Dec 19, 2015, at Scott Raun's, 2pm. Attending board members: Matt Strait (by phone), Scott Raun, Ann Totusek, Kevin Austin, Lydy Nickerson. Attending officers: quartermaster Joel Phillips == Approve previous minutes == Approved. == Review TODO list == "Ann will firmly (formerly 'gently') prod Corwin about paying Minicon 50." Gentle prod done. Firm prod also done. Ann estimates that a firmer prod yet will probably be needed. Defer conversation to conventions agenda item. "Ann will work on updating the M50 policies and departments document for M51." Ann has been working on it. She likes most of it just as it is. She'd like to talk to Matt about it. Matt says that she should call him. Keep on TODO list. "Lydy or Ann will *send* their e-mail to the University of Iowa about tapes." Real Soon Now. OK, as it turns out, they don't have the draft of the e-mail written yet. So they need to draft it. Back to TODO. "Lydy will put together an informational packet for new board members." She sent out a draft, got useful feedback. She is working on integrating it. It would be very nice to have the wiki back (it is broken). Progress is being made. "Matt will ask Kelly if Minnstf can buy Kelly's pop machine." Inquiry sent, and re-sent, and Kelly has responded that he'll think about it. Do we want to press him for a definite answer? Joel thinks he might want to keep it. We decide to not do anything now, but let's bring it up at the next board meeting by which point he might have made a decision. Onto the next AGENDA. "Scott requests that someone follow up with Beth (formerly Carol) about taxes." Lydy volunteers. Onto the TODO list for Lydy. But Beth is on a cruise right now, so no response will be immediate. We are under the impression that she filed the 2014 taxes before she let the board, but we want to check with her what she did. "Scott will make sure that the 2014 taxes get filed after someone follows up with Beth." Back to TODO list! "Scott will follow up with DD-B about Spideroak." Scott hasn't talked with DD-B about it since October. DD-B is finishing up his grading on the course he is teaching right now and will have some time soon. "Scott will resend the meeting e-mail to board-chat" DONE. "Lydy will add the one necessary line and send to Dean." Ok, we all now confirm that we are OK with the wording. Lydy will do it. Back on the TODO list! "Scott will see if Carol will move our Ameriprise money as we planned." Charles at Ameriprise says he never got our paperwork. It was sent first class mail, which is very reliable... He has sent us new blank paperwork along with the checks. Irene arranged to get $2000 in two checks. This can happen because Irene is a current signer. We are going to try to avoid tracking down all the signatures again if he will accept a copy. Otherwise, we'll track down all the signatures again. Scott is going to hand deliver the copies to Charles, and we'll see if that works. TODO for Scott to do this. The new blank paperwork is going to the PO box. Scott is going to tell Hershey to look for them: TODO. Totally done: Scott will put a notice in the Einblatt saying that people should register the things they have that are Minnstf's with Joel. Scott will tell Terry that she can give Time Frames away. Scott will ask Carol whether the ASCAP check has cleared. (It has.) Scott will get DD-B to set up quartermaster@mnstf.org, for Joel. == Review Recurring Task List == The wiki is broken, which makes this difficult. The Wayback Machine's most recent copy is from 2008, so that doesn't help. See next item. == Web stuff == Things that need doing: * The wiki really needs to be fixed -- Highest priority * Spideroak for secure document storage -- not nearly as important in the near term. * [Not for DD-B] Kevin notes that the Minicon 51 webpage seriously needs updating. Ann says that there was just a call for information and the results will be used to update it. Kevin talked to DD-B about fixing the wiki at the Halloween meeting. He has been really busy and was hoping to get to it, but it is still broken. Scott will talk to him and see what can be done: TODO. == Quartermaster == Joel is currently injured and will need help with the inventory. He can't lift things with his right arm. He intends to get an inventory together after the holidays. He'll need a larger than usual group. Joel has talked to Jim Porter (Minicon logistics). He likes the idea of having the departments with more stuff in the storage locker participate heavily in inventory so that we can do a more complete inventory. It shouldn't be necessary for Joel to do any physical labor. We just need about eight people to help. Joel is hoping for the 2nd or 4th weekend of January. Ann notes that the 4th weekend would conflict with Clay's birthday party. Well, maybe the 3rd weekend, Joel says. Joel will advertise on the Minicon concom list. Status of finding out what things people have: Matt sent Joel a report. He didn't get any other reports. Let's also announce at Mnstf meetings and on natter that we would like people to report stuff they have. Matt will ask Dean to do this and put something on natter [TODO]. Joel says that Jim Porter is now officially a signer for the storage locker. == Conventions == * Minicon 50 Corwin Brust still owes us $1265.00 for the Cats Laughing concert. One of his kids just had surgery and is still in the hospital. Corwin also just lost his job and has a new baby. Who actually has the money? It should have all gone through the Kickstarter, right? There is a corporate structure called Beyond Conventions that this should have gone through. Should Ann and Joel ask DD-B if he knows who holds the money, since we might not need to involve Corwin and therefore be easier? Matt suggests a decision tree: If someone other than Corwin has the money, we start over by issuing an invoice to that person and hoping they just pay, and go from there. If Corwin actually has the money, give him a month to get past his current crises, and then determine if he is having difficulty in paying. If so, offer him a payment plan, negotiated socially. If all of this fails, as a last resort, we consider moving to litigation. Most board members, and Joel, are very leery to move to litigation, even as a last resort. Matt says, fine, but he does not want us to just quietly write this off in any case. If we never get the money, there has to be a black mark assessed, including, but probably not limited to, banning from future Minnstf conventions until the debt is paid. Does the board authorize Joel to negotiate a payment plan? We discuss whether this is still a M50 issue or whether it has become a board issue. We think it is now a board issue, since the board has already started working on it. Also we are now past the deadline for M50 to close its books. We think, regardless of formalities, it is socially messy for Joel to now re-assert himself as M50 chair on the issue, as well. So what's the plan? Joel will not be involved. Ann will e-mail DD-B and Corwin to review the situation, express sympathy and ask who is holding the money, i.e. Is there a bookkeeper, or other representative of Beyond Conventions? If not, we negotiate a payment plan if Corwin needs that. The board authorizes Ann to do this negotiation. Ann will wait until the week after New Year's and/or until all family members are out of the hospital before doing anything. * Minicons 51 and 52 We don't seem to have set a profit target for M51. We should do that. Recent Minicon target have been: M48: $3200 (Actually made $2216) M49: $4100 (Actually made $1053) M50: -$1700 (If Corwin pays us, we will have actually made $6560) The M48 target was set to cover a normal year. The M49 target was bumped up $1000 to cover expenses pertaining to regaining our 501(c)3 status. The M50 target was a special loss target for the anniversary. So the M48 target is a good guide if our finances haven't changed much. Have Minnstf expenses changed significantly over the last few years? We believe not. ASCAP has moved from Minicon to Mnstf, but the most recent bill from them was only $123. We don't think anything else has changed significantly. Matt proposes setting a target for M51 of $3300. All approve! ==> The profit target of Minicon 51 is $3300. <== We should get a report from Carol and then set the M52 target. Scott will talk to Carol. [TODO] Ann reports: She would like to make an accessibility policy. There have been a people being active in advocating for this. This covers ASL translation and other accommodations. There is an accessibility pledge out there similar to the harassment pledge of a few years ago where people say they won't come to our con if we don't have a policy. Matt asks "so since I don't generally participate in Internet yelling sessions and haven't seen this, is this pledge, like, asking that any con of any size accommodate any possible need, or is it, like, reasonable?" Ann says that it simply asks that each con make some sort of a statement. Matt says, "ah, ok, good, then." The pledge has an effective date after M51, but before M52. * Minneapolis in 2073 We put out PR8 just ahead of Windycon. Made a net of $185 at Windycon. The treasury how has $219.40 in US dollars, and the usual assortment of odd things as well. We now have 744 members, 472 of whom have actually paid us some money (i.e. are not Dodos). * Possible fallcon in 2016 Matt would still like to run one, but lacks a hotel head. Scott will think about who might be a good idea to ask. Lydy says that it should NOT be her, she's bad at it. A few possibilities are floated. == Next meetings == 2pm on Saturday Feb 6, either at Scott's or at the Minnstf meeting, to be determined. == New TODO list == * Ann will work on updating the M50 policies and departments document for M51. Ann will talk to Matt about her current draft. * Lydy and/or Ann will draft and send an e-mail to the University of Iowa about tapes. * Lydy will put together an informational packet for new board members. * Lydy will follow up with Beth about whether and how the 2014 taxes were filed. * Scott will make sure that the 2014 taxes get filed after Lydy follows up with Beth. * Scott will follow up with DD-B about Spideroak. * Lydy will send Dean the now-definitely-approved Mnstf meeting info e-mail. * Scott will hand-deliver the copies of the Ameriprise paperwork to Charles at Ameriprise. * Scott will let Hershey know to look for the new blank Ameriprise paperwork in the PO box. * Scott will talk with DD-B about fixing the wiki. * Matt will announce on natter that we want people to report to the quartermaster, Joel, what things they have of Minnstf's. Matt will also ask Dean to announce this at a few meetings. * Ann will, at the appropriate time, contact DD-B and Corwin, find out how Beyond Conventions' finances are structured, and negotiate a payment plan with Corwin if appropriate. * Scott will ask Carol for a report of Minnstf finances so we can set an M52 profit target.