Board Meeting Minutes – November, 2023

2023-11-11

Ĉeestas

Ĉeestas sen Voĉdonrajtoj

Vilĉjo HARRIS

Brandon calls the meeting to order. A quorum is declared. Brandon introduces a proposal to make this meeting last 90 minutes. David seconds. Jane suggests that the 90 minute limit should be a proposal going forward, but to begin at the next meeting. Brandon therefore amends the proposal to reflect that this meeting will last 75 minutes. This passes by acclamation.

Standing Reports

The CO and president both report on their activity, including dealing with financial matters and helping find a replacement for the director of the CO. Treasurer reports were sent out to the board in advance. The komitato pri komunikado reports that they are working on improvements to the website and that they have accounts for E-USA on several major social media sites, with a schedule of posts to celebrate major holidays, as well as posts that can take advantage of each unique platform.

Old Business

Board Functioning (Working Rules/Guidelines) and Funds Working Group

Both are making progress.

Scheduling

A “WhenToMeet” link has been sent in Slack for board members to show their availability, in order to find a better time for board meetings.

New Business

Usona Esperantisto – Redaktoro

Nomination committee is already working on this, with support from the communications committee. There are two good candidates currently, and both seem open to the idea of co-editing. A meeting will be scheduled with both of them, to discuss what that would look like as a possibility. This would be Alena Adler and Logan Hall. The current situation regarding editor pay is that the editor gets paid $240/issue, with issues coming out every other month. Discussion arises over editor pay. Options raised include: paying each editor $240/issue, splitting the $240/issue between them, or reducing to an issue once per quarter with the total yearly pay split between the 4 issues and the two editors. The KpK would be working with the editors, and a paper copy would still be required for members who request it. The board requests from the nominating committee and the KpK an overview of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the position of newsletter editor.

Website Management

Hoss had previously been the webmaster but has given us a deadline by which he intended to step down. This deadline has now passed, and the KpK is temporarily filling in that gap but strongly prefers to have a single webmaster who can take the lead on website management. The KpK has created a subcommittee which is already working to outline some ideas for improvements to the website. Priorities are ease of navigation, visual appeal, consistent branding, mobile-friendly, sustainable, not requiring coding expertise, ability to give editing access to specific pages to specific people, ability to host the LK website within the E-USA website. Other features desired are ability to have English and Esperanto versions of each page, ability to host through Amazon Web Services, ability for members to sign in to access certain pages, and a few other features. Current potential applications for web-building include Wix, WordPress.com, WordPress with Elementor, WordPress.org, and Google. 

Current preference is WordPress with Elementor (Elementor being a theme on WordPress), which has more of the desired features available. This would cost $59/year, which would require a board vote to approve. Kuo proposes to have the KpK take over webmaster duties for the time being. David seconds. Fred clarifies that even if we delegate this, this is still ultimately the board’s responsibility. Kuo clarifies that the KpK will still be reporting to the board on this matter. Passes unanimously with 8 votes. Kuo has created a description of the webmaster position, which he will provide for board review in Slack.

Central Office Director

Bill Harris will be retiring within the next year, so the Nominating Committee has been looking for possible candidates for that role. Brandon recommends that we hire someone as a provisional or acting director for one year, which would allow us time to find someone for this position. The board goes into executive session to discuss the director of the CO. Brandon proposes to delegate a subcommittee of the board consisting of Brandon, David, and Quintyn, to discuss with Amanda Schmidt the possibility of coming on as transitional acting CO Director for calendar year 2024, David seconds. The board votes unanimously in favor. Executive session ends. 

Extend Meeting Time

David proposes to extend the current session until a maximum of 2:40 PM Eastern time. Quintyn seconds. Motion passes by acclamation. 

Jane proposes that the official duration of board meetings be extended to 90 minutes henceforth, instead of 60 minutes. David seconds. Motion passes with 7 in favor and none opposed.

Presentation from KpK (Komitato pri Komunikado)

The KpK has been working on a communications plan including the LK, thank you letters to donors, social media, and website. Additionally, Myrtis Smith proposes to compile 50 short stories into a book which could be distributed at events, with the hope that E-USA could host a contest or other event to allow us to periodically publish short story collections such as this. Charlotte recommends that the restricted publishing fund might be a good source of funding for this. Enriko also discusses a proposal regarding merchandise that could be sold on the retbutiko, and specifically stickers. Enriko proposes that we bulk purchase E-USA stickers, to be distributed as a way to build goodwill. Fred Meyer suggests that Tim Boronczyk be included in this discussion, as it may relate to membership and member retention. Charlotte proposes that the Publicity Fund may be a good source of funding for this, although it does not currently have a fund chair. Brandon speaks in support of the idea and recommends higher quality stickers. 

Brandon proposes to name Quintyn as the head of the publicity fund. David seconds. The board votes unanimously in favor. The publicity fund currently has approximately $2800. Charlotte and David recommend that this sticker item be requested from the publicity fund, which is a restricted fund, rather than from the general fund. These presentations and any funds KpK is requesting will be presented in full to the board. 

Closing

Remaining topics are tabled until the next board meeting. Fred proposes to adjourn. Charlotte seconds. Unanimous approval.