VIMS Council Meeting Minutes (approved)

Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

June and Brock’s home

Present:

Brock, June, Sandra, Bruce, Rhonda, Brian

Absent with Regrets:

None.

Agenda Items:

1. Review and Approve Council Meeting Agenda:

Motion from Sandra to approve the agenda.  Carried.

1. Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting (June 23rd, 2016):

There were no changes to the distributed draft minutes from the June council meeting.  Motion from Rhonda to approve the minutes.  Carried.

Note: There was no council meeting in July.

1. Business arising from the Minutes and Updates:

• Ajahn Sudanto led a day of practice on June 26 which was greatly appreciated by those who participated. 59 people attended.
• Solwazi Johnson led a one day retreat on August 1 which was well received. 51 people attended. The retreat was described as “a day of motion and joy with time for quiet meditation”.
• Rod’s Master list of VIMS documents: Bruce will speak to Rod about creating a new document specifically for retreat coordinators (to separate out the specific current retreat documents from all other general VIMS documents). After the last council meeting June sent the link to this list to council members.
• Regards Retreat Operations, Rhonda and Isy have separate documents for reporting (post-retreat) and planning (pre-retreat) respectively. Rhonda will speak to Isy about any updating that may be taking place and Brian will check the linkages between documents for possible auto updating.
• Sandra sent a document to Brock with the dates for registration opening for all 2017 retreats.  This information was passed on to Isy, Joyce and Brian for Retreat Operations and Registration planning.
• Lawrie as coordinator for Steve Armstrong’s September retreat has been informed of the Council’s decision to increase the travel budget for Steve (CA$500) as Steve’s earlier travel plans have changed.

1. Finances:

• June presented highlights of Wei’s financial reports for June and July 2016 which had been distributed to council via email prior to the meeting (there was no council meeting in July):

Account Balances as of July 1^st, 2016:

Chequing:         $4,674.43

Savings:           $3,759.47

TOTAL:            $8,433.90

Account Balances as of August 1^st, 2016:

Chequing:         $3,697.25

Savings:           $3,760.43

TOTAL:            $7,457.68

• We are doing better than anticipated.
• Motion from June to accept Wei’s financial reports for June and July 2016. Carried.
• June has a few ATM cards for the VIMS Coast Capital account. These have been filed for use as needed.

5. Communications:
   • Newsletter:
     • We will be looking for volunteers to help produce the newsletter but in the meantime, June and Bruce will continue producing it.
     • From September we will be distributing the newsletter on an end-of-month schedule rather than a beginning-of-month schedule.
     • June provided a sample of a different style newsletter – single column vs. multiple columns – which would be easier for volunteers to produce while still containing the same content as the current style. Council reviewed the sample and discussed the potential change. We agreed that the new style should be given a trial. Motion from Brock to try the new newsletter style with the next newsletter.
   • Website:
     • Bruce will update the website with current retreat information.
     • Brock will send the information for Ajahn Tiradhammo’s retreat to Brian and Bruce for inclusion in the website and registration documentation.
     • June will ask Joyce to send the relevant information about Christina Feldman’s retreat to Brian and Bruce for the same update purposes.
   • Constant Contact mailing list issue – implied consent status – decision on what to do with the remaining 126 subscribers who still have this status: June provided Council with the following recommendations:
     • Send the 30 ‘active’ subscribers on the implied consent list an email from victoriainsight@gmail.com asking they reply to the email, indicating their consent to stay on the list.
     • Remove the other 96 email addresses from the implied consent list and from our contacts – there has been no response from this group throughout our campaign to reach the implied consent group (multiple emails and newsletter announcements).

Council agreed to June’s recommendations.

6. Sunday Sit
   • Reminder list for facilitators to mention at the start of the sit. Sandra to put a draft together.
   • The facilitator/operations schedule is largely in place for the balance of 2016 (a few operations spots in December have yet to be filled). Sandra will start sending out the monthly confirmation email to all facilitators and operations volunteers scheduled for the following month and will coordinate with June re any cancellations and the re-staffing that may be required.
   • Bruce will welcome Heather on September 25^th when she comes to facilitate.
   • 2017 coordination for facilitators and operations volunteers: June and Sandra will meet in early October to start planning the Sunday Night Sit schedule for 2017.
7. 2016 Programs/Events:

Upcoming retreats:

• Sept 17/18 – Steve Armstrong.
• Oct 15/16 – Christina Feldman.
• Oct 29 – Ajahn Tiradhammo.
• Nov 13 – Brock Brown.

Completed retreats:

• Jan 16/17 – Heather Martin.
• Feb 20 – Margo McLoughlin.
• March 25/26 – Pascal Auclair.
• May 20 – public talk with Ajahn Sona and Margo McLoughlin.
• May 21/22 – Ajahn Sona.
• June 26 – Ajahn Sudanto – Practice Day
• Aug 1 – Solwazi Johnson

Council discussed/reviewed the Victoria IMS registration/attendance logistics re numbers (number of people who register for retreats, cancellation/no show rates, actual attendance) and have agreed to maintain the status quo.

• VIMS Social: September 8^th at the Garry Oak room at the Fairfield Community Centre. Brock will extend an invitation to Heather.

 2017 Programs:

All dates, teachers and venues are confirmed.  All programs listed below will be held at Goward House with the exception of Ajaan Geoff’s retreat in August which will be held at Uvic:

• Jan 21/22 – Heather Martin
• ebruary 19 – Margo McLoughlin
• March 18/19 – Howard Cohn
• April 30 – Tuere Sala
• May 27/28 – Ayya Medhanandi
• Aug 19/20 – Ajaan Geoff
• Sep 16/17 – Adrianne Ross
• Oct 14/15 – Steve Armstrong
• Nov 26 – Brock Brown

1. 2018 Programs:

• March 31/April 1 – Pascal Auclair – Goward House confirmed
• Nov 10/11 – Carol Wilson – Goward House confirmed

Potential candidates for further consideration for the 2018 retreat calendar were discussed.

1. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Next Meeting

October 20^th, 2016
7:00-9:30p.m.

Sandra’s home

Note: Council decided that we did not need to meet in September and moving forward, we will meet every other month unless current VIMS matters require us to meet more frequently.