DSC Board Minutes - September 24, 2007

ATTENDING: Delyth Balmer, Linda Longo, Susan Klimist, Simon Ha, Curt Fish, Peg Tappe, Barbara Brodsky , Mary Grannan as a sangha member and Martha Zingo as signer for Barbara.

We began with a brief sitting.
We had a sharing of personal matters from board members. 

ITEMS DISCUSSED

• Mary Grannan, asked the board for approval for two actions: 
  • Request for metta sitting(s) in support of the Burmese monks, nuns and citizens who are silently protesting the military government recently doubling the price of oil. 
    • After discussion and consulting the DSC calendar the board agreed to support an early morning sitting on Friday September 28th to support all beings that live under political oppression, with particular awareness of the present situation in Burma. A dana bowl for the Burmese Relief Organization will be available along with the Deep Spring dana bowl. Susan Klimist will provide the office manager (Alice) with the information to be emailed to the local sangha. 
    • Additionally: 
      • Susan Weir has agreed to offer a supportive metta sitting on Sunday morning, September 30th. 
      • Barbara Brodsky said Aaron would speak Wednesday September 26th on how we all can support people living with violence and under oppression.
      • The Zen temple and Jewel Heart will plan their own activities.
  • Proposal: The Sunnyside November 3-5 meditation retreat be held as a private, sangha only, retreat. This action is proposed as a result of recent discussions around accessibility for disabled persons.
    • The board supported the proposal. The November retreat will be offered to the sangha only. 
    • Additionally: 
      • The board noted it's appreciation of the Coyne's generosity and open-hearted offerings of their lovely home and retreat space.
      • The board will have further discussion regarding accessibility concerns, retreat settings and how to advertise retreats.
        
• Minutes from the August board meeting were shared with new board members.
• Minutes from the September board retreat were edited.
  • Linda Longo will make a separate annual calendar of board activities for the board books. 
• Discussion on how to do the board minutes
  • The board person who is responsible for the agenda will do it's best to have meeting agenda's to Alice a week prior to the meeting so they can be posted on the web site. 
  • The draft minutes will be sent to Alice. 
  • The final copy of the minutes will be sent to Alice for posting on the web. 
    
• Selection of officers
  • After a heartfelt discussion and brainstorming for how to share the work of the board there was consensus for maintaining the roles and duties outlined in the board retreat minutes (with the agreement that the vice president would actively work as a support for the president). The officers for this year are: President- Curt Fish, Vice President- Peg Tappe, Secretary- Delyth Balmer, Treasurer-Linda Longo. 
• August financial report
  • Linda Longo directed our attention through the report 
• Archives Committee Proposal 
  • Copies of the proposal were given to the board members.
  • There was discussion and clarification that the board needs to approve the proposal or make another decision regarding the next step for making the Aaron talks available.
  • The board agreed to make a decision on the proposal at the next board meeting.
    • Simon agreed to provide the board with some information about software that would fit the needs requested and to share his knowledge about having a hot link from the DSC website to a separate website that would contain the transcripts.
    • If the proposal is approved, Barbara offered to write something for the December newsletter about the archives project with a request for volunteers. 

There were several agenda items for what needs to be done in October: 

• Annual fundraising project
  • A volunteer coordinator is needed 
    • Peg will call Hugh Danville
  • Art bookmark piece volunteer o Peg will call Diane Austin 
  • Letter from the board o Curt will contact Sandy Weiner 
  • If volunteers are not found Curt will ask the office manager to put a request for volunteers on the class announcements list. 
• Newsletter 
  • Delyth and Barbara have been in contact with the new volunteers: Rori Stienstra, Maria Edelen and Kathleen Sheridan. Roann Altman will continue as editor of material. 
• Who does what brochure
  • Linda Longo will give Alice the names of the new officers 
  • The brochure will be reviewed at the next board meeting 
• Purchase of laptop for the treasurer
  • The technology committee has approved the purchase of a laptop for use by the treasurer. 
  • The board asked for a proposal which identified what software would be required and estimated costs. 
  • Linda Longo will provide the board with this information. Action is requested at the next board meeting. 
• Early morning sittings on November 1st and 2nd
  • Barbara has already approved these sittings as offered by a teacher. 
  • The calendar was open at the identified times. 
  • Linda Longo will tell Alice that she may send Dottie's email out to the local sangha. 
• Office manager link
  • Curt, Peg and Alice will decide on the best way to do this 
• Board pictures
  • Simon's camera and the photographic skills of several were used to take pictures of the board individually & collectively. 
  • Pictures to be provided to the OM? 

Next board meeting October 22nd at 6:30 p.m. 
Meeting adjourned at approximately 10:00 p.m. 

Respectfully submitted, 
Peg Tappe