Board Meeting Minutes – March, 2023

2023-03-11

Ĉeestas

Phil opens the meeting and declares a quorum. The agenda has been sent out, and no changes are requested. The minutes of the previous minutes have been posted and approved. 

Standing Reports

Central Office

The 12 atestiloj have been received and sent out to all who succeeded in the KER-ekzamenoj. Gary Bisaga has shared with the CO the LK calendar, and the LK registration page is now live. The cost to send out the diplomas is reported as being $4.15 per diploma, for a total of $56.02.

Treasurer

The treasurer’s reports have been sent out to the board in advance of the meeting. Nothing to add to those reports. The president reminds us that it is difficult to accurately analyze our budget month to month, as income does not flow in evenly each month.

President

Hoss has been working on collecting and formalizing a document for board procedures. This will be discussed with Old Business. The grant request channel in Slack contains questions about opinions regarding the use of the Goldman Fund to support members in three specific ways. With four months left in Phil’s tenure as president, he invites comments after this meeting regarding what our most urgent needs are for the board during his remaining months in office. Brandon Sowers is our sole candidate for president, which will be published via Usona Esperantisto with the next issue. Discussion of the details of elections per bylaws arises and is briefly clarified, with further discussion deferred until a later time. Brandon is planning to attend some Zoom meetings in which he will clarify his goals as likely incumbent president. As the board meetings have been taking place under Phil’s personal Zoom account, he requests that a budget line item be created for technological expenses, such as a Zoom account and perhaps a videographer to record LK sessions. Fred Meyer states that the regional coordinators are using his own personal Zoom account for their meetings. The board generally expresses agreement with the addition of a technology line item to the budget, and the discussion moves to Slack. Jane recommends that fundraising become a discussion on Slack. Charlotte suggests that the draft budget for next year could include a line item for technological expenses, and Margo suggests that it could also include a line item for travel expenses, such as for sending board members or students to conferences. Phil laments the lack of sustained membership and donation campaigns.

Old Business

How we do business

This is clarified to cover both the board procedures in general and also the procedures and expectations for official meetings of Esperanto-USA at LK-j. Hoss has created a document and clarifies that the board handbook contains the general introductory items, but we had previously had a Regularo that explains the “nuts and bolts” of how motions, etc. are to take place. This can allow the board handbook to show potential board members the responsibilities and the Regularo to show procedures for the more detailed items. Both documents can be made available to members on the website, but first the Regularo needs to be updated to reflect current procedures, as some have changed. A separate document, though, would need to be an item explaining how to run the formal meetings at the LK. Phil has updated this document. It is also raised that a separate document could be made explaining to members the rules that impact them at a Kongreso.

The board agrees on a date and time for the next meeting.