August 2014 Board Meeting Summary

Posted On: August 19, 2014

Board Meeting Sunday, August 10, 2014 Fusion Factory, Denver, CO It was an exciting day for Apogaea as it was the outgoing board’s proverbial annual hand-off to the new board so they can take the reins for the following year.

This is also the meeting when the new BOD elects their officers for the year. Twenty folks were in attendance, including four of the five BOD applicants who were still seeking to fill the replacement board positions. Koda led his last meeting as President and passed on the gavel mid-meeting to the newly elected President.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Q: What if you want an Ignition position that is already filled and think you’d rock at it?

Gretchen asked if people are looking to be in Ignition roles that have been held by one person some time, what is the process for vying for the position. The BOD encouraged those interested folks email [email protected] to submit their resume and speak to why they would be a good fit for position.

Each year a few months after Apo Ignition is reset and must be re-ratified by the board. Currently the date is October, but the BOD will be re-evaluating this reset date at the Board Retreat. Some people serve many 1-year terms on ignition, but that doesn’t mean they’re “entitled” to that position every year, it usually just means that a) they did a good job, or b) that no one else has indicated an interest.

Many board members have shown a desire to come up with a more explicit policy regarding how returning to ignition in the same position year over year works. If there’s a lot of interest from the community, they would develop such a policy.

OFFICERS REPORT

Koda, the outgoing President, introduced the three new 3-year (full term) board members:

Koda added that the new board members would be signing the following documents:

Online Code of Conduct (Koda encourages a general code of conduct for all of Apo org members)
“Whistle Blowers” agreement, which basically says that “if you see something happen, you speak up and do not feel in fear of speaking up.”
Conflict of Interest

Vice President – Koda announced that Sherpa had very recently stepped down as the Vice President and as a Board Member for personal reasons. He reminded the new board that they would need to vote in a new replacement to complete Sherpa’s remaining 1 year term, as well as the other two newly vacant positions.

Secretary – Since Caroshine was not in attendance, Kellie Nedrow filled the role and asked that the July board meeting minutes be approved. The BOD unanimously approved the July minutes.

Steve, outgoing Treasurer, announced that we have about $237K total in all the accounts. No one has applied to be Treasurer, so Steve offered to fill the role for another month. The board voted unanimously to keep Steve on as acting Treasurer while they continue to seek a replacement.

Within this additional month of service, Steve plans to complete and publish the P&L Statement. He will also speak with Art Committee liaison, So Rachel Cain, regarding the loan grants. Only $49K was dispersed, which is about $1K less than had been awarded.

VOTING IN THE THREE (3) ADDITIONAL OPEN BOARD POSITIONS

When BOD members choose not to complete their three-year term, the BOD votes in replacements. At the board meeting, there were three vacancies to fill as Steve Merager had just announced his resignation from the board:

The openings:
1 year for remainder of Jen “Jigsaw” Whitesell’s position
1 year for the remainder of Steve Merager’s position
2 years for the remainder of Sean “Sherpa” Sidelko’s position

After a pretty involved Q & A session for the applicants, the new board voted in the replacements:

1 year – Schmid-E
1 year – Jason “Izzy” Sherry
2 year – Nic “St Nic” DeMuth

CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS

Brian Edwards – 3 year term (Class of 2016) – Vice President 2014/2015
Greg “Schmid-E” – 1 year team (Class of 2015)
Jason “Izzy” Sherry – 1 year team (Class of 2015)
John Perez – 3 year term (Class of 2017)
Julie “Twister” Nelson – 3 year term (Class of 2017)
Kellie Nedrow – 3 year term (Class of 2016)
Michael Moss – 3 year term (Class of 2017) – President 2014/2015
Michael Yancey – 3 year term (Class of 2015)
Nic “St. Nic” DeMuth – 2 year term (Class of 2016)

OFFICER ELECTIONS

The 2015 Presidential candidates were Michael Yancey and Michael Moss. After another round of questions from the meeting attendees, the board voted for the President. The only person who applied for the 2015 Vice Presidential role was Brian Edwards. Shayna was the only candidate for the Secretarial role. Just to reiterate, officers do not have to be board members!

The new BOD votes in the new Officers for 2015:

President – Michael Moss
Vice President – Brian Edwards
Secretary – Shayna “Bionica” Schiflett
Treasurer – Steve is serving an extra month, but this position needs to be filled ASAP. If you or anyone you know would be a great fit for this role, please email [email protected]

BOARD LIAISONS FOR DEPARTMENTS

Now that we have a new BOD, they decided to choose who would be liaisons for which departments in September. After the meeting on Sunday, the board followed up with Ignition via email to obtain feedback about who each preferred as their departmental BOD liaison.

After the board retreat, the liaisons will be reaching out to each of their department leads to confirm their motivation to stay in their role or to get the open Ignition positions posted on our website. If a current department lead wishes to stay on in their role, they still must be ratified.

Anyone interested in any Ignition role should contact [email protected], as all interested parties will be taken into consideration. Learn more about the various Ignition Departments!

ART COMMITTEE PROCESS UPDATE

So Rachel Cain presented the current Art Committee(CATS) updates to the new BOD. Previously it was just called “art grant committee,” but now they are reorganizing into three distinct sections:

Grant process administration
Department liaison for each department including the BOD. Rachel will be the new liaison to the BOD.
Community connections who teach artists how to apply

The CATS committee for 2015 will consist of 20-25 members. Three people left and there are six new members. They are developing the document that clarifies the expectations and performance requirements CATS agree to in order to participate. Also, they want to incorporate backup people into the structure so that if anyone drops the ball, there is someone who picks up the job.

She spoke to the conflict of interest concern that has been voiced by some in the community. The committee thoroughly discussed the idea of creative grant applications being anonymous to avoid any semblance of favoritism, but they agreed that historical info is vital for a proper decision. She added that if a committee member is having intimate relations with or is family with any applicant, that person must step out of room and abstain from the vote for that piece of art.

Until given direction from the board, CATS is anticipating $80K to give away in creative grant funding. The committee hopes the BOD votes as soon as September. She added that they would like the Ludicrous Creative Grant Round to start September 15, but the board still needs to decide on the budget for the grant funding. The BOD expressed the desire decide the budget after the Board Retreat in September. Of course, a factor that will affect this total funding amount is any potential slowing of the population growth for the next year.

So Rachel also mentioned the importance of cross training in the department. They are going to have an XXXO for each new position.

So Rachel then asked about insurance concerns that might affect artists. Insurance issues could arise due to the Utah incident. The board was not sure at this time, but it will likely be a topic this year.

She added that if Apo wants big art, everyone needs to be on same page about what big art is. They need support from DPW as well as all other departments. Rachel and the BOD came to agreement that budgeting-wise, the committee and artists should assume help from DPW. It’ll be vital for the BOD and DPW to communicate what handy machines would be on-site that artists could borrow for their big art set ups.

Luke with Placement added that the big art is new to the placement process. For example, in 2014 there were two burns, the poofers, and the big robot. There are certain limitations with the land. Placement will work with what they have, but all agreed that communication will be critical. This is an example why CATS should have communication liaison for every department.

IGNITION RESET

The Ignition reset date was a topic on the agenda but it was tabled to be discussed online. Instead of October, as is currently the arrangement, the BOD is considering that it could be as early as July 31st to help with onboarding and hopefully mentorship.

BOARD RETREAT

After a quick discussion, the BOD decided to hold the retreat on September 6th. They be meeting in Arvada. Historically, this retreat happens in order to work out some of the essential details for the upcoming event, including deciding the population, departmental budgets, creative grant budget, determine department liaisons, any important event policy changes, etc.

UPCOMING BOARD MEETING

Sunday, September 28th
Fusion Factory
Denver, CO