February 2020 Board Notes

Date:

02/11/2020

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