Board Minutes July 17, 2018

Oregon Poetry Association Board Meeting, July 17, 2018 by SKYPE

(members participating: Lisa, Shirley, Joy, Lynn, Erik, Charles, Diane, Bruce, Stella, Dale)

 

Bruce, Diane, Dale and Eleanor Berry will stuff envelopes this coming week for the two missing issues of Verseweavers. Dale will forward the cover photo to board members.

Webmaster position is open. Dale will take on the maintenance of website. Tiel will continue to post to the website. Dale will contact Katy and Tiel to accomplish the hand-off of duties. Shirley will also train to assist with the website, but not assume any duties until relieved of her OPA event responsibilities.

The bequest check has arrived. OPA treasurer suggests we keep a minimum of $3000 in checking account to avoid paying a monthly fee to the bank. The remaining fourteen thousand can be slotted into a fund that pays a small amount of interest. Certificates of deposit might work for OPA. OPA Treasurer will check with Bank of America (OPA’s bank) to explore terms for CDs.

Motion made to approve placing $3500 in checking account as minimum balance. Motioned passed. Motion made and passed to have treasurer explore interest-bearing accounts, such as CDs, for the remaining funds.

Future board elections may require the board to identify candidates for board positions. Dale as an alternate is eligible to move to board membership. She already handles many OPA tasks and will not be asked to take on additional responsibilities.

Monthly financial report: An OPA board thank you goes to anonymous donors for $1500 to assist with future Cascadia publication.

Constant contact billing needs to be cancelled. We now use Mail Chimp. Charles will check to be sure important content is copied.

The OPA treasurer is authorized to spend $15 to advertise fall contest on Facebook. Treasurer will also pursue advertising OPA conference on Facebook for an equivalent amount.

OPA must always mention in print that Kim Stafford is the Oregon Poet Laureate. Motion made and passed to replenish our bookmark supply for the coming reading season.

A membership table will be available at the conference. Current rates will apply. New rates will be proposed at the general meeting. A committee will start work on design and content for the new membership brochure. No printing will take place until membership rates are firm. Using an interim fee will continue to be used for those joining mid-year. If there are objections to the rate hike the board may want to formulate a Plan B.

Dale and Diane will explore the costs of selling printed book bags and report back to the board in August.

We now have 283 members in OPA. That is a 20% increase since last board elections.

Two board members donated PO Box rental fee to cover the coming year.

Recognition of the recent bequest to OPA will be made at general membership meeting if the family involved agrees. The board will make an effort to inform the general membership about opportunities to make donations for specific projects.

The OPA newsletter will include information about the Oregon Poetry Collection reception, conference keynote speaker (Oregon Poet Laureate address is open to public) and workshop offerings. The title of Poet Laureate Kim Stafford’s keynote address is “The Flavor of Unity.”

The newsletter will also include information about receiving a conference discount on VRI rooms and early bird conference registration. Encouraging all paid attendees to wear name tags will assist with separating public attendees who may sit in for the keynote address, but do not pay to attend workshops and the luncheon. The OPA newsletter generally goes out about the 8th of each month. The 25th of each month is the deadline.

Southern Oregon hosted another poetry workshop in Grants Pass. An invitation has been issued to Kim Stafford to make an Oregon Poet Laureate visit to Medford.

Eugene has not had any OPA activities, but general poetry readings continue.

Portland area board members continue to distribute bookmarks at readings.

Joy and Erik will be OPA representatives at the Knight Library/OPA Poetry Contest Reception. They will introduce the OPA readers. Efforts will be made for publicity in the local press.

Conference plans are progressing. Registration is open. Publicity will appear on Facebook and on our website. The luncheon entrees have changed and Shirley is following up with VRI to be sure we have a gluten free option.

Valley River Inn requires a deposit of $1178 by August 31. We must pay the remainder 72 hours pre-event. Shirley is working on the registration packets. Board members or volunteers may help. Lynn will edit to make our assessment and feedback form more useful for OPA purposes. Charles has a list of volunteers. Erik is holding the Poet Laureate framed photographs. We need photos of Elizabeth Woody and Kim Stafford. Erik will seek their official photos.

Next Board meeting will be by SKYPE 1-4 on Tuesday, August 14.

 

respectfully submitted, Joy McDowell OPA board secretary

 

 

 

 

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