Minutes of the Board of Director's Meeting Tucson Community Meditation Center
August 11, 2009 5:30 pm
Board Members Present: Blake Barton, Steve Villaescusa, Debra Raeber, Dee Kinsey
The minutes from our last meeting, June 2, 2009 were approved.
Call to the Audience: Wanda Poindexter asked if there are any guidelines for writing the enewsletter in the TCMC bylaws. She will be taking over putting out the newsletter each month. She would like to have the newsletter ready to go out by the first of each month in order to include any activities that will happen at the center during that first week. She also hopes that by getting the enewsletter out before our board meetings on the first Tuesday of each month more members would attend the meetings. She asked the board for any feedback about this. Board members agreed that it would be a good thing to get the newsletter out by the first of the month if possible. If there are items that aren't ready for the newsletter in time, then we can send out a separate email about those.
Wanda also expressed some concern about people parking directly in front of the center instead of parking further away and on a side street. Especially when we have large events it could impact the neighborhood and upset our neighbors. Wanda will write up a notice that Debra will forward to all of our sit leaders asking them to remind people to park away from the front of the center when attending events or classes.
Lynda Gordon announced that the James Baraz retreat in December is about 55% full. She encouraged anyone who is planning on coming to get their registrations in.
Meditation Study: Blake Ashley introduced Autumn Wiley to the board. Autumn is a graduate student at the U of A and is interested in doing a research study on meditation linking mindfulness and self control. She is interested in asking TCMC members, both long term meditators and novice meditators, to participate in her study. She would have a 20 - 30 minute questionnaire that could be completed online. After filling out the questionnaire Autumn would arrange to meet with each person privately for about 40 minutes. She would post flyers in the center and ask for volunteers in our newsletter and by email. She would ideally like to have about 100 volunteers. The board expressed some concern that we may not be able to provide that number of volunteers. A motion was made and passed that TCMC would approve Autumn posting flyers at the center and asking for volunteers through our monthly enewsletter and by email. The board asked Autumn to write up a summary for us about how she plans to recruit volunteers and what her study will look like.
Facilities management: Tim Clark reported that he has been unable to fix the toilet in the back bathroom. He says that the plumbing underneath the sinks should be replaced as well. He recommends that we hire a plumber to replace pretty much all the plumbing in the back bathroom. He has purchase two new faucets for the plumber to install. The board approved a motion that Tim contact a plumber and have the work done. We expect the cost to be around $200 - 300. Steve V. gave Tim the number of a good plumber he knows.
Tim also reported that the east facing French doors and the molding around them will need to be replaced at some point. The wood has rotted all the way around. We will discuss this with Willoughby, our landlord.
Tim would like to be notified whenever anyone purchases something for the center that he will be installing before the purchase is made so that he can give appropriate feedback.
Financial Report:
Current balances
Savings: $26,186.63
969.29
Checking: $14,184.10
Paypal: $1614.84
Raising the rent: Steve V. recommends that we raise our rent to Willoughby Britton to $1,000.00 per month. We began renting the center in June 2006. Our lease was for $500 per month. In 2007 the Board voted to raise it to $750 per month. We would take a look at our income and expenses and reevaluate every six months. We are paid now through August and the rate increase would begin after that. We pay Willoughby four months at a time.
After some discussion about our expenses and income, a motion was made and approved that we raise our rent to $1000 per month.
Approving Brian Pearson to fill in for Culadasa: Culadasa asked the board for approval to have Brian Pearson fill in for him on occasion when Culadasa is away for two weeks every summer and other times when he is gone. A motion was made and passed that the board approve Brian Pearson to fill in for Culadasa when Culadasa must be away. We will ask Brian for a write up about his practice and teaching that we can share with our members.
New Board member to replace the vacancy left by Blake Ashley's resignation: Sheryl Norris was approved by the board to serve out the remainder of Blake Ashley's term until the annual meeting next year when new board members are approved.
Officer Elections: Blake Barton was approved by the board to be our current President and Frank Tomizuka was approved to be our Vice President.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm.
