Minutes April 22, 2026

We gathered at 7pm at Virginia's home to enjoy some sweet things.

Present: Dianne B, Maris, Gail, Victor, Virginia, Marguerite, John, Fred

Absent: Dianne P-Q., Kenny

John called the meeting to order at 7:34pm.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

Dianne B. gave the Treasurer's Report.  After all transactions the net change was a decrease of $4 since the last report.  There was a bit of discussion regarding the "exit strategy" for should our net cash assets fall below the $1500 floor discussed some time ago, possible 2019.  It appears that we are not in danger yet.  It was observered that a significant amount of income is due to donations.  Certain fixed expenses, such as CDSS fees and insurance will be comming due after June.  The treasurers report was approved.

Victor gave the Booker's Report.  The following lineup has been defined for the remainder of the year.

April - Recorded Music / Victor calling

May - Outsiders / Gretchen Caldwell

June - Lettuce Prey / Dianne P-Q.

July - undecided maybe recorded music with Victor

August - Blueridge Rounders / Dianne P-Q.

September - Outsiders / ?

October - Blueridge Rounders / JJ Luxe

November - Lettuce Prey / Dianne P-Q.

December - ContraCola Open Band / Victor

It seems like every meeting we worry the issue of finding a larger space than Arsenal Hill.  This meeting was no different.

Several board members (Fred, Dianne B, John) visited the Elite Ballroom on Bush River Road. It has lots of space and a fair amount of parking.  It is easily excessible from the Bush River Road exit on I-20. It has an excellent sprung dance floor.  It has an ambiance similar to the old Emerald Ballroom.  Their calendar does not presently exclude the dates we have.  We are uncertain as to how long they have been in operation.  Costwise it would be substantially more expensive than Arsenal Hill.  The proprietor has requirements for dealing with food and drinks, and clean up, which affects the rental.  When we off-handedly mentioned that live music was a feature the proprietor expressed concerns about floor, heavy equiment, drum kits, etc.  That can probably be worked out once they get an idea of what we need. Per hour rental is quite a bit highter than with the city.  A minimum rental is required.  The discussion concluded that we should consider this a backup when we outgrow Arsenal Hill.

In May the board elects Officers for the next fiscal year.  All existing officers agreed to continue in their current roles for the next year.  The slate of officers for 2026-2027 fiscal year (July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027) to be elected at the next meeting:

President: John Wetzel

Vice President & Booker: Victor Gascon

Secretary: Fred Druseikis

Treasurer: Dianne Britton

Additionally, the following slate of At Large board members was nominated and will be elected at the next meeting, subject to their continued agreement to participate.

Gail Sullivan, Maris Burton, Virginia Winn, Marguerite Frongillo, Dianne Palmer-Quay, Kenny Greer

The issue of "Membership" in the ContraCola dance community was discussed.  As the Treasurer has observed, we are solvent because of the steady donations from those who care to see contra dancing continuing in the Columbia area.  Without those contributions our financial situation would be more precarious.  It was noted that City Parks deparment already requires that events be voluntary donations at their venues.  But there is still a lingering idea that the dance "charges admission" although our signage clearly states that donations are voluntary.  The basic idea was to promote a donation model of funding of the dance series, possibly with membership signifying an ongoing (periodic) donation to support the dance series.  The mechanics of doing this has been simplified by some of the software packages (Venmo, GiveButter) we are using already.  Members would receive benefits and there was much discussion about that idea and its inherent inconsistencies.  There was a concern that "members" contribution would be disallowed as tax deductable because they were given admission.  Additional thought would be given to these ideas and concerns with further discussion planned for the next meeting.

Next Meeting: June 10, 2026

The meeting adjourned at 9:06pm

/s/ Fred Druseikis

Minutes February 11, 2026

We gathered at 7pm at Virginia's house for some dessert.

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

Absent: Gail, Kenny

John called the meeting to order promptly at 7:30.

Minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

The January dance was cancelled because of weather.  Instead it was held February 7 as the band, caller, and hall were all available.

Dianne B. give the Treasurer's Report.  The city was able to refund and credit the January date to February.  Givebutter texting for our service level (basically free) expired.  All texting is now paid for using the Brevo service, and this is under $10 per month.  We still have Givebutter for donations.

Victor gave the Booker's Report.  Sherlock's Meow and Dianne P-Q. for the Feb 21 dance.  CCOB and Stephanie Marie for March.  Victor announced at the March dance that for April he would be calling and John Wetzel and friends might be playing.

Other Business.

Dianne B. asked if anyone would be interested in being part of a team for the NAMI walk in May.  Several expressed interest.  This would be a team sponsored by the COTMD and would allow the group to promote the dances at the NAMI event.  There are other sponsorship levels which have additional benefits.

Marguerite expressed concerns about the size of the space in Arsenal Hill, the limit being 49 total headcount, including musicians, caller, sound, and possibly non-dancing guests of dancers or children.  The question for disucssion was should we be proactive in seeking space or wait until we it is more urgent.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 22.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm, a record.

/s/Fred Druseikis

Minutes December 10, 2025

The board met a Virgina's home on the evening of December 10, 2025

Surprisingly, the secretary failed to actually list the attendees in his notes and had to reconstruct the list from his memory (always dubious) and that of an eye-witness (who also has trouble remembering things.)

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

Absent: Gail, Kenny

We had some sweet things to eat.

John called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.

The minutes of last meeting were approved.

Dianne B. gave the Treasurer's report. To minimize the money handling at the venue, the treasurer is now preparing envelopes with the predetermined amounts for the band, caller, and sound.  The available cash in the kitty will be sufficient to cover making change, i.e., tens and fives.  The "First Thursday" event held in November resulted in net increase in assets because the dance expenses were covered by the city.  Substantial private donations to our group where also made since the last treasurer's report.

Victor gave the Booker's report.  The CCOB is playing for the December dance with caller Tom Machlin.  The Sherlock's Meow band is scheduled for January, with the caller TBD.

There was discussion about the idea of membership with the Houston (TX) group's use of membership.  Victor volunteered to write up a blurb about the benefits of membership as it might apply to our group.

There was also discussion about how frequently we should have a Pot Luck, i.e. every dance or only occasionally.  All agreed that the idea of finger food instead of a meal might be just as effective and require less effort.  It was agreed that we should go with the finger food model for December and January.

There was some concern expressed about the size of CCOB and how the players wouldn't all fit on the small stage in the Arsenal Hill venue, thus spilling out onto the dance floor and possibly creating an unsafe situation.  It was agreed that we would need to be extra vigilant, and proactive by engaging the caller to help with any issues.

Karl sent an e-mail highlighting the possibility of engaging in planning a festival.  The board discussed the merits and particulars of the proposal.  It was felt that given our current limited resources such an activity would be too much effort and distracting from our basic mission.

There was discussion about how to proceed with our use of Meet Up.  The subscription is not cheap.  Victor volunteered that he would support our continued use of Meet Up for the next interval.  The basic question is of course are we getting any benefit out of it.  The board requests that a head count of people there because they saw us in Meet Up.  This could be done during announcements, when the dancers are asked "how many of you are dancing for the first time?"

There was a brief discussion about how to encourage follow-up attendance, with the observation that both Charleston and Charlotte are doing "2nd dance free" kind of promotions.  We tried this in the past for quite awhile, maybe a decade.  The board recalled its previous attempts at this over the years, with the consensus being that it wasn't very effective.  It also complicates tallying statistics and accounting.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, February 11, 2026.

The meeting adjourned at 8:54pm.

/s/ Fred Druseikis