Steering minutes: 2007-09-02

Minutes:

Steering Committee Minutes
9-2-07

Present: Elph, Gail, Nancy, AmyH, Mac, Katie, Melissa, Mac

Note: Grounds is working on a Steering Rep assignment.

Fall meeting schedule

Will we continue to meet one time per month? Some would prefer it.
Had changed to one time per month on understanding that we could go
back to two per month as needed. Will stick to this. Will continue
to meet Sundays from 5 to 6 pm in the CH Sitting Room. Agreed on a
facilitation/minutes schedule:

Dates (Sundays from 5-6 pm)
Facilitator

Minutes

9/16 (may add this extra meeting – see below)



Mel



Nancy (Mel will transcribe)

10/7

Mac

Gail

11/4

Katie

Amy

12/2

Gail

Elph


Steering Focus for Fall Season

From previous minutes (8/5 meeting):
Elph is finishing up a letter to the UM Credit Union – then will meet
with Infoco to plan an agenda item at a community meeting – get
community input – if ok, association officers to sign. This would
give GO members the option of joining UMCU, which will soon have a
Jackson Road branch.

Other items:
It is part of our mandate to oversee the community’s Contingency Fund
($2000 was budgeted). Nothing has been spent so far and no one knows
of any requests. This is likely to come up in budget discussions
this fall. Mel mentioned some tree work that needs to be done: dead
trees that could fall and damage structures if not taken care of.
Perhaps we should remind people that if there are critical things
that need attention, this might be a way to get them done?

Discussion about unspent committee funds, often this is assigned to
line-items, or people haven’t turned in receipts, so we don’t know
where balances stand.

MONKEY: Amy will send a message to Talk inviting people to contact
committees about items appropriate for the Contingency Fund,
particularly items that affect community-wide safety or property.

Should Steering help with follow up on the June Facilitation Training
weekend? There was talk about reexamining our committee structure.
There was some sense that this is not an issue any longer. Energy
seems to be focused on trying alternative meeting formats.

Process will soon have a dot storm to choose topic for November
training. This may surface other issues that Steering needs to pay
attention to.

Should Steering focus on supporting Rod with budget process? This
affects the entire community and doesn’t have a committee home. We
will ask Rod how we can support him. Decided to offer a separate
meeting on Sunday, Sept 16 at 5pm if he’d like to meet with us. For
now all of us can go back to our committees and urge them to work on
their budgets: start with this year’s budget and think about
adjustments. Rod is planning to use the Oct. 3 GO meeting to work on
the budget, perhaps we can help.

Mandate review

We looked at copies of the Steering Mandate. Many of the key points
had already come up, about Steering’s role to look at the big picture
and direct items to the appropriate committee, and to oversee the
Contingency Fund. When Steering Reps can’t attend a Steering
meeting, they should send someone else from their committee if possible.

Committee Go-Round

F&L – Emily is interested in doing grant-writing based on
sustainability issues for GO. Doesn’t know what or how but will pursue.
Emily also started a discussion around becoming a 501 (c)(3)
nonprofit organization, which would save us from paying taxes. This
can only work if we serve the greater good, not just ourselves. May
come back in a different form. Takes a lot of work to apply. We
could just go out and do what we want to do without this status.
Child-safety screens issue has also come up. Making windows safe
when they’re open seems to be the core issue. Seems to be evolving
in the direction of owner responsibility.

Process – working on the November training, expect to have a dot-
storm at next business meeting. Alternative meetings: how to make
them work well.

CH – Talked about Guff
Sound buffers for game room? Curtains for windows in Game Room
(might help with heating)?
Rachel having a locksmith come to see if there is a better solution
for CH locks, something that would lock behind people at night.
Becky to check with people who are assigned to lock up. These people
need to have a schedule. There is no coordinator for this – it is up
to CH to organize.
Heather is checking on the condition of playroom toys.
Budget: on target for this year. Working on next year’s.
Guest room fees: talked about increasing to $10 – however, some new
members don’t want to do that. Would use extra funds for fixing up
the CH, cleaning carpets, etc. Could give a discount on longer-term
guest room use.

Work – partnering with Membership Committee on proposed changes to
the Membership Policy & Work Agreements to address questions around
renters and other non-owner residents and the work system. Preparing
for community work days on October 13 & 20.

Membership – partnering with Work Com on Membership & Work
Agreements. Trying to create an event to follow up with the people
who got on our list at the Art Fair. Creating a plan for following
up on inquiries from people who want to come visit. Decided to start
with committee, then ask larger community for help via Talk.

Buildings & Grounds – Katie just joined both committees so only knows
what we know that has come out via minutes and e-mail. Buildings is
focused on staining siding, no one has come forward with a power
washer – could we rent one? Painters want a lot of money.

Meals - Recent meeting focused on food allergies. If cooks would
like to serve shellfish, they should use their own cookware and take
it home to be cleaned. Our non-porous plates should clean up well.
No peanut oil will be kept in the CH so that no one uses it by
mistake – we have a peanut allergy. Two new meals billers: Kathy
and Carl. Kathy is returning to the job. Both now trained.
Committee is still in the process of totaling up expenditures on
equipment and supplies to put together a financial report to the
community.

Adjourn

Note:
Following the meeting, several of us spoke with Rod to offer help
with budget process. Committee members should hold time on their
calendars for a possible meeting on Sunday, September 16 at 5 pm.
We’ll check in with Rod that week to confirm. He does plan to do
something budget-related for the Oct. 3 alternative format community
meeting and we offered help.



















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