Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 8-28-2014

Minutes of NWSSA Board meeting on August 28th, 2014
at Silver Falls Lodge & Conference Center in Oregon

Present were:
Carl Nelson – President
Ken Barnes – Treasurer
Ben Mefford – Camp B 2014 Director
Pat Barton
Rick Johnson

Also in attendance:
Renee Roberts – taking minutes
Doug Wiltshire – Silver Falls Symposium Director

The meeting was called to order at 1:23 pm.
Previous BoD meeting minutes available on NWSSA website were approved by all.

Agenda:
Policies
Camp B
Silver Falls
Other Business

Silver Falls Symposium Review:
Doug Wilshire, Director reviewed projections for current Silver Falls Symposium
Actual attendees exceeded projected
Auction was projected to earn $4,500; actual earnings approximately $5,200
NWSSA was able to save over $100 by purchasing liquor for the auction off-site rather than as supplied by Conference Center.
Silver Falls Lodge & Conference Center is now under new management. Discussion regarding how this will affect NWSSA and future Symposiums
• New management & staff
• We have reserved next year’s dates (August 21st – 27th, 2015)
• New structures are planned for the area we currently use as a field. We will not know until Nov. 2014 if we can utilize this field space or where we can be relocated to in the Conference Center area that will have access to power, water, facilities, etc.
• Rates have been raised on food, lodging and SFCC is planning to charge a separate rental fee for the Smith Creek Conference Room. SFCC is raising rates 40% on meals; adding $5,000 or 33% more to the overall budget.
• NWSSA’s Facility/Rooms/Meals portion of the Silver Falls symposium is about $15,000. Discussion regarding ways to offset this increase some of the ideas below were discussed with Silver falls management (outcome in parenthesis)
Could we create a sculpture for the park? (outside scope of facility manager)
Do they charge the same rate for Corporate & Non-Profits (NO)
Should we see if changing the date/time of year could bring the expense within our budget? (maybe but has implications for both NWSSA and SFCC)

Policy Review
Ken Barnes reviewed efforts to create standardized policies for the NWSSA to streamline how Major Contributions are handled including acknowledgements, tax forms, the creation of tool, stone and book library. Considerations include preparing an inventory of donated items as they are accepted to determine value. These policies will attempt to quantify and acknowledge donations while assessing the feasibility of following the donors wish. If the designation is not assigned by the donor, the BOD will place in the General Fund for highest & best use.

List of major areas of need:
Scholarship/Instruction
Capital Needs: ie Property
Annuities
Equipment: ie Birch Equipment donates $1,400 annually in reduced rental
Scholarship funds: ie David P Miller Scholarship Fund.
NWSSA should implement a policy to use funds in the amount of $1,000 or less within 12 months; amounts greater than that should have a schedule determined by the BOD.
Ken will prepare a formal proposal using the above as an outline for BOD approval.

Conflict of Interest Policy:
We may be required to have one in place. Ken will distribute a draft for the BOD to review

Safety Policy:
Pat Barton discussed that at the beginning of each Symposium, a safety meeting must be held before any substantial work is done. Hand outs for all participants should be available with the hold harmless liability agreement upon arrival.
As an educational event, we should instruct safe operations of all equipment. Letter to attendees should include that all tools should have factory supplied guards and handles. The goal is to have this policy in place by Camp B next year.

All policies should be held in DropBox for central access to BOD and Symposium Directors.

Storage:
We have been paying $89/per month for storage; items were mostly white pedestals used for the F&G Show and old NWSSA records. It was determined that the records should have been discarded long ago and the maintenance on the white pedestals to get them in display shape is costly.
Pat Parton requested $500 for materials to build new cedar pedestals for future exhibitions.
Motion was moved, seconded and approved by all.

Upcoming Events:

• Flower & Garden Show in Seattle February 11-15, 2015 Plan for promotion of our Symposium events
• 2015 Silver Falls Uchida would like to return next year; Michael Binkley guest artist
• 2015 Camp B: Deborah Wilson to return, working towards identifying guest artists

Workshops:

Seattle/Puget Sound area:
Dunite Quarry Tour (Sept 18)
Abstract on Orcas (Sept 26-28)
Pedestal Building
Polishing
Working Wet (Nov 1st)
Concut Facillity Tour
Sabah Al-Dhaher: Face & Figure Carving
Batya Friedman: Art/Artifact

Portland Area:
Peter Andrusko Hand Lettering
Marie Sivak, conversations to utilitize Portland CC Facilites for workshops
Jason Jones Studio
Sabah may be interested in doing classes in Portland if we can find the space.

John Thompson has also expressed an interest in holding workshops in Missoula, MT.

Propose to put together a mobile tool kit to provide to workshop organizers?

Holiday Party
This year, the holiday party should be held in the Portland area, can we coordinate this with a workshop?

New Business/Other Items:
Rick Johnson discussed the Snohomish County Arts Commission
This year the Arts Organization award was vacant (no one awarded). Rick proposes that the NWSSA apply with a more complete submission next year with the assistance of Ben Mefford’s writing skills.
Grant Opportunities; as Rick learns more about opportunities that NWSSA might benefit, he will share information with the BOD
Fort Warden/Port Townsend Public Development Authority; as this facility has writers conference and writers in residence, it is proposed that NWSSA may want t explore the opportunity of meeting art & architecture needs with a stone restoration school by opening up our membership to opportunities of stone architecture classes and artist in residency.

With no further items to address, The BoD meeting was adjourned at 2:24 pm