail, got a reply, will follow up in person. -- Emily agreed to be quartermaster. We discussed how we really need someone to do storage locker prep for Minicon. This isn't part of the quartermaster job, but it is quartermaster-adjacent and Emily doesn't want it dropped. It's a position that the Minicon 55 chairs need to fill, but the board is going to exercise its oversight to make sure it really happens. The next TODO list item is already about this. Emily asks that we make sure that at least five plausible candidates are asked before punting is allowed. We brainstorm candidates. * (2019-06) If Emily agrees to be quartermaster, Matt will tell Don and Sharla that, and that that doesn't mean Minicon move-in/move-out, and that probably at least one more person is needed for that job now -- Back on the TODO list. Done: * (2019-06) Aaron will ask Terry about the inventory. (See above.) * (2019-06) Matt will ask Diversicon if it's ok for us to meet there with only two and a half of us being members -- We have permission. * (2019-05) Scott will finish off ASCAP for 2018 and 2019 -- Scott has dropped off the ASCAP check requests with Carol, and then saw the check go into the mail. == Review recurring task list == We reviewed it. Matt will send bills for past due accounts. We note that we will send notices to concoms about how voting member status works once we have decided whether or not we are changing the rules. == Conventions == * Minicon 54 Six items remain before the books can be closed. It's getting there. We probably got within $50 of the profit target. * Minicon 55 We have a link for room reservations. It may or may not be on our website yet. The hotel's liaison just left, so Aaron needs to build a new relationship now. Clay and Matt would like a progress report to go out in the early fall which has the basic stats on the con, and, you know, affirms that it is happening. Clay will have the reg database in shape to do this by the end of September. Aaron will talk with the chairs to suggest that they think about this and probably have a concom meeting scheduled. * Decongestant 4 It's two months out. Joint Minnstf fallcon/Arcana programming planning is in progress. Matt has found there's some confusion about what it means that we are partnering with Arcana. He'll work on clarifying that with the relevant parties. We have a Friday group dinner set up, and are thinking about Saturday group dinner. We have consuite heads confirmed. * Minneapolis in 2073 No report. == Big/public space meetings == DD-B has scheduled a big meeting in the presidential suite at the RadishTree for the third Saturday in September. This satisfies our desire to have another nice meeting in a public space that we were discussing last month, so Matt suggests pitching in the same approximate amount of money as the pool party costs: $300-$400. Complex discussion ensues. We table this pending the next item. == Proposal for bylaw amendment == The proposal on the table is to reduce the requirement of seven total meetings down to five, and the limit on the number of concom meetings from four to three. Clay has gotten more skeptical about this reduction. He asks what the purpose of the requirements we have set out are, and what will change if we relax them. Matt digs up the list of how many meetings everyone went to in 2016-2017, which was reasonably handy. All of the people who had 5 or 6 meetings were easily recognizable as active Minnstf members. People with only 1 or 2 meetings, not so much. Clay would like to know more about why the requirement was originally set to seven so he knows whether we are breaking a grand plan that makes that the right number. Others point out that that number was set in the 70's and the club is very different now. (Matt suspects strongly that seven was chosen because it's a magical prime number and not because it is the perfect optimum point.) We have fewer meetings now, our membership is older, and there are many more competing fannish activities in town. [After the meeting, Scott learned from Don Bailey, who helped write the first set of by-laws, that there was no specific logic behind picking seven meetings -- they just picked it because it felt right.] Clay buys it. We unanimously agree to make this change. Matt will produce a new set of bylaws for us to sign and start putting out at meetings so they can become official. He'll sign and mail it to Scott. == Big/public space meetings, part 2 == Aaron suggests giving DD-B the $200 stipend that we give for food for the pool party and picnic. Aaron likes the idea of Nice Public Space Party (NPSP) for advertising purposes. Some discussion ensues about what exactly constitutes an NPSP. We think that it needs to be a meeting that a newcomer can come in without any physical or social barriers, look around, and leave again without talking to anyone, without it being awkward. Matt will add this to his discussions with Sharon. We'll be leaving it up to the discretion of the president to figure out what counts as an NPSP. Approved. Scott will tell Carol and Irene. == Heartland == We got a request for money from Second Harvest Heartland. We think we gave money to them as a memorial in the past, but we don't make regular donations to them. In fact, it's probably a little shady if we donated to other non-profits without a specific purpose like that. == Next meeting == Sunday September 8, 1pm, Aaron's place. Matt will call in, probably. Aaron has a good teleconferencing rig. Matt will see if he can use Discord. Otherwise, we'll use an ordinary phone call. == New TODO list == * (2019-06) Matt will continue the conversation with Sharon about the idea of having a second pool party or similar. * (2019-06) Matt will make sure that Don and Sharla know about the need to get someone to do storage locker prep for Minicon, and possible suggest candidates to them. * (2019-07) Matt will send bills for past due accounts. * (2019-07) Aaron will send notices to concoms about how voting member status works once we have decided whether or not we are changing the rules. * (2019-07) Aaron will talk with the M55 chairs to suggest that they think about getting an early PR1 out and probably have a concom meeting scheduled. * (2019-07) Matt will make sure that the Decongestant concom knows what's going on with Arcana. * (2019-07) Matt will produce a new set of bylaws for us to sign and start putting out at meetings so they can become official. He'll sign and mail it to Scott. * (2019-07) Scott will tell Carol that we've authorized $200 for DD-B's Nice Public Space Party.