This is the September issue of Mentor.  There was no August issue due to the timing of meetings. 

 

The 2007-2008 membership  year starts on September 1.  Dues of $24 per year are due immediately, and can be paid to the treasurer by check or by Paypal (paypal@arisia.org).  Dues can also be paid at the annual meeting; checks are appreciated.

 

The next meeting is on Sun Sept 16 at Building 66 of MIT, and will include corporate elections.   The announced candidates are listed later in this Mentor.   Please see the candidate statements on page 3.

 

This Mentor includes a bylaws amendment proposed by Skip Morris and signed by the required 5 corporate members.

 

Quorum is currently 11, based on attendance at the last 3 meetings.

 

 

·         Date, Time, and Place

Called to order 2:30 PM July 29 at the home of Jan Dumas.

·         In attendance

Tom Coveney, Samantha Dings, Jan Dumas, Mary Dumas, Jill Eastlake, Don Eastlake, John Francini, Nicole Gosselin, Lisa Hertel, Christina Hodge, Lisa Holsberg(Jasra),  September Isdell, Walter Kahn, Allen Kent, Rick Kovalcik, Ben Levy, Glenn  MacWilliams, Skip Morris,  Susan Mozzicato, Sharon Sbarsky, Nicholas Shectman(Phi), Mike Sprague, Pat Vandenberg, Michael Whitehouse(24).

 

·         Proxies

Tom Murphy and Alex Latzko to Skip Morris.  Conor Walsh and Zanne Labonvillle to Don Eastlake.  Pete Thomas to Christina Hodge, Jeanne Kahn to Walter Kahn, Bridget Boyle and David D’Antonio to Jill Eastlake,  Karen Purcell to Ben Levy. 

 

·         Corrections to the Minutes -- none

 

·         President’s Report

Thanks to Jan for hosting us. 23-26 are new keys that we’ve made.  Two people on keys list were not corp members but they are now paid up.  Janet Stickle has a new baby. 

·         Vice-President’s Report  -- present

 

·         Treasurer

July 1st 2007			Change from last month
Even Year - 08		$6,003.77	$0.00
Odd Year - A07		$9,574.12	$0.00
Corporate
Reserved
$3,000 N4 Grant  (unspent)	$1,246.93		-$312.17
Grant Fund	$4,000.00		$0.00
Two years expenses (CDs)	$28,307.28		$103.34
Voted Expenses	$3,362.84		-$562.17
	Total Reserved	$36,917.05	-$771.00
Unallocated		$4,382.37	$127.70
Total Funds		$41,299.42	-$643.30

 

Aug 1st 2007			Change
Even Year - 08		$6,541.14	$537.37
Odd Year - A07		$9,094.38	-$479.74
Corporate
Reserved
$3,000 N4 Grant  (unspent)	$1,246.93		$0.00
Grant Fund	$4,000.00		$0.00
Two years expenses (CDs)	$28,407.57		$100.29
Voted Expenses (excludes budget)	$3,612.84		$250.00
	Total Reserved	$37,267.34	$350.29
Unallocated		$1,825.33	-$2,557.04
Total Funds		$39,092.67	-$2,206.75

 

       

·         Clerk’s Report

I’m glad to be back.  Thanks to Merv for covering Mentor while I wasn’t able to.  Thanks to Phi for continuing to cover the mailbox.  Please let me know if there is anything you’re looking for.

·         Executive Board Report

Bylaws were printed and signed as per appropriate in Mentor.  A follow-up set of amendments from Skip will be printed next Mentor.  We should consider all of these together , except for 6.9 which we would like to bring up later.  Postponed until after budget.

 

We voted to lend whatever PiCon needs from storage.  Lucky should send mail to keys to pick things up from storage.

 

·         Arisia ’08 Conchair

We're in touch with lots of fan groups, such as the 501^st and the Brownshirts.  Things are heating up.  Hotel reservations open Monday

·         Arisia ’08 Treasury

We have a budget.   To be discussed in new business.  

 

·         Arisia ’09 Conchair

No news is good news. .

 

·         Corporate Inventory Control

Most things have not changed.  Outstanding purchase approval for drapes,  Skip has samples.

Flame retardant/ inherently flame retardant – inherently flame retardant  does not have to be redone. After discussion, moves for $250 extra for inherently flame retardant  -- passes many to a lot fewer.   We hope to save money in the long run by getting the drape retreated less often.  The drape is getting repaired in time for PiCon, cleaned and treated after PiCon

 

No news on the insurance claim, discussion of insurance policy will follow budget.

 

·         Grant Committee

Moved to award $3000 to PiCon to help with last year’s budget shortfall for the convention.  Passes unanimously. 

 

·         Honors Committee

Honors committee is charged to send a card to Janet, congratulating on new baby. 

 

·         Hotel Search Committee

No report from the committee.   There was a short discussion:  that concluded that we have a binding option for 2009 and 2010 with the Hyatt, no hurry to deal with this.  However, not too soon to explore 2011 options.

 

·         Relaxacon Committee

Final relaxacon financial report included here:  

 

We sold 34 adult, 2 Sat-only, and 5 kid memberships for a total of $567.50.  The Corporation budgeted $1,000 for the hotel rooms and other expenses (the memberships were expected to cover the food costs), but we ended up spending less than we allocated, so only half of budgeted Corporate money was used to cover the expenses.

Expenses
PayPal Fees	$9.98
Food(*)	$265.93
Hotel Suite	$785.60
Admin (**)	$20.54
Total Expenses	$1,061.51

 

Income	$567.50
Expenses	$1,061.51	Food, hotel, admin, ...
Difference	-$494.01
Corporate Help	$494.01	$1,000 budgeted

 

Next year's Relaxacon will be on Cape Cod May 30th to June 1st, 2008. See http://www.relaxacon.org for more info.

(*) Food expenses probably would have been a little more than reported, but a receipt was lost and we got some donations.

(**) Contract Faxing and Mailing at Kinkos

·          Committees not listed had no report

 

·         Old Business

Liability insurance quote: $1134 for storage and $500 for each off site event, about $2200 total.  We've always gotten convention insurance (except when we forgot) but it should be a corporate expense. Do we want liability insurance for the relaxacon?  

MSP to instruct the eboard to get $2300 of liability insurance for two events and storage. passes  unanimously.

 

Corporate budget was presented in Mentor.

An amendment to amend budget to remove $1000 from Relaxacon (we do not anticipate facilities charges) and update

liability by $500 was accepted as friendly. 

 

It was noticed that funds for student art contest were not in the budget.  MSP to add $500 to cover student art contest. 

 

MSP to add a rider to the server hosting line item that this line not be spent until new eboard and/or designated committee have approved. 

Corporate budget as amended passes unanimously. 

 

·         New Business

Convention budget: It is pointed out that there is $1000 addition errors.  These are corrected, as a friendly amendment. 

 

Friendly amendment of 1000 advertising income, not accepted.  We are being conservative there.

 

The budget assumes that the cap is 2000, same as current cap.

Fast track and babysitting memberships are mixed in to the figures.

 

Don will show the comps as income 200*8, expenses 250*8  for earned comps only under ops.  A longer con will cost us more in volunteers.

 

Discussion of what parties the convention should be running at other cons deemed off-topic for corp meeting, referred to concom.  No changes to party budget.

 

Skip is running student art contest. $500 is budgeted for running student art contest.

$50 for dealers instead of  $165

$250  for forms instead of  $25000

Under tech, rename risers to scaffolding

Food functions numbers are estimates since we don't have ‘07 numbers.

Filk would like coffee and tea --- filk will be on 1 and consuite will be on 2.

 

Why is party seed 0?  It’s really hard to tell what goes to party seed and what goes to consuite.  It’s all under consuite

Writer GOH travel should be $100.

Hotel: add to the gift basket amount.

 

Babysitters are listed as external, not employees. Eboard to check if babysitters still need to be employees for liability insurance.

 

Ops: increase sign shop to $200 and info desk $100, add $100 for logistics food, delete  blank lines of labor

ready expenses.

 

More pending business: we still have to do 2007 Masquerade best in show ribbons: just charge it back to Joel

 

Move programming money from copying/postage to

A/V and program packets.

 

Braille pocket programs are underfunded.  Increase to $150.  

Prereg packet money moved to pocket program.

 

Do we need to reprint snap forms?  Budget assumes not.

 

The budget with the amendments listed above was unanimously approved.  A link to the new budget is at http://2008.arisia.org/staffjump.  

 

The bylaws amendment for 6.9 from the eboard report is brought to the table.  Moved to amend the bylaws to add:

 

SECTION 6.9:  This article (VI) applies only to the Arisia Annual Convention and not to any Relaxacons or other smaller conventions approved by the Membership.   These smaller conventions are run and managed by a committee as approved by the Membership under the terms of article (V) with the addition that these committees remain in force once approved until the smaller convention is completed and a final report is given or until the Membership votes to end a committee

Passes 30-0.

 

The meeting moves to enter committee of the whole to discuss day rates.  Out of committee of the whole, it is moved to set Arisia ’08 day rates  at: Friday $20,  Saturday $40, Sunday $30, and Monday $10.  MSP unanimously. 

 

Move that student rates shall  include all young fans except babysitting age  not seconded. 

 

Other bylaws amendments are deferred for next meeting. 

 

·         Announcements and future meetings

2pm Sept 16 --  Annual Meeting @ MIT

2pm sun Oct 21 –Corp meeting at Mary Dumas's in Tewksbury

Nov  default date is Philcon.  Meeting will be Tues 27th november at NESFA.

Dec meeting will be at the Kovalcik/Mozzicato home (Chez Wood)  on Sat 15th 4 pm, pot luck details to be announced. 

 

Concomm meetings: Sept 29th MIT, Oct 14th MIT

Announce United Fan Con in Nov 2-4 in 2007, Springfield MA, looking for locations for 2008.

 

Everyone is reminded that corporate dues are due as of Sept 1.

 

 

Standing for President: Tom Murphy, Nicholas Shectman

 

Tom Murphy’s candidate statement for president:

My platform is very simple.  I have no reason to think anyone else is unsuited to the job; however, I think I can do the job of administering the day-to-day business of the Corporation, run meetings, and provide the insight afforded by nearly 10 years as a Corporate Member and 13 years of volunteering with the organization.  I have the time to dedicate to the position, and I want to do it.  Thank you.

 

Nicholas Shectman’s candidate statement for president:

I hope as President to revive the Archive function; to make that position and a few others into committees to provide backup or to acknowledge that multiple people are already contributing; to empower and entrust committees, once they have the redundancy they need, with more of the day-to-day work of the organization; and to cut down the number of meetings from 11 per year to perhaps 8.

 

Standing for Treasurer: Ben Levy, Tom Murphy

 

Ben Levy’s candidate statement for Treasurer:

I've enjoyed serving Arisia by being the Corporate Treasurer.  Now that we have a Corporate Budget passed, I hope the members of Arisia will allow me to continue serving as Treasurer so I can make it work.

 

Tom Murphy’s candidate statement for Treasurer:

Lately, I've said that the Corporation needs better financial reporting; I still think that the new rules regarding the minimum requirements for the Treasurer's Report aren't enough.  I want this job, perhaps more than the Presidency, because I would like to demonstrate that the degree of
reporting I would like the Membership to receive is both feasible and useful when deciding what unbudgeted expenses the Corporation can afford.  I'd like the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is.  I have the time and the desire to do this job, and I'd like the chance.  Thank you.

 

Standing for Clerk:  Rick Kovalcik

 

Rick  Kovalcik’s candidate statement for Clerk:

I am planning on running for Clerk.  I feel that my organizational skills have helped Arisia and I'd like to continue on the Eboard.   On the other hand, I think dynasties are a bad idea so I am not planning on running for President again.

 

 

From February

·         Conclude discussion of refund policy and bring a new motion (EBoard)

·         Report from hotel search committee about state of 2009/2010  possibilities.

From July

·         We need to discuss any changes we want to make in the volunteer incentive structure.   

·         Bylaws amendments continued to September

If anyone is aware of other pending business, please email clerk@arisia.org. 

 

 

This is the membership roster as of the end of the Arisia year.  Bold indicates members paid up (or honorary members) through August 2008.

 

Lisa Adler-Golden	Walter Kahn
Aaron Aggassi	Allan Kent
Jeanne Barrett	Jenn Koerber
Rob Bazemore	Pamela Koretsky
Bridget Boyle	Rick Kovalcik
Brian Cooper	’Zanne Labonville
Tom Coveney	Alex Latzko
David D’Antonio	Ben Levy
Elka Tovah Davidoff	Glen McWilliams
Jack Dietz	Skip Morris
Samantha Dings	Susan Mozzicato
Jan Dumas	Tom Murphy
Mary Dumas	Pam Ochs
Don Eastlake	Karen Purcell
Jill Eastlake	Mary Robison
Tom Fish	Noel Rosenberg
Colette Fozard	Sharon Sbarsky
John Francini	Nicholas Shectman (Phi)
Tracy Gangwer	Cris Shuldiner
Nichole Gosselin	Rachel Silber
Joel Herda	Mike Sprague
Brendan Hertel	Janet Stickle
Lisa Hertel	Brandi Tague
Christina Hodge	Pete Thomas
Lisa Holsberg (Jasra)	Persis Thorndike
Steve Huff	Pat Vandenberg
Crystal Huff	Conor Walsh
September Isdell	Al Walker (Hobbit)
Jeanne Kahn	Michael Whitehouse
Carsten Turner	James Pinkerton
Michael Bergman	Dave Belfer-Shevett

 

 

 

If you do not have a key to storage and need to get into storage, send mail to keys@arisia .org and all keyholders will get your request. 

 

Keyset	Holder	Keyset	Holder
1	Joel Herda	12	Janet Stickle
2	Alex Latzko	13	Persis Thorndike
3	Skip Morris	14	Lisa Hertel
4	Carsten Turner	15	Ben Levy
5	Skip Morris	16	Rachel Silber
6	Phi	17	Lisa Holsberg
7	Michael Bergman	18	September Isdell (spare)
8	Rick Kovalcik	19	Skip Morris (spare)
9	September Isdell	20	Rick Kovalcik (spare)
10	Hobbit	21	Jill Eastlake
11	Landlord	22	Noel  Rosenberg
		23-26	Held by Rick

 

 

 

President Rick Kovalcik 19 Chesley Rd Newton Centre MA 02459 president@arisia.org	Arisia 2007Conchair Joel Herda 17 Heath St #3 Somerville MA 02145 conchair@arisia.org
Vice President Lisa Holsberg 14 Salem St #4 Woburn MA 01801 vp@arisia.org	Arisia 2007 Treasurer Alex Latzko 40 Greatstone Dr Merrimack NH 03054 treasury@arisia.org
Treasurer Ben Levy 47 Brown St Andover MA 01810 treasurer@arisia.org	Arisia 2008 Conchair September “Tem” Isdell 82 Albion Street #2 Somerville, MA 02143 08chair@arisia.org
Clerk Rachel Silber 59 Orient Ave Melrose MA 02176 clerk@arisia.org	Arisia 2008 Treasurer Donald Eastlake 155 Beaver St Milford MA 01757 treasury@arisia.org
	Arisia 2009 Conchair Jill Eastlake 155 Beaver St Milford MA  01757

 

 

 

This change to 6.2 changes the language to not limit the convention to only a single assistant chairperson, plus follows existing practice of keeping ConChairs on the EBoard for a period subsequent to the convention, but specifies the time limit since there is always unfinished business for every convention.

6.2 Convention Chairperson:

(a) The chairperson of each Arisia Convention is appointed by the Executive Board with the approval of the Membership. All other members of the Convention Committee, with the exception of an [ADD] ex-officio assistant [REMOVE] ConChair [REPLACE WITH] chairperson (as defined in section 6.7 below), and the convention treasurer, are appointed by the chairperson. The term of office of each Convention Chairperson continues until [REMOVE] it has wound up the business of its convention, [REPLACE WITH] the second annual corporate meeting following the end of that convention. The Executive Board shall dispose of any unfinished business remaining upon the close of the chairperson's term.

(c) If there is a motion pending before the corporation to remove the convention chairperson from office, then the Executive Board may choose to suspend the convention chairperson until such motion has been resolved. Suspension shall limit all authority of the convention chairperson to act without removing the convention chairperson from office. While such a suspension is in effect, the ex-officio assistant [DELETE] convention chairperson [ADD] (as specified in section 6.7 below) will be responsible for making any decisions that must be made. If no one has been appointed to that position, then decisions will be made by the Executive Board.

This change to 6.6 specifies the term of office of a Con Treasurer and encourages the closing of the books in a timely fashon.

6.6 Convention Treasurer

(a) Each convention shall have a treasurer appointed by the Executive Board with the advice of the chairperson for that convention. [ADD] The term of office for each Convention Treasurer continues until the end of the fiscal year during which that convention takes place. The Corporate Treasurer shall dispose of any unfinished business remaining upon the close of the Convention Treasurer's term.

Modify the language in 6.7 to not refer to the Assistant Chair in a way that limits the convention to a single Assistant Chair, make the language cleaner as well as unisex.

6.7 [REPLACE WITH] Each Convention Chairperson shall serve as an ex-officio assistant chairperson for the convention immediately prior to the convention he/she is chairing, provided he/she is appointed and confirmed prior to the close of said prior convention. The ex-officio assistant chairperson shall be assigned duties consistent with preparing him/her for their subsequent term as a chairperson. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the appointment of any additional assistant chairpersons.

The current wording of section 6.8 does not require the Treasurer, Assistant ConChairs, the Hotel Liaison or even the ConChair to be corporate members. It does require DivHeads to be corporate members but nowhere is what a DivHead is defined, or even required to exist. This cleans that up by specifying the requirement in terms of authority and duties. Also add language that specifies General Members means "voting members" since this clause was not changed when the Red Shirt membership class was removed.

6.8  [REPLACE WITH] Any individual appointed to the convention committee who is delegated with budgetary transfer authority between budget line items, budgetary expense approval authority in excess of $NNN, hotel master account approval authority, and/or management authority of more then #PPP individuals must be General Members with voting rights. Anyone delegated with such authority must immediately join the corporation and must gain voting rights status no later than four (4) months before the convention for which they are appointed. The Executive Board may waive this requirement for a stated cause, or if appointment of said individual falls within the four (4) month time limit before the convention. Anyone applying for the position of Convention Chairperson must already be a General Member with voting rights.

The monetary limit of "$NNN" and people limit of "PPP" is not specified above, instead the meeting shall determine that actual numbers to be inserted (which could include zero or infinity).

Minor language cleanup:

3.3 Officers and Elections

Only one person can hold any office at any given time. No person can hold more than one office at the same time [DELETE]. The person approved as convention chairperson for a specified convention may not run for an office until after that convention. [REPLACE WITH], except that a convention chairperson for a specified convention may serve in another office after the close of said convention.

9.4 There [DELETE] is [REPLACE WITH] shall be a line item in each Convention budget for a contingency fund. Funds may be transferred from this contingency fund to another line item in the Convention budget by the Convention chairperson.

 

On Aug 29, the e-board met at Arisia storage and interviewed Conor Walsh and Mary Dumas for Relaxacon 08 chair. We thank both Conor and Mary for their thoughtful participation in the process.

 

The E-Board recommended that Rick appoint Mary Dumas as Relaxacon chair.  Both candidates were notified of this decision by Rick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Budget Committee Ben Levy (head) Alex Latzko Nicholas Shectman	Hotel Search Committee Janet Stickle (head) Skip Morris Ben Levy
Corporate Inventory Control Skip Morris (head) Lisa Hertel Hobbit Joel Herda Janet Stickle	Long Range Planning Committee Nicholas Shectman (head) Jill Eastlake Jack Dietz Lisa Adler-Goldin Conor Walsh
Technical Equipment Committee (same as CIC)	Relaxacon Investigation Committee Jack Dietz (head) Janet Stickle
Corporate Sales Officer Lisa Hertel	Survey Committee <unfilled>
Corporate Systems Administrator Cris Shuldiner	Grant Committee Lisa Holsberg (head) Walter Kahn
Honors Committee Rachel Silber (head)   Archives Committee Lori “Jet” Turi	Timeline Committee Lisa Hertel (head) Skip Morris Nicholas Shectman Noel Rosenberg Rachel Silber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subscription to Mentor of Arisia is included with Corporate Membership to Arisia, Incorporated.  Membership runs from September 1st to August 31st and costs $24.  Dues are pro-rated on a monthly basis for members joining during the year.

 

 

 

 

2pm Sept 16 --  Annual Meeting @ MIT

2pm sun Oct 21 –Corp meeting at Mary Dumas's in Tewksbury

Nov  default date is Philcon.  Meeting will be Tues 27th november at NESFA.

Dec meeting will be at the Kovalcik/Mozzicato home (Chez Wood)  on Sat 15th 4 pm, pot luck details to be announced. 

 

Concomm meetings: Sept 29th MIT, Oct 14th MIT, Nov 12 Hyatt Regency.  MIT meetings are at 2 pm.

 

See frequent updates at www.arisia.org/calendar.

 

 

 

 

 

ARISIA, Incorporated

PMB 322, Building 600

1 Kendall Square

Cambridge MA  02139