Ĉeestas: Filipo DORCAS, Alekso MILLER, David BECK, Charlotte BURTON, Hoss FIROOZNIA, Jane SHEVTSOV, Fred MEYER III, Tim RICE

Ĉeestas sen Voĉdonrajtoj: Vilĉjo HARRIS

A quorum is declared. Charlotte requests that an item be added to the agenda under “New Business” for “LK Budget and Fees.” Last month’s meeting minutes are not in the usual place, so the approval of those minutes will be pushed to the March meeting.

Standing Reports

Central Office

Nothing to report except a brief bout of Covid slowing down business.

Treasurer

Bill has been providing information to the board about new donations. Reports have been sent in to board members for review.

President

Phil emailed Julie Spickler regarding thank you notes. She still sends thank you notes out and will continue to do so; she has stated that she is also okay with others sending out thank you notes in parallel with her efforts, which could include the board sending personal thank you notes to large donors. The president thanks Bill and Hoss for including in the bulteno a note on the passing of an Esperantisto. Regarding the board’s procedures and the organization’s procedures, Hoss and others on the board have found evidence of more historical guidelines than the board currently has access to, including a Regularo which described the work of the board and the association, as well as the rights of members. Action Item: Phil will send emails to Humphrey Tonkin and Duncan Charters regarding whether they have access to the Regularo. Hoss has also reached out to David Wolffe about this matter and will report back.

New Business

La estraro diskutu la aŭtoritaton de la estraro laŭ la statuto de EUSA.

The board has been doing so and will continue to do so in Slack. This information should be available in the board handbook for all members. One question that has arisen is “what constitutes an official vote at the Congress?” To what extent is a spontaneous vote during an official congress business meeting binding, and to what extent do we need to send this out for a full membership vote? These issues are currently unclear, such as what amount of discussion and advance warning of such votes should be required. The board is discussing ways to clarify.

Procedure and timetable for finding our next CO Director

This is not an attempt to kick Bill out of office or encourage an early retirement. It is suggested that, whenever Bill decides to retire, we announce 6 months in advance via the newsletter that we are seeking applicants for the position. Likewise, editorship of the newsletter should be announced in advance, and interviews with applicants should occur in the presence of the board, with membership included at every step. These jobs tend to be difficult to fill, but the board expresses an interest in clarifying these procedures to the membership. Bill plans to spend this year creating an online training setup, which would allow interested parties to see what is required in this position, and then in late 2024 or more preferably early 2025, the board can begin announcing and interviewing interested parties, so that they can get more exposure to the job and see if this is something they are prepared to commit to. If an unexpected event should prevent the current officeholder from doing this job, do we have an emergency plan? One part of that plan is that Bill is making the procedures available and preparing for such an eventuality by granting the board access to needed information.

LK Budget and Fees

The LKK has presented a budget of $175 base cost for participants of the LK, not counting room and board which are figured separately on a per-person basis. The proposal by the LKK includes 60 participants as a “break-even” number, which would mean that, if we get at least 60 participants, all the fixed costs will be covered, and any additional participants will be bringing in extra money into the budget as well as covering their own costs. This means that, in order to not lose money, we will need 60 participants. These costs compare reasonably to pre-pandemic kongreso costs. The board requests time to look over this budget and will make a vote in Slack beginning no more than 6 days after this board meeting. The board and the Central Office agree that a separate room will not be necessary for the book service and that, instead, the book service can take two hours each day out of the Business Track in order to set up for half an hour, take down for half an hour, and run for 1 hour in between. This will shave an additional $7-8 off Congress costs. Further, the LKK has recommended that E-USA board expenses be covered by E-USA as an organization, out of the General Fund, and not out of Congress fees as has been done in the past. Further, the board agrees to limit their board meeting on the Friday of the Kongreso to 2-3 hours in the evening, in order to ensure that board members are able to fully participate in NASK on that Friday. This will be possible, as our monthly board meetings via Zoom and our regular participation via Slack can easily ensure that all matters are covered which have historically only been able to occur at the one annual in-person meeting.