Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 2-1-2009
Verena Schwippert
February 1, 2009
The meeting was held at Silver Falls, OR, Sculptor’s retreat.
Attending: Tom Francis, Pres., Karl Hufbauer, Leon White, Lane Tompkins, Petra Brambrink, Bill Brayman, Rich Andler, Verena Schwippert.
Absent Board member: Constance Jones,
Guests: Alex Morosco, Tom Urban.
The meeting began at 2 pm.
One paragraph has been corrected and amended. Under the title
“Reimbursement for incurred expenses” The following sentence from the paragraph printed in bold letters “…Other volunteer work shall be acknowledged in the same manner….” shall be eliminated.
The entire statement, printed in bold letters, shall now read:
The current Board agrees on reimbursement of costs for mileage @ $.40 per mile for Board members attending Board meetings. Plus two meals and one night lodging if the meeting is held at any of the retreats. This reimbursement will be paid after the appropriate form is completed and turned into the treasurer.
Following this correction, minutes of previous meeting were approved.
For purpose of financial planning, seeking of direction and oversight, a financial committee is being formed. Karl Hufbauer and Tom Francis volunteered to be part of the committee, Treasurer Rich Andler will act as convener.
A nominating committee for new replacement candidates for Board members – who are term limited – shall be established. (Here the question of which number of BoD members is ideal and practical arose.)
Not all members of the nominating committee have to be BoD members, in fact this committee should be chaired by a non-board member.
The ideal characteristics of a non-board nominator should be a) That he or she has been a member of NWSSA for several years and
b) That he or she has served on the board previously.
It was suggested that at least two members of the nominating committee should also be board members.
Further consideration of this has been postponed to a later meeting.
Treasurer Rich Andler presented a financial schematic for cash flow of the year, incl. the three Symposia.
The overall assessment seems to be that the finance totals are about
$ 2000 or so less than in the previous year, only alarming in view of things getting more expensive (for example Camp B is charging more money) and participation in the sculpting retreats being on the decline,
plus the overall weakening economical situation.
Board took a 15 min break at this point.
Discussion ensued about specific finance problems and their solutions, for example Camp Brotherhood aspects, 2 Symposia versus 3, different models for Symposia, collaboration with Pratt Art Institute, etc.
Karl Hufbauers prognosis regarding Pack Forest Hand carving retreat in 2009 was somewhat dire, so the motion was made not to offer it next year (but perhaps again the following year).
This motion was seconded and voted upon, with the result of dropping Pak Forest in 2009.
Solutions for a variety of financial problems were talked about, with the object: Where can we save?
Telephone Conference possibilities, donations by corporations for specific items/events, volunteer secretary/bookkeeper, different paper/printing process for journal, addition to Journal by advertisements and more , were all part of the “cost saving, revenue generating” discussion.
Pro bono grant writers were another suggestion.
Silver Falls 2009
Tom Urban introduced the Silver Falls team for next year as follows.
Team leader: Tom Urban
Team: David Miller, Stu Jacobson,
Mark Andrew and wife Robin, computer
Rich Hestekind
Stephanie Robinson, registration; Steve , website
Marie Stillbach and Michael Krieger, input for educational program.
Silver Falls 2009 will take place during the same time period and with the same number of days as this year.
Lane Tompkins suggested a single page document as a help for Directors of Symposia and their teams. This would function like a checklist and outline what kind of preparations etc have to be made during the year in regards to their specific event.
A motion was made to work on such a document, no objections were raised and the motion was accepted.
As another suggestion regarding revenue Petra Brambrink presented the idea of a public art auction, perhaps also with Raffle, of members’ art as a fundraiser. This idea with be further explored.
The meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm
Next meeting will be October 10th at 1 pm
Tom Francis will announce its location.
Respectfully,
Verena Schwippet,
Secretary,
NWSSA
We need some kind of descriptive text here.