Minutes of the Board of Director’s Meeting Tucson Community Meditation Center

May 17, 2007

Present: Blake Ashley, Lhasha Tizer, Blake Barton, Frank Tomizuka, Della Estrada, Chuong Tran, Terry Magee, Debra Raeber, Steve Villaescusa by speaker phone, & 11 members

The minutes from the Annual Meeting and the Board Meeting, both on April 7, 2007 were approved.

Financial Report:  see attached.  The financial report was approved.

Call to Audience:  A member expressed that the daylong retreat at Peter Axelrod’s home was great.  They especially liked Hayward Fox and would like to see him return.  They would also like to see Culadasa continue giving classes at TCMC.

Pez made some observations and suggestions.  She thinks that TCMC could use more policies and procedures.  She seems some discontinuity between what our mission statement states in terms of TCMC being about mindfulness and TCMC offering classes that are not related specifically to mindfulness.  She suggests that TCMC have a policy that is in keeping with the mission statement.  Possibly stating which activities TCMC is hosting and others where TCMC is just the facility where the activity takes place. 

Bruce Latta asked where on the agenda “New Business” takes place.

Blake A. responded that in determining the agenda he hears from board members ahead of time as to which items they would like to place on the agenda. 

Bruce also asked if anyone in the room knows of a recognized meditation teacher who isn’t affiliated with a religion.  Bruce stated that you cannot go beyond a beginning level of meditation without getting into religion.

Price for Tibetan group use:  Terry says that we usually rent space for $15 per hour.  The Tibetan group is a small group who would possible rent our space once a month on a Sunday for 3 hours.  They would use the back bedroom.  We would ask them not to use incense.  Lhasha mentioned that it would be important to have someone who could arrange who would be using the center when.  It was discussed that TCMC needs a facility manager.  This person would be responsible for making decisions regarding the use of the center.

The board approved renting the center to the Tibetan group for $12.50 per hour or $100 for 2 hours on four Sundays. 

Culadasa Class:  Blake Barton asked if the center could have a class with Culadasa on a continuous basis on Thursday nights from 6:00 – 8:30 pm with time afterward for tea.  There would be a suggested donation for the evening which would be split 50/50 between TCMC and Culadasa after TCMC pays for Culadasa’s gas as he will be traveling from Cochise Stronghold.

It was discussed about how Board Meetings could also be held on Thursday evening once a month. 

The board approved Culadasa teaching a class on Thursday evenings from 6:00 – 8:30 pm on a regular basis.  It was decided that the board will meet in the back bedroom during his class.

Irrigation of trees:  Lhasha mentioned that the citrus trees were wilting when she was at the center.  The board approved having the irrigation system repaired.  Blake, Frank, and Chuong will each take turns watering trees when they are at the center on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings respectively if the trees seem to need extra water.

Debra will be in charge of turning on the water in the back garden to water the bougainvillea and citrus along the back fence.

Shinzen telephone class:  Frank mentioned we probably need to spend around $300 to buy a good speaker phone for conference calls in order to hold Shinzen’s class.  Chuong suggests connecting a microphone to what we already have.  He will experiment to see if he can make something work.  The next Shinzen telephone retreat is on June 24^th.  It is for his students only and lasts four hours.

Updating Website:  Chuong asked if the website could be updated to include the three different classes that are offered on Wednesday evenings. 

Handyman for repairs:  Lhasha reported that she asked her handyman for an estimate to repair the back bedroom door and ceiling and also repair the shed roof.

Debra will email all Board Members the Minutes of the previous meeting before the next meeting from now on.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.