Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 05-14-2025 – DRAFT

NorthWest Stone Sculptors Association
Established 05/27/1988
Board Meeting Minutes

ORGANIZATION NAME: NWSSA 

Date: 05/14/2025
Time: 6:30 P.M. PST
Location: Virtual via Zoom

ATTENDANCE

Board Members Present: TTamara Buchanan, Markos Weiss, Karen Roe, Michael Yeaman, Oliver Harwood, Ellie Hochman, Aerin Sizelove
Absent Board Members: None
Quorum: Yes
Guests: Ken Barnes
Staff Present: Renee Roberts

CALL TO ORDER
A meeting of the Board of Directors of NWSSA was duly called to order on 5/14/2025 at 6:31 P.M. PST. Tamara Buchanan (President) called the meeting to order.

Consent Agenda/ Minutes Approval
A motion was made to approve the consent agenda and minutes (Ellie), seconded by Markos. Approved unanimously.

Reports:

Best of the Northwest – Renee gave a brief update. There were approximately 40 participants for the children’s hand carving workshop. It was noted that next year we need to send an auto confirmation to confirm registration and also note the workshop is 90 minutes long. There were 4 sculptures sold. It was good exposure for NWSSA and for the individual sculptors.

Old Business:

Website Report – Aerin: Zoey is currently working on improving the online member profiles and also working on the Oregon Symposium with Rachell. Due to the slow progress of getting the website issues resolved it was suggested that there should be a  structured IT report that documents current progress. Ellie went on record to support making changes to the IT team and proposed a time be set aside to discuss making those changes. Discussion followed.
Action Item: BOD members were asked to think about who would be good to sit on a committee to discuss the IT issues going forward.

Budget Report – Michael gave a detailed report on the Operating Budget Concepts and Approach. BOD members reviewed the provided documents. Michael explained the Budget development and tracking proposals. The Events Chart of Accounts was discussed as well as how to use the process. It was proposed that in December there will be a draft budget for the upcoming year and in mid-June there will be an evaluation/assessment completed to show how we are doing with the budget midway through the year.
Motion: – A motion was made (Markos) to adopt Michael’s budgeting structure. Seconded by Ellie. Approved unanimously.

Lifetime Achievement Award – In progress, no discussion needed.

Bylaw Update – Tamara: Each BOD member has completed their review of the assigned sections and have made comments and/or suggestions. 
Action Item: BOD members are requested to go back and revisit those comments and be specific about the verbiage and sentence structure. The Bylaw updates will be reviewed by the Board in June and later presented to the membership.

Journal Editor –  Bruce Richardson will be the new editor. Arliss will continue to help solicit articles for a while but would like to retire. BOD members are asked to help find a volunteer to take over for Arliss.

New Business:

1. Grants – It was discussed that it would be useful to have all NWSSA expenses replaced by grant money. Suggestions for grant funds usage included paying for the website development; paying for hiring a marketing expert; hiring additional administrative staff, and covering expenses for things like pedestal set up and maintenance. It was noted that many grants are very specific in how their funds can be used and reading of the details of how to spend the grants is very important. Discussion is ongoing.  
2. Symposiums: PF, SL, WHCR – Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) should be created for all events. These documents are needed to ensure smooth operations in the event of unexpected departure of event directors and other key individuals. Discussion is ongoing.
3. Insurance Inspection at Pilgrim Firs – Renee suggested safety posters be positioned in the field and in the main areas as reminders to the participants. 
   Action Item: Oliver will talk with Cyra about specifics of  the inspector’s visit; the setup of the First Aid tent; and other issues involving volunteers to assist with the first aid tent including mental health advocates.

Next Board Meeting has been scheduled for June 11, 2025, 6:30 – 8:00 pm.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:03 P.M.                                                                              

Minutes respecfully submitted by Secretary Karen Roe