Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 09-17-2025

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

ORGANIZATION NAME: NWSSA 

Date: 09/17/2025
Time: 6:30 P.M. PST
Location: Virtual via Zoom

ATTENDANCE

Attendance:
Board Members Present: Tamara Buchanan, Carmen Chacon, Ken Barnes, Karen Roe, Markos Weiss, Aerin Sizelove, Michael Yeaman, Oliver Harwood
Absent Board Members: None
Quorum: Yes
Guests: Ben Mefford, Rachell Jarvis
Staff: Renee Roberts

CALL TO ORDER
A meeting of the Board of Directors of NWSSA was duly called to order on 9/17/2025 at 6:31 P.M. PST. Tamara Buchanan (President) called the meeting to order.

Welcome Invited guests:
Rachell Jarvis, Ben Mefford, Renee Roberts

Consent Agenda/ Minutes Approval
The consent agenda and minutes from the 7/17/2025 BOD meeting were approved unanimously.

Reports:

Suttle Lake – Rachell reported the symposium went very well overall. Fires in the area and smoke concerns caused lower attendance and delayed arrival of some attendees. $9,000 was raised for scholarship fund, down from last year with probable cause due to lower attendance. The “flat rate” scale was discussed. Dates for 2026 are tentatively set for August 8th-16th. It was discussed that due to the ongoing annual fire concerns, relocation for this event may need to be explored.

Pilgrim Firs – Ben reported the symposium ran very smoothly. Ben and Cyra worked well together as co-chairs. There were 102 attendees. The scholarship income started at $32,500, and ended up at $37,800. There was $16,500 spent, and $21,800 raised, resulting in a $5300 increase in the scholarship fund. The dedicated Karen Ryer scholarship fund, started at $5300 and was spent down to $4300. 

Kubota Garden – Markos reported there are 18 sculptors signed up so far, all bringing 2-3 pieces each. Security is lined up and there are many volunteers to assist with set up and tear down. The dates are September 27th-28th, 10:00AM to 4:00PM. 
Markos has proposed that the Kubota Garden event and the Everett Arboretum event alternate years. This is suggested so that we don’t exhaust participants during August/September and to strengthen participation of NWSSA members. The Kubota Garden Foundation board has already discussed this and thinks that every other year would be fine. Discussion is ongoing, including the option to look into participating at the Arboretum Plant Sale in the spring instead of participating at the Arboretum Wet Paint event in the fall.

Old Business:

Website Report: Aerin reports the initial information call with Cornerstone Creative has been completed. The discovery call, which clarifies what we want the site to do etc., is set for Friday, Sept. 26th. Post call, the Cornerstone team will be cleaning things up and will start updating the new website. Leah is a valuable resource and may not be able to attend the initial discovery call. 
Motion: Motion made(Ken) for the board to approve $90.00 for Leah to have a 30 minute meeting with Cornerstone Creative if necessary. Motion seconded by Carmen. Approved unanimously.

BOD Retreat – Nov 7th – 9th, 2025 at home of Markos 
BOD members are asked to review the skeleton agenda. Tamara proposes we start the retreat at noon on Friday, ending at noon on Sunday. We will set goals/intentions, etc. Aerin and Renee will discuss Google drive and will meet prior to retreat to organize Google drive info. Members should review the sheets Tamara has prepared for meal prep and clean up. Markos will assist with sleep arrangements for members. 

Insurance – Oliver discussed insurance coverage for the Winter Party and other events. Carmen and Oliver will co-lead to follow-up on the various insurance needs for NWSSA events.

BECU – It was confirmed that the NWSSA BOD Treasurer is the controller of the BECU account.

Bylaw Update – All Articles were reviewed with minor revisions noted. During review of Article VII STANDING COMMITTEES, Markos requested that an EVENTS Committee be created as the need exists to have consistency providing the oversight and the planning of the various NWSSA events. Discussion followed. This topic will be revisited at the next BOD meeting.

Tabled items: to be revisited in the future

Discuss the need for a Donations Manager.
Knowledge Manager –  define roles and responsibilities. Is this a Tech Liaison? Who? 
Discuss Oregon events, member participation, # of events. Are we wanting to encourage membership growth in OR (or OR/CA)?
Data entry support for Renee. 
Education events: venues, topics, further discussion in Oct  and Retreat in Nov. 
On Boarding info for new members. 
Mailing list for membership. 
Question from Renee: Is there a more abbreviated Hold harmless/Release form for NWSSA members to display art at our sponsored pop up shows? 

Next Board meeting Oct 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM  

Adjournment: Time: 8:19 PM

Minutes respectfully submitted by Karen Roe, Secretary