Minutes 1/25/11

Attending:
John Wetzel
Connie Robinette
Fred Druseikis
Dianne Britton
Marguerite Frongillo
Lucy Gordon
Virginia Winn (hostess)
Tim Sneed
Stephanie and Scott McCravy
Mary Jo Wannamaker

Previous meeting's minutes approved.

Treasurer's Report: There was $178.00 in the kitty before the January dance and $513.00 after the dance. There is $1,316.00 in the bank. Combined total is $1,829.00, breaking down to $1,429.00 in operating funds and $400.00 in the contingency fund. Treasurer's report approved.

Issue of Free Admission Cards: There was some concern at the high number of these cards (given to first-time dancers as initiative to come back) that were distributed at the January dance, the concern being the impact on our funds should all these people return to the same dance. Board members will mull this over and discuss via email to get a general consensus as to what, if anything, we should do, and we will revisit this issue at a later date. Marguerite suggested that we wait until the end of this dance season (our May board meeting) to revisit this. Some options to consider are: should we keep distributing the cards, discontinue (but still honor those already distributed) distributing the cards, or change them from "free admission" to "half-off admission".

Pay Rate Per Musician: A motion is made to increase the pay rate to $35.00 per musician. Motion passes. Another motion is made to increase the pay rate for sound also to $35.00. Motion passes. Lucy suggested that discussion regarding adding more out of town bands be an agenda item for the next meeting. She also suggested that we discuss finding and training people who can fill in for essential people such as John and Connie for sound and the hiring of bands. This pay rate increase will become effective in the next dance season.

Form 990 will be taken care of by John before the next meeting.

Repair of Sound Equipment: John estimates that he will need between $40.00 and $100.00 to repair some equipment. Also, a microphone stand was left at the hall and never recovered and will need to be replaced. This will cost somewhere around $35.00 or $40.00.

Goals for 2011: Lucy suggested increasing the experience level of our dancers. Since we have a large numbers of beginners and fairly inexperienced dancers, we could incorporate longer, more detailed and involved workshops or tutorials to improve their skills. John usually arrives at the hall at 6:00pm, so we could have the extended workshop then. We can send an email out and provide some way for people to RSVP via Facebook (creating an event) or possibly Google Calendar; Dianne will research the Google option. Dianne also suggested getting together a carpool to an out-of-town dance. We will continue to think about these and other goals for 2011.

Rewrite of Bylaws: John will submit a draft of his rewritten bylaws and accept any comments, questions, contentions, etc. from the rest of the board all via email. We will informally approve the bylaws after all issues are worked out, John will then send them to CDSS for their approval, and we will formally vote on the finalized draft at the subsequent meeting.

Nominating Committee and Election Procedures: Lucy submitted a draft of the revised and consolidated election procedures for review by the board. She also wanted to emphasize that although we do have a formal Nominating Committee, all board members need to actively seek out and suggest potential candidates for the board. This needs to be a recurring agenda item, since we have an election every year. Any inquiries or suggestions regarding Lucy's draft should be addressed to her via email.

UU Dance: Connie has recruited eight dancers of the ten that were requested. This will be an opportunity for outreach.

Fliers: Since we had two requests for fliers (listing all the dates of the dances) at the December dance, we should probably print some up for people to take home for reference. The fliers don't need all the details, just the dates for the upcoming dances. If Virginia prints these (and any other various printouts) up, she should be reimbursed unless she just wants to contribute in this manner.

Connie suggested that we buy another folding table such as Virginia has, since the card table we use as the 'money table' is very rickety. Mary Jo volunteered to price these the next time she is at the store.

Motion made to induct Mary Jo as a board member, and the motion passes.

CDSS Summer Camp Opportunities: Dianne shared the information CDSS sent regarding opportunities to attend some of their dance and music camps. We could possibly sponsor someone, such as a potential caller or musician. The deadline for submissions is March 21, 2011.

Next meeting scheduled for March 8, 2011, and Virginia has agreed to host us again.

Meeting adjourned at 9:49pm.