Dewan Meeting Minutes Sept, 7, 2014

Dewan Meeting, Sunday 9/7/14 9 – 11am

Attending:
Committee: David Lynch, Elisha Gullixson, Sherwin O’Bar, Oswald Norton
Helper: Jim O’Halloran
Spring Street Center: Marston Gregory, Paul Nelson
Members: Maryka Ford and Halstein Stralberg

Review of and agreement on Proposed Agenda
Agreed

Review of Last Months Minutes – Committee
Amendments: Typos and change of wording of Ramp proposal to bring clarity. To be fixed for context by Oswald. Accepted with amendments Sherwin and Oswald.

NOTE: Corrections completed.

Financial Report – Sherwin O’Bar

  • Member donations for August were down considerably – 1/3 of normal donations.  It is the committee’s hope that this is due to members being on vacation and forgetting their August donation.  Member donations are down $3,200 over donations from last year.
  • Income from Spring Street Center is up, but, due to much of the income being consumed by delayed maintenance expenses, over all income is only $2,000 higher than last year.
  • Insurance quotes on coverage sufficient to cover the current value of our Spring Street Center were reviewed and agreed to.  New coverage was only $25 per month greater than current coverage.
  • Go Daddy Internet domain names need to be renewed.  The expiration dates and renewal deadlines were reviewed by the committee and Paul.  Sherwin will renew them in the next 7 days.
  • A discussion regarding Increasing the monthly contribution to SPNW and increasing our payments on the SUSA and SPNW loans was tabled until the committee heard a report on projected income and expense from Spring Street Center representatives. After that review, it was agreed to table this item until the end of the year.

Men and Women Helper Report – state of the dewan.

  • At our Next General Meeting October 5th we will discus the purpose and use of the Subud Greater Seattle House Guidelines and Our House Prayer.  In preparation for this discussion, both members who requested that these guidelines and prayers be created and posted and those who have been not agreed to their being posted will have a chance to do some testing on Sunday 9/21 with the helpers, after the Sunday latihan.
  • Seattle: Jim O’Halloran provided the helper report.  Latihans are being covered for both men and women.
  • Eastside. Oswald reported on the eastside. We’re experienced a great turn out last Friday of both men (10) and women (5). Members now want to explore obtaining larger space within the building. Most Wednesday latihans there are 2-3 men and no women.  Most Friday’s there are 4-5 men and 1-2 women. Before latihan last Wednesday members explored the question, “What is the value of your latihan to you?” The members reported that the latihan that night was quite remarkable.
  • Olympia. David Lynch. There are now 3 men and 2 women doing latihan in the Olympia area.

Spring Street Center – Paul and Marston

  • Bookings for August continued to be strong.
    Rental Expenses against Income for the past year only show a $2,000 profit so far
  • We believe that we’ve come out of the other side of the long run of deferred expenses we’ve had recently.
  • Marston’s has but together a list of current repairs needed, including a set of panic bar doors for the chapel.  The total cost of items on this list is around $4,000 (doors were $2,000).
  • We agreed to put aside 5% of income in the coming months until we accumulate enough in this fund to be able to cover any future expenses before agree to do them.
  • Report on state and city taxes for the rental business. Research of State taxes, indicated no liability there. We do need to obtain a Seattle Business License.

Action: Paul and David will go to Seattle Business Department to obtain the license before our next dewan meeting.

  •  Paul Nelson submitted a proposal to the committee to increase his commission to 30%. The current rate is 20% plus hourly costs for additional work.  This new rate would be a flat 30% fee that would cover everything.  This rate would be good for one year after which it would be reviewed.  A vote was taken of committee members and passed unanimously.

Action: Paul will provide a written agreement at next month’s meeting to would be signed by the chair.

Ramp Grant Proposal for MSF:
Our proposal will be reviewed in the next batch of proposals in 4 months.

SICA Events

  • For a 2nd year, In Celebration of International Peace Day, on Saturday September 20th at 7 pm there will be a Poems for Peace Celebration at the Spring Street Center.
  • A collection was taken from those present to provide refreshments for those who attend.
  • Help Expand Our SICA Programming: Paul Nelson is seeking partners to help plan other SICA events and open our facilities to the community.  Those interested should contact him at pen@splab.org

Other Topics

  • Money request policy this was tabled until next meeting.
  • Membership age–attracting youth. It was agreed that the best way to attract members was to have a strong and active helper group.  We all agreed as a dewan support this initiative.
  • Halstein also felt that if we pay attention to how we treat each other and are thoughtful and kind, this will also help.
  • Sprinklers: Jim pointed out that due to someone turning on the faucet for the hose and then turning the faucet all the way off, the sprinkler system was also turned off, which nearly wiped out our garden in the front of the house.  Due to this the faucet has been removed.

Other Events

  • 40th anniversary of our Subud House.  Celebrate! October 12th after latihan.
  • Date for testing/election of new Dewan. Postponed until next meeting.
  • PNW Regional Meeting and Selection of new Regional Chair 9/27 in Portland
  • PNW Regional Kedjiwan Retreat: At Menucha Conference Center: November 6-9

Next General Meeting

  • October 5th after latihan we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of our Subud House.
  • Please bring refreshments and come and share stories.

Next Committee Meeting
October 12th at 9 am.