Board Meeting
Magic Mansion, Boulder
Sunday, October 20, 2013

It was a full house at the Magic Mansion with 30 total attendees that included Ignition members, all nine (9) board members, and 2 interested community members. With all the policy changes to be discussed, the increased attendance isn’t surprising!

Let’s dive right into the details of the meeting…

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Caroline “Caroshine” reminded everyone about the Ignition Mixer on Thursday 10/24. For added value, a few guest speakers were invited to talk about how to build morale in the respective departments.

Diana, part of team BAMF (Medical and Fire) expressed concern about the SuperVolunteer positions that were to be discussed, but Scott mentioned he would be addressing the issue in the Officer Reports section of the meeting.

Nina Cress, Budget Lead, reported that she sent out a Finance Team Survey to Ignition for feedback and possible improvements going into 2014.

OFFICER REPORTS

President, Scott ‘Koda’ Dudley, clarified some of the confusion around Supervolunteers, a recently introduced term that reflects the change the Board is seriously considering for Apo’s organizational structure.

“RED SHIRTS” / “SUPERVOLUNTEERS” EXPLAINED

First, Scott blithely announced from now on we would call them “RED SHIRTS” borrowing from the original Star Trek. Remember the guys in the red shirts that you knew would indicate some peril ahead and likely be dead by the end of the show? Yeah, those guys. But I digress.

Though the Board is still working to define the difference between Ignition and Red Shirts, Koda explained the current thinking is the Red Shirts would have all the same privileges and communication access that Ignition members have, excepting the right to vote for the board members.

The purpose of this added level of Red Shirts is to empower Ignition Leads and give them the ability to more quickly hire and build their departments. Ignition members must be ratified by the board, but Red Shirts would not. Each lead could choose his/her teams more quickly without needing Board approval to add the Red Shirts in their respective departments.

Ignition Leads are currently working to determine the new structure of their specific departments while corresponding with their Board Liaisons. By the November Board Meeting, Koda felt that they would have a better sense of how all this would work logistically.

We’ll keep you in loop as this develops!

Vice President, Sean “Sherpa” Sidelko, pointed out that there are several Ignition Positions open, and there will be more opening up with the annual Oct. 31st Ignition renewal date.

If you’re interested in helping to create Apogaea 2014, check out the open Ignition positions!

Secretary, Caroline “Caroshine” Kurt, requested that the September Board Meeting minutes be ratified, which was unanimously approved.

Caroline announced the two online votes made by the BOD between meetings:
• Motion to change the event date to June 4-9, 2014
• Motion to ratify Eean Ovens as IT Lead

Treasurer, Steve Merager, reported the balances in the Apo savings, checking and CD accounts. Bastion asked if it weren’t smarter to move the CD funds into a higher yield account like a Money Market, and Steve agreed that this is something he’s wanted to do.

There was a motion to move next year’s budget amount into a money market fund, but was tabled until the November meeting to allow for more research.

REVISION OF BYLAWS

Like all non-profit organizations, Apogaea has Bylaws to define how it will be managed and how it will run. Bylaws provide a framework for the organization, and aid in resolving internal disputes as well. Our Board is able to change the bylaws to ideally improve the way Apo functions. As our organization grows and issues arise, the Board must continuously review the policies to make sure they are optimizing the function of the organization.

Do you know where the Apogaea Bylaws are located on the Apo website? Visit our Legal Info page to see the current Bylaws.

The following changes were approved at the meeting:

Article VII Section 21, “Resolution by E-Mail” to Read:

The Board of Directors may pass any resolution within their powers by a majority vote of the Board by electronic mail. Such resolution shall be lawful and binding provided that the Secretary shall receive any such e-mail at the email address specified by the Secretary. Any resolution passed by email shall be announced within a reasonable time to Ignition via email. Motion by Eric, 2nd by Steve. PASSES unanimously.

Add the following statement to Article XI, Section 1:

Further, any provision of the Bylaws so invalidated shall be automatically reformed to be enforceable and consistent with the law, and to give maximum effect permitted by law to its original intention and content.

Revise Article IV, Section 2 to read as follows below, by adding the underlined language:

Functional Leads shall be those members of the community that volunteer to head reasonably substantial areas of operations for Apogaea’s festival or other activities and are approved to lead such roles by the Apogaea Board of Directors and thereafter identified as members of the corporation in the records of the Secretary. Functional Lead and Regional Rep terms shall terminate each year on October 31 unless re-ratified following the election of Directors. Functional Leads and Regional Representatives shall be required to be ratified by the Directors, with such ratification taking place when and as the Directors deem appropriate.

LIAISON AND IGNITION LEADS “<3” REPORT RECAP

Scott ‘Koda’ asked that the board liaisons and any Ignition lead that desired do a 3-minute or less report of their departments. Of course, it was near impossible for everyone to stay under 3 minutes, but it was awesome to hear an update on what departments are doing.

This gesture by the Board of facilitating these “<3 Reports” at the meeting is a noticeable improvement to internal communications within Ignition. The improved Ignition Mixers where Ignition members share ideas and best practices are also occurring at regular intervals.

Michael Yancy, Board Member

• Sound and placement policies will get a complete overhaul.
• There won’t be a placement committee
• He has a goal to end tension between sound & placement
• Finalize placement map earlier in the year
• There will be more communication between art committee and placement

Steve Merager, Treasurer & Board Member

Starting to work on the budget and improving budget processes

Jen “Jigsaw” Whitesell, Board Member

• The Historian is returning, and he plans on doing the History of Apogaea Presentation along with educational posters at Center Camp.  He will also be working on recording Apo history in an organized manner
• Telemetry is working hard to re-organize the website to be more user-friendly
• Propaganda / Media department has been created so we’ll have official videos, photos, a person designated to create the WWWW (who what when where)

Noah Deep, Board Member

Volunteer stuff:

• The Onboarding role being developed to help orient new Ignition leads
• Goal to improve volunteer recognition and help increase return volunteers

ASS has a new lead and sees ways to improve the department

Julie Stenger – Center Camp Lead

Most daily leads are returning from last year. There is an open position for a Center Camp Performance and Art Facilitator

Kemo – DPW Lead

• Plans on creating a Site Operations position to improve DPW
• Set up Operations Headquarters at gate

Lavender – Rangers

• Improve décor of Ranger tent to make more inviting
• Ranger Khaki training will be improved
• Implement an education campaign – enabling what Rangers do

Bastion – Medical Lead

• Working out Red Shirts vs. Ignition on the team
• Proposing 8-hour instead of 12-hour shifts (wow, did you know that last year’s medical volunteers worked 12-hour shifts? Thanks for the hard work!).  Not all shifts will have to be Ignition members
• Wants to create XXXo lead and set up a new and improved “chain-of-command” to lighten the load and disperse responsibility to enable the medical staff more event enjoyment.

Sean Sidelko – Vice President and Board Member

Peach and Cammy are returning as leads.
Conclave practice starts Nov 2nd and all are welcome
The 2014 fire performance will be shortened to 20 minutes from the 45 minutes in 2013

Scott ‘Koda’ Dudley – President and Board Member

Brought on new IT Lead

IGNITION RATIFICATION

Acculturation Lead – Meg Woodhouse

Acculturation Department:

• Bob Meydenbuaer / Bobalicious
• Chris Nedrow / Doc
• Lee Hughes / Fa Can Lee
• Brad Holland / B-Rad

ASS Lead – Nikki Minette
Assistant Treasurer – Mark Slough
Burning Man Regional Rep – Meg Woodhouse

Center Camp Daily Leads:

• Brandon Chase
• Emily Moe
• Michael Moss
• Sara King
• Liese Lemay

Center Camp Infrastructure Lead – Jen Whitesell
This position incited discussion due to her role as board member. Being a board member is priority and it was agreed that since the work is mostly done at work weekend, it should be fine. Her ratification was approved, but Jen abstained from the vote.

Gate Lead – Julie Murphy
Graphic Designer – Jason “Kemo” Santiago
Greening Lead – Rachel “Treegirl” Beitz
Historian – Schmid-E
Ice Lead – Fuckin Lee
Ignition Fluffer – Caroline Kert
Info Booth Lead – Grag Rasmussen
Lamplighters Lead – Pai
Land Search – John Collins
Ranger Lead – Uncle Dave
Signs – Erin O’Brien
Survival Guide Graphic Designer – Matt Menke
Volunteer SWAG Lead – Kiki Beach
Website Continuity Lead – Erin O’Brien

NEWLY CREATED ROLES AND DEPARTMENTS
Video Department: Jen “Jigsaw” Whitesell motioned that the board create this department, which would fall under the new Media/Propaganda Department.
Video Department Lead – Ratified Jeremy Johnson
Volunteer Tracking Coordinator – Dana Deason ratified

Based on a decidedly growing need to educate the community around the subject of sexual consent, everyone at the meeting participated in the discussion of adding a proposed LOVERS Department. Its role in Apogaea would be purely educational, but given the scope of the issue, the subject was tabled for the time being.

USE OF PHOTOS / IMAGES

Apogaea has an Use of Images policy that basically requires permission from the organization should anyone want to use the photos for anything other than personal use.

Recently, one of our community member photographers, Diana Sabreen, requested permission to post photos she took at Apo 2013 onto her professional website. In response, the BOD had to decide whether to grant exception to the Apo photo policy.

The Board considered several variables.  Diana properly asked for permission from everyone in the photos while shooting, and the Board reviewing the two websites on which Diana wished to post her photos.

Though one website was declined, the BOD approved the exception under the condition that she would not sell the images, and that she would include the Creative Commons License and link back to www.apogaea.com in the photos on her main website.

The rules around use of photo images can be found in #4 of our websites ticket terms and conditions page.

TEMPLE & EFFIGY

The question of Apo’s ownership of the Temple and Effigy was deliberated.  Ownership becomes an issue when the art piece must be stored after the event due to a burn ban or because the project is not intended to burn.

Eric Moutz suggested that Apo negotiate ownership (give artists the choice of ownership) and take each proposal on a case-by-case basis. Bastion added that the regional burn, Flipside, pays to transport them to BM to burn if there is a burn ban. This could be a possible option in the future.

The Board approved that Apogaea will now negotiate with each artist the ownership of the Effigy and Temple.  The question of ownership will be added to the art grant application and the requirements of ownership will be clearly defined.

Learn more about the EFFIGY and TEMPLE Art Grants!

NEXT BOARD MEETING

Sunday, November 17, 2013
1:00pm-4:00pm
Fusion Factory, Denver