December 2020 Board Notes

Date:

12/08/2020

Attendance:

Board Attended: Tristan Anderson, Ashley Rahn, Kim Hofer, David Vetrovec, Hotura Vo, Christina Kramer
Board Absent: Anthony Laberge, John Itzin
Observers: Troy Macdonald

Notes:

Meeting called to order 18:43

Agenda

  1. Recap off cycle board actions and votes

    • Bylaws passed in the off cycle on 11/15, 14 for, 2 against

      1. These will be uploaded to the Anime Twin Cities documents page on the website in the next week. 

  2. Open Session (First 30 minutes)

    • NA

  3. Planned Discussions from scheduled visiting parties/ATC Partners3

    • NA

  4. Equipment Rental Requests

    • NA

Coordinator Updates

  • Anime Detour

    • Not a lot, but there is a lot in the works

    • Meeting with hotel partner in the next 2 weeks, via going forward for 2021 weather it be in person or virtual

      • Need to have that discussion with them first as they are our contracted partner, before releasing to staff or public

    • Can the board grant the coordinator approval to cancel/transition to virtual if need be, prior to the scheduled January board meeting?

      • Last year it was brought up to have the board vote on it as a formality because it was such a large decision.

        • Cannot see why the board needs to approve this decision, due to the structure of ATC and AD.

      • Dave puts forward a motion that we have confidence in Troy MacDonald to make this decision, without waiting for us at a board meeting. 

        • 2nd by Tristan, all in favor

    • Per the new bylaws that were just implemented, we do have the ability to call an emergency session if we have too. 

    • With the current restrictions we would not be able to have an in person event in 2021, but we are looking at plans for a safe environment if the restrictions are lifted.  

  • Charities

    • No updates, still working on Coordinator advertisement

    • Also working on policy for LEG fund applicants

  • Communities

    • NA

  • Communications

    • NA

  • SOS

    • The discord chat is slowing down, but cannot have any live events so no update.

  • Finance

    • Christina F worked with Delta to get the refunds, so we did increase our income, as well as a donation check from Lindsey N business, and some other small donations. 

    • IT had some additional business expenses, domain names renewed

    • Wells Fargo Merchant account closing tomorrow, so we should not be getting that $45 a month fee anymore

      • Also cancelled the ASecureCart which saves us $16 per month, as we are not using that either. 

    • Checking $186,827.05

    • Education $2,262.41

    • LEG $12,998.41

    • Reached out to the accountant doing our 990, haven’t gotten an update yet. Not due until February. 

    • Also got Amazon smile funds of $88

    • We will need to do a deep discussion on financial numbers for the convention, but are not prepared to be able to do so today, will also need to wait until Detour has discussion with the hotel. 

      • There is a cancellation fee in the contract but there is flexibility there. 

      • It is definitely sub optimal to be in the position to have to cancel two shows, which is the majority of our income. 

 Updates on current Board projects

  1. Recording Board Meetings

    • Proposal read out

    • 1 week does not feel like a long enough time to allow a volunteer to edit the video

      1. Currently the live streams automatically upload right away and that would have to change, we would lose the livestream chat log. 

    • It seems this proposal was written for another time, it really needs to be rewritten to meet our current needs. 

    • Good to have notes for meetings in multiple formats

    • Will not be proceeding with the proposal as is. 

  2. 5 Year Plan

    • No longer aligns with bylaws, and with convention uncertainty would be too hard to design. 

Open Board Projects/Future Meeting discussions (sorted by due date):

Meeting Month <Caretaker(s)> - Example Project

  • February <Kim> - Deep dive into the financial situation 

  • March<John/Tristan> - Recording Board Meetings

Meeting Adjourned at 8:01 PM