August 2022 Board Notes
Date:
08/09/2022
Attendance:
Board Attended: Tristan Anderson, Chelsea Lieser, Matt Paulson, Allie Cassel, John Itzen
Board Absent: none
Observers: Troy MacDonald, Brittany Hecker, Samantha Cozort, Kevin Ehrler, Ingrid Helgeson, Hayleigh Cooper, Hotura Vo, Sean Cooper
Notes:
Meeting called to order approximately 18:30
- Recap off cycle board actions and votes
No votes occurred during the off cycle
David Vetrovek resigned his position from his role of President of Anime Twin Cities, Inc.
a special election is scheduled to be held from 12pm (noon) 9/9/2022 – 11:59am 9/10/2022.
Candidates may submit their application to the board and a public interview will be held prior to
the election where the board and public will be allowed to ask questions of the board.
- Open Session (First 30 minutes)
No topics brought up.
- Planned Discussions from scheduled visiting parties/ATC Partners
GPS Contract
Tristan met with several members of GPS. Found multiple grammatical errors in the contract.
Have reviewed and reconsidered several terms of the contract due to those items no longer
having relevance in the current situation. Renegotiating the amount paid by direct payment and
matching amount by fundraising. Currently those amount are $9k and $9k respectively. GPS and
ATC both expressed interest in making sure that if/once the contract is signed it be back dated
to begin from the ending date of the previous contract.
Allie asked if ATC has done fund raising or if those fees have been paid out of pocket
Tristan clarified that for the most part these payments have not been from fund raising on our
behalf. Brought up various ways brain stormed to help GPS raise fund other than our giving
such as advertising their rental space and partnership opportunities.
Chelsea indicated her concern that they may be overly dependent on us for capital.
Matt agreed as such, and that he was agreeable with increasing our giving due to inflation and
such
Troy asked what other things are they looking at for additional funding partners or other ways
for them to bring in income.
Matt asked that if we do increase our giving that it be primarily tied to their fundraising efforts.
Troy asked for clarification on if there was a section in the contract regarding giving us the
greatest amount of notice prior to ending of use of the space. And what would our contingency
plan be if/when we have to vacate the space.
- Equipment Rental Requests
Furry Migration
Final request received recently. Have been discussing with them for a few months due to new
logistics staff on their part. Currently $150 deposit and $200 damage fee to be returned on
verified good equipment return.
Matt Paulson Motioned to approve rental request. Chelsea 2nd
Unanimous approval of all board members.
Anime Fusion/QCA rental request received on 8/9. Due to a current issue being resolved, the
board has chosen to acknowledge that the request was received in a timely manner, but to
temporarily postpone a decision on the matter until discussions with QCA/Anime Fusion has
been completed. Will call a special board meeting if a resolution is made prior to the next board
meeting.
Troy wanted to remind us that they have had some difficulty with equipment being lost or
returned late before and to remind them that if it continues we will not be able to rent to them
any longer.
Matt move to table, Tristan 2nd
Matt, john, Chelsea, Tristan – yea
Allie - abstain
- Coordinator Updates
- Anime Detour – Troy MacDonald
Have filled a number of positions including 3 of the open vice chair positions. Still have a number
of other positions open. Currently working on getting registration opened. Had an ambassador
team as well as a staff trade with Kitsune Kon. Budgets are due in September. Staff Service pins
have gone missing over the covid period. They will be purchasing new ones to continue with
them.
- Charities – Tristan Anderson
Nothing new at this time
- Communications – Brittany Hecker
Looking to start advertising more of our events.
Brittany asked what is the core process of getting these done? In the past coordinators have
been given permissions to post to ATC pages on their own. We do have a current process
though of everything being sent to the communications coordinator to maintain post quality
and such. However as Brittany is now in charge of things, it is fully her right to change things up
however she wants. Tristan will reach out to Brittany to get things set up and some posts
coordinated.
Brittany wants to step up our sharing and support of community content. If there is anything
people want to do or new ideas, please bring them to her so we can look at them.
Tristan filed a copyright claim on the ATC twitter page to try to regain access to it as the login
credentials and password reset information cannot be accessed and has not been used in a
number of years. Waiting to hear a response.
- Community – Tristan Anderson
Obon Festival in 2 weeks. Event is 3-9pm at Como zoo, setup is 12-3. still working out details for
what is going to happen at the booth. Looking for volunteers still to help at the table. We get 4
wristbands for admission with our table, additional is at cost to us. Troy gave approval to do
pre sale of Detour registrations at Obon in the same fashion we do at the ambassador tables.
- SOS – Tristan Anderson
Game night to be held at GPS sometime in the next month hopefully.
- Finance – Kim Hoffer (acting)
July numbers
as of 8/8/2022
Main account 189,387.84
education fund 2,508.80
community fund 13,782.63
end of the fiscal year is in 6 weeks. Expects the majority of expenses have come through.
Assuming no major expenses the main account should end approximately $180k. PO box has
been closed, so we need to make sure we are updating all documents with the GPS address.
(15 minute break was declined by board – by no assent, the break was skipped)
- Updates on current Board projects
- 1.)Legal and financial representation.
Reaching out to propel for guidance. Have not heard back from them yet. Reaching out
since they help non profits and have done training for us in the past. Going to look into other
options as well.
-
2.)Equipment sale policy
How to determine the sale price of an item. Have individual department heads do their
research for what they believe to be a reasonable price for that equipment and present that with
their request to sell the equipment.
Tristan asked Troy to send us the revised/updated version of the documents.
-
Removal of treasurer position from the bylaws.
Looking to potentially remove the position of treasurer from the bylaws so that if we do hire
from outside we may not want them required to serve a voting position on the board. Tristan
will mock up something for if needed. Otherwise will table it until a decision is made on the
treasurer position.
-
4.)Term Limits
A proposal had been brought forward in the past to remove term limits entirely from the
bylaws.
Matt pointed out that we do have a clause in the bylaws already that allows people who have
reached term limits to rerun.
Troy pointed out that the last 1-2 years were the first times we have had to utilize that clause.
Potentially removing term limits could cause fear or negative environment among the board
causing people to not want to run.
Chelsea pointed out we have had a declining number of board applicants and this could prevent
issues of not having enough people. That if people want more of a say in the leadership on the
organization that all they need to do is come to the meetings and cast their votes.
Brittany asked for clarification on term limits and election cycles. Tristan explained that treasurer,
and several members at large are elected 1 year off set of the president, secretary and remaining
board members so as to avoid the entire board being empty at 1 time. Also explained how to gain
voting eligibility, paid annual dues, and have attended at least 60% of the meetings of any 1
coordinator or board meetings.
Troy reminded that if term limits were removed just because a person is up for election every 2
years, that does not mean that they would be removed unless someone else is voted in.
Meeting adjourned approximately 22:10