MeetingMinutes:2002-04

Atlanta OutWorlders Business Meeting

April 21, 2002

Members Present: Scott Johnston, Alan Siler, Ed deGruy, Kris Harter, Will Gauvin.

Meeting started at 2:50pm.

Votes on Proposals:

Proposal to Abolish Bylaws:

Proposal that the By-laws for the Outworlders Group be abolished.

Rationale: The Outworlders were started as a social organization. And while I feel growth in this group is good, I feel it does not need to be structured as a formal legal entity. I feel that personal awareness of responsibility for events and fundraisers per event should be sufficient for any activities that we may wish to have. And that while our intentions are to promote GBLT in Sci-fi/Fantasy locally in Atlanta, I feel we do excellently with the events and methods we already employ. I do not feel that the majority of the current membership wish to expand to any larger role. If the By-laws are abolished, I believe that those truly interested in making events happen will and the “group,” the Outworlders, will continue to prosper.

Discussion:

• Kris noted that the Bylaws seem to be causing a division in the group.
• Scott pointed out that some people have said they will leave if the Bylaws are removed.
• Mike and Maylon wanted the point raised, that this proposal was not properly submitted, and therefore may not be voted on according to the Bylaws.
• Kris said that people have known for months, that the vote was coming up, and should not be postponed.
• Ed was in favor of postponing if that was what needed to be done.
• Ed also stated that he did not propose this to destroy the group, just to get some people thinking. The Bylaws were (to his understanding) put in place in order for The Outworlders to be able to run a Con. It is his belief that the OW do not need to be running a con at this point in time.
• Alan said that we have precedent set in the past, for voting on things that were not brought up exactly as the Bylaws state, and that we should have the vote to move forward past this issue.

In Favor: 2 votes , 5 proxy votes TOTAL: 7 Votes
Opposed: 3 votes , 5 proxy votes TOTAL: 8 Votes

Proposal Failed.

Proposal to Amend Bylaws:

Replacing section 2:

Membership - Membership is divided into two classes, general membership, and voting membership. Unless otherwise specified in this document, "member" and "membership" refer to a "general member" and "general membership".

General membership: A general member is defined as any person for whom any of the following has been true during the last 12 months:

1. The person has been subscribed to any of the Outworlder-sponsored mailing lists.
2. The person hosted any Outworlder event.
3. The person attended any Outworlder event is if he were a member.
4. The person attended any Outworlder business meeting as if he were a member, whether in person, by absentee ballot, or by proxy.
5. The person is paid up on dues.

Voting membership: Voting membership is a subset of general membership. A voting member is defined as a general member for whom any of the following is true:

1. The member has been fully paid up on current dues at all times during the past 6 months. Grace periods of up to 1 month each are allowed within this 6 month period when bounded at the beginning by a member having been paid up by the current level of dues and either an increase in dues has occured, or the specific member's dues are up for renewal, and bounded at the end by the members being paid up.
2. The person has been subscribed to any of the Outworlder-sponsored mailing lists continually for the past year. (grace periods due to technical problems allowed.)
3. The person has hosted any two Outworlder events during the period between 3 and 15 months previous.
4. The person attended any 3 Outworlder events is if he were a member during the period between 3 and 15 months previous.
5. The person attended any 3 Outworlder business meetings as if he were a member, whether in person, by absentee ballot, or by proxy, during the past year.

Adding a section 3(d) after section 3(c), and renaming current 3(d) and following downward appropriately:

4. During any meeting at which votes are cast, a motion may be made, seconded, and voted upon by the voting membership to restrict voting for any or all ballot items at that meeting to the voting membership as opposed to the voting being restricted to merely the general membership. The requirements of sections 3(a) and 3(b) do not apply for the motion-to-restrict, and its second and its vote.

   A successful vote-to-restrict will result in all references to membership in the bylaw voting requirements to to refer to voting membership instead of general membership, for the purpose of the voting procedure for the covered votes.

   Because the restrictions of sections 3(a) and 3(b) are not valid for votes-to-restrict, voting members may cast absentee or proxy ballots for votes-to-restrict wich may or may not occur at any meeting. Such votes will be moot when no such votes-to-restrict occur.

(The above is based on Mike’s original proposed bylaws following. The current numbering may be different–I am fine with any such changes, or any changes discussed at the meeting. I am not asking the above changes necessarily being proposed for a vote next month as-is.)

Discussion:
It was noted, that this wasn’t necessarily a bad idea, just worded very poorly, and needed to be edited.

In Favor: 3 proxy votes. TOTAL: 3 Votes
Opposed: 5 votes, 5 proxy votes. TOTAL: 10 Votes

Proposal Failed.

Proposal to set Dues:

Per Section 4 of the OutWorlders Bylaws:

A Proposition

It is proposed that we (The OutWorlders) adopt a set dues for the remainder of the calendar year of 2002 to satisfy the requirements set forth in section 3 of our Bylaws (Ratified 6/19/2001).

As part of this proposal, Dues will be set at $12 per person for the calendar year of January 1 2002 - December 31 2002.

After dues are inacted for the calendar year of 2002, members will have till the following business meeting to pay dues to the treasurer and be listed as a member in good standing to vote.

Dues for the calendar year of 2003 must be set in the November 2002 business meeting to keep the organization from being in violation of its Bylaws.

Discussion:

• Kris stated that she was voting no because it would restrict our membership. She is, however, in favor of Dues in November.
• Alan says he is not opposed to Dues, but he is opposed to the line of the proposal that states that we are doing this to satisfy the Bylaws. He says the Bylaws serve us ,not the other way around, and that we shouldn’t enact dues simply because the Bylaws say we should.

In Favor: 2 votes, 5 proxy votes. TOTAL: 7 Votes
Opposed: 3 votes, 7 proxy votes. TOTAL: 10 Votes

Proposal Failed.

Coordinator Reports:

Treasury—Alan Siler

• $665 dollars in Treasury. Same as last month.
• Jeff has stepped down as Treasurer.
• Will put out a call for a new Treasurer.

Events—Mike Allgood

• I have moved to a monthly events calendar - any new events need to be sent in to me by the first of each month. I will send the calendar out at the first of the month, then again mid month to remind folks of what’s going on. If we get last minute events, they will go out to the group when they come in. I’ll also add them to the Mid Month announce if they come in time.
• Final episode of the season for Farscape is this coming Friday - Mark Fong has an open invite to everyone in the group to come watch (he has for the past 3 weeks as well).
• It was noted by more than one person, that the weekly calendar is missed, and to please return to weekly calendars.
• Kris requested that more info on the Iron Chef competition be sent to the list.
• Will said that Britcom night went well, and would become a monthly event, with every other month being dedicated to a specific show.
• Will said he would be planning a party for his 1-year anniversary of being in the US, he will announce more later.
• The trip to the Aussie bakery will be on May 5th.
• There is a Dragon*Con staff meeting on May 18th.
• Kris suggested a Renn Fest outing sometime in May.
• Ed and Kris reminded everyone to please vote in the TV night poll on the discussion list.
• Kris also liked the idea of a gay TV/Movie night,
• There will be a private showing of SpiderMan at the Regal Cinemas 24 at 10AM on May 11th. This is being held by ASFS and all Outworlders are invited. The price will be $6.50.
• Picnic April 28th - I have had some people respond - I expect we will have 30 or so show. Please invite friends to help introduce them to us. We still need sides and deserts. Email me with what you will bring. Final messages about picnic will go out Tomorrow morning. Money requested for the picnic is $100-150 - Based on last years cost, I expect we will need the higher of the 2 figures. I need the cash Saturday when I go to Sam’s or Costco.
• Kris wanted to make a point, that if an event is sent to the events coordinator, that it needs to go on the calendar, even if it doesn’t seem like an event the coordinator would like. Someone is bound to be interested.
• Will also suggested that members that host events regularly should have access to post announcements on the Announce list.

RPG—Ed deGruy

• Not much new going on.
• The LARP is still going.
• There is a D&D game going on, but currently no open slots.
• There is an open invitation for anyone interested in Solar. Contact Ed for more information.
• Ed will send out another email asking for anyone interested in GM’ing an RPG.

Pride—Mark Gravitt

• We are 2 months out now, we need to start planning now.

Website—Mike Allgood

• Massive updates to the site underway - I have had personal projects going on or it would be completed by now. Expect to see current information on the site by Tuesday. The first quarter is up and the bill for web site is in. Including minor fees and monthly usage, the cost for the quarter is $41.85.

Conventions—Mike Allgood

• Nothing new from my side to report - we will start planning the Dragon Con Room party in May. Looking for a source for a food grade alginate if anyone knows where to find it.
• Kris stated that it could be obtained at any grocery store as Pectin or gelatin.

Charities—Scott Johnston

• 19 people responded to the poll about the charities.
• The four that were suggested were Project Open Hand, AID Atlanta, PFLAG Atlanta, and CHRIS Rainbow Home.
• The charity that was voted for the most was CHRIS Rainbow Home.
• This will be the charity the Outworlders support this year. It will be determined at a later date, what exactly will be donated and when.

Meeting adjourned at 3:50pm.

Next meeting will be on May 19th, 2002, at 2pm. It will beheld at Alan Siler’s house.