2019/11/21 VIMS Council Minutes

VIMS Council Meeting Minutes (approved)

Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

June and Brock’s home

Present:          

June Fukushima, Brock Brown, Rhonda Duncan, Bruce MacRae, Brian Chapel

Absent with Regrets: 

Sandra Joy.

Agenda Items:

  1. Review and Approve Council Meeting Agenda: 

Motion from Bruce MacRae to approve the agenda. Carried.

  1. Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting (September 5th, 2019): 

There were no changes to the draft minutes from the September council meeting.  Motion from June Fukushima to approve the amended minutes. Carried.

  1. Business arising from the Minutes and Updates: 
  2. June Fukushima agreed to take minutes in Sandra’s absence.
  • Vance Pryor retreat update (October 12/13, 2019): There were 49 participants on Saturday (12th) and 40 participants on Sunday (13th). Thanks to all those who supported this retreat: Coordinators: June Fukushima and Lawrie Thicke; Co-managers: June Fukushima and Sheena Wilson; Registrar: Joan Glover; Sound: Bruce MacRae. 
  • Howie Cohen retreat update (November 9/10, 2019): There were 91 participants on Saturday (9th) and 76 participants on Sunday (10th).  Thanks to all those who supported this retreat: Coordinator: Brock Brown; Co-managers: Kathy Jago and Josephine Johns; Registrar: Brian Chapel; Sound: Bruce MacRae and Metta VanderVliet. Thanks to Brock and Joyce Elliott for driving Howie to and from the retreat location.
  1. Finance
  2. June Fukushima presented the September 2019 Financial Report prepared by Wei Wu (reports were distributed to council members prior to the meeting).
  • The key points of the financial report were discussed.  June Fukushima motioned to receive the September report. Carried.
  • Account Balances since the September 5th, 2019 council meeting:

Account Balances as of October 1st, 2019: 

Chequing:      $2,058.63

Savings:      $6,811.13

TOTAL:      $8,869.76

Account Balances as of November 1st, 2019:

Chequing:      $2,973.25

Savings:      $6,812.58

TOTAL:      $9,785.83

  • Quickbooks has now been installed on the new computer and the software is registered to June Fukushima.
  • Two scholarship requests have been approved for 2020.  Each is for the value of $250.
  • Council agreed that should there be sufficient excess funds at the end of 2019 we would consider giving donations to Dharma Seed, Birken Forest Monastery and Wat Metta.
  • Sunday Night Community Sit:
  • Sandra Joy provided a written report as she could not attend the council meeting:
  • The scheduling and rotation of facilitators is working well with Kevin Keliher doing most of the administration in collaboration with Sandra. Sandra updates the website facilitator information as soon as everyone is confirmed for the coming month. Attendance seems to be steady with quite a lot of different faces – drop-ins – and many of the regulars still attending.  
  • 2020 Sunday sit facilitators are scheduled through to the end of June.
  • Communications:   
  • The annual fee for Constant Contact has been paid for 2020 and Bruce MacRae has replaced Rod House as the contact person for payment.
  • The problems experienced with our retreat registration software at the time of Ajaan Geoff’s retreat seem to have settled and we have decided to forgo further discussion on the matter with the vendor.
  1. 2020 Programs:

The teachers and dates listed below are confirmed for the Victoria IMS 2020 retreat schedule.  All retreats will take place at Goward House.

  • January 18/19 – Heather Martin. 
    • February 22/23 – Margo McLoughlin.
    • April 11/12 – Pascal Auclair. 
    • May 23/24 – Ajaan Geoff.
    • September 19 – Brock Brown. 
    • October 17/18 – Christina Feldman.
    • November 14/15 – Carol Wilson.

Thanks to Isy House for finding the volunteer Coordinators, Managers, Registrars and Sound Technicians for the 2020 retreats and thanks to 
Joyce Elliott for communicating the provisional teams.

  • A proposal from Aranya Refuge was discussed.  The proposal concerned the sharing of costs for Ajaan Geoff’s visit in May 2020. June Fukushima and Brock Brown recused themselves from this decision as they have association with both Aranya Refuge and Victoria IMS.  Bruce MacRae will coordinate a response from the other council members.
  1. 2021 Programs:
  2. Discussions and planning for the 2021 retreat programs are well underway and a model for inviting teachers was agreed upon.
  3. In 2021 Victoria IMS will no longer have a volunteer organizer for the staffing of the weekend retreats.  Council discussed various ideas to secure volunteers and to manage the operations for the retreats.
  4. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Next Council Meeting 

January 16th, 2020 – 7:00-9:00p.m. 

Brian’s home.