Board Meeting minutes 12-13-20

 The Society

Board Meeting Agenda

December 13th, 2020 Time: 4:00 PM

Location: The Society Discord Group

Attendance:  Board:  Facilitator, Co-Facilitator, Ombudsman, Member at Large, Secretary, Treasurer

Guests:  P_S, B C, D, Bnb, ds, G

Meeting Items:

  1. Call to Order 4:20 pm
  2. Quorum Check – yes
  3. Ombudsman’s Concerns – 
    1. Finances
      1. Ombudsman brought up a concern by a member in regards to how we are paying a higher amount towards our credit cards vs. saving it for rent, and also a concern regarding the timing of posting of our minutes and what is included in there for a treasurer’s report.  This member wants to see a more detailed report and would like it up on the website sooner, as well as not having us put so much money towards paying off our credit card debt.
      2. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that the secretary will make sure the minutes get posted earlier each month and that we will look into adding more lines into the treasurer’s report, however we do already include the information that they are looking for in our current report and the full reports are available upon request from the treasurer and bookkeeper. 
      3. As far as the concerns about how much we are paying towards the credit card debt it was pointed out that even with paying off more than the minimum amount every month we are still not changing much in our debt because of the interest being charged and so it does not make sense to pay less each month.
    2. Treasurer Report was then given for this month:
      1.   November 1 bank balance: $ 11.293.39
      2.  November income: $ 3840.82
      3.  November Expenses  $   6903.69  
      4. November Credit Card Balance: $7882.28
      5. November 30th/ December 1st bank amount:  8230.52
      6. December 13th balance:  $ 
      7. Gofundme:  $  23,601 + 2,313= 25,914   total raised (included in current bank balance)
      8. Interest in November: $ 137.69
      9. Interest Rate: usually 11.99% but Treasurer is going to look at improving that
      10. Taxes should be paid off.
      11. amount still owed for rent: $2,000 for April, $2000 for May, $2000 for June, $2000 for July, $2000 for August, September $2000, $2000 for October, $2000 for November
      12. Detailed reports of expenditures are available for review upon request.
  1. Old Business 
    1.  Online 101 – recap of fetlife concerns, taking it to Town Meeting for a vote
      1. A discussion took place in regards to concerns that some members had about a vote that we had last month to allow online 101 classes to renew past members virtually but not allowing the same for new members.  The discussion included pointing out the language of our Bylaws vs. our Policies in regards to vetting, memberships and renewals and it was decided to discuss this further in the Town Meeting to follow but that the decisions would be tabled for now.  SOme possible solutions were to address the definition and length of time that a member can be expired in our bylaws, add a category of membership to our bylaws for vetted past members, put in a policy or bylaw re-rewrite extending the amount of time that the 3 visits for new members have  by whatever amount of time we are closed due to means beyond our control, etc.  There will be further discussions to address what can be addressed prior to bylaw time to address the concerns within our current bylaws.
  2. New Business
  1. Web Admin
    1. Our Webadmin wanted to discuss an add in to allow non-admin to create events and not have access to member information.  A motion was made and a vote taken:
      1. Facilitator:   I make a motion that we purchase the community events plug-in for the website
      2. Co-fac:  Seconded
      3. All in favor:
      4. All said Aye, motion passes
      5. A couple of members offered to help pay for this.
  2. Renting out the Space
    1. There was discussion about conversations on Fet regarding renting our the space to private parties.   IT was decided to table this because there are staffing issues due to the safety during the high pandemic numbers at the moment.
  3. Discord Board/Town Meeting schedule 
    1. A decision was made to keep our meetings on the Sunday following the second Saturday of the month.
  4. Committee Reports/Matters
    1. No reports were sent in but all are working their butts off to get the online stuff going.
  5. Fundraiser and Raffle Update
    1. amount raised so far $  23,601 + 2,313= 25,914   total raised (included in current bank balance)
  1. Motion to Adjourn: Dasade
    1. Second: Secretary
    2. all in favor: all in favor
    3. motion carries
    4. Meeting ended at: 6:03 pm
  2. Next Meeting Date:  January 10th