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MentorThe Newsletter of Arisia, Incorporated -- Number 125, August 2003 |
Notice
All general (non-honorary) corporate memberships expire at the end of August. Dues in the amount of $24 must be paid (or a request for waiver of dues must be submitted to the Executive Board) by the start of the Annual Meeting in order to retain voting rights, or to run for office.
Minutes of the August Meeting
Tuesday, August 19, 2003 at the Skip Morris residence, Nashua, New Hampshire. Called to order at 8:25pm.
Bridget Boyle, Joel Herda, Lisa Hertel, Walter Kahn, Rick Kovalcik, Alex Latzko, Skip Morris, Paul Selkirk, Nicholas Shectman, Rachel Silber, Carsten Turner.
Ben Levy to Carsten Turner, Tom Murphy to Walter Kahn, Craig McDonough to Paul Selkirk.
The clerk has been advised of the following:
1. The motion by Noel to freeze rates for two years was not a motion to change corporate policy, just a motion that in effect was the sense of the corporation. (Mentor had a note that says "Noted that this changes corporate policy.")
2. Rick had a question as to what the legal effect of Noel's motion was, he asked if it couldn't just be reversed at a future meeting. Several people volunteered that it could be reversed, but it was unlikely since having a motion passed has the effect of creating a memory of the sense of the corporation. Historically it is unlikely that Arisia would then ignore or change it.
Also, with the revisions to the art show rates, the full text of the pertinent corporate policy is:
III. Art Show Rates shall be set as follows:
No report.
Not present.
Arisia currently has $20,950.64 in all of its bank accounts, approximately half what we had at this time last year. Of this, $3952.39 is earmarked for the Grant Fund and $3939.69 for Arisia '04. Fulfilling these obligations will require partially liquidating the Snow Fund.
This past year, we never approved a corporate budget. With that in mind, I hereby present our actual FY03 non-convention-related income and expenses. Fiscal year 2003 was only 10 months long, so income and recurring expenses are adjusted to include figures for the 12 months to the end of June.
Income:
Expenses:
These figures are by and large typical of recent corporate figures. In past years a third to a half of this shortfall was borne directly by the conventions, and the rest came from convention profits, which reliably exceeded corporate expenses. I think this is confusing and understates the amount of money we ask the conventions to bring in.
On the tax front, I have fixed an incomplete 990EZ (statement of revenues, like a 1040EZ for nonprofits) filing. While calling to confirm that the filing was in order, I recently discovered that the IRS is missing two 941 (payroll) forms from periods when we paid a service to handle our payroll (we did it ourselves in 2003, for which the 941 filing is fine). I will fix these before the Annual meeting. There may be interest and penalty liability for these, but it will not run higher than the low three digits. The IRS is also missing some other non-revenue-related paperwork which I will need to take care of before filing our next 990EZ, which is due on November 15. I consider this paperwork part of that filing and thus under our bylaws it is the responsibility of the previously seated treasurer (that is, me) even though it happens after the elections.
Vendors are all up to date except for the continuing dispute with Verizon and some Lunacon activity on Skip Morris' Criterion account, which is also used for Arisia and which is billed to our box. Skip, would you mind if I changed the address on this billing to point to your PO box? My concern is that some future Arisia corporate or convention treasurer might inadvertently pay for Lunacon's film program.
I believe that we are overpaying for our space at 561 Windsor Street. But I would like to enter negotiations for the possible renewal of our lease in January knowing the actual exact square footage of our space. Are there accurate drawings of storage?
I still have not completed audits of any recent conventions, something I would like to do before leaving office. With that in mind, I hereby announce my candidacy for reelection to the office of Treasurer at next month's annual meeting.
I apologize for my extended absence. This was due partly, but by no means entirely, to my cross-country bicycle trip (details at http://www.psgd.org/bike). In penance, I intend to resign my position, effective next month.
Dues are due before the September meeting.
Anyone submitting a report is strongly encouraged to do so in writing, or suffer gross condensation. I think you can tell the difference.
No report.
We're planning to have a party at Torcon (Worldcon), possibly in Charlotte suite. We need party hosts. I will be there with a car.
The first concom meeting will be September 14 at the hotel.
I'm about to make a deposit of $4000.
At this point, the budget is for $67000 of expenses. [A draft budget was circulated at the meeting, but was not available for publication.]
The position is still vacant; Skip is doing it unofficially. There is now a building office on the first floor, so we don't have to play phone tag with the owner. They gave us a room on the 4th floor for staging for Noreascon. Skip would like to move up to 3rd or 4th floor where there are more elevators. Third floor is full.
The Tim Powers book project continues apace.
A Memorandum of Understanding with Stonekeep Consulting is in the works.
MOVED to direct LRP to look at complimentary membership policy and current practice, and to recommend changes to policy. PASSED without dissent.
MOVED to change policy to set the convention membership rates to $50 full weekend, $20 Friday, $35 Saturday, $20 Sunday. PASSED on a voice vote.
MOVED to amend policy to set babysitting rates to equal adult memberships. [Note: this includes day rates for babysitting.] PASSED on voice vote.
MOVED to amend policy to strike student discount, and to add student membership rate of $40 full weekend at-door, applying up to age 18 with ID, up to age 23 with college ID. This rate does not apply to babysitting memberships.
The President split the motion into three motions:
1) MOVED to amend policy by removing the student discount (Convention Policy IV.b.2). PASSED on a voice vote.
2) MOVED to amend policy by adding a student and young fan membership rate of $40 for full weekend membership. This rate does not apply to babysitting memberships. PASSED on a voice vote.
3) MOVED to amend policy by restricting the student and young fan membership rate to apply up to age 18 with ID, or up to age 23 with college ID. Friendly amendment to change "college ID" to "school ID". Friendly amendment to change "18 with ID" to "18 with proof of age". PASSED on a voice vote.
MOVED to raise the pre-reg rate to $40 starting November 1, with a cutoff of December 15 (postmarked or received). PASSED on a voice vote.
MOVED to set the pre-reg rates for Arisia '05 to $30 through March 31, 2004. MOVED to table; PASSED on a voice vote.
The full slate of rates is now as follows:
11/1 - 12/15 $40
12/16 - A'04 $50
babysitting same as adult
Friday $20
Saturday $35
Sunday $20
student $40
babysitting same as adult
The next Concom meeting will be Sunday September 14, at 2:00 PM at the hotel.
Please come to storage on Saturday August 25 at 10 AM to help load for Torcon. Also Saturday September 6 to unload.
Bridget will miss all of November and December due to family business.
Joel and Phi are running for re-election.
Paul is not running for re-election.
Alex and Skip are running for Clerk.
Minutes of the February Meeting
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at the Vandenberg/Kent residence, Mendon, Mass.. Called to order at 8:25pm.
Bridget Boyle, Buzz Harris, Joel Herda, Alex Latzko, Skip Morris, Tom Murphy, Noel Rosenberg, Paul Selkirk, Nicholas Shectman, Carsten Turner, Pat Vandenberg.
No report.
No report.
We still need to get a check to the Boston Tea Party/Smallville Fan Event.
No report.
Please sign in. Dues are $14.
Linda was not able to attend, but the following report was read from email:
I would actually like to make two quick requests. The first is for information from the tech committee. In storage, there are crates full of equipment marked to be tested. Who is qualified to test the equipment? And what will it take to get them to do it?
The second is a more general request. Before this year's convention, Patrick Foster and others went through some of the AV gear and marked it as auctionable on ebay. Is there anyone familiar with the equipment who would be willing to handle that on behalf of the corporation?
One small note of progress to report. I actually got Skip Morris to talk about moving some of his personally owned gear out of storage!
Skip will coordinate selling stuff on Ebay.
Skip wants to head the Technical Equipment Committee.
The president appoints Lisa Hertel to the committee.
Ben Levy, Rachel Silber, and Bryttan Bradley will be consulting members.
We have a database committee mailing list set up, thanks to Cris Shuldiner, so we can start talking now. Where Rachel left us is that we're supposed to go off and research what other fan groups are doing, plus commercial databases. CONGO is supposed to be reviewed in more depth, as was the idea of rolling our own system.
We have reimbursed everyone except the Arisia '02 treasurer.
We are missing a center-channel speaker that was loaned to the convention.
First, a personal announcement - I'm moving at the end of the month to a different condo in Nashua.
There are a lot of little things left to do - thank-you notes to be written, bills to be paid, nothing unusual.
I explored the legal aspects of alcohol service in hotel. The letter of the law is that hotel guest cannot bring alcohol into the hotel, and the hotel can confiscate alcohol. The real issue is what the hotel really wants. The hotel is comprised of numerous competing political entities. What we're really concerned about is what our Convention Services manager thinks, and what our Sales person thinks, because they're the ones who write our contract, and write policies.
When the Banquet Managers tour the party floors, and see alcohol being served, they raise an issue with Convention Services, because we're "stealing" business from them. If we have an alcohol policy, Heather can point to it and say "they have a policy, and when alcohol was found at an open party, they shut it down." Heather is happy, because she has something to rebut the other manager.
It looks like we're running in the black, but not by much - somewhere around $1000. This is below what we need to cover corporate expenses (rent, equipment, etc).
The art show checks have gone out. Bills are being paid. There's money in, money out.
We need to increase income, decrease con expenses, decrease corporate expenses, decrease grants, or all of the above, by approximately $5.75/member.
We're subject by the hotel's BMI/ASCAP license, because we're subject to hotel's Cabaret license. This is a $400 line item that we don't have to pay - we've always budgeted it, but rarely paid it.
We will have one more Divhead meeting in the next few weeks.
During the con wind-down, we talked about the cost of ribbons. If Arisia corporate buys the equipment to print ribbons...
The Hat has been repaired.
The senior staff structure is finished. We have openings for Member Services and GOH Liaison.
We've sold 160 memberships, mostly at A'03.
We're sending flyers to relevant conventions.
The following proposed Bylaws amendment was presented last month, and printed in the last Mentor:
Whereas the 15th day of the fifth month after the end of Arisia's fiscal year is January 15; and
Whereas conventions typically incur significant expenses in the preceding summer but not the following summer; hereby
Moved to amend Article IX, Section 1 of the Arisia Bylaws, replacing the words
A two-minute recess was called for the Executive Board to review the proposal, pursuant to Bylaw 12.1(c). The Eboard meeting was called to order at 9:09 PM. The Eboard unanimously approves this motion. The Eboard meeting adjourned at 9:09 PM.
The Eboard has met to consider this motion, and reported out favorably.
Motion PASSED 9-0 on a hand vote.
MOVED to take up the tabled motion regarding massage training. MOVED to table. MOVED to amend by replacement: It is the sense of the corporation that any money spent on massage training should be paid for by the convention Motion TABLED 4-3 on a hand vote.
MOVED to cancel the 2005 year of our Park Plaza contract. MOVED to table; failed 2-6. MOVED to table to the Eboard, which will report in 15 days, and to take up at next meeting with enough information to make an informed vote. PASSED on a voice vote.
MOVED to reconvene the hotel search committee, effective immediately; PASSED 7-0 on a hand vote. The President appointed Buzz Harris to head the committee.
Carsten has many vacancies in his concom structure.
Buzz Harris has put his name in for Conchair of Arisia '05.
Pat & Allen are having an Open House party on the first weekend of June.
Minutes of the Eboard Meeting
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at the Vandenberg/Kent residence, Mendon, Mass.. Called to order at 10:12 PM.
Joel Herda, Noel Rosenberg, Nicholas Shectman, Paul Selkirk.
MOVED to appoint Alex Latzko as Arisia '04 Treasurer; passed unanimously.
Membership/Subscription Information
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.
| September | $24 | March | $12 | |
| October | $22 | April | $10 | |
| November | $20 | May | $08 | |
| December | $18 | June | $06 | |
| January | $16 | July | $04 | |
| February | $14 | August | $02 |
Executive Board
|
President Joel Herda 17 Heath St, Apt 3 Somerville MA 02145 president@arisia.org |
Arisia 2003 Conchair Skip Morris PO Box 542 Merrymack, NH 03054-0542 conchair@arisia.org |
|
Vice President Noel Rosenberg PO Box 464 Chelmsford MA 01824-0464 vp@arisia.org |
Arisia 2003 Treasurer Alex Latzko 82 Cliff Rd Milton MA 02186 treasury@arisia.org |
|
Treasurer Nicholas Shectman 75 Lexington Avenue Somerville MA 02144 treasurer@arisia.org |
Arisia 2004 Conchair Carsten Turner conchair@arisia.org |
|
Clerk Paul Selkirk 112A Marblehead St N Reading MA 01864-1526 clerk@arisia.org |
Arisia 2004 Treasurer Alex Latzko |
Storage Facility Key Holders
| Joel Herda |
| Noel Rosenberg |
| Nicholas Shectman |
| Paul Selkirk |
| Skip Morris |
| Carsten Turner |
| Linda Nee |
| Cris Shuldiner |
| Bryttan Bradley |
| Lisa Hertel |
Committee Members & Corporate Appointed Officers
|
Grant Committee Noel Rosenberg (chair) Claudia Mastroianni Walter Kahn |
Database Committee Tom Murphy (chair) Michelle McGuire Tom Murphy Paul Selkirk Cris Shuldiner |
|
Budget Committee Nicholas Shectman (chair) Alex Latzko |
Long Range Planning Committee Cris Shuldiner (chair) Sheeri Kritzer |
|
Corporate Inventory Control Linda Nee |
Corporate Sales Officer Nicholas Shectman |
|
Corporate Systems Administrator Cris Shuldiner |
Survey Committee Claudia Mastroianni |
|
Gaming Convention Exploratory Committee (vacant) |
Technical Equipment Committee Joel Herda (chair) Liz Orenstein |
Membership Roster
| Aaron Agassi | Christopher Amshey |
| Rob Bazemore | Dave Belfer-Shevett |
| Bridget Boyle | Brian Cooper |
| Tom Coveney | Elka Tovah Davidoff |
| Regis M. Donovan | Tom Fish |
| George Flynn | Traciy Fogarty |
| Colette H. Fozard | Buzz Harris |
| Joel Herda | Brendan Hertel |
| Lisa Hertel | Walter Kahn |
| Allan Kent | Rick Kovalcik |
| Zanne Labonville | Alex Latzko |
| Benjamin Levy | Claudia Mastroianni |
| Patrick McCormack | Craig McDonough |
| Michelle McGuire | Erik J. Meyer |
| Skip Morris | Tom Murphy |
| Linda M. Nee | Elizabeth Orenstein |
| Karen Purcell | Brendan Quinn |
| Matthew F. Ringel | Mary Robison |
| Noel Rosenberg | Matthew Saroff |
| Paul Selkirk | Nicholas Shectman |
| Cris Shuldiner | Rachel Silber |
| Julia Tenney | Carsten Turner |
| Patricia Ann Vandenberg |
Calendar of Events
August 28-September 1, 2003
Torcon 3 / 61st World Science Fiction Convention
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 29-September 1, 2003
Dragon*Con 2003
Hyatt Regency & Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, GA
Sunday, September 14, 2003, 2:00 PM
Arisia '04 Concom Meeting
Alcott Room, Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
Sunday, September 21, 2003, 2:00 PM
Arisia Corporate Annual Meeting
MIT Building 66, Room 168, Cambridge, MA
October 10-12, 2003
Albacon 2003
Ramada Inn, Schenectady, NY
Sunday, 26 October 2003 4:00 PM
Arisia Corporate Meeting
MIT Building 66, Room 168, Cambridge, MA
October 30-November 2, 2003
World Fantasy Convention 2003
Hyatt Regency, Washington, DC
November 8, 2003
Con*Cept 2003
Days Inn Midtown, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
November 14-16, 2003
Astronomicon '03
Sheraton Four Points, Rochester, NY
November 21-23, 2003
Capclave 2003
Hilton Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD
December 12-14, 2003
Philcon 2003
Center City Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA
January 16-18, 2004
Arisia '04
Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
ARISIA, Incorporated
Building 600, PMB 322
1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139