Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 7-16-2009

Minutes from July 16, 2009 Board of Directors meeting

The meeting was held at Camp Brotherhood (24880 Brotherhood Rd., Mt. Vernon, WA) during the Stone Sculpting Symposium – in Warren Hall – immediately after the yearly general membership meeting.

(The first part of these minutes was recorded by Verena Schwippert, outgoing secretary. The second part by Lane Tompkins, newly elected secretary.)

Board members present:

Elaine MacKay, Gerda Lattey, Leon White, Petra Brambrink, Bill Brayman, Lane Tompkins.

Absent was new Board member Carole Turner.

Guests: Verena Schwippert, Nancy Green, Vic Picou, Nicky Oberholtzer, Tracy Powell.

The meeting was called to order by Lane Tompkins, pres pro temp, at 8:30 pm.

The Board was given the information that Rich Andler – treasurer of the previous Board – has agreed to an advisory position to the new treasurer.

It was stated that according to the By-laws it is not permitted for a surrogate to sign checks or contracts in lieu of those designated to do so.

Election to Board positions resulted in the following:

New treasurer – Petra Brambrink

New Secretary – Lane Tompkins

Vice president – Leon White

With two nominees for president (Elaine Mac Kay and Gerda Lattey), the board voted by secret ballot. Gerda Lattey was elected new president by a vote of five to one.

(Karl Hufbauer, Rich Andler and Verena Schwippert have left the board)

Camp Brotherhood 2010:

The happy news that Camp B Symposium 2009 financially came out better than expected was relayed by Camp director Elaine MacKay. This also means that Camp B 2010 can be held at the same location. Elaine M. has agreed to be Camp Director for the next year. Karl Hufbauer will be registrar; Barbara Davidson will assign sleeping accommodations. Lavina Streeter has agreed to be field technician.

It was mentioned that Camp B director Elaine MacKay should have a committee for selecting instructors.

New president Gerda Lattey suggested that the questionnaire regarding the feedback to this year’s stone sculpting camp should be sent out to the membership as soon as possible to all participants. We need peoples’ input.

All agreed that lowering and managing the cost of this event and the cost of bookkeeping throughout the year are of vital importance.

New symposium concepts were touched upon at this point.

Vic Picou volunteered to chair a new committee to collect donations from the membership towards inviting and paying for instructors from outside our area.

NWSSA bookkeeping:

Bill Brayman pointed out that we have a membership organization, but not the correct or logical bookkeeping system for it.

Part two by Lane Tompkins

Bill Brayman further explained the current bookkeeping methods used by Debbie Asavarahapun’s office, and how NWSSA’s mail is picked up.

Wiki software:

Gerda Lattey introduced the subject of how some form of Wiki software might be used as a content management system for our membership list and to do some of the bookkeeping.

Silver Falls:

Vic Picou told the board that on some websites the Silver Falls Symposium was called the UO Stone Sculpture Symposium (University of Oregon). It was agreed that this would be looked into.

2010 negotiations with the Camp Brotherhood management:

A meeting time and place has not yet been set, but is expected to take place soon. A NWSSA goal in that meeting is to delay our deposit for next year.

Skype meetings for the board:

Gerda Lattey introduced the possibility of the board moving toward having meetings on the computer using both audio and video.

Silver Falls budget:

With treasurer Petra Brambrink’s stated concern that symposium budgets be submitted early to allow board consideration, a general discussion ensued about this year’s Silver Falls budget. President Gerda Lattey volunteered to contact Director Mark Andrew about his proposed budget.

The board agreed that our next meeting should be at Silver Falls Symposium in August. The date and time of the meeting will be decided after talking with Mark Andrew.

Adjournment: The board meeting was adjourned by new president, Gerda Lattey, just after 10 pm.

Lane W. Tompkins

NWSSA Secretary