2022/01/20 VIMS Council Minutes

VIMS Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, January 20th, 2022 at 6 p.m.

Online Meeting Hosted in Victoria, B.C. Present: Brock Brown (chair), Brian Chapel, Rhonda Duncan, June Fukushima, Kevin Keliher (secretary) and Bruce MacRae. Absent with Regrets: None.

Agenda Items:
1) Review and Approve Agenda Motion from Brock to approve agenda. Carried.
2) Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting November 25th, 2021 Motion from Bruce to approve minutes. Carried.
3) Business arising from the Minutes and Updates.
a) VIMS Council agreed via email to change Margo’s February 19, 2022 retreat to an online only retreat given the current COVID-19 situation. The hours will be 9 am – 4 pm. Motion from Brock to approve suggested dana of $20 for Margo’s one day retreat.
b) As agreed, VIMS has made a donation of $250 to Birken Forest Monastery video production fund, $250 US to Dharma Seed (for dharma audio), and $200 US to the Metta Forest Monastery book fund.
c) As agreed, Brock purchased two camera tripods intended to be used for hybrid retreats at Goward House.
4) Financial Updates
a) Coast Capital Account Statements Accounts November 30th 2021 Chequing: $3,532.93 Savings: $13,791.44 TOTAL: $17,324.37 Accounts December 31st, 2021 Chequing: $1,967.37 Savings: $13,792.61 TOTAL: $15,759.98 VIMS will not incur a rental cost from Goward House for the February, 19, 2022 retreat. Goward House has given VIMS a credit towards future retreats. b) November and December 2021 Financial Reports circulated by email. Motion from June to approve November & December 2021 financial statements. Carried
c) VIMS T2 for fiscal year 2020 was filed by accountant Patrick Conroy ($630). Information for VIMS T2 fiscal year 2021 sent to Patrick Conroy.
d) June investigated the cloud version of Quickbooks and discovered it is not cost effective at this time.
e) VIMS sincerely thanks Wei Wu for her continued volunteer support in managing the bookkeeping through Quickbooks and providing timely reports. VIMS also sincerely thanks Kiko Brown for her continued volunteer support in preparing an Excel spreadsheet that categorizes the banking information for Wei to easily enter the data into Quickbooks.
5) Sunday Night Community Sit: a) Due to the COVID-19 situation the in-person Sunday Sit was not restarted in January.
6) Communications – Newsletter, Website, and Constant Contact.
a) The Constant Contact invitation for Margo’s retreat is scheduled to go out January 24th.
b) David Axon continues to respond to the victoriainsight@gmail.com emails. The VIMS sincerely thanks David for his ongoing commitment to VIMS.
c) Appreciation to Bruce for updating the website, producing the monthly Newsletters, and gratitude to June for managing the vims1retreat@gmail.com and vimsdana@gmail.com account.
7) Board Changes: Brian announced that he will not stand as a Board Member when members are acclaimed/elected at the 2022 AGM.
a) VIMS sincerely thanks Brian for his many years of service, providing wise counsel, and technical support.
b) Thoughts on additions to the board, and who would be in the role Brian has been playing (e.g., Constant Contact). We are considering the possibility of contracting out the registration set-up.
c) The next AGM has been scheduled for June 16th, 2022 at 6:30.
8) 2022 Retreats:
a) All events at Goward House unless indicated otherwise. 2022 Upcoming Retreats Date Teacher Confirmed (Y/N) Venue Booked Format Notes
Feb 19 Margo McLoughlin (Y) Goward House Online Kevin Keliher Manager Joanna Stonechapel Registrar
Mar 19/20 Tempel Smith (Y) Goward House Hybrid Joyce Elliott Manager. No Registrar yet.
Apr 9/10 Tuere Sala (Y) Goward House Hybrid Friday evening online only. May 21/22 Scheduled retreat canceled Might fill this spot with another teacher
Jun 25/26 Bonnie Duran(Y) Shoal Center Hybrid David Axon Manager
Sep 17 Brock Brown (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Oct 15/16 Christine Feldman (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Nov 12/13 Ajahn Candasirii (Y) Goward House Hybrid Nun coming from Scotland, Katherine Leslie Manager Appreciation to Brock for coordinating dates with teachers and finding Registrars and managers for the retreats and managing the relationship with Goward House. Next Council Meeting: Thursday, March 17th at 6:30 p.m.