Also attending were James Fiscus (Clayton and Endeavour ex-officio member), Sam Justice (OSFCI attorney), Devlin Perez, Ruth Sachter, D. Stephen Raymond, Tracy Penner (others?– not everyone signed the list).
The meeting started at 7:30PM, Aaron Cell Phone time.
Before starting the agenda, the Board took up naming a replacement for Kamila Miller, whose lack of attendance has dropped her from the Board. John Lorentz moved that the Board appoint Andrew Nisbet to the Board until the end of the year, and this motion passed unanimously.
The minutes from the previous meeting were then accepted by general acclamation.
But that’s not good enough for the future. We need to have a better feel for all of our accounts, and our treasurers need to be better trained.
Looking over the records from 2007, 2008 and 2009, OSFCI has been able to reduce its expenses a great deal, and credit for that goes to Arthur. We've seen our insurance go down, our storage go down, our web site expenses go down–and these are all things that have happened under his watch.
Rick distributed a financial statement for the last year, and a proposed budget for 2010. We have a total in all accounts (including the events) of about $65,000, $20K of which is in the OSFCI savings account. He wants to discuss with Arthur and with Aaron on what OSFCI's policies should be, how we close our books, and how much money we should leave in each account. Aaron: How many of those accounts are being charged a fee? Rick: Currently none, but looking at the statements that hasn't always been true. Andrew: The list of accounts seems to be two short. Arthur: Those are the accounts that are with Wells Fargo. The Petrey and the Clayton accounts are with different banks. Andrew: I assume once you’re done beating Wells Fargo into submission, then you will be working with those banks to gain access, also. Jim Fiscus: We need to get a new signature card filed with what \ is now Chase (formerly Washington Mutual) for the Clayton account. Arthur: The Petrey Fund is with US Bank.
There was some discussion on banks, and dealing with cash deposits. Aaron had a few items that needed reimbursement (the Board approved them to be paid), and there was discussion on getting the GameStorm PO Box set up to automatically charge the rental fees to the OSFCI account. Aaron: We spent $250 last year on "Mark Protection"–what is that? John Lorentz: Those are the annual Assumed Business Name fees for OryCon, GameStorm, the Susan Petrey Fund, the Clayton Memorial Fund and the Endeavour Award. Aaron: Have we registered "OryCon" as a service mark? (No.) Have the marks been registered in Washington? Sam Justice: I don’t think so.
Aaron: As a non-profit, our taxes (or the filing for an extension) are due May 15th? (Yes) (There was some general discussion on what was needed to get in the last of the information for filing the IRS forms.)
The Treasurer’s report was accepted.
There was more discussion on the proposed budget. Do we want to budget for miscellaneous and capital expenses? (They haven’t been in the budget for several years, even though we do end up spending money on them.)
After some discussion, Andrew moved (Tammy Lindsley seconded) that we allocate $200 each for Miscellaneous and Capital expenses. This was approved by the Board, and Rick pointed out that the current proposed budget was in the black, so that adding these two expenses doesn’t prevent us from having a positive budget balance.
There was some discussion (and some confusion) on the distribution of surpluses from events, since there is variation between the OryCon and GameStorm management agreements (and also between different GameStorms). Also Rick's found that sometimes surplus money that supposed to go to OSFCI from OryCon isn't being transferred, but is left in that event's account (OryCon Even/OryCon Odd). For example, there's currently $7,000 sitting in the OryCon Even account (even though OryCon 30 closed its books more than a year ago). John: It seems like it would make it much clearer for the Treasurer if all of the money (save for what minimum is needed to keep the account open without fees) is promptly transferred from the event accounts to the OSFCI account.
Copies of management agreements need to be given to Rick, so that he knows how the money is supposed to be distributed.
Arthur: There is an additional item of discussion here. Sometimes, after an event is over and the books have been closed, a late expense surfaces from that event. In the past, since a surplus from the event has been transferred to OSFCI, he's just paid the expense out of OSFCI funds since OSFCI has received money from the event in question. But some of the recent GameStorm agreements have transferred a substantial amount of money to the following year's event, and a GameStorm might have to reach a surplus of around $4,000 before any money goes to OSFCI. His feeling in this case is that the following year's GameStorm should pay that expense, since the previous year's money is being transferred forward.
As for closing the books, there are still a few people to hear from on whether they have expenses to be paid (Hospitality still has $75 left, so there won't be any further expenses there). The only outstanding amount that might be significant is Industry Outreach. The estimated surplus is about $4,500.
The latest count from Reg puts OryCon at about 500 paid members. It's not know how that compares to this time last year (but compared to historical numbers it's pretty good). The registrar is dealing with several personal issues that are eating into his time, so Tammy is making sure he has some help with Reg.
Progress Report #1 has been published, and is available on the web. Once Reg can catch up, it will be mailed out. There will be a second PR out before the next price break at the end of July.
There will be a meeting in June at the hotel, with a walk through at that time.
There will be some game days during the year (the exact dates aren't know yet, because the final contract hasn’t been signed).
Aaron shared the proposed contract with other members of the Hotel committee, and got their feedback. He faxed in the signed copy (signed by him) to them on Friday, and he has not yet received the counter-signed copy. Once he has the signed copy back, they can schedule the game days for this year. GameStorm starts on March 24th in 2011 and on March 22nd on 2012, avoiding Easter (and Norwescon) both of these years and in 2013, when Easter is in March. There are four comped days at the hotel per year—one will be used for a committee meeting, and three for game days.
There is about $3,800 in the bank, which means they're OK for this year, but will need some money for next year (they're trying to keep at least a year ahead of things). They are hoping to improve the presentation of the award this year–last year, Steve Perry agreed to be the presenter this year. Aaron: How much do you spend each year? Jim: About $2,500.
Debra Stansbury: Has the Endeavour Award been gaining in popularity or notice? Jim: As far as he can determine, it is. It's been cited more, and the finalists and winners have been posting the logo on their web sites. Ruth Sachter: Do you have your judges this year? Jim: I have one at this point, which puts us actually ahead of most years. Tammy Lindsley: Do you see this year's Editor GOH (for OryCon) having a part in the presentation, or do you wish her to be part of it? Jim: We'd have no objection but it would depend on whether any of the finalists are published by her imprint (Firebird) or its parent.
If they are unsuccessful in finding someone to replace them, then the plan is to donate the Petrey Funds to the Clarion workshops and let them manage the funds.
Aaron: We have one proposal, so our job is to decide if this is good enough or if we want to wait for other bids.
Devlin: I've worked on OryCons and other OSFCI ventures for several years, in operations and security and other departments. I've helped solve issues as they’ve come up. Aaron: Why do you want to be chair? Devlin: I feel very strongly about the convention, and want to make sure it runs smoothly. I want to make sure there are sufficient people in departments, such as multiple logistics people, so no one person is run ragged during the convention. Jim: What accounting experience does your treasurer have? Stephen: I’ve just finished a stint as treasurer of GameStorm 12, and compared to the previous three years of treasurers (for GameStorm), I've been a lot more responsive to communications. \At present, the books for GameStorm are completely up-to-date, and it is my goal to close the books by June 30th, which may be a record. My prior treasury experience was for the Stamford branch of the student government of the University of Connecticut. I was treasurer there for three years, when prior to that they’d commonly had three treasurers a semester.
Jim: In the last couple of years, there have always been contested bids. And as the process goes earlier, it's (philosophically) a good idea to have contested bids.
Andrew: One reason for choosing a chair this early is to allow the preferred GOH to be invited. Possible GOHs are getting their schedules set further and further in advance. Can we put this off until the next meeting? (It's likely it will hurt the efforts in getting an acceptance from the proposed GOH.) Tracy Penner said that she had thought about putting together a bid but when she found out about Devlin's, she decided to work with him (although her name was not listed on the proposal, she will be part of Devlin's committee) to try to put together the best possible convention. Everyone who is in this committee has worked on OryCon during some very harrowing years, and we don't want to repeat that.
John: Several weeks ago, I sent out notices to the OryCon mailing list, the OSFCI mailing list, the OryCon 32 committee list, the OSFCI Board list, announcing that we will be probably choosing an OryCon 33 chair at this meeting. There's been plenty of notice and no one else has come forward. Marc: Do you intend to change any of the long-time policies of OryCon? (No)
Rick: As the webmaster for OryCon 32, we've had a lot of compliments on having the OryCon 32 web site up as soon as OryCon 31 was over, and that's because we had a lot of time to prepare for the start of OryCon 32. Debra: As early as I got my bid in for OryCon 31, I was still too late to get my preferred GOH. Stephen: Is there any reason why there can't be more than one vice-chair? Andrew: The OryCon committee structure has always been eccentric—one OryCon had six chairs, another had three. One thing I wish would come back is the presence of an executive committee. Debra: Do you plan on having an executive committee? Devlin: Yes.
Andrew: Who is running Programming? Devlin: I was hoping you (Andrew) would. In a lot of cases, I'm planning on waiting until after OryCon 32 to make sure people aren’t burnt out in their job. Aaron: One of your primary jobs as a chair is to recruit a strong team, and listing a strong team in your proposal is a good demonstration of your leadership abilities as a chair.
There was some discussion of what is needed to have a complete proposal for chairing an event.
Devlin: I am trying to recruit a strong group. Part of the problem is the Worldcon (Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon in Reno), which is draining a lot of people away from being available early on for OryCon that year.
Aaron: A question for people—back when we did Westercons, what did we do when we had an OryCon and a Westercon in the same year? The first time, OryCon was a relaxicon—a move that hurt OryCon and it took several years to get the attendance numbers back up. Since then, we just expected fewer people at OryCon. John: Remember, Westercon is two months earlier than a Worldcon, and is a lot smaller. Aaron: This all gives even more of a reason to get OryCon 33 in place early.
Devlin: The first thing I plan to do if I run into trouble is to come to the Board for help.
Rick proposed that we could tentatively accept the proposal—we could tentatively accept this proposal and let Devlin go ahead and invite his suggested GOH. If at the next meeting, someone else comes forth with a proposal (which Rick thinks unlikely) we could re-evaluate OryCon 33 if Devlin doesn't have a GOH acceptance yet. Aaron suggested that we could just go ahead and invite that person as a GOH, and decide on the OryCon 33 chair next time. Marc: One of the primary reasons for being chair is to be able to select the Guest of Honor. I'd be uncomfortable dictating the GOH choice to a chair. Andrew: It has been done before.
Andrew moved that we accept the proposal, with the understanding that a more complete proposal be presented at the next meeting, and with the understanding that without a more complete proposal that the Board has the right not to sign a management agreement with Devlin. John seconded the motion. Andrew asked Devlin if this was acceptable to him. Devlin replied that it was disheartening, but he will put together a more complete proposal. Michael Pinnick: Do you see the Reno Worldcon having an impact on OryCon that year? Devlin: I don’t foresee it have a major impact. The Seattle NASFiC a few years ago had no visible impact on OryCon that year.
Andrew: I'm in favor of the proposal, but I would like the Board to have just a tiny fallback. John: I have no interest in voting for someone else's proposal–I'd just like to see this proposal a little more fleshed out, a little more complete. This is nothing different than what we've asked for a few GameStorms, when the timing of the Board meeting conflicted with the planning of the previous year's GameStorm, not allowing for a complete write-up initially for the proposal. Marc would like to see the more complete proposal available before the next meeting, so that we could be prepared to discuss it. (Unknown–Tracy?): To clarify it, you want a more fleshed committee list, a full policy write-up and (something that could not heard on the tape over the sound of the very loud ventilation system)? Marc: Yes, and there was some concern over Dave Schaber being the sole vice-chair.
The Board approved the motion unanimously.
The Board decided that John Andrews would be a permanent OSFCI member.
And with that, the meeting was adjourned.
The next Board meeting will be an afternoon BBQ meeting on Saturday, July 17th, 2010, at Aaron Curtis’ house, time TBA.
| Budgeted 2010 | through 3/31/10 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| OPERATING EXPENSES | |||
| Insurance | $1,700 | $0.00 | |
| Storage | $0 | $0.00 | |
| Corporate Registration | $55 | $0.00 | |
| Legal Expenses | $300 | $300.00 | |
| Mark Protection | $250 | $0.00 | |
| Bank Fees | $0 | $7.50 | |
| Taxes | |||
| Oregon CT-12 | $60 | $0.00 | |
| Penalties | $0 | $80.00 | |
| Interest | $0 | $0.31 | |
| Postage | |||
| Bulk Mail Permit | $200 | $0.00 | |
| PO Box Rent | $210 | $70.00 | |
| Other Postage | $25 | $0.00 | |
| Printing/Secretarial Expenses | $100 | $74.34 | |
| Meeting Space | $225 | $423.50 | |
| Web Site Expenses | $20 | $0.00 | |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | $0 | $198.74 | |
| Total Operating Expenses | $3,145 | $1,154.39 | |
| INCOME | |||
| Interest | $20 | $1.96 | |
| IRS Refund | $0 | $0.00 | |
| OryCon Overhead Fee | $2,700 | $0.00 | |
| GameStorm Overhead Fee | $1,200 | $0.00 | |
| Surplus | $0 | $0.00 | |
| Total Income | $3,920 | $1.96 | |
| 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | Comments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | Budget (proposed) | Actual | Budget | Actual | Actual | |||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES | ||||||||||
| Insurance | $0.00 | $1,700 | $1,601.00 | $2,500 | $2,030.00 | $2,769.30 | ||||
| Storage | $0 | $0.00 | $0 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $850.00 | $219/mo regularly for 10'x20', free storage since 2008 due to non-profit status |
|||
| Corporate Registration | $0.00 | $55 | $155.00 | $55 | $50.00 | $50.00 | ||||
| Legal Expenses | $300.00 | $300 | $300.00 | $300 | $300.00 | $300.00 | ||||
| Mark Protection | $0.00 | $250 | $250.00 | $200 | ? | |||||
| Bank Fees | $7.50 | $0 | $72.00 | $80 | $71.00 | $40.00 | (2007) amount incomplete | |||
| Taxes | ||||||||||
| Oregon CT-12 | $0.00 | $60 | $0.00 | $60 | $45.00 | ? | ||||
| Penalties | $80.00 | $0 | $3,951.58 | $0 | ||||||
| Interest | $0.31 | $0 | $0.00 | $0 | ||||||
| Postage | ||||||||||
| Bulk Mail Permit | $0.00 | $200 | $185.00 | $200 | $180.00 | $180.00 | ||||
| PO Box Rent | $70.00 | $210 | $0.00 | $210 | $198.00 | $136.00 | (2007) GS PO Box not included | |||
| Other Postage | $0.00 | $25 | $0.00 | $25 | $12.08 | $23.77 | ||||
| Printing/Secretarial Expenses | $74.34 | $100 | $58.44 | $50 | ? | ? | ||||
| Meeting Space | $423.50 | $225 | $121.00 | $225 | $191.25 | $191.25 | ||||
| Web Site Expenses | $0.00 | $20 | $0.00 | $20 | $9.95 | $450.9 | 2008 GS Domain pre-Reg for 5 yrs recently, $9.95 lower actual expense until expires |
|||
| Miscellaneous Expenses | $198.74 | $0 | $714.32 | $0 | $0.00 | |||||
| Total Operating Expenses | $1,033.39 | $3,145 | $7,408/34 | $3,920 | $3,087.28 | $4,991.22 | ||||
| INCOME | ||||||||||
| Interest | $1.96 | $20 | $8.54 | $20 | $319.75 | $401.43 | 2008 value > than expected, Interest on IRS penalties and CD. |
|||
| IRS Refund | $0.00 | $0 | $3,735.73 | |||||||
| OryCon Overhead Fee | $0.00 | $2,700 | $2,752.00 | $2,700 | $2,920.00 | $2,920.00 | ||||
| GameStorm Overhead Fee | $0.00 | $1,200 | $1,474.00 | $1,200 | $1,248.00 | $1,248.00 | ||||
| Surplus | $0.00 | $0 | $1,106.00 | $0 | $11,50.38 | $0.00 | ||||
| Total Income | $1.96 | $3,920 | $9,076.27 | $3,920 | $5,638.13 | $4,569.43 | ||||
| Balance (12/31/2009) | $10,665.75 |
| Income | |
| Oregon Community Foundation - 2010 | $0.00 |
| OryCon Income | $0.00 |
| Other Donations | $50.00 |
| Interest | $3.20 |
| Total | $53.20 |
| Expenses | |
| Scholarships | $2,000.00 |
| Fellowship | $1,800.00 |
| Total | $3,800.00 |
| Balance (3/31/2010) | $6,918.95 |
| OCF Balance (12/31/2009) | $43,252.20 |
| Committee Members | First Appointed | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| James Fiscus, Chairman | October 1996 | November 2010 |
| Page Fuller, Treasurer | October 1996 | November 2010 |
| Arthur Aldridge, OSFCI Rep. | July 2005 | While serving on OSFCI Board. |
| Geri Jeter | November 2002 | November 2011 |
| Ruth Sachter | November 2002 | November 2011 |
| Marc Wells | November 2003 | November 2011 |
| Committee Members | First Appointed | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Sarah Bryant | October 2006 | November 2012 |
| James Fiscus, Chairman | October 1996 | November 2011 |
| Page Fuller | October 1996 | November 2011 |
| Marilyn J. Holt | September 2000 | November 2011 |
| Sara Mueller | October 2003 | November 2010 |
| Alan Rosenthal | January 2006 | November 2012 |
| Sheila Simonson | October 1996 | November 2010 |
| Shawn Wall, Treasurer | November 2005 | November 2010 |
A brief introduction for those on the board who have not worked with me. I have run Operations, Security and Volunteers for multiple years and have helped with Tech, Hospitality and Logistics for both Orycon and GameStorm. In addition I have assisted with Security at Cascadia Con.
My theme choice, "The Lighter Side of Horror", would be a fun play from the theme of the previous year. It will invite a closer look at Horror writing as it pertains to Science Fiction, including monsters, elder gods, cute fluffy bunnies (aren't they the same) and all the things that go bump in the night.
The following is a list of people I would like to invite as our Guests of Honor:
For the Editor, I would like to obtain a list of eligible editors to send invitations to from OFSCI.
Thank you for your consideration of my proposal.
(* Due to Dyslexia, I will require an additional Committee Position. All written communication will be directed through my assistant.)