Minutes, February 12, 2025

 Victor

 Minutes of the COTMD Board Meeting

February 12, 2025

Meeting called to order at 7:37 PM by John Wetzel.

Present: Virginia, Marguerite, Dianne B., Dianne Palmer-Q, Fred (via video call), Victor. There were enough members to have a quorum.

1. Approval of minutes of January meeting. Minutes were reviewed and approved.

2. Treasurer’s report was reviewed and approved.

3. Booker’s report

   1. We are dancing at Arsenal Hill and our talent is Chris Liakos and John Wetzel, with Caller Dianner Palmer-Q

   2. March’s talent is Lucy Allen and Marshall Goers, with Caller Victor.

4. CMFA as a dancing venue: the Board discussed the various aspects and issues with CMFA. John reported a very cordial and productive conversation with the new liaison at CMFA. Among the issue that were noted:

   1. Floor: the floor is not the best for Contra dancing and CMFA has concerns with damage to it due to street shoes being used.

   2. Calendar: CMFA explicitly indicated that they will have to cancel our reservation if they have an event in the main room.

   3. CMFA has an issue with having food in the pink room

   4. Chairs and tables: CMFA will not allow us to store them in the pink room because they want everything stored in a central location for all of their needs.

5. Arsenal Hill logistics and planning: everything I set to go for this first dance. John will add Arsenal Hill to our insurance policy.

6. Amplifiers at Lake Murray Contra Hall: John asked for approval to compensate Tyler for going to LMCH, unplugging our newest amplifier, connecting and testing the older amplifier, and then retrieving our equipment (including one of Fred’s and Dianne’s monitor speakers). A motion was made by Victor to approve the expenditure of $50 for Tyler’s time and it was seconded by Virginia; the Board unanimously approved the motion.

7. Microphone stands: the group needs three microphone stands. During the short discussion, Dianne B., Fred and John offered to donate three stands to the group.

8. Inventory of existing equipment: John is in the process of preparing an updated list of our equipment and where it resides. Some of it is with Tyler and some with Victor and some with John or at Lake Murray Contra Hall.

9. Other items

   1. Victor advanced the idea that, if we cannot afford to have more dances each month (due to funding and limited volunteers) then we may want to reduce the frequency of our dances to quarterly events that have a longer duration (to include workshops and a potluck). This was left open for further consideration.

   2. Dianne P-Q discussed the use of Meetup and Facebook ads to promote our new location. The estimated cost for the ads will be $30 per month. The Board approved the idea of investing funds for both Meetup and Facebook.

   3. Dianne B. brought up the fact that our free texting service through GiveButter is coming to an end. That service is now part of GiveButter+ which is a bit expensive at $29/month. Dianne B. will research alternatives for free texting.

Minutes, January 8, 2025

The board was held at 7:30pm at Virginia's house at the previously agreed-upon date.

Present: Dianne B., Dianne P-Q., Gail, Victor, Marguerite, Virginia, John, Fred

Absent: Maris, Kenny

Virginia and sister needed to travel the next day, so in the interest of allowing them to get to bed earlier, we abbreviated the agenda.

The minutes to the last meeting, October 9, were not reviewed or approved.

The treasurer gave an abbreviated statement of financial condition.  There were several disbursements however there was not substantive income or expenses to report as the dances since august were either cancelled or suspended for lack of interest.

The primary agenda item was to decided on the venue instead for Lake Murray.  The two candidates were CMFA and Arsenal Hill.  Arsenal Hill was selected, with the first dance being in January 2025.  

As of today, February 3, the January 2025 dance was not held because of issues in securing commitment from city Parks. The location of the February 22 dance is presently in question because of undisclosed "minder" hourly expense for the hall.  Previously the misunderstood charge for the Arsenal Hill hall was 80/20 split of gate receipts, which are "donations".

The next meeting is February 12.

The meeting adjourned a little after 8pm.

s/Fred Druseikis

===== INFO below added by Wetzel,on 2/13/2025 provided by Marguerites notes =========

 The dates below were selected at this meeting as our "maximum dates we want"  (J Wetzel comment)

Columbia Traditional Music and Dance [COTMD,] also known as ContraCola, wishes to reserve the Arsenal Hill Hall for our monthly community contra dance on these Saturdays in 2025:

1/25

2/22

3/29

4/26

5/24

6/28

7/26  

8/23  

9/27

10/25

11/22

12/13

 

We envision the following time will be needed to set up sound equipment, dance, and then take down equipment and clean up:

Door open at 5:30 pm

Setup and finish sound check by 6:30 pm

Contra dance lesson 6:30-7:00 pm

Dance contradances 7:00-10:00 pm

Take down and clean up, be done by 11:00 pm

Minutes October 9, 2024

The board meeting was held at Virginia's house.

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by president John.

Present: Dianne B, Victor, Dianne PQ, Virginia, Marguerite, John, Fred

Absent: Gail, Kenny, Maris

The minutes for the last meeting were reviewed.  A motion was made, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes.

Dianne B gave the Treasure's Report.  There were only two transactions; a payment to Susan Forte for use of her hall for the August dance; and the annual premium for insurance.  Net balance in the bank has declined to a level not seen for many years, possibly a decade.  A motion was made, seconded, and approved to accept the Treasurer's report.

Marguerite gave the Booker's Report.  She noted that Tyler cannot do sound for the October 26th dance; and Fred and Dianne will both be away for that dance.  As a side note, un-powered monitors belonging to F&D are located at LMCH; and Tyler has the power amp needed to use those.  Coordination will be necessary to make sure the necessary equipment is at LMCH.

The current dance schedule (as of 10/9/2024, but see below) is:

• October, Victor calling, with music by (sorry I didn't note this.)
• November, Joel calling, with CCOB
• December, Dianne P-Q calling, with Chris Lakos & Friends,

General business items were discussed.

The last scheduled dance, for September, did not happen because of the hurricane; it became apparent that there are additional difficulties with the road to LMCH because of downed trees and mud.  It seems that LMCH has neighbors that don't like it and remove signage.

An initial impression of Arsenal Hill as an alternative to CMFA has led to a remark that "Arsenal Hill is not viable."  This is because the occupancy restrictions will limit attendance and result in all dances depending on additional donations to cover costs.  The context for the discussion is a need to find a venue because of the rural and remote nature of LMCH and the perceived issues with CMFA as a space.

  

Discussion was had about doing some kind of thing with the "First Thursday" events in downtown Columbia.  An inquiry was sent to us by the person responsible for the event in the Columbia city government.  The board discussed the concept.  The upshot was that exactly 0 new dancers would come form this as a single event, with a lot of work to get it to happen.  There might make more sense if there were a dance series coupled with this idea.  Dianne B accepted the action item to communicate back to the city's representative about our concerns and reluctance.

Dianne PQ had raised up a couple of ideas for discussion, with the discussion focused on Family/Community Dances.  There was discussion about possibly designating one of the dances, perhaps February 2024, as a Family dance with a pot-luck; and with different times, 4-7 pm was suggested.  The venue was unclear.  The general idea was approved by the board.

In view of F&D's absence, it was agreed, that Dianne PQ, would take charge of the "green bag" for the October 26 dance.  John would be doing sound, and Victor would be calling, so that between the three of them the desk operations would be covered.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at the usual time and place.

The meeting was concluded at 8:59 pm. 

/s/ Fred Druseikis