Minutes of Chicks on Sticks Meeting 2Feb14

In attendance: Malia, Sharon, Tara, Nicole and Amy.

1   1)    Check ins.

2    2)    Treasury Report by Sharon

a.     Current account balance: $4,456.65

b.     We had 17 paid gigs in 2013.

c.      Eden Prairie gig never paid us.  Stilters were paid from kitty.  Soozin is tracking down payment?

d.     Looking into the tax issue.  Do we need to pay taxes as an organization if we make over a certain amount?  We’re technically a corporate entity.  Sharon is working with an accountant friend to get more information.

e.     Would it be advantageous for us to pursue our own 501(c)3 status?

                                                   i.      Cost?

                                                   ii.      Obligations?

                                                   iii.      Free use of MN Park spaces.

                                                   iv.      Makes us eligible for grants.

                                                   v.      We need to prove that money earned goes back into the organization to be non-profit.  Sharon suggests spending half the kitty to do so.

f.       Sharon is willing to continue on as treasurer, but is concerned that the structurelessness of the group makes it difficult to understand what she needs to do.  More frequent meetings would help.  This is her third year as treasurer and she is working to set up a system that could be passed on to another treasurer at some point.

3   3)    Meetings

a.     How often should we meet?  Quarterly? Monthly?

b.     What is realistic, given how busy we all are? 

c.      Regular meetings keep the organization moving forward, build community, and  create a forum for our ideas beyond just doing paid gigs.

d.     What constitutes quorum?  We believe it’s currently ¾ Percent of membership, which is 7 (or maybe 6) people.  If people aren’t actively coming to meetings should they count against the quorum?  Should we have voting members and non-voting members based on participation availability?  This could shift, of course.  We want to be a group that supports people needing fluid membership to maintain other priorities in their lives.  But we still need to be able to function and make decisions, which is difficult in our current system.

e.     Winter is a good time in people’s schedules for meetings.  We all agreed it would be good to resolve some organizational issues before the stilting season kicks off this spring.

f.       PROPOSAL:  We propose that Chicks on Sticks set up scheduled, recurring meetings for every other month in 2014, for a total of six ‘board’ meetings.  [For example: The first Sunday of every even month.]  These meetings MUST have quorum.   If any member cannot commit to participating in at least half of the meetings (3), she would become a non-voting member for that year.  Quorum would then become ¾ths of voting members, with non-voting members not counting against the number of participants needed to have quorum.   [If this proposal is accepted, we will contact all Chicks who have not been to a meeting in the past year and confirm their desired status.  This is not in any way a move to disengage members, but to clarify participation levels and allow the group to make decisions more effectively.  Non-voting members are always welcome to participate in meetings and events.]

g.     What happens when we need to make emergency decisions between meetings? 

                                     i. Can we have an “executive committee” that has the power to make decisions that require a fast turnaround, within a budget limit?  [For example, our website has been down for some time, but no one has the authority to renew it.  Yet, we can’t achieve quorum to do so either.  It makes us an ineffective organization.]

                                     ii.   Can we vote via email and say “if you don’t respond within three days, you are counted as a yes vote”?

4     4)    Web Page

a.     Our current page www.chicksonsticks.us is suspended because we have not renewed the domain.  We need to pay $200 to renew the domain.  (I believe that’s for 10 years.)

b.     We have not yet paid it, though it seemed from emails that everyone agreed we should.  What is the process for making emergency decisions?  [see notes above.]

c.      We all agreed the web page is important and should be maintained.

d.     Nicole has a friend who may be able to get us a free domain that would not expire, but we would need to choose a new domain address.  She will get more info for our next meeting.

e.     We all agreed the web page and FaceBook page are valuable and inspiring to us.  We encourage everyone to cull through their Chicks photos and bring a flash drive of photos to the next meeting, so we can have more images for both the website and FaceBook Page.

5   5)    Insurance

a.     Health Insurance

                                                              i.      Can we expect each member to carry her own health insurance?

1.     Required now, under the Health Care Reform Act.

2.     Liability as a group, and as individuals if we get sued?

3.     We all signed waivers at one point.  Do those effectively cover us?  Amy will dig out waivers and contact a friend who is an attorney for their opinion and will bring more info to next meeting.

4.     We need to make it clear to new members that we cannot cover any injury or health concern due to stilting.

b.     Liability Insurance

                                                              i.      There are some gigs and some grants that we cannot participate without liability insurance.

1.     Again, liability as a group, and as individuals if we get sued?

2.     Currently, we get under the BareBones or Bedlam umbrella when it’s required.

[AMY NOTE:  I have in the notes that we would propose purchasing our own liability insurance from the kitty, but did not record who will take on getting the information and costs.  Did someone offer to take that on, or should it be moved forward to the next meeting as a discussion and not a proposal?]

6   6)     Membership/Bringing in new members

a.     We have been hesitant to bring in new members due to lack of clarity about the group’s structure, but we often need subs to cover our gigs and know of stilters who would like to join Chicks.  It would be good for us to have some new energy in the group, and mentoring young women is part of our mission statement.

b.     Gabrielle is back in town, and available for gigs.

c.      Gaea should be back this spring and may want to do gigs.

d.     Informally, we already have a mentor/apprentice practice in place, in which people work with us for about a year while we assess their potential as a member (how they perform, how they are to work with), and we as a group extend an invitation to membership.  Should we formalize this practice?

e.     Can we require that every new member is at least 18 years old?  Or 21 years old? And has her own health insurance?

f.       PROPOSAL:  We propose that we extend membership invitations to: Sarah, Laurel and (maybe) Angie.

7   7)    Offering summer community stilt classes

a.     We all agreed that teaching is an important aspect of our mission statement which we have gotten away from in recent years.

b.     Questions:

                                                              i. All genders?

                                                            ii.  All ages?

c.      Classes should include:

1.     Stilt performance

2.     Stilt building (woodworking, power tools)

3.     Costume making (sewing, designing)

d.     A committee was formed to come up with vision and a proposal to be presented at the next meeting.  The committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5^th at 7:15 pm at Tara’s house, 3321 16^th Ave. S.  Please contact Tara if you are interested in joining that committee.

8    8)    What is our policy on gigs that have political implications?

a.     The Ordway Children’s Festival has become increasingly aligned with Flint Hills (related to the Koch Brothers).  If we participate in this event, is there a public perception that we condone them?

                       i.      Should our participation in an event be decided by the group as a whole, or by individuals who choose if she will participate?

                      ii.      They want us to wear their T-Shirts that have Flint Hills prominently displayed.  Can we say we won’t do the gig if we have to wear those shirts?

                    iii.      Does stepping out of the gig show our commitment to what we’re about?  Or is that lost on the general public?

b.     We stilted for Betsy Hodges.  Would we have stilted for a Republican candidate?  Would they have asked us?

c.      How do we cultivate our brand?

d.     What if we use money earned from corporate gigs to fund participating in causes we believe in?

9     9)    Math

a.     Are we 15 this year?  Let’s have a party!  Come to the next meeting with ideas how we can celebrate!

Action Items:

Sharon

-         Meet with accountant to determine our tax status and obligations.

Amy

-         Send out these notes.

-         Set up Doodle calendar for next meeting 

o   [AMY NOTE: Since we haven’t yet accepted the every-other-month meeting proposal, and since we have some momentum going, I’m going to try to set something up for later this month.  I also don’t think Sunday’s meeting should count as one of the six in our proposal since that would be a new rule.]

-         Dig out old waivers and see if any of my attorney contacts can advise us how to update.

Nicole

-         Get information about free domain that would not expire to potentially replace our www.chicksonsticks.us page.

Tara

-         Organize and host Committee Meeting regarding Summer Stilt Classes.

-         Create proposal for next meeting regarding Summer Stilt Classes.

Malia

-         Offer to step in and support anyone  if their Action Items are not doable.