Subud Pacific Northwest
Board Meeting Agenda
May 13, 2015
Alexandra called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
Attending:
Alexandra terHorst, Oswald Norton, Sherwin O’Bar, Pete terHorst, Bhakti Watts, Ramon, Elizabeth Flanders
Approval of the April meeting minutes: Motion by Bhakti, 2nd by Oswald. Approved by acclaim.
Chair reports:
Bhakti – The Portland Susila Dharma fundraiser on 4-26 raised $2300. Kudos to Marilyn Shirk for organizing. The group approved a capitol budget at the last meeting, which was a major accomplishment culminating a lengthy period that tested everyone’s willingness to work together. This was part of a good circle gathering in May, and the group is looking into planning mediation training for future group interaction, facilitated by members who have the training. The house property manager, Raphael Baker, is no longer to do the job for health reasons, so the group is seeking help from members.
Ramon – Seattle added funding to build a handicapped ramp, the price increased slightly due to permitting fees. David Lynch will start work May 15, it will take one month to complete. The AirBnB is doing well, and the group is working on contract with Paul Nelson to manage this business. Sherwin is also helping with this.
Helper reports:
Elizabeth – There were two men and two women on the last regional latihan call. Some helpers are going to Spokane soon. Also, planning some phone testing to assist southern Oregon.
Alexandra offered to host a separate call with helpers to discuss how to help spread the word about expanded helper travel and outreach.
Housing Committee:
Oswald – Members are David Lynch and Michael DuBois for BSV. Bhakti – She will be the committee rep for PDX for now. Oswald was hoping to hear from centers about what the PNW housing committee can do to help the centers, but no requests yet. He is also active with the review of insurance information with Alexandra.
Insurance Policy, Consolidation:
Alexandra – Philadelphia insurance decided PNW is not a “church” for policy purposes, however Liberty Mutual has provided a quote. We can save about $700 for houses and $300 for the D&O policy, but first we need to assign the independent agent who we are working with to be the agent of record, as Alexandra is not willing to pull this business from the current Seattle agent from Liberty Mutual but wants permission to get quotes from existing agents for Seattle and PDX (whose policy is written by State Farm).
The BSV policy (with Great American) has other properties listed, this need to be sorted out to be sure we are not listing properties we no longer use.
Proposed action: PNW should obtain insurance for its owned properties as well as commercial properties where we can confirm members are meeting. Also to include family camp and Menucha. Alexandra to follow up next month.
Ramon offered a motion to adopt the requirement that all renters of PNW properties to list PNW as an additional insured on a policy of at least $1M. Oswald seconded the motion.
Discussion – Proof of a liability amount is determined as an industry standard. Bhakti – At the last PDX committee meeting there was concern small groups like yoga classes could not afford insurance. Alexandra said the long view is that there is more exposure with a regular class teaching a physical exercise. Ramon said getting this proof of coverage also protects the renter. Sherwin said each house could offer to make the coverage part of the rental fee. Ramon said Seattle is not requiring this consistently at this time. Oswald said the committee will work with centers on the implementation. Ramon offered that regular renters might pay less for house usage for a short time to give them leeway for paying for coverage.
Alexandra called the vote: The motion passed unanimously with none opposed or abstaining.
Oswald to provide sample language for centers to begin using.
Family Camp/Menucha Pre-Planning:
It was agreed to wait until next month for family camp discussion with Michael Dubois.
Alexandra – From Beata, parents may not want to bring kids to Menucha, so Alexandra suggested that we focus PNW energy on family camp. For young adults, there is interest in Menucha to use the barn, so this is under consideration. Of course, children and families are always welcome at Menucha as well. Lastly, Menucha asked for some help with light installation over Memorial Day weekend.
Communications Committee:
Alexandra – Paul Nelson (Seattle) and Pete have volunteered, now we need reps from BSV and Portland (Bhakti will monitor the meetings until a representative is selected)… will convene soon. Oswald suggested we publish the minutes of various center member meetings to share with the region.
New Business:
Oswald suggested we move to a single payer option for all regional events using the SUSA Neon CRM software. More discussion for next meeting…
Alexandra asked, following the Dewan gathering in March, how is the dewan doing on outreach and inclusion? Overall the sentiments were positive. Oswald noted he would like to attend any PDX mediation training.
Announcements:
Alexandra – How can we encourage/ask for national congress attendance? Elizabeth said attending is expensive but we can repeatedly put the word out.
Oswald – We received a message from our national helper liaison that she wanted to contribute to the PNW region, which all agreed is a very nice gesture.
Alexandra suggested we send some flowers from PNW to Serena DuBois, everyone agreed.
The meeting adjourned was at 8:47 p.m.