MN-Stf Board Meeting - June 18, 2003 People Present: Kevin Austin, Scott Raun, Dean Gahlon, Larry Sanderson, Laura Jean Fish, Joe Agee, David Schroth, Polly Peterson Regarding last month's minutes and the Tiptree Award, the board would need more information about what is involved in making a Tiptree bid before they would consider trying to host the Tiptree Award ceremony. Old Business Relaxacon - Kevin has nothing to report. Rates for copy printer - Dean sent an email to Jeff to ask him what the cost for supplies for the copy printer and when he gets the information, Dean will plug them into the approximate formula so that the board can see if they need to change the rates. David requested that a copy get sent to Minicon publications when it is decided and let Joyce and other interested parties know. It will be posted on the web and on the printer documentation. This also serves to let fans know that it is available. Feedback on Einblatt - A couple of fans have noticed. Scott is looking into an Einblatt announce feasibility where an automated message could be sent when a change is made in the Einblatt file. He will report when he knows something. Taxes - Larry has not been able to do them since he has not yet gotten the books from Minicon. We may have to ask for an extension. They are due May 15, but we have an extension for three months. Often the accountant is not as available in the summer. VPDP - Kevin took the job but is not clear what is desired of the position. He understands that the job is to maintain the OTML, which does not exist as one list right now. The Minicon database, the Einblatt list and the Directory are currently separate. There are also the Minicon Dealer's room list (may be in the Minicon database) and the Minicon Art show list. We want the lists merged and the problem in the past was importing the Minicon data into the OTML. It would be nice to have it be the active Minicon registration database. If it were accessible over the web, it could be farmed out to registration volunteers. There are a variety of reports needed by Minicon departments and Einblatt, Rune and Directory subsets. The database will have to live somewhere. Scott says that DDB tested the MN-stf.org server using perl script as the front end of the database which Scott infers means that he would be willing to host the database, although the conversation took place four or five years ago. Guests and Board Meeting etiquette - All MN-stf members should be encouraged to come and listen, but the board needs to get through the agenda and then allow them to comment at the end. The board will put guests at the front of the agenda and make sure to communicate when that agenda item is done. Garage Sale - tables are there (Polly's) and Irene is at this very moment putting stuff together to bring over to Laura Jean's. Laura Jean has been emailing people who seem to be morning people to help with setup. Revival of the MN-stf Events list was suggested in reaction to the current amount of activity on Natter and the number of people who have unsubscribed because of it. Twelve people have unsubscribed in the last four months since the last "who we are" list was published. The problem with Events was that it was an announce-only list, but people kept having discussion on it and there was a lot of cross posting to Natter so that all but the five people who were not on both lists got postings twice. The idea would be to have all events go through David as the moderator. Scott suggested and the board decided to table to issue for a month to see what happens in the intervening time. Dean suggested that if they decided that they needed to set it up sooner than that, it would not be that hard to do. Guns MN-Stf meetings Larry asked Jonathan to the meeting to help discuss this issue. Larry has also been talking to Kay and our insurance agent. There was a concern about Doug Wickstrom's comment about loaded unsecured guns at people's house. Parents who have reacted to this do not find this to be covered under the definition of "not childproofed." Laura Jean proposes that people who host who have guns in their homes certify to the president of MN-stf that they have secured any guns and that any guns carried in by other people would have to be secured on the individual at all times (not in bags or purses.) It was Jonathan's opinion that MN-stf would not successfully be sued if we had such a rule in place. The final arbiter is likely to be the insurance company. It is not a statement about whether or not people have guns in their house or whether or not guests have guns. Laura Jean will work on the wording and will send it out to the board for discussion and final approval. Dean thinks that it would be a good idea to have a discussion of what we all mean by "not childproofed." The board is not planning on using the term as a code for guns. There are a lot of other hazards for children. Laura Jean will write up a definition of "childproofed." Most hosts don't have their homes childproofed and even parents with kids only proof them against Meeting hosts have the right make the determination of whether or not to allow guns in their homes and may post "no guns" if they choose to. The reality is that the short hand for a request for visitors not to bring guns into people's homes will be posted in Einblatt as "No guns." Minicon We will be at the Millennium Hotel for this Minicon. The hotel is posted "no guns" and so will not allow guns at Minicon. The Minicon weapons policy has been "no actual guns" for a long time. The statute does not deal with meetings but buildings. The costs would be incurred by the hotel, not the meeting. The landlord tenant laws in general don't apply to hotels. People at the meeting have been told that other local conventions (specifically Convergence and Diversicon) are not planning on changing their weapons policies to allow guns. Dean asked about what about someone who comes with a specific situation that might constitute an exception. The hotel rules would preclude their having a gun in the hotel and the board feels that it is difficult to "prove" that such an individual's safety outweighs the safety of everyone else. In Jonathan's opinion, if MN-stf gets sued for something, having a policy that is not enforced is worse than having no policy at all. There was concern about people who have in the past and could in the future bring guns to Minicon and not be asked to follow the stated policy. (Polly's computer died at this point.)