PCD Meeting Notes: PCD Organization Meeting

Hostess: Eva (Thanks Eva!)

Attending: Eva, Chloe, Jim, Traca, Don, Mellen, John, Deb, Parks

Traca has offered several times to meet at her place in Gorham. Who's willing to go to Gorham for a meeting? Thumbs up all 'round. But let's do it in springtime when there's less chance of weather difficulty. Thanks Traca!

Distribute the remainder of New Year's Eve proceeds to Deirdre? Yes. There's $362.00 in addition to the original $1,000.00, for a total of $1,362.00

Lea Moon's request for a meeting (sent to Don, who forwarded it to the Meraki members): After discussion, we decided to hold a separate meeting after dance, tentatively scheduled for Sunday January 26. Those who wish to stay and hear Lea's amends are encouraged to attend. Several in attendance at this meeting said they wanted to attend. Don will respond to Lea's email message.

We read the Mission Statement, and thumbs up all 'round for its adoption. We'll include it in the welcome packet given to new dancers.

The basic pages are there and will need to be fleshed out with additional content as it becomes available.
She said she doesn't have many good photos; we'll do a photo shoot with willing dancers after dance in a few weeks. I
We decided to put coordinator pictures on the "Who we are" page.
Not certain of the exact domain name, but thinks it's PortlandCommunityDance.com.
Chloe will be getting feedback from select reviewers before pushing it live.
The question of a logo came up. We don't have one. Chloe would be willing to design one. She'll see where she's at with her contract (6 volunteer hours + 6 PCD-paid hours) for website development, and perhaps could fit logo development in after the initial website is complete.

Regarding membership, though it's more work to incorporate with members, this better matches the community orientation of PCD. Otherwise, the board is essentially the membership and reports to itself only. In our case, the board will report to the membership.
Decisions:

Our current Wizengamot is the initial board
Board members serve 6 month terms, staggered every quarter, so that 1/2 of the 6 board members are replaced every 3 months (this was decided in earlier meetings).
Former board members can serve on the board again after 6 months off the board.
The board appoints/elects the executive committee (officers) from within or without its own ranks at its first meeting of each quarter, with terms and manner of appointment to be determined (and written into the bylaws). The Treasurer position especially should be able to have a term of more than 6 months (likely: 1 year). Possibly the secretary position should also have a longer term.
We'll have a 2-tier organization: Board reporting to members, rather than 3 tiers of board reporting to the Meraki (core group) reporting to the membership.
We'll have regular membership meetings suggested (or minimum?) quarterly, for the purpose of choosing new board members and voting on questions put before the community.
Membership meetings require a minimum of 12 to vote on PCD business.
The incorporation committee (John, Mellen, Neil) is authorized to engage a lawyer to assist with incorporation and setting up bylaws.
John can purchase the book "How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation" for $34.99 and will be reimbursed out of PCD funds.

We need to find out if the terms of the executive committee need to be enumerated in the bylaws.
Our goal is to have incorporation materials (including bylaws) ready for the first quarterly membership meeting in March/April, but this isn't a hard deadline. There's a lot of work to be done, so if it isn't ready by then, it isn't ready by then.

Next meeting: Tuesday January 28, 7:15 at Parks' place. Maybe we can break Parks' superstition that "It's not meant to be." Don: "If we can't get Parks' Place, at least we can get Boardwalk!" :-)

PCD Meeting Notes