Meraki In Person July 14, 2026

 

 

Meraki In Person - Tuesday, July 14, 2026

 

Attendees: Brian (facilitator), Deb (How We Roll), Devin (in-gathering), Seth (timekeeper), Felicia (vibe checker), Marion (note taker), Mellen, Shelagh, Tasja, Kari, Jimmy, Eric, Larissa, Bee, Parks,  Blair,  Sunshine, Jeff E, Kiara, Noah, Chris, Rebecca, John, Gary, Steve, Elise, Terry, Hugh and others (approx. 30 participants). 

 Meeting format

• Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker)
• 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)
• Evaluate
• Outgathering 

 

Published Agenda: 

•  Create a PCD Retreat Account - Retreat Committee - Tabled

•   Where Can We Dance - Devin - 10 minutes

• Proposal to purchase Directors & Officers (D&O) liability insurance  - Brian - 15 minutes

• Code of Conduct - PCD Taskforce Proposal 7.7.26 - Larissa and Task Force - 50 minutes

  

In-gathering:

Devin led us a practice of prayer and connection with the wider community, for Joan Sebastian Guerrero and family, the Biddeford community, the PCD community, and ourselves here at this Meraki meeting.

Where Can We Dance - Devin 

About 10 PCD members visited Lyman Moore Elementary School in Portland and South Portland Middle School.

Both are good options, both are bigger than where we dance now, have better floors for dancing, more space and equal storage.  The consensus of those who visited both is that South Portland is a better option: newer facility, more light, AC, better floor bounce, better set up for DJs. The lovely old floor at Lyman Moore is scheduled to be re-sanded and waxed, which is not ideal for us.  

The cost of South Portland is $342 per dance – $220 for 4 hours of custodial presence to include set up, the dance, and breakdown and the school’s fee. The space is 75 sq meters – about 800 sq ft – so room for decoration, altars, etc. There are showers available.

Discussion include query about PCD volunteers taking on the custodial responsibilities to save money. Devin said that there was an outside chance of an adjustment down the road but that is not something to count on.

Finances: Currently the take per dance is approx. $450. The cost of a dance at the school would be the $342 plus $200 for the DJ.  Note that PCD has just implemented a sliding scale for dances which should raise the amount of money we get per dance.

Trial Dances: There was discussion and then a consensus taken to do three trial dances  

Proposal Passed: Devin will move forward with setting up three trial dances at South Portland Middle School. We will maintain out contract with Beth El, and the option to test dance at Lyman Moore as well.

 

Proposal for Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance - Brian

PCD will purchase Directors & Officers (D&O) liability insurance to protect our volunteer officers and the organization from the legal and financial exposure that comes with governance decisions. Even as volunteers, board members are not fully shielded from personal liability and a single lawsuit could be costly to defend. D&O coverage is common practice in the non-profit world and is helpful in retaining board members.

 Annual cost from ~$520/year ($250K coverage) to ~$842/year ($1M coverage)

Discussion: While the PCD by-laws indemnify the individual PCD officers from PCD liability, the D&O insurance would provide the financial backing to cover the cost of litigation and claims. It is the PCD officers who hold ultimate fiduciary responsibility as the Board of PCD. Other CD members and volunteers would not be liable to be sued individually. A legal consult on the topic (possibly through the Maine Association of Nonprofits) was suggested. No formal vote was taken; Brian will gather more information (including whether elected officers other than board member are covered) and bring it back to a future Maraki meeting.

  

A Meraki values moment:

A member could not stay at the meeting due to the persistent piercing whine of the AC. We arrived at an easy consensus that we’d rather be hot and together than cool and apart.  

Vibe Check gave us a moment to appreciate the silence

 

Code of Conduct / Safety Documents & Community Involvement Proposal

Context - Parks:   The proposal stems from consent violations at and around PCD and builds on the work of Emily and Devin. A task force (Parks, Larissa, Kari, Eric, and Bee) researched how peer communities (Intown Contra Dance, Seattle Contact & Ecstatic Dance) handled similar issues by creating consent policies and accountability processes with outside consultants

The proposed structure – Larissa:

Four working groups

•        Member Survey
•   Community-Led Taskforce
•  PCD Review Panel: PCD Officers, Brian (President), Marion (Secretary), Jamie (Treasurer), John B, Deb G, Emily G., Kellie R, Devin and Blair.
• Outside Contractors (Dela Murphy, Lux, and Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault)

Groups would collaboratively produce four documents:

•        A Consent Culture Statement: a community-wide statement that lands us in our values, how we want to act, how we like to be treated, and how we come together as a community with responsibility and understanding.
•       Code of Conduct Behavior Policy that covers behaviors and policies and insures thast all participants are held to the same standard.
•       Reporting & Incident Procedures that will specifically address what happens when there is a violation, who handles it, what are the steps, and how it is documented.
•      Consent Team Formation & Guidelines: How the team is formed, the roles, the guidelines, and decision-making processes. This is where the Code of Conduct is implemented and how we as a community bring it to life.

Finances: Bee 

$2,000 is requested to cover contractor fees (~$500 each, with one estimate ranging $500–$1,000), with a separate future budget request for legal review. Note: These consultations might be eligible for grants. Legal review is not covered in proposed budget.

Discussion:

-       Timeline debate: The original timeline (survey out July 19, closing ~1 week, documents finalized for a September vote) drew significant push-back. Concerns included: the timeline being too rushed (especially during summer, when people are less available/attentive), insufficient time for community input, and worry about trauma-informed pacing. Others (e.g., Jeff, Sunshine) pushed the opposite way — wanting urgent action on immediate safety concerns, even suggesting adopting Seattle's existing documents right away rather than waiting.

-     Concern about need for urgent action: WIZ affirmed that they are actively addressing the current issues while maintaining confidentiality. Taskforce affirmed that they are working on long-term measures to provide safety and to support PCD culture rather than responding to a current crisis.  

-       Jeff noted that “sexual assault” is a legal term and suggested we not use it in our PCD documents.

Resolution: The Taskforce agreed to reorder the process —the Taskforce and the Review Panel will work on the documents (drawing on Seattle/Intown Contra materials) in parallel with a longer, more thoughtful community survey, rather than doing the survey first. The community would see the finished documents only after both the survey and review panel input were incorporated, with the goal of completing this process by January (rather than September).

    
The Amended Taskforce Proposal  (approve the Taskforce, $2,000 budget, four-group structure, revised/extended timeline with survey and document work happening in parallel) was put to a consensus vote and passed, with people voicing support (with some near-full "yes" and a few partial reservations about wanting more community engagement).

Next Meraki meeting dates: August 10 and September 14.

Out gathering - Devin