July 2016 Ritual for Business Minutes

Minutes Ritual For Business 7/23/2016

Present: Susi, Katie, David, Kimberly, Devin, Erin, Linda, Barbara, Rosemary

  1. Roles: Erin as Parliamentarian, Rosemary as Devil’s Advocate, Katie as Vibes Watcher, and Barbara wielded the Spatula.
  2. Chalice: Susi lit the chalice.
  3. Agenda approved, with several possible New Business items added if there is time.
  4. Minutes from June were approved as read.
  5. Treasurer’s report: Devin has annual report spreadsheets for display. The God Auction contributed $1596. There was a late fee on renewing the post office box, but Devin is paying that out of pocket. Devin will write a check for rent and give it to Barbara to convey to Kitty for deposit in the LLC. Checking: $5375, Kidspace: $468, Home Fund: $766
  6. Committee Reports:
    1. Communications – There has been trouble lately with logging into the website, but as of this morning access has been restored, and Jamie is updating it as we speak. She will also get Facebook events up more regularly.
      Matt seems to know someone who we could work with to redesign the website. We should have a committee meeting soon; we’ll also revisit the event-creation procedures and see if we can’t decentralize some of that.
    2. KidSpace – Linda did not take a coordinator stipend for May or June, due to there being no kids. We do have one young man coming and he’s quite a delight. Linda is bringing ‘ritual in a bag’ every week just in case there is any kids present.
      Devin will get his background check performed expeditiously.
    3. Ritual Teams – Kimberly reported that our Ritual Teams meeting is successfully on the Heart of the Dove calendar. Ritualist population is up of late, so more rituals will have three participants on the team. And of course, we elected a new patron, Dionysus.
    4. Membership – there will be at least one new member on Lughnassadh. Jamie will be holding a New Member Class at Westport Coffeehouse tomorrow at 1PM if anyone knows anyone interested. Two people will be there (Isabella and Lena).
    5. Pretty Committee – still on hold due to the building renovations.
    6. Social Justice – there was no meeting in July, but the August 10th meeting will happen as scheduled. The July ‘Cooked’ documentary viewing for Water happened at the end of June; that episode definitely covered more of the social justice aspects of cooking, time, and money (the first episode was more cultural). August 4th will be the Air episode, again at Kimberly and David’s house.
      Katie asked about the farm-gleaning event, but Kimberly has pushed that to the fall in light of the brutal heat of late.
    7. Stewardship – Garage Sale can happen at Devin’s house anytime. The tall tales event is still going to happen near the end of August. We will also probably be doing another theater fundraiser, now that we have Dionysus as our patron.
      Kimberly will also be pushing the t-shirts and tote bags again; they don’t make us much money, but they also function as advertising.
    8. Welcoming – the restroom signs are still being built, but it is interesting that the temporary paper signs say ‘Restroom’, even though we did not put them up.
      Linda noticed that the upstairs restrooms do not have any signs at all; that seems fine, but if it becomes an issue we can replicate the downstairs solution.
    9. Site/LLC Liaison – Lyn and Barbara have been communicating informally through email of late. Vicky came through town briefly but nothing major has changed in planning or use. The middle-room storage space is communally available. Oasis has moved their portable altar structure into that room, and it is organized. The overly large storage structures in that room are temporary; there will be some custom cabinets built into the corner for cleaning supplies and janitorial.
      David went to the Manheim meeting; Bill was indeed elected Secretary by acclaim, and he seems to be doing a good job. They have also finally located a Block Captain for the southernmost portion of the neighborhood (45th-48th).
    10. NomCom – they are standing by for any need for replacement. They are also aware that they should be working on their bylaws/process revisions, but do not have anything to present at this time.
  7. Old Business
    1. Closet/Storage – Heart of the Dove has asked that we make room in the mirrored closet, and in turn some of our items will be stored in the middleroom. Things that go in there should be labeled clearly as ours, and also should probably be things that we don’t mind other people using, such as the art panels and tables.
      Susi has a cabinet in her basement, and Rosemary has access to a bookshelf and set of shelves that can be moved into the middleroom. Barbara will let Lyn know those things are available.
      It was proposed that we timeshare the Ritual Teams meeting on Monday August 1st to help organize and reorganize the closet(s). Consensed.
  8. New Business
    1. Clothing Exchange – consensed to schedule it for Thursday August 11th, 6pm for setup and 7pm to actually start.
    2. Advertising – Lyn has asked if Gaia wanted to staff a table at First Fridays; we are happy to do that, as there are still a lot of sale goods in Kimberly’s basement. Consensed to participate, paying $35 or so for tabling fee. Logistics to be worked out, but Susi can come and set up before 5pm, to be relieved later by others.
      Devin claimed our ‘Google Business’ page; it needs more reviews, pictures, etc. There was a question about using Google Ads or Facebook Ads, but they have not been found to have any ROI in the past. We could also look into more print advertising again.
      Kimberly suggested that a joint meeting of Communications and Stewardship be held to work on the details.
    3. Non Sequitur – will it become an official part of the RfB, or should we do away with it? It was never actually officially a part of the meeting, and we’ve gotten more disciplined during the meeting itself, while Non Sequitur has expanded into a social hour. Some people had a concern that it is not appropriate as part of a business meeting, especially if people are going to have their feelings hurt if people leave early (to go to lunch, another meeting, etc). We agreed to keep it the way it is. But keep the announcements portion as it is useful.
  9. Announcements
    1. SURJ-KC will be holding a rally at the J.C. Nichols fountain at 5:30pm today. Bring water and a sunshade/sunscreen, it’ll be hot!
    2. The Interfaith Council has plans to coordinate a caravan down on July 31st to Father Piasius’s new monastery in Missouri; there will probably be another trip down in the fall when the leaves change.