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Grex > Coop10 > #53: November Board Meeting Minutes | |
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janc
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November Board Meeting Minutes
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Nov 24 04:12 UTC 1997 |
Grex Board of Directors Meeting - November 19, 1997
Present: Mark Conger (aruba), TS Taylor (tsty), Misti Tucker (mta),
Valerie Mates (valerie), Steve Gibbard (scg), Jared Mauch (jared),
Jan Wolter (janc), Eric Bassey (other), (ivynymph), (irvingp),
Rob Argy (ajax)
PARSLEY: Meeting called to order 7:45
SAGE: Treasurers Report
[Usually Mark passes the Treasurers report to the secretary in paper
form. This didn't happen this time. I have only the notes Misti
took. Can Mark fill this in? -jan ]
Grex currently has 99 members, 92 of whom are paid up.
Ameritech has once again made a hopeless hash of Grex's phone bills.
We were billed to install both lines on Aug 18, but this was
disconnected on Aug 22 (this bill was sent to the pumpkin's address
instead of to the PO box - since we don't have a mailbox there, it
took a while to actually get to us). Then we received a separate
bill to that charged us for an installation of both lines on Aug 22.
Recently we received a third bill billing us again for an installation
of both lines, this time on Sep 12.
Valerie said she would call Ken Kiernan, our representative at
Ameritech.
ROSEMARY: Publicity
Ken Josenhans is making Grex bumpersticker. The design is pretty
much done. We need to get it printed out so we can get them ordered.
Rob Argy made a batch of T-shirts, and brought them to the board
meeting.
Mugs and Mousepads are ready to go.
Grex store web page in mostly ready.
Discussed putting an ad in the Preformance Network programs.
Discussed putting an ad in program book for Confusion (a science
fiction convention). Valerie moved:
I move that the board authorize up to $30 for advertising
in the ConFusion S. F. convention handbook.
seconded by Mark [I think -jan].
motion passed 4-0-1 (Misti abstaining)
** Misti left at this point, so the board no longer had quorum. We continued
** through the agenda, but the official board meeting was over.
Prices for T-shirts and Sweatshirts were discussed. The following
scheme was suggested:
T-shirts $15
Sweatshirts $26
plus $3 for dark colors (which cost us more)
plus $2 for XXL or XXXL (which cost us more)
THYME: Technical Committee
Scott replaced Grex's power supply. This has ended the regular crashing
and has allowed staff to restore Grex to its full 128K of memory.
Big thanks for scott.
Valerie added in 12 pty's then pulled 6 back out.
Jan installed a new version of backtalk.
CARDAMOM: Auction Report
26 items have been put up in the November Auction. As of Monday, a
total of $262 has been bid. $10 has been received.
Please, check out the auction conference if you haven't already.
There are still a few items from the last auction that have not been
delivered.
OREGENO: Election Report
There are eight candidates for 4 seats. John Remmers may have a
web-based vote program ready in time for the election.
TARRAGON: New Business
None.
NUTMEG: Meeting closed.
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| 32 responses total. |
janc
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response 1 of 32:
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Nov 24 04:26 UTC 1997 |
Sorry for the shabby state of these minutes. It was a pretty shabby meeting.
I took over taking notes when Misti left, and didn't do too good a job either
taking my own notes or writing up hers.
Misti left because the discussion about the higher prices for the XXL and XXXL
t-shirts triggered a series of rather insensitive remarks about big people
that she justifiably found offensive. She considered resigning her board
seat, but chose not to.
I personally apologize for my own contributions to that line of discourse.
I did not include this in the minutes themselves, but perhaps it should be.
I feel that board meetings are official public functions, and events there
should not be editted to protect either the innocent or the guilty.
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other
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response 2 of 32:
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Nov 24 04:32 UTC 1997 |
I am interested in the follow-up on the phone bill. Is it appropriate to
discuss it in this venue?
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janc
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response 3 of 32:
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Nov 24 04:33 UTC 1997 |
Some other followup:
STeve Andre met with some of us after the board meeting and agreed to talk
to Ken about the Ameritech bills. He has since done so. Last I heard
things still hadn't been fully resolved.
We have 53 T-shirts and sweatshirts. If we sell them all at the prices
we set, they will bring $1056.00. I don't know what we paid for them,
so I don't know how much of this is profit. $192.00 worth of shirts
have been bought and paid for. Another $213.00 worth have been "reserved"
but not yet paid for. Item 100 in agora is the current place to buy shirts
on-line.
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janc
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response 4 of 32:
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Nov 24 04:34 UTC 1997 |
Eric slipped in. I have no more information that what I reported, but yes,
it is certainly OK to discuss them in this venue.
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aruba
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response 5 of 32:
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Nov 24 05:47 UTC 1997 |
STeve said that Ken K. said he would get back to STeve on Tuesday or
Wednesday about the phone bill. In the meantime I am going to pay the
undisputed amount, which I estimate at $460.
As for the tresurer's report - the October report is online; the only
additions were that so far in November we had taken in $290 and gotten no
new members. As Jan said we were (at the time of the meeting) at 99 members,
92 paid up.
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valerie
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response 6 of 32:
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Nov 24 19:20 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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mary
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response 7 of 32:
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Nov 24 23:17 UTC 1997 |
According to Mark the bill for the t-shirts and such came
to $736.00 (Wow!) I sure hope most of them sell. ;-)
Also, it was at the December 1996 meeting that the Board
allocated $500 toward the purchase of merchandise for the
Grex Store. That was the meeting for which no official minutes
were posted. So I'd suggest it might be appropriate to
officially approve whatever is thought necessary, next meeting,
to make it official (including the original $500).
Am I the only one who is a little concerned about 21% of our
cash assets being used to purchase "spec" t-shirts? But then
I tend to be fiscally conservative for the most part.
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aruba
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response 8 of 32:
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Nov 25 06:37 UTC 1997 |
I agree that we ought to officially approve it.
I also agree that it's a lot of money, and I was surprised at how much. I'm
not really worried about it, though, because the T-shirts are so beautiful
that I'm sure they will sell. The board ought to make a decision about what
percentage of our assets we'd like to see tied up in stock at any given time.
I'm not sure 20% is unreasonable, but it will depend on how brisk the sales
are.
I suppose you might say that we took a gamble on what we knew was Rob Argy's
considerable artistic talent. I think it has paid off (but we ought to chart
the sales before we can say for sure).
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other
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response 9 of 32:
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Nov 25 06:42 UTC 1997 |
ivynymph is Amanda Hood. She's a very nice person. <smile>
(of course, i am a bit biased)
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lilmo
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response 10 of 32:
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Nov 25 23:44 UTC 1997 |
Whom should one contact regarding getting a T-shirt (I assume there *is* a
point person for this...), and for non-locals, perhaps a standard shipping
charge could be posted, also?
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janc
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response 11 of 32:
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Nov 26 00:08 UTC 1997 |
Agora Item 100 has all the facts, and I'll have a web page up sometime soon.
You can send mail to me. There is a $3 shipping charge per shirt if you want
them mailed to you. If you are in Michigan there is a 6% sales tax.
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mary
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response 12 of 32:
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Nov 26 00:59 UTC 1997 |
They are really nice t-shirts. I'm relieved to see nobody else
feels uncomfortable with the bill. I'll stop worrying. ;-)
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valerie
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response 13 of 32:
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Nov 26 16:08 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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janc
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response 14 of 32:
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Nov 26 16:32 UTC 1997 |
Well, we have at least covered the $250 extra that we spent on shirts beyond
what the board allocated. So it's a screw up, and we really should try to
do better, and we really should set a policy for how much we want to have tied
up in inventory at any given time, but by the time the check reachs Ajax,
Grex' treasury will be pulled down by much less than $500.
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janc
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response 15 of 32:
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Nov 26 16:42 UTC 1997 |
Cost of 53 shirts to Grex: $736
Expected Total Selling price: $1056
Expected Profit: $320
Shirts sold so far: $243
Profit to Grex, so far: -$493
Shirts ordered, but not yet paid for: $461
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janc
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response 16 of 32:
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Nov 26 20:20 UTC 1997 |
Oops, that last number is wrong. And some more shirts got paid for. So
here's the corrected data:
Cost of 53 shirts to Grex: $736
Expected Total Selling price: $1056
Expected Profit: $320
Shirts sold so far: $307
Profit to Grex, so far: -$403
Shirts ordered, but not yet paid for: $161
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richard
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response 17 of 32:
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Nov 26 21:50 UTC 1997 |
cool idea! why nmot throw in the shirts as freebies
for new members...i.e. for a six month paid in full membership
you get a free t-shirt...pay for a full-year y ou get a free
sweatshirt. Would be good incentive to join! The shirts wo8uld pay for
themselves in new members alone!
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other
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response 18 of 32:
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Nov 27 05:33 UTC 1997 |
sounds a little like shooting yourself in the foot in order to sell tickets
to a spectacle. you get the money from the ticket sales, but then you have
to pay the doctor...
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aruba
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response 19 of 32:
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Nov 27 07:06 UTC 1997 |
Re #17: I think the shirts are too expensive for that, Richard.
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janc
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response 20 of 32:
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Nov 27 19:24 UTC 1997 |
We might do that with bumper-stickers.
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orinoco
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response 21 of 32:
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Nov 28 18:13 UTC 1997 |
Wasn't there some little booklet or something that was being given out with
memberships a while back, or am I delusional again?
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aruba
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response 22 of 32:
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Nov 29 06:23 UTC 1997 |
If you pay for 3 months or more of membership at one time, you get a copy of
Misti's 23-page Grex handbook, "Wizard in Training". (Limit one per person.)
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mta
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response 23 of 32:
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Nov 29 18:43 UTC 1997 |
Which Mark has kindly updated.
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aruba
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response 24 of 32:
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Nov 29 20:04 UTC 1997 |
(Well, not yet, but soon.)
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