Minutes, November 19, 2019

Columbia Old Time Music & Dance

Board Meeting - November 19, 2019

MINUTES

The board met at Virginia house.

ATTENDING (in person)

    Casey, Fred, John, Jonathan, Marguerite, Victor, and Virginia

ATTENDING (by  phone)

    Natalie

ABSENT

    Dianne (illness)

The group gathered 7pm and socialized a bit.  John called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.

REVIEW OF MINUTES

The minutes of the previous board meeting, held September 17, were read and discussed.  There was additional discussion of "exit strategy" options mentioned in the minutes as some had not been part of first conversation.  No changes were proposed and no motions were put forward in that regard.  The minutes were approved.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Virginia presented the treasurer's report.  There was discussion of the current loss rate.  The report was approved by voice vote.

Virginia submitted her resignation from the Board role of treasurer but to continue as member at large.  Victor volunteered to fulfill the Treasure's rol for the remainder of her unexpired term.  A motion to so recognize this change was made, seconded, and approved.

By board action therefore Victor Gascon is now Treasurer.

A random discussion later in the meeting concerned tax reporting technicalities.  Victor agreed to do this for John, as he was already familiar with the process.

DANCE REPORT

The October dance was well attended, headcount in the mid 40's.  The November dance didn't see as large attendance, head count in the very low 20's.

It was observed that although Susan does make an effort to have water put out for the dancers, we are coming up short on cups.

Via e-mail the week before the November dance, the board approved the purchase of 10 signs for placement on routes on the way to the venue.  That e-mail chain is included in these minutes by reference.  Summary: we agreed upon the need, a simple design, and responsibilities for placement; and we bought them for a good price.  General feeling was that while e-mail is workable, it could have been done a lot faster with face-mail.

Having signs, there was discussion about sign placement at the November dance.  It was observed that the signs are hard to recognize in the dark.  Victor volunteered to accent a few of them with some reflective tape to help improve their visibility in the dark.  Board members seemed to have different feelings about placement and visibility, but it was agreed by all that we'll get better at this as we have some more experience with it.

A second issue is that the owner is concerned about the presence of these signs, so they need to be removed after the dance, and put up within an hour or two at most before the event.  Marguerite was appointed to be the "sign wallah."

BOOKER'S REPORT

Marguerite give an update on the booking of bands and callers for the rest of the season.  Our web presence has been updated with that information.  Marguerite asked if she should start booking for next year and beyond.  It was agreed that she should start booking for the 2020-2021 season. (No motion was thought to be necessary for this.)

Marguerite asked for permission to negotiate a rate larger than the current max of $280 for an out of town band for January.  Fred volunteered to cover the difference between the current max and the price being asked by the band in this case.  The board approved.

Our schedule currently shows a Techno dance for December. Jonathan mentioned that Contra Force would be willing to do a live dance on that date for a very discounted price and the good will of the holiday season, if they can hold off on making a decision about it until the end of November and decline if they need too take a better gig.  (This is basically a right of first refusal.)  It was suggested that we just cover Contra Force's generously discounted price and the cost of the hall and offer to run the dance as free will donation, and advertise the hell out of it.  A motion was made, seconded and approved to allow Jonathan to explore this further and to proceed with that if can happen.  Otherwise it will just be our originally planned Techno dance.  Jonathan will be the caller in either case.

OTHER BUSINESS

A discussion about venues ensued, especially about the parameters or characteristics thereof.  Rather than declare criteria, it seems more like we just need to record the criteria for each venue as we visit them.  The choice of one venue over another is a trade-off on several variable, size of the space just being one of them.  There are many other factors.  Generally, it was felt the the Quaker Church, as charming as it is in many ways, has a number of issues that make it difficult to dance there.  The search continues.  In this context there was discussion about the American Legion Hall in Lexington, its suitability, price, etc.  The exchange was informational and no motions were put forward.  Quaker Church remains a fall-back venue.

Marguerite raised the issue of how to publicize the negotiating parameters we have for bands and callers.  It is important to have our basic position and expectations easily available, preferably by page(s) on our web presence.  Marguerite and Victor will review the current information and Victor will update the web as needed.

NEXT MEETING

Due to person schedules the next board meeting is being delayed by a month.  It is scheduled for Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:16pm.

/s/ Frederick C. Druseikis, Secretary.