Members Absent: Avis Cherichetti, Linda Drake, Pam Hansen, Mike Platner, Debbye Rosen, Debbie Wilbur

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1 Member Meeting Minutes Date of Meeting: November 11, 2012 Meeting Called to Order: 11:42am Members Present: Phoebe Allen, Cate Bourke, Carol Baglioni, Jennifer Boyd, Kathy Brunet, Bobbi Burns- McNaughton, Pam Carroll, Joni Celmer, Gwynne Everitt, Daniel Feingold, Sheila Fuller, Andrea Gaedeke, Linda Harrison, Pam Humphrey, Claudia Karimi, Supreet Kaur, David Keller, Rita King, Auralie LaChance, Gerry LaFleur, Tracy Marlor, Cathy McCloud, Anna McManus, Rachel Sharon, Linda Yurasevecz Members Absent: Avis Cherichetti, Linda Drake, Pam Hansen, Mike Platner, Debbye Rosen, Debbie Wilbur Agenda: Approve minutes from April 30, 2012 member meeting Review financials: o Sales slip challenges from Empty Bowls o Approve budget for remainder of year Add personal property insurance to property insurance? Policy renewal 12/1/12 Suggestions for utilizing year end extra cash: o Suggestions for prior to 2012 year end New bats and clay will be purchased prior to year end Steam cleaner? No rent for one month (December): Value $1440 Committee heads orders/requests o Suggestions for next year: Reduce dues to $40/per month: Value $1920 Hire cleaning service to clean floors/bathroom/kitchen each week: Value $? New slate for 2013 Charitable donations Administrative Committee positions? o Adding two slots for members helping treasurers Internal Internet set-up for membershipuse only o Tabs: teaching, membership, material orders, others? Other? Acceptance of minutes from April 30, 2012 Member Meeting: Andrea Gaedeke motioned to accept the Member Meeting minutes from April 30, Auralie LaChance seconded. Members present all voted to accept. Minutes were accepted.

2 Review Financials: As of 9/30/12 Checking: 11, Money market: 30, Total: $ Rita King explained issues with Empty Bowl receipts : o Cash drawer was short $10.00 o An artist s payment was incorrectly stated on the sales slip, resulting in an under payment of $40. Board members have agreed, by motion, that this shortage plus any future shortages would be reimbursed from general funds. Rita further explained the profit and loss statement as follows: o Parentheses around the final numbers in the Difference column do not indicate a deficit-it is actually a surplus. This is just a quirk of the software program. Since the meeting Rita has fixed this so it reads normally. o After paying for the floor and the new electric kiln, Expressions is showing a profit for the year of about $6000. This figure does not include potential profits from the Holiday Opening and the Watkinson show. Add personal property insurance to property insurance?: Tracy Marlor spoke with our insurance agent regarding coverage for our personal property including wheels and kilns etc in case of destruction of our current building. The premiums for $10,000 to $30,000 in replacement reimbursement ranged from $1125 to $1900/yr. After discussion, members agreed that the premium was costly, and that we did have sufficient savings to self-insure. Suggestions for utilizing year-end cash: Prior to year s end: o New bats are on order to replace warped black bats. o Regarding the purchase of a steam cleaner for all our tile floors, Tracy advised that a former student is willing to give a demo with her residential steam cleaner. Following assessment, if positive, the studio should consider purchasing a steam cleaner in the price range of approximately $300. o Auralie motioned that we approve purchase of a steam cleaner for approximately $300. Carol Baglioni seconded. Twenty-two members agreed with three abstaining. Motion passed.

3 o Discussion regarding free rent in December resulted in members predominately choosing to bypass this offer in favor of a yearly workshop, perhaps subsidized by the studio. Only five members would opt for free rent. Suggestions for next year: o Tracy explained that reducing dues to $40/month would cost about $1920 for the year. o After discussion, Rita moved that the rent be reduced to $40/month, beginning on January 1, Auralie seconded. Twenty-two members agreed with three abstaining. Motion passed. o Some members had expressed interest in hiring a cleaning service due to the heavy load of cleaning and firing the kiln for Saturday duty. Tracy requested quotes, in writing, from any source who would bid on this service by mid-december. The cleaning service would clean floors, bathroom and kitchen each week, and use our equipment. New Slate for 2013: Thanks to Jen Boyd and her committee, the slate, which will be voted in at the January membership meeting, is as follows: President: Linda Drake Vice President: Pam Humphrey Secretary: Sheila Fuller Co-Treasurers: Pam Carroll and Rita King Member Representatives: Avis Cherichetti, Claudia Karimi and Tracy Marlor Charitable Donations: The studio currently contributes monetarily to both the East Granby Library and Watkinson Scholarship Program. The Watkinson is up by $50 to $150 for cleaning this year plus our $100 scholarship contribution for a total of $250. The studio could consider picking a couple of art charities for monetary contributions, if the membership agrees. This issue will be discussed at the January membership meeting. All requests, other than above, will be forwarded to the membership who can decide individually to contribute money or a piece of pottery. Administrative Committee Positions: Due to the extent of the duties of the treasurers, two slots will be added to that committee for a total of three. o Members will assist with cash box receipts and deposits creating another category for the yearly sign-up committee list. Internal Internet Set-up for Membership Use Only:

4 Website will have access to internal use for members only on the Home Page. This access will be password protected. Tabs will be designed to address the following: o Membership information o Duty sheets/hours o Guidelines o Material orders (responsibility of committee heads) o Meetings etc: dates of meetings/ important dates for current year o Classes: beginning and ends of ongoing classes o Others? Another category will be added to yearly sign-up committee list under Administrative to help with the member website: o Sign-ons to this committee would be responsible for writing content - deciding what tabs and what needs to be included under each tab. Other: Re-instate shelf-scraping committee: Empty bowls: Phoebe Allen felt that the current situation of having the loader scrape the shelves is too time-consuming when combined with loading the kiln. She felt that the shelfscraping committee should be reinstated. A suggestion was made to add a sub-category to s: requesting unloaders, scrapers and loaders. Another suggestion was for unloaders to shelf scraping committee members. Phoebe additionally requested that all shelf scrapers wash the kiln wash brush. Phoebe reported that sales on Empty Bowls day in the gallery grossed $1994. Sales of empty bowls netted $6500 for the East Granby Food Bank. A total of 395 bowls were sold. However, we were short 12 bowls which have since been provided to those who were shortchanged. Phoebe anticipates that we need at least 400 bowls for next year and questioned whether Expressions can continue to supply the demand or should we consider soliciting other local potters. This issue will be discussed at the annual membership meeting in January. Potential Workshops: Claudia Karimi has checked into local potters who conduct workshops: Haynes Bayless is a hand builder, website He offers one and two day workshops; one day at a cost of $700 and 2-day at a cost of $1200. The majority of members opted for a one-day workshop, with a question of whether the studio would subsidize this workshop. Members would have first dibs on registering.

5 Sam Taylor is another local potter who specializes in wood firings and glaze techniques. Member David Keller is well-versed in glaze techniques. He was asked about the possibility of giving a workshop in glaze techniques. Details would have to be worked out, including whether this would be considered a member demo or a workshop for which a contract would have to be developed. Members generally agreed we should start with planning for just one workshop. Claudia will assume responsibility and will members with more info. Potential dates for January membership Meeting: Because of various conflicts, members opted for the weekend of January 12 th. Further discussion with the president will be needed. Members will be so informed. Meeting adjourned at 1:49pm Respectfully submitted, Anna McManus Secretary

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