Meraki Monday Nov 18 on Zoom
Attendees: Nate (facilitator), Rebecca (ingatherer), John (timekeeper), Tasha (notes), Lori (vibe checker), Mellen, Kari, Sunshine, Marion, Brian, Lily, Andrew, Erin, Shelagh, Emily
Meeting format
- Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
- Ingathering
- Briefly review How We Roll
- Summarize previous meeting notes
- Gather new agenda items
- Set order and time for items
- Attend to agenda items
- Schedule future meeting(s)
- Evaluation
- Outgathering
Agenda
- Where Can We Dance Committee - Kari, et al
- Annual Meeting - Tasha, et al
- Events Committee
- Friendsgiving Nov 24 1 - 3 pm - Tasha
- New Years Eve?
- Retreat Committee - Marion
- Who should/can sign event contracts for PCD? Event coordinator or should we require an Officer to sign? - John
- Proposal: Short-Term Realignment Planning Meeting - Tasha, et al
- Revisit age policy - TABLED
- Carpooling - Rebecca TABLED
Where Can We Dance - 20 min
Mellen: We have now looked at 83 places. We went back to places we'd eliminated before.
Our best option is Temple Beth El in Portland, but it's not available on Sunday mornings during the school year. We can dance from 1:00 - 3:00 in the winter, and summer we can go back to mornings. Fee is reasonable $190. They're very chill. Don't need people there to monitor. They use it for contra dancing. Nice wood floor.
Reiche Community Center gym is also available Sunday mornings, but it's a gym so not as nice a vibe. They also wants to work with us and no one else is vying for the time.
We still need to follow up on another temple in South Portland, Mast Landing event space in Freeport, North Yarmouth Academy, Chevrus HS.
John: There are 2 possibilities in Brunswick.
Mellen: Committee felt it was too far.
Rebecca: We hope to get at least 2150 sf which is what we had at Waldorf.
Brian: We should consider opening up the time that we dance. It would be preferable to not dancing at all.
Mellen: We could decide tonight to go ahead with Temple Beth El as a trial and keep looking.
Brian: I propose move forward with dance, regardless of whether it's a perfect place or time.
Mellen: Dec 1, Dec 15, and Dec 22 are currently scheduled with DJs.
Shelagh: 2150 sf is without the stage at Waldorf. I'm wondering what happened with Mackworth Island. We don't know why it didn't work.
Mellen: DJs were unsatisfied with the sound. Another issue was access through the tollbooth in the summer season. Some people didn't like the vibe out there. And two people felt the building was sick.
Andrew: What about later time slots at Temple Beth El?
Mellen: There are a few holidays where we can do Sunday mornings. Summers we can go back to mornings, which is better for warm weather so people can be outside.
Lori: We found that there are a lot of imperfect possibilities. I agree that trying out some of these sooner rather than later is good.
Mellen: Woodfords Club has no times that work at all.
Nate: What's more important: time or place? Temple Beth El vs Reiche. I propose that we try both location and we get more information about who comes.
Rebecca: Is parking an issue?
Mellen: Parking is not an issue, there's street parking.
Rebecca: It's also a busy a time of year so we can't judge how many people will come based on just December trial.
Brian: Would the story change about Mackworth Island given that we have nowhere to dance?
Lori: What are the concessions we're willing to consider? Rather than doing an experiment, how about we put out a survey to the community?
Mellen: I think we need to try it and see how it feels and who comes. It's hard to find the ideal space. We are running out of places.
Rebecca: I don't think we need a survey. We need to experience it to find out how it feels to dance at a different time.
Kari: We're going to have to change some things if we want to keep our dance going. I want to get going and start at a place rather than doing a survey.
Nate: We want to start dancing asap. We're willing to give a time change a try. Do we want to try both places or just Temple Beth El?
Mellen: We don't have the full information about Reiche yet. So I propose we start at Beth El in December and see if Reiche comes through.
Andrew: Do we want to consider later in the day say 4 - 6?
Rebecca: A lot of people are really winding down on Sunday afternoon so would prefer earlier.
Mellen: We also have to see if we have DJs who are willing to dj in those new time slots.
Nate: Let's give the committee discretion to decide on when and where rather than needing Meraki approval.
Shelagh: I propose we try a few different times in Dec to try them out.
Mellen: Let's set it up for Dec 1 from 2 - 4, Dec 15 from 1 - 3 plus Annual Meeting, then Dec 22 (or Dec 29) from 4 - 6. And this assumes we can get the DJs to agree to the new time slot.
John: We can bring our own equipment right?
Mellen: Yes.
Nate: So we have decided to schedule 3 dances in Dec and not stop looking for a more ideal space.
Tasha: YAY committee. Super excited!
Annual Meeting - 5 min
Tasha: The Annual Meeting planning committee (Tasha, Erin, Marion) met to talk about the format of the meeting. This was before we lost the space at Waldorf. So the events committee was considering where we might hold the meeting and whether to rent a space for a dance as well, but now that we have a space, we can go ahead with a dance and annual meeting at Temple Beth El.
Mellen: Let's do the earlier time slot from 1 - 3 on Dec 15 and hold the annual meeting after.
John: Let's just do snacks since we're doing 1 - 3, rather than a potluck.
Nate: If DJs can't do that time slot, then let's have the meeting before dance.
Tasha: The committee will buy snacks paid for by Meraki.
Tasha: Just to point out that we didn't find anyone to take on the roles of secretary and treasurer. Tasha and Jamie will continue on.
Erin: Let's put it out way earlier in January to get people thinking about it sooner in the year.
Rebecca: We could propose a vice president.
Mellen: You can appoint a VP during the year if you want.
Action: Annual meeting to be held after Dec 15 dance (1 - 3) at Temple Beth El in Portland, so 3:30 - 4:30. Events committee is responsible for buying snacks.
Action: Let's add board member participation to the agenda for a future Meraki meeting.
Events Committee: Friendsgiving - 10 min
Tasha: Events Committee came up with the idea of a Friendsgiving to be held Sunday Nov 24 from 1 - 3 pm at Good Medicine.
John: How much?
Tasha: $150
Rebecca: What if we gave the events committee a budget for the year to spend how they see fit?
Nate: Let's table it for now.
Mellen: Who will send out the email on MailChimp?
Tasha: I can do it.
John: Is this a members only?
Emily: The original idea of events committee was to make the community more inclusive.
Nate: I want to invite everyone.
Tasha: What about Temple Beth El?
Mellen: It's the week before Thanksgiving so I don't think space will be an issue.
Agreed: Events Committee will host Friendsgiving Sunday Nov 24 1 - 3 at Good Medicine.
Future discussion: Allocate budget for Events committee for future events.
Events Committee: New Year's Eve - 5 min
Tasha: Let's not have it since we have 3 dances in Dec.
Shelagh: Could we consider having a dance on the 29th instead of Dec 22?
Mellen: We have DJs for the 3 dances in Dec but not for NYE or 29th, but I'll check.
Nate: If we're dancing at Beth El, you can keep the equipment at my house.
John: We're planning on giving up on the rental at the storage place in Freeport. I'll keep it at home for now. I'll talk with Nate about it.
Retreat Committee - 5 min
Marion: Retreat is set for April 25 - 27 at Ocean Wood in OOB. A Save the Date is coming out shortly and following up in the new year with registration. We also have a hold on Ferry Beach for a fall retreat, and if we love Ocean Wood we will put a hold on a fall retreat there as well.
John: Should we authorize people on the committee to sign the contracts? Propose that whoever is leading the committee is empowered to read it, understand it, agree to it, and sign the contract. As opposed to a PCD officer.
Marion: Everyone on the committee looked at the contract before it was signed.
Agreed: Retreat committee is empowered to sign contracts with the caveat that at least 2 people read the contract before signing it.
Short-Term Realignment Meeting - 20 min
Tasha: Proposal is/was to have a short-term realignment meeting to consider how we move forward with dances given that none of the spaces we've considered meet our ideal criteria. Also, there's been a desire to open up the decision making around where we can dance to more people. However, given that we seem to have a place to dance in the short run and we've decided tonight to experiment with a different time, the short-term realignment has already happened, so the proposal is moot.
Shelagh: To give some context, this meeting came out of the long-term planning committee planning meeting. There's a committee (Tasha, Shelagh, Brian, Deb, Kiara) that's been talking informally over email to decide what that meeting might look like and when. Given the urgency of wanting to dance, we decided as a committee that we should redirect that energy to the shorter-term issue to ask what the priorities are in the community now, given that that we didn't have a place to dance.
John: Let's schedule a long term planning meeting.
Rebecca: Let's settle into our new rhythm and have a long-term planning meeting in the new year.
Brian: Let's begin the process and have meeting Dec 1. Why wait? We'll need lots of meeting and planning. Maybe even monthly. If there's a group of people that's willing to talk about it now, let's start. Let's start envisioning having our own space.
Shelagh: We haven't agreed on owning our space as our long-term plan. I'm in favor of waiting until Jan especially since we haven't even met in person as a committee. Also, there are people here who would want to be part of the long-term planning meeting who are probably pretty worn out with their efforts.
Nate: There's no reason not to begin researching it. Until we research it, it's a pipe dream. Anyone can research what we want now to present at the long-term planning meeting.
Brian: Let's get together sooner rather than later and start talking about it and make action items to follow up on.
Shelagh: Let's meet as a planning committee for the long-term planning meeting as soon as possible. If anyone else is interested in joining that committee, contact Tasha.
Rebecca: So first we will come up with a plan for what the long-term planning meeting will look like. Then we will open it up to the wider community.
Next Meeting
- Annual Meeting Sunday Dec 15
- Tues January 14 In Person at Good Medicine
