Society Board Meeting Minutes – August 2016

IFGS BOARD MEETING MINUTES

8/25/16

Final

The 8/25/16 Society Board Meeting was called to order at 8:09 p.m. Eastern Time.  Board Members John Jones, Hugh Greene, Olan Knight, Pat McGehearty, Brad Evenson, Dane Lyon and Sarah Gibson were present. David Spence, President of Dallas Chapter and FRC member, Brett Paul, Tech Chair, and Melanie Greene, Treasurer from Northern Alabama Chapter also attended. Janice Gott Society Clerk also attended.

STANDING BUSINESS:

MINUTES: MOTION: To approve the minutes of the 7/20/16 board meeting (Knight, Gibson, by acclaim).

FRC REPORT: Lyon reports the FRC has released two new provisional playtest rules for a Bard Class and for Cleric Specializations (Battle Cleric, Healer and Monster Hunter). The rules will be posted on the Society website at IFGS.org. These changes are in a playtest mode and a GP must approve their use in a game. Feedback from individuals who play in a game where these are used are encouraged at FRC@ifgs.org. Since these rules are in playtest, no magic items may be created using these new abilities. The open position on the FRC has not yet been filled.

MOTION: To approve the playtesting of the Bard Class and Cleric Specialization rules (Evenson, Knight, 7-0-0).

SSC REPORT: Jones noted that he is working on scheduling a meeting, and composing a draft of a section to be added to the Bluebook on magic item activation. Melanie Greene is interested in applying for the open position.

REGISTRY: No activity, awaiting vote on new Registry Handbook version in New Business.

TECH COMMITTEE: Brett Paul reports that he has updated the Society site, and changed chapter and committee rosters. He has started a new WordPress website format, transferring over some parts of the old website links. The Board really appreciates Brett’s work. The FRC will be sending him Hits and Misses to add, as well as the new playtest rules.

GENERAL PROMOTIONS: The Clerk printed herself some IFGS business cards from the new Vistaprint template.

CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW TASK FORCE: Greene is asking for suggestions from chapters and committee members for changes needed in the Society Constitution.

ELECTIONS: Society fall elections need an Election Chair, and the Board is looking for volunteers.

CHAPTER LIAISON UPDATES: SoCal Chapter did send old game and membership fees to the clerk. Northern Alabama ran some recent games. PNC Chapter may consider dissolution.

CONTINUING BUSINESS

SOCAL CHAPTER DISSOLUTION: Gott has had communication from SoCal about wrapping up their treasury.

MINORS POLICY AMENDMENT: Greene is still working on this.

NEW BUSINESS

REVISED REGISTRY HANDBOOK: Knight made minor revisions to the Registry Handbook, based upon comments from the July revision.   The “10,000 CAP per level of the PC” limit from Cap-For-Gold was removed, updates were made to the Chapter IDs and Chapter status table, and the Waivers were updated to the latest version.

MOTION: To approve version 3.19 of the Registry Handbook (Knight, Lyon, 6-0-1, Greene abstain).

RESOLUTION FOR ECO CHAPTER NAME CHANGE: ECO Chapter would like to change their name to Central Oklahoma Chapter. They also need the Board’s authority to make banking changes.

MOTION: Be it hereby resolved that the East Central Oklahoma Chapter be changed in name to the Central Oklahoma Chapter. Be it also resolved that the Clerk execute and deliver a letter for the Chapter’s bank, denoting the authority to transact business, including the maintenance of savings and checking accounts, however not including loans, to the President and Treasurer of the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the International Fantasy Gaming Society. The Society Treasurer should be designated as an informational party on any accounts. Funds in the accounts of the former ECO Chapter should be rolled into the new CO chapter (Evenson, Knight, 7-0-0).

POLICIES FOR IMPLEMENTING A MEMBER BAN: Jones provided a draft for providing a more detailed Policy for implementing Society and Chapter bans, addressing certain confusions arising in the recent process in the Dallas Chapter.  Evenson would rather see any Society banning motions come from either a Chapter Board or Society Officer. David Spence noted that the Dallas Chapter does not feel it is their place to ask Society for a Society wide ban; that is the Society’s place.  Any abuse of the Chapter ban policy may need to be addressed at the Society constitution level. Full Policy covered by the Motion is below.

MOTION: Motion to accept the “Proposed Policy on Society and Chapter Bans” as amended (Greene, Lyon, 7-0-0)

DAVID WOOD BAN: The subcommittee which investigated David Wood’s protest of the Dallas Chapter ban felt that a permanent ban, either at Chapter or Society level, should be considered, although there was not a mechanism in place to do so. The new policy allows the Chapter to make their Chapter ban permanent. If Society wishes to invoke a ban, the relevant policy is in the Society Constitution. Initiating the procedure would involve sending a certified letter to David Wood, which the Clerk is asked to do. The ban would be effective 15 days after sending the certified letter.

MOTION: In the light of the subcommittee’s report and in consideration of potential legal liabilities, the Society Board initiates a permanent ban of David Wood from the IFGS (Gibson, Knight, 5-1-1, Jones abstain, Lyon nay).

NEXT MEETING: The next IFGS Board Meeting will be held on Thursday, September 15th. Times for the meeting are 5 pm Pacific, 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, and 8 pm EST. The meeting will be held on Skype at i_f_g_s or 720.259.1667. The meeting was adjourned at 10:11 pm EST.

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Adopted version:

Proposed Policy on Chapter and Society Bans

  1. A Chapter may ban a member from participation in that Chapter’s events for a period ranging from three (3) months to one (1) year for violations of Chapter or Society policy.
  2. When a chapter issues a temporary ban, the chapter will notify Society of the ban, along with the general reasons for the ban, so that Society may consider whether or not it is appropriate to issue a notice to other chapters regarding the ban. Society may request further details from the chapter, if necessary, to help make this determination.

The Chapter Board may also request that Society review the circumstances prompting the ban and initiate a full Society banning process. In the event of such a request, the Chapter Board will provide all available documentation and evidence in support of the ban, as well as contact information for the member(s) in question. A Society ban bypasses the temporary ban otherwise required before the issuance of a permanent ban.

  1. At the end of the period 4of a temporary ban, the Chapter Board may review the ban, including actions on the part of the banned member during the ban, and determine whether or not to make the Chapter-level ban permanent.
  2. Any Chapter Board issuing a permanent ban must inform the Society Board of this action, along with details and evidence of the reasons for the ban. The Society Board will review the evidence and determine whether or not it is appropriate to issue an advisory to other chapters or to take further actions. These actions may include initiating the Society ban process.
  3. A member banned by a Chapter may petition the Society Board for a review of the circumstances. Upon receiving such a request, the Society Board will appoint a subcommittee to review the evidence and, if necessary, interview witnesses. If the ban is temporary, and the Chapter has not submitted copies of all evidence to Society, the subcommittee will communicate with the Chapter to obtain this evidence. It is possible that the review will bring evidence before the Society Board which requires action beyond the Chapter ban.

When the review is complete, the subcommittee will submit a recommendation to the Society Board. Courses of action the subcommittee may recommend include, but are not limited to:

(a) Uphold the temporary ban.

(b) Overturn the temporary ban.

(c) Uphold the temporary ban and issue an advisory to other chapters regarding the ban.

(d) Uphold the temporary ban and initiate a full Society ban process.

The conclusions of the subcommittee and any resulting Society action shall be entered into the Society disciplinary records.

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CHAPTER LIAISONS

Dallas – Evenson

Denver/Boulder – Lyon

Norman – Lyon

Pacific Northwest – Jones

Provisionals:

East Central Oklahoma – Knight

Greater Milwaukee – Greene

Southern California – Knight

Northern Alabama – Gibson

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PROJECT LIST

Completed Tasks

Society-level electronic voting – Completed

Society Waiver Forms – Completed

Stoplight Policy – Completed

Milestone & Karma Awards – Completed

Business Cards – Available on Vistaprint

In Process Tasks

Updating Governing Documents – In process with Society Task Force

Updated Committee Charters – In process with Society Task Force

Updating Society Website to WordPress – In progress Tech Comm.

On Hold

Character Creation System-CAP4G

Expand and Revise Wiki (Possibly incorporating online rules.) –

Not Started

Updating GW Handbook–

Streamlining the payment processes between Society and Chapters –

Treasury Tracking –

Shared Calendar on Website –

Creation of a Treasury Handbook –

Membership Tracking –

Link Exchanges –

Research for 8.0 Rules Set –

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