Hoo boy, there's a lot in this meeting report! We discussed lots of business and I'll do my best to recap the meeting here.

Here's the list of contents:
- the meeting itself
- Byrd's February class
- guild officers
- library donations
- the treasury
- dues reminder
- January's meeting

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The Meeting
It was a small one today, with only seven people present. A few people brought cookies for our snacking pleasure. A good portion of the beginning was spent discussing business (see following paragraphs), followed by everyone making a holiday ornament or two. Rebecca showed her wooden armature for building matchbox amulets without a matchbox. Kathy, after amazing everyone with a few quick moves that resulted in a Santa dragon ornament, showed everyone how to make a simple but wonderful little dragon. We ended the meeting drawing names to swap ornaments, and wishing each other happy holidays.

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Byrd's Class
Byrd's class, "21 things to do with a Skinner blend" will be held on February 10. More information will follow in a separate email, including details for sign-up.

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Guild Officers
Several people have been fulfilling, on a volunteer basis, the duties of what would be the duties of officers. It seems it may be time to make these positions official. The division of duties and the people performing those duties seem to fall into the following titles:

President (Irene)
Duties include:
- keeping the business part of meetings running smoothly
- liason with the National Polymer Clay Guild
- publicity and public relations
- development of a guild web site

Vice-President (Sara Jane)
Duties include:
- scheduling demonstrations for guild meetings
- coordinating workshops and classes
- running the business part of the meeting when the president is not present

Treasurer/Membership (Pat)
Duties include:
- collecting dues
- managing guild finances
- maintaining current membership list

Librarian (Gail)
Duties include:
- maintaining library materials
- coordinating lending and return of materials
- collecting rental fees for videos

Each of these positions should also include "other miscellaneous duties" in their description, since there are numerous other items that come up on a regular basis that need to be addressed.

The members present at the meeting agreed that officers should be given the authority to make decisions that represent the best interests of the guild. Of course, major issues or expenditures will be presented to the guild before any decision is made.

The people mentioned above are currently performing the duties associated with a particular office. If anyone wishes to volunteer themself or nominate someone else for any of these positions, please post to the BRPCG list no later than Friday, January 5, and a "ballot" will be posted Saturday, January 6. If there are nominees, the guild will vote at the January 13 meeting to decide officers. (Anyone who cannot attend may vote by absentee ballot by emailing your vote privately and confidentially to g-tjolly@juno.com.) If no volunteers/nominees are named, the officers will remain as listed above. Please note that voting will be limited to currently paid members.

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Library Donations and Policies
Pat, Byrd, and Irene have all stated they have items to donate to the guild library, including videos, a book, and past issues of the PolyInformer. It was agreed that books and periodicals should be loaned at no charge to guild members, and videos will be available for rental at a minimal charge of $3.00 per month. Hopefully the video rental charge will fund the purchase of more videos for the guild.

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The Treasury
Our treasury has a little more in it than any of us anticipated, as noted in the quarterly report given at the November meeting. Today's meeting included a discussion about what to do with the guild funds, and whether or not a budget was necessary. A suggestion was made to purchase an oven for the guild, and members present agreed that this was acceptable. Discussion on the topic of guild funds should continue at the January meeting; please post any ideas of what you would like to see the guild do with some of the
money in our bank account.

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Dues Reminder
Dues are due in January! $20 per person per year, and a suggestion was made that additional people in the same household could be $10 per year. We can discuss this further at the January meeting. If you won't be at the January meeting, you can send your check to Pat Smith, 8 Hilltop Drive, Travelers Rest, SC 29690-1608.

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January's Meeting
We'll have several business issues to follow up on (see following paragraph), but the big and exciting thing about January's meeting will be the rubber stamping demonstration by Lynn Krucke. She intends to brings lots of examples, perform a brief demo, and then invite member participation. Lynn will bring inks and stamps, and will post a brief
supply list before the meeting. You can see some examples of the unexpected things that result from the combination of rubber stamps and clay at Lynn's Photopoint site, http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=125334, in the "polymer clay" album.

Things to think about and discuss further at the January meeting (please feel free to respond and start discussions on the email list any time!):

- Guild officer voting if necessary.

- What would members like to see happen with the money in the guild bank account? Buy books and videos for the library? Host an out-of-town teacher? Hold a retreat?

- Do we need to plan a budget and designate certain amounts for specific things?

- When a paid class is scheduled, do members want it to be on a regular meeting day, effectively taking the place of that month's meeting? Or would members prefer it to be on a non-meeting day (either the very next day - a Sunday, or another weekend altogether)? If held on a regular meeting day, is it fair to the people who aren't taking the class that they miss a meeting? If not on a regular meeting day, is it fair to expect the people who have to drive a distance do so twice in a month? This is a complex
issue that warrants further discussion.

If you want to comment on any of the above issues, please post to the list, whether you are able to attend the January meeting or not. Discussing matters ahead of time may actually facilitate the discussion at the meeting.

See you all in January!

submitted by Irene Semanchuk Dean, December 11, 2000