January 2007 Business

1) Moderator for the open discussion/sharing portion of the meeting
The previous moderator, Jeanette, had volunteered for 4 months, the last of which was January 2007. “V” has volunteered for February. We need a volunteer for March (“V” might not be able to make the March meeting, so she isn’t committing to more than February). In the past, the moderator has always also been the time keeper. But in the future, if someone wants to moderate but not keep time, we could have two people. (Jeanette left her timer watch for future moderators.)

2) Moderator for the organizational issues portion of the meeting.
“R,” who moderated this month, volunteered to do it in February.

3) Before-the-meeting setup.
“R” volunteered to do it for February. The March meeting is still open. This involves coming at least 15 minutes, early, making sure we are the schedule (several times, the Y moved us to a different room), and setting up the room (chairs, table, signs for the door).

4) Bank Account (in the name of New Landscape).
We now have a bank account. “F” opened it (with the $600 anonymous donation) and can sign checks. We would like to have two people who can sign, just for backup, in the event that the first member is unavailable. We need a volunteer to be an alternate. What’s involved: Give your social security # to HSCB (this will not affect your taxes), file a signature card with HSCB, stand by until the need arises.

5) Website for New Landscape.
!!!!!New Landscape now has a website!!!!! It was designed and programmed by “C.” Here’s the web address: www.new-landscape.com
The website cost $115 for one year. “C” has donated this.

Some website topics we discussed:
• Format
• Content (this is still being tweaked)
• Password:
Some people wanted it for safety; others felt we would get more publicity without the password. We decided to leave it in place for the first month. Members will look at the site and see whether they would feel safe in eliminating logon requirements. To be revisited next month.

• Can the website replace the monthly mailings?
Some members wanted to keep the monthly mailings, because people might not look at the website or be comfortable on the Internet. Other members felt that if people were interested, they would do the footwork to get to the website. For this first month, we will send out a monthly mailing without attachments to let people know they can find the rest of the mailing (things that used to be in the attachments) on the website. To be revisited next month.

• Feedback:
We will give everyone on the mailing list the logon, so we can get feedback from those who come to meetings as well as those who don’t. Send your feedback to: contact@new-landscape.com. (This gets forwarded to the yahoo email address, which is newlandscape1@yahoo.com. You can send feedback to either address.)

• Names:
Formerly, first names were used in the write-ups of the organizational part of the meetings (after the person was consulted). These names have been removed from the website; people are now just identified as a “member.” We will leave it this way for the first month, to see whether the elimination of names makes it feel safe enough to eliminate the password requirement. To be revisited next month.

• People can contribute to the Writing Project (it’s called “Writing Forum” on the website) at any time. Send submissions to contact@new-landscape.com. Please indicate that it is OK to post, and tell us how (with what name, if any) you would like your submission to be signed. Your submission will be passed on to the website administrator, who will post it.

• Donations:
Due to lack of time, we didn’t discuss whether to add a donations window (now that we have a bank account). This, too, was tabled until next month.