Steering minutes: 2012-02-08

Minutes:

Steering Committee Minutes
February 5, 2012, 5:00 - 5:45 pm
Common House Sitting Room

Attended: Amy, Debbi, Helen, Heather, Gayle, Lyn S., Rod, Becky H.
Facilitator/Convener: Amy
Minutes: Becky H.

Agenda:
1. Discussion with TS Ambassador, Lyn Solms
2. Matters Arising
3. Cmttee Reports

1.Discussion with Touchstone Ambassador, Lyn Solms
Main topic at TS right now is building painting; a long, involved decision.
Subject of GO-TS summit; nothing we need to meet about now; will check in
again later in spring. Mary Ann Marquardt at TS requested that GO rep. meet
with them and talk about implications of having all cmty members on board
of directors. Opinion that we at GO don't have strong idea of how it
works; maybe we don't have much to say about it. Our officers are ex
officio - cmttee conveners are nominal officers. Decisions are made by
entire cmty, except in situations where a cmttee is empowered. Thinking
through consequences is most important. At TS, board mostly agrees with
cmttees and plenary; some legal matters are discussed only by the board;
Dale put forward this idea at GO; seems to work with consensus model.
Sunward has rather small board; was not defined in their original bylaws;
may have resulted in less participation at plenary level. Nothing new for
GO ambassador to take to TS at this time.

2. Matters Arising
None

3. Cmttee Reports
Debbi / Meals - Didn't meet this month due to illness. Had an informal
discussion with F&L about recommendations for internal financial controls.
This is a protective measure to prevent wrongdoing with funds. Since meals
funds are handled separately, Meals may want to adopt some of these.

Rod/Grounds - Didn't meet in January. In conjunction with cmty discussion
about the $11,000 GOCA balance, requested money for lighting, but have not
heard back from F&L yet about this.

Helen/ Membership - Talia, Simon and Bruno are now junior members and have
started doing mini chores; will be recognized at upcoming cty mtg. There
will be a goodbye for Nicholas at a dinner. Some new member ceremonies
coming up. Pam taking new directory photos at anniversary party. Rod has
been asked to work on Google doc to provide historical list of members.
Discussion of short term goal of setting up gathering with Lakestone.
Ongoing monkey to provide buddies for new members from outside Membership
Cmttee when needed. Membership mandate has been updated and approved.

Heather/Common House - Working on getting 2 new washer-dryer sets. Nicholas
is temporarily renting office space for storage. Ongoing issue of
temperature in Sitting Room; have new thermostat, but it has some kinks.
Holding off on Common House improvements until a permanent renter for the
vacant CH office is found. Heather will be out of town for next Steering
Cmttee mtg and will ask someone else from Common House Cmttee to take her
place.

Becky H./Process - Nothing much new to report. Planning March alternative
mtg on handling conflict. Gail G. will attend next Steering mtg, as Becky
H. will be out of town.

Gayle/Work - will start planning for next work season at next Work mtg.
Greg has been put in work system. Nicholas's jobs were reviewed and some
shifted. Discussed pros and cons of "pay for work" (also called "pay or
play") work system. F&L decided to discuss this issue as legal question
before Work goes further with it. More discussion about policy issue of who
is responsible for work and how that responsibility can be modified.

Amy/F&L - F&L may ask Process to include financial training as an option
for the cmty to consider for the 2012 "Skills and Thrills" weekend. CPA
will do annual mtg with cmty to give overall picture of finances. F&L will
work with Adi to submit to attorney questions about "pay for work" system.
Becky G. led alternative mtg to get more input from cmty about what to do
with unexpected $11,000 balance in account. Becky G. and Kathy are working
on setting up reports to be sent regularly to cmty. Aaron working on Master
Deed. Long list of things for F&L to work on. Amy will probably be out of
town March 4th; will recruit someone to act as convener for Steering mtg.

Next meeting - Sunday, March 4th, 5:00 pm, CH Sitting Room