Vipassana Santa Cruz
Board Meeting Minutes 2/22/10

Present: Mary Grace, Ann, Lael, Chris, Leslie, Bob, Jason, G

Meditation

Brief Check in

Reading of Norms – Lael

January minutes not available for review/approval

Consent Calendar:
* G brought appreciation cards for Phyllis and Phil to pass around and sign
* G is stepping down from board at the end of his term
* Board members who are not stepping off in June and are not teachers (Leslie, Chris, Martin) will 
meet next week to discuss tasks that will need to be taken over by officers and board volunteers 
due to the president stepping off the board.

Board Business
* Recruiting new board members – Four board members are stepping off in June: Ann, Val, G, and Lael. 
Ann reviewed the process for selecting new board members. During March we will announce at meetings 
that there are openings on the board, at the April board meeting the nominees are ranked, in May the 
Nominating Committee (TBD) meets with the nominees about being on the board and gets their consent, 
June is seasoning of new board members.

Finances
* Fundraising – Ann reported that the total for pledges for Sangha is $1,228 and teachers is $1,190 
with 37 pledges to date.  Board agreed to extend the pledge drive for two weeks if we haven’t met our 
goals by the end of this week.
           o Response to suggestions – it seems like there is a need to respond to suggestions in a 
             common way such as, “Thank you for your suggestion, it will be forwarded to the Board for 
             consideration.”
* Volunteer needs: G said that Gerry has agreed to help organize the library; however we still need a 
librarian. Mary Grace has talked with Mary Lou about being the Sangha administrator.  Mary Grace 
presented a diagram depicting a new organization for the Sangha (drawn up by Mary Lou). There was much 
discussion about whether we would still need a volunteer coordinator. Board agreed to review Mary Lou’s 
proposal in more detail and perhaps invite her to the next board meeting to discuss it.
* Donation to Inquiring Mind – Mary Grace would like to donate $150 to Inquiring Mind as we have done 
in the past. Ann thought that this had been cut from the budget. The board approved the $150 donation.

Space Planning – 
* Feasibility of staying at 1010 Fair Ln. - The landlord, Nancy, has proposed terms for the lease renewal 
of a 4% increase to the base rent which would increase the base rent from $1,773 to $1,843.92, with NNN/LF 
the estimate is a total monthly payment of $2,566.64.  The feeling was that we need more information, 
including appropriate comparables to determine if this is a reasonable offer.  The general sentiment is 
we would prefer to stay at the current location if reasonable terms can be negotiated.  
* Fact finding on church - Bob reported that there is no new information with regard to the church.
* Review of other possible space – G sent Chris link to City’s list of available commercial space. 
They will meet to identify possible comparable properties.

Team Design – 
* G reported that we have benches.  G also has two CD cabinets that need to be assembled.  Lael is going 
to look for a bookcase. We also discussed going ahead with the purchase of the cabinets as proposed in G’s 
design for the library since it looks like we are likely to stay in our current location. This was tabled 
for further discussion at a future meeting.

Program
* Prison Project - Ann reported that Jill would like to do a half-day or evening prison project 
presentation that would be open to all Buddhist groups. This was approved by the board.
* Retreat - Mary Grace reported that the retreat will be on Memorial Day weekend and will be lead by 
Mary Grace, Bob, Richard Shankman, Marcy and Jason.  LMB has raised the fees $12 per person.  
* MGO’s status – Mary Grace is planning to retire at the end of 2011.  The plan is for Bob to take over 
as the lead teacher.  
* Council Weekend – Mary Grace would like to schedule a council weekend, perhaps for the fall, with a 
focus on the transition as MG leaves her role as guiding teacher.
* Ajahn Amaro will be at VSC on June 12 – 13. June 12 will be a daylong for the committed students 
group, June 13 will be a daylong and Vesak celebration open to the community.

Diversity (Added agenda item) 
* G is interested in doing outreach to the LGBT community to organizations such as the Diversity Center 
and the Cantu center at USCS.  He also said there is an organization of "Out in Our Faith" congregations 
that welcome the LGBT community and would like to investigate having VSC added to that list.

Next Meeting: March 22