Board notes: February 11, 2020

Attendance

Board Attended: John Koniges, Kim Hofer, Tristan Anderson, Kevin Ehrler, Michelle Clark, Jay Bottem, Christina Kramer
Board Absent: Anthony LaBerge
Observers: Troy MacDonald, Heather Bufkin, Erick Hofer

Notes

Meeting called to order 18:30

Agenda: Recap off cycle board actions and votes

  • Took an email vote about helping Chris Ayres $3070.80 called a vote and it passed
    • 5 for none opposed
  • Wanted to double check to make sure that this is fine to do tax wise, and it is as it is a new year, based off of actual year

Agenda: Open Session

  • The ATC Website is still pretty low on content
    • No new Social Media Posts
    • Front page has not been updated in a long time
    • About us and bios need updating
    • Can we add the Vision Statement to the front page?
  • Recording Board Meetings
    • In some cases the notes have been unclear so it would be nice to have a recording to reference for clarity.
    • This has been discussed in the past, we do have insurance now if something is said that could result in litigation.
    • There is a difference between people coming to listen, and having a recording online.
    • While a lot of city offices offer recordings, not all organizations do.
    • Some things could be said that do not need to be put online.
    • Have found multiple tech staff to volunteer for editing
    • Could look into doing audio only, with transcriptions
      • This would make a number of the board members much more comfortable then being on camera
    • Audience members could also be captured on audio and they might not feel comfortable giving feedback when being recorded
      • Audience audio could be edited out and just have any feedback or questions transcribed
    • Also could possibly have the audio and transcription available on request instead of just being posted on the website.
    • John I. and Tristan A. will work on drafting a proposal for this in the next meeting.

Agenda Planned Discussions from scheduled visiting parties/ATC Partners

  • No Updates

Agenda Equipment Rental Requests

  • No Updates

Agenda Coordinator Updates

Anime Detour

  • The program guide deadline is this week, a lot of departments are communicating with themes
  • Waiting on one or two guest contracts
  • Current registration rate is approx. 300 short of last year
  • Has a goal of 50 registrations at AMKE

Charities

  • New procedure for Charitable Giving
    • The April meeting will be the meeting that we receive the proposals
    • The May meeting we will be presented with proposal options and vote
      • This allows us time to vet the charities
    • Greg Ayres is recovering – hotel was paid
    • Carrie Savage is heading back to LA to find work looking for help with travel
      • Also possibly looking for help with taxes

Clubs

  • No Updates

Community

  • No Updates

SOS

  • Outpost Anime was last month, the attendance similar to previous years.
    • Did receive more donations and concession sales, just under breaking even.
    • Sold $37 in Detour Merch
  • SOS Team meeting had 4 new faces, things are looking really good now
    • Looked into planning Cosplay on Ice dates
    • Looked into planning Cosplay Picnic at Como dates

Finance

  • We are about 500 registrations short of getting to the black line. Hoping will reach it by the end of February
  • Accounts
  • Bank at $293,936.62
  • Edu at $2,262.16
  • Leg at $16,221.48
  • Lease for storage unit, ends at end of April must sign a new one by end of February or give two months notice
    • Board proposes to sign a 3 year contract for new storage unit due to how much space it has and is a good location
      • 6 in favor none opposed
  • Save Point – waiting on 5 cords and to give them a refund check for $40
    • Have reached out to contact Shauna many times and have not heard back
    • As it has been over the 30 days stated in the contract, they will not be receiving the refund check
    • As a side note we have had issues with them 4 years in a row, where they lose equipment and are uncommunicative.
  • Presented the 990 draft for taxes, will be filing tomorrow, need board resolution that it can be filed
    • 6 in favor none opposed
    • Once completed a pdf version will be put on the website

Agenda Updates on current Board projects

Storage Locker Security

  • Tristan will work on a budget proposal to put a security camera in the storage locker
    • Some staff have not felt comfortable being there alone
    • The property manager has the right to unlock the door and walk into the unit without knowing what is going on
    • Tristan would be able to install himself
    • The camera would just be recording, not streaming (due to internet costs) and only specific people would have access to pull the recording
    • Insurance company would need to be updated
    • Can be installed onto our equipment (a shelf) vs on a wall of the unit itself to make sure no damage is done to the unit
    • Would want it to be motion activated so only recording when necessary
    • There was discussion on whether or not a sign needs to be hung, this can be decided later

Attendance Policy Board Members and Coordinators

  • Interested in looking at a bylaw change to institute an attendance policy for board members and coordinators
    • Coordinators have a lot of out of meeting responsibilities vs the board members primarily doing their job at the board meetings
    • When we have an even number of board members present, there is the possibility of a split vote
    • We do already have tools in place for issues with attendance. President needs to talk to board member

Defining Quorum

  • Kevin has presented 3 proposals to update the By-Laws to include our definition of quorum
    • See attachment
    • These can be voted on after the convention

Coordinator Realignment

  • See summary document that explains the proposed changes.
  • Michelle volunteered to take inventory at GPS and then when items are used whoever uses them updates the inventory.
    • The secretary ordering the supplies can be revisited in a few months to see if it is working
  • Anton suggestion charitable giving could be moved under the new community role
    • This would make that department too large so will not be doing this
  • Definition clarifications:
    • Community – table events – public face
    • Charity – financial donations
    • Communications – public presence
  • Proposed vote to change the current coordinators and expand roles as stated in the summary document
    • 6 in favor, none opposed
  • The Job requirements for the Communications Coordinator will be posted
  • Community will be handled by Eric in the interim, but this position will also be open
    • Propose that Eric be the interim for Community
      • 6 in favor, none opposed

Break at 7:41 Readjourn at 7:55

Anime Twin Cities Membership

  • After the last meeting a policy was put in place that the staff can earn a free badge for the next con cycle. However as a result they would not be a member of Anime Twin Cities and as such would not have voting rights.
    • Currently there is a bylaw that states the ATC membership cannot be given away at no cost.
    • We need to look into more ways to communicate that Anime Detour is part of Anime Twin Cities.
  • View: Those that want to have voting rights for ATC should contribute the $15 membership fee to help support the organization.
    • Will need to look into a way to sell just the membership on its own.
    • Possibly will reduce the voting populace by a large margin.
  • View: Looking into a bylaw proposal that those who qualify for the free staff badge would also earn ATC membership at no additional cost.
    • Will need to look into federal laws about volunteer compensation.
    • John K. and Tristan A. will do more research and form an actual proposal for this.

Anime Twin Cities Eligibility to Vote Requirements

  • Looking into having the board meetings count towards the 60% of attendance needed to earn voting rights.
    • Audience is neutral at board meetings, vs at a club or planning meeting they are participating
    • John K. will look into writing a proposal in terms of bylaws for this

Anime Twin Cities 5 Year Plan

  • See attached draft for plan
  • As this is just a draft, the document can be commented on, and rewritten, it is not being voted on today.
  • Need to clarify document:
    • Additional funds outside sources (outside of ATC)
    • 20k increase each year not additional each year
    • Attendance targets could be unrealistic – staff might have to work more to meet goals – this can conflict with coordinators goals and does ATC want to override coordinators
    • How to build attainable goals that are actually actionable vs just nice words
  • Coordinators do write goals every year, so maybe this document would be handled by coordinators
  • ATC Is org, coordinators work for org technically, makes logical sense to set overall goals, and coordinators set goals to help contribute to goal in long term scenario
  • What do we want board to do in regards to coordinators actions
  • Goal of document is to tell coordinators what we want to be, and work with them to figure out what we want all together
  • Trying to align tasks with our vision and mission statement.
  • Want to make sure we are included some amount of no cost events for community
    • SOS is our way of giving to the community at no costs
    • Make sure we review what we are proud of and don’t want to give up
  • Marketing – how to market AD and how to market ATC
  • Charitable giving – want to see if we can work with organizations that align to our vision statement
  • This document will continue to be worked on, goal will be to complete before coordinator goals are due

Motion to adjourn 9:07pm passes