Meraki Meeting Notes - 06/18/14

Our Meraki meeting took place at Liberty's Lovely beLoved Palace.  Thank you Liberty!!!!
Attended:  John, Liberty, Julie, Blair, Don, Nev, Chloe, Mary Ellen, Cherie, Deb, Dave, Eva

Next meetings
Charter Membership meeting Tuesday July 1at 7pm.  At Deb and Dave's house, 60 Brentwood St, Portland, 207.775.7752.
Charter Membership meeting will be a potluck party.  Enact the bylaws as efficiently as possible.
"Charter-like" members (those founder-types who have worked on Meraki/PCD) are also welcome.
Next Meraki meeting:  Tuesday August 12, 7pm at Eva's house, 46 C Street, SoPo, 207.756.0488.
Liberty's home as backup location.

Agenda items discussed during the meeting are underlined. Followed by summary of discussion/decisions.

Sundays (Liberty) Kudo's re the Sunday announcements. They are really great-- Thanks Don!!!

Wizengamot  The term ends this month.  Sage, John, Don have term limit up.  Do we need to restructure the terms?  It's a group coordinating the coordinators, and also functions as a friendly face that is resp. for making dance happen, helping keep flow and peace, etc.
Coordinators are the Greeter/DJ/Facilities/Communications.
Don proposes we make it loose, fill places as needed. Discussed a term limit of 6 months to one year. Discussed having 4-6 on committee.
The Wiz is Chloe, Neil, Blair, Don, Sage, John.  Don will leave the Wiz when he moves to CA, but on the other hand Don IS the Wiz.
Wiz can come to the Meraki when they want more support.

THINK ABOUT THIS: Our Esteemed Media Coordinator Don will be needing a replacement person by August.  Media: Weekly email via Mailchimp, FB. Phone message, keeping up to date, Has website editing capability, keep calendar up to date.  Don estimates it takes 30 min to make an email.  Up to 2 hours a week of work. This could be a job done by 2 ppl.
Don will put out an email to find out about interest in this/these position(s) of Media Co(co)Ordinator.

Appreciation: To Chloe for making PCD website elist.

Executive session

Should there be a peace committee?
The Wiz is responsible for peace and emotional safety issues and are the initial go to when there is a need for conflict resolution.  The Wiz may choose to directly help people with conflicts that may arise; or at times the Wiz may appoint a group to manage particularly challenging or unusual situations. Wiz members need to be aware of their individual skills and/or limitations in this area.  Wiz members are not required in any way to act as professional mental health counselors or mediators (in fact Wiz members are cautioned not to); but skillful ability and the ability to remain calm/collected/compassionate/boundaried is important.  When Wiz members feel they need to enlist help outside of the Wiz it is appropriate to triage or refer to willing/skilled people within or beyond PCD.
Announcement will be made this week that is a reminder about Wiz role.
Chloe will change name of Wiz's function to Operations and Safety Committee.

Beach Party
Nev, Blair, Deb, Liberty, Julie will work on this.  Date, time, info to be sent to Don. Consult with John about $.

PCD Charter Members were officially established tonight:

Don Norman
Mary Ellen Deschenes
Neil Sattin
Cherie Howard
John Boynton
Deb Grant
Dave Grant
Traca Gress
Parks McKinney
Jill Eng
Eva Goetz
Jim Young
Julie Vohs
Genevieve Levin
Martin Steingesser
Judy Tierney
Liberty Bryer
Chloe Urban
Xiknawi Melloh
Aimee Moffitt
Diane Archambault
Blair Fridgen

In the fall we will open up for general membership.  See May 20, 2014 meeting notes for current thinking on membership.

Charter Members reviewed the proposed bylaws.
Briefly we discussed liability coverage, particularly in the case of court costs.  John and Mary Ellen feel that liability is covered well enough in bylaws based on current status of PCD.
We will have a charter member meeting to formally adopt the bylaws once they are reviewed as a final document by our attorney Zeke.  Any changes by Zeke or John/Mellen would be put out by email to charter members with highlight, for opportunity for feedback.
Don will email Merakians who did not establish that they wanted to become charter members in case they'd like to do that.
We will have a potluck/celebration on this date.

Next meetings
Charter Membership meeting Tuesday July 1at 7pm.  At Deb and Dave's house, 60 Brentwood St, Portland, 207.775.7752.
Charter Membership meeting will be a potluck.  Enact the bylaws as efficiently as possible.
"Charter-like" members (those founder-types who have worked on Meraki/PCD) are also welcome.
after the voting in of the bylaws.

Next Meraki meeting:  Tuesday August 12, 7pm at Eva's house, 46 C Street, SoPo, 207.756.0488.
Liberty's home as backup location.

Meraki Meeting Notes - 5/20/2014

NEXT MERAKI MEETING:  

7:00 pm June 18, 2014

Liberty's House

8 Edward Street

South Portland

NEXT MERAKI MEETING:  

May 20, 2014

The main topic of the meeting was Membership, but before we dug into that meaty topic, we dispensed with the following topics:

• PDC Ride Share:  PCD Ride Share has been active since late January in the sense that it has been advertised in the weekly email and published in a blog format.  In that time, no rides have been shared:  no rides offered and no rides requested.  Don Norman asked if it could be discontinued and the Meraki consensus was to  accede to the discontinuation.
• John Boynton offered a quick financial update.  The point was reiterated that decisions about changing what we ask for financially and what kind of things we spend on the surplus be made after a good year of service so that we have a full idea of yearly operating expenses.
• There was a discussion about the new whiteboard - its contents and placement.  It was decided that such questions were rightly a Wizengamot (operating committee) matter.
• A concern was voiced about the use of Spotify as an audio source for playing music at the Sunday Dance offering due to the limited quality of the music files used.  DJ members present promised to bring this concern to the collected DJs.
• Also discussed, but with no definitive decision to implement, was a discussion around the use of "Executive Sessions" which would be opportunities for the Meraki group to discuss sensitive topics off the meeting notes record.

Membership

The Membership committee (Dave Grant, Xiknowi and Blair Fridgen) presented their findings and proposals regarding the formation of a membership standard within PCD.  They provided examples in the form of three documents which are located on Google Docs: a description, a flow chart, and a sample sign-up sheet.  

The description was thoroughly reviewed and discussed.  Many decisions were made, while otheres were tabled.  From the description, the following points were approved by Meraki consensus:

• Portland Community Dance invites all dancers who have attended 5 or more dances to add your voices to our community through annual membership.  Membership is free and comes with the opportunity to participate in the management of PCD, as follows:
• Participate in Operational Meetings and our Annual Membership Meeting
• Receive Notifications of Meetings and Minutes
• Vote on By-Laws, Officers, and Policies
• Serve on Committees or as Officers
• Support the PCD mission and Safety Guidelines
• Begin by asking those on the current Meraki list to be Charter Members in order to facilitate a quick meeting of the legal requirements
• Enrollment for expanded membership will be Open, meaning a person become a member at any time, but enrollment will be advertised at the will of the Meraki, probably once or twice a year.
• Membership will require renewal on an annual basis, based on the calendar year.  i.e. if someone signs up as a member in January, August, or October, they will need to renew for the new calendar year.
• Membership renewal to coincide with the annual membership meeting.
• The initial membership enrollment will be in person at the dance, and not through electronic means. 
• To be included in the By-laws will be a provision providing that membership can be revoked by the PCD board.
• Management of membership enrollment will be a function of the Meraki.

Also discussed were the idea to provide new members with a packet that includes the mission statement and safety guidelines.

The biggest discussion was around enrollment; whether it should be open permanently, or only at certain times.   The process and justifications for revoking membership were also discussed at length, as was the decision to start with a charter membership before opening membership to the wider community.

 A number of logistical questions were discussed as well, including the use of electronic vs. analog means for managing membership.  It was decided that the details would be managed by the Meraki in due course, to be decided as needed by the full Meraki or their appointed representatives in a committee assigned the tasks.

A timeline/flowchart was also approved by the attending Merakites and is as follows:

• June 2014 - Email the Meraki group to solicit Charter Members.
• September 2014 - Charter Members vote to approve the By-Laws
• October 2014 - Open membership Enrollment to general community
• 1st week of November 2014 - hold first annual general members meeting
• Early November 2015 - 2nd Annual Members meeting and Renewal drive