Ĉeestas: Alex Miller, David Beck, Charlotte Burton, Fred Meyer III, Jane Shevtsov, Ruth Kevess-Kohen

Ĉeestas sen Voĉdonrajtoj: Bill Harris

The board informally discusses various points of order and goals for the new board. Among these suggestions: addressing the list of Action Items to determine which are completed to our satisfaction or can otherwise be removed or delegated, finding a way to support member participation, finding a way to delegate so as to prevent board burnout, and finding a way to improve communication with committees such as the publicity committee. Response time and compromise is suggested.

Alex, as vice president, presides over the meeting. After calling it to order, he suggests we go through the standing reports and then the “farendaj agadoj”

Standing Reports

Treasury

Two more fund reports are coming from fund managers, and the member body voted to include a $500 promotional budget. The body also voted to rename the Educational Video Fund to the Educational Media Fund, which the treasurer asks the Director to do. In inquiring on how this should work, it is clarified that this means the Board will find a way to use $500 out of some fund in order to promote Esperanto, and that we will want to report this activity to the members at the LK in the coming year, and likely future years as well.

(Vice) President’s Report

Six members were approved for equal portions of the $1000, as voted by the board. David moves that we change the amount we are giving them to $166. Ruth seconds. Alex asks for further discussion and calls for a vote. 5 board members vote in favor with Jane abstaining. The motion passes, and Bill is instructed to send this money out to the relevant members. American Good Film Festival is on track as expected. The LKK of the UK gifted us (via Alekso) a series of smaller items as well as some larger mural posters and signs. Charlotte recommends that we mention these gifts to the LKK, and they can plan within the Kongresa Budget for how to use or reprint the signs for these frames. Charlotte also briefs the board on some of the action of the LKK. Alex also reminds the board that we agreed during UK to create a clear agenda for the Solena Malfermo, Aferkunsido, and Solena Fermo, with a deadline of 2 months before the upcoming LK. Charlotte volunteers to send an email to Orlando and Phil to request that they, as current and former president of E-USA, list out what the usual order of business is at these three required sessions, so that an incoming president and vice president (as well as members who would like to give input at these sessions) knows what the usual order of business is at these things. Discussion arises of how to create a process that enables the smooth transition of power.

Central Office

This is a quiet time for the office, and there is nothing to report.

LK Discussions

Charlotte and Fred answer questions about how the funds and the Congress Budget work.

Kultura Agado

The discussions at the recent LK have resulted in members creating a podcast, Usone Persone. Alex suggests that Esperanto-USA should officially support this podcast in some way, as it resulted from discussion that our members had during work sessions we ran during our LK. Fred clarifies that what they are doing is slightly different than what was discussed about a podcast for beginners or post-beginners. Ruth mentions a podcast called Streetwise Hebrew which does something similar. Alex and Brandon are discussing digitally how we can help this existing member podcast. Ruth and Alex discuss the pros and cons of offering money for equipment versus man-hours, etc. Charlotte recommends that the board’s support for projects such as these could be to facilitate the grant proposal process, such as by offering the link to the grant proposal form, suggesting relevant funds, etc.

Appendix A (Slack)

Alex Miller: I move that we set aside 10 stipends of $100 USD to be sent to 10 attendees of the 2022 Universala Kongreso in Montreal who became ill while there and accrued sudden additional costs (primarily through hotel bills while quarantining or having to miss work). We will refer to this as our “Ano-Sano” project. Preference will go to members of Esperanto-USA first, followed by non-members with American citizenship, and finally attendees from other countries until at least 10 qualified people are found whom we can help through this project. We will announce this special project on our website and on YouTube and have people email us their information. We will keep their individual names private since their personal health and privacy is at stake. We will mention how many people are being helped but absolutely not mention who specifically received help except as required by law. The $1000 needed for this program will come from our Goldman Fund.

Phil Dorcas: I second this proposal.

Alex Miller: Before voting begins, I’d like to slightly amend one phrase in the motion. Instead of “followed by non-members with American citizenship,” I’d like it to say “followed by non-members living in the US” so that we aren’t required to provide documentation of a person’s citizenship which could be another sensitive privacy issue. I’d rather we somewhat rely on the honor system on that issue.

Phil, if you’re okay with that slight rewording, please call the matter to a vote so that we can continue.

Fred Meyer, III: After a motion, it is usual to call for discussion.

Alex Miller: Fred, that doesn’t align with what Charlotte posted here on Dec 12th 2020:

Procedure:

A board member makes an official motion.

Another board member seconds.

The president restates the official motion and calls for a vote.

All board members have up to 7 days from the time of the president’s message to vote yes or no, or else abstain.

After the 7 days have passed, the president declares the results of the vote, to be included in the minutes of the following monthly meeting.

No other messages should appear in this channel. All discussion regarding motions may occur in the “estraranoj-only” channel or other relevant channels.

Alex Miller: I followed up on Dec 13th 2020 with this clarification about our procedures for this channel:

We need to clearly establish the precedent here that one person proposes a motion as a single post. Then a second person seconds it in a second post. Only then does the president (or acting president) in a third post officially restate the motion and call it to a vote. Phil’s post above proposes the motion and immediately asks for votes (as well as asking for corrections to be spelled out here which would lead to unwanted clutter on this channel).

Let us view Phil’s above post as a proposal only. We then see that Charlotte seconds that motion. As acting president, I now officially call for a vote. – Do we accept the minutes of today’s (Dec. 12, 2020) board meeting as prepared by Charlotte Burton? – You have until December 19th to vote.

Please respond with the words “Yes”, “No”, “Abstain”, or “See note in #nameofchannel” if you have new information to add or questions to ask before giving your vote. Let’s keep the discussions elsewhere so that all we do here is quickly tally up votes. I encourage us to fully understand an issue before voting because once you cast your vote here on a matter, it cannot be changed and will be recorded in the monthly minutes.

If you would like to discuss a matter further before voting on it, the current procedure is for you to write “See note in #insertnameofchannel” and we can there find your thoughts about the matter. As a side note, I already called for a discussion by bringing this up in our estraranoj-only channel where 5 people said they were in favor of it. There hasn’t been further discussion there for several days so I’m moving it here so that the momentum doesn’t evaporate. If Phil’s seconding of the motion here can be seen as approval, then we have 6 out of 10 board members who have said they are already for it.

Phil Dorcas: I call for the vote.

Charlotte Burton: I vote yes.

Jane Shevtsov: yes

Hoss Firooznia: yes

Fred Meyer, III: yes

Phil Dorcas: The proposal has passed. It is approved.

Alex Miller: Thank you. For future reference, is my calling for the motion interpreted automatically as a yes vote from me? Same question for when Phil seconded the motion. We did not separately vote yes here but we seem to be acting as though we both did in order to say the proposal passed so what is our policy on that?

Timothy Boronczyk: I vote yes