DRAFT MINUTES Special Meeting of the Officers of The Urantia Book Fellowship via Conference call

Tuesday, March 18, 2008  

Officers Present: Robert Burns Steve Dreier John Hales Michelle Klimesh   Robert Burns called the meeting to order at 9am, with Michelle Klimesh acting as secretary.  

Robert would like to set monthly officers meetings. We agreed to meet at 9am on the fourth Tuesdays of each month.

Our next monthly meeting will be at 9am on Tuesday, April 22nd.  

Agenda: IT budget for 2008   RB reviewed the written report sent to the officers by email.

How do we proceed? Are we over budget? If so, why? Discussion ensued. We need a recommendation for the EC if we need to increase the 2008 IT budget to complete the database project. We budgeted $5000 for Alan Goodman this year, and we have currently spent, or have been committed to spend, $17,380. Another $6-8,000 is needed to complete the current project, and another $20,000 to complete the full set of tasks imagined. We have yet to see a proposal from the database consultant concerning the scope of the database project.

Robert will ask David Kantor to answer our questions and speak with the officers about where we currently stand in our IT situation.   We agreed to recess until Thursday, March 20 at 9am.   

Meeting recessed at 9:45am.  

The meeting continued at 9am, March 20, 2008, after we reviewed David Kantor’s report. Doreen Heyne joined the meeting.  

There is a strong concern about what we can do so we don’t go over budget.  Paula received an invoice in mid-February and paid it, without realizing that the IT committee was over budget. The policies are in place. David juggled funds within the IT budget so he could buy some time to get the problem straightened out with the Executive Committee.   This kind of problem is increasing because we are paying for more outside services than ever before.  We have similar concerns for international and outreach.    

Alan Goodman’s contract states that he will be paid $40 an hour for billed time, but it does not state up to certain amount; there is no ceiling on the total amount will be paid.   The treasurer needs to be contacted as soon as there is a possibility that we are having a budget problem.   A $10,000 addition to the IT budget was cut last Fall. David’s estimate in an IT report in July 2007 that the database project would take up to $60,000.

All organizations are currently dealing with this new issue of how to manage their IT and content management needs.  What projects take priority? How do we capture information so people can find what they need easily without wasting time? If we don’t fund the database project now, we are just postponing the problem to solve into the future. Our constitution mandates the executive committee to manage the assets of the organization.  David makes a point that our assets include money and information; we take good care of our money but are struggling to take care of our information.  

We agree about the importance of the database work, but what is the solution to the current budget problem?   We need another $8000 to complete the first phase of the project so the database begins to be usable. The target date for completion of the first phase of the database project is August 2008, after IC ’08. What features will the new database offer that the current database does not?  

Organizational history; administrative management; and ultimately, the possibility for future integration of QuickBooks, SkipJack, the online store, email lists, and others (these functions are currently handled separately).  

Is the final figure of $50-60,000 to complete the additional phases of the database viable?  David and Alan think it is.

Some of the work will be done by David after phase one is complete. Alan is willing to complete the work and then bill us at a rate of $1000 a month until the work is paid in full.   Suggestion to finish phase one, and use the time between now and August to give the executive committee time to decide exactly what we need from our content management system.   We are currently $6960 over budget, and we need another $8000 to take us to completion.

The executive committee needs a report from the officers about this, because the EC is responsible to make this decision.   Suggestion to establish a $5000 emergency fund that any two officers can access on the budget.   The next EC conference call is scheduled for April14, is that too late to discuss this with the executive committee? Can a report be emailed to the EC today?  

To keep momentum going, we need to ask the EC to appropriate $8000 in additional to the amount we are already over budget of $6960.   Straw vote: 4 in favor, 1 abstaining to ask the EC to approve additional funds not to exceed $8000 to bring phase one of the database project to completion. They also need to be informed about the $6960 we have already paid or incurred.  

Suggestion to call an emergency meeting of the executive committee to make this decision. Robert will call a meeting for 5pm PST Friday evening, March 21.  

The meeting adjourned at 10:30am.   Respectfully submitted,   Michelle Klimesh, Secretary-General