Minutes April 5, 2023

 COTMD Board Minutes April 5, 2023

The Board gathered at Virginia Winn's house at 7pm to enjoy some dessert and coffee.  The meeting was called to order at 7:27pm.

Regular board members attending: Marguerite, Virginia, Fred, Dianne, John, Karl (via Zoom)

Guests: Maris, Gail

The minutes of the previous meeting (March 1, 2023) were approved by voice vote.

Dianne presented the Treasurer's Report.  The following specific items were noted:

(1) The treasurer is waiting for some additional records from Victor to address a $80 discrepancy.  It is believed that this amount was paid to Susan Fort for the use of the Lexington Contra Hall for the August 2022 dance; the treasurer is looking for a bit of documentation for that.

(2) A spreadsheet of the current operating expenses (since restart in August 2022) was discussed.  The spreadsheet PDF is posted in the COTMD board blog. The line item "Hall Credit to CMFA" was noted. John stated that the actual amount should be $884.12 instead of the number $750 recorded in the spreadsheet; as that was the number communicated to Joseph at CMFA.

(3) At the 2nd dance in March, there was a discrepancy of $110 discovered in the actual cash on hand in the kitty.  There may have been some uncertainty about the amount in the kitty at the opening of the admission table.  (Since Dianne and Fred were playing in the band that evening, and Marguerite was at home ill, Karl stepped in to help.  Consequently there may have been some uncertainty about what processes should be followed.)  A discussion ensued over possible oversights, the responsibilities of board members in accounting, and note made of updates to written procedures for instructing those who staff the admission table.  Dianne and Karl agreed to cover the missing funds and to treat the episode as a learning experience.

(4) CDSS membership fees have been paid.

(5) IRS filings need to be made this year as they have not been for at least during the time of Covid.

(6) ACTION ITEM: Get copies of COTMD 501(c)(3) legal status (i.e., Letter from CDSS) to CMFA.

The Treasurer's Report was approved by voice vote.

Report on the last two dances: Low attendance was noted and there was some discussion as to possible conflicts.  The first March dance was during UofSC spring break; it also conflicted with the Carolina Meltdown that same weekend.  The second March dance also had low turnout.  There was speculation that another concurrent event was ongoing then.

A discussion ensued regarding how to get more publicity out.  Some other locations for distributing flyers were mentioned: Skyline Club, Bill's Pickin' Parlor, State Government bulletin boards, The Star newspaper.

ACTION ITEM: Karl and John would work together with Virginia to update the flyer to include the notation "501(c)(3)" somewhere in it.

Karl briefly discussed the UofSC table at Russell House.  The expense of that is likely to be much less that originally thought.  There seems to be some uncertainty about the dates available for when the table can be put up.  It was noted that the time remaining in the semester is short as classes end in late April.  Having the table in August when school starts up again seems like an important goal.

An idea for promotion using "business cards" that would also allow the bearer to have a free admission to a future dance was discussed.  Many thought it sounded like a reasonable and low-cost way to help get attendance up.

The content of the business card would be something along the lines of:
"Admit ONE -- CHECK IT OUT -- QR Code for more info -- Contral Cola 501(c)(3)"

ACTION ITEM: Virginia and John would work through creating an initial batch based on the ideas discussed.

The following were also noted as ACTION ITEMS:
Gail -- check with singles groups at some local churches to gauge interest;
Karl -- put flyers up in the Lexington (Town) library;
John -- put flyers up in the Richland library;
Maris -- put flyers up in Bill's Pickin Parlor;

Marguerite presented the Booker's Report.  Three piece out of town bands are more expensive that our current payment guidelines allow.  Some configuration (subset) of ContraForce is often willing to come up to play possibly on shorter notice however current rules limit the amount we can pay; the difference is quite small.

The following motion was made, seconded, and approved by voice vote:

"The president is authorized to approve exceptions to the current payment rules for bands and callers requested by the Booker."

The renewal of Board membership is required in May.  The current officers agree to continue in their roles.

President: John Wetzel
Vice President & Booker: Marguerite Frongillo
Treasurer: Dianne Britton
Secretary: Fred Druseikis

Virginia Winn and Karl Smith agreed to continue as at-large board members.

Gail Sullivan and Maris Burton have agreed to become at-large board members.

At this point it is not known if either Kenny Greer or Barbara (Bob) Fellenstein wish to continue being on the board.

Update: Per e-mail, Kenny has agreed to continue.

ACTION ITEM: We need to verify that Kenny and Bob wish to continue.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Adjourn: 9:37pm