ArkGeo Board Meeting Minutes - March 9, 2007

The ArkGeo Executive Board met Friday, March 9, 2007.

The following members attended:

Beth Daniel
Bert Drake
Wayne Lunsford
Max Slaughter

Old Business:
I. Board Election Procedures

1. Lots were drawn for terms. Max, Wayne, and Gunnar will serve one-year terms. Beth and Bert will serve two-year terms.
2. Nominations for the remaining Board positions cease on March 13. Voting can begin no earlier than April 13. Voting Members will be sent email containing full ballot between March 13 and March 27.

II. Non-profit status
All signatures have been obtained and non-profit status is in the hands of the lawyer.

III. AG&FC Report
We discussed the policies/procedures given to us by the AG&FC. While we feel that our input was minimal and these policies are not quite what we wanted, they are a definite beginning. We now encourage the membership to follow these policies and be valuable visitors on these lands.

IV. Web Site Changes
Methods for promoting Arkansas events on our home page were discussed. Bert will look into some calendar features and possible connections to geocaching.com for automatic posting. Issues dealing with "bots", forum spamming, and other such nuisances which must be regularly dealt with were discussed. Bert has had to block 380 or so such accounts in the past 7 DAYS!

New Business:
The existing Board voted on the following clarifications:

I. Bylaws
1. Propose adding the following sentence to Article II, Section 3:"Dues shall only apply to Voting Members." - Passed
2. Propose adding the following sentence to Article II, Section 2: "Any member may withdraw his/her own membership, without penalty and to be effective immediately, by giving written notification to the Board." - Passed
3. Propose changing Article IX to read, "The Board may adopt, amend, or repeal the bylaws with a two-thirds majority voteof approval by the Board." - Passed
4. Propose changing Article III, Section 3, Eligibility to read "Any Voting member of ArkGeo who has been a member of ArkGeo for a minimum of one year as of the date nominations close will be eligible to run for a Board position". - Passed

II. Development of Standing Rules (General Rules of Thumb)
The following items were discussed but decisions deferred until after the full Executive Board is in place.
1. Budget. Establish policy for purpose and distribution of assets.
2. ArkGeo "Sponsored" Events? CITO? How often? How to choose locations? Who will handle coordination of these events?
3. Communication/reporting to membership - What method to use? Who is responsible? How often?
4. Develop an appeals process for members which will not involve the public forums. This will need to include things which would threaten our non profit status. Bert will be looking at various feedback modules/administrative plug-ins/etc.
5. Proposed changes of logo usage guidelines to consider permitting sale of items bearing the ArkGeo logo at events. Our policy is that any proceeds will offset the event cost and excess will go to ArkGeocaching.
6. Propose purging accounts that have not been used for over two years. Notification will be sent first if possible. "Your account will expire in #days/months unless you tell us you'd like to remain an account holder."
7. Dues? Fundraising?

III. Schedule next meeting of Board: Meeting will be held June 8, 2007.