Minutes, August 13, 2025

  Minutes of the COTMD Board Meeting on August 13, 2025, submitted by M. Frongillo
[The agenda is italicized.]

Virginia hosted the meeting, which was called to order at 7:33 PM by John Wetzel.

Present: Dianne B. and Fred [both via phone,] Virginia, Marguerite, Dianne Palmer-Quay, Victor, Maris, and Gail.
We had enough members to have a quorum.

1] Review/approve meeting minutes (June 11, 2025).  Those minutes should soon be available at:     https://cotmdboard.contracola.org/
Minutes of last board meeting [June 11, 2025] were reviewed and approved.

2] Current Treasurer’s report:
We are down $387.02 since the last report at our last meeting on June 11, 2025.
The last dance, July 26, brought in $300.00 because we got the calling and music free! Neither band nor caller accepted money for their efforts, and Tyler was not there [though we missed him!] Our treasurer was able to deposit $312 in our bank account after that dance.
A motion to approve the treasurer’s report was made, seconded, and voted accepted.

3] Booker’s report:
Tyler is our sound guy for the foreseeable future.
We have 3 out-of-town talent dances coming up. We have already agreed that out-of-town talent is now compensated by $150 per caller or musician, and now we vote YES for $150 for out-of-town callers.
Our next dance is August 23, 2025, with Tea and Whiskey as our band and Dianne Palmer-Quay as our caller.
On September 27 our band is the Evil Twins [David Knight and Laurie Fisher] and Victor will book our caller, will talk with Kenny Stephanie Marie in Charlotte.
On October 25 our band is The McKenzies and Victor will book our caller.
For the remaining 2025 dates we may be booking more local talent. Victor has a special booking email address.

4] Thoughts and comments on our most recent dance, attendance etc:
The last 2 dances were “scattered” and we had longer breaks because of the heat. The potluck was well received.

5] Do we need to make any formal decision as regards making a "potluck" before each dance a permanent thing?
Gail suggested that we decide at each board meeting whether we will do a potluck for the next two dances. For the potlucks, organic paper products and cutlery were donated. If we have potlucks all the time, should we change who does the chores? We could decide to keep putting on potlucks for the next 2 months, saying “bring your own serving utensils & cutlery.”
Victor is cleaning out some drawers so we might put our stuff in drawers.

6] Latest news (if any) regarding Arsenal Hill capacity rules (ie. Fire Marshal news)?
Capacity will be dealt with when Ms Pearl Osborne meets with the Assistant Fire Marshal.

7] Renewing our liability insurance, (renewal looms). Treasurer to execute renewal if we so desire:
Liability insurance or next year costs $634, and we will need to send the check for payment in 3 weeks. A formal proposal was made to keep insurance, and we voted to keep the insurance.

8] Should we have (instead of "caller decides") a mix of 50% ladies/gents and 50% gender neutral calling (assuming we have enough callers of each type to make this feasible)?
Common dance roll terms are Ladies and Gents [traditional], Right and Left [positional], Larks and Robins. Previously we voted that the caller decides the terms used at that dance. By alternating callers, we become familiar with a variety of terms.

9] We seem to have another Sasquatch problem at our dances (people who are too strong, too tall or too clueless to dance with).
Gail reported that two female shaggers came to the last dance, and that Karl turned them too fast. If that happens at a dance, the affected dancer should report it to a board member [who would need to wear a tag showing that they are on the board] or to the caller. The caller could talk in a short simple way about safety.

10. Any additional agenda items:
A] Meetup, and reimburse Dianne Palmer-Quay?
People are coming because of Meetup, for which Dianne P-Q has so far been paying $200 every 6 months. It looks like it is working. John says that our group should pay. Victor and Dianne P-Q offered to share the cost so far. Charlotte used Meetup and within 3 months they became solvent. For us it’s the high overhead cost due to CDSS, Insurance, and $125 rent that make it necessary for us to have 60 dancers to break even. To save money, can we sign in for 2026 as a rollover nonprofit?

B] Dance Display First Thursday Downtown Columbia:  NOTE: THE INFO BELOW IS DATED AND NOT ENTIRELY CORRECT (but is retained as a information about this meeting).
We would be seen outside in a covered space in front of the Art Museum.  We would need experienced dancers and a change in format to make it work. We would first do a 5-minute dance, then stop and announce, “It’s your turn to dance,” inviting everybody to dance. We’d have a total of one hour.
When would we do it? Suggestions were more than once a year, in possibly October, November, April, May, or June. To make arrangements, Maris would talk with Becca about details such as date[s]. We could use recorded music and we need time for a quick setup. A motion to do dance display[s] was made, seconded, and accepted by vote.

C] Gail asked if she could distribute “get in free” cards, saying there are only twelve left. John said that he thought we had formally discontinued this and will go through past minutes to check. He indicated she can go ahead until he finds we voted against giving out “get in free” cards.

 D] Marguerite asked if it’s it OK to ask the Scottish dancers to do a demo at our September dance. It would honor David Knight as a Scottish dance musician, and Scottish dancing as one of the “parents” of Contradance. She said she would donate $10 for each of the Scottish dancers’ admission. John granted the ok.

11. Set the next meeting date and adjourn.
We chose to meet on this October 22, and we adjourned at 8:49 pm.