Town Meeting November 15th, 2020

Time: 7:10 pm

Location: The Society – On Discord

Board in Attendance: Ombudsman, Facilitator, Co-Facilitator, Treasurer, Archivist

18 attendees

Meeting Items:

Call to Order – Facilitator PM
Quorum Check –
Minutes
1. Vote – Approve October Board Meeting Minutes
  1. “To approve the October Board Meeting minutes except where noted by member concerns.”

Movant: Dasade

Second: Ombudsman

Approved: 9 approved, 0 unapproved, 1 abstention

Vote – Accept October Town Meeting Minutes
1. “To accept the October Town Meeting minutes except where noted by member concerns.”

Movant: Facilitator

Second: Ombudsman

Approved: 9 approved, 0 unapproved, 1 abstention

Treasurer Report
1. October 1 bank balance: $ 8982.90
2. October income: $ 2952.18
3. October Expenses $ 641.69
4. October Credit Card Balance: $7890.95
5. October 31st/ November 1st bank amount: 11, 293. 39 (still needs to deposit door funds)
6. November 15th balance: $ about 6K once 3 months rent is paid
7. Gofundme: $ 21, 127 total raised (included in current bank balance)
8. Interest in September: $ 122.06
9. Interest Rate: usually 23.99% 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 plus our payment for october and November
12. Detailed reports of expenditures are available for review upon request.
13. .
14. D: which 3 months were late being paid and why?
15. Facilitator: September, October November, and it was because there was a question about where to send it but that has been resolved
16. B: how much is the voting site
17. Facilitator: about $100 a year plus extra everytime that we are over 200 members
18. Currently our credit card debt overshadows our income and right now we are approaching the time when we would not be able to get out from here debt free if we were forced to close. SO please, please, please donate if you can. Currently we are only open to CT people until states come off of the advisory list and we really need your help. Our current monthly rent is around $3000 and the landlord will be coming to look for the rest of the rent that we have not been paying. Without your help there will not be a space. Currently the way things are sitting within the next three months we will not be able to keep our doors open because we won’t be able to even pay our rent.
19. Treasurer: we were barely making rent before the pandemic and now with the pandemic we are going to have to pay for that and the unpaid rent. We were talking about other ways to bring in income and i think we are going to pursue that so if you would like to join in on those conversations you are welcome.
20. B: If we could dig in for another 6 months or so we could come out the other end. I don’t know how much of an effect it would have, I have been thinking of offering like appreciative swag for different levels. Pins, t-shirts, for certain donation amounts (like pin for $50, t-shirt for $100, etc). Maybe that would help. Maybe budget 10% of our devotion to our exclusive swag.
21. Treasurer: Aislin could trace that very well.
22. Co-Facilitator: I will be matching November Donations so please get the word out.
23. Facilitator: I was talking to SG who had a lot of interesting ideas for potentially increasing our revenue stream.
24. SG: short term: utilizing the website to do virtual classes (at regular admission price or similar). Put feelers out to presenters to run the program for us. Could be one way to bring in that additional revenue that we need right now. The younger generation is very involved virtually and it allows us to broaden our reach. We could teach a class and have someone in Denmark attend, and its revenue going forward. It has so far been untapped, and other organizations are doing it to survive this. I can see this as a benefit going forward. We have quite a few donated items to raffle off that we should be announcing. There are a lot of options out there. Lots of virtual ways to make real money.
25. Treasurer: do we have someone on board that is experienced in making that happen.
26. Facilitator: we have the option to sell tickets online and then put out the invite to the location/zoom, etc to those who bought tickets the day of the event
27. B: Do we offer a percentage to the teacher?
28. Facilitator: some ask for a percentage, some a flat fee, some just to hawk their wares. it varies depending on the percentage.
29. Ombudsman: Is that something done on our website or something we need zoom or discord
30. Fac: zoom or discord. Zoom opens it up to the world. But i also dont think its a bad idea to give member benefits. The ticketing would happen on the website.
31. Webadmin: the website has the ability to imbed the zoom so that only paid attendees could attend.
32. Faci: P is offering to help. Webadmin are you open to that?
33. Webadmin: I am good with that.
34. Facilitator; We have several chairs running for the board so odds are we might have a couple of open chairs so if anyone is interested in helping out let us know.
35. R: Can’t people just copy/paste the URL?
36. Archivist: R you can only access the meetings if you are on the invite list, the host has to let you into the zoom presentation….so no does not work to copy url
37. Faci: someone asked about renting the space out but that would involve more time for our small pool of volunteers so we do not have the resources for that

Old Business
1. none

New Business
1. Ombudsman’s Concerns:
  1. Latex Allergy (see board meeting minutes)
    1. Facilitator: this person wanted to know what we are doing to protect allergies so that they can gauge their own risk. Maybe take to Fetlife about how people feel about having allergy free nights (nuts/latex, ect). Ombudsman is going to reach out to them and have them reach out to the Facilitator so that they can discuss this further
2. Conversation about Photo Day
  1. Special shout out to RegalImaging who spent the afternoon with us taking photos, of who knows what, lol…no our french maid costume cleaning day. It went really well and we all had fun.
3. Etiquette Discussion
  1. When we got our bylaw proposals, one of the members proposed changing our bylaws to reflect something that has changed in society as a whole and that is the difference between when our etiquette was written and our current culture. one of the things that our guidelines spell out, is that “The Society has as a sacred task, the increase of our community. Therefore, we will never attack or harm in any way, any other person or group within our community. we will never speak ill of what others may or may not be doing.”
  2. The problem with that is our bylaws state that you are bound by our etiquette rules and policies and are subject to penalty if you don’t and right now we are living in a culture where people are absolutely needed to be called out on their stuff (being a bad actor) in order to ensure that the community as a whole is safe. The board discussed that and made a modification to the etiquette section: added this.
    1. Therefore, we will never attack or harm in any way, any other person or group within our community. we will never speak ill of what others may or may not be doing where their activities do not create harm in others or the community. Do not shame others for their kinks.
  3. If someone is being a dick it’s okay to call them out as long as what they are doing is harmful to someone in the community.
  4. B: Who decides whether a person or organization creates harm in the community?
  5. Facil: So basically here’s the thing as a board i don’t necessarily think it’s in our purview to make that decision. I think that the person who feels someone needs to call out someone needs to make that decision, and if that calling out turns out to be problematic we can employ the IRT to decide that. Mediating disagreements is part of their mandate.
  6. R: I would imagine the community decides when one creates harm to it.
  7. B: My concern is that people are less likely to get called out if they have a lot of friends who’ll back them, claiming unfairness in the callout.
  8. Fac: yeah, I get that, but there is not much that we can do about that.
  9. Treasurer: We have been working hard to not have that cliquey feel here.
  10. B: I still have painful memories of an 11-2 vote in favor of a very problematic person, and feel that either of the two could have been in trouble in that situation.
  11. Fac: what we want to make sure is that people aren’t afraid to speak out because they are breaking a rule or etiquette guideline but that they can speak out on it and feel safe in our community.
  12. The board voted on this verbiage, but you have until the next meeting to voice concerns because it will be approved at the next meeting
  13. B: I am glad it is being looked at but the thing is I do feel that even under the way you are writing it I could have suffered consequences. It seems to me someone calling out someone who is a bad actor can still have consequences for speaking out. I spent a lot of time when someone was going to read the bylaws and say you better shut up or you are in trouble.
  14. Facilitator: I have also been on the receiving end of that, so I feel much of that kinship with that. The two sides of that same coin are the voice who is speaking truth in the wilderness vs the voice who is looking to cause problems. I have had people with sock puppets posting libelous/slanderous stuff. So where do you draw the line? We should be protecting the voices who are speaking out but at the same time we should be cognizant that the truth is in there . When people feel they are being attacked they are going to attack back. If you want to take a look at that verbiage and see what you would do to tweak it we are definitely open to tweaks and can discuss it at the next board meeting and have it on the agenda for the next meeting.
  15. B: can someone dm me. If the wording were changed to say that the speaker, as long as speaking in good faith were protected and there really isn’t a protection against a sock puppet but if the words protect those calling out in good faith that would cover my concerns.
  16. Webadmin: Whistleblower protection
  17. Fac: As an organization getting in between two members what can we do. I think we can look at whistleblower protection but i don’t think that the society as an organization should become a sword that just slashes at people and endangers them. disagreements should not be punishable.
  18. Treasurer: when we have someone who is consistently speaking out against people and badmouthing people we need to be able to say we don’t think that you are a member in good standing and are in violation of our guidelines and I want to make sure that is still there.
  19. Creating a whistleblower protection and are 5 months away from the next bylaw proposals. So we can work on that B if you want. I want to limit the power of future boards. Does that sound good to you?
  20. B: Yes.
4. Ombudsman: i would like to ask people to be more forthcoming offering to volunteer to help you both (Facilitator and Secretary) do what you do every weekend.
  1. Facilitator: I sit out in my car every weekend on Friday and Saturday. I am more than happy to train people to help out.

Announcement of Board Votes
1. New Board: Sir Guerrett, SdParent1, BlueKinkDot, tie for xmeghan and Devilishsmurfet for the fourth position.
Announcement of Bylaw votes.
1. The Board shall create and amend policies and rules as required for the running of the Society. No policy or rule shall be considered permanent until such time as it has been given a full discussion and voted on as a separate and individual agenda item at the next Town Meeting and approved by a majority vote.(No current Bylaw in place.) – This Bylaw passed by a vote of 18-5.
2. Attendance: Members of the Board must attend a minimum of half of the scheduled Board meetings within a twelve-month period. Any Board member who falls below the threshold may be subject to the Removal Procedure from section 4-11.1.1 at the discretion of the Ombudsman : (This would be an addition to the current bylaws.) – This Bylaw passed by a vote of 23-2
3. To allow for cleaning up of any and all spelling and Grammar issues in the current and proposed bylaws. – This bylaw passed by a vote of 20-4

Committee Reports: Cleaning Days Announced

Fundraiser and Raffle Update
1. amount raised so far $21, 127

Query of members wishing to have items added to the next month’s agenda.
1. Committee reports:
Motion to Adjourn: 8:36 pm
1. Movant: Facilitator
2. Second: Treasurer
3. all in favor: all in favor
4. motion passes
5. Meeting ended at: 8:36 pm
Next Meeting Date: December 13th