Annual General Meeting Meeting
Doubletree Portland Hotel
February 3, 2014
ATTENDING: (OSFCI Members) Beverly Block (OSFCI President), Gretchen Bock, Car Bostick, Jason Bostick, Debbie Cross, Aaron Curtis, Jacob Engstrom, Dawn Hewitt, Lisa Godare (Lea Rush), Anna Holiday, Fargo Holiday, Rick Lindsley (OSFCI Treasurer), Tammy Lindsley, John Lorentz (OSFCI Secretary), Brigid Nelson, Tracy Penner, Devlin Perez, D. Stephen Raymond, Kyle Rhône, Lea Rush, Ruth Sachter, Debra Stansbury, Pat Steed, David Turner, Marc Wells, and Paul Wrigley; (Non-Members) Sam Justice (OSFCI Attorney), Sarah Gulde.
Proxies (held by): Arthur Aldridge (Devlin Perez), Craig Anderson (Devlin Perez), Davis Beeman (Devlin Perez), Michael Birkes (Aaron Curtis), Terry Bohach (Aaron Curtis), Jenn Contreras-Perez (Devlin Perez), Page Fuller (Ruth Sachter), Marilyn Holt (Marc Wells), Ellen Klowden (Ann Ezell*), David Levine (John Lorentz), Angel May (Aaron Curtis), Michael Monical (Aaron Curtis), Daniel Reitman (John Lorentz), Chris Shaffer (Aaron Curtis), Shawn Wall (Marc Wells), Patty Wells (Marc Wells) and Pamela Wilsonsage (Anna Holiday).
*Ann Ezell did not attend. This proxy was not reassigned and this person was not represented at the meeting.
OSFCI membership was accepted by: Gretchen Bock, Jacob Engstrom, Lisa Godare, Dawn Hewitt, Guy Holaday, Fargo Holiday, Michael McGuire and David Turner.
The meeting called to order by OSFCI President Beverly Block, at 7:31PM.
I. Minutes of Previous Meeting
Paul moved that the minutes as distributed be approved, Lea seconded the motion and it was approved by a vote of many to none.
II. Treasurer’s Report (Rick Lindsley)
Rick distributed a financial statement for 2013 (see below). Rick came in a little late, so he finished his report after the Report from the President (below).
The treasurer’s report was then accepted.
III. President’s Report (Beverly Block)
It’s been a really busy year. We’ve had the usual conventions, OryCon and GameStorm. This past OryCon set a new record for attendance, and it was generally judged by all to be very successful. GameStorm also set a record for attendance, which is less unusual for it, since it’s been increasing in size every year for the last several years. (The record that OryCon 35 broke was set by OryCon 18, in 1996.) We’re also sponsoring the World Horror Convention in May, which Tammy is chairing. It’s mostly geared towards professionals. (Paul said that it actually has a broader range than that, and many non-professionals attend, also.) In 2014, we have chairs in place for both GameStorm and OryCon. If there’s anyone here who would like to chair a convention, please talk to Beverly or one of the other Board members.
Portland is bidding to hold Westercon in 2016. Westercon is an annual convention that is held on the weekend closest to July 4th. It’s a regional convention for the west coast, similar to OryCon in some ways, but has a lot more people coming in from out of town, and a larger variety in what they’ll find at the convention. The bid process involves going to other conventions, talking up (the bid), handing out flyers and bookmarks, and taking pre-supporting memberships. If you’re interested in helping, talk to Lea, or send email to info@portlandin2016.org.
That’s it for conventions. The Board decided last year to subsidize the development of game scheduling software for GameStorm, which is unfortunately way behind schedule…but work is progressing.
Other than that, there have been a lot of new faces–which is a good thing.
The president’s report was accepted.
IV. The John Andrews Grant Recipient
Beverly: Last year, we did not receive any applications for the grant, the year before we received a couple. This year, we received only one, but it was from someone that was extremely qualified. So we’re happy to announce that this year’s recipient is Sara Gulde. The grant includes a membership to this year’s Worldcon (in London) and $1000 in travel expenses. (Normally, it is a $500 grant, but last year’s was rolled over since there was no recipient last year.)
V. Election of Board of Directors
The people whose terms are expiring as of this meeting are: Aaron Curtis, Rick Lindsley, John Lorentz, Devlin Perez and Lea Rush. The following people were nominated:
- Lea Rush
- John Lorentz
- Aaron Curtis
- Rick Lindsley
- Devlin Perez
- Jacob Engstrom
- Jenn Contreras-Perez
John read off the list of proxies. There are 40 people represented, therefore it takes 21 votes to be elected to the board. (Aaron walked in at that point–with his proxies, it now takes 24 votes to elect someone to the Board since 47 people are represented.)
Debbie & Paul volunteered to count the ballots, along with Sam.
[Lots of conversations, which were later deleted from the recording.]
At approximately 8:03PM, Paul reported back. Five people received more than 24 votes, and so they’ve been elected to the board (for two-year terms):
- John Lorentz
- Aaron Curtis
- Jacob Engstrom
- Lea Rush
- Rick Lindsley
VI. New Business
Bylaw Change:
John had circulated a proposed change to the Bylaws along with the meeting announcement:
Section V.B.4 (Duties of the Secretary)
Current language:
The Secretary shall publish the minutes of each Board meeting on the OSFCI Web site within three (3) weeks of the meeting. Should an emergency arise, the Secretary may, with the prior approval of the President, delay such publication for one additional week. Minutes shall be published no later than four (4) weeks after the Board meeting. Should any members of the Corporation request printed copies of the minutes, the Secretary shall mail copies to them, with the postmark date meeting the above deadlines.
Proposed language:
The Secretary shall distribute the minutes of each Board meeting to the Board of Directors (and anyone else requesting a copy in writing or by email) within four (4) weeks of the meeting. Should an emergency arise, the Secretary may, with the prior approval of the President, delay such publication for one additional week.
For the most part, this is intended to change the Bylaws to match reality. The Bylaws currently state that the Secretary will publish the minutes on the web page, but the Secretary normally does not have access to the web site, and cannot directly publish the minutes there. We try to get it up as quickly as possible, but this puts the onus on the Secretary when the Secretary doesn’t have control over that. So John suggested that we change that to say the Secretary will distribute the minutes to the Board and also send copies to anyone who requests them.
He also proposed changing the cutoff from three weeks to four, because the meetings are lasting longer now (nearly always at least three hours, meaning there is more to transcribe).
Beverly: Do we have enough votes to change the Bylaws. John: We have enough people represented here. There are now 85 OSFCI members, meaning at least 43 need to vote in favor–and we have 47 votes here now. Jason said that his only concern is that there would be no expectation (requirement) to upload them at all. Beverly: It’s difficult to get that into the Bylaws since the people in charge of the website aren’t necessarily board members. John: The expectation is that we will continue to post the minutes on the web page, just like we’ve been doing for many years.
There was a small amount of discussion. Does there need to be a requirement in the Bylaws in order for the minutes to posted to the web site? No. Beverly: Can the proposed bylaws changed be changed at this point? John: Unfortunately, no–since the state requires all bylaws changes to be distributed to all members before a meeting where vote will be taken.
The proposed change passed unanimously.
Announcements:
There is going to be a beer tour to McMinnville next fall, as a fund-raiser for the Susan Petrey Scholarship Fund. Flyers were available at the meeting.
GameStorm is next month (March 20-23).
VI. Adjournment
Many people moved that the meeting be adjourned and the meeting was adjourned at 8:10PM
Treasurer’s Report — 2013 Summary
| Operating Expenses | 2013 Budget | 2013 Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance | $2,200 | $2,156.00 |
| Storage | $4,500 | $4,528.00 |
| Corporate Registration | $125 | $50.00 |
| Legal Expenses | $300 | $300.00 |
| Mark Protection | $250 | $250.00 |
| Bank Fees | $25 | $12.00 |
| Taxes–Oregon CT-12 Fee | $100 | $83.00 |
| Taxes– Penalties | $0 | $20.00 |
| Taxes–Interest | $0 | $0.00 |
| Postage–PO Box Rent | $250 | $176.00 |
| Postage–Other Postage | $75 | $0.00 |
| Printing/Secretarial Expenses | $100 | $159.44 |
| Meeting Space | $900 | $610.00 |
| Web Site Expenses | $10 | $9.95 |
| John Andrew Award | $700 | $155.19 |
| Miscellaneous Expenses | $800 | $1,941.92 |
| Games Library | $800 | $400.49 |
| Capital Expenses | $2,000 | $351.45 |
| Total Operating Expenses | $13,135 | $11,203.44 |
| Income | 2013 Budget | 2013 Actual |
| Interest | $0 | $0.00 |
| OryCon Overhead Fee | $2,600 | $0.00 |
| GameStorm Overhead Fee | $1,900 | $2,376.00 |
| Convention Surplus | $8,200 | $5,143.45 |
| MIscellanous | $0 | $608.67 |
| Total Income | $12,710 | $8,128.12 |