Mentor The Newsletter of Arisia, Incorporated -- Number 118, September 2002

Announcement

The Arisia '03 convention budget will be voted on at the next meeting. A copy of the proposed budget can be found here.

Minutes of the Eboard Meeting

• Date, Time, and Place

Wednesday, September 4, 2002 at the Selkirk residence, North Reading MA. Called to order at 8:05 PM.

• In Attendance

Brendan Quinn, Colette Fozard, Nicholas Shectman, Paul Selkirk, Skip Morris, Noel Rosenberg, Alex Latzko, Lisa Hertel, and Ben Levy.

• We still have some un-reimbursed thefts from '02. Phi will make sure the checks get cut and delivered.

• The '02 FGOH incurred some expenses in Canadian dollars, which have not yet been reimbursed, due to some difficulty in getting check or money order in CDN$. Noel is taking care of this.

• Security - the first hour-long discussion. This is a big can of worms, encompassing the mezzanine, the ballroom, dealer's room, art show, and the guest floors. The reason it was brought to the Eboard is because we're self-insured, so thefts directly affect the corporation; and because the Eboard has oversight over the con, and wants to know that steps are being taken to prevent further thefts, and to avoid getting a reputation as a con with either insufficient security or storm-trooper security.

Boston Police Dept: a few paid details on the mezzanine at high-visibility times.

Hotel Security: Paid details for Dealers Room and Art Show.

Con Security: Will handle the mezzanine at other times, and guest floors.

We will make better use of available secure storage.

• Phi will coordinate with Bryt about doing the NCOA, including merging in the art show database if necessary, and merging the NCOA changes back into the registration database.

• The Eboard unanimously agreed to grant Linda Nee's request to loan some power supplies and FRS radios to the North Billerica Bright Horizons Day School family fair on 9/14. Brendan should inform her.

• Skip wants to submit a bylaws amendment to make meeting scheduling more convenient, and allow us to change the time/place of meetings that are scheduled by default. However, he didn't present the proposed language of the amendment, so no action was taken.

• At the July 2001 corporate meeting, a bylaws amendment (limiting or clarifying (depending on who you ask) the corporate treasurer's oversight of the con treasurer) was passed, "on a provisional basis, pending the satisfactory report from the lawyer". This legal review never took place, and is being passed on to the new President.

• Art Show rates: the second hour-long discussion. Skip is unhappy with the institutionalization of the '02 art show rates ($20/panel, no commission), feeling that it gives a break to established artists, and penalizes amateurs. He presented 5 pages of spreadsheet data, and 4 proposed changes to the rates.

Of the proposals, there was a general consensus for a dual-rate structure (pro: $20/panel, no commission; amateur: 10% commission, no cap, no hanging fee), and letting the artists choose by declaring themselves amateur or pro. This recommendation is provisional upon consultation with next year's conchair, to ensure that it meshes with his plans, and that it won't be yet another one-year change.

• Print Shop rates: We currently have a fee of $0.50/print. Skip wants to changes this to $2.50 per unique image, with the fee waived for prints where the original hangs in the art show. This met with general approval and no opposition.

• Colette says, "It's been fun."

• Brendan says, "What she said."

• Meeting adjourned at 10:05 PM.

Minutes of the Corporate Meeting

• Date, Time, and Place

Sunday, September 15, 2002. MIT Building 66, Room 168. Called to order at 2:20 PM.

• In Attendance

Traciy Fogarty, Joel Herda, Lisa Hertel, 'Zanne Labonville, Alex Latzko, Ben Levy, Claudia Mastroianni, Patrick McCormack, Craig McDonough, Michelle McGuire, Skip Morris, Tom Murphy, Linda Nee, Brendan Quinn, Noel Rosenberg, Paul Selkirk, Nicholas Shectman, Cris Shuldiner, Rachel Silber, Carsten Turner, Bridget Boyle (new member), Erik Meyer (new member).

• Proxies

Colette Fozard to Skip Morris, Liz Orenstein to Alex Latzko.

• President's Report/Eboard Report (Brendan Quinn)

The Eboard met just before this meeting, and approved 3 dues waivers.

The Eboard moves to approve Carsten Turner as Conchair of Arisia '04. Motion CARRIES on a voice vote.

The minutes of the 9/4 Eboard meeting were read into the minutes for this meeting.

• Vice President's Report/Grant Committee Report (Colette Fozard, via email)

The one open grant from my tenure is a request from JerseyDevilCon. As submitted, the amount requested is far too high, as was based on "projected" at-con numbers. By the time I received the application, the convention had passed, so I requested of the Chair updated numbers, and they are still working on them. I have sent them mail letting them know that the VP is about to change, but told them the mail alias, and that the new VP would have their application whenever they got the updated information in.

I am taking down to Paul Selkirk's house tonight (as he is closest e-board member) the following VP files for delivery to either the new VP or to the corporate records:

2001-2002 Grant Application File - applications/paperwork from the grant submissions from the last year.

Arisia '02 Hotel Information - prospectus, etc.

Arisia '03 Hotel Negotiations - has a copy of our current hotel contract.

Arisia 2002 - Dealer's Theft Report/Result - has notes and the correspondence regarding the loss in the dealer's room at Arisia this past year.

It has been a pleasure serving as Arisia's Vice President this past year.

• Clerk's Report (Paul Selkirk)

I've updated the Standing Documents (Articles of Organization, Bylaws, and Policies). They are available on the web as HTML, Adobe PDF, and PalmDoc PDB files. I've also printed a number of copies for people at this meeting.

• Treasurer's Report (Nicholas Shectman)

No report.

• Arisia '02 (Noel Rosenberg)

I've taken a look at the books, and there are only a couple things outstanding. There are some reimbursments to take care of - thefts, FGOH expenses. These are being resolved.

I expect to close the books prior to the next convention - I wanted to do so before this meeting, but that is not going to happen.

• Arisia '03 Report (Skip Morris)

We had a well-attended concom meeting just before this meeting, with no fatalities.

The next concom meeting will be 10/13 at the Park Plaza. The times are 12:00 noon for hotel tours, and 2:00 PM for the general meeting.

• Arisia '03 Treasury (Alex Latzko)

A draft budget is being circulated. It has a couple of known errors, which are hand-corrected. A better budget will be available before the next corporate meeting.

• Corporate Inventory Control (Linda Nee)

Thanks for the loan of equipment (power supplies and FRS radios to the 9/14 North Billerica Bright Horizons Day School family fair).

Storage is a mess. Anyone with personal equipment in storage that has not been used recently at con should talk to Linda about removing said equipment.

We need to have a storage cleaning before it gets too cold.

• Old Business

None.

• New Business

Patrick McCormack gave his proxy to Cris Shuldiner for the remainder of the meeting.

Art show rates - there was much discussion without an actual motion on the table.

MOVED to change Print Shop rates to $2.50 per unique image, with the fee waived for any print where the original hangs in the art show.

MOVED to amend by adding the words "beginning with Arisia 2004". Amendment CARRIED on voice vote.

MOVED to table the main motion; CARRIED on a hand vote of 14-4.

• Elections

• President:
• Joel Herda 13
• Cris Shuldiner 8
• Tom Murphy 1

Joel Herda is declared the winner.

• Vice President:
• Noel Rosenberg is unopposed.

The Clerk is directed to cast one vote for Noel.

• Treasurer:
• Nicholas "Phi" Shectman is unopposed.

The Clerk is directed to cast one vote for Phi.

• Clerk:
• Paul Selkirk is unopposed.

The Clerk is directed to cast one vote for himself.

• Announcements

If you have any outstanding expenses for Arisia '02, you will have to submit them to the corporation for payment.

Noel Rosenberg is Assistant Conchair for Gaylaxicon '05 in Boston.

Brendan would like to thank the corporation for the opportunity to serve.

• Meeting adjourned at 3:20 PM.

Minutes of the Eboard Meeting

• Date, Time, and Place

Sunday, September 15, 2002. MIT Building 66, Room 166. Called to order at 3:45 PM.

• In Attendance

Joel Herda , Noel Rosenberg, Nicholas Shectman, Paul Selkirk, Alex Latzko, Skip Morris, Carsten Turner.

• Congratulations to new Eboard.

• The ceremony of the signature cards (for our various bank accounts).

• The VP will track down an apparently outstanding grant request for the Smallville con.

• Should we be looking for new storage space? We're currently paying $640/month for 1100 square feet ($7/sf/year), on a 1-year lease.

Phi has made preliminary inquiries, especially in the northern suburbs. Given that savings would likely be less than $2000, for space that's much further away from the hotel, there was a consensus for staying put for now.

We might consider subletting space to similar organizations; there is one that might need about as much space as the office inside our storage area.

If we get the chance, it would be nice to move within the building, to a section with three elevators rather than one.

• Meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM.