Meraki Meeting Notes March 15, 2017

MERAKI MTG.

March 16, 2017

 

Host: Liberty

Attendance: Kiara, Shelagh, Eva, Deb, Dave, Lindy, Liberty, John, Polly

Facilitator: Eva

Minutes from Feb. meeting read.
Actions from previous meeting yet to be completed: Lindy, John

List of Agenda Items:

Liability Release Refresh
Edits to Calendar
Finance Discussion
Oversight review
Sound System
Thur. Dance
Retreat
Potluck
Updated roles in documents? Polly, John
Communication/g-mail


Potluck: Avant reserved. Email sent out a week or 2 ago. Mellen to add it to Sunday dance announcement. Discussed interest in a theme. "How to say yes and how to say no in/to partnering". Action: Dave volunteered to facilitate. Shelagh and Kiara to organize "Who we are and what we do" for interested  newcomers. They will  stay in closing circle after dance and invite those interested. We have to be prompt in leaving. Need to be out by 2:30. New group in by 3.

Thur. Dance: Deb--Thurs. night is not making money. $60-100 loss/wk. Last year lost $300. Under consideration: Contribute play lists. Negotiate rent. Action: Thurs. committee (Deb, Oracle) to continue to discuss. Will review in May as originally decided.

Sound System/Tai Chi Studio: New speakers mounted. 4 speakers adequate for our needs.

Liability Release: Refresh every 3 yrs./insurance co. How do we implement? Action: Lindy, Liberty, Kiara to discuss, determine a procedure and implement on a trial basis. John to order new forms. Begin with yellow--200.

Sound System: John, Dave and Neil have discussed, researched and have identified a Bose system consisting of a tower, subwoofer, etc. for $4000+ with mixers and cables. Do we need it? Retreat is currently renting a system for $250. Voted to not buy a system and to close discussion until a sound system need is identified.

Threshold for Balance: $7000-10K. Discussed when to take "corrective" action. Discussion centered primarily around what will happen when the balance drops below $7000, esp. in consideration of deposits. Vote and approved: If the balance drops below $7000 with a retreat deposit, no corrective action will be taken. If the balance drops below $7000 and it does not include a large one time deposit (ie retreat), Meraki will discuss, consider and/or establish measures for corrective action.

Communication/g-mail acct: Shelagh and Lindy have explored and discussed what is needed to continue with tracking and responding to emails. Shelagh will continue to monitor the g-mail acct. Discussion re: how to proceed in "naming" the role. It was voted and agreed to title the role "Correspondence Secretary" and that the job would not fall under the responsibilities of the president, clarifying that Shelagh has volunteered to fill that position in addition to her presidency.

Retreat: Tickets will go on sale Sun. Discussion re: scholarships and sustainability. Query scholarships? ? mission. Feel of org.? There was a strong consensus that scholarships are vital to offer. Self sustaining vs. scholarships. Track scholarships. Build scholarship fund. Voted and approved: PCD ensures $500 to retreat committee for scholarships. The retreat committee will work towards financial independence. If there is a profit from any one retreat, the profit will be used to fund scholarships at future retreats. The retreat committee will discuss the status of registrants at the next Meraki in re: to number of registrants and scholarship needs.

Personal Loss: Sympathy cards can be sent personally. It was decided PCD would not participate as an organization.

Finance: Polly/John. $42/wk overhead in addition to direct expenses. In what format would/could it be viewed? Forms/docs. Minimize paper distribution.

Next meeting date: Tues. 4/11, 7-9 PM. Host: Eva-- 46 C St., South Portland.

***MERAKI POINTS go to Dave! In the arc of TENSION, he stayed cool and came up with a novel idea of creating a scholarship fund pool! It was a hit! Congratulations Dave!

Meraki Meeting Notes February 16, 2017

Meraki Meeting

Feb 16 2017

Polly Hosted

Attendance: Oracle, Blair, Mellen, Shelagh, John, Polly, Kiara, Lindy, Marty
Facilitator: Shelagh

Agenda:

1. Thursday night dances: DJ Feedback. DJ's have voted to take a reduction of pay to $150 from $175. Discussion re: financial loss. ? re: self sustaining.
Considering options for time, pay, play lists, etc. Polly resigns from Weve. Dave, Deb, and Oracle on Weve. Mechanics Hall may be becoming a community center.
408 Broadway, S. Portland, mentioned as a place that has been used in the past for dances.

2. Wiz: Blair: a. Weather Cancellation Policy is in place. Discussion re: Avant cancelling vs. PCD cancelling and other considerations. Actions: Lindy to put written policy into google docs. John to discuss with Kristin. Pre-recorded CD in greeter's bag if DJ can't come. Wiz has ultimate decision.
               b. Committee Membership. We did have membership tenure in the past. Used to have 6 mo. membership. Didn't follow thru. Question need for new members. Action: Wiz to self monitor.

3. Spring Retreat: Kiara: 6 committee members. Cheri, Judy, Rudy, Kari, Jimmy, Kiara. Deposit made. Mtg. this Sun. Push for registration to go out in Mar.
Date: Mother's Day w/e. May 12-14. Send out notice for retreat "save the date". Will need 4 DJ's. Retreat to be self sustaining. Kiara suggests we get more information re: dates from Wavus and plan for projecting ahead. Empower Kiara to recruit committee members for 1-2 retreats per year. Event brite charges to use it. Must clarify if event gets cancelled. Kiara will bring up new information at next mtg. if needed. Actions: Committee meets 2/19. Send out "Save the Date" notice. Clarify Event Brite cancellation.

4. Quarterly Potluck: All 4 Sun. available in Mar. Pot Luck costs-space. Actions: Kiara to pursue organizing and determining date. Kiara to talk with Neal and Kristin. Wiz members to discuss. Shelagh to meet with Kiara.

5. Financial Oversight: Treasurer Role; $3000 deposit to Wavus. To be returned, currently on loan from deposit. Current balance $7000-$10,000. Corrective action. Discussed greeter involvement. Action: Finance committee to discuss and return to Meraki to propose announcements/suggestions in March.

6. Calendar: Mellen would like input re: what to include. Has gotten some.

7. Treasurer Role: Polly Sun. deposit, writing checks. John to do annual committments, taxes, etc.

9. Inquiry: Adults Dev. Disability. Shelagh reports on recent request. Action: Visitors welcome. Be aware and welcoming.

10. Liability Release Form: That people sign at first dance. John reports that we checked with the  insurance agent and the form is good. To do every 3 yrs. Action: Table it until Mar.

11. Passwords: New for gmail. Check with John if you need it.

11. Next mtg.: Wed. Mar. 15, 7-9 PM. Host? Shelagh to check with Liberty.

For next meeting: By-Laws

Meraki Meeting Notes January 10, 2017

Meraki Meeting

January 10, 2017

Attendance: Deb, Liz, Liberty, John, Lindy, Mellen, Dave, Blair, Steve, Polly

Thank you:   Facilitator: Deb            Hosts: Dave and Deb Grant     Minutes: Lindy

Agenda:

New Year's Eve Dance Debrief: 80 people, lost money, sleepy affair. Suggestions: Advertise earlier/1 mo. ahead. Spend less money on food. Different sliding scale > $15. Talk it up! Possible reasons: 4 day w/e. Lots going on that w/e. Lack of committee.

Calendar: Mellen suggested creating a calendar of annual events, allowing for more planning time, ie, NYE, retreats, annual meeting, etc. Plan: Mellen to have draft ready for the next meeting.

Renewing membership: Should we renew membership? What are the pros and cons? Dave and Blair did previously, but then John proposed that we do not renew membership. Sent out email 1-2 wks. before asking to click and re-enroll. Collected phones and emails. Tracked down people and called people. If we do it, bi-annually? Purpose is to cull membership list/attrition process.
Plan: 1. Repeat membership renewal. To begin in Sept. Dave to be membership chair. Blair to help.
2. Determine biannually, annually.

Membership List: Currently in both MailChimp and gmail contacts. Need some place to reliably store membership list. Discussed if we should have it in one place or not. The main issue in gmail is sending it out to the membership list with addresses exposed rather than BBC. Plan: John will determine how to proceed.

Communication Coordinator: Discussion re: gmail account and who monitors and corresponds. John has been monitoring gmail account daily and would like to have someone else take it on. Discussion re: who to do so and that they must be comfortable working in gmail and know what is going on in PCD. There was also discussion re: people who monitor it during a special event, ie, retreat. Plan: Lindy volunteered to talk to Shelagh about monitoring it and organizing the coordinators of special events. John to add to officer position description.

Changing Passwords: John proposes passwords be changed. Each person should have their own MailChimp login. Plan: John will set it up for whoever needs it. John to change google password. Liz to change Eventbrite password.

Wiz: Meeting got cancelled past Sun. Discussion re: snow cancellation. Telephone #=google voice number. Currently John and Neil know how to change the announcement. Plan: John to talk to Blair about how to change the outgoing announcement. When we cancel we will put an announcement on the phone line, send an email out and post on FB. Wiz decides and notifies if there will be a weather cancellation. If DJ can't make it, they call other DJ's and then talk to Wiz.

DJ's: To meet in next mo. or two. No suggestions for their meeting.

Paying rent for New Year's Day: Neil had conversation with Kristin and suggested we pay half b/c of a 60 day cancellation policy. We did not know about that in the past. $225/session. Plan: Get holiday and cancellation policy in writing. John to talk to Kristin. We will pay Kristin 50% for New Year's Day.

Safety/Aggression: Proposal-- drop from agenda. Nothing alive to deal with. Plan: Discuss pot luck topical at next meeting.

Spring retreat: Committee-Shelagh/Kiara. Survey results ranked Mother's Day w/e, May 12-15, first. Has Kiara booked Wavus? TBD. Discussion re: whether to have one or two retreats/year. Do we have enough dedicated volunteers or interest to do more than 1/yr? Liberty to talk to Kari and Jimmy about their continued interest in being on the retreat committee for Spring 2017. Suggestion to only have one retreat this year. On agenda for next meeting.

Liability waivers: Mellen initiated the question re: having new liability waivers for dancers. Currently stored in different locations. Suggestions: Check law for liability waivers. Use binder, alphabetically. Plan: Lindy to contact our ins. co. John to provide contact.

Next Meeting: Feb. 7. 7-9 PM.  Location TBD.
 

Meraki Meeting Notes December 7, 2016

Meraki Meeting Notes
December 7, 2106
Nev's House

Attendance: Polly, Mellen, John, Dave, Lindy, Deb, Nev, Jason, Sarah, Shelagh, Parks, Cheri

Facilitator: Shelagh volunteered to facilitate.

Establish Agenda: Board resolution, Holidays, Membership list, Thur. night dances, Sound system, Spring retreat, Passwords, Issues brought up in absentia, Wiz, Finance.

Lindy read minutes of last Meraki meeting.

Board Resolution: Polly, John, and Mellen authorized as check signers for bank account. Polly and John to have debit cards (John has already). Polly and John to have online access (John has already). Polly & John will continue to transition and train for treasury position.

Holidays: No available DJ's for Christmas Day. No overnight available at Avant New Year's Eve/Day. Discussion re: interest in dancing 12/25/16 and 1/1/17 at the usual time in both this Meraki mtg. and the vote at last Sun. dance. Regret was expressed considering not holding dance on Sun, but it was also recognized that this was the first year that 2 traditional holidays are on Sundays. Proposal to not have dance on those 2 days and voted to cancel dance 12/25/16 and 1/1/2017.

New Year's Dance: Recognition that last year there was a committee that worked to establish the event and there are currently 3 DJ's available. Discussion re: who is organizing: Meraki or committee? Reach out to Diane, Liz, Jim Young (previous committee members). Deb and Jason volunteered to help. Shelagh volunteered to organize; Nev to do bed area; Cherie, greeters. Tickets, advertising, decorations, food still needed. Committee: Shelagh volunteered for committee and to talk to Jim Y. Liz was contacted and agreed to set up eventbrite.
Deb: Liz to train someone for next year. Nev to do tickets with Liz. Advertising related to ticket sale. Chloe & Deb to organize food. Mellen to do mailchimp announcement. Can ask for volunteers on Sunday. Previous charge: $15-20/person. Clean up crew dances for free.

Thursday Night Dances: Deb & Polly report with visual and rename 'Thwiz' to 'W'eve' (Wiz of the 'eve)!!! Need to move. Options narrowed. Well thought out. Will make recommendation. Names of places considered: (stay at) Mechanics Hall, Woodfords, Congregational, Owls club, Tai Chi, Hustle and Flow, etc. Tai Chi and MH are the only ones available Thur. nights. Recommend a 6 mo. trial at Tai Chi. Considered loss of income and need for a music system. To do: ask Jason about his sound system; consider financial implications, threshold? Consider lowering costs by paying DJ's less or paying less for the space. Will PCD support Thur. night if at a loss?  $265/night. $35 hit last dance. $300/mo. from PCD? Paying Neil for sound system rental? Dave states we are in a good position to support Thur. night dance. Nev--yes to continue. John proposes we do trial for 6 mos. Dave seconds. In the ensuing discussion, it was decided to vote on a  4 mo. trial basis which was approved. To re-evaluate.

Sound System: Purchase vs. rental vs. borrow. $3-6000 new. Rent Neil's for awhile. We agreed to rent Neil's, but Neil has not been paid to date. Jason--Neil's is option. Jason's is adequate. Jason's speaker blew at Thur. dance. He is getting fixed. Sound card brings level down. Volume issues. Do we invest? Primary issue is schlepping equipment. Dave and Neil have been doing it. John--We have money in the acct. to purchase system. Dave-- we need to present options (Dave, John, Neil on committee). Unprepared to list options at this meeting. Consider weight/storage. Table topic until March at which time sound system committee will give a full presentation (with visuals)!

Spring Retreat: Discuss pro/cons of available dates: Apr 7-9, May 12-14 (Mother's Day w/e). Mellen to do doodle of membership. Check with Kiara to check with Kiev to see if they are still available.

Membership List: John--Because of errors with CC membership list instead of BCC Gmail, recommend eliminating contacts in Gmail and using MailChimp. Problem with that option is that  emails are required and one member does not have email.  Dave liked gmail for google sheets, helpful. Gmail was also important during renewal process, however, we are not currently doing annual renewals. Suggestion to make fake email for those who don't have emails. Recommended to resume discussion next time.

Change Passwords: Deferred.

Wiz: People in the know reported no new concerns/issues. Going well.

Issues brought up in absentia: Polly is concerned about soliciting input of membership who cannot make meeting citing a previous Meraki meeting. John supports hearing from those who have specific issues and cannot attend Meraki. Mellen supports those showing up at Meraki or talking to someone who will be at Meraki. Dave- issues lose power and would not support soliciting issues. Parks recommends we do not put out an email announcement asking for feedback as was done this last Meraki email notice. Lindy solicited feedback b/c of experience of it being done last year. It was agreed that we will not solicit agenda items in response to email notifications.

Finance: John questioned frequency of preparing and emailing the finance report before each Meraki meeting. It was discussed and decided to continue with finance reports before each Meraki meeting as compared to quarterly or annual reports, and not to have lack of excitement, interest or discussion be a deciding factor.

Next Meeting Date: 01/10/2017 7-9 PM at Dave and Deb Grant's 60 Brentwood, Portland.

Tues better for most. Cheri not here on Tues. Shelagh not available after 1/3/17 in Jan. 

Annual Membership Meeting Minutes 11/20/16

PCD Annual Meeting November 20, 2016


In attendance: Liberty Bryer, Kiara Archambault (outgoing president), Byron Saavedra, Polly Urbach (incoming treasurer), John Boynton (outgoing treasurer, current bookkeeper), Shelagh Reiser (incoming president), John Ford, Julie Isbill, Rodney Mashia, Blair Fridgen, Mellen Deschenes, Katie, Oracle Smith, Cheri Howard, Heather Westleigh, Rudy Gabrielson, Andrew Gabrielson, Nev Levin, Neil Sattin, Ayla Zeimer, Eric West, Kelley Ryan, Jimmie Prichard, Traca Gress, Lindy Ost (incoming secretary), Jeff Edelstein, Laura Saavedra, Chloe Urban, Dave Grant, Deb Grant (outgoing interim secretary), Jeanette Schmid, Eva Goetz

I. Musical Opening: Rudy, Andrew, Amos, Jamila

II. Moderator--Dave Grant
          Thanks to: participants, DJ's
          Unveiling Regalia and Thanks to outgoing Interim Secretary Deb Grant (Julie Vohs),   
          Treasurer John Boynton, and President Kiara Archambault

III. Organizational Structure of PCD--John Boynton

IV. Finance Report--John Boynton

V.  Mission Statement--Kiara Archambault

VI. Bylaw changes as proposed--1. to allow Meraki, with Board’s recommendation, to appoint officers for vacancies that might happen during the year, without need to call a full membership meeting.  2. Correct numbering--voted and accepted

VII. Election of new officers/BOD--voted and accepted: President--Shelagh Reiser, Secretary--Lindy Ost, Treasurer--Polly Urbach and presentation of Regalia!

IX. Discussion:
          Income, goals
          Thur. night dance--space
          Retreats

Meraki-like (no quorum) meeting November 3, 2016

Meraki Meeting notes
November 3, 2016

Mellen’s house

Attendance: Lindy, Oracle, John, Mellen, Shelagh –

We did not have a quorum (6 required), but we did make some progress that did not involve voting, so read on!

Mellen reviewed summary of Sept. meeting.

Discussion followed of concerns that no one voluntarily stepped up for officer positions. Discussed how to deal with in future, including reaching out and asking specific people if they will serve a term. We are more likely to get a “yes” that way than waiting for people to volunteer.

Discussed need to educate members of fact that for PCD dances to exist, we need to maintain our non-profit corporation status and follow our simple structure which includes have 3 elected officers in place. Without nonprofit corporation status we cannot get insurance or rent space.

Also discussed need to spread out the work and keep new people in the mix so stalwarts don’t get frustrated, burdened and eventually burned out. Not good for the organization’s health & future.

We generated a list of seemingly committed and capable dancers who could be approached in the future about board service. That list is not included here; next Meraki meeting we can decide if that’s a public list or not.

We do have two volunteers willing to be nominated for 2017 positions: (Yay – and thank you!)

• Shelagh as President (also considers Treasurer but feels it's not the best fit)
• Lindy as secretary
• John remains as Treasurer for time being but with desire to give up board position and do bookkeeping back office as a volunteer. Noted to reach back out to Dave Grant who previously expressed willingness to explore treasurer service. It will be an easier position if John remains bookkeeper. But it was also noted that we need to have another trusted person “in training” for treasurer with bookkeeping role as John stated he is likely to be exiting completely sometime next year.

Bylaws Change: suggested by Mellen, to allow Meraki, with Board’s recommendation, to appoint officers for vacancies that might happen during the year, without need to call a full membership meeting. Mellen will draft & send to John asap.

Annual Meeting: Reminder that notice of meeting needs to go out 14 days before Nov 20 meeting. Any by laws change also has to have 14 day notice.

Spring retreat dates (@ Wavus) possible:

April 7-9

May 12-14 (Mother’s Day) ** Kiera suggests this date as preferred due to better weather.

Someone (?) is going to send a doodle to members to ascertain most popular date.

Thursday Eve dance at Tai Chi studio:

Oracle: Speaker was blown out during dance. Unclear if PCD is going to be asked to pay for speaker or repair but we should be prepared to do whatever is needed.

THWIZ will use mailing list to query dancers about experience at Tai Chi studio as potential Thursday night dance venue. There were concerns about space being too tight for our size of a group.

Deb, Polly, Oracle are researching other sites.

Christmas & New Years are on Sundays this year. Avant is booked for New Years Eve dance.

4 of 5 present would attend a Xmas day dance. Mellen to ask DJs at Nov 13 meeting if anyone is willing to DJ on Christmas morning. John to check Avant availability.

Web Calendar: Mellen to send Shelagh current DJ schedule. Shelagh maintains the calendar on the web but does not always get current schedule.

Retreat: Kieve Wavus invoice did not include meals expense. Invoice for approx $2500 expected. Project $80 profit. Question for next Meraki: what is done w/ profit? Suggestion from Mellen- since spring retreat needed support from PCD funds, shouldn’t we just keep it in the bank.

For next meeting:

Safety & aggression discussion tabled.

Finance report due following retreat when finances are finalized

New Year’s Eve planning

Meraki meeting: Dec Wed 7th. Location TBD.

Submitted by Mellen

Secretary pro tem

Meraki Meeting Notes September 29, 2016

Attended by John, Polly, Martin, Deb, Mellen, Jim, Lindy, Kiara (just one person more than a quorum!)  Thank you Polly for hosting. Thanks to Kiara for facilitating. Notes by Mme InterimSecy Deb

IMPORTANT: John won Meraki points tonight for knowing something about the bylaws that Lindy challenged him on.  She was wrong, he was right.  Lindy gets some points (but not as many as John!) for challenging him and sounding VERY informed as she did so!

New insurance policy:  Yay or nay.  Covers 2 retreats + Sunday and Thurs dances.  550 (current) vs 860 (new) per year annual.  We vote YAY.

Retreat committee update and discussion 

Scholarship funding: We reviewed last spring’s process/decision making for retreat scholarships. We reviewed the current cost of the retreat and the lower attendance is in important thing to consider when considering whether to provide scholarships. We discussed the value of generosity if the PCD funds are above $7000 which the funds are.  We agreed to provide $200 to be divided among # of requesters (looks like 2-3) at retreat committee’s discretion. This decision is for this retreat and isn’t a policy.  We might want to create a clear policy at some point.

Deposit refunds: We agreed as with last time that we would provide refunds only if the retreat income exceeds costs (or provide some amount). In the meantime we will let cancellations know that the deposit is otherwise nonrefundable as was stated in the registration materials.

Non-member attendance:  The retreat is for members only.

Review of holding the closed container of retreat: We support the committee in keeping the retreat closed to dropping in by members.  While we may want to open Saturday nights some day in the future we won’t for this retreat.  Discussed idea of extenuating circumstance: would we make a gesture to people who had to cancel by inviting them to dance Saturday night?  We talked about this at length and decided that we would not do this, as we had run into difficulty last year and identified additional considerations.  This issue took up a significant chunk of our meeting time and was not easy to decide because we would love to have these members be able to join us. But it’s too complicated!  We are turning off the heartstrings!

We added: When we try to make exceptions we have bureaucratic and interpersonal challenges that are time consuming. 

We mused: as the community grows the % of people attending retreats gets smaller, how do we relate to that? Also, can we sustain 2 retreats a year? 

Reviewed that: PCD retreat is designed/meant to be self-sufficient financially.  PCD will cover our retreat deficit.

Annual membership meeting will be November 20.  We reminded us that we need to give 14 day notification of meeting date and info to members.

Review of job descriptions  We need to notify members and tell them about officer responsibilities. Deb will compose an email, John will send Deb the attachments with info.  People need to let Meraki know their intent to run for office prior to next meeting, so that we can have the slate ready.

John is mulling stepping down as Treasurer and acting as bookkeeper instead, with exchange of not paying for dance.  Or giving a year’s notice.  We can consider whether we would need to formalize changes in structure.  Mellen reminded us that we can make changes in the board mid year. John reminded us that we have bylaws that we can turn to if ever we need to change how Meraki is run.  He also reviewed that our structure and bylaws allow for a bigger board if we want, 3 officers plus additional positions.  

Thursday night dance 

Thankfully Polly reminded us that the THWIZ has been empowered to make decisions and move forward about finding a new rental space.

Potluck follow up/Safety conversation  

The sharing/gathering and conversation seemed to be good, with content around safety generating good discussion and raising a range of topics. Question of whether the conversation brought about a feeling that there is a problem with safety?  Did our conversation help raise awareness about safety and invite people to consider safety on multiple levels?  The feeling was that we got the issues out there, which likely increased awareness for those who participated. It’s an ongoing discussion, to be continued.

Agenda item— safety topic to be continued: 

How effective is Wiz availability after dance?

Do we need to orient ppl more fully or in other ways?

Post meeting, we read a letter offered by Oracle, reflection of issues he considered after Sunday.

“RULES ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY” comment by Oracle

“IF MY CREEP METER GOES UP, THAT’S IMPORTANT” comment by Parks

Agenda item — prep for annual membership meeting

Next meeting is at MELLEN’s, Thursday November 3, 7-9, 186 Concord St, 207.318.4989, Thank you Mellen.

Annual membership meeting will be November 20