February board minutes

February Minutes, 02/12/2009
Location: Oxford Community Center, 270 Lexington Parkway North, St. Paul
Present: Elizabeth Simmer, Angela Bailey, JoAnn Blatchley, Jim Kunzman, Kristen Mastel, Robert Palmer, Linda van Dooijeweert 
Minutes of January Meeting: Motion to approve January Minutes made, seconded, and approved by acclamation. 
Treasurer’s Report: Discussed line items in the Treasurer’s report. The Treasurer will create an itemized list of costs associated with budget line items for large events, i.e., Festival of Nations. Motion to approve Treasurer’s report made, seconded, and approved by acclamation. 
System for Bills: Bills will be paid within 30 days of being received. Angela, the Treasurer, will bring the checkbook to every meeting, so bills can be paid if necessary. Elizabeth will write up a payment process and create a reimbursement form for SPNSCC.
Audit: SPNSCC is looking into having an audit done for the previous three years. Elizabeth will follow-up with Carol, regarding an accountant to perform the audit. If the service is not in-kind, she will gather a few additional bids and present the information at the March meeting. Robert will work on an inventory of SPNSCC items to prepare for the Festival of Nations, and if needed by the auditor.
Board Insurance: Kristen brought up the idea that Board Insurance might be needed to protect members. Other members pointed out that for large events, such as Festival of Nations and the Lantern Lighting Festival, we are covered by the umbrella organization, or pay for event insurance. Kristen will look into the costs associated with Board insurance for the March meeting.
Membership: Elizabeth gave an update on membership on behalf of Fusako. As of December 31, Fusako sent out 19 membership renewals and only received 4 replies. The groups looked through the one-page membership list that we had and noted which members had deceased, and others that have moved away. The remaining members that were not current were divided amongst many Board members. Members were asked to call the individuals and inquire if their intent is to renew. This brought up a point by a new member, who wondered what benefits the members received. The group decided it would be a good idea to investigate creating a membership card. The card would list discounts at several businesses, along with listing the expiration of the membership. Kristen volunteered to create a draft card for the March meeting. Members will receive a welcome letter and membership card, along with be listed in the Hochi, like JASM does monthly.
Festival of Nations: Angela gave an update on the FON. She outlined the final menu, discussed ordering a fridge, stove and freezer (to cut down on trips to a storage location). Angela is looking for additional shift captains. There was also discussion of snacks versus food for the volunteers. It was agreed upon that each volunteer would receive a coupon for one Japan booth entrée per volunteer, in addition to the wrist band that gets them admission to the whole festival.
Walter Enloe/Hamline: JoAnn gave a recap of the talk by Walter Enloe at Hamline, and that a featured article will be in the next issue of the Hochi.
Youth: David Meldman sent an e-mail to Elizabeth, inquiring to how we could bring youth into the organization. He has several children that are into manga and anime and wondered if there were any programs or activities that SPNSCC provided that might be of interest. The group decided to refer him to the Japan School, JASM activites, and his local public library. This brought up the idea of potentially having sister-city libraries in St. Paul and Japan, and providing a “YA book club bag” of manga for each location. Kristen volunteered to look into this and report back at the March meeting.
Hochi: The next issue of the Hochi will come out in late March. Elizabeth will send her President’s Corner column and photos from the delegation visit to Nagasaki.
Website: SPNSCC’s website needs to be updated and more interactive and discussion of linking to Elizabeth’s blog for more current information. Kristen and Brian will look into potentially redoing the website this summer. If this cannot be achieved, they will create a proposal for students at MCTC to work on as a course project, courtesy of Elizabeth’s husband, who is an instructor.
Lantern Lighting: Kristen is working on the Thompson grant proposal. She will also look into a Target grant, once local store grant applications are available in late March.
Meeting adjourned.