Mentor

Mentor is the corporate newsletter of Arisia, Inc.

Volume 10, Issue 87 December 1998

Minutes of the December Meeting

Time: December 22, 1998, 7:55PM.
Location: Home of Elka Tovah Menkes, Brookline MA

In Attendance: Drea Brandford, Walter Kahn, Patrick McCormack, Elka Tovah Menkes, Roberta Moore, Skip Morris, Ailsa Murphy, Brendan Quinn, Paul Selkirk, Nicholas Shectman, Cris Shuldiner, Rachel Silverman

Proxies
'Zanne Labonville to Paul Selkirk, Scott Campanella to Rachel Silverman, David Cantor to Skip Morris, Amy Chused to Drea Brandford, Buzz Harris to Drea Brandford, Drea Brandford (at 9:30PM) to Walter Kahn, Brendan Quinn (at 9:30PM) to Cris Shuldiner

Corrections to the Minutes
No corrections.

Membership Transfers
Buzz Harris was voted into General Membership, despite the confusion of the Clerk.

President's Report
No Report

Eboard Report
Matthew Saroff asked if he could pay for shipping some of the raffle items to the con. After discussion via e-mail of whether this was setting a dangerous precedent, the Eboard agreed to allow him to spend it, particularly since it turned out to be in his budget anyway.

Vice President's Report
Not present.

Treasurer's Report
The Treasurer asked the membership how they would feel about setting up an escrow account for Art Show Sales. The reason for this would be that this would make our gross receipts lower and clearly show that this money does not belong to us, for tax purposes. After discussion, it seemed that the membership was worried that this would create more paperwork hassles, and possibly more bounced checks to artists due to money transfer issues. It was generally agreed that this is not an issue for Arisia '99, but may be a possibility for future cons.

MOTION: To consolidate the Arisia '99 "corporate sales" budget into the Corporate "corporate sales" budget. Motion PASSED.

Budget Committee
No report.

Clerk's Report
Everyone is reminded to sign in. Despite the fact that we've begun to tape the meetings, written reports are still preferred.

Arisia 1999
As of December 21, we have 750 room/nights reserved out of 809 needed. The hotel will continue to accept reservations for our room block after the official cut-off of December 23. It looks like we'll be fine.

There was additional discussion of whether we have to file tax paperwork for our babysitters, who will be paid by the convention. The Treasurer will consult with the corporate lawyer.

Arisia 1999 Treasury
MOTION: To amend the A'99 budget to allow additional expenses, as follows:

DescriptionAmount
Events:
Technical
Clearcom
Pipe & Drape
Staging


250.00
360.00
160.00

Films

250.00

Operations:
Telephones

425.00

Total New Expenses:

$1,545.00

A friendly amendment to change the telephone expense to $425 from $525 (per hotel quote for inside/outside lines) was accepted.
Motion PASSED.

It was also noted that any drape currently in storage must have been fire-treated within the last five years in order for it to meet fire code. Therefore, if A'99 uses pipe and drape from storage in order to save money, the drape must be fire-treated before the con.

Arisia 2000
Still awaiting responses from the Author Guest of Honor. Decisions on appointments will be made after Arisia '99.

Hotel Search Committee
The Hotel Search Committee will visit the Sheraton Boston on Wednesday, December 30, before the Arisia '99 committee meeting.

Corporate Inventory Control
No report. Discussion ensued over whether we need to get rid of any items in our storage space.

Corporate Sales
T-shirts for Arisia '99 are on order. We have volunteers to run the Corporate Sales table at-con, but we are still looking for someone to take charge of Corporate Sales at the corporate level.

Corporate Sysadmin
Arisia.org will be down for a short period on January 1 while the machine is being moved from The Forge to Guesswork.

Records Task Force
No report.

Long Range Planning Committee
The Long-Range Planning Committee will be meeting in January.

Old business
We finally settled all of our old business at the last meeting, or tabled it to the Long-Range Planning Committee.

New business
MOVED to allow Corporate Sales to sell particular A'00 badge numbers at a silent auction.
An objection to consideration was submitted because "historically this has been something that Arisia was against." Objection FAILED.
Motion TABLED to Long-Range Planning Committee.

The treasurer wondered aloud whether we should give Masquerade winners complimentary convention memberships, in order to lure the better costumers back to Arisia year after year. The corporation agreed that if this were to be implemented, it would have to be limited to only a few winners, such as Best in Class or Best in Show. It was also printed out that through Arisia '97, the masquerade had grown, and had only been smaller in Arisia '98 when the con was in a smaller hotel. No motion was submitted.

MOVED that, for the duration of Elka Tovah Menkes' term as President, to change the presidential honorific to "Our Lady of Just Desserts." Motion PASSED.

MOVED to allow those people who are staffing convention-owned hotel guest rooms to be allowed to sleep in those rooms during Arisia '99, and to refer the entire issue to the Long-Range Planning Committee for future conventions. Motion PASSED.

MOVED to rearrange the agenda to change history.
Objection to consideration PASSED. Motion FAILED.

Announcements

No announcements.

Arisia, Mentor of Arisia, and the Arisia Lens are service marks of Arisia, Incorporated. All material copyright 1997, Arisia, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

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