Date: February 23, 2016
Place: David’s house in Thomaston
In Attendance: John B., Lew, Ian, Charlie, Carl. Bob, David
Minutes submitted by: David
1. Check In
2. Minutes from 1/19/2016 were accepted with minor spelling errors corrected
3. Treasure’s Report: $2748.91. The bank now charges a $2 fee for paper statements. E-mail statements are free. Ian will set up the email option. The e-mails will be sent to Ian, Don, Jim D, and myself
4. Jim Derby has accepted the position of being co-treasurer and has also joined the MCM board. Thank you and welcome.
5. Insurance Policy review: MCM is required to carry a standard insurance policy to cover itself as well as Tanglewood while we are there on weekends. The cost is $400 a year. A copy will be sent to Ham to forward to Gregg to look over and interpret.
6. Ham has send an e-mail to Gregg, who is a lawyer, asking if he is willing to look into what liabilities MCM has in the event of a situation. We have offered to pay Gregg for his services. Ham will follow up on this and report to the board. Thanks Ham.
7. Contract from Tanglewood: The University of Maine has send out a detailed contract for us to sign for the use of Tanglewood. This is the first time a contract has been sent in 25 years that we know of. David will contact Patricia Chapman with questions about it or what is the procedure to sending it back. The contract looks reasonable. The quote for the facilities is $800 but they are charging us $600. Also fires can only be in designated areas. This may eliminate the possibility of a sweat lodge unless we receive special permission. David will clarify. Ian will share a copy with the Allen Agency to be sure our insurance policy covers what they are asking of us.
8. 501 C3 – Issues to consider:
a. Presently MCM cannot provide documentation if a person wants to donate money and claim it on taxes without us having a 501-C-3 status.
b. Someone would have to manage this as well as report yearly to the IRS what our holdings are.
c. Will being a 501 C-3 protect us against any law suit or does what we have now with insurance and the waver we all sign enough. This is one issue that is being explored with a lawyer.
9. Website Update: The date will be corrected. Charlie is working on adding a tab for Board Members and expanded contact info. Board Members are asked to send to Charlie information on how they prefer to be contacted (phone or e-mail). Board members can also choose not to list contact information if they want. Charlie feels that we could be ready for on-line registration at this time. The board felt that this should be explained at the next weekend business meeting to the men. Plans are to make this option available for the fall weekend in 2016.
10. Phone-a-Thon Update — Issues are still present with the current data base. Bob will work on this and get out lists of men to be called out to board member willing to call along with the questions to be asked to update this file. We will start this process once the list is ready so we can be accurate with the information collected. No date has been set for this to begin, in the meantime we will use the list of 275 names that we currently have.
11. Board Role Names — “Board Facilitator” will be used as the title of the person who creates the agenda, runs the board meeting and send out the minutes. “Weekend Facilitator” will be the person who keeps the weekend agenda moving along. The Board Facilitator will run the business meeting at the weekend. David is working on a set of Policy and Procedures that MCM is currently following. Roles and responsibilities will be a part of this document. Decisions as well as procedures used will also be in this manual.
12. Charlie will work with Dan to add a statement in the brochure to encourage men to give a little “extra” if able to help us reach our goal of $3000 in the bank. This money will be used to continue offering scholarship as well as guarding us against a weekend that is poorly attended. It has been estimated that we need 31 men at a weekend to break even.
13. Confidentiality statement reviewed. The statement below was worked on at our last board meeting in January. The board felt that this statement was ready to present to the membership present at the Spring Weekend for review. The reason this was done was because the board was asked to define what “Confidentiality” meant at the last business meeting in the fall. The following will be discussed at the Spring 2016 business meeting:
“It is essential that confidentiality be a top priority at MCM weekends so men can feel safe to share and experience self growth in a caring, supportive environment.
Once a man leaves the weekend it can be difficult at times to share with loved ones the growth they experienced without using a story or details on how the growth occurred.
If a man needs to share an experience it must be done in a way that protects the confidentiality of the men at the weekend. Names, age, situations, jobs or anything that could identify a specific man is not acceptable.
If a person wants/needs to share a story or the experience of another man outside the weekend it is appropriate to ask that man for permission.
14. Donations to Tanglewood — The board would like to recognize Alan Pooley who donated $100 to Tanglewood in the name of MCM. The board’s policy is that we will not give money out until we reach our $3000 goal for our organization. Tanglewood sent a request for funds to this organization. The money Alan sent has been earmarked for direct help to the Tanglewood facility. The address to donate to Tanglewood will be provided to the men at the next weekend if individuals would like to help out.
15. Stamp and Fold Party — The board is committed to getting the brochure out 6 weeks before the next weekend. The S&F Party will be at David’s house on March 15 from 6-8. This is not a mandatory board meeting however the more the merrier and board items may be discussed. David will e-mail the board if any items need immediate attention so that members can give their opinions by e-mail if unable to attend.
16. Other:
a. Curator: David will contact Charles who volunteered for this position to begin discussion on what and how information should be stored.
b. David will write a blurb that will go with the Fall MCM Weekend picture that Bob will send out
c. Mentor program will continue. John will send a request for archived information to David if he cannot locate it.
d. Charlie will work with John and send a message to Dan about the wording for an Emergency Contact for men who attend the weekends
17. Next Board Meeting :
April 5, 2016 6-8 at David’s house at 261 Main Street, Thomaston
Accepted April 5, 2016